Hereandthereclaire.com

I arrived in Sydney on Thursday afternoon after an uneventful flight, the security process was a breeze! I’d debated whether or not to declare the organic chocolate in my bag and also the little wooden carving, in the end I did declare it, I’ve seen Boatder Patrol!! Someone asked me what I was declaring, I told them what it was and they just stamped the slip and sent me on my way!

Once again Uber was a godsend, I was told it would cost me 130 dollars to get to my destination in a cab, my Uber was 75! Result.

I am staying with some beautiful people in Sydney, Julie and Andrew. They are friends of Tish’s who very kindly offered to put me up while I am here. Their home is in Upper North Shore and it’s stunning.  There is a fantastic train service straight into Sydney CBD (Central Business District) it takes 20mins.

Julie Andrew and I had a gorgeous Indian takeaway on my first night, then off to sleep in the most comfortable bed I’ve slept in so far. 😴😍

On Friday I took the train into Sydney, unfortunately part of my time was spent at the Apple Store as my iPad has decided to vanish loads of my photos! All my New York, Miami ones are gone. Apparently they are in my cloud, just not on my device, I have started the process of downloading them but it’s gonna take a while, frustrating!

After Apple I spent the day walking around the harbour side, I went from Darling Harbour to Barrangaroo Reserve and onto Circular Key, I then got the ferry to Manly.

Manly was lovely, reminded me a little of Bondi, the promenade was great and the buildings were also fab. I had a mooch around, stopped for a Aperol Spritz! Be rude not to! Then got the fast ferry back to Circular Key. I ended up,traveling back while the sun was setting, it was glorious! My photos do not do it justice, there was also a huge full moon, so the trip was amazing. Sydney is a really beautiful city and bathed in orange and pink it was stunning.

Once I got back to Circular Key I walked walked across Sydney Harbour Bridge, to reach the Bridge you have to walk up lots of stairs at one point as I was nearly at the top, puffing a little, some guy comes flying up behind me and I’m like OK, Rocky calm down! I made it to the top and again was rewarded with gorgeous views. I was heading across the bridge to meet Julie, Andrew and Andrews daughters, Isabelle, Jessica her partner Anthony for his birthday meal. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly we had a lovely Thai meal then headed back to Killara. Isabelle, thanks for following this and Coffee on the Corner, you’re a star 🌟  👍😍🌈

Today I am heading back into Sydney CBD to meet the fabulous Jules Gentry, a friend from Barnwell and Home. It’s going to be weird meeting up in a completely different country! I’m sure a few drinks will be consumed!

 

 

 

I’m going to try and add the photos I couldn’t upload yesterday.

Heading to the airport soon. Sydney here I come! X

So, the last couple of days have been Fabulous.

Yesterday I spent the morning chilling by the pool, watching the beach come to life, the man preparing his coconuts, the guy bringing his horses on the beach, the boats dropping off fish and supplies, the kids playing in the sea. It is so wonderful to watch.

After chilling by the pool/beach I decided to head into the town, Nadi, for some shopping. I caught the local bus outside the hotel, $5 for 4 journeys. When I arrived in Nadi Bus Terminal I just headed into what looked like the town, then I got chatting to a rather large Fijian guy who wanted  to direct me to  local Fijian Market, I was happy to go along with this, even when it meant crossing a deserted parking lot at the back of the shops, god forbid I should offend my new found friend!!

He eventually took me to a small, out of the way shop, where I met Lucy, who asked if I had been welcomed properly to Fiji with a Kava ceremony? Well I had to be honest and say no, at this point I’m thinking I’m about to get a nice glass of bubbles!! But No, the ceremony was lovely and involved Lucy mixing the Kava (some sort of mad root thing, which can cure cancer, but also make to sleepy and Horny, according to Lucy!!) with water and then when it looks like dirty dishwater, I get to drink it! Yeah! Well I drank it and it started to make my mouth go numb, and then I’m thinking, shit!! All sort of shit could happen now! Pleased to say that the  only shit that happened is that I got ripped off on a turtle carving!! 😳

I left and tried to do some shopping, but the shops were a bit Pants, and then it came back to me……I bloody hate shopping!!

