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Kayaks and sail and Brazillian show night

2011-10-24T14:25:00.007+13:00

Today we decided we would go out in the kayaks right after breakfast. The day was already hot, just walking down the beach in the soft sand to the kayaks was tiring, then standing around waiting for our kayaks also seemed very warm. We had to don big life jacket vest that also heated us up, but once we got out on the water in the pleasant breeze it was all worth while, we paddled up and down the beach and had fun splashing each other. We had intended paddling on around the headland to see what was around the corner. The man in-charge of the kayaks said there is a golf course around the corner but it is totally out of bounds we had to stay within sight of him or he would come and tow us back to shore! So we did stay within his sight and behaved ourselves. it was great fun.

Erle decided to book a sail boat for the afternoon as he enjoys sailing, so do I but I was already sunburned enough for one day and declined to join him. I suggested that Scott might like to go out sailing with him but the two of them were going our to the Elephant park to ride the elephants. We did this for free right here at Club Med but they had missed the visit of the elephant to the complex.
This is the last day at Bintan for Scott and Rafaella, so they took the opportunity. We are going to really miss our friends they have been so much fun, it has made our holiday so much better.

I spend a lovely quiet peaceful afternoon reading in the shade of the coconut trees with cocktail in hand , I just watched as Erle sail right up to the rocks at the end of the beach, and then have the embarrassment of being towed back by the man in-charge of the equipment. He enjoyed himself apart from being towed home by the man with the jetski! He tells me the wind caught him unawares as he raced along and didn't notice how close he was to the rocks.

In the evening it was a Brazillian night on the stage for our entertainment, very colourful, noisy, energetic,and entertaining and very much Rafaella's thing, she was disappointed that she could not join in with the dancing from her homeland, but she is still in the wheelchair unable to put any weight on the ankle. We did stay on for the party afterwards and enjoyed the fireworks and more dancing and also some nice Brazillian type cocktails, yummy.

Day trip to Tanjung Uban, Bintan Island.

2011-10-09T16:28:00.012+13:00

After a lovely lazy day yesterday we were out on the beach soon after breakfast for a long swim, and looking at the coloured fish in the water swimming with us. There was a wide variety of them too. We settled down under the beach umbrellas on the sun loungers and started to read our books, but soon we heard thunder crashing around in the heavens big black clouds race over us, so we made our way in-doors just before the rain started, it seems to rain most days, but just for a short burst then the sun is out again, plus it never gets cold at all, still stays hot and humid.

We ran into Rafaella and Scott and suggested that we would hire a taxi for 4 hours and all of us head off to the larger town of Tanjung Uban to have a look around, we assured them as taxi drivers ourselves that the wheel chair would be no trouble at all, we knew how to fold them up and put them in the boot of the vehicle.
After lunch we headed off in the cab with a man said to know no English, but once again after a while of listening to us he found he did know a little and told us all he could about the things we were seeing along the way. The 4 of us had great fun when we arrived in the big town and put Rafaella back into the wheelchair and wheeled he all around the narrow streets even into the shops. We were interested in the fashion in some of them, rather different, what the local Muslim ladies wear.

I took a photo of Erle beside a delivery motorbike with its big wicker basket of goods on the back, there were many of these around.

Some of the scenery as we drove around was unsusual with strange mounds with trees a top of them, we wondered about them.

We decided we should have some genuine Satay, you know chicken on a stick and asked the driver where we could get some, he told us because of Ramadan it would be difficult to find any but he took us to a small shop and order some for us. When it was all cooked and looked so nice he told us it was Bambi! Rafaella and I, said not Bambi can't eat Bambi, so Scott said no its a much older deer, Rafaella said sort of like Bambis Mother! Erle said no it was just an old random unrelated deer, so with that settled we all ate and enjoyed the venison satay which was very special we gathered since there are no deer in Bintan. Expensive too I think, but Scott paid for them as we were paying the taxi.
The driver then showed us all the seafood restaurants built out over the water on stilts,we didn't bother going into them as we have plenty of lovely fresh seafood at Club Med.
We then asked the driver where all the people lived and where they worked.He drove us to several big buildings where clothes were sewed and motor bike were assembled and electrical appliances were made, outside each were hundred of motor cycles of the workers. He then to us to masses of compounds of two and three story building that the workers lived in, rather scruffy close together not very appealing living quarters we thought.
Rafaella took this photo and some others, as my camera had ran out of power by this stage.

