2019 USA

March 15th to 30th

Our bucket list has always included a paddle steamer trip on the Mississippi.

Well, we did it this year.

What made life a little easier was the recently introduced direct flight from Heathrow to New Orleans.

The river journey we booked started in New Orleans, and sailed up river to Memphis, and was on a paddle steamer called the American Queen .

Day 1

But first, a three night stay in New Orleans, so on the 15th March off we flew from Terminal 5 at about 2pm, arriving at our hotel at around 10 pm. This followed one hell of a long queue at imigration which took us well over an hour to navigate!

Our three night stay was at the Omni Royal in St Louis Street, not quite Bourbon Street, but as we were later in the holiday to learn, probably a good acclimitisation.
A very good hotel, very comfortable with all that could be needed, but first, I/we needed a beer.
The hotel bar was as far as we wanted to venture before crashing out,and with no draught beer on tap , bottled ale, an IPA, was good enough for me.

The rest of 2018

After our Tenerife winter break it wasn't until June that we managed a trip away.

So in mid June we set out for the Norfolk Broads to stay in a riverside cabin at Potter Heigham for just  a week.

We booked through https://www.riverside-holidays.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/MAIN-PAGE-DOC-2018-without-bleed.pdf  

Our seven night stay was in the Haven.The cottage was excellent with all the equipment needed for a home from home stay. It will sleep 6, at a squeeze, but was very comfortable, and roomy, for just the two of us.
I fished almost every morning from first light for a couple of hours, and the evening until sundown.
During the day we visited the surrounds and found proper pubs for lunch.
Our best experience was at the... http://thewhitehorseinnneatishead.com/ ..
An excellent selection of beer, and very good pub grub.
                                             ...........................

Our next break wasn't until October to celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary.
We booked earlier on in the year through TRAVELMARVEL, so it was a long wait, for a two week break  and cruise of the Mekong river, through Cambodia and Vietnam.
Our hotel afloat either side of a 3 night stay in Siem Reap, and 2 nights in Ho Chi Min City, was to be the RV La Marguerite. 

So, seven nights cruising on this little boat.

I will be bxtend on this reportack to e but as you can see my keyboard is playing silly buggers and it took me a life timo write the above!!!te

I'll be back when I have a new desktop!

January / February 2018: Tenerife

Almost didnt bother writing a blog update on our latest adventure to pastures new, but thanks to my old friend CakeyWhite, and our facebook link for the help, the problem I was having with  predictive text which was making, it just too time consuming, was sorted.

Anyway, after our house move we decided a winter blues break was necessary,. So to save too much hastle we popped along to Thomas Cook, and asked them to sort us a month somewhere warm, possibly The Canaries.
And so, we find ourselves in Aguamar a four storey horseshoe shaped, south facing apartment complex.
The rooms aren't too bad,  it's a good 3 star, and we're  on the 3rd floor overlooking the pool.
Having arrived at around noon last Saturday,we decided to have checkout of the immediate vicinity....and got ourselves lost in less than half an hour.
Fortunately, we found a bar and, after couple of pints of the local beer asked for directions.
We were just around the corner!
The area of the apartments is around 15 minutes walk from the sea side and there are literally hundreds of bars and restaurants even before we get to the beach in Los Cristianos, Tenerife.
Nearly forgot to say where we are!!
It's now Tuesday evening, our feet are plastered after our walkabouts,sandals and tenderfeet just don't mix.
We are really in a great location for everything,eating a lot of fish, drinking is cheap, but I,m suffering the local brew. Having said that,1euro 50 for nearly a pint, sort of overcomes that, it's cold and helps a bit, after touring the locality in 22c of bright sun.
We got a boat out yesterday for a spot of whale watching, a two hour trip from the harbour, and back.  A pod of pilot whales were spotted, and we got in the middle of them.
The trip was a spur of the moment thing, so my camera was back in the room, fortunately, I think, this contraption, was in the bag, although not used to it I got one fairly good shot of a mother and her.... pup?
That's all for the moment, not certain what sort of blog I can produce, it's the seaside afterall, and it's hot and sunny!

We shall see

Australia January 2006

Fred & Pauline on Tour 2006

So, we started off in Singapore, (19th January), for two nights.

The hotel Miramar, was pretty good, opposite the river and some new riverside developments, including one very good restaurant. An easy walk to China Town.



















We were pounced upon on arrival by the hotel travel representative, so got rid of him, but kept the itinerary!

Our first visit was to the Underwaterworld, a sea aquarium, which was excellent and, as it turned out, in our opinion it was the best of it's kind on our tour.

