Our 48 hours in Melbourne has been frantic but great fun, although our arrival wasn’t the easiest of journeys. Driving nearly 200km from Apollo Bay had been fine and the sat nav we’d hired had been spot-on for the previous three days. However the stress levels began to build about 20km before we hit the city as we had to return the hire car full of petrol but had been told that there were no fuel stations within Melbourne, and the sat nav wouldn’t tell us where the nearest one was. So it was a case of having to guess which would be the last one but also not be too far away to lower the display on the dashboard. That done, there were five lanes coming into the city, all full of HUGE trucks that didn’t like to indicate lane changes, coupled with the knowledge that if we missed our exit we would automatically end up on a toll road which, because we hadn’t got a pre-paid card, would result in a fine!

OK, managed all those challenges and then we hit the streets of Melbourne…the idea was to go to the hotel first to drop all the luggage and then return the car. Except there were two other factors – firstly, half of the city is undergoing extensive building work and roads are closed all over the place, which sent the sat nav into a bigger frenzy than I was already in and secondly, they have this rather unique system for turning right at junctions. Because the trams all run down the centre of the road, if you tried to manoeuvre the way we would in the UK you would block the junction for them so instead you have to move to the left hand side of the road, let all the traffic going across the junction pass by and then, when you think it’s all clear, move across both lanes to turn right. All of this, with no idea where I was going but Jeremy following a street map and trying to tell me.

Finally made it to the hotel, dropped off the bags and then had to get to the car hire office – six blocks away. See all of the above and repeat!

That afternoon, we spent time walking around and riding the free tram to get a better idea of where everything was. The glorious sunshine and very laid-back attitude of the city helped get us back into holiday mode.

Thursday morning Jeremy went for an early run with a good friend who used to be his personal trainer back in the UK, followed by breakfast together and a lovely time catching up on the last few years. Then it was off for another day of being a tourist – this time on a trip that took in a wildlife sanctuary where we fed wallabies (far more polite than kangaroos!) and did some more koala-spotting. Late afternoon we arrived at what we’d been looking forward to with great anticipation – the infamous Penguin Parade on Philip Island. We’d upgraded our ticket which meant we had front row space on the beach (there are probably around a thousand people there each night) and we got a comfy padded seat, binoculars and running commentary from our own personal ranger. As the sun set, there were hundreds of Little Penguins all returning from the sea after several weeks away from their young ones. It really was an incredible experience – you could hear the young chicks in the reserve  chirping out to their parents, as they all waddled across the sands and up the paths of the reserve, each knowing exactly where their ‘home’ was.

This morning we each did our own thing – Jeremy off to the Melbourne Cricket Ground and me off to Melbourne Old Gaol, which was again a fantastic experience. So now we’re at the airport waiting for our evening flight to New Zealand, which weirdly takes us further away from home in terms of time difference but geographically nearer to those we miss and love very much.

Just over a week left of this holiday and we leave Oz with incredible memories and a real love for the country and its amazing places and people.

But not the spiders!

Such polite animals!

We set off from Adelaide on Sunday morning and drove just over 300km to Robe. Jeremy had chosen and booked the night’s accommodation so I was a little apprehensive…until we arrived. It was a huge house, where the owners had taken over the top floor but had converted the ground floor to a self-contained area. Three large bedrooms (one with the biggest bed I’ve ever seen!), a couple of bathrooms, kitchen, a fabulous lounge which opened out onto the patio and magnificent gardens…which then led down to the most stunning, almost deserted beach. So many little touches too – a bottle of wine in the fridge, everything we would need for breakfast, just so relaxing. Spent the late afternoon walking along the beach and wandering around the little shops in the town, before deciding that for once we would ‘eat in’ and had the freshest fish and chips takeaway ever, along with a few cold beers – perfect!

The next day we drove just over 200km to Portland, which sadly wasn’t as lovely – very quiet, everything seemed to close by 8pm. But the b&b was a real surprise – studio flat which had the most amazing views of the ocean, so you could lie in bed and watch the sunrise without having to move – glorious!

