London: Day One Hundred and Forty-Eight (15 March)

After five months travelling and three different continents, we landed at Heathrow and I was finally back on English soil. I was sad my Big Adventure was over but pleased to be home to see family and friends, including Gerald and Zippy.

I'm going to take a break now to concentrate on my school work but I'll be back later to tell you more about my other travels at home and abroad.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this Blog as much as I've enjoyed writing it.

Bye for now

Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-Seven (14 March)

Our flight to London wasn't until this evening so we took one last chance to visit our favourite place in New York - you've guessed it: Central Park.

But first we visited New York's famous toy emporium, FAO Schwartz, to buy a present for one of Miss Robb's Godchildren.

We went to Strawberry Fields (which was created in memory of John Lennon) and had lunch at The Boathouse as well as watching more people skating on the ice rink.

Miss Robb gave into temptation and bought a lovely four print set of Central Park through the seasons, which we had to take onto the plane as hand luggage. It was definitely winter when we arrived in New York but there were tiny signs of the arrival of spring as we were leaving.

We flew back to England overnight.

Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-Six - Afternoon (13 March)

When we rejoined the bus on Staten Island we were too late to take the Brooklyn tour, which was a bit disappointing. Instead we got off at the Rockefeller Center where there's another public ice rink and an electric fountain.

We walked back to the hotel from there and had a big hot chocolate to warm us up. It was our last night in New York and the last of our big trip so we spent it packing :-( .

Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-Six - Morning (13 March)

Our hop on/hop off bus tickets were valid for today as well and we planned to make good use of them on our last full day in New York. But first we had breakfast in Perishing Square. It was perishing so we had pancakes (another American tradition).

We joined the downtown bus tour at the Empire State Building and rode all the way to Battery Park where we joined the free ferry to Staten Island. This is one of the best ways to see the Statue of Liberty.



Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-Five - Evening (12 March)

This was the evening we were going to the New Amsterdam Theatre so we had an early dinner at Simply Pasta. (Did you know New York used to be called New Amsterdam?)

The theatre itself is stunning. It was restored in 1995 to its original 1903 style. Unfortunately we didn't have a camera with us because we knew we couldn't take photos of the show itself, which was Mary Poppins.

What a fantastic show and we couldn't have had better seats, only five rows from the stage. The acrobatics were especially impressive.

As I haven't got a photo of the theatre, I'm attaching a picture of one of the statues in Central Park. Do you recognise who the figures are? That's right - they're characters from Alice in Wonderland.

Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-Five (12 March)

Today we bought a hop on/hop off bus ticket and explored the North part of the city, including Harlem. We joined the tour on Eighth Avenue and the guide was so witty we opted to stay on as far as Central Park Zoo.

From there we walked to Lexington Avenue to visit New York's other famous department store, Bloomingdales. It was very expensive so we didn't buy anything but we did have a smoothie and a piece of cheesecake in Forty Carrots Restaurant on its 7th Floor. New York is famous for its cheesecake too. It's unusual because it's baked.

Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-Four - Afternoon (11 March)

We looked round the Met for three hours but the displays were so diverse we could easily have spent days.

I'm glad we didn't though because then we'd have missed the skating show put on by the Ice School on Central Park's specially constructed (and temporary) ice rink. It was wonderful but really chilly standing watching.

We warmed up afterwards over dinner in the Red Lobster.

Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-Four - Morning (11 March)

We had to do errands this morning - including sending emails for free from the Tourist Information office in Times Square. Afterwards we walked through Central Park to the Boathouse Restaurant for a very reasonable and tasty lunch.

From there we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, known as The Met. We'd been told there was a fantastic bear statue outside so I had my photo taken there before we went inside.

Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-Three - Afternoon (10 March)

We had lunch in the Heartland Brewery at the base of the Empire State Building and then walked down Fifth Avenue to Madison Square Park. It has a special play area for dogs but not for teddy bears :-(.

We also visited Madison Square Gardens, which aren't actually gardens like Time Square isn't a square. Pete Sampras and Roger Federer were playing an exhibition tennis match there that evening. Needless to say it was sold out.

Our next stop was Macy's which claims to be the biggest shop in the world. We had a good look round but didn't buy anything.


After dinner at Simply Pasta we checked the location of the New Amsterdam Theatre, because we're going to a show there later in the week.

Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-Three - Morning (10 March)

Today we went up the famous Empire State Building. It was the tallest building in the world for over 40 years and is still one of New York's must see sights so we were pleased not to have to queue for too long.

Our first stop was the 80th floor where we picked up our souvenir map then we took the lift to the Observatory Deck on the 86th floor. We'd picked a fabulous day for it as the weather was bright and sunny and it was possible to see up to 15 miles away. We took our time and admired the views from all four sides.


Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-Two - Afternoon (9 March)

After our guide had dropped us off, we walked round a bit more of Central Park then headed down Fifth Avenue. We found St Patrick's Cathedral and, as it was Sunday, we went in for part of a service.

Next stop was Build-A-Bear where I got a fabulous New York Yankees cap and a t-shirt. We had dinner at TGI Fridays on 42nd Street then headed back to the hotel for an earlyish night. Tomorrow we are going up the Empire State Building. Before it was built the Chrysler Building (which you can see lit up in this photo) was the world's tallest building.

Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-Two - Morning (9 March)

New York was on Daylight Saving time so we also lost an hour's sleep overnight. That might explain why we didn't get up until 11am!

Our first stop was the hotel lobby where we had brunch, well lunch actually. We knew we were definitely back in the Northern Hemisphere and that it was winter. It was freezing so we had shared a huge bowl of soup and a baguette.

Our hotel was on 42nd Street so, after lunch, we walked along it past Grand Central Station to Times Square (which isn't a square as we know it) and onto Central Park.

Here we met a guide who shows visitors round the park in a carriage on the back of his bike so we went on a tour. It was brilliant (much better value, if not as romantic, as the horse and carriage ride) as we saw at least a third of the park and learned lots about the surrounding buildings and statues.

Barnaby

New York: Day One Hundred and Forty-One (8 March)

Unfortunately we spent most of today travelling. Our cousin gave us a lift to the airport where we bought sandwiches because food isn't served on internal domestic flights (even though it takes five hours to fly from San Francisco to New York).

We were even more glad we'd got them after we'd boarded the plane and were delayed for an hour and a half. JFK airport was closed due to bad weather but the crew showed us an extra DVD (The Nanny Diairies) to help pass the time.

We eventually took off at 3.20pm and landed at 11.25pm (local time). The Supershuttle bus took us into the city to our hotel (The New York Helmsley), where we found we'd been upgraded to a city view. We got to bed in our room on the 37th floor at 1.45am!

We were very tired.

Barnaby

San Francisco: Day One Hundred and Forty - Afternoon (7 March)

After lunch at Boudin café (where they make their own bread, including one in the shape of a teddy bear), we walked the rest of the way to Pier 39. Miss Robb and her mummy bought coats as our next - and final :-( - stop is New York where it will be much colder.

There was such a long queue to get the cable car back from Pier 39 we walked a few blocks and joined a different line. That turned out to be ideal as it dropped us right at Geary (where we’d caught the bus this morning) and there was a bus already there. It was just as well as we were meeting the rest of the family for dinner and it was getting a bit late.



Barnaby

San Francisco: Day One Hundred and Forty - Morning (7 March)

Our cousin was busy today so we took the bus to Union Square and joined the queue for the cable car. (Going to San Francisco and not riding on a cable car would be a bit like going to Venice and not riding on a gondola). We rode all the way to Fishermen’s Wharf (past the famous curving road that features in all the films – Lombard Street).

We had a great time looking at the old ships moored at the wharf before taking an hour’s cruise on the Lovely Martha, which gave us great views of the bay, bridge and Alcatraz. (You can look round now it’s no longer a prison but that didn’t appeal to us).

Barnaby

San Francisco: Day One Hundred and Thirty-Nine (6 March)

More girly stuff again today – all the ladies had manicures!

Then we headed into the city, to the more central part this time. San Francisco is famous for its Chinatown and also has an Italian area known as North Beach. We walked through both these into the main business district, including looking into the beautiful St Francis Hotel. We also saw where the cable cars between here and the shore turn around.

My heart sank a little when we went into another shopping centre but it was only to take the curvy escalator to the café at the top (Nordstroms Bistro), which has wonderful views of where we’d just walked. The winding escalator was a bit unnerving so we took the lift back down.

Barnaby

San Francisco: Day One Hundred and Thirty-Eight (5 March)

More shopping this morning (Miss Robb needed shoes) :-( but least we drove through Golden Gate Park first and past the beach. We also stopped at a cheesecake shop on the way home :-).

When we got back we had a walk round Golden Gate Park as one of the entrances isn’t far from where our cousin lives. It is huge so we couldn’t explore all of it but it’s lovely,

We had dinner in an Italian restaurant back on Sacramento Street.

Barnaby

San Francisco: Day One Hundred and Thirty-Seven (4 March)

First stop this morning was the famous Pier 39, which was looking lovely in the Spring sunshine. The daffodils and tulips planted everywhere in pots were out already.

We had lunch at the Swiss Louis Restaurant, from which we could see the Golden Gate Bridge and the sea lions. (We would have known the sea lions were there even if we couldn’t see them because they make lots of noise.)