I headed back to the bus station, I love bus stations, they encompass all that is real, I had to wait for 30mins for my bus, but was lucky to be sitting next to a lovely Fijian lady who made me feel welcome and safe, we shared my polo mints, and her peanuts, all was good.

The bus arrived, no windows, local air conditioning! It took a slightly different route back, we were headed down a long straight road, then we get to the end of the road and I’m thinking we are going to do a u turn, but no! The bus heads straight onto the beach! The best short cut ever! 😁

Once I got back, I had a nice meal in the hotel next door, Smugglers Cove, then headed back to my hotel, had a glass of wine then off to bed!

Today I had a fantastic day trip to Southsea Island 🌴 Once again I was

Picked up from the hotel at 7am and taken to Denarau Port, my boat left at 8.30 so I arrived at Southsea by 9am. The island is gorgeous, small and perfect, but it is aimed at families, which is not really a problem. The problem was that there were lots and lots of Japanese and Chinese tourists on the trip, this should not really be an issue, except that lots of them wanted to take my photo, or for me to be in a photo with them! They also have no idea about personal safety and space! After some heart stopping moments on the tender from the catamaran to the island, I was exhausted!!

I found a nice little beach front bed, put my towel on it! as the English like to do! Then  took a lovely walk around the island, which is gorgeous. I had booked to stay in the island all day, but the forcast was for wind in the afternoon, so no snokelling. (Thank god! I bloody hate being in deep water with no anchor, life raft, dry land!!So basically, I hate the sea!! ) I Decided to stay for lunch, then jump on the catamaran, which was heading all around the islands, all I was missing was sunbathing time!

Whilst on the island I met an incredible young lady Called Katherine Dorosario, who is only 23 and has taken a year out from her job at the BBC to travel, by herself! Hats off to her, she is having the most amazing adventure, making memories and building character. Have the best, most amazing time. Make music and memories Katherine.

The catamaran took us out to lots of different islands, Castaway, Beachcomber, Malolo, Bounty. All of these you can stay on. They looked stunning, I particularly liked the island of Malolo, which had hills. It was just stunning to see these islands, which really look like something in a movie!

After having a couple of glasses (that’s not strictly true, more like a half pint in a plastic cup!!) of wine! 😁😁 we arrived back at Denarau. I did a small little bit of shopping, it was hard and unpleasant but gifts need to be purchased!!

I then got a taxi back to Wailoaloa! Well, I ended up in possibly the oldest car in Fiji!! Driven by the lovely Maika, or as he is known to his friends, Max!! Or as he is now known to me Mad Fucking Max!! He was hysterical, the bloody car cut out every time it slowed down, the solution, don’t slow down!! Corners, lights, people, no problem as long as they can move fast! Luckily I had my seatbelt on! I loved it!

I love arriving back at my small hotel and all the staff are like “hi Claire, how was your day, how are you” it’s lovely.

My thoughts about Fiji. It is beautiful, stunning. The people are amazing, friendly and gorgeous. It is a very poor country that is dependent on tourism, so come and stay!

The people as I’ve said are incredibly friendly, there seems to be an abundance of large, Gorgeous, Camp, Gay men, which is fabulous to see,

That’s it from me from Fabulous FijI, I leave early tomorrow for Sydney.

Im going to try and upload some photos with this blog, but it might not work, in which case, I’ll post them tomorrow.

Bulu. 💖🌈Xx

 

I have been in Fiji now for a few days, and I absolutely love it 😍

I spent the first few days just relaxing and chilling at the hotel, as I said there are lots of Australians and New Zealander’s here. I got chatting to a couple from Australia, Greg and Annie, they are lovely, they gave me lots of helpful hints and tips about my upcoming trip to Sri Lanka, thanks guys. They are now off sailing around the islands with friends on a huge Boat!

The people here are so friendly and helpful and where the hotel is situated is more local than touristy, it’s been fun watching local families and children playing on the beach over the weekend.

