Jess and Jared took us to the TreeTop Adventure Park, about an 75 minutes out of Sydney. The Park has high ropes courses, graded from Yellow to Black, much like the difficulty grades for ski runs.

We started at Green (the first ‘easy’ adult course) and aimed to get to black.

Blue was okay with a bit of wobbling, a bit of effort.

Red started getting quite hard. At one part of the course, I grabbed a rope and swung Tarzan-style from tree to tree. At the arrival end, I had to let go of the rope and throw myself at a rope net. It was hard, pulling myself up the net to the next platform. The net kept moving because it was not anchored at the bottom. Damjan had to coax me up, every net square of the way.

At the end of the red course, Jess said to us, ‘I just spoke to the man ahead of us. He’s done the black one before and he says he finds it quite hard.’

This is true. I think the black TreeTop Adventure course was the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life.

At the beginning, I almost made it over a long flying fox but I landed just a bit too slowly and didn’t get onto the platform. Instead, I zoomed backwards to the centre of the rope. Using my arms, I had to pull myself backwards toward the platform.

As I came to the next challenge, Jess yelled out to warn us that the moving platform here would slide back as soon as I let go of it at the other end, so I would have to leap onto the other tree as quickly as I could.

By this time, I had no strength left in my arms. A few times, I couldn’t keep the platform beneath me and it slid away behind me as I clung to wire ropes. As I inched close to the end, Damjan grabbed me and dragged me to safety. I burst into tears and thought very seriously about calling for management help to get me down from the trees NOW.

Forging onwards, there were unstable ladders to climb up, swinging footholds, monkey bars… For one challenge, there was a wooden plank suspended between two trees. We worked out that we had to use it as a ‘half bridge’. We inched over it to the centre, then used our feet to swing (like surfing) the half bridge over to the other tree to complete the crossing.

The man doing the course behind me walked the plank to the centre of the gap before the plank slipped off the first tree. He hung in mid-air, the plank dangling beside him.

‘Is this supposed to happen?’ he called plaintively. ‘What do I do now?’

With no options, he dragged himself to the other side using the guide rope.

I kept thinking the course was almost over but it was obstacle after obstacle.

At the end of it all, I was so relieved. I think I accomplished something but… all I think about, really, is how bloody hard it was.

I saw this at the Sydney Botanic Gardens.

Possum collar around a tree

Some tourists came up beside me and talked puzzedly amongst themselves. They eventually figured out it was a collar to prevent possums from climbing up the tree.

World Metro Map by Mark Ovenden

Thanks to big think.

Last month, I had a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Singapore.

I’m sure I’ll go back to Singapore again but not in the same circumstances. You see, last month, six families converged onto Singapore from Indonesia, Taiwan, Australia and England. It was a reunion of my father, his brothers and sister and their families.

We departed from Singapore on a 14-storey cruise ship, going to Penang and Phuket. It was my first time on a cruise. I admit that I felt a bit trapped, despite the theatre, amusement centre, bar, club, bar, disco, eight restaurants, library, swimming pool, gym, spa, hairdresser, basketball court, driving range, putting course, table tennis area, giant chess boards, karaoke rooms, casino, movie theatre, two souvenir shops, ice cream parlour and sports pub.

However, I was soon satiated by food. Early breakfast at 6am, proper breakfast at 8am, morning tea at 10am, lunch at 12pm, afternoon tea at 4pm, dinner at 6pm, midnight snack at, well, midnight.

I gained a kilogram and an inch around the waist. It was totally worth it.

This is the first thing we saw on entering the ship. It's the atrium of the Star Cruises Virgo. It looks like Vegas but I was actually impressed with the quality of the finishes. No decor shortcuts here.

This is one of two swimming areas on the Star Cruises Virgo. Check out the huge water slide, which needs to be closed off when windy.

Look how excited I am! Cold treats at Penang. Mmm, chendol...

Oh my gawd, ice kacang. Me want it now. With green tea ice cream.

At our Thailand stopover, we took a boat to James Bond Island. The island has a real name but it's been called James Bond Island ever since Hollywood came.

Poor smelly spiky durians. Discrimination is universal. This sign was at our hotel.

Here I am, on the luge at Sentosa Island. It's one of the craziest things I've done in my life (and I actually have the brakes on slightly).

There goes that madwoman, Joan.

Joel and I spent the long Easter weekend in and around Snowdonia National Park in Wales. We climbed the icy Mt Snowdon, ate three course meals every day, drank mead and watched medieval sword fighting.

Castles were on the agenda, Wales being the ‘land of the castles’ with 400 within its borders. The most magnificent one we visited was Conwy Castle.

