Hi All,

Time to monitor this again as we pack yet another set of bags and head off to the Caribbean.   We were recommended for this job by a friend and are going to give it a go for a year.  (or maybe 2 if we like it.)    Sailing around the Caribbean sounds sooooooooooooooooo much nicer than the usual day job.  It involves us sailing and diving and looking at the sights and taking (principally)  American couples on a holiday cruise.  The smallest catamaran (they are all 'cats') is 50 ft, which is probably where we will start.  As soon as we have pix we will post them for you all to see.

Brrrrrrrrr it's chilly, time to fly somewhere warm.

Hi All,

Well, we have now had around 5 months in UK (albeit  with a couple of weeks in Turkey) where yours truly has spent quite a lot of time teaching sailing and motor cruising through the summer season.   It looks like we may be off on our way to the Caribbean for a while.   As soon as we can confirm more details, we will post it here.

Barbara and I did the PADI Open Water Diver Course a few weeks ago.  Great fun.   Barbara has now experienced the delights of  Horsea Lake.   I am off to do all the courses and work up to PADI Divemaster in preparation for our next adventure in the Caribbean.  More to follow.

Hi All,

Well, we did get back to UK in April and have been running to stand still ever since.  We moved onboard Wight Mistress and settled in.  Barbara spent some quality time with her horse 'Tom' and Steve did some teaching.   We had Wight Mistress out for a few days to sort out the rig and just spend some time on her.  So much has happened on the family front that we are both feeling a little unsettled,  and becoming 'settled' is not likely to happen quickly.  Still, life is good and very busy.  A few new pics for you to see.

What a wonderful way to get over southern hemisphere jet lag.   We had a truly splendid 3 weeks with Lesley and Paul,  simply chilling out,  reading,  playing golf,  and enjoying each others company.  There were one or two slight technical issues that required water management and in some cases,  application of the odd daub of araldite,  but other than that, a lovely peaceful stay.  Thankyou Lesley and Paul, once again, for looking after us so well.  Readers will know that we arrived in Cyprus on around the 14th after a slightly hectic trip.  It was worth it.

On Tuesday 3 April it was time to move on.  Lesley and Paul fed us well and gave us a lift to the airport at Pafos,  where we checked in with no hassle and no excess baggage fees (for the first time ever, it felt).   A stiff G and T and a quick nose in the novel and we were off bang on time.  We arrived at Gatwick at 0100 on Tue 14th.  Cleared customs etc and was sat waiting for the bus to Heathrow by 0200.  The bus departed 0400 after a 2 hour session of novel reading and drinking copious quantities of coffee,  and deposited us at that magic place equidistant between Terminals 1,2 and 3 at Heathrow, right by the Piccadilly Line station.   By 0630 we had negotiated our way from Heathrow to South Harrow via Acton Town and after a brisk 15 minute walk, luggage at the short trail,  were knocking on Mum and Dad's front door at 0645,  KNACKERED.  We both managed to stay compus mentis until around 11 am and then crashed and burned for around 3 hours or so.

After that, all was fine.

I promised to sort out the pics and get them up on here.  Sorry for the delay, loads to do since we arrived.  Have a butchers.  More later..................................

Well, here we are on the 28th of March.   The weather here is a little fluid but getting warmer by the day.   Down by the sea it is quite warm but as soon as we drive up into the mountains  (Lesley and Paul's house is high up above Payea) the temperature drops markably.   Still, it has been an excellent opportunity for our blood to thicken up prior to return to UK.  We fly out from Pafos on 3 April, arriving Gatwick in the wee small hours of 4 April.  We will be spending the night travelling across London to Harrow to be there in time for a nice cup of tea and some breakfast.  The current plan is to stay with Mum and Dad over Easter and head south after Bank Holiday Monday (still a fluid plan).   We will somehow obtain a car and do some visiting on the mainland prior to returning to the Isle of Wight to resume our normal lives and pick up the pieces.

We are really looking forward to coming home now.  It has been a brilliant journey, but like all journeys, they have to end sometime.   We are wondering just how long it will be before our wanderlust has us heading off again;  who knows.

Must dash,  golf game to prepare for..............................

Hi All,

Wow, what a change from the heat of the Sunshine Coast.  When we arrived, it was like an English summer and we both felt like we had landed in the Arctic.  A few days of unsettled sleep and feeling like Sahara camels in Vladivostok in the winter and I am pleased to say that we are now a little more aclimatised.  We are even going to play golf tomorrow!!!!

It is really lovely staying here with Lesley and Paul and chilling out a bit.  While we are looking forward to getting back to Blighty,  from the look of the UK weather forecast,  I think we will hang around here in the Mediterranean for a couple more weeks until UK can get its weather act together.

Sorry about the lack of pics;  Lesley's internet is a dial up and it gets clogged very quickly with the smallest of files.  I am working on a BB connection but it is not there yet.

Keep reading............................................................

Hi All,

Just a quick note as I am borrowing Lesley’s  dial up connection.  I hope to sort out a broadband link today as there are a few routers open close by that advertise a phone number where you can connect for ………….MONEY!!!

