Good Bye Hong Kong, Hello UK & Thank You

Hello Everyone! So this is our last post on this blog. The 49 nights have finally come to an end and we are back home after the 13 hour flight from Hong Kong. We were looked after very well by the camp stewards on Air New Zealand so we are going to continue the drinking and go to the pub instead of going to bed!
Thanks to all of you for your contributions - I'm sure that have seen that we had the most amazing time that we will never forget! Look forward to seeing / hearing from you all very soon! Lee and Henry xx
A bit of a dreary day coming into land at Heathrow - by the way premium service on Air New Zealand is upstairs - fantastic experience as they serve you at the same time as 1st class and you get the same choice of wines and food that they get!!!
Half way home looking over Siberia
Last view of Hong Kong from the air at 08:30 this morning when we took off (00:30 GMT)

Hong Kong Sight Seeing

We decided that the best way to see Hong Kong was to arrange a private tour - so we firstly went to a famous Taoist temple where we were smoked out by all the incence that is burning all over the place and the ash was falling onto our shoulders. Very interesting! The next stop was to take the world's steepest tram up to Victoria Peak to look out onto the Hong Kong skyline - fantastic views were had!
We were taken out in a Sampan fishing boat in Aberdeen - effectively the birth place of Hong Kong. It is interesting that the people still live and work on these boats!
Hong Kong has beaches! We are stood on Repulse Bay which is the largest of them. We also touched the "God of Wealth" as a woman won over 10 million HK dollars in Macau a few weeks ago after she did the same! Very supersticious the chinese!
The shopping mecca of the world! We have spent 6 hours today walking around markets and electrical shops! This street is called Sai Yeung Choi and has every electrical gizmo you could ever imagine! Of course at really good prices also! We bought a few bits...... By the way you can imagine how we feel today in the crowds following last night's session...... rough!
The view this evening from the Kowloon Promenade outside our hotel looking over at Hong Kong island!

Hong Kong Boozies!!!!

As we arrived so late in the evening on Tuesday we did not have the opportunity to sampe the delights of Hong Kong's night life. Given that our tour left us on the island, we decided to do a little pub crawl. Well, I say little as we started at 6pm and Lee and I got home around 3:30 am. So apologies to those of you who were receiving drunken texts!

The following photos show us around 10pm with bunny ears Lee had bought from a hawker!
These photos also appear on Gail and Jim's blog so that they get more coverage!

We love this pose of Jim's! He'll have to dye his goatee pink next!

Bye Bye Sydney, Australasia and the Southern Hemisphere

We stayed locally for our last evening in Sydney and went to Jordan's Fish Restaurant. We were joined by Jim's daughter Felicity and her friend Jo who are backpacking here in Aussie! H's friend Sarah-Jane who moved back to Sydney from Southampton also joined us. Much fun was had - and we drank a few bottles of wine! Really did have to be done!

Breakfast at Bill Graingers in Surry Hillls Sydney. Fantastic! Only point is that the scambled eggs must have been done on double cream! Both Lee and I will need to visit a tailor in Hong Kong no doubt, as our arses may not fit into our current clothes - well actually it's more the belly hangover of the trousers! Not that we are obsessed or anything!
So that's our Australian part of the holiday over and we are about to go to the airport to make our gradual way home!
We'll write to you from Hong Kong!!!

Diving on the Bait Reef - Great Barrier Reef

As per the previous post, Lee was bored the one day that we had rain so booked himself to do a day's diving, and left at 7am the following morning.
I think that this outfit must complete the full fetish look - given that he is donning a lycra suit with rubber on top. The gimp mask and breathing apparatus you can see in the next photo!
So that leads me on to a worrying conclusion. Lee has been sky diving; he has now deep sea dived and the only other diving that we can think of is that of the female variety (i.e. muff)! Now he does assure me that his diving experiences will be limited to air and sea - although interestingly enough we both stated that we would not go into the bush....... :-)
The costume for the next fancy dress party on Queen's Day (April 1st) in Amsterdam!
A silouhette of Lee on top of the sea

Hamilton Island - In the Wetsundays!!!

The next part of the trip was to go to the Whitsunday Islands. Even though only 400 miles from Cairns we were routed via Brisbane, 1000 miles south to go back 600 miles north. Still it was the only way. Now the Whitsunday Islands are off the north Queensland coast on the Great Barrier Reef. Hamilton Island where we were going has the only airport (if you can call it that) amongst the islands. Now many of you will know that I'm not particularly a keen flyer and I saw 4 aborted landings over the 4 days that we were there! The pilots have to guide themselves onto the landing strip!!!! Any cross winds or poor visibility and they try to land when they can or get re-routed to Mackay! Worrying - but a stewardess did tell me that this could occur! Glad that I wasn't on the plane that approached the run way and took off just before it took off again!
Still we managed 1.5 days of sun but then came the monsoon. Those of you who have either been to Thailand or have been in monsoon rains will sympathise that there isn't really much you can do apart from stay inside! Still, given the gruelling travel itinery H was happy to sit and read a book and L was doing domestic chores to keep himself occupied!
A view from the top of Hamilton Island. You will notice that we were trying to judge how many inches on the waist we have put on, to date!
A view of the Resort complex - big hotel, only beach on the island and swimming pools. We lived about 10 minutes away by buggy - oh forgot to mention that we could only use golf buggies to drive around the island! A bit of a different size to Mitsi!
The one occasion we managed to get into a nice restaurant - this picture shows our gourmet starter!
Well, Lee did not believe me when I said that the wasabi (japanese horseradish) was strong! He was about to explode! Serves him right - was extremely funny though!

