19 September 2014

Time for the latest stream of consciousness from ‘Follow Your Nose Tours’ also known as ‘Where  are we Sleeping Tonight Travels’.

We started out with a very limited plan which was based around a week in Derbyshire and then maybe Scotland.  The trip has now evolved into a week in Derbyshire, a week in the Scottish highlands and now a week in the north of England to include Hadrian’s Wall and York and finally a week in Gloucestershire.  Our travels have been somewhat unplanned but that has given us the opportunity to pursue new destinations as locals tells about the local sights and places not to be missed.

I should also warn the reader that my use of the term UK may be redundant by the time you read this.  Today the Scots vote on independence.

• Luxury is a white line
  • After four days of driving on roads the width of one car I can safely say luxury is a white line and a road wide enough for two.  These one-lane roads carry semi trailers, caravans, cars, tour buses, motorbikes and cyclists.  No one goes particularly slow, averaging around 40 mph or 60kph.  Added to the narrow roads is the spectacular scenery, and it’s a rich environment for the regular  OSM.  An OSM is of course an Oh Shit Moment.
  • The driver must be always on the lookout for the Passing Places which are sections of extra width in the road where  you can pull over to let the car coming toward you get past.  The protocol for who stops is not always clear.
  • If travelling on one of these narrow roads try to join a line of cars, oncoming traffic will generally get out of the way of a convoy.  However you will quickly realise the guy in front will pullover to let you in front – no one wants to be the lead car, all will want to follow some other turkey who will enjoy the OSMs.
• Some Favourite road signs:
  • Blind Summit, which means you have no idea what’s coming toward you and cannot see far enough ahead to be prepared.
  • Oncoming traffic in Middle of the Road.  What, why can’t they be on their side of the road and what am I supposed to do with this piece of information, I can’t move over; there is nowhere to go!
  • Weak Road – you should not find a truck on this road
  • Traffic Calming – not designed to avoid road rage, its warning you that there are speed humps ahead.
  • Do Not Follow Satnav on This Road – we decided to turn around when we saw this sign.
  • Road Not Suitable for Motors – and this is the road you are on!
• Signage in General:
  • Every road sign in the UK has a tree growing over at least part of the sign.  I am not talking about all the signs on the Motorways but certainly every sign on the lesser roads.
  • You may find the village or town you are looking for listed on a road sign.  You think – I am on the right track.  At the next intersection your destination is not listed but there is a whole range of other destinations none of which are on your map.  You make a choice.  Ten miles later you realise – I should have taken that turn.  You then have to make a 3 point turn in a one lane road!
  • When  asking for directions you will often get a confused explanation of which roads to take and when to turn, often with comments like ‘at Brown’s Farm’!  The concluding comment will often be ‘its easier when you’re a local cos you just know where to go’.  Of course the point is if I was a local I wouldn’t be asking. (This occurs particularly at information centres.)
  • There are no straight roads in the UK except where the Romans were 2000 years ago.
  • The above comments make me realise that when people have said ‘you can’t get there from here’ or ‘to get there I wouldn’t start from here’ were being perfectly reasonable and weren’t trying to be humorous.
• Coping with change and travel
  • When you arrive in a new country you are faced with all sorts of new challenges; it’s all about coping with change.  Some of this change is at the large scale like language, road rules, legal structures and all of these challenges are readily expected and understood.
  • The next level of change is at the intermediate level like congestion on the road, how you cross a road and whether the traffic will stop for you.  This stuff is interesting and generally enjoyed in a public space
  • The real change occurs in the shower.  You are standing there stark naked ready to hop into a shower and you have no idea how this bloody shower works, how do I get hot water and how do I get water out of the shower head and not the taps (faucets).  This is where the excitement that is travel kicks in.  But I have to ask, how many ways are there to design a shower system?
• Directions sought by people lost.
  • Why do tourists ask other tourists for directions.  We have been asked for directions to the Metro in Paris by Italian tourists (we were able to assist), for directions in Sydney (no help at all from me), in London and New York.  Why do they think visitors can help?
  • Whilst going for a walk in Matlock, Derbyshire I was asked for directions to the castle by people from either Poland or another eastern European country (I was able to help) and then by a local who just wanted to get back to Matlock and wasn’t sure of how to get back to the main road.   I was also able to assist but when I commented that I was also lost the driver just left me standing on the side of the road, standing there with my flawed map.
  • This phenomenon reached new heights when I was asked in the very old part of Durham ‘was this the way to turn off the water?’  The enquiry came from a man down on his knees in the middle of the pavement in the very old part of Durham outside what I presume to be his restaurant. The building was Tudor.   I did in fact advise that what he was doing was correct and that he should now go inside turn on a tap and see if the water stopped running.  He didn’t seem at all bothered by the fact the advice was coming from someone who was clearly not of Durham nor the wider UK in fact.  Amazing.
• Black Holes
  • Have you noticed that when travelling your whole world can fit into one or two suitcases.  However when you settle into your room, cottage or house your possessions expand to fill every room.  They are in the bathroom, the bedroom, the kitchen, everywhere.  How can all this stuff fit back into those small suitcase but it does.  I think this is how Black Holes work; everything is packed into suitcases that get progressively smaller and heavier.
• 

