Geo: 54.7894, -4.3726Disaster on Hadrian's Wall - Astrid 'shot' and duck taped! 2 - 11 June 2015There is not a lot to report since the last blog as we have continued to meander around the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway area but there is one incident that occurred that we hope will not be repeated.After meeting up with Susan (Jim's sister), Ashley and Richard in Newcastle we travelled along the Military Road adjacent to Hadrian's Wall. Although still cold it was sunny and pleasant. Jim and I had visited the main sites of Vindolanda and Housesteads a few times so we decided to do the less well known spots. It was worth it as we had good views of the wall running over the ridges and crests of the hills, especially at Steel Rigg. Then we ... read more

Geo: -17.2705, 145.58325 April 2015At the end of the last blog I mentioned that we were going up to The Daintree and that Jim had hurt his back. We rested in Cairns for a three nights and then the pain in Jim's back seemed to go much worse so he went to the doctor. After making him do a number of movements (some accompanied by loud groans!) the doctor decided rest and painkillers were all that was required. He seems to have been correct as Jim is almost fully recovered but it did take three weeks during which time he was not able to drive.So I drove up to The Daintree, and more scary, across the ferry. The Daintree area is where the rainforest runs down to the sea. Once you cross the Daintree River (that's ... read more

Geo: -20.2679, 148.71626 February - 11 March 2015Cairns is very familiar, this is our third visit, so we stayed only a couple of nights, long enough to collect our van and settle in. We have gone for the (very slightly) upmarket Toyota HiAce Kuga, which means it is only between 6 and 9 years old and has done almost 400,000 kilometres. The layout is an improvement with a little more storage space and worktop. I love it!We were also given 2 new travelling companions, not actually human despite their behaviour. The first is a tall free standing fan which I think of as male as it is gangly with very large feet! At bedtime we love him as he keeps the temperature to a manageable level. The rest of the time we hate him as he ... read more

Geo: -37.7871, 175.283There wasn't going to be a New Zealand blog because this is our fourth visit and we are staying with Beverley and Richard again for much of the time.I have blogged about it before and I have been lazy here while Richard and Jim go off to chop down trees, dig out thistles or move the cows. I leave such jobs to them! However we managed to find a few new things to do which we wanted to share so I am pulling myself together.Last visit we went to South Island but missed it's most well known area, the Sounds. It is a long drive from Hamilton approximately 1500 kilometres to Te Anau, close to Milford Sound. We had only a week for the whole trip as that was the maximum time Beverley could ... read more

Geo: -33.916, 18.4222We really enjoyed the enforced extra day in Cradock, and felt refreshed and ready to carry on the following day. Albert had made good time and had arrived about midnight in the Mercedes Benz replacement vehicle so had a reasonable night's sleep. The car is very comfortable and together with the trailer provides much more space than we had previously.We set off to Addo Elephant Reserve for the night and surprisingly saw no elephants, but did see Buffalo, Kudu, large tortoises, a Jackal trying to eat a tortoise and some very large mice. Three black rhinos turned up at the waterhole together with a spotted Hyena.From Addo we travelled on to Tsitsikamma Park through a rather dull area of mixed seaside dormitory towns, shopping malls and industrial units.Our pitch is very dramatic here in ... read more