The adventure begins at Swiss Cottage

Heathrow marks the halfway point
Garry and I finally reached the damp and chilly shores of England on December 13, 2005. More than two months earlier, we'd flown out of Sydney, Australia on October 8, ready to start a new life in London. I'm relocating with my company, while Garry has bravely agreed to come along for the adventure. Our arrival marked the end of an incredible 2.5-month sabbatical, traveling through New Zealand, North and South America, and the Middle East.

Our trip was made using a really handy OneWorld Global Explorer round-the-world ticket. We'll complete the journey in April when we plan to fly back to Sydney via Japan and Hong Kong. With luck, Japan will be in the midst of cherry blossom season, making for some truly postcard moments.

The first half of our sojourn took us to the USA, Canada, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, and Jordan. So many sights, so many memories. After a while, it all became too much to absorb. I'm sure we'll spend months indexing more than 5000 photos captured on the road.

I've shared more about our adventures in the first couple of dozen posts of this blog. If you start from the post titled Two decades of American Memories and read it down you'll get the full story on our world tour so far. The photo below gives you a taste of the many sights we experienced. This image was shot in Toronto.


Storage salvation courtesy of IKEA
I can't believe how time is flying by. It's hard to believe that we've already been in England for almost two months. I'm sure it was only a week since we were floating in the salty brine of the Dead Sea. Life has truly been a blur since we touched down at Heathrow. I've started work, we've opened UK bank accounts and permanent living arrangements have rapidly fallen into place.

Last week Garry and I finally moved into a three-bedroom flat located in the leafy suburb of Swiss Cottage. This literally involved packing the contents of a 40-foot moving container into a small three-bedroom English flat. English homes really are smaller on average than most in Europe (or at least that's what the Economist magazine tells me).

Needless to say, additional storage was required. Thank goodness for IKEA. We've emptied our wallets into its hallowed Swedish halls, bringing home shelves, cupboards, sideboards and all manner of items. These now hide a lifetime of accumulated junk.

On the ground, elsewhere
If all of this wasn't enough to stress me out, I had to fly to New York the day after we moved house. I was asked at short notice to help our US leadership team with a series of planning workshops. In the meantime, Garry had transformed the flat into a real home. Everything finally seems to have its place and our Australian furnishing looks like they were made for the flat. I arrived back in London last Saturday but then had to fly to Milan on Sunday to meet with my Italian team for the first time. I finally got back to London on Feb 1.

Since arriving I've also made trips to our offices in Munich and Paris. Five countries in as many weeks - this must be Europe! I have no more business travel now until Feb 16. I'll be off to Madrid for the first time. Garry is coming with me. We'll be staying the weekend as a belated Valentine's Day treat.

Jude Law's kinda place
Our flat covers the top two floors of a lovely red-brick mansionette. Swiss Cottage is relatively central, just north of Paddington Station (easy access to Heathrow for me thanks to the 15-minute Paddington Express), with good tube access to my office or the finance district for Garry. We have two movie theatres, three Live Theatres, and a gym within ten minute's walk of the flat. There are also plenty of great restaurants and exotic shops in the immediate area, plus Primrose Hill and Regents Park are only ten minute's walk south. All in all a great find in a great location.

I've been told Jude Law lives in the area. I've yet to see any sign of him, other than perhaps the turds his dog has left behind. Unlike Sydney, dog owners in London appear disinclined to clean up after their pets. Garry now spends his time feverishly scanning the pavement for wayward piles.

Exploring the neighbourhood
Aside from house hunting, we've also been busy catching up with UK friends and taking in plenty of live theatre. We've seen a witty comedy, a rock musical, and a traditional pantomime in our first month. As part of our RTW ticket, we fitted in a five-day trip to my brother's house in the Austrian alps at Christmas.

I stuffed up my knee the day before we flew to Austria. As a result, I never got a chance to test my ski legs. Garry did get in one afternoon of skiing and we all managed a session of night-time tobogganing on the last day in Austria. All in all the time with family was heaps of fun for all and a wonderful white Christmas (we had two feet of snow on the ground).

Life in the Dead Sea

The final day of our organised tour was spent visiting the Roman ruins in nearby Jerash, before heading off for a refreshing swim in the Dead Sea. Jerash was another awe-inspiring archaeological site. This city and its surrounding area have been inhabited since the Bronze Age. These days, on the edge of the modern city, you’ll find the remains of the Roman settlement of Gerasa. They're some of the world’s largest and best-preserved Roman ruins outside of Italy.

