Day 4 and our hosts for the day are Luiz Carlos and wife Bea who superbly guide us around Rio, starting off in the oldest immigrant quarter of Rio, Sahara, which was originally settled by Lebanese people. Today it is a great market with narrow streets and stalls selling souvenirs to Cariocas and tourists alike. We push on to the historical heart of Rio, from the recently-renovated, gleaming, golden Theatro Municipal to the Imperial palace, before having lunch in a restaurant in the old port customs area. The day lightens up and for a while we think we’ll be able to head up Pão de Azucar (Sugar loaf mountain). We change our mind at the sight of the queue, which extends beyond the cable car building, and spills onto the square by at least 200 metres! ... read more

The weather forecast announcing clouds, we head to the botanical gardens and meet up with some local wildlife...... read more

Jo Tada invited us to train on Wednesday 19th June. We met his club, a welcoming bunch of guys, and a few juniors. The dojo is open walls on top of an old sports centre with a wooden roof. The air is cool, and we trained to the sound of the rain.... read more

Second week in Osaka, and the heat has only mildly abated...After Nara we visited Yoshino with Michael, Jessica and the girls and played in the river before launching fireworks... Sumiyoshi Taisha temple was also a welcome fresh break even if we didn't get out of the bustle of the city. Obviously plenty of aikido is being done and the bodies are slowly growing accustomed to it...Still no pictures to show though, although there is a shodohai on Sunday, which Celine is taking part in so photos to follow... ... read more

Hi guys, this is the end of our little adventure, so we can no longer gloat and soak in hot spa baths! BUGGER! We ended the NZ odyssey in Auckland, pretty well a full circle. We went to Rangitoto Island, a marine volcanoe that sprung up 600 years ago just off the coast of Auckland. It's a weird place full of volcanic lava rock but also loads of flora which shouldn't be able to grow there!! Apparently lichen settled on the rock and then created a humus that other flora could grow on, gradually allowing for trees to grow there too. The NZ Pohutakawa "Xmas tree" was about to flower with bright red blooms just as we were leaving for the UK. From NZ we flew to Japan via Korea. Korea was snow laden which gave ... read more