Hello Blavel!
It's been awhile and I've been so very neglectful of you. I've travelled too much to Blavel this year, I'm afraid (woe is me! ha). Let me tell you in brief about my journeys this year:
- Malaysia was in May (Penang and KL). Oh so much fun- everything was SO tasty. We would return for the food alone! Malaysia is definitely on the must-return list.
-Sydney was directly following Malaysia for the weekend, for a friend's wedding. The wedding itself was in Newport and we saw lots of gorgeous beaches on the northern side of Sydney which looked just divine (although it was far too freezing to enjoy them!).
- Road trip (about 5 hours) to Moree. That was somewhere around mid-year, although I can't recall when exactly. We spent three nights at the hot springs with some friends and adored it. The road trip was the first long adventure we've had in our car since we purchased it (well, that's if you don't count the hour drive to/from work each day! haha), and was quite fantastic. Moree was COLD, but the five different temperature hot spring filled pools were to die for. Lots of fun!
- A month later (early July) I headed to Sydney again for presenting at a conference. This time, I stayed in the city and met with a friend for dinner before walking to the Opera house together for me to get up close and personal with it (I've been to Sydney before (well duh, given the above point) but never have actually been to the Opera house, just viewed it from a distance).
- Melbourne was also in July. I stayed in the city for a few days for a conference- adored Melbourne as usual, met with a few friends, found some great dining spots (St Ali, anyone? So delicious) and spent a night with my brother in law and his wife (saying that makes me feel incredibly old!) at their new abode in Melbourne. Nick and I then headed down and did the Great Ocean Road drive for a few days, which was so very fantastic. Amazing scenery, and just so very much to take in! I wish we'd planned an extra day on that trip as three nights really wasn't enough to see it all.
- A night in Boonah staying at the venue of our reception in the honeymoon suite complete with delicious dinner and breakfast is planned for the eve of our 1-year wedding anniversary (anniversary itself is the 12th Sep). We haven't been to Boonah since the wedding, so this is quite exciting!
- Honolulu and Osaka are upcoming next month. I'll tell you more about each of those in a second.
-Likely Melbourne in October. More Melbourne! I do love Melbourne, but I'm so busy trying to finish this PhD that I was somewhat hopeful I could get out of this one! No can do, and I'll catch up with Martin and Sarah on the weekend before I head to the city. At least there's lots of fabulous food and equally fantastic breakfast venues to keep me occupied for a few days whilst down there!
- Likely Townsville in November. I know nothing about Townsville. I'm 90% sure I'll be going to present there- I was trying to get out of this one, too, but was contacted directly by the organisers of the event and asked to submit an abstract, so I couldn't exactly decline! The injury conference which is being held there is perfect for presenting my PhD findings so I really should attend, even though I'd rather have not taken the time out of my work schedule to do so. I'm interested to see what Townsville is like, although I imagine by late November it'll be sweltering! Must find an accommodation venue with a pool!
We've also got a trip booked in for late Jan 2011: Melbourne again (to visit Martin and Sarah and their newborn baby!) before heading to Hobart for 5 days to check it out. Should be fun!
I've just finished booking the accommodation for the upcoming Honolulu/Osaka trip (which, uhhh, we'll be mid-way through in a month... !). I'm actually pretty excited about it, now it's planned, so I'll give you details on that:
-Honolulu- 7 nights in late Sep: It took me hours (literally; damn you, indecisive nature!), but I finally settled on this one. Honolulu accommodation was hard, because everything is so... typical. Waikiki seems to be like the gold coast; older apartment buildings and nothing that stands out which doesn't cost $400+ per night. Aside from the beach itself and the surrounding natural environment, which looks absolutely gorgeous, Waikiki accommodation itself appears a little tacky and gross, but this one was within my (well, my employer's, ha) budget and has fairly good reviews. It's close to the conference venue and walking distance to the beach and Waikiki centre. The conference spans 3 days, and so we'll spend the first half of our stay checking out the island- we'll likely hire a car but I'm yet to organise that yet (driving on the wrong side of the road will be interesting; watch out Honolulu! haha). We fly JAL to/from Honolulu.
-Osaka- I just finished planning this part of the trip and I'm pretty excited over it. We fly back into Osaka and arrive at the end of September. We're going to spend our first four nights in Osaka at Hotel Villa Fontaine Shinsaibashi. We stayed in their sister hotel in Tokyo and loved it; the Japanese breakfasts which were included in the $100 a night price were to die for, and the accommodation was totally great, clean and new. Shinsaibashi is the shopping precinct of Osaka. While there, we're going to hit up Tokyu Hands, a fun (and huge) Japanese department store, and curtain material hunt in a few other fabric stores as well. Other than that, I'm not quite certain what we're doing in Osaka yet, but I am quite certain that it will all be fantastic. On the last night before we jet off, we're doing something super-exciting and going up to Mt Koyasan, and we're going to stay here in a Buddhist monk-run traditional Japanese ryokan. Koyasan is a highly significant area for Japanese Buddhists, and in staying at the guest house we'll also be able to participate in the morning prayer, which will be super-interesting and very different to the rest of our Japanese adventure.
Oh-so-much excitement, always!
