Author: odohertyelaine

Christchurch wasn’t originally on my South Island itinerary but I’m happy I got to come here. It’s an interesting city that’s been through tough times. It was hit very badly with earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 and there’s lots of evidence still around but it also means there are lovely new buildings everywhere too. My hotel for e.g. is brand spanking new so although basic it’s got brand new carpets, bathroom, kitchen etc.. love that.

I arrive to the regional airport which is tiny and super easy to navigate. I grab my bag and see “Steve’s shuttle” beside the taxi rank so go with that option for half the price and it drops me right to the door. The lady on the bus beside me tells me it’s going to be “cold” tonight and tomorrow and she hopes I’ve brought warmer clothes, the weather says a low of 14 degrees.. I can’t wait!

I plan my afternoon adventure over lunch and set off for a look around. First on my list and just around the corner from the hotel is the transitional cathedral also known as the cardboard cathedral. As the names suggest, it’s a temporary structure made from containers and over 1,000 lbs of cardboard tubes.

The inside is very impressive and it’s a fully functional Anglican cathedral which holds concerts etc. the actual cathedral was badly damaged … see below when I found it the next day…

From there I walk down Cashel Street [by the way most of the street names and places are Irish or Scottish, my hotel is on Tuam St] which is the main shopping street toward the container mall. Unfortunately after walking around in circles, somewhat confused, I’m told that it closed two weeks ago and all the containers have been removed. Shame… although you can still see how they’ve used these shipping containers all over the city:

I’m now at the river and the Remembrance Arch

Not far from here are the botanical gardens which I don’t spend too much time in as I’m planning to do a run the next morning (big mistake). I’m planning to run the parkrun route as I won’t be here on Saturday.

Instead of staying outside in the hot sun (and it is hot) I go into the museum for a quick look around. There are a few interesting things that keep me in there much longer than I’d planned. First, the skeletons of the moa – the now extinct giant flightless bird (it’s really a dinosaur). Second, their Egyptian mummy… I do love a good mummy. Her name is Tash Pen Khonsu and she’s been on display since she arrived in 1888. Next is Fred and Myrtle’s Paua Shell House. Now those of you paying attention may recall the fabulous meal I had in Napier where I ate abalone aka paua.. well this cooky old couple decorated their whole house with the shells and were famous in NZ, appearing in tv ads and all sorts throughout the seventies and eighties. When they passed away the interior of their house was moved here so the display continues to get visitors as it did when they were living. It was fascinating and the shells are really beautiful:

The last room that I came across at the museum was exhibiting the top 50 National Geographic photos… it was a fabulous exhibit and I must have spend well over an hour in there.. missing all that sunshine outside! By the time I came out the sun was gone and clouds were arriving…

Rambling around the city it’s good to see the tram is still operating. I didn’t get to go on it, the city felt small enough to explore by foot.

The last place on my list for today is the art gallery called Te Puna. I didn’t have a lot of time but I flew around the ground floor and there was some very interesting NZ artists on display.. in particular Jacqueline Fahey and also Ann Sheltons photography, of which I really liked the set below:

The building itself is impressive with this little fella on top:

After a packed afternoon exploring the city I walk back toward the hotel and pass by a small movie theatre. I’m not really bothered about dinner tonight so on impulse I get a ticket for Lady Bird, great movie not sure it’s Oscar worthy but really enjoyable and Saoirse Ronan is brilliant in it.

Next morning I awake to torrential rain and a massive decline in temperature…. so much for my run in the botanical gardens. I’m raging I didn’t pay more attention to the woman on the bus and switch what I was going to do today to yesterday… it’s really hard to fathom how the weather can change so drastically so quickly … ah well what can I do. I definitely won’t be going on the gondola as planned 😩. Instead I head for the Quake city museum. It is fascinating and the rest of my time here is now all about the earthquakes. Imagine this crack in your garden:

The museum has a lot of interesting information about the many earthquakes the Canterbury area has had over the years – there have been so many, but mostly is covers the 2010 and 2011 disasters. Although the 2010 earthquake was higher on the Richter scale there were no fatalities but the 2011, only five months later resulted in 185 deaths. There was a movie of survivors telling their story – very moving and sad.

After spending the whole morning at quake city I head for some lunch and get onto WiFi to check if anything is going down! It seems it is…. the weather warning from earlier has turned into a full on state of emergency and I have an email to say my train journey planned for tomorrow is cancelled. This wasn’t any ole train journey this was the Tranz Alpine allegedly one of THE great train journeys you can take.. I end up spending most of the day figuring out what to do next and how to get there. When I call Hilary (in Australia) for some advice she has no hesitation in telling me that the first thing I need to do is get out of Christchurch aka earthquake city…. yeah after what I just saw this morning that’s a definite affirmative!! Before I figure all that out I continue, in the rain, to tick off the last few things on my list.

