In the 1960s the Beatles came to Hamburg to seek fame and fortune. A century earlier my ancestors departed from here to seek theirs. We arrived in Hamburg by train from Copenhagen, which was an interesting journey in itself. The train follows a scenic route over many Danish bridges and has to go onto a ferry to make the crossing onto the Jutland Peninsula. We arrived at the Hamburg central station, which is massive and reminded us a lot of Berlin, and found our...

The Ship The Regent Princess is in her inaugural year and she is all sparkly new and ship shape. She carries 3,500 passengers but, because of her size and design, never feels crowded. It is one of the most beautiful ships we have been on, with many bars and restaurants, activity areas, and nooks and crannies to escape to. Day 1 Our journey to the ship itself was a long haul. The Copenhagen Ocean Quay port is relatively new and about 6 kilometres from the city ...

Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen Jolly old queen of the sea ... Hints and highlights from our time here. Getting around The transport system is inexpensive and easy to use, but we stuck to walking. You see so much more this way. We probably covered an average of 15 kilometres a day, so that helped counteract the bread and beer. The city is full of bikes and we quickly learnt to be careful not to walk in the designated bike lanes. Unlike Asia where you find m...

Quite exciting arriving at Airlie Beach by ship, sailing in through the Whitsundays from the north. Everything is lush and green and the island and mainland hills are ablaze with all the poinciana in full bloom. It was as hot and humid as Port Douglas, but we found a cool retreat to have lunch and spend some time with my mother and brother and niece. Lots to see and do here, but for us it was family time that we enjoyed in the old home town.

Well, Port Douglas was a very pleasant stop - hot and humid, and oh so laid back and very typically North Queenslanderish. People walk more slowly, talk more slowly, respond more slowly. The best dressed wear smiles, singlets and thongs (that's the footwear variety of thong I'm talking about). Port Douglas is sandwiched between two World Heritage listed sites - the Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest living structure, to the east and the Daintree, the world...