40 Shades of green.

Wine tasting

Another beautiful drive through grassy wilderness and rolling hills, following rivers and lakes the whole way to Queens town... The only traffic is camper vans, you past through towns which are literally a few houses and a shop, then absolutely nothing for another 100 kms.  I did not realise I was such a towny, this is all just a bit desolate... Also our previous 4 months, I have not stopped talking as there is so much to talk about, here I have shut my beak ( much to Brian's relief )as all we seem to say is "oh look at that " or " wow" then that is it.... What do people who live in the country talk about...  or maybe that is the idea... they run out of things to say and move to the country..

Arrowtown 

From Bungy bridge

We eventually arrived at the ski resort town of Queenstown, it is fabulous, like being in the Alps, but without French people skiing over your skies to get in front of you,  or being raped financially in a Alpine restaurant paying £20 for a slice of reheated lasagne ... Our site was at the base of a mountain and overlooking a lake.. after we had pitched twice as a man with only one arm kept asking us to move to another pitch.. I could have torn him limb from limb after the third time, but hey that would have been wrong !!!  As he explained to me he was just security ... ( I wonder how he lost his arm, maybe a very angry Irish man slammed it in the Camper door )  Anyway !! we walked into town, past lovely shops, and pavement cafes , after a yummy lunch we went in search of 'wine tastes' a wine tasting shop, a great idea, you get given a charge card and just help yourself to all these wonderful New Zealand wines, whilst sitting in glorious leather chairs reading papers and magazines, and listening to cool sounds being played... We gave the wines a good old spank and bought a few.. We staggered back to the van and drank more lovely wine ... mmmmmm

Blue Pools

Lake Wanaka

The next day we were off to the Fox Glacier, on route we stopped at the old gold mining town of Arrowtown (there is gold there in them mountains ) it was like stepping back in time, old colonial buildings and oak and sycamore tree avenues shading mining huts, had a real kind of ghost town feel about it , from here we followed a vivid blue river and stopped to watch some lunatics throw themselves off a bridge with a piece of elastic to break their fall... for 15 seconds at £100 , although on reflection, I can't think of any kind of exciting satisfaction that lasts more than 15 seconds !!!!!!We had quite a long drive ahead of us, and a very mountainous one ... it was so gusty and windy that I was shrieking for most of it ... it certainly was a white knuckle drive.. Having being taught to drive in mums 2CV which is like driving in a cardboard box, and when windy like a flag up a staff, I don't like driving in the wind... especially not on a narrow mountain road with sheer drops either side.. oh no sister !! so I managed to talk Brian into stopping for the night at Lake Wanaka, which was a winner as it was lovely, although the white horses on the lake and the windsurfers whizzing about gave some idea of the strength of the wind... We had a very relaxing day and made sure we tried some more lovely wine..

G & B ( can you see pebbles)

Trying to bounce Brian off !!

Mt Cook & Mt Mathison 

The next day was bright sunshine and we had the most amazing journey yet.. we stopped at a rainforest and followed a board walk down to 'the blue pools' crossing lots of suspension bridges which were nice and bouncy for me to jump up and down on and freak Brian out ... the water was aquamarine and with fabulous flat pebbles on the beaches, from here we followed windswept beaches with driftwood strewn along the tideline and watched seals basking on rocks..  it really was the most dramatic of driving sceneries. We found our way to Lake Mathison and did the 2 hour rain forest walk around it hoping to get the picture postcard photo of Mount Cook and Mount Mathison reflected perfectly in it, but of course the clouds had come out and the wind had got up.. we had a lovely walk though.. From here it was onto Fox glacier for the night and to speak to Mum and Jo on skype and see my lovely family.. Be good for Mummy please naughty pesky kids.....

Met this guy , yeah , he was a bit stiff ..

We awoke the next day to a sunny but cold one, and whisked ourselves up to the foot of the Glacier.. it was just fabulous, very shale y and rocky with car sized boulders, you could also see where the trim line used to be and there were very sparkly kettle lakes that had been left behind... as we walked up the glacial riverbed it seemed hard to imagine a huge glacier had been there, it all felt very real and virginal, (virgin on the ridiculous)

Ice ice baby

We stepped across boulder streams and walked higher and higher until we came to the edge of the glacier. It's as if someone has pushed the pause button- a tidal wave of ice heading towards you... it is receding faster than Brian's hairline, but the bluey hue and the ice caves on it were breathtaking.. Nature in it's nakedness, we both felt very much at natures mercy and pondered at how wild flowers and lichen manage to grow on this pretty hostile environment, clinging onto to crevices like a politician clinging onto the truth. We had decided on a helicopter trip to see a birds eye view of the glacier, but after our fabulous walk the helicopters going up every ten minutes buzzing around our heads were like a swarm of mosquitoes and you know how much we love them... so we decided to leave the glacier how we had found it..  we did however see groups clutching their crampons for their two hour hike but only 20 minutes on the ice, being led by a glazed, bored looking guide, trudging wearily up the face for the 12 time that day...

