End of the journey

Thanks to everyones comments since we got back, that read the blog.

We really enjoyed sharing it with our friends and family and it meant we saved a little of the planet by sending zero postcards.

If you want to carry on following what we get up to in day to day life, have a look here

Home Sweet Home

Yes finally we are back in the UK.

It was a long journey but Callum was really well behaved even though BA have very few films for young children (unlike Quantas who had lots more). Anyway we have made it back to sunny Southampton where Callum has spent the day going nuts in the garden - playing on the climbing frame and in and out of the sand pit. My parents have been looking after him (thank you thank you thank you) as well as helping get the house sorted out, unpacked and clothes all washed.
At 5.30pm he finally crashed and is now sleeping soundly - hopefully he won't wake too many times tonight.

It has been a brilliant holiday and it is great to know that Callum can cope with being shifted from place to place so well. Who knows where our next adventure will take us.

A HUGE thank you to Roz and James who let us stay with them and took such good care of us and introduced us to the Northern Beaches area and to Katie who set us up so brilliantly in Hong Kong, all those many weeks ago!

Callum claims his highlight is still going to Ocean Park and mine would be visiting the Great Barrier Reef. Now all we need to do is buy our own camper van.

Bridge Climb

Had a brilliant day yesterday doing the Sydney Bridge Climb. Roz, Richard and Callum enjoyed a lovely lunch at the Fish Market and cruise round the harbour, while I climbed up Sydeny Harbour Bridge.
It was fantastic and the engineer in me loved looking at the joints, bearings and repair work and hearing stories of its construction and then the view from the top is breathtaking. I have always wanted to do it after seeing my friend Sophie's pictures and I am so pleased I did do it. I did the Discovery Climb for those that know about these things or are interested and I thoroughly recommend it. I think if you click here you should be able to see the photos.

OK must finish packing as we are off to Sydney in an hour for our final lunch and I have not packed yet! I have to repack into a borrowed bag, as mine has broken!

This is not the end as I still have to tell you about the flight home and plugs and driving in Australia. Stay tuned!!!

Blue Mountains

Last weekend was spent in the beautiful Blue Mountains about an hours west of Sydney. With the aid of the sat nav (have hired one with the car) we got to the cottage in Leura in about 1.5hrs, which was a painfully slow Australian driving experience (more in next blog).

The Blue Mountains are actually neither Blue nor Mountains they are called that because the range of sandstone mountains (1000m at highset point) which are part of the Great Dividing Range, are covered in Eucalyptus trees who's oil creats a blue haze in the sun.
OK geography lesson over, it has to be said when we got out of the car we were hit by the cool (about 15degs) fresh air, which was lovely. Our cottage was adorable and beautifully laid out even providing their own blends of soap, shampoo and conditioner etc. The beds were really wide and actually in the morning Callum jumped into bed with us for a cuddle and went straight back to sleep - this has NEVER happened before.
We spent our time up there, eating in lovely cafes with beautiful views and visiting Scenic World - which includes amazing views while travelling on a combination of cable cars and old railway trains (see picture above - yes I took that).

We also visited the zig zag railway, which was a big hit as firstly it was a steam train and second it had to keep stopping to switch the engine from the front to the back of the train. Lots of excited boys of all ages watched in delight from the bridge they had erected at "Top Points". It was Fathers Day in Australia so there were a lot of happy Dads.
It was a wonderful weekend and the fresh air made us all very tired but happy and Callum learnt how to play Uno as well.

Back in Sydney

So it was a sad farewell to our campervan this morning but a welcome return to Sydney and the comfort of Chateau Randall this afternoon, with the added bonus of Richard's 2nd Cousin from New Zealand visiting - Jean-Anne, whom we last saw at Rosemary and James wedding, when Callum was 3 weeks old.

To make it a bit more entertaining and challening we also had a hire car, and this was my first attempt at driving with a Sat Nav (I know very un-techy of me, but I love maps). It took a few blocks to gauge the scale but after that I thought it was quite interesting.
More on driving in Australia tomorrow, but right now need sleep!