Next he drove us to the Temple complex, with Chinese and Buddhist temples.
We climbed the stairs dragging the wheelchair, so we could all light some inscence in the temples and place it in the sand in a big silver drum with lions carved on the sides. We were fortunate that an elderly Chinese man showed us around and showed us what to do in the Temples. They were quite large and so open. Lots of bright red colour in the Chinese one.
There was also a big Muslim Mosque near by but we didn't go into that.
Soon it was time to head back to club Med, but on the way the kind helpful driver pulled us into a small fishing village and arranged for us to all have a coconut to drink, now we travel a lot but this was only the second time we had actually drunk coconut milk straight from the fresh coconut, and as we were thirsty we all drank the lot and enjoyed it.
In the photo you can clearly see all binding on Rafaella's ankle. and how sore it still is.
When we returned we all went to our rooms for a rest before the big evening meal, we all took cocktails back to our rooms to enjoy!
We went to the other outdoor restaurant for dinner just for a change. Erle and I were not that impressed as the meal was rather small, but it was a nice tender steak. However the setting was very special overlooking the beautiful beach, a million dollar view we all reckoned, plus a million stars overhead.
What a great day, it is amazing that the four of us get on so well together, after all Erle and I are older than their parents, we both have children older than them, but age seems completely irrelevant we all just are enjoying each others company. Wonderful, such nice people.

Our Friends accident in Bintan

2011-10-03T11:40:00.007+13:00

Rafaella's unfortunate accident.
The next morning after a lesurely lovely breakfast we strolled down to the Panorama Bar with our books for a Latte. Hadn't been there long when Scott hurried in looking very distressed and upset he told us that Rafaela had gone over on her ankle awkwardly, while playing badminton last evening and now had a very painful badly sprained ankle and was on crutches. He said they were also in a room way up on the 3rd floor at the other end of the complex, almost next to where we had been placed. he said it took him hours to carry Raf up all those stairs last night and down again this morning. He asked just how we managed to change our room. We told him how tto do so, and said should they not have a room to change them into we would change rooms with them as we are now rested and quite able to manage now.But I also said to take Raf back to the hospital and ask the lovely Doctor Olivia for a wheelchair as i remember how hard it is managing crutches, specially on stairs.
About an hour later Scott came and said they now have a wheelchair and a new room almost next to us on a ground floor. Top marks to Club Med, managed beautifully.
We decided to swim after lunch today and in the pool so we could stay sitting under the umbrellas with poor Rafaella who was in great pain and all bandaged up. We were able to watch the water aerobics all the energetic people were doing.
Later when we returned to our room, we got a lovely surprise to see a monkey on our balcony, nibbling on the crusts we put out for the squirrel. We knew there were monkeys around, but this is the first we have seen.
My camera was cold and when I got it outside it flashed with steam that is why the monkey photo looks so foggy
We still all were able to go to the evening show and have a good time, it is so much easier for Raf and all of us now she has the wheelchair to move around comfortably in.
It was nice to have a lazy relaxed day around the pool.

