Once again we hopped in the Delorean to do a bit of time travelling. This time our flight lasted 11 hours but we arrived in Hong Kong 7 hours after we left Auckland, oh the joys of time zones.

Out in the airport we have a nerve racking wait for our bags as they literally were the last two bags on the carousel, by the time they came out everyone else on our flight had left the airport!!! We find our shuttle bus and we head off into the night to our hotel. We check in and buzz our way into the largest hotel room ever; it was actually bigger than our old place in Perth (ahh fond memories).

After a good night sleep we were ready to start our Honk Kong adventure. First stop the all you can eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant!! All you can eat was completely blown out the water and we waddled off from the restaurant bursting at the seams!! We later found out that you needed to sign for the breakfast, and as we didn't, it wasn't charged to our room and we got it all for free, haha what a Brucie bonus!!

From the hotel we wandered through the bustling streets of Hong Kong searching for the Subway line. The hotel concierge looked very shocked when we said we'd walk the 10 minutes to the station and insisted we take a taxi, "mate we're hardened travellers, we don't use taxis" The walk through the streets was nice and the pavements are strewn with art pieces and gardens, upon finding the station we first had to navigate through the gigantic shopping mall they had built on top of it. The 'tube' was simple and speedy and after making a few changes we hopped off in the centre of Hong Kong Island.

For those that aren't aware, Hong Kong used to be under British colonial rule until 1997 so the city has a western vibe to it although remaining very Asian. Hong Kong itself is made up of a collection of large islands and it sits at the very bottom of mainland China. It is now part of China in a very strange way, it still has its own currency and makes its own laws but somewhere along the way they report to Beijing.

Back in the centre of town we headed off towards HK gardens. The gardens are very much like the rest of Hong Kong, green!! It's quite surprising that in a city with at least a thousand buildings over 20 storeys, that they manage to have so much green space. Aside from the large park we were walking through, the city doesn't have many 'parks' in the traditional sense, it does however just have trees and bushes growing everywhere, from the baskets bolted to the overhead walkways to roof top buildings and 'wall gardens' towering up the sides of buildings. Any hoo the park was a myriad of different sections, from the Tai chi gardens to the aviary, there really was something for everyone. We started off walking through the water section, complete with ponds, fountains and waterfalls, the ponds even had their own resident turtles!! From there we ventured into the Tai Chi area where there were a few groups of people meditating and doing yoga and we're guessing, Tai Chi! Here's where we also made our first mistake of the day. We decided to take ourselves up a 40 meter viewing platform that consisted of about 120 steps. From there we got a great view of the park and gardens. And as the old saying goes, what goes up must come down. The aviary came next and was full of hundreds of different birds pottering about and doing their thing.

The park however was a delightful short cut to our first destination of the day, The Peak tram. The tram is the oldest public mode of transport in HK and takes people all the way up into the high hills on HK Island. The tram climbs a ridiculously steep hill all the way to the summit of the hills and the massive complex they have built at the top. After getting off the tram we travelled up about 7 more floors (full of stairs) to get to the top. The Sky Terrace as it's called offers 360° views of the whole city. It is the only place in HK that you can see all the towering buildings on both sides of the harbour. The view was spectacular, and showcased the absolutely jam packed city from high above. It really is hard to believe just how many skyscrapers there are in one place!! After treating ourselves to some sweets we headed backwards down the tram line to our next stop.

The island of Lantau is right next to Hong Kong Island but we had to travel back to the mainland (Macau) to get to it, so we were learning quite alot about the subway system. One of the gems we learnt was that if you want to get on/off a train you just push your way through the crowd, everyone else does it and if you can't beat them, join them. Another thing we quickly learned is that Hong Kong-y-uns (that probably isn' t their official term) will stop at any point on a walkway, will walk diagonally or backwards for no reason and they rarely look up from their phones unless they are taking a 'selfie'. So it's fair to say we were enjoying the constant hustle and bustle of a 7 million people super city! Keeping ourselves incredibly calm under the constant pushing and shoving was that our next stop was out in the open.

Now you may have noticed that we have a bit of a proclivity for Gondolas!! Yes here we are on yet another cable car ride. Now a long while ago(back in Malaysia) we went on the world's highest Gondola(Genting Highlands) and the worlds Steepest Gondola (Langkawi) now was the time for the world's longest gondola!! At 6km long the Hong Kong Gondola leaves the city behind and takes the passenger out into the wilderness of Lantau. Lantau Island is 10% port and airport and the rest is a protected reserve. The gondola crosses over the port hills and there is nothing but green forest all the way to the temple and giant Buddha at its end. The giant Buddha is the largest seated Buddha in the world and is almost 6 storeys high, he sits atop a hill looking out towards the lavish monastery nearby. The monastery and Buddha are the only developed part of the reserve, as is the small fishing village that supplies the monks. Here in this part of HK many people come to worship and pay respect to their departed. We hopped off the gondola and had a look around at all the religious and historical artefacts that adorned the paths leading to the Buddha. At the foot of the hill we looked up towards the Buddha and saw the few hundred steps leading upwards. "We'll we've gotta go up there to see him" Once again up hundreds of steps we went, knowing that we'd have to come down again. The Buddha was massive, and it's amazing to think they made it all out of bronze over 200 years ago. What was more amazing is that it's not only out in the middle of nowhere, but it's also at the top of a big hill. No wonder the Buddha was smiling, he got to watch hundreds of people sweating while running up a down a hill all day.