This was the day we had both been looking forward to the most – over 200km again but finally getting to see the 12 Apostles rock formation. By lunchtime we were there, gasping at the sights from the Bay of Islands right through to London Bridge – and laughing at the story (which may not be true) that when the rocks connecting this ‘lump’ to the mainland suddenly collapsed in 1990, there were two unfortunate people abandoned on this freestanding pillar. Of course the emergency services were summoned and a rescue helicopter was dispatched, along with a media crew. However it’s said that these two folk had spouses who didn’t know that they were spending the day together…and had to endure national publicity about what had happened and the tragedy that they had narrowly missed!

Anyway, after a few miles further along the road I saw a sign for helicopter sight-seeing tours and for once, I did something very spontaneous….we stopped and I booked the two of us on a 15 minute flight. The pilot was lovely and assured me that a) there were no thermals to make the ride unpleasant and b) it wasn’t too windy either. I also got to go in the front seat – but had to promise that if I got nervous I would hold on to the bottom of my seat and not the joy stick that she was using to steer the helicopter with! I agreed, as long as she didn’t object to dirty words coming out of my mouth if it got a bit bumpy. With that all sorted, we set off – and I have to say it was brilliant – we went up and down the coast whilst she explained all the history behind the rocks.

After that we carried on with the drive, stopping at the remote and haunting Loch Ard Gorge beach for lunch before finally arriving in Apollo Bay late afternoon. We’d done a quick detour to Cape Otway to see the lighthouse and on the way had stopped in the National Park to see koalas in the trees – with one walking casually down the road too!

The hotel was again a winner and the resort was so pretty and relaxing. This morning we set off for the final 120km into Melbourne which also didn’t disappoint – a fantastic journey following the ocean for most of the way.

We now have two nights here to frantically do as much as we can, including tomorrow when we go to Phillip Island at dusk to see thousands of penguins come out of the sea as they do each evening. It seems a lovely city although I’m glad I’m not driving any more – the ‘left hook’ when you want to turn right at junctions is quite a scary manoeuvre!

All I can say is that the Great Ocean Road is something that everyone should do – it’s a long way to come but it will be worth it, I promise. Although who knows what the next week and a half will bring too…

The stunning Loch Ard Gorge

So we left the delights of Alice Springs on Friday morning and I would like to again apologise to all the passengers on flight QF722 who had the misfortune of being sat near me during take-off. I’d thought that after my helicopter adventure, flying on a 737 again would be a doddle. But it seems that the thermals which bounced the helicopter around have an even greater effect on a jet, which meant that for the first 15 minutes after take-off we were up and down more often than….well, you get my drift. And most of the ‘drops’ were whilst we were banking steeply too, which made it even more of a roller coaster ride. I think I must have indicated (or screamed, as Jeremy will suggest!) that I wasn’t having a great time to most of my fellow passengers, several times. When we finally levelled out, I smiled and apologised to the girl next to me and she replied with a very sour face saying “No, it wasn’t very pleasant was it?”  Spent the next two hours wondering if she meant the take-off or my language….

But soon we landed in gloriously sunny Adelaide, quick taxi ride to our hotel and then off to explore. It’s a lovely city, easy to walk around and we’ve spent the last two days relaxing with walks along the riverbank and eating far too much ice cream.

Tomorrow we have a 330km drive along the coast to Robe, then on Monday we drive another 220km to Portland. Tuesday is a further 265km to Apollo Bay, taking in the 12 Apostles rock formation which we’re excited about seeing. Finally on Wednesday we drive the final 180km into Melbourne where we spend our last two nights in Australia.

Really looking forward to the freedom that the open road brings – and hoping that we can agree on the music for most of the journey!

This is what travelling for five weeks looks like!

We left Cairns on Tuesday morning and after three hours of flying just over desert we landed to intense heat and an unbearable number of flies! Quick hotel check-in and then we were off to experience the anniversary present bought by our lovely kids back in November – a 36 minute helicopter flight around Ayers Rock and the Olgas. When we arrived (back) at the airport I couldn’t believe that they could make helicopters that small. It was just a four-seater, with some guy from LA shot gunning the front seat next to the pilot and the two of us in the back.

