Still Sunny in Rhyl

Yesterday morning (Friday) we went for a long walk along the River Elwy to Rhuddlan.  We started our walk around Brickfields Ponds - some bog herons hang around the waters edge !!

 The river is tidal up to the point past the castle, we stopped by the castle so I could take a photo.

 

We stopped halfway for a coffee and a rest - it's still very warm and we haven't been out of shorts and tee shirts since we arrived.

This evening we had a BBQ at Geoff's we invited Nicki his neighbour who had kindly let me park our car in her drive. Parking is at a premium in around here and to get parking most people have converted their front gardens to car spaces.

Nicki is a vegan so we had to make some non-meat, sausages and stuff. I asked her what made her become a vegan she said she just didn't like animals - refreshingly non altruistic,,

Today we went to the Tweed Mills and sue bought a pair of sandals as the ones she had were suffering from subsidence. It was a bit of a wrench for Sue having to pay "retail" and they weren't Rivers prices.

Sunny Rhyl

They call it "Sunny Rhyl" and for once they are not wrong. The weather has been absolutely magnificent with temperatures hovering in the high 20's. We had an invite to go out on Sue's brother Tony's boat El Condor for a tootle round the bay and a spot of lunch back at the marina. 

The marina has a tidal gate to retain the water during low tide so there is a "window" of 2-3 hours each side of high tide when you can go out for a short cruise and get back in before the gate closes. The sea was glass calm and we had a stress free cruise out in the bay where we rafted up with Ray and Margaret on their boat. It was so calm we didn't even drop anchor and the 2 boats quietly drifted on the tide.

We got back to the Marina just after midday and had a light lunch that included some scotch eggs that Sue and Geoff had bought from Sainsburys.

Today (Wednesday) we went for a walk into Rhyl to do a mini-shop. We walked as far as the Forydd Bridge and stopped for a coffee. The bridge spans the river where there is a small Harbour with a few boats moored up. The bridge is just like the Sydney Harbour Bridge but with 2 spans !!

After coffee we walked along the promenade and watched the tourists jostling for a decent piece of beach !!

North Wales

We left Manchester this morning en route to Llandudno . We made such good time we had the opportunity for a detour round the village where we used to live - it hasn't changed a lot but our old bungalow looked very small.

We got to the Imperial Hotel just before noon and were lucky to find our room was available. The hotel is quite large - we were in room 529 so I'm guessing there are 500plus rooms however the car park has space for no more than 30 cars so we were told to double park and leave the keys in reception. I managed to jam a BMW and a Range Rover in and hoped they were going to the wedding that we were attending.

The wedding started at 1:00 pm with a champagne reception and it was bubbles all the way. The wedding was between Phil and Sarah and they make a fantastic couple. Sarah was a work colleague during my days at Mita and she had invited some of our workmates (Brian and Matthew) so it was a bit of a works reunion - we all had a great working relationship and spent some time reminiscing on many of the fun times we had.

This is the bride and groom looking fabulous.

Brian, Heulwen me and Sue.

Mathew taking a photo of me taking a photo of him.

 Breakfast the next morning  was understandably a little  subdued, but Sarah was still up for a glass of Prosecco before heading of to the airport to fly out to Venice for their honeymoon.

After breakfast we headed off to drop in on Tony and Mary - Tony is Sue's older brother and to mark our visit Mary broke out a bottle of champagne !!

After a great lunch we headed of to Sue's baby brother Geoff who is going to be our host for the next few days "what no champagne" Sue said jokingly "I suppose we will just have to make do with red wine" which to be honest was a nice change !!

Manchester (cont'd)

This morning we went with Deb to check out their wide-beam narrow boat - it sounds like a contradiction in terms but that's what it is.

The boat "Roebuck" is brilliant with a great layout and loads of space - Sue and I thought it would be easy to live-aboard as it had all the facilities you would need.

It's a quite tranquil stretch of the canal even though we did have the odd "cruiser" pass by.

 

We hope to spend a few days cruising with Deb and Andrew later in our holiday.

Next stop was a shopping expedition to Tesco Supermarket - what an eye opener - not quite Tin Can Bay. You can scan as you shop by picking up a scanner at the collection point and then you scan the items as you select them off the shelf. The scanner shows a list of the items you have scanned and gives a running total of your spend - very cool !!

 

Manchester

We've been here a couple of days now and not everything has gone according to plan.

We arrived at Deb and Andrews at about 9:00pm (Monday) and were given a "champagne" welcome. Gossip was exchanged and liquids were consumed and we staggered  up to bed around midnight. I don't know if it was unfamiliarity with the bed or vertigo but halfway through the night I fell out of the bed and did some damage to my back so Tuesday I was confined to barracks while Sue and Deb went to Bury Market to get some supplies for the evenings  BBQ . The girls came back with loads of stuff and Sue said the market was better than the ones we had in Australia. It was a great family get together Martin and Aiden (our nephews) turned up with their girlfriends and unlike an Aussie BBQ the women did the cooking whilst the men watched the World Cup. The food was really good and the wine flowed.

