a meander back to Blighty

Renvyle (in pictures)

2011-07-22T10:37:00.000+01:00

Renvyle

2011-07-07T21:47:00.009+01:00

The purpose of our trip to Renvyle was to catch up with Debbie whom we met on our trip on the bus out to Australia. Luckily for Debbie she'd found some temporary work which meant she was absent apart from the time we spent together on the Connemara Community Radio Sponsored Walk already blogged. Debbie must have been so relieved she was away that she was even kind enough to give us unfettered access to her flat whilst we stayed in Renvyle.

During the first day or so we visited Kylemore Abbey & Gardens, previously a school run by nuns and a 'boarder' frequented by students both local and from across the globe. A stunning, perhaps foreboding property and gardens that it's original builder/owner ensured supplied the local community. Whilst today's crops are not enough to supply the house alone, let alone the local residents, the gardens remain a good enough draw to attract revenue into the surrounding economy.

Whilst we were there we also noticed some interesting sheep, but they didn't seem to either 'fleece' the visitors or provide a necessary income to pull the wool over the eyes of anyone taking a closer inspection.

Walking around the impressive gardens we also noticed the first piles of peat harvested from the nearby fields and a staple fuel of fires for many, many decades.

Travelling around Renvyle and the locality you can't fail to be impressed by the stunning scenery inland and the impressive views out to sea and we were lucky enough one afternoon to find a secluded spot in the sun on a beautiful beach to enjoy a snooze in the afternoon rays.
In addition to Debbie's hospitality we were also treated to Mr & Mrs Debbie Senior's very warm welcome throughout our stay in Renvyle.

Despite the average climate we've experienced throughout our return to Europe, during our visit to Ireland we benefited from extremely long Summer evenings with the nights not getting dark until 11pm or later giving us fantastic sunsets and twilight.

Interestingly, the local recycling centre is situated at the local school and on one of our visits to the bottle bank when we pulled up in the Smart we seemed to have coincided with the lunch break and were instantly surrounded by what seemed to be the whole school. A very excited and interested crowd quizzed us on the car and proclaimed their affection towards us - what a difference to the youth we've experienced much closer to home.

Connemara Community Radio Walk Weekend 2011

2011-07-07T18:46:00.007+01:00

This is quite an 'interactive' post:- clicking various underlined links will give more detail on our walking weekend.
The big event we travelled to Ireland for in June was to take part in the Connemara Community Radio Station Sponsored Walk on the weekend of June 11/12. This annual event raises much needed funds to help pay for the license to broadcast an FM signal to the many people around Connemara who may be living in very small communities or completely isolated and single dwellings dotted around the vast, beautiful West Ireland countryside.
We also got to catch up with Debbie who talked us into the walk when we met on the Oz bus and who also kept a blog of her overland journey from London to Sydney.
On the first day we travelled to Letterfrack by car where a group of us met at the radio station and were transferred by minibus to our fate at the start of the walk in Gowlan West. Here we were dumped, er we mean dropped off and met up with yet more fools, er we mean folks who had also 'volunteered' to walk for two days. Not that we knew just yet but our day one walk would take us from Gowlan West to Roundstone The start of the walk was along a disused railway line and straightforward enough offering lovely views of the countryside all the way through to lunchtime. In the afternoon, things got a little different. We started to walk on the bog! A unique experience - a bit like a very small creature trying to walk on blancmange - we were a bit bigger than that though. Thankfully Stephen - our guide was a shepherd and we acted like pretty good sheep not wanting to wander off the beaten track and as if to warn us, every half an hour or so Stephen would shove his walking stick right through the bog to the tip of it's handle to show how quickly we could disappear should we set one foot wrong. After a very wobbly hour or so, we finally hit firm ground and ventured into Roundstone where we had a fantastic welcoming committee who saw us right with beer, wine and canapés in the warm Summer evening sun.
We then made it back to our B&B stop to get ready for a night out. The two of us lasted until about 10.30pm - complete lightweights but we were stuffed full of food and drink and feeling completely uncomfortable and knackered. We were definitely in the minority however as we heard people gradually coming home over the next 5 hours, the last to hit their rooms (quite literally with loud whispers and giggles at around 3.30am).
Sadly, when we woke up on the Sunday it was raining and the festivities of the night before seemed long gone as people gathered quietly - shoulders dropped - to meet at the minibus to be taken to the second days start point. Couravoughil to Letterfrack was to be our second days walk and it was a wet start. There was an ascent almost immediately to just to keep us cheery. Then a very tricky walk along by a significant stream over wet rocks and it wasn't long before Helen straddled a rock and David was a short way back thinking that Helen's walking was going to be over any second as she plunged into the water. Thankfully a fellow walker right behind Helen managed to lift pull her up by the back pack and coat straight out of trouble - impressive stuff. It wasn't long before we were back on the bog. Also not much longer after that before David gave out an unimpressive whimper as he lost his footing and was left foot knee deep in the bog - nice soggy footwear for the remainder of the walk. Day 2's lunch stop certainly seemed shorter and the walking also seemed longer, but it turned out that we'd done slightly less when we limped into Letterfrack to an equally impressive welcome party as the night before. The Guinness started flowing, the food was plentiful and the evening sun was warming our faces. Feeling the glow of the sun and a couple of pints of Guinness, David accepted an invitation to complete a
radio interview on Connemara Community Radio Station to talk about our experience. We slept pretty well on that Sunday evening.

Athlone

2011-07-04T18:11:00.010+01:00

After a bright start from Northampton we headed towards Holyhead for a ferry crossing to the Emerald Isle. Sadly, we arrived in Dublin just as rush hour began and with a map that was about 10 years old or, perhaps of more significance about as detailed as a picture of the moon, we saw more of the capital than a) we intended to and b) we wanted to. There were a couple of estates we drove through where you hoped that the lights wouldn't stay on red for too long.
Thankfully it wasn't too long before we found our way to, and ourselves on, the motorway heading West to our first overnight stop. The motorway was high quality and devoid of the levels of traffic we 'all too soon' re-familiarised ourselves with back in England. In fact, it was pleasurable and a joy to be driving in such conditions. Not too long before we arrived in Athlone and a very friendly welcome to our overnight accommodation. In fact, considering that one of the first things we asked about upon arrival was the location of a couple of well-known pubs, rather than use the hotel bar, we were treated with the welcome seen by the other two important visitors to Ireland, namely Mr Obama and Mrs Windsor.

