Day One: Ofty to Ooty......

It is so simple to say we are 'home safe an sound' but if you had been with us the last 4 days, you would realise what a major achievement that is!!! The last 4 days have been just awesome - and I use that overused word lightly....This may be another ones of those slightly longer blogs as we have lots to tell you so hang on to your hats, grab a strong coffee and read on.....

Our adventure started on the way to Ooty. It takes about 8 hours to get there (by coach) and we had a night bus. The trip was reasonably uneventful until we got to the hills of Ooty and had a puncture - something that is quite normal out here) and the driver spent half an hour fixing it! No AA out here!!

The man who collects the money on the coach shimmies under the coach and balances a tiny jack on the frame and up the coach goes - with all the people still in and with the coach starting to wobble!

We arrived at our Hotel: "The Gem" - a really nice Holiday Inn hotel with THE most stunning views you (well we anyway) have ever seen. To give you a taster, the picture on the right is of the view that we woke up to from our beds!!! The head is Esme lying on her bed in the morning looking at the view. Amazing place! This was so what we needed to just chill for a few days.

The climate at Ooty is much like an English summer too. So cooler in the evenings and not so hot in the daytime - a welcome break from Bangalore's soaring temperatures....

Ooty is called the "Queen of hill stations" and the capital of Nilgiris district. It is one of the most popular tourist resorts in India. It is 2,240 meters above sea level so the air is thin and really clean - another welcome break from Bangalore.

This was our first day on the way to Ooty. I'll do the posts as per the day they happened so you don't get stuck on a day!