We contacted the representative in the evening on our return and he came to the hotel next morning.
We arranged a trip for the afternoon and evening to Sentosa Island.
As it turned out, this was a terrific day out.
Firstly we visited The Dolphin Lagoon and were entertained by pink dolphins and a couple of otter.
We then got to Sentosa, which has a terrific cable car ride all the way to the island.
We visited a vast garden, which had a rather nice ornamental lake, and which, as it turned out, was our evenings free entertainment.
A light show in the open-air auditorium, it was a very good show, but if it hadn't peed of rain as soon as the show started, and lasted until it finished it would have been great!

So, all soaking wet, back to the bus.
We highly recommend this trip if you get the chance.
Checking out next morning, I don't know if it was on purpose, but we had  one or two problems with the bill  and an under value currency exchange.
A £31 overcharge on a £60 bill!
Luckily our transport was a little late, so we had a few minutes to check the bill. It was sorted with no problem it made me very wary though

Off to Perth (22/1) for 3 nights at the Grand Chancellor
We were met at the airport, unexpectedly by brother Ted's three daughters and their kids, and apart from our trips out were shown around Perth and district,enjoyed picnics/barbies in the park and loads of alchohol and fresh shellfish.Jeff, the youngest daughters partner is a skipper on a fishing boat.

Our first try of the balmain bugs, delicious!

For first time visitors, we recommend an orientation of the City, on the "tram", an excellent way of finding your way around, and with a great driver commentating and showing us the sites.
We got off before the end because we saw The English Pub, I fancied a Guinness, it was, a very hot day.
Booked a cruise up the Swan river, saw the test cricket ground and our first wild dolphins, that was before, we did the wine tour and tastings. All round, a good value tour.

We also visited the Sea World.
Picked up the hire car for our journey to Exmouth, which according to my brother "is just north of Perth"!!!!
They are rip off merchants these car hire people, with "you had better have extra insurance, kangaroos crossing etc."
1200km later, and an overnight stay in Canarvon,( no sign of live kangeroo) and we were there.
HOT? Yes, scorchio, burnt to a frazzle without trying, 40c plus!

It was a great short stay at my brothers, most of the time in his swimming pool up to our necks, and always with a drink, then back to Perth for a night (31/1), for more alcohol with the kids.
Lovely city, too many flies!

Indian Pacific train ride Perth to Adelaide (1/2)

Not to be missed. Comfortable beds, good food and more good food!
Not a great deal to see, apart from a stop off at Kalgoorlie, seeing the mine and the old town was an experience.
We were well looked after, in Gold Kangaroo class.

Arrive Adelaide 7.30 am (3/2) taxi to hotel Mercure Grosvenor 3 nights.
Had a good walk around the city and on the circular bus tour.
A rest and lunch in the Botanic gardens. Met our first whingeing OZ. There were a few of them too.

Booked ourselves trips out to a very good wildlife park

.

The Germanic town of Handorf, Australia's oldest surviving German settlement. Then to Mount Lofty in the Adelaide Hills and trip to the seaside town of Glenelge, with a good tram service back to the city.
All in all a nice experience in this small city.








Off to Melbourne (6/2) 7 nights Mercure and car hire (rip off merchants etc etc.)
Very soon in difficulty, trying to find our way out of the city, signage useless for us Brits. But, we soon got used to it, after a few rows, well my navigator did..... I think!
Great commercial city, with some very good restaurants.

We did some very good touring, to the old western gold rush style town of Sovereign Hill.














The Puffing Billy Railway, no steam engine though, just a diesel because of the risk of fire  still a good outing.

Met our first wild Kookaburra's.

We also found, by accident, the seaside town of Geelong, a very nice spot, and more wild dolphin.
Great seafood restaurant (Fisherman's Pier) overlooking the sea.
Recommendation, get a hotel outside the city and tour from there.
Most OZ whingers here!

Sydney (13/2) 7 nights Travel Lodge.
Very good hotel,not the same standard as our similarly named.
We were looked after personally on arrival as a large group turned up at the same time, early access given to the room very quickly, despite an apparent, madhouse weekend for the hotel prior to our arrival..
Wow what a city, we loved it here.
Everything you wanted to do and, an all-round buzz about the place
Recommendation, buy an All in, Transport Ticket for the stay, it puts you on all buses and ferries.
We did the all the sights, including the Botanic gardens, didn't walk the Bridge, or go in the Opera House.
 A Ferry tour of the Harbour is a must.

Kerry Packers memorial service was held in the Opera House whilst we were there, hoards of the well to do of OZ, we didn't recognise one!

Visited the Jenolan Caves, great to see, if your not claustrophobic.

We also visited Bondi Beach, what a let down, expected so much more,but just a sandy bay, a great cliff top walk away from it.

Great restaurants around the Harbour and the Rocks.

