Last month I wrote about my niece Pip’s wedding to Hugh Smith. 

This month it’s her brother Patrick who ‘ tied the knot’

So once again the family gathered but in  very different way to Pip’s wedding.

This one was held south of Port Macquarie at a small beachside town called Bonny Hills. I had searched for a place to stay and found a Big 4 Cabin park just near the beach , close to the vineyard and the surf club. Perfect.

We drove down from Brisbane on Friday afternoon with Jordan and Rob tucked into the back seat along with snacks and drinks and Steve up front with me supplying him with lollies to keep his blood sugars high!

We stopped at Little Italy just north of Grafton for a coffee and a quick tour of the museum. It was an area that a group of Italians made home back in the 1880’s after they missed New Zealand and found Australia.  They set to work and made a life for themselves in the timber industry in the area.

A short dinner break was made at Port Macquarie at around 7.30 and we finally got to the cabins at about 9pm All up about an 8 hour drive! My sister Catherine, David and her daughter Clare had arrived earlier and were settled in their cabin which turned out to be really comfortable.

The next morning we spent walking on the beach , catching up with other relatives and watching our children- all cousins having fun together – just like when they were little kids. They went for a surf and then ‘played’ in the water park in the grounds of the cabin park. Such great fun.

After some some lunch washed down with lovely champagne we got ourselves all glammed up and left for the ceremony at the Long yard vineyard about 10 mins away.

The weather was perfect as we walked down the gravel drive to the deck where the wedding was held and Patrick and his bride Lauren looked wonderfully happy and so beautiful.

The cousins  ( except Pete who was missed) had fun together posing for photos and then we danced the night away.

There is something wonderful about family weddings. They are such happy occasions for bringing people together.

We can now look forward to the trifecta of the cousins weddings with Peter and Elena’s wedding in Cambodia in December. A little further to travel but it will be a fun happy wedding and somewhat different to the ones we have been to already this year .

Unfortunately  I heard I didn’t get the Senior Internship! There were 5,000 applications! Enough said!

Are you heading to Paris over the next few months? 

Lots of my friends seem to be heading to this gorgeous city and have asked for some suggestions about things to do other than the ‘big iconic sights’.

It always seems best , to me,  to spend as much time in one city as you can than to jump around and Paris is no exception. Stay as long as you can, to discover the side of Paris most people miss.

As you probably know Paris is divided into Arondissemnts – a bit like suburbs, but given a number. It also has the Seine to divide it into Left Bank and Right Bank. So depending on where you stay you can explore Paris yourself, mostly on foot, and discover so much as you go.

How To Start: 

1. Choose the Arondissement you wish to stay in. I have stayed both Left and Right bank and love the 4th or lower Marais ( and the 3rd or upper Marais)  A very close second is 6th into the 7th. Not the touristy end of St Michel and Saint Germaine.

2. Do see the ‘ big sights’ this means : The Eiffel Tower , the Louve, Musee D’Orsay, the Tulleries. However it’s best to incorporate them into your general wandering in Paris.

4. Plan your days – this can include wandering the Arondissements but with an end in mind.

A few of my Favourite Things: which Arondissement to stay and play?

1.   4th Arondissement: Marais.  It’s narrow streets hint at its medieval background and give it an intimate feel. It’s full of artisans and craftsmen and lots of lovely boutiques. It’s also open Sunday when other areas are all closed. So plan this area on a Sunday.

Some of the places to stop in the Marais:

The wonderful Carnavalet Museum which is housed in a building of such beauty with secret gardens  it has you feeling you are away from the crowds. It tell of the history of Paris.

Place de Voges a wonderful peaceful square to walk or sit in peace and watch the fashionable Parisians.

Explore the Village of St Paul and down to the Seine and cross on Pont Marie to the wuaint Ile Saint Louis

Take a walking tour of the area. Usually around 10euro for about 2-3 hours it is a great way to get the history of the area.

2. The 6th Arondissement: this is an area of such beauty. Grand buildings and tree lined avenues and the fabulous Luxemburg Gardens. I once spent a beautiful,  warm, winter November Sunday in the gardens just observing, taking photos and being peaceful. You can settle on one of the thousand green metal chairs and watch chess players, tennis matches, bocce, children riding miniature cars and ponies, families sailing boats on the lake, lovers walking hand in hand, old men chatting, cyclists and coffee drinkers. It’s a snap shot of Paris and costs nothing.