You all know that I’m not the best flyer in the world so this was always going to be an ‘interesting’ experience for me. To summarise – the views were incredible, the ride was brilliant apart from the thermals off the hot ground below, which caused us to – err – bounce up and down quite a lot! I only actually swore once (although it was a bad word) which the two guys up front actually found quite funny.  A great present though and we both loved it.

We went out to the viewing area at dusk to watch the sun set on Uluru but sadly by then there was quite a bit of cloud around so the rock colour just went from grey to black!

The next morning was spent by the hotel pool, before we set off after lunch to drive the 200km of outback road to Kings Canyon, enjoying music ranging from The Eagles to Dire Straits.

Some of you will remember that eight years ago I spent some time in the Grand Canyon, which turned out to be the spider capital of North America. Although that week away changed my life for the better in many ways, it was also a horrendous time for me because of what lurked there and I promised myself I would never go anywhere like that again.

So why I booked a night in the very heart of the Australian outback, a country that prides itself on hosting over 20,000 species of spiders, I really don’t know. We arrived late afternoon to be shown our deluxe spa room. The resort isn’t quite what we were expecting – the rooms are basically single story prefabs, although when we walked into the room it did seem quite spacious and pleasant. Until I made the mistake – again! – of looking up. Above my bed I counted six huge spiders in webs, with more above the bath. I admit here that I just burst out crying, there was absolutely no way I could stay in the room any longer and the trauma of eight years earlier just came flooding back.

Jeremy called housekeeping and they apologised, said it was extremely rare to get them in the room and showed us a room a little further along. I didn’t go in, but Jeremy came out quickly saying that it had at least three inside. By this time I was a bit of a mess to say the least, stating that I would sleep in the car! We were sent to the bar for a free drink and half an hour later we were shown a room that was spotless, although I still harboured a sense that there were some of the little buggers hiding and watching! The hotel gave us free dinner and a bottle of wine as a further apology – that and the sleeping tablet got me through the night and I was very glad to leave this morning.

So we set off for a 400km journey through the outback to Alice Springs, of which the first 200km was on unsealed roads, which are basically dirt tracks. The drive was brilliant – first time I’ve driven a 4 x 4 and great fun – as my confidence grew, so did my speed. However towards the end of this section we came across a car that hadn’t been as lucky – taken a dip in the road not too well and the rear end was totally stuck in the soft sand. We pulled over and the guy asked if we could try to pull them out using a bungee rope he had in the boot – yeh, we too kind of wondered why he would drive around with that, but whatever….!

Now as I’ve said, never driven a 4 x 4 before and was told we needed to put the car into 4Lo and then drive slowly to try to pull him out the ditch. His car wouldn’t budge, and at that point the Ranger turned up and said he would sort it for them – at a cost of $300! No choice for them really, so we said goodbye and set off. Except that it wouldn’t get out of this gear setting which meant a maximum speed of about 30mph and at 4000 revs! We drove for about half a kilometre like this, with Jeremy deciding that we would just drive like this for the rest of the way – that was over 200km! Quite sure you can imagine how ‘heated’ the discussion between us was, until I decided that we would pull over and wait for the Ranger, who would be coming past us in a short time with the previously stuck car.

Sure enough, less than 15 minutes later he pulled over. By this time we’d thought we’d shattered the gear mechanism and it would cost us thousands of pounds to sort out, all for being a good Samaritan. The Ranger had a quick look, reversed the car for about two metres and – it was all fine! Mightily relieved, we then enjoyed the rest of the day stopping off at various scenic points along the way, accompanied by an excellent eclectic soundtrack from Stevie Wonder to The Killers.

So tonight we’re in Alice Springs, a rather strange town, staying in a hotel next to a shopping precinct that makes Salford’s one look positively high class. Tomorrow morning we fly on to Adelaide to begin our final week in Australia.

Glad that we experienced the outback but have learnt that I’m definitely not a bush baby. I may not be a celebrity – but get me out of here!

Not too happy with the thermals, but a great experience!

