Summit County

Si and I have been slowly re-settling into life in the US. After making our first obligatory purchase of a car we drove straight up to the mountains to settle into my mom and dad's home in Summit County. Here, we wake up surrounded by the most stunning views and have a leisurely breakfast before kitting up to go to one of the three local ski resorts to work on our skiing form. We are planning to do some snowboarding as well in the next couple of weeks.

We've had a couple of visitors who we've kept entertained by going to the hot springs, tubing, dog sledding and letting them loose in the outlet malls. Apart from that, we've been catching up with friends and family and getting our lives together.

However, all things come to an end, and this extended period of leisure must as well. We are applying for various jobs and will hopefully be able to move into our house in Denver at the beginning of next month. We are slowly getting ready for the phase of our lives to begin. E

Back in the USA

We arrived into Los Angeles after one of the worst flights ever, where we were wedged next to a snoring, obese Tongan man. The flight had also been delayed by a couple of hours, and on top of that Si had to go through the immigration with all of his forms, x-rays, etc. We finally emerged in the afternoon and arrived into San Diego to stay with Bree and Darren and their 8-month old daughter Aria. We spent the next day visiting the San Diego zoo, admiring the pandas in particular. We had a great Mexican meal while watching the sunset and spent the evening catching up and watching the video of my sister's wedding. Si and Darren managed to play a full 18 holes the next morning before we caught our flight to Denver! E

Island hopping

We spent the rest of our time in Tonga island hopping. We based ourselves on the main island, Tongatapu, but spent each day on a trip out to the islands off the north coast: 'Atata, Pangaimotu and Fafa. The snorkelling was awesome, especially off a wreck and huge reef that we were taken out to. We also played a lot of games at the various resorts. Our hotel in Nukualofa was lovely with extensive gardens. It was very relaxing.

We then crossed the international dateline and arrived in Samoa 22.5 hours before we left Tonga. That Monday was definitely the longest of our lives! Since arriving into Samoa we've been exploring the best beaches, snorkelling and beautiful scenery. 'Upolu is a gorgeous island, nicely kept houses and fale with open sides everywhere. We've had yellowfin tuna for practically every meal, along with loads of fresh fruit. The rest of the diet is very starchy, and Tongans and Samoans make the overweight American look slim! E

Tonga

The flight from Auckland to Nukualofa was nearly empty. We didn't think too much about this until we arrived and people were shaking their heads. The riots of last November have definitely affected the number of people coming here on holiday.

There is evidence of the riots; the city centre is blocked off and patrolled by soldiers, who watch burnt out buildings being cleared out and re-built. Most people talk about the trouble, from the Peace Corps Volunteers to the pro-democracy restaurant owner. However, no one seems to agree on the source of the problem.

That said, our trip in Tonga has been very relaxed. We arrived and went straight to the hotel to check in. The heat was oppressive and our walking tour was cut short. The next day we caught the ferry across to 'Eua, an island 50 kms away known as an 'eco-tourism' destination. We took an excellent tour of the main sites of the island and did some good snorkling. We then got up early the next day to catch the ferry back to the mainland as everything comes to a standstill on Sundays. E

Queenstown to Auckland

Happy new year! We have been slowly making our way up from Queenstown to Auckland, encountering dreadful weather along the way.

On Boxing Day I explored Arrowtown while Simon went golfing. The next day we made the long drive to Dunedin. The area around was suspiciously green and the weather on our arrival was very poor. However, we still went to see the fur seals, penguins and albatross colony before retreating to the kitchen to cook our barbeque food. We spent the next day in the local museums, cafes and Air New Zealand office in Dunedin. After a successful BBQ we went the following day up to Omarama via the interesting town of Omaru, which has a cheese factory (which does tastings and food) and an old town in limestone. In Omarama we experienced some interesting pub life after a wet 9 holes of golf and had another BBQ. On my birthday we drove up to Lake Tekapo, a beautiful turquoise lake against a background of hills and a foreground of different coloured lupins and spent the afternoon wandering around the lake. That night we had a fabulous meal -- with a special birthday pavalova cake! We drove the next day to Akaroa despite being warned at the tea shop along the way that the nightlife could be crazy. We went out for an excellent meal and made our way back looking for mayhem. We encountered hardly a soul.

