Associated Neighbours news

For anyone remotely interested (probably only Joe & Michael) we have just finished watching the first episode of "Steph's Show". This is the new reality show based around the pop career of Stephanie McIntosh who plays Sky Mangel in Neighbours. She is still in Neighbours over here but I dunno how far in advance they film so she may have left the show. The first episode revolved around the video shoot for her debut single (and theme to the show) "Mistake".

This was painfully derivative of the Ashlee Simpson Show. Yes, Steph can sing but the songs are just the usual teen-rock-pop that every american churns out. She even sings like an american. So in a bid to be different she has instantaneously turned into the australian Ashlee Simpson, but better looking. The video was the usual teen house party scenario, with the star rocking out at the end, performing the track to said group of teens. Unfortunately Steph is only 21 and so isn't a fallen star with an over inflated opinion of herself, a la Lisa Scott-Lee, otherwise this show might have been enjoyable in a car-crash TV kinda way. One cool discovery was that her half brother is the legendary Jason Donovan (no appearance on screen tho).

If you want some new Aussie pop tho check these laydeez out, they're basically a Pop Idol supergroup from the last couple of seasons. They've done a cover of Mousse T's "Right About Now" (which is an ace pop record) for a TV trail and just released their version of Donna Summer's "This Time I Know It's For Real".

PS. I've just listened to "Mistake" again whilst writing this and it's growing on me. The TV show was still boring tho.

Tourists at last

Greetings all, doesn't seem like a week since we last left a message. Things here are ticking along ok, but the big news is it actually stopped raining for a day or so and we finally got out to see the things that Sydney is famous for - the Harbour, Opera House and Bridge. It's strange how the sun affects things but the main part of the harbour (Circular Quay) looked amazing in the sun. There was a slight haze during the morning but that made the shoreline and bridge look even more fantastic. Plus we worked out how to put the little camera into black & white mode, making it look more dramatic in some of the new photos on our Flickr pages.

The Opera House is quite special though. I guess as everyone has seen photos of it, you almost feel a sense of "ok, seen that, what's next?" but it looked so much more amazing than the first days we saw it, when it just looked a bit beige and not as grand as expected. The queues for tours were huge so we can't report on the interior yet but our quick scoot around the outside makes you appreciate just how amazing this building is. It's almost like an iceberg as most of the bulk of the auditoriums is all below the ground. Considering it was designed back in 1957 and then took 14 years to build, it seems surprisingly modern. We'll get back over there a take some more arty photos with the big camera at some point.



After that was a nice stroll round the harbour, where a tempting offer of Sunday Roast in one of the quayside restaurants was too hard to resist. Whilst the gentle harbour waves lapped the quayside mere yards from our feet, the midday sun danced across the waves and across our table as we lunched on mustard-glazed roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, wall complimented with a nice... cup of proper English breakfast tea. How could I resist?

After that we discovered a coffee festival at The Rocks. Loads of different stalls selling both classic and bizarre blends of coffees, it all smelt fantastic. Plus there was an ice cream stall giving out samples of some wicked macadamia nut & chocolate ice-cream - which sorted out a bit of dessert following our roast. Plus Tash found a shoe shop with 4 floors. Thank god we have limited luggage space.

We've also done a bit more investigation around our neighbourhood, there are loads of really cool little parks dotted about and some of the older buildings look amazing. Most of the city centre was flattened and then rebuilt during the late 70s & 80s but the housing just out from the centre but before you get to the suburbs (i.e. places like Elizabeth Bay) is a like a cross between 20s & 30s style, Manhattan tower blocks and small New Orleans type terraces. All punctuated with posh Victorian townhouses. But we keep forgetting to take the camera out, so you'll have to take our word for it.

Aside from that Tash now seems to be over the worst of the Sydney Flu and we're already planning some further stages of our journey round Oz.

We're not jealous of the UK heatwave...honest!

Damn you all and your "highest July temperatures for god knows how many years" summer. There's even been pictures of lobster pink brits dancing about in the Trafalgar Square fountains on the news over here. Meanwhile in this land of bronzed bodies and golden sun it has been raining for the last 5 days, in fact today there has been a thunder storm. Although being kept indoors has been good for Tash as she still hasn't shaken off the Sydney Flu, which has morphed into a twenty-a-day style hacking cough.

So all we've really done is enjoy daytime tv, read lots, enjoying the media's love of Wolfmother and plan how on earth we're gonna get around this stupidly big country. My beard is also coming along too (including the ginger bits), see the new photo on the Flickr.

