Deepest darket Borneo. What we did on our holidays.

We went to Sarawak which is a state of Malaysia on the island of Borneo.

 Kuching -
This was our starting point. It is the capital of Sarawak and is a very easy capital to enjoy. It's not flashy but has cheap good hotels, good food and some interesting places to wander around.
We stayed in the Harbour View hotel right in the centre near the river. This was because it was provided as part of the sponsorship of the dragonboat team I was with. We also stayed there another night later and got a room for RM131.
From Kuching we took a half day tour with Borneo Experiences to the Semenggoh nature reserve where you can if you are lucky see orangutans. The rangers put food out twice a day and if there is not much food in the forest the orangutans come to feed. We were lucky! We saw 3 in the car park and another 4 along a bush track. For this tour you do not need a guide just a driver in a car or minibus. The road in the reserve is damaged and big buses cannot go in at the moment.

There are many other national parks which are an easy day trip from Kuching or an overnight if you want to spend more time. There are also river cruises and an afternoon cruise to see proboscis monkeys.

From Kuching we caught a boat to Sibu. This took 5 hours and was quite a pleasant voyage out the river and into the South China Sea then along waterways to Sibu.
Sibu is a pretty ordinary asian river town.

We stayed at the Kingwood hotel, right on the river, quite grand and modern, breakfast was included and it cost RM170.
The next day we took the "flying coffin" upriver to Kapit, which took 3 hours. The cabins are all enclosed and it is difficult to see out but the journey was through some interesting jungle and past old and new longhouses.

I hadn't booked anywhere to stay in Kapit, because nowhere seemed great and thought it best to look at the places in person. Unfortunately it took a while to find somewhere and it wasn't great either but sufficient. The owners were very nice and organised for a drive to take us to see a longhouse that afternoon. This was ridiculously expensive but we really had no choice as we didn't have much time in Kapit. We went to an old longhouse that was not being lived in anymore just maintained by the community who had, mostly, relocated to a new place. But we were welcomed and shared some rice wine with the chief's wife.

Kapit isn't a town to linger in so we returned to Sibu the next day.

From Sibu we flew to Miri.
Again Miri is a pretty  ordinary city but we stayed there 2 nights and did a day trip to Niah caves about 2 hours south. We hired a car from Green Matrix which was convenient as they dropped it off and collected from our hotel. Driving is easy, they drive on the left hand side of the road, and traffic is polite and not crazy.
On the way to Niah we stopped at Tusan cliffs, there is construction going on at the moment on new visitor facilities but we managed to sidle around and found steps to the beach and the horses head rock formation.
Niah caves are known for their archaeological wonders but the museum was closed so were unable to see what has been found. But it was a nice, long, extremely sweaty walk, on very slippery boardwalk to the caves.
I cannot recommend the hotel we stayed in in Miri as it quite daggy and run down, the room was ok though and clean.

Then we flew to Bario in the Kelabit highlands. Flying is really the only way to get there - or a 2 days 4WD journey.
We stayed in a homestay there near the centre of the village for 3 nights. The host's sister provided breakfast and dinner for us for an extra cost but we could have eaten at local cafes as they were so close. However she and her Indonesian helper did a great job to provide us with meatless meals.
Our host Lian guided us on a walk to the next village pointing out orchids and pitcher plants along the way. He also took us to a lovely longhouse where we met the chief and his wife. We walked through some forest on the way back. As it was the start of the rainy season the next day no guides would take us into the national park as the tracks were too wet, so we just walked to another village by ourselves.
The experience in Bario turned out to be a lot different from what I had thought. It seemed that there were lots of walking opportunities, maybe a kayak trip and stone megaliths to see but that never happened for us. However we enjoyed the peacefulness, we only saw one other westerner on the plane there. And the people were so lovely.

We had to fly back to Miri and our flight to Mulu was the same afternoon, unfortunately it was cancelled. Luckily Malaysia Air put us up in the very new and comfortable hotel opposite the airport, with free lunch, dinner and breakfast and we flew out the next morning.