She's as cold as ice !!

We then headed off to Franz Josef glacier, but it had started to rain and you could not see the tops of mountains, so we booked into a very friendly site and spent a lovely afternoon in the glacial hot pools, under a rain forest canopy.. after both staying for far too long and feeling dizzy and weak when we got out, we fell into our camper, and relaxed doing crosswords and reading.. bliss. Brian is doing brilliantly with his ukulele and I asked him to play 40 shades of green which sums this country up wonderfully, so many different greens, it is so verdant, it is difficult to describe,  Gretna Green , Al Green, Gangrene the list goes on and on ....

pancakes rock ..

Message in there somewhere .

It is also a country of 40 shades of grey .... it is tipping down today and the clouds are so low it is like driving through a bonfire...set off further north , this drive was really giving Brian's guns a good workout, crunching gear changings and steering wheel throwing around those hairpin bends.. bottles of wine were being rolled about as were my eyes !!! we stopped at pancake rocks, yep stacks of stylobedded rocks which look just like stack after stack of pancakes, without the maple syrup... pretty amazing..and we waited for the blow hole to blow as it was high tide.. no such luck- empty promises as usual... we were going to stop at Greymouth but as the weather was so awful we thought we would get some more miles under our fanbelt , so ended up at Westport.... firstly stopping at Cape Foulwind... and yes it lived up to it's moniker.... we hopped out and walked along the desolate beach with mist swirling around our heads, then headed down to the headland to see the seal colony.. I ran ahead ( was going a bit stir crazy in the van all day) and decided to hide behind some trees to jump out on poor old Brian and scare the bejesus out of him.... unfortunately the elderly couple who had got in front of Brian were as surprised as I was... I think his pace maker stopped momentarily...I am sure he will be fine just a bit of a fright !... Not so sure about Brian who nearly had a hernia laughing ..... after a lovely hour watching the seals, we headed onto our site, where Brian having collected the laundry climbed into the wrong van...  The German family sitting in it were amused when Brian said to them " well one of us is in the wrong van " you have got to love him , haven't you !!!!!  well haven't you ?

Dunedin and Fiordland

It is pissing down !! It does not matter where you are in the world - rain is wet, and miserable.....

We drove our camper into Dunedin and parked at the beautiful railway station, which looks like a castle from Scotland. The sign outside was a gentle reminder of how frigging far away from home we are...I really don't like the time difference, gives me the hebe jebies !!! we are walking around and you lazy lot are sleeping .. get up !!!
We walked around the town. popping into the art galley and into the lovely cathedral which had beautiful stained glass windows and some relics from Canterbury Cathedral, and lit a candle for dad and nan and all the people who know I love them at home.. it was really raining so lunch in a pub called 'the craic' and back to the camper...

Check that gorgeous bird out !!

The next morning we sheepishly lifted the blinds to guess what !!!!! yep more rain !!! we were going to the Albatross centre which I was so looking forward to .... but with such an awful day, it was a long drive in the wrong direction.... once we had got ready, I suggested we still go for it.. we both decided at the beginning of our great adventure, nothing will stop us doing what we wanted to do ... we did not want to get home and say " I wish we had " !! never regret what you do, only what you don't do !!!!  I am so pleased we went, It was a stunning drive out along the peninsula, sea on one side and natural harbour on the other, we saw seals and penguins on the drive out .. The Albatross Centre, is the only centre in the world where Albatross breed on the mainland, this magnificent bird has a wing span of 3 metres , they travel a whopping 190,000km a year at up to 120kmh !!! they an live up to 45 years old and mate for life !!!! Once they have mated they, feed and look after their one egg for almost a year, then fly in opposite directions for a year before returning within days of each other to start all over again !!! amazing !!
Due to the wind and rain no birds had taken flight that day !! typical , but the centre was really interesting and we saw nesting pairs on their nests and loads of shags and seals ... but no Albatross in flight ... NUTS ... and if I hear Brian say "Albatross" in Python style one more time... what is it with Python fans that they have to repeat verbatim lines from seemingly unfunny sketches !! guess I am just too young to appreciate ...

