We’re writing this ‘epilogue’ if you like, on the flight home. BB is asleep across us and we’re thinking happily about what awaits us back in the UK. Neither of us will be working for the next month and so it is not exactly a hard return and we have BB’s first Christmas to look forward to.

We reflect on the decision to go travelling, wondering if it was the ‘right’ thing to do. For us the answer is yes. BB may not remember the trip but we are sure the sounds, smells and colours of the big wide world will stay with him through life. We will also print the blog into a book and it will become great bedtime reading. We want BB to feel like the world is a small place full of adventure and this was a great start. 

The biggest bonus was getting 11 weeks of family time. Dad and BB got to bond in a way that wouldn’t have happened in London. The three of us got to start life as a family in style. 

There were tricky moments. Ayers Rock – the land of no naps, Hoi An – the land of upset bedtimes to name just two. Oh yes and Bali belly is forever engrained in our minds!!

But there were massive highlights, we’ve mentioned most in the blog. One final beauty was the moment (on our last night away) that BB showed us that he can go to sleep all by himself. Yay!!

BB left London a little bubba who would fit in his parent’s arms on a flight. He returns as a little boy with teeth, an appetite, who crawls and stands ups and has to sprawl across a couple of seats in order to get to sleep. We love him v much ❤️. 

Baby Barrett has become quite a jet setter and seems to enjoy time on a plane…except when the seatbelt sign constrains him! On the flight to Hong Kong he made great use of the near empty flight by climbing over the seats and practicing his new sitting skills. We’re not sure the Jet Star staff were so delighted but since we haven’t been so enamoured with Jet Star (think less tacky but more shit than Ryanair) so we didn’t care. 

Hong Kong was Dad’s choice. Despite all his previous travels he had never made it here and really wanted to see it. With BB in tow we were expecting frantic, humid, hot and maybe hard work.

How happily surprised were we? Hello Hong Kong you gorgeous, shiny and fun city. The setting is beautiful – hilly terrain surrounded by stunning blue sea. Hong Kong centred on the harbour between HK island and Kowloon. Sky scrapers litter the bay – more NYC than Canary Wharf. Behind, beneath and next to them there is the real HK in hiding. Neon signs, noisy restaurants, big shopping malls, busy street markets – it is all there. 

Perhaps it was our previous stops in Hanoi and HCMC that made HK feel quite chilled. I don’t think we saw a motorbike in our time here. It is busy, but polite busy.  Even the hawkers hand out business cards!

In case you can’t tell we have loved our time in Hong Kong. BB got his first experience of an open top bus as we sped around the city area taking in the sights.

One highlight was visiting Stanley beach just out of town – much more like our Aussie favourite Port Douglas than an Asian beach town. We also enjoyed checking out the ladies market in north Kowloon. 

Then we headed up Victoria Peak on HK Island and were blown away by the stunning view. 

We were hankering after some western food and so went for a NYC deli style dinner. Check out guilty BB who developed long arms and took a successful swipe at Dad’s beer glass 😮.


We did finally hit the Cantonese food. Honey roasted pork was the best bit. BB also seemed to like the food but I think it is a good job we are returning home – time for a sugar and salt detox!

We finished our 11 week tour standing in Victoria harbour, overlooking Hong Kong island and it’s beautiful Christmas light display. There simply couldn’t have been a better place to end this little adventure. 



After a short nap to recover from the early start we headed out into the streets of Hanoi. We all like Hanoi. It’s littered with good cheap local restaurants, tasty street food stalls, quirky cafes and unique shops with a smattering of French colonial charm mixed in amongst the Vietnamese mayhem.

Every inch of the pavements are used, no space is wasted and there is rarely enough space to stand. Motorbike parking, shops wares overflowing, street food vendors hawking, residents socialising and eating, industrious workshops doing their thing and the odd tourist trying not to get squashed by the oncoming traffic. Despite the manic chaos of Vietnamese everyday life it seems to work and has a friendly welcoming atmosphere.

