Epona

I am booked to go snorkelling with the dolphins and this is a 5am early start, it’s is a 25 min walk from where we are staying, in the dark to the dolphin centre. James is picking us up at 9.30 am to start our long full day travel to Abel Tasman. We receive our briefing, wetsuits, hoods, snorkelling gear & flippers and are transferred to the boat by bus, a short hop. There is a choice to swim with or watch “The Dusky Dolphins” on this tour. It says on the briefing that you need to have a good level of water confidence, and this is really just to do with launching yourself off the back of the boat each time the horn is sounded, there is little to no chance of sinking in these wetsuits, they are so bouyant. The snorkels are of an excellent quality and I managed not to choke for the duration of this experience which was a big win for me. Broadly, the interaction with the Dolphin’s is dependant on what mood they are in and we are asked not to try to touch them and to sing to them, swim in circles with them if we get the opportunity, plus dolphins like to eye ball you! I cannot begin to tell you how much I would love to be upload Fio’s go-pro video with sound as it is utterly hilarious, strangled cat/howling wolf comes to mind lol, HOWEVER, the dolphins clearly liked it, in fact, one “young couple” had some “jiggie” time listening to her to her dulcet tones as they past her! We had around 3-3.5 hours out on the water, in and out of the boat and it was such a lovely experience. The sea was pretty calm, however, despite taking ginger a few people felt a bit seasick, luckily, I am not one of them. I did loose part of one of my fillings unfortunately, luckily I am not in pain or that would have been a polava out here!

James picks us up at 9.30 am and off we go again!

So, ten points for who can guess what we are doing for lunch today and why I am smiling? I will give you some clues avid readers……we travel through the Marlborough region! The sea water is pink here and in this area is associated with Lake Grassmere Saltworks. The pink to purple hue of the salt water ponds is a natural occurrence caused by microscopic green algae that change to a pinkish/red pigment in high salt concentrations, this process is intensified in the summer months.

This area is not suitable for dairy cows for those that are interested, I will let you work out the why, I thought it was pretty obvious! It has the maximum sunlight exposure in NZ. We are booked at Whitehaven Winery for lunch – who got it right? I don’t feel hungry as I had eaten something at our first stop this morning, however, I am thirsty and I most definitely will not be spitting!

The weather has been so much colder and wetter since we arrived in the South Island and I have got it all wrong today, bear in mind the time and temperature of our 5am start, by lunchtime I am cooking, and so some shopping was required at Whitehaven, so much so, I looked like one of the staff lol ;-).

There were 4 choices of wine tasting, Classic, Aromatic & Premium where you get 4 tasters and the 4th, Bubbles where there was one. I chose the Classic, they were very good at changing the first one from Sauvignon Blanc (which anyone that knows me well knows I don’t like at all) to a 2023 Riesling which was delicious, followed by a 2023 Pinot Gris, a 2024 Pinot Noir Rose & finally, a 2023 Pinot Noir, the wines here were truly lovely and they export to most places in the world bar NI, they do export to O’Brien’s in the South which, if you were in one, I would recommend these Whitehaven wines. The food at this winery look and was excellent by all reports also. Rhonda and Bob did the Premium option and said it was superb. Again, 4 choices; 1. 2023 “Greg” Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc, 2. 2023 “Block 11” Barrel aged Sauvignon Blanc, 3. 2023 “Greg” Single Vineyard Chadonnay & finally, 4. “Greg” Single Vineyard Pinot Noir. The “Greg” range is named in honour of Whitehaven’s late co-founder Greg White (1952-2007).

Onwards to Abel Tasman, James has told us to all be on the look out for a white heron they are extremely rare and he has only ever seen 5 in his life and round the corner we came and I said, is that one? I think he thought I was joking but there it was and so we came to a very quick halt and all got out, his excitement was infectious. We meet a couple with huge cameras, the man had been trying to see one of these for 25 years and was booked on a white heron sanctity tour tomorrow lol and there he/she was. It is there only nesting place in NZ. We did feel hugely lucky to have seen one given James’s reaction.

When we get there we are in a large campsite near the sea, it has been a glorious day which we have missed completely as have been on the bus all day broadly. It is around 6pm when we arrive, shower, toilet and kitchen facilities are all outside and we are in small huts, very small huts, well this should be interesting in the middle of the night!

We don’t really see much of Christchurch at this point of the tour as we will return at the end of the journey and so we Northbound.

Kaikoura is a scenic coastal town, famous for its spectacular marine wildlife, including whales, dolphins, and seals due to the deep Kaikoura Canyon close to the shore, hence, offering incredible wildlife tours and crayfish (rock lobster) to eat, living up to its Māori name meaning “eat crayfish”. It is situated between the Seaward Kaikoura range and the Pacific Ocean.

We have a free afternoon to do what we please and I was planned and ready for this afternoon lol – the rest of the group went for a trek after lunch, I let our guide know not to wait for me and that I would meet them all later – just to let me know the name of the accommodation, “sweet as” lol – getting into the NZ Lingo!

This girl went for a pamper afternoon at Diamond Nails “of course you did I hear you say”. Off I went in search of a beauty/nail salon, Fio had googled and there were two, the first one, no-one seemed to know and the second one, I found fairly easily and turned out to be broadly just across the road from our lodgings and oh happiness I spend 3 plus hours in there having a pedicure, manicure and some waxing – ready for the next 3 weeks, I was lucky this salon was super clean, every one wore gloves and new files were used for each client, the pedicure chair gave me a back massage while I sat and the pedicure included a lower leg and foot massage ….. bliss!

So, I just meet up with the team later and have dinner, Anne (pronounced Anna) and Fio have brought my luggage in, we go to dinner and have yet another early dinner as we have a long day on the bus tomorrow travelling to Abel Tasman National Park, the furtherest North we will travel in the South Island on this trip.

It is a short 1.5 hour journey down to Christchurch in the South Island, James our CEO and guide is travelling with us, we collect our and his luggage while he goes and gets our new bus, it is blowing a gale and bucketing down which is a bit of a shock to the system.

Christchurch had a devastating earthquake in 2011 and it has taken all this time to re-build the city, most of the city is new, however, there are some of NZ’s oldest buildings still remaining alongside some very modern architecture. Christchurch is very flat and easy to explore on foot.