Next up Cathedral Square where the Anglican cathedral still stands.. well some of it. It’s very sad to see what was a beautiful building torn apart.

More tramping around getting soaked from below my raincoat but it’s nice to just plod around…

The last place on my list is the Earthquake memorial which is by the river. I walk along reading the names… so sad… no one is around only a few ducks…

Back to the hotel for a stressful couple of hours of re-planing but I finish off the evening with a fabulous dinner at a Malaysian restaurant just a couple of blocks away. A couple of glasses of wine and I’m happy out.

Wednesday morning it’s windy and still raining out there but it looks a little brighter so hopefully there’ll be no issue with my flight. Before I head to the airport I have one last place to visit. The catholic cathedral, known as the basilica, was also very badly hit by the earthquake and realizing it’s not too far from the hotel I put the raincoat on and head for a look:

At the airport I’m delighted to see that although I’ve got a 45 minute delay all flights are going… phew… and I have a bed when I get to my final destination tonight… phew again! Somewhere outside Queenstown in the Otago region here I come!!!

Napier is a cool Art Deco city situated in Hawkes Bay on the east coast of the north island. It’s so nice to get to see the place with locals as I didn’t have to do any planning for this part of my trip. I feel like lady muck getting chauffeured around since I got picked up in Auckland and now I’m at Wynn & Karina’s, I could easily be at home and I can do my washing!!

One of the most impressive sites out this neck of the woods is Cape Kidnappers which is the headland of an 8km peninsula jutting into The Pacific Ocean. It’s a long hike out there and it has to be well timed with low tides so the best way to get out there is by quad bike. Now it just so happens that my hosts have a quad bike so we saddle up and off we go…

As we’re riding along looking at the beautiful scenery, I’m thinking to myself that I should have named this blog “Nervous Nelly goes on an Adventure”. I’m holding on for dear life thinking I’m going to fall off the back of this thing and I realize although I do lots of adventurous things on my travels I’m afraid of everything!!! I’m afraid in the dark, I’m afraid of the water, I’m afraid of speed going downhill on a bike, I’m afraid of spiders, I’m afraid of falling and clearly I’m afraid of quad bikes [Anne Keogh – flashback me & you on quads circa 2004!] – it’s amazing that I do half the things I do – I suppose it’s all relative but anyway I’m trying to be braver!!! Oh just for the record I’m not afraid of rollercoasters – love them!! Anyhooo I digress…. so we are flying over gravel and rocks along Cape Kidnappers and once I get over the initial fear of flying off the back and smashing my head against a rock, I really enjoy it and even manage to loosen my death grip to take some photos….

At the end of the headland is a gannet reserve and we see lots of the birds

A jump shot cos why not

On Friday evening the newlyweds have some friends over for a bbq. The grub was delicious and there was a lot of particularly good red wine had… hmm tomorrow will be interesting!

It’s Saturday morning and that means parkrun. There’s a local one in Anderson park just five minutes from the house so off I set, hangover in tow but determined not to miss this second of my trip so far. It’s an 8am start but it’s already hot.. there’s another international visitor today from Aberdeen and it’s great to have some company for the run. Her husband kindly took a photo of us after finishing… can you tell we are glistening!

Today we are heading into town to see the parade as it’s the Art Deco festival. After the earthquake in 1931 the whole town had to be rebuilt and it was done in the Art Deco style. Now all the building fronts are protected. Town is packed and nearly everyone is dressed up so we join in the festivities:

We line up for the parade of old cars which is great fun to watch… apparently there’s over 300 cars in town for this – it’s a huge annual affair… we don’t stay to see all of them as we need a curer (you know yourself)!!

As we walk through the streets and see the Art Deco buildings we pass a bookshop which is always hard for me to pass by so we pop in. I promised myself I wouldn’t buy any books on this trip (everything I’m reading is either on kindle or ebooks) but I get chatting to the author who tells me he wrote this book which is inspired by his maternal grandparents… girls meets priest and falls in love… it’s set in Napier around the time of the big earthquake so I’m sold! [later and a few chapters in I’m loving it]

It’s very hot, very busy and we are all a little delicate so we decide to spend the rest of the day poolside reading and napping.. heaven!

Next day, feeling a lot brighter Karina and I visit the Hastings farmers market where we have a delicious bacon sambo while rambling around checking out the stalls and tasting as we go. From there we do a spot of shopping which includes a chocolate store and a local arts and crafts shop where I’m delighted to purchase a pounamu (greenstone) necklace.