During its prime, historians estimate that Jerash had a population of 20,000. However, the city fell into decline during the 3rd century. It suffered several brutal invasions, first by the Persians and then by the Muslims. It was also devastated by multiple earthquakes, including a major quake in AD749 and a second two years later. The city was eventually abandoned.

Since 1925, the ruins have been progressively excavated and extensively studied. Today they’re a popular tourist attraction second only to Petra. We spent several hours exploring ancient Jersah from one end to the other. Sights that captivated us included the magnificent triumphal arch erected to commemorate a visit by Emperor Hadrian, rows of Corinthian columns in the Temple of Artemis, and an enormous oval Forum encircled by marble columns. It’s hard to comprehend that these ruins are considered relatively modern when compared with those in neighbouring Egypt.

The Dead Sea is quite something. The concentration of salt is such that you literally float on the surface of the water rather than sink into its depths. The sensation is unbelievable...and the salty brine eats at every nick and cut on your skin.

The salt crystals that precipitate on the shore are just as unreal. They form enormous rocks with deadly sharp edges that are surprisingly heavy. You can see me examining a relatively small crystal rock below. Trust me, it's not something you'd want to tread on while swimming.

Our last day in Jordan was spent wandering the city of Amman. The city is home to more than two million people and spreads itself across a series of ravines, or wadis, and hills referred to locally as citadels. We spent time exploring some of its Roman ruins. This included the Roman Theatre, a restored 6,000-seat amphitheatre; the forlorn Temple of Hercules standing guard on a nearby hilltop; and the temple's neighbour, the dome-capped Umayyad Palace, a largely ruined Islamic complex.

I was surprised to learn that despite these ruins, Amman is a relatively modern city. Over the centuries it has been abandoned and resettled several times. In more recent times, it was a relatively modest village until the Ottoman Empire began construction of the Hejaz Railway linking Damascus to Medina. The railway transformed the city almost overnight from a sleepy town of less than ten thousand to the sprawling metropolis it is today.

As we sat in the Roman Theatre, on our final evening in the Middle East, we reflected on two months of non-stop travel across three continents. We'd ticked so many things off our bucket list and experienced so much more than we could have imagined. I doubt we’ll ever do anything quite like it again. On December 13, Garry and I flew out of Amman ready to begin our new life in London.

UPDATE

Here's a little more about our time in the Middle East. One of our tour friends sent me some of her favourite photos.

The promised land

After visiting Petra we travelled up the King's Way, visiting Kerak Castle and the incredible floor mosaics of Madaba. Kerak Castle was our first stop of the day. As you approach Kerak, you're greeted by the striking silhouette of its Crusader castle towering over the surrounding Wadi Mujib Valley.

The castle was first built during the Crusader era in 1142 by Pagan the Butler, a Crusader lord from France. It was initially constructed as a small fortification to protect the area from Muslim forces. Over time, it grew into a much larger structure with multiple towers and walls designed to protect the city from attack.

Our group spent more than an hour exploring its numerous crumbling ramparts and dark maze of stone-vaulted halls and passageways. Hopefully, the images below give you a feel for the scale of this massive structure. I pulled the final image from the internet as all of the summit profiles I took from the bus were motion blurred.

Madaba proved to be an unexpected highlight. Its claim to fame is a series of stunning floor mosaics preserved throughout the town. The most famous of these is on the floor of St George's Chapel, an early Byzantine church sitting in the middle of town. 

The chapel floor includes a mosaic map of the Holy Lands, with a particular focus on Jerusalem. The Madaba Map as it's known, is the world's oldest known geographic floor mosaic. The first image below shows the Nile River delta. In the middle image, Jerusalem is represented by the oval section in the lower right, while the Dead Sea sits in the top right with the River Jordan flowing into it (Unfortunately, the sea is out of focus.).

Our group was given a rather brief, and all too hasty, tour of the main chapel before going for lunch. However, I was determined to see more of Madaba's mosaics. I decided to skip lunch and walked to a nearby museum called, oddly enough, the Archeological Park. The detour was well worth it.

The museum displays mosaics from a 6th-Century Byzantine villa that once stood in the same location, along with mosaics recovered from other sites around town. There was hardly anyone there when I walked in the door. A departing visitor recommended tipping the curator for an extra excursion. I followed their advice. After a little baksheesh exchanged hands, the friendly man took me on a personal tour of the site, including a close-up view of several impressive mosaics behind locked gates.