Christchurch Botanical Gardens

…is located in the central city and were founded in 1863, the gardens sprawl over an area of 21 hectares ie 52. Acres and lie adjacent to the loop of the Avon River. We pass by/through it on route to our accommodation and it looks stunning and well worth a visit, I might get to do this when I return to CC at the end of my trip, we are staying in the Bealy Quarter which is very central, tonight we may get to meet our 5 new joiners after dinner if not it will be in the morning, we have 3 Australian’s, and a Welsh/Spanish couple joining us.

Tomorrow we will travel north to Kiakoura, it has been a very long day so it’s laundry and an early night for me.

We embark on a day of exploration along the Whanganui River on kayak’s and go for a hike near and around the Ruakuri Caves, another glorious day, the weather is being very kind to us so far.

Next on the Agenda was kayaking, some of our team cannot swim and I just think it is so brave getting into a Kayak in the hope your life jacket holds you up. Martina decided to walk and took a lot of the pictures as was too nervous to get in.

This was an area of holiday baches pronounced batch that’s holiday homes to you and me and we are clearly here is peak season, some of the homes and facilities were truly decadent. We all get into the kayaks and take off for a very leisurely jont up the lake and into the above river that flows into it, the waters are so warm, millpond like and gorgeous, we get an opportunity to pull in and go for a swim at the half way mark. I thought I was seeing things at first, there were floating rocks which turn out to be pieces of lava rock and some very substantial pieces floating. There were a few jokes re watching out for the floater… you get the drift excuse the pun!

You really wouldn’t have noticed you were kayaking against the current on the way there, however, when we turned back we literally had little to do until we entered the main lake again bar steer and gently paddle.

On towards Waitomo, where thousands of years of natural forces have carved out awe inspiring limestone caves and passages. This underground wonderland is renowned for their amazing array of glowworms which light up cave ceilings like a starry night, creating a magical setting to enjoy.

I choose to go caving, another challenge! I have mild claustrophobia so I am very nervous about abseiling down to the underground of caves and crawling thought very tight tunnels, the thought of being trapped down there, getting lost, the battery to my light running out etc are high on my scaredy cat list atm! 5 of us choose to have a go! Fio, aka Lara Croft put’s on her luck “Sexy Ass” socks and as you can see she has a fine Ass to match lol 🙂

We get some training on the roping, abseiling techniques and off we go, dear Lord what the heck am I doing?

Mission Accomplished: I did enjoy this, however, I was glad to be back out in the daylight and air and I am not sure I would rush back to do his again. There was abseiling through the waterfalls, climbing up shear faces, abseiling generally, belly scrambling through water and low rock -less than 2 feet in height I reckon – first time in my life I felt a little like a marine, my forearm, belly down and leg push scramble – turns out this came very naturally to me or was it the incentive of getting the heck through this as quickly as possible……..hmmm either way I can scramble (not sure what the proper description is, you get my drift)

Tonight is our last meal together as only 8 of us are going on to the South Island, the rest are either going back to work, travelling on as have all ready done the South Island or have other things planned. Even James our guide gets up a dinner and says that this group have been such a pleasure to be around and have been so kind and thoughtful to each other, looked out for each other etc and that has been so true, I feel so lucky to have spent the last 8 days with such nice humans. We are going to the glow worm caves in the morning, very early start, and then all go to the Auckland Int Airport and in my case and 7 others we are Christchurch bound, still we all celebrated our week together in the usual fashion and there were some very quiet people including myself on the bus the following morning.

We arrive at the Waitomo Glowworm Caves and the mood is a bit somber, and we take a boat ride through this spectacular underground realm and see thousands of flickering glow worms light up in the dark. Joel is our guide, this is his family’s business and he guides us down and through the caves to a boat which he guides through the water, there are ropes suspended in which he pulls and guides us along, it is truly spectacular and has either a night sky vibe or Christmas feel to it. The glow worms are really pupae and dangle threads down in the hope of catching eg a fly or insect, it will then draw them up and eat it, they typically catch 3 in the pupae phase and then emerge as a fly with no ability to eat and it’s sole purpose is to mate, lay eggs and die all within 48 hours. The glow worm will emerge as a female if there are no others about and if there is they will emerge as a male with the purpose of mating and then their job is done!

We leave here and head to the airport – I am truly grateful to this lovely group of people and as we wish the leavers well with heavy hearts we are hopeful the new joiners will be just a nice. See you in Singapore Barbara :-).

On a closing note James our CEO and guide we have been so lucky what a lovely lovely human you are, and whatever person that gets you as a life partner will be the luckiest person on earth. So well informed, so patient and so kind. Thank you, you completed us a as a team. Xxx

I knew I forgot something! Oh yes …..the after dinner Axe throwing: not everyone had a go, we got a demonstration from Dan who just happened to be ther – bullseye first go of course, James went next and had clearly had done this before as well, whilst not as initially accurate as Dan he had this sussed, Fio and Jeff, were determined to get that axe landed and both eventually got bullseye’s, I, however, despite taking some chunks out of the board could not get it to stick arghhh!, only a few had a go, however, everyone supported, it was good fun if not a bit scary to watch as you can see below by Jeff’s face!

Oh and some camp fire pics…

So, to start with, a Station is a huge farm, in Blue Duck’s case 7,200 acres of which 3,700 acres are owned and the balance leased, the owner/tenant is Dan Steele, a pretty impressive guy who has written a book and is hugely forward, progressive and laterally thinking which hasn’t gone down well with all the neighbours. I is worth a read, the book was too heavy to buy so I will need to look for this when I get home.

There is approx 5, 000 sheep, 200 head of beef and suckler cattle ( no dairy – the land is just not conducive for it ), there are some horses for those interested in trekking, you can bring your own horse and have some stabling facilities. There is a team of around 12 working on this farm, they unsurprisingly have a high attrition rate. About a third of the team seem to core longer term employees.

Dan, was out with some sheep as we arrive with his son River aged around 9/10 (the youngest of 4) and he kindly stops and speaks with us, as we had driven the long road into the station we came across a lot of commercial vehicles leaving, it turns out Dan has bought a struggling honey business, another big punt, this definitely fits with the ethos and vision of this farm, however, by Dan’s own admission he knows nothing about bees or honey! They have a lot of Manuka trees so the area is perfect for it and “staff” have come with this business ie they tend to the bees, honey & hives.