After a bit of cool down time at home we head back out for a spot of wine tasting because this is something that HAS to be done when in this neck of the woods. We go to Mission Estate Winery:

This is the oldest winery in New Zealand dating back to 1851 and was actually a seminary in the last century. [It also happens to be where the priest from the book I’m reading studied]. It has a lot of character and nice views of the vineyards below.

We taste Pinot Gris, Savignon blanc, Chardonnay, Rose, Pinot Noir, Syrah and a dessert wine and all are really good.

It’s just us girls today so we opt to finish out the day by the pool, again reading and napping (well napping for me). We have a lovely chat over dinner and polish off the Pinot noir from the Mission winery … well it is our last night together!

Monday morning after saying our goodbyes, I get chauffeured to Bluff Hill lookout for a last view of the port and the bay before heading to the airport.

The airport may be the cutest I’ve ever been in. It’s really small, super clean, no security checks and you just walk outside to the plane about 15 minutes before takeoff… I wish I could fly like this all the time.

I board the small plane and am heading for Christchurch…. South Island here I come….

Gisborne is a little off the beaten track for visitors like myself so it’s great to be with some locals and get to see this part of the country. We reach Whispering Sands, which is right on the beach at Gisborne, in the afternoon. We take a walk along the beach boardwalk to the harbour which also involves walking along the old railway tracks. There were kids jumping from the walkway into the water below one cute little mauri boy who was terrified but got talked into it… very cute.

This is also the spot where Captain Cook found and put New Zealand on the map and there’s a statue to mark it:

We hit the wharf bar and restaurant for some happy hour drinks and an early dinner. I have the ” fish and chops” although I haven’t really heard anyone pronounce it like that! Back at our beachfront motel we watch the sunset with a nice glass of wine.

It’s a beautiful morning next day so I put my runners on and head up the beach for a 5km run. The beach goes on for ages with beautiful cliffs in front so it’s a very pretty run. Am glad to be finished before 9am as it’s already really hot.

Next on this agenda is snorkeling. We get our gear together and go to Te Tapuwae o Rongokako marine reserve. It’s shallow water but lots of reef to see and we are only in two minutes when we see a little octopus – it’s so cute. We see lots of little fish and a handful of bigger ones and it’s great fun just swimming around.

When we come out of the water a seal has made its way onto the beach to say hello!

Fearing the weather might change, although it stays hot and sunny all day, we head back to our place for lunch and a swim (I use that word lightly!) in our beach. The water is gorgeous and I float in a few waves (still terrified of those big ones!!) with my noodle and I’m happy out.

After the dip it’s time for a walk along the beach and it’s so nice I walk for ages and forget to turn back… it must be over an hour later when I return, a little sunburnt (not much though) after being in the salty water. We chill for the rest of the afternoon until it’s time for dinner. For dinner we visit Wynns nephew and his adorable family. He’s quite the cook and the giant fish starter is amazing. We have salmon tails, muscles and abalone which is locally called paua and was caught locally by our host – amazing! I also had kumara which is the local sweet potato.

Next day after watching the sun rise [Gisborne claims to be the the first city on earth to see the sun rise] we get on the road “home” to Napier.

Lots of nice scenery to see again and it’s hot and sunny. At a little tea stop on the way I find some locally produced beauty products which feel and smell gorgeous – a honey facial wash and a Rotorua mud moisturizer – looking forward to using these. Our drive takes us through another gorge and around the devils elbow. The scenery is stunning :

With lots of sheep as you’d imagine – you can’t really see them here but they’re dotted on the hills

and we pass through the Mohaka Viaduct :

Once we get through the gorge and back onto flat land, Hawke’s Bay appears quite suddenly with a beautiful coastline in front of us:

I’m very excited to arrive at Karina and Wynns home which is a cool mission style house. I get the tour and get to chill out and do some washing!! More on Napier next…..

I arrive at 2am after a ten hour flight from Kuala Lumpur and it’s straight to bed so I’ll have some energy for my first Southern Hemisphere Park run in the morning. When I was planning this trip back in November I specifically organized it around park runs – crazy as that may sound, it will make sure I at least keep up 5k every week and I think it’ll make it easier to get out more during the week too. Park runs are all over NZ and Australia so this is my first of hopefully eleven on this trip. I have great intentions so hopefully will get them all in.

After very little sleep I’m up at 7am and ready to take on the first parkrun. I uber to Western Springs Park which is less than ten minutes on the motorway from my hotel and it’s right by the zoo. It’s a nice course with three laps around a lake. It’s much hotter than the weather looks so I could do with a bit of rain but it holds off for the actual run. Afterward while looking for WiFi to call an Uber a guy connects me to his hotspot and actually walks me to the other end of the park and waits with me til the uber arrives – what a nice intro to the people of NZ.