We drove into Christchurch to spend the morning in the botanical gardens there before flying to Auckland on our way to Tonga -- our 35th country on this trip. We managed to book our flights to Denver, so we'll be there on the 18th January!! E

New Zealand -- Christchurch to Queenstown

We arrived in Christchurch to find ourselves in the middle of an English winter. It was 9 degrees Celcius (50 degrees F), and very windy. All in the middle of summer. I wasn't really sure about New Zealand at this point.

After a rainy first night in the camper van we woke up with ducks swimming in the puddles that had formed around us. We had breakfast and started to make our way west towards Arthur's Pass. Fortunately, as we drove the skies cleared and by the time we made it to Cave Stream it was bright and sunny (but still very cold, especially after our endless summer of the last few months!) The scenery was beautiful, huge snow-capped peaks behind green meadows full of sheep grazing and clumps of lupin flowers in a range of colours. We stopped for lunch with a kea that tried to steal our box of lettuce and took a look around the visitors centre, though we didn't have enough time to do any hiking. We ended the day on the coast in Hokitika, a lovely town with a glowworm dell and nice bit of coast.

The next day we drove south to the Franz Josef glacier where we did a walk along the river up to the viewing point and stayed in a nice campground with stunning mountain views. We were up and on the road early the next morning as we had a long drive down to Hawea Lake, stopping several times on the way down for walks and photo breaks. The campground on the lake was very 1950s and we played bridge by the water and had a pub Christmas Eve dinner. E

Sydney

We flew across Oz to Sydney where Joss was waiting for us. She drove us back through the city to her beautiful flat in Lavander Bay -- it has the best view of Sydney -- no lie! We went to the Hunter Valley the next day to take a wine tour with Wags, Joss' brother who is the assistant wine maker at a vineyard called Draytons. After lunch we returned back to have a dinner party with lots of friends that we'd met in London. The next day we spent walking around Sydney, with an afternoon at brand-new Sydney Wildlife World and an evening out on the town. The following day we split up and Si explored the botanical gardens while I went to the Australian museum and then did the Bondi to Bronte walk along the coast -- dramatic with the wind and surf pounding! That evening we met up with my manager from London, Marianne, for a drink and then cooked Mexican food for Joss' sister Pen and her fiance Jared. Though we'd have loved to stay on a bit longer (you'll understand when you see the view and if you've met Joss) it was off to Christchurch! E

Perth

The journey to Perth was even longer than if we had started off in England, though with more comfort than your economy seat offers. We had a night in KL, where we went up the tower and had a good Chinese meal and then spent the next day on the train down to Singapore. We had a great Indian meal there and Si saw some of the city, while I saw the inside of the Raffles Health Clinic -- my mouth ulcer had become infected and I was running a fever. Feeling better, the next day we flew down to Perth and were met by Mark, a friend of ours from the U of O. He took us back to his new apartment that is a short jump from the city centre, cooked us dinner and settled us in. We spent the week cycling, golfing, swimming in the sea, barbequing and visiting friends. We went to the cricket and to Rottnest Island (guess who did which), south to Rockingham to sea kayak with dolpins, walk with penguins and swim with seals, north to Yanchep National Park to see koalas and to the beach to hang out as much as possible. We met loads of his friends and family and were pleasantly overwhelmed by the friendliness of everyone. We spent a few days with Brian and Lizzie and visited friends of theirs and generally enjoyed a relaxed 10 days. E

