The first stop of a bit more country hopping. Why just fly to Malta, when Sicily lies so close, and if going to Sicily why not add in Sardinia, finish the trip in the first of the two Italian Capitals, Rome, then lastly the capital of fashion, Milan. Malta, Mr Bunny has never been to Malta whereas Mrs B went a long time ago, therefore we decided it was high time we visited this tiny little island in the Mediterranean together. Even though Malta is tiny, we still opted to stay in three very different places. Starting in Sliema. We chose Sliema for its close vicinity to the island Capital Valletta. Our room was just a stone throw from the harbour and with neither cooking facilities or breakfast included, we knew we would have to go searching for food. Tiffany`s came recommended, a busy little restaurant on the sea front, you know the type, chairs and tables on the roadside, covered with plastic roof and sides. Or, as Mrs Bunny pointed out, we could sit on those two chairs in front of that little pancake place with its nice looking menu. Ha! These two chairs may have sat on the outside, but inside this `little` cafe went on forever, and it was beautiful, pink, frilly, quirky, old ladies boudoir crossed with grandmas kitchen, a touch of whimsical, a swirl of both Alice in Wonderland and Madam Puddifoots from Harry Potter and I give you Carolina`s. We were aiming for the terrace thinking it was upstairs, but it just got better with the terrace a first floor balcony overlooking the harbour. We came to eat here for the next three days. We caught the ferry across to Valletta, just a short bunny hop away, and wandered the old town for hours. It was nothing as a I remember, I even wondered if I came to this part of Valletta as nothing jogged my memory. Pleased about this as I do prefer new memories, rather than vague recollections of old. It is hard to write about Valletta because although old, it was also crazy busy. We realised why when we reached the harbour and found not one, but two cruise ships in the port. I have seen cruise ships before, but never this close, and I was actually overwhelmed, even sickened by the size of these things. I asked a crew member on the port side, how many passengers? 3000, and this was the smaller of the two ships. No wonder Valletta was so busy. It was there and then that I decided that a cruise ship was my idea of floating hell. We have encountered other cities that host the cruise ships, and they too are swamped. 3-5 thousand people, swarming en masse into a small city? No thanks. We stayed in Sliema, but saw nothing of the town. We didn`t feel like we needed to. It is just a mass of endless buildings, flats, apartments, hotels all crammed into a very small area. As you fly over Malta on the way to the airport, it is easy to see how this island could quite easily become nothing but houses with no green spaces such is its rapid spate of growth. The next few days we hired a car, based ourselves in the town of Mosta, central and mostly residential housing. We stayed in an apartment that we shared with its owner. Effectively we booked their spare bedroom. From Mosta we ventured around the island. From Marsaxlokk to Dingli, Medina to Mgarr. We tried hard to cover as much of the island as possible, whilst choosing not to enter the many paid attractions, museums or shows. I think it would be fair to say that we saw a lot of the areas of Malta, but not a lot of the stories. There are many many places of interest, but I think we chose a busy week, couple that with two cruise ships, parking that is ridiculously difficult, and our liking for the place diminished rapidly. A petty minded jobsworth at the supermarket, and my patience was at its limit. The biggest, most badly sign posted supermarket you have ever seen. We entered and attempted to go into the store through a closed, no barrier, no staff, nobody with a shopping trolley, empty till aisle. No! No! No! came the shouts, you go that way! sorry, we backtracked, found another entrance and let the fun begin. 30 minutes later, and we still failed to locate basic essentials. We paid for what we did have, and left. Naturally they feel the need to check your bags on exit. The next day, after we exited through what we thought was the correct exit till, No ! No! NO!! Go Back!! Go Back, pardon my french but flipping frogs, keep your hair on! We actually had to back into the store and exit down the next lane again...naturally jobsworth felt the need to search my tiny bag, glasses case and small purse, so patience at an all time low, I apologised for stuffing the half chicken and a pound of potatoes into my bag! (not) Bloody jobsworth. He even stuck a paid sticker on the young girls bottle of water in front of me, to prove she had it when she went in.... Malta you are trying our patience. One day we toured the island around Dingli and on our return back to the room spotted a small stall selling fresh vegetables, and a donkey stood to one side. Wanting to support the little guy, we stopped to buy but realised that we were looking at a newly renovated small holding with a tiny museum. Greeted by the owner we asked if we could buy some tomatoes, and then she asked if we would like to see the museum, adding, or not if your not interested. Odd statement, but we let it go. She then asked if we were over 60!! Have to say this did not sit well with either of the bunnies. Lastly, she showed us round the museum (took 5 minutes) then said, you can look around yourself, then come upstairs, and you can have a drink, or not...... For a woman just starting out in a new venture, she had a lousy way with words. We did not get our drink, neither did she offer. We left. For our last stay we headed a few miles north to the area of St Pauls Bay. I think our love of Malta was at an all time low by now, as we faced yet another road that was dug up, yet more cranes, and limited parking spaces. We parked up, grateful for our tiny little pug sized car, paid 30 euros for a parking garage that we did not get chance to use, and entered our next apartment with an already flat feeling, only to find that our apartment had a view of brick wall and a sodding dog that barked non stop somewhere in the immediate vicinity. We ate a subdued homecooked meal, and that ended our time in Malta. Mr Bunny became quite ill. For two days he became sick and lethargic, with a frequent longing to hug his new porcelain friend. Poor Mr Bunny. Mrs Bunny stayed by his side as he slept, only venturing out as far as the nearby Farmacia. Unlucky for us, we also managed to encounter the most miserable set of hotel guests, not once but three times. Popeye Village. On our last day with Mr B feeling a little more himself, we drove up to the north of the Island where many years ago they made the film Popeye. The film crew built a whole village in which to make the film, and it has remained a tourist attraction ever since. The film itself is dreadful, my opinion only, despite the wonderful late Robin Williams playing the lead. The setting for the film quite lovely. The film set is very clearly a treasured asset and is well maintained. It passed a pleasant couple of hours, though I am fairly certain that come summer it would be far too busy. I think it would be fair to say that Malta was probably a one time only for us. We did find pockets of peace, green fields and pleasant views, but not enough to feel a need to rush back any time soon. Thank you for your hospitality.

We flew from Cairo into Luxor arriving quite late in the evening, met by our next guide quite quickly, but then asked to remain in the mini van to await the other couple who were landing in from Heathrow and also on our boat. We were slightly miffed to say the least as we had purposefully booked private transfers to get us the heck away from the airports as quickly as possible. Just shy of two hours we waited, and patience is not this bunny`s strong point. To say I was a little miffy by the time these others passengers arrived would be an understatement. I bit my tongue, endeavoured to be as pleasant and polite as possible, knowing in my heart that any delay would not have been their fault, and very very quickly indeed realised that this couple were so just so incredibly lovely. I instantly regretted my standoffish huffs, and hope, one week later on disembarkation day, that any first impressions were forgotten. We learned in the mini van on the way to the ship, that we were four of a group of just six Brits who would be touring together. ( please let five and six be nice people, please please please) I love these guys! Giggles, Zoo, Pooh and Jean2. Our boat?, river boat?, ship?, cruise ship?, home! The grandly named Emilio Prestige on first glance appeared to be a large off white slightly rusted boatymcboatface affair. Oh my goodness how looks can deceive. The Interior was just beautiful. Marble polished floors, dark wooden walls, brass inlays, and with nothing else to compare it to, simply perfect. Given that it was extremely late, we entered our rooms, I chose 404 (we could have had 405) but the reference to all things computer, a pet hate of mine, was too funny to miss. Two bunnies decided right there and then that we need to dive deeper into the world of river cruises. Our little cabin was a very comfortable, softly lit, little space of comfort. Those few hours we slept so well as the boat set sail and the Nile drifted by. Breakfast day one, our first meal, and first meeting of our group, and couple three. Bit of a glitch when we went downstairs and below waterline! Mrs B does not like water, and the sight of water running past the window at eyelevel was ridiculously disconcerting and slightly nauseating. Not the best first impression for meeting the third couple. With `giggles and jeantwo` already met the night previous, we then met `zoo and pooh`. Oh my golly gosh were we a happy pair of bunnies! A nicer group of people we could never have hoped to meet. Andrew (giggles), and his wife Shirley (Jeantwo), and Gordon,( Zoo) and Helen, (pooh) My memory for names to faces is terrible, hence my penchant for remembering by reference. Giggles is obvious, not a single word uttered without the cutest little laugh, Jeantwo, the doppleganger of my best friend, so close in looks it never failed to frustrate me when a posh Liverpudlian accent failed to be heard. Zoo, three guesses what this lovely guy used to do for a living! and Pooh, his passionate about her work wife, who told me things I never thought I needed to know, causing the greatest hilarity. Giggles, Jeantwo, Zoo and Pooh would provide us with the best company a couple could ever wish for, the entire duration of the cruise. We thank you all. Before I add photos, I am going to admit here and now, that I cannot remember which temple is which so apologies if I put the wrong temples within each paragraph. The only one I really know for sure is Abu Simbel. Day 1. Not entirely sure why I thought we would start our excursions with something small, a teaser before the main events, but I did. So happy to be wrong on every level. Not entirely happy that we got to this first temple via a horse and cart, but that was clearly the most accepted mode of transportation. We both avoid animals for tourists at all costs, but this was a non negotiable. Happy to say it was just the perfect distance to warrant transport, but not a motorised vehicle. Edfu Temple , our first sighting of an Egyptian building and we were stopped in our tracks. I could honestly have cried at the marvel that stood before us. I always thought that the documentaries glorified reality, but not in the slightest. Magnificent is not the word. I was hoping to see `a few of the remaining hieroglyphics` I did not expect inscriptions on every wall from floor to ceiling in the most exquisite detail. From my very first Egyptian temple on day one, to the last on day six, I was continually in a state of awe and wonder. We both were. To avoid repeating similar events, it would be fair to say that each day would start with either an early 7am breakfast and out touring by 7.30 or 8am, or in the case of our visit to Abu Simbel, a 4am wake up and tour by 5am. Afternoons back on the boat for lunch, the times would vary according to tour group timings, and the same for our evening meal. Mid afternoons usually found our little group, our fluffle of six, either reading, talking or sleeping. In the afternoon of day one, we went to our second temple of the day, and our first and only museum. Kom Ombo was the temple. A temple whilst as fascinating as the previous one, held special interest for Jean and Pooh as this was a temple that had the hieroglyphs of ancient medical instruments and procedures, (Both ladies work within the medical profession). Childbirth being one just procedure. Both ladies took great pleasure in describing these instruments to me and our guide, amazed at just how little medical gadgets have changed in 3000 years. `We still use those, those those and those!` The only change in the procedures was the format in which prescriptions were `typed` up. Not entirely certain our modern practices would cope with calls of `nurse! another stone tablet and chisel please! Always a mine of quirky information and photographs, Mish Mish our guide was proud to show us photographs taken of Egyptian mummies showing ancient surgical implants, artificial limbs and surgical interventions. Crocodile Museum. Located next to Kom Ombo, this little museum especially sparked the interest of Zoo. Though it is entirely fair to say that both Bunnies were also exceptionally fascinated by numerous exhibits ranging from the crocodiles of all sizes that could easily have passed away last week (they didn`t, they were ancient crocs) to mummy wrapped crocs, to croc babies still partially encased in shells. The ancient Egyptians took preservation to another level. Day 2. A multiple tour day. Starting early we first headed to the High Dam . Land on one side. Lake Nasser on the other. Fair to say this is quite probably the most impressive modern structure for its sheer size, and just how much water this dam holds back. What you cannot appreciate is just how this dam was built. An engineer would stand and marvel at the complexity, for our group, the less than inspiring diagrams and a few photographs failed to move or impress us. This Dam is missing a few tricks. A cinema room with a speeded up video of dam construction for one thing, coloured photos, in your face facts and figures, a whole lot less t.s and more relevant information please. Next stop, The unfinished obelisk. Many countries cling to a snippet of something old to take tourists too, and Egypt is no different, except their idea of something old and interesting is also huge and mind boggling. The unfinished obelisk is situated in a stone yard within sight of the Nile. It would, once upon a time have been on the Nile, ready to be floated to its permanent home but the paths of time have re routed the Nile. This huge granite singular piece of architecture lies unfinished, showing the unswerving skill of the stone masons of ancient Egypt. Carved from the rock face, every chisel stroke visible, the sheer size of obvious dimensions and weight of this thing just stops you in your tracks, and makes you think How?! One can only imagine the despair of these stone masons, when after months of work, finding this particular stone had a flaw. A flaw that caused it to crack. It now lies unfinished, an engineering marvel for anyone to gaze upon and wonder, `how the heck were they going to move this thing`? Leaving the stone yard behind, it was next onto another Tourist Shop. This time it was perfume. Granted it was very well presented, the young girl doing the demonstration clearly knowledgeable and interesting. We were each dabbed with various scents, all pure, free from additives or alcohol, and informed of the healing or source of each scent. Entirely pointless for Mr B and his lousy sense of smell. For a bunny he would truly struggle to sniff out a lettuce, yet somehow never fails to source the beer or wine aisle.... Another shop with clean loos, and hot (or cold drinks) no hassle, but if you really want to buy something these are the prices. Ho hum. Again I have no interest in these kind of products. Occasionally I do feel bad about not buying from these places, but at the end of the day, this was not my choosing, I did not sign up to visit tourist shops. When it comes to buying anything in Egypt, If only the locals could be educated! Leave the tourists alone to browse at will, and you will sell more. Hassle us to death and we will avoid you like the plague. Mish Mish even told us how to walk heads down with zero eye contact and no pauses, quickly and briskly past his `brothers` The products these shops sell, especially the clothing is actually rather nice, but the constant pawing and hassle is no fun at all. I even opted to purchase my cheap naff overpriced souvenir from our ship shop rather than endure the overwhelming persistence. Walking briskly past every shop proved a step too far for booklover Jeantwo. As we passed yet another bookstore, I heard a little hum mmm mimble wimble behind me, and whispered to Mish Mish, I think we really need to let Shirley have a look in this bookstore. Oh what a happy little Bunny she was, coming out of the store armed with every book on Egyptian History. We had already clocked the fact that every single person on our ship had arrived with oversized luggage, and our little fluffle no exception. One book personally would send our humble 10kg cabin baggage into a panic, but for our eccentric fellow passengers and their 23kg overkill, what`s a little book? Last stop of the day Philae Temple. Yet another temple that was built pre BC and moved 2000 plus years later. Both marvels of engineering. Philae is reached by small boat, an experience in itself. Picture 500 or more small metal craft, simple affairs, two rows of seating and an engine/seat for the driver, and all vying for the opportunity to ferry tourists to the small Island on to which Philae now sits. Quite simple really, hail your boat, he approaches at ramming speed, donks every boat in his way to one side, in you step and off you go, keeping your arms, legs and other appendages in the boat, and preferably your bum on a seat also. A particularly hard ram into another boat plonked Mrs Jeantwo firmly onto her tush on the floor of the boat. Giggles did, so did the rest of us. Philae Temple once stood at a much lower lever and on the building of the dam would have been lost. This incredible structure and the buildings around it were painstakingly moved to higher ground. Every bit as special as every other temple, it was at Philae that Egyptian met Roman and hieroglyphics were no longer used as a means of recording history. I personally found this a little sad, even sadder when we were told that documents were then recorded onto the newly discovered papyrus into paper, but centuries later burned willy nilly by farmers and locals using them as a source of fuel. Arghhhh!!! to think of that history lost forever. Mish Mish casually adding, `oh they used a lot of the old mummies as well, grinding them up...