Hanoi kept us busy for 2 days just wandering around the old town absorbing the atmosphere (literally)… and of course eating, drinking coffee and shopping. 

After the good time we had in Han Hoi we decided to do another street food tour. At some of the stalls we visited the ingredients were slightly more adventurous. BB refused to eat spleen which was the wise thing to do as Mum and Dad tried it and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. Nor was the tendon for that matter! However the egg coffee was surprisingly tasty.

We also made it for a walk around Ho Hoan Kiem lake, took a cycle rickshaw ride (another first for BB), visited an ex colonial prison and an interesting museum about women in Vietnam. The section about the street traders was quite an eye opener and a good reminder not to complain about our jobs when we go back to work.

The exciting news whilst in Hanoi was that BB hit a major milestone and learned to pull himself up on things from sitting and stand by himself. Mum and Dad were so proud until they realised that they now have a nightmare on their hands with a crawling climbing BB who takes any opportunity to explore with gusto.

BB also hit another significant milestone in Hanoi… he learnt how to eat rice noodles from chopsticks. An important skill for a 7 month old travelling in Asia!

From Hanoi we took a 2 day tour to Halong Bay. The last time Mum travelled here it was for a cold and rainy New Year’s Eve but thankfully this time the weather was kinder. Things got even better when we were upgraded to a deluxe room on the cruise boat complete with our own balcony, faux gold plated bath and plenty of space for BB’s cot. 

Halong Bay didn’t disappoint and was as picturesque as the tourist brochures suggest. Special mention goes out to Cem, BB’s adopted uncle for the 2 days. He helped Mum and Dad entertain BB and his good company was enjoyed by all 3 of us.

After Halong Bay it was back to Hanoi for another day exploring the city before flying to our next stop, Hong Kong.

Leaving Indonesia behind we flew to Ho Chi Minh City in the south of Vietnam. HCMC is a large hot frantic Asian city without any notable tourist attractions as such, but we did find an interesting war museum, failed to find another museum… but found a micro brewery in the process 😀🍻

The memories we took away from HCMC was the sheer volume of motorbikes and how interesting that made crossing the road!

For our next stop we headed for cooler climes (about 20 degrees C) up in the hills to Dalat, the honeymoon capital of Vietnam apparently. It was a novelty being able to walk around town without sweating buckets, however what we did get in buckets was rain. 

20 degrees in Vietnam is their equivalent to a cold winter in the UK. The Vietnamese children get wrapped up in heavy winter jackets, boots and woolly hats so we were often chastised for BB being out in just trousers and a long sleeved t-shirt. We had to explain on so many occasions that we are from England which is really cold so 20 degrees is actually quite warm. We just got disbelieving ‘you’re bad parents’ looks in return 😧

The Christmas season had just started so the town’s businesses were in the process of putting up their decorations. It’s humbling when a predominantly Buddhist country knows how to celebrate Christmas better than we do at home. Here’s BB and the girls from our Dreams 3 hotel 😍. 

The sun did eventually come out so we decided to do family transport Vietnamese style and rented a moped for the day. Seeing a family of 5 on a single moped is not unusual in Vietnam so the 3 of us buzzing around town blended in quite nicely, even with Dad’s lack of grasp of the local road rules (anything goes). 

From Dalat we took a short flight to Hoi An which is a UNESCO world heritage site. The ancient town is just beautiful with loads of traditional old buildings converted into cafes, restaurants and boutique shops. It’s a shopping and photography paradise so had plenty to keep Mum and Dad happy. 

Dad was distraught when on the first day there was a torrential downpour and the river flooded submersing a large section of the heritage site which nearly scuppered his photography plans. Dad wasn’t deterred though and spent lots of time muttering under his breath about tourists haplessley wandering into and ruining his photos.

The rain didn’t have any adverse affect on Mums shopping abilities either and she got a new work dress and suit made at one of the many tailors in town. It required a few fittings at the tailors to get the dress just right which gave BB ample time to charm the girls. Thanks Miley from Yala Couture for a great suit. 