Mulu national park was perhaps the highlight. We stayed in the park in a garden bungalow which was lovely and spacious, was convenient to all the activities, and there was a great cafe in the park too.
It didn't seem very busy when we were there but you do need to book ahead for accommodation and tours.
We ended up with only 2 nights there, but had time for 2 days worth of activities guided cave walks, as well as some independent walks.

After Mulu we flew back to Kuching for one night and then took the bus, 45 mins, and boat, 20 exciting mins, to Bako National park for 2 nights. The accommodation here was dark and dingy, very basic but we had an ensuite bathroom and it was handy for the cafe, which was also not great.
They are doing some rebulding/renovation/building of accommodation so it may be better in the future.
The best thing here is that you can see the proboscis monkeys - up close. And the macaque monkeys, sometimes too close! They are very aggressive if they think you have food. As soon as we arrived we had an encounter with a bearded pig which dragged our backpack away which had bananas in a bag on the outside. Luckily it tore the bag off and we got our backpack back.
There are tracks and walks you can do beaches, a waterfall and one we did which takes you over the top into different vegetation where there were pitcher plants. There is also a guided night walk. But no animals! Well perhaps we glimpsed a lemur high up on the night walk.
It seems all the animals are close to park HQ.
So you really could just go as a day trip, especially with the state of the accommodation.

What would I do differently?
I think I would stay in Kuching longer and do some day trips from there.
Can I recommend Sibu and Kapit? Not really. It was about the river journey rather than the destinations.
Kelabit highlands? maybe not.
Fly to Mulu from Kuching and then maybe fly on to Sabah.

What we did on our holidays - Croatia

A quick guide to some bits of Croatia.

Zagreb: Worth a couple of days, no more.
The upper town (which is the old town) is charming and the lower town has some seriously civic buildings and  museums and parks. In between the old and new towns is the daily market- fabulous!
Favorite: The Museum of Broken Relationships.

Plitvice Lakes: an intagrammers' paradise! You can see it all in a day. Walk all the way to the top lake and then you can get a bus back to the gate - or vice versa.
It is very crowded - best tip, stay nearby and visit first thing in the morning.

Krka National Park: Spend a day here or visit as we did on our way from Zadar to Split. Nice walking tracks along streams ans past waterfalls. Same but different to Plitvice.

Zadar: A day or 2. A pleasant coastal town, not as touristy as some.
Best bits: the sea organ and the monument to the sun.

Split: Spend several days here. So much to see and do!
Wander the lanes of the Diocletan's Palace; walk, drive or ride a bike to Marjan Hill - a parkland with a view.
From Split you can take boat trips to access the islands - Hvar being a popular destination.
There are also car ferries to some of the islands and it may be possible to island hop that way.
Best bits: Hvar at the end of the tourist season

The drive along the coast from Split to Dubrovnik is stunning! although it is quite well-populated with holiday accommodation. You have to briefly pass through Bosnia and Herzegovina along the way.

Dubrovnik: It may be over-exposed but it is beautiful. If you stay in the old town, or nearby, you can get to the sights before the cruise tourists arrive and then you have the evenings and nights as well.
Walk the walls, catch the gondola up to the Imperial Fort overlooking the city and walk back down, cruise around the closest islands stopping off along the way, sunset kayak in the bay.
Best bits: Appreciating how Dubrovnik suffered in the Balkans war.

Pst: Dubrovnik isn't that far from the beautiful Bay of Kotor in Montenegro. You've come this far you might as well tack that on as well. You won't regret it.
Stay in Kotor town, climb up to the fortress, take a boat trip on the bay, swim in the blue cave.

How we travelled: We flew into Zagreb, hired a car and drove to Split via Plitvice, Zadar and Krka (not all in the one day!)
Picked up another car to leave Split (you won't need a car when you are in Split) and drove along the coast to Dubrovnik. If we'd had more time I'd have investigated the possibility of car ferries between the islands to get from Split to Dubrovnik.
Left the car in Dubrovnik and took a bus to Kotor as multi-country car didn't work for us as we were through-travelling. It may be possible to drive to Kotor and then back to Dubrovnik to leave the hire
 car.

