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It’s been a while since I made an effort to write up more of our 2004 tour of Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South-East Asia. A lot’s happened, and the time to sit down and summarise our travels has been hard to come by. But I’ve finally managed the time to transcribe the highlights of our visit to Sydney…

We flew down to Sydney, from Tokyo, on a long overnight flight, arriving on 14th April, 2004. As always we both found it difficult to sleep, so we landed in Sydney the worse for wear, but very much looking forward to seeing some of this fabulous city. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s nearly six months now since we were in Japan. At last, I’ve summoned up the courage to tackle our 1,600 digital photographs we took over our entire trip (the iTrip proved very successful!).

In presenting the pictures online, I’ve had to prune things down somewhat. So what’s here is a selected set of highlights.

Firstly, a bit of background on our trip. We used Inside Japan Tours to organise our trip, which was customised to account for our interests. We’d asked to stay in traditional accomodation (Ryokan) in preference to ‘Western’ hotels, and to try and get off the beaten track a little. We also wanted to avoid ‘coach’ holidays, where you’re shepherded around with little time in particular places. We wanted to do what we wanted, when we wanted, but with the security of having our accommodation and travel taken care of.

We couldn’t have been happier with the result, and are happy to recommend Inside Japan Tours to friends who express an interest in visiting Japan. Read the rest of this entry »

En Route to Glasgow, having stayed over with various friends in London over the last week (to whom we are very grateful!), we broke the 400 mile journey at Kendal.

We pitched up at a nice hotel on Highgate (The Highgate hotel, in fact). After having a pint of beer in the rather, er, ‘locally’ Shakespeare pub, we ventured out to discover the restaurants in the town. Whilst it’s not a huge town, the centre seems to be dominated more by the usual selection of high-street shops than restaurants.

We were pleased then to find outselves outside the The New Moon Restaurant at 129 Highgate. On entering, the faint whiff of fresh paint belied either a recent refurbishment or an altogether new restaurant. Clearly the later based on the overheard conversation between the waitress and manageress, but not a bit worse for it.

We had a drink whilst inspecting the menu, placed our order, and were taken upstairs to the nicely decorated eating area. The food was delightful and well presented. Chicken liver pate on pepper to start for myself, then lamb with rosemary mash. Frances had the swordfish wrapped in parma ham, and we shared the perfectly cooked veg. Neither of us had a bad word to say about the food at all. Service was excellent, if a little slow no doubt due to the long distance between kitchen and eating area. But the experience was entirely positive: I hate overbearing waiting, and we were able to enjoy our time there with well timed food and service.

It was starting to get very busy when we left. No doubt many locals amongst the customers, curious at the new addition. We visited last night (14th July), only it’s second day. And it’s got it’s work cut out trying to improve: It was pretty slick, and the food was faultless in presentation, taste and range. The New Moon Restaurant is easily one of the best restaurants I’ve eaten in in this country for a while.

Bangkok certainly proved to be a fascinating city. The sights are hugely varied. We made our way to the Grand Palace (do enjoy the music if you click through!), which really takes some viewing: A large number of beautifully ornate temples and buildings that took up most of a day visiting.

We visited Wat Po on leaving the Grand Palace, avoiding the many ‘helpful’ people between the palace and the temple who were all keen and eager to advise us it was closed, and by coincidence they knew of a shop where you could by cheap gems/cheap shopping/good tailor (delete as applicable). Successfully at the temple, the reclining Buddha certainly looked quite pleased to be entering Nirvana. A five meter grin shines down on you as you walk in the entrance. We dropped 108 coins into the bronze bowls behind the Buddha after making a donation. It seems these 1-satang coins dropped into these bowls symbolise the 108 auspicious characteristics of the Buddha, and it’s for good fortune as well as (handily) to help the monks keep up the wat.

The ferry ride back to the hotel was fun, and we travelled up the river in the opposite direction the next day, when we returned to visit Wat Arun (the temple of the dawn). Stunning stuff, but despite having been in hot climes for almost 2 weeks, we made the silly mistake of visiting the temple at exactly midday. At 37C in the shade, we were walking about in the bright sun. Whilst we didn’t hang about, and were properly covered up, it was still very hot work.

