28th Feb, 2016

Well, our last full day in Malaysia started with a phone call at 5.40 from Nik, our friendly taxi driver who we had arranged to pick up the kids and take them to the airport. All ended up fine and the children all made it home OK.

We had a lovely day with Ad & Babes including an excursion to a craft fair with stalls from all over Malaysia, including many from East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak). Lots of nice textiles (LOTS of batik!) and a few other bits and pieces. It was a bit like the Country Fairs you get in England – but in Malaysia (if you see what I mean).

We had drinks at Bash & Zee’s house followed by dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant (with accompanying thunderstorm).

29th Feb – 4th March, 2016

Off to the airport and on to the flight to Perth (Australia) for the next stage of our epic journey. We stayed with two old friends from Papua New Guinea days, Sue and Ted Kinch. They live some way inland from Perth (50 miles?) on a sort of farm (station? I am not too good with the local parlance). Sue runs a cafe and Ted is retired. The former proved wonderful for us as it meant a superb slap-up breakfast every day. That said, we did earn our keep by cleaning the outside of the cafe of a few cobwebs!

Our stay was wonderfully relaxing, though we did go in towards Perth to see a couple of friends of Val’s, By this time you must be as amazed as me at how well Val has kept in touch with everyone for so long. Some contacts go back about 50 years! This time we all went to see Shuik Lin and Lee Chan and had a nice dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant.

In between breakfasts and resting up we did help around the place including helping to fix the kitchen sink. I attach a photo for posterity along with a few others.

One of the best things about staying with Sue and Ted is the wildlife – genuine, real KANGAROOS!! They like to graze in their nearby paddock and yes, good news, I did manage to get a few pics! One is a bit blurry as it started moving, so your indulgence, please. Also some photos of the local area…

Possibly most fantastic of all is the night sky, like nothing I have ever seen before. The whole Milky Way stretching across the sky, so bright with thousands (millions?) of other stars on show. OK, I admit the following are not all that great, but you can at least see the Southern Cross! (You might have to zoom in!)

It is off to Brisbane next….. more soon.