We finally left Perth at 12:40pm on Thursday 15th October after much packing and re-packing and ditching of things we couldn’t fit in! We didn’t get more than a couple of hours down the Freeway however before the wild gesticulations from the guy in the lane next to us alerted us to the fact that our tarpaulin was coming off the roof rack and that most of the stuff carefully packed up there was in danger of being strewn about the city! We spent 3 hours at Scarborough (about as thrilling as its namesake) deciding on a solution (a special roof [View Full Entry]

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After a week in WA, Bella commented that it was just like England only colder - ha ha!! Heading North it did look very much like England’s rolling hills, only on a much larger scale, but I’ll get to that later... We arrived in Perth on Wed 16th Sept, and headed straight down to Fremantle for a few days rest (yes, we really did need it after 5 weeks tearing about)!! We were staying in one of the old prison wardens’ cottages next to Freo’ gaol which were built in the late 19th century; it was a stone built building and [View Full Entry]

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We picked up the Ute (the pickup mysteriously changed description somewhere south of the equator before being unloaded at Fremantle) a few days ago after no end of problems. Apparently the foreign number plate will be a real talking point because unlike the French who have been allowing the Germans to invade them in their own cars at will for about a century now, not to mention boatloads of Brits doing the ‘bandit run’, no one comes to Australia for a bit of sightseeing in their car and leaves with it again except for the Worb’s. I finally got the second [View Full Entry]

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Spent a couple of nice days in Singapore, a complete contrast to India as it’s practically Consumer Heaven (not that we could afford to buy anything, but browsing was fun). We did the Duck Tour - an amphibious vehicle that takes you both around the city and into the river, past the big wheel (copy cats!), the Helix Bridge and the huge casino development. We also saw where they were preparing for the Grand Prix which took place a couple of weeks later. Afternoon tea at Raffles, dahling, where Joe was in his element! The next day we went to Singapore [View Full Entry]

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It’s hard to put India into words... Especially as we were only there for a week, and especially as we were so cosseted - our own driver and guides, only eating and staying at recommended places etc. I was very glad we were though as one thing India does very well is take you outside your comfort zone, and with two young kids, that was a hard place to be! But, “incredible” does describe India very well. It’s incredibly crowded, incredibly noisy, incredibly dirty and yet it’s also incredibly colourful, incredibly lively, and incredibly beautiful... The whole co [View Full Entry]

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The next day I was keen to go back to Petra so that I could leave with happy thoughts and show Joe and the kids how amazing it is! We had good fun clambering over the tombs and exploring the central "city" part. We had a camel ride and a horse and carriage along the Siq (making use of every animal mode of transport!) In the afternoon we drove to the Wadi Rum for our night in the desert. Saleem our Bedouin host told me I was a beautiful Bedouine and offered Joe 10 camels for me! (it changed to 1 [View Full Entry]

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It was 2:30pm by the time I agreed to go to Petra on my own. I finally found the Visitors Centre and arranged a short tour of the Siq (the narrow canyon that leads to the entrance) and the Treasury (the first building). There were not many other tourists (economic downturn?). I learnt a lot on the way about how the Nabbateans built the city in 100BC, and about how it was "rediscovered" by the West in 1812, about the water channels they carved, the symbols and lots more. My first sight of the Treasury was pretty cool - you just [View Full Entry]

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With hindsight we could have seen that our entry into Jordan would be an indication that all wasn't going to go as smoothly as planned!! Plane was delayed, there were long queues for entry visas, and the rep meeting us with our rental car wasn't hugely organised. All of which meant that instead of being nicely tucked up in our hotel at about 10pm, we had the kids still bouncing off the walls gone midnight! The next day we had to head into Amman as Joe had somehow decided to pack BOTH camera chargers into the pickup so we had no [View Full Entry]

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2nd country - Turkey... I met a man while we were there who when he knew I was English (not that hard to spot!) said "Welcome to Paradise"... I'm not sure I would go that far, but Istanbul really is an amazing city. According to my sister, there's a list called "100 Things to See Before you Die" and a load of them are in Istanbul (probably should have found out what they were before we went!) On the first afternoon we toured the Grand Bazaar which is the world's oldest shopping mall. 4,500 shops vying for your attention can be [View Full Entry]

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Hi all, Sorry for not actually having posted anything yet (and for discovering that Joe's entry before we left was never actually published - oops!) Anyway, hope you're all well...! Before I start, I'd better apologise for typos as am using a Turkish keyboard which takes some getting used to. Also apologies that I can't add photos yet, but they will have to wait until we catch up with our laptops in Australia. Anyway... marathon update coming up... We finally got packed up (thanks to parents, sıblings etc for all their help) and the house cleaned to sparkling point. Joe and [View Full Entry]

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