Bangkok is stunningly beautiful in places, but also horrifying in others. We saw more desperate poverty in the few days we were in Bangkok than we’d seen in all the rest of our travels. We visited the big weekend market, and seeing a man with deformed legs dragging himself around the market to beg for money brings the desperate poverty this city has starkly to your attention. With little or no social security for those unable to earn money, it’s a desperate plight many people face. It also brings into sharp relief the amazing standard of living we benefit from in Britain and the rest of the ‘developed’ world.

The ‘wildlife’ in Bangkok also made itself known to us. We were at a nearby restaurant where we had a lovely meal and watched some Thai dances. Previously we’d taken a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel, but on our last night I’d neglected to bring instructions for the driver as to the location of our hotel. So we walked back. It wasn’t far, I said. Little did I expect to see the cockroaches all over the pavement. Poor Frances (with open sandals on), did not take too kindly to this. We got back in double quick time.

So, after a 12 hour long-haul flight back to London, and a short flight up to Glasgow, we’re back. We’re all but over our jet-lag now, and have checked our post to find nothing particularly awful has happened, beyond some idiot at Hertz charging us for petrol in New Zealand, even though I returned the car full.

Last night we went out on a ‘jazz cruise’ along the Clyde on the Waverley. Very nice it was too, although the locals along the side of the river weren’t always waving politely back at us…

After three months traveling the world, we’ve been universally made to feel welcome, but in Glasgow the locals seemed less than enthusiastic to see people enjoying themselves on a river boat. Or maybe – as Frances’ brother suggested – they’d just heard my English accent….

We’re on the last leg of our trip now, and whilst we’re both looking forward to getting back, unpacking our suitcases and not living in hotel rooms, it’s also sad to be reaching the end of our trip. Saying that, we’re beginning to realise quite how monstrous a task we have ahead of us in sorting out our photographs to make some sense, and not bore family and friends if they ask to see them.

We stayed in Singapore over the last week, but made an excursion to the Indonesian island of Bintan for a couple of nights. Top marks to Indonesia for the most impressive stamp in our passports. A whopping full page visa, complete with hologram and a triangular exit stamp too (round stamps are so yesterday…). Yes, it’s a tad sad to be getting excited about visas and suchlike, but travelling around in Europe feels a little unsatisfying without the resounding thud of a stamp being added to your passport.

The Nirwana gardens were everything we’d hoped for. We were very much in the mood for doing bugger all, sitting by the pool and drinking cocktails whilst we concentrated on relaxing. And relax we did. Frances had a 50 minute back massage and foot scrub, so came back very relaxed indeed. I just did some more pool sitting, with a little spot of archery/air rifle shooting. Not done that in years, and hit the target reasonably accurately.

Many thanks are due to our friends Dennis & Clodya, who – along with their cats – put up with us for a couple of nights before we went to Bintan, and looking after our big bags whilst we were away. Similarly Huw, Joel and Baron for putting up with us as well. Huw and Joel took us to a Hawkers food market one evening, which was quite a treat: A real taste of Singapore food. Blackened ducks eggs won’t make it on to my all-time-favourite foods though, but the sting ray was rather nice (and the bones(?) were nice and crunchy). Clodya’s home cooking was a treat too: there’s only so much ‘adventure eating’ you can do in a row, nice though it might be.

Bangkok then has presented itself to us, nose first so to speak. It does ming a bit in places, and the river is the colour of the ginger tea we tried in Singapore. Almost exactly. But I don’t think drinking it would be such a good idea…. Our flight up was a bit of a pain, with excess baggage fees, bumpy flight and a confused taxi driver all adding to the general atmosphere. Not to mention the pain of the ‘highlights’ from the football last night. We woz robbed! Anyway we found our hotel though, and have explored the area around, ready for an excursion to a big weekend market tomorrow, and some sighseeing on Sunday/Monday.

Greetings from Singapore! We’ve been here for three days now, and it’s safe to say it’s HOT. Very hot. 30C most days, and nights don’t feel much cooler.

