WBWW - Sydney

Sorry I've missed a few weeks of 'Way Back When Wednesday' and to get back into the swing of things I'm going to start with some photos of Sydney from October 2007. 

One of my favourite memories of the whole trip come from our first night in Sydney. We had flown from Hong Kong, found a reasonable hostel in Kings Cross and headed down to Sydney harbour. We had did all the touristy things; strolled across the bridge, chilled out in the sun in a park, popped over to Luna Park fun fair, took plenty of photos of Sydney Bridge and the Opera House and watched the sunset. As the sun went in we decided to walk through the local botanical gardens right next to the opera house and head back to Kings Cross. What we didn't realise was the garden are home to hundreds of bats. As soon as the sun disappeared the sky came to life as all the bats came out. It's hard to describe but it was so unexpected and beautiful that I wanted to stay and watch them all evening, so we did. Another thing we didn't realise was the park got locked down at night. It really wasn't all that late and as we approached the exit we saw the gates were chained. There was a sign on the gate with a number to call if you found yourself locked in but we didn't bring mobile phones on our trip. After a good while of debating whether or not we could climb the fence or would end up impaling ourselves on spikes half way across the world, and loosing a shoe through the gap out luck was in and a park warden happened to come round and let us out. When I write it down now it doesn't sound half as much fun as it was but it's a great memory. And what better place to be locked in at night than a botanical garden in spring time Australia full of bats wheeling over head!

Next week I'll bore you with some photos from the different animal parks we visited across Australia!

9 to 5 The Musical

Early last week some friends invited me to join them to watch 9 to 5 The Musical. I love musicals, half the reason I picked to attend a London University was so I could go to the West End when ever I liked (depending on funds of course!). However 9 to 5 isn't on the West End, yet. It's currently touring across the UK and I had to venture across to the other side of London all the way to Richmond theatre. For me that's pretty far out of my way. I hoped my trip outside of zone 3 and into the depths of South West London would be worth it.

Before I saw the show the only thing I knew about it was of course Dolly Parton's song of the same name. I think it's a song everyone who has worked in an office can relate to. I made sure I downloaded and listened to it on the way to work for a few days before I saw the show (just to get in the right mindset) and I think it's been stuck in my head for literally weeks now! What I didn't know is that not only is this a musical by Dolly Parton herself but that it was based on a film she starred in back in 1980, which introduced Dolly to a wider audience. I haven't seen the film so I can't say how similar it is but I know it isn't a musical. It is now on my 'to watch' list (which is always seems to grow).

Now back to the musical; the story follows three women who are each victimised in different ways by their sexiest boss, and through the course of the story they get their revenge. It's a simple premise but that is just what is needed for the musical, the strong points of this story are the characters. Each of them have their own problems and we are given enough time to relate to them. And the songs are catchy. I thought all the performers were excellent, and it was good to see three leading ladies, but it was one of the supporting characters stole the show for me. Roz is the assistant to the sexiest boss and she harbours a secret crush on him. I don't want to give anything away but her song, dance, in fact, her whole character just helped pick up the story and brought the biggest laughs. I never buy a programme so I didn't realise until I got home and checked online but this character was played by legend Bonnie Langford. It's a great show, and surprisingly touching, I went not expecting too much but left with a big smile on my face.

Photos all taken from here

The show is currently touring across the UK and if you can get tickets I'd recommend gathering a few friends and heading to your local theatre for a fun night out.

Now I'm off to download Backwoods Barbie.

The Adventures of Priscilla

This weekend I've been very boring. I've spent the weekend doing chores and cleaning. I'm not very domesticated but when we get to the point we can't see the floor on our bedroom because of clothes and paper I find it's time to do a little tidying. Luckily this weekend has been cold and rainy so I had no excuses not to stay in and do a little house keeping.

Whenever I'm cleaning I have to have something on the TV to distract me. It can't be something I haven't seen before as then I'd end up sitting down and watching the whole thing, but it has to be engaging enough to distract me from the job in hand! My go to film for this scenario is possibly my favourite film of all time, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. I love it. It's such a fun film, and if you haven't seen it I recommend it.

It was released in 1994 (when I was only 10!) and I probably first watched around 10 years ago. I can't count the times my housemates have come in and seen me hogging the TV with it on. The story follows two drag queens and a transsexual who leave Sydney and head to a resort in Alice Springs to perform their show. Priscilla is the name of their bus. We follow their journey across Australia as they try to get on with the locals, and more importantly each other. It's a road trip movie with excellent costumes (the best flip flop dress you'l ever see), an imaginative cast and the perfect mix of comedy and drama.

