Moving On

We leave New Zealand in less than a week. I feel a certain sense of closure as we are almost back where we started (Auckland) and have managed to cover a huge amount of this beautiful country. The summer here is drawing to a close and despite the fact that the weather is still gorgeous there is that end of summer feeling in the air.
We have booked our route back to the UK. We will be in Sydney for a week from 15 March. On 22 March we head to Bangkok, where we will need to book our local flights through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. We plan to arrive in India on 22 May and home on 10 July, although of course, all could change if we want to stay somewhere longer.........
Thinking back on our time in NZ, we really have had the most amazing time. This country has all the features of a huge continent but they have been squeezed in to a small archipelago of islands in the South Pacific. It's a truly stunning place and never boring. I can honestly say there has not been one place I haven't liked. The girls are frequently asked where their favourite place has been and they always struggle with their answer. I think it is because we have been to so many amazing places and experienced so many incredible things in a relatively short space of time: swimming with dolphins, climbing glaciers, exploring thermal areas, scrambling up volcanoes, swimming in rivers, lakes and the sea, kayaking, canoeing and sailing. It's been so much fun and SO easy. Very much home from home except a lot less people, a lot cheaper and better weather. It really is one of the most staggering places I have ever visited.
Asia is going to be a different story. In New Zealand we've had a car that has been our constant 'home'. I know I can feed the girls anything they crave. They can drink water from the tap. If they get bitten by a mosquito they're not going to contract anything nasty......the list goes on.
The Asian countries we're visiting will present more of a challenge. The girls sort of know what to expect and they are really looking forward to it. Kerala is still in their memories from last Christmas and of course we were in Thailand for a week on the way to Australia, but I know the travel will be different and harder in many ways.
It will be fantastic and they will learn so much about different cultures, faiths and histories. I'm sure with their white blonde hair they will attract a lot of attention. It will be a great experience to travel through these countries as a family - children are a huge asset when you travel through lands where the family is so respected. But, of course, I am slightly apprehensive. We have already addressed the vaccination issues and we have to get some anti-malarial tablets as we intend to go to a few areas where there are current malaria outbreaks. Malaria is not a legacy of our adventure I'd like any of us to be left with.
Ultimately, I am really looking forward to witnessing and watching the girls witness so many new and different things. I am sure they are going to gain so much from the Asian experience - I just hope they enjoy it as much as the New Zealand one!

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