The first pub we visited was Sean's Bar and it was everything the foreign visitor to Ireland might expect and hope for - sawdust on the floor (without the spit), peat smoking in the open fireplace, the warmest of welcomes and the coolest, most velvet pint of the Black Stuff I've tasted since the last time David was in Dublin, or the Coach & Horses, off Covent Garden. Helen still says it was the best pint of Guinness she had during our trip to Ireland (including a certain factory at St James' Gate!). Our next (and final) stop on the early evening pub crawl of Athlone was to Gertie Browne's, another interesting pub, but without the same number of clientèle, just a little less atmospheric than our first pub - but a lovely drop of Arthur's finest nonetheless.

Easton Royal (the Birthday party pics)

2011-06-16T09:04:00.001+01:00

Easton Royal

2011-06-13T12:07:00.004+01:00

After a long flight home, we were welcomed 'backtoBlighty' by Margaret & Lloyd, who then put us up for a few days in Easton Royal.
It proved to be a good time to re-adjust and get over the jet lag for a few days.
Only a week later and we were back down at ER to celebrate Lloyd's Birthday with a garden party that saw the Official opening of the garden Summer House, the Hungerford Brass band and the passing of the 'hat' once again between Michael and Lloyd. The hat has passed between the two of them around 60 times over the years, in all manner of ways and been delivered by some unusual methods (including manuere) and via a host of people (including the late Bob Monkhouse). This time Michael had arranged for the Hungerford Town Brass Band to present it to Lloyd in the garden. Seeing the band playing was quite a spectacle and a good way to spend a typical English Summer afternoon (cold - despite the sun making an appearance several times between the clouds).
Later in the afternoon Lloyd made a speech and David got a mention as 'Captain Patience' for his technology teaching methods, but was embarrasingly nowhere to be seen as he'd snuck off for an afternoon nap to nurse his tonsilitis.
The day was rounded off with a crowd of folk around the television set to see a traditionally poor performance in the Eurovision Song Contest by the UK - well in terms of voting that is from our European neighbours.

Ho Chi Minh (in pictures)

2011-05-01T12:43:00.002+01:00

Ho Chi Minh

2011-05-01T10:56:00.011+01:00

Our final journey through Vietnam on a sleeper bus. After our last bug-filled experience, we decided that we'd take the day sleeper option. We'd not got very far before the bus turns down a very winding, small, pot-holed road and turns into a bus depot. Visions of bus trips through Malaysia returned, thinking we were going to have to change buses again, but thankfully not. Instead, the driver gets out and there's much gesticulating by around four or five guys and a table and a few chairs appear. Although the bus isn't full at this stage, we have seen individual chairs placed in the aisles of these buses before - but the table! So, these guys seriously consider and attempt to get the table on through the side door, we kid you not, but before David can grab his camera, they do decide that after a couple of minutes that it won't squeeze on without some serious reconstruction to either the table, or the bus. Plan B comes into action and they attempt, and are eventually successful at putting the table in the luggage hold below. Gladly, this wasn't at the expense of our suit cases.
The journey is fairly uneventful, the scenery stunning, but the coach does stall once on a very steep ascent up a very winding mountain climb. The bus driver tries to move forward four or five times, the engine stalling and the bus lurching backwards rather than in the right direction, but eventually we are back on our way.
Whilst in HCM, we did a good amount of sightseeing, visiting some local galleries and museums. Unsurprisingly, there was a fair amount of both art and history relating to the conflicts of the twentieth century. Some of the images in the gallery and exhibits in the museum were stark, direct, immensely powerful and harrowing.

We also visited Notre Dame Cathedral and saw one of a number of illuminated Mary's witnessed across the city.

We even visited the Post Office!

There was also a trip out of the city where we visited the site of much of the fighting between the Viet Cong and the Americans. We saw examples of some of the traps set by the Viet Cong, including this swinging floor, with a spiked man trap awaiting in the bottom, that would swing completely shut again when it had taken it's victim.

We also saw the tunnels carved out by the Viet Cong and some of the trap doors like the one below where the VC could hide in an instant below ground.

But enough has been written about the historical war in Vietnam and no doubt more will be written from many view points.
Today's battles seem to be those of wits on the roads (and pavements) as the traffic in HCM in particular has to be witnessed to be believed with vehicles, but particularly mopeds coming at you from all directions, but thankfully we managed to survive.

Even the guy below survived! He's replacing some cabling going across a busy line of traffic and is holding onto the cables whilst the bloke at the bottom of the ladder calmly moves it across the seething lanes of traffic.

After Vietnam, we have returned to Malaysia and preparing for our flight home. We hope you've enjoyed some of our missives and we may have made you chuckle, or just smile on the odd occasion.
Whist this wont be our final posting to the blog, they will be less regular than previous, so keep checking from time to time.
There's a trip to Ireland for us we'll cover on the blog in June where we'll be completing a 48km sponsored walkathon to support a local Community Radio Station, so we'll be asking you all for your kind donations. All contributions big or small are welcome.
David is also walking from Carlisle on the East Coast to the West Coast in July, but no specific sponsorship for that, but probably a blog entry or two along the way.
Hope you've enjoyed it nearly a small bit as much as we have living it and we look forward to seeing you personally soon (get you wallets and purses at the ready, ha, ha)

Ne Trang (and a picture)

2011-04-29T05:27:00.004+01:00

Our journey to Ne Trang was once again by the night sleeper bus. When it arrived Helen was elbows out and onto the bus straight away to try and get two bed seats next to each other whilst David dealt with getting the cases securely in the luggage hold. We hadn't been on-board too long before David noticed a bug crawling along the floor and then disappearing under one of the beds, then another, then another. After the first pee stop and we got back on board, Helen also noticed the bug situation - in fact the bus looked pretty much infested with them and when people were getting back on board after the 2nd pee stop you could hear the sound of lots of swiping and thwacking of bugs going on in several parts of the bus. We wrapped blankets around our exposed feet and legs, closed our eyes and tried to sleep the best we could. You can imagine it wasn't easy - particularly as the coach driver was bonkers with erratic overtaking, plenty of use of the horn and severe braking. At least it momentarily took your mind off the bugs and every time we went over pot holes and bridge expansion joints there was always the hope that a few of the critters were being shaken off the bus.
Eventually we got some sleep, only to be woken by the sound of water. There was a toilet half way down the bus that constantly said it was occupied and could only be shut with a lock mechanism on the outside of the door - this had already confused a couple of passengers, but was no excuse for the bloke who was standing in the bus peeing up the outside of the loo door and the exit door midway along the coach.
When we arrived therefore, we alighted via the front door of the coach. We were then pleased when we finally shook off all the hotel touts (although one was persistent to within 100 metres of the hotel we had booked). At the hotel we were told that our room was ready even though it was only 0715 hrs. However, when we got to the room, the manager opened the door to find somebody was already inside it. We were then offered another room and were finally able to wash the thought of those bugs out of our system.
Ne Trang itself is a beach destination, so we spent a couple of days relaxing down at the sea front looking over to the island pictured above, connected to the mainland by one of the longest looking cable cars we've seen.
On one evening we spent a night down at the Sailing Club on what appeared to be chillout night by the music they were playing, and a bonfire was lit on the beach to add to the ambiance. Unfortunately, Helen was ill on our second night, so David went out on his own the following evenings and was concerned he looked like a bit of a saddo in the restaurant and bar he visited. He was accosted by one of the waitresses in the restaurant and thoroughly cross examined as to whether he was there on his own, how long he'd been in Vietnam, whether he was married and why he didn't have any children. In the bar, he ended up sitting at a table next to an old guy who clearly had an identity crisis and thought he was an American Indian. David then cursed himself that he was off duty from taking pictures for a few days so that he couldn't share this image with you all.

