What a day - we woke early and got out on to the local bus down to Circular Quay. People here are so friendly and we had already made several bus stop friends and by the time we got to our stop today several more passengers had given us hints and tips. We spent a lot of the day on the water using the ferries to move to and from Darling Harbour. It was a great way to be part of the building excitement and to watch the crowds gathering in the parks and any vantage...

We waved goodbye to Asia and were very sad that our time there had come to an end, we had a wonderful time, great experiences and met some lovely people. After a nine hour night flight we arrived into Sydney at 08.45 and hopped on to the airport link train into the city and checked into our hotel. By 1.00pm we had joined our pre booked bicycle tour of Sydney which was a great way to see the city and the highlight of the afternoon was cycling over the bridge. Co...

Coming back to the Sheraton Hotel was like coming home, how impressive to be greeted by name in a 300 bed hotel. We arranged for a student guide to accompany us today, we visited the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the temple of literature, the prison and the B52 museum. It was an unusual day which included a lost lunch order, delaying us in the restaurant for over an hour which meant that Jan was on hand to administer first aid when another diner collapsed and a taxi ...

Christmas Day dawned bright and early with tai chi on the deck at 7.00am - a strange start to the day but worth the effort. After a cooked breakfast the six of us set off on a day excursion cruising the bay on a smaller boat. Once we dropped anchor four of us were up for kayaking and set off for one and a half hours exploring secret caves and lagoons around the bay. This was a first for Jan but she loved it and didn't even get wet feet. Upon returning to the bo...

On Christmas Eve we had a four hour coach journey from Hanoi to Halong Bay, but was it worth it!! Halong Bay has over 2000 islands, stretches for over 100km towards China and is absolutely beautiful. Although the weather was overcast the water was still a vivid green and rocky islands stunning against the skyline. There were eighteen guests on board - 16 Australians and ourselves. We met a group of 4 Aussies who we had a real laugh with, they also gave us lots...