Pasar Oleh Oleh, Bintan, Indonesia

2011-09-30T14:43:00.016+13:00

Half day trip to Pasar Oleh Oleh with Rafaela and Scott.
After our usual big breakfast we headed down the beach for a lovely refreshing swim in the

ocean. Followed by a lesurely cocktail enjoyed under the shade of the trees, we made our way back for lunch.
After lunch we decided to take our books to the Panarama bar and sit in the sun while sipping on a cool fruit juice. When we got there we found Scott and Rafaela were also doing the same thing, so we settled down together for a quiet read and a bit of a chat. Scott said they had a taxi booked to go into the village of Pasar Oleh Oleh would we like to come along too, would we ever!
So it was a race back to our room to collect sun glasses and hats and money which we had not had to think about at all before on this holiday at Club Med as everything is already paid for.
The taxi was a nice big comfortable car with plenty of room for us all. Funny thing here in Bintan, you can not hire a car, there are no rentals to be had, sure you can get a hire car but it comes with a driver, tourists are not allowed to drive at all. So it is cheaper to just get a cab.
The cab driver didn't speak a lot of English and besides we had been told he was just a driver NOT a tour guide, he would take us where we asked but would not explain anything or offer advice. No problem to us, we were having such a great time together it was very noisy with laughter and chatter in that taxi, pretty soon the driver couldn't resist talking to us and explaining what we could about the countryside. It was only about a 20 minute drive to Pasar Oleh Oleh though a lot of mangrove swampy land with dense forest and some small cleared places, not many houses and only a few tiny village shops here and there. What we noticed was the enormous number of motor bikes and scooters everywhere hardly any cars, but I think every man and his dog must own a motor bike!
We got to the small town and the driver said he would be back to get us in an hour for the homeward journey.

Rafaela and I went straight into a souvenir shop to buy up lots of gifts for family, I liked all the colourful puppets in there for sale, many different types, but we didn't buy any of them. Scott and Erle wondered around looking at various machinery things outside amusing themselves while we ladies shopped.

Then we crossed over the road and wandered around in the pretty courtyard areas for a while.
.

We noticed this strange building and wondered whether it was a water tower or whether it was sentry box type of thing, it was the feature at the end of the short main street and sort of on guard.

Rafaela decided she just must buy a native dress as there were some lovely ones in the shops and I thought I would have a foot massage, nothing much I like better that a good foot massage. It was a young man who did the massaging, or rather he did lots of flourishing with hot towels and purfumes and lots of gentle rubs and strokes but it was not quite what I had been expecting, however it was still lovely and relaxing. He spoke quite good English so we were able to have a chat.

It is Ramadan time in Muslim places and Indonesia is very much a Muslim country so i asked him if he was observing Ramadan and he told me to my surprise that he was a Christian, and all the workers in his shop were. How nice as we also are Christian, Erle and I had a nice chat about that too. More lovely perfumes were poured upon my feet, so when I left I smelled very oriental.

Met up again with Rafaela and Scott and we all headed back in the taxi, on the way we passed a big statue to the Javanese Rhino and the driver stopped for us to take photos.
Rafaela and Scott then headed off to have a game of badminton while we went for a nice lie down with our books before dinner and another great show in the evening, Club Med is a great place.

The day of the elephant.

2011-09-14T21:06:00.005+12:00

The day of the elephant.
We read on the activities board that there was to be an Elephant coming to the resort for the day, wow, I just love to ride elephants I will be there I thought. And I was!
Right after our wonderful breakfast buffet with my specially made omelet, we headed out on to the soccer field to find the elephant. Many others specially with children had already made their way to the field so I stood in line in the hot sun with them to await my turn. When my turn finally arrived I was told the rides were really only for the children and their Mother, I was very disappointed and offered to borrow a child, in fact many offer their children to me for the ride. But in the end the Mahout agreed to allow me to ride with him by myself. So I climbed up the stairs and clamoured on to her back and had a lovely ride. The elephant was so quiet and gentle and the mahout treated her very gently too, she had no torn tattered ears from being ‘trained’, when the mahout wanted her to turn or to lift her feet on lie down, he just gave her a gentle tap with a stick with a marble on the end. So good to see the elephant was treated with kindness.
Most of the morning had drifted by as we watched the elephant so it was back to the dining room for a lovely lunch.
We took the camera down the beach with us when we went for a swim, there was a native fishing boat catching fish quite close in, near the rocky point where the fish are regularly fed, they should have got a good catch!