Great Barrier Reef

I cannot really put into words the amazing feeling snorkling on the reef had on both Richard and myself this morning. We saw rays, schools of fish coral of all shapes and colours, blue starfish, sea cucumbers and more colours and sizes of fish than I can describe. Callum was not happy to use a snorkel but he had a good go and swam about with a life jacket on and the staff on our trip were amazing at trying to include him and he really had a brilliant time and we even saw some dolphins on our way back to shore. We all managed to find something amazing about the trip. We went with Ocean Safari in a giant rib to get out to Mackay Reef. It was a 25min ride out which we all found very thrilling and they gave really good instructions as this was my first time proper snorkling, and I found it really easy to float about and see the fish. Totally brilliant! We are leaving here tomorrow and heading back to Sydney on Thursday. We will be sad to say goodbye to our campervan.

Cape Tribulation

Well here we are up in Cape Tribulation, which is pretty much as far as you can go up the Eastern coast of Australia without a 4WD vehicle!

The photo above is from our camp site website and shows just how cl0se to the beach we are, and where we have spent the whole day just chilling out today.

And just to rub it in, here is another photo.

Life in the campervan is going well, after a rather fraught first night, where it had taken us slightly longer than planned to resolve the broken sandel crisis (a girl has to have comfortable thongs - yes that is aaussie for flip-flops). I have ended up with a pair of crocs that are not as comfy as my old pair, but nothing but a highly expensive pair of white Birkenstocks came close! Anyway back to the problem at hand, after draging ourselves round the shops to get food, shoes, money and insect repellant we headed north to Port Douglas and stayed in a campsite there for the night, but arrived not really leaving ourselves enough sunlight to get sorted, so a lot of unpacking and faffing ensued while we tried to calm a highly excited but also hungry Callum and get our belonging stowed somewhere so we could bed down for the night.
Richard put his newly found Aussie barbie skills (thanks to lessons from Peter and James in Sydney) to the test and rustled up from sausages, potatoes and spare ribs for tea, while I used all my stowing on boats practice top get the camper ready for sleeping. Suffice to say it was all quiet by 9.30pm!

The photo on the right is our camper (well not our exact one but you get the idea). We have found for driving that it works best with Callum upfront and Richard sits in the back.

We went to a brilliant Hartley Croc Farm yesterday morning and enjoyed seeing some saltwater and freshwater crocs, koalas, snakes and various lizards. It was a great place with a very good cafe overlooking the croc swamp just in time to see the biggest male "Ted" get his lunch too!

So sorry to ramble on for so long but thought I would bring you up to speed. We are now half way through our holiday and feel like we have been gone for ages, but I am sure back in the UK time has passed much quicker. We are off on a trip to see The Great Barrier Reef on Tuesday morning.

Kurunda

Well Cairns is really humid and this is the DRY season. I am so very glad we are in Australia in the winter!! The weather here is great though, sunny and hot but not so very hot that you cannot go out and about with a small child.
We are staying at a fantastic hotle - Rydges Esplanade and have our own apartment with lounge and 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms for only 80quid a night. It also has 2 pools and a sports centre but we have not had time to investigate any of that. we have been busy visiting Kurunda and doing the laundry!

Today we went on a tour that meant we got this gorgeous train up through the winding hills to Kurunda, had a delcious meal of barramundi fish and chips and then caught a giant cable car that stretches about 6km over the rainforest below back down again.
While up there we also went on a short river trip with a great guide who is really passionate about the rainforest and we saw loads of diffent plants, birds, fed turtles, big black fish and saw 2 freshwater crocodiles. Callum was very excited and a bit hard to control at times and this was not the sort of boat with safety rails, more of a floating platform with seats, but luckily our guide and dirver has raised 2 lively boys and had Callum under his spell in no time. He even let him feed the duck that likes to sit on the back of the boat. It was a great trip.
Tonight we walked down Cairns esplanade which was really beautiful at sunset and Callum spent the best part of an hour playing at Muddys Playground, probably the best playground he has ever seen and he even climbed right top the top of a rope climbing tree and was really proud of himself. I will post the photos at some point just to give his Nanna a fright!!
So tomrrow we leave our luxury air conditioning behind and pick up the campervan for the next week, so it might all go a bit quiet. We also have to do some shopping tomorrow, especially as my beloved sandels (or in aussie : thongs) snapped!!