A quick hello..

Still not done much, but thought we'd quickly post to say hi to everyone. I seem to have caught the wonderful flu bug that is making its way round Sydney at the mo, which is lovely, and we worked out the other day that we're not going to see any summer type weather 'til we get to Cairns for a few weeks and after that it will be a Blighty summer next year - which you can guarantee will be no where near as glorious as what you have now!

We did however venture down to The Rocks on Saturday, which is Sydney's equivalent of Greenwich, which has a good weekend market, similar to Greenwich, its a really nice area, with an amazing view of the bridge, Opera House (which is cream, not white) and also houses Sydney's oldest pub - The Fortune of War.

For all you Neighbours fans out there, we won't get to see anyone 'til we get to Melbourne, so watch this space, but this is to keep you going in the mean time (especially for Mr Newble)

Izzy's Band

Bye!

G'day from down under..

Another original post title, but necessary. Being British, let’s first discuss the weather. It’s bloody freezing here, although our pictures show lovely blue skies and sunshine. Like those cold winter mornings during the Christmas holidays, when it hasn’t been raining and everything is dry, with the sun out, but still cold.

We've been here for nearly a week, and to be honest we haven’t really done a lot of sightseeing yet, more exploring. We've kinda come up trumps with our apartment, which, whilst it’s pretty basic inside and possibly in the noisiest block in the world, the location is amazing. Our first few Sydney pictures are taken from the bottom of our road. The harbours edge is no more than a hundred metres from our front door, and we're situated in Elizabeth Bay, which is on the western edge of the central part of Sydney. Lucky for us though, we're also 5 minutes the right way away from Kings Cross (or the Cross as it's "lovingly" referred to) which is very similar to Kings Cross at home, being not the most salubrious area in town. Libby Bay (the Aussies shorten EVERYTHING) is quiet and peaceful, and from what we've seen so far of Sydney centre, it's one of the nicest places you could hope to visit, and it also seems to be really affordable.

There is a slight American sense to everything, in the cars, the road signs and the styles of buildings, plus everyone is so much friendlier than you would think for a big city - why the hell do so many people from here go to London? Madness.

Disappointingly all those documentaries (or docos as they are listed in the TV guides) we used to watch as kids, such as Neighbours and Home & Away, have mislead us brits on the local lingo. Not once have we heard "you flamin' great galaa", "cobber" or anyone mention cooking all their food on a "barbie". However, "ute" is in common use and they're even allowed to use bloody in their advertising, such as "You can't beat our bloody great prices". Keef has been developing his accent to become a token Australian - every now and then, we get a "guide to the lingo", which has so far taught the words of "Sheila" - woman, "Tinny" - beverage and his favourite phrase of "The dingo’s got my baby". Strewth! No hats with corks on yet, either, but I’m still looking.

The only complaint we (or Tash) has is that Neighbours is so far ahead - we've lost 6 months - it’s mad. The normal TV over here is pretty good though, apart from Big Brother - it’s shockingly bad!

So, not really much to report -we're going to get ourselves sorted out with some plans of what we want to do whilst we're here, so hopefully next time we blog, we'll have more to tell!

KL extra

A few things we forgot to mention about KL.

1) The food was amazing. It tasted great cos everything is freshly cooked for you and the range was so diverse. It's also stupidly cheap - we were both able to eat at a noodle bar for about a pound each. Even McDonalds (no, we didn't go in, just had a look) was under 2 quid for an extra value meal and Burger King do unlimited refills on drinks. We did succumb to Starbucks Frappuccinos though, mainly due to them being about £1.20 each and cos it was so bloody hot. They're like grown up Slush Puppies anyway.

2) You're not allowed to canoodle in the taxis. No matter what the religion of the driver, heavy petting is not allowed (not sure if running or bombing is though).

3) There was a lot of Mr. Dudleys around. British men of all ages with "local" wives of all ages, but mainly your older, Rotary club, English gent and his late 30's, used-to-be-a-looker, south asian wife. No ladyboys, think that's more of a Thailand thing.

K 'n' T in KL...

Apologies for the title...Keef thought it was quite G'n'R, think its the influence of Rock Star Supernova that he is watching - A rock version of American Idol, with Tommy Lee replacing Simon C.