We meet Mel next, who seems to be involved mainly with the tourism side of things, meet and greet for both the groups that come and go and the guests for The Chef’s Table Restaurant. Mel gives us an insight into the farm just before dinner that Jodie, the chef has prepared, there is no menu and a big sign that say’s “Food Options: 1st – Take it, 2nd – Leave it!” – love it! We take it and say thank you very much! BYO in this restaurant…

A major area of issue and controversy is pest control – pests/predators come in many forms in NZ, mainly introduced mammals. The key predators of the Kiwi is primarily stoats which decimate chicks and eggs, and dogs alongside ferrets, cats and possums, all contributing to high mortality rates and making predator control vital for Kiwi survival.

Humane traps are widely used killing (normally double sided as is one mammal is killed it attracts others and therefore just makes sense. These are labour intense and whilst mildly effective attracting only “the young, dumb or curious” and do not currently deal with the issue sufficiently.

So, often pest control pellets are used, they are typically cereal based, containing poisons like 1080 (Sodium fluoroacetate), these tend to be flavoured with eg sugar/cinnamon to attract pests and dyed green to deter birds, they are used in bait stations or aerial drops. 1080 is soluble so dissolves into the land and water, hunters hate it, however, it has been very effective. NZ use 90% of the worlds supply of it – it is banned in the USA, suffice to say it is a highly controversial subject, so far it has had a hugely positive impact on conserving particularly endangered birds like The Kiwi.

After dinner we light the fire at the cabins and everyone has agreed to do a party piece, joke, game or a story. This was such good fun and what a laugh. The best of which was Janine who told us a story of her saving a baby goose, whom she named 10-4, his mother had either died or he had got lost, anyway, Janine brought him home and Janine raised him and trained him to fly and when she couldn’t walk or run fast enough, she rode a bike, many drivers stopped as they thought she was being attacked when out with him lol. Her core him was to increase his flight strength and fitness, eventually 10-4’s wingspan was over 8 feet and he was strong and mature. She realised it was time he joined his own kind, he needed to be dehumanised which meant she had to be really tough with him and return him to his natural habitat which meant she and her children had to stop speaking/playing with him, he was no longer allowed in the house and had to go into one of her barns on their farm. Eventually he flew off and joined a flock of migrating geese, she only saw him once again about 1-2 years later when he called for a visit. Great story!

After the party pieces we head out in search of Possum, who evade us on night one, however, some of the team saw some on night two, the Southern Hemisphere sky at Blue Duck is stunning.

The following morning we were up and out for a guided bush safari with Michael, who loads us up and introduces us to the area’s rich history, conservation work and sustainable farming practices. Michael has been at Blue Duck for 7 years, his partner Laura, is the farm manager and has been there approximately 11-12 years with a short break in the middle when she went to work on another Station. She seems to be a formidable girl/woman. He was saying she had come home in poor form the previous evening as she found 50 of the flock of sheep down with “fly strike” – I hope you aren’t having a meal when reading this – broadly flies lay their eggs in the poo at the sheep’s back passage and as you can imagine that can go way past an itchy bum, this has to be cut away as can be fatal and in one case she had hat to slit the sheep’s throat as it was to far gone. That’s farming for you, often brutal, however, this farm has a strict humane ethos, so cruel to be kind.

Michael’s role also involves taking hunting parties out and again they are very strict regarding people’s shooting abilities ie to ensure kill’s are clean.

Mel brings us beautiful cheese and onion scones for mid morning tea, half of the team go up to the high end Chef’s Table Restaurant max 12 diners 8-12 course fine dining menu’s – the chef here is a chap called Jack who had worked on the farm as a young guy then went off and worked in Michelin star restaurants, came back to Dan with the idea of setting up a restaurant and fancy pods on the highest part of the farm with spectacular views – initially it was a pop up and it was so successful that they are fully booked for up to 3 months in advance – approx $950 dollars for meal and overnight, and I thing $1,300 in the Honeymoon pod. It is a stunning set up, and no we didn’t get to go in. One of the girls, Anna, her pals had been and had highly recommended it, Mel explained it is mostly New Zealanders that come and you can get dropped off in your Helicopter if you want to!

The other half of the group go kayaking in a gorgeous part of the river, beautiful waterfall and narrow canyon, I couldn’t resist a swim. Then we swapped over. We have the rest of the day to do what we want and I choose to go back down to the lake, so so relaxing.

We have another Take it or Leave it meal with Jodie at the helm, Lamb tonight, I leave it, however, there was beautiful mash and lots of veg so all good.

As health, well-being and fitness champion lol of the group I offer the opportunity to the group to do an early morning “Walshy’s workout” (Heather Walsh kindly gave me her 2020 Covid Workout plan before I left and the Warriors kindly did a class of it so I knew what I was doing before I left – thank you Heather & Co), anyway we did approx an hour including warm up, work-out, 6 rounds of core and cool down which was great before we get breakfast and leave Blue Duck – I love this place there is just something about it.

Apologies for any errors in my typing I am normally getting this typed up and uploaded when I have WiFi at pace xxx

This is widely regarded and NZ’s best one-day trek, so, on my G-adventures description it says; “Traverse dramatic volcanic landscapes, pass shimmering emerald lakes, and marvel at alpine views” and this was 100% accurate.

It is a 19.4km challenging trek though Tongariro National Park’s active volcanic landscapes, featuring lava flows, steam vents, and the stunning emerald lakes, taking 6-8 hours and requiring good fitness, proper gear. It took me 7 hrs, I feel I could have pushed myself to do better, however, it has motivated me to push myself harder at the gym and outside when I get back. I feel even if I had done more loops of Redburn or worked out on a staircase in the gym this would have helped enormously. It was a demanding and rewarding experience which also has significant cultural, this place is sacred to the Maori’s and respect is asked for the mountains and waterways and natural importance. No litter not even an apple or banana skin can be left behind as there is no natural ability for it to decompose in this landscape. For Lord of the Rings fans Mount Ngauruhoe was featured as Mount Doom.