When I get back to the hotel and shower I decide to have a little snooze as I’m gonna need it to last the day ahead…. cut to three hours later and I jump out of bed to get organized… I’ve a wedding to go to!

My friend Karina who has lived in NZ for about fifteen years is tying the knot today and I’m thrilled to be here for the occasion. The weather has not cooperated for an outdoor ceremony but it doesn’t impact the fun of the day as we drink champagne and get ready for the nuptials. The view from the hotel which backs onto the Auckland Viaduct Harbour is pretty impressive:

It’s a lovely ceremony with a few close friends and family and I complete my ring bearer duties with poise and grace (if I do say so myself lol!!). Congratulations Wynn and Karina!

After the ceremony we go downstairs to Giraffe restaurant which is run by NZ Master Chef judge Simon Gault. The food is amazing and the man himself is there and gives us a wave from the open kitchen area. It really is a feast of food especially the suckling pig and the monster fish:

After an amazing meal we hit LuLu’s bar for some more drinks and dancing. There’s a brilliant band doing jazzy style covers with a three-piece brass section and they really get the crowd going. Great end to a great day.

Sunday morning and there’s not much Auckland sightseeing to be done as the weather is not great. I did manage to get to see the sky tower in between clouds mind you…

It lashes rain while we have breakfast so we set off from a very wet Auckland to Waitomo.

This is Day 1 of the honeymoon and Wynn is doing the driving. It’s a tough one as it’s bucketing down but the rain eases and the driving conditions improve somewhat as we get closer to Waitomo. There’s still some lovely scenery to see along the way. We reach Waitomo in the afternoon and head for our cave tour.

It’s fascinating! The size of the caves themselves are impressive and we see stalagmites (the ones that grow up) and stalactites (the ones that grow down) but the big draw are the glow worms:

Our guide is called James Brown, a young Mauri lad with a very unique peculiar way of talking…. lots of pauses in odd places – it was very hard to know if he was being funny or just a bit special!

After the glow worm cave we visit the Discovery Centre and museum to find out what these little glow worms are all about. There’s a very informative video and it seems these tiny worms known as arachnocampa luminosa are about the size of a mosquito and are actually the lava of a gnat. They glow when they are hungry and they capture prey by hanging threads of silk from their nests, which capture flies and other insects, which they then feed on. Quite amazing for such a small creature.

Time for some dinner at a local eatery and back to our Caves motel for a reasonably early night, as let’s face it, we are all dealing with some level of hangover from yesterday!

Monday morning we set off for Lake Taupo and the weather has brightened up considerably. The lake is very picturesque and we have a lovely wander around.

There’s a scenic lookout point before we continue on to Huka falls:

Huka falls is fabulous and the weather is gorgeous for us to explore..

Onwards on our journey we pass huge pipes that really stick out on the beautiful green hills. They are piping water to be used for geothermal heating and energy.. amazing.

As soon we arrive at Rotorua you can smell the sulphur in the air. It really is like boiled eggs. We check into our digs.. the very fancy Fern Motel (pity about the smell!!!) and head for Te Puia to see the mud fields and hot geysers. The main geyser has constant activity and then a big spurt a couple of times an hour…

It’s very cool walking around the park as the boiling springs and bubbling mud are everywhere:

You can’t visit Rotorua without a dip in the hot springs so we head to the Polynesian spa for some water therapy. This place is amazing. There are five hot pools of varying heat and they are really relaxing to float around in. We decide to treat ourselves to massages and take the last three available appointments. None of us quite know what we’re booked for but as it turns out Karina has a water therapy massage, Wynn a Swedish massage and I get a mud wrap massage… all were amazing and we are totally chilled when we come out.

Tuesday morning before getting on the road to Gisborne we have breakfast in downtown Rotorua and visit a park called Kuirau which has thermal springs and mud pools all around…

Carrying on our road trip, we stop off on the peninsula of Ohope where at the general store, which is more or less at the tip of the peninsula, you can see the beach on one side and the Harbour on the other. We go for a walk along the beach where there are lots of tree branches washed up and pick some tiny purple shells

Onwards to Opotiki through some farm country and more lush greenery and through the 60km or so of the Waioeka gorge. Before setting off today we read about warnings on the road and we see there are workers removing fallen trees and bush. You have to take it easy on these roads after bad weather as there is often fallen debris:

The gorge is beautiful to drive through…

Next stop the beach at Gisborne…..

