2019 in review

After a few quieter years, 2019 saw us strike out for some new destinations and experiences.

January

Our first trip to Scandinavia and the Nordic countries as we flew to Denmark, Sweden and Finland via Osaka on Jetstar and Finnair. We were very impressed with Finnair and their A350-900, our first time on the aircraft. In Denmark we explored Copenhagen by leg and visited the amazing Lego House. Unfortunately, the Cabinn accommodation wasn't so pleasant, so we left early for Sweden, where we enjoyed Malmo, before taking the train up to Stockholm. Along the way we stopped by the Ikea Museum.

In Stockholm we walked the Gamla Stan and visited the Vasa, ABBA and Tekniska Museums, each with their own charms. Then we caught the overnight ship to Helsinki in Finland, my first experience of a cruise. From Helsinki we travelled up by train to Rovaniemi on the Arctic Circle and were chilled and thrilled on a dog sled and other activities at the Santa Village. Then back down on the overnight train to Helsinki where Alex enjoyed sledding.

We flew back to spend a few days in Osaka on the return, cycling and speedboating in Amano-Hashidate, Himeji Castle and getting snowed on at the Kyoto Railway Museum.

April

No more travel until the school holidays and feeling the financial pinch of the Scandinavian trip we decided on a cheap drive up to the Gold Coast. I never want to head north on Good Friday again with the terrible traffic jams. However, Coffs Harbour was fun, Byron Bay partying and the Gold Coast relaxing. Port Macquarie, on the drive back, was also quite pretty and the fish tacos were so nice. It was the most driving I've ever done myself.

July

B's desire to eat durian lead to us booking flights to Singapore. We road along the East Coast on bikes, then crossed over into Malaysia for a stay on the Desaru Coast. There wasn't much to do there, but we found plenty to eat back in Johor Bahru, before heading back into Singapore to admire the amazing Changi Jewel.

October

The October school holidays only featured a short stay in nearby Canberra, visiting the Mint, the Dreamworks Exhibition at the National Museum of Australia and walk around Floriade. I also took a ride along the entire length of the new light rail system!

November

More driving! Instead of flying down to Melbourne to watch Return of the Jedi in Concert, I drove by myself. Down one day, back the next. All by myself.

December

Just a couple of day trips to end the travelling year, a ferry ride up the Parramatta River and a first and last trip along the Carlingford Line before it closes for conversion into light rail. It was a quiet end to a year that began with a bang.

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The little Jedi of Kinosaki Onsen

A long time ago in a land far, far away. That's what it felt like as we walked the streets of Kinosaki Onsen dressed in our yukatas, the clop-clop of wooden getas sounding in the air. In his robes Alex looked the spitting image of a young Jedi padawan, all that was missing was the lightsaber. Incidently, Padawan is a district of Kuching in Malaysia. The town was so far back in time that my 4G router couldn't get a signal, hence the lack of an update. Plus I was feeling a little under the weather. There can be few better places to rest than Kinosaki Onsen. We dragged our luggage on the Midosuji subway to Umeda, then barely caught the Ltd Exp Hamakaze in time. An older Japanese train it lacked a food service or vending machines, leading to big issues. Alex was hungry for breakfast. B and I had eaten slices of Kobe cheesecake for breakfast, but Alex didn't like it. As we raced past the huge Akashi bridge Alex was pleading for food and drink. The kind ...

Springs, castles and the end of the line

I am never happy to stop before the end of the line. It irritates me to know that there is still somewhere unexplored lying ahead. So when I only got as far as Gujo Hachiman on the Nagaragawa Railway last year I knew I needed to return for more. Especially as this private third sector railway is, by its very nature, always at threat of closure due to low patronage. But did Gujo Hachiman deserve another visit? Sure it's a nice enough town, but had we missed out on enough last time to return? Mum's trip provided the excuse. I originally planned the Oito line, which wI'll be partly closed when the Shinkansen line is extended to Kanazawa. However, when I thought of special places in Japan that deserved to be shared Gujo Hachiman was at the top of the list. Before we could go anywhere Mum needed her coffee. There was a Tully's Coffee opposite the hotel entrance, so I parked her there while I booked our seat reservations. Mum got her fast train ride on a ...

The Carlingford Line

We close the year and the decade with a local adventure to mark the closure of a railway line. On the January 5, 2020, the Carlingford Line from Clyde will close to be partially replaced by the Parramatta Light Rail. This is Sydney's quietest line, a single track branch for most of its length from the industrial centre of Clyde to the northwestern suburb of Carlingford. According to Wikipedia, power supply and signalling issues mean that only a single four car train can utilise the line at a time. Newer Sydney trains run in fixed eight car configurations. This will be the first and last time I traverse the Carlingford Line in its current configuration. The weather of the day is certainly appropriate for an ending, the brown smoke haze lending an apocalyptic air to proceedings. I drive to Padstow and catch the T8 line to Central, followed by the T1 towards Parramatta and Penrith. The historic homes of the Inner West give way to industrial complexes, rail storage yards and t...

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