Sydney
Greetings from Malta and I officially have a sunburnt bounce much to Jeanette's amusement
Like you we were not impressed with Sydney but thought Manly was great, and you ladies of the night were probably not far from the Hotel we stayed in. This was not the hotel we had booked but the one we ended up in due to total ozzie incompetence. I also agree about the number of car lots and run down areas but I think that you forgot to mention the shops with bars on doors and windows or the Tattoo joints which we kept finding.
Hope you enjoy NZ we loved it but were there in November when it was probably warmer.
Pete
Ghost Continent! For goodness sakes, you are making Australia appear to be totally uninhabited by anything other than birds and a few marsupials!
You have travelled from WA to Victoria so far and not managed to photograph one single Aussie!
Or does your camera have some kind of built in content aware editing?
;^)
Steve
Silly silly Aussies How ya goin, mate(s)? Encountered any Bush-fella's using the expression 'whatd'ya know?' yet? In two years, I never knew how to respond to that one! ....and a word of advice, keep a lock on your bread-bin - old habits an' all that!
Yes - No I feel like the crazy man in Vicar of Dibley saying "Yes" I want you to come back and "No" I don't want to stop getting these blogs! Did you see lovely lady called Jill Montgomery in Adelaide? You must have! Met her in the 60s. She called everyone "Petal" and was a delight. As you say Oz only has a few people you must have seen her. Adore your photos especially that of the little fluffy bird looking up to you when you were on the tree walk. Wonderful stuff - thank you. Maureen/xx
DVDs All arrived ok, Percy Jackson has a lot of laughing over it but Sherlock's just fine. Popped Laura's over to her ASAP so you should get a thank you soon enough. Not many good films out at the moment, Alice in Wonderland's probably on the list - much better than I thought it would be!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Vinyard 28 "The winery was called Vineyard 28 - named after the green parrots which we’ve been admiring everywhere"
Never heard of a parrot with such a name. You must have forgotten to spit ;-)
Steve
stromatolites You need to go visit their cousins the stromatolites north of Perth - I read about them in one of Bill Bryson's books and had to twitch them when we visited! Much to J's disgust as I only twitch bricks (Petra, Angkor etc) and sessile wildlife!
It was near the pinnacles national park (spooky place - worth a stop if you are driving notrh though for a look see).
Jeff says the eagle "looks a bit Buzard-y but I'll have to lok it up"
Backwards Hi, decided to start at the last entry so I'm up-to-date on where you are (I shall get to the chunk I've missed in the middle!). Guess what it's sport on the TV again (and the choice is endless, cricket, rugby, F1). It all looks fab (your trip not the TV) and you still have lots to go. Love all the photos and the blog. Take care xx
"And it looks like everyone lives in bungalows with tin roofs."
It's a big country - no need for two story terraced homes. Though you will see them in the denser inner city areas of the various Capitols.
Though they are not called Bungalows in Australia (a bungalow is a type of single-story house that originated in India - due the history the British have with India any single story house they call a bungalow, they'll learn :)
Cheers
Steve
Shophouse Quilt Don't know whether to marvel most at the beautiful shophouse that looked like a quilt with its fancy border - or the 'all day available' fish head curry. Fancy being able to have one of those AT ANY TIME OF THE DAY? And I see that you are now in Australia! Is this the Valerie that I used to chat to at Kesgrave School on Thursday evenings? Will you still recognise me? And vice versa! All honour to you and John. It all sounds wonderful.
Jealous! I can't believe you got to experience that! yourself and John are very, very lucky! I've watched this time and time again on Attenborough docu's and always hoped i'd get to see it for myself - fingers crossed I will next year! xxx
Toe Photo So where is the toe photo sequence, I want to see it turn black and drop off. You guys are having far too much fun. We want the toe, we want the toe.
L'Arc de Triomphe Unfortunately, we didn't have time to climb to the top. The bridge sounds fun, however, which side of the road they choose to drive on seems fairly arbitrary at the best of times so it probably made very little difference! Will begood to catch up when we're back in June!
The Arc de Triomphe Did you climb up it? I visited Vientiane in 1994 and climbed up the arc. Looks like it's been tidied up a lot. I visited just afte the bridge to thailand was opened. Interesting bridge with Thais driving on the left and Laos driving on the right coming together. Will talk when you get back. Your trip is bringing back memeories of a very happy time in my life. I got turned down for the sabbatical, so still here in the main lab block now. All the best Dave
Cambodia Thank you so much for your words and photos Val. Really exciting stuff - lovely butterflies, fancy having fried spiders!!! What an adventure!! Hope your arm is better. Thinking back to reading about what was happening in Cambodia and not really having a clue about it at the time. Not good. It's alternately freezing, snowing and sun shining today - you have to laugh ...
May be happy children here tomorrow! Glad you're having a good time it's great to read all your observations too - and your pics are better than postcards 'cos they show the places and include you in some of them. There could be a few happy children here tomorrow, but we probably won't see too many butterflies - Ipswich is covered in snow at the moment, (again)!
Well, our bags are nearly packed, we’re nearly ready to go, so we thought you might be interested in where we’re going to be, so here comes
Our Itinerary
13 January Bangkok
17 January Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand
19 January Chiang Khong or Huay Xai Thailand/Laos border
20-21 January Boat trip down the Mekong River in Laos
22 January Luang Prabang, Laos
24 January Vientiane, Capital of Laos
26 January Hin Boun, Laos
27 January Ninh Binh, Vietnam
28 January Halong Bay, Vietnam
29 January Hanoi, Vietnam
1 February Hue, Vietnam
2 February Hoi An, Vietnam
5 February Ho Chi... full info
Valerie Le Cornu
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Happy Birthday John!
What a place to celebrate your birthday! We trust you had a brilliant day! With Love, Valerie and John