` No !!! Day Three. A silly o`clock wake up call for a very start on our journey to Abu Simbel. This would be our most tiring day of all, but the one that will stay in our memories forever. Just four of us today, (plus the guide) with Zoo and Pooh, Pooh especially, having terrible motion sickness deciding a four hour mini van journey was not for them. With hindsight, this was a wise decision, and for anyone else with a grumbling tummy, you too should bite the bullet and take the flight option. Even leaving the city is an experience, as every 25 steps, an exaggeration I know, but doesn`t feel like it, a speed bump of epic proportions. Drive, slow, bump, drive, slow, bump, drive, slow bump, repeat indefinitely. All the way to High Dam which for some reasons closes in the evening, and reopens at 5.30am, hence the early start to avoid ( which we didn`t as it happens) the long queue of traffic waiting to start the long haul across the desert. Lulled into a false sense of security and complacency, we sat back and relaxed on this obvious newly tarmacked road. We even slept a little, until Wham! without warning, this singular road across the desert, descended rapidly into a myriad of cratered chaos. Cars, buses, coaches and wagons weaving their way along the `road` trying to find the path of least resistance, one that would allow them to continue with chassis intact and brains unshaken. All we could think was `so glad Pooh isn`t with us` poor woman would have needed therapy. There were pockets of smooth going, there were even small oases dotted along the desert road to our left and right where modern science meets desert challenge. Bordered by countries at war, Egypt is taking self sufficiency to heart and finding ways to irrigate the desert to produce crops and fruit. A nation of proper clever bunnies. Fours hours later, we arrived at Abu Simbel Car park. Were we the first? Not even close. Shy of 100 or more vehicles were already parked. Tickets in hand we walked to what appeared to be a huge rocky hill around which was a well trodden path. Rounding a corner, the sight of Abu Simbel very nearly stops you in your tracks. This is possibly the most famous sight in Egypt, the Four Kings and Queens of Egypt sat guarding the temple. If you wish to be super picky, you could say 3.5, as one statue has suffered during the passage of time, but considering the age, and the fact that this stupendous edifice was moved onto higher ground, this marvel of ancient engineering is a sight to behold. As a group we wanted to gaze in wonder, take photos and generally just gawp, but Mish Mish, ever observant, hustled us towards the temple, telling us to hurry and go now, before the guides and their tour groups finish their spiel. I for one, did not know there was an inside! I thought, from my limited knowledge, that Abu Simbel was famous because of the four exterior statues that guarded a singular statue on which the sun shone on a specific date. Slap my bunny butt and stick a dunce hat on my head! The interior of Abu Simbel just beggars belief. Statues of incredible height and detail. Walls inscribed with magnificent hieroglyphics and colour. Rooms, floors, ,chambers, and yes, a room, right at the back of the temple, with not one, but four statues, each depicting a different god. The sun shines on these four individual statues one by one as the sun changes position on one particular day per year. Given that the ancient Egyptians got it to perfectly align on the actual day of the winter (summer?) solstice yet the modern architects who moved the temple to higher ground managed to achieve the same, but one day late, is testament to the phenomenally accurate astronomical studies of the ancients. With a three and half hour bouncing journey back to the ship, the four of us agreed that Abu Simbel was quite the highlight and if you can stomach the appalling roads, a journey worth taking. Personally, If given the chance, I would plan in advance, and opt for the far easier flight version. Two miles from town to the airport, and from landing, two miles again to Abu Simbel. Not cheap, not by any stretch of the imagination, £500 per couple being the average cost of the flight tour this particular year, but worth every penny. Our Cruise continues.

Egypt, a country that both Bunnies have wanted to see for a long time yet put off going due to the overwhelming reports we have read and heard regarding the continual clawing of begging hands, tipping harassment and beggars. Even the airport isn`t safe from scammers we read, passports withheld until money changes hands, scams? you name it, we read about it. For years this clouded my judgement and kept me away from what has since turned out to be one of the best tours I have ever taken. Unlike most other places we have visited, Egypt we did with the aid of a Travel Agent. Best Decision Ever. The tour ran like clockwork from moment one, though it would have saved us a lot of stress and unnecessary worry if Cyplon Holidays had told us in advance that we would be met at the airport by an agent who would take our passports off us and arrange our visas whilst we waited in line. Tiny oversight there Cyplon! We flew into Cairo from Heathrow, not entirely certain why we were not able to catch the Manchester flight that landed 36 seconds after our London flight,(slight grrr there) and as I said, met by a young gentlemen with just our names on a card, who promptly relieved of us of our passports and walked briskly way from us at the airport. "Mr B, follow those passports as though your life depends on it, never mind me, I`ll meet you by the door! "To say they were the longest 30 mins of our lives would be an understatement, as Mr B tailed this guy closer than a gnat on a hippos backside, and I had no clue where he was, but Bless this Mans dear Heart, he was entirely genuine, returning our passports to us with visas paid and paperwork in order. He guided us through that horrifically disorientating airport safely, quickly and delivered us into the hands of our next man in Egypt, the taxi driver and a tour guide. No money changed hands. Just smiles of joy, and a grateful and voluntary tip given willingly with a huge sigh of relief and gratitude. We left the airport and headed for our first base, Cairo. Cairo Leaving the airport towards the city with its clean smooth tarmac roads, stunning bright neon lights, amazing buildings and impressive architecture we were just a little in awe. We were of the opinion that Cairo was filthy, old, run down, smoggy and rubbish strewn. No, that would be Old Cairo, New Cairo, the area in which the airport lies is amazing. Our journey of around one hour 20 mins unfortunately deteriorated rapidly, with wows turning quickly into oh`s. From glorious to grubby and beyond. Our hotel, situated in Giza, the promised `walking distance to the new Museum it was not, and you were absolutely not walking to the Pyramids even if you could see them from your bedroom window. (eyes squinted, craned neck and binoculars) I also do not think we could have picked a worse day to arrive. It was Day two or three of Ramadan, and with hindsight, possibly something I should have researched a little prior to leaving. Mr B failed to clock the obvious, but Mrs B felt exceptionally out of place the nearer we got to our hotel, as every single person on the street, restaurant, cafe or sidewalk, was male. Young, exuberant joyfully happy persons, but still all male. This chunky dumpy 5` 1 Bunny with 2 bouncing appendages perched on the apparent wrong height of a body was more than just a little obvious elephant in the room. I sat back, said nothing, but squeaked in fear at a loud `gunshot` type sound followed quickly by a young guy careering into the parked car at the side of us proceeding to tear off his shirt. A firecracker . His mates, in high spirits had pushed a cheap firecracker down his jumper. I think my heart was still racing as we pulled up in front of the hotel, the sounds of great hilarity from those young men still ringing in my ears. Ramadan, a time of celebration and happiness, not crime and punishment! Cairo New Museum Day Two. A private, or so we had thought, tour to the new Museum and the Great Pyramids of Giza. Turns out our private tour was for 4, and as we waited for the other guests, to say we were a little miffed would be an understatement. Then we met David and Robert. To our delight they were the nicest guys ever. Intelligent, articulate, funny, raw, and entirely more drawn to Mr B than Mrs, catch my drift, these two guys, of slightly advancing years, were an absolute delight to be with. In fact, we would chose to spend the next two evenings dining with them, rather than alone. To the museum the four of us then went. Designed by Dublin based Heneghan and Shih-Fu Peng, this building is nothing short of an architectural wonder. Designed to resemble and enhance the area and to simulate the Pyramids, this wonderous building is just glorious. The Museum newly opened in 2025 is stunning, and was the only reason, that and the Grand Pyramids, to draw me to Cairo. I love a good museum, the older and more interesting the artifacts, the longer I can browse. Cairo Museum, housing the worlds most spectacular and priceless artifacts, and I was given three hours!. Three measly hours! I will stamp my feet and tell anyone who listens, You cannot see the new Cairo Museum in 3 hours! We were raced around the museum, passing cases housing what appeared to be the most well preserved objects, to stand in front of a tablet of stone. A large statue. Two figures. Every object priceless, but the rest? over there? what`s that? Is that a mummy? This Bunny was teased in the cruellest manner ever. Time point blank refused to be our friend, and marched on relentlessly, a snippet here, a talk there, an impressive statue, until we arrived at the main event. The wing devoted to King Tut. To say this wing was busy was an understatement. I think every tour from every country landed in the museum that day. Elbows at the ready guys, We`ve been to China and know the drill. We have stood in front of the mask of King Tut. We have seen the incredible colours, the markings, the hieroglyphs, and nothing or nobody could you change your mind about what it is. Breath taking. Detailed. Colours so vivid your brain cannot compute the age. We all know that his possessions were found with him, his chariot for example. Yet there it stands in all its golden glory, not a model, life size, real. Chairs so exquisite you just stare with wonder. Jewellery so delicate and perfect it defies belief. The chest of gold on which the black dog of Anubis sits, looks like it was created yesterday. The Sarcophagus. Seven in total. Each one larger than the previous, decorated both inside and out. Over 5500 artifacts found just from the Tomb of Tut, all displayed, all in the museum, and I had three hours. 3.5 Hours actually, I could have cried. I will return. We need to. The Great Pyramids of Giza . A short drive away, stand the Great Pyramids. No longer can you just walk up and wander. The Pyramids, and quite rightly so, are well protected, with armed guards and high fences. David, our new friend had told us the story how as a young man he had been challenged by a German colleague to race with him, first one to the top of the Pyramid. Thankfully you can no longer climb the Pyramids, and since the sad and unfortunate incident many years later, tighter border controls overall have come into play. Such is the scale of the area, the fences go unnoticed, but they are there. A tiny little museum shows a few of the tools they found when excavating the Pyramids, possibly more in the big museum had I been given the chance to look, grr, but these few tools give you a humbling insight into the simple tools that built these mighty, structures. Our guide, a bit of a joker, liked to have a laugh by asking us to guess things like, How much did each brick weigh? or How many stones to make one Pyramid. We were woefully off mark. 2.5 Tonnes per stone on average, and 2.3 million stones to create the Great Pyramid. Built 4500 years ago, and still standing. Just incredible. We were then escorted to the Pyramids themselves in one of the many little buses that runs to and from the plateau on which the Pyramids stand. At first I was a little disappointed, I thought they were bigger, but the closer you get, the nearer you stand and the real scale of these things becomes apparent. At base level, the first block you stand next too is knee high, large, solid and heavy. At level two blocks are the size of a mans torso, and up to a tonne in weight each. Then you raise your eyes and just gaze in awe as you then start to fully appreciate the complexity and skill of these ancient builders. A sad part of the Pyramids were the annoying and slightly aggressive sellers of tat. They pose as friendly tour guides, but a single smile and your hooked into their spiel and sales. Very hard to ignore, and pushing the tat back into their hands earns you a mouthy response. Breath. Smile. Ignore. Keep Walking. Our guide was very good, gave us plenty of time to wander whilst giving us lots of information re the Pyramids, most of which I`m loathed to admit went in one ear and straight out the other. After gazing our fill at the Pyramids, we headed back onto one of the little buses and onto the site of the Sphynx. We ran yet another gauntlet of market sellers of T.S and walked in a slightly upwards direction where our guide said we could get the very best views and photos of the Sphynx. We both admit we were a little disinclined to join what was a rather long slow moving queue through what I now know to be an ancient preparation room, mostly ruins, but interesting enough that I wish our guide had encouraged us to join said queue. We would also have been able to see the Sphynx much closer, rather then our view from a slightly elevated position distorting its true size. Naturally no good tour is going to end without the traditional tour of a local large scale factory shop. Good Prices! Great Discounts! Just for Today! the usual cr.p. This time it was the turn of a Papyrus Showroom. How its made, and here are some of the pictures you can buy. Trust me people, there is not a single thing in those shops that isn`t available anywhere and everywhere for a fraction of the price. We have learned the hard way, that these shops lull you into buying their t.s with offers of a hot drink , a clean loo and a no hassle shopping experience. Don`t fall for it ! Resist resist. Cairo Not a lot I can say about Cairo. There may well be masses of fantastic tours, sights, smells, and interest out there, but its not for us. Just the short drives from hotel to museum, to the motorway, to the Pyramids was more than enough sight seeing for me. The sheer amount of dirt, rubbish, rubble, air pollution, crazy cars, appalling traffic was enough to put us off even considering venturing further. We had no internet without buying E Sim packages. Uber isn`t really a thing. The language barrier, and the hassle and its a great big No Thanks. Even our lovely guys with whom we spent the evenings admitted that they walked down the street where the hotel lay, and walked back with the opinion that that was more than enough for one day. When people tell you that Egypt is hassle, it is, nothing you cannot handle, but very tiring. Our dear friend in Australia would be so cross knowing we chose not to venture further, she has wandered Cairo at length, with no problems. I really do need to study that little firebird at close quarters to see how she does it :-) Bottom line. Tour Cairo if you must, but get yourself a guide. Visit The New Cairo Museum. Plan to spend at the very least, one Full Day there. If your an avid reader of descriptions, take two days. See some artifacts, have your lunch there in one of the many available restaurants and cafes, continue. The Old museum still houses many many artifacts as well if the New One still leaves you wanting more. The Pyramids. Half a day is quite sufficient. Sphynx. Join that queue. You're only there once (?) Go and get as close as you can. Next, the Nile. Our trip continues.