Some places to stop: 

The Luxemburg Gardens. A must

Bon Marche a department store to tempt even if it’s just in the food hall.

The book stores off Saint Germaine. Including my absolute favourite Shakespeare and Co which is technically in the 5th but definitely worth a visit.

The design and decorating stores are great for window shopping, the florists bursting with colour, the fashion boutiques,  usually the higher end ones which seem friendlier  than their sister shops over in the 8th Arondissement. The tea houses – Laduree for one and cafes made famous by the writers,  Cafe de Flore, Deux Magots and the Lipp. Take time to stop and have a drink or coffee. No one will mind if you sit with one drink and observe those passing.

Streets to explore:Pace de Furstemberg and the Delacroix Musem.  Rue e Buci with all it boutiques and designer stores, Rue Jacob, Rue Saint- Andre des Arts.  And if you feel like a big walk wander along Rue de Varenne and find the thoughtful Rodin Museum, across past the Invalides and follow Rue Saint Doinique to Parc Champ de Mars and the view to the Eifeel Tower. Then visit it! Make sure you make regular stops for Coffee, ice cream, French Patisserie. I promise you there are lots of places to stop along the way.

If you are now exhausted catch the no 69 local bus back. It winds its way back to the 6 th,  along the Seine crosses at Pont de Carrousel in front of the Louve then turns right and follows Rue De Rivoli, past the great Musee Palais Royal, the Hotel de Ville through the Marais to Bastille ( visit the New Opera House). It continues all the way to the Pere Lachaise Cemetry where you can easily wander or take a tour of all the famous people buried here.

What value for money! I’ve taken this bus many times. It’s slower than the metro but it passes so many places of interest and you can easily hop on and off with the price of a ticket that lasts 2 hours.

A Few More Favourite Things! 

Jacquemart-Andre Museum on Boulevard Haussmann in the 8th. A beautifully decorated mansion house with a fabulous tea house for lunch.

Museum of Decorative Arts: a treasure trove of things artistic. Palais du Louve Rue de Rivoli in the 1st.

Visit at least one tea salon: Laduree in Ave Champs Élysées in the 8th, Mariage Freres in Rue Bourg- Tibourg in the 4th or Angelina in Rue Rivoli in the 1st.

Take a walking tour of Montmartre. Definitely worth it to get the history or the place. Follow with lunch or a drink on the terrace at Hotel Terrasse on Rue Joseph de Maistre ( near the Cimetiere de Montmartre) with its view of the Eiffel Tower

Get a haircut. What an experience. Search on this blog for ‘A hair raising day’

In fact read my blog from my two week stay in Paris in October. 2012. Search Paris. 

Please tell me about your favourite things to do in Paris. Just use the Comments Box. I’d love to hear from you

Would we regret our decision to hit the thermal pool this morning?

Would there be too many people there to enjoy it? After visiting yesterday afternoon I was slightly concerned the thermal pools would be awash with cocktails and pee.

But I need not have worried. It was amazing.

Listening to to the heavy rain last night I was lulled to sleep wondering if our time at Coromandel would be grey and rainy but the morning was clear and blue, so after breakfast at Diana,  our absent B&B hostess’ house / apartment,  we arrived at Lost Springs.

A quick change and we were easy for some therapeutic action.

We started in the warm pool and would work our way up to the hot pool –  it was gorgeous. So relaxing, so calming and so much fun.   I floated and flipped,   we chatted and laughed , we drank water and moved to the hotter pool. Oh boy ! like a massage without the rubbing hands.

We took a break and ordered drinks. No big cocktails for us – though I do think my therapy girls group would love a day in this magic place. With cocktails!

Our 2 hours for $38 came to an end and we showered off and made it to the car for the second part of our trip to Coromandel. We were heading for the Driving Creek railway. Rockin’ rollin’ ridin’

Along the way we saw the most amazing sights.

Driving Creek Railway and Potteries is the vision of Barry Bricknall,  who started his career as a science teacher but quickly  moved on and became a potter. He was collecting clay from the hills in the area and eventually starting building a 15 gauge rail line up through the forested area above Coromandel town. It’s become a very profitable business and is a great way to see the views. We had a great ride and loved the views.

