Category Archives: Uncategorized

We have taken a day off: doing nothing, going nowhere. Well almost! The plan was to go to bed early. I’m afraid it is now 11.15pm. Goodnight. I’m hoping for a few hours sleep.

Today a coach and Skyrail ride to Kuranda and a scenic train trip back. Breaking tribal law was a bad idea. Punishments included a barbed spear through the thigh. The offender had to push the whole spear through his leg to remove it and thus show he was “man enough” to take his punishment. 3strikesContinue reading “Cairns Kuranda Wednesday 12th February”

I was considered fit enough for a 30 minute snorkelling experience in the sea viewing the reef. We all wore Lycra Stinger suits which covered us from hood to toe including mittens. It is still jellyfish season. There are no photos of me in my Lycra. I chose not to wear a life jacket. ThisContinue reading “Great Barrier Reef Tuesday 11th February”

It was 0600 alarm, 0630 breakfast and 0730 departure for Melbourne Airport for the 3 hour flight to Cairns. We had our best ever airport experience as well. I’m sorry I forgot to take a photo of Alex organising two neat rows of 42 passengers’ luggage, the 42 passengers standing well back as ordered, AlexContinue reading “Cairns Monday 10th February”

The Great Ocean Road tour today. We will travel over 500km. After Loch Ard we drove an inland route back to Melbourne. We had bought food in a bakery in Apollo Bay and dined comfortably in our room before doing battle with the washer/dryer machine in our room. The machine won! The end result wasContinue reading “Melbourne Sunday 9th February”

We had a fairly comprehensive coach tour of many of the Melbourne sites of interest this morning. Our guide is a bit edgy but very interesting. We had booked for a meal on the Southbank for 8pm but Patricia has walked far enough and we were both very tired. We finished up sharing a roomContinue reading “Melbourne Saturday 8th February”

A relaxed start to the day before 1130 departure. We stood around for an hour with our tour guide trying to get help from Virgin staff. Some of them simply disappeared. One was finally persuaded to process all 42 of us singly by overruling the computer system each time.

We were struggling to get through the partying crowds when we met up with Karen & Neil from our tour group. Neil forged a path and we followed. No evening meal tonight after such a lunch, just a glass of wine in the bar. We fly out of Queenstown (and New Zealand!) to Melbourne tomorrowContinue reading “Queenstown Thursday 6th February”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMIE Wish you were here. Love from Mum XXX Today has been a very different day. It turns out that Queenstown is beautiful! The weather is expected to be good here again tomorrow. Distant Journeys has refunded the cost of the cancelled Milford Sound excursion and we have booked a lunch cruise forContinue reading “Queenstown Wednesday 5th February”

The above photos tell the whole story of our day. We drove from Franz Joseph to Queenstown; it took all day. There was some anxiety about whether we would get through at all. We crossed the Southern Alps back to the east through the Haast Pass. The rain was torrential with newly formed rapid waterfallsContinue reading “Queenstown Tuesday 4th February”