Rugby in Fiji is huge, and the Rugby World Severns has been going on in America. Fiji got to the semi finals but got knocked out by New Zealand, New Zealand then went in to beat England in the final. I managed to watch the semi final at the Port and it was brilliant, gutted for Fiji.

There is a big group of local lads that come down to the beach in the late afternoon and evening to play touch rugby, although they take it fairly seriously there is so much laughter and fun, it’s brilliant to watch.

I think having been in Grenada helped prepare me for ‘Island Time’ everything is done calmly, slowly and with a huge smile!

The guys here wear traditional clothing called Sulu, which is like a wrap skirt, even the school boys wear them, they look fab, and are cool and practical. A guy came into the hotel the other day wearing a colourful t shirt and a pink and white Sulu and I’ve gotta say he looked extremely manly and bloody gorgeous!

Yesterday I booked to visit one of the small islands, Malamala. I got picked up at 7am from the hotel and taken to the Port Denarau, where all the boats, charters and small cruises leave from. I had a little bit of a wait, which is how I managed to catch the rugby. At 10 the catamaran took us to the island, it took approx 25 mins. Wow, Wow, Wow, the island looks so stunning as you get closer, a proper tropical paradise! The waters are crystal clear and the most gorgeous shades of blue. Once we got on the island, I realised that you had an option to book either a cabana on the beach or a pool bed, I had done neither! I asked about pool beds and was lucky enough to snag the last one! The pool was an infinity pool looking out across the ocean……bliss.

I had the most perfect, spoilt, pampered day, sitting on my day bed sipping gorgeous cocktails, Mimosa’s, Drunken Coconut’s, wine and eating delicious food, sunbathing and cooling off in the pool. I had planned on going snorkelling, but the sea was a little choppy in the afternoon, and to be honest I was having far to much fun lounging about!! The staff were amazing so attentive and friendly, as it got a bit breezy in the afternoon, nearly all the guests decided to take the early boat back to the mainland (no idea why you would want to leave paradise, but hey ho!) this left me and a couple of others on the island, so the staff and I had a lovely time chatting and relaxing together. It really was the most fantastic day.

I have another island trip on Wednesday, this one is a bit different, not quite so pampered, but I think it will be fabulous.

Today will be spent, sunbathing and I might pop into the town for a spot of shopping!

Bula. ❤️❤️

I left Los Angeles after an quick but important, interesting and enjoyable stay.

I go an Uber to the airport, I’m getting to be quite the Uber regular! Traffic was pretty bad the Freeways during rush hour are packed, think M25 on a really bad day! 😬 I still arrived in plenty of time, Los Angeles Airport is a breeze compared to Miami. I checked in and managed to get a bulk head aisle seat (after asking for an upgrade, but no spare seats) so pretty happy with that, especially as this is my longest flight 11.5hrs.  Security was pretty straight forward (probably as I am leaving and they’re glad to see the back of everyone) I had a quick mooch around duty free, then decided to have a nice glass of wine! 2 large glasses of Cotes de Provenance later, it was time to board! 😁

I ended up sitting next to a beautiful young woman called Kelsey, who only bloody lives in St Albans! 😳😁 She was travelling to Fiji to take part in a volunteer project working in schools and staying with local families. Kelsey was great to chat to, and a fab Plane buddy. If your reading this Hun, have a blast!

The journey was actually much better than I’d anticipated, I slept for a good few hours, possibly/definitely  due to the wine! 😁, read for a bit, chatted to Kelsey, had food, and before you knew it we were coming into land in Fiji!

we arrived just as the sun was rising over the hills, which was beautiful. All the staff at the airport were incredibly friendly and helpful. My driver was late, and so many people helped look after me, then when he arrived they told him off!

My hotel is about 20 mins from the airport, and is small, but lovely. It’s right on the beach and away from the main tourist areas. The staff are incredibly friendly. I will organise to go out to the small islands from here as day trips.