The afternoon was one of those perfect weather days, so we explored the area a little and nearly took a swim in the bay near Coromandel.

Talk about a letter box with a view! They look like mini beach shacks.

We finished the day with an evening walk, a drink at the pub and a delicious dinner at Peppertree restaurant. Try it if you are in the area.

So an end to a beautiful day. Thank you Wilsons.

  Come and swim in NZ said our swim trekking friends. Why not! 

So a quick trip was planned to visit Kim and David Parker in Mellons Bay Auckland. Chris and Jill Wilson decided to come along with us to recreate our swim trek group from Greece in 2014. 

  There is a big ocean swim with about 1200 swimmers setting off on Saturday and I won’t be one of them. In one day it’s turned cool and without a wet suit I would freeze. Wimp I know! Steve of course will go bare! Well not completely – he will have on his budgies. Our friends swim in wet suits and who could blame them here in NZ. They swim most of the year in the bays and the ocean around the North Island. They breed them tough in NZ. 

Our flight out was at 8.30 but due to the customs strike were told to get there early. So bright and early we were in a taxi and straight through customs! So we sat in the lounge, had breakfast until boarding time and met up with my friend  Fi from Mahjong. 

Landing we saw the long white cloud that told us we were coming into NZ. We welcomed ourselves by posing under the carved tiki in the arrivals area. 

  
Off to Mellons Bay and our friends Kim and David, our Greek swim trek friends. They have a cream house set in a very well tended green garden with lots of white flowers – my favourite,  with views towards the bay. 

Kim had prepared a Greek feast to relive days spent in the Cyclades and with champagne and red wine we managed to settle in and have a wonderful night. 
Next Morning: 

Feeling very guilty we wandered out for breakfast around 9, well after David had left for work and Kim had had her hour long walk along the foreshore. Chris and Jill arrived – late-  from Mandy’s B&B and we set off for the city. 

 Auckland is a water city. It is surrounded by bays and waterways and we drove the slow route around the bay into the Botanic gardens. The boys were going to the War Memorial and the girls to that other shrine – a shopping area called Newmarket. 

Lots of eclectic boutiques with the latest fashions. The colour navy, in lace and sheers for layering seems to be favoured by the many NZ fashion designers. And there are lots of them. We visited Nicola Waite, Trelease Cooper, Verge, Briarwood just to mention a few. 

Kim proved to be a keen tour guide as we meandered from one boutique to the next. No big shopping malls here. Lots of little streets and lanes with individual boutiques and fashionable sales girls modelling the latest. I gave up resisting and bought a simple shift dress from Briarwood. It has the most beautiful fabric and simple design. Hope it turns out to be a winner! 

Jill definitely won the shopping! She bought 2 pairs of pants and 3 tops. She’ll may have to employ the de littering hints we read about in NZ’s Women’s Weekly. 

We met the boys for lunch and heard stories of what they had seen at the Museum. Coming in at the tail end of the conversation I heard about NZ’s  mower  – ( really their Moa ) and thought that’s strange having a mower at the Museum! 

Tonight we wandered up to the ‘local village’ and sat in the ‘Library’ of the local hotel. Quite charming. I do wish I lived near a little village like this. Such a great selection of shops from fashion to food, hardware to bookshops, cafes and restaurants. We had a hearty dinner so the swimmers would be fuelled up for their race tomorrow. Kim, David and Steve are doing the Beach to Bay ocean swim. A mere 3.5 km of swimming in the bay. So a fairly sober night for some of us!  

   
If you have handy hints for Auckland please share them in the Comments Box. 

We’re in Melbourne for a few days whilst Steve works and I ‘support’.

We started with dinner on Monday night with our friends Valda and Guy. A short stroll down Toorak Rd from St Kilda road, past Faulkner Park and into Memories – a little Chinese restaurant. Lovely staff included 3 young Chinese girls who reminded us of the song ‘Three little maids from school are we….’  They moved around serving together and made a very sweet picture. Our braised pork and seafood plate were very good and the green beans delicious.

Australia Day: Tuesday morning we were up early and in a taxi for the short ride to Parliament House for the annual Australian Unity Australia Day Breakfast. Rob and Jordan scored an invitation so we met them there looking very smart and lowering the average age of the assembled crowd.

