For The Love of Travel

January 9, 2017
by Lids
Comments Off on Hervey Bay and Maryborough, Queensland 16/12 – 21/12/16

Hervey Bay and Maryborough, Queensland 16/12 – 21/12/16

Visited my brother and sister-in-law on the Fraser Coast, Queensland in the days leading up to Christmas. Hot and humid at this time of the year, Maryborough boasts a relaxed atmosphere and is nestled upon the Mary River. With beautifully preserved colonial streets, visitors have the chance to soak up some of Queensland’s richest history and heritage architecture by doing a historical walk through town, guided by knowledgeable local government staff. Once one of Australia’s largest ports, the original wharf district is now home to vintage restaurants, pubs, museums and art galleries. Maryborough is also the birthplace of Pamela Lyndon Travers, the creator of Mary Poppins. I did the touristy stuff when I visited earlier in the year, so this visit was an opportunity to relax with Stef and Sue.

Flew into Hervey Bay, rented a car and drove to the promenade for lovely ocean views. On the way to Maryborough some 40 kms away, saw beautiful flame trees in bloom.

We spent a leisurely time together – visiting the Rustic Emu Gallery and enchanted Garden with Sue;

doing some fine dining with Stef and Sue at the Coast restaurant, Hervey Bay (delicious mocktails; yummy chicken, quinoa salad and banana split)

….and travelling 50 kms! to see the historic town and for some delicious Mammino ice-cream at Childers, in the region of Isis (as you do on holiday).

Undulating hills, bright green sugar cane fields and reddy brown volcanic soil. There is conjecture about whether the region was named after the isis River in England, others say because its such a fertile red soil plateau, it was named after the Egyptian goddess of fertility.

We had a great time that night doing ‘drive by’ in Maryborough, sampling Christmas house decorations …

January 6, 2017
by Lids
Comments Off on Bimbadgen Estate, NSW – Rodriguez concert 19/11 – 23/11/16

Bimbadgen Estate, NSW – Rodriguez concert 19/11 – 23/11/16

Good friend Lyn and I headed off in my little convertible on a 12 hour road trip to the Hunter Valley, to see the legendary “Sugar Man” Rodriguez in concert at the Bimbadgen Winery. A wonderful group of fellow music luminaries – Xavier Rudd, Russell Morris, Archie Roach and Mark Wilkinson joined Rodriguez under the stars.

The self-taught guitarist’s love affair with Australia is no secret; Rodriguez first toured Oz shores in the late 1970s, long before the rest of the world caught onto his talent thanks to Malik Bendjelloul’s Oscar-winning film “Searching for Sugar Man”.

He still ‘had it’ – there’s no mistaking that voice, which, unlike the frailty that saw him escorted on and off stage, belies his 74 years. Close your eyes and you might as well be listening to the young man who recorded Cold Fact nearly five decades ago. Sugar Man, that wonderful ode to the neighbourhood drug dealer, was greeted with gusto from the mostly baby boomer crowd. “You know, Sugar Man is a descriptive song, not a prescriptive song,” he said afterwards to an audience that was clearly old enough to know better. “Stay off the drugs.”

Thanks to glaucoma, Rodriguez’s sight is all but gone, so there was no set list from which he could read. That meant some long pauses between songs as he conversed with his touring band.On a day that saw the world say goodbye to music legend Leonard Cohen, it was a privilege to see another one in the flesh in concert.

As it was to see an Australian legends, Archie Roach and Russell Morris, in support.

Lyn and I decided to drive back along the east coast

road, stopping off at Pambula beach to break up the road trip. A lovely sunrise the following morn.

October 1, 2016
by Lids
Comments Off on 13/9 to 16/9/16 Rio de Janeiro

13/9 to 16/9/16 Rio de Janeiro

Last days in Rio….quite a story….’held hostage’ by crazy football fans; confusion over dinner location; Niteroi museum is way out of Rio and Uber access, requiring bus ride home; less than delicious lunch at highly prized Santa Teresa bar; Confeteria Colombo is good…but nowhere touching Melbourne’s Brunetti!!

A perfect one hour flight from Belo Horizonte to Rio, picked up my case from baggage retrieval really quickly, and was then bewildered by the strange and very LOUD chanting noise made by males approaching us…a woman standing next to me said “Flamengo!”, and told me that the team was flying in….I then understood it was (crazy) football supporters who had piled into the arrivals hall…you had to determinedly push through to get out into the open air for a taxi. Who, when you got in, went nowhere, because of crazy Flamengo supporters who spilled out onto the road, blocking traffic. Grrrrr. After about half an hour, we got away….only after taxi drivers got out of their cabs and physically threatening airport authorities to “do something”! Ah Brazil!

After hotel check in, and I do love the Americas Copacabana Hotel!!, walked around Botafogo to take in the view of Sugarloaf mountain; then photos from the 8th floor of the local shopping centre.

Was really looking forward to the dinner that I had booked @ I Bistrot, Grand Mercure Hotel, which had rave reviews in one of the airline’s magazines, TAM I think. Anyway, Uber taxi delivered me to the door, I walked to the lift and discovered there was no restaurant on the top floor. After talking with reception, discovered there were 2 Mercure hotels (at either ends of the Tijuca area), which in the Uber directory were named as Grand Mercure Hotel, and Hotel Grand Mercure…..I finally got to the right one by 21.30 and had a light, but very yummy meal. Here’s a pic..

On the way back to my hotel, we travelled past a few stadiums and buildings highlighting the Paralympic Games……

Sampling some culture early in the day…Uber taxi for about 40 minutes from Rio to Niteroi to see the saucer-shaped UFO modernist structure, the Niteroi contemporary art museum designed by Oscar Niemeyer with the assistance of structural engineer Bruno Contarini, who had worked with Niemeyer on earlier projects. It’s 16 meters high; its cupola has a diameter of 50 meters, over three floors. The museum projects itself over Boa Viagem (“Bon Voyage,” “Good Journey”), the 817 square metres reflecting pool that surrounds the cylindrical base “like a flower, ” in the words of Niemeyer. You can see Sugarloaf mountain in the distance over the bay.

“The sea, the mountains of Rio, the magnificent landscape that should be preserved. And I raised the building, creating the rounded shape that, in my opinion, the space required. I had a feeling that the museum would be beautiful and very different from others, and one that the poor and rich would be delighted to visit.”

Then lunch at Armazem Sao Thiego (Gomez Bar), founded in 1919, as a Spanish grocery store. Great ginger caipirinha, really disappointing bar food – despite the hype.

The next day’s ‘Lunch’ @ Confeiteria Colombo’ a historic French café with stained-glass windows, brocaded mirrors and marble countertops create a lavish setting for coffee or a meal. Dating from 1894, the Confeitaria Colombo serves desserts – including a good ‘ fatia de baunilha’ (vanilla slice) – befitting its elegant decor, and can I say, the BEST lime caipirinha EVER!

The restaurant overhead, Cristóvão , spreads an extensive buffet of Brazilian dishes for those wanting to further soak up the splendour.

Last story, and as I’m standing at 3:30am in the Rio International airport queue to check my baggage, I hear “Lidia Slucki!!”……I turn, to see Liz unexpectedly, my friend from Melbourne, who was catching the same flights back home. She and I were on different journeys and hadn’t talked about dates we were flying home. Weird (again) that we were on the same pathway. Great to know we are looking forward to being Qantas lounge guests in Santiago courtesy of Liz!