As is our usual holiday habit some disaster always seems to happen just before we leave home. For this trip it was Sarah losing her mobile phone whilst at a Uni lecture. Whilst we are away, Sarah and Claire will need to be able to communicate with each other in order to coordinate transport. We were unable to find it and were running late to get to the airport although with enough time to spare.

Off to Melbourne with our friends Sue and Chris O'Keefe where we met with Sue and Chris's daughter for dinner at an irish pub in the International Terminal.

Our flight to Kuala Lumpur wasn't leaving at 1.35 AM (well it was cheap) so we spent more time at the pub before heading to the gate.

The flight was pleasant with a full moon illuminating the sea and some of the islands on the way. Had a nice view of Singapore as we descended into Kuala Lumpur.

We were met by our mini bus driver which we had prearranged and he took us to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. There was a lot of smog in K.L. and visibility was very restricted. It was about 25 degC when we arrived and 6.30AM with a top temp of 35degC expected. Fortunately we were climbing to 1300 metres so it was much cooler. The traffic was hectic and we probably would've been a bit more relaxed had the driver not tailgated all the way up the narrow winding road. We stopped at a waterfall along the way and a toilet stop. The men's had squat toilets, a challenge I wasn't quite up to with only about 2 hours sleep. Arriving in Tanah Rata eventually we located our 'apartment' which sadly was on the second floor and Sue with a dodgy knee… The reports on TripAdvisor had been a bit scathing but we were quite surprised to find the room reasonable with a nice view. We were also surprised to find that there appeared to be no hot water and when reception was approached on the matter the attendant told us that there was a switch on the wall to turn it on and could we turn it off before we go to bed! We had lunch in a nice restaurant in town and dinner at the hotel across the road.