We really enjoy swimming in the warm clean clear waters of this bay, we often saw pretty fish swimming with us. After our swim we wandered over to the beach bar for a cocktail to drink while we watched all the other people swimming and sailing. Such a very pleasant way to pass the time. We noticed a table set up under the trees with lots of lovely snacks, set out for everyone to nibble on, all free as is everything, all the food and the drinks, it does make you indulge quite a bit more than you usually would, I have to say.
Stopped by the elephant with some grass I had plucked along the edge of the lawn and fed the elephant, she liked that and so did I as she gently lifted the grass from my hand with her trunk.
We retired to our nice cool room for a relaxing siesta and reading our books. We noticed a cute little squirrel on the balcony, it was very much smaller than I expected, hardly bigger than a large rat, with black fur and a lovely chestnut coloured tail, we decided to put some crumbs of cake out for it so I could take a photo. A really bad naughty thing to do, we are not supposed to encourage the wildlife by feeding them.
Met up with Scott and Rafaella again for cocktails before dinner and to watch the sun go down and have a great chat about nothing much; very enjoyable!
Dinner was just as good as last night, though every night there are changes to the menu all the food is so good we struggle not to make complete pigs of ourselves! Again we were dining with a couple of the staff members, they also have to watch what they eat, all of them say they have put on weight since they have been working here.
After dinner we all went to the big Show, this time it is Michael Jackson Night and very well done, moon walking right across the stage while singing and there was plenty of great dancing. All in all a great show, rather noisy but that was ok. A quick latte and off to bed.

First day Club Med Bintan.

2011-08-31T21:35:00.009+12:00

First lovely day Club Med Bintan.
After a good night sleep we both awoke bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to explore and have fun in this beautiful place. We were off down to breakfast quite early for us. I went straight over to the omelet man and made friends with him. He was making giant size omelets and cutting them into pieces for everyone to share, but I asked him to make my mushroom with a little cheese omelet just for me, and he did a nice small size just for me one. Together with hash browns and a pile of bacon that was my breakfast every morning, though I quite often added a bowl of fresh pineapple and papaya as well.
We spotted the nice young couple Scott and Rafaella at breakfast and stopped by to have a chat, we are sure to run into each other again. They had been out early for a nice run along the beach before it got too hot in the sun.
After breakfast we wandered over to the list of activities for the day and discovered there was a Nature Walk in about half an hours time, so we raced back to our room and put on some walking shoes and a hat and the camera and joined in with about a dozen other on a delightful walk through the jungle. We saw very little of interest animal wise, as we were all talking too much, but we saw some birds and a squirrel then one of the walkers found a huge monitor Lizard in a ditch so we did get a photograph of some wild life.

On the walk we stopped by the sign on the main highway and posed beside it. The temperature is so hot and humid we couldn't walk for long in the hot sun, but it was very pleasant in the jungle.

After the walk it was about lunch time so we decided to have a quick lunch then go for a lovely swim in the ocean.
Lunches, in fact all meals at Club med are hardly quite, there is just so much variety of interesting food; you can't rush the selection or the eating of it.
Afterwards we changed into swim suits and headed for the lovely white powdery sand beach, secured a sun lounger with umbrella for a bit of a laze, before we dashed across the hot sun for a great swim in the warm water, it was just lovely a great beach with gently lapping wavelets and shallow water for some distance. After the swim we wandered up to the Beach Bar and ordered ourselves a yummy cocktail to drink on our sun loungers while we read our books and watched other swimmers.
Soon we thought it would be a good idea to head back to our nice cool room for a lie down before dinner and all the entertainment we have heard about.
We actually slept as we were still jet lagged from all the traveling we did the last couple of days.
We got dressed a little for dinner apparently anything goes, but it is quite nice to dress up a bit. had a most wonderful dinner, with several staff members joining us. They encouraged us to be sure and go to the big Comedy Show that some members of the staff put on. It was so funny hardly and words were spoken it was genuine comedy and had everyone laughing. There are so many languages spoken around here a mimed comedy is the best option. it was late by time we headed back to our room.
Good first day, it is very hot here and humid, but we are going to love being here.