Mum in van with us , live on Skype !

We headed across country in lovely lovely scenery to reach a town called Gore .. just to rest up for the night .. there is absolutely nothing to write about Gore ..... oh it is apparently the brown trout capital of the world .... The sun did come out and we went for a nice walk, before coming home and skype mum.. she joined us in the van caught live on timed camera !! see how bored we were!!

View from our Camper

We woke the next morning to a beautiful day, blue skies, but windy... we were heading for fiordland, destination Te Anau , it was soooo windy on the drive here, we were being buffeted around , as we drove through mountains and sheep .. it is difficult to describe the scenery as its so stunning, rivers, grassy hills, loamy cliffs, granite slopes, crystal clear rivers.  We eventually made it to Te Anau, a lakeside town, the lake is 38 miles long !!! so just a puddle really, surrounded by snow capped mountains and grassy banks , wonderful... an Irish girl was working on reception at this site and gave Brian the best pitch on the site ... Those Mick's look after each other ...

A lot of that in the camper !!

We walked into town and booked a cruise for the next day then went to Fiordland cinema, a must if you are in Te Anau, they show an half hour film on the hour every hour every day of the year... This film is a film about scenery of Fiordland , taken from a helicopter and with no ponderous voice over just amazing music ... It was utterly spectacular,  it brought tears to my eyes.. it showed amazing views going up and over cloud, cathedral like forests cloaked in mosses and litchen, granite mountains, blankets of clouds hanging over snowy capped peaks, all in an small intimate cinema with local wine being sipped ... Boy were we looking forward to our trip to Milford Sound the next day .. It was a lovely sunset as we walked home .
We woke to very very low cloud and heavy heavy rain... terrific... this trip cost £80 each !!! we were going for Doubtful sound but they wanted £150 each !!! crazy money ..
So off we went at 7am ... the coach was fab, tiered seats, turned towards the windows, with a glass roof, which gave that extra view of grey cloud and rain !!

Brian with the "whole plane in his hand , he's got the whole plane in his hand ... "

as it was raining so hard, it created the most fantastic waterfalls down sheer vertical granite rock , every where you looked there was mountain and waterfalls, there is no topsoil here, so every drop of water is crystal clear , it all feels so healthy and clean after the humidity and smog of Asia.. it bloody cold and wet though, makes you feel pretty miserable, our driver was keen to point out.. there is never a bad day in New Zealand, just the wrong clothes .. i fancied pointing that out to him as he waited soaking wet and shivering as we got out of the bus for the 20 time to take another photo .. right clothes , wrong latitude my friend !!!!!

Milford sound

It was such a pity, my sister Kate was here 15 years ago, and I have the most wonderful photo of the mountain in the sun reflected perfectly in the sound water !! oh well, back to the bus..

Lichen forest

We arrived at Milford sound with the group of 6 Asian women throwing up in their bags !! they really don't travel well god love them .. and waited for our boat, having all been shepherded out for a fire alarm.. the only thing burning in this torrential rain was someone's toast !!! we headed off into the mist on this huge boat !! it was awful outside, wind and rain soaking you, however inside all windows were so steamed up and covered in rain drops you could not see a thing, after an hour we got to the Tasmanian Sea and were bounced around there for 30 minutes , I felt so sea sick, as did most people on the boat.. I lay down praying we could get back onto Terra fir ma  ... I was very disappointed , I was so looking forward to this trip... 

We swaggered onto the coach still trying to find our seas legs, and continued for another 2 hours down the mountain, taking in lots more photo stops , .. I could not wait to get back to the warm comfort of our van .  We were so cold and wet.. when we got back and stripped off, guess what ...... the sun came out and we had the most amazing evening bathed in sunlight with the snow capped mountains protecting the crystal clear lake that we were privileged to be sipping fine Pinot Gris next to ..... bliss... this is one fine country .........

Ka Mate ! Ka Mate ! Ka Ora ! Ka Ora !

Mcnally maoris .

It is death, it is death
It is life , it is life .