The breakfast guest speaker – Prof Ian Harper – spoke very well about the economic picture of Australia since settlement. Very succinct. The singer this year was Deborah Cheetham, an Indigenous Opera singer who composed and performed a wonderful piece for the opening of the Sydney Olympics.

From there we went back to the hotel for a change of clothes, then out to St Kilda to meet my school friend Petrina, husband Lynwood daughter in law Emily and cute Grandson Henry.

Republica restaurant was perfect for an Australia Day lunch. Right on the beach. Loads of families,  young people, hipsters and  passers by of all shape, size and ethnicity. Lunch was lamb of course. We had a great time eating,  drinking then walking along the boardwalk in an effort to walk off the food and drinks and observe Melbourneians at play.

A really great fun lunch and as luck would have it, I’m now in possession of a few free tickets to the tennis in Thursday. Emily has a friend who gave her 2 tickets for the 11am session Thursday. Up in the Gods but hey they are free so I’m in!

  
Back to hotel for recovery before a drink with one of Steve’s fellow board members.

Crashed into bed!

Victoria’s Art Gallery NGV

Wednesday – kissed Steve good bye at 7.30 and planned my day.

A tram ride to NGV to see their latest big exhibition  – Andy Warhol and Ai Wei Wei. On the way in I ran into friend Cathy Campbell and her husband.

The exhibition is great. If you are coming to Melb try and see it.

  

Wonderful parallel shows.

From here I went next door and booked a ticket to Pennsylvania a one women show by Betnadette Robinson    For tonight , when Steve goes to a fancy restaurant for his board dinner.

From the arts precinct – into the city to browse and visit the Manchester Unity building on the corner of Collins and Swanston St. It’s a beautiful Art Deco building slowly being restored by a Chinese man who owns Smile dentists  and has bought the whole building. It’s looking very beautiful and will be great when more public areas are incorporated.

  
Further wandering concluded with an ice cream in a deck chair at Federation square watching Murray play Ferrer.

Now it’s risotto for dinner watching the rain pour down before leaving for the theatre. It should stop before I leave I hope.

Tomorrow – the tennis.

Just got in from the theatre. What a performance by Bernadette Robinson. She had a one woman show a few years ago where she played a girl in the dressing room and sang lots of songs impersonating other performers. This was similar but she was an assistant to several Presidents of the USA. She told their story and her own and sang songs by performers such as Marilyn Munro, Barbra Striesand, Tammy Wynette, Diana Ross …….. Great show.

Now waiting for Steve. I wonder what he had for dinner.

Lots of friends ask me tips for choosing the best hotel , apartment & B&B. 

Admittedly I do spent a crazy amount of time selecting but over the years I have become better at finding  good accommodation. 

These are my guidelines. 

1. When you know where your are going start by googling that place and usually I’ll then go to Booking.com. I have signed up for an account and this pays off because the more you use it to book the more points you earn towards better deals. I also like to use it because all the bookings  made ( or even cancelled ) are kept on your account. This is a good reference when suggesting places to friends. It also often lets you book but often allows cancellation without penalty. 

2. Then you put your destination in and dates (if you know them ) and when the list comes up I go straight to the map and look at the locations. It’s no good finding what sounds like a great hotel but then finding its away from the main part of town or city. 

3. Browse a few to compare. Look at prices and features and read reviews. I focus more on the negatives. If there are just a few picky type negatives I tend to go to trip advisor to see the reviews there and compare. Be careful to check air con if it’s summer, stairs if no lift, parking ……

4. I always Google earth the location and look at the satellite view to see if it’s next to something bad – major highway, tip, railway line. 

5. Make a booking but be sure you can cancel without penalty. In peak times this is very important because things book out very easily. You can always cancel if something changes or you find another place. 

6. Look on Trip advisor reviews for room tips. They are usually at the end of a review if someone mentions the room they liked. Then if you get a few tips put that in your booking request. Eg: first floor away from the street. 

The only time I have broken my own rule on location I was sorry. I had thought it was too far away from the action! But  I booked anyway. And despite the good reviews of  great breakfast , good beds , free bikes, all day tea coffee …… I would prefer a great location. 

I’ve got good lists of places to stay particularly in Italy and France so email me if you want some advice. 

brisbanefrannie@gmail.com