Weekly series 71 to 80 from Adelaide, Australia

Posting today from the Mercure Grosvenor Hotel, Adelaide – we booked a double room with a king sized bed but got a queen sized bed and a room which has just one small hanging space and 1 bedside table! I have never given this much thought until now, when we relax with a cuppa in bed, as you do when on hols (grin) -  nowhere for one of us to put their cuppa down, grr ! – have you ever tried getting into bed with a cup of tea in your hand?? Then the lack of hanging space and NO drawers in the room at all, means that for 4 days we have to live out of our suitcase. This is most definitely not how to run a hotel of this price -  even the Travel lodge at Heathrow was better equipped and a fraction of the price. It makes me appreciate the reason why Visitlochness.com members all have to be committed to the Visit Scotland Quality Assurance scheme, which I am sure wouldn’t give a very good grade to this hotel at all.

From my own experience of self catering, we wouldn’t dream of having a double bed with just one bedside table and lamp. I know we would be downgraded if we even tried to do it. So I say thank goodness we have a scheme in Scotland to ensure good standards of accommodation that I know all our members do their best to continually improve, so that our visitors know what to expect from their accommodation, whatever grade they choose.

Next ten great ideas for things to do at Loch Ness.     

71. Photograph Cherry Island, the only island in Loch Ness
72. Find out about wildlife and plants on a Highland Council guided Ranger walk
73. Visit the ancient remains of Corrimony Cairn
74. Enjoy a pint at the Whitebridge Hotel
75. View Loch Ness from the Wellington lay by
76. Wild walk in the Monadhliath Mountains
77. Visit Kilmorack Art Gallery
78. Get your picture taken with Nessie at Fort Augustus
79. Walk down by the River Moriston to St Columba’s Well
80.  Visit the Clansman Centre, Fort Augustus

Check back next Friday for our next 10 Loch Ness ideas form Tasmania.

Well – tonight is our last in San Francisco ! What a great 3 days we have had here, in what was once called the hippy capital of the world. If you can remember Scott McKenzie, then I guess you must be in the silver surfer age group. Tourism is the biggest industry in San Francisco, the place just buzzes with life – no sign of a recession, though one or two shops have closed down, but these have quickly reopened by new businesses eager to make a name for themselves. That is one of the great things about the American way of free enterprise – it encourages all to strive for success. When these people get knocked down, they quickly bounce back again. On the down side of this are all the beggars on the streets. There seems to be one on every corner – sad casualties of the free enterprise system. They make our few beggars look positively affluent. This system has even gifted the beggars here with a whole host of ingenious and entertaining ways of extracting your spare change.

I wonder if, just as I have found this place to be so wonderfully vibrant and refreshingly different, do American visitors to Loch Ness find us at Loch Ness refreshingly different ?  I hope so. We have so much in common with our American friends, both historically and culturally, and I, for one, am very happy that we have this special relationship with the people of the USA.

I look forward now to the next leg of our journey to Australia from where I will be posting next week’s blog. We leave San Francisco having found no monsters, just a big friendly giant!! 

100 things to do at Loch Ness 61 to 70

Just have to say I like the new page Trail of the Seven Lochs

61  Stay up late and watch for badgers

62  Enjoy a dram at Fiddlers, award winning malt whisky bar

63  Walk the round trip from Inverfarigaig to Foyers

64  Go and watch the dolphins at Chanonry Point

65  Sit down by the shore and enjoy a sunset over Loch Ness

66  After a long walk enjoy a drink in the relaxed ambience of the Bog Cotton Café, Cannich

67  Stare up at the tallest tree in the UK in Reelig Glen

68  Hit the bulls eye with some archery, Boots ‘n’ Paddles

69  Count the different coloured dragonflies and damsel flies at Dog Falls

70 Find the memorial to Lady Jane Fraser on the shores of Loch Ness near Foyers

Now – I know the first thing you will all say when you read this, and I entirely agree. Why jet off all the way to Australia when you live in a beautiful place like the Highlands of Scotland? Truth is, it’s not really a holiday at all – it’s a “duty”! visit to a young niece, whom we have never met, for her second birthday – she looks gorgeous from her photos. Worst part about it is, we have to go for at least 8 weeks! It hurts just thinking about all those unbroken blue skies.   

As we hate flying, we thought we would need to break the journey, so decided to stop for a few days in San Francisco!   

With our lack of practice at long haul flights, we realise we are bound to be jet lagged after the long flight to Australia, so we booked 4 weeks in Australia just to be sure we will be well over it before we have to return to Bonnie Scotland – good thinking you say – well here’s an even better, brilliant idea.

Given that we are bound to suffer badly from jet lag and forced to stay in Oz for 4 weeks, I just know I am going to get desperately home sick for Scotland, so came up with the idea to go to New Zealand – it’s just a short hop from Oz.  It’s just like home, so they tell us, so where better to go to try to alleviate the home sick blues for a week or three J  before flying home fresh !!

Now you must agree this is a stroke of genius to help us cope with the stress of having to visit the relatives down under !! and at least, now you will understand why we have been forced into taking so long over the visit!

The things we have to go through for the sake of family )

Below is 10 more things to do at Loch Ness and I promise you I will be participating in some of these activities in my dreams over the next few weeks.

Now, where did I put those sun gla…….?

51  Play 9 holes of golf on Aigas Golf Course near Beauly

52  Spend a morning shopping in the bustling village of Beauly

53  Enjoy the pleasures of real ale at the Benleva Hotel

54  Find the wall of the old fort at Fort Augustus

55  Climb Craigmonie Hill (150 metres!)

56  Visit ‘Bonnie’ the deer near Croachy

57  Take a drive from Inverfarigaig to Farr

58  Go horse riding along the shores of Loch Ness

59  Go cycling on the quiet south side of Loch Ness

60 Visit the Clog and Craft ship at Invermoriston