  Final Comment

  • In Australia we are very familiar with the term ‘no worries’.  It is also well used in the UK.  We found the following writ large over the bar in a restaurant in Fionnphort on Mull;  Nullus Anxietas.  I think this is Latin for no worries.  Maybe St Columba said it on Iona in 595 AD, just over the water from the restaurant.

That’s it from the UK as we once knew it.  I have more insights fermenting so as always if you would like to be removed from the distribution list just say so and it will be.

8 September 2014

It’s been a couple of weeks since I last wrote and having had a week in the UK it seems a good time to record my latest observations so here goes.

Before the UK stream of consciousness begins I thought I would round out our US trip:

• After many years of visiting the US I have only recently discovered ‘salt raising bread’.  Now don’t be confused, the reference to salt raising does not mean there is a lot of salt in this bread, in fact it probably has less than normal bread; the name is a mystery.  The bread starter comes from corn flour rather than wheat flour and I am guessing uses wild yeast rather than bread yeast, not unlike sour dour bread.  Salt raising bread can only be found in western New York and parts of Pennsylvania.  It is the best particularly when toasted.  A word of warning, it contains no preservative and goes off very quickly if not used.  A very yummy bread!
• The word for all shoppers BOGO.  I thought it was a brand name that was on sale in a shoe store.  Maybe an inexpensive shoe.  I then discovered another BOGO sale, in another mall in another town.  It turns out BOGO stands for Buy One Get One free. Who would have thought.   Actually it makes more sense than EOFYS!  A challenge for the American readers – do you know what EOFYS means?
• The Upgrade:  Yes, we got another variant on our eight hour flight from Chicago to London.  Actually we were given the crews seats since the flight was over booked.  The seats had their own space and they reclined a lot.  Unfortunately the crew were left to sit on boxes when they needed to rest.

And to UK:

• We are now in the land of toilets not bathrooms or rest rooms.  None of those ‘Gents’ and ‘Ladies’ here its gentlemen and ladies.  Love it, it’s so genteel.  Of course you still come across the WC which reminds me of the Australian ‘Comfort Station’.  There aren’t many Comfort Stations left. The only one I can recall is in Frankston, Victoria.
• I always thought the beeping noise at pedestrian crossings was to assist the vision impaired to know when to cross the road; how wrong I was.  It turns out the beeper is to assist smart phone users so they don’t have to lift their eyes from the screen when the light turns green and it’s safe to cross the road.
• Road signs in the US are big, plentiful and in your face; very easy for the unfamiliar driver.  In contrast the road signs in the UK are small, discrete, low and often hidden by the flora.  It takes some time to develop the skills of ‘finding the road sign’.  If you have downloaded the Interpretive Language app into your head you may be able to decipher the road signs with only minimal letters visible.
• Added to the road sign challenge, the country lanes are narrow and picturesque.  Around every corner is a new vista of a stone cottage or ancient farmhouse.
• Your attention is focused when rounding a bend you come across a pair of horses being ridden side by side on your side of the road, with a truck coming toward you.    Of course it is important to remember that the road is sufficiently narrow that you need to be side swiping the hedge row for the car coming toward to you to get by.  It seems to work but if you come to the UK do not rent a big car.
• Everything is built from stone.  The town planning regulations must be pretty amazing since they assiduously retain the look and feel of the old villages.  In our local village even the car wash and petrol station is built from stone!  Yep, here it’s a petrol station not a gas station – I feel like I am home.
• In Australia we walk on footpaths, in the US it’s the sidewalk and in the UK it’s the pavement.  However there are also footpaths in the UK.  These are ancient path ways that cross farmland and villages without impediment.  Everyone has the right to walk the footpaths and it’s a wonderful experience as you walk through the countryside crossing through farmer’s fields, checking to make sure the cattle are cows or steers and not a territorial bull with his nostrils flared.  These pathways are a wonderful way to explore the countryside.
• Along your footpath you will come across squeezers.  They may be a Derbyshire institution and they are truly new to me.  Squeezers are two or three large stones in the stone fence designed to allow walkers to get through but not stock.  You can plot your course across unmarked fields by looking for the next squeezer across the field.
• Warm beer – need I say more.
• We have now arrived in Scotland and the accent is so broad it’s almost a new language.  Today we head for the island of Arran and then Kintyre, Mull and Skye.  The countryside is more open and less populated.  Fewer trees and vast landscapes.