• There are no bars at the airport in fact there doesn’t seem to be anywhere to get a drink at all. At this stage I’ve been in three airports – Kuala Lumpar, Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan and not a drink to be had.
• Most toilets have signs on the door of the stall to tell you if it’s a seat or a squat.
• Sabah has a population of approximately 3.5 million, most of it is Rainforest and jungle.
• Borneo is home to the smallest elephant, the smallest bear and the biggest tropical tree.
• Malaysia is officially an Islamic country.
• Japan controlled Malaysia (or at least this part of it) during WWII which wasn’t a good time for the locals, then the British took over. They achieved independence in 1963.
• The school day in Sabah is either a morning session which starts around 7am and finishes around 1pm or the afternoon session which starts around 12 and finishes at 6pm. Education is free since just recently and all kids must go to school.
• There’s an O’Briens Irish sandwich bar in Kota Kinabalu airport (fairly small airport) and I saw another in KL.
• UK plugs work here
• There are cycle lanes painted in blue all over the city (KL) but I only saw one person cycling. Mostly motor bikes were using them.
• They’re big into their local fruits and there’s all sorts I’ve never seen before. For the first time I had yellow water melon – just like the regular red water melon but more flavor
• Durian is a popular fruit over here and you see it in the open air stalls along the road. Apparently it’s banned in lots of places including on trains and buses because it’s so smelly!

It’s just under a three hour flight from KK to KL, as the locals call it and another hour drive to the city.. plenty of time for blogging. KL looks like a big city and I’ve only got one full day tomorrow and what’s left of tonight (I’m in the car as I type this and it’ll be at least 8pm before I get there) so I’ll have to make the most of it. There’s clearly a lot of apartment living here as I can see towering block after block all the way from the airport into the city.

I see the Petronas towers from the motorway and then a huge new building that looks like the tallest building I’ve ever seen. The driver tells me it’s 106 floors and I find out it’s the 106 Exchange soon to be the biggest in Malaysia – it’s monstrous and seems to dwarf everything else.

It’s late by the time I leave the hotel for a look around but the place is buzzing. There are shops everywhere and I even manage to get a quick mani/pedi that’s not finished til 10pm. There are a lot of Arabic restaurants that don’t sell alcohol so I find somewhere a little more ‘east meets west’ and have a cocktail and some food. I try the nasi ledang which has dried anchovies with satay, rice and pickled veggies… it’s ok, wouldn’t be my favorite! As I head back to the hotel the place is still buzzing with street performers and crowds of people.

Next morning:

I navigate the monorail and head toward the Menara KL tower. The station I’m heading for is called Bukit Nanas (which means big pineapple). There’s a free shuttle from the bottom of the hill which most people seem to opt for as it’s a steep hill and it’s a sunny 30 degrees but it’s nice to walk up and see the greenery on the way up.

There are some great views from the open observation deck. There are also a couple of sky decks where you can walk out in your bare feet and look down through the glass – it is quite a ways up.

There’s a great view of the Petronas towers:

While building the KL tower, the authorities ensured that they kept some of the local jungle. They have now created an eco park with a canopy walk which is a lovely way to get back down the hill.

It’s odd to be among so many sky scrapers while walking through tree tops. It’s like a mini green jungle among the concrete jungle:

As I walk through the streets I notice how everyone is in their work outfits going between offices and I’m thinking how happy I am to be in elephant pants wandering around, exploring a new city without a care in the world. Not sure I could be any happier with no stresses of work… I am literally smiling to myself and generally appreciating this new life of mine and what do I walk past…. the Juniper office… ahhh the memories… of course I wouldn’t know anyone in this office so on I go…

Next it’s time to visit the Petronas twin towers. They are massive:

A ticket to get into the tower for a tour is about €17. You get taken to the skybridge first which is 41 floors up. Then up to the observation deck, indoor this time, on the 86th floor. It is really high. This is the view of the other tower:

Looking down from skybridge between the two towers:

These are the tallest twin towers in the world. It’s a cool visit and I’m very impressed. It’s amazing being so high up and looking around from that height.

Next I go to Merdeka square. I’m very proud of navigating the city but everyone is very happy to help out and ask if you need help or directions. There’s a pretty river walkway beside the mosque which I take

Independence square has a high flag flying and all around here is definitely the older part of town.

From there I head back to the hotel with the intention of a swim in the outdoor pool but it starts raining just as I arrive back. Within an hour it’s bucketing down with a few thunder and lightning showers. So instead I opt for an hour FaceTiming my BFF at home, followed by room service and a glass of wine. Tomorrow it’s on to New Zealand.

Bye bye Malaysia!

