It made sense to spend a few days in Sydney before I boarded a cruise to remember from this great city.
My base was the Ibis on Darling Harbour where hundreds of people were competing in Dragon Boat racing. As I walked towards the Opera House I was surprised to see a large ship abandoned in a park. It was the Queen Mary 2 moored in the central cruise terminal.
To fully enjoy the atmosphere at the iconic Opera House take in a performance. Tickets start at around £30. Or pop up to the outside terrace bar with great views over the harbour.
Then it was time to board Fred Olsen's Braemar and join around 800 fellow passengers ready for an adventure. My first tour was to the Blue Mountains via a small zoo where I cuddled a Kuala. The mountains were beautiful with a blue haze created from the oil in the warm Eucalyptus trees. We took a cable car to the 'scenic railway' with its glass-roofed carriages it resembled a big dipper. According to the Guinness Book of Records it is the steepest railway in the world with a 128 per cent decline into the Jamison Valley. There were some scared passengers.
Setting sail under the magnificent Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Braemar headed for Brisbane. Here I boarded a river cruise to the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary. The Koalas were strictly monitored but you could walk freely among the tame kangaroos.
The ship called at Hamilton Island, in the Whitsundays in the Barrier Reef. I opted for a snorkelling tour with a two and a half hour boat ride to a diving platform on the coral reef. Putting on a stinger suit, which protects from jelly fish stings, was a challenge akin to getting a wet pair of tights pulled up across your body. I swam among big purple and yellow fish that were bashing into me as I got in their way. They boasted so many beautiful colours, shapes and sizes. Then I saw an enormous fat one which had a shark-like fin and decided it was time to get out. I don't think it was a shark but I gave it a wide berth as it didn't look very friendly.
In Darwin I took a boat trip and saw crocodiles jumping out of the river to grab meat being dangled overboard. It was a bit touristy.
We called at Komodo Island in Indonesia. The area was very picturesque, a combination of rusty-red volcanic hills, savannah and forests encircled by calm, glistening seas. The island is known for its three metre long monitor lizard dragons - there are 4000 of them and they are not friendly. One headed towards us with its long tongue whipping out, slobbering its poisonous venom. We jumped into the bushes out of its way.
A brief visit to Singapore preceded my final destination Kuala Lumpur. I stayed at the Le Meridian on the 25th floor offering amazing views. A two day visitor ticket gave me easy access to public transport including the train to the airport.
At the base of the famous Petronas Twin Towers (the tallest twin structure in the world) is a massive shopping centre with the usual empty designer shops – the same as Hong Kong and Singapore. The twin towers are 88 storeys high and a workplace for 10,000 people who work for Petronas petrol company. I took an elevator up to the double decker Sky Bridge on level 41, which is 175 metres above street level, and then the viewing platform on level 83.
This was a trip of contrasts from the steepest railway in the world, to the highest twin towers in the world, to a tiny island where I imagined I was on a filmset of Jurassic Park.