We finished our long day of travel with a stop at Mount Nebo. Here you can see the Dead Sea shimmering in the distance with the Jordan Valley disappearing out into a dusty haze. It's a surreal experience to stand where Moses stood surveying the same vista he saw 3000 years ago.

Mount Nebo is the place where Moses was granted a view of the Promised Land by the Lord before his death. Hence, as you'd expect, the ridge is crowned by an old chapel and a rather sculptural metallic cross. The chapel, while relatively modest, contained another series of impressive floor mosaics. 

I was surprised to see how many African animals were depicted. The menagerie included ostriches, antelopes, zebras, and other exotic creatures. It was another reminder of how Palestine has long been at the crossroads of human history

Follow this link as we take a dip in the Dead Sea.

One heck of a rock carving

From Wadi Rum we drove through the evening toward Petra. I've wanted to come here my entire life. We took the opportunity on our first night to visit the famous Treasury building by candlelight. The narrow Siq valley that you must first walk through is something I will never forget. This ravine is less than two metres wide in places and winds its way to Petra proper for more than 800 metres.

Petra is everything you imagine it to be and more. It truly is a place worth visiting at least once in your life. We spent a full day touring the ruins, visiting all of the major sights including the Monastery, the Royal Tombs, and the High Altar that affords a spectacular view of the ancient rock-carved city below.

According to archeologists the area around Petra has been inhabited for more than 9000 years. However, it was about two thousand years ago that things really kicked up a notch. The Nabataeans settled here and transformed the desert valley and surrounding area into an urban hub which at its peak was home to more than 20,000 people.

Most of its world-renowned rock-cut buildings date from the First Century AD. The most iconic of them all is undoubtedly the Treasury. Carved directly into the face of the rock, this structure spans 24 metres and towers 37 meters above the sandy desert floor.  There simply aren't words to describe how extraordinary this building is. Needless to say, I took countless photographs.

While remaining in remarkably preserved condition, the face of the Treasury is marked by hundreds of bullet holes made by the local Bedouin tribes. Apparently, they've spent time shooting at it hoping to dislodge riches once rumoured to be hidden within it.

A little farther from the Treasury, at the foot of the mountain called en-Nejr, is a massive Roman theatre. Hewn from solid rock, it's positioned with an orientation that brings many of the city's impressive tombs into view. This is also the point where the valley opens out into a small plain revealing the city's ancient ruins. 

Our guide explained that most of the rock-carved structures in Petra are actually tombs. The most notable of these is the aptly named Mortuary, also known as Ad Deir.  This massive structure sits astride a small rocky plateau high above the valley floor. It's reached by a rocky, winding staircase carved from the rock face. 

Garry climbed up to the Mortuary on foot. For a laugh, I hired a donkey from one of the local kids. I swear it was a scientific endeavour. I didn't believe a donkey could climb such a jumble of rocky stairs. Garry considered the poor animal to be overloaded. Personally, I think it simply lived up to its nickname as a beast of burden.

The Mortuary looks like a mirror copy of the Treasury.  However, it's a little wider and incorporates a few additional carved pillars on either side of the central structure. We were lucky enough to have the entire clifftop to ourselves for almost the entire time we were there.

Likewise, I got to enjoy the Urn Tombs largely to myself. This is a dramatic series of terraced platforms and arched columns precariously carved from the valley wall. To reach the highest terrace you have to climb several steep rock stairways, none of which come with handle rails or barrier walls. Understandably, Garry gave it a miss.

The Urn Tombs are part of a collection of tombs known as the Royal Tombs of Petra. These tombs span an entire rockface of the valley making for one of the more dramatic landscapes in the Petra valley.  They also command a superb view across the valley floor, a perfect way to conclude our time in Petra. 

Read on as we follow Moses (and a bunch of marauding Crusaders) towards the promised land.

2023 NOTE

As I've noted in earlier posts, my camera suffered a serious knock while in Alexandria. This badly affected its focal range. As a result, most of the images captured in Jordan ended up rather blurry. Almost two decades on, technology has come to the rescue. I've used an AI program to partially unblur many of the images shown here. 

While the technology isn't perfect, it's dramatically improved the quality and clarity of many images taken during our week in Jordon. No doubt I'll revisit them again in future years as AI software continues to improve.