Wonderful aerial views of African falls…
When in Zimbabwe late last year, my friend Jenny decided to book a helicopter ride over Victoria Falls. I had walked around them on the Zimbabwe side (which I am told is better than seeing them from the Zambia side – but this was from our Zimbabwe guide so he probably is a little biased!!) so an aerial view sounded good…and boy was it worthwhile with sensational views firstly of the Zambezi River…
And then stunning views of the falls….
A bus pick up service arrives at the hotel to take you to the helicopter pad and the ride lasts for about fifteen minutes preceded by a safety briefing. The flight afforded some fabulous views of the falls and the gorges and to see the water spray from above was something else.
What an experience; a touch expensive but definitely worthwhile…
And also great to see the bridge I had seen from the ground the day before – the bridge that my brother bungee jumped off many years ago and the same one that separates Zimbabwe from Zambia…
What an experience!!
A thirty minute walk from my home is a suburb with many Chinese/Thai/Indian and Vegan restaurants. I usually eat at the Dickson Dumpling House which is definitely my favourite but I wanted to try something different, so with a good friend who I used to go to school with [all those years ago], we visited a Malaysian/Chinese restaurant called Rasa Sayang. This particular restaurant has been in this suburb for over thirty-five years so it must be doing something well.
The menu is extensive with over 100 dishes to choose from and has lots of options for us vegetarians. I ordered the tofu with peanut sauce and Anne ordered the deep fried spring rolls with a plum sauce. Pretty good but am glad the tofu comes with a sauce otherwise in the main I do find it rather bland. But this particular tofu was lovely and fresh so it was enjoyable.
I ordered some Malaysian bread [roti chanai] to share which was absolutely delicious. My friend had not tried this type of bread before and loved it so guess next visit she will order it along with her omelette.
The owner is very personable and enjoys a joke whilst taking your order and as soon as he saw us laughing at his jokes, he returned to tell us more…more laughter and now ready to order our main courses. Anne ordered the crab omelette with beansprouts, shredded onions and topped with oyster sauce…she said it was absolutely delicious. So delicious that since that visit she drives over from her home [about half hour] to pick up this omelette regularly. [no photo as forgot to take one].
I enjoyed the evening very much and loved chatting to my friend but as it was a week night [I was working back then], we just ate our meals and left rather than what I usually like to do which is relax, chat and enjoy a glass of wine. Next time!!
A little later we walked up to Surry Hills, an inner city suburb and found our restaurant which was pretty cute inside along with a very sweet and attentive waiter.
Another four of my friends met us and we ordered some fabulous food; everyone decided on the vegan menu which was great for me as I got to try all dishes. Our entrees were home made spring rolls with a light sweet chilli sauce, deep fried vegetable puffs and steamed dumplings with a side of dipping sauce.
All were very good. Our main dishes consisted of two curries; one a lemongrass tofu curry and the other a deep fried tofu with vegetable dish. Then a mock chicken dish with finely chopped lemongrass and onions. All ‘yum’. I was so lucky to enjoy such a large selection of food.
As for my second visit, every year since we attended a 25 year school reunion twelve years ago, three (now four) of my school friends and I meet together for a long weekend, usually at one of our houses, but last year we decided to meet in Sydney and see the Carole King musical ‘Beautiful‘. We all grew up with that fabulous ‘record’ ‘Tapestry‘…
The musical was excellent and we sang along to all the songs and had a bit of a tear during some parts. No photos allowed during the show of course but I managed one of the stage before the show commenced.
As we attended a matinee session, we were finished around 5pm so decided to walk back to our Airbnb through the city, Hyde Park and then through the main street of Paddington where we stopped and had dinner at an Indian restaurant I used to go to when I worked in Sydney all those years ago. Great to see it was still there.
After our visit to Zimbabwe and the spectacular Victoria Falls, my friend Jenny and I made out way over the border to Botswana where we stayed at the fabulous Ngoma Safari Lodge overlooking the Chobi Plains [but more on that in another post].
Then a little way along the side of the road, our driver stopped and we saw giraffe; and plenty of them – again what an amazing sight.
We drove a little further and entered the park and first up saw elephants; this time not along the roadway but eating leaves just nearby – I can’t believe I didn’t have tears as it was truly magnificent to see such a huge animal living life as it should (no cages, no real boundaries). They were really quite close and I had to remember to look at them with my eyes rather than through a camera lens!
The next animal we saw was a huge tortoise; so cute!
Then some very sweet baboons with their babies…so nice to see and so many of them.
And one very cute little baby playing on the branches…
Along the way we saw some lovely birds; all beautiful colours but flying too fast for me to capture well but I did capture a magnificent vulture in a tree…waiting for some prey I guess..and how unusual is this tree – would hate to see it at night alone!
And then zebra; boy are these a striking animal…
And buffalo… 
We then drove down near the Zambezi River and saw a tower of giraffe (no wonder a collective is called this).
And along the way there were many (many) Impala and it was so lovely to see all the babies – unfortunately these animals are the prey for the carnivorous animals – circle of life I know. And we also saw another large horned animal that I can’t recall the name of. 
We stopped off near the end of our drive for a cool drink and some snacks prepared by the lodge and had the opportunity to view the sun set; magnificent!
What a day – words really cannot describe how magnificent this was for me.
Last month a friend of mine was departing Canberra to work in London so we met one day to enjoy some dumplings just days before she left Australia. We were the only people in the restaurant as we arrived for an early lunch, so had the full attention of the waitress who was very friendly. The walls are still adorned with colourful pictures and photos and there is a well stocked bar for evening drinks.
I had been to this restaurant previously and had been told that the menu was going to become more extensive especially in relation to vegetarian food, so wanted to give it another go; glad I did. There was a lot of choices for us vegetarians which was great.
Jen also ordered the Peking duck bao and I was going to order the fried green beans but the waitress said she thought I would really enjoy the mini Jian Bing which is also known as a Chinese egg burrito. The waitress was right; this was absolutely delicious.
It’s a nice little restaurant where you can sit inside or out [we sat indoors on our visit as it was a bit warm outside] and the food is really really good. Definitely worth a visit for anyone living in or visiting Canberra.
Sue's Fabulous Travels 
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