Thanks for all your comments, keep them coming, but don't forget to put your name in - although so far I have been able to tell who wrote what!!!

Uluru

Hi and greetings from sunny central Australia, where we are staying at the Ayers Rock Resort. Forgive any typing errors as I have 6 mins credit so this will be a quick one!
We have a great room (thankful free upgrade) and have been enjoying several walks around the base of the Uluru today. Callum has been a real trooper, walking about 4km today and loving getting totally covered in red dust. He found a great cave that he liked sitting in too and kept leaving theb tour to go back to it, but I most of what the guide said was over his head so that was fine.

Tomorrow we head for Cairns after doing the Valley of the Winds walk at Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), but we are only doing the first bit for those that know it.

Tonight we are off with a packed supper for Callum to watch the sunset over Uluru.

More details when we get to Cairns.

Everybody's Gone Surfing

We spent the day chilling by the beach with a proper Aussie beach barbie. Callum finally got to grips with the boogie board and absolutely loved it. Off to Yalara (Ayers Rock Resort) tomorrow early in the morning, and then on Wednesday we move onto Cairns for a bit more holiday and campervan lifestyle. So enjoy this bit of video.

Home and Away

Finally a decent night's sleep and over the jet lag at last. We are now up in Bilgola in the Northern Beaches area about an hours drive north of Sydney, staying with Richard's sister and husband, Ros and James, who have been living over here for just over a year.

Today they took us for a short drive up the road to Palm Beach. The sun was shining and unseasonaly warm, and we sat on the beach while Callum had lots of sword fights with Uncle James.

Palm Beach is where lots of the outside shots are filmed for the Aussies Soap "Home and Away" - which I confess I was addicited to for many years as a teenager. So it was great to see the beach, iconic lighthouse, cafe and the Surf Lifesaving Club, which actually has a sign on the beach side saying "Summer Bay Surf Lifesaving Club". I was going to post a picture of that, but thought it far too sad.

Well we wandered down the beach and had some lunch over looking the water, where we were lucky enough to watch a sea plane taking off (which Callum really enjoyed, rather unsurprisingly). But after lunch we did a hearty walk up the to the lighthouse at the top of the headland. You can see it in the photo below. It was a steep climb with some paved parts but mainly a rock strewn path. Callum was in his element and was racing to the top, confidently negotiating the rocks. All those gym lessons are finally paying off, as he did seem to have far better balance than most of us! At the top he ran up to the lighthouse and asked where the door was, and was very disappointed that you could not go inside. The maintenance access was a flat sheet metal door firmly padlocked shut, which Callum did not recognise as a door, so he said "but mummy how will the man get inside to turn it on". There followed a lengthy conversation about how lighthouses were important, how they get turned on and how if everyone could go inside it might break and the ships might crash. Finally he accepted the fact that not all lighthouses have men living inside to turn on the light if they see a ship! The climb back down was a bit slower but still displaying amazing mountain goat abilities and resolutely refusing any help, Callum made it back down a bit tired but feeling very elated with his achievements.

I don't think he has ever walked that far, and suffice to say he went to sleep very quickly. We, on the other hand, were treated to a delicious marinated beef and roasted vegetable supper followed by tart tartin, courtesy of Ros. We are certainly being spoilled. Tomorrow we are off to another beach to meet some Australians, which should be interesting with the Ashes, at time of posting, still to play for.

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

Oh yes we have truly embraced the expat lifestyle by visiting the RHKYC. As a member of Royal Southampton Yacht Club we had recipricol rights, but we actually went with an old family friend Katie and her 3 yr old Samual. A really relaxing time was had by all lounging at the poolside while the boys splashed in the shady children's pool and we even got Richard in the water to cool off. The food was delicious. I had a beautiful salad which seemed to have everything on it you could think of!

Afterwards we headed up the peak on the tram which Callum totally enjoyed, although he was a bit fractious being tired, but did very well and we ended the day by going to the airport and flying to Sydney.

Thanks Katie it was great seeing you and for organising a night out on our own! All in all we totally loved Hong Kong. It is a great place for a short trip.

