I’m sorry to say that our little trip to New Zealand is pretty much over ? We have had a lovely time topped off with another scenic drive – from Queenstown back to Christchurch yesterday and then today spending the day in Christchurch. After I posted the blog on Tuesday evening Dave and I wandered…

Today is the ‘fun’ day. Every day has been really enjoyable with lots of great activities and experiences. But today was simply about fun! We woke reasonably early (I have barely seen it dark as the sun goes down so late and comes up so early!) Breakfast was provided in the Air BnB. A range…

‘Wow’. It’s the word I reckon I’ve used one hundred times today. ‘How beautiful is this place?’ I have said at least a dozen times. When I first spotted the ‘Remarkables’ – a mountain range near to Queenstown, it was instantly obvious why they were called that. Remarkable is the perfect word to describe the…

Leanne, a good friend of mine, (and ex-travel agent and fellow obsessive traveller) often assists me with holiday concepts and planning. When we decided a short while ago to take advantage of time off over Christmas, I asked her advice with the following requests: Passport use Not too long a flight Not too hot Somewhere…

‘He’s making a list and checking it twice’ It’s the Christmas song that sticks in my head the most… not because of the ‘naughty and nice’ bit, but because without a list at Christmas I’d be lost! I am a list lover. For those of you who work with me you will probably know that…

I ummed and aah’d about whether to blog on this holiday. It’s just a quick trip, and whilst it does fit the bill for requiring passport use, lets face it, it’s New Zealand, and therefore pretty much part of Australia 🙂 It was a last minute decision to have a week in the South Island…

Tuesday 5th September. Shanghai. 25-36°C. Sunny and Hot. Everything in China is big. Big numbers (population 1.6 billion), Big cities (Shanghai 24.15 million), Big construction (I have never seen so much building activity), Big highways, Big flavours. With quantity comes efficiency. (In the middle of the night I thought of the words that describes this, but…

Sunday 4th September. Shanghai. 27-31ºC. Partly sunny. A little warning. Today’s blog contains discussion about snot. It has other good stuff too. But there is definitely a little of the not-so-pretty chat. Dave has being feeling slightly under the weather over the last two days or so. Nothing too serious, just a slightly sore throat and…

Sunday 3rd September. Father’s Day. Weather: 24-28°C. Cloudy and humid. Expectations were high. Dangerous I know. I had previously been on two food walks with ‘Culinary Backstreet Tours’ in Tokyo and Barcelona. Both were excellent. A Shanghai walking food tour is now added to the list of unbelievable experiences. Logan our guide was terrific; the other four in…

Sorry no post from yesterday  – It was a pretty exhausting day, mostly involving travel from Chengdu to Shanghai. I will write a two-day version when we are back at the hotel tonight. We are just about to head of on a culinary tour of Shanghai – I cant wait… I hope my expectations aren’t…

Friday 1st September. Today’s weather: 20 – 24ºC; Cloudy with an occasional shower. Hang picked us up after breakfast, this time on foot. We walked the short distance to the subway and caught the train to the centre part of Chengdu City. The trains are new, clean and fast and we were efficiently in the…

After a beaut brekkie (Dave’s words) Hang picked us up at the Hotel and we headed out of Chengdu, towards the south. This is my breakfast. No chilli – I thought that was best with my slightly unwell tummy 😉  The drive south to see the largest Buddha in the world in Leshan was a great…

Not long before we went to bed on Tuesday night, there was an announcement over the loudspeaker system, aka, as Dave refers to it, as the ‘annoying Tannoy’, that there was a “change in conditions”. A couple of kilometres ahead of us up the river a cargo ship, laden with containers had overturned, and the…

I need to be honest. I am missing Facebook. I miss knowing what’s going on in the world. What’s happening with my family and friends. Funny videos; clever quotes; Facebook stalking. Nothing for 11 days! Will sent me a text last night asking what I thought of the Australian batting collapse. FB is usually my…

Our room includes a ‘drinks package’. Each day we are entitled to either 6 cocktails, a bottle of wine or 6 beers, plus unlimited juice, coffee, tea and soft drinks. Considering Dave doesn’t drink alcohol, this has set me a bit of a challenge. Last night before dinner we went and sat in the bar…

Sunday 27th August We woke to a warm and cloudy day. The sun came out mid-morning. I’ve never seen it foggy, hot and sunny at the same time before! Dave has found his favourite spot. He is reading a book called ‘A Painted House’ by John Grisham. There is a library on board – this…