The Real Reef Beauties.

Pictures from the semi submarine!!
Some superb coral on the Agincourt Reef.

The Reef "Beauties"!!!!

The summer collection in Australia for Fetish wear - these are definitely an addition to anyone's wardrobe! Snug lycra to the skin (i.e. sucks you in), in sea blue, water restistant and factor 65 sun screen. Please send us a note and we will place the orders...... limted availability so act now!!!! :-)

H is breathing in and Jim is breathing out!! How long can you hold your breath in the name of vanity?????

The Great Barrier Reef

These are a few pictures that we have taken whilst visiting the Agincourt Reef north of Port Douglas. Gail and Lee took a helicopter out to the pontoon 28 nautical miles out to see and Jim and I took the more leisurely boat. Of course this was only to do with the few extra pounds of weight that I have found on my travels! Again, these pictures do not give justice to the beauty of the reef. The snorkeling just off the pontoon and also the semi submersible were excellent ways of just getting a taste of this amazing underwater world!

Latitude 16 - Port Douglas

As you can see, Port Douglas is hot, steamy and sweaty!! From Latitude 46 in Bluff, NZ to 16 here in Port Douglas, OZ, we're pretty pleased with the distance we've covered!!
A view over the peninsula from the helicopter.

Hunter Valley & the "Skippies"

Being so close to the vineyards, we planned a couple of nights in the Hunter Valley that is world famous for its Shiraz Grape. We stayed in the Hunter Resort that really does sound sexy but we ended up in a two bedroom chalet with no room to swing a cat in the bedrooms and Jim referred to it as "The Hutch". Needless to say we didn't spend much time there but it was adequate.
The next day we arranged a tour with Liesa of Hunter Tours and of course we asked to visit more boutique wineries rather that the big boys. We started the morning off at a champagne house at 10:18 in the morning! Great stuff. Mud pie for a morning snack! Now Liesa told us about "Tea bagging" and taught us how to "fluff" - ask us when we get home what this means. We were in hysterics all day. You can see that this photo shows Liesa about to give Lee a clip in the earhole - he was rude enough to suggest that she remove her bra to get rid of the double chin! How rude???!!!!!

Has to be some pink along the way of course!

We were lucky enough to find a local family of Skippies! They do exist!!!! Off to Port Douglas next! Cyclone Helen awaits us.......

Blue Mountains

Apologies for the delay in getting the blog up to date but we have found ourselves in a few places back of beyond where there has been no internet!
We spent a couple of nights in the Blue Mountains to the west of Sydney. The photos to the side depict our organised daytrip looking at the canyons and basically ensuring that we didn't have too many places where there were too many people!
So, we have to be honest here; we have been to the bush! We didn't admit that we were constantly in the bush in New Zealand but actually we were and now here is the evidence that we are in the bush in Australia. You can imagine that we didn't know where to put our faces when Lee asked Danny our guide as to what best described and constituted "the bush!"
The four intrepid travellers on the edge of a canyon.



Jim stated that this was the best ride he's had all holiday! Much to the amusement of many tourists and Gail's disgust!
This photo shows the steepest train ride in the world! It's crazy and takes you to the bottom of the mine shaft in the canyon!

This is the most famous view of the Blue Mountains that depicts the Three Sisters. Of course we kept fogetting and calling them the seven sisters (As per north London)! We had diner in a lovely restuarant that evening that overlooked this view, but we saw nothing as the fog rolled in!

The Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk

We heard about the bridge walk quite a few years ago and before we left Lee managed to get 2 places for a twilight walk. I was very happy when Gail said that she would take my place as I wussed out and to be honest, all of you are probably amazed already as to what I have done which is totally out of my comfort zone! This would have meant walking on gantries and being attached by wire to the rails - I think not some how!!!!!
So as you can see from this picture they are walking across the arch. Also, did you actually know that the Sydney Hardbour bridge is modelled on the bridge in Newcastle Upon Tyne?
So here are Gail and Lee at the top of the bridge overlooking the Opera. They spent the whole trip nattering about shopping and doing the laundry and other topics that Lee would come out with! Still their outfits are lovely aren't they? Definitely escaped the local asylum!
The official shot looking over the Sydney Central Business District. Whilst they were enjoying all of the views, Jim and I were - well, you've guessed it - in the pub!!! We visited a few pubs in the Rocks area of Sydney - effectively the oldest part of the city. We also met up with my friend Sarah-Jane who moved back to Sydney on the 1st December - the same day we started our World Tour. Needless to say when Lee and Gail arrived back on terra firma they needed a drink - so the evening continued merrily along. Then again, what else would you expect from a group of brits on tour?? The chinese food afterwards was fab!! So if you are ever in Sydney the Golden Century in Sydney China town has wonderful food and is open until 4am!