Cambodia

Our journey into Cambodia was long and very, very dusty. We had wanted to get to Phnom Peng on the river but this proved impractical if not impossible. After a lengthy border crossing we arrived in the city of Kratie with enough time to shower off before watching an absolutely spectacular sunset and having some loc-lac for dinner. The next morning we went out on the Mekong to see the rare Irrawaddy dolphins before heading down to Phnom Peng in another horrible bus. Vendors tried to tempt us along the way with fruit and spiders, and we eventually arrived to find most of the accommodation fully booked. We settled into a hotel and went out to wander along the river and to have dinner in a restaurant training street children in catering skills to enable them to get jobs. The following day we had a tuk-tuk take us around to the

S-21 museum where political prisoners were held and tortured under the Khmer Rouge and the Killing Fields 15 kms outside the city. In case that wasn't depressing enough, I stopped by a dentist to get a very painful mouth ulcer checked out (and had my teeth cleaned while I was there). The rest of the day was more light-hearted. We saw a buddah made of gold and precious stones, did some reading on the breezy balcony and had a volcano -- meat and vegetables cooked over an open flame. The next morning we finally caught a boat up the Mekong. This was definitely a case of 'be careful what you wish for'. As bad as the buses were, the boat was worse. Simon will give you excruciating details but suffice it to say that we gratefully arrived in Siem Reap and found a room and enjoyed wandering around the city. The next day Bill Clinton decided to come to Ankor Wat with us -- an amazing place, even though we never personally saw the ex-president. Simon has been raving about the temples, so you can tell it was fairly extraordinary! We left the next morning to KL to start our extended journey to Perth. E

Laos

Sabah-dee, as everyone in Laos calls to you as you pass. We'd been told that the people are what makes Laos so special, but the whole country was pretty enjoyable.

We took a bus literally across the country from the border with Vietnam, in the east, to Savannakhet, in the far west on the banks of the Mekong. Along the way you see countryside, much drier than that of Vietnam, wooden houses on stilts and naked kids playing in streams. Apparently Laos is trying to move beyond the list of 'least developed nations' and there is some evidence that they are making progress. Savannakhet offered some interesting food and a good massage before we left to take the local bus to Pakse, further south. After frequent stops to buy and eat some of the varied treats (chicken on a stick? hard-boiled eggs? a fruit that looks like the spout of a watering can?) we arrived a bit hot and exhausted in Pakse. A night in a nice hotel with a good meal and reasonable sunset sorted us out and we took motorbikes to explore the Bolevan Plateau with its waterfalls and coffee plantations the next day. Simon can regale you all with tales of his tragic leap off the motorbike at a later date. Suffice it to say that he vowed to stay on more stable transportation from that point on.

We then headed south to the 4,000 islands (Si Pan Don) where we cycled around the island of Don Khan (the only damage was bruised tailbones) before spending the night on the river and heading for the 'unofficial' border with Cambodia the next day. A short trip, but sweet. E

Central Vietnam

Vietnam is great because it has a railway system. The only problem is that it is slow. The overnight train from Hanoi to Danang, halfway down the coast, was 14 hours. Fortunately we had the bottom bunks of a soft-sleeper and the Australian women in the bunks above us were very quiet sleepers (and very considerate when awake). We arrived and made our way to Hoi An, home to a UNESCO protected old town and some impressive temple ruins.

It is a lovely place with cafes, loads of nice crafts, tailors to replenish your wardrobe and good food. We spent a few days there visiting the sites and enjoying the atmosphere and some excellent meals, one of which we helped cook in a class with a very entertaining chef. After that we decided to head slightly north to the border with Laos. We didn't stay long in Hue, the first city we encountered, mainly because of the hassle we received. Instead we went up to the Vinh Moc tunnels to see what the villagers on the De-militarized Zone in the war had to put up with. After an informative tour and a good meal we stayed the night in Dong Ha. The next day we got the bus to the border with Laos. E

