31 may
we had a slow morning, a late breakfast and a swim in the hotel pool. we were picked up by our tour at 12. we saw the calcium pools and the ruins of a theatre and a graveyard with ruins of sarcophagi. the tour bus then took us to kusadasi. our hotel is quite nice with views over the port. walking along the streets Alistair keeps getting offered shaves from the barber, he hasn't shaved since Perth! we got takeaway kebabs and drank our bottle of red from capadoccia on our balcony.
30 may
we drove from st nicholas island closer to fethiye where we had a last swim and our lunch. we were taken by bus into fethiye where we waited for our bus to pamukkale. fethiye was a really beautiful seaside town, i wish we could have had a bit more time to explore. the bus to pamukkale was long and slow. when we were almost at the bus terminal a guy boarded the bus holding alistair's name so we got off to follow. this caused a huge fight with the bus driver. eventually we got off with our bags on the side of the highway. we got to our hotel at 10pm, it is close to the calcium pools, they were lit up at night and looked like snow.
29 may
the boat started at 4am today to move us to next bay. when we came up on deck around 8am we found we were towing another gulet who were having problems with their propeller. unfortunately because of the weather we were unable to stop at the butterfly valley. we spent the day moored behind st nicholas island. around mid morning a gozleme boat pulled up next to us and cooked us fresh pancakes, we had one with chocolate and banana. at 7pm we climbed to the top of st nicholas island to see the view of the Turkey coast and our boat in the bay.
28 may
when we woke up this morning all the wind had died out and the water was glassy. we cruised to kas, past a sunken city where an earthquake had caused buildings to slide down the slope into the water. after lunch Alistair and i left the rest of the boat to do a dive. we dove for about 40min around a small island. there was not any reef and few fish but the vis was pretty good. the water was freezing, we both even had hoods on! by the time we came up it was really windy again. the gulet picked us up and we headed to a sheltered spot for the night.
27 may
we took a bus to demre where we got on our gulet boat, the ocean. we have a pretty good double room with our own shower. it was quite windy so we cruised to a safe bay to shelter for the night. we went for a few snorkels but didn't see much. there were a lot of turtles popping their heads up around the boat. after dinner a water taxi picked us up and took us to a bar on an island where we could meet people on other boats.
26 may
after 5 different vehicles we made it to olympos. i don't think we came the right way, some money exchanged hands between drivers and at one point we were told to get out on the side of the road. it was a bit hard to understand everyone talking in Turkish and a stressful experience! Alistair and i both agree this is an interesting place. a long street of accommodation, shops and cafes ending in ruins as old as 100ad then a beach. our accommodation is a "tree house", which i think they misinterpreted, as really it is a wood hut. tonight we are going to look at the chimera up mount olympos. chimera is a natural eternal flame coming out of the ground.
25 may
today was the second day of our tour around cappadocia. we walked through the imaginary valley where the rock formations look like different things, like a dog, a camel or a woman holding a child. next we visited the fairy chimneys, then the open air museum (churches built into the stone), then to a pottery factory where were saw a live demonstration of the kick wheel. the pottery was very beautiful and handpainted. we had a quick shower and dinner then on to our second night bus taking us towards olympus.
24 may
today was our first day in cappadocia. we arrived about 9am in the morning from the overnight bus and went straight into our tour. today we walked through the red valley, saw the cavusian village, went down 4 layers underground in the underground city, and saw the pigeon valley. we are staying in the cave hotel, which is built into the rock. photos are the view from our balcony and our room carved out of rock.
23 may
we did a full day tour of Istanbul today including the blue mosque, the hippodrome, hagia sophia, grand bazaar, the topaki palace and the little hagia sophia. the buildings are all very grand but it is hard to appreciate them when there are thousands of tourists there too. the weather was quite warm, about 32 degrees. the streets are very narrow and crowded and the traffic is very busy. tonight we are catching an overnight bus to cappadocia.
21 may
we drove into stirling to look at the stirling castle, built on top of a cliff. we then drove half an hour south to Edinburgh where we checked into our bnb for the night. we ate our lunch in princes St garden looking up at Edinburgh castle, also built on top of a cliff. we were really lucky with our weather, about 18 degrees and sunny. at 2pm we joined a walking tour that took us into the underground vaults that are haunted, apparently! we then walked the royal mile down to holyroodhouse palace and walked up the salisbury crags to arthurs seat, the inactive volcano for views over the whole of Edinburgh where we sat soaking in the sights. a great way to end the uk leg of our trip. the photos are the Edinburgh castle and the view from the crags.
20 may
We went south to glencoe to do some more hiking. we did 6km and a 2km hike around inchree. we saw a pretty amazing waterfall that also had views over the town and loch linnhe. after lunch we drove to Stirling and looked at the William Wallace memorial and climbed the tower for the view over the whole of Stirling. we are staying in a converted barn with cows and horses out the front.