Hoi An (in pictures)

2011-04-25T12:46:00.000+01:00

Hoi An

2011-04-25T11:35:00.008+01:00

The weather was on-side when we reached Hoi An. Well, that is to say it wasn't raining when we first arrived and within a few days we actually saw a chink of blue in the sky. This was good, as apart from the stunning architecture in and around the port, we were able to hire push bikes and cycle to the beach some 3 miles or so away a couple of times.
We also hired another moped and went a bit further into the countryside.

In fact we went to My Son, a site of temples in the same style as those in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, although on a far, far, far reduced scale and, it has to be said, a tad disappointing. In fact, they were in a pretty ruinous state due to destruction from twentieth century conflicts.

We did seem some rather interesting sculptures though.

Helen also found this rather stupid looking tool!

Whilst in Hoi An we also took a cookery class, but it will probably take a few attempts when we finally have a home of our own again before we get anywhere near making decent enough veggie spring rolls, pumpkin mash and the most deliciously moist roasted aubergine or eggplant as some of our Antipodean friends and relatives prefer to name them.

Afterwards, it was all washed down with some lovely cheap fresh beer, and as you can see there was more than enough to go round for one evening!

Talking of cheap beer, the food wasn't that expensive either.

Helen also managed to take advantage of the low cost boot making and found some footwear that could be tailor made.

In the evening, the buildings and bridges were lit up to make them even more picturesque, but there were some strange creatures lurking in the water.

On our last night there was also a strange little cheeky creature who entertained us in the street until it was his bedtime. He was quite happy doing funny little walks, pulling faces and cheekily stealing David's seat when he went for a waz.

Hue (in pictures)

2011-04-21T12:03:00.000+01:00

Hue

2011-04-19T09:11:00.004+01:00

Whilst we were in Hanoi, we decided to try out the overnight sleeper bus to take us down to Ho Chi Minh City via several stops. We'd seen some of these parked empty when we were up in SaPa - Helen had a special name for them.

Initially the bus didn't turn up on time, although a guide did and she hailed down a couple of taxi's that we all had to squeeze into and then transfer our luggage between the two vehicles - it was all chaotic. The cabs then took us about half a mile to where the sleeper bus was waiting. Our luggage was then loaded onto the bus and as we got on, it seemed to be pretty full already. We were then told this wasn't our bus but we were to stay on it to be ferried to the next transfer stop. More people got on along the way, so we were standing, packed in the two aisles between the beds. This lasted for about half an hour until those of us without bunks were herded off the bus, our suitcases ceremoniously taken out of the luggage hold and we were left standing on the side of the road in the dark. We were waiting for some time, chatting and nervously laughing with Blighty spirit with our fellow passengers until another coach finally arrived. Then, what we'd not already noticed was a significant number of locals, who had been standing in the shadows of some local buildings were all of a sudden elbows out and pushing and shoving to get on the sleeper. We did manage to finally get on, and soon were able to laugh about it. The journey itself wasn't as bad as we'd prepared ourselves for with a couple of loo breaks, but even though we were able to lie down, the poor suspension on poor road surfaces made for a fitful nights sleep.

Sadly, when we arrived it was damp and cold, but our room was ready which meant we could shower and get out and about straight away.

As the weather was poor we decided to book on a trip but unfortunately part of it was one of those tourist shopping opportunities, although we did get to see some conical hat making.

We also got to see josticks being made all in the same shop!

The trip really centred around visiting tombs though and there were plenty of those - Tu Duc, Minh Mang, Khai Din, and Thien Mu Pagoda.

At the end of the trip we caught a dragon boat back down the Perfume River before trudging home in the damp.

As ever, the rain can make such a difference to a visit, but Hue is famous for The Citadel and it's an impressive place regardless of the weather.

Sadly, with all the wet, damp and cold together with no heater in the room (but lashings of blankets), Helen caught a cold, so we decided to move further South in the hope of better weather.

Hanoi (in pictures)

2011-04-18T08:15:00.004+01:00

Hanoi

2011-03-28T09:48:00.013+01:00

When we arrived in Hanoi it was overcast, foggy and quite cool. After a short walk from the hotel we arrived at a lake where a significant crowd had gathered and were staring into the water.

A local told us that they were looking at a 1,000 year old turtle that lives in the lake - Lloyd also confirmed it was in the UK media before they left. Apparently, the local opinion is that it's recently been unwell and by the look at the state of the green slime it was swimming around in that was supposed to be the lake, we weren't surprised.
As we continued our wander further around the streets we happened upon a guy who seemed to be equipped to repair Helen's glasses which had recently broken.

There were also a number of interesting retailers selling all kinds of stuff..

There was also a number of women of Hanoi and the surrounds who constantly sold goods from their heavy balancing wicker baskets. A trip to the local womens museum had a short documentary illustrating how far the ladies come to sell their goods, the amount of time they are away from their families, the long hours they work and the small, yet significant sums of money they can earn to take back to their families to help to feed them and make a difference.

We also walked past 'Uncle Ho's' mausoleum, but were too late in the day to go inside and take a peek.

The weather in Hanoi was a complete mixed bag and cooled rapidly soon after we arrived and descended into a number of days rain, but before we left it had begun to improve significantly again. So much so, that a walk over to the 'big lake' revealed just how huge it was and stopped David in his tracks from thinking we could take a short stroll around the whole of it in one afternoon.

Hanoi was where Lloyd & Margaret left us to return back to Blighty via Kuala Lumpur, but not before Lloyd found his Utopia.

The traffic in Hanoi deserves a special mention: It does seem to get by in a merged-chaos kind of a way. One way streets are of no consequence to either mopeds or cycles of various sizes and pedestrians might as well not exist. Peripheral vision and a horn that seems to suggest an 'OK, I've made my mind up and I'm coming through this gap/junction/crossing' regardless of what is coming in the opposite or sideways direction. It appears to work the majority of the time, but clearly there are many instances when the deafening horns can not be differentiated from the mass of others and there are painful consequences.

