The only advice we were given prior to coming to New Zealand was to bring plenty of suncream with us as 'the sun burns easily, even when it's cloudy'. This currently seems like a poor joke as it would take a sun several times more powerful than our own poor star to make any impact through through the level of cloud currently making itself at home above us.

We're suppossed to take comfort from the fact that it's even worse up north and the news is full of record winds and rainfall and which towns are currently being evacuated. Our friends Martin and Pippa near Wellington had no power and the goat was said to be looking nervous. I have had to resort to buying a pair of boots and a cardigan from the Salvation Army.

We have been staying mainly in backpackers hostels. These are excellent places to meet other travellers and compare notes on which wonderful views we have not been able to see and which walks we have not been able to go on.

Some places however seem at their best when all about them is a bit grim. At the beginning of the week we went down to the Catlins on the south coast and after telling the boys on numerous occassions that we were further south than they had ever been before we really did get as far south as we're going to get on this trip.

Rather fittingly it reminded me a little of Durness. It was somehow familiar enough to create a pleasing sense of symmetry and yet different enough to feel that we had journeyed far.

We went in search of the yellow eyed penguin. It was an event filled day when Joe almost trod on a fur seal hidden in the grass and Andrew made a hasty retreat from a stroppy looking sea lion. Then at the end of the day we spotted one solitary penguin sitting rather forlornly on a rock, soon to be joined by several very weary looking friends plodding slowly up the beach. We played that 'You be David Attenborough and I'll be Johnny Morris' game and nobody worried too much that we'd been wrapped in fleeces and Kagoules all day.

Now we've taken in a couple of glaciers, as you do in New Zealand, and travelled further up the windswept west coast with its constant barrage of rolling waves and beaches dotted with sun bleached driftwood. It's brilliant. If you put your ear towards the sea and close your eyes you can hear sea shells.

It's still raining. Tonight we're staying in Greymouth at a hostel called Noah's Ark - just in case. We've got plenty of sun cream left.

- posted by Vivien @ 1:16 AM

 
It wasn't a good start. Firstly a very officious young man from the quarantine department threatened to fine me for smuggling 'tea' into the country. The obvious response to such nonsense is 'You're not still sore about the rugby, are you?" but I felt that approach might not go down too well.

Then we couldn't find any automatic teller machines working and the money changers were charging ridiculous commissions. Finally we caught a very expensive shuttle bus into town - everything seems ludicrously expensive after Asia - and it wasn't even going to the part of town we wanted so we had to catch another bus.

First impressions of Sydney itself weren't that good either. Perhaps it's a city that suffers from having far too many excellent photographs taken of it, leaving the real thing inevitably less picturesque than you expect. The opera house for instance does have an undoubtedly amazing roof. But closer up the building underneath the amazing roof looks a little like a rather uninspiring motorway bridge.

Also for a city of its size it didn't quite seem to have the right percentage of 'characters'. Some cities seem to have that perfect balance between ordinary dull mortals like myself and the more flambouyant, stylish or eccentric types that make a place more interesting. Then of course there are places like Delhi that have gone completely over the top with the flamboyant, eccentric types. Perhaps Sydney could do with importing a few.

Sidney also seems to have more than it's fair share of exceedingly grumpy bus drivers, the concept of 'service with a smile' having not really caught on. By the way the big tough one from Prisoner Cell Block H is working as an inspector on the trams. I think it was her anyway.

Reading this you're probably thinking I was just sore about the tea and maybe there was some truth in that because after a few days it did begin to grow on me. And of course everywhere has it's highlights. Sydney had Jeremy Hardy, world famous didgeridoo player, not world famous yet obviously but he assures us it's only a matter of time. He does s free show at the Outback Centre and it's well worth dropping by for. Anyone who can do that breathing in and out at the same time trick deserves a certain amount of admiration and Jeremy does it very well.

Sydney also has a wonderful aquarium which gave Joe the opportunity to get very excited about seeing a duck billed platypus for the first time. Personally I don't think you can beat an echidna.

So after barely adjusting to the time difference we were off again to New Zealand. A whole new country to smuggle tea into. We are now happily ensconced in the youth hostel in Queenstown, about as far away from home as we're going to get on this trip. It's absolutely stunning, the mountains are beautiful the lakes are clear and cold and the roads are quiet and a pleasure to drive on. In fact it's exactly like home. This is just silly, what are we playing at.
- posted by Vivien @ 1:06 AM

 
The talk in Kuala lumpur before we left was all about Thaipussam, a huge Hindu festival due to take place at the Batu Caves near kuala Lumpur this week. It's one of those gruesome events that involve people sticking spikes through their cheeks and attaching meat hooks to their chest. We decided to forgo this undoubtedly memorable experience not so much because the boys would have been upset but more because their mother is very squeamish and might have felt sick or fainted or both.

After the event the New Straits Times reported that of the million people who attended thirty seven children lost track of their parents. Thirty three of these families were later reunited. But what happened to the other four! We felt we had made the right decision.

So instead of broadening our children's view of things you can do in the name of religion we concentrated instead on the physical education side of their traveling curriculum. We headed to a small island called Pulao Pangkor and spent several days swimming, snorkeling, kayaking and chasing the monkeys away who seemed quite determined to upend our dustbin. After arriving in drizzly rain the sun quickly came out and everyone was very content.

It will be one of our pleasanter memories of Malaysia which overall has been slightly disappointing. This has been largely due to the plague of boils and and Joe's upset stomach but also because after India, Malaysia just doesn't seem to have the same vibrancy or colour.

One thing we have enjoyed has been the food which influenced by Malay, Chinese, Indian, Thai and Indonesian cuisines is generally delicious. It would be a long time before I would get tired of fish ball mee and there's a place on Julan Sultan which does the best coffee buns ever - in case you happen to be passing.

As always there are exceptions. The only good thing I can think of to say about Malaysian coffee is that it will give me a good mental image next time the phrase 'primeval soup' crops up. The worst example of this at a beach side cafe was fortunately easily disposed of in the sand.

Secondly the Chinese section of the population fail to appreciate that the only decent thing to do with chickens feet, pigs testicles and gizzards is to chop them into very small pieces, tuck them into skins and call them sausages. Instead they display them prominently and artistically on their food stalls.

Finally there's the durian, a fruit with such a powerful smell that it's banned from public transport and hotels. We're supposed to believe it's a delicacy. This is obviously not true. It's all part of an elaborate hoax to lure hapless tourists into tasting the disgusting stuff. Even Joe wouldn't eat it.

Our three weeks in Malaysia have passed quickly and after a final day back in Kuala Lumpur we are due to fly to Sydney on Monday, a whole new continent to explore.

Good progress with War And Peace. Pierre gets involved in a dual, Anatole nearly commits bigamy, Natasha takes arsenic and there's a few entertaining but scathing words about the Masons - marvelous.
- posted by Vivien @ 3:25 AM