Lovely words !! for the most breathtaking country... we had arrived and in true Maori spirit , got into the swing of things ...
We left Sydney at 6am on the train to the airport for our flight to New Zealand, I was fortunate enough NOT to be sitting next to Brian with his channel changing elbows or his YO YO getting up and down the whole time, however my heart sank when I found my seat to was next to 2 elderly american women with overcooked perms . As I sat down one piped up " we have been waiting on you, and we were so excited as to whom would be sitting next to us , I am Lola and this is Margaret, we are with the church of St Joseph .. enough about us , we want to know all about you " so for the next 3 hours I was blessed and prayed upon by my new friends... Unfortunately Brian was sitting behind me ! and had his table up and down 8 times and turned the TV over which was in situ behind my head about 50 times .. which made for again an uncomfortable journey ... what with my bible bashing friends.. and HIM ..... the journey was livened up when a didgeridoo fell from the overhead cabin and clunked Lola on the head followed by her walking stick ... God is Love !!!!! right on the napper ...
We had arranged for a camper van company to pick us up from the airport , so we could check out their vans to hire one for a month ... Nobody waiting , and tired and cross I phoned them.... they quickly came and seemed unaware of our emails ...

Our house , Ceide xx

Again I had to play bad cop , whilst Brian played good cop , and of course the only one they had available was the luxury 4 berth with everything in ... I knew Brian wanted it. I wanted the smaller one... the sales girl wanted us to take it whatever... it was a game of chess, she was the pawn to my queen ... I have to say I was playing hard ball, so I sit here now in my 4 berth camper, with microwave, air con, satellite  TV , dvd, full shower and loo.... it is ridiculously huge, I told her I still did not want it, unless we got full insurance , sat nav , and one way drop off fee thrown in ..... and bingo ... all in for less than we would have paid for a small 2 berth .. I am good !! but I am mean ,.... should have been a buyer , not a rep !!

Christchurch city centre

We stayed in Christchurch overnight as we were a bit jaded , and caught the bus into the city centre the next day ... OMG ... the earthquake has utterly devastated the whole town, it looks like teeth have been pulled out of mouths, gapping holes are left where shops were or Cathedrals stood.. not only that the whole city is shut..... metal fenced off for Health and safety... nothing open... some shops had opend into shipping containers but it looked like the Mary Celeste, shops either wrecked or shut with ceilings caved in and stock all over the floor , it was really depressing to see, the poor people and town. Hard to imagine what it must have been like, and in 2011, you seem to think these things happen a long time ago or to "poor countries" not New Zealand,

New shops In containers.

It was a really lovely day , but there was a real chill in the air, in fact it was bloody cold, but when out of the wind the sun was really strong, we headed back to the and sat in the sun drinking lovely New Z wine and cooking food for the first time in 3 months ..
The next day we set off South to Oamaru , I have never seen so many different shades of green , and blue, the sky blue above with the turquoise blue of the rivers filled with glacial melt, funnelling into the clear waves of the, sea fringed with the lime green perfectly rounded hills, dotted with sheep , a makes for the most wonderful vista ... there is going to be a lot of ooh and arr on this trip..

Oamaru Victorian town

We arrived in the beautiful town of Oamaru, a Victorian town built from Limestone, and they really went for it with the chiselling, the banks and town halls were beautiful, there was a Victorian fete on and everyone was dressed in traditional garb.
We were so cold from the biting wind, we ended up buying 2 new coats, a woolly hat , shoes and Brian finally bought a Ukulele .. whoop whoop , so every waking hour he is having a right old pluck, I say pluck away my friend, I don't give a flying pluck ... That night we had booked ourselves onto the penguin tour - no surprises there as we are so closes to Antarctica and it is soooo cold .. our friends for the night Hyacinth Bucket and her down trodden husband Ken joined us ... she was an utter pain in the hole !! they were from " Shakespeare Country " sounded more like Swindon ...but hey who am I to judge ... I am still trying to find myself !!!!!!!

Yellow eyed Penguin

The first stop in the ball freezing wind was the yellow eyed penguin, very rare and very shy.. it was very exciting as we climbed down sand dunes to find a nesting pair preening each other ... Brian was open mouthed ... ( I had seen a similar thing in Melbourne with my sister Kate ) It was then onto see the Blue eyed penguins at another site... we sat in a benched area, at 8pm waiting for them to come ashore.. I had my woolly hat on , a vest, two jumpers, new coat and a blanket wrapped around me... they eventually came, they build rafts at sea then come to shore in numbers for safety, they seem drunk on land, stumbling around and tripping up, they looked like me heading back to the bus  , tripping over my blanket , Brian said I looked like Gadaffi !! ( alive I hope .. I think .. god .. why him , why not Angelina !!) the penguins having had a busy day at sea were heading back to their nests to regurgitate their catch to their young ... ( bulimic s ).. see even nature is at it , worrying about their weight ..

