Reviewing the Holiday

Wow, what a trip. Looking back at the holiday, especially after a little while has gone by, while I completed the blog entries, I get lots of memories of amazing places. So, as this year's blog comes to its close it is time to reflect on the whole event.

Travel - Planes 

We travelled 24,252 miles (39,030 km) by air. It was probably a little more than this, due to the incident during the first flight. But this is what the scheduled flight distances indicate, so we'll go with that. Paying for business class for the first time seemed like an extravagance when we decided to do it, but I am so grateful we did, given the sleep opportunities it provided that would never have been possible in Economy or Premium Economy - I don't sleep well sitting up. That plus the food was fabulous.  

Travel - Car

We drove 2,251 miles (3622 km) while in Australia. Drew driving 2,401km (68%) and I did 1,221km (34%). Reflecting the different type of driving, Drew on major highways, me through towns and other built up areas, the driving time was 51% for Drew and 49% for me, so quite even. Driving in Australia isn't difficult, being on the same side as the UK the only challange for the first day or to was remembering which side the indicators and windscreen wipers are, as they are on opposite sides from the UK. And yes, before anyone asks, I did try indicating with my wipers on the first day I drove in the UK, I'd obviously settled into the Aussie way! 

Our furthest driving day was 512km from Toowoomba to Tamworth only the 452km from Tamworth to the Airport came close to this, we had lots of shorter driving days than we would have had in the past in the USA or Canada, but this has been a different kind of holiday.

 

Travel - Walking

We walked 460,000 steps this holiday, an average of 15,000 a day. That converts to 345 km and 215 miles (average of 11.14 and 6.92 respectively) more than I would have guessed. It includes two epic days of 31563 steps, 23.6 km, 14.7 miles in Sydney on our Friday there and 31267 steps, 23.5km and 14.6 miles the first day we were in Tokyo. Our two lazy days were the Saturday we left the UK (1.7 miles) and the Thursday we spent in the hotel in Tamworth (1 miles).  

Weight

I weighed 12 stone 6lb (78.9kg) when we left for the holiday and I return weighing 13 stone 4lb (84.4kg). I thought the damage might be a bit worse. But clearly the balance between eating a great deal of very good food and walking the kind of distances we have has paid off. Still, I need to be back to my original weight shortly before the excess of Christmas!! [Captain Jack's Note: I have, dear crewmembers, scheduled in some extra long walks for the lubber.]

Reflections

I look back at the end of the holiday with great pleasure. Everything worked out so amazingly well and we had a wonderful time. 

Back at the beginning of this blog I mentioned the holiday had five parts; Perth, Sydney, the road trip (including K'gari), time with the family and the final days in Tokyo. Each of these gives me different memories, but I wouldn't have wanted to miss out on any of them, they each had their charms and enjoyment.

The two things that come back first to my mind as I look back at the holiday was the day with the Quokkas at Rottnest Island and the day in what the Butchulla people call paradise - K'gari.

The biggest surprise of the holiday was my brother's trickery in making himself and his wife the 'friends' who were having dinner with our nephew Cian in Newcastle. Even now his creativity and my utter gullibility amazes and amuses me. I wish we had been able to get a photo of my face as I suddenly spotted David and Elaine in the hotel. The other unexpected event of the holiday was my discovery of my Grandfather's grave. I had absolutely no idea where he was buried when I left the UK and only my sister's research inspired me to the successful search. It feels like a real achievement and a link to a past I know so little about. Until that day he was just a name.

Seeing the whole of the Australian branch of the family and meeting Grace's and Alice's boyfriends Joel and Tom was always going to be a highlight, but it was much more enjoyable and relaxed than I could have expected. It has been seven years since we have seen each other, yet it felt like it had only been a few days.

We ate really well this holiday, as I look back it is Wildflower that seems to have been the most distinctive and satisfying. The idea of eating with the six seasons for the Noongar people really appealed to me and the food and service were unparalleled. I wouldn't have missed Quay, St. Peter's, Lumi or Ryugin. But I think Wildflower surpassed all of them in both food and the wonderful selection of non-alcoholic drinks.

The only food fail for me was the Sand Bar on K'gari, the food wasn't bad, it was just that the whole experience was below my expectations of such an otherwise wonderful place.

[Co-pilot's reflections: 

I loved Tokyo because they have a character street, anywhere that has an entire Pokemon Shop is OK with me.

Also, they have restaurants down to a fine art, you can order your food, pay for your food, get served your food, eat your food and leave and never speak to a single person - perfect!

The trains and metros have arrival and departure melodies, which become earworms for the day!

I won't mention the efficiency of the toilets for fear of setting someone off on another rant.

Finally, they have rules, I'm a big fan of rules, though I fail to persuade someone!!! to follow them, but then again he doesn't even get the non-skateboarding rule, it makes perfect sense to me.]

Thanks

As I finish the blog I'd like to thank all those who have stayed patiently to the end. It seems strange to be writing three weeks after our return home, but this was such a busy holiday, I guess it wasn't a surprise. Many thanks for travelling with us, it is always a pleasure to share the experience and get input and insight from so many of you. Thanks especially, again, to those who corrected my misspellings and other errors both on the blog and on Flickr - I know I've kept you very busy, so many, many thanks.

It has been a productive time, with one blog with 42 (43 including this one) posts, a Flickr album with 6,795 photos all edited, named and ordered. Plenty for me to look back over in future years.

Next year we hope to continue our exploration of Scandinavia. Having been in Sweden in 2023 and Denmark in 2022, it is Norway we expect to be heading to next year - you are, as ever, very welcome to join us on that adventure. Hope to see you then!!

PS - Note to self, build some downtime into the next holiday to keep the blog up to date!!