BRISBANE – Queensland, Australia

Charlotte met us at the airport and I think we all shed a tear or two. It was around mid day and I was all over the place with time and dates. We'd crossed the international date line and I think we'd gained a day. So we did in fact arrive the day we left!!

Our first view of Australia as we sped along the busy motorway showed us that it definitely looks more American than English. It appears to be a country with expansion in mind given all the building work going on.    

The trip to Kalanga, in Marrumba Downs, where Charlotte and Brian live is about an hour away.

Their two bed semi detached bungalow is spacious, open plan living and we had our own bedroom, where I could finally unpack my bags properly. The next few days we spent catching up and talking about where we'd be visiting over the next couple of weeks while they were both on holiday. We also met Hank, their kitten recently rescued. I'm not a cat person but Hank is such a sweet little thing we couldn't help but fall in love with him. Charlotte is like a fussy mother and afraid to let him out alone.

Our first trip out was into Brisbane City with Charlotte and we took the train from their local station at Petrie. The bus and train connections from where they live are excellent and unless absolutely essential people avoid driving into the city for work. I guess it's like London. Charlotte takes the train to work daily and gets off about three stops from the city.

A half hour journey took us directly into the heart of Brisbane and it really is something. Brand spanking new; that's how I'd describe it. Beautiful buildings, well laid out on a grid system and buzzing with people going about their daily business. Stopped off for coffee and Charlotte worked out that the closest I was going to get to an Americano would be a long black, so that's what I had. Charlotte wore her jacket all day, feeling the spring weather pleasant but a little cool. We of course thought it was hot, just like a lovely summer's day. We made our way towards the Botanical Gardens and again delighted at the care and attention applied to every detail. Walkways for pushchairs and wheelchairs, bicycle lanes everywhere, clearly marked. Brisbane, we discover as our journey unfolds, is no different to every other Australian city. They absolutely love the outdoors and everything and anything that makes that experience better is well catered for, from sports facilities to pristine public lavatories. Everywhere their brief history tells the story of how the country was colonised by the British and how they laid the foundations for the wonderful place it is today. I'm sure everyone of my generation knows somebody or has relations who left England/Ireland/Scotland or Wales on the £10 pom deal back in the 50's and 60's and that particular migration only ceased in the mid 1970's. Today, Australia is becoming more diverse, more mulit-cultural. Their policy for immigration had always been fairly strict and 'white european' seemed to be the passport in. However, things move on and China now contributes massively financially, which does of course reflect in the growth of the asian communities within the large cities.

Once we'd made our way through the Botanical Gardens we ended up on the river. We walked along and caught a 'free' yes free ferry across the river. Like I said, everything has been thought through for the convenience of the public. Our boat trip was lovely giving us yet another perspective on the towering city. On the trip we passed by the Maritime Museum, which we decided we'd keep for another day. Ray and I did go back together to do that trip and I've included those photographs. That particular day it was our 42^nd wedding anniversary and we had our lunch in a lovely Italian restaurant overlooking the river, just below the bridge. Every year I say I want to be somewhere different for our anniversary, which doesn't always happen, but this year it did!

RORATUNGA - Cook Islands

Until this trip was planned I had no idea where Roratunga was.  The Cook Islands cover a vast

area in the south pacific, with dozens of little islands dotted far and wide. Our trip was a nine hour night flight from LA which I didn't mind one bit and we did manage to sleep. We were met at the airport by Sunny, our host/owner of the apartments where we were booked in for three nights. First glimpse of the island revealed shimmering blue, green sea, white sand and big coconut trees. The island is small with one main road running the perimeter for around 25 miles.

Sunny drove us to our 'apartment' which was in fact a wooden chalet and put me in mind of the caravan sites on the east coast where I spent lots of very happy summer holidays. Inside there was a mini kitchen complete with calor gas for cooking. Bathroom and bedroom were more than adequate; but the balcony/deck really did sell the whole deal. Looking directly over a lagoon, with the crashing sea beyond. It was quite spectacular and a cock crowing at 6.00 am every morning didn't bother us, in fact it was the perfect cue to get me out of bed and wait for the stunning sunrise, which I did manage to capture. 

The island feels like a place frozen in time and I liked it.  From LA, where every other person is either speaking into a mobile device while on the move or sitting looking at one, it came as a refreshing change to witness people actually speaking to one another in cafes and sitting on benches outside local shops.  Nobody seemed to be in any great hurry. We stopped off one day for lunch at a roadside café,  Ray had a burger, I wasn't that hungry and ordered a portion of chips. They came laced with salt, which I found out later was chicken salt, no vinegar, and they were delicious. The chicken salt is an australasia thing and absolutely loaded with calories containing everything bad for you.
 

Being an old biker Ray's first port of call was the rental shop to hire a scooter; It worked out at about £15.00 per day which we thought very reasonable. September is classed as winter in Roratunga and the locals were all wrapped up in jackets and hats while riding their scooters going about their daily business. We found several places to eat and a trip to the supermarket showed that the majority of food gets imported from New Zealand and Australia. The road around the island varied from quite flat to bumpy to 'I shouldn't be on this bike.'  But, it was all good fun and took us back to our youth riding our bikes in Bermuda. You could ride along spot a deserted beach hop off and go for a swim... that's what I call free and easy. We got caught in a few rainy showers but mostly the weather was a balmy 75 to 80 degrees and only got a little cooler in the evening.