Go On Brain !

The next day we set off to Dunedin, a town in the South, the drive was just beautiful, I think we will get sick of saying " oh man , look at that , its just beautiful " you need to take our word for it , it is just simply unbelievably stunning here, so we will put more phots than words ( thank god I hear you say - you don't have to read it you know ) .. so first stop Moeraki Boulders - 2m in diameter , large grey perfectly spherical boulders on a beautiful sandy beach on the tide line , we clambered and climbed over these amazing rocks, inside them it is like honeycomb and the Maori's believed them to be baskets dropped from canoes ....  bloody big baskets , ...

We decided to have lunch at a peninsula called " shag point " ... Hello ... Fat , hairy , mammals , laying around, then getting jiggy with it , no not us !!!! the resident fur seal population, they were slathered over all the rocks here, along with a abundance of shag !! not many times you get to write that in a sentence and a colony of gulls with bright red beaks and bright red feet , who did not stop fighting, reminded me of a bunch of birds in red high heels and lipstick all bickering and fighting over a boy called Leon !!

From here onto Dunedin, a lovely pseudo Scottish town with bagpipes and road names named after Scottish towns.. the camp site was on a lovely beach called St Kilda , a bit like Camber sands with  wind swept sandy beach, protected by grassy sand dunes and nothing on the beach not even a pebble, except the obligatory driftwood tree trunk for that photo opportunity ,, so after a bracing brisk salty walk it was back to the camper where we skyped mum , spoke to sis Kate and trod sand into our gritty bunk ...

any one for a Shag Point !!! seal in background !! 

 

Fat Hairy mammal

My own George Formby !! in Camper !! 

Moeraki boulders 

St Kilda beach

Playful Pups

The great big bugger all !!

We left Bali and flew to Singapore.. Brian wanted to buy an Ukulele from a shop we had found in Singapore when we were last there, but once he had decided to buy it, the shop was closed... so this time ha ha ha we were getting a cab straight into town, in between flights , an Indian in Little India and then he was getting himself a Ukulele !!

Should have bought it first time !!

so off we went .. and guess what ... SHOP SHUT !!!! arrrghhh ... a sodding public holiday ... poor Brian , it was like telling a kid he was getting a shiny BMX bike for Xmas and when he opens it on Xmas day its a barbie doll .. he was crushed .... I felt so sorry for him .. still we had a nice meal and got back to the airport where we threw wine down our throats and waited for our flight to Darwin .
This was the most uncomfortable flight we have had ... not helped by a pesky group of Indians , who stood up more than they sat down .....

Flight was not helped by the most wonderful thunder and lightening storm which prevented us from landing .... the lightening flashes from the plane were amazing ... a very bumpy ride, Brian was swinging the old rosary and I did find myself muttering the lords prayer but hey ... we made it .. Into Darwin Australia .. at 5am !!! lovely .. although the sunrise was spectacular ...  our room was ready ( that prayer paid off ) .. so straight to bed to try and feel normal .....

Deckchair Cinema

That afternoon we headed to the waterfront for the evening fish feeding session... it was such a lovely warm evening and the sunset was awesome, you get to hand feed fish with bread at high tide , there were hundreds of them , barramundi, barracuda, rock cod, batfish ... milkfish which look like sharks.. it was a really great thing to do .... but constantly aware of any box jellyfish which prevent you from going in the water !!! nuts .... From here we walked along the lovely prom avoiding extremely drunk families of Aborigines to get to the Deckchair Cinema, an outdoor cinema showing a film called Win Win .. a film we normally would not have chosen to watch, but hey we are in Oz and fair dinkum it was pretty good.. .. it was so lovely to sit outside, watching the sun go down then the stars come out, in a deckchair with a pillow and a cold beer .... Struth it was Bonza Mate !!....all for a whopping £70 ... 2 tickets , 2 beers, 2 plastic meals ... it is so frigging expensive here its ridiculous ....
The next day we wandered around this bleak boring town , to find internet !!!! cant believe we have been in jungle / Laos / remote parts of the world and not only got WIFI but it was free !! here .. no WIFI and if you do find it , it is £8 per hour ... I would n't give a XXXX for that !!  we found it , in the City Library .. so after a  lot of SSSHHHHH having spoken to mum on skype we left . Bought snacks for the room as even a pizza here is £20 , and its crap ... everything shuts here early, it is soulless, atmosphere less, culture less, no style no character, I just don't get it ,

