Hello from the Sacred Valley, between Cusco and Maccu Picchu in Peru. And what a blessing it is! We have holed up here for three nights in the middle of our trip to relax, get clean with HOT water and do some vital laundry J Paul was reaching the point of desperation the morning we left Puno and so this is just what was needed. Anyway, I´m getting ahead of myself again. We last spoke as we were leaving Brasil. The flight was uneventful but Lima immigration at ...

Hello to all from Brazil! Here we are in Rio, just back from an evening drink, watching the waves crashing over Ipanema Beach....but more of that later. Matt dropped us at terminal 5 with a good 6 hours to pass before the flight and we made great use of the time in the First Class lounge. We were in good company as Michael Caine was also in there chomping on a burger. We ate quite a lot and I drank quite a lot and we enjoyed our private cabana :) There was a fr...

Hello again I'm now in Sydney staying in a hotel for a couple of nights. The weather is drizzly here and the Sydney weather has been generally very damp and gloomy after the first couple of days at the beginning of the trip. I have met up with Geoff and Elaine yesterday and this morning which was great! Saw Peter and Jo (their son and daughter-in-law) last night and we all went for an amazing Thai meal..yum yum, However, the purpose of this blog is to tell you ...

I had a relaxing last few days in Nelson just cycling and walking and eating cake!! Unusually, when the plane took off we went the 'opposite' way to the norm which gave me one last chance to look over Rabbit Island, the Crab and the Richmond Ranges. It felt sad to leave but not like last year and I know it will always be there for us to revisit for visitors we are at the end of the day. It was a beautiful, calm day and the flight into Wellington was great as was...

Been a while....sorry! I spent some of last week at Helen and Alan's and cycled so many kms that I felt I might lose all feeling in my ***. It was great to reacquaint myself with Nelson life. This mainly involves coffee and cake.....pretty much like Chorleywood life really but with amazing views and sunshine. Early morning walks are also a feature of life with Helen and Hetta. Actually, walks just don't quite cut it. Think route marches up vertical inclines at su...