I spent the day, sitting by the pool, reading, and walking along the beach, watching very fit guys shimmying up 70ft high coconut trees, it’s been hard! 😂😂

There are a few Australians staying here who have been good to chat with. The food is good, I’ve had Roti and Dahl!! Yummy 😋

Last night the hotel had entertainment, traditional dancing. Wow! It was fabulous. The girls dancing is very gentle and rhythmic, think Muwana. The guys dancing was much more full on, think a musical version of the Hakka, but with big knives! 😍 Then the guys did fire dancing, which again was very impressive. They are clearly not constrained by anything remotely like Health and Saftey, risk assesments!! As they had a 5-6 year old doing the fire dancing!!

So far Fiji is living up,to my expectations. I love it. ❤️

I spent the morning walking  around Santa Monica, I had some flowers to collect from a shop on Wiltshire Boulevard, me being me I got there over an hour early! So wandered around and found a little cafe, where I had yet another sub standard coffee! I really miss my Coffee on the Corner Flat Whites!

The weather was pretty overcast, I think it might be smog, which takes a while to burn off. Santa Monica seems like a pretty safe, quiet neighbourhood, lots of lovely trees, and not many people around, I think it might be to early….nothing seems to open till 10!

Having collected my beautiful flowers I went back to my hotel and made my second successful Uber call! Go Me! My driver was lovely, very chatty. We made it to Whittier in about 40 mins, where I had arranged to meet my Uncle Daves friend, Larry, at the Rose Hills Memorial Park.

I have spoken to Larry several times on the phone, and had a picture of him in my head, a small dapper older gentleman, quite proper and reserved, well, Larry was the complete opposite a large, open, friendly and funny man, who I instantly took to. Larry and I visited the spot where my Uncle Daves ashes, and those of my Aunt Bertha were scattered, it’s a beautiful, peaceful spot with a panoramic view.

Larry and I then went to lunch and visited Daves old house, where I had stayed on my trip here back when i was 21. We stopped and had a drink, Mojito and Margarita to toast Dave and then I headed back to Santa Monica.

It was a very special day, sad, but I am so very glad that I finally got to meet Larry who has been amazing in his role of executor and frien, and pay my respects to my lovely Uncle.

I had another interesting Uber driver, and as with my first our conversation was all about Trump…..

I have yet to meet a single American who doesn’t think he is a total Idiot and an embarrassment to the USA, but also very dangerous. It is really good to hear the thoughts and opinions of those living here.

I spent my evening having another little wander around the neighbourhood and found myself in the most amazing Organic, vegan, non vegan, health food, food emporium! Wow, it was full of scrumptious things, I spent about 40 mins just walking around looking and drooling at things! I left with a bloody amazing smoothie, fresh fruit and a sandwich of dreams.

Today, the 18.07.18 I have spent looking around Santa Monica Pier in a thunder storm! And then heading down to Venice Beach, which is a pretty full on, mad place!

I have loved just people watching, and I’m currently sitting in ‘Larrys’ sipping a Bloody Mary and writing this blog!

I am leaving tonight on my longest flight, 11.5 hrs to Fiji! Fingers crossed for an upgrade, or a ro was of seats to myself at least.

Next blog will be after the 20th, as I am entering the twilight zone on this flight and I lose the whole of 19.07.18!  😳😬😁

 

 

I had my last day in Grenada yesterday, I am sad to be leaving this beautiful island and my beautiful friend Julie.

We had a lovely last couple of days, relaxing, a final meal at Miss Bernadettes, saying goodbye to Syd new, and then the very Tall, chatty and kind Gregg gave me a lift to the airport, this was all going well until we hit an accident, Gregg managed to bypass this with his knowledge of the roads, but somehow we still ended up in a rather large tailback, moving extremely slowly, but by channeling Lewis Hamilton, Gregg managed to get me to the airport, in time and thankfully in one piece!! Thank you. 👍😘

I absolutley loved Grenada, it’s a wonderful, friendly country and I met some amazing people some of whom have fascinating stories of how and why they have ended up living in Grenada. I was made to feel very welcome by all. If you ever think of visiting the Caribbean, look at going to Grenada, it’s fantastic.

my first flight from Grenada to Miami was lovely, I managed to get a whole 3 seats to myself, luxury. The flight arrived early which was great as I was a little anxious about the time between my connecting flight to LA. All was going swimmingly until we got into Miami airport security…….chaos! So many people.

