Neil Uys Blog Site

Anne-Marie gets the cred for this one. We booked ages ago with frequent flyer points and got a special in a nice hotel in the middle of town.

We thought it would be nice to go away for Anne’s birthday ( Happy Birthday sexy ) and it sure was a nice trip. Not sure if it was Darwin, the relaxed laid back attitude of the locals or just us getting better at going on holiday as a family and not completely stressing about everything as if we lived in a constant state of at least defcon 4 while on holiday. This trip was really relaxing. I had time for a few ice cold local beers. We had time to sit and chat and I had a awesome time with my son. What a champ.  Through all the heat and sitting in a bus he always greeted every new destination with a loud Whoa !  and learnt a new word – water – said with a Afrikaans accent.

We flew into Darwin and went to the Northern Territory Wildlife Park on a half day tour and then the Litchfield National Park for a full day tour the day after.

Highlights for me  :

•  Adelaide River cruise – air conditioned – jumping crocs – beautiful scenery
•  Buley rock pools where we had a swim in Litchfield National Park
•  Sitting on the balcony at the hotel on Anne’s birthday drinking champers

 Here are some photos :

2010-04-03 NT

 There goes 2009.

Seasons greetings and all the best for 2010. We hope you all had a great Christmas and enjoyed your new years eve parties.

We had Christmas at home with some of the usual suspects. The food was great. We had turkey, roast lamb and a fish potjie as mains with a wide range of starters dips and salads. On Boxing Day we departed for our first camping trip with Jake to the Central Coast. We stayed at Dunleith Caravan Park at the Entrance. It was challenging, but we loved it.

Here are some GPS coordinates : =-33.338201, 151.50243

Google Maps : Link

On the way back from Jozie we decided to break the long flight and stay a few days in Singapore. It reminded me how much I love Asian food. I was amazed at how clean the city was. The weather reminded me of our days in Taipei. Singapore is just in  another class. Clean and with a wonderful mix of Malay, Indian and Chinese cultures.

I knew Singapore is known for it’s cheap gadgets – So I forgot our camera in South Africa and obviously had to buy a new one at the Sim Lim technology centre

Here are a few photos

2 Years in the planning and finally Oupa, Ouma, Anne-Marie, Jake and I set off on our Hawaiian adventure.

1 Night in Honolulu at the Waikiki Sunset hotel and the next morning on the Pride of America for our 7 day cruise around the islands to end up back on Waikiki beach for 4 days before returning to Oz.

The cruise was amazing and far exceeded all my expectations. It was what they call a freestyle cruise. Meaning you eat, drink, swim, sun bath, chill in your cabin or go on excursions out to the island or on the ocean as you please.

We did some deep sea fishing, golfing, kayaking and a lazy walk down one of the beaches in the islands. As you can imagine there was a lot of eating – so much so that I had to tell myself to stop almost every day. 4 Main restaurants that served a buffet from roasts to pizza everyday (all Day) and then there were 4 speciality restaurants that offered a wide variety of other food.

The ship was incredible – around 2700 passengers and a 1000 staff. 13 levels. We stayed on level 11 – Nice, same as the main pool, so it was easy to get around.

We all loved the trip and I can highly recommend it to anyone thinking of going to Hawaii. I will add some video in the next few days.