We’re staying with my friend Huw from University, who’s been here for a few years, and has been happily suggesting places to visit around this compact city. So, we’ve sampled ginger tea in the Arab quarter, supped Singapore Slings at Raffles, walked through China town taking in some impressive temples (particularly Sri Mariamman), shopped till we dropped on Orchard Road and ambled around the beautiful setting of CHIJMES.

Food is certainly a big part of Singapore, and we’ve sampled a little bit of everything, courtesy of Huw’s well researched eating habits. Cheap too. Very cheap. No surprise there for the people who know Huw’s ability to hunt out a cheap eatery. Munching a chinese dish of chicken with dried chillies was certainly hot, but the cold beer helped cool things down. Maybe it was the ice IN THE BEER that helped. Wouldn’t have thought I’d ever say it, but watered down icy beer is very nice in this sort of climate!

We’re paying a visit to another friend (Dennis) later today, and hope to be relaxing and enjoying a BBQ later today. Dennis and his wife have lots of cats, so we’re sure to be kept entertained if Huw’s new cat (Baron) is anything to go by. Baron’s got quite a set of claws and teeth, and is young enough to still like playing all the time. However, a trip to the vet for the, er, snip, seems to be on the agenda. Little boy kittens seem to be rather more aggressive than they are sans bits, so to speak.

We’re here for a few more days, paying a visit tomorrow to a HUGE techy shopping complex (I’ve already spent more than enough time in the Apple store here drooling over toys, but even Frances has enjoyed it), and maybe a few more of the sights. Early next week however, we’re hoping to go out to Indonesia to visit Bintan. We’ve a bit of research to do on visas, costs and such like, but both Huw and Dennis recommend it highly, and it’s just what we’re after before flying up to Bangkok at the end of next week.

Woo hoo! Almost four months after the house went on the market, we’ve finally exchanged and completed. All sorted as of about midday on Friday! Suffice to say we’re very relieved, as things began to look decidedly shaky a few weeks ago, when the buyer seemed to be having difficulty, but they came through in the end. So, we’re happy, and hopefully they’re happy. We loved our spot on Rayford avenue, and would have taken the house with us to Glasgow if we could.

Well, with regards our trip, we’re back in Freemantle. It’s a very nice part of Perth, and we’ve checked into a nice hotel for a couple of days, and are enjoying the cappachino culture today. We’ve noted what friends have said about Perth, and are staying out whilst we can. Car needs to be returned tomorrow, but have a few things in mind.

We spent a nice morning out on the Southern Ocean spotting whales in Augusta. We saw five humpback whales up close, and several from a distance. Quite spectacular to see these creatures in the wild after the disappointment in New Zealand in Kaikura: It was too choppy out to sea for the boat we’d booked up on. Kaikura is reputedly one of the best places in the world to see whales. Not for us though.

Augusta was a nice place. A very end-of-the-world feel to it – you’re right at the meeting point of the Indian Ocean and Southern Oceans, and a storm hit whilst we were parked out near the beautiful white lighthouse. Quite spectacular to see the waves crashing onto the reef just off shore too.

We’d driven down to Augusta from Bunbury, where we’d stopped over to see the Dolphin Discovery Centre. No dolphins that morning though, but a nice town. We stayed there on the way back from Augusta, and suffice to say we had three very noisy nights as the storms lashed against our windows.

So, back in Freemantle again. We went out for fish last night (this is a good place, as it’s a busy port). I had Fish and Chips, and boy what a portion that was! Puts even American sized portions to shame…

So, what’s next for us? We fly up to Singapore on Wednesday. We’d been planning on overlanding up to Bangkok, but we’ve decided for a few reasons that we’ll fly up. We’ll be spending some time exploring Singapore and Malaysia whilst we’re in Singapore, but not travelling all the way by rail. More because of the weight of our backpacks and the heat there right now. It’s the height of summer, and it’s the tropics, and neither of us are very good with high humidity heat. So, we’ll take the luxury air-conditioned accomodation options. We’ll then fly up to Bangkok, and explore the area around for a few days. The ‘trouble’ in the south of Thailand has been universally dismissed as not affecting tourists by friends and other travellers we’ve met, so it’s not really concerned us too much.

So, whilst it’s not quite as adventurous as overlanding, we’ll save that trip for some future date, and make the most of our time here to get a feel for the countries as much as we can from Singapore and Bangkok.