Our plane docked at the farthest end of the terminal, so to get to Passport Control you have to walk about a mile, then take a bloody train and when you eventually get there you are greeted by banks of Bloody computerised terminal thingys!! a bit like the new MacDonalds, automated ordering machines…which I can’t operate! So this is not a good start, I finally figured out how it worked, was presented with my little slip of paper and then had to get into the most humugeous, snaking line 😬 by now time is ticking, I’m thinking I’m not going to make my next flight!  I spoke to some woman in a uniform who was particularly unhelpfulful, she just told me to stay in the queue. Finally I did a very un British thing and stepped out of the line and went to find another person to help, they finally took me to the front of the line, Yeah!! But that was not the end of it, I then had to walk a further mile to baggage reclaim, then into another long snaking queue to go through more security, but at this point I was given a large blue card, which was expedited security, I’m thinking great, this’ll speed it all up, but sadly no, it just meant I didn’t have to remove my shoes!! 😳 finally through security, another miles walk to my gate, I arrived just in time to board. Not such a great flight, I was sat in the middle seat between 2 rather large men, one of whom really ought to think about his dental hygiene 😷 but once again the flight arrived early, and getting out of LAX was a total breeze (I’m a little worried that somehow I’ve missed a whole set of security) I jumped in a taxi, and arrived at my hotel in Santa Monica at 11.45pm.

All good so far, great nights sleep, no mossies 👍👍 Off to Whittier today to pay my respects to my wonderful Uncle, Dave Morgan. ❤️❤️

After a relatively good nights sleep, interrupted only twice to apply more anti itch cream 😳 I woke to another beautiful sunny Grenadian morning.

Julie and I met a few lovely ladies; Sue, American, lives here on her boat, makes fabulous things and jewellery out of shells. Imelda, Irish, also living here at the moment on a boat, great fun. Annie, English, staying here at the moment on a boat with her friend, lives in Truro! All beautiful, interesting, wonderful women that it was my pleasure to meet and get to know.

The Beach is so gorgeous, Julie and I came when I first arrived but weren’t able to go in the sea, due to shopping commitments! As it is out of season here at the moment, no cruise ships, the beach is nice and quiet which is fabulous.

After finding a lovely big Sea Grape Tree to shelter under, which just happened to be near a lovely cocktail bar 😋 we headed into the Caribbean Sea, OMG it was glorious, crystal clear, cool, refreshing and beautiful. We floated around for a good while chatting and relaxing, then headed to the bar for a drink, I had a Pina Colada, gotta be done!

This was followed by more floating about, then a leisurely stroll up the beach to the lovely restaurant we went to before, Umbrellas. I ordered a Pain Killer (just for you Tracey and Jacques!) and a nice burger. Unfortunately due to taking to many antibiotics on an empty stomach, I was unable to enjoy either my drink or my meal ☹️ But they looked great!

We headed back to the apartment for a nice quiet evening, and then at around 7pm the music truck arrived!

The Carnival is due to start here in August, but there is a big build up. We had seen the truck outside Seps, the local Rum Shop, in the morning while waiting for the bus, it had 3 humongous speakers on it. Julie did say she wondered if it was going to tour the island and possibly end up back at the bar….well she was correct.

The truck is playing Soca Reggae, the decibel level is hard to convey, except to say that you feel it as a physical bombardment! The bar it stopped at is approx 50 Meters from the apartment. Now I love a bit of Reggae and I don’t mind it loud, but fuck me this was something else. But hey ho, it’s the Caribbean, so we settled in for a night of music and mayhem,  but the truck moved off around 9pm and stopped at midnight, so a very tame night, but I guess it’s early days….

Tomorrow will be a quiet day, laundry, packing, last bit of relaxing before leaving on Monday.