Anyways, we made it to Kuala Lumpur (or as everyone refers to it, KL) on Tuesday 4th July. Neither of us, quite ashamedly, knew exactly where KL was, in relation to the rest of Asia, but all we did and do know is that it is EXTREMELY close to the equator and there are no real seasons, except for constant summer, so no moaning back at home about your heat wave...;-)

Things in this part of the world are amazingly efficient when it comes to newer transport. We caught the train from the airport to KL central station, which took 28 minutes to travel the same distance as Medway to London (or so it told us; we weren't counting due to having had two flights in one day) Plus there was loads of room, even for the monkey Keef, and it was air conditioned, and had a T.V...But enough about the train - South Eastern trains take note! Incidentally, KL translates into Anglais as "Muddy confluence", which is thought to come from when the city was first used as a post for tin mining in 1857. So there!

We had a bit of trouble with the hotel, as they said that they hadn't received our booking, but after a few teary phone calls (me to my mum and dad) it was all sorted thanks to my lovely parents ;-)

So, what is there to say about KL? Firstly, it is an absolute shoppers paradise, which is hell for me (and Keef, although he wont admit it) being compulsive shoppers with no expendable cash or room to store anything. It’s so extremely hot, and a bit more touristy than Hong Kong, but it is less manic and claustrophobic, which is nice. I'd say it is a bit grubby, but not as stinky as HK in anyway, and in its own way it’s quite charming. This is probably down to the different Asian cultures, as there are large Chinese, Indian and Malay communities, and the thing that got Keef is that they are openly embracing 3 different religions side by side with no evident hassle is pretty amazing.

We walked for absolute miles today, as it was our only full day (photos of blisters not included on the flickr!) and visited some very cool places. We started of heading towards Merdeka Square, which is home to the world’s tallest flagpole. I need to point something out here. As with the Hong Kong trip, when Keef was slightly obsessed with the TIFC building, his KL obsession was with the flagpole and the Camel bank. Bless him. I can’t wait for Oz...lucky me. Anyway, Merdeka square has the Masjid Jamek mosque on one corner, St Mary’s church on the opposite corner and a fountain in the middle of a roundabout on the other corner. There is also the Sultans Palace one side and the Royal Selangor Cricket Club opposite that. Lots going on. But very nice to look at.

After that, we trekked through Chinatown to see the Sri Mahamariamman Temple (we could've bought a postcard of it but NO, we had to go and see it!) which turned out to be quite mental and I quote, from Keef "looks like someone built it in there spare time with unwanted Christmas ornaments". So well worth the blisters then!

We finally made our way to the Menara KL, after walking up the massively steep driveway and tons of steps, but it was really so very worth it for the absolutely fantastic views of KL. Being 1,379 feet above the city gave us a chance to see the Petronas Towers from a different vantage point (not craning our necks to see the top!) and they are truly stunning from up high. Unfortunately though, the heat haze from the city made it difficult to see the outskirts of KL, but what we did see was great.

Lastly, we wandered, or rather stumbled due to heat exhaustion (!) over to the Petronas Towers to see them up close. It’s quite scary how big they are, (1,485ft) and what is even scarier is that they've built a bigger building in Taiwan to rival them. Our pics don’t do the PT's justice. They are magnificent. It’s just a shame about all the guys hanging around the towers offering you bloody fake Rolex watches (again) all the time.

Just a little side note on the shopping "malls" as they are referred to here. I've already told Keef I'm coming back to shop and shop and shop. The malls are amazing, some are 4 times the size of Bluewater and Lakeside, and are just so incredible and plentiful that if you come to KL for one thing, come to shop. We did make one purchase, and that was a pair of Converse All Stars each, for about £15, which was a bargain.

Hopefully tomorrow we're having haircuts and pampering type stuff for about a tenner each, which is so unbelievably cheap, and then we're flying to Sydney via Singapore.

See you in Oz...

Hong Kong...At last...

So we're finally here, and have managed to get hold of a net connection for a while, although Hong Kong is nearly over and as July 1st was our first day away from blighty, we'll start there...