Afterwards we toured more of San Francisco and tried to find a bear museum but we didn’t manage to. We had a quiet evening back at our cousin’s.

Barnaby

San Francisco: Day One Hundred and Thirty-Six (3 March)

Although we were now in the Northern Hemisphere, the weather in San Francisco was lovely and Spring-like, especially in the sun.

This morning we went shopping on Sacramento Street and then had lunch at the marina. We had brilliant views of the bay and the famous former prison, Alcatraz. Our cousin also drove us round some more of the city to show us where other relatives and friends live.

Barnaby

San Francisco: Day One Hundred and Thirty-Five (2 March)

All our travelling had caught up with us so we had a lazy day today, getting up late and not venturing out except for a short walk round the block. (That expression comes from America because their cities are built on grid systems whereas ours tend to be more higgledy piggledy).

Two of our relatives had just celebrated their birthdays so in the evening we went out to the country club they belong to for a sumptuous celebration buffet.

Barnaby

San Francisco: Day One Hundred and Thirty-Four (1 March)

Yes, you have read that right! En route from Fiji to Los Angeles, we flew over the International Date Line so we got to experience 1 March 2008 twice. The two days were rather different though.

The nice people at LA International Airport stamped my passport but we didn’t see any of the city because we just collected our bags and checked in for our next flight.

That journey only took an hour – Americans use flights to commute rather like we use buses and trains – and we arrived in San Francisco at 6pm local time.

We were going to stay with relatives and they met us at the airport and took us for a tasty but huge dinner. (It was so big we needed several doggy bags to take the leftover food home). Then we went back to their house for an early night.

Barnaby

Fiji: Day One Hundred and Thirty-Three (1 March)

Our last day on Fiji but we weren’t flying to the USA until the evening so we made the most of our remaining time. That included going in the pool until the rain came down again! Still at least we minded less having to be inside packing then.

By late afternoon it had stopped raining and we had a lovely buggy ride along the beach to the restaurant, where we had dinner before joining our transfer to the airport. The nice driver told us more about Fiji on the way.

On the flight we sat next to a Fijian rugby player who apparently is quite well known. His name sounded like Serenge and he was well over 6ft tall.

Happy Saint David’s Day

Barnaby

Fiji: Day One Hundred and Thirty-Two (29 February)

The year of my Big Trip was a Leap Year (2008) so I had an extra day to enjoy my Fijian paradise. We woke to another blue sky and it got so hot we had to go in the pool to cool down :-).

In the evening we had a Lovo Fijian Buffet for dinner (which was different but quite pleasant) and watched a Meke (traditional Fijian entertainment).

The stars overhead as we walked back to our bure were amazing. (Did you know the stars over the Southern Hemisphere are different from the ones over us ?)

Barnaby

Fiji: Day One Hundred and Thirty-One (28 February)

We woke up to another gorgeous day. I am beginning to like Fiji :-).


After breakfast we had a walk round the resort (parts of which we still couldn't get to because of flooding) and then sunbathed beside the pool.


In the afternoon we were asked to be guests at a wedding taking place in the resort, which was lovely.


This evening we did make it in time for the beating of the drums and lighting of the lamps round the pool and there was another stunning sunset.


Barnaby

Fiji: Day One Hundred and Thirty (27 February)

We woke up to a completely blue sky this morning. At last our tropical paradise island really lookes like one :-).

We spent the morning on the beach and had lunch on our bure balcony before having our first swim in the pool.

We weren't quite quick enough to see the 'Beating of the hali drums' at 6pm but enjoyed the Indian buffet for dinner. (There are lot of people of Indian descent in Fiji).

The day finished with a glorious sunset. (You have to take the photos quickly though because the sun goes down very fast this close to the Equator).

Barnaby

Fiji: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Nine - Afternoon (26 February)

In the afternoon, Miss Robb and her Mummy had a back massage and then we all went on a Jungle River Cruise. This took us along the Nadi river between the island and the mainland, which is lined with mangroves on either side.

Miss Robb's Mummy had really enjoyed doing something similar the last time she was in Fiji, when the weather was glorious. Unfortunately for us the sky was still rather grey and the water was churned up after the recent cyclone. It reminded us of the river Yarra in Melbourne (which the locals joke flows upside down because of its brown colour).

Barnaby

Fiji: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Nine - Morning (26 February)

Hurrah! This morning brought our first opportunity to sunbathe in Fiji.


I tried out the loungers and the hammocks on the beach. It was so quiet we felt we had the place to ourselves. Bliss :-).


Barnaby

Fiji: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Eight (25 February)

The sun still wasn't out this morning :-( but at least it wasn't raining so we explored the rest of the resort. I found a pineapple growing.