Hanoi was also the first place we noticed the many couples openly checking each others hair for nits. Is your head itching now as ours did when we saw this?

We also treated ourselves to a performance of water puppets. It was a show loosely based on sex and drugs and rock 'n' roll. It was a privilege to hear first hand the in-theatre Vietnamese band for the first couple of numbers, but admittedly it did become a bit repetitive throughout the sixty minutes of the whole performance. As for the sex bit, it really was quite something to see the puppets of the local farmers running around attached very closely behind the water buffalo! Finally, the drugs part - by the end of the performance we were unsure if we'd been on, or just needed them. Honestly though, it was well worth witnessing and the start of a good evening.

Our final few nights accommodation were at a back packers hostel in the style we'd become accustomed to on our overland journey out to Australia. It was a clean, almost palatial room overlooking the old town complete with flat screen tv and balcony. Worryingly though, the other double doors in the windows overlooking the roof tops of Hanoi didn't have a balcony, they just opened out, so no sleepwalking for us!

On our final night in the city we met up with an Australian couple, Richard & Anita, who we'd bumped into a few times in both Hanoi and SaPa and we ended up visiting the local Bia Hoi's (outside bars) where fresh beer is served up for about 15p a glass, nice and cold. However, we sat on tiny plastic stools the size of those you find in primary schools and we're sure that those chairs were responsible for the wobbly legs at the end of the evening rather than the content of those glasses that just kept being refreshed into the late hours of the night.

HaLong Bay

2011-03-28T09:46:00.012+01:00

Our first attempt to travel down to HaLong Bay with Margaret & Lloyd was re-booked due to poor weather. The second attempt saw us travel in a mini-bus for 3 -4 hours to HaLong on what turned out to be a lovely sunny day only for the trip to be cancelled due to high winds. We were then 'treated' to lunch which turned out to be one of the worst meals we've had in Vietnam, so David & Lloyd decided to have a couple of beers to mask the dissapointment. About an hour and a half into the journey on the way back the bus had to stop for an unscheduled wee break.
Sadly Margaret & Lloyd left for home on the day we had rescheduled our third attempt to enjoy HaLong Bay - since a boat sank in HaLong Bay a short while ago, the port authority has been cancelling trips out at the slightest hint of poor weather conditions.
So was it to be third time lucky for us?
Thankfully it was.
This meant another 3 - 4 hour trip down to the bay, but we had a green light to go on the boat. It was cold, but it was neither raining nor windy.
The boat we were on was The Red Dragon and designed to carry 11 passengers, but there were only 7 of us on the boat for the overnight boat-trip.
In the afternoon we completed a first - kayaking - and HaLong Bay is certainly a great place to start, although there were a few coordination issues between the both of us as we went around some of the islands in the bay. As the water was pretty cold, it was great that we didn't flip over in the boat and when we returned to shore we walked up the island into a cave that had been previously used by the local fishermen.

Talking of local fishermen, when we were back on the boat, in the fading light there was a small boat casting nets out to sea and then following the net around drumming above the water and then cracking a whip to try and get the fish into the net. In the evening, the 7 of us sat down to several courses, sitting inside, looking at the lights of a couple of other boats moored in the same harbour as us overnight.
The following morning after a short breakfast we went to visit a couple of floating fishing villages - rowed by a local village lady. During this short trip we visited a school, saw pearl harvesting for oysters and passed on the opportunity to row back to the ship.

After brunch the captain of our boat (who looked far too young to have the ten years experience we were informed he had) took us back to shore on the life boat, we then bid our farewell to our fellow passengers, and took the 3 to 4 hour journey back to Hanoi.

That update to follow soon...

Sapa (in pictures)

2011-03-28T09:21:00.002+01:00

SaPa

2011-03-20T10:45:00.025Z

Our journey to SaPa was via overnight train. A small 4 berth bunk for 8 to 9 hours and thankfully we traveled light leaving half of our luggage in the 'secure' lobby of a hotel back in Hanoi.
After the transfer from Lao Cai station on the border with China we arrive in a misty SaPa and are immediately at the mercy of female vendors from the local villages. They take a particular shine to Margaret.

Mid morning, the mountain cloud clears enough for us to climb up through a hillside country park to enjoy great views across SaPa.

The following day we take a trek to some local villages with a guide called Mylan. During the morning walks on our way to Y Linh Ho and Lao Chai we leave the tarmac and initially follow the construction route of a new road and soon descend through the mountain cloud and onto the rice terraces.

The route was both steep and treacherous in places and it wasn't not long before Helen lost her footing and went up to one of her knees in the paddy field. From that point Helen is firmly hand in hand with one of the local village ladies who chaperoned us all day.

Moments later and David also lost his balance on the rocks and smacked down on his knee onto another small boulder. Luckily, only moments before he had put the camera safely back into it's carry case.

Our guide, Mylan, misses the action but it soon became clear that she had taken quite a shine to David and starts to refer to him as honey.
After lunch our walk took us down to Ta Van village. We missed the snow by a couple of days on Mount Fansipan, but it clearly took its toll on the water buffalo who were extremely sick and dying from the cold. It's a reminder of what a tough existence the mountainside terraces offer not only to the people but their animals too.

When we arrived at the village were led into the school yard and Mylan immediately headed for two swing seats and sat down on one. Helen and Lloyd enjoyed sitting on the one opposite meaning that David had to sit next to Mylan who did the classic 'cinema-yawn' manoeuvre to place her hand on the seat behind her 'honey'.

It was also at this point where she turned her attention to the lump that had appeared on Davids knee and ran to another of the ladies to get a needle to relieve the pressure from the bruising in the wound and advised David to put Tiger Balm on it later.
On our way back to the minibus, there was a large swing - similar to those we saw throughout Nepal. When David remarked upon it to Mylan, she straight away said he must have a go on it....

On another afternoon, we went for a nice stroll around the lake with Margaret & Lloyd, but resisted the temptation to take a swan pedal boat out on the lake.

Our journey back to the railways station was through some of the most staggering scenery, but sadly the minibus had heavily tinted windows to scupper any photo opportunities and, to be honest, as it was a bit of a white knuckle ride for the majority of the way, taking the camera out of the bag was not a sensible option to take.
However, the day train back did offer one or two lovely glimpses of fantastic Vietnamese countryside.

