Flying to the other side of the world

Don't do it - would be my advice. But since it's probably the only realistic way for you to get to see the Sydney Opera House/London Eye/Granny-who-still-thinks-you-teach-in-a-village-in-Northamptonshire-cos-everyone's-too-scared-to-tell-her-the-truth (delete as applicable), and you probably don't want to spend $10,000 and 51 days at sea (one way), then read on.

My most recent experience was with Etihad, a newish airline who are the official airline of the UAE, which is, as you ALL know, next door to Saudi Arabia and across the Arabian Gulf from Iran. And the capital of the UAE is...?....Come on, come on....... Abu Dhabi, of course. Duh. Knowing all this geography though, having googled it first, had the exact opposite effect of inspiring me with confidence before I travelled. So did the photo I found online of a crumped up Etihad Airbus A340. Apparently it parked itself into a wall during testing at Airbus HQ. I booked Etihad cause it was cheap. Funny that.

As it turned out, my flights (all four of them) were fine and certainly comparable with Singapore and Emirates Airlines. The service was good, the cabin was nice, possibly even a couple of extra centimetres of leg room in cattle class, and 10" tvs, apparently, with a reasonable selection of movies and programmes. The food was OK too considering its parameters, ie. the need to be flat. However, in terms of route I prefer the Singapore way: 12 hours from Manchester to Singapore, change planes at Changi airport, play with the funky free internet, have a shower, maybe even a swim if you're really quick, then another 6 hours to Brisbane. Job done. Etihad's version seemed more convoluted: 7 hours from Manchester to Abu Dhabi, change planes,wander round and round the floor to ceiling blue and green tiled donut that is Abu Dhabi airport, 7 hours to Singapore, kill about an hour, go through 3rd lot of screening to get back on same plane to Brisbane.

Landing at Manchester at six in the morning was an eye opener. It was deserted. I sailed straight through passport control and customs, smirking at the non European passport holders, and straight into the arrivals lounge where my backpack instantly fell off my trolley before I could run in slow motion to my waiting Mum, having not seen her in 3D for a year. Mum - who had got up at three in the morning to drive down from the Lakes to get me and who drove me back at frighteningly break neck speed whilst listening to Wogan and had me back at home by 8am. Unfortunately, this early morning arrival meant that I had to try and stay awake all day until bedtime in order to synch myself with UK time. I gave up at around 3 o'clock.

On the way back to oz I was a bit unnerved by the fact that the ground support crew at Abu Dhabi had forgotten to load on a few of the freebies, eg. pillow, flight socks, etc. It left me wondering what else they might have forgotten: The rehydrated dinner à la tray? Wheels? Pilot? Well anyway, I got there in one piece although my eyes were totally shot and possibly standing on stalks after 24 hours of goggling at 10" of 'big-screen excitement', 4" away from my face. Diver Dave was very pleased to see me and whisked me off to breakfast at one of our old haunts in Brisbane's West End.

I believe that after flying a round trip of 22,000 miles I now have enough Etihad air miles to get me from Jeddah to Muscat. Whoopee! Now, where's that tea towel.....?

The visa process - booo...

A Serious Post.

In reply to Ms. FoxyRoxy's question (see comments), this is just my experience of the dreaded immigration process:

Applying for a visa for me was dead easy as I just needed a student visa. Once I had an offer from the university in mid September, it was just a matter of applying to the immigration website. The decision was made 3 weeks after my medicals. Visa was granted end of November. In fact, if I had applied nearer to the start of the semester, the process would have been much quicker. There was a limit to how far in advance I could apply for the visa. In the end, it was granted 3 months in advance which gave me plenty of time to get settled and have a bit of a holiday.

Diver Dave had a different experience but he was applying for permanent residency. He started in 1999 and didn't leave England until 2001! This was partly due to reorganisation at the immigration office and his immigration agent's incompetence but apparently it can usually take about a year. The general consensus from expats seems to be that using an experienced agent is the best approach, although this obviously involves extra expense on top of what you are already forking out for the visa. Diver Dave is now an aussie citizen but still supports the Motherland in rugby and cricket! Sshh - don't tell the authorities!

If you're applying for a working holiday visa, if youre under 30, I think it's reasonably straight forward and you can do it yourself online. But I'm no expert and it's worth checking out some of the expat forums for other people's experiences.

Whilst you can ask the same question on these forums, it's worth doing a search on the subject first as there will already be TONS of entries about it - usually expressing their deep misery and woe! Good luck!

DVD regions and Aldi!

Woo hoo folks - Aldi has finally arrived in Queensland and appears to be the Next Big Thing as far as aussie supermarket shoppers are concerned, bless em. The fact that it's pretty difficult to get a parking space at the new Noosa store should act as a warning shot to the comfortably established chains. However, the Aldi at Logan never seems very busy. Perhaps there are too many poms in the locality who have memories of Aldi back home with their inferior brands and infinite stacks of cardboard boxes.

