Geo: -35.2821, 174.091Our 7:30 am flight from Mebourne (on an Emirates A380 Airbus - that's the great big double-decker thing) got us to Auckland for 1pm or thereabouts including time difference (New Zealand is 13 hours before London - how can that be?) and we picked up our car and drove off north for 3 hours or more to Pahia in the Bay of Islands where our motel was found above the town with a magnificent view rather shrouded in cloud and mist. Except for a trip into town for a meal at 'Only Seafood' that was it for the day. Next morning we drove a short distance to the carpark for a waterffall from which a track led by the side of the river about a 90 mnute walk to the Waitingi Treaty centre - ... read more

Geo: 1.3, 103.85only here to make the map look right... read more

Geo: -8.79958, 115.229You start with an hour to Heathrow, courtesy of that honourable chap Stephen Whaley, then having dropped your bags you hang about for a couple of hours, then you hang about at 37,000 feet for a little over 12 hours vainly trying to get much sleep. Then you spend an hour clearing Singapore Immigration, collecting bags, checking in for JetStar flight to Bali, going out through immigration again. Then you hang about eating rubbish muffins for another 2 hours (not eating muffins the whole time!) then another 2 and a half hours at 32,000 feet then about an hour and a half getting the Indonesian visa, clearing immigration and customs and being driven to the hotel by the nice man sent by the hotel, So you finally arrive about 10:45 pm (local time) the ... read more

Geo: -23.2251, -44.7148A beautiful jungle headland with unlimited beaches and coves and warm, calm water was our last destination, conveniently situated a few haours from Rio and Sau Paulo for the flight back home. The guest house was newly built, spacious and friendly not far from the beach. So all perfect so far, except for the weather! We arrived in torrential rain and woke up the next morning to more pitter patter. Finally it stopped and we were able to walk around for a while without umbrellas, but it drizzled and then poured again before the day was out. Liz and Helen managed swims and walks on the beach before and in the rain and we pottered round gift shops in the old town and cafes to keep dry. It was misty and dull, but real ... read more

Geo: -20.296, -43.4832From Salvador we took a 90 minute flight on GOL airline to Belo Horizonte - the third largest city in Brazil (unkown to us and probably to you) and next day, having booked a rental car to use to go on to Rio, Paraty and Sao Paulo airport but not to be picked up until 3 pm , we had time for a taxi tour round some of the famous buildings designed by Oscar Niemeyer who went on to design many of the great buildings in Brasilia and iconic structures such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Rio which looks like a flying saucer - Google it! We saw the church of St Francisco de Assisi (which the church authorities hated so much they refused to consecrate it for quite some time), the ... read more