Melbourne MOD likes to call it Melbi, says Aussies abbreviate everything, Brissie, Tassie. Says we are lucky cause Sydney is already abbreviated.  That’s ludicrous MOD. And don’t even consider repeating your favourite abbreviation for Bendigo.  Stop taking the mickey out of us Aussies.  I was just chatting to my mate Wazza from Launi about this very same thing the other day.  It’s Melbourne.  Not abbreviated.  … Continue reading Good morning Melbourne!

Ok I was over reacting with my last blog and my reaction to the cabbie asking if I had retired yet.  I have sat in two airports and two planes for the last 24 hours and revisited the thought of plastic surgery. Perhaps I won’t. Yet. So, goodbye US and A. It’s been a blast. Gone so fast. I won’t miss your big plates of … Continue reading Goodbye USA

New Orleans, pronounced NuOrluns It didn’t start well. Delayed for 5 hours in Boston, that’s just the flight without the times wrapped around it, meant we lost a full afternoon in New Orleans. We told ourselves that sleep is for the feint hearted.  Having arrived late Thursday night we didn’t have time to do much except eat and wander. And then we got tired and … Continue reading New Orleans

It’s a 59 minute walk from our hotel to The Boston Tea Party.  Let’s do that. We arrived four hours later. We didn’t miscalculate the walk, even if we had very little internet, but we did get distracted by the beautiful waterfront in South Boston.      And the city. The City of Boston has a population of approximately 700,000 with Greater Boston about 5 … Continue reading Boston

Oh course I’m happy to hand over our iPads to you.  Yes I understand you are a total stranger standing at the entrance to a bar and you are handing me a little slip of hand written paper with the number 24 on it, whilst taking my $10. And our iPads. Not a problem. After all, why would TD Gardens, where the Boston Bruins ice … Continue reading It’s only a game….

Last night we landed in Bar Harbor, a quaint little town on the island of Mount Desert, Maine. Acadia National Park is a couple of miles from the downtown area and includes Cadillac Mountain, the highest point on the Atlantic seaboard. The town was pumping with tourists given it’s a long weekend here for Columbus Day. That would be the holiday America celebrates which commemorates when … Continue reading Bar Harbor

Some 23 or so years ago I was lucky enough to meet a family from Canada who arrived in Ballarat so hubby could work at McCain’s. They stayed for a couple of years and then returned to the land of maple syrup, the expression ‘Eh?’ and ice hockey. As my friend Jan has always said…..well you know what Jan says about real friends.  So, even … Continue reading Aaaah McCain…..you’ve done it again

Today we drove from Utica in Upstate New York to White River Junction in  Vermont.  We drove through the Adirondack Mountains and Green Mountain National Forest. Woodstock rates a special mention as a quaint town to visit. I didn’t get photos. There were quite a few covered bridges. I did get photos.  Apparently we were a couple of weeks too early to really see the beauty of … Continue reading Upstate New York to Vermont

We can move south of the travel spreadsheet. Well actually north.  Yesterday we took an unscheduled drive up into Canada. Ontario to be precise. The day had started with a visit to the gravesite and memorial of Dick Winters. Dick is an American World War II hero. MOD being a bit of a WWII buff has watched Band of Brothers multiple times, where the story … Continue reading Ontario, Canada

I’m no angel where food is concerned. My  friend Julie laughs about one joint family holiday where she may have found me hiding in a room scoffing down a whole bag of starburst snakes. I may have defensively covered the bag, not to hide, but to make sure she didn’t try to have any. Like a fox terrier dog, don’t touch my food peoples. In … Continue reading Are you eating too much America?