Langkawi

2011-03-16T11:28:00.001Z

...and so to Langkawi. Don't get us wrong, and bear with us, but somehow it all seems and feels a bit like, well a bit like a holiday!
As nobody will be reading this anymore, there's seems little point carrying on - but we'll persevere! We stayed in a couple of different places, including a nice cabin right next to the beach for a couple of nights.
We also managed to stay in a place for a whole week - it almost seemed like we'd settled down and had stopped travelling - when we arrived at this particular place we were told there was a slight 'problem' caused by the previous occupant. Whatever the 'problem' was it required the purchase of a new mattress. Although we really didn't need the intimate details when we were lying on the brand new mattress a few hours later and enjoying the fresh smell of bleach coming from the bathroom and in fact the whole room, we couldn't help but muse at what had actually happened in that room during the previous 24 hours: We moved to another room the following day.
Our other accommodation included an interesting little place, a way back from the beach where the crack between the walls in the corner of the bathroom wall was so big you could see daylight through it!

Very welcoming place though and the owner even brought a brand new fridge for the few nights we were staying there. The last place we stayed in was a little apartment again set back from the beach but owned by one of the resorts.
Being a bit further back from the beach resulted in us being entertained by the sound of frogs in the fields next to the road to the Langkawi nightlife. Talking of the Langkawi nightlife, the very same road was crossed one night by several water buffalo as we were on our way out in the dusk. As soon as they had crossed the road, they couldn't wait to get a little closer to each other and seemed to playing piggy back, or that's what it looked like in the dark.
When we could drag ourselves away from the beach and the gorgeous sunsets, we hired a car for a couple of days. We had asked for a big car as Margaret & Lloyd were coming to join us on our trip, er holiday and we wanted to pick them up at the airport. It still looked a little Mr Magoo car to us though.

We had been in the car for about half an hour when we stopped at a waterfall where we learned the meaning of Forest.

When we got back in the car it seemed to struggle to start, but when we stopped in Kuah it wouldn't start at all. However, after about an hours walk around a strange public park we managed to fire it up and head back to the rental shop to swap it.

The new car really was another Mr Magoo car though – so small in fact that Helen stayed at the accommodation when David went to pick up Margaret, Lloyd and the suitcases – it was a sensible and necessary decision.
In Mr Magoo 2 we did get out and about on the island and visited a couple of other places of interest, but the most staggering was the cable car and suspension bridge. These are true feats of engineering and give amazing views of the island. We did also catch a glimpse of mainland Thailand from the tower at the top of Langkawi's highest mountain too.

When we dropped the car back off with Margaret & Lloyd there really wasn't much more to do than relax on the beach, catch up and socialise. It really was an odd, but brilliant experience welcoming familiar faces onto our trip – the socialising was big – in fact there appeared to be several 'tired' faces the following morning (and afternoon).

We also saw another familiar, welcome face when we were just wandering down the strip on our last afternoon – fellow overlander to Oz, Natalie Fitzgerald.

It was then great to catch up and exchange travelling gossip for an hour or so.
We also thought Debbie Ruddy had made an appearance when we patronised Debbies Irish Bar – not sure what the 'one hand wonder' by-line is though Debbie?

The nightlife was good and we managed to become regulars in a few places, but one of our favourites was on the beach, watching all the para gliders as the sun set and served the odd beer or several from a local who was the spitting image of one of the band members of Run DMC – if you ever get to Langkawi check out Rafii's for yourself and see if you agree.

Penang (in pictures)

2011-03-09T15:47:00.001Z

Penang

2011-03-07T08:07:00.004Z

Back to Penang, where we had a brief one night stopover on our way out to Oz.
One afternoon whilst wandering over to the shoreline on Gurney Drive we are looking out to sea when David spots what he initially thinks is a snake in the water. Helen then also spots it and it's come to the shore line, but it's then clear it's not a snake at all. There's a local girl nearby so David asks her what it is and she replies 'it's like a small crocodile' – we couldn't have put it better ourselves – not sure it was though (but don't let the Chronicle & Echo know though, eh Tim?)
We hired another moped for a couple of days to get a bit further around the island – David got to play moped dominoes in a 'ped park. Neither of us would recommend it though and David ended up with a couple of purple toes - when they stopped bleeding. We did have more successful trips with it though and managed to get to the National Park to do a couple of what were quite challenging walks in the humidity of the jungle. Whilst walking down to Turtle Beach one day, the noises in the jungle were incredible and we saw, to quote the lady earlier another one of those 'small crocodile's. There were also plenty of (other) lizards, colourful butterflies and, when we arrived at the beach turtle tracks in the sand – but sadly no turtles to see whilst we were there. On a more positive note though, there were no leeches either! We did see plenty of monkeys though on both our visits and, perhaps unsurprisingly, on the aptly named Monkey Beach itself – if only those turtles could have been as obliging.

We also managed to get to Penang Hill to visit an impressive Hindu temple and mosque, but sadly for us at this time, the funicular is currently under refurbishment, so we didn't get to see some of the better views. We were told there was a footpath to climb to the top but we couldn't find it (although due to the humidity to be honest we didn't actually look that hard).

Malay cuisine is excellent and we visited many cheap but very tasty open kitchens in Batu Ferringhi, Gurney Drive and George Town itself with some interesting items on the menu – but the vegetable samosas from one particular street vendor must get a special mention as we frequented his stall on an almost daily basis during our stay. Being the old romantics that we are, we also broke with our own tradition over the past ten years of NOT going out on Valentines – thankfully it appeared to be just a normal night our restaurant of choice on the 14th, the prices normal and only one red rose in sight.

We also enjoyed a final Indian meal in Penang on David's birthday...

Kuching (in pictures)

2011-03-06T02:18:00.001Z

Kota Kinabalu (in pictures)

2011-03-05T09:13:00.001Z

Kuala Lumpur (in pictures)

2011-03-05T00:28:00.001Z

Adelaide (in pictures)

2011-03-02T11:51:00.001Z

Kota Bharu

2011-02-24T15:12:00.013Z

Our journey to KB was reminiscent of our overland trip from London to Adelaide – it was by bus. Well, 3 busses actually! We were early to the pick up point, so the lady behind the counter told us to go away and get some breakfast while she stored our luggage, but when we returned we were still too early, so she gave us a couple of stools to sit on, clearly one look at David made this decision for her. When the bus did arrive, we were told by the driver this was just our transit bus, which was a shame, as it was a small, but luxury liner with just 3 seats in a row in a two-one formation. When we got to the express bus station, there was some conflicting information as to which bus we were to get on, which was a shame as it was the standard 4 in a row two-two formation. When the bus left the station we had a few more pick ups and then we turned into a garage where the bus was promptly washed.