Highlights: Red Crater (highest point), Emerald lakes, Blue Lake, Volcanic craters and Diverse Landscapes.

Weather: The weather is unpredictable; check for alearts for hazardous conditions like high winds or snow.

People from our group fell into natural ability groups on this trek and the first crew in finished it in 5 hrs so had to wait for 2.5 hrs for the final ones to finish. Barbara (a lovely Polish girl, now working in Singapore and I buddied up). James had arranged to pick us up at 4pm and broadly arrived in when we arrived into the car park.

There are a huge number of steps to both climb up and walk down and although overall I was fine, the issue on my left foot just below the ankle really was tired and getting very painful by the time I finished mainly caused by the down stepping. The other major hazard on this trek was the shale of volcanic stones from the top which made it like a ski slope, thankfully a guide from another group gave me some tips and that helped enormously – front foot straight and back foot to the side and lean in, you could take a really nasty toss on this stuff!

Homeward bound to our accommodation, I hadn’t got much sleep from the last 2 nights max 3-4 hrs and I have a very strange feeling I might sleep tonight! So a well earned dinner and bed by 8.30 pm for me.

Blue Duck Station here we come tomorrow….

….has a deep connection to the indigenous roots of Aotearoa, one of the best places to experience authentic Māori traditions. It is packed with adventure activities such as white water rafting, zip lining, kayaking, zorbing etc. Rotorua is famous for being a geothermal area which as you drive in you get the whiff off. There is a strong sulphurous smell, boiling mud pools, hot pools and geezers.

I choose to go white water rafting in the morning then later in the afternoon we are booked to the NZ Arts & Crafts Institute for a Hangi meal, this is where the food is cooked underground, it was a carvery and whilst the food was very nice, too much of it, typical carvery, I don’t feel like I experienced anything overly special or traditional.

White Water Rafting at Tutea Falls:

This is the world’s highest commercially rafted waterfall, hosted by Rotorua Rafting – have I lost my mind? The Falls are located 20 mins from Rotorua on the Kaituna River (grade 5 river/rapids). We come down 3 big waterfalls starting of on a relatively small one and worked up to the big one, 6 of us in the raft, the guide, Fio, Jeff, myself and two Scottish girls. This is a high-adrenaline experience and I am utterly relieved we didn’t flip! I chose both the guide and Jeff on statistics as Jeff was flipped on his last experience and the guide had been flipped on his previous time out so statistically Jeff had a 50:50 chance the last time and the guides are a 10% chance, so my reckoning was Jeff was down to around 25% chance and the guide had a 90% chance of not flipping on this one and thankfully it worked lol ;-). I will let the pics speak for themselves. The guide gave us the choice to get out of the raft and swim/float/get ducked down a rapid, well in for a penny and all that – I came down the rapid without much bother bar the higher heart rate, however, the current must have changed direction or caught me differently as I came down last, out of all the rafts I took off right, down the next rapid, before I did I caught the safety rope but the current was so strong I couldn’t hold it with one hand and couldn’t get the other to it…….argh so off I sped down the next one, thankfully there is a safety kayak and after a considerable ducking he gets me to wrap my feet round the front of the Kayak and hold onto it still choking and spluttering! He deposits me on the bank and I wait there for my pals to pick me up, which gives me time to recover and get my heart rate down again. This highlights two things ie if you were on your own in a fast flowing river you can see how people get into trouble or indeed drown very quickly and how safety focused our guides were as the chap in the kayak was there in a blink for me. Overall, I loved this experience and would do it again.

The New Zealand Arts & Crafts Institute

We head off for our hangi meal and cultural tour, the Institute has facilities for students to come and study their crafts for up to 3 years eg making Taonga – sacred/personal possessions often out of Ponamu – New Zealand Green Stone (take your mind back to the green stone The All Blacks take with them), weaving many things eg bags, purses, lobster pots etc these students will leave the institute fully skilled in many of these area’s

In this area we see boiling (plumping) mud and geezers, nature really is a force! We make our way back to the accommodation where some of us head off to the local Spa, the hot pools ranged from 38-41 degrees, soooo nice and soooo relaxing and my skin felt fabulous afterwards. Fio and I do our laundry in the evening and have an early night as we have a 20 km hike tomorrow at the Tangariro Alpine Crossing.

Rotorua is often known as the cultural heart of NZ and this will be our destination today. We start with a cycle through the beautiful Karangahake Gorge approx 16-17 km. The saying “All the gear and no Idea” comes to mind when before I even start my day or get on my bike I catch the front of my leg on one of the peddles! It was like a geezer and broadly a big blood egg was forming on my leg, I thought my day was over, however, thankfully I got it elevated and my trusty Fio having sprained her ankle on her first day in Sydney a week or so ago had sticky strapping with her, so we were able to put hankies directly on the wound and strap the impacted points – all sorted and good to go. Yes, it was flipping sore, what a plonker!

This area was once a thriving gold mining area, workers wages were low and conditions poor. There were many gold mining accidents and disease. Production and discontent soared in equal measure and the 1894 Industrial Arbitration Act prevented them from getting their proper dues. Workers joined unions to protect their rights and in 1912 this conflict erupted into violence. At Waikino ie where I am, a mob attacked a group of striking battery miners in the middle of the night. In the morning a man was killed on a struggle with the Police and strike breakers in Waikiki. Fred Evan’s was the first man/victim to lose his life in the industrial conflict and a martyr to the Labour cause. He is buried in Auckland where commemorations continue to this day.

Rotorua was in site so we travelled onwards and arrived in the late afternoon to the pungent smell of sulphur coming from the hot springs.

Dinner, a quiet evening and laundry to do. An exciting day ahead, white water rafting whoop whoop!

I arrive back to the Oaks Hotel to find the travelling companion that I will be rooming with for the next 21 nights has already checked in, I have to admit to being a bit nervous, however, the moment I met Fio I knew things would be just fine. Fio will be a regular feature in my blogs so more about her/us later.

We go down together and meeting our CEO, James and the rest of our travelling companions. There are 17 of us including James, a mix of ages and countries and my instant feel is a good one which proved to be right thank goodness.

We are booked for the All Blacks Experience so it’s straight into the bus and off we go!

Whaia Te Iti Kahurangi; Ki Te Tuohu Koe, Me He Maunga Teite!