The hotel is lovely, we quickly unpacked and spent a couple of hours in the afternoon sun by the pool. I was very impressed by the calibre of the other guests here…the Queensland Reds Rugby team were staying here after a match the previous day and they were all relaxing by the pool. Imagine it ladies, all those toned and tanned guys, lying around in their swim wear. I think I read only one page of my book all afternoon – thank heavens for dark sunglasses!

This morning it was off to Green Island to see a very small part of the Great Barrier Reef. A 45 minute boat journey took us to what is truly a Robinson Crusoe-style island, except that there are toilets, a souvenir shop and a cafe! We spent an hour and a half just wandering along beautiful beaches and taking in the views. We were given the option of either snorkeling or going on a glass-bottomed boat whilst there. Jeremy isn’t that keen on snorkeling and when the guide suggested that those taking this option should also wear an all-in-one body costume as there were a large quantity of poisonous jelly fish around at the moment, our decision was made! I really wanted to scuba dive, but we were flying in less than 24 hours so not allowed to. However the boat trip was great, although it only made me wish I could have dived even more.

Come lunchtime we had to leave the island and come back to Cairns to then go on our afternoon tour, which was of the rainforest in Kuranda (you can see why we’re starting to feel exhausted now!). This was the bit that I was rather apprehensive about, because there are certain creatures in this world that I don’t really like, and the really big ones live in rainforests. The tour was in two stages – firstly an 8km Skytrain ride over the canopy of the rainforest, which is essentially the same as the cable cars you go on for skiing, but just over very tall trees rather than snowy slopes. The climb up is quite steep – you go from sea level to 1700 ft in about 10 minutes, but the views are pretty phenomenal.

Along the way there are a couple of stations where you have to get off and change onto the next ‘loop’ with the opportunity to explore some of the rainforest if you wish. I’d said that I would probably just wait at the station for Jeremy to have a wander and then come back and we’d get the next car together, but when we arrived at the first station I was feeling pretty confident and so had a bit of a walk around. All fine, nothing to worry about, and we set off to the second station.

Again, had a bit of a walk and was quite proud of myself. We get back to the station to catch the final cable car and Jeremy mentions that he was actually disappointed to have not seen any webs or spiders. The ranger said there were three really large ones just on the other side of the station and offered to take him over to see them. I very politely refused to go and said I’d be fine waiting for them to come back. So I stood there looking around at all the lush vegetation and decided to have a look at what was above me. Big mistake.

They say you should never look down. Bugger that – when in a rainforest it’s what’s above you that’s the problem! A whole load of webs with the nastiest, meanest spiders you’ve ever seen just sat there, smirking at me as if to say “Ah, now what are you going to do?”. At that point, Jeremy and the ranger return with photos – yes! – of a spider that apparently was as big as a dinner plate. I was quite calm and just said that I’d like to now get in the next car – PLEASE! The ranger was laughing and said that I shouldn’t worry as they aren’t poisonous, but some of them can pack a bit of a punch. Now, all I replied was “Not as big a punch as my shoe can down on one of them if it came near me” but it seems that in this era of ecological conservationism, that was a rather politically incorrect comment to make. Like I really care.

We finally made it to the village of Kuranda and got aboard the scenic railway that then brings you back to Freshwater, which is just on the outskirts of Cairns. It takes 90 minutes and the views are amazing, except for the incredible number of bloody great webs across the trees, each with their own evil webmaster sat in the middle. I think I’m done with the rainforests for now.

So tomorrow we fly to Ayers Rock for one night, arriving at lunchtime and with a 30 minute scenic helicopter flight around the Rock and the Olgas booked for the afternoon. As for the luggage dilemma – after several phone calls, the latest news is that our baggage allowance is 2 x 32 kg each, so we’re going to have to be careful with the shopping from now on.

Let’s just hope that nothing with eight legs has stowed away whilst we weren’t looking!

I thought that finally being reunited with my missing suitcases would be the highlight of this stop, but our second full day here got even better when I woke to an e-mail to say that I had been awarded a Distinction in my MSc. Genuine thanks to all of you who sent such lovely messages, they really were appreciated.

