The Muse has completed her packing - most economically as it happens and we're on our way. Travelling is always tedious - almost as tedious as looking at other people's blogs, but the places to which our travels take us provide at least some compensation for the hours in planes, trains and automobiles and this trip will provide some amazing new sights and experiences and new ways of consuming huge sums of cash.

We are most looking forward to seeing Hawaii's volcanos, the fiords and mountains of New Zealand and Australia's Red Desert, but who knows what surprises this trip will hold.

The first leg of the trip - home to the airport - looks as though it will not disappoint. An ambulance rushes past presumably heralding an accident ahead. Oh well, we didn't really want to get there early. Is this a traffic jam I see before me?

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