The end of the story - well, this chapter anyway. Back at Gipsy Hill after 25 months - all 89 boxes were faithfully delivered by Allied Pickfords. Now - where to put them all? [View Full Entry]

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We took the train from Singapore to KL - not as exciting as we'd hoped; mostly eight hours of railway cutting, but made up for by our first sighting of the Petronas Towers. We were staying in a hotel with a view of the towers and even in the gloom of a very grey afternoon they seemed to glow. By night they looked magical! After a short stay in KL we moved on to Sabah, Borneo - the last leg of our trip home. We landed in Sandekan and wandered around the town centre a little soaking up a bit of [View Full Entry]

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First stop on our journey back to London - a couple of days in Singapore. After chilly Canberra and Melbourne, Singapore was wonderfully warm. We saw the sights from an open top bus, shopped on Orchard Road and ate lots of satay... [View Full Entry]

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The shipping had gone and we'd handed back the apartment - so we left Canberra and headed to Melbourne and the Great Ocean Road for our last few days in Australia, joined by Peter and Cristiana. It was a great last few days - beautiful coastal views and surf, and a very inquisitive koala somewhere near Apollo Bay. And finally Russ and Kate's wedding day, amongst the vines of the Yarra Valley. The sun went down on a beautiful (if very cold!) afternoon and we danced the night away at Helen's Hill Winery - as Russ sang Blue and Waltzing Matilda [View Full Entry]

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The packers are filling boxes in our apartment as I type... it's time to say goodbye to Canberra. A couple of pictures of Canberra in autumn - the next installment will be from the Great Ocean Road en route to Russ and Kate's fabulous wedding next week! [View Full Entry]

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Our time is almost up, so for our last 'big trip' in Australia we made it over to the West Coast for a last few days of sun, sand and sea before the Australian winter sets in - the frosty mornings have already started in Canberra! We flew to Perth and explored the Margaret River region in the south-west corner of Australia - very pretty in an undramatic kind of way, with beautiful beaches, big surf and great wine and cheese (we tasted red wine infused with lavender which was...odd). We swam in the sea every day, and went to Cape [View Full Entry]

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With only two months left in Australia, we're ticking off the 'must-see' sights. This weekend - Uluru (Ayers Rock). We flew over it and walked around the base, saw both sunrise and sunset, and also found time for a walk through The Olgas. BIG rocks. LOTS of flies (hence the silly headgear). [View Full Entry]

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At the end of January we had a week in Tasmania, with the intention of doing some walking and tasting some cold-climate wines and cheeses. We started off in Hobart and headed for Port Arthur - site of the historic penal colony of old Van Diemen's Land. We had an afternoon of wandering around the old prison buildings and grounds, and an evening of great seafood on the Tasman peninsula. From Port Arthur we headed to Bicheno on the east coast - our base for a couple of days in Freycinet national park, home of the famous Wineglass Bay. Our motel [View Full Entry]

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Sandra's parents came to visit, and we all went to New Zealand for Christmas and New Year. We only had two weeks, so conducted a flying tour of the highlights of both the North and South Island: We started in the North Island - a boat trip around Auckland Harbour, and visit to the beautiful Cormandel Peninsula. We walked to Cathedral Cove and paddled in the (cold) waves before heading on to Rotorua, where we took to the hot springs geo-thermal parks and admired the amazing coloured, steamy (and smelly) pools and caves at Wai-o-Tapu thermal reserve. From Rotorua it was [View Full Entry]

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Up before dawn, and standing in a field in the dark, but not for boot camp this time - we were off on a dawn balloon flight over Canberra, something we'd been promising ourselves we'd do while we are here, and Sandra's Mum's Christmas present. The weather wasn't great (it's not proving to be a good summer here - very grey and wet. At least we feel at home!), but the view was still amazing. And it was very peaceful, drifting above the lake. We landed, with only a relatively minor bump, in a field full of bemused sheep, and then [View Full Entry]

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