Looking forward to our trip, with Lyn and Steve Weber and Mark Oberegger, Mark has not been to Beijing so planned to have a couple of days there, we were only going to have three days in Beijing and catch the Trans Siberian Train taking 24 hours, but this was not to be! Booked the train with a company in Beijing and they notified us that because the World Cup is in Moscow we were not guaranteed seats until three days before departure......because people going all the way to Moscow would get priority and we would be bumped off.....so hence the extra day in Beijing and are now flying up to Ulaanbaatar. Hot and humid here in Beijing, flight delayed by one hour and a half, so ended up getting to hotel around 2am Melbourne time ... read more

Well what a breath of fresh air pulling into Stavanger, our most southern port of call on this cruise, no snow or ice in the town. A beautiful town with all the wooden houses which are considered national heritage monuments in their own right, kept so pristine, was lovely to wander around for a few hours taking in the sites. Very pretty Norwegian town. Though we did take a walk around the lake in the middle of town with loads of birds on it and it was 3/4 frozen over, John said "can I video you walking on the ice to see if it can hold another bird's weight, I AM NOT THAT SILLY! The gorgeous cathedral was built in the 12th century and was modelled on Winchester Cathedral which we visited a few years ago. ... read more

25.2.2018 Drove 2 hrs from Isle of Portland to Southampton Airport and dropped little Jazz off then an Uber to the ship. Piles of people waiting to board, their ccomputer system was down, they had to MANUELLY check everyone in, but wasn't too bad and were on board for 2.00pm then set sail around 7.00pm, very late but made up time. Had two days at sea, including my birthday which was not too bad just a relaxing time, took in a couple of movies at the theatre, a couple of lectures and a few drinks etc, the days just went really fast. 28.2.1018 Arrived in Andalsnes...our first port of call....who would want to live in this god forsaken place! Not really abandoned but freezing, windy...could not get enough clothes on. Very pretty place really right up ... read more

After a couple of beautiful sunny days in Faversham got up Monday to drive across to Looe and drizzle, cloudy and pretty cool! Good day for driving....pulled into Looe about 3.30 after pulling into Plymouth on the way over. Looe is like stepping back in time such a very pretty little costal village spanning across both sides of the inlet, fishing is their thing here with a huge harbourside fish market! Our apartment is right above some shops in the main street of town....just a great spot and a beautiful apartment too! Our mate Steve...C151 connection...lives here so great to catch up with him. He lives on the other side to us so a lovely walk over the bridge and down a couple of little narrow streets...like mountain goat country getting up to his house....such a ... read more

No wonder they overnight us at the airport prior to our next day flight....it took us nearly one and half hours, 76klms from CBD. Flight left Narita, Tokyo at 3.40pm Thursday arrived Taipei 6.10pm good flight but plane banked around s couple of times could see typhoon out our window. Our tour guide met us and whisked us off into our hotel Green World...very nice and modern hotel. Had a bit of walk around area and had a pizza (now starting to crave for a western fix) and beers and hit the sack. Our group on this leg is 9...8 of us have been together since beginning. So its been 14 in South Korea, 23 in Japan and now 9 for Taiwan. Introduction to breaky in Taipei Fri am....lots of rice, sauces etc to eat with ... read more