However, remember me telling you about the sunburn? Well, despite all the stuff I remembered to pack for the holiday, after-sun was something that was somehow forgotten, so on Thursday night I popped into the local shop to buy a bottle. Ah, Ambre Solaire – great when some brands are global eh? You just pick it off the shelf and it’s all so familiar. So back in the room I applied a liberal amount to my now raw, burning skin. Let it all get absorbed and then repeated. And again. And again, just for good measure. Carefully climbing under the light sheets, I fell asleep in the knowledge that by the morning my favourite sun cream would have done it’s work.

Several hours later I awoke to find that the soreness was still as bad, but there was a strange ‘biscuity’ smell to me. Now at this point most of the women (and I suspect, some of the men!) who read this will be howling with laughter. Yep, I’d bought a tan-enhancer – which is another term for self-tanning lotion. I’ll spare you the photo for this one, but suffice to say I had bright red arms, a bright red ‘square’ on my chest, a bright red face (complete with burnt, puffy eyelids) and bright orange hands and fingers! Karma maybe for being so happy about the lost luggage and degree marks?

I lost count of the number of strange – often pitying – looks I got from people that day. But it wasn’t going to spoil our holiday – much. In the morning, Jeremy did his Harbour Bridge climb and I did a bit more exploring of the city (including a trip on the monorail, not worth it in my opinion). Lunch together by the Harbour then in the afternoon Jeremy went up the Sky Tower and did an outside walk around the top (I think that me looking like I did and swearing like a trouper wasn’t something I should inflict on others) whilst I did an amazing boat tour around the Harbour for the afternoon, visiting all the islands and bays. That night, we played at being locals and took the ferry over to Manly for dinner at a great steak restaurant on Manly Beach.

Saturday was an early start as we spent the whole day exploring the Blue Mountains. Just eight of us on a mini bus, with an amazing guide who knew just about everything. Started off at an animal wildlife sanctuary – first ones there meant we were able to stroke koalas and hand feed the kangaroos. Brilliant experience, although I can tell you the emus are very aggressive creatures! Then on to various spots around the National Park – Govett’s Leap, The Three Sisters, Wentworth Falls – stopping to take endless photos which never do justice to the sheer awesomeness of what you see. Yours truly even managed to walk through part of the rainforest, after the guide promised me I wouldn’t actually see any of the spiders that live there. Grand Canyon all over again….! You come out of the forest on the world’s officially steepest railway on an open train – at an angle of 52 degrees, backwards. And yes, I did apologise to all the other passengers for my behaviour and language once we got to the top.

Our last night in Sydney was spent at the lovely Darling Harbour, with dinner at the waterside watching the great firework display above. And so this morning we said farewell to what lives up to its accolade of the second most expensive city in the world and head to Cairns for two nights.

Except that when we checked in, it appears that our luggage allowance has ‘changed’ and we’re only allowed two lots of 23kg suitcases each. At the moment we’re still at four cases between us but these are far, far heavier – which means that we now get hit with huge excess weight charges for all seven other flights. Or we can decant some of our luggage into our extra holdall, but then we have to pay for an extra bag for all the other flights. The very nice man at check in waivered our excess baggage charge for this flight but has warned us that we have a problem for the rest of the holiday. A telephone call to Trailfinders will be made when we land to see if they can sort out what’s happened.

Meanwhile, off we head to the beautiful Great Barrier Reef and more rainforests – and hoping that the spiders here keep their distance too.

Feeding the kangaroos!

Today has been spent on a series of open-top buses as we played at being typical tourists. When we set off this morning the weather was warm but cloudy, so we packed nothing more than money, camera and an optimistic hope that we might use our sunglasses at some point later. Which wasn’t the best plan of action as shortly after we set off the sun did indeed make a glorious appearance for most of the day, especially the couple of hours we spent at Bondi Beach (which was totally gorgeous) and so we’re now both sporting rather red faces and delightful T-shirt tan lines! Anyway, an excellent day and we really feel that we’ve seen a great deal of the city.

The plan for the next couple of days is: Jeremy has moved his Sydney Harbour Bridge climb to tomorrow morning, so I’m going to do a bit more sightseeing around the city centre, then we’re taking a trip up the 300m Sky Tower at lunchtime (and I’ve promised to behave myself in the lift better than I did when we did the CN Tower a couple of years ago!). The afternoon we’ll be going back to Darling Harbour to spend an hour or two doing a harbour cruise around the area, so we can see all the sights from a different viewpoint.