We were about to go to lunch when it started to rain again. Miss Robb's Mummy said, 'Not to worry; tropical showers only last ten minutes or so.' Five hours later it was still raining and we were getting hungry so we called a buggy to take us to the restaurant.

Dinner was a Mongolian BBQ. (Having never eaten one before we'd now had two in less than a week!) During it we watched a show by local dancers.

Barnaby

Fiji: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Seven (24 February)

The cyclone which brought the wind and rain to Auckland had had a similar effect on Fiji. There were so many pools of water on the paths we walked along the beach to reach the restaurant for breakfast.

It wasn’t exactly sunbathing weather so, after looking round the resort’s facilities (including an internet café and spa), we finished the game of Phase 10 we’d started back on South Molle in Australia!

Reading our books and checking our emails filled the rest of the day. It was quite nice to have a rest after moving on every other day when we were in New Zealand.

There was a choir singing when we went to dinner, which was lovely. We had a delicious and very filling buffet and got a buggy back to our bure.

Barnaby

Fiji: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Six (23 February)

We had a leisurely start to the day as our flight didn’t leave until early afternoon. We were lucky with our weather in New Zealand – only four wet days in the whole six weeks – but today was very windy and rainy.

Fortunately it was only a short drive to the car hire place. We said goodbye to Dora (our trusty steed since Amberley) and were taken to the airport. The kind people stamped my passport with an exit stamp (to go with the lovely entry one I had showing Christchurch cathedral) but I was sad to be leaving.

It is only a three hour flight from New Zealand to Fiji but they fed us dinner on the plane because we were not going to arrive until night-time (local time).

After we’d landed at Nandi airport, a minibus took us to a jetty as we were staying on an island resort off the main island of Viti Levu. From there we caught a little boat to Sonaisali, checked in and travelled by buggy to our bure ready for an early night.

Barnaby

Auckland: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Five (22 February)

We had to drive back to Auckland today as we fly onto Fiji tomorrow. Our time in New Zealand has gone so fast but it’s been wonderful.

On the way we stopped in Thames, the main town in Coromandel. The Europeans originally called the whole area Thames – after the river in London – but fortunately were persuaded to return to the beautiful Maori name for the peninsula itself.

We took the scenic coastal road back to the city, breaking for lunch at Kaiaua and stopping for a cup of tea at Bach’n in Maraetai.

Roger and Anne had kindly said we could stay with them again and we went out for a Mongolian BBQ with our other friend, Graeme.

Barnaby

Coromandel: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Four - Evening (21 February)

The view from the “Eyefull Tower” at Driving Creek Railway is fabulous.

Afterwards we drove to a local peninsula to admire more lovely scenery - New Zealand is so gorgeous it’s easy to become blasé – and then had a delicious dinner at the Pepper Tree restaurant.

Barnaby

Coromandel: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Four - Afternoon (21 February)

Miss Robb’s sister had recommended we visit the Driving Creek Railway so after lunch on our motel verandah we headed there. What a fascinating place. The owner originally built the railway to access the clay he needed for his pottery business so we had a look round that first before joining the train.

We were in the last carriage which turned out to be the first carriage on the way back so we couldn’t have had a better seat. The switchback bridge was particularly fun. The whole site is environmentally friendly with the intention of preserving New Zealand's unique ecology.

Barnaby

Coromandel: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Four - Morning (21 February)

Coromandel isn’t only the name of the peninsula; it’s also the name of the town where we were spending our second to last night in New Zealand.

We had a lovely drive there along the coastal highway from Whitianga.

Barnaby

Whitianga: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Three (20 February)

This morning we explored the town of Whitianga itself before catching a ferry the short distance to the imaginatively named Ferry Landing. Having explored Front Beach (another beautiful beach with an ordinary name) we decided to walk to Flaxmill Bay.

We originally planned to walk up to the Shakespeare Cliff lookout but decided it was too steep so walked to Cooks Beach instead. That was a lovely undulating walk and not too strenuous despite the fact the day warmed up later on.

We managed to walk straight onto a ferry on the way back too and had an ice cream at the motel before heading into town for dinner.

Barnaby

Cathedral Cove: Day One Hundred and Twenty-Two - Afternoon (19 February)

From Hot Water Beach we drove to Whitianga, checked into our motel and had lunch.

Then we drove to Hahei to walk the trail to Cathedral Cove. It is a 45 minute walk each way along a track with lots of steps but it is well worth it. The views all the way are gorgeous and Cathedral Cove itself is stunning.

Once we got back to the car, we drove to Cook’s Beach and got a take away for dinner.

Barnaby