Walking to Habu Todays plan was to walk down one of the jungle walks from Tanah Rata to Robinson Power Station and on to a Buddhist temple just a little down the road, and then back to Tanah Rata. Just past Robinson Falls, the trail branches, and I had decided to take the steep option down, and come back the easy path. It seemed like such a good idea at the time! At this point, the descent is about 200m to the power station in a horizontal distance of just over 1.2km. Should any of you geometry geeks want to do [View Full Entry]

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Acclimatising Arrived in KL on 21st and had a smooth trip from the airport to KL Sentral. Avoided the taxi hawkers where the bus stopped and went upstairs, where we got a taxi voucher for our final destination. Staying at the Mandarin Oriental in KLCC - Kuala Lumpur City Centre, right next door to Suria KLCC - about five floors of shopping! I wonder why Elaine chose that spot. Its also next to the Petronas twin towers, which one can visit for free but need to queue up to get a ticket. Spectacular views, but not particularly clear photos in the [View Full Entry]

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Driving to Phoenix Today is my birthday, and I have driven from San Diego to Phoenix. Big drive, hot day and we are staying in a rather spartan van park on the north side of the city. We stopped for lunch at El Centro, in southern California just north of the I8. Dusty and hot, but it was nice to get off the road. Elaine tried driving today, but it was a bit of a disaster and neither of us were very comfortable. Getting to the van park was a marathon. We got onto the I17 about 5.00 pm, still peak [View Full Entry]

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Left Hand Drive Thank goodness for US drivers. I have just spent my first three hours driving a left hand drive vehicle on the right hand side of the road getting from the San Fernando Valley to San Diego. What an introduction! I have new found admiration for the patience and tolerance of the local drivers. Despite some quite awkward moments, we were not tail-gated, honked at or any of the other behaviours one can expect at home. [View Full Entry]

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Tourist Time in Anaheim Arrived without much drama at Anaheim. We are going to spend the next four weeks driving in a big loop from here down to San Diego, across to Phoenix, up to the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and into Utah. From there, we will cross Nevada to Death Valley, go up to Yosemite before heading for the Napa Valley and then down the coast back to LA. But first we are doing the typical touristy things in LA. Visit Disneyland at Anaheim, Universal Studios, do a bit of shopping and sight seeing. Then we will pick up our [View Full Entry]

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Full Fare - Go Anywhere I got out of Jo'burg by upgrading and paying a full fare. Elaine was not prepared for Singapore Airlines to continue us mucking around. Cathy Schroder at Jetset Travel in Southlands was a great help getting this organized, and Qantas were able to change my local flights so that I got back to Canberra early on 14/12. The trip was not without its minor hiccups, but nothing to compare to the previous couple of days. My luggage had gone ahead - don't ask me how. We were told that it was in Canberra, but it was [View Full Entry]

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More pole pole Didn't get away again today! Spent most of the day at the airport. First waiting for Singapore to finally decide whether they could board me from the waitlist, and then trying to get them to allow Kenya Airways to move me. Neither happend, and I have spent the night at a rather nice guest house close to the airport. Sipping Coffee Slowly E has arranged a new e-ticket to get me home. See if that works this morning. With any luck will be able to spend the day on the international side of the immigration barrier in an [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Kenya - Eventually Had a car booked to get out to the airport the 2.5 hours Kenya Airways stated was an absolute imperative, only to find that they were taking a much more relaxed attitude to opening the check-in counters. Nonetheless, had plenty of time before the scheduled 0735 departure to browse most of the duty free. Pole pole Managed to find a couple of Kili related articles - tee-shirt emblazoned with 'pole pole' and a baseball style cap, as well as some other things for people back home. Not the greatest duty free, but at the time I thought [View Full Entry]

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Day One - Transit to the gate and climb to Mandara Huts Day Two - Climb to Horombo Huts Day Three - Acclimatisation Day - Climb to Zebra Rocks, Mawenzi Ridge and return Day Four - Climb to Kibo Hut Day Five - Gilman's Point then Uhuru Peak Reached Uhuru Peak, the highest point in Africa at 5895m at 0555hrs this morning. We left Kibo Hut at 0010 hrs, and reached Gilmans Point at 0445. Exhilerating! Day Five - Descend to Horombo Day Six - Descend to Marangu Gate, return to Moshe [View Full Entry]

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Land Borders Blues It took just on an hour to get across the border (and the payment of USD50 for a rubber stamp in the passport) and then it was on again to Arusha. Here we took everything off the bus, before putting it all back on again. It seemed to be some baggage control measure. We did get back on the truck with some new pax, but otherwise there was little change. Moshi Arrived here about 1600. Dispite what looked remarkably like chaos, all worked very well, and found our way to our respective hotels. Have managed to get an [View Full Entry]

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