Our long day finally ends.

2011-08-30T14:21:00.003+12:00

Our long day finally ends.
After talking to the kind receptionist at the Club Med desk about our need to have a closer easier to get at room, like not half a mile away from everything, mainly because as I had pointed out we were ‘old and feeble’ well not quite! but certainly we were much older than 9 out of 10 of the other people staying there. We walked back to our room and took the receptionists advice, had a lovely shower and a lie down on the super king size bed, even napped a little before the phone rang, it was the nice lady from the desk offering us another closer room, would we care to come have a look at it and see if it would suit us better. Does a duck like water??
We were taken to a nice but small definitely not superior room with 2 single beds, it was on level 4 a ground floor room and close by the elevator, reception, free internet and the nice Panorama Bar in fact all of these were on the same level, couldn’t be better, we took it instantly. The big Waterfall Restaurant was just 2 floors down by the lift, we didn’t need to walk in the rain at all. A major consideration because it rains hard here on Bintan Island every day at some stage, sometimes all day!
We settled into our new room and immediately lay down for a little rest before we thought about dinner.
Dinner at the Waterfall Restaurant was quite an eye opener, except we did not have our eyes very open we were still extremely tired. The amount of food took our breath away there was sections of Indonesian, Chinese, Korean, Indian, Japanese, Italian, English food every night, plus often other countries food too. Almost too much selection to choose easily what we wanted! We were given a large table and soon 3 other people joined our table, all staff at Club Med, it surprised us that the staff dined with the guests, though we soon got to enjoy having company at meal time, this first night we were just not in the mood to make small talk, we just wanted to have a meal and get off to bad. The food was so good we enjoyed our meal immensely and a couple of glasses of wine with it.
We traipsed back to our new room and collapsed into bed about 8.30pm.

On our bed there was this wonderful doggie made out of towels to welcome us. photographed on our balcony.

Finally our longest endless day was over. We think the day lasted 35 hours, but was probably longer if the time differences were taken into account.

