Sawadee

My hubby and I share a love of Thailand.  Three weeks after meeting we headed off to Malaysia and Thailand together. Nothing like overseas travel to make or break a relationship.  Luckily it was the making of ours and ever since Thailand has held a very special place in my heart.

So it has been disturbing to see and hear of the political trouble there.  

I thought this may be a good opportunity to look back over some my favourite places to stay and visit in the land of smiles. 

Washing Away the Economic Blues

Hubby and I have been helping Kevin save the Australian economy.

On the weekend we managed to find me the perfect bike at a Christmas market.

And then while on the search for a pedastal fan we managed to find a front loading washer/dryer.

And it was a BARGAIN.  

Now I have been talking about buying one of these for sometime.  I'd even done a bit of internet research and narrowed it down to two brands. But we had decided that there were a few other priorities around the house and that there really isn't anything wrong with the 10 year old Fisher and Paykel washing machine that we have.  The dryer on the other had had lost it's lint filter so managed to make the laundry and my adjoining office appear to be slightly out of focus as it covered everything with a fine fur.

Then we wandered into Camerberwell Electrics and while we were there for the fan (and maybe a High Def HD recorder - another story for another time) we thought we would just have a look at the prices of the WD's.

In my little bit of internet searching I had seen them for between $2,200 and about $3,000.

We managed to get our silver beauty for $1799 including delivery and they took the dryer to dryer heavan for me.

It was the one off the floor.  Now I'm partial to floor stock.  They have to sell it.  They want to sell it.  So if you appear interested enough they will start throwing in incentives without you having to ask.  We managed to get the free delivery as well as substantial discounts on HD recorder, the fan and a cafe style sandwich press!

And the machine didn't come with a ridiculously large box that I would have to get rid of. 

So now I have fullfilled a childhood dream of having a front loading washing machine and one Australian probably still has a job.

Ayrline

For a couple of weeks recently I was working in Far North Queensland. Ah yes, the tropical north of Australia; Port Douglas restaurants,  Cairns, Townsville.  Or Ayr.

Ayr is 85km south of Townsville in the heart of Queensland's Burdekin region and is a pretty much what you would expect from a country town.  It's the centre of a cane and corn farming area and is about 15 minutes from the beach.

I stayed at the Ayrline Motel. It's not the best motel in town but it is far, far, far from the worse. What makes this hotel so much nicer than some of it's competitors is the management. The couple that run this motel are lovely. They are friendly and tolerant - very good qualities for motel managers

The rooms are small but are all clean.  Some seem to have been recently refurbished. 

The Ayrline doesn't have a restaurant but they do room service.  You need to order before 6.30pm and then nominate what time you would like it. Though in a town where all the restaurants stop taking orders at 8.00pm this doesn't seem outrageous.

There is also a very small pool and a bbq area.  

The hotel is a block back from the main road.  I think though that all the motels are either on the main road or one block back from it.

I don't have photos of the hotel, but here is one of the countryside.

A Fresh Start

I have up until know been one of the bloggespheres most unreliable bloggers.  That is about to change!

I have decided that my blog is going to have a focus.  Well 3 actually.

Hotels - I'm very fortunate in that I get to travel quite alot so from now on I will be adding my thoughts on the hotels and accommodations.

Food - When I eat something particularly delicious I'm going to add the recipe

Bargains - I have two shopping credos. Never pay full price for anything and always remember to think of the price per wear. 

Hopefully now that I have a focus I will blog on a more regular basis.