Kuala Lumpur. December 6-9, 2013.

December 6

Back in KL for 3 nights. Still love the place :)

Sterlin in good company with Range Rovers front and back.

December 7

Last time while driving in we kinda got 'lost' for a while... one wrong highway exit was all it took to get turned around in KL's one-way system for a while.

But, I (Caroline) did remember driving in an area that I wouldn't have minded seeing some more of, and today that's exactly where we went. Bangsar Village. That is also the name of the dual shopping malls there (which are always nice for some A/C and toilets), but it was the streets around it that I wanted to stroll on for a bit. Lots of little boutique style shops and eateries and almost 'Balmain' (1) style houses. No high rises for a few blocks in each direction; rather quaint looking - at least to me and in comparison.

They also had a car dealer selling Minis. So we popped in for a brief chat.

Driverless underground trains.

Graffiti Art in the Streets

Mini advertising

(1) Balmain is the suburb we lived in in Sydney, Australia.

December 8

Today being Sunday was a good day to be a tourist. And it was not raining which helped. First stop was the Butterfly Park, which surprisingly was quite good. Not only were there live butteries flying around but there were fixed displays of all manner of bugs and insects. After the butterflies we headed for the Bird Park. Apparently the largest open air aviary in the World! The Bird Park had more of a zoo-like feel to it with many more cages than hoped. But still a very good visit.

Caroline found a friend

We also inspected the tent for signs of mold. We were worried all the rain and humidity would have caused some damage to our tent. In the loading bay of the hotel we opened the tent to a small audience.Good news, no signs of mold.

No signs of mold on the tent.

December 9

Stephen was invited to present about Everest to a group of kids learning english.

Everest Presentation

Sydney, September 1-??, 2013

Monday, September 2nd

Arrived in Sydney last night! Yay! Back on track, albeit a bit later than planned, but hey.

We are staying with our friends Fiona and Phil and will be in town for however long it takes to clear Sterlin through customs. To get the process started we visited the offices of Freightnet International this morning to drop off the 'carnet de passage' for the car and fill in the necessary paperwork. We've been dealing with Maria, who has been very helpful. This whole process with customs can take anything from 5 to 10 days.

For lunch Fiona took us to Nielsen Park, which has a lovely small beach and cafe. We bought some maps to keep us on the right roads and tracks for our Australian Outback adventure.

Nielsen Park Beach, Sydney.

In the afternoon we headed to the State Library of NSW for a little research on a trip to Mt Bevin in Antarctica.  We watched a video of some crazy Australians who made a successful, albeit convoluted ascent of Mt Minto some 25 years ago.  The video did however provide good insight to conditions in the region.

Researching Antarctica at the State Library of NSW.

Recently purchased maps of Outback Australia.

Update on Sterlin

Talk about being frustrated.  But at long last Sterlin has left Los Angeles, some 62 days after he was dropped off.  In the end we had to switch to an exclusive 20 foot container to get things moving.  Shipping company has been a disaster.

Sterlin is now somewhere in Mexico on a little boat (Maersk Wolfsburg) making its way to Balboa, where it will transfer to another slightly bigger boat (Bahia Negra) and then head to Auckland and then Sydney.  It is now due into Sydney on 8/31, some 46 days after the original 7/16 date.

This has caused us to rethink our plans to kill the extra time.  So now, we head to New Zealand to catch up with friends and family and do a little sight-seeing.

Although this has been a frustrating process, at least Sterlin is now on his way.