The next day we were up and at it , picked up at 7am by our tour bus for our trip to the outback ... the bus had an eclectic bunch on board... 2 dull Norwegians, a Pole fluent in English with the most dreadful accent who Lurrrved to speak English ... two gay Singaporeans,  an Anglican priest with her ex spy (GCHQ) husband, and a fat family from Luton, of which the husband had the sweatiest bollocks Brian had ever seen ... it looked like he wet himself .... the chaffing alone must have been uncomfortable , oh and a Mick who spoke to nobody all day long ..... this made good material for a great trip....

termite mounds

Incy Wincey

Beautiful falls

The first stop was to see the magnetic termite mounds ... these mounds are taller than us.. some having taken 70 years to build by these tiny termites ( ants ) as it is so darn hot they build then exactly North to South so as to receive a little sun exposure as possible , when the sun does hit it , it causes a shadow on the other side to keep it cool ... unbelievable... they were loads, and it looked like a cemetery which pleased the Irish Catholic Brian .. nothing pleases them more than a death and a cemetery !! From here it was onto the first waterfall.. we seemed to be driving on incredibly boring straight roads, with nothing but scraggy rock and scrub forest... there was absolutely nothing here, which had its appeal for about 20 minutes !!! the first falls were lovely, a lovely trek in 30 degrees with 100 % humidity... we saw some huge spiders and the Pole was really struggling his pole was handy as he could hardly walk !! but he was up for everything .....The next falls was stunning,  very high and falling into a huge Billabong.. Brian and I swam out to the falls, and right upto it, the power from it was incredibly uplifting , it felt like a helicopter trying to land next to you, the roar of the falls, and the spray coming off it was a very special moment.. at that the Anglican Priest swam or near drowned upto me , I grabbed her hand and she shouted " it doesn't matter where you are in the world God is with you - open your mouth and drink him in !!!! " I was really laughing as old sweaty bollocks was upstream of us and Brian was shouting back " alleluia to that sister" .. we swam back to find the pole dragging himself from the falls in his Underpants and flicking leeches off his foot !! ( already been invaded and occupied by others ) !!  we were told that this pool had fresh water croc in it, but they were harmless ! have you seen the teeth on those things !!!! it was onto the next falls which were 8 tiered and beautiful , we all slithered over them like seals and jump from one pool to another ! Much to Brian Angst !! the priest threw herself in after me ( 67 years old ) and took a while to come up ,, when she did I grabbed her again... she spluttered .. thank you my angel, what is your name ... oh yes .. " Gabrielle " well it was as if the clouds had parted and our good lord was looking down at her !! arrrrrhaaaaa !! she was speechless !! as we were towelling our selves off, brushing baby leeches from our arms and legs, I told Brian he might want to check his crown jewels for leeches !! he then says to the priest " you might want to check your Holy undercarriage " laughing , she replies " why is mine Holier than others " nice reply !!! she was great fun ..

on the dunny

11th Nov 2011 11am 

Back on the bus , where the heavens opened ( him upstairs was obviously mispleased with our Holy comments ) you couldn't see out of the windscreen , our female driver (who gave us a lengthy Health and Safety chat at the start, which was amusing having travelled on death rides for the last 3 months ... weird not seeing piles of rocks on the back of buses to REBUILD roads as you go along ) was freaking out , especially when our windscreen wiper flew completely off and she could not see at all.. we had to pull over and wait for the storm to pass.. which of course I found hilarious and was becoming disruptive .. and was desperate for a wee..A really great day out.
The next day was rememberence day , and we headed for the Cenotaph, it was a lovely service, I sat next to an Aborigine who was with her care home, she was a didgeridoo short of a billabong but held my hand.. as always the service was very humbling, it was absolutely sweltering so we headed for the Wave Park an outdoor pool with 2m waves...you cant swim in the sea due to sharks and jellyfish ( great country this ) the pool was great fun and we bounced around in rings and on bodyboards for hours !!