Next update will probably be from Singapore!

We seem to have found the British weather. Whilst we were in New Zealand, we were lucky – on the whole – to avoid downpours, snow or anything generally damp. Queensland was nice and warm, although progressively more humid as we moved north. You get that in the Tropics though.

So, we flew west for 2.5 hours into the heart of the dryest continent on earth, and ran into damp overcast conditions. We did get a few glimpses of Uluru with the sun on it, but the 2 days we were there are best summarised as ‘overcast’. None the less, Uluru and the Olgas are both impressive up close, and even from a distance. There’s something very special about the place, and despite getting up early to see the sunrise (ha!), and staying around for the sunset (ha!), I think it’s safe to say we were impressed by the place. And we were rather lucky that the ‘Sounds of Silence’ dinner we attended occured: It was a nice evening out in the desert, and we both got to eat plenty of indigenous australian animals (Kangaroo; Emu; Crocodile – all rather scrummy).

One or two things to add. Firstly, I think the Geologists of the world should come together and form a lynch mob for AAT Kings at Ayers rock. We went on a couple of tours with them, and both drivers were happily referring to geology as, well, ‘guessology’. Rather amusing for many it seems. But one did ask – rather nervously – if there were any Geologists on board. I think it’d be very amusing if the whole coach was full of them (on some Geology busmans holiday or something), and proceeded to kick seven types of rock out of them on hearing ‘guess-ology’.

Secondly, we seem to have had a couple of run-ins with Australian aboriginal politics. Whilst taking our first look at Ayers rock, we (well, I) got talking to a chap also there. Conversation proceeded. Most of it was fine, until – somehow – it turned rather icky with his various rather derogatory comments about Aborigines. We brushed it aside. One right-wing idiot does not a nation make. But our taxi from Perth airport took a distinct turn for the worse when, that oh so ominous prequel statement echoed through the cab “I’m not a racist, but…”. Followed by similair comments, and a few compliements to Milosovich, currently incarcirated on war crimes in The Hague. Yes. Nice fellow.

All of this we managed to extract ourselves from by smiling politely and attempting to swing the conversation away. Still, it did leave a bitter aftertaste.

We flew into more dampness in Perth, and drove the 250km north to see the Pinnacles. Whilst 3 hours of driving along oh-so-straight roads did get the better of me after a while, it was worth it in the end. We got there just in time to catch the sunset, made all the more dramatic by storm clouds. Some rather good pics will hopefully result from these rather curious formations.

We’re currently in Freemantle, after a long drive back south. About a week here before heading to Singapore to see friends. We’re still undecided about what to do beyond Singapore, so watch this space. Regardless, we’ll be back in the UK by 1st July. Hoping you’ve got it nice and sunny there ready for us, because it isn’t sunny here right now.

The last entry had something of an omission (or rather, it didn’t. Er). I neglected to mention that we drove up into the Queensland hinterland on Thursday last week, and visited Eungella national park to see Platypus in the wild. We were braced for disappointment: They’re largely nocturnal, solitary and shy, but we’d been told by others that we stood a good chance here. We weren’t disappointed. After a group of school kids had thankfully been bundled back into their bus and had given up on their abysmal Pop Idol efforts (really. Kids. In my day we were chronically embarrased by ourselves. tch), things settled down somewhat, and we did get to see a platypus industrially diving down into the rivers bottom (I would have said ‘beavering away’, but it seems rather inappropriate…).

So, after seeing our platypus, we hit Bruce highway again, and drove up to the Whitsundays (an anecdote we discovered whilst on the trip is that Captain Cook didn’t account for the international date line, and actually hit them on a Monday, not Whitsunday as the name implies). We then continued on to Tully, before returning the camper van on Sunday, and glad we are to now be encamped in a hotel with en suite.

We booked up to visit the reef on one of the many (oh, so many) cruises on offer yesterday, and after a quick beverage, went along to Reef Teach, which was worth every cent of the cost. We learnt a lot and had a great time, and can highly recommend visiting prior to going out on the reef. As the company says, “with learning, comes appreciation”, and snorkling around the reef today was so much more enjoyable as a result: We recognised fish, knew what to do and not to do (ish), and got a lot more out of our day.