Vietnam - Hanoi and Halong Bay

Our descent into Hanoi was slightly delayed by the VIPs leaving the APEC conference and we circled for several minutes before being granted permission to land. With our visas in hand we breezed into the country and made our way to the Old Quarter. It was all lit up and sparkling, though we were unsure if it was always like that or had been cleaned up for the conference. We checked into the hotel and went off to wander the streets, in search of dinner and to take in the atmosphere of the city. There are a lot of tourists here, of all ages, and the travelling infrastructure is well set up with tour operators on every street corner. After a night wrestling with the AC control we went in to organise a trip to Halong Bay and to determine our plan. In the afternoon we then visited the Temple of Literature, one of the oldest buildings in the city and to a traditional water puppet show. The food here is good and unbelievably cheap, so we had a huge dinner. The next morning we got onto a bus with five other couples about our age to explore that icon of Vietnam, Halong Bay. You know the obligatory shot in the films of the rounded karst hill emerging from the mist in the middle of a bay? That's the place. We had a boat trip out along the bay, visited a cave and then spent the night on an island, where we kayaked, played volleyball with the staff, beat both Holland and Germany at pool and had a barbeque on the beach. We spent the day returning to Hanoi, where we were catching the overnight train south. E

Sipadan

The taxi was called to come at 5.45am to collect us, but unfortunately was early, so we raced out of the house at the crack of dawn to catch our flight across the island to Tawau. Since it had been a hectic few days, we were a little worn out and the plane, van and boat rides that followed are a blur of dozy travel. We arrived at the resort on Mabul and were given breakfast and a briefing. Once they determined we weren't massively experienced they sent us out on our orientation dives with an instructor and we were off!

We did a total of 10 dives in Sipadan, Mabul and Kapalai. This is one of the top rated diving spots in the world and with good reason. We saw countless turtles, white-tipped sharks, spiralling barracudas, morays of all sizes and shapes, nudibranches, flamboyant cuddlefish, crocodile fish, bat fish, frog fish, lion fish, etc. etc. etc. The artificial reef alone boasts more than 500 species. We did our best to try to look up what we saw but it was too much. One guy took a gig worth of photos on his first two dives. It was beautiful, like being in a huge aquarium, and the conditions were perfect. E

With the Slades

We arrived in Borneo and achieved our primary objective: to catch up with James and Collyn and Simon's godson, Tom. They live in a nice suburb of Kota Kinabalu and are in the process of having a new house built. We spent a few days catching up, doing a lot of swimming, eating and playing with Slade Jr, as well as attending a wedding and going bowling. As a native of the city, Collyn did a great job of showing us around her favourite haunts until James got a well deserved 4 day holiday and we all went up to Rasa Ria, their favourite resort just north of the city. The rooms are huge and there is a fabulous multi-tiered swimming pool, sea the temperature of a warm bath, catamarans to go out on, a golf course and an orang-utan sanctuary. Needless to say, we did it all, as well as a batik when the rain forced us inside. We ate at the stunning restaurant, Coast, and gorged ourselves on the most sumptuous breakfast buffet before kicking off each day. We reluctantly left on an adventure to the tip of Borneo, the northernmost point on the island. We arrived there late in the day, with the intention of watching the sunset, but the weather pulled in and we went straight to the hotel on the golf course. After 9 holes the next morning we drove all the way to the tip and were rewarded with a gorgeous, deserted, white-sand beach and a roasting hot day. After lunch in the breeze we headed back to KK and Si and I packed our bags for our SCUBA trip. E

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Singapore

We were slightly bleary-eyed when we arrived in Singapore at 5am, but since our flight to Kota Kinabalu wasn't until later that evening we had to make a go of the day. After having the most horrendous photos taken for our visa application for
Vietnam we made our way to their embassy. A few bureaucratic hours later we were off with our bags and an Australian guy in a taxi into Orchard Road to explore the city. We stashed the bags in a posh hotel and spent a few hours wandering: the boat quay, the government district, Raffles Hotel were all seen through the fug of humidity.

We eventually made our way across the border into Malaysia, slept though our flight and were greeted by James, Collyn and Tom who managed to feed us before we fell asleep.