Julie and I spent a fantastic couple of days staying ‘Up Island’ with her friends Kim and Lilett on their Organic Chocolate Farm.

the island of Grenada is not huge, 21 miles long by 12 miles wide. The easiest and cheapest way to get around is on the local buses. These are small mini vans which carry between 18 – 20 people. They run on a loop in the various districts. The buses are brilliant and. Heap, between 80p and £1.50 depending on the length of your journey. I love them, each one is different, old, older, new, loud, louder, deafening! Faster, faster, death wish! Everyone uses them, including the occasional chicken and goat! If you are boarding at the bus station in the capital, St George, they wait until the bus is full before they leave, this can get very hot, unless you are lucky enough to get one with air con! Joy. Every bus plays music, always reggae, always loud, but you keep your fingers crossed that it’s not ‘Soca Reggae’ which is like Reggae on crack! 😳

Julie and I got 2 buses up to Crayfish Bay, we definitely lucked out, great music, loud, fast! The route from St George to Crayfish Bay takes you along the coast the whole way, it took an hour and cost £1.50 each, it was fabulous.

Crayfish Bay Organic Chocolate Farm is run by Kim and his partner Lilett. Kim has lived there for 12 years and Lilett joined him 6 years ago. Kim is a real character, he has lived a fascinating and exciting life. He has lived on boats, barges, in camper vans and on the streets in a huge variety of countries, he has made a living in a multitude of ways not all of them legal but always honest. Lilett is originally from Guyana and she is a beautiful, calm, laid back lady who is the perfect foil for the Wonderfully eccentric Kim.

The ethos behind the Chocolate Farm is to use the Cocoa that grows on the land already, the cocoa grows amongst other plants such as mango, sour sop, guava, bananas, nutmeg, avocado and many more, the cocoa beans then take on the flavours of the other plants, which give them subtle notes of flavour, no batch is ever the same. Kim and Lilett use local resources and are hoping to show the local community that you don’t need to rely bank loans and big companies to produce a quality product. This is illustrated by Kim’s equipment, his Roaster and Winnower both of which would cost in the region of £25,000 if you buy them even second hand, Kim managed to make both of his from bits and bobs he had lying around, using his hard work and ingenuity! They are hoping to start an apprenticeship programme soon.

Kim and Lilett also built a couple of basic but beautiful cabins on the land and use these to rent for holiday makers or people who wan to come and work on the farm.  Julie and I relaxed, read, dozed, went for  longish walk in the Bush, rode into town in the back of an ancient pick up truck, we also managed to fit in the football! We watch the England v Croatia game in a local Rum Shop called Shy’s Bar in the local town. There was Julie and I and lots of local guys, julie was the only one drinking beer but the smell of ‘erb was strong!! 😂😂 A great game just a shame Croatia played better in the second half…..fuckers.

I absolutely loved my stay at this amazing place, the only downside is that every single biting creature in the vicinity managed to bite me….😳 I now resemble some sort of plague victim.

We are now back in Woburn at the apartment and are planning a trip to Grand Anse beach tomorrow with some lovely friends of julie’s. I will finally get to swim in the Caribbean Sea 😍

So, not a great deal to report, still relaxing, it’s still very hot, Grenada is still fabulous!

We watched the England game at a beautiful little place called Whisper Cove, Fabulous setting and a fabulous result!

I have had a nice little trip to the Doctors thanks to the Mosquitoes! A few nasty looking bites, one in particular caused the pharmacist to make a rather disturbing noise and offer to drive me straight to the doctors! 😳😳 but as this is Grenada, and Julie is pretty much a local, she said, no it’s fine I know a Doctor just down the road……so, with that we walked for 25mins in 30 degree heat 100% humidity on bite infected feet to the nearest doctor!! I now have antibiotic cream and tablets, the bites are looking better, all is good.

Julie and I are leaving today to visit some friends who live up in the top of the island and have an organic chocolate farm, called Crayfish Bay Organic Chocolate, they also have a couple of Airbnb chalets. We are planning to get the local buses up there, and arrive in time to watch the England Game…..it’s coming Home!