Crocodile Dundee

opera house

The next day we headed for Crocosaurus Cove ... it was brilliant, like a crocodile zoo, you saw the wardens feed them, they are so fast, strong and agile, a bit like my Brian !! there was a lot of WHOAAA !! as the crocodile tore meat from the wardens rod .. we then got to fish for the juvenile crocs.. they jump really high and are so strong.. we loved it, we then got to hold a baby one ...pretty awesome day, I certainly wont be swimming in a billabong after seeing these bad boys...The next day we were flying to Sydney ...so we left Darwin, It has been like staying on Wincheap Industrial Estate for a week, at least in Wincheap you can see the Cathedral Spires !!! funny place this , everything shuts at 3pm and it is like a ghost town .. we did everything Darwin had to offer so gave it a fair chance , but I am sorry Oz lovers... it is dull dull dull.. A lovely flight, well apart from Brian turning my tv over 12 times with his bony elbows !! we arrived in Sydney at 10pm got the train into town and walked a mile with our rucks on to our Hotel .. up and at it the next day , we went to the Australian War Memorium in the park, through gardens , down to the Botannical gardens, to the art museum, down to the Opera House, which stands very proudly at the harbour side, and looking at the ugliest bridge man has made !!( why does everyone take a photo of it !! have they not seen Tower Bridge, or Clifton Bridge !! its such an eyesore on an otherwise lovely city.. We then went to 3 music shops to buy Brian a sodding Ukulele ... he tried about 10 .. guess what .. talked himself out of it !!! arrgghh..

Cousin Jayne

We were meeting my Cousin Jayne for dinner and we were very excited... first bit of family in nearly 4 months !! we even put on clean clothes !! I used an iron for the first time !! we went to meet her in Darling Harbour and had a lovely evening chatting away, watching the sun go down and eating yummy food.. Jayne was looking amazing, and Brian couldn't take his eyes off of her !! ( I know those stunning looks run in the family ) thanks Jayne for coming to meet us ....xx it was back to our hotel to pack and get ready for our new adventure... New Zealand - Bring it on ...

Jogi and Bali .

showing them how to do it !!

We got to the station at Bandung and had to climb through stationary trains to get to our platform .. Not easy with no platforms, two rucksacks on each and a camera.. It is a really high climb up onto a train ..our train left on time to Jogyjakarta, a beautiful journey I thought, Brian of course was an utter pest for the first 2 hours ,,, I could almost hear the whole carriage breathe a sigh of relief when he got the computer out to watch a film... We arrived 8 hours later .... for some reason we thought it was only going to be 6 !!! so I was quite annoying for the last 2 hours .... poor Brian...

Underground mosque

The next day we hired 2 cyclos ( bikes with carriages on the front ) and were take to the Kraton, the royal palace, it was boiling boiling hot ... The palace was lovely, very neat with white washed walls and lots of square pagodas inside , all with teak columns all beautifully decorated .. we arrived in time to watch the leather puppet show .... lucky old us ...reminded me of the vicious Punch and Judy shows your mum and dad would plonk you in front at Broadstairs beach whilst they buggered off to the pub for an hour ... One should have known that by marrying a man called Punch and having a pet crocodile that marital bliss was on the cards and was going to end in tears , or mainly the kids whilst they were watching a mother figure get seven bells knocked out of her and eaten by a croc.. whilst desperately looking for your own dad , who comes back an hour later, smelling of beer asking if you enjoyed that 'darling'

Sultans water palace and tower !!

Anyway the show was short lived... we wandered around trying to escape the excited school children who had never seen 'white people' before and were asked a million questions... and have their photos taken.. a few asked if they could touch us .... !!!

our fans !!

It was back in our cyclo and off to the water palace, it was a collection of outdoor swimming pools the sultan had built to watch his concubines swim, how very sweet of him, whilst he watched from a covered tower !! honestly men and their seedy grubby need !!! Brian thought it was a nice idea as it was so friggin hot he would get in a swim around for a sultan .... the sultan would then choose which one he wanted and demand her into the tower... anyway apart from this .. it was lovely and the gardens were divine .. I had read about an underground mosque, which we went in search of.... through narrow lanes all white washed , it was like a city within a city.. we finally arrived at an unassuming set of stairs which led us downstairs to the most beautiful passageways and leading to an underground mosque... it was all built using sandstone, egg whites and water and was still standing, even with all the earthquakes .. unbelievable..

hello mister !!

bird market .

