tomsfam around the world

From the last blog we have ditched the campervan (though not literally) and got a carhire for a week to get from Brisbane to Sydney, which from the drivers perspective (me), was a great move. No more being passed by big trucks, my turn now to burn rubber. The downside of all this was the large number of speed cameras on the road to Sydney, but at least I won't get the points!

This last week in Oz was so different from before, not having the camper meant we had to stay in cabins, motels or hostels, all much dearer than camping. The good side of all this was that we had heating, telly and our own bedrooms and bathroom, all very civilized. We took the coastal route, so we got to go to the beach, but definitely too cold for swimming, just a case of wrap up and keep warm. The cold weather really hit in the blue mountains, which are absolutely beautiful, the night temp got down to just above freeezing, and the days were bright sunny and chilly, perfect winter weather for long walks and real hot chocolate.

Our 3 days in Sydney involved lots of site seeing, that bridge, the opera house and a trip on a ferry to somewhere else to get the best views of the city, a great way to end our Australia leg.

Rosie with a native bird admiring her new coat.

From Sydney we flew to Honolulu for some sun, which meant crossing the international dateline, and as it was Friday the 8th we had 2 opportuniyies not to see the openig ceremony of the olympics, first time because we were in the air and second time because we were in America, and as there wasn't an American medal opportunity it didn't make the schedules! Our entry into USA was far removed from the horror stories that we have read about, the immigration officer was clearly not a morning (or people) person, was grumpy and miserable, but was quick and efficient at stampimg passports, so we couldn't complain.

The sun going down on Waikiki beach

Waikiki where we stayed was fab, great beach, hot and sunny, warm water and fairly laid back for a major tourist destination, the girls loved it here. In hindsight, a few more days here would have been ideal, just to be able to get off the beach and explore the island. We did however meet the chief of police. We went to a local community eventwhich was celebrating 60 years of police activities to stop young people killing each other, and on stage the local radio had a little competition for kids to see who could best snort like a pig. Well, ther was no stoppping Isabel, she went up on stage and kICKED ASS with a great piggy snort and won the competition by public acclaim, (Being the only girl on stage and foreign probably helped as well). Anyway the big police boss seeked us out to say hello and have photos taken.

The girls enjoying the surf

We are now in San Diego after a night in LA, plenty to do here, especially going to the beach and shopping. We spent half of yesterday in Walmart, mainly in the reductions isle and the sweeties isle, heaven for the ladies!! \

There will be another blog before we get home, and then the book and then the tv serial, thank you for reading!!

I will start again with the apologies! From the first aussie blog I said that Rosie was looking forward to cheese sandwiches, well no more! In addition the bruce highway was actually named after a Minister for public works ( or something like that) and not a python sketch, and I may have also given the impression that the weatrher was glorious. Well, we never made it to the beaches north of Brisbane as planned because they had a winters worth of rain in 2 days (about 3 inches, but it is the dry season), and it has been chilly as well, with snow a bit inland.
We even had to do an emergency shop for coats and brollies.

We have been to the Australia Zoo of Steve Irwin fame which, in Rosie's words was awesome! We went the day after Bindi's 10th birthday, where they had artificial snow, dancers etc, so the snow was still around (well I did say it was cold), so the girls we sledging, not what we were expecting in Oz.

The zoo was great,as the 20 pics of cuddly koals testifies, and it was hugely entertaining in the "crocoseum" where they bring out different animals to show off, including feeding crocs, it was so good we went to both shows that they do.

Not much else has happened. Oh I forgot, today we (accidently!!?) bumped into Rosie's teacher in the middle of Brisbane!! Rosie's jaw nearly hit the floor and she was speachless for ages. This si something that we had planned before we left the Uk and it was such a pleasure to have it come off!! We spent the day with Mrs McGregor, finding a fab deli for lunch, which incidently was our first sit down meal outside of the camper in Oz.

Mrs McGregor doing overtime in summer hols!!
Will be driving down to Sydney from tomorrow before flying out on 8.8.8.

Apologies again for my tardiness in blogging, it was so much easier in Vietnam where they have free internet everywhere, and I just don't like having to pay for it.
So, from Northern Territories we flew to Cairns, sleeping at the airport first so as to give the girls a taste of true backpacking. Cairns was just a pitstop to pick up another camper before heading off on the open road again. Instead of hugging the coast and beaches we went inland thro. Atherton Tablelands, up in the hills, so we got a little taste of rain again. Made the girls do a bit of walking (poor loves), as well as driving around to a few scenic spots, next time I see a waterfall will be too soon. We visited a posh dairy for free samples of cheese and chocolate, but far too expensive to buy any, or we're too cheap. We did see a platypus up here, which became another highlight of the trip. This part of Queensland is big farming country, we got all excited at seeing big fields of sugarcane and bananas, the excitment tho. has now passed!!

cute
Our next stop of significence was Mission Beach, a very laid back sort of place. We stayed for a week at a council campsite (basic) which was cheap and was quite full of longterm residents. It was right on the beach which was handy to say the least, as we were ready for some beach time. Rosie and Issy made friends with a couple of sisters, which meant they could amuse themselves for hours on end, bliss!! This area of rainforest is home to one of the rarer species in Oz, the cassowary, of which there are about 1500 left in the wild and so quite rare to see. And of course we did see one close up when we went through a trail in the rainforest, this became another highlight of the trip, and gave us cause to be smug when we met people who hadn't seen one. We all did a reef trip, tho Kath was unfortunately ill and didn't make it to the reef, it was quite a bumpy ride out. The girls weren't too adept at the snorkling, but they thought the glass bottomed boat was cool!