 Almost exactly 9 years ago Mum travelled north from Hoi An on a night bus. It was never to be repeated as she and Sian arrived at their destination pleased to be alive. This time around we were organised and booked onto the Reunification Express train to Hanoi. A small baby sharing bunks on a noisy overnight train, surely that’s a brilliant idea?!  Thankfully BB quickly made himself at home in his sleeper cabin and Mum and Dad tucked into their victuals… a bottle of Captain Morgan and some tasty looking sweet Vietnamese cakes which unfortunately turned out to taste suspiciously of shrimp 😧

The train journey went smoothly and we were deposited in Hanoi station still half asleep at 5am. It was a brilliant adventure but not one to be repeated in the near future due to the narrow bunks, let’s just say BB slept well!  

The story of BB’s adventures in Hanoi and beyond will be the subject of the next post. Watch this space…

With teething troubles over for now Baby Barrett’s appetite has returned. What better way to celebrate than with a Hoi An street food tour. Thanks to Lucy our guide and the Hoi An Food Tour company for a brilliant afternoon. Here’s what BB thought of the experience –

We had 12 different types of food to try and I was feeling hungry. Sadly the first stop wasn’t really for me despite the Vietnamese version of pizza looking pretty tasty. It had pork liver pate on one and eggs on the other. The best bit was seeing my Dad trying to sit down on one of the tiny Vietnamese plastic chairs…we thought he would never get up again!
Our next stop was to try famous ‘white rose’ dumplings. Mum and Dad liked them but the dumpling just got stuck in my mouth…and then came out again – oops!!

On the third stop I found my eating mojo. We were served little pots of baked rice cakes with pumpkin and shrimp sauce topped with fried noodles. The pumpkin and shrimp sauce was my favourite. The nice lady made me my own pot full which made me very excited!

I was told the next stop was just perfect for me. Xi Ma is a black sesame sweet soup with pennywort and Chinese medicine. I enjoyed it so much they gave me a takeaway for the following night. Mum and Dad made a right blooming mess feeding me though. 

It was nap time now. Although I think maybe Dad just didn’t want to share his ba phuong bread, apparently the best banh mi in Vietnam. The Vietnamese kept hold of the baguette from French colonial times and have made it their own adding various meats, greens and sauces. Delicious, apparently!

I woke up in the middle of the food market with Dad dripping noodle sauce on my head. Cao lau is a local pork and noodle dish. I liked the pork and the noodles but couldn’t have any of Mum’s because she had already added chilli sauce. 

The next stop was just for adults. Vietnamese coffee – super strong iced coffee served with condensed milk.

The finale of the night was dinner at a local lady’s house. It was fantastic as she had a big floor that I could crawl on, a toy stuffed turtle and bear for me to play with and a Buddhist shrine with lots of pretty lights for me to try and grab. Mum and Dad seemed happy too trying the local home brew and Dad was looking pretty bloated from too much food towards the end.

I think Vietnamese food is pretty tasty. I also like green papaya salad, but spring rolls are a bit crunchy for me just now. 
Thanks Lucy (tour guide) for giving me all the lovely food and for a brilliant afternoon! 

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…

Through our remaining time in Bali and onto Lombok happy times showered over us like the tropical storms – phew, as it was getting a bit hot at times for JJL. 

We’d made a detour South to Nusa Dua, searching for high speed internet access to enable Mum to do a little bit of work via video conference. You know you’re like a fish out of water in a hotel when you arrive and they say, “don’t you have any luggage?”.  Mum thought…”I agree he made me pack light”. Dad…”I’ve still got 2 unworn shirts, we could’ve packed less”.  Anyhow Baby Barrett was in for the treat of his life as we had been upgraded to a 2 bedroom apartment with a private pool! Let’s just say that BB wasn’t the only one to play fast and loose with his swimwear…

Work completed we sped over to Padangbai. We had in our minds a trip to Lombok and the fast boat departed from here. Plus it was a good place to go diving. We stayed at the Padangbai Beach Resort and commenced 72 hours of being treated beautifully by everyone at the hotel. 

