Hello all! I am safely at Debbie (my sister) and Ailsa's home in the lovely Southern Highlands, an hour south of the city. I am, however, pretty tired and will find a time tomorrow to load a few photos with Debbie's help! So, just words today.

The flight with Air Asia was brilliant and I would use them again any day. I slept quite well and it was smooth. The sunset I witnessed as we turned across the sea at Kuala Lumpur took my breath away. The clouds seemed to form a valley and at the end was the sun, glowing deep orange and casting a vivid pool of light on the water. I didn't have my camera out but the memory will stay with me for a long time. Before I could even start to worry about the landing we were down. The leg from KL to Melbourne was turbulent but not alarmingly so.

I had forgotten that Paul and I said we would never use Melbourne airport again as a port of entry but all was brought back to mind as I walked into the terminal. There were thousands of people waiting in snaking lines for the passport control. It took an hour and a quarter to get to one of only 4 manned desks. It was worthy of a third world country...in fact, I've been to many less developed places that were more efficient. I had nearly 3 hours to get my Sydney connection and had hoped to get something to eat and drink. Oh no! Having finally got through to the baggage hall everybody then had to queue all over again to get through only 3 desks at which they went through, in detail, the declaration about dirty shoes and fruit. It was simply unacceptable and many people missed their onward flights. I caught mine with less than 5 minutes to spare.

Debbie was waiting at the airport in Sydney and it was so good to see her after so many hours of being on the move. She popped me into her beautiful Jag and whisked me off to the hills where it was cooler. Ailsa was working at home and so we had a chance to chat and catch up. They have two mad cats and a lovely home. We had dinner outside and drank champagne and wine and I finally collapsed at nine o'clock.

Today we have been to some of the pretty towns in the hills and driven through stunning countryside which will be explored when I am less tired. Needless to say we managed coffee and cake!

It's great to be here and I'm looking forward to the time I can spend with Debbie and Ailsa as well as other friends later in the trip. I just feel quite pleased to have made it :)