Cape Town

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We drove along the coast to Cape Town, stopping frequently and looking at the beaches full of weekenders. We organised a guesthouse right outside the City Bowl with a view of the city/waterfront from one side and Table Mountain out the other. We had intended to go up Table Mountain and our host suggested we climb it. It is a fairly taxing hike to the top, and it had clouded over while we were ascending, so unfortunately we did not have the pristine views we had hoped for, but a definite sense of achivement for the afternoon. We had a BBQ with our hosts that evening and the next day went into the city to explore. After a morning at the waterfront and aquarium and lunch in the Company's Gardens, followed by a driving tour of other possible sites, we found ourselves leaving the city to go to Simon's Town to see the penguin colony. The penguins are a riot -- from two breeding pairs in the 1980s they now have 3000. We spent a fair amount of time watching their antics and returned via the scenic route. That evening we'd arranged to meet Si's friend Sophie and her boyfriend Tom for dinner, and they took us to an excellent fish restaurant called The Codfather in Camps Bay. The next morning we had a leisurely drive down via Kalk's Bay to Cape Point, a fantastic place to wander around and whale watch (we saw several swimming along the peninsula), though it was full of other people which was a phenomenon we only really found near Cape Town. After a nice Italian dinner we packed our things and caught our flight the next day to Asia . . . E

Western Cape -- ostriches and wine

Oudtshoorn, the town famous for ostrich farms, was our next port of call. We turned inland and found ourselves in the small, dusty town that became wealthy off the fashion for ostrich feathers in the late 1800s. We took a tour of a farm with thousands of the birds before booking into our farmhouse B&B and doing the adventure tour at the Cango caves. We ate some excellent homecooked food for dinner and breakfast before heading off to Calitzdorp to do some port tasting (it was only 10am but we had a busy day planned). We carried on down Route 62 to Montagu, where we spent the afternoon in the hot springs, wine tasting and organsing a huge braai for our evening meal. The following day we spent exploring several small towns along the wine route including McGregor, Robertson and stopping in Worcester to go to the botanical gardens and the interesting Kleinplassie working farm/museum. We spent the

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night in a listed building in Tulburg, the former home of a Boer hero, and then raced to Franschhoek where we were scheduled to take a chocolate tour, but for the first time we hit major roadworks. The business gave us consolation chocolates and a brief look behind the scenes, and we spent the afternoon exploring and taking a cellar tour at the Mont Rochelle vineyards. The next day we went to Stellanbosch, where we saw some of the amature golf championship, walked the small university campus and ate some Cape Malay food. A bit bored of wine tasting, we decided to do some more whale watching, so we headed down to Hermanus. Our reward was five southern right whales playing right in front of us that afternoon and a great seafood dinner that night. E

Western Cape -- the Garden Route

Our first stop along the garden route was in St Francis, a gorgeous place popular with surfers, where we toured the local lighthouse. That night we stopped in Nature's Valley near Tsisikamma National Park. There is a huge, red estuary that empties into the sea there, which is very dramatic -- as were the huge jellyfish the size of car tyres all over the beach! We spent the night there and the next day in the national park, hiking, taking a boat trip up the gorge and watching the dolphins play off coast. In the afternoon we visited the excellent (if naffly named) Monkeyland, a sanctuary housing over 300 abandoned monkies from all over the world, and then on to the fantastic town of Plettenburg Bay. We had the best meal that we'd

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had in South Africa in an Italian restaurant that evening and spent the next day walking the Robberg Peninsula, watching seals play and seeing the rare African oystercatcher and I went whale watching while Si went golfing. Without doubt, a major highlight of my trip was watching the humpback whales breach within metres of a boat. We carried on to Knysna, a small town on a huge estuary famous for its oysters and rare seahorses. We took tour to the nearby nature reserve, called Feather Bay, before making our way to Wilderness. We spent a fantastic night in a great chalet with a stunning view of the beach from above, watching whales and dolphins off coast. It was very tempting to stay on, but the ostriches were calling . . . E

