Around the World in 90 Days

We arrived to a bone-dry Victoria, suffering it's worst drought on record. Everywhere brown, dry and cracked. The last three weeks have seen some good rainfalls, though, and the worst does appear to be over.

Our first fortnight was spent largely with family in Gisborne, west of Melbourne, and catching up with relatives and friends. We spent a lovely weekend with old friends in Melbourne, whilst the kids played in the pool - BBQ, wine, beer, loud music and a lot of talking - amazing how you can meet up again after so many years and it might as well have been yesterday!

The new freeway system in Melbourne is brilliant!

We spent an enjoyable couple of days in Anglesea, on the Great Ocean Rd; out of season and very quiet and peaceful (which we needed after the weekend at Gary & Gayle's!).

On our second weekend we went to stay with my old friend Jack, up Upwey way in the Dandenongs. Very beautiful - feeding rosellas, kookaburras, cockatoos, butcher birds and possums from the balcony........

We went to the Mossvale Music Festival in East Gippsland, home of the World's longest worms (not a lot of people know that!). There were more hats and beards than you could poke a stick at. Some excellent music - notably an American band called The Mammals, and blues singer Eric Bibb.

Our last week was spent with Jack in the beautiful little town of Marlo, at the mouth of the Snowy River, about 400kms from Melbourne.

We kayak'd on the river with the kids, went out fishing in the boat. We BBQ'd the fish that one of us caught (suffice to say that it wasn't Jack, Frith or the kids!), and had sundowners and dinner on the veranda of the Marlo Pub, overlooking the magnificent Snowy Estuary.

Now we're getting ready to fly off to the Cook Islands tomorrow, it's was very nostalgic seeing old friends again and the hospitality has been fantastic. We'd like to thank everybody for making it such a magical holiday - and special thanks to Sheila and Bill for looking after us so well and for so kindly giving us use of their spare car(s) during our stay here.

Will miss:

Heather:

Woody & Tonka, Marlo, Family

Rhiannon:

Sunsets, Marlo, Birds, Possums

Frith:

Family and friends, Automatic cars, Marlo, Australian Bakeries, Cascade Light

Graham:

Best friends, Family, Marlo, The Dandenongs, Cascade, Wine shops.

Won't miss:

Heather:

flies, mosquitos

Rhiannon:

mosquitos, bee stings

Frith:

flies, Australian drivers

Graham:

Aus. TV.

Not about travel this time, but our good friend Lisa is participating in the Race For Life run for charity.

If anybody would like to sponsor her in this very worthwhile cause, please copy and paste the following link:

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/rss/getfundraisingPage2.asp?EventGivingGroupId=601066

many thanks,
Graham, Frith and the girls

Thailand has been as wonderful as, maybe even better than, our last visit 13 years ago.

Thai people are gentle, elegant, friendly and very tolerant of others. Maybe this is an aspect of their Buddhist religion, or the fact that this is the only country in Asia (one of the few anywhere) that has never been colonised.

Life here is vibrant and colourful. Siam - the land of smiles, Thailand - the land of the free. Still my favourite country in the World.

Will miss:

Heather:

Elephant ride, beaches, dance, costumes, snorkelling, Shanti Lodge, swimming with monkeys, dragon statues, tuk tuks, James Bond Islands

Rhiannon:

Elephant ride, feeding elephants, Thai dancing, Jungle Pool & rope swing, lizards, Temples, forgetting all about T.V.

Frith:

Food, 25 degrees feeling cold!, snorkelling, peoples smiles, jungle thunderstorm, geckos

Graham:

Snorkelling, Khao Sok, Food, Thai people, driving with loonies, the heat

Won't miss:

Heather:

Jellyfish stings, bad smells, bug stalls

Rhiannon:

Spiders!!

Frith:

Thai radio, Thai roads, haggling, mosquitos

Graham:

Dido

We drove up to the Rainforest National Park in our hire car. Our route took us past a Police Launch at Khao Lak; left stranded where the Tsunami dumped it - 2 km inland. Due to a quirk of underwater topography, the wave topped 11 metres here and extended over 3 km inland, killing nearly 4000 people.

At Khao Sok we stayed at Arts Riverview Lodge in a wonderful location right by the river at the end of a jungle track. On the other side of the river the land rises in a shear cliff for hundreds of feet. We went on a 2 hour elephant trek through the jungle, following trails and creek beds. Although these huge animals are very sure footed (ever see an elephant fall over?), when they work their way down a steep river bank your perch on top can feel very tenuous!

Although the Sok river was very low (there has been a drought here too) and we were unable to take any canoeing or rafting trips, there is a deep swimming hole under the cliffs, named the Monkey Hole, no doubt on account of the troop of Macaques that clamber down to drink and cavort, at the end of the day. A rope swing has been set up and the girls had a lot of fun swinging and swimming before dinner. We were told that there were leeches in the river, but none of us was bitten.

Just as we were about to head to the restaurant for dinner a huge thunderstorm hit, so we had to sit in the shelter of our balcony and watch the heavy rain fall.....

During dinner a spider fell down Rhiannon's neck and gave her a really nasty shock, it took her quite a while to calm down.

Later, we sat on the porch in the dark drinking Mekong and listening. The cacophony all around us was awesome! Every niche of pitch and tone seems to have been occupied and creatures strive to outdo each other. Take every jungle movie you've ever seen, combine the soundtracks and turn them up to 11!

We awoke (did we sleep?) to the same orchestra of insects, frogs, birds and gibbons and a hazy mist hanging over the river. After breakfast we took a trail to some caves in the limestone karst. We saw countless lizards (one flying!), butterflies, birds, etc. Heard gibbons again but didn't see them. Although we only walked a couple of kilometres, we returned drenched to the skin, it was so humid.

We drove back inland along route 4118. This took us past a stunning landscape of jungle and huge limestone outcrops - the perfect setting for Jurassic Park or The Lost World.

We took a day trip to the Similan Islands. After the usual Mad Max minibus ride, we were taken out to the islands by speedboat from Thap Lamu. Our first snorkelling stop was one of those special moments - the clarity of the water was simply unbelievable - it was absolutely crystal clear. The girls are now totally confident with diving down to the reef and are ready to progress to scuba.

We had a great lunch on island 4 and could see flying foxes hanging - and fanning themselves - in the trees. A really beautiful place and one we'd love to explore further given the chance.