Well I wonder how many people are going to comment on this post? these two Bunnies have travelled all around the World, seen many wonderful countries, posted our travels on Facebook with barely a comment or reference, but post the word `tacky` against my update on Benidorm, and suddenly every man and dog has a grr at me. Each to their own people! These Bunnies went to Benidorm for one reason, and one reason only. To catch up with Daddy Bunny having not seen him since December. In winter Benidorm is ideal for the older person, and the reason why both him and my mum would spend many happy weeks there away from the cold and misery of the UK winter. It suited them then. It suits him now. We hate it. Actually, I don`t hate it, I just hate the cheap nasty tacky t shirts and tourist tack that adorns every street corner. Why on earth do these sellers think that granny needs to read F..K (with every letter in full) my cat, you get me drift, or Suck My xxxxx, or other graphic expletives shoved in their faces? Save it for the summer months when the families with young children arrive, yeah, wow, great! That aside, then you get the Phallic anything and everything. Sure, give little Charmaine (or should I indulge modern stupidity and spell it Sharmayne?) a lolly in the shape of a xxxx! Put phallic magnets next to the colourful donkey magnets, wonderful, just what you need. Sorry people, but I don`t get it, and neither do I want to. I am no prude, I can laugh with the best of them, but sex tat? Nope. I am also perfectly aware that this kind of tat is found everywhere around the world, but I`ve never seen it quite as prolific as here in Benidorm. As for Karaoke. Nope, no comment, not my thing. I do not deny we sat in some pretty busy places with Karaoke as the choice of entertainment, and granted at times I forgot these were not actual singers, just people having fun. It was a suitable volume and averagely ok. But the bar in which we were seated had a flag on the wall, on which the word See You Next Tuesday, was written iykyk. Why???? Why is it necessary to write such a word? oh the common nastiness of people just winds me up. Do you want to call me a snob? Go ahead. Feel Free. The average age of the clientele that afternoon was probably 75. Smoking. Everybody smokes. Cheap town, cheap beer, cheap cigarettes. and Cheap English Breakfasts to be found everywhere. Shirley Valentine eat your heart out. There are parts of Benidorm that are very clean and nice. Away from the tack, the brash, the cheap, there are some truly pleasant places. The sea front is lovely, and the beach well kept and clean. Away from the tack there are green and pleasant parks. With very little effort Benidorm could be a genuinely nice place. A place for the older retired generation (more so in the winter months rather than the heat of summer) and perfect for families in the Summer months when hotels, beaches and pools are their calling. We stayed in a lovely self catering apartment overlooking the sea, and spent much time there. A week was a long time. The time was well spent, and we enjoyed the company of Daddy B very much. Have we been to Benidorm before? Yes we have, for the same reason. To visit Mrs Mummy Bunny and Daddy B. Did we like it then? No, for much the same reasons, but the company more than made up for the tacky stuff. I also went as a child, and young as I was I remember Benidorm even then being very English tourist driven. I don`t however recall seeing the crass t shirts. We went in Summer, it was far too hot. I even have a photograph of myself and that tin man. He was orange back then and in a different place, but still the same old tin man. Will we go again? Probably, but it will be out of necessity rather than choice.

A whole new country, and one that we have wanted to visit for a long time. With a week to fill and no idea which destination to choose, we finally opted for a weeks break in Marrakesh. It is January, so whilst the weather is lovely, we prefer to be coastal in the summer months, a city break was perfect. We flew into the most beautiful airport building at Marrakech, and unfortunately as we tried to get cash out at the airport, this is a closed currency, we then discovered that Mr B`s wallet was empty. Gone were our credit cards and other essential cards. We presume pickpocket, as we had them on the plane, but gone by the time we reached a cash machine. Secret pocket or not, the cards had vanished. A short taxi ride to our hotel, passing lots of football related flags. The country is hosting the Africa Cup, and the atmosphere is great. Morocco have made it to the semi finals, and spirits seem high. A very clean looking place on first inspection, not modern, but we are heading for Marrakech, not Casablanca. The taxi pulled up near the city wall, and asked us to wait. A few moments later a breathless young guy came running towards us from a tiny side street. Our riad, another name for small family home, is in the old city with its it myriad of tiny winding streets. The walk proved us to one thing, we would never have found our residence without guidance! Left here, right there, down this alley, walls and doors and not a lot else. where on earth were we staying? Stopping at the oldest looking door, our host handed us the keys, asked us to unlock the door to prove we could wiggle the lock, and we entered the most amazing building. For a small building it was very beautiful. Pure traditional Moroccan architecture, rooms around a central courtyard. For the first time in a long time, we got the room that drew us to the riad in the first place. Incredibly cosy looking with orange painted walls, lamps, wall lights, marble floors and a fully tiled mosaic bathroom. ( and air con with heat, its January, its needed) Google Maps, downloaded offline, would prove to be a godsend. The Medina in which we are staying, Medina meaning old city, is just a maze. A maze of souks, streets, alleys and passageways. No cars allowed in the centre but instead a whole host of motor cycles, scooters, donkeys with carts bombard you from every angle. But it works. Donkeys, quick reference to. I always hated the thought of Morocco due to its use of the beast of Burden, but for the most part, the animals I saw were reasonably well kept, no evidence of being mis treated. A few foot issues could have been sorted, but generally the animals we saw looked as well as they could given their role. Unlike the appalling harassment you get in another country, Christmas meat, if you get me drift, it was surprisingly easy to wander the souks and even look at the goods for sale without the hard sell a constant presence, in fact in the tiny shop where I chose to buy a tiny hint of a souvenir, we had to hunt for the seller. There are thousands of shops. and they all sell more or less the same things. How anyone ever makes a living baffles me. I could confidently say, that if you pass say 20 shops, you have seen everything that is available. Every other stall is just rinse and repeat, over and over and over. With six full days in Marrakech, we chose to spend each day at a different place of interest. Short days, rather than endless wanderings. Little B had given us a list of must see places, and we endeavoured to see each one in turn. Starting with the Secret Garden. Not secret, as just about every tourist and group ends up there at some point. Yes it is a garden...hmm...what else can I say? Go to say you have been, might mean a bit more to you if you are a gardening guru, but other than that, its just a nice pleasant space in which to be. Next days little adventure took us to the Ben Youssef Madrasa. Once a school for religious purposes, it is now a beautiful, slightly repetitive building in which to wander around. You need to look for yourself, but you could just trust me when I say that see one room, and you have seen them all. Day three was the square. This large open space came to be known by us by a couple of names. Stamp Your Feet Square, or more frequently, Snake Square. Why stamp your feet square? Because I did. How was I to know that the overly familiar rooftop cafe was the same one we had visited two days previously, when day one had market stalls on semi rough road surfaces, yet two days later was on a marble tiled floor! Convinced it wasn`t, I ` stamped my feet`... how was I know they had paved the whole darn area almost overnight! After that incident, we would refer to the square as Snake Square. This was where you found all the snake charmers. You know why they play those weird flute things? To stop you standing on the damn snakes!!! Hear the flutes? look down for the snakes. We would watch the every day goings on in the square from a high rooftop. No alcohol is supplied in Morocco unless you go to certain licensed places. Suits me, I don`t drink or feel the need to. Coffee or Tea suits me just fine. Watching the square, and on a clear day you can also see the snow clad mountains of the Atlas, was just mesmerising. Snake charmers, guy with monkeys dressed in tutus, (so sad) fruit sellers, henna tattoos, psst wanna buy a watch guys, genuine rolex of course , acrobats, con artists with the `where`s the money` switcheroo coconut shells, magnet for pickpockets, it all takes place in that square. Quite fascinating. By the way, the actual name of the square is Jemaa el-Fna. Another day we went to the `Bahia Palace- Stunning 19th Century Palace with ornate rooms courtyards and gardens` Well that was the description on the guide anyway. Not entirely certain who wrote the guide, but in our opinion, scruffy old building, not a lot of interest, once upon a time in the past this may have been a garden, average looking courtyard, and a lot of lovely scaffolding , would pretty much sum up this place. A whole raft of carefully taken photographs just outside the palace suggests that inside is quite beautiful, meh. no its not. Other places we could or should have visited were the El Badi Palace (closed for lunch so we gave it a swerve) But if you want to see Storks a plenty, then this is the place. Every rampart had a storks nest, with many birds in residence. Saadian Tombs. sorry, life is for living, we felt no desire to go tomb hunting. The Yves Saint Laurent Museum had a lot of interest, leaflets etc, but for us to go it would have been a very long walk out of town, and with the average time spent there (according to google) being 40 mins, we decided not to bother. Food in Marrakech, not entirely certain I should comment, granted this bunny doesn`t eat much in the way of local food anywhere, any country. The crepe stall was very good, with the French influence quite obvious. The Lamb Tagine eaten by Mr B was `nice`, I think it very British fish and chips. You get the chippies with people queuing up outside forever, and then you get the back street chippy, good for the odd occasion. I think Mr B and his lamb was the cheap back street version, bit of a shame really. The evening was late, the shops that you give you a hint of where you are were rapidly closing for the night, they close quite early, so we ate at the nearest place to the Riad. Not researched or Tripadvisor, we just went. Tough chewy chicken kebabs for Mrs B, and the meh, Lamb tagine for Mr B. On other evenings, let me quickly add, the breakfast at the hotel was incredibly filling, the need for more food at any time of day not actually needed, Mr B frequented a nearby stable door cafe that sold the most awesome hot sandwiches for 80p. One evening both bunnies ate at the Riad hoping for some good home cooked food. As per usual Mrs B swayed towards a chicken dish, Mr B the meat. Both Tagine. Not entirely certain what part of the chicken I was given, but it wouldn`t have been on any plate of mine in the UK. Bones a plenty, what looked like a rib cage, brr go figure. Then there was the little accompaniment of onion, a least 4 of them, and a pound of sultanas. Now this bunny loves sultanas, but a whole bag full? cooked? in oil and onions? Two spoonful were more than sufficient. Marrakech is wonderful. In Summer it may be worth filling out a week with trips to the desert, camels rides, or quads, but for a winter city break, personally I would say 4 days is quite sufficient. Will we go back, probably not to Marrakech, but we will certainly go back to Morocco. Thank you for your hospitality.