Well,  what a trip:   dinner in Brisbane,  breakfast in Singapore, lunch in Dubai,  tea in ATHENS!!!   Luggage in Benbecula!!

On our way from Jim and Jax’ place in Hervey Bay down to Brisbane we received a phone call from the Emirates Office in Brisbane, telling us that the first flight was delayed. It appeared that a Bangladeshi aircraft lost its nose wheel on take off out of Dubai and crash-landed back on.  Fortunately no-one was seriously hurt – a few curries spilled and a few turbans mussed up but otherwise nothing serious.   This blocked the runway for 8 hours with all the subsequent em******ances downstream.  Our flight was 2 hours late taking off so Emirates,  bless them,  rebooked our follow on flights, re-routing us through Athens and then back to Larnaca.  The upshot was that our 1025 arrival turned into a 1525 arrival.  What they didn’t  factor in was enough time to get from one flight to another.  The industry standard (I am told) for bookings is 2 hours between flights.  Ours were of the order of 15 -20 minutes.

Anyone who has staged through Dubai can tell you that the terminal is enormous.  Mem sahib and I managed to sprint from one end to the other in a time that would put us in the frame for the next Olympics (if running with bags and stuff around your neck is considered a sport).  We made the connection to Athens and then went through exactly the same rigmarole to catch the Athens to Larnaca flight (some 600 miles of breathing in the exhaust of the aircraft we had just got off)  retracing our steps to Larnaca.

Any road up, we arrived safely.. The luggage couldn’t run as fast as we could, so it arrived the following day and was delivered to us by taxi.

It is really lovely being here again with Lesley and Paul. It feels really weird wearing long trousers and socks (not done either since Oct 06) but worth it, since a Cyprus spring is far colder than a Queensland late summer. Getting over the jetlag is not as bad as we feared as, of course, we have been travelling west pretty much all the time.  Seasoned travellers out there will agree that west is best when it comes to reduced jetlag.   Still wide awake at stupid o'clock in the morning but it will wear off.

We would like to offer our sincere thanks to:

Jim and Jaqui Milne for looking after us so well in their lovely home at River Heads, 

Mike and Viv for hosting us at very short notice in Queanbeyan until we all had to lift and shift as the house rental came a bit quicker than expected,

Mo and Gray for putting up with us during the North Island part of our epic month’s  dash around New Zealand.

We are now in Cyprus for 3 weeks prior to flying back to London to stay with Mum and Dad in Harrow for Easter.   Our daughters, Hannah and Sarah, may well be in town that weekend, so we hope to catch up with them as well.

More to come as soon as I can sort out a broadband link.

Hi All,

We depart from Jim n Jax's  tender care at around 1000-ish this morning for the 3 hour drive to Brisbane. This gives us plenty of time for any delays and returning hire car and checking in too.  We may stop at Noosa (a pleasant town on the way south) for a well earned cup of tea on the way.   Tonight we catch the 2000 flight from Brisbane to Larnaca,  via Singapore (fuel stop) and Dubai (change horses) and arrive at Larnaca at 1025 on Wednesday. The taxi then takes us to Payea.  Taxi instead of another hire car cos we will be knackered on arrival.  we should be with Lella and Paul around noon-ish.  So, before you get your sun dials and abacuses (abaci?)out to work out the timings,  from what I know we will be leaving Hervey Bay at 0300 Cyprus time on Tuesday to arrive at Lesley and Pauls house at noon the following day.    2 cars and 2-3 aeroplanes.  bliss!!!!

More when we get to Cyprus..........................

We had a lovely day today;  a quiet trip to Hervey Bay and the shops.  After a tough session at the shops buying books and stuff plus another session to look at cameras, we ended up having a lovely dip in the warm sea followed by a snackette at a beachside cafe in the glorious sunshine.    While shopping, I was fairly tempted to go for a digital SLR and had a good look at both Canon and Nikons.  What actually turned my head was an Olympus compact capable of operation under water to a depth of 33ft.  Mindful of the need for different cameras for different tasks, plus a limitation on baggage weight etc, we bought a beautiful Olympus u770SW camera and then spent some time in the sea and in the pool to check it actually works under water - and it does :-). I will try to get the kodak fixed on return to UK but in the mean time, the Olympus does the job well.

Another lovely relaxed day here in paradise.

More tomorrow perhaps.............................................

Hi All,

Sad news is that our trusty Kodak DX6490 camera seems to have died.  It developed a wandering focus problem and then would not let me past the 'set date and time' after putting in the newly charged battery,  and now the little green camera light doesnt come on and it wont do anything.  So, for the time being, no pics I'm afraid.    It will to camera hospital on our return to UK and I am looking for a new camera as we speak.   Any suggestions?  The ideal camera for me is actually 4 separate cameras, so I have a bit of looking to do.   Thinking about a Canon EOS with an uprated lens (the 18-55 reviews are not good) or a Nikon.

Will keep yiou posted and will produce more pics as quickly as I can.

Off to Cyprus on Tuesday, via Singapore and Dubai.