Strive for Excellence; You should only bow to the most lofty Mountain!

We got the opportunity to watch both the male and female teams perform the Haka and trust me the women were way more fearsome! It is no wonder they are such powerful teams and as warriors in the past, it is no wonder they were fearsome people’s. The Haka is an expression of intention and installation of power within the players and fear for their opponents!

The name of every player, male and female is recorded on the walls of the grounds building. Plus their is a wall/board of all tournament results all recorded by year and colour of winning teams – there is a lot of Black!

This was a great experience and they have a super shop at the end with a good choice of things to buy. All I can think of is weight as I have an internal flight to Christchurch in 7 days and I am already at 30 kg, so restraint was shown, but not too much.

Included in the tour is an educational team chat where everyone sits in a purpose build “changing room” for visitors which then leads into and inter active area where you can practice your throwing, kicking and agility abilities which was great fun and was a good ice breaker for our wee team too.

We head out for a bite to eat and a relatively early night as we are starting as we mean to go on with an early morning cycle at Karangahake Gorge. Fio and I get better acquainted and despite our 25 year age difference we are a good fit which is great and amazing news she is a sound and good sleeper so hopefully I won’t disturb her too much, yay!

I arrive into Auckland (North Island) around 2.30/3pm to sunny skies and a lovely warmth.

I am booked for dinner at the Sky Tower at 5pm, so a bit of a quick turnaround. It is the tallest freestanding structure in the Southern Hemisphere which hosts a revolving restaurant with panoramic views. As I get into the taxi to go the short journey to the restaurant the skies open and the rain drops are huge and heavy. The taxi driver parks under a street umbrella and I make a dash for it!

A little about Auckland first, it was the capital from 1842 to 1865 when Wellington (in the South Island) took over, it has a population of around 1.55 million people which is approx a quarter of NZ’s population. It is built on approx 50 dormant volcanoes, it is between the Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea, you can walk across the isthmus from one sea to the other in one hike, which is very unique.

City of Sails:- Due to its abundant harbours and high boat ownership, Auckland has earned this nickname-name and hosts the Worlds largest single day regatta.

Māori Name: Tamaki-Makau-rau, means “Tamaki of a hundred lovers,” O’er matron! Actually referencing its desirability as a settlement!

Māori Words: Kia ora – hello or thanks, haere ra – farewell, aroha – love/compassion/sympathy, Iwi – tribe, Marae – sacred communal meeting grounds, mana – prestige/power, whanau – family, Taonga – treasured possessions, Haka – ceremonial dance/challenge. These are the fundamental words for daily understanding of Māori culture and way of life.

Sky Tower Restaurant – I would recommend you go here for a meal if only for the views they are spectacular, mine was a bit grey, however, I am sure if the weather had of been clear and fine they would have been so much better, food was of a good quality and my service was excellent, by a lovely chap called Run.

I meet my travel companions at 3pm the next day and so I am up early, I am staying at The Oaks, a very central hotel, it was a short walk to Stop 1, Central Auckland, hop on hop off bus tour and I decide to get off at 2 stops due to my limited time – 2 quite different choices.

Stop 5, The Auckland War Memorial Museum; The Ground Floor is: Te Tapuae Nuku ie Our People & Place which covers stories of Auckland & Sharks; Level One is: Te Ao Turoa ie Our World; Volcanoes, Māori Natural History, Ancient Worlds & applied arts, Arts of Asia & decorative arts, Origins, Weird & Wonderful, Imaginarium & Learning Labs. Level Two is: War & Rememberence; which covers New Zealand at War, WWI and earlier, WW1 Hall of Memories, War Memorial Discovery Centre, Spitfire, Zero, WWII Hall of Memories & Mana: Protest in Print – I thoroughly enjoyed this museum as there was something for everyone depending on your interests, and so a highly recommend for me and it’s situation and views were stunning over Auckland.

Stop 13, Auckland Zoo; The Zoo is broken into 5 sections (i) Te Wao Nui – Aotearoa New Zealand broadly birds and reptiles native to NZ (ii) African Safari Track (iii) South East Asia Jungle Track (iv) Autstralia Bush Track (v) South America Rain Forest Track. I enjoyed the Zoo, however, it couldn’t and didn’t compare to the Torongo Zoo that I went to in Sydney with Andrea, missed your company Andrea!

Back on the bus and when I eventually got back to the hotel I had about 30 mins to spare, my room buddy had already arrived, I so hope whoever it is, is a good sleeper and that I not disturb them too much with my night time antics! I look forward to meeting my new travel companions – there will be 16 in total and 1 CEO so it should be interesting getting to know all the personalities.

Whoop whoop I feel well again, so equipped with Coach Walsh’s aka Heather’s Covid work out and timers set on my phone I hit the gym for an hour early doors! I took it easier than normal but hey I did it!

I have a really good breakfast and have already decided to eat nothing more until I am on board the flight tonight as am still feeling the tummy fear. Gutted that I have not felt up to eating any of the local cuisine.

I have arranged at late check out at 3pm pick up is 5.30pm and my 10hr 50 min flight to Auckland is at 9.30pm so I have some time today.

I decided just to wing it and go for a good walk along the seafront and randomly came to a hop on hop off bus terminal so on I hop on! The Red route takes an hour and 20 mins if I just stay on board ……perfect.

Lots of cultural things to hear and see, I am not going to go into all of that this time as really just a normal city bus tour up date, however, here are a couple of things that caught my eye:

I made my way back to the Hotel put my feet up/had a nap for an hour then just to put in some time before I left………………..

Next Stop Auckland.

First of all I would like to thank Karen Badger who so very kindly sent me a detailed email of what was good to do, best times, info on the public transport for which I am so grateful as it was so useful to me.

Secondly, because I did not feel 100% I don’t feel I got the best out of Hong Kong or it out of me so eg I didn’t get to eat any local food and my energy levels were poor until my final day there, however, on the upside I am travelling to NZ well and back to normal.

Some fun facts:

Hong Kong means “Fragrant Harbour”, the name came from the incense factories that once lined the harbour, giving it an aromatic scent.

The name “Kowloon” (Gua Lung) means “Nine Dragons”, named after the eight hills plus a servant-dragon.

