Off to New Zealand and Cambodia

Almost packed -  things piled up on the bed to go into already full suitcases.  Probably forgotten several essentials!  We are heading for summer down under, but NZ can be cool with a southerly wind blowing straight from Antarctic.  We're leaving a very wet Italy - torrential rain with a gale blowing and you can't even see the sea.  For once, no regrets about leaving.

Have stripped the bed and scrubbed the floors and dusted the corners.  Odd how the prospect of another woman staying in your house motivates you into cleaning mode!  A friend, who is also a sculptor, is house-sitting for us and feeding our cats while we're away.  This is really good, because last year all the pipes froze during February when we were away for two weeks.  I've just been making lots and lots of lists and leaving pieces of paper around the house to let her know where everything is and how it works.

Now is the scary bit - leaving, turning the key in the lock, dragging the suitcases up from the olive grove to the car park and setting off (by train) for Milan.  From there we catch a flight to Dubai, then another to Bangkok, then somewhere else, and probably the Galapagos islands for good measure, since this is a ridiculously cheap flight.  We set off on Monday morning at 7.30am and get to Christchurch New Zealand at 3.30pm on Wednesday!  I'm really thrilled at the idea of seeing my daughter and her family again after two years, but a bit nervous at the prospect of having to give a lecture in Wellington.

I will be blogging with pics about all the places we go to.  On February 16th we're on our way back via Cambodia and I'm really looking forward to another visit there.  We won't have internet access on the islands we're going to, but I'll put up some pictures as soon as I'm back in cyberland again.

Now I've got to go and scrub the kitchen floor - will be so exhausted I'll sleep like a baby on the plane (fingers crossed!).