Evening was approaching by the time we had returned from the Buddha and we faced a long wait in the queue to get the gondola back, 3 daft kids in front of us waited an hour only to be told that there tickets weren't valid, they were gutted, but we were 3 places closer to a gondola, happy days. By the time we had journeyed back along the 4 tube lines to our station it was nearly 10pm. We got off the crammed train and out into the plaza they built on the station. Oh my god. Its 10pm on a Sunday and you have never seen so many people in your life. Absolutely thousands of people, young, old, families, randomers, the shops were heaving the restaurants were packed. Then there's us, shattered from a day walking around the city, trying to shuffle our way through the masses. How we made it we'll never know but we did, back in our mansion sized room, piping hot bath, phone call down to room service, bedtime!!

The groans that were coming from room 829 the following morning were deafening. Getting out of bed we realised that all the walking and dodging people and obviously all the bloody steps had taken their toll on us, we were aching from the waist down. Neither of our calves were responding like they should, overnight we had became geriatrics!!! Still we had a mission to go on, a simple case of aching legs would not stop us, for today, today we were going to DISNEYLAND!!!!!

HK Disneyland was brilliant. We spent the whole day there and even part of the night!! The journey once again began by fighting our way through the mall and on to the subway. After about 3 changes we finally made it to Sunny Bay. Sunny Bay was gateway to Disneyland. From here we boarded a Mickey Mouse train (a normal train with Mickey shaped windows, Mickey handholds and even mini bronzed Disney statues) and the magic began. Having bought our tickets at the airport we laughed all the way passed people standing in line to get into the park, we found an English map and in we went.

We started off on Main Street which they have decorated with a huge Christmas tree and hundreds of Mickey shaped wreaths and festive items. The park had just opened but the queue to meet Mickey and Minnie was already huge. We sauntered along Main Street and caught a glimpse of all the wonderful things inside the Disney Emporium. Main street was mainly food and shops so we didn't waste much time there as we knew we'd be coming back this way at the end.

The park is broken into 6 sections, 7 including Main street but that doesn't have any rides, Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Toy Story Land, Mystic Point , Fantasyland and Grizzly Gulch. You will have noticed that 'land' is the common theme. First stop for us Adventureland.

Adventureland was themed like a lost jungle kingdom and combines Junglebook with Tarzan. The first ride we went on was a trip to Tarzans tree house which is a situated in the middle of a jungle lake. The tree house is huge walkthrough ride that tells the story of Tarzan complete with animatronic characters that move about and journey up through the massive tree. Next stop was a river boat ride that took us round the lake and through the mystic jungle where spiders, crocodiles and hippos would all jump out from the water and trees at the boat before the indigenous people turned up and blew darts at everyone!! Having survived that our boat captain took us head on into the fiery mountain where the boat nearly set on fire before the giant cauldron went off and soaked everyone!! As the Lion King show wasn't been shown in English till later we left Adventureland behind after Declan had fought a child for a go on the giant bongos.

Next up was Grizzly Gulch where after walking through the Wild West themed town Declan joined the 'lone rider' queue for the runaway mine cart. Now as much as Declan would like Melanie to accompany him on the rides, that fact that he can join the lone rider queue and doesn't have to wait for more than a minute, is brilliant. Standard runaway mine cart ride, fowards, backwards and a loop-d-loop. Happy snapper Melanie even managed to get a photo of lone rider. We didn't spend long in Grizzly land, mainly because we couldn't work out what film it was meant to be from and aside from the minecart ride and a random water cannon there wasn't much for adults to do there as the rides were themed at toddlers. Into a new land called Mystic Point and Melanie decides she'll go on the main ride in this zone. Mystic Manor. Mystic Manor is an all-new attraction within Mystic Point with special effects and architecture featuring Lord Henry Mystic's Magneto Electric Carriage which transports guests into a mysterious and fantastic universe to view his amazing collection of art and antiquities from around the world. Although the ride isn't very scary, it is considered enchanted. The ride tells the story of Lord Henry Mystic and his monkey Albert. Having recently acquired an enchanted music box, Albert opens the box and brings everything inside the house to life. The ride was really funny and very entertaining. Mel survived the experience and even wanted to go on again!!!