The next day is my first rest day since I took off on Jan 19th. It’s Feb 5th and I’m looking forward to having nothing to do but lounge around the pool. I hit the gym, have a leisurely breakfast, catch up on a bit of FaceTime and eventually leave the room! By the time I hit the pool there’s a ferocious wind. I manage to enjoy a few hours reading my book by the pool, have a quick dip, relax at the small beach and then have a glass of wine and food watching a non existent sun set!

The rain is coming down and the wind is whipping up so I stay put and have an early night. I should check out downtown but I’m glad of the excuse not to have to go.

It rains all through the night and there’s even a bit of thunder and lightening. Still raining and misty the next morning, it’s probably the worst weather I could have for my tour today but we set off anyway. First stop is the view point of Mount Kinabalu…. eh, not today

We’re supposed to go to Mount Kinabalu next for a hike but with the weather being so bad we head for Poring Hot Springs. This is a UNESCO world heritage area with lush green trees, waterfalls and baths. We start with the canopy walk which is full on rope suspension bridge and is fairly hairy scary when you first step on and it starts to shake…

There were six in all, the second last being the longest and wobbliest but sure it’s no bother to this intrepid traveller!!!! 🤣

After descending the pathway from the canopies I head to the waterfall. I can only get as far as the smaller of two as the main one is closed off because of the bad weather.

Hot and sweaty from the climbing it’s time for a soak in the hot spring baths…. well kinda. Sounds like it should be lovely but this is no Calistoga! There are individual baths all empty with a hot and cold tap that you control. The water is piped from the spring, allegedly, but it takes so long to fill the bath and there’s so many dead bugs and mosquitoes flying around it’s not exactly relaxing. I’m in my swimsuit expecting a leisurely float around and the locals (mostly Muslim women) are covered from head to toe just dipping their feet!! I have a dunk in the cold rock pool then a quick soak of my feet in the hot bath and I’m done…. not really convinced it was worth the hassle of the clothes change and drying situation in very meager changing rooms (with wet floors). Can’t say I enjoyed that much.

The weather is definitely brighter here so we’re hopeful the mountain may be a little clearer….. eh no – at the entrance to the national park I give up on the notion of seeing the mountain:

So much for getting a hike in, I can’t even see the mountain. The best we can do is have a walk around the botanical gardens in our raincoats in the rain. The guide points out the tiniest orchid:

And a slipper orchid:

It’s nice but honestly every time the lovely lady who is my guide stops and asks if I know what this leaf is and that plant is and that tree is I want to shout “NO, I told you I don’t know my plants or trees or birds or fruits for that matter”… need I say more. Time to just call it a day and head back to the hotel and hope the mist will clear and the rain stop for tomorrow.

At one point on the drive we see a police escort, with full on sirens blazing, go past us escorting at least ten coaches. They’ve darkened windows so we cannot see inside but they look like brightly colored tour buses. The guide tells me that the buses are full of illegal immigrants getting deported. She said it happens once a month and there is often this many!

When I get back I have a lovely shower and walk along the waters edge to Chi Spa at the resort. It is amazing. The location is right at the edge of the property at the sea and the treatment rooms are incredible. You can hear the ocean while having your treatment. I have a “Borneo Massage” and it is fabulous. It’s supposed to be 1 hr 15 minutes but ends up being an hour and a half and it’s one of the best massages I’ve ever had. It also involves getting beaten with a pumice (a bit like that one I had in Bhutan) but I always feel great after a good masseuse battering and I love it.

I float back to my room and decide to order room service – nasi goreng with a glass of white wine and an episode of Bloodline (my new box set that I’m watching) – heaven!

The next morning it’s still drizzling rain so no morning by the pool for me. I hit the gym (so proud of myself!!) and do a yoga class which is held at the spa. The studio is open on all sides and we are facing the sea doing our stretches and poses – it’s a lovely relaxing hour with the teacher and just two other ladies. A full on Asian breakfast and another hour reading my book until it’s time to pack and head to Kuala Lumpur. [side note: The book I’m reading is called Cinnamon Gardens by Shyam Selvadurai and it’s set in Sri Lanka during the colonial period. I spotted it in a bookshop in Colombo and it’s a great read having just been there]

I say goodbye to Sabah hoping I’ll return one day. I could easily have spent more time at the Sepilok resort and next time I would go to the river to see the probiscus monkeys and would definitely try see the Pygmy elephant and there’s an island where you see turtles. I just didn’t have enough time and I’ll definitely need to return.

The island of Borneo is made up of three different countries – Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. The Malaysia part where I’m spending time has two states Sabah and Seriwak. I’m in Sabah. So after that little geography lesson (all new to me until today!) I’ll get on with telling you what I’m up to….