That’s it for now or this will get too long.

23 August 2014

I thought I might regale you with my latest insights gained from travel to the northern hemisphere, specifically to western New York.

We have again left winter and moved to warmer climes, however let me say at the beginning, this is not central Queensland or western NSW; there are no road trains, the country is lush and green and there is a town or village every few miles, no emus, kangaroos or cockatoos.

The Flight:

• Life is all about the upgrade.  I probably wouldn’t pay for business class but to get an upgrade using frequent flyer points is the best.  Sleeping flat in your own bed in your Qantas pjs at 36,000 feet is a great way to travel.  However, a note for the eager traveller, don’t be fooled into accepting the cognac with dessert, it doesn’t work on a long flight.
• Getting off the plane first means you scream through Immigration and Customs.  Moving quickly through these gates always adds to your travelling experience.  Of course seeing your bags at the carousal is always an opportunity to give out a sigh of relief – they made it.
• Thirty hours from door to door is always a tough ask but it can be done as long as you have that hotel room booked at the end and it’s not far from the airport.  Drugs also help at this stage.

Arriving:

• As I mentioned before, summer in western New York is green, lush, expansive lawns, beautiful trees and forests of maple, oak, spruce and others, and flowing streams and rivers.  You couldn’t get a bushfire going no matter how much fuel you used.   It’s such a change from an Australian summer.  Winter in western New York is a different proposition, its bitter cold with icy roads and frozen landscapes and that is a different travelling experience.

Supermarkets and Shopping:

• Automatic bottle and can return machines are a great advance on recycling.  You turn up at your supermarket with all your cans and bottles feed them into their respective machines and get 5 cents (a nickel) for each.  You take your slip to the cashier and get the credit applied to your groceries.  We had to wait for the guy in front who had a shopping trolley full of Budweiser cans!
• Shopping trolleys over here are immensely more controllable than Australian shopping trolleys.  The rear wheels on US trolley are fixed and the front swivel –they are so easy to mange.  Coles and Woolworths get them in your stores!
• If anyone offers you wine from the Finger lake Region of NY, I suggest you politely answer you don’t drink.  If you enjoy sweet then maybe you might enjoy this wine.  However let me say as diplomatically as possible Finger Lake wine is an acquired taste – one that I haven’t acquired.
• USA beer has made amazing leap in quality over the past 20 years.  The number of craft beers available at the supermarket is inspiring and a bit overwhelming.   They even produce specific beer for the season; winter spring, summer and fall beers.

Family Events:

• When having a family barbeque / reunion and four sisters get into conversation do not try to keep track of the four or five conversations that will be going at one time; do not try to break in to the conversation, you won’t be able to keep up; just nod wisely when asked for your contribution.  When all six siblings and their cousins get together and start to talk about high school days and gossip from 40-50 years ago then find a quiet corner and enjoy your beer.

Driving:

• The roads here are of a consistently high standard, unlike our much beloved Sutton Road for readers from the Wamboin locale.  Pot holes are extremely rare and the road surface consistently smooth.  The builders of roads in Australia take note. Maybe they need such good roads for the snow ploughs to work in winter.
• Whilst I have over many years developed the skills and awareness to drive on the ‘other‘ side of the road roundabouts freak me out.  It’s something about driving anti-clock wise that’s just wrong.  Turning right on red I get but roundabouts nah.
• The roads are never too busy and no one is in too much of a hurry – that’s western New York not the big cities.