Day 1 - Not really too much to report, other than from what we can remember, we spent most of the day flying (and sleeping). The plane was very cool (we flew Virgin) and there were lots of boys toys to keep the big kid happy - it was like a giant sky plus, but Keef still managed to miss the last ten minutes of his film as we started to land ( he had had ELEVEN HOURS to watch it though!). Hong Kong airport is very flash, much nicer than Heathrow, but that is hardly difficult, sort of like Bluewater, even when it is busy, its not quite as bad as Chatham high street on a Saturday morning. We then had to get our way from the airport, to our hotel, which involved trains and taxis, and was very exciting considering the jet lag was just starting to set in. Nice! Oh, and there was a very helpful lady at the airport (who took a shine to old Keefy boy :-)) who taught us (well him) how to say "thank you" in Cantonese, without offending anyone. We did do some investigation, but this was mainly of our room, (dumping our stuff and falling asleep) which turned out to be a suite for less money than a premier travel inn back home!

Day 2 - Well, we finally woke up about 4pm Hong Kong time (Keef woke up about 2pm, but I needed that extra beauty sleep :-)) and after getting ourselves up and vaguely alive, we decided that it would be fun to go investigating. So as the door from the lovely, air conditioned lobby opened, the beautiful...local stench and full impact of 40 degree heat hit us. There is no other way to describe this heat as close and intense, and absolutely smothering. This is not just us being moany Brits, it is just ridiculous, and hard to describe unless you've experienced it for yourself. We wandered for a good few miles, and after Keef's excellent map reading skills, we handed ourselves over to the Brewins radar/instinct. Lo and behold, mere minutes later, we found ourselves standing under the Golden arches (For those of you not so familiar with this family trait, it is impossible for a Brewins family trip/holiday not to involve finding a Mc Donalds, in some unexpected place and at a ridiculous hour of the night. 'Tis a gift!).

Day 3 - Didnt get off to the best of starts, seeing as we managed to have a whole three hours sleep due to the damn jet lag. We had to get up and be ready for a morning harbour cruise that our friends Avril and John had bought as a present for us, and were supposed to be picked up at 10:15 am from our hotel. By about 10:45am, when we were getting odd looks from the hotel concierge for loitering in the lobby, Keef phoned the local tour operator who told us that they had no record of us needing to be picked up, and that 10:15 was in fact when the boat left the harbour. That wasn't what it said on our booking we had, so City Discovery are going to get a blasting! It also doesn't help that the local operator was so nice and friendly, so its hard to stay mad about it, although we're gutted we missed it. So, after faffing about with that and what we were going to do, we finally decided to walk to Soho, the main shopping district of Hong Kong Island, and have a mooch in the shops - it has to be done, not for purchasing anything, but because its so bloody hot outside, that you have to cool down inside as all the shops have air con (which does then drip on you when you get back outside!).

Bearing in mind that it was about 100 degrees today, we then thought it would be a good idea to trek all the way over to the middle of Hong Kong Island to the Victoria Peak. But I'm not complaining - it was amazing. You can see from the photos on flickr that the views were amazing. And you can understand why the more affluent live up here, as it is cooler than downtown, and less humid. However, all the money in the world wouldn't make me live up there. One reason. You have to get a tram up the steepest incline I have ever seen in my life. There are steps most of the way up the Peak for the locals, but even they stop at this incline. And to top it all, you come down BACKWARDS. Enough said.

As we missed our cruise :-( we thought we'd do the next best thing and take the Star Ferry over to Kowloon (the mainland of Hong Kong). It took about ten minutes and was enough boat action for me, although Keef loved it, doing his photographer bit out of the window! Kowloon was okay, lots of shops and men (although none of them Chinese) trying to sell you fake watches and entice you into their computer shops or tailors. We also saw the token British louts, outside Starbucks with their shirts off and beers in hand. Makes you miss home even less! One good thing that did come out of it was a more charming reminder of home - of all the places in the Empire they could've chosen to name a road after, why this one?

So, that's about it for Hong Kong. Kowloon gave us the opportunity to appreciate the Hong Kong island sky line, and it was fab. The Peak was amazing, if not a bit scarey to get to. And just so you know, the big building in most our photos (that Keef was obsessed with) is the Two International finance Centre, which is the largest sky scraper in Hong Kong, and the 4th largest in the world, at 88 storeys high. Seeing the sky scrapers with the Peak behind them kind of sums up Hong Kong,. Its so strange how you don't get bugged in the street, just because you're a tourist, they let you go about your business in a very British kind of way, but unlike the British they are very friendly. The strangest thing was at about 1pm in Soho, when it was lunchtime, and the throng of people was incredible. You can see in the pictures the sheer volume of people, and that is never ending.

Would we recommend Hong Kong? Yes. Would we come again? No. Its probably the best place to spend just 48 hours in, you don't need anymore or anyless.

Roll on Kuala Lumpur....