All good things come to an end……… Well we are home safe and sound - no thefts or loss of our valuables and no need to claim on the health insurance. Heathrow was raining and a heavy grey sky when we landed. I had a definite feeling of “where can I get a ticket out of here”. However we were met by Dan and his girlfriend Manuela which was great and they drove us all the way home- then we saw friends the same evening and had more champagne in one day then the whole of the 10 months we have been away - next day to see more family and finally felt as though we were back. Then more friends welcomed us back. We are very lucky indeed and especially with our family. The Welcome ... read more

Well this will be the last blog from the US - we have driven down to Williamsburg from Richmond - only an hour or so and into yet another part of the American personality. We then flew to Miami from Washington DC. Altogether we have driven about 5000 miles in the US and flown about 10000 miles including Hawaii. Bizarrely the blog is getting harder to write even though every day is filled with different incidents and memorably sights and insights. I think we are running out of superlatives. We have had a really interesting time including only the second jaw dropping moment of our trip caused by a man made wonder.(Read on and you’ll find out what it was!) Hopefully our understanding of the USA has moved along as well. There are many different currents ... read more

Just a short note to say that we have now been travelling for 250 days and Carol and I are still speaking!!! Carol has been absolutely fantastic and a real trooper. Still in the Wid West and thought we'd just put some pics together for you all. ... read more

So, we continued along the eastern coast of Australia back to Sydney - calling in to the Hunter Valley for more wine tasting on the way. We didn’t call back to Fredos Pie Shop for more pies. Blue skies, sunny deserted beaches and chilly at night in the campervan. Its a good job we got the larger van - even so it is still a squeeze - just to give a feel of the size, the living space would fit into our kitchen 6 times!!! Australia continued to serve up a surprise everyday - whether Little Bay which is the perfect beach so far - Newcastle NSW which was so beautiful and clean with road directions to Wickham, Hexham, Lambton and even Wallsend - the day we got lost and ended up with a panoramic ... read more

Well we left you as we were about to set off for the Gili Islands (actually Gili in Balinese means little island) and we were a bit apprehensive. However we had an early start with a taxi, then bus, then a ship that looked as though it was from the Flying Dutchman and finally donkey cart arriving about 9pm having travelled for 13 hours. The journey into Gili was magical with the boat puttering along and an almost full moon shining on the water with dolphins and fish glittering in the balmy breeze. A much smaller boat came alongside to take us off and we landed on the beach itself. A donkey cart took us along sandy lanes which were shining in the moonlight (no street lights). We stayed at the cheapest place so far- no ... read more