From a tower of Conwy Castle, Wales

Joel is a keen rock climber. I could tell he was itching to scale the castle walls. He was always examining the stonework and looking up to plan his route.

The rocks call out to Joel.

He tests his footing...

...and begins his ascent.

For a moment he hangs.

Then he pulls himself up.

Smile for the camera, Joel.

Look how far you've come!

Time to come back down, Joel.

Oops! It's really time to come back down now.

Back in Australia, I enjoyed three weeks of sunshine and beach. Only when I came back to London did I realise how quickly I had tanned. Once I had put on my foundation for my first day at work, I looked in the mirror to see a white face attached to a brown neck!

Just kidding, it wasn’t that extreme. In certain light, though, the difference in skin colour was noticeable.

Joan at the beach

Last weekend, I went to Dublin with Damjan and a friendly group of volleyball players.

After all the formalities of the volleyball were done, we went out on the town to celebrate. I had a bit of Guinness, a bit of Baileys. In short, it was a good time.

It was 1 AM and we were walking back to our hostel when something strange happened. A man came at Damjan and barked, ‘Stab!’, jabbing a cigarette towards Damjan’s face.

The stranger continued passed us. When I shook off my surprise, I realised he was too far away to be reprimanded.

So I whipped my hands out of my pockets, made pistols out of them and shouted, ‘Pow! Pow! Bangbangbangbangbangbang!’

The stabber turned around, looking confused.

Fancy that. As if I were the freak.

Here I am in Dublin. Like my new glasses?

On the last day of our seaside ‘mini-break’, we visited the town of Marazion for fish and chips.

Marazion has something that I consider rare in the UK: a real sandy beach.

These kids were riding on a stream that emptied in the ocean. I was bit concerned. There was a distinct smell of sewage about that stream. Either the stream was fed by geologically active groundwaters (doubtful) or it was carrying the outflow of some kind of water treatment plant (more likely).

There must have once been volcanic activity in the area, though. There was slate and granite everywhere.

Besides fish and chips, the other reason we came to Marazion was to see St Michael’s Mount. The Mount is its own parish with residents. The population peaked at 300 in the 1800s. Its castle is the official residence of Lord St Levan. He doesn’t live there anymore but his nephew supposedly does.

When we arrived at the beach, we saw people being ferried to and from the island on small motorised boats.

Some, though, came in on their own paddle power.

Around half an hour after we arrived, I spotted someone in the water, seemingly wading towards St Michael’s Mount!

It turns out that there is a man made causeway to the Mount, which can be crossed at mid to low tide.

Soon there was a highway of foot traffic between Marazion and the Mount.

Winter is here, my ankles can feel it. To escape, I’ve been going through my photos from a summer weekend near Penzance in Cornwall. Yes, that’s Penzance of Pirates fame.

There were all kinds of fun names associated with our mini-break. We stayed at in a village called Lizard and visited Land’s End.

Our weekend home was Nanceglos House, which is a National Trust cottage. It was the old laundry serving Trengwainton House (home to rich folk).

Cottage implies a small and quaint farm house. Well, Nanceglos House sleeps nine people so I wouldn’t call it small!

It had its own well, which I’m guessing was very important for a laundry in the 18th century.

This beautiful living room was once the main laundry area. I wonder what it was like? Were there great vats of hot water and clothes? Were the workers constantly enveloped by steam?

It was a very tall space with wooden roof beams.

I love country kitchens! They make me want to cook (and eat). Damjan made a metre long pizza with onion confit. My mouth is watering just thinking of it.

Here are photos from the town of Penzance.

This is Jubilee Pool, safely buffered from the ocean.

The eateries reflect the seaside location.

We went on to a fishing village Mousehole (pronounced ‘Mowzel’), hoping for fish and chips. In the end, we saved our weekend fish-and-chip quota for the next day.

The Mousehole harbour was clearly an attractive swimming spot for kids. The massive wooden gates at the head of the harbour were almost closed so the water was very calm.

These kids were watching the others swimming. If you look carefully, you can see a wire cross on the rocky island to the left. At Christmas time, Cornwall residents and visitors converge on Mousehole to see its Christmas lights. Maybe that cross is part of the annual illuminations.

When I was at Mount E’mei in my visit to China in September, I was drawn to the locks attached to the railings.

Lovers come to Mount E’mei, place a lock on the a chain (or another lock, as all chain links are now well and truly colonised).

They then throw the key off the side of the mountain.

There really are thousands and thousands of locks. They climbed with us up the steps to the top of the mountain.

My love is made eternal with extra top security.

I thought the locks were beautiful.