Green Oasis: Despite its concrete jungle image, nearly 75% of Hong Kong is green space – some of the gardens are beautiful, I had expected it to look very dry and was surprised how lush some of Hong Kong was.

Population is just short of 7.4 million people in a 428 sq mile (1,108 km sq) area, HK is a compilation of 263 different islands.

There is a large Indian community due to the Military being British/Indian and the first Mosque was built within the grounds of the Military base within the capital.

The official language is English & Chinese, main religions Buddhism & Christianity and the currency is the Hong Kong Dollar.

The Opium War turned Hong Kong from a fishing village into a financial juggernaut.

I stayed at the Grand Kowloon Harbour Bay, I arrived on New Year Eve just as the sun was setting which really is beautiful, I had upgraded my room and this hotel was chosen for two key reasons: it’s beautiful outdoor pool area from which you can watch the fireworks at NY and my room had a full view of the bay, so if I didn’t want to go out I could watch it all from my room. Well none of that worked out for 3 reasons: 1. The pool area was shut for 4 months for annual renovation works! 2. Due to a fire at Tai Po where 161 people lost their lives in November, the Secretary for Culture, Sports & Tourism cancelled them as it was felt to be inappropriate. There were no light displays either & 3. I was shattered and needed to be in bed and near a bathroom!

With only 2 nights and 2 days, the second of which I was leaving at 5.30pm to the airport I was determined to try to get out and about, and so I thought I wouldn’t venture too far initially from the hotel! As anyone who knows me well especially my work colleagues I have a long and tricky history with trains, however, the MTR in Hong Kong was just like the tube to me, I just found it so easy to use, it is tap in tap out and so so cheap.

I decided to go to the Chi Lin gardens/nunnery (allow 1-2 hrs), it is free, such a serene sanctuary in the middle of the city, I really enjoyed it, and also gave an opportunity to appreciate Buddhism, the faith and the culture, great shout Karen!

I went back to the Hotel felt wiped so had a 2-3 hr nap, I got up and it a horrible feeling to be somewhere so amazing and being missing out on it so, I had a chat with myself and heading back into town on the hunt for the No:15 bus to take me to The Peak, no sign of it then tried to find the right tram and go speaking with two lovely English Teachers from Korea, one originally from Boston the other Toronto. We ended up on a Tram lol first one went the wrong way the had to change direction lol, for complete fear of boring you we took a taxi up and being New Year it was completely crazy and the queues were crazy.

Once at the top I split from the girls and decided to walk up to the top and then ended up walking the whole way down, it was quite dark on the pathway, however, there were plenty people all walking down too so it felt very safe. The Views were spectacular.

Final HK blog to follow…….

A slight delay in my update on part one of this journey due to a nasty bout of food poisoning contracted in the Maldron Hotel Dublin Airport’s restaurant on the night before I travelled to Hong Kong, so much for me eating lightly and being careful, why oh why didn’t I just walk across the road to the big yellow arches and get a dirty burger, it could not have done anywhere near the same damage! To be fair to the Maldron they couldn’t have done more for me the following morning as at that point I wasn’t sure if it was a gastric bug or food poisoning. I now know.

Back to my Christmas week……

Cornwall is such a special place to us all and we appreciate Sarah (my daughter in law) so much for introducing it into our lives. It is so beautiful and being so close to the sea, beaches, walks and amazing restaurants and food produce, what is not to like.

The Airbnb we stayed in was perfect for us, Sarah organised everything from the accommodation to the groceries including a beautiful Turkey/Ham from the local butcher for the week & Christmas, what a girl! John arrived (under instruction lol) with a huge Christmas Tree, decorations lights etc, there really is nothing like a real tree and we all appreciated you both so much for all of it. Oh and lovely weather too!

My Grandson who just turned 3 in December means Christmas is taking on a new view again ie through the eyes of a child which is so lovely. Christina and Tim just at that busy time of life with 2 small children, Sarah & John’s journey into parenthood imminent, it is so lovely being an Nana.

Mousehole, pronounced “Mauzall”, is a lovely village in Penzance which we had stayed in for a few days before Sarah & John’s wedding is famed for it’s Christmas lights, and so, Christina had booked us into a nice restaurant for an early dinner, the food was gorgeous, before the “daily” evening big switch on of lights, which were really good, the pics don’t do them justice. Cornwall have an array of male voice choirs and there were some there singing on the harbour, what a beautiful sound.

Christmas Eve; storms forecast, they weren’t kidding! I went out for my morning walk with Seamus, it was blowing a gale and the sea was bashing against the rocks and harbour, bracing to as the least. The sea is beautiful and yet so treacherous, St Ives is so old, I think of the people that must have lived there once and how hard their lives must have been.

We had a nice chilled day, we went to a Carol Service and Nativity in the Church of England, so old and beautiful, it was 2 mins from our accommodation and was packed, nothing like a few carols to get us all in the mood.

Christmas morning – good news! Santa got the memo. Auntie Sarah nailed it with the fireman Sam outfit/gear! The camera was a big hit also, like a mini Kodak instant fab!

Christina & John were in charge of cooking. My only job was the gravy and I think the new phrase is “Stay in your own lane mother” lol in other words but out!

We had an unexpected guest on Christmas Day, Steve, whom Sarah & John had met on the beach when out walking Seamus, Steve had come down to St Ives to join his wife Linda for Christmas and she had passed away very unexpectedly 10 days previous and so it was Steve joined us, a lovely man from Hull, born in Glossop, really interesting and a most welcome addition to us, we got him socks lol not very original but something to open and hopefully useful. John met up with him again before we left and he said Christmas Day had been a positive turning point for him and he had been so grateful. I am very proud to have such open welcoming and kind offspring (that includes my in-laws), is it really that hard to be kind and generous? Small acts/deeds mean so much.

The rest of our time was spent on lovely walks, for Caleb – going on the train to Carbis Bay and Back and the Lifeboat being launched on a live shout, everyone back in safely thank goodness.

Precious memories – Thank you – Lym Mum xxx

It has been two years since I last went on my long haul travels to Australia and what a trip that was.

It is 66 days 17 hours and 59 mins before I head off according to my Trailfinders app!!! I don’t feel the anxiety I did the last time before I travelled, maybe that is to follow! Hopefully not.

