We're Back!

• 89 days
• 25 scheduled air flights
• 20 airports
• 1 chartered fixed wing plane
• 2 helicopter rides
• 8 car rentals
• 25 hotels, motels, rented houses, etc
• 4 long tail river boats
• 1 liveaboard dive ship
• 8 guides
• 2 bus tours
• 1 elephant ride
  and
• 1 Centurion Tank!

We had much fun.  Only problem was with 2 flights; and coincidentally we only had two flights with Air Canada!

We're commited to finish the blog - it's our personal journal.  Yet to come:

• Tasmania - Part II
• Sydney - beyond just restaurants!
• Diving - underwater photos with the dive camera
• Hilo, the Big Island and our visit to the peak of Mauna Kea
• and New Zealand overall..... the big omission

If you have the opportunity, do what we did

• do experience SE Asia.....they're going to win with their focus on hard work, education, entrepreneurship and solid families.....and wonderful food as a bonus
• do swim with sharks - as a species we need to be periodically reminded that in some environments we are not the alpha predators
• do see Angkor Wat (and other Cambodian temples) and the palaces and temples in Thailand.  These are wonders comparable to the pyramids and the Parthenon
• Do drink with Australians .... they are like us, but not of us....learn....but do not participate if they decide it is time for a "punch up"
• Hug a baby tiger....it is good for your soul and getting pissed on by a Koala can be less refreshing than a menthol cough drop
• Go to Norfolk Island....it's wonderful to be nowhere where everything is good
• Do consider retiring to New Zealand.  Why they have not built a wall around their islands and retired from the madness of the world mystifies us
• Visit Sydney and eat - Tetsuya, Flying Fish, Quay and Fish Face....we're planning to go back soon
• Ride an elephant
• Drive a tank
• Go to the peak of Mauna Kea (14,000 feet) and get as close to the stars as most of us ever will
• Travel, learn, travel, learn, travel, learn

Thanks for traveling along with us!

Best regards

Liz and Richard

PS - Check for updates this week!

Comments

[Melanie]

I've been following your journey and I'm soooo jealous! Anxiously awaiting your Tasmania and NZ installments. Write faster!

[Teresa]

Hello, have enjoyed your blog immensely and appreciated all the terrific travel advice. We're planning a similar trip next Christmas for 6-8 weeks. We did three months in New Zealand a couple of years ago (and agree - who'd ever want to leave?!), so won't be stopping there this trip, but are looking at Bangkok, Luang Prabang, north/central Vietnam, Angkor Wat, Singapore, Perth, and home to Ottawa via Vancouver. We are also avid restaurant-goers so loved your insights on the local food.
Any advice you can offer on the Circle Pacific ticket? We'd like to do biz class as well, and SIngapore Airline sounds ideal for our itinerary. Did you book directly through the airline or go through an agent...?
many thanks

[avalee cohen]

love your blog. enjoy the various signs from different countries.
we had a funny exit sign on the freeway in San Diego. It said "Cruise Ships take Airport Exit"

[Carol Alexander]

Katharine,

Would love some more information about your trip on the Great Ocean Road. Your accommodation at Apollo Bay is very...inviting. If you have sometime to share would appreciate some feed back to the planning of our visit downunder.

[Pat Mackey]

Hello, I don't know how I came upon you, someone on an Egypt feedback page mentioned your blog and here I am.

We are in Toronto but our son is living in Turkey and we're meeting him in Cairo and taking him on a 9 day tour starting in Cairo and then Aswan to Luxor by cruise "ship". We are dealing with Kensington Tours here in Toronto, but everything they post on their website as "luxury tour" such as Mena House and great cruise ships has disappeared and we are now on some boat that is listed as an Oberoi Cruise ship but isn't listed there.

We have a friend who used to be with Butterfield and Robinson and she did some digging and thought they were fine, but it's such a long way to go and then you do some reading on the Boards and imagine yourself sleeping on a skinny bunkbed, listening to the crew below decks, anchors aweigh etc.

I'm terrified that I've sold us all up the river for the holidays, literally! as I've paid it in full!

Not sure what to do and thought that a contact like Ahmed No. 1 might be very helpful and wondering if you have an email where I could contact him. I wish I had found him first. Do you have any ideas, I'm driving myself crazy. I've written to my tour company and expressed my concerns and haven't heard back. As they are on Richmond Street I will probably try to visit them in person.

We are travellers (not nearly as intrepid as the two of you) and have just come back from a couple of weeks in Africa...but I am just so nervous that I've got us on an old tub and it's going to be dreadful!!

Thanks for your thoughts, if you could respond to my personal email address I would be very grateful.

Kind regards
Pat Mackey

[Lisa]

I have thoroughly enjoyed all of your blogs, and the fabulous photos... hmmm, I feel so hungry now!! I especially loved the Egypt photos and travel stories. Lisa Australia