Blogs from Bulimba, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

From Abu Dhabi to Brisbane : Well this has been along time coming! It was mid summer in Abu Dhabi when we got the call to relocate to Brisbane, back to Australia after 2 & 1/2 years in the UAE. From sweltering heat & humidity we travelled across the globe to a much milder version of summer... the Queensland winter, which is actually like a Victorian summer! Beautiful days filled with sunshine and a mild 22-25 degrees, and this is their winter! We couldnt believe the paradise we had landed in.... after so much heat and desert, it was overwhelmingly refreshing to be surrounded by trees, stunning tropical plants, gardens, scents, and lush green everywhere. We had been starved of green in the UAE, so our eyes and senses were acutely tuned to these differences. By ... read more

Only two weeks.......seriously, in 2 weeks I'll be on the plane about to take off......it seems like the time has come around really quickly, despite a year + of planning. For the first time the other day, I actually realised I may just get a teeny-weanie bit homesick....I was chatting to you Tiff, when it dawned on me. I will actually miss my friends, their smiling faces, and our great catch-ups.....and because I will be communicating mainly via email, facebook and my blog, I will miss your voices also....funny the things you get sentimental about :o} As many of you have already heard me say, I can't see myself back in Brisbane after my trip......my plan at the moment is certainly to return, and I have my frinds, house, cat and job to come back to..... ... read more

Wow, 10 weeks left........49 works days thanks to a public holiday.........9 weekends..... So much to do, but I'm soooooooo excited. Just think, in 11 weeks I will have completed a week of teaching, and met some amazing people, and experienced life in Phnom Penh, and already dealt with so much.......but gosh, it's going to be awesome, I'm so excited. And, I will have five days off to get out and explore.......Mon, Tues, Wed are public holidays, so will try to catch up with new friends; or friends of friends; or my old tour leader, and get out and have some fun. It's all good. In the meantime, I will enjoy every moment left in Brisbane (I promise, Maus), catching up with friends, and making the most of life as I know it.......it's all about to change, ... read more

"ONCE AGAIN INTO THE BREACH, DEAR FRIENDS............." If you thought "cruising susan" and "pilate pete" had ceased to have puff and stuff for blogging you would be partly right. "It depends" as lawyers would say. We did stop telling you all about our adventures after our circumnavigation but that did not stop us going to Fiji, Vietnam, Spain, the British Virgin Islands and New Zealand since our last report. When the camera got mislaid after Fiji we lost the blogplot but now we are headed to Burgundy for another nautical (freshwater rather than marine) venture, so we thought it was time to revitalise the travel story. Barging (CS is rather known for that in some circles) is the plan. PP has cousins (lots of cousins) who turn out to be really splendid folk and we decided ... read more

PP: 5th May 2009: Having left Jakarta (finally) at about 2 AM on the 4th May, we had an uneventful cruise northwards through the Java Sea between Sumatra and Borneo, clipped the South China Sea and to Jurong Port in Singapore from the east this time in. Again the "Captain for fine weather" scored well - the only rain was at night. Smooth conditions all the way. We arrived at the dock at 1430 hrs (same dock position as the last time, four and a half months ago) and waited two and a half hours for Immigration to clear us (tookthem a while to arrive at the ship). By that time I was anxious to get ashore as I had arranged (by 'phone while passing some Indonesian islands earlier in the day) to meet step-daughter Ella ... read more