The four of us in SE Asia

One of the highlights of our trip to Australia was the Kakadu National Park. It is the biggest national park of Australia and at just under 20,000 km2 is 2/3 the size of Belgium. Amazing nature in Kakadu We rented a camper van, another first, for the 4 nights/5 days we were going to spend in Kakadu and Litchfield. Lunch outside our Camper Van Back in Belgium it seemed a very good idea, but as we were getting all the explanations about the camper an it all sounded complicated: recharge auxiliary battery, waste water, toilet outlet, awning cover, etc etc... How were we going to remember all of this?  Anyway we took this leap of faith and drive off into the Australian wilderness. First stop was Cooinda where we parked our van and set everything up.  The nest morning we woke up at 6am to be on time for the Yellow River sunrise cruise. It was superb. We cruised down the billabong and river and saw a dozen crocodiles (all salties*) and hundreds of bird...

Darwin is the state capital of the Northern Territory. It is home to about 150,000 people. We got there from Cairns and enjoyed the nice ambiance of this laid back capital.  Enjoying a drink at sunset in Darwin  The views from the esplanade are very beautiful. Darwin has a short history during which two notable things happened. A WWII bombing raid by the Japanese Imperial forces and a massive destruction from cyclone Tracy.  We visited the military museum where we learnt more about the bombing. As a matter of fact they had 2 raids. The bombings were less than those of Pearl Harbour, but relatively big still. The level of devastation was less both in equipment and human lives as the Australians had prepared themselves for this possibility.  The other notable historical event, cyclone Tracy, hit Darwin on Christmas Day 1974 with a devastating force. With winds blowing at 300km/h and gusts reaching 320km/h the wooden houses covered with corrugated iro...

We landed in Cairns airport early morning, picked up a rental car and headed to Port Douglas, a quaint little town about one hour's drive North.  Road from Cairns to Port Douglas from a lookout - beautiful The drive to Port Douglas is gorgeous with a 20 kilometers section of the James Cook highway classified as UNESCO world heritage. It was spectacular.  We got there and checked in our bungalow. It was self contained and very comfortable.  Race winner is no3. - we tipped it! Over the next days we did quite a few amazing things. One of them was attending the Cairns Cup at the Cairns racecourse. It was really beautiful and everyone had dressed up for the occasion, except us obviously ... We had a great day and almost broke even from a gambling point of view. We got a winner and a couple of places.  Not your average punter - ladies putting in the effort for the cup On Sunday we paid a visit to the local village market. It was unexpec...

After Amed we drove to Sanur. There we had booked a villa close Mesari beach and mum and Sadhna were checked in a hotel very close by.  The girls and mum enjoying lunch in one of the many warungs by the sea We had a good time in Sanur as well enjoying the long walks by the lagoon ad stopping for coffee or lunch and maybe a spot of shopping.  While in Sanur we decided to take a fast ferry boat to go to the one of the islands 30 minutes away, called Nusa Lembogan. Once we got to the island we were met by the gentleman from whom we rented a buggy.  The jaw dropping view from the restaurant in Dream Beach on Lembogan Island Then we followed him to his tour office to book a one hour snorkelling session. We were grateful than mum and Sadhna could take care of Lea while Mara, Roxana and I went on the boat to the snorkelling spot. We spent the rest of the day touring the island and stopping for lunch and a short swim. Soon it was time to catch the ferry ...

We went to Amed which is a very nice and quiet seaside village on the east coast of Bali. Staircase to heaven... On the way there we stopped at Klungkung market for Sadhna to get some fabric she was looking for. The halt was successful and soon we were on our way again. We stopped again at Tirta Gangga for a short visit and had lunch nearby in a nice warung in the middle of the rice paddies. Mara getting ready for the pool at Casa de Amed As soon as we reached Amed we went out to book a SCUBA dive the next morning while Sadhna and mum booked a massage in the afternoon. We dived at the USAT Liberty ( wiki link ) . This dive site is actually a 125 metres transport vessel during WWII. The dive was rather uneventful if not for the entry and exit of the water. Huge waves made it a roller coaster of a SCUBA dive. We also snorkelled with Mara and were fortunate enough to see a hawksbill turtle going about its business for about 10 minutes. Girls "Instaposin...

I took a short break from writing the blog because of two things mainly. Firstly when we got to Bali, mum and Sadhna joined us and we had a couple of late night chats before bed and secondly my phone got lost ... don't ask!  Anyway we arrived in Bali in high spirits as 1) we had just been on one of the best trips of our lives in the Komodo National Park, and 2) we were going to see mum and Sadhna, and we were all looking forward to that.  Our first stop in Bali was Ubud. When we got to our accommodation, Adil's Villa, there had been a misunderstanding as we were led to believe we were booked on the same location but we were not. Anyway with a little frowning and firm convincing, the issue was swiftly resolved and we moved in to our Villa.  Ubud is a town located inland with lots of culture and temple visits to offer. And sure enough we went to quite a few of them from the Saraswati temple in the town centre of Ubud to more distant one such as Tirta Empul. Th...