11 :40 flight to Auckland NZ (20/2)
A late arrival, and a hold up in immigration.
On filling in the entry form I said  that we had visited a wildlife park,so on arrival we were checked out for kangaroo pool, which resulted in the removal of my longtime worn sandals being held at arms length, and taken behind the scenes for a spray treatment!.
We were too late to pick up the pre-booked camper van, so we booked an overnight stay, close to the airport, and the Maui hire depot.We would have been cutting it fine, if the plane had arrived on time anyway.
A very nice single level Travel Lodge hotel, good food and rooms
In the morning we picked up the complimentary bus to the Maui depot, on arrival we waited and waited to be booked in.
They do need to sort this out, because when we returned the vehicle, another couple had been waiting well over an hour to get their vehicle.
Another insurance rip off!
We had decided that the tour arrangers itinerary wasn't for us, it looked like we would be driving to a place, sleeping and driving to another place. So we thought we would head north firstly and make our way down to the south.
We visited Ninety Mile beach (which is what it says on the label).
People should be aware, that the car park road is a bit close to very soft sand, luckily, a 4x4 just happened to be passing and pulled us out!
A smashing spot, for peace and quiet and sunbathing.
We moved on to The Bay of Islands and stayed in a Top Ten campsite, in Russell.
In fact all our stops were in these camps, as they were of a good, to excellent standard. The list was in the package supplied by Maui.
We decided to stay a couple of days here and had a day tour of the Bay & Islands on a very fast twin hulled boat.
A terrific tour well worth the price and highly recommended by us.
At least two very good restaurants on the harbour front.
We found that we had a problem with the camper at this stage; we sprang a leak in the water pump, which meant a return south to get it fixed.
In the meantime, we had some excellent drives and stopovers on our way back to Auckland.
The camper was fixed easily and we headed south via Rotorua and down to Napier, by this time we were aware, from the radio, that ferries crossing to the South Island were being cancelled.
We made up our mind, that weather conditions weren't getting any better, in fact it was very cold in Napier and that really camper vans were not to our taste.
We like to be looked after, and a big van is not that convenient for parking
So we decided to head back to Auckland via Lake Taupo to hand back the van early and stay in the city, for our last two nights.
When we reached lake Taupo the waves were so big, they had to cancel the World's Strongest man competition.
I booked the Copthorne hotel on Auckland Harbour, not recommended for a weekend, taxi's touting for customers up until  three in the morning by tooting their horns.

Not a patch on Sydney, but a great little city with plenty to do and, once again some very good restaurants on the Harbour area.

We enjoyed our trips around the North Island, and will go back to see the South some time in the not to distant future.
Not with a campervan though,  we would hire a car and stop off in motels. There were plenty about and with vacancies.

Next stop Bangkok. (6/3)
After a very long day of travel. (A Sydney stop over, may have been worthwhile, what with time changes and waiting about at airports etc.)
We arrived at the Hotel Shangri-La at midnight,to be told we had been upgraded and were shown to our suite.
Well, this two-roomed suite was as big as our house,  pure luxury, but, at 12 o'clock at night, we didn't want to be shown how the curtains, dimmer switches and two tele's worked,
So to bed,  a tennis court with a mattress!!!
Later that morning, we viewed our suite and the river view from the two verandas. Far too good, for a two night stay. A week or so, yes.
What a madhouse of a city. We wandered about through the traffic and the food stalls and felt perfectly safe, well apart from trying to cross the road, and decided once again that our best way to see the place was via guided tour.
So, we booked a canal/river trip, in a long narrow boat with a Volvo truck engine stuck on the back. A terrific experience but, a bit wet from the spray.
Next day, our booked tour took us to the Bridge over the River Kwai and a trip on the Burma railway and to see the War Graves and museum. A moving experience and again, a recommended visit.

Big Bertha!

A delay getting back to the hotel, because of the traffic, put us a bit behind, so we rushed about a bit to get to the airport in time, missing dinner.
The pickup was early which was ok, as by this time we were ready to go home.

We ate and drank well, almost every night, as the credit card bill showed, for the 2 month period during and after our return home.

Brobury House Worcestershire

June 2013


Brobury House

France June 2013

Click on the link below
                      vvvv
A week in Chaniers France

Russian Cruise

Helsinki and Russia 
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         The Viking cruise

Easter break 2016

Plockton  Ross- shire Scottish Highlands

Our easter weekend, my birthday celebration, was planned sometime ago by our friends Marlene and Jim, who live about half an hour drive West of Stirling.