After a brief layover in Fiji, (watching a monsoon rage from the airport window) We continued our journey to Australia, starting with Cairns. Quick bit of time info here, we planned to spend 4 days here, but an oversight regarding not only time differences but crossing the international date line, meant that 4 days turned into 3. We flew at midnight Saturday for 6 hours. We landed at 4am. We flew again at 9am and landed into Cairns at lunchtime on Monday.... What the heck happened to Sunday?? Cairns This short stay had purely one reason in mind, to visit our friend Margaret and her husband Peter. We became friends with Margaret in 2018 during our trip to China and have remained distant friends ever since. It was with Margaret and Peter that we spent New Year 2024 on their balcony. This year Margaret insisted we cancel our booking at a local hostel insisting we stay, at her expense, at a hotel of her choosing. Anyone who knows Margaret knows there is little point in arguing! We duly cancelled our booking, and with Margaret picking us up from the airport, the secrecy of our hotel was still held a mystery. All was revealed when she dropped us off at not just any nice hotel, but the Hilton, next door to her own `unit`. Unit being a very Australian word for Apartment or Flat. After an incredibly long journey, all we could muster the first evening was crash and sleep. The following three days had bonkers weather. Day one we relaxed in the pool, and got incredibly sunburnt due to our inattentiveness towards the sun, and the fact that we were engaging in a great conversation with two other couples about world travel, and cricket. Cricket being the main reason not only these two couples were in Oz, but us as well. The Ashes in fact. but that`s for later. Days two and three were spent in identical fashion. Leisurely time in the hotel watching the endless rain from the balcony by day, and two wonderful evenings with M & P with amazing takeaway food from the RSL just below us. We spent both evenings watching the sun go down, endless conversations and happy memories made. Melbourne It is getting close to Christmas now, but not wishing to impose on our friends there for too long, we chose to stay in Melbourne City for the first 4 days. Having spent time in Melbourne last year, we had no desire to retrace our steps again this trip. With Christmas so close, and Mrs B being a huge lover of all things Christmas, we hit the shopping malls in the hope of finding ourselves anything Christmassy, tree/lights decor to make our room sparkle. Oh my goodness Melbourne was just so incredibly busy, but not busy in the way we seem to be Christmas busy in the UK. For a starter, its hot! Granted nowhere near as hot as it was last year, but still very warm, and secondly the shops are full of summer clothes! bright colours, whites, cream, yellows. Anyone from the UK knows perfectly well that you are not going to find yourself a summer coloured t shirt in December at home. Our shops are consistently Black, Red, or Sparkly. We did not feel the love for Christmas in the malls, we ate at the Pancake Parlour, but even that felt a little flat and less than Christmassy. The shops were devoid of all things Christmas decoration wise, and not knowing which shops to aim for, for cheap cheesy sparkly things, we left the mall empty handed. Mrs Bunny was more than just a little sad. Mr B googled the heck out of Melbourne that evening, and day two started with a Plan. Out of Melbourne he found us a dedicated year round Christmas shop!. Perfect. We drove there the morning of day two, and found ourselves driving through the scruffiest areas that we could not believe were so close to the City. It was so run down, covered in graffiti everywhere, and shops that looked barely open. Such a contrast to the many other towns around Oz that we have passed through. We finally arrived at the Christmas shop and hit the jackpot. We went just a little bit daft, buying not one, but two trees, multiple sets of lights, a couple of little elves and a whole bunch of tinsel. (if space and weight wasn`t an issue, we would also have purchased several of the most gorgeous Disney ornaments that we have ever seen, the likes of which we have never seen in any of our 7 Disney Parks around the world, come to Australia and wow, so many!) From that Christmas shop we headed next to a nearby mall. Both bunnies thought this mall was very nice. In fact we had a little too much fun there buying ourselves (and each other) new clothes and simple gifts for Christmas. It was only at the end of a long day there, that over coffee and a chat with a friendly local lady, that she informed us that this particular Mall had a very bad name, and only two weeks prior a gang of youths with machetes had run through injuring several people. With the appalling news of the attack in Bondi still fresh in the news, it was a little disconcerting. Shortly before leaving the mall for the day we heard the sound of a brass group playing carols. As brass players ourselves we were drawn to the sound. It was the local Salvation Army band, just 5 of them, but also giving out a leaflet for their Christmas Carol concert the following night. With a great desire to find the spirit of Christmas that we were so desperately missing, we decided a carol concert was just the thing. The day of the concert was spent the best way possible. A room full of Christmas lights, two trees, lots of tinsel, Christmas movies in bed, and Uber eats! This would be my most favourite day of the trip so far. Even the Christmas concert that evening with the Salvation Army band's (not quite Black Dyke...) painful renditions of Christmas songs by an over enthusiastic singer who couldn`t quite sing in the same key as the band, or the same speed for that matter. Nor did a group of random children shaking as many noisy bells to the once enjoyable Jingle Bells carol dampen our enjoyment of that day. With Christmas in my heart I went hunting next for more Christmas joy, and found a stage play of A Christmas Carol playing the next evening in the city. We got tickets and had the best evening ever watching this version of an old story. No props, just sound effects, yet it worked beautifully. the encore of Silent Night played with the sweetest sounding little bells ended the night wonderfully. Today was also little Bunnies birthday, and though I felt so sad not spending at least part of the day with her, I did know that she was having an adventure of her own in Manchester, and that made it feel so much better. Turns out she had also watched a version of Christmas Carol some nights previous. Great Minds! Christmas with Friends Frankston, it was here last year that we met my mums best friend and her hubby for the first time. Just as my mum predicted prior to passing, we loved them. Mrs Koala and her hubby were just two lovely people, with Mr Bunny getting on so well with Mr Koala they could have been best school mates meeting up once more. Mrs Bunny knew in a heartbeat why exactly Mrs Koala was her mums best friend. It hadn`t taken too much thought into wanting to return to stay with these guys, Christmas would not have been my first choice of dates, but when Mr Bunnies heart is set on fulfilling a bucket list dream, then Christmas it would have to be.... We arrived to stay with the Koalas just prior to Christmas, with the intention of spending 6 days with them to enjoy their wonderful company and to fulfil the bucket list dream of Mr Bunny, then, it would be onto another destination to celebrate Christmas Two in our own silly way. Christmas Day. It did not start well. I am the most intense Christmas present shopper, always seeking the most perfect presents for everyone. This Christmas I was challenged by limited space, weight and knowledge. In a nutshell I chose poorly, and it upset me. I hate buying gifts that are silly, pointless, tacky, and with my heart not really wanting to be in Oz at Christmas at all, because I wanted to be at home (different story) my head failed to let me find presents that I truly wanted to give. Receiving the most beautiful bracelet, earrings and a crazy pink Christmas hat that I loved, made me feel sad that I failed so badly in my task to find the perfect present for my new friend. Mr Bunny received the most amazing gifts also, an Ozzy rugby shirt, a special cap, and socks. Socks? Yes, yellow `beer` socks with white furry tops and handles!! Probably bought as a joke, but I do hope Mr Koala knows just how often those crazy socks are worn!!!! Mr B loves them. Mrs Koala excelled herself on Christmas Day, you have never seen a fridge so full. We truly hoped this was not all done with us in mind, but felt better when told there would be 10 for the lunch. Lunchtime came, and everything was perfect. Poor Mrs Koala had a fit when she found out I do not eat anything seafood, stood there as she was surrounded by every kind of shell fish monstrosity. In the end it was decided that I could eat the same as the children, melon and sausage much to everyone`s amusement. Did you know you can cook Christmas Dinner on a BBQ? Oh how very Aussie!, The oven indoors held the roast spuds, but everything else was cooked on the `barbie`. My first Christmas away from my own little family was pleasant but a challenge. I am not a social butterfly, and faced with an extended guest list of people I didn`t know, was a little overwhelming. Lovely as the entire family was, I breathed the biggest sigh of relief when they all departed that evening, and once more the house reigned in silence, the occasional chink of glasses raised, a most pleasant sound. The Bucket List. The Ashes. The Melbourne Boxing Day Test This my friends was the sole reason for our epic trip. Mr Bunny has always wanted to watch a major live sporting event, and with the Ashes, in particular the Boxing Day test held at the iconic MCG each year, that was a bucket list item just waiting to be ticked off. No matter how much I hated the idea of being away from home at Christmas, this was one dream that I was not going shatter. Sulk, yes, whinge, most probably, but decline? No chance. It was supposed to be Mr B and his very best mate, along with new bestie Mr Koala, but when Daddy B decided it was too much, it was up to opposing sides to settle their differences and head to the cricket together. Boxing Day, with the boys setting off early to get to the stadium, Mrs Koala and I started our day with a very leisurely breakfast, a dash of chocolate, Netflix and a Christmas Movie, we agreed to start with Love Actually, and we had a very nice day. We did end up watching the end of the cricket much to my chagrin, I would have so much preferred to have watched more movies, but its not my house and I was not for arguing. We picked up two frozen guys at the end of the day, who told us that although the day was bright, they were sat in the shade in a veritable wind tunnel. They were both freezing, but exceedingly happy. Ashes Day Two. Once again the boys set off early, this time armed with puffy jackets and jumpers, but instead of a Christmas film, Mrs Koala and I watched the match. To be fair, whilst I was a bit miffed at not watching films, the cricket was quite exciting, I did try to read my book, but the pull of the match was too great. I am so happy to say that Mr Bunny not only got the chance to fulfil his bucket list dream of going to the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, but that he also witnessed England at its best as they beat the Aussies hands down in a rather exciting second day. The Surfcoast Much as I adored staying with Mr and Mrs Koala, I was very excited and so looking forward to our stay at this little caravan park again. I had visions of how I was going to make the caravan all nice and Christmassy, I was going to tinsel and light it up with everything we had. There were so many unwatched Christmas movies to look forward to, on Disney and Netflix, a second Christmas Dinner to be bought, a second boxing day with turkey butties for lunch, all the usual stuff, just a few days late. I should have known better. Nothing is ever the same second time around, non more so than our `caravan`. The only room they had for us was a small motel type room, the type with the kitchen, table and bed all in the same room. The tv was one of those placed in a ridiculous position high up in one corner. We were so disappointed that we just had to beg for anything else. There was just one other cabin left. It was a dog friendly cabin so we knew it would be scruffier than before, but surely it had to better? Well.....the layout was certainly better, but oh dear heavens the Smell!! Mr B with his naff sense of smell had no clue just how bad it was. Fish! Seafood! wet dogs, whores boudoir (my imagination running wild) would just about sum it up. I was in total despair. I said we would stay but only if we begged borrowed and bought every kind of air freshener right now ! Half a mini bottle of cheap perfume, one can of anti bac spray, vanilla air freshener, two bottles of scented sticks and an airwick candle later, not to mention every open window and door, and eventually the smell started to dissipate. We decked out the caravan as best we could given the limited space, placed our two Christmas Trees in strategic places, added as many lights as we could, then shopped for our `Christmas Eve 2` goodies, and` Christmas Day 2` lunch. A plan was coming together. We settled down with goodies and drinks in hand, switched on the TV and.....no Netflix.......okkkkkk......we have managed before, we can manage again, Laptop! and that`s when we found out we had absolutely bugger all internet. Nada, Zip, SFA. Right there and then my Christmas ended. We did try the op shops the following day, in the hope of finding Christmas DVDs, but we came up wanting. My love for all things Christmas fizzled from there onward. As far as I was concerned, it was over. I knew full well that we would have decent internet, albeit no Disney, at our next destination, but that wasn`t until the New Year. Pah. I have zero desire to watch anything Christmas after December has ended. I hereby admit that I was well and truly fed up! The following days passed slowly. As per Melbourne City we had more or less been to all the places of interest nearby , and travelling for hours on end to visit more out of the way places just wasn`t high on my to do list. This trip was all about ticking the bucket list and not a lot else. We did take a drive along the Great Ocean Road, and it struck us just how many kilometres we did last year visiting places of interest. Arriving at the Koala Kafe, we would still have needed to drive at least another 100 km to reach the Apostles, and several more kms more to arrive at Warnambool. We did spend a day at Werribbee Open Range Zoo and that was good. The `safari` trail by truck was excellent, with the sheer amount of space available to the Zoo, they really made the most of it? A few more animals would have been nice, but never the less we had a great day. Our time in Australia has come to a close. I have to say I was a little sad leaving this time, but I know that we will be back, not at Christmas, but at some point in the future. Until next time Australia..

