Great ocean road tour

Stopped at airey's inlet for coffee and morning tea. Light rain.

Just stopped at apollo bay hotel for lunch. Very nice fish and chips

Tuesday

Just went out and did some more window shopping and sightseeing today.

I have been looking for a small suitcase that is small enough as carry-on or can be locked and checked. I was looking for one that a good exterior pocket that the laptop would fit in. I finally found one that I really liked.

Melbourne has turned on another wet day so I came back to the hotel and had lunch in the restaurant and then confirmed the bookings and pickup for the Great Ocean Road Tour I have booked for tomorrow.

Wine Tour

Went on the Yarra Value Wine Tour today.

We visited four Wineries during the day. The first was Yering Station (Yering is the region of the Yarra Valley).

The guide showed explained the steps in wine tasting. We had about 45 minutes at that winery.

We moved on to Balgownie Estate Winery. We had seven wines to taste here. After the tasting we had lunch in there restaurant. A mix of Americans, British, Portuguese , Italian and Australians on the tour (20 people).

The next stop was Yering Farm Winery. This is a much smaller operation and they don't sell to many place except restaurants and door and mail order sales. Some of there wines were in my opinion some of the best. The best thing they had to taste was not wine but there apple cider. Haven't had such a lovely cider in years.

The last stop was Domaine Chandon for a tour of the winery and a visit to the Riddling Room where the wine is stored during fermentation and it is rotated to collect the yeast in the neck of the bottle.

It was about 14 degrees and we had wine tasting and cheese and chutney.

As we were about to leave an almost tropical storm hide us so we waited till it started to ease off so we could run to the bus.

Got some wine to pack to bring back with me. The Winery was selling a very neat solution (Wineskin). It is a thick bottle shaped plastic bag lined with bubble wrap and a watertight (wine-tight) seal at the bottom to prevent leakage if there is a breakage.

Changed plans

Was going on a wine tasting tour today but got a call from company asking if I could go tomorrow instead.

As that was fine I have been window shopping in Melbourne. Bought a few small items and resisted others (especially books). There are too many book shops in Melbourne. I didn't want to buy any more books as I still need to sort out my current collection.

Just having a coffee at the Queen Victoria shopping centre.

Lords of Time 2

Had a great time today at the convention.

The first talk of the day was Charley Hayes and Nev Fountain. The names might not be familiar but they work for Big Finish and also Charley is Wendy Padbury's daughter and Nev is Nicola's husband.

Had photos taken with

Deborah Watling
Wendy Padbury
Frazer Hines
Richard Franklin
Mark Strickson
Paul McGann
Daphne Askbrook
Nicola Bryant

Wendy,Deborah and Frazer gave a very entertaining talk about working with Patrick Troughton

Had lunch at the table with Nicola,Richard and Deborah

Richard Franklin talked about his career before and since Doctor Who.

We then had Nicola and Mark talk about there careers

The last talk was Daphne and Paul.

We then went to collect our autographs from the guests.

Lords of Time 2

After a quiet day I went to the opening events at the Lords of Time 2 convention.

After collecting my tickets I went to the cocktail party.

Got to meet

• Paul McGann and Daphne Ashbrook  who were in the 1996 Doctor Who Film.
• Deborah Watling, Frazer Hines and Wendy Padbury who were all companions to the Second Doctor (Patrick Troughton)
• Richard Franklin who played Captain Mike Yates during the Pertwee era of Doctor Who.
• Nicola Bryant who played Peri Brown with Peter Davison and then Colin Baker.

A nice area so people could circulate and talk (No loud music).

After the cocktail party Daphne Ashbrook performed some songs. After a small delay caused by 'Windows Media Player not responding' problem the concert was great.

Looking forward to tomorrow.

In Melbourne

Bit bumpy on approach to Melbourne, but not the worst conditions (That was at Canberra) I have flown in.

Very low cloud cover at Tullamarine.

The reason the plane was late into Hobart was that a thunderstorm hit Melbourne while it was loading luggage.

I am glad that my luggage is hard shell design as every soft bag that came out on the carousel was very wet. The  baggage tag on my luggage was soaking wet. I am very glad I bought this suitcase. It has survived a lot of travel in the past two years with only a few scuff marks.

Waiting at Airport.