More driving down the Bruce Highway (named after a Monty Python sketch), and more big trucks coming scarily up behind at speed, mainly because I drive like a grandad! After 2 days at a free campsite right on the beach it was Townsville next and another highlight, this time a water park on the esplanade which the girls just loved. It is free, and great for the kids, we went 2 days running, we even used the free BBQ, which made us feel like proper Aussies, (except we had sweetcorn not steaks and snags).

having fun!!!
A bit of boring driving now, as we headed through nothiness. I have perfected the perfect driving position for this, cruise control, resting my head in my hands, and steering with my elbows. It is no wonder so many die on the roads here. As an aside, I saw more "just happened " nasty accidents in 3 days than in 24 years of driving in UK. Time to change my driving position and switch off cruise control!!

We passed through Bowen, Mackay, Rockhamton and Gladstone, All big small towns with little to keep you there, except food shopping and diesel. Got to the beach at Agnes Waters, a lovely name and a great beach, up the road from here is the small settlement of 1770, where Captain Cook first landed in Queensland in um.... 1770.

The girls are really loving their time here, Rosie doesn't want to leave, so we may have trouble at Sydney airport, and Isabel just loves being on holiday and would like it to be forever. Even we are regretting not doing it for longer! Although Kath doesn't like it in the back of the van when we are driving as all the bumps in the road are giving her sore boobs, and that is with a sports bra on.

We have stayed at some great campsites here, some of the best ones being free. They have overnight rest areas off the highway where you can park for the night, Tho. can be noisy with all the trucks, but there are also free camp spots in some beautiful areas. AS you can tell we are using them as much as poss.

We are heading to beaches north of Brisbane before getting to that city and handing the keys back (boo hoo!), but we plan to go whale watching in a couple of days (minus mum) which will be awesome (as Rosie keeps on saying).
Wil blog one more time from Oz at least

So, back in the west (so to speak), and the land of dear food, petrol and accomodation, Asia does have a lot to recommend it. We had a 7 hr stopover in Singapore which gave us enough time to spend a couple of hours in the city, enough time infact to enjoy a lovely curry in Little India. An overnight flight brought us to Darwin at 4.30 am, there are definately better times in the day to arrive somewhere! Taxi to Holiday Inn, made the lobby look untidy, but got a room by 7.30 am.

Had an enjoyable day doing v. little, did supermarket shopping for the things that we'd missed over the past 2 months, namely bread and cheese, which is to become our staple food.

After a couple of days we picked up the campervan and hit the open road (and nothing else yet). We headed to Kakadu National Park, stopping first to do a jumping crocodile cruise, basically they hang a piece of meat over the side and wait for a croc to come over, have a look and then leap out of the water for it's little snack, the girls thought it was awesome! My suggestion of dangling a small child over the side was sadly turned down.

Kakadu is famous for it's wet season, 10m of rain and the whole area is flooded, and for the water falls that follow. We're here in the dry, which means we can explore the aboriginal rock art and learn a bit about there culture. In our 4 nights here we went to 4 ranger slide shows, which grabbed the girls attention (much better than mum or dad reading from a booklet), and also a couple of ranger guided walks. Rosie is now the school expert on aborginal culture and artwork. In addition we also did a couple of aborginal activities, painting, and the girls made some bracelets. Overall a good bit of education for the girls to make up a bit for missing school.

From Kakadu it was a long drive to Katherine and it's famous gorge. .Had a boat trip thro. a couple of the gorges, and Rosie and me went canoeing as well, all great fun.

The best bit for the girls though is probably all the swimming pools at the campgrounds and the water holes and springs where we have also been swimming, especially in Litchfield.

A lovely non sleep at Darwin airport for a 5.30 flight to Cairns, surprisingly enough we did very little yesterday

So, our final destination of the first part of our trip, Angkor Wat. Another long bus journey, 13 hours, and one border crossing, and arrive in Siem Reap, the place to stay for trips to Angkor Wat. The first couple of days were recovery days from travelling, even I needed it. Must be my age, and then we had 3 days exploring the temples of A.W.

Despite the fact that we were not alone (it is quite popular here), we still got a sense of solitude in parts, it is a vast area with different temples and ancient cities, (albeit slightly ruined), so getting away from the crowds was quite easy. It is very hard to describe the temples, so I wont. Suffice to say it was a truly wonderful experience, even if Izzy couldn't quite grasp it, " not another temple", this after just an hour. And I don't think she has quite forgiven us for getting her up and 4.30 in the morning to see the sun rise over the main temple at Angkor Wat, definitely an experience of a lifetime.
We saw all the trees growing out of the ruins a la Tomb Raider, very popular here with coach parties, but Isabel and Rosie still managed to get their photos taken here (for nearly the last time on this trip).

view of back garden of hotel

From Cambodia it was a 3 hour taxi ride on the worst road in the world, well it used to be, but now there is about 30km of tarmac, out of 160km, it was dry which makes it relatively safe, not a road to use in the wet or the dark. Another border crossing, another bus, another taxi and arrive in Bangkok (again). This gives us all time to get over a dose of "stomach trouble", thank you Cambodia, 2 months in Asia, and it's not till the end that we get it, still, not bad I suppose.

A summary of Asia:
Wonderfully cheap, you could live out there for next to nothing, go on rent out the house and do it.
Lovely people, for the most part genuinely friendly, and wanting to help and talk to you, even those who are only after the tourist dollar.

Sorry abit rushed but on v expensive computer in Kakadu, Oz

The ladies are overall more attracti (better stop here!!).