It was 9.37am, we weren't on the luxury coach we thought we would be, but it was certainly one of the cleanest. About another hour into the journey and we pulled into another bus station. Here the driver and co-driver promptly got off and appeared to assist with fixing another coach. Lots of banging with a very long screwdriver, emptying several bottles of water into the engine, many laughs and then what appeared to be a fuse box was ripped open, a fuse replaced and that bus was up and running. The drivers then returned to our bus and and said something in Malay to the passengers, possibly along the lines of 'that's our new coach – so get your arses on it now'. So, like sheep, we transferred our luggage to our third bus of the day and it was the 3 seats in a rower that we'd been expecting from the start.

The food in KB was Malay standard – excellent with a choice of vegetarian restaurants for us to sample. However, it is a 'dry' state, so you need to look in the right places to get an after dinner drink. We managed to find such a place and enjoyed several 'illegal' beers. We were told by one of several ex-pat regulars that as the owner didn't have a licence, he was busted about once a year and had to pay a 'fine' to the local constabulary. The 'fine' however was apparently tolerable as buying a licence was so expensive as to be practically prohibitive. When we talked to the owner he voluntarily confirmed this to be the case, but seemed to accept that this was one of his business costs. The beers were served cold and with an added taste of satisfaction. Whilst sitting outside in the evenings we were also entertained by an owl flying from one tree to another looking for prey - believe us this was a better option than going inside, down the corridor, through the purple door and to the (also illegal) karaoke.
We managed to catch a local bus and sample the nearby beach a couple of times, one on the hottest of hot sunny days, another on what was a very mixed but ultimately stormy day. Sadly for us, on the way back from the beach we managed to get the school bus – we only had to survive for about thirty minutes of the journey, that poor bus driver has to suffer on an almost daily basis no doubt.

We also managed to hire the tiniest of cars. We felt like Mr and Mrs Magoo whilst driving it around. Driving around though was a challenge, not because of the roads, but the 3 crap maps that Helen had to navigate with. Helen quite rightly said that 'three crap maps don't necessarily make one good one' but we did manage to find a number of temples in and around Kelantan. Having said that, some of the BRIDGES connecting the roads were a tad suspect.

The temples have a definite Thai feel to them, being so close to the border, the most impressive of which was the Dragon Boat Temple – very aptly named. All the temples we visited though appeared to be guarded by the most scabby of dogs – and however hungry you are – you would NOT want to eat one of those fellas, although most of them appeared to be female.

The museums around KB were a mixed bag, including the Royal Palace – a place unsurprisingly previously habited by the Royal Family. The Malay English made some of the exhibits more amusing than perhaps they should have been, but the treasure contained within the building seemed to be largely 'gifts' that had been dumped, er we mean presented to the Royal Couple either on overseas trips or from other visiting heads of state. We did notice three individual signed photographs in frames by Anne, Philip and HRH Betty amongst the bric a brac.
We also visited the War Museum that gave a very comprehensive review of events in the twentieth century. Kelantan certainly had a turbulent period of history over the last one hundred years being occupied by Thailand, Japan and Britain before it's independence.

Whilst we were in KB the MOST disappointing moment was standing in a local department store and seeing segregated tills for women and men.

Kuching

2011-02-09T16:00:00.008Z

Hotels have been a bit of a theme in Borneo. At our first hotel we had 3 rooms within 2 days. The first wouldn't let us work the electrics with our key card for the room. We then woke up to a flooded bathroom and went down to reception to complain. Our remark '3rd time lucky' certainly fell on deaf ears at the desk and a lesson or several in customer service for them would be a wise move. That hotel was in a good location on the waterfront however.
We then checked out what we believed to be our second hotel in Kuching prior to leaving the first. However, when we turned up, they either clearly weren't ready for us, had forgotten our booking, or were completely trashed because of CNY celebrations – we could certainly forgave them for the last factor! However, when it came to paying, the fun and games really began. The 'lady' behind the counter said that as we were paying for the hotel on credit card there would be 'no refunds' if we decided to change our minds. Strange, why would we change our minds – we'd already checked the room out previously? However there were a lot of people hanging around now in the lobby and another 'lady' or 'boy' putting his, or her make up on whilst we were standing there. Anyroadup, as Kenny Everitt used to say, the credit card machine didn't work. So, we offered to pay cash – and we came to an agreement that we would pay on a per night basis. We then went out for a walk and pretty much instantly decided that we would look for further accommodation for our remaining nights in Kuching. How strange – we'd already checked out the accommodation, were happy with it, but then the owner sowed a seed of doubt in our minds by saying that 'some other guests changed their minds'. We wouldn't have thought to, once we'd paid that would have been it, but as we'd only paid for one night we were now thinking there must be better places to stay – surely?
Our third hotel was a real find – lovely. It was a 'boutique hostel', probably. The same price as our second hotel, but instantly felt more secure, friendly and actually delivered free breakfast – yet another story!
Back to what we did. We took a lovely little water taxi to the other side of the river to Fort Kuching, or Fort Margherita in fact – set up by James Brookes from his occupation, but during WW2 occupied by the Japanese. It was used as a 'proper' fort during that time, with POW's kept inside and further kept in small, open to the elements, bamboo cages. People had also been hanged from within the confines of the fort previously, but for the majority of the time it had been a pretty peaceful place. Built on an apex in the river for great views, guards in the watchtower would call out on the hour throughout the night 'All's Well'. Apparently, this was then repeated back from several places, including across the water in the main City and David couldn't help himself but to also make the chant – albeit in the comfort of daylight.
The food in Kuching is as good as we've come to expect in Malaysia. There are a few dedicated veggie restaurants, but the latest they appear to stay open until is 8pm – we tried to visit one a couple of times around 6pm, but it had already closed on both occasions, but this meant we did manage to eat in a nice semi open air place named after James Brookes that looked a little like a bandstand. Other food options were mainly open kitchen communal dining areas with a heavy emphasis on fish.
We did get up shortly after 6am one morning to walk to the bus station to catch the7am bus to the Orang utan sanctuary some 20km's out of the city centre. We were lucky enough (apparently for the time of year) to see 5 adults with 2 of their babies come to the morning feeding session. As we wandered through to the site David only managed to see one leech – which was more than enough thank you very much!
We also decided it had to be worthwhile to visit the Cat Museum whilst in Kuching (the city of the cat!). This involved another bus ride, thankfully not at stupid o'clock, but when we got there it was soooooo sad. Any reference AT ALL to cats is listed in that museum, well up until about 20 years ago, when it last seemed to have been updated. Lesley Ash was a feature because she'd stared in a programme called C.A.T.S Eyes and even Northampton got a mention via the Derngate theatre because of hosting a Curiosity Killed The Cat gig that David reluctantly agreed to the fact that he'd actually attended it. On that bombshell, it's probably enough to report from this particular update, so until the next time blog fans....
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Gong Xi Fa Cai - Kota Kinabalu