Saturday morning is an early start – going with a small group to the Blue Mountains for the day, including the chance to have breakfast with koalas and feed kangaroos before travelling to see iconic locations like the Three Sisters rock formation and the 300m Wentworth Falls (where we get served champagne to toast the day!). We also get to do a nature walk through the Aussie Bush. Getting back late afternoon, we have dinner booked at a great restaurant on the Darling Harbour water front, so prime position to watch the firework display there later in the evening.

We leave Sydney on Sunday morning when we fly on to Cairns – think we’ll be needing a rest by then!

Beach bums at Bondi!

Firstly, for those who have been following our travels – and particularly my concerns about non-critical wing attachments on an A380 I can report that clearly we made it in one piece across the Pacific Ocean – on a 747! Thought it was a little strange when we checked in at San Francisco and were given a different seat number than that previously allocated for the LAX to Sydney journey, but assured that it was just a few rows back on the plane, still in business class. Checked this when we got to LAX and told the same. After five hours waiting we were finally ushered on board – only to discover we were on a regular jet. No onboard lounge. No nice little pod ‘upstairs’. Yes, loads of extra leg room with a seat that went quite far back, but nothing that measured up to 12 months of dreaming!

What made it stranger was the view as we backed out of the gate – there was another Quantas flight to Sydney an hour or so after ours and there – parked at the gate next to ours – was an Airbus 380. After spending the first hour of the flight convinced that somehow we had been sent on the wrong flight (we hadn’t!) I settled down and managed to get a good few hours of sleep – the only way to survive a 14 hour journey.

When I woke, Jeremy told me that he had been chatting to one of the crew who had said that we were supposed to be on the A380, but it had experienced “extreme turbulence” on the flight over to LA and the pilot had wanted it thoroughly checked for damage before it fles back – so the two flights had switched planes. Have to say that any disappointment I had felt about not being on that plane quickly disappeared!

However, the relief was short-lived. After queuing for nearly an hour to get through immigration we went to collect our luggage – and only those who have experienced lost luggage can really appreciate the awful, sickening feeling that creeps over you as no more bags get spewed out by the belt….and yours haven’t appeared. So although two of them were there, my two just didn’t appear.

Queued at baggage services to be told that they knew of some bags that had been delayed at LAX but mine wasn’t on the list. Although a member of staff told us that LA staff are so bad they often don’t provide a complete list anyway. So a rather subdued taxi ride into the city to what is a fantastic hotel – if only I could change out of the clothes I’ve been travelling in for the last 24 hours.

So I now have – toiletries, two pairs of trainers, a pair of boots, running gear and the clothes I’m wearing to last me the next three and a half weeks. I’ve phoned the missing baggage people who inform me that so far, they have no idea where in the world my suitcases are. So our first afternoon is being spent going to a shopping centre to buy underwear, jeans, T-shirts, shorts, sweaters, shoes – everything that I could need for the rest of the holiday. And trust me, that doesn’t sound as much fun as you think it would be.

But let’s go back to the beginning – first day was an early morning stroll to find somewhere that opened early for breakfast (blueberry pancakes) so we could catch the first ferry of the day over to Alcatraz. A remarkable place with a fascinating history.

Back on the mainland for lunch and then an open-topped bus tour to help orientate us to the city. Unfortunately our driver didn’t seem inclined to tell us much about the usual tourist stuff but he had a phenomenal knowledge of Victorian architecture in the region. After two hours we were all experts on Italianate and Queen Anne style building design, but that was about all.

Saturday was probably Jeremy’s favourite day – riding the cable cars to the downtown area. Ask him about how they turn them around at the end of the line – we spent ages stood in the cold waiting to watch one because the guidebook he’d read said that it was fascinating to see. I think the author needs to travel a bit more and get a life. But it was great fun to try to ‘high five’ those passengers travelling in the opposite direction without either person falling off.

