We pack, and the resort minibus drives us to the jetty. We're both feeling very emotional; we've certainly had a great time here on Pulau Redang. There seem to be so very few people here. We can only put this down to it being late in the season and too close to the monsoon, but the weather's been almost perfect. We catch a speedboat back over to Merang Jetty on the mainland. I go into a blind panic; I can’t find my backpack. This is not good; it's not even a little bit good. It's got our tickets and passports in it, as well as my camera, my iPad and the keys to our suitcases. I have visions of us being stuck here in Malaysia forever, which I'm sure will seem even longer without an iPad. ... read more

The staff member at the resort who told us how to get to our paradise beach also said that if we kept going the same track would take us over to the other side of the island. So off we set. We pass the path down to the beach and the track then gets a lot narrower. There seem to be lots of other tracks leading off the main one, and after a while we can’t tell which is which. We're now in thick jungle and not entirely sure where we are, and Issy's starting to express some reservations. I ask her what she thinks is the worst thing that could happen. She says getting eaten alive by monkeys, but I think that dying of starvation would be worse, because it would be slower. We then ... read more

We decide to go exploring. Google Maps seems to show a bit of a track around to the cove next to the resort, so we go to the end of the beach to look for it. We find lots of thick jungle, but no track, so Issy says we should ask someone. I'm pretty sure the resort wants its guests to stay on the grounds so that they spend lots of money on food, drink and activities, so I don’t think asking any of the staff would be particularly beneficial. I’m sure they’ll tell us that Google Maps is lying. Anyway I’m not into asking. I tell Issy that real explorers don’t ask; I bet Edmund Hillary didn’t ask someone the way to the top of Mount Everest, or Neil Armstrong the way to the moon, ... read more

I'm relieved to wake up and find that I don't seem to have developed rabies during the night. Issy's still feeling the after effects of the last two days' travelling, so I set off for breakfast on my own and see the resort‘s massive grounds for the first time in daylight. It's next to a harbour and seems to have lots of very good looking tropical resort type rooms in buildings called "blocks", each containing four rooms. I usually associate blocks with prisons or public housing estates, but this looks to be a step up from either of those. There also seem to be lots of excellent looking recreational facilities here including an olympic size infinity swimming pool, a gym, a soccer ground and a large children's playground. The only thing that seems to be missing ... read more

Today we fly halfway around the world to Malaysia via Dubai. We queue up to check in at Lisbon airport. We always carry a spare battery for my camera. We were told at Melbourne airport at the start of the trip that this had to be stored in one of our suitcases in the hold - if we put it in our carry on bags it could apparently catch fire and make the plane crash. We were of course happy to comply. As we stand in the queue here in Lisbon we see a sign telling us exactly the opposite - all spare batteries must be stored in our carry on bags. We wonder how this can be. Maybe it's got something to do with the different directions that water spins around as it drains out ... read more