Australia 24/25. 5 January 2025. Arriving home.

It all went smoothly on the journey with our flight to Doha slightly late but plenty of time to get to our connecting flight, which left at 1.15am local time.  

The issue was snow in England.  We circled Manchester from shortly after our arrival time of 6am until 7.15am, but as the airport was still closed we were re routed to Birmingham.  Initially the plan was to fly to Manchester for 9am but there was not enough ground support to get that sorted and the staff on board ran out of shift time so we had to disembark and get a coach to Manchester.  

Birmingham airport was very busy as one of only a few open,  we got our luggage OK (feels miraculous that we have not had any delayed in 9 flights), but Joanne had to get one piece off another passenger who had wrongly taken it off the conveyer.  

We had £10 each to spend on food/ drinks so we got some breakfast stuff and got on the coach.  All good with car collection (fortunately drop and go at Manchester has a 6 hour delay buffer) and the M62 was not as bad as we thought it might have been.  

Arrived home mid afternoon to 2c and a decent amount of snow. We definitely noticed the temperature change and I'm missing the blue skies, but it is good to be back.  

6 Jan bonus for Toby that school was shut because of snow.  He was delighted. 

Australia 24/25 4 January. Kuala Lumpur and heading home

The penultimate day of our adventure was here. 

Between packing and sorting we enjoyed some time by the pool whilst Joanna had a language lesson.  

Lunch was in a local food place where we enjoyed Claypot chicken and some Thai food.  No roti this time,  the roti chefs take time off between 12 and 3!

Back to the Prices for some rest and games before flying out of KL in the evening,  with a flight to Doha then on to Manchester.  

Australia 24/25 3 Jan 2025. Kuala Lumpur and around

After breakfast at home we squeezed into the Prices' car for the journey to the Elephant Sanctuary, Kuala Gandah, which is government owned and free entry.  

The elephants are rescued, and often have been badly treated or injured before they arrive.  One even had a prosthetic leg so it could still walk,  as its leg was amputated due to an injury in a trap. 

We enjoyed looking round,  meeting the elephants and feeding them sticks of sugar cane. 

And now for lunch ... the Google map directions were dubious and after a drive down a potholes gravel track we came to a sign that said don't enter our you'll be shot... hmm... we won't get lunch here then!

We found another street food cafe in the next town and enjoyed curry,  rice and more roti, totalling about £20 for eight of us.  

Back to KL and a bit of rest before the adults went out to see the Petronas towers at night, the water and light show and have a drink,  with Matthew and Toby looking after William and Bethan.  

Australia 24/25, 2 January 2025. Kuala Lumpur

After a very cramped virgin Australia flight to Perth,  and a 3.5 hour wait with some food to see us through, we flew Batik Air Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur, arriving about 6.25am. 

Luggage arrived safely and we caught a Grab taxi from the airport to James and Jo's house in the city.  

A welcome cup of tea and a lie down for an hour meant we were then ready to explore and we went out for breakfast of roti, then into the city centre to get Matthew some flip flops (Malaysia being a large producer of rubber they are v cheap here) and have a browse.  Joanne got 2 pairs of prescription reading glasses made in an hour for £10 each.  

An early night was in order for us all after lots of travel and a 3 hour time change.  

Australia 24/25 1 Jan Adelaide and travel to KL

This morning we went on a hike to a viewpoint above Adelaide. The first 15 minutes were very steep up a hill with steps built in but the views were worth it, and the rest of the walk was much easier. 

There were signs for koalas but although we looked for them,  but we didn't see any koalas,  but we did see a kangaroo in the wild!

Back at Jay and Sara's we enjoyed bbq food and a chill by the pool,  then packed to head off on our 6th flight of the holiday.  

Jon,  Matthew,  Toby and Joanne were flying to Kuala Lumpur via Perth,  and Peter and Amelia flew back to Melbourne for Amelia to get her flight back to the UK.  

It was sad to wave goodbye to Peter but great to know he's settled in and loving life in Melbourne.