Toy Story Land was next and we'd been waiting for this place for a while. When we walked into this part of the park we were transported back to Andy's backyard where the Toy Story Characters come alive. We waited patiently like a couple of western weirdos and had our photos taken with Woody and Jessie. To say it was cringey would be an understatement but we loved it! Next up for 'ol' thrill seeker was a ride on the RC coaster. The ride was styled like the wacky Remote control car from Toy story and it basically went about 100 ft up vertically and then drop on to a track shaped like a U. The most embarrassing part of the whole ride was that it didn't have a lone rider queue and Declan was called out in front of everyone, he had to shamefully raise his hand when a spotty kid shouted lone rider down the aisle then walk past about 200 people to get into the car.

Eventually we arrived in Fantasy Land, which is nothing like you would expect from a place so glamorously named. Fantasy land is where all the traditional style rides are found. Melanie having never been on a carousel finally got the chance to mount a freaky porcelain horse and ride around with a grin on her face. Next up was a 4D cinema complete with a flying life-sized Donald Duck arse!!! The best ride in the whole area though had to be the Winnie The Pooh ride. This ride features an oversize beehive shaped motion car ride which bring you travel through Hundred Acre Wood and immerse yourself in the stories of Winnie the Pooh. It was a quite fun and relaxing family ride without any "unexpected" horror. There was however the 30 minute queue we had to stand in however. Now this queue wouldn't have been at all strange if we had a 3 year old child with us like EVERYONE else. Two adults queuing for a Winnie the Pooh ride , that's all that needs to be said!! We rode around the ride in a GIANT honey pot. How will we ever live that down?!!!!!

If we hadn't 'camped' it up enough for the day we then headed off to meet and greet characters in the Mickey gardens!!! Cuddling up to Mickey, Goofy, Pluto and Eeyore might well have been the highlight of the day. The people in those costumes are either saints or genuinely in love with their jobs. Pluto being the perfect example. ((Mickey's pet dog) on a side note have you ever realised Mickey's best friend,Goofy,is also a dog, I wonder how he feels about Mickey's choice of pet!!) Anyway back to Pluto, he full on bear hugged the hell out of both of us and then had a pretend Wolverine style fight with Declan!! All in all though the costume people were great, we decided against meeting Minnie mouse though as she seemed a tad slutty, plus the queue was literally full of weird old Asian men satisfying some crazy urges.

Tomorrow Land was our next port of call and Declan took himself off to be deafened! His enjoyment of Space Mountain was slightly dampened by the coma inducing high pitch scream from the woman he had to sit next to after being once again embarrassed as a lone rider. Tomorrow land also featured a laser quest ride for pairs. Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters allowed the plucky duo to help Buzz Lightyear defeat Emperor Zurg. The ride vehicle was equipped with a steering wheel and two blaster guns where you can use the steering wheel to rotate the vehicle to face front, back or side to side. Along the whole ride, Dec and Mel used the laser blaster guns to shoot Zurg and his minions to earn points. Mels points were in the healthy hundreds but thankfully Declans were in the thousands and between the two they managed to ward off the deadly invasion.

As if by total chance we then stumbled upon the "Flight of Fantasy Parade" which is a must see musical parade whenever you visit Disneyland. This parade featured seven Disney Character floats such as: Mickey's Magical Airship, Caught Up in Daydreams (Winnie the pooh), Romance Takes Wing (Disney Princesses, looking very tasty we may add!!!), Jumpin' Jungle Jam, Hangin' Ten and Ridin' High (Lilo Stitch) and To Infinity and Beyond (Toy Story).

Yeah it's sad that we remembered them all!!

The parade was brilliant and we managed to get front row seats without any hassle (mainly because the part of the road we stood by had the sun shining on it and HongKong-e-uns avoid direct sunlight!) The parade lasted like half an hour and considering one of the floats had a breakdancing Baloo the bear, that guy must have died after the performance!! Hands up the best costume though went to Rafiki from the Lion King. That guy just stood there waving a stick at people. Classic!!

When the parade ended, we went over to the Jungle River Cruise which is a river tour along the River of Adventure with a cast member on board as guide and driver. Randomly there was a split queue of "Cantonese, English and Chinese" speaking guide for us to select our preferred language guide too. After deciding against going in a different queue 'for a laugh' we joined the English one. We enjoyed the cruise and throughout the ride the humorous guide put on a good show, he also puts some "surprises" during the ride. The final scene of this ride featured two huge rocks representing the Gods of Water and Fire with some seriously dramatic fire and water effects that surprised and bemused us.

Before leaving the park, we went to the Emporium at Main Street USA to grab some gifts and souvenirs for ourselves and friends. It was night time by the time we got out of the shop and once again we stumbled upon a parade. This one though was extra special. It was the Christmas parade. Mickey and friends came out on a massive Santa sleigh and with a host of fireworks, dancers and fake snow, lit up the huge Christmas tree in the middle on Main Street. It was a lovely way to end a cracking day. Tired and weary we re-boarded the Mickey express and headed off into the night.

Our final day in Hong Kong was equally jam packed and frantic. It involved a boat cruise up the river, and down again, a crazy midnight light show, Declan getting chatted up by a herd of teenagers and a trip all around the city on not 1 but 2 different open top buses!!!! Some things though you'll just have to ask us about.

Next stop China and the secret of the century!