As per the journey to Australia via certain points of interest, it was always my intention to break up the journey home as well. K.L seemed the obvious place. We stayed once again at the very conveniently located Soho Suites, and with a top end view of the Petronus Towers the location is perfect. This was to be a break of relaxation, home cooking and not a lot else. Truth be known we are also here to get away from the expense of Australia whilst passing time before heading off to Spain to meet Daddy Bunny. DB is going to Benidorm on the 10th, (or so he said) so we planned our entire trip to end in Spain, starting the 10th. Actually, lets recap this whole trip. Starting at the beginning when our very first flights to Gatwick were cancelled, supposedly not leaving until Tuesday, instead of Monday. ( rapidly rearranged, and all was well again) Daddy B booked his trip to Spain leaving on the 10th. We planned accordingly. Booking flights to Stansted on the 10th with the intention of flying straight back out to Spain. He later told us after flights were booked that he didn`t go until the 15th, Lets fly to Cairns to see Margaret. We booked the flights, she told us they would be in Brisbane!. ( this would later change when Peter was unable to fly) Booked for 4 days, lost one when we crossed the date line. No Internet. No Christmas films. Huge sore point. Hire car got bumped in an Aussie Car Park, first time in forever the insurance policy was poorly worded, and maybe just maybe (time will still tell) we have a sh.t tonne of excess to pay. Credit cards and Driving licence, lost (stolen?) in transit to Morocco. Lastly. Our 11.50 daytime flight home from Spain, was accidently booked as the 6.00am flight instead. Rookie flyer error. Packed all our oversize toiletries, cooking oil, milk into our big bags, not an issue as we have hold luggage. We totally forgot about the bit about sending stuff home in two large boxes because we wanted to fly cabin bag only to our next destinations. So whose bags got pulled due to excess liquids?.....doh!!!! Boxes to send home, again! type of trip, or poor choices? either way, once again we had to send boxes home. We could do it from home. Evri. So much cheaper. Nearest drop off, 1.4 miles from the airport. Perfect. Except that it cost us £18 for that short taxi ride. We failed to consider the £7.50 drop off fee that every taxi is charged as they enter the airport. We got the bus back. Back to Kuala Lumpur. My first observation, and a point that I forgot, KL is a very smart city. Whilst there are a lot of tourists, in usual tourist garb, the majority of people are very smartly dressed. Reminded me a bit of Christchurch New Zealand, another smart city, and another city in which I only had my casual backpacking mildly creased day wear with me. It is hot and humid, and shorts whilst acceptable, should be dressed up, not down. With the city hot, and the mall air conditioned, it was there we spent the most time. The Mall closest to Soho is very nice, and huge. Every shop from the Gucci to Uniqlo and every price range in between. Wonderful if you have an unlimited baggage allowance, and not just packed all your surplus gear into two boxes to send back home. Still, I really don`t mind window shopping, but that`s a past time way down on Mr B`s love list. We did not go to the Mall often, in fact Mr B spent two days watching the cricket at a nearby bar, whilst Mrs B took the opportunity to catch up with some films. (non Christmas variety) I cannot believe, that Christmas 25 came and went without Home Alone ! We had just one evening out in KL, and that was to the cinema. We both really wanted to watch the new Zootopia 2. It was an evening to be well and truly spoilt by the most ignorant, loud, self important, little madam, that we have ever encountered. Nutshell. Family of 4. Two kids sat and watched the film, 2 ran riot to the point that we had to bed the parents to keep their children close by, and quiet. How very dare we ask them to control their children....lets just say the atmosphere and the film was well and truly spoilt. Don`t tar everyone with the same brush they say, but it did remind us of just how self important some people think they are, particularly in certain parts of the world. With our time coming to a close in KL, on the 10th in fact, and our plans to meet up with Daddy B not coming into fruition until the 15th, we had roughly a week to fill. We could go anywhere, so where should we chose, where did we choose ? Until next time K.L. or will next time be Singapore we wonder..

From California we flew to Hawaii with the intention of having a pleasant weeks break in a nice hotel with a pool to recover from our hectic four days in Disney. Not a full weeks break of nothingness, as we planned to include a day at Mrs Bunnies bucket list destination of Pearl Harbour, but definitely a few days of relaxation. From the outset Hawaii was, well, weird. We had no preconceived ideas of what to expect, we had chosen not to watch any You Tube videos, in the hope that we could have a surprise. In our heads we were expecting scenic views, palm trees, pretty villages, and maybe the odd grass skirt, or flower garland. What we did not expect, was to be greeted at the airport by a young guy wearing lipstick and matching nail varnish... Neither did we expect to pay $37 dollars for a 7km taxi ride. Hawaii was going to prove to be a very very expensive and slightly weird destination, not just in terms of transport, but also trips, food, the people, and the crazy idiots on the roads. We arrived at the hotel, with its overly doctored photos of the pool area. `Large pleasant pool` was in fact very small very cold, and less than inviting. Trips? starting around £150 each, nope, no thank you. Our room came to grow on us despite its very noisy air conditioning unit. We did have breakfast in the Hotel, which itself was a little odd for a number of reasons. Given $5 tickets as we checked in, each ticket gave the two bunnies a heavily supplemented breakfast for $5 dollars each, but for context, the same breakfast purchased without a pink ticket was $18. Coffee came with unlimited refills, but an extra tea bag came at a cost. So petty. The hotel restaurant was indoors, but with a large door leading outside meant that a large number of small birds were flying around the room. I don`t mind birds when eating outdoors, but I don`t really want them in a hotel dining room. After a few days we hired a microwave, and seeing as Walmart was directly opposite our hotel, our food options improved when we could buy microwave meals. Local restaurants were all of an Asian theme, we are not fans. We did run to a Subway once, but two small subs and around £15 later we decided that would be a one off. Hawaii would not be a place that we came to enjoy. I admit that we were a little far from the busy tourist area of Waikiki, just a bit too far to walk and no intention of spending extra money on taxis, so it would be fair to say that we did not see as much of Hawaii as we would have liked. The traffic whilst not busy was loud and chaotic. Far too many ambulance sirens could be heard every day, and signs on every road advising people to be safe and careful. So many noisy people on motorbikes, revved up to the hilt and screaming away down the roads, it happened quite often, then there were the guys in pimped up trucks blaring their load music, not just loud music, but deafening music almost in a belligerent fashion, just daring someone to question them or show objection. As for the people? Who exactly are the true Hawaiian race? Are they Japanese? Chinese? Malaysian? White American? Black American? who knows. Perhaps a mixture of all. We could not define the true native person. What we could define was the number of weird people. I know its each to their own, but guys in dresses and high heels walking around the supermarket? Joe average wearing false eyelashes? lipstick on men seemed the norm, ditto nail varnish. Sorry, call me old fashioned but that`s just odd. We sat by the pool one day playing cards and in walked a mother with seven children. Zero consideration for anyone sat near the pool, or even in the pool itself, as these children proceeded to splash, scream and dive bomb each other. We did not stay there much longer. Kids will be kids, but surely a little consideration for other guests would be the norm? We walked a couple of times to the nearby shopping mall for something to do, but even that was not your average shopping centre. At least 85% of the mall was devoted to to High end shops. Tiffany`s, Chanel, Rolex, Louis Vuitton to name but a few. We are budget conscious travellers, not fashion geeks. The sea front was nice, but the false harbour and artificial sand banks were private property of the luxury hotels. The grass banks were open to the public, and it was there that we saw some impressive barbeque and picnic set ups. Pearl Harbour As it happened we went to Pearl Harbour just a few days after the anniversary of the bombing. Not sure why I was expecting a ceremony, or even any kind of memorial, but there was nothing over and above the normal, a modern day working naval port, to see. Pearl Harbour has always held a fascination for me. I do love a good shipwreck story, and coupled with the historical events of 1941 and the totally unexpected bombing by the Japanese, I was keen to see where it all took place. It would be totally remiss of me to say that I was disappointed, I wasn`t, but I do admit to thinking there would have been more to see. The day didn`t exactly start the best with a very early 7.25am pickup, that then proceeded to tour the town picking up more and more Pearl Harbour passengers. The tour I picked was expensive, and gave the impression of being limited to a small group, I do not call a bus load of passengers, `a small group`. Pearl is located a way out of town, and we arrived around 9am. Strict zero bags on site protocol, misunderstood by us as we had brought our smallest bags thinking they came under the size of the allowed `clutch` bag. Nope. Zero bags unless plastic and transparent. First port of call, bag drop. We were then advised to watch the unique to Pearl Harbour film show, then visit the small museum before our Arizona Memorial visit time of 10.15am. The Film show was good and explained a lot, but truthfully anyone knowing the events of 7 December 1941 would probably have known just about everything the film showed. The museum afterwards was ok, but so much writing! Not the first museum where I have thought, `someone really needs to condense all this info into to more manageable bite size pieces` From the museum it was time for our allotted boat ride across to the Arizona Memorial. It was a short boat ride, during which time we passed several concrete markers denoting the final resting places or where several other ships had met their demise that fateful night. We walked into the Memorial and instantly appreciated how poignant the site was. A section of the walkway lies directly over Arizona and to this day you can still see `tears` of oil leaking from the ship below you. Not a lot to see to be truthful, just a large mass of rusty metal, but its the story that grabs you. At the end of the walkway is the plaque engraved with all the names of the dead. So many names the same, as brothers joined with brothers, fathers and sons. To the left, at floor level is another smaller plaque dedicated to the men who served, but did not perish the night of the bombing. Many of these men have been interred following their subsequent deaths, back to the Arizona, as a final wish to join their fallen comrades. Approximately 20? (am guessing) have been laid to rest at Arizona over the years. There will be no more, as the final hero died just a few years ago. There is nothing more to see or read at the actual memorial site. In fact, you disembark your boat, walk the length of the memorial, and by the time you have listened to the short speech given by a representative of the site it is time for you to get back on the boat back to shore. With time moving on, our last visit was to the battleship Missouri, the ship on which the surrender was signed. Got to say it was very impressive, even a highlight of the day. We joined the guided tour hoping to get some extra information rather than doing the self guided tour, but quickly got so so bored with the endless fact, figures, numbers, dates.....blah blah blah... We quickly toured the ship, but heat, too much standing around, and with lots of difficult stairs, we walked back to the entrance with little time left before our bus departed. Pearl Harbour. Worth a visit, but very clinical and `efficient`. It is what it is, a sad reminder of war and the ignorance that goes with complacency. It is also a site that whilst poignant, charges you a lot of money to visit.... Hawaii, quite probably a beautiful island, but one that requires transport, time, money and lot more research. Would we return? With careful planning, quite probably.

