Sawasdee

Greetings from a very wet Bangkok. In fairness the first week was simply hot and humid - but it rained heavily on Sunday (26th) and even more heavily yesterday, resulting in flooded roads throughout the city. Judging by the colour of the sky i'd say there will be a further deluge today.....

When i got on the BA flight from Sydney to Bangkok - you know, the quirky arse-about-face seating layout they have in business class - i did something i'd not done for 11 weeks - yes, i read an English daily paper - nothing changes, does it? Lovely stewardess - it has to be said - a really lovely, friendly lady - kept the Champagne flowing :-) The in-flight entertainment system was on the blink - i hope to goodness they got it sorted in Bangkok - otherwise the onward flight to London would have been even more boring for the poor souls stuck on there for 12 hours or so....

Anyway!

I left Auckland on the 6th April - it was the third time i'd flown out of Auckland but on the previous two occasions i had been in-transit - this time i could finally say i'd seen something of the country. I didn't make it down to Dunedin, Invercargill and Queenstown - but that just gives me an excuse to go back....

Flying into Melbourne was depressing - Australian readers will know why. After the lush green pastures of New Zealand it was sad to see the country around Melbourne so dry. Having flown into Melbourne & driven around Victoria so often during the last 9 years i should be used to it - sometimes i wish i could do as the Crowded House song suggests and "take the weather with (you)".....

Immigration & customs were a breeze - a very friendly Aussie bloke at the immigration desk made me welcome & the bags came out pretty quickly. You can forgive an airline & an airport a lot if your bags appear quickly. Then i darted across the concourse to the airport Hilton - not that i've stayed there very often but i did get the usual room :-)

Next morning i flew to Brisbane - which sounds daft, i know - why not fly from Auckland directly to Brisbane? Well - that comes down to lack of planning & foresight and a total lack of understanding what Easter entails (not the island - the religious festival, clearly) - what a plonker!

Anyway, Gae very sweetly picked me up from the airport and took me into the city - i had booked into the Quay West apartments opposite the Botanical Gardens. I was given a 17th floor room with amazing views over the gardens and the sweeping Brisbane River....

I hadn't been in Brisbane for about 2 years - so it was lovely to catch up with Gae and the girls again and to meet Sheree. Gae's daughter Penny is living & working in Melbourne now but Annie is back in BrisVegas after a brief and not overly enjoyable trip to London...

On Easter Saturday we went to Mount Tambourine - where they have a cheese maker with an excellent range of cheeses including - wait for it - "Cow Philly" (as opposed to Caerphilly)... and a brewery that, again, makes an interesting range of beers. They do a neat tasting tray - 4 tasting glasses for $10 a clever idea but not something micro-brewers can do in the UK thanks to our weights & measures rules (pints and half-pints only - or multiples of pints) (www.mtbeer.com and www.witcheschasecheese.com.au) - i later discovered that the Portland Hotel in Melbourne does the same kind of thing (www.portlandhotel.com.au) - "noice" as Kath &/or Kim would say....

Gae, Sheree & i stayed over in Burleigh Heads, on the Gold Coast, as the guests of Bianca & Vic - Bianca turfing her daughter Natasha out of her own bedroom so that i could sleep in there - i did say a very sheepish thank you to Natasha but a louder one mightn't go amis: thank you very much indeed, Natasha!

On Easter Monday i caught up with Michael & Kelli and the very sweet Samantha (8-months old) for lunch - some of you may remember meeting Michael & Kelli at the Bel & Dragon in Cookham - March 2006? - something like that - anyway, we had lunch at Eve's on the River - which was great (Gae & i had met the lovely Victoria there for a glass of wine a couple of days earlier) - Michael & Kelli insisted on paying for lunch which was extremely generous of them & then they took me back to Gae's house - such kindness! Now, the area where Eve's is and where Victoria lives is called Teneriffe (yes folks, double-ff). It has been called this for over 100 years & the Teneriffe wharves were the centre of the wool export trade. Now the old wharves have been turned into very fancy appartments & bars & restaurants - the area has been regenerated very nicely. I still don't know why they called it Teneriffe, though..

On Monday evening we were joined by Sheree's friend Vicki & went to Gae's new neighbour for a lovely meal - i won't mention the lady's name (Gae & co will know why) but it was lovely & she was very generous - and funnily enough we got around to talking about the Tiger Temple - of which more later....

I then flew back down to Melbourne - Gae very kindly taking me to the airport - and to an appointment that Gae had set up for me with Foster's - yes, the mighty Foster's :-) I met a very interesting HR lady and talked about the wine market in the UK & in Australia - I'd like to think i came across as knowing what i was talking about - which would have made a refreshing change :-))

I then caught up with Peter & Antoinette for dinner - well, i say dinner - more banquet - and Nicole Andrews joined us - so it made for a very convivial evening - we drank a Domain Day Saperavi 2004 - a modest 12.5 abv and very pleasant - but i wish Brown Brothers would make one as i'm sure Wendy & her team could produce a real stunner - we did then have the Brown Brothers Noble Riesling 2006, which was fabulous....

In a flight of fancy i then went back to Brisbane again - this time staying at the swanky Stamford Plaza - where Gae had got me a room upgrade to a very swish junior-suite (bigger than my flat), complete with stunning views over the river - and managed to get us a table at Ecco (they were fully-booked when i 'phoned) - by coincidence Ecco got a great review in that weekend's edition of the wine & food section in The Weekend Australian. Annie works at Ecco along with her boyfriend Alan - who is the Sommelier - the service was impeccable (obviously!); the food was extremely good and we had an excellent Albarinho (Spanish not Australian), too - a lovely weekend all round.....

So - having managed to lose some weight in South America - i proceeded to put it all back on in Australia :-)

I did not get time to visit everyone - nor did i have time to go up to Milawa - but i'll save that for my next trip down-under but in the meantime - thank you so much to Gae for her never-ending kindness & hospitality - long may the bright lights of Brisbane continue to shine ............