The comeback tour!

One of the reasons for our tribe to visit Japan was,rather sadly perhaps, to tick off travelling on a bullet train from the bucket list and today was the day that tick would be earnt.  However before the train… a walking tour of Tokyo…. You guessed it dear reader…… more shrines / temples! This time however some Shinto whilst others Buddah!!! Much throwing of coins, bowing, clapping and removal of shoes involved! Temples dealt with our tribe head for the famous bullet train for a 2hr zoom at over 280km per hour journey to Kyoto, the ancient capital of Japan.  The bullet train was certainly impressive with its speed and to the second punctuality.  And so on the last leg of this tour our band arrives in Kyoto, quick check in to a hotel and off of an evening food tour of the back streets of Kyoto! General view was this was probably the best tour of the trip despite being joined by two groups of Americans, one anti trump one pro trump…. Actually quite amusing and absolutely no...

Day 12 finds our travellers heading for a traditional Japanese breakfast in the hotel …. Verdict…. Nothing to write home about.  Next up we head to a tour of the Mt Fuji area and some classic Japanese scenery  Now organised tours in Japan all seem to have one thing in common no matter what they involve they always seem to involve a shrine/ temple. The first one or two are interesting but after that…. Well let’s just say our travellers patience / interest starts to wain! What is surprising about a lot of these holy places and in reality about most of Japan ….. it’s in need of refurbishment. It appears to your travellers eyes that Japan, the gem of 1980’s technological success perhaps hasn’t had such a successful time since then. Evidence of this is everywhere but perhaps most clearly in the metro / rail system where the ticket machines look very dated and tap and go doesn’t exist! Further evidence should any be needed exists with the taxis….. most wouldn’t be out of place in In...

Our intrepid travellers reach day 11 on this magical mystery tour of a trip and head off to Auckland Int apitpity hoping for no interventions from the weather gods! Success!!! The flight leaves as planned for the 12 hour flight up to Tokyo.  Dear reader I feel I must acknowledge at this point that your humble scribe on his comeback tour has refoubd his passion for travel even with the challenges thrown at this trip so far. Evidence of such findings can be observed in the fact that flying to NZ your scribe bing watched the entire series of “A long way home” and on this leg from Auckland to Tokyo the same with “Race across the world”. Dear reader to be very clear your scribe is not thinking of jumping on a motorbike (past efforts still have the ridicule of the moniker driving miss daisy rattling in one’s brain) nor travelling round the world in abject squalor on a stupidly low budget! And so as night falls our little tribe enter a new country for all of them. Customs had long queues ...

Now at this point on the trip We are scheduled to leave NZ and head up to Tokyo on a way home diversion! However before we leave NZ there is just enough time for our most senior member to carry out another act of (a) daring do (b) gravity testing (c) attempt to end up in just a “splat” ( delete as appropriate) with a bungee jump from the Auckland harbour bridge.  Now the Auckland harbour bridge is not like the Sydney harbour bridge, it’s lower and much less iconic. Still our most senior member had a desire to jump off it even though it was a mere 160ft high.  Surprisingly upon arrival at the jump location no one else was jumping so our vacant Explorer had the full attention of the jump staff leading him to attempt a running jump off the bridge. The untamed gambler not being impressed by the attempt describing it as a run and flop! Now dear reader this trip has been beset by weather issues and so our bands next message is from the tour company cancelling the our evening sailing...

Day 9 and our band is fully reunited for the last cricket of this trip… a one day international at the bay oval for a day / night game.  The bay oval whilst being a very picturesque location nestled at the south end of the bay is also, like most grounds in NZ pretty under developed (think grass banks rather than stands / seats). The cricket itself when it begins continues the pattern of our bands success watching as England meekly go down to a loss in a one sided match. Our most senior member commenting that the problem was team selection that had resulted in no Essex players taking part in the game for England  ….   The consolation prize was another cheese and port late night snack (where the hell did this “tradition” come from!?  Next up …. A day of travel as your band head back to the Northern hemisphere to Tokyo for something… different. 

Today is a red letter day in the middle of this trip… today the brothers grim have decided to undertake a combination of activities designed to maximise the chances of death or permanent injury with a very rapid Rapid rafting followed by a very high go ape type experience which reports say is about 4 times the height with multiple zip wires and death defying jumps / climbs Now dear readers will perhaps recall your humble scribe and heights are not happy bed fellows.  On the positive side a day of peace mooching around the smelliest city in the world is welcome! Daily blog closed!

Our band awake on day 7 in a place they weren’t supposed to be due to the impact of Mother Nature. However taking the best out of the situation we soon realise there are worse places to be than the very picturesque town of Picton which in the spring sun offered the start of what must be one of the most scenic channel crossings in the world through multiple islands and across the Cook Straits to Wellington.  Now as well as suffering from apocalyptic weather in the last few days NZ is also in the midst of a Measles outbreak and so our band were delighted to hear on the radio news that the outbreaks patient zero had been identified as having transmitted most of the virus whilst …. Yes you got it… whilst crossing the Cook Straits!! Fate tempted…… As it happens all of our band believe we had the standard UK measles vaccination jab as children so fingers crossed the travel gods are still not feeling vengeful towards our buffeted band! After an uneventful but scenically inspiring crossing...