Our bucket list started with a dream to complete visiting every Disney park in one year. If flying to Australia, why not fly the other way round the world and tick the box of visiting Disney park number seven, the last one, on the way. We found out, albeit a little too late into our epic trip last year, that booking multi flights, not direct flights, was the way to go. Without disclosing actual costs, after all what was valid this year will not be valid next, we booked 9 flights (each) in total, taking us round the world and back, for less than a single return direct flight to Australia. With time on our hands, we have the luxury of taking in several stops, not just one, before ending up at our Christmas destination, Melbourne. The actual trip itself started with a hiccup. Just 12 hours prior to leaving for the airport for a flight at midday, Mr B got a text saying that the flights had been cancelled, and that we would now be leaving on Tuesday, ( not Monday as planned) flying to Lax (via Heathrow), on separate planes to Heathrow, and separate planes again to Lax! This impacted our prebooked Disney plans on a grand scale not to mention the added stress of being on two different planes. Mr B immediately started the task of contacting the carrier to improve on this offer of a Tuesday flight. He spent so long on the phone, we actually left for the airport to catch a promised flight to Heathrow without actual confirmation that we had been issued tickets for said plane. Turns out we had not. This was 6am and we are sat at Manchester Airport. By now we had been up for 22 hours. Mr B, still on the phone to the flight agents but getting nowhere fast. Finally success came when we spotted the British Airways desk, our original plane carrier, and implored them to find us a solution. Excellent news! they could get us both on the same plane to Lax via Heathrow mid morning with an LAX flight leaving London at around 10.30am. Sounded perfect, and would have been if the blasted flight out of Manchester hadn`t been delayed for over an hour! We missed the connection, (along with a huge amount of other people), and were promptly directed to a help desk where alternative flights for everyone were already being dished out. Our new flight? yep, the one that we got the initial text for informing us that it was cancelled!, but clearly wasn`t. A stressful start to the journey, but finally we landed into California at 11pm Monday night, Tired was an understatement. Disneyland California Like Disney in Paris, California is split into two parks. To your right past the security gate is traditional Disneyland, the park started by Walt Disney himself, and to the left Disneyland California Adventure. Naturally, we had to start our days in Disneyland. Right from the offset, the very position of the parks is just a little odd, especially for us more used to the huge secluded complex of Walt Disney World in Florida. As you drive down the main highway, you can spot various bits of Disney rides and scenery. Seeing Space Mountain from the taxi window was a little surreal. Right from the offset Disneyland was just lovely. So quaint and traditional. With Main Street looking much the same as any other Disney Park, we decided to board the little double decker bus and take the short drive to the end of Main Street and the castle. As we boarded the bus, we hadn`t yet spotted the castle, but were excited to do so. I have to confess, our initial surprise of seeing Sleeping Beauty`s Castle for the first time was one of disappointment. What a dinky, cute little Castle it is. We were quite surprised, because although we knew it was smaller than the others, we didn`t quite appreciate how small. It is also very narrow in depth, just a few strides takes you from front entrance to the back entrance. Disneyland as a whole proved to be very challenging. It is exceedingly compact, made more so by the fact that most, if not all queueing systems are outside, not indoors, like Florida making walkways feel extra busy. It did help us though when we realised that the huge line outside ended at the ride, and did not progress indoors for more waiting. With most queue lines outdoors, it made for a park that appeared very very busy. If this was `quiet` week, I would not like to be there when it is busy. It is also very mono level. Somehow it was hard to spot any ride until you were almost on top of it, and trying to get your bearings using the Castle was a non starter due to its very petite size. Even the Matterhorn ride could hide behind a tree. Matterhorn, grrrr a bob sled type ride that although started well, though a bit rough and jerky, did not end well when we got well and truly soaked after going through the water splash at the end. We read the ride details again, and with no mention of water we asked a cast member what was going on. In a rather bored voice she told us, `you must have gone on the Blue track`, blue it would seem goes through water, whereas Red does not. Disney, you may want to point this fact out to your guests! It was our only grr of the day, just a shame it had to occur at the end of the day when we were starting to get a little chilly. Every other ride in the park is just as you would expect, there were a few deviations here and there, but generally very similar. We did enjoy a few unique rides, simple ones I confess, like Chip `n` Dales little rollercoaster, super quick, super short. Mr Toads Wild Ride, think I really needed to read the book to understand the scenes of this ride. Alice in Wonderland, we liked that. Teapots, Its a Small World, with the most stunning Christmas overlay, and outside lights that were a sight to behold. Haunted Mansion was excellent, and in a previous blog I said that I felt Haunted Mansion in Florida needed some improvement, well in California their Christmas theming overlay of Jack Skellington was just brilliant. Big Thunder Mountain was every bit as good as it should be, but the soaking we got on the new Tiana`s Bayou ride was just a little uncomfortable. We made that a once only ride. The weather was excellent but changed rapidly, cold, warming, very warm, cooling, cold. Almost hourly the temperatures were noticeably different. The jumpers we set off wearing were quickly relegated to the lockers, and retrieved again as the sun went down. Those lockers, very affordable, made for a great perk of the day. A quick google search tells me that there are also lockers at the Magic Kingdom at Florida, but I will say that the small park of Disneyland made the lockers feel more accessible and closer at hand. The Christmas decorations of Disneyland were so pretty. It was so nice for once not to see an endless festoon of Orange and Black. I truly am fed up with the Halloween colours. Christmas just came alive at Disneyland, and the guests made it all the more special. I would say the ratio of people wearing Christmas Themed Disney clothing was at least 90/10. It made me feel so happy. We both had our Disney round the World t shirts, but opted not to purchase Disneyland Christmas t shirts, as we both felt that it more likely we would be in Florida next time it was Christmas. Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, another ride that was closed in Orlando, but not so here, was brilliant, Mrs B managed to hit a secret target and whooped Mr Bunny`s butt in the first 5 mins. We gave Space Mountain a very wide berth after the close to life changing events of our Paris visit, and also missed Peter Pan due to the very long wait times, but we did, once again, ride the 8th Wonder of the World, Dumbo, or in this instance, the worlds fastest flying Elephant! Good grief, we have never seen Dumbo fly quite so fast before. Always a lot of fun. We also rode on the Jungle Cruise, the same appalling jokes, but still just as funny. We were fortunate to have an extra chatty driver who had a repertoire of extra jokes on hand for times when/if the boat was delayed. We were, and we listened and groaned to these terrible but funny one liners. Perhaps the only ride we may have liked to have done, but didn`t due to being `down` was the Indiana Jones ride. Described as a jeep ride, not a rollercoaster, sounded fun, but there for next time.... Disneyland, you are quite magical. I have not mentioned the food options, there were plenty, but somehow we were not hungry so chose not to make a big deal of anything there. California Adventure. This turned out to be our favourite park of the two. It was a little quieter when we first arrived (to change rapidly with each passing minute) and knowing that a certain Cars ride was a big draw, we headed there first. This is a whole area, not just a ride. If you can picture the film Cars, then this was the whole high street for real. Ramones House, Luigi`s Tyres, Flo`s Cafe, the Cozy Cone Motel, with each `cone` being a different little food outlet, it was just brilliant. Then the actual Cars ride itself, oh my goodness, what an entrance, the queueing line wended along between a `mountain `pathway, until you came to the Cars themselves. Absolute perfect imitations of the film. As soon as you set off on your ride, you were in the film itself. We have been on some superb rides around the world at Disney, but this Cars ride has to be hairs breadth second only to the Pirates Ride in Shanghai, absolutely utterly superb. I want to tell you all about it, but no, that would spoil it. You just have to go and experience for yourself. Expect some crazy wait times, or do as we did, and go at park opening. We did all the rides in Cars land, from Maters Tractor ride, with its overlay of Christmas Mater songs, then the dancing trackless cars of Luigi`s so funny, simple, but a real joy. When at California adventure, we also went on Soarin, the wait times were a little extreme, and unfortunately it was the exact same film as per Florida, I had hoped that it might be a different movie. We gave the water rapids a swerve as it was just a little too chilly to risk getting a soaking. We also bypassed the Incredicoaster, purely because of its single one loop of which I had no intention of letting Mr B experience anything that would pressure on his slowly mending back issue. We did take a turn on Toy Story which as usual I was firmly beaten by Mr B. The huge ferris wheel was also bypassed, as neither of us fancied the height aspect of this ride. We did have a little goof with one ride, I thought the Little Mermaid was a show, but was actually a clam shell slow ride, whilst very colourful I think we waited just a little too long. All in all we really enjoyed both Disney parks at California, possibly more than Paris truth be known, and admit it would definitely be two parks that we would choose to return to sometime in the future.

Where else? With 5/7 Disney parks under our belts this year, what better place to visit for three older Bunnies looking for some fun? It had always been Mrs Bunnies intention to visit Disneyland Paris making 6/7 Disney Parks before the year was out, so why not now, before the dust of travel settles. Daddy Bunny didn`t require too much persuading, not that I actually gave him choice, and together the three of us set off in mid September, hoping that all the schools had gone back (grr, they hadn`t) for a little bit of Disney magic. I chose the Explorers Hotel as a base as from a previous visit I remembered it had a very good and reliable bus to park service. What I wouldn`t know from our previous visit back in 2019, was just how much building work had been undertaken in our absence. wow. Sorry, not referring to the parks just at this moment, I`m referring to the hotels! So many more places to stay, quite incredible really. More hotels mean more people. A fact that was going to be plainly obvious. Lets talk Breakfast first, and breakfast fashion. For the majority of families, breakfast was a time of eating the first meal of the day together, wearing some great appropriate clothing choices that varied from full on Disney outfits, to cute little t shirts depicting favourite characters, and then there were the Pyjama Families. These were the trashy women who clearly thought Bedroom attire was perfectly acceptable in a public hotel restaurant. Parading around in slippers, satin pjs, hair in rollers, and full make up...(really did not get the pjs and make up bit) Their children tended to be in fluffy onesies, unkempt bed hair, and clearly at ease with their mums walking around in public in pjs. I make no apologies for my opinion of these kind of people. Tramps and Trollops. If its not bad enough I spot this type of trashy behaviour at school time, even walking round supermarkets, but in a hotel??? Disneyland Paris has two parks, Disneyland, and Disney Studios. We chose to visit Disneyland first. Disneyland . Daddy Bunny understanding the importance of early breakfast and rope drop, was happy to leave the tramps (sorry but they were quite repulsive) of the breakfast hall behind, and head with us to the bus for the short ride to Park number one Disneyland. Despite the large crowds, we quickly entered the park and soaked in the wonderful scents of Disney. No matter how many Disney parks I visit, I never fail to grin like the Cheshire Cat when we first enter the parks. I think Daddy Bunny was happy as well, as he too enjoyed this wonderful atmosphere. We walked up Main Street and decided to head left towards Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain. We love both these rides, but DB had a bit of a hairy moment when his slightly too large glasses very nearly became part of the ride on Big Thunder, he would learn to ride glasses less on the other faster rides. Indiana was just this kind of ride. A super quick, backwards, forwards upside down nifty little rollercoaster that is just so much fun. Once again we bypassed the silly parrots, and headed on towards the area of Fantasyland. So many small rides here, all aimed for the smaller kidlets, but who says big kidlets cant have some fun? Snow White, Its a Small World, Pinocchio, Mad Hatters Tea Cups, Peter Pan and our all time favourite Mickeys Philharmagic. Dumbo had to be ridden, you simply cannot visit Disney and not fly with the worlds 8th wonder of the world, Dumbo! We took a drive around the Autopia, but to be truthful, for a slow ride, this was quite painfully slow. Other Disney Autopia rides are equally of the slower end of rides, but Paris? just a tad too slow. We were also lucky to grab a ride on Casey Le Petite train, as it broke down just as our train arrived back into the station. It was a real pity that Buzz Lightyear was having a refurb, as I would love to have seen my two favourite male bunnies having one of their super competitive shootouts. We had lunch from one of the small stalls that were set up around the area of Its a Small World. The food looked good from afar, but alas was a little too pricy and not the quality you would hope to expect at Disney. We each had a chicken gyros, and all thought that the meat was definitely from parts of the chicken that shouldn`t really be included as a food option. Our evening meal at the La Bella Noche Italian was quite excellent and more than made up for the not so great lunch. We saw lots of Characters wandering around which was fun. I am also happy to report that the appalling crowding of the characters that I experienced and witnessed many years ago whilst here in Paris, has been replaced with a carefully controlled and managed queuing system. Big Bunny and Mrs Bunny still had plenty of Disney left in us and stayed to watch the parade, whereas Daddy B faded fast after his evening meal and headed back to the bunny burrow for a much needed rest and a lot of sleep. Disneyland is deceptive, you look at a map and think, there isn`t much here, but yet somehow the hours fly by and you find yourself wondering where the heck did time go? Disney Studios Day 2 This park has changed so much since our visit that right from the offset I felt lost. The initial walkthrough area with its numerous eateries has become so much smarter and would be our choice of eatery later on in the day. We planned to make the Hollywood Tower our first ride, but a less than helpful cast member pointed us very much in the wrong direction. We found the ride exit, and we found the bathrooms, but not the ride entrance. There is a lot of building work going on at the moment, so a lot of pathways are blocked or re routed. Eventually we found the entrance, and sailed through the first ride of the day albeit with a longer wait time than we should have had, had we not been sent on a wild goose chase first. The park was to fill up quickly and ride times were a little long in places. Whilst we like the Toy Story area of the park, a couple of the rides are just a little too scary for us. RC Racer goes backwards, a non starter for Mrs B, especially first thing in a morning. The Parachute drop looks so easy, but as discovered at another Disney Park, those heights can be quite deceptive. With a degree of vertigo, this ride just lends itself for someone to feel like they can lean forward and fall out. You can`t, but it feels like it. We did ride SlinkyDog, but it really is very tame ride, most suited for toddlers. Further around the park we found Crush`s Coaster, but as a spinning coaster with very very long wait times, it would be a ride that we chose to miss. We did however have great fun riding the little cars. A whole new part of the park that was new since 2019 was the Ratatouille ride. Daddy B and Mr B looked so cute as they partook in this little VR ride as a pair of rats running around the kitchen of a Parisian restaurant. Mrs Bunny was happy to miss this ride, as is the case in Florida as well. VR and Mrs Bunny do not see eye to eye. Somehow we managed to miss a whole area of the park dedicated to Avengers, there was a rollercoaster which I suspect was akin to Rock N Rollercoaster, and probably the same ride reimagined. The huge amount of building work that was ongoing, we later found out was the addition of the new Frozen Land. Opening later this year, I bet this will be a really `cool` area to visit, hum te tum. Daddy B wasn`t quite as enamoured by the Studios Park, and we all agreed that the other park, was much more colourful and fun. We did spend our third day at the main Disney Park, and spent a lot of the time enjoying the shops and revisiting some of the rides that we had done before. For a short visit, we did have a magical time. We purchased two Chipmunk shoulder riders, Chip n Dale both wearing Christmas hats, and reminded ourselves that next time we see something we like, buy it there and then!! I`d seen these in a shop on day one, but could I find that shop again? It took patience and a lot of legwork to eventually track them down, finding them in the huge Disney Store in the Village area. Disney Village. Another large part of the park, not actually in the park itself. Lots of shops and eateries are found here, many more than the two we found back in 2019. A huge improvement, and a nod to just how busy and popular these parks are. With the Train Station right next door to the park entrance, and a bus route available into the City, Disneyland Paris is a super easy destination for any Disney Fan. Would we go again? Of course !!! A serious note. Whilst our trip to Disneyland was amazing, it was there where both Daddy Bunny and Mr Bunny had a serious wake up call to the forces at work on one particular ride. Space Mountain. It just so happened this was our very last day, and last ride before leaving for home. As per every ride, from Dumbo upwards, warnings are in place about the nature of each ride. Motion sickness, Spinning, Not suitable for Pregnant women, Back Problems, Surgery. Every Base is covered, and it is up to your own judgement whether you choose to ride or not. More often than not, most rides are fine for the majority of people. Daddy B is usually very good on fast rides, with little or no adverse effects, but he turned more than just a little nauseous on this wild ride, however it was the warning for `Not suitable for people with Back problems` that could/should have been taken more seriously. Oh for hindsight. With a ride that jolts violently, whizzes around and even has an inversion all of which in total darkness, Mr Bunny suffered immeasurable trauma in his spine, leaving him in visible pain, the results of which, as I write this a few weeks after our return, are still an ongoing problem with vast amounts of money being spent on Chiropractors, Physiotherapy and a multitude of pain relief tablets. Mr Bunny does have a known spinal problem, but no other ride across the world has caused any problems, until now. A painful end to a perfect trip (to clarify. Own decision to ride . No, we are not seeking compensation)

After a 15 month journey around the world, it was time to pack our bags for the last time and head for home. Whilst we wish we could have carried on travelling forever, the pull of home is great and I for one was looking forward to seeing my Dad again. Not my birth Dad, (that title belongs to a self centred moron) but if anyone deserves the title of Dad, L.T ( you know who you are) does. Married to my wonderful mum for 40 years, losing her at Christmas had left him alone and lonely for far too long. I could not wait to talk to him again, but the reality of seeing him alone was painful. It didn`t take me long to do some thinking and replanning and book the three of us a trip to...well...where else? With little Bunny returning to work, it was time for Daddy Bunny to enjoy some company and a little bit of fun, if only for a short while. With our bags still mostly packed, it took just a few tweaks, a quick repacking of a few items into a smaller under seat bag, and to Disneyland Paris we go.