Arrived at Hobart Airport early after dropping off the car at the parking place. The flight is delayed 25 minutes due to weather in Melbourne. QANTAS Club is packed with people waiting for this flight.

I am looking forward to the Doctor Who convention on Friday night and Saturday.

Booked myself a Yarra Valley Wine Tour for Sunday and a Great Ocean Road Tour for Wednesday along with planning for some shopping and a visit to the shop that I bought the 3D printer from.

Wine Tour

Went on a Barossa Valley Wine Tour today.

We stopped a couple of times for breaks during the trip to the Barossa so we could take a break.

The first was the Largest Rocking Horse/Toy Factory.

Unusual Toilet Signs

The tour visited the following wineries

Wolf Blass

Kaesler

Grant Burge @ Krondorf

We stopped at a lookout so we could take in a view of some of the Barossa.

Kies Family Winery

Also had lunch at the Vine Inn at Nioopta.

Only a small bus (16 people). So it was easy to get to taste a good selection of wines at each winery.

The tour guide (and driver) Hana was very knowledgable about the region and the wine making process (Trained as a wine maker).

A variety of people on the tour Australians (two others from Hobart),UK,Canada and Sweden so it was an interesting group to spend the day with.

On the way back to Adelaide we stopped at the Whispering Wall which a water storage dam where the you can stand at side of the dam and whisper and be heard on the other side. Just the same as the whispering gallery at St Paul's in London.

The tour company drops you back where they picked you up which was good so I didn't have to walk far in the heat.

As the day was so hot I just retreated to the hotel room after getting back from the tour and ordered room service for dinner and started to pack.

The tour company has other tours of South Australia so I will probably be booking some of those when I am there in April next year for OzComiccon.

Supanova Sunday

Went to the Supanova Convention today

The first thing for today was  Terry Molloy's talk. He is a very talented actor. He kept the audience entertained for 45 minutes. He did a reading of speech by as Davros and it is quite a chilling performance.

Had lunch between these talks.

Went on to the George R R Martin interview. He is certainly interesting.

Moved onto to Zoie Palmer and she was very entertaining.

She was joined by Sean Maher (Firefly) near the end of her Q&A as he was up next in that room.

Decided to stay and watch his talked instead of going to Dominic Monaghan who was on in another location.

Moved onto Michelle Fairley Q&A.

I decided to call it a day and walked back to the and then went to the pub (Elephant and Castle) down the road for dinner.

Am going on a Wine tour tomorrow before flying back on Tuesday.

Supanova Saturday

Great first day at Supanova in Adelaide.

Got all of the autographs and photo's that were included in my ticket

Photo's and Autograph's

Dominic Monaghan - Lost and FlashForward and Lord of the Rings

All of his photo shoots conflicted with other things that I wanted to do

Lena Headey 

She couldn't attend Adelaide but they gave all of the VIP ticket holders an autographed photo. Choice of Games of Thrones or Sarah Connor.

Virignia Hey - Farscape

Terry Molloy and Dalek - Davros in Doctor Who

Zoie Palmer - Lost Girl

Michelle Fairley - Game of Thrones

Gary Jones - Stargate SG1

Also went to Garry Chalk's (Stargate SG1) talk. He is a very talented vocal artist and does lot of voice work for animated shows.

They had a cocktail party for the VIP ticket holders at La Boheme in Central Adelaide. Most drinks were on the convention. Quite crowded when all of the VIP and guest were present.

Walked back to the hotel to clear my head.

The Adelaide showgrounds are more modern and has airconditioning that was coping with the temperature outside and the large crowd.

The advantage of the VIP pass is to get to the front of every queue (Photos and Autograph) and front row seating in all of the talks. But you then have to wait for the next activity to start.

They certainly did pretty well in the food catering for the attendee's. Plenty of food vendors  on the site so the queues were reasonably short.

Supanova Adelaide Opening Night

Went to the opening of Supanova Adelaide last night (friday).

Went to an interesting talk about tintin (herge) after the opening.

Adelaide

On my way to adelaide for Supanova for the weekend. Back late tuesday.

Melbourne airport

Just checked in. Just swipe Frequent flyer smartcard and check luggage with smart tag.

Dont fly out till 14:55 but will use the Qantas lounge until then.