2011-02-06T09:54:00.009Z

Happy Chinese New Year from Borneo.
We've found so far that Malaysia loves it's abbreviations, which is quite handy when visiting Kota Kinabalu to be able to shorten it to KK. However, upon arrival at KK we couldn't find TBH, that is the bleedin' hotel. We'd used a previously reliable source to book our accommodation but, it has to be said that on their site there was no outside 'view' of the hotel. It all became a bit concerning when we got into the taxi at the airport and the driver said 'that must be a new one – I've never heard of it'. As we'd had a check on Google Maps beforehand so we were able to tell him some landmarks nearby and where it was SUPPOSED TO BE. Anyway, we arrived and he was saying 'I can't see it', but we were still confident (at that point). We got him to drop us off and then between us spent around 2 hours looking, trying to phone and asking locals for the flippin Yomi hotel. After several calls, the phone was eventually answered and when asked if that was the Yomi hotel, the person at the other end of the line said 'Yes'. When asked where they were because we were in KK looking for them, the line suddenly went dead and the phone wasn't answered again after that. That's a short summary of a frustrating and anxious couple of hours before we finally gave up and checked into the hotel where we had been dropped by the taxi driver.
The new hotel was good, and the staff exceedingly helpful – in fact they had tried to look up the 'virtual' Yomi hotel when we unloaded our cases from the taxi. During the night however, the air con unit must have realised that we were mug punters and also started (to coin an Aussie phrase) p1ss1ng all over us as the water started to reverse back into the room, so much so that they could now advertise it as having it's own pool. Thankfully, we'd already decided to check on other hotels in the area for the remainder of our stay and the rest of our time in KK was spent in an alternative, but real hotel. We explored the surrounding area and visited a complex that housed the local museum, art gallery and cultural village. Sadly, most of it was closed for renovations (and had probably been so for many years). We did wander around the dilapidated exhibitions though and whilst looking at some information about the carnival queen, we read a small newspaper article on the same page from 1961 about a couple of guys who were charged and fined for public spitting. What a shame that sort of legislation seems to have been given up on. If people were still fined for spitting it could help to end the current downturn in the economy – particularly with high-profile sports stars contributing back some of their earnings into the pot. Alternatively, how about a spitting tax instead of 20% VAT? Anyway, time to move on.
Our whole time in KK was really relaxing, in fact many a morning it was really difficult to drag ourselves out of the hotel after nights of very strange dreams no doubt courtesy of the renewed intake of malaria tablets.
One morning we did manage to get up early enough to make a wander to Jesselton Pier to catch a boat over to Manukan National Park and make a day of it. Whilst there we witnessed large monitor lizzards and mud skipper jumping fish and jumping crabs.
Back on the main land we hired a little red moped for a couple of days, which saw us travel out to a Wildlife Park (when did such places stop being called zoos?). Much like the museum, some of the park seemed to be closed off when we got there too. However we did manage to stay for a good part of the day and that meant we witnessed some of the feeding times. We were very surprised that the most 'entertaining' and noisy was the otters - boy those blighters can screech. Having the bike meant that we got around to different areas in KK, we tried to see a couple of sunsets on the west facing coast, but only one was really impressive and included a couple in some traditional dress on the shore-line as an added bonus.
Our final day with the bike took us off to find a bit of beach and what better than a private beach taken up by one of the Shangri-La hotels. As we arrived on our rented scooter, we waved at the security guards on the entry point and said hi to all the staff as we blagged our way to the beach front, where one of us ended up as red as the moped itself.

Kuala Lumpur

2011-01-28T02:09:00.006Z

This is the first visit to KL on our way 'back to Blighty'. Also our first 'long' flight on the no-frills airline AirAsia. Considering it was 8 hours and no in-flight entertainment, apart from ourselves, books, music and a whole lot of people watching, it seemed to pass pretty quick – oh, there was also a bit of snoozing by Helen. Our stay in KL was also in a no-frills hotel, Tune – the same holding company as the airline. It was all ok, very clean and a good location. Although having been to KL before we managed to do some different things - we visited the Old Central Market Building but also did some stuff we'd done before like a wander around Petalang Street, Chinatown.
A walk around the 'forest' (in the grounds of the KL tower) in the centre of the city is always worth it and this time we managed to see some monkeys and a big lizzardy-thing. David did ask the guy who had 'captured' it what it was, he told him, but David didn't quite catch it by name only on camera. Helen then also asked what it was after she'd jumped at the sight of it, but didn't quite catch it by name either, possibly due to the shock having seemed to jump out of her skin when she saw it close up. Certainly a first for us in KL was visiting the very large parklands area, which housed an hibiscus garden as well as an orchid one. The hibiscus were blooming well, but it didn't seem quite the right time for the orchids. Further along in the park, it seemed to be a full on photo shoot for models and wedding couples as they were competing for space of the perfect view for the perfect spot of the perfect couple – nobody took our photograph.
We went to the national museum - which was also a first and whilst we picked up a lot of information about the history of Malaysia, it's 'ownership' and significance of the Malaccan
trade routes, we also learnt some new stuff too, particularly about its 20th century history and the terrorism prior to independence.

Melbourne

2011-01-25T02:33:00.004Z

During our stay in Melbourne we managed to meet up with Bev (and BB Boufle!) who had been on the bus trip out to Oz. David spent the day with them at the Open tennis. Helen went on a sight-seeing trip around the City and took in some art and then the three of us went out on the town in the evening. It was great to catch up with the B's and whilst there was a bit of inevitable reminiscing about the overland trip, there was also talk about what else we'd done and what we were looking forward to for the rest of the year. We had a lot of laughs, a bit of food and a glass or two to drink. The following day we were a bit sluggish for some reason?
Our accommodation was a little way out of the city so we decided to do plenty of looking around by foot. We also managed to visit a couple of galleries, wander down to St Kilda's beach and grab a couple of complimentary rides on the tram network in the city.

