Our trip started off on Sunday with a night in Bacchus Marsh enjoying pizza and red wine – Banks Thargo and Rymill, of course - with our gorgeous friends, Michael and Yoshiko and their fabulous children! We drove to Melbourne on Monday morning to catch our flight to Singapore. Our flights to Singapore, Frankfurt and Vienna were smooth and without incident although the security at Frankfurt was tough…we had to place the tissues from our pockets into the trays for inspection! It’s all a bit daunting for the weary traveller but we eventually booked in to our hotel in Vienna and rediscovered the joys of soap and water after 24 hours without! We had a quick walk into Vienna’s main square and a bit of a look around but decided we’d save it until the next ... read more

Thursday 8 June we arrived in Newquay, a town on the west coast of England, and once again relied on the Sat/Nav to get us to our B&B in the middle of town where parking is at a premium...our host has two witches hats ready and waiting in the laneway marking our parking spot! The weather wasn't too good but it was heartening to see surfers hoping to catch a wave...they could still be waiting! Friday morning we drove to Land's End, famous for its unique location and stunning scenery. Land's End is mainland Britain’s most south-westerly point and one of the country’s most famous landmarks. From the 200 foot high granite cliffs that rise out of the Atlantic Ocean you can gaze across to the Longships Lighthouse, the Isles of Scilly twenty eight miles away ... read more

We arrived in the seaside town of Santa Margherita in the afternoon of Wednesday 24 May and what a gorgeous place this is. My hotel room overlooked the ocean and I had a small balcony to stand on and soak it all up. Boats bobbing in the water, people swimming, the beach - pebbles not sand - and still the glorious weather. Romeo insisted on shouting us a gelato - unlike the rest of the crew I've only had the one so far but they are good, so many flavours to choose from. On Thursday we took a boating tour to Cinque Terre, an UNESCO world heritage site. I had been there before but saw it from an ocean perspective this time - last time I had arrived by train - seeing the five coastal villages ... read more