Ocean Park

A fun but very very hot day was had at Ocean Park. We rode the cable car, saw a dolphin show and panda bears. It is a great place, but rides are very spaced out due to it being built on a cliff and that meant a lots of walking in the very hot sun. Even I was hot! Callum was very good at drinking lots of water, especially the lime snow cones, which cooled us all down.
Had to post a picture of the pandas, especially for my friend Emma, as when they came here last month the naughty pandas were fast asleep!

Eating Out in Hong Kong

We ventured out last night to the busy streets near our hotel where lots of restaurants are. We chose to eat at Fairwood. It is kind of a fast food chinese style. You order at the till and then collect your food at a window and sit and eat it. I chose their beef stew. You get a burner and metal dish full of soup and then you get dumplings and meat and veg to put into it and cook yourself. Callum loved the dumplings and the plum juice we drank. It was great fun, even though we felt completely out of our comfort zone as we had no odea how the system worked! You read more about Fairwood on wikipedia



Well firstly having had such a brilliant flight, there had to be pay back and it came last night at 1.30am when Callum woke up and decided he could not go back to sleep. He tried but not very hard and everytime I was just about to fall asleep myself he seemed to know that that was the "perfect" time to say "mum I can't sleep I am not tired"!! He finally went back to sleep at 6.30am. Suffice to say we are all a bit tired this morning and missed breakfast.



We did however go to a tea rooms for lunch. The room was full of round tables and nearly every one was full. We were waved over to a small space on one round table that we were sharing with 5 other people. A pot of tea, bowls and rice spoons were thrust onto the table and a slip of paper with numbers on it. We looked around and saw ladies pushing trollies piled high with bamboo baskets and you basically picked the dishes you wanted to eat and she marked a number on your paper. We ate loads of dumplings and pork things and other things we have no idea what they were! Callum has decided that dumplings are the best food ever. It was all very delicious and right off the tourist track which is always fun and cost less than £10 to feed us all.



After that we went on the Star Ferry to Kowloon and back. Callum was saying "Star Ferry" in the picture below!

Terminal 5 - what a surprise

Greetings all from a very humid Hong Kong.

So the story so far... we arrived at Heathrow Terminal 5 with plenty of time to spare. Check in was calm and easy, as was security. Callum studiously took his shoes off to go through the scanner and put them on again, while I gathered together all our various hand luggage, laptops, bag of liquids, shoes and jumpers - Richard was being frisked at the time! The security scanners are very high tech, but a little too much really. If they don't like something in your tray, it is automatically moved into a different "lane" while other boxes are dutifully whisked to an automatic stop. The trouble is that you have to unload the tray before it is automatically whisked down the shute and back to the beginning, awaiting its next load of travellers goodies. I am sure there is a weight sensor or something, but I couldn't help feeling that if I was not quick enough, my ipod and probably 1 shoe would get sucked away before I was ready! Hence the slight panic as I tried to grab everything off the conveyor and thrust it in the direction of Callum, who was obliviously looking up at me saying "does it go on this foot, mama?" and wondering why I was ignoring him and running back to the conveyor!! I was just thankful that he was sitting in 1 spot and not running off.

Still I have to say Terminal 5 is light and airy, like the great big metal hanger it is. It's huge glass wall allowing a superb view of the runway and departure gates, making it utter heaven for plane crazy little boys. We had a lovely dinner at Wagamama's - who do great kids stuff (not suitable for a child that does not like to try new food I hasten to add) including easy kids chopsticks, that Callum loved and we took them with us. To make life even more interesting we had to go on a little underground shuttle to get to our departure gate all very exciting.

Well we sat watching the planes take off as the sun went down and lights came on. We also got to watch our pilots doing their pre-flight checks. Finally the time came for boarding and we found our seats and got settled for the night. Callum was looking sleepy and quite ready to go to sleep just after take off, but then - even thought nearly everyone was trying to sleep, they turn on the cabin lights to give you food!!! Well then he wanted to watch a film and have some dinner - while I was getting a bit of rest Richard entertained him as I was shattered. So eventually they turned the cabin lights off at midnight and we all settled down for some sleep. Callum chose to sleep on the floor and he slept like a preverbial log, while I woke everytime some child near us called out or cried thinking it might be my little boy - but no, he has traveller genes and in fact proved incredibly difficult to wake up. Eventually I hauled a sleepy mass off the floor with a promise that he could watch "Monsters v Aliens".