Eastern Cape

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We left Natal slightly worse for wear after a lot of wine and headed for the notorious Wild Coast. We had many warnings about this area, but a lot of recommendations to visit it as well. Driving through is fairly interesting; the road has potholes, people and animals sharing it with you in equally large numbers. The hills around are green and full of brightly coloured rondavals and Xhosa villages. We drove the longest possible route (as there is no coastal road) to Port St Johns, a village where river meets ocean. We booked into a cottage and explored the town, including the 9 hole golf course and the first and second beaches. Unfortunately the weather was fairly dismal, so we had a relaxing afternoon before eating an excellent dinner. The next morning we eshewed the golf as the weather was too awful and instead had a huge breakfast to fortify us for the journey to Cintsa, further down the coast. The road was slightly improved and we made good time. We booked into a cottage with a lovely view and went to walk along the beach, seeing a monster crab on the way. Unfortunately, once again the weather turned so the afternoon and evening was whiled away. The next day we headed inland, in search of sun. We stopped in the university town of Grahamstown for a coffee and lunch before heading towards Addo Elephant National Park. We stopped in a place called Colchester and stayed in a chalet by a river looking at sand dunes on the other side. As the weather had cleared dramatically we went for a walk down to the ocean. In the setting sun we saw a whale playing about 100 metres off shore, and we had dinner in a local pub. The next day we set off for the National Park. The terrain is very green and wooded, so it does not offer the long range visibility of Kruger, but it means that animals emerge right in front of you. We saw herds of elephants and buffalos (among other, less numerous animals) that would pass right by the car as they walked down the road. We stayed in the park that night, having a BBQ of delicious meat from their shop, and were waiting to go out when the gate opened at 6 the next morning. We were rewarded by seeing jackals, a spotted hyena and several tortoises. We then went to Port Elizabeth to start our journey down the Garden Route . . . E

KwaZulu Natal

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After diving we got away from the bad weather and escaped to the lovely St Lucia. This is a huge UNESCO wetlands site, which is unfortunately suffering from a drought, so our first stop at False Bay was a bit disappointing as it was mud as far as we could see. We were advised to go to the town of St Lucia and were rewarded by a small, tourist-friendly town. We booked into a great chalet looking over the estuary and went on a river cruise, on which we saw loads of hippos, crocs and birds, including the impressive Goliath Heron. We had dinner (I had a crocodile pizza), and then early the next morning we drove towards Dundee and the battlefields. We spent a day and a half looking at the fields where the British fought the Zulus and then the Boers, spending a night in Ladysmith, eating a fabulous braai. After visiting Speionkop we drove on to White Mountain Lodge for the night before visiting the beautiful Giant's Castle Reserve in the Drakensburg Mountains. There is a famous San Rock Art site there which we saw on a tour with a very entertaining guide. The thunderstorms rolled in just as we finished our hike and we watched lighting strike and heard the thunder crash around us as we drove through the Valley of 10,000 Hills towards Pietermaritzburg. We then went to the coast to stay for the night on Umdlotti beach before we drove down the coast (via Margate and Ramsgate) to Leisure Bay to meet up with Anna and Greg for the night. E

Sodwana Bay diving

(the beach the previous evening)
We decided to use our PADI scuba qualification by diving in the idyllic-sounding Sodwana Bay on the eastern coast of South Africa. This is Simon's account of the experience:
(the danger already apparent on the beach)
So in summary what happened was this...

We saw that the most southernly coral reef in africa was at this place in NE S Africa so we thought we'd give it a go and so be better prepared for when we get to Borneo next month.

We got into the hotel on Monday evening but the dive shop was closed. No probs, show up at 7.30 and they will explain everything.

7.30 we rock up and get issued with full kit, no time to try anything on but wet suit as need to get to beach for 8pm which is a 10 min drive away.

We get to beach and firstly there are huge waves and a very scary looking sea.

Not really sure what is going on but we are told to get in wetsuits so we do. Our name goes on a chalk board and we are on boat 2 with 7 other people plus the divemaster.

We have a helper who is getting our BCD and stuff all sorted.