Today then, has been out on the reef (with Sunlovers if you’re interested). What a stunning place it was too. Really rather special in every way. Lots of colourful fish, beautiful coral and opportunity to snorkle, take the semi-submersible, glass bottomed boat, or in Frances’ case, have a 20 minute dip underwater in a Sea-walker: Which she loved. Highlight appears to have been seeing a turtle up close, and feeding some huge fish. Whilst we did our guided snorkle with the on-board ‘naturist’ (Matt), we saw some beautiful creatures we would perhaps of missed, including the big ugly Maori Wrasse, the oh-so-famous Clownfish, plus a feeding turtle. Superb.

Another anecdote, apparantly if ‘Finding Nemo’ had tried to be more accurate to nature, Nemo’s father would have turned into a female rather than head all the way to Sydney (they seem to do that a lot, tropical fish. Change gender. Not so sure about the Sydney bit). And Nemo himself would be coloured black so young.

We both loved our whole day, and have added it to the (ever growing) list of “serious highlights of our trip”. It really is one of the natural wonders of the world.

Now for the bad news. We didn’t pay enough attention to Paddy at Reef Teach, and rushed out to our guided snorkle a little too quick. I didn’t put on a t-shirt whilst snorkling, and we were a little slow to re-apply sunscreen. Consequently, we’re both rather sun-burnt on our backs, shoulders and arms. I can hear mothers, friends and other readers tutting at this very minute. Yes, we should of known better. Heck, we did know better after our lesson. But we’re sunburnt. And it’s not nice. Still, we’ve poured on the after-sun, drunk lots of water and generally felt sorry for ourselves since about 5pm today…

So, a brilliant few days, and lots more to look forward to. Trust everything is well back in Blighty!

[fa:p:a=world-trip,p=4,id=112375041,j=r,s=s,l=p]We’re in the wettest place in Australia right now. A small town called ‘Tully’, which boasts rich rainforest on it’s fringes, and a huge, vast, 7.9 metre fibre glass reconstruction welly (or ‘Gumboot’ in this neck of the woods). Obviously we climbed up it. It has a spiral staircase in it too (a slight diversion from a true reconstruction of a welly, I suspect). So, picture of Frances waving merrily from the top will feature in our photo-montage of Australia.

Well, we’ve had a long day of driving up from Airlie Beach, where we stayed for a couple of nights. Yesterday we went out on a boat tour of the Whitsunday islands, stopping off to do a little snorkling in Frances case, and I signed up to do an introductory Scuba dive. And boy, was it good. After going through the necessary skills for a first dive, the instructor took myself and the two others (Jorg aus Deutschland, and John from the UK too) down to the stunning depth of 6 metres, for about 15 minutes or so. Wow. The fringe reef around the island was something else to see in person. Visibility wasn’t brilliant, but we were up close to some beautiful fish and corals. So, it was all over far too quickly, but it was good enough that I’m already working out how – if at all possible – I can fit in a certification course (only 3 days in total) during our trip, and avoid the wrath of Frances. Which is to be avoided at all costs. So probably a swimming pool in Glasgow and British summer coastal waters if I’m serious…

Whitehaven beach also featured in our tour. Easily one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen. White silica sand underfoot made the landscape seem almost snowy. Very surreal, but beautiful. And even Frances ALMOST liked the feel of the sand. Which is saying quite something, believe me. She’s normally heading in the opposite direction when sand is involved.

The weather out on the boat wasn’t brilliant at all. A few very green faces amongst our fellow passengers. But I think everybody enjoyed their day out.

We’re almost at the end of our campervan holiday. We return the van tomorrow. Have to say we’re looking forward to an en suite bathroom, and a bit of space to swing the metaphorical cat. And having more than 5 inches of headroom above us. We’ve rather sore heads (and elbows) right now. I’ll leave you to work out how elbows come to be sore.

We’re off to Cairns next, planning on visiting the Great Barrier reef amongst other attractions of the area. Our house sale is still ongoing (it’s going back on the market today due to lack of mortgage offer on the part of the buyer after three months), so do let us know if you know of anybody looking to buy in South East London! Still, fingers crossed, as there is some hope still there.