The tiniest turtles...

So aside from seeing the most Giant Tortoises in the world

we also happened across some of the tiniest turtles.

Husband and i were so excited about happening across

two little baby turtles taking their first steps from their nest into the ocean.

It was an absolute dream come true for me.

Something i thought you only see on tv,

or in a controlled environment.

This was nature at its best and most natural.

Seeing those little babies use every instinct inside

of them just to make that big journey to the even bigger ocean.

I may have shed a tear of joy.

i felt like a very proud mama.

Galapagos -Giant Tortoise

Seconds off the plane from a 27 hour trip

and husband whisks me off to see the islands

most famous inhabitants.

The Giant Tortoise.

I tell you, there aint no better cure for 

jet lag than these little beauties.

They reminded me so much of my wee Del-Boy

(who currently lives with my mother-in-law

who spoils her rotten and hand feeds her each day)

the same characteristics 

only much much bigger.

So adorable.

I think my favourite one may have been the 

one who was in the swamp.

Mainly because she reminded me of 

Morla the Aged one from Neverending Story,

yes there may have been quite a few 

quotes and re-enactments going on there

(luckily i recently introduced husband to the movie so

he is no on parr with my brain waves)

I can also tell you that their favourite food

is Guava, it makes their faces very pink!

Christmas in the sun!

I fly off to see husband tomorrow.

its going to be my 4th Christmas in a row in the sunny climate.

i've had enough of the cold weather....

Christmas is going to be on the boat this year....

hmmmm,

i barely survived it when i had my birthday on the boat,

husband has promised me this will be much better.

Plus im gonna be in Panama....

yeah baby!!!!!

i is living the high life!

now if only i can survive the 

37hours of travelling,

even more worried as i have a bad back at the moment that has my

hobbling round complaining to everyone who will listen to my tale....

and i get to see HUUUSSSBBBAANNNDDDD,

its gone so fast but felt so long,

Holidays with husband.....

So last week i flew out to visit husband in Brazil,

due to a rather expensive mix up on where we

were going to meet up i ended up spending a day in 

Rio de Janerio by myself before flying another 12 hours to meet 

husband in Fernando de Noronha.

Firstly Rio,

Rio was awesome.

As i only had a day there i booked myself into a day tour

which just made my life a whole lot easier and

got to see a lot more than if i was trying to find my wa around myself.

Funnily enough my tour guide had just been to Edinburgh so 

as i was standing in front of The Infamous Christ Redeemer stature

he whipped out his camera and was showing me pictures of

him in front of Edinburgh Castle.

It made me smile, 

we go half way around the world and forget that

what we have on our own front door is a marvel to those who dont see it everyday.

Then onto Fernando De Noronha.

For anyone not in the know Fenrnado is a small

(very small) island off the coast of Brazil.

It is registered as a world heritage sites

which means that it has a lot of eco-protection....

it also makes it very expensive....

But it also makes it virtually tourist free,

they only let 400 people arrive on the island a day

and for every day that you are there you have to pay an environment tax.

It was a couple of run down  villages and a lot of beautiful and empty beaches.

Dolphins and turtles to swim with 

(okay, so its illegal to swim with the dolphins intentionally 

but it was amazing to be swimming in the water

and hearing their calls resounding through it,

knowing that they are so near by)

Husband and i went on an epic adventure one day.

Swimming and climbing around half the coast of the island.

First we did a 20 minute swim from the boat to the beach,

which consisted of passing some rocks which i liked to call the 'Bone Grinder'....

Why the Bone Grinder you may ask....

well because there is some weird anomaly there where the sea gets pushed through some hole in the 

rocks and makes it sound like its grinding bones...

yes not my favourite part to swim past....

Then as we were almost at the shore husband turns to me and says,

'okay honey now you have to body surf in'

'what?'

'just catch the wave...'

and i llok behind me and sure enough this giant wave is coming towards us.

he pushes me along into it and i get thrown a very long way to the shore...

He had failed to mention previously that this was the only way to get to the shore.

We then did some rather crazy 'walking' trying to get around the headlands for each beach.

Barefoot and in a bikini, we climbed over very very hot black

spikey rocks, (i swear steam came off them when they hit water again)

there was climbing up and down vertical rocks...

in fact on the way back at one point i was sure we had gone a different route as there was no way i 

would have climbed down such a cliff,

half way up i remembered i had.