I too have steered clear of this blue and orange mecca - until yesterday. Fed up with trying to play region 2 and region 4 DVDs on the same PC and only succeeding with about 50% of his collection, Diver Dave threw a strop and announced he was going to buy a new DVD player. Having succumbed to the advertising appeal of the flyer put through our mail box, we flounced off to Noosa's Aldi and bought an all singing all dancing DVD player for $34.99!!! That's about 16 quid. Since it's only supposed to play region 4 DVDs we set about researching the internet for a code to unlock this. Now obviously, since I'm writing this on the world wide interweb, I absolutely do not condone this type of practice. But hey - screw the big DVD distribution monopolies! It took less than a minute to find.

For 35 bucks we now have a DVD player that seems to play DVDs from around the world. And since it's still cheaper to buy most current DVDs from Amazon UK and have them sent over than it is to buy anywhere in oz, that's what we'll carry on doing. So there.

Predictably, the new wonder face cream for 1.89GBP (got no pound signs on this puter!) from Aldi that everyone's been raving about in the UK isn't available Down Under. So you can all stop raving about it until it is - or send me some!

First trip back to Blighty: more weather

Blimey! UK public transport's no better then. And what a waste of chocolate biscuits. My love of PLAIN chocolate McVitie's digestives is documented in my blog banner and I have searched high and low for them in Queensland. So far I have located two somewhat unreliable sources but I'm always on the lookout for more.

So this was the scene that greeted me on my first trip back to the Motherland after a year of being in oz. More specifically, this was what the tide left behind in my home town of Blackpool, along with one lorry's entire cargo of choccie biccies. Shortly after this photo was taken, the local authorities realised an exclusion zone needed to be put up to stop scavengers being squashed by falling lorries - duh!

I went back to England hoping for some better weather than we'd had here in Queensland but, alas, the weather troll had other ideas. While I was in the Lake District we were subjected to regular mini power cuts due to the conditions and the fact that United Utilities are 'responsible' for the electricity. However, it was great to be back and it was nice to have some cold for a change rather than the relentless warm or hot I've put up with for the last year. ;-P

My first priority after I'd arrived (after the shopping of course) was to go eat a stonking good ruby. Unfortunately, curry such as we know it in the UK just doesn't exist in Queensland, (although I do hear tell of a mystical place near Redcliffe....). Believe me, I've looked and, in most instances, tried with very unsatisfactory results. To put it another way, one so called Indian meal we had at Chutney Mary's in Noosaville included microwaved poppadums, partially cooked kebabs and vindaloo that tasted like gravy. Being English though, we didn't complain and slunk out vowing never to go back. But this restaurant is packed out on weekends and we can't understand it. It merely serves to prove that aussies don't like spicy food and have never experienced the phenomena of English Indian food - if you see what I mean. Otherwise they wouldn't go near the place. Bleugh! Anyway, my mission was accomplished twice in the first week. First in the Lakes with my Mum, then in Northamptonshire with some lovely friends.

Back to the weather. Needless to say, while I was away in the damp depths of an English winter, the weather in Eumundi was glorious. The house started to dry out and Dave started winning the battle against the mould. Of course, 24 hours after I left Blighty the sun reappeared there. Right now, back down under, I'm looking out of the window at a monsoon. A weather report has just flashed up on my screen to say the Low will be passing over the Sunshine Coast late tonight and everyone has to secure outdoor items and not go out. We haven't even HAD the Low yet - AAARRGGHHHH!!!

I will be back here soon, assuming I make it.....

Controversy on ma blog

Oo er ..well it seems my whaling remark has touched a nerve somewhere (probably in Japan). In the interest of free speech - which the 'commentator' said Australia doesn't have - I have republished the original snotty comment for your consideration:

From "Hoge": How do you feel japanese whaling?Japanese whale fishing is completely lawful. And is completely scientific. In addition, it is a Japanese gastronomic culture to eat whales. You should refrain from the act of denying the culture of another country. watch this video.To the person who wants to know why Japan hunts whales http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=xWYOJYEOvSk[DragonBall] Freezer VS Japanese whalinghttp://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=HdUPHXNPVR4Why is there NO Freedom of media in australia?if doubt me? Post my comment this URL. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23155612-5007146,00.html
February 5, 2008 12:42 AM

mmm - why is it that the theme from Bridge Over the River Kwai is humming round my head right now? Anyway...

My reply:

I'm not disputing the Japanese right to whale as part of their culture, although I don't like it. I DO dispute the "scientific" aspect of it though - what a load of rubbish. It's also very rude of the Japanese to hunt whales in Australian waters, especially when Australians are so against it. If Japanese people want to catch whales - they can do it in their own waters. And if they haven't got any, then tough nuggies.

If you agree or disagree with "Hoge", please post your thoughts accordingly by clicking on comments.