After a long day of airports I finally reach Kota Kinabalu and the Shangri La resort. It’s a huge 5 star resort which I’m looking forward to exploring in the morning. After enjoying breakfast at the biggest buffet I’ve ever seen, I take a walk around the resort and suss out the pools and beach.. it’s very fancy!

No time to dawdle around though it’s off to the airport again for a 55 minute flight to Sandakan which is where the orangutans are. The flight is easy and I’m picked up by a local nature enthusiast called Kenneth. We head straight to the Rainforest Discovery Centre. There’s lots of information about the island and its flora and fauna at the Centre and I’m the only person there so it’s very relaxing and mellow. Kenneth tells me lots about the state of Sabah and shows me photos of what I might see, then we take a walk around the gardens and see the various plants and trees. Climbing up to the trees we do a canopy walk and see what’s around up there. Kenneth is big into his birds and has brought a telescope with him so we check out what’s flying around.

After our Rainforest Discovery visit I get dropped off at the Sepilok Nature resort where I’m staying overnight. It looks amazing but I don’t have much time to explore if I’m going to make the night walk at the orangutan rehabilitation center next door. So I drop my bags, do a quick bug re-spray and head off to meet the ranger who’ll walk us around the reserve. Just as we are starting our walk I see my first orangutan climbing on the office building. Beddy, the ranger, tells us that this is an orangutan who was released back into the wild some time ago but still likes to stay close by. He’ll likely sleep up there tonight.

Just before it gets dark is the best time to see flying squirrels. They’re nocturnal animals so you won’t see them by day. I’m not sure I knew there was such a thing but sure enough after gazing upward long enough we see a squirrel run along the branch of a tree and then fly between trees. I wasn’t quick enough to catch it on film but the photo below shows the trees where we saw them. We saw three in total which apparently was very lucky as it can be a rare sight.

Carrying on with our night walk the ranger brings us into an area that is usually off limits to the public. It’s the nursery where the young orangutans who are being looked after are currently sleeping. They are indoors so we don’t get to see them but one was misbehaving earlier and wouldn’t go inside so she’s left outside to find her own bed! Her name is Chiquita:

(She’s the one I posted the video on Facebook with..here it is again for the few of you who aren’t on FB)

By day when you visit the park you’re not allowed to have a bag or bring water, only your camera in your hand. Because we are with the ranger I have my bag around me and Chiquita really wants to get her hands on it so she keeps inching her way closer to me:

After spending quite a while with Chiquita it’s getting dark so we move on and see what else we can find. We come across two wild orangutans getting ready to go asleep. I never realized that they make nests in a tree and that’s where they spend the night, in fact the orangutan is the largest arboreal (spends majority of its time in a tree) animal and it’s the second largest ape (the biggest of course being the gorilla and yes they are on my list to see).

Now that it’s dark we use our torches and spot all kinds of insects and spiders.. it reminds me of being in the Amazon over nine years ago but I’m so much less jumpy now and don’t even scream when I walk into a cobweb… screaming on the inside, screaming on the inside!!

Our walk has lasted nearly two hours and Beddy suggests coming back at 6am to see the orangutans wake up and come down from their nests. I’m in! Just enough time to eat a local meal at the resort and enjoy the amazing one night in my cabin. The Sepilok Nature Resort is on the edge of the rehab Centre separated only by a small lake. It’s gorgeous and the rooms are modern but authentic. I wish I had a couple more nights here.

5:50am I’m up, dressed, quick mouthful of tea and off on my two minute walk to the reserve. The orangutans we saw last night are just up and moving around the trees to get some breakfast. After watching them for a while overhead and avoiding them peeing on us I head back for my own breakfast (which is delish btw). Kenneth collects me at 8:45 and can’t believe how much I’ve seen since he dropped me off last night. We head back into the reserve, spotting a huge snake in a tree on the way in and get to watch a video about how the reserve came to be. An English woman called Barbara Harrison set it up In 1964 in conjunction with the Sabah authorities and has been running it ever since. There was a great piece of footage where one of the helpers rescued an orangutan and I spotted him in the park and had a chat with him and a photo of course!

Once inside, we go to the nursery to see the newer orangutans playing and learning how to climb and get food:

Next it’s off to the sun bear reserve which is literally next door. Sun bears are the smallest of all bears and are in danger of extinction. There is no estimate for how many are actually in the world today. They love honey and are also known as honey bears but apparently Winnie the Pooh is not one.