So we arrived at our hotel suitably rested and Callum got straight into playing with his toys!!!

All Ready to go

Yes it is less than 24hrs to go.
Online check-in has been done and now we just have to squish everything left into the hand luggage.
I am very proud of our packing efforts and thought a photo was worthy, but we had already packed the camera!!. Our main luggage is just the 2 bags at the bottom and our hand luggage is a couple of rucksacks.

Under advisement I have actually weighed the luggage and it is all OK.

So off we go to the airport!!

Packing Frenzy

The frenzy has begun. I now have the following washbags!
- on the plane
-on the plane but its liquid so it has to go in a clear bag
- in the luggage
- callum's wash stuff
- medicine/first aid bag
- minimal makeup and nail varnish (I know I am going so girlie. 2 years ago I would never have bothered. That is what turning 35 does to you)

What a lot of stuff. Good job we are not taking too many clothes.

Thanks so much to those who have emailed or commented with ideas. I am loving the masking tape one that is genius (see comments on earlier blogs)

I am desperately trying to finish up all my work in preparation for a trip to see relatives this afternoon. Poor Callum is watching "Sinbad" cartoon downstairs. I am quite jealous, Brad Pitt is a great Sinbad.

OK back to the packing packing and work!

Yondi Arrived

Had a great morning down at Mayflower Park with 3 other mums and a total of 7 children from 2 - 6 years old. Much running around and being pestered by wasps was had by all. The kids particularly enjoyed playing "Simon Says.." . I wonder if we could get away with that on the plane? "Simon Says... watch the film", "Simon Says... stop wriggling and go to sleep" etc. It could work except you know that there will come the conversation that goes "For the last time will you stop kicking the very large angry man in the seat in front" ..... "but Mummy you didn't say Simon says..."

In other news Yondi arrived today and was greeted with much warmth and excitement, so that is a good start.

Packing STILL not done, but all the paperwork is done. Can't wait for haircut and final shopping tomorrow.

I do feel a serious meltdown is immanent in next 48hrs. Watch This Space

Another Travel Gadget

OK today's travel gadget is a fab little multi plug adapter that has a USB charger in it. That way I only need to take a small cable to to charge my phones and camera and ipod. Hooray.


Starting to feel the pressure mounting on getting my packing list sorted. I know the earlier I get packed the happier I will be. I have sorted insurance and visas, I just need to get some money.

Add to the list that I need to take the cats to the vet on Monday, bikini wax on Tuesday and hair done on Thursday!!!

Oh boy.

Getting Ready

It is only 11 days until we leave on our first long haul flight to Hong Kong. My mind if full of ideas of things to pack and things to leave, useful gadgets and what I can take to keep Callum happy and entertained.

Yesterday, on the recommendation of my mum (they do have good ideas, even though we never like to admit it!) I ordered a Yondi head rest. I am worried it will be a bit bulky, but as we will not be travelling with a car seat on the trip, and only a booster, I think it will be useful. I shall report back as the journey continues.

It is funny how we always think of travelling as relaxing, but the run up to any trip is just a mad mess of packing lists, contact lists, collection documentation and general stress. Personally I only ever relax when I am finally checking in at the airport - a fact that drives my "turn up at the airport at the least possible time" husband nuts!

He likes to remember the time we were travelling to China in 2004 and I got the flight time wrong and we only realised our mistake while on the coach to Heathrow stuck in traffic. We raced across to check in, from the bus stop and just made it and then had to queue through security and got our plane just in time for boarding. "Perfect" he said!

That being said there is something so luxurious about travelling and seeing new places and not having a strict daily timetable. No picking Callum up from nursery or going to work, no commuting to London for hubby. The no work part is not quite true in our cases, as we are both self employed, so still have to look after our respective businesses. It will be a fun and exciting journey, complete with its disasters and triumphs, that will create the lasting memories that bind a family together.

I hope you will follow our journey as I head toward the meltdown of departure and beyond.

Please comment with any good games to keep kids entertained as there are only so many games of I-Spy you can play!