Friday 30thMarch 2018 Today was a blessing, a gentle Good Friday morning. After a sequence of early starts and being awoken by my raucous phone alarm it was a pleasure to have a lie in and wake gradually. I spent the morning catching up with the ‘blog – I am sorry that I have been … Continue reading The Age of Aquarius

Thursday 29th March 2018 Imagine, if you will, flying into an airport in the middle of the Peak District, perhaps in one of the tighter valleys, say the upper reaches of the river Dove? That is the sensation you get flying into Cairns, an airport that is surrounded by green fields embraced closely by the … Continue reading Typically Tropical

Wednesday 28th March 2018 Two very excited parents joined the holidaymakers and business people on the early morning flight from Sydney to Brisbane. It was strange not having to show passports, but the security checks were just as stringent. After our two previous marathon flights it seemed that we were outside Brisbane Airport in no … Continue reading We caught the Katy in Queensland

Tuesday 27th March 2018 The early start is because Wendy and I are ‘going bush’ as they say around these parts. We are catching the 0653 train to the Blue Mountains. Another of the many advantages of our hotel is that it is less than ten minutes walk from the main Sydney railway station, Central … Continue reading A bird in the bush!

Monday 26th March 2018 ‘Lachlan Maquarie, a Scotsman who was governor of the colony in the first part of the nineteenth century, and whose principal achievements were the building of the Great Western Highway through the Blue Mountains, the popularising of Australia as a name (before him the whole country was indifferently referred to as … Continue reading Of Colony and Convicts

Sunday 25th March 2018 Yesterday’s rain had cleared and the sun was cracking the paving slabs as our two heroes trotted west along George Street heading for the harbour. We might even have held hands, we probably reminded people of the ‘start-right kids’. George Street is the main road through Central Sydney and is full … Continue reading Sidney Harbour, Manly and the Northern Beaches

Sunday 25th March 2018 I am writing this at four in the morning, unable to sleep; just when I thought I had got to grips with jet lag! Yesterday we crossed the Equator and into the Southern Hemisphere; six hours later we landed in Sydney. We are now ensconced in our hotel on the border … Continue reading Australia Here We Come!

Wednesday 21st March (including Tuesday 20th) So big a day in fact it was almost 48 hours long! As you saw from my temporary post, our first encounter with jet lag has been as disorientating for us as it is for everyone but, no matter, Singapore is worth it. Even as we drove from the … Continue reading A Big, Big Day!

Wednesday (or is it still Tuesday?) 21st March 2018 Greetings blog fans! Just to let you know that we are in Singapore and a proper post will follow tomorrow (or is it the day before?) when we have got used to the time difference. in the meantime here is a picture of a big aeroplane...

Monday 19th March 2018 “I’m so excited, and I just can’t hide it!” … sang the Pointer Sisters. Still you will be pleased to know that I am not going to lose control even if I like it. I woke up this morning at 0500 and couldn’t get back to sleep because today’s the day … Continue reading The Adventure Begins!