My plan is to fly out to Hong Kong first, via Doha, I should land in the afternoon of New Year’s Eve and have according to my trustee organiser be in a hotel that overlooks the bay and the spectacular NY’s fireworks display, if I am feeling up to it/brave there is rooftop bar/pool area which you can go up and enjoy from the outdoors. I will see how I feel. I have 3 nights so two additional days to take in the sights of area and have had some good pointers on what I should do/go to see.

The next leg will be to Auckland where I will join a G Adventures tour for 22 days in which I cover a lot of both the North & South Island, filled with activities, let’s see how this ol’girl holds up! Hiking, Trekking, Kayaking, Cycling, white water rafting, you get the picture, or you will as I go along.

Homeward bound includes 4 nights in Singapore which I am really looking forward to as I just didn’t have the nerve to do it last time, the gardens are calling out to me as I just think they look incredible.

I will update you as I go, I just wanted to give you all a heads up and forewarn you of my blogs again 😉

Ex

I left the hotel at just before 6pm and was home around 5.30 pm then did a detour to see my fav (and only grandson) I felt very nauseous since landing and now quite lightheaded, I’m instructed to lie down elevated my feet and drink lots of water.

Christina has kindly made some lovely soup and crusty bread, my appetite is not great so after an hour or so she leaves me home, shower and bed for me.

I was 100% on my outbound journey to Perth, however, when I work it out I was 25 hrs travelling there and 35 hrs home, no wonder I’m a bit squiffy!

The key thing is I am home safely, looking forward seeing my nearest and dearest friends and family. I am so grateful for this experience, the places I have been, the people and family I have met and been with and my goodness the seafood, most of my close friends and family know how much I’ve missed being able to eat fish, hopefully this is a corner turned, I will still be cautious of Mediterranean caught fish 🐟. Some final pics and until my next adventure Au Revoir, thanks for sharing my experience, as you know this was really more of a diary for myself so apologies for any grammatical errors or rushed posts often my time and signal were very limited.

The final countdown, I have 2 nights 3 days left, I leave Friday night and Andrea leaves early Saturday morning – Perfect!

The weather forecast was for rain, however, has changed to 10% chance so we decide to postpone our visit to the Taronga Zoo (Be careful it turns out their are two Zoo’s in Sydney, if you are booking make sure it is for the one you want to go to) until Thursday. We have heard good things about Manly beach and decide to have a lie in, no alarms and head there late morning and spend the afternoon on the beach.

The public Transport in Sydney is outstanding, the location of our hotel, The Ridges is perfect and it is good. 3 stops from Central to Circular Quay, where the water buses are waiting, everything is tap on tap off, the service is amazing and the water taxi’s are really fast despite the volume of people getting on and off, it is just so well organised. Also, get this, the seats in the train can be easily changed for forward or back facing, I had a double take when a guy popped his over, so cool and clever.

The huge cruise ships in Sydney harbour depart early evening and new ones arrive by the morning, most of them are enormous and obviously bring huge revenue to the cities they go in to.

We arrive at Manly and just walk around 5-10 mins over to the beach which is really busy, we hire 2 of the low reclining deck chairs and an umbrella and watch the world go by, again the sardines are between the flags and the life guards are not only warning about the rip’s but the Box Jellyfish! Explaining that if stung it is really painful for around an hour and then uncomfortable for around 24 hours after this, you would think this would be off-putting! It is the children’s summer holidays in Australia and approx 100 children arrive with their inflatables, about 20- 30 guards get in the water next to the flagged area and then it’s ready steady go! What a joyful sight, my heart is in my mouth worrying about what if one drowns or gets stung, what I have forgotten is that this is where these children grow up they are literally water babies, respectful of the water, they are also very well protected both in the water and on the shore by their group leaders and guards.

It was impossible to swim due to the numbers in the water, jumping the waves and diving through them was the height of the pleasure and it was fun. We travel back in good time as I have tickets to see La Traviata tonight at the Opera house, a Christmas treat from my lovely children & spouses, unfortunately, Andrea was unable to source a ticket and my concern is getting back after, it turns out one of the girls on the trip Aine, somehow sourced a ticket this morning and so I am delighted to have company later.

La Traviata is a tragic tale of a young Parisian courtesan, Violetta, who attempts to leave behind the life she knows and finally find true love. When she meets the romantic Alfredo, the hypocrisy of upper class society threatens their love and someone must pay the ultimate price! And yes, I did 😢

Every walk of life is heading to Sydney Opera House, from the very casual/unusual to the beautiful people! I am so excited and it was a memory that will go to my grave with me.

The opera house translate the words the non operatic types (including me) to fully understand what is going on. I had done my homework beforehand, however, this enhanced my experience further. A HIGHLY recommend to book something here if you come this far.

Two days one night to go 😢, lots to do before I go. Taronga Zoo is on the Agenda today, late start, we are booked for Sails restaurant for this evening, another Christina, my daughter, organised event with a lovely voucher from them all, my Christmas presents 🎁 will be hard to beat in the future that’s for sure!

We decide to pack our clothes for later just in case we run behind and end up being very glad we did.

First things first, brunch….on the Quay.

On to the water bus to the zoo. NB There are two zoo’s in Sydney, so be careful to book the one you want! Yes, I know I am repeating myself from a previous blog! My core aim is to see the giraffe’s, I love that the back ground behind them is the bridge and opera house plus I just love them.

Oh my goodness today is so humid and there is a lot of walking, we are literally melting!🫠

We need to transfer back to circular quay then get back on another water bus to Lavender Bay where Sails restaurant is, I am sure we will find somewhere to change!

Oopsie! There is literally no-where and the restaurant is not open yet, there is a tiny beach so we go paddling and much to Andrea’s bemusement I decide to change there following my paddle! As I explained ahead clearly hasn’t done summer’s in Donegal, she gets into the swing of things and demands evidence pics that we did this 😂 …..I told you I was classy!

We go into Sails, which is rather fancy, with our rucksacks and explain we need to get our faces in before sitting down, I don’t think they are quite used to this, however, the service from start to finish was impeccable, the food, the best of my whole trip….INCREDIBLE!

What a way to finish and such a joy to share it with Andrea, the icing on the cake.

