Switzerland

7th March 2017

After a 6 hour flight to Zurich we were still quite rested, but we awoke before dawn again! It was a sunny day although very cool, about 4 degrees C. So we rugged up a bit and went for a walk to the Zurich lake. There were lots of water birds there and people feeding them. We did note the snow-topped mountains behind the lake, where we will be going tomorrow.

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

 

We caught the train to Chur in the afternoon in preperation for joining the Bernina express, one of the world’s great train trips, accross the Swiss Alps to Milan. Unfortunately Joe seems to be coming down with an URTI - courtesy of the snuffling and snorting man on the flight fom HongKong! Lets hope it really is NOT the bird flu!

 

9th March

We awoke (before dawn again!) to a rainy day- not what you would want for a scenic train trip through high mountains. The cloud was low and visibiulity poor. And Joe was feeling rather poorly with his sore throat. But there is no doubt that the clouds did add a certain moodiness to the views.

 

 

  

 

 

 

But once over the top of the mountain range we did getb some clear views.   The highest point of the trip was 2312m.

 

  

 

 

 

And finally we were back in Italy! Those villages on mountain-sides are unmistakably Italian!

 

 

So tonight we are in Milan, and back in Matilda. We have a few housekeeping matters to deal with here including getting a service done and some minor work done on the vehicle so we will be here for a couple of days a least.

 

Dubai slowly - whilst recovering from jet lag.

4th March 2017

It is time for us to leave Hong Kong for Dubai. The trip takes 9 hours and we arrive in the evening. Unfortunately for us there was a man sitting in front of Joe who snuffled and snorted the whole way to Dubai. We will be lucky if Joe doesn’t get his URTI. Since we don’t eat chicken or eggs it is unlkely that this would be the bird flu which is worrying China just accross the water from Hong Kong in Guangju province. There is plenty of people traffic between Hong Kong and Guangju but no evidence of people to ppeople spread of the virus yet. 

 

Dubai is a place we have been to a few times in the past. It is a real neeting place of people from all over the world. We saw plenty of Iranians, Indians, Russians, Africans, Asians, Americans, Brittish, and Australians. The variety in languages is very interesting. And their dress customs are jsut as interestng. I fund the dress of the African women to be especially flamboyant and colourful. I wish I had the courage to photograph them but sadly I didn’t get the chance.

 

But we did try the African cusine in  a small cafe in old Dubai. The meal had beans, rice and an okra dish. Okra is of course quite slimy and gooey, but I usually try to reduce this effect by cooking it with something acidic (usually tomatoes). But in this case they seemed to have either ignored this aspect or actully enhanced it! Some people dislike it but not me…..

 

 

 

 

We also enjoyed South Indian food in Dubai. There area lot of vegetarians in Sth India and thery have bought their cusine to Dubai. In particular we discovered Idly, Dosa, and Uthapam. These three dishes are all made from the same batter.

 

 

This is Idly, a dumpling made from rice and urad dahl flour and steamed. The batter is first fermented over night, giving it a tang and a fluffiness. Idly is served with sambar (a tomato curry).

Dosa (paper thin) is also made from this batter. Paper dosa is served with chutneys and dipping sauces.  

 

And Uthapam is a thick dosa with tomto and onion, and appeared to be fried. It is also served with dipping sauces.

 

 

We went back to the Anapoorna resturaunt three times to sample these fabulous and fully vegan dishes. Then Joe discovered a supermarket which sold pre-made flours for making the batter. So we are carryng a couple of kilos of flour in our bags, hoping I can make this is the earthcruiser!

 

The gold souk is a must-see in Dubai, so we did go to see it again. We also saw lots of Iranin saffron for sale. I wish now I had bought some! Oh well - next time.

 

  

 

And we went to the Atlantis resort ths time. I have been very attrated by photographs of the resturaunt with the aquarium as a backdrop, so we went in search of that. 

 

The resort is a theme park not unlike SeaWorld on the Gold Coast in Australia. But it certainly does have an aquarium! And we did eat with the sharks and rays swimming nearby! Well we had a cup of coffee. Its strange to me that people can appreciate the creatures swimming in the aquarium and then eat them. Of course sea food dominated the menu here. The aquarium was very well set up with mats and cushions on the floor for just sitting and gazing at the creatures swimming by. 

 

  

 

 

 

  That is a Moray Eel in case you haven’t seen one so close before!

 

 

By the time we left Dubai our body clocks had caught up with the time zone, so it was time to push it again. We were off to Zurich next.

 

 

Away we go again - HongKong and Macau

3 March 2017

We have seen our families, had our medical and dental check-ups, arranged our affairs with our lawyer, completed our tax returns, re-registered our vehicles, discovered that everything we thought we knew about Carnets has changed, booked our tickets…...And we are off again to Europe after a great break in Australia.