It's a comedy with heart, and perfect for a rainy weekend.

WBWW - Hong Kong

As my first Way Back When Wednesday post looked at my trip to Hobbiton I've decided to try, for a few weeks at least, to keep some continuity.  Therefore I am going to tell you about the first leg of my Australia/New Zealand trip back in 2007.

It was the 1st October 2007 and Stuart and I had both, finally, finished studying. The kind people I worked for at the time were happy to let me have two months off and we decided to head to Australasia for a bit of a jolly. To break up the flight to Sydney we decided to stopover in Hong Kong for a few days, and I'm glad we did.

First things first though, at the age of 22 this was going to be my first ever time on a plane. Growing up we never had trips abroad; I lived on the Isle of Wight so summer holidays were spent at the beach, and when I hit Uni, all my money was spend on studying or drinking. Stuart and I had one break over in Paris, but for that we used the Eurostar. So there we were, waiting for my first ever flight, and an 8 hour one at that - to be followed by around 5 other flights in the following 8 weeks. I'm glad to say that I quite enjoying flying - well the take off and the landing, the bit in the middle is a bit boring, and (sorry carbon footprint) since 2007 I have managed to get a few more flight and holidays in. The one overriding memory I have from this first flight is that the guy who sat in the aisle seat next to Stuart and I did not move from his seat once - not even to pee! Bladder of steel. I however keep getting up and down, half for the novelty and a change of scene and half from paranoia about DVT! All in all it was an interesting first flight and there were some lovely views from the window - I loved flying over mountains and islands.

The first thing that hit me when we got off the plane was the heat and humidity. For some strange reason I had decided to wear jeans. As soon as we got to our hostel I had to change into something more suitable! We spent the two days we were there just walking around, visiting the peak and generally taking in the atmosphere. I am sure there is lots to see and do in Hong Kong but for such a short time I really enjoyed just doing our own thing. I'd love to go back. These photos don't do the place justice (they were taken on a very old digital camera I'd had for years - how quickly technology has moved on recently!) but they are a great reminder for me of the time we spent there.

White Cliffs of Dover

Last year Stuart learned to drive. We both moved to London when we were 18 to go to uni, and for the past 9 years or so have felt no need to learn to drive or own a car. I still can't drive; never had a lesson and couldn't tell you anything about the highway code, but finally after all these years Stuart decided to do an intensive driving course and get a car. We haven't used the car all that much apart from trips to see each others families so this year we decided to try and get out of London about once a month. This month we choose to go to Dover. It was a last minute choice, we just looked at a map to see what was in driving distance, and Dover won because we knew they'd be something to see (the cliffs) and it was next to the sea.  

It was actually very easy to get to, and only took us about an hour and a half from London. We drove straight to the National Heritage site, and parked at the top of the cliffs (£3 per car).  Armed, with a free map we decided to walk along the cliffs to a lighthouse about 2 miles away. It was a cold, beautiful day, and quite muddy. We were dressed for a stroll in the park in jeans and trainers, whilst there were some serious hikers with boots, backpacks, proper waterproof trousers and walking sticks marching past us. However the walk was relatively easy, and you'd be fine just turning up in sturdy shoes you don't mind getting muddy.  

The Cliffs and beautiful blue sky!

I have to admit, sometimes I get a little impatient with people who are being overly cautious about a bit of mud and when a girl (wearing wellies) was tip toeing slowly (and I suppose safely) round a particularly muddy section I took great pleasure in just stomping past her drowning my trainers in mud! It may be immature, and yes I was the one in the least sensible shoewear on this occasion but it amuses me when people go to the countryside and are worried about a bit of mud. Considering I've once skidded through a cow pat and landed on my arse in the middle of the manure a bit of mud seems like nothing!

Looking back the way we'd came (it was busy up there despite being a cold February).

Stuart getting a closer look at the chalk 

We were heading to the white lighthouse in the distance

And we got there!

Having a well deserved brownie at the lighthouse

Heading back

Had to clean our shoes before we could get back in the car - Stuarts rule!

I would really recommend a trip to Dover, the views (as I hope you can see from the photos) are stunning, and it really was so refreshing to get away from London, get some sea air and just take in the quietness of the place. 

Now to get thinking of where to visit next...