I hadn't saved it on the computer, but came across a hard copy in my "pension fund file".
Fred & Pauline on Tour!
So, we started off in Singapore, (19th January), for two nights.
We were pounced upon on arrival by the hotel travel representative, so got rid of him, but kept the itinerary!
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!
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.
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 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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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| Big Bertha! |
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.
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