Our next flight was again with Virgin Blue, as we thought it would be a good idea to not fly with one airline continuously, back in October when we booked the tickets. As expected, our flight was delayed, but only by half an hour, so that wasn’t too bad. The flight itself was fine and even changing planes in Melbourne didn’t cause any problems. We arrived at Launceston Airport right on schedule and while we were getting ready to leave the plane, something happened, or rather, didn’t happen. (more…)

We arrived late in the evening, because of a delay, so we didn’t see much of Perth the first day we were there. The next morning we walked to Kings Park. Kings Park is located just outside downtown Perth, but it is still only a 30 minute walk to it and because it was sunny and the temperature was perfect, we really enjoyed it. The park has several highlights, like a tree top walk, a botanic garden and a small metal structure (known as the DNA tower) you can climb for a nice view over the park. (more…)

The two major airlines offering domestic flights in Australia are Qantas and Virgin Blue. Our previous domestic flights were operated by Qantas, but this one was operated by Virgin Blue. Virgin Blue, on average, is a little bit cheaper than Qantas and since this was the first time we’d fly with them, we were a bit excited. The only downside of Virgin is that the baggage allowance is only 23KG, instead of the handsome 32KG Qantas offers (or offered at that moment). (more…)

Jewel of the Kimberley, largest town in Western Australia north of Broome and just a great place to spend 3 hours while waiting for your plane to be repaired after a rough landing. We didn’t really see the town of course, because the airport people kept telling us that the problem would be fixed within 15 to 30 minutes, but that is obviously besides the point. (more…)

Well, never might be a bit exaggerated, but the chances of seeing rain when you’re there are slim at best. We, of course, had two days of rain, we were just very lucky I guess. Except us and some other tourists, everyone was actually very excited about the rain, even our tour guides later on kept making pictures for their private collections. (more…)

Five in the morning is a godawful time to leave the comfort of your bed and head for the shower, but we were going to be picked up at ten minutes past six, so we really had no choice. Although we were at the pickup spot in front of our hotel at 6.05, Adventure Tours picked us up at 6.45 (technical problems or something like that, be we were exited to go to Kakadu, so we didn’t really mind). (more…)

Our second Cathay Pacific flight was again excellent, the superb service and seating make you almost forget that you are in an airplane at all. We enjoyed a glass of wine, had a good meal and watched a movie or two, while the plane made its way to Brisbane. The descent to the airport was somewhat bumpy, but given the weather conditions, it could have been a lot worse. Apparently the whole four seasons thing we have over in Europe doesn’t really exist in Brisbane. (more…)

Macau is often referred to as Las Vegas of Asia. According to some insiders, Macau is even bigger and better than Vegas. People will have you know that Macau has big beautiful casino’s and a very interesting history, being the first European settlement in Asia. On top op everything Formula 3 (car racing) is very big here (the whole city can be turned into a racing track), so if you ever have the opportunity to visit this magnificent city, you should. So we did. (more…)

With great sadness we left Tokyo behind us, after all a great source for blog posts. Our next flight was to Hong Kong provided by Cathay Pacific. If you have the opportunity to fly with Cathay take it, you won’t be disappointed, at least we weren’t. We arrived in the late afternoon, grabbed a taxi to the hotel, dropped our luggage in the room and went off to the IFC shopping mall to spend some serious money. (more…)

Japan is fully surrounded by sea, so it’s no real surprise that a lot of Japanese meals have something to do with fish and other sea critters. In Tokyo fresh fish will usually be brought to shore early in the morning (4.30h), where it will be traded on the Tsukiji Fish market. According to our Lonely Planet guidebook, the look and feel of the Tsukiji Fish market between 5.00 and 8.00 is unique and should not be missed when visiting Tokyo. (more…)