Next thing we get in a huddle and divemaster introduces everyone and tells us the plan. Clearly we are thinking we need something pretty gentle. No no. He draws a picture in the sand of some reef tells us it is pretty wavy so expect some major drift, but should be less of a problem at 20m, shows us where we can expect to see some sharks in a cave, etc, etc.

Erin and I at this point look at each other in shock. We were expecting to walk out in to some flat pond warm water and drift about at 2-3m, maybe 5m max.

Anyway, before we can come to our senses and get the hell out of there, the divemaster (who by the way had a pretty strong African accent so we only getting every third word) wanted to give us the brief on the boat launch.

Boat launch?!? What the heck? Anyway there is this speedboat with rigid bottom and inflatable tube on the sides and a tractor pushes it down to the water and we all have to grab a bit as it hits the water and push it before the skipper yells at us to jump on.

I was at this point thinking this is far too much excitement for me. I forgot to mention we had all just donned lifejackets as it was so rough and dangerous just getting the boat in to the water.

Before we know it our lives are in the balance again as the boat revs up and the skipper takes his moment to run af full speed (scarily fast) along the braking waves, just behind the boat the thing is crashing down in an almighty Hawaiian surf-movie-like, ridiculous wave.

We make it out and then we are jetting out to sea to I-don't-care-where amongst giant waves, we are all grimly holding on to a rope between our legs and one on the side of the boat, with both feet firmly in footstraps.

10 mins later we are told to kit up which I thought was so absurd I did't really register it. It was hard enough to do in the basement with Erin and I with our instructor's help. Here we were going up and down 20 foot at a time, pitching all over the place. No way was this going to happen. One of the other divers who was an instructor saw we were hopeless and managed to squeeze our kit on to us. Weight belts on, then flippers (which mean we no longer had our feet in footstraps!), mask and snorkel.

Then, next up, we hold on to a different rope and the divemaster orders us to sit on the inflatable outsides and on the count of 3 all backflip into the water. Now, I didn't remember doing this on our PADI course but I had seen it on TV. So I had a chance, albeit a slim one, of pulling it off. Unfortunately, to complicate things, I put my mask on for the first time and realised it was too loose, so I am frantically trying to tighten it whilst pitching all over the sea, holding on to the boat by a peice of string with a huge heavy air tank on my back, simultaneously trying to see if I had all my gadgets in order, where the regulator should be, and of course making sure Erin was fine.

Too late, the "1-2-3-go!" was called out and I am in the raging sea. I have lost my wife by this point, not that it mattered as the signal to go down was given, and as I didn't want to be left on my own, so air out and down we went.

I look around and all the expert fellow divers had disappeared from view to the bottom, I quickly passed my new record depth just trying to stay with the group.

I do remember occasionally seeing incredible fish of all colours and shapes but mostly I was foccused on staying alive as we were wildly flung from side to side. I tried to keep track of my buddy wife but just trying to keep approximately level was causing me trouble.

In next to no time I was down to 50 bar of air and told the divemaster, he gave me a few signals that I don't remember from the textbook but I guess was something like follow the line up and do a safety stop at 5m for 3 mins.

Anyway, we survived and got assurances that Borneo would be much better!

Mpumalanga and Swaziland

We drove across into Mpumalanga to go through the gold towns of the Drakensburg and to see the Blyde River Canyon. The road took us along Long Tom Pass, where the Boers held off the British and we stayed in the delightful town of Pilgrim’s Rest in a preserved mining cottage, which was like a museum. The next day we spent going up and down the canyon, stopping at the many view points (the Pinnacle, God’s Window, the Three Rondavals, etc.), at the dam and once to watch the baboons play. We stayed the next night in a small town called Hazyview and they convinced us to drive through Kruger National Park on our way to Swaziland. We were really pleased that we listened to their advice! My experience last year had been a bit disappointing, but in the morning we spent there we saw no fewer than 22 animals – mammals, crocs and a few birds we could identify. We saw 3 of the Big Five in the first five minutes! Needless to say, we were really pleased and even more pleased to breeze across the border into Swaziland. We stayed the night on a sugar plantation enjoying a braai (BBQ) evening with a family from Jo’burg. The next day we went to Hlane Royal National Park, the biggest in Swaziland, to do some more wildlife watching. The watering hole was particularly good, as was the afternoon game drive where we saw a pride of lions and the lone cheetah in the park. We stayed that night in a beatiful rondaval with no electricity (it was very romantic with gas lamps everywhere) and spent the next morning driving south towards South Africa again. E