Sunday morning was spent in Muirs Woods, walking through the magnificent giant redwood trees, definitely one of those ‘must do’ experiences. On the way back we stopped for lunch in the picture-perfect town of Sausalito, with the afternoon just wandering around all the little shops and cafes.

Our last morning was another early breakfast, with a quick detour to see the many sea lions who come into the harbour each day. Then it was off for a Segway Tour through Golden Gate Park, over 1000 acres of beautiful landscaped gardens and lakes. It took over two hours to get around the place and was brilliant fun, despite the safety requirement to dress as special needs people on a day out!

I have to mention at this point that I have also met someone with a worse obsessive-compulsive behaviour disorder than myself when it comes to time keeping. I’m known amongst family and friends for an innate urge to be early for everything – at least 30 minutes before a train journey, a minimum of two and a bit hours even before a domestic flight. So when we were booking this Segway Tour with the hotel concierge, I asked her what time we should be leaving the hotel by taxi to get to the park (four miles away) for our 10am start – her reply was 8am. Seriously, two hours to drive four miles? Oh yes, she replied, you need to be there by 9am at the latest just to be ‘on time’. This comment will mean little to those who have never travelled with me, but for those that have – never, ever, have a go at me again for my time keeping!

So this afternoon we flew down to Los Angeles and we’re now in the lounge waiting for our next flight to be called. The land Down Under beckons – 15 hours in the air on the A380 superjet (if the non-critical wing attachments hold, but that’s another story). According to the song lyrics, this is the place where women glow and men plunder. Could be interesting…!

Cable Car ride

So we left Manchester on a rather cold and dreary Wednesday evening after saying a rather emotional goodbye to our daughters (our son likes to think he’s a bit too old now for tears!) and flew to Heathrow for an overnight stay at the Sofitel Hotel. Can highly recommend it, although the final cost may yet to be reckoned…we were in the predictably long queue to check out in the morning when a member of staff came over to us and asked if we would like to use the Express Checkout. We said we would, so he took our room keys off us and smiled, thanked us for staying with them and walked off! Brilliant, we thought as we smugly headed off across the walkway to Departures, only then to realise  how could we prove we hadn’t had a full champagne breakfast if it appears on the final bill? Will keep you updated on that one…

So we head off to the Executive Lounges. Note the plural – good to see that class distinction still operates in Terminal 5. First Class have their own Lounge, Clubworld (us!) have theirs, right down to those who are flying Economy but do it a lot and therefore have accrued some loyalty points. Can report that the breakfast was amazing and actually, shouldn’t this be how flying should be for everyone?

At last we board and here was my dilemma – do I sit forward facing but in the aisle or have a window seat so I can keep an eye on the wings (for those that know me well, this is an essential part of me being brave enough to fly!) but have to sit  facing backwards? Always up for a new experience and recognising that I can’t let the pilot down in my commitment to help him fly safely, I go for the window seat. After spending a few minutes playing with all the gadgets in my ‘pod’ I then realise that I can’t actually see the wings anyway as we’re so far forward!

Take-off was definitely a new experience in this position. Very strange to be going up whilst you’re facing down. Somehow it feels ‘wrong’ to be looking at where you’ve been rather than where you’re going. Which is a bit how I like to see life, I guess.

Anyway,  ’Frisco was gloriously sunny when we arrived, a 20 minute taxi ride and we were at our hotel right on the harbour front in the heart of Fisherman’s Wharf with an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz from our window. The afternoon was spent just walking around the area, an early dinner and we were crawling into bed before 8pm!

So the plans are: this morning we’re on the first boat trip to Alcatraz, this afternoon we’re doing the two hour open-topped bus ride around the city to get our bearings. Saturday we’re spending the day riding cable cars as we head downtown and explore. Sunday we’re heading off to Muir Woods to hike and see the giant Redwoods, then off to the town of Sausalito and a scenic ferry ride back to SF in the afternoon. Monday morning we’re heading off to Golden Gate Park for a two-hour Segway Tour (which should be interesting, given my atrocious sense of balance!) and then we shoot off to the airport for the flight to LA. A busy few days ahead but we’re both really enjoying being here and finally starting our big tour!