*This is by no means an exhaustive tour guide to Croatia, it's just where we went in the time we had.

Travelling Light....who? Me??

I am off on my travels again.
I wasn't going to go anywhere but I accidentally booked a trip to Europe.
You see, G and A are going to K2 base camp. If you don't know...K2 is the second highest peak in the world and it's in Pakistan. It's a high altitude long trek so I'm not going.
I'll stay at home, I thought.
I may find myself a nice little yoga retreat, maybe In Byron Bay....

But the best laid plans go astray - in a nice way.

I am off to visit number 1 son.
He is in Copenhagen.
I love him and Copenhagen is a nice place, and there is plenty more to see in Denmark I'm sure....
but I thought I should maximise my time over there.
Mmmm, "I'm learning Spanish"....so why don't I go to Spain?

And before you can say "frequent flyer" I was booked in and planning my little heart out.

As you may know, if you book low-cost flights in Europe, checked luggage is an optional extra.

"Hey, I can do without all that big bag stuff" she thinks.

"It will be good for me."
"I won't have to drag a big bag around. No waiting at baggage carousel. I can skippety skip straight of that plane!"

But what bag to take?
I really wanted a backpack as I'm going to be doing a lot of walking, from train stations to accommodations.
My bushwalking pack is 55 litres and not really the right size for carry-on. (How strict are they about size?)
My day pack is 25 litres and day-packy. Long and narrow and can't be locked.

Great excuse to buy something new!

This is what I got -

Osprey Porter 30 litres.

It seems to have everything I need - apart from a drink bottle holder.

Then I did a lot of reading about how to travel light.
I am a just-in-case packer....so I have to get my head around not packing for every contingency.
I guess it comes from years of bushwalking and remote travelling where you might not be able to buy what you forgot/lost/broke.
But this time - yep, Denmark and Spain are very civilised and have SHOPS.
I'm not taking walking boots. I'm just going to be doing tourist walking.
I'm not camping or going somewhere with extreme weather. So no sleeping bag and mat. No thermals, beanies, gloves etc.

I can basically wear the same 2 or 3 tshirts and couple of pairs of pants. Because......
I'll be able to wash them!
Revolutionary, eh?

Let's see how I go.

What I am taking.

2 pairs of cropped pants

1 pair of old 3/4 leggings

2 tshirts

1 voluminous tank top

2 scrunchable dresses, short sleeve

1 scrunchable dress, long sleeve

swimsuit

hat

scarf

buff

teva sandals

4 pairs undies

3 bras

soap/shampoo bar

natural deodorant in tin

toothbrush

homemade tooth powder in small nalgene bottle

moisturiser spf 15

meds

Wearing.

Jeans

tshirt

long sleeved shirt

polar fleece jacket

Sketchers slip ons

socks, maybe

I don't want to pack the bag too tightly now as at some stage, in Spain probably, I'll want to stow the fleece and not wear it or carry it!
So I have a hand-operated vacuum bag, one you roll up. I have used them before for a fleece jacket and it really helps space-wise.
I also may want to stow the jeans and the sketchers.

All the packing advice I see says take neutral clothes that go with each other and accessorise with a colourful scarf or whatever.
But I have found that works for me are lighweight colourful tops. I'm a big fan of the slightly flared Corfu ones. They don;t show the dirt or things that you may drip down the front of you.
If I take plain pants then they go with those.

I do like to wear a nightie! But think I will use a tshirt or dress instead.

I also have a handbag which fits a surprising amount of stuff. It's not huge and ungainly - I have some of those as well.
It's a Needle vs Thread Jetsetter and it's the best.

Things that will go in my Jetsetter.

Purse

Passport

Kindle

Phone

Drink bottle

earphones 

lip blam

snacks

To go in somewhere

adaptors and charging cable

earrings and necklace

shopping bag

Undecided

Raincoat/poncho (it could be wet in Denmark)

Keep cup

What have I forgotten?

Tasting at the Tasty Cube. The d'Arenburg winery.

The Cube is stunning!