We’ve mentioned before just how keen Balinese people are on babies. Well the people at this hotel were so lovely that we were able to go diving with our very own BB boat babysitter. Jantee (apologies here if Jantee is reading for the poor spelling) was doting on BB from the beginning and she was happy to assist. It meant that we got the chance to dive together for the first time since our honeymoon. Fun was had by all on the boat!

And so began the worst of times. BB got took down by Bali Belly – eek! He dealt with it like a trooper but it was a long 24 hours and we even departed Padangbai early to have a quick check in with a doctor in Kuta. All was well…for BB, but the same couldn’t be said for Mum and Dad. Each of us succumbed to the bug on subsequent nights. We write this tonight with spaghetti bolognese and French fries on order. We are still feeling a little delicate!

Somewhat amazingly despite this we made it over to Lombok but for a slightly shorter trip than had planned. Dad was a little disappointed not to have crossed the Wallace Line by boat in the footsteps of one of his heros, the Victorian naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, but our revised method of transport (flying) was best for all. Lombok is lovely. A cleaner, quieter version of it’s big brother. It was made sweeter by our unexpected room upgrade (we’re starting to expect such treatment). Thanks to Maya at Sunset Lavinia Hotel for being so lovely to us and making our visit to Lombok so special.

We made it out for a trip to Benang Stokel and Kelambu waterfalls  catching some great rice field views on route and cheekily using BB needing a nap as an excuse to avoid traditional weaving demonstrations 😴.

We have some good news for those who like to pack light…Dad. We have gifted the buggy to the sister of our current hotel owner. BB is quite happy being in the sling and it was nice to pass it on to a new home. 

Next stop – Vietnam. Mum went there with Sian a few years back. We’re hoping it lives up to the happy memories. We’re also hoping that there is room for some new clothes to make up for the buggy we have donated 😉. 

PS. Dad says the buggy was a separate piece of luggage so doesn’t count…how about some of that hair product, surely Mum doesn’t need that many bottles?

Our flight to Bali from Queensland wasn’t without drama. We arrived at the airport in the evening nice and early only to find out we’d been given the wrong flight times and check in was about to close. To make things worse the flight was overbooked so there were no seats remaining for us. We were facing an overnight stay in a Cairns airport hotel when our luck changed. The plane had a last minute fault so the airline had to swap to another aircraft which incidentally had more seats… space for us, yay!

After an uneventful flight and a night in a Denpasar airport hotel we headed inland to Ubud, the spiritual and artistic capital of Bali. Whatever!… The guest house had a pool directly outside our veranda so that’s all Baby Barrett cared about 😆

The next morning was an early visit to Monkey Forest Temple to avoid the heat of the day. The temple is in a dark atmospheric forest on the edge of town and the temple stone work is covered in damp moss and adorned with the hanging roots of banyan trees. Perfect for BB to play out his Indiana Jones fantasy… however some may doubt who wanted to be Indy (Dad?).

BB was born in the Chinese year of the monkey so Dad was super keen to show him his first monkey. That wasn’t difficult as there were monkeys hiding in every corner, some real and others not.


The afternoon was spent of course… splashing around in the guest house pool.

The next day was a visit out of town to another temple. This time in a steep hidden valley surrounded by lush rice paddies. A scene of tranquility deep in the valley away from the frantic beeping motorbike and lorry filled roads above. The serenity wasn’t even wasted on Mum and Dad who aren’t amongst the most spiritual people to have visited the temple!

That afternoon after more time in the pool BB decided that he needed a new outfit to fit his location – Bintang Yogi Pants Barrett?

Now by this time BB had settled in to Ubud and was schmoozing with the locals. The guest house owners who instantly fell under his blue eyed spell gave him a Balinese name… Wayan Bule Barrett (First born, light skin). He was also a hit with the local ladies. Every time Mum and Dad took him to a cafe or restaurant there was a queue of beauties wanting to whisk him away for cuddles. Also a result for Mum and Dad who got to eat in peace for a change.