The only downside was that we had to eat indoors because it was a bit cool.

Dubai

Well our boutique hotel looks quite bijou from the outside !!

The inside is tastefully understated 

It's a bit bling but the fish "aquariums" are amazing 

Feeding time was especially entertaining 

Just to finish off the hotel theme - the food was excellent and our  room was extremely comfortable. We had a sea view and were able to watch the sun go down

As for Dubai it was hot hot hot - temperature was 38 degrees but no humidity so it felt warmer than back in OZ with the same temps. We noticed we didn't sweat very much either - which was nice.

We went to the Emirates Mall for a look round. - all the usual suspects were there - Gucci, Rolex, Prada etc. however they did have an M&S, Debenhams and Harvey Nicks.

The best feature there was an indoor winter games arena with ski lifts for skiing and snowboarding and lots of other activities such as tobogganing and a mini bob sled track - great for families.

There is still a huge amount of building works going on which sort of spoils the ambience of the place.

Each high rise development seems to be trying to outdo the other with wierd and wonderful designs.

One day the place might be finished - but not in our lifetime !!

Singapore (cont'd)

DAY 2

Today was wet windy and overcast so not a good day for outdoor activities.

We went for another look at the shops - the precinct is amazing, I don't think we've managed to get around the place the same way each time we have gone in.

There is a pretty spectacular light show in one section where there is big chandelier and a floor display that simulates fishes swarming around. I took a picture but it doesn't do the display justice.

The weather eased off later in the morning so we went and had a look at the gardens. There was loads of exotic plants and cacti - Sue was wishing she had brought her secateurs.

 We went out for a pizza and some wine for dinner and then returned to the gardens for some night shots of the lit up tree structures. Again the photos didn't turn out that good and to top it off I went A over T over a box that was invisible in the dark - no real damage, just a couple of scrapes.

We checked out this morning and settled the bill - one of the items was a bit of a shock $72 for a beer and a glass of Chardonnay- wow !!

Singapore

DAY 1

I can't say the first few hours of our trip were great !!  We got picked up way to early (4:20) for our transfer to the airport, we weren't taking off until 2:30 the next morning but hey ho go with the flow.

Without warning we were dumped at Aussie World which was about halfway to the airport and told that a connecting bus would take us the rest of the way - it was all very vague. Anyway the connecting bus arrived and we got to the airport just after 7:00pm, check-in wasn't opening until 9:00pm so we had to mooch around for a couple of hours. To be fair Brisbane Airport is ok and we checked-in and cleared security and passport control in no time.

We had some nachos and a couple of drinks to help pass the time and relieve us of a few Aussie dollars.

The plane took off on time and the flight was fairly uneventful apart from having seats up against the bulkhead so we will be avoiding row 36 from now on. We zipped through Singapore Airport and jumped straight into a taxi to take us to the Marina Bay Sands.

The hotel looks very impressive from the outside but the internal space didn't match up to the external presentation. As we were so early our room wasn't ready so we had a wander round the shops and checked out the pool.

Sue liked the look of the pool but she said the shops were not up to her usual standard - "where's the Vinnies and Salvos (she lamented) there's not even a Reject Shop here". There is all the top names on offer and the fashion du jour would seem to be ' shabby sophisticated ' so to be honest I wouldn't be seen dead in the stuff even if I could afford it !!

After settling in to our room with City views we did a bit more exploring before finally hitting the pool.

Early evening we went up to the Skydeck for a cocktail - $55 for a margarita and a beer wow !! For dinner we went to an American diner and I had some oysters (3), belly pork with green tomatoes and some  brilliant fried chicken - we washed it down with a Margaret River Chardonnay - again not cheap - this skiing trip is getting to be expensive !!

Not long now !!

In a couple of days we say goodbye to the throbbing metropolis of Tin Can Bay and head off for Singapore.

We’re looking forward to a bit of luxury which will make a change from caravanning around Australia in company with the hordes of Grey Nomads (mostly Victorians) who travel north this time of year in search of the winter sun. Sue has timed everything to perfection, we run out of food, wine and beer at 5:00pm on Wednesday so no leftovers - that'll piss the ants off  !!

We’re thinking there might be some celebs to greet us when we arrive - Donald Trump tweeted the other day:

 “If the place is good enough for the Metcalfe’s, it’s good enough for me and my little mate from North Korea –  naturally I’ll be accompanied by my beaut wife Melanomia”.

The press corps are under the impression that they are there to talk about World Peace -  but I know the real reason for their visit is to try and find a decent hairdresser!!