Trabern

Trying not to think about the fact that we should already be in Melbourne we went through airport screening AGAIN and boarded the Singapore Airlines flight to Adelaide. It was an uneventful flight that had us in Adelaide on time just after 9.00am this morning. We had to clear immigration and customs in Adelaide before checking in for our domestic leg to Melbourne. In our sleep deprived state (about six/seven hours sleep in the last 36 hours!) we totally didn't register that our bags had SIN - ADL - MEL tags and all we needed to do was put them in the bag drop. We did self check-in at one of the terminals which made the system think we had four bags not two so when we went to the baggage drop, the system said we ... read more

Damn, it turns out that our optimism was woefully misplaced!!! As we neared Indonesia the Captain announced that the plane had a technical problem and we would be diverting to Singapore to have it investigated. So we pretty much made a 90° turn to the left to start heading north to Singapore. We had to dump fuel to lighten the plane for our unscheduled landing. That was sort of interesting seeing thousands of litres of fuel purged from a spout in the wing. What a waste though and does it all vapourise in the upper atmosphere or does it have an environmental impact? We landed at Changi just before noon, but because our landing was unscheduled we had to remain on board while the ground staff checked the plane. Thank goodness we were allowed to turn ... read more

No snow overnight, but it was still cold and gloomy with the threat of more rain. Ahmad talked with the Tourist Police and was advised that while the Petra site had opened this morning it was likely to be closed down again if (when?) it rained. Not really wanting to go through the whole evacuation exercise again we agreed with Ahmed that the best course of action would be to proceed to Karak. After a quick stop at Moussa (Moses') Spring we started climbing back into the Petra Mountains. Before long we were above the cloud line and visibility was almost zero again and the road was lined with snow that had been ploughed from the road after yesterday's bad weather. When we reached the other side of the mountains the sky was blue and there ... read more

The dogs went off just before 7.30am this morning. Obviously Ahmad exaggerated when he told us that we would be woken at 5.30am when all the dogs start running around playing and barking. I guess the dogs are on winter time too?? Absolutely too cold to think about using the basic showering facilities (didn't even check to see if there is hot water, but I think not) so we made do with a bit of a wash at the hand basin. If you get hat hair from wearing a hat and bed hair from sleeping what do you get when you wear a hat to bed?? A really bad hair day!! Thank goodness I'm not trying to impress anyone with my personal grooming. We had a quick bit of breakfast and then we headed off on ... read more

Our first stop this morning was at the Greek Orthodox St George's Church in Madaba. This church is renowned for the 6th century Byzantine mosaic on its floor that shows the entire region from the Nile Delta in Egypt in the south to Jordan and Palestine in the north. The detail recorded in this early map is impressive. Just a few more kilometres by road found us at Mount Nebo which has been a centre for pilgrimages since the earliest Christian period. It is also reputed to be the burial site of Moses who climbed the mountain to view the Holy Land before he died. Unfortunately at present the peak of Mount Nebo is largely obscured with construction works. The historic church atop the mountain has been restored, but is now having a larger church, sponsored ... read more

Here we go again! Wake up call at 6.00am, breakfast at 6.30am and on our way to the airport by 7.15am. I hate cleaning my teeth before breakfast, but it's either before breakfast or not at all with the these early starts and having to leave our bags outside our room before we go to breakfast. We only found out that we were being dropped at a different terminal from Meredith and Alex as we neared the airport. There was no opportunity for a long, emotional farewell as Amal bundled us and our luggage out of the minivan while Meredith and Alex stayed on board. Meredith and Alex have been wonderful travel companions and the four of us have really enjoyed each others company during the last 20 days. Amal escorted us into the airport, but ... read more