Catch up to where we are!

Blog 32 - A Catch up to where we are in real time!

On Tuesday March 12th we flew away from Christchurch and the spectacular country of New Zealand on our only flight of our 126 day adventure.  The flight was bound for Melbourne Australia to stay for a couple of days with an old friend of Jacky's before going on by train to Sydney. However, as you can see by the date of our departure, I am very much aware that my blogs are now far behind our journey due to various reasons including time and internet constraints. Not to mention having major headaches with hunting for a new lap top power supply and later a corrupted hard drive replacement.. 

The two main objectives of our trip have now both been achieved - to visit a couple of South Pacific Islands and to tour New Zealand extensively. Not wanting to fly long haul meant that the return trip by ship was a bonus, albeit a very  adventurous and exciting one. My blogs have hopefully covered that initial itinerary and in a way I have completed my own challenge - to make in blog form an interesting summary and storyline. 

Of course it is not complete, but on the other hand I do want my regular blog visitors to feel they are really with me on the last leg of the trip. I have therefore taken the decision to become 'Dr Who' and travel through time! Our 'Tardis' lands after magically travelling FORWARD 47 days to sit on the decks of the QM2 as she slowly moves south to north through the Suez Canal, the date is Tuesday 29th April. Future blogs will now follow the QM2 home to Southampton.  I will continue to work and insert blogs of where and what we did and include some stories of those missing six to seven weeks but for now a quick summary of that itinerary… 

Following our lovely stay in Melbourne we travelled by train to Sydney to spend a few days before joining the Ocean Princess for a voyage to Singapore. This cruise included visiting Brisbane, a chance to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef and see Darwin, before a chance to  see the dragons of Komodo Island in Indonesia.  A long sail followed, up and across the South China sea to Vietnam and the Mekong Delta, then onwards,  south west to the Thai island of Ko Samui and finally south to Singapore where we had four nights in a hotel. 

Joining the QM2 on April 10th, we had two visits in Malaysia before sailing across the Indian Ocean to Sri Lanka and visiting the temple city of Kandy. We then sailed west to Dubai in the UAE, on to the port of Muscat in Oman, turned up the Red Sea to Aqaba to the wonder that is Petra before going back on ourselves and round into the Gulf of Suez (dodging pirates on the way!) and finally transiting the canal itself to our current position, cruising the Mediterranean Sea towards Italy and the port of Civitavecchia, two hours drive from Rome..  

Almost seven weeks from our time in New Zealand and it is simply unreal to us that we will soon be back home in the UK. It has become a way of life on the high seas and to get back to 'normal' will seem very strange indeed.

Blog 33 will cover the transit of the Suez canal……

DKT