We arranged to go out to a local hotel where they hold an Island Extravagana twice a week. It was fantastic and set within the grounds of a posh resort. The evening included a fab dinner/buffet and island show with fire eaters and exceptionally good native dancers and musicians. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole evening and it was well worth the money. It worked out to around £50.00 each.

Roratunga is a beautiful place with a mix of upmarket houses and dilapidated pre-fab type bungalows lining the road. We did venture up into the interior where I was surprised to find quite a few houses, newly built on big plots.

We left Roratungs all too soon and had to sit in the airport for about three hours. We'd been able to stay in our accommodation until 6.00 pm but our flight wasn't until 11.30 pm so once we'd been out to eat we had a few hours to kill and the airport lounge area was open plan and unfortunately that night threatened a storm. I was frozen and ended up sitting in the disabled loo reading my book, where it was nice and warm.

We set off for Brisbane full of excitement. It had been nearly two years and we couldn't wait to see our girl.

　

Penzance to Heathrow to LA... first leg

PENZANCE TO HEATHROW TO LA (first leg)

We set off on our round the world journey on a bright sunny September morning from the Penzance Bus Station, full of excitement and anticipation.　Our trip would take us from Heathrow to LA where we’d stop for four days then on to the Cook Islands for three days, followed by New Zealand and finally Brisbane where we’d be staying with our daughter Charlotte and her boyfriend Brian (the whole point of this big old trip). Our homeward journey would take us to Thailand and Malaysia. 

We’d decided that a stop over in London would be wise even though our flight wasn’t until late afternoon the following day. Can’t remember the last time I travelled by coach.  Three hours into the journey my memory was jogged. Not particularly comfortable seats, all the stopping and starting, not to mention noisy passengers. I read my kindle and Ray kept busy doing his suduko and snoozing.
Premier Inn at Heathrow was perfect. We’d organised the trip through a company called Travel Nation, based in Brighton and they’d booked all of our flights and hotels. The Premier Inn at was comfortable with our meals included in the price  So far so good. Ray finds it difficult to get his head around all this paperless air travel and insisted on printing out everything, not just once but twice so that I had a copy as well, just to be absolutely certain.  The fact that he’d brought his little portable weighing device to ensure that no bag exceeded the weight allowance was just a little ironic, ‘what with all that extra paper.’  We’d had more than a few words about luggage.. mine to be exact.  How can a woman be expected to leave home for two months and not take a few extra clothes?  Unreasonable or what!
My hubby gets a little anxious prior to flying.  Not because he’s frightened of flying or worried that we might be involved in a terrorist attack or any of the other things that most people might worry about.  It’s punctuality.  If he had his way we’d be sitting in the Airport twelve hours before the flight. In his words ‘once you’ve missed that flight you’re stuffed.’　We hadn’t flown in ten years and things have moved on.　You can check yourself in these days but we did it the old fashioned way - of course we did.  I've come to the conclusion that Ray is just an analogue guy living in a digital world. 
We travelled with Air New Zealand and everything went fine, as fine as it can be in economy.  I pulled on my pressure socks, plugged in my mini itune thingy and donned my newly purchased eye mask. Didn’t get much sleep but arrived safe and sound in LA at around 7.00 pm LA time.
ARRIVING IN LA

This first leg of our journey was all the more exciting because we met up with our oldest friends in the whole world, Charlotte and Tom from Florida.  When I'd  emailed them to say we'd be in LA for a few days and they agreed to meet up with us we were tickled pink. 

The next few days sped by. Our friends had a hire car, which was an asset in such a sprawling city.  Also, they had a snazzy phone with lots of features, including an app providing accurate directions to unknown destinations.   Brilliant! Must get one of those.  After breakfast on the first morning and a good deal of catching up we headed for Santa Monica and got on the hopper bus to take us for a whistle stop tour around LA. When time is limited the bus tour is absolutely the best way to go.　 We got to see all the tourist stuff and spend time with our favourite people.
An unexpected trip to Fisherman’s Village in Marina Del Rae was a delightful surprise.  The harbour was buzzing with locals and tourists and a band playing the best of soul and old sixties standards proved a big draw. We took a trip around the harbour on the hop on hop off ferry boat – it cost $1.00, don’t know why but we were so happy to get a relatively cheap day out.  LA can be expensive.
Had a wonderful evening meal with Charlotte and Tom on the pier at Santa Monica.  My first surf and turf.  They gave me so much I couldn’t finish it (that’s unheard of).  I'd forgotten about the unspoken, rigid rules of tipping in the US.  That particular meal cost somewhere in the region of $125.00 (for two, not including alcohol) and the tip expected was $40.00.

Our time in LA was all too short and before we knew it we were all heading for the airport and hugging our goodbyes.  Hopefully we'll be meeting up again soon and not leaving it so long.