There attempts to get back through the waves 

into swimming which mainly ended up with me being bashed 

around in rocks and husband trying to catch me.

And then to finish it all off at the end of the day

we miscalculated our timing and ended up swimming

back to the boat in the pitch black with the current pushing us out to sea

(something husband didnt tell me was happening till after we were safe and

sound back on the boat)

There was awesome food,

let me tell you this Tapioca pancakes are amazing!

and fresh picked coconut drinks never cease to amaze me!

But most of all there was husband.

Anyone who knows me would tell you that i'm

not the kind of girl who does crazy night swims

or barefoot free-climbing ,

but put my Husband at my side and I feel like I can do anything.

Morocco....

We actually didnt take that many pictures in Morocco,

mainly because Husband kept getting mistaken for a Moroccan

which was pretty handy as it meant nobody bothered us.

Until we got a camera out and then every tourist tout in a mile came

out of all the nooks and crannies.

We rocketed through North Morocco in a weekend.

We hit  Tangier, Fez, Chefchaouen, Tetouan and Ceuta.

to be honest I really wasnt into the big cities.

They highlights were just Arab style markets

which i saw enough off in Cairo...nothing new.

I did love the food...mmmm Moroccan stew and couscous,

and the freshly squeezed orange juice,

at one meal after having been travelling for quite a while

husband and I downed 8 classes between us,

in about 45mins!!!!

i did love Chefchaouen though.

What an adventure it was to get there!

turns out all the regular buses (that mainly take tourists)

where sold out...uhoh...

so we managed to hang around at the local

Moroccan bus stop for a few hours and

bribe our way onto a local bus 

(i hate to think how much the 

overcharged us...it was still pretty cheap)

we ended getting on a bus to a destination

that was on no maps,

the ticket tout assured us it was only 8km 

from our destination.

So we sat on a very hot dirty bus for 5 hours 

going to the middle of nowhere...literally.

When we got there it was lovely,

in the mountains and all the buildings stonewashed light blue.

Husband also treated us to the only 5* hotel in town...

Very Exciting!!!

After spending the day haggling as lowly backpackers

it was nice to splurge out in the evening.

(still for the price of a fairly average hotel in europe)

It was definitely the highlight of my trip,

sitting on our own private balcony drinking fresh orange

watching the sun go down.

Finding fun in every place...

Mallorca is never a place i have wanted to go to.

in my head i have pictures of British tourist packaged holidays

and fresh out of school teenagers at Magaluf.

and yes that part of Mallorca exists, but only if you want it to.

Palma is lovely.

It has loads of fantastic restaurants,

in fact i dont think we've eaten anywhere that wasnt less than great!

We've had a few visitors come to see us and

its so easy to take them around and show them the beautiful city,

its also so easy to take them around and show them the

beautiful country side.

Here are some highlights of my two months here in pictures.

These are near Alaro,

we were recommended by a friend to a place 

infamously called 'The Lamb Restaurant' 

Its right in the middle of a large mountain, 

we hiked up and by the time we got there we were starving!

And let me tell you that

this lamb is exquisite! 

And what a view!

These are from when my grandparents came to visit.

It was great to have them around,

they have such different personalities!

We took them on the touristy train to Soller.

It was an expensive trip

but a nice experience.

and then there is the Cathedral in Palma,

which i guess is the main attraction here

After the grandparents came the in-Laws

we took them to the Caves of Drach.

Husband was complaining about going to the caves,

(he hates going places that are too touristy)

but even he was quite impressed,

even though we have been to see a lot of caves recently!!!

Although Mallorca is a place that would never have been 

put on my travel wish list,

i'm glad that i got to spend some time here

and would definitely recommend a mini holiday here to anyone!

In many ways it reminds me of Slovenia

(which i will admit will always be my home away from home!

Oz! A snapshot round up

I never got round to really posting much about our time in Australia.

I thought i'd just put a couple of post with some snapshots.

This post includes pictures of our trip to

Summer Bay 

(all British who watched tv in the 90's will know that one!)

Featherdale Animal Park

Swimming with turtles at Byron Bay

and surfing at the Beach where we stayed.

(cant help but still sneak in the occasional ballet pose)