Sunday at Armageddon

Got some more autographs. Sunday morning is a good time as it is fairly quiet at the convention. Added Ian McNeice,Simon Fisher-Becker and Norman Lovett (Holly).

Went to Claudia Black's Session. She is probably a bit more like Vala from Stargate than Aeryn from Farscape.

Then Ty Olsen from Supernatural/Defying Gravity and Eureka. It was quite a noisy panel and some one in the audience told him they had just got a text from a friend who was in the Norman Lovett talk next more that we were being very loud so Ty got us to make more noise for a moment. Very interesting guest. He was Sheriff Andy in Eureka for a few episodes.

Got my photos with Ben Browder and Claudia Black, Tony Amendola,Claudia, and a group Doctor Who shot (Cheaper than getting all of them separately).

Everyone was sweating as it was 30 outside and a lot hotter inside the Showgrounds Pavilion. I went through a lot of water during the day (at $4 a bottle).

Went to the Corey Feldman talk about half way through so I could wait around for the Billy Boyd one that followed. They seemed to have lost track of Corey and he didn't turn up. Seemed he wasn't feeling well.

It was worth the wait for Billy Boyd (LOTR and Space Milk Shake). He is a really entertaining fellow. He had the attention of the audience for an hour. He realised that a lot of use were getting tired after a long day in the heat and not because of boredom.

Asked a question about the working environment on Space Milk Shake. A lot of footage couldn't be used because the camermen,sound operator were laughing at cast antics.

Armageddon Expo Melbourne 2013

Collected a number of autographs today include Tony Amendola (Stargate/Once Upon a Time),Dwight Shultz (A-Team/Startrek/Stargate) and Dan Starkey (Strax) and Claudia Black (Farscape/Stargate).

Also went to the talks by Ian,Simon,Catrin and Dan. Ian and Simon are just great.

Am having dinner tonight with the four Doctor Who Guests (Ian,Simon,Catrin and Dan)

Just got out of a film showing at Armageddon Expo. They showed 'Space Milk Shake'.  Very funny. Can't wait to buy a copy but they are having trouble with distribution at the moment. Billy Boyd introduced the film.

I thought of a number of films that I have really enjoyed while watching it including Alien,The Quiet Earth and Green Slime and the TV series Quark.

Just an idea or scene that reminded me of each of these films.

Just had dinner with the four Doctor Who Guests. There were two tables and the guests swapped after the main course so we got to talk to all of them. Am getting a group Doctor Who Photo with them as well as Ben Browder.

Having Lunch

Just having some lunch after the last Doctor Who talk today (Catrin Stewart and Dan Starkey).

Going to get Claudia Black autograph and then goto a film showing at 4pm (Space milk shake) then dinner tonight with the doctor who guests.

Armageddon expo melbourne

Just collecting autographs (Tony Amendola,Dwight Schultz and Dan Starkey) at Armageddon Expo.

Caught the last half of Ian Mcneice's (Winston Churchill) talk.Very entertaining.

Home

Finally got the gate assignment for my flight in Melbourne.

I realised how tired I was when after watching the safety demo (Could almost deliver it) I must have fallen asleep as the next thing I remember is waking up to the announcement that we were at 23,000 feet and climbing to cruise altitude.

They served afternoon tea (Salmon with a light salad) and that kept me busy for a while.

We had to wait to land at hobart for a few minutes. Three aircraft left Tullamarine (Virgin, Jetstar and Qantas) within 5 minutes of each other. I was wondering which would get to Hobart first.

Virgin followed by Jetstar and then Qantas.

Finally got my luggage as it was obviously loaded first and so unloaded last.

Thought I might have to wait for a taxi but there was no queue and two taxi's waiting.

Nice to be home.

Turned back one everything that I had turned off for safety reasons and it all worked.

Went to the local shop and got some food for dinner and then went to bed. Woke up this morning at about 3:00am and cant get back to sleep.

Flying

Left Chicago on schedule at 18:40 and arrived at Dallas half an hour early and had to wait on the tarmac until the plane occupying our gate left. This is the first time I have flown on a MD-80 aircraft. It is a about the size of the A319 but has one very unusual feature.

There is one extra escape slide deployed from the tail of the aircraft. The cone at the rear of the aircraft can be removed. Only used on land otherwise it would flood the aircraft.