We said goodbye to Australia and headed north. This time with Bali and Indonesia in our sights. Not too sure what to expect in Bali given all its negative press about over tourism and crowded beaches. Turns out that is not a worry I need have for the moment, given that my first accommodation is actually on the Island of Nusa Penida (where? Never heard of it...) I hadn`t actually realised that I had been staring at the island every single time I switched on my laptop, with that screensaver staring me in the face! Well, well.. 3 Slightly more excited bunnies now. Nusa Penida Bali airport, I`m sure you have all seen the film Ticket to Paradise, Julia Roberts/George Clooney, landing at Bali etc etc....Ha !!! Couldn`t be further from reality if it tried. Trust me when I say Bali airport is more akin to Manchester, Heathrow or Berlin than the tiny little paradise one room airport of the film. Putting that aside and leaving the airport, where is the greenery, the pretty sights of a beautiful island? Well it is certainly not present as you leave the airport, nor was it apparent on our 30 min cross city drive to the harbour where we were to catch our boat to the Island. Instead we encountered a scruffy drive through a scruffy town, we saw pockets of fabulous architecture and temples, but generally nothing to write home about. Our first impressions of Bali were not good. With mutterings of Bali being not great anymore we actually wondered if we should skip coming back here, and instead lean more towards the smaller quieter islands. Watch this space. From the tiny harbour at Sanur we boarded a small boat for the first of many little boats we would take over the next few days visiting the island destinations. First, to Nusa Penida. The journey took around one hour ish and was actually quite pleasant. We landed at Banjar Nyub and thankfully we had a taxi prebooked so no running the gauntlet of hassling taxi drivers. They are all so lovely, but it is quite intense. Our home on Nusa Penida was our first experience of a bungalow with their huge high arched thatched or in the present case, tiled, roofs. Such a lovely place to stay, with fab views towards the sea. This was to be our first mini holiday within a holiday. A pool, a sea view, a nice restaurant two mins walk away, we felt like we were in heaven. A couple of days doing nothing before these bunny feet twitched, and we booked ourselves a private taxi with driver. Sounds privileged? well we quickly got our dreams dashed there, when leaving the comfort of our bungalow paradise we hit the roads, along with every other tourist on the island, in their identical taxis going to the exact same places, along the craziest winding, pot-holed, roads ever. Yes, the roads are tarmac, but to clarify, imagine rolling out a piece of pastry, the neatest part goes on the widest busiest road, but the left overs, the edges, the bits you cut off when you fill your baking tray, that`s what is laid out on the rest of the roads. Bumpy winding narrow roads with more mud patches than a hippos bum. We had left our room at 9am, thinking this was nice and early and maybe the roads would be quite, after all we hadn`t really seen many other tourists. Ha! No wonder! as pulling up at Diamond Beach we probably found every other tourist on the entire island. Yes, it is beautiful, the colour of the sea is the most beautiful shade of turquoise, green, emerald, topaz blue imaginable, with around 1000 tourists and every car and driver hovering about trying to take the best photos in the best spots. Once again I curse Instagram. Personally this bunny spies the photo, stands, snaps, goes...but the Instagram brigade??? Yawn, pose like this, like that, from this angle, from behind, pouting down the sunnies, point the toes, kiss the lips, not to mention `does my dress look ok`... ITS A BLOODY PHOTOGRAPH, JUST TAKE THE SODDING PHOTO!! I will tell you for nothing that western girls manage the grab a pose, pout, photo quite quickly, but if your from Asia...its time to crack open the picnic basket Boo Boo...cos you are in for a long wait! and neither do they care either. Leaving Diamond behind we went to another point on the island called Teletubbies hills, no need to elaborate here, buts lets say calling it tourist worthy is a bit meh. It is a selection of green hills, woo hoo. We did have plans to visit the iconic view point of Kelingking Beach the following day, but with a monsoon start to the day, this was postponed. Do we feel sad, or unlucky, or frustrated when it rains? Nope, not at all. One little bunny is less than happy, but the older bunnies take it in our stride. We enjoy the rain, as long as we are not getting wet. Rain means cards, or writing, or Words with Friends, Netflix if the wifi stays or even just catching up on sleep. Sometimes doing nothing is doing something. With the weather behaving we grabbed an early morning taxi the following day, and headed directly to that view point. We drove straight there, bypassing other `must see` places. Getting there with only 3 other cars on the car park was excellent news. We were warned by the driver to avoid the aggressive monkeys, (those cute little things were aggressive?) we kept our distance, but found it difficult to accept they were aggressive when we watched one little guy plait a woman`s hair as she stood with her back to him. She was unaware at the time what he was doing, as clearly scrolling through your phone is far more interesting than monkeys and fabulous views. It was quite special looking down at the view which has greeted me for months, every time I pull out my laptop. We took all our photos, and left. We left just as a monumentally huge group of asian tourists arrived. We knew we were lucky to have got our photos as waves of bimbos and himbos in long floaty instagram stereo type dresses and cool shirts, swanned down the stairs towards the view point. If we had arrived only 15 mins later, we would have been in an Everest like queue. The view point was worth seeing, but at what cost are we getting to see these places? The next place of interest summed it all up for me. Hoards and hoards of people all aiming for the same place. These two bunnies took one look and decided we didn`t need to see anything that badly. We plonked ourselves down on a couple of stools and had a drink watching the hoards go by. It was called Angels Billabong, but to be honest, had we caught it on a bad day, or is it really that spit of flat land with a natural cove? Sorry but I didn`t feel the need to hike my bunny butt down to see that any closer. Our brief time on Nusa Penida has come to an end, and our journey now takes us to Lombok. This is the next island on from Bali. Many people commented that its so much quieter than Bali, but just as beautiful. This has to be worth a visit. Lombok. Our boat was due to leave at 9.30. or when its full. We arrived at the boat ticket office, purchased our tickets, watched the boats arrive, then we were collected by staff and hustled onto a open sided mini bus type vehicle and driven to the next dock down. More waiting. Finally the boat arrived, loaded first the luggage then the passengers, and we were off. The journey to Lombok was 2 hours and 20 mins and went via the 3 Gili Islands of Trawangan, Meno and Air. Then the fun started. As soon as you land you are bombarded with taxi, taxi taxi. We know from experience that these taxis, however nice, would be the most expensive. Green and cabbage looking tourist, what do you know about prices?. We got hounded all the way down the street until we took refuge in a supermarket that also offered hot dogs. There we sat eating, all the time being hassled by overly friendly taxi drivers, all of whom assumed we would just pay their silly prices, and instead I contacted our host and asked what a reasonable price should be. Naturally it was half what we had been quoted. A brief negotiation by our host to a willing driver and we were off. We saved a whole £5, but that`s not the point. We don`t like people trying to take advantage of us. Turns out our next accommodation was almost one hour and 35 mins away over the big hill. We felt a little bad about not paying the excessive £5 overcharge. Lombok proved to be quite an expensive island in which to find a place to stay. I can find any number of places, but boxes need to be ticked. Price, rooms, seating, kitchen etc and this one particular house in a place called Mataram ticked all our boxes. From the photos and even the outside of the building I was expecting a little more, but cute and practical were more realistic words. We had a detached house in large gardens, two bedrooms, a living area, bathroom and cooking space. Comparing it to the many properties we had passed on the way, it would be considered luxurious, and we treated it as such. We knew that the hosts had once lived in the house, with one child, but now lived elsewhere. Little bunny summoned up her pre school years experience and embraced the cuteness of her room with its child sized bed, furniture and pooh bear clock. Mr and Mrs bunny felt closer than ever in our room that contained a bed and a table, and a single sized duvet. We had some fun those 5 nights as we each wrestled for our corner. We didn`t dare turn the air con off as we would have quickly melted, but leaving it on and the room was fresh, too fresh to play single duvet wars. life is fun. Our biggest hmmm in the flat was the absence of a sink in the bathroom. Handwashing under the shower tap was fine, but teeth cleaning? As with everywhere we stay, we made it ours, moving furniture around, putting items away that we had no use for, and generally making the place ours for a short stay. We do this everywhere, if its necessary, but hasten to add that we always leave the places exactly as we find them. Call me a dummy, but in years gone by it never occurred to me that I should feel free to move the furniture around to make a room my own. I`ve always been very careful to not touch anything. ( Thank you @Rick Steves/You Tube). The hosts at this property were exceptionally lovely. They really couldn`t do enough for us. The door lock jammed on the first evening, so we spent the whole of the following day waiting for a repair. This caused us no problems at all as we had no plans to leave our place and used our time to make plans for the next leg of the journey. They came, tried to repair the door, failed, swapped door locks around, and promised us that they would take us to the local market and shopping mall when they realised we had no food and no transport. At this point I need to mention the fact that this house, booked by booking.com came with free breakfast. How does a self contained flat/house come with free breakfast? We found out the first morning, when the hosts turned up with eggs, bread, jam, fruit, tea, coffee, and fruit juice and proceeded to take over the kitchen to make our breakfast. We have never felt so uncomfortable. This couple live in the next town, have 3 small children, and they are here making us our breakfast?. We quietly ate everything they made, and swiftly washed and cleaned as they sat out side waiting for us to eat. Never again are we prepared to let anyone cater for us in this manner. The experience was quite humbling. We politely told them that we would not be wanting them to cook for us again. They actually looked relieved. We got the feeling that they were the property managers, but the actual owner was a bit of a donkeys rear end. George and Irma kept their promise to take us shopping, and the following morning, (after we made our own breakfast) they each came on their own scooter, along with a grab scooter rider, and the 3 of us took our very first scooter ride to the nearby town. A little scary but so much fun. We only chose to do one tour on Lombok and it took us to the tourist destination of Kuta, not the one on Bali, Kuta Lombok at the south of the island. Compared to the local vibe of Mataram Kuta is exactly what you expect from a tourist town. All the usual TS shops all selling the same products, numerous cafes catering for everyone from American to Chinese and everything in between. And rubbish. Don`t misunderstand, there is rubbish everywhere, but when its IMBY, its tidy rubbish, but get closer to a tourist resort and the refuse cannot be cleared quickly enough. Dumping on the roadside, down pretty valleys is rife. We spent an hour in Kuta, but these three bunnies were so much happier when we headed back home, back to where local children found us fascinating and yelled lots of Hello`s at us. We know that there is such more to Lombok, but without transport it is just too difficult to get around. We could get taxis, but its getting to be expensive due only to the frequency of need. One way or another we are either going to have to bite the bullet and hire scooters, or accept that big beautiful islands will remain out of reach. We will be coming back to Lombok as we wanted to see another coastline. With our short first stay on Lombok over, we headed back to the port, (an hour and a half) and caught a boat to the Gili Islands. There are many Gilis, meaning small island, but the three that are most prominent with tourists are Gili Trawangan, Gili Meno, and Gili Air. Gili Trawangan, locally known as Gili T, is known as the party island and our first stop. With this in mind, it was decided that two bunnies would spend just 3 nights here, the little bunny spending four. Cheap and cheerful is the only way to describe our room, but when you spend a whole £9 per night