Feeling suitably ‘spiritualised’ we left Ubud and headed south. Mum had to do a little bit of work and we needed to find a hotel with high speed internet access….and a pool of course. 

We were all excited to arrive in Queensland. Mum and Dad love to be in the tropics and Jungle Jim was excited about getting his first glimpse of rainforest. Plus he had some shorts with tree frogs on them which had been waiting for a debut. 

Disclaimer – Those of you less interested in the baby side of things should feel free to skip a paragraph… 

Travelling with BB is fun and we felt like we were managing quite well. But daytime naps were getting the better of us. We resorted to buying a book, which advised us that we needed a consistent routine and location for naps – not so easy when on the move. We focused a bit more in getting him asleep before being overtired and stayed in one hotel/apartment and as a result Queensland has been a happy location for us, though we often find ourselves lingering in air conditioned locations whilst the BB has some quality Zzzzzz time. As I write (in a darkened room) BB naps beside me. 

We based ourselves in Port Douglas. So far it is Mum’s favourite place. Loads of places to eat with great seafood, a pretty beach and lots of nice shops where we bought some new outfits for the ever growing BB and a brilliant hotel/apartment called Newport on Macrossan. Thanks to them for a great stay, we were very happy there. 

We went out for a day and dived the Great Barrier Reef. It was fab to dive again, the last time was on our honeymoon in the Maldives. Though it was strange to dive separately as we took it in turns with the bubba. Shout out to Dad for achieving the longest nap of our travels so far (BB not Dad!). 2hr 10 min of sling asleep action on deck whilst mum dived. Sweaty work!!  Rather disappointingly the diving was merely average. Nice coral and good conditions but there was no ‘great’ for us on the Barrier Reef this time.

The next day trip was Mossman Gorge. A lovely 2.6km walk through the rainforest where they have done a great job of making it accessible without over developing it. We refreshed afterwards with a dip in a big pool in the river which runs through the gorge. Mum was on camera duty but failed miserably because she got chased around by a horse fly biting her ass!! Comical to watch from the safety of the water .

We couldn’t leave Queensland without going salty (saltwater crocodile) spotting on the Daintree river and boy did we spot one. His name is Lumpy and he is about 5.5m long. At one point mum got up onto the front of the boat (without BB I might add) and Aussie Ray said ‘I wouldn’t stand up there, not with that being Lumpy’.  Needless to say she moved with some haste. 

A bonus of the trip was spotting a tree frog which Dad was really hoping to see…but not where you would expect… not in the undergrowth but amongst the packets of crisps for sale in the boat company’s shop!

The next day was north across the Daintree river (by car ferry) up to Cape Tribulation where Captain James Cook ran aground in the Endeavour in 1770. This was a nostalgia trip for Dad as he travelled there as a backpacker 16 years ago on his first round the world trip. Not quite as adventurous as Captain James Cook but it was far less developed than it is now… they have sealed roads, cafes and spas now!

Cape Tribulation is all about dense steaming jungle, mangroves and beautiful remote beaches. Whilst they truly are beautiful the beaches are deceptive and have an ominous side, the sea is an absolute no go thanks to stingers (box jellyfish), saltwater crocodiles and sharks. All of which are potentially deadly and even paddling is out of the question thanks to the stingers 😧. 

As you know BB had his 6 month anniversary whilst we were here. In a life void of milestone cards we celebrated by buying him some new togs to fit his rapidly growing long legs and offering him his first taste of ice cream, naughty!!

Bali’s next. We’re sad to leave Queensland but before we go “BB wouldn’t give a XXXX for anything else.”

…to be 6 months old and a world traveller?

What’s not to love? Our new apartment in Port Douglas has a swimming pool that is just the right temperature and I get to go swimming most days. Mum and Dad have taken to dunking me underwater. I don’t mind, the look on their faces is hilarious. My favourite game is swimming around the pool with Dad, I kick my feet and splash my arms, it’s brill!!