So we drove up to them on Wednesday the 23rd and gave the new car it's test drive. We arrived at their home after about six hours including a pee & tea stop, at around 3pm. 
A journey of a tad over 300 miles via the M62/A1/M74.
The ride was quite comfortable for both of us, but particularly for me as the driver. 
I don't like the system that switches off the engine when stopped at traffic lights etc, but I now know how to override that.
We stayed with our friends for the evening, getting through a great deal of wine and spirits, and decided that we would set off in the morning at around 10am.
And so we did, after a good night's sleep, and headed for Plockton on the West coast, North east of the Skye bridge, via the A87 and A82.
It took us just under 5 hours including a lunch stop. I volunteered to drive for the whole break..
We were staying at the Plockton Inn for 3 nights b&b.
Our rooms were on the top floor of the annexe opposite, they were purposely chosen by Marlene for the view.
Pauline and me in room 13, our friends in 14. 
Very comfortable rooms, but for me, the tallest, twice hitting my head on a low door and on the eaves, was a quick lesson learned.
A quick sloosh down and then to the bar, the beers on tap were Timothy Taylors Landlord and the Plockton Brewery Hitched. 
I was satisfied to drink both as a tester, and had three pints before retiring for a shower,  to be back early for pre dinner drinks. 
Our table pre-booked for 7pm. 
There's nothing flashy or pretentious about the dining room, but the food on offer was excellent with a  long menu, and an even longer specials board.
There was some concern at first about the number of dishes on offer and the possible effect on quality. 
Any doubt was soon waylaid our individual choices from the predominantly fish menu, had all four of us well satisfied, and full.
It was a full house tonight, in fact all three nights were crowded.

The Plockton Inn

We were so satisfied with our food we decided to book the next two evenings for dinner, which quite fortuitously saved me missing out on the beers by having to drive further afield.
In the meantime, we went back to the now very crowded bar for live "folk" music played by local musicians. 
It was my birthday so the whole evening was thoroughly enjoyed.
Next morning breakfast was between 8 and 9am, and without going into detail of everyday of our stay, breakfasts were  very well cooked, and I have to say that my peat smoked kipper, on the first morning, was the best I've ever had. 
Full breakfast and smoked haddock with a poached egg, were enjoyed the next two mornings by me.
Marlene, Jim and Pauline didn't have a bad word for their choices over the three mornings.

The weather wasn't very good for our stay, so not a great deal of walking done, but what we saw of the area, and the Isle of Skye was enough for us to perhaps return again, maybe at autumn time after the midges had calmed down for the winter.

So, we drove back South on Easter Sunday for another night at our friend's house, before heading further south and towards Storm Katie on Easter Monday.
A damp journey home, but the storm had crossed the sea well before we got home to a bright sunny afternoon.
We settled down for the evening in front of the tele, and I finished off my bottle of Caol Ila bringing back a smokey memory of the kipper!

All in all a very good short stay, the Plockton Inn being well recommended by all of us, should any of my readers venture that way.

The Annexe

Eilean Donan Castle

The car is now well "run in" and has 1300 plus miles on the clock already.

India March 2010

As promised

I hope you will enjoy my brief view of this holiday, I'm afraid I will have to work with the photographs taken during our safari, and our trip around central India.
No travel computer at that time, and I didn't take notes.
Our holiday was with The Travel Collection once part of Kuoni, I'm not certain they still exist in the same group.

I will start on the most exciting part of our Tiger Safari, because that was what it was advertised as, and what it was really was all us about for us. 
Sighting of tigers however, was not promised!
It occurred within a few days of our tiger "hunt", infact my 61st birthday on the 24th March.

By way of a background 14 of us including our guide had been on a couple of reserves without a glimpse of a tiger, and it was our turn to sit in the lead jeep with the guide and two park guides/drivers.
Before we started on our way Pauline had "threatened" our guide with all sorts of trouble unless he found us a tiger, especially as it was my birthday.
So we set off at dawn through the gates of Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh.


Within a short while we stopped in a wooded area as there were signs of a tiger and alarm calls from monkeys, some said they could see the tiger in the undergrowth but try as we might, we couldn't see it.
Anyway onwards for about half an hour, and as we rounded the bend this is what we saw!

And so I started snapping!

and then another jeep or two,came up behind us, so he started to move off, I didn't even look around just kept on snapping

We followed him for a short while before he disappeared into the woods.


Later that day we returned to the reserve for our dusk trip and spotted a female trekking back through the undergrowth, she wasn't just in front of us like our male, but on an expected route back to where her cubs were left earlier in the day.
We were able to get some pretty good photo's, even with my old Fuji finepix.

This for both of us,(since our safari to Kenya) will never be forgotten, what a birthday present for me! 


How I wish I had kept detailed accounts of this trip.
But never mind, I'll fill this blog with a few more photo's.

Other wildlife
(click on photo to enlarge)

Buildings temples tombs and mosques.