including unlimited tea/coffee and breakfast and a pool, who are we to complain? Gili T like both other nearby Gilis are very small walkable islands. No cars are allowed on the islands, with the only transport being horse and trap, electric mini scooters, or bicycles. Knowing that our first accommodation was an easy walk from the harbour, we spared the horse, and used shanks pony instead. With the weather here in Indonesia very unpredictable, it is after all the wet season, we have to plan our days around the weather. Eg, Day one, we decided to wander around the island and get a feel for the place. Tiny narrow streets, not overly busy, not `real` shops, but tiny little local buildings selling simple handmade tourist souvenirs lined the alleys. Children wander about barefoot and cats are everywhere. Very well fed and happy looking cats I like to add. The horse and carts can be seen around each corner. Along the sea front are the bigger shops and the more touristic cafes and restaurants. Gone are the simple eateries, and here you find the more expensive places. It was whilst walking this street, we decided to see if we could hire and ride a mini scooter as a precursor to hiring a proper one elsewhere. Mr Bunny sampled the scooter first. With a very hesitant local guy showing him the basic controls, of which Mr B took very little notice, the next thing we witnessed was a big bunny on a very small electric scooter whizzy wobbling his bunny butt down the street sending walkers diving for cover as he careered towards them. The scooters barely touch more than 15km tops, so there was no danger, but watching that bunny butt wobbling so much on a scooter than 10year kids can drive was nothing short of hilarious. His return run was a little more dignified, after he realised that he had set off the first time with the throttle on full and his hand clutching the brake hence the flying speedy wobble, the return was a slightly more sedate bunny driving a little more slowly and confidently. The flying bunny had somewhat unnerved little bunny, whose nerves overtook her and was the reason why her bunny butt remained stationary, her little scooter not moving an inch. As the turn of Mrs B came closer, the heavens started to open and the moment came and went. Sensing this was more than just a shower, that this could be a proper tropical monsoon downpour, we ran as quickly as fast as two cronky bunnies could possibly run to the nearest restaurant, and dived in there just as the heavens fully opened. Luckily for us the nearest place was also the biggest hotel and restaurant on the island. The Pearl. Oh wow, what luck, it was just awesome. With a huge upstairs covered terrace overlooking the sea, we watched as the street turned from sandy to soggy from trickle to river. Under our beautiful bambooed roof restaurant, we sat and listened to the rain. With the downpour never ending, we decided instead to treat ourselves to lunch instead of a dodgy scooter. Best meal ever. And not expensive either. A double winner. As we chose to not venture far in an evening we cannot say as to whether or not Gili T lives up to its party island image, what can be said, is how dismissive the foreign tourist can be of local customs. Everywhere you walked had signs begging people to refrain from wearing bikinis around the village, to be dress modestly. Who ignored this? Constantly? Tourists. It really is shameful how much we, and I`m not aiming my observations just at the western cultures either, are happy to visit such beautiful places, but take its traditions so lightly. These bikini bimbos are not here to see, they are here to be seen, and its annoying, rude, distasteful and disrespectful. We bunnies are doing all we can to avoid upsetting any locals. Gili Meno. Our original plan was to stay on all three Gili Islands, but given that Meno is quite exclusive, and so much quieter and thereby more expensive than Gili T, we chose instead to go as a day trip. The island is close enough to almost think you could swim there. You can`t, the currents are treacherous, but it really is only a 10 min boat ride away. Gili Meno is also the island on which the Race Across the World ended 2024, and having already visited one finish hotel at Ushuai, it was exciting being able to say that we had visited another. Meno is tiny. We virtually walked its entire perimeter before finding the hotel. We had lunch there, but unlike the enthusiastic manager of the hotel at Ushuai, none of the staff here appeared to be able to recall the TV programme. Leaving little bunny on Gili T to enjoy an evening of films and unsuccessful bike rides (see miss.tiff.travel s on You tube, and all with become apparent) The two bigger bunnies boated our butts across to Gili Air, to the very appropriately named Follow the Rabbit bungalows. Seeing this place on Google maps, I didn`t even look at anywhere else to stay on the island. What could be wrong with a place that had bunnies on balconies? We were not disappointed. I am a little cross with myself that we agreed to take a horse taxi to get to the rooms, I would normally avoid animal transport at all cost. The carriage was tiny, the harness was loose, and the horse looked fit and well with nice feet. I bit my tongue and hopped on. Good job really as our room was the furthest point from the harbour. True to the description we had a white bunny waiting for us on our balcony. This place was lovely, and somewhere that we really enjoyed. During yet another downpour, and the observation that we hadn`t left our room for food, the staff brought us some supper on a plate. Gratefully received. Another quiet island, and somewhere to which we would return, we spent our brief time there walking the island, dodging 3ft monitor lizards (just the one, thankfully ) and sitting on beach beds with cold drinks and blue sea views. Gili Islands, long may you remain unspoilt. Lombok again. Whilst we did return to Lombok, our hotel was situated quite a way out of the main town, and though we had planned to venture further afield across the Island, the furthest we managed was 2 consecutive nights at 2 different restaurants across the road. What we know of Lombok is that it is a very nice much quieter island to its boisterous neighbour Bali. What we also witnessed, which is so sad, is the lack of pride in itself. There was a local 3 day holiday and this beach area was the biggest focal point. The locals came in their hundreds, with picnics, food, and just sat on the beach throwing whatever rubbish they had around them. Even a local peddler of bracelets, who had a good command of English, told us how much he despairs at the lack of care. Why can they not use the bin, he said to us, look at them, the bin is so close. We blame tourism for the additional refuse, but when locals ignore the islands beauty, what hope is there? Bali. The island we have been most looking forward to whilst in the UK, yet since arriving into Australia, became the Island we came to have the most reservations about. We landed back at the port and had a pre booked taxi to our accommodation. We had watched one of our favourite You Tubers about his trip to Bali and decided to follow his suggestions for places to visit. So, to Canggu we went. Over 2 hours of driving to cover just 40 ish km, such is the busy nature of the roads. Did we pass fabulous and beautiful places? No, not in the slightest. Just your average bustle of local towns and villages. As we got closer to Canguu we noted the quickening array of tourist shops and knew we were getting close. Now, it must be remembered that we are budget travellers, not holiday makers in search of a luxury hotel or spa resort. The rooms we chose were excellent, basic, but excellent. With 2 single beds on an upper floor, and 2 on the lower floor, they were comfortable and clean. The bathroom was practical. The promised kitchen turned out to be shared, clean and tidy, but still shared. Venturing into the town of Canggu was interesting. I had thought it was just the one long street with a couple of off shoots, but realised only when leaving that it actually covers quite a large area. The street was quite busy, the restaurants appeared to be exceptionally good, the one where we chose to eat had fabulous food. The glorious beaches of Bali.....I shall rephrase that, the black sand beach of Canggu was a mecca for the surfing brigade. The sunset there was quite good, but all in all, just a beach town and certainly not a place I would gush over. Day two we ventured along another road and came across a luxury hotel with the Host inviting us in to take a look. No doubt about it, this hotel was stunning, even though the hotels prize `for guests only` pool was central and completely empty, whilst the pool for all was an infinity pool overlooking the sea with comfy beach beds and a bar. Odd. With a blue sky day we sat there for a while enjoying the beach view. Is this Bali? perhaps, but stay at the resort and you really could be anywhere. We took a private taxi tour around the island, with a view to seeing parts of the island ending at our next town stay, the popular Ubud. Leaving the town all we saw was more and more and more building works. We passed a large rice field and passed comment that we thought we would see more of those, to which our young 24yr old taxi driver said, I remember when Canguu was mostly rice fields. 15 years to go from peaceful rice terraces to tourist central. So sad. Our first stop, on a rainy blustery day was Tanah Lot. For anyone who is a fan of the George Clooney film Ticket to Paradise (supposedly set in Bali) this was featured. Atop a grassy palm tree hill they stood and viewed the paradise temple of Tanah Lot.....bloody tosh! Artistic license with a whole lot of rabbit poo! Tanah Lot is accessed by a very large car park, several hundred t.s. shops, countless bars and eateries, and is generally my idea of Tourist Hell. Granted the weather didn`t help, but I would truly hate to be there in the height of tourist season and on a blue sky day. I imagine once upon a time this stunning peaceful temple on its tiny island would have been something special, but now? just another overcrowded money grabbing attraction. Bali, you are just not floating my boat. To the rice terraces next. Now this was special, and being a UNESCO site protected and peaceful this was more the Bali I was hoping for. We had breakfast there, but considering the wait time in a cafe that only had 3 customers, us, we waited an hour! We didn`t mind too much as the view was something special. From the rice terraces we continued further north to the temple area of Ulun Danu Beratan. Online it looked beautiful, and it was, a huge open pristine grass area with temples, play areas, flowers, fish ponds, but it was created for tourism. It felt so false. Get dressed up in traditional costume and take your photo here. No thanks. Still got the bunny blues in beautiful Bali. Last stop Ubud. Oh my goodness, we have never encountered as much traffic in all our travels. Busy Bali lives up to its name. Ubud may have pockets of beauty, but the sheer number of scooters and tourists is quite unbelievable. The streets were gridlocked, and our driver told us this was quiet compared to Christmas!!! Where is the Bali of my dreams? Still on a budget, we encountered our worst room ever. With no Air con and a humidity of almost 90% the room felt damp, clammy and just dismal. Ubud? not for me thanks. 2 nights we stayed before getting our sad bunny butts out of there. Our dislike of the place additionally hampered by the room being situated at the back of the tourist market, the likes of which we had to run the gauntlet of each time we left. We would support the little guy, but we are just not in the market for the weight of extra T.S. Little bunny ventured to the twice weekly local show which she found `ok`..we older bunnies just couldn`t be bothered. The monkey forest was a nice break from the noise and chaos of Ubud but other than that, not for me thanks. Even the nicest walk in Bali, was challenged by the ever present building works on pristine land. The spa resort was undeniably stunning, but if they hadn`t built it, I am quite certain that the green landscape would have been just as special. Our last stop in Bali was Nusa Dua. Or as close as I could possibly get us to it. Nusa Dua is a gated area in the southern tip of Bali. Full of beautiful expensive hotels, with manicured lawns, sea views, private bars on white man made beaches, this is possibly the Bali to which every one comes to see. However yet again, you could be anywhere. Maybe we didn`t venture far enough, stayed in the wrong places, or just got unlucky I am not sure. What I do know is that Bali is too busy for these bunnies. Our little bungalow a few kms from the overly pampered and spoilt brats of Nusa Dua was the closest we came to the touch of Bali paradise that we had hoped for. One of just 3 bungalows that had guests, we had a pool to ourselves, the most stunning bedroom to date, not biggest, just visually stunning (4 poster bed anyone? ) and the loveliest chatty host an ex cruise ship server, who made us a beautiful breakfast each morning serving it to us on our huge patio. Whilst Bali didn`t float our boats as budget travellers, with a lot more research I suspect we could have found the real beauty of Bali somewhere. Indonesia you have been interesting and varied. With more time I think we would have stayed longer and travelled further, probably to the more outlying islands. Until next time, Terima Kasih xx