Melbourne

The last stop on our journey home was Melbourne.  It was cheaper to fly via Melbourne rather than direct to Auckland, and as we had Nath's brother to stay with in Melbourne we thought why not!

We arrived after no sleep from Kuala Lumpur. The first stop on the way to Zane's was to the bottle shop where we bought some German and Belgium beers.  The rest of the day we spent doing washing and sleeping until the household returned from work. 

Day two Nath and I went into the city.  We met up with my cousin Aaron and walked around the lanes and had lunch there. From here we jumped on the free tram that goes around the city. It was pretty boring. I then met my school friend Emily for drinks on a cool rooftop bar. I bought one round of drinks for $47!!!! So expensive. I guess pimms at $13 a glass isn't the cheapest drinks to be buying.  

Day three Nath and I hung around Chelsea where Zane lives. There is a cycle path that runs the length of the coastline so we biked along part of it.  We had lunch in Mordialloc before cycling home. 

Later that afternoon we headed to the MCG to watch a twenty/20 match between Australia and South Africa. I was disappointed in my first MCG experience as there was no atmosphere at the stadium. Only 20,000 people there in a stadium that can hold 100,000. Also, the game was very one sided and did not create a close finish, the result was never in doubt.

Day four we headed into the city to the Queen Victoria markets.  We were surprised at the cheap meat prices and were hoping NZ might be similarly priced. Wishful thinking me thinks! We bought some lovely flat bread sandwiches which we ate in the sun before walking down to the river front.  Here I met another cousin for afternoon drinks and a long awaited catch up.  We returned to Zane's in time for BBQ dinner - first time we had had steaks in awhile! 

The last full day in Mellbourne was family day. We went with the kids to pick strawberries, but Nath and Zane did all the picking and the kids ate more than they collected.  After picking we were thirsty so went to a lovely winery called Montalto.  Here we drank Pinot Gris and ate pizzas.  They had a big grass area so the kids were able to run around and play which left us able to drink wine. The final stop was in Flinders - a playground for the kids and a coffee shop for the adults.

The next morning we packed our bags and had a twenty minute walk to the train station with our packs on! I'm glad it wasn't a hot day.  We met up with Emily for lunch in the lanes before we took a bus out to the airport to begin the final leg of our journey home.  

Kuala Lumpur

The last stop in our tourof Malaysia was the capital, Kuala Lumpur.  Luckily it was much warmer than the Cameron Highlands. By now we are pretty tired and are ready to be in one place for a while.  Therefore, we took a low key approach to KL.  We ate street food for most of our meals and in terms of sightseeing we didn't do a lot. We walked around the China Town and took the metro to the Petronas Towers.

Once there we discovered an amazing shopping mall so we spent some time looking through some very high end shops.  We then went to Merdeka square which is where the British were based when they occupied Malaysia.  

Later that night we had our overnight flight to Melbourne.  Our flight was with the budget airline Air Asia - 8 hours, no pillows, no blankets, no food or drinks! 

Cameron Highlands

We were in for a scenery and temperature change when we ventured to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands.  We figured we had done enough beachy things that we should try something else. I instantly regretted this decision when we arrived to 15 degree weather.  I had to put on long pants and a jumper! I hadn't done this since living in London.  Right on cue the afternoon rains came just after we had checked into our guest house. This resulted in me nana napping until my hunger was greater than my need for sleep and we ventured out for lunch.  The rain had us rushing back to the safety of our room where we stayed until dinner time. We are such Nana's!

We set our alarm for 4am as we wanted to watch the All Blacks v USA. We got another hours sleep before we had to be up for our tour to the tea plantation and the mossy forest.  The tea plantation was BOH (best of highlands) and is owned by a Scottish family.  The granddaughter now runs the business.  The scenery was really beautiful. We were given a talk about how the leaves are cut and processed into tea leaves and tea bags.

From here we ventured into the mossy forest.  The forest is given its name due to the fact so much moss grows there as it is very damp as no sunlight penetrates through the trees. It reminded me of the NZ bush - very green, ferns everywhere, and moss! 

Our guide took us on a 50min walk pointing out cool plants as we went.  Our favourite was the insect killing plant.  It has a cone shape with sticky nectar that attracted insects, and once the insects were inside they couldn't get out.  The nectar is actually highly acidic and breaks down the insects. Very cool!!  

Unfortunately when we went up to the top of the Mountain (2000m above sea level) to lok out at the valley the clouds had rolled in and we couldn't see anything!!

 After our walk we went to the BOH tea factory where we watched workers in each stage of the tea making process.  At the end of it all we were rewarded with a cuppa and scones.  Yum.  This was the end of our adventure in the Highlands.  Today we were up early to catch a bus to Kuala Lumpur where I am hoping the weather will be warmer.

Sadly all good things must come to an end. We have two stops left on our world tour - Kuala Lumpur and Melbourne.