Geo: -35.3284, 149.084Having flown from Ayers Rock to Sydney and then caught a cab to Bulli, we arrived at Helen's to find her busy organising a party. No time to change before people arrived. It was really good to catch up with her friends and neighbours again and eat a terrific meal out on the deck, but inevitably too much wine was drunk, which did not bode well for the relatively early start the next morning!Helen drove us down the coast stopping briefly at Kiama to see the blow hole which was impressive because the onshore winds were bringing big waves in. There are lovely views and a sandy beach here with loads of free parking so it is worth getting off the Prince's Highway and having a look. We drove further down the coast to ... read more

Geo: 1.28941, 103.85Traders Hotel in Singapore is a medium range hotel, modern spacious rooms, nice pool and good very busy cavernous restaurant. Its main disadavantage is that it is out of the city centre and a taxi ride for which there is always a queue is essential. Fortunately we had walked all around the centre on previous visits when we had stayed around the Marina so we looked for where we could walk to from this hotel. The nearest place of note are the Botanical Gardens and these are really worth a visit. They are set in acres of ground beautifully laid out with thousands of varieties of tropical plants and trees and vistas of lakes and odd sculptures along the easy to walk along pathways. There was a fascinating Evolution garden which took you through ... read more

Geo: 18.4672, -66.1179The previous time we had been to San Juan in Puerto Rico, it was a Sunday and everything was closed so we didn't get a feeling for the place. This time the ship docked in the bay on a Saturday and the whole place was very lively. We caught a free trolley bus which took us up to the San Cristobal Castle and also gave us a general view of the town. Puerto Rico was heavily fortified by the Spanish 250 years ago because it was an ideal deep harbour for all the ships coming over from Europe on route to America. The top of the castle gives good views of the town and the walls are very thick so would have given good defence. For $5 each our ticket also gave us entrance ... read more

Geo: 13.11, -59.61A lovely sunny day with a light breeze greeted us when we docked at Bridgetown, Barbados. The island was named after the bearded fig, a type of tree which has hanging threads on it which look like beards. Our first visit was to Gun Hill Point. This is a restored lookout tower high on a hill. Several of these were built following the slave riots on the sugar plantations. Communication between them was by signals by flags during the day and beacons at night. If there was a problem the cannon would be fired before the flag messages went up. Only this one tower now remains. After this we drove through several parishes all named after Saints and noted the different type of housing – rich, poor and middle class all mixed up in ... read more

Geo: -2.62835, -56.7365I would have quite liked to walk around Parentins in Brazil but the temperature of 34 degrees with very high humidity put us off. We were tendered ashore for a Boi Bumba show. This is a mini equivalent of the carnival which happens every year and is the second largest after Rio. It was very loud mostly due to drums and singing but it was very colourful with great costumes and sets and really gave us an idea of the carnival atmosphere. I didn't get really good photos thanks to an American sitting in front of me who stood up to take photos every time there was a good moment. He didn't take a quick photo either but stood there for a minute each time obviously oblivious to the fact that people behind him ... read more