Van Diemens Land - Tasmania

2011-01-21T12:50:00.005Z

Our flight to Hobart was via Melbourne and when we landed in the Victorian capital it was one of those rare events where some of the passengers applaud after touchdown. There had been a tiny touch of turbulence as we initially descended through the clouds but nothing that really warranted a quick dose of the clap, and no major incident on-board during the flight either (thankfully). Our touchdown into Hobart was totally without cheer though – perhaps due to the massive thud we experienced as we hit the runway. Interestingly, neither of us recall having been on a plane before that has completed a 3 point turn on the runway – so a new experience achieved as the plane turned around back in the direction we had just landed!
A trip to the Art Gallery & Museum was good with some great exhibits and history about both the Aboriginals and the first landings and settlement of the convicts. Just walking around Hobart on a wet Summers day soon makes you realise what a tough environment those men and women found themselves in when they arrived. That is of course if they survived the journey out from Blighty. Many of those 'convicts' were sent out because they were living in poverty and stealing was literally a survival for them and/or their families unlike the lifestyle occupation it seems to be today. Don't get us wrong however – we know some really bad guys were sent out too.
Our hostel in Hobart was an interesting one in the heart of the Central Business District and a large old building converted for low/ no frills accommodation. There were consequently plenty of creaky floorboards along the corridor – or perhaps just outside our room. We don't remember seeing an exercise vault outside our room before we went to bed, but it seemed like someone was using the floor as a spring board just for the purpose of propelling themselves over such a piece of equipment each morning as soon as daylight crept through the curtains.
In Hobart we picked up a little red Stan (Getz, by Hyundai) that would transport us on the remainder of our trip round Tassie. On route to our first overnight stay we stopped in a place called Ross that had certainly seem better days in terms of population, businesses and tourism. A pretty little place, but really remote and many of the remaining shops up for sale together with the ones that had closed down. We visited a 'women's factory' whilst there – essentially a place for the female convicts either waiting to be sold on to locals as slaves, er we mean servants and also a place for them to be sent back if they had caused trouble – which mainly seemed to be 'allowing' themselves to have got pregnant with an 'illegitimate' child. There was a particularly harrowing story of one young women who had found herself in the situation where she had fallen on the wrong side of the son of one of the houses she had been working in. With child, she was sent straight back to the factory floor (incidentally where many of the women probably also found themselves on the wrong side of some of the staff there). Tragically during the time of the 'factories' in Tasmania 900 of the 1200 children who were born to 'factory women' died within a short time of being born – recently there was a very moving and powerful work of art of babys bonnets to remember and symbolise the events.
As we drove towards our next destination – Bicheno we heard reports on the radio that a place called St Helens was suffering flash flooding from the weather system that has recently wreaked havoc throughout Australia and roads were being closed. A quick check on the map and it was less than 70km's further North from Bicheno. As we travelled on, the weather got worse very, very quickly and we managed to cross a couple of bridges where rivers were raging below, having already burst their banks. There was a lot of standing water in fields in the distance and we wondered whether it had been a good idea not to take out the additional insurance on Stan as the excess was A$3300.00. When we got to Bicheno, we were relieved to see that at least the hostel was towards the top of a coastal hill.
Whilst at Bicheno, we managed to witness the four seasons in one day syndrome as one morning we took a coastal walk and got battered to wotsits and returned to our room to dry out and then in the late afternoon returned to the sea to see a mightily impressive blow hole whilst having the backs of our legs burnt in the sunshine.
Thankfully the weather remained better for the remainder of our stay which meant that we were able to take advantage of a visit to Freycinet National Park and a walk to Wine Glass Bay and back. When we got to the beach on the bay itself we were rewarded by the site of a wallaby cheekily trying to beg for food from the sunbathers. The walk involved several gradients so we managed to walk off a few calories from our Christmas excesses and boy it was hot!
On to Launceston and it appeared to be a much more accessible city than Hobart. Not sure about the monkey enclosure in the local park but the monkeys on both sides of the glass seemed to be pretty pleased with each other. A walk along the river and into Cataract Gorge illustrated the power of the water from the recent days as it thundered down the valley wanting to escape to sea. The day before we did the walk ourselves a couple had been swimming in what were low waters and were resting on a boulder when the tidal surge of water from the mountains came rocketing through and left them stranded until a helicopter came to their rescue – front page news in Launceston! We could see the aftermath with the water still powering through and it had completely submerged an outside swimming pool in it's wake. After the water related excitement we visited the local museum which had an interactive science exhibition for kids – it kept us entertained for a good few hours.
Our drive back to Hobart took us up into the central mountains and past the lakes giving us impressive views of the scenery and wildlife. Helen spotted an echidna as we whizzed past in Stan, but sadly we also saw quite a bit of road kill – several wallabies but also a massive wombat. We rejoined the main road South at a place called Melton Mowbray and there wasn't a Aussie pie in sight – not even a pork one.
We signed the car back off at Hobart airport and survived not having to part with any cash for the A$3300.00 insurance excess, but as we were sitting on the plane we realised that sadly David's headphones that had been repaired and bought out all the way from Blighty were safely stored in a pocket in the boot of Stan. Hopefully the car hire company will come up trumps in getting them back to us though...

Ashes to Ashes (Adelaide)

2011-01-12T08:08:00.004Z

Just in case you weren't aware, whilst we were in Adelaide we went to the Ashes game, where we won convincingly. David pretty much sat on his rear-end whenever the cricket was broadcast on terrestrial tv (in Oz, this is the case whenever a match is sold out). There aren't many better experiences than being in Australia and beating the home side at sport (oh, how I recall the Rugby) but sadly where cricket is concerned and our historical Oz trips it's all been a pretty humiliating experience. So we are very happy wearing boots, or even thongs, on the other feet!
The majority of our stay in Adelaide was with the family, bar our first night which ended up being our last with the Oz Bus 20 family in the City. We also spent a night in Glenelg - a lovely coastal suburb a short way out of the City.
David also took the opportunity to travel on Adelaide's Guided Busway - as the one in Cambridgeshire still doesn't appear to be up and running just yet. Boy, it's fast and cuts through some pretty countryside on the way to a huge shopping complex.
Staying in Port Willunga gave us ready and close access to the McLaren Vale wineries and our first visit of this tour down under took us to Hardy's Tatachilla where it was compulsory to buy a 12 bottle case of fizzy red wine - happy times.
One thing we have increasingly noticed during our trip is a desire to take photographs of not just mealtimes, but to actually photograph the plate of food you are eating. Perhaps this desire will come with the increasing number of years we are clocking up, so as a test run we've taken a picture of two mugs of Ozzie tea as a sort of apprenticeship/rights of passage - what do you think?
Christmas and New Year came and went whilst we were in Adelaide too, and both our waistlines seem to have increased, either that or our clothes have shrunk in the wash! Chrimbo day itself was spent on the beach with the family drinking at least one of those bottles of fizzy red we mentioned. On New Years Eve we were outside on a perfect evening weather wise and pretty much the whole of the family jumped in the pool on or before midnight. Helen was dead keen to get in the water, but perhaps that was to escape the image of FiL in his under-dungers?
A couple evenings, including NYE we managed to watch the sun setting over Port Willunga - possibly one of the best places to see a sunset on the planet with the view ever-so-slightly obscured by the wooden posts of the old jetty.
We also managed to get to see some dolphins during our visit - On Christmas Day at Port Willunga and a much closer view on a trip to Victor Harbour.
And so as we leave Adelaide we begin our meander back to Blighty and the centre of the universe, or Northampton at any rate...