Dallas Fort Worth is a great airport (Thanks Tim). Has a train running between all of the terminals inside of the security perimeter. The train arrived at the gate from which my flight was due to leave and they had a staff member waiting to direct people to the Qantas flight.

My seat on the 747-400 was on the upper deck.The only problem with these was that when I stood up too fast I hit my head on the overhead lockers. Other than that they are the same seats as the A380, so you can lay flat and get some sleep.

As usual in Business Class they feed you too well. We had a meal after departure and they let us get some sleep and then gave us breakfast about 2:00am Brisbane time.

The best gadget I took with me was the Casio G-Shock watch. You just change the city you are in and it knows the timezone so I just changed to Chicago and it reset itself.

A flight of nearly 16 hours and 13,500 km's in one hit is long but being able to get some sleep helped.

Discovered that this flight actually goes to Sydney as well as Brisbane. But I don't think it would have been any quicker as they get all the passengers off at Brisbane and back through security before waiting an hour to re-board the same plane to Sydney.

Not many people got off at Brisbane because there was no queue for Customs and only about 10 people waiting to collect luggage. Got my luggage and re-checked it through to Hobart.

Although I had to wait about an hour for my flight to Melbourne it would have been about the same.

Waiting in the Melbourne Qantas Lounge for my next flight (14:55) to Hobart.

I am still feeling a little bit sleepy but I don't think the jet-lag is going to be too bad on this leg. Looking forward to getting home.

My flight arrives at 16:10 today.

Waiting

Decided to get some dinner as the flight doesn't depart until 18:40 and I don't know whether we will get a meal.

Got a Reggio's Pizza (Small). Very Tasty but wouldn't want to eat it every day.

There are a lot of food choice's but I thought McDonalds or Asian was pretty routine.

They have checked my luggage all the way to Hobart.

The flight to Dallas is 2:30 and I have 1:05 in Dallas to change planes and then a 16 hour flight to Brisbane.

Then Brisbane to Melbourne and a 5 hour wait then onto Hobart.

At O'Hare

Waiting for my flight after passing through security.

O'Hare is bigger than Melbourne/Sydney Airport

Packing and Travel

I have had such a busy weekend at the convention I haven't had time to do anything.

It started at 9:00 on Saturday and finished as 11:00 pm after the autograph sessions.

Sunday started early at 08:00 and finished about 7:00pm with photo shoots.

I got all of the autographs and photos I wanted. It was a lot of waiting in queues for photos and autographs but great fun.

I went on a bus tour of Chicago yesterday (Monday). It was one of those Hop-on/off tours and it gave me a chance to see the city. Got a free T-Shirt with the ticket which was advertising for the company.

Took a lot of photo's. I think I will need to replace the battery in the Panasonic camera as it is not lasting long enough.

Just packing for the flight from Chicago to Dallas and then on to Brisbane and then Melbourne and then Hobart. I will get into Hobart about 16:00 on the 22nd August (about 30 hours total) this includes waiting in Melbourne for 5 hours. About time for lunch though between flights.

Looking forward to getting home. This has been a great trip but a little bit too long.

I crazy thing happened. The Micro SD card in my phone died suddenly. I plugged it into my Mac and it isn't even recognised as a device. Will have a closed look at it when I get back and get Harvey Norman to replace it under warranty if it really has failed.

I had already uploaded all of the photos that were on it to Dropbox so it was that much of a problem. I will however carry a backup of audio books that are normally on the card. The phone has about 9Gb left of internal storage so I downloaded some of the audio books again.

If I am feeling alright on Friday I might pop in for morning tea.

Train and Convention

Got up early feeling a little better and had breakfast and walked down to the train station and bought an unlimited travel pass which lasts for 7 days and rode the train into Chicago (about 25 minutes) and then further on to see some of the suburbs.

One large city is just like another from the suburbs. Only older cities like London and Edinburgh have very different  architectural styles.

Stayed on the train most of the way out to Forest Park the other side of Chicago. The train is both elevated, surface and underground sections.

Got out in Chicago station and went for a walk around the area. Plan to go on a bus tour on Monday.

Returned to the hotel for Convention registration at 13:45pm. Took about 45 minutes in the queue even though everyone there had prepaid for there tickets.

