Jilly Willy

Question: Where in the world can you visit a beautiful early 19th Century Italian styled theatre, recently restored by UNECSO, where you expect to buy paraphernalia about the building in its lobby and find only books on revolution, posters about revolution, pictures about revolution, postcards showing revolutionary figures and revolutionary music. Not a theatre program in sight ! Answer: Only in Cuba ! Flying to Cuba from The USA was a long convoluted process, not being able to fly direct of course. Amy and I parted for the first time since we met up in Borneo and it felt odd to say bye bye, if only for a short while. We both flew into Mexico City airport, 2 hours apart. I flew in first and waited for her at her arrival gate. Having met up, we ... read more

Where to start. Paradise, sheer paradise. Sat outside on the veranda of our Bure (a traditional thatched Fijian bungalow) in the grounds of an old coconut plantation, feet up on a low slung sofa , Amy inside, in the cool, taking her usual morning nap after breakfast. I’m currently trying to work out how to stay in Fiji longer than the three weeks our pre-planed ticket will allow; I don’t want to leave. Having just spent 15 days on one island and now taking 2 days out on another before moving to a third. We are more than chilled; this is how normal should feel. When we arrived in Fiji, we had no idea what to expect, after all these are the south pacific islands that have always been, and still are, tribal with a history ... read more

After catching up over breakfast and a coffee with the rest of my brood, we made our way to some friends in Melbourne, who had kindly offered to put us up and invited us for Christmas dinner with their family. Melbourne is a lovely city and not what I expected. It has a very English feel about it whilst still having a very cosmopolitan angle. Christmas eve was spent looking at the old Melbourne jail museum and taking in the breathtaking views over the city and surrounding areas from the Melbourne Skydeck. Unfortunately, the views were occasionally obscured by the clouds that kept wrapping around us and hiding the views - ahhhhhhhhhh white out!!!!!!! So we buggered off to a wine bar to wait for the rain to stop. Anyway, Christmas day arrived and we spent ... read more

Wow what a fantastic few weeks I've had. I can't believe I've only got 4 weeks left in Borneo - Where did the time go !!! Having started the expedition meeting all the other project managers and then the Venturers, I knew I'd be in for a very special time. As soon as the expo started proper, I was out on the first Loop, visiting all the sites Raleigh are at in Sabah. This meant that I got to visit all the projects we're working on here, a trip that involved 3 of us (all girlies) in a Land Rover, 4X4'ing over the length and breadth of Sabah, Borneo. FANTASTIC!!!! We visitied Imabak Canyon, one of the remotest areas on the planet, with pristine rain Forrest and species yet to be discovered, right at the very ... read more

I don't catch many buses these days but I really enjoyed the goings on on the bus to Kuala Lumpur. It was a really comfy bus, with fringed curtains and and deep shag pile and a driver who must have been married to Nora Batty, because the floor was covered in newspaper so the carpet didn't get dirty. I was dropped off just outside KL and so had to catch a taxi to get me to my hotel. Its currently Ramadan here, so it really suprised me that I could get a taxi:) My hotel was very nice with a fantastic view of the Menara tower, the 4th tallest in the world and the views from it are fab. I really wanted to see the Petronas Towers, and they lived up to all my expectations, despite ... read more