Vic and Kev

Rudesheim Today is going to be a long day as we have to move boats again. This part of the Rhine is not navigable at present. We left at 8:30 by bus for Rudesheim. A separate coach is taking our suitcases to Düsseldorf to be put in rooms on the Scenic Pearl. We have been given €25 each for lunch as we will be off the bus for the day. We arrived and immediately hopped on the Winzerexpress mini train to take us into town to Siegfried’s Mechanical Musical Instrumental Machines. It is a privately owned and maintained museum of working music machines some dating back 400 years. They have some examples of bird singing boxes that can be purchased for as little as $2000!! We passed but they are clever. They have over 300 moving ... read more

We arrived in Vienna and were treated to a private concert at the Palais Liechtenstein. Greeted with a glass of sparkling and we were treated to a program of Strauss and Mozart including music, opera and ballet. A very polished performance in a stunning building. The Garden Palace is owned by the Princley Family of Liechtenstein and the Golden Carriage was one of five commissioned in 1738. It is the only one to survive as it was dismantled and stored until being brought to Vienna in 2003. The following day we opted for a bus tour to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. We travelled out of Vienna past a series of government owned green houses that are heated by the energy output of the nearby incinerators. Our guide gave us a brief rundown on Slovakias history. ... read more

We had decided to have a day in London after leaving the family in Peterborough. Plans made and a hotel booked but everything changed overtime. We booked a hotel near Terminals 2 and 3 as we were flying from Terminal 2. We booked two nights as our flight was leaving at 9:45 am. Ultimately our flight was changed twice and then cancelled. The replacement flight scheduled to leave at 21:15 and from Terminal 5. We now had two days to fill. We said goodbye to our family and caught the train to London Kings Cross, the tube to Terminals 2 and 3 and then walked to our hotel and checked in. Day one - London We caught the underground into London using the new Elizabeth line. Air- conditioned, how fabulous. It is the poor man’s Heathrow ... read more

A breezy and sunny day. Breakfast at 7 and then we left the motel to catch the ferry to Horn Island. The posse gets were a mix of tourists, locals and some nursing staff who were to conduct a vaccination clinic. We had seen one in Thursday Island in an old church. We were met by Vanessa of Torres Strait Island tours for a tour of the island. Vanessa as a teacher decided to raise money to retrieve the WWII sites and try to gain recognition for the troops who served here. 5000 were stationed here. Allies knew that if they held Horn Island they could hold off the Japanese. It was bombed on 14 March 1942. Both RAAF and USAAF aircraft used the airfield as a stopover for fighters flying to Port Moresby, and as ... read more

Up early for our departure to Fruit Bat Falls and a swim. We travelled the Telegraph Track passing through some rugged countryside. We mostly travelled on bypass roads as some sections of the track are impassable. First stop was the Bramwell Station Roadhouse where we had a photo taken next to a termite mound larger than the bus. Rain started falling. We stopped to see a cairn erected for the 3 men left behind by Kennedy. Fruit Bat Falls - an amazing place. The weather was overcast but warm and the water of Eliot Creek was clear and lovely. Tricky to get in but quite a few of us did. The object is to swim against the flow of the water towards the weir so that the water coming over is like a waterfall. I didn't ... read more