back in the cyclos and off to the bird market- we thought oh just another market - hell no !!! songbirds here are highly prized , it is sometimes said that wives take second place to their songbirds.... There were 1000 birds for sale along with huge bats hanging upside down with rodent like faces , baby owls, turtles, puppy dogs in cages ( used for eating if you have an allergy !!!) Loads of snakes !! I was showing too much attention to one cage with a 6 m Boa Constrictor in ... when the owner opened the cage for me to get a closer look .... as I very quickly started walking backwards I stumbled into various glass cages containing vipers, snakes and a whole tank of scorpions who were not happy about me bumping into them .. it was mayhem !! of course all these animals need to eat so there were loads of mice, flies, larvae, and lizards... A women grabbed a huge lizard to show a customer and I jokingly mentioned to Brian that she was going to bite his head off, and at that chopped his head off with a machete !!!! with her 4 year old daughter watching ... crazy

Volcano destruction

Back in the cyclo and home for a swim.That night we went to a restaurant next door and lo and behold only bumped into the lovely Canadian girl and her family.. all the way from Jakarta.. what are the chances of that .. we joined them for dinner and drank wine, and it was lovely to hear about life here and living in Indonesia.. It was a lovely night, thank you Phil and Randi !
The next day we hired a car and driver to take us to 'the temple of Borobodur' on the way there we stopped to see a village that had been destroyed by the volcano Merapi. There were huge boulders everywhere, and all the houses ruined, you can only imagine the force and energy of the eruption to carry huge rocks 30 km !!!

Nice Sarong Brian

Us at Borobodur

Shadow kissing Ahhhh .. xxxxx

Temple with volcano in background 

stroking Bambi

We arrived at Borobodur said to be the greatest Buddhist monument in the world.. The German traveller Johan Scheltema wrote in 1912 that he felt "fructifying touch of heaven when tranquil love descends in waves of contentment , unspeakable satisfaction" not words that immediately sprang to my mind !! but it was absolutely breathtaking, built in fertile valleys and surrounded by active volcanoes, the black andesite volcanic rock set against the clearest blue skies surrounded by steaming active volcanoes made for an overwhelming vista.. With such a dramatic background it would have been forgiven if it had a of been a scene from a Hollywood movie ..It was built in the 8th Century and is 9 levels high . it has 500 Buddha statues and 5 km of carved relief's depicting scenes.. it certainly gave Angkor Watt a run for its money .. all the rocks are locked together using the dovetail technique due to earthquakes.. unbelievable . we had hired a guide for £3 who was fab and we were fascinated that we were of far more interest to the Indonesians than the greatest Buddhist temple in the world !! we must have had our photo taken with families at least 60 times... they were literally staring open mouthed... at our beauty or our freak show !!! I was beginning to feel exploited , If my agent finds out .... also we were not looking our best .. with borrowed sarongs and sweaty hats and T shirts... a great ambassador for 'white people' !!!!!

Beautiful Bali

From here it was onto Prambatan temple, this time a Hindhu temple called the slender maiden , she or all 6 of her were beautiful and set in the most beautiful park , the sun was setting and it was lovely to just wander around sit and just ' be'  There was a deer colony around the temple which I fed grass and stroked, weird that deer are so normally skittish yet here at this peaceful sanctuary they are calm .... A really lovely couple of days , we are so pleased we came to Indonesia especially as it was not on our trip ...

A constant reminder

Masked dancer 

A rare photo of me !!

On your bike !!

The next day we flew to Bali and stayed in Sanur , I had decided I probably was not going to like it as it was so touristy and obvious.. I was thankfully wrong, we stayed in the most beautiful hotel, all open air and trendy with carved wood and huge pillows scattered around wooden platforms under frangipani trees. We hired bikes for 4 days and cycled up and down the prom stopping to swim in the bath like sea, or drink cocktails.. really lovely and a great way to finish off Asia..  One night there was a local dance show on , the 'masked dance ' hmmm , think about being in a foundry with a bad hangover and coming off of LSD ... Brian decided to try and shut some of the banging out , just like dad would have done !! Whilst here managed to wrap and send all kids pressies for xmas and cycle to post office to send... 4 th Nov was a very dark day for me , the lowest I have felt... really really homesick and thinking about xmas and dad and all the people I love back home... Also aware we are flying to Oz even further away !! sad to leave Asia.. But hey ... Oz , New Zealand and South America to come .. whoop whoop ..