I’m a bit tired and emotional tonight, Andrea was showing me a video of Budapest, which sets me off, it is near her original home town, she feels it is more beautiful than Vienna and I’m inclined to agree, through her clear pride n passion for it. I so hope we can meet up there in the future. Andrea has lived and worked in Canada (not far from Toronto) for over 30 yrs. Maybe another holiday destination on my bucket list too?!

Some pics of the journey back – Sydney by night!

It’s time to pack up, I’m so lucky that Andrea is here tonight which means I can leave my things in the room, go out for brunch/lunch etc and then be able to have a shower and go to the airport, my flight leaves Sydney at 21.45 pm.

We potter about and eventually hop on the train to Central Quay, we walk towards the Rocks and choose a very old Cafe for lunch.

After lunch we do a bit of shopping and the say our goodbyes as Andrea is doing a tour of the Opera House, I head back to the hotel, shower, sit on my case to get it closed and now have 2 pieces of hand luggage! I am well within my weight restrictions so not worried! Off to the airport……homeward bound, it’s hard to believe that 6 weeks have passed and I have absolutely no regrets about doing this trip. It was everything I had hoped Australia to be and more. ✅ off the bucket list!

🦘🪃✈️🇦🇺

The forecast is good so the beach is calling and the hop on hop off bus gives us the opportunity to see the city and areas around it, hear the history and go to Bondi, what is not to like! My hopes were not high as I had heard it was not all it’s cracked up to be and a bit tacky. I think this was a good thing and I really liked it but then who says I am classy! lol 😉

We travel past the Anzac Bridge (ANZAC stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corp), we pass Central Park and go along George St which is the longest street in Sydney, 3 km long. Hyde Park (A lot of familiar names) originally was a horse track and when first established was such a success the first races lasted for 3 days, it is no longer a race course, however remains oval in shape and has an Anzac memorial within the grounds.

We arrive at Bondi which is an aboriginal name meaning water breaking over the rocks and had breakfast enjoying the view. My first omelette of the trip and it didn’t disappoint, Andrea had the sourdough with avocado. Light and tasty.

The people are like sardines between the flags as the riptides are lethal here, the lifeguards have buggy’s and go up and down the beach warning people of the danger they may be putting themselves in and to either move over or get out!

We stayed here for a few hours and then decide to walk to Rose Bay, the map didn’t look far and long story short we were over ambitions and ended up getting the bus to Rose Bay. We had lost our ticket lol! We had the confirmation but no ticket and the driver let us on this morning, the question is will the next one? It turned out it was him and he remembered us, I can’t think why? 😂, all good and off to Rose Bay we went.

We found a really lovely little restaurant and thought we would take a picnic to the beach, however, we ended up just eating it outside and watching the world go by. We shared half a spatchcock chicken, with some tabouli (which I hadn’t had before, loved it!) and a tahini cauliflower salad, it was really delicious. See above.

We are going out for dinner with the group tonight, think it will be a light supper for us! We catch the last bus back and get organised for our night out. Nick’s is booked and whilst the food looked great, some was not as good as it looked. I took pics of everyone’s food (lol I did not eat all of this!) the night was soured by the maitre de, so inflexible and what a nonsense trying to pay the bill, anyway the men were getting nowhere and I asked Derek did he want the big guns to step in, and so it was sorted after I said I wanted it noted that we had and were offering to pay, he was declining and so I assumed we were free to go! This seemed to focus his mind and we settled the bill. He wanted one person to settle a $1250 dollar bill and then us to sort it out amongst ourselves…..eh! No! It was the first time I/we experienced such inflexibility and we were a group booking, I don’t get it! Especially with so much choice and so many amazing restaurant’s.

And, so we say our goodbyes as everyone is going their separate ways, some remain in Sydney for a day or two more, thankfully including my wee chum Andrea!

Initially, I was I don’t know I was a bit under whelmed, I am not sure why, I think I have been hugely spoilt on this trip with beauty over-load, however, and before there is a huge outcry lol, I found Sydney to be a grower and it sneaked into my pores and converted me. (To be fair it was pretty grey and was raining which didn’t help)

What a way to end my trip, the experience in Sydney just grew and grew for me and was enormously enhanced by my new friend Andrea. Being able to share this together rather than be on my own in this big city was a huge bonus.

We just clicked on this east coast trip with g-adventures and I hope that we will remain friends, albeit from a distance with some occasional hook ups for many years to come. Andrea has lived just outside Toronto from her mid-twenties, she was born and educated in Hungary, warm, funny and kind just my sort of human.

We get on the road early and head out to see if we can find some Kangaroo’s on the University grounds in the east of the city, however, instead of the usual numbers there were only 3, so off to the city we go.

I am booked at the Ridges which is very close to Central Station, Really good location and if only I liked beer, right beside the Surry Hill’s Brewery.

We get checked in, most of the group are doing the Big bus tour ie hop on hop off. Andrea & I have decided to split from the group today and do our own thing, we end up deciding on going for the 2 day option.

We get off at the 2nd Stop from Central to go into the Fish market, my expectations of a fish market were exceedingly low, I could not have been more wrong it was an eye feast and fabulous, just such a buzz around the place, we had lunch in the Boat Shed, we choose 2 mornay Oysters and half a lobster from Peter’s and then ordered crab claws from The Boatshed and ate the lot in there …..YUMMY! The choice was incredible and some fairly scary options!

This was what we chose:

This is what was available and I am sure there was much much more that I have missed:

Back to the bus, we get off at China Town which was fairly uninspiring, however the little jewel was the Chinese gardens they were gorgeous, only 12 dollars to enter. The rain eases and finally ceases enabling us to truly enjoy this lovely space.

Andrea and I didn’t do the detail and dilly dallied through the gardens and walked down under the Harbour Bridge to the Rocks, had a nice coffee/tea and headed off to the next bus stop, actually ran to catch what we thought was the next bus….duh! lots of people getting off, it was only 4.30 pm no more bus today, well all we could do was laugh! Sunday Service Oopsie!

It turned out that we were very close to Circular Quay where we glimpse of the Opera House for the first time together, very soon we have a proper view of the bridge , the opera house and the iconic skyline.

Day 2 – Bondi Beach, Rose Bay & G-Adventures Final Supper to follow.