19 may
we drove north for an hour along some lochs up to loch ness. the drive was a bit hairy with very narrow roads and lots of fog, about 20m visibility. we did a walk that was about 10km and we went through some forest, up to the foyer falls and along some of the bank of loch ness. in the afternoon we did another hike up cow hill to the summit overlooking the town of fort William, Ben nevis and loch linnhe. unfortunately we didn't see any highland cows (coos). the photos show the falls, loch ness and the view from the top of cow hill.
18 May
we drove through the Scottish Highlands to fort William. the scenery was beautiful with big snow capped mountains either side of the road. We are staying in a hostel in the centre of town. Apparently they have a loud disco tonight in the bar area. We have picked up some maps and are hoping to do some hikes in the mountains tomorrow.
17 may
We drove north from Liverpool into Scotland. It took most of the day. We decided to stop in largs, a coastal town looking out to millport and isle of arran. We went out to dinner at nardini's. they don't do melted marshmallow topping anymore, Alistair is quite upset so we shared a toffee tablet sundae. we are staying in a small b and b off the main road near the coast.
16 may
after breakfast we walked up to the electric railway station and caught the train to laxey, where we changed trains to go up to snaefell, the highest point on the island. it was freezing and windy up the top, last week the train couldn't go to the summit because it was snowing. from the top we could see the whole island and across to Ireland, England and Scotland. in the afternoon we caught the train back to Liverpool and drove a bit north for the night.
15 may
we spent the day on the isle of man. we followed directions for a 6 mile walk around Douglas. along marine road we saw an Atlantic grey seal sunning itself on a rock and 2 risso dolphins. the scenery was amazing with clear water, huge cliffs and green farm land on top. the photo shows our lunch picnic spot. we ate yummy curry in our hotel room overlooking the promenade for dinner
14 may
we went to caenarfon castle and spent a few hours wandering around the old stone walls. we then drive up to Liverpool, about 2 hours drive. at 6pm we got on the ferry across to the isle of man. from the front of the boat we could see the sun seeing on the ocean, and last, behind the island. we got the about 930, just on dusk. the whole front of Douglas was lit with lights.
the photos are the view from the top of the castle tower and the view of Douglas as we arrived from the ferry.
we drove up through Wales today to caernarfon. on the way we stopped at aberystwyth where my grandfather's great grandfather left on a boat for Australia.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Fly_(1831)
http://www.writerspen.com.au/pete/CAPORN/i0004379.htm
we went down to the front parade and had a look in the museum. we also walked through a ruin that overlooked the coast.
the roads through Wales were very windy and narrow and the weather has been pretty terrible, down to about 4 degrees. caenarfon is another coastal town with a castle in the middle which we will go into tomorrow.
the photos are from aberystwyth.
today we joined a walking tour of bath and learnt about the history of the town and a lot about the architecture. we drove into Wales and decided to stop in cardiff. we went to a cool brew house for dinner where they had 2 for 1 deals on drinks and pizzas. we are staying at Mayfair b and b.
we drove from portsmouth to bath today via stonehenge. we arrived in bath late afternoon on found a pub with accommodation. before dinner we went for a quick walk around town. all the buildings are so beautiful.
we picked up our hire car from gatwick airport. we drove down to Brighton but there was a festival on so the town was really busy and not much free accommodation. we decided to drive on to Portsmouth. we found a cute b and b to spend the night. we walked down to the waterfront and had fish and chips for dinner.
we decided to go a bit easier today and not see so many things but were still did a lot of walking. we walked down Oxford street, one of the main strips, watched the changing of the guard (along with thousands of other people), walked along the edge of Hyde park and kensington gardens and saw kensington palace. we also went to picadilly circus after lunch and walked over to south bank to meet luke for dinner. we tested a few pubs and had dinner at a lebanese restaurant.
today we saw the tower of London where there was a lot of history of the royal family and we saw the crown jewels. we walked over tower bridge and caught the train out to Greenwich and saw the cutty sark, the maritime museum and the meridian. we then went into notting hill and walked down portobello road. there were some markets along the side of the road. at night we went saw the lion king at the theatre. the puppets were amazing!
we arrived in London 645am. we caught a train from Heathrow airport to Hyde park. our hostel is just a block from Hyde park. we spent the day walking around London and saw Buckingham palace, London eye, harrods, Westminster Abbey, trafalgar square, marble arc, hamleys and wellington arc where there was an Australian war memorial.
tonight we are at a pub just down the road from the hostel. the photos are our drinks tonight (organic cider and a London pale ale) and the street our hostel is on
today were have 3 flights through 4 terminals. tawau to kota kinabalu. kota kinabalu to KL. KL to London.
long day
today was our last day at semporna. we dove at mantabuan island. today i got really close to a turtle and swam with it for a while, probably the highlight of my diving here.