To break the long haul flight we have stopped in Hong Kong. This has been a great experience, with such easy travelling here. Nearly everyone speaks English and they are very helpful to foreigners. We found that we were often offered assistance by strangers if we stopped to look at a map or looked confused in any way. This is one of the small things that makes us like a particular city.

One of the highlights of Hong Kong is its colourful night scenery. The harbour front buildings light up in a display which is quite spectacular. We chose to see it from a night-time dinner cruise on Victoria Harbour, and found it gave a us a much better view than we had from our hotel.

        

However the effect of the boat rolling even very slightly in the swell made night-time phography unpredictable. A tripod wouldn’t have helped either. 

We took a trip up to “The Peak” (Victoria Peak) behind HongKong to see the view. The trip up the mountain is via a rail line which goes up at a 40 degree slope. The rail ride alone is quite spectactular, and one of  the  experiences of Hong Kong not to be missed. But the view from the top! Oh my….

    

The population density in HongKong is one of the highest in the world. And cost of real-estate is also extremely high by world standards. Air polution was very obvious to us but we were told that it was coming accross from mainland China. Hong Kong does have coal fired power stations though and they must be contributing. There are also quit a lot of cars, although most cannot afford the parking space required to have one. Apparently 1/10 cars are Teslas (electric) because electricity is cheaper than petrol. And all taxis are run on LPG (Gas).

The airpolution gave us interesting sunsets though…. This photo is of the Sun, not the moon.

I liked the contrast between the Sampans and the high-rises.

   

And finally, a taste of life for the “haves” of HongKong - the very wealthy ones who can afford a piece of land all of their own. Check-out the size of the fish in that pond! This house was very high up on Victoria Peak and surrounded by vegetation, so was very private - except for those of us with lenses looking down from the lookout above!  :) 

   

3 March 2017

We were so close to Macau that it would have been wrong not to go and see it- even if only for 1 day. So we took a ferry (1 hour) arriving in Macau late in the afternoon. 

Macau was a Portugese colony for many years and still has plenty of place names in Portugese, Portugese restaurants, even a wine bar selling esclusively Portugese wines, and tapas. The central square is cobblestoned, but the stones are glazed- more like tiles. This gives the place a sparkling quaint feel. It is very appealing.

    

Of course the place is dominated by the Casinos. We had intended to take in the Casino aspect of Macau, and took our dress-up clothes to fit in. But we needen’t have bothered. Many people were not dressed to any high standard, and once in the Casino we rapidly lost interest in any gambling, even the $10 we had intended to play with! We were in the Lisboa Casino, not the most modern or the largest. But the atmosphere was quite seedy. In addition there was nowhere to sit down except at the gambling tables.  So we left and went back to our hotel. 

Next moring we had planned to go up the Macau tower. But in planning our day out we found that the ferry to the HongKong International airport sailed only twice per day and if we wanted to get there in time we needed to leave immediately! So we found ourselves with no time to see Macau in daylight! What we did see of the town outside the Casinos was interesting, so we will be back. 

This photo shows a bridge under construction (sine 2009) from Macau and Zhuhai (southern China)to Hong Kong airport. It is 50 km long and expected to cost US $10 billion, and includes a tunnel. It is epected to open in Dec 2017. It will give southern China access to Hong Kong and thus improve its economy.

Don’t forget to “like" the facebook page to see videos and photos, bits and pieces that don’t make it into the blog, and you can comment and discuss there too if you wish.  

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Australian rest and recreation.

 

20 September 2016
We are having a great rejuvenation period in Australia. We actually live in Brisbane but we have a property in Eungella, in north Queensland, 12 hour's drive from Brisbane. Our son lives in the Brisbane house, and our daughter lives in Mackay and goes to our Eungella property on the weekends. So we are torn between the two places!

Right now we are in Brisbane. Here we live in the rural outskirts of the city, on acreage. We always notice when we come back to Australia that there are SO many birds and animals here. Europe is a desert in comparison.

 

 

 

Our Eungella property has even more wildlife. It is in rainforest and is surrounded on three sides by national park. I really enjoy birdwatching here. 


     

 

 

30 September 2016

We have a visitor from Europe! Joe’s young cousin “Mira" is from Czech Republic anmd has come here to study and work. His arrival was very timely as we were about to leave for a boat trip with my brother and his family. 

We are near Gladstone at a place called yellow patch, because of the colour of the sand. 

 

 

We have been steadily completing all of our list of things to be done before we go back to Europe. And we have been catching up with our family. That is most important!

 

Don’t forget to check the facebook page. I will try to put a video up there showing the boat and aerial views of our anchorage. Waltzing Matilda - our Earthcruiser Journey around the world