Technology:

• Everybody now seems reliant on their GPS.  No local knowledge seems to apply or past experience in how to get somewhere.  No one uses a map.  The choice of a restaurant similarly relies on one’s use of technology to Google reviews and recommendations.
• When asking the hotel receptionist for directions to the nearest shopping mall where one can buy a SIM for your phone the offer is I can Goggle that for you.  Doesn’t anyone just know how to get there!

Town and Villages

• The architecture of the small towns and villages is always a delight.  The street scapes green and lush with tall trees and soft shadows.  The gardens well kept and houses well maintained.  The newer houses tend to blend with the old and it’s more difficult to state with any confidence the decade in which a house was built.

That’s it for the moment.  Next week it’s the UK and back to driving on the ‘right’ side of the road.

 

29 July 2014

Greetings from the Tropics.

I thought I would get this email while we are still in warm latitudes and before we left Queensland for more southern climes.  Tomorrow its Brisbane and then northern NSW.

It’s been a great trip so far and it has given us more motivation for the next on-road adventure.  Our observations and insights of this trip so far are as follows:

• ABC AM radio is a wonderful way to hear about what’s happening in the bush.  We have heard about the 7000 head of cattle offered for sale at the Roma sales.  Seems Roma is the biggest sale yards in the State.  Who would have thought.  We have heard about live cattle, fat cattle, store cattle, weaners, and so on.  I just thought cattle were cattle.  We also heard about coal mining, the opening of new mines, the closure of existing mines and the demand for coal by China.  We heard about the forthcoming drought and how dry it is already.  Of course linked to drought is the discussion about how much the government needs to do.  We also heard some wonderful interviews on AM radio of authors and other interesting people.  Maybe these interviews are always there we just don’t listen to them when we are at home.
• If camping at Lightening Ridge and you are in a tent be sure to ask for the electric drill at reception so you can drill holes in the ground for your tent pegs.  They even have an extension cord for this purpose.  Yep the ground is that hard.  The artesian swimming pool is a wonderful way to get warm in winter.  The water is always 40c.
• If you understand the game of ‘zip white horse’ you will appreciate the game of ‘zip emu’.  Barb won 13 to 7.  I am not sure there wasn’t double counting and there is no trust when are playing zip emu.  In the game of ‘hey cow’ I won 8 to 0.
• The grey dollar is supreme up here.  There are caravans everywhere and lots of grey haired retired people. Any little rinky dink country town with a half decent coffee shop and public toilets had a crowd of vans parked and rafts of grey hairs enjoying their cappuccinos.   Van parks up here are at a premium.  I think there is a business opportunity up here – they need more parks.  Even the free parks and National Park campgrounds are booked out.  There are more caravanners than there are camp sites.
• It doesn’t matter where you go or where you camp the guy next door is from your home town.  For example the couple next door to us tonight stores his van at our neighbours in Gallagher Place, Wamboin!  Under these circumstances you must be very careful who you get ticked off with for their poor driving or  when they get in your way – you probably know them.
• The mining industry up here is in wind back.  The rush and excitement is over and people are focussed on keeping their job as things slow down.  That said the mines are huge, the coal trains are massive and the engineering infrastructure is impressive.
• There seems to be two types of people on the road.  (Consultants will always tell you there are two types of people!)  We have met those who tour, they are on the road for months and are covering huge distances across the outback and coast, north to south.  They are found at coffee shops, camp grounds, on the side of the road, everywhere.  Then there are those who book the same site at a park every year and have been coming to the same place for 10 maybe 20 years.  They don’t tour and they seem to be very comfortable in their own quasi suburban village in the caravan park.  For these people the primary motivator is the migration north to avoid winter.  The stayers predominantly come from Victoria and South Australia.
• I am suffering serious caravan envy.  Our van is about 18’ long which is quite inferior to the monster 26’ vans that seem to predominate.  Of course ours is 1.7 tonne, the big ones are at least 3 tonnes and bigger.  How much room do two people need?

That’s enough of my ramblings I need some sunshine and vitamin D before we return to winter.  I will send this and we will see many of you in the next few weeks.

Regards from Rainbow Beach Queensland, Australia.

Kevin and Barb

Planetrowe.com is a repository for my ramblings and streams of consciousness, the catalyst for which are our travels throughout Australia and other more distant places.   Please enjoy.