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South Africa - Gauteng

We arrived into Jo'burg at about 7 in the morning after a night of games and Chinese films (you can guess who was doing what) on the plane. We had decided to go to Pretoria to find a place to sleep off our overnight flight. We had a lunch of mealie pap and stew before kipping for a few hours and going in to explore. Pretoria is a very laid back place, small with a few suburbs and the highway turning into the main street (outside our hotel, we subsequently discovered, though we still slept well).

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We spent the next morning wandering around the beautiful gardens outside the Union Building before heading off to Sun City (so Si could fulfill his dream of playing the best golf course in Africa). I went into Pilansburg National Park to do a game drive while he did that and we had a harrowing night when our accommodation fell through and we were left driving after dark, which NO ONE does here unless they have to. It all turned out well and we spent the next morning at the excellent De Wildt Cheetah Research Centre on a guided tour learning about cheetahs and wild dogs and other endangered animals here. We then headed east to the mountains . . . E

weekend in England

We came back to England for the weekend, having arranged a surprise 60th birthday for my mother-in-law (the big surprise was that her birthday isn't until next May, but it was the last time we'd all be together before then) and to watch the American Express World Golf Championships near our old house in Rickmansworth. The weekend was hectic, with nights spent with our friends Robin and Anne Louise and their daughter Maddie and a full day of activities including our three nephews under the age of 5 (who took most of the photos on this blog). The golf was excellent -- we watched the world's best from amazing vantage points and Simon managed to get Tiger to acknowledge his 'good luck' with a nod. Needless to say, it was a highlight of the trip. We had lunch with Si's colleagues at Premier Rugby before heading to Heathrow to catch our flight to Jo'burg. We needed to get back to travelling as we weren't sure we could cope with the pace of life in England any more! E

France and the Loire Valley

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We left Milan happy, if a bit fatter, and were off to France on our return leg. We were looking for a place to stay when Simon belatedly decided to call his friend from Saracens, Flo, who lived nearby in Clarmont Ferrand. Fortunately, he was free for the evening and much of the next day, so we met up with him. After some lovely French food, a fabulous sleep in his lovely flat and some fresh croissants we were taken on a tour of the area, including the spa town of Vichy. That evening we drove up to Amboise in the Loire Valley and we spent the following day exploring the chateaux nearby before staying in a cheap hotel (and fulfilling Si's dream of eating in one of the chain 'Buffalo Grill' restaurant) to catch our ferry back to England the next day. E

Milan

We had decided some time ago to make our way home via Milan to stop by and see a good friend of mine, Mirsada, and to finally meet her boyfriend Marco. After about 5 hours of tolls and tunnels we arrived into the city and found the hotel that she had booked us into, across from her house. She came and met us after her training course for her job finished. We had a very rainy walking tour of Milan before going back to dry off for dinner.

Marco came to collect us and we drove 40 kilometers or so out of Milan for dinner. Marco, who is one of those Italians who loves his food, wine and football, had been assuring us that we were going to eat proper Italian food, but that we had to go a little out of the way as many of the restaurants were closed on Mondays. We arrived at the restaurant and were shown into a backroom, past a sumptuous buffet and seated. The owner had opened for the night mainly on Marco's request so there were only two other tables taken.

After an aperatif we were invited to tuck into the buffet of antipasti, followed by pasta and meat. The whole time we were drinking beautiful red wine. Dessert followed, and at about 12.30 we rolled out of the restaurant and into the street. It was an amazing dinner and a very special night -- we are hoping to make it out to their wedding next September for round 2! E