Got my wristband and pass. This convention unlike most don't include the photographs in autograph signings so you have to buy them. The queue was very long so I thought I would come back later.

Went and found my seat in the theatre. Was quite good. As I decided late it isn't front row but on the right side aisle so I can stand up to take a photo with out obstructing people's view.

Went and got the photographs I wanted and went to the first talk which was Alexis Cruz. He was quite entertaining.

Thursday in Chicago

I am suffering from the worst case  of jetlag I have ever had. Hotel room is really comfortable.

The hotel is well equipped with a cafe and shop in the foyer and a nice restaurant.

Tried to get some sleep but couldn't so went for a short walk down to the nearest railway station.

Just lounged around the  hotel during the day and watched a movie 'Now you see me' which is about four magicians and worth a watch.

In Chicago

The flight from Heathrow departed on time. It was an American Airline Boeing 777-200 and the business class seats are almost as good as Qantas Business class.

They seemed to have got everybody on the second flight that were booked on the first flight.

The food was quite good and I did get a little bit of sleep but also watched a couple of movies on the inflight entertainment system.

Arrived in Chicago to beautiful weather and a about 30 minute wait for immigration. The airline must have been a bit rough as one of the straps I use on the outside of the case for additional strength had the plastic connector broken.

Just checked in at the hotel. I am on the seventh floor and view is not bad. The Internet access is not too expensive at $17.95 per day for up to three devices.

My passport is suddenly getting a lot of stamps (British, French and US).

Just checking out the Bus/Train options for Chicago. The railway station is just down the road from the hotel and I can get an unlimited travel card for $33.

There is also the same type of Hop-on/off bus tours here so I will probably go on one of those as they are good value.

I leave Chicago next tuesday afternoon (20th) and arrive back in Australia on the 22nd.

Although the trip has been very interesting I don't think I will try anything this complicated again.

Leaving for Chicago

Arrived at Heathrow early to find my flight had been cancelled. They have rebooked me on the 10:15 flight. I get access to the American Airlines Admirals Club so the wait won't be too bad.

Bus Tour in London

I had booked a bus/river tour today to cover the last few things on my must see list in London.

• River Cruise on the Thames
• Tower of London
• Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.
• St. Paul's Cathedral.
• Afternoon tea at Harrod's Georgian Restaurant.

This tour company is the same firm that I went on the Paris trip with.

The tour guide Allan is certainly knowledgable about the things we are seeing.

We finished the cruise at London Bridge and walked up to the Tower of London. There was no waiting at the entrance and we met with the Yeoman Warder who was to be our guide for the first part of the tour.

He talked about the requirements for becoming a yeoman warder (22 years military service + at the least the rank of Sergeant Major).

Some of the history of the tower itself. Like most of these sights it has a gruesome history.

I didn't expect a polar bear  at the tower but this model of a polar bear represents a period when the tower was a zoo.

The traditional Ravens which inhabit the grounds of the Tower. The story is that the crown will fall if the Ravens leave. There wings are clipped so they can't fly away.

Two Panoramic views of the grounds of the tower

Got in the queue to view the Crown Jewels. A Very good exhibit including some animation of historical events. You view the crown jewels from a  moving walkway so people can't linger.

Moved onto the changing of the guard. The guide didn't try to get in front off Buckingham Palace but at the guards barracks just down the road so we saw  the guard from about 6 feet away.

Moved onto St. Paul's Cathedral. No photography is allowed inside. I decided to give the Whispering Gallery a go. It is 259 Steps up from ground level. Not that bad actually as they are very shallow steps (About half the height).

I don't like heights but I am getting better at dealing with it. The view from the whispering gallery of the whole cathedral floor.

Walked around the Cathedral Floor. It is a superb piece of architecture. I have seen a number of churches and cathedrals and this must be the most impressive.

Next stop was Harrod's Georgian Restaurant for afternoon tea.

Champagne followed by tea and scones. It was very good. The scones are not quit what you would find in Australia but very tasty. Got seated with two people from Canada (Father and Son). 

Looked through the store. Didn't seriously look at anything and decided to call it a day. Went to Knightsbridge Underground Station and skipped the first three trains as they were packed and coming at about 1-2 minute intervals going to Cockfosters or Arnos Grove on the Piccadilly line which passes Kings Cross.

Got back to Kings Cross.