At first it’s hard to spot them but you have to be patient and after a little while I see movement among the trees and low and behold there’s a little black bear:

One of the key characteristics of the sun bear is the ring around their neck which is a bright yellow cover. Every bears is individual like a fingerprint. It takes a while for one of them to look up so I can get a good look at it but luckily enough one obliges:

After lunch we head back to the sun bear reserve to see what else is going on. Because the reserves are right beside each other a lot of times you’ll see orangutans over at the sun bear section. We had a bit of a run in with Wilma who wanted to get up close and personal with us. She was posing and making funny faces at us:

She actually jumped down and started walking toward us and the ranger told us we’d have to move on quickly… we all moved a little bit but continued to watch her:

The guy in the photo was the only person that side of her…. there was about eight of us on this side. Next thing she does a backwards tumble and starts moving toward the guy in the photo – he legged it looking terrified…. it was so funny. The ranger let a roar at her to get back in the trees and she eventually did.

It’s hard to walk away but we say goodbye to Wilma and head over to the sun bear enclosure where the ranger tells us they’re about to get food. It’s perfect timing as three young ones are here for some coconut. It’s very amusing seeing how they manage the coconuts.. they bash them for a while, pull off the outer skin and eventually get some milk:

Our final stop before we leave the reserve is back to the orangutans for the 3pm feed. We’re there early and see a few macacs climb up onto the feeding platform, see there’s nothing there yet and climb back down. They have good memories and know that food will soon be there. Just before 3pm an orangutan arrives anticipating the ranger arriving with a feed:

The macacs are back and want in on the action…. they are very cautious with the big orangutan there but are brave enough to grab some food:

Our day has come to an end and I feel very lucky with all that I’ve seen. The guide and driver, who I’ve had great fun with all day, drop me to the airport for the short flight back to Kota Kinabalu.

I saw so many cool animals and birds on the two week trip to Sri Lanka.. here’s a few highlights…… by the way I hope I identified everything correctly, feel free to correct me if not

Crocodile:

Wild Boar

A massive ant :

Peacock in a tree:

Peacocks and peahens are everywhere:

Spotted dear:

The infamous leopard (can’t resist posting again):

Storks and other birds:

Some sort of chipmunk:

Lots and lots of monkeys:

Cormorants:

Elephants trying to get out of the National park:

Elephants on the side of the road:

More elephants

Shells on the beach that are tiny crabs:

An eagle:

Turtles with ducks:

Storks:

Can’t remember what you call this!

There were more but you get the gist!!!

• Everyone says hello especially the kids. They shout hi but mostly bye bye. It’s so cute.
• When you cycle through some of the small towns the locals sometimes think you’re in a race… like Tour de France passing through (ha ha) and they shout encouragement and wave at you!
• After 30 years of civil war they are very happy to see tourists
• Lots of ladies walk around under umbrellas which is understandable once you’ve been out in the sun for even a few minutes- it’s roasting!!
• There are a LOT of mosquitoes
• There are no hairdryers in the hotels but I don’t care… I don’t need one – hooray!!
• The hotels are mostly basic – you get a bath towel but no hand towel
• The tea is wonderful although they do tend to serve it with hot milk – easily corrected
• Speaking of milk, the fresh stuff is hard to come by, it’s mostly powdered which is probably why it’s always served hot
• Arrack is the local liquor – it smells a bit like whiskey but doesn’t really taste like it
• Most cars and tuk tuks will beep when passing you on the road either coming toward you or behind you – one beep is a friendly hello, repeated louder beeps means get out of my way!
• Women are very much equals in Sri Lankan society they even do construction jobs. We saw lots of them working on new roads.
• In Sri Lanka the Buddhism practiced is Theravada. In Bhutan, Nepal and Tibet which I’ve come to learn more about it’s Mahayana so the Sri Lankan Buddhists don’t recognize the position of the Dalai Lama.
• Smoking in public places is illegal… my kinda place!
• I didn’t get to check out the tv much but when I did I saw English grammar classes and accounting lessons. There is also a channel for Buddhist teachings, another for the Muslim faith and another for Christians.
• There is no income tax in Sri Lanka even though healthcare and education is free. Apparently you could live in a hospital as they never throw anyone out if they’ve nowhere to go.
• Ice cream tuk tucks drive around and all seem to have the same tune playing – “it’s a small world after all, it’s small world after all”
• My favorite phrase that our guide used was telling us when we had “chill down” time 😀
• There’s always a chance of seeing an elephant no matter where you are.
• There’s very little hassling to buy stuff and in shops and at markets people are really friendly and genuinely want to chat to you and find out where you’re from and welcome you to Sri Lanka
• Lots of restaurants and cafes in Galle don’t sell alcohol- thank god we weren’t staying overnight there!