Following a long trip to a dead end the previous day our band awakes refreshed for what promises to be a quick drive to the airport and a hop up to Auckland in time for the final T20 match this evening….. Oh how naive our band was to think that all the travelling we had done over the years wouldn’t eventually land us in a pickle! Loyal readers of this blog may recall on previous trips we have nearly been stuck in Washington due to heavy snow, have encountered missing passports and of course been taken under armed guard due to covid infection! Well on occasion as our band drive towards the airport news is tweeting of weather warnings all over NZ due to extreme winds, rains and fires (yeah your scribe also didn’t understand how you could have the last two at the same time!) Arriving at the airport, car hire returned with dread we enter the terminal building….. red everywhere on the board “cancelled”. No flights leaving at all! Battling through queues to seek information leads to more bad...

Day 5 finds our band of travellers starting the day watching via the marvels of modern t’nernet a football match taking place 12 hours behind us and probably 12000 miles away. Frankly given the result the consensus was we shouldn’t have bothered! So with our most senior travelling member most miffed by the football result we set out on a 400km 5 hour round trip to Milford sound with the added complication that we discover the road closes at 5pm each day! Now those who know, know that your scribe loves a road trip and the spectacular scenery makes this trip even more enjoyable although the road was disappointingly unchallenging for such a landscape As has been discussed in earlier blogs it appears that our band have hit this part of NZ in a period of rough weather which unfortunately continues during our road trip with almost constant rain and low cloud partially obscuring what is obviously way more impressive views that your band of travellers can benefit from today Now Milford Sound i...

Day 4 sees our band heading for the first of many relocations this time a short 1hr flight over to Queenstown ahead of a road trip out to Milford Sound the following day  Now as travellers amongst you will know travel is never risk free and so it proves today as our band arrive at Christchurch airport to find the whole of NZ enveloped in a weather warning for high winds and rain that has grounded or delayed a lot of flights this morning.  Fortunately our band of travellers only suffer a 2hr delay including 30 mins sitting on the plane waiting for winds to drop low enough for the pilot to risk attempting to take off! Having taken off needless to say the flight was “interesting” with the prospects of a challenging landing in high winds.  The presence of this update is hopefully sufficient to conclude safe arrival was achieved! Now Queenstown has something of a reputation for being full of backpackers seeking adventure and hence perhaps being fairly “loud”. It is but it’s so...

Day 3 dawns with your scribe waking at 5am to catch the Liverpool v Utd game via the wonders of t’nternet and some magic known as a vpn. What a start to the day as the most admired, respected and yes adored team in England saw off their main imposters with quality to spare (oh so maybe just a touch of bias there but hopefully dear readers will forgive your humble scribe just a fleeting moment of hope for yet another dawn from the near pitch black nightmare of supporting Utd over the last 10 years.  Football result dealt with check! A further car nap check, then it up for a day of sights in Christchurch. Now in reality Christchurch whilst a fantastic little city is overly endowed with things to see and do, so having scoured viator and get my guide (other brands are available) of most senior member declares it would be nice to go for a gondola, tram and punt ride.  And so it is that full of exploration spirit our trio head to the gondola suitably reinforced by toast and Vegemite...

 As day dawns you find your scribe trying to work out what day it is (oh what happened to that brief visit of wisdom?!), flying to the opposite side of the world certainly scrambles just about everything! Through some madness your travellers thought it wise to follow up the previous 2 days of travelling and time scrambling with a monster excursion to mount cook (the highest mountain in Australasia) so wearily they walk from the hotel under the guidance of our senior member (now those of you familiar with previous trips may recall how dangerous this can be!). With some minor route correction en route arrival on time for pick up is achieved.  This trip is a small group tour of mount cook and various lakes…. Small group turns out to be our weary band plus one other, can’t complain at that! Wow.. what scenery! New Zealand dear reader has to be one of if not the most beautiful counties in the world! Only gripe on this excursion is the very steep walk to view the Tasman Glacier…… we...

 Greetings dear reader, 2025 marks the coming of age of your scribes travelling adventures. 18 years since that first trip to Oz since then this travelling group has grown and your scribe has grown older whilst still awaiting the onset of wisdom! This years trip sees our intrepid band slightly reduced, we hope temporarily, to a select band of 3 heading to the land of the long white cloud with a slight detour to the land of the rising sun .  Following a titanic 30hoir journey from Uk to Christchurch via Singapore and Sydney your weary travellers arrive just in time to head off to the first T20 cricket match , a long since forgone excuse for these trips Cold is the best way to describe the game as your band of 3 shiver having been fooled by the late afternoon sun into believing they had arrived in summer. 2 hours later…rain, cold and your scribe suffering from a wet….. (deliberate blank) following a slight accident or sabotage depending on your view point involving beers ac...