What an incredible feat of imagination not to mention construction and implementation.
Probably people told him he was crazy! Why bother? It doesn't suit...

But what a vision!
And you know what?

It works!

On average 1000 people visit every day.
It is open every day, and the weekends are understandably busy.
If I were you I'd go early on a Tuesday.

The cube was imagined by the winemaker at d'Arenburg winery - Chester Osborn.
Yeah, it's a funky Rubic's cube and inside is just as funky.

There's a room where you can smell all the aromas of wine.

The smells are in glass flasks attached to old bike handlebars operated with bike horns.

There is an art collection.

 You have to see the toilets!

 It's a bit hard to see but the circles are mirrors.

The tasting room is on the top floor.

It was very busy, but we felt well attended to.

The wine names are as quirky as you would expect.

There were a lot of these bright chairs. Love!

I can see your caravan from here!

You can buy a single version of this chair made out of old wine barrels.

You can find The Cube at the d'Arenburg Vineyard, Osborn Road, Mclaren Vale, South Australia.
It's open every day 10am - 5pm.
Costs $10 pp to get in including wine tasting.

Getting to Kangaroo Island.

Thursday. We left Lake Bonney, getting out through a short sandy patch OK and headed for Adelaide.
Stopped en route at to empty the toilet tank and had a nice view of the Murray River from a lookout in Waikerie.

Morning tea was at pretty Sedan, at a travellers rest stop in town near the 6-way intersection.

Then we climbed the steepest hill so far to get over the Adelaide Hills, and the landscape changed dramatically.

Much more vegetation on the west side of the hills.
Soon we were at Blackwood at the home of L and P who we met this time last year leaving Dubrovnik, and then againin Kotor, and unexpectedly in Theth in the Accursed Mountains in Albania.
They so kindly put us up for 2 nights and we had great chats and much food and drink.

On Friday, G and I went into Adelaide on the train. The station is 3 minutes walk from our friends'.
So convenient.
I don't remember much about Adelaide from 30 years ago, but I remember the market!
And this time it didn't disappoint.
But first we had coffee, chai and cake at Handsome and the Duchess, tucked away down an alley, we'd never have found it by ourselves.
Thanks goodness for Beanhunter!

I also managed to pick up a couple of books from the second hand book shops there.
It was a good job G carried my backpack as it was quickly filled.
We also had lunch in the market at a cafe at the side.

The G and I went our separate ways - I toddled off to the Jam Factory. Gorgeous art space.
And then at the other end of town, Have You Met Charlie, Relove and Urban Cow all with interesting handmade goodies.

G wandered through some of the fine old sandstone buildings, like the court house and such and the museum, where he caught up with the Australian Geographic photographic exhibition, the one A and I had seen in Sydney a few weeks back.

After a cuppa at Madam Hanoi next to the station we were fortified enough to take the train back into the hills.

Saturday morning was an early start, we left L and P's at 7am and made it to Cape Jervis in plenty of time to get the ferry to Kangaroo Island. In fact the previous ferry was still loading! So we had time to make a cuppa before we set sail - one of the advantages of having a kitchen on board

G wisely handed over the reversing of the caravan onto the ferry to the loading guys. He made it look easy!

But that was nothing compared to a B-double full of sheep reversing onto the boat.

And just like that - three quarters of an hour later we reach Kangaroo Island.

Paddling on the Barmera Lakes

Actually Chambers Creek canoe trail.
We started from just past the bridge between Lake Bonney and Chambers Creek.
We had to push through a few reeds but it wasn't too bad.
The waterscape isn't beautiful but it is interesting.
There was lots of birds - swans, pelicans, ducks, cormorants, darters, parrots, galahs, corellas, pigeons, woodswallows, other swallows, egrets, kites, kestrels, and one spoonbill.
At one stage we were right next to the Sturt Highway and we could always hear the traffic.
Near Sugarloaf Hill we got out and climbed up, it's not very high, but gave us another perspective.
We managed to do a circular trail by using google maps as there are a lot of islands and it can be confusing.
Not sure of the distance but we paddled for a total of 4hours with 2 more stops for morning tea and lunch.