A New Adventure Begins

We have arrived in Kuala Lumpur for a 24 hour stopover to start our 2009 odyssey.

We spent most of Mothers' Day on the plane and with headwinds over 100 km per hour, we arrived a little late. We caught the super modern KLIA train to KL Central station and then took a taxi to the Hotel Istana. Istana means palace in Malay and indeed it is. We are experiencing the type of luxury which we certainly will not be enjoying too often over the next 2 months.

We depart tomorrow night just before midnight, for Rome, arriving early on Tuesday morning. We will then head straight up to Assisi and on to many of the Tuscan sights including Siena and Florence.

Looking forward to revisiting the Cinque Terre and completing the last leg of the famous walk before heading off to Milan and Lake Como.

We then head over to the Dolomites where we plan to visit "Ice Man", the 5,500 year old remains discovered in the 1990s. Having visited "Bog Man" in Denmark 2 years ago, we will be interested to see if "Ice Man" can put the heat on "Bog Man'.

While in the area, we hope to do some walking in the Alpe di Suisse.

Off to Venice and the north east corner of Italy before we head down to Slovenia.

In Slovenia, we plan to visit Ljubljana, Lake Bled and the caves at Postojna.

We then head down to Croatia and travel the length of the coast, mostly by local ferries.

Finally we catch a ferry back to Italy and fly back to Malaysia from Rome where we will spend a few days in Langkawi to recover before returning to Sydney in early July.

Secret Paradise

It is just one week before we set off for another trip to Europe - Italy, Slovenia and Croatia with a short stopover in Kuala Lumpur on the way over and a few days in Langkawi on the return journey.

This year we are only travelling for 8 weeks so will be back in cold July.

Before we left we made a visit to our secret paradise island - the name and place are secret but it is in NSW.

We love travelling but nothing compares with this.

Three Days at Sea

Our trip from Dunedin was to call in at Dusky and Doubtful Sounds but the high seas made this impossible. We did however manage to get in to Milford Sound and sail the 8 miles to the beginning of the sound. The sheer walls , waterfalls and wonderful vistas were truly magnificent.

Our trip across to Tasmania has been very rough. The winds were 1 level below hurricane and the seas were over 5 metres swell. One night we could barely stay in our state room as it was so rough. Things bounced off cupboards and we bounced off the bed! Eventually the seas abated to be just rough.

We have spent the morning in Burnie and have looked at the Pioneer Village and wandered round the town.

Tonight we sail for Melbourne.

Tongue Twister from Dunedin/Burnie

How much wood chip could a wood chip ship ship, if a wood chip ship could ship wood chip?

Dunedin, the Scottish Capital of the Southern Hemisphere

The ship docked at 8 am this morning in Port Chalmers, the port for Dunedin. This is our last port in New Zealand although we will be spending tomorrow cruising in Fiordland National Park and specifically visiting Milford Sound.

As we had visited the fabulous places out of Dunedin especially in the Banks Peninsula only two years ago, we have spent this visit in the city. So far, we have visited the Knox Church, a number of shops (2 pairs of shoes) and the Otago Museum.

The museum has a number of excellent displays, including a focus on marine life. Of special interest was the display on the Union Steamship Company. There was an extensive section on the early settlement of NZ and other Pacific countries. There were lots of moas and various other fauna. We saw one shark fossil from an extinct 48 tonne (16 metres long) species that used to eat whales.

Lots of other exhibitions including some special overseas touring displays..... Shanghai Dragons and Charles Darwin.

Soon we will be back on board and spend the next 3 days at sea. Next port is Burnie in Tasmania.

Like Ships in the Night

As we travelled, we have come across a number of happy and sad stories. Here is a happy one that we stumbled across yesterday.

Most of the young men working on our ship come from Indonesia, many from very remote villages. Two brothers signed up with different shipping companies and yesterday, both ships were in Christchurch so they were able to rendezvous for the first time in well over a year. It must be a very lonely life for them separated from their families so you can imagine their joy when they met up with each other.

From Gothic Punk to Mavis and Fred's Paua Shell House

We arrived in Christchurch this morning and started with a visit to an exhibition at the old city council chambers featuring Gothic Punk. Got quite a few wardrobe ideas before moving on to the Canterbury Museum.

The best display was Mavis and Fred's paua shell house that has been moved from its site in Bluff on the far south coast. It is the best display of kitsch that we have ever seen. When Mavis complained about the shells getting in the way of the vacuum cleaner, Fred started sticking them to the walls and the rest is history!

We also visited the Botanic Gardens, the Glass Exhibition and the City Art Gallery. The Art Gallery was less impressive than the Gothic Punk!

Off to Dunedin tonight.