I was a bit annoyed though as we spent all day at sea the other day and didn’t get to go in the water at all. Apparently I am too young to scuba dive and they didn’t have a wet suit small enough. I did however get my sticky fingers on a slice of melon…and a biscuit, but mum stole that back again. 

Now we’re out of the campervan I have perfected my commando crawl. I love getting into trouble and grabbing anything I can get my hands on. I also love getting my hands on the buggy wheels, they look tasty. Mum and Dad don’t seem so keen on that, I’m not sure why?

I’ve also got a highchair in this new place. I really enjoy hanging out in it. I’m not so keen on mum and dad feeding me with a spoon, I’ve started refusing that. Instead I like to play messily and occasionally pop a little something in my mouth to keep them happy. 

It’s time to move on today, that makes me a bit sad. Mum and Dad have promised the new place has a pool and apparently I am going to be spiritually awakened in Ubud, Bali. I don’t really care as long as I can go swimming and don’t get dressed in tie-dye!!

The view from the window on our flight into the interior gave us a preview of things to come with seemingly endless vistas of red sand and rock. As Europeans it feels crazy that you can fly for 3 hours  across the same country and still only be half way across, let alone trying to comprehend the vast sparsely inhabited emptiness. 

As usual on the flight Baby Barrett charmed the cabin crew by providing liberal flashes of his big blue eyes. It only took one glance in her direction and it was love at first sight. Jamie’s gaze locked with BB’s during safety briefing and the romance began.

As was inevitable with such a whirlwind romance, hearts were broken when we landed and they had to go their separate ways 😒

We imagined Ayers Rock (Uluru) in person would be similar to seeing the Taj Mahal – bear with us here. Of course it is stunning and you have seen pictures of it again and again but in person it offers something much more. The Taj offered majestic beauty, calmness and a bit of sadness (not just because of that Princess Di photo 😉). 

Ayers Rock was majestic too but also glowing with a welcoming warmth. The colour of the rock was amazing and it changed as the sun moved lower in the sky. The sunset was just beautiful although only one of us can attest to this. The other two headed home for bed and bath…

The real surprise of the visit were the Olgas (Kata Tjuta). Huge boulder rocks with gorges running through them. We headed out at sunrise (all three this time)…a hideous 4:45am get up but it was worth it for the wonderful views

This was followed by a walk through the Valley of the Winds at 6:30am. The heat meant the early start was essential for BB but we didn’t complete the full 5km loop as we didn’t want him dehydrating. 

Nevertheless we paid in spades for the early get up. We had imagined a family nap later in the day to catch up on the lost sleep – oh how naive we are as BB had other ideas!!

A quick thanks for all the comments we have received on the blog. Seems likes Baby Barrett’s submission was a big hit so for those of you wondering how much fun the bubba is having, fear not, Ayers Rock resort had a swimming pool. 

Without thermal warmth we’d become accustomed to in NZ we weren’t sure if we would have fun, but we did. In fact BB had more fun than Mum; “I have to get in the pool, if my son can handle the temperate so can I… squeal!!!!”.

In general we could take or leave the Ayers Rock resort itself. The restaurants were pretty poor (of course we were too tight to spend money on the posh ones) so the highlight of our evenings there was watching ‘Eddie the Eagle’ one night in our appartmrnt and hoping that BB has crazy dreams of greatness of his own when he gets older. 

It got to the high 30s each day and as expected we sheltered indoors mainly from 10am – 4pm. So after a few days once we’d seen the sights it was time to move on.

The next stop was Queensland and the Barrier Reef. By now we’d found our routine for the flights so we’d buckled BB in and settled into the safety briefing as usual. Then we noticed that something down the isle was distracting BB… there she was again, Jamie, the romance was back on!

PS. Thanks Jamie for looking after the 3 of us so well on both flights 😊

PPS. Dear reader, Baby Barrett is 6 months old on November 9th. We’ll try to celebrate in style…watch this space.