The Longest Endless Day

2011-08-25T21:25:00.009+12:00

The longest endless day.
Three months just flew by with volcanos in Chile spewing clouds of volcanic dust and dirt into the sky, closing airports in many countries including New Zealand, for a time it seemed we could find ourselves grounded too, but just in time the cloud dispersed and all airways were open and working again.
On the 4th August we were up early all packed and ready to go on the Ferry to Wellington, but first, at 8.30 am, we had to drive 30 km into Blenheim with our cat Porsche to put her into the Cattery for her 2 weeks holiday, and back again to Picton. Our kind neighbour drove us to the ferry with our luggage on a gloriously sunny calm day, the sailing was likely to be smooth and pleasant, which is just as well as I am not a very good sailor on the ferry as Cook Strait is a very rough stretch of water. We were so lucky the sailing was pleasant and I did not feel at all ill. We arrived in Wellington Harbour on time and so should of have plenty of time to catch the shuttle we had already paid for to the airport, by 6pm. But, the ferry suddenly stopped in the middle of the harbour and there was an announcement to tell us some other ship was berthed in the ferry dock and we had to wait til it was removed before we could get off the ship! So by the time we finally docked and got off the ferry we were told there was no way we could get to through peak hour city traffic to the airport by 6pm. As we came off the gangway Erle spotted a taxi pulling on the wharf quite a some distance away, he yelled over his shoulder, you get the luggage and I will try to get that taxi, as he ran like a hare down the wharf. How lucky was that, Erle came back with the taxi as I collected the luggage, we jumped in and told the driver, to the airport, fast as you can, we need to be there by 6pm. Taxi driver said he didn’t think he could do it but he would give it his best shot. He drove fast but competently through the traffic and got us there by 5 past 6pm, I leapt out and ran into the check-in waving the tickets, leaving Erle to pay (and tip) the driver and drag in the suitcases. We had made it with 5 mins to spare as the travel agent had added 10 mins to the time to make sure we did get there in time, bless her.
We caught the plane to Auckland then had a long wait til our flight to Kuala Lumpa which was nearly 12 hours long where there was another wait til we boarded our flight to Singapore, next we had a bus trip to the ferry terminal in the harbour, another long wait before boarding the ferry.
But we were so lucky, the lady behind the desk at check-in sort of conned us and some others into taking an Emerald Class ticket at extra cost. This proved to be wonderful as the Emerald Class lounge had free coffee and tea and soft drinks, air con, comfortable sofas and free Internet. We were able to rest up for a while. Finally the call to board the ferry, in the best seats too, the trip was as smooth and comfortable as possible, with free nibbles and drinks on board for the Emerald Class passengers. By now we had started to make friends with another nice young couple who had also come from NZ with us and were also going to Club Med, things were looking great, it is so pretty from the ferry passing all the big ships and the skyline of Singapore in the background and the first sight of Bintan was also pretty with a tiny island at the point..
There was another bus trip out to Club Med, where we were welcomed in wonderous fashion which is apparently a Club Med tradition, but one we had never seen before, all the staff were standing waiting waving and singing a welcome with cool towels and drinks waiting for us, how nice. It was now about 2.30pm local time;.... 29 hours had passed since we started out! on our journey We were so tired, almost sleep walking, we were assigned our room and a girl led us to the very most furtherest distant block of units, up 3 flights of stairs and then right around the building to the other end where we found our truly lovely superior room! We wanted to collapse on the bed, but no, the girl told us now we must go immediately to one of the restaurants that was putting on a special welcome lunch for us. The Terrace Restaurant was at the other end of the huge complex, the other most furtherest distant building, and walking about half a mile, out in the open under the extremely hot humid sun in our hot long trousers still, it’s a wonder we made it at all! The meal was very nice and revived us a little, but both Erle and I were very red in the face and hearts were racing, we were not at our best. The other couple were younger and seemed to be managing better than us but were still a bit worn. We decided we would have to do something about the vast distance between our room and the restaurant, like what if it rained; we would be saturated getting there. One or other or both of may well have a heart attack or a stroke too; so on the way back we stopped off at the reception and asked to be moved to a less distant room, in my most unraveled frazzled mode.
Because it was Club Med the receptionist ladies graciously and gently said madam you go back to your room, have a shower and and a lie down while we attempt to find you a room in our already fully booked resort
It is still only 4pm.

Where in the World is Bintan

2011-08-25T18:49:00.003+12:00

Where in the world is Bintan.
During the summer while my Husband was having his hair cut at the barbers, he overheard the man next to him talking about the wonderful holiday he had just had on Bintan Island. When Erle got home he asked me to put Bintan Island into a search engine to see just where in the world Bintan Island was.
Turns out Bintan Island is a small Indonesian Island about 20 km off the coast of Singapore, hot and humid, it has beautiful palm fringed white sand beaches and an interesting history and culture, just the type of place we love to travel. S we visited our usual travel agent and asked her to look into travel there. She told us Bintan is not a usual travel destination for New Zealanders, she herself had never been there, nor had she ever sent anyone there, but she would look into what accommodation was available and how best to get there.
About a week later the travel agent rang us and said, you wouldn’t believe it, but a flyer has just been put on my desk from Club Med Bintan. It has never happened before; the deal is for 7 nights. For us that was too short a time to go so far, so we requested to ask for a 10 days stay.
Another week went by before we heard from the travel agent again, she said Club Med had given us a very good deal for 10 nights in Club Med Bintan and one free night in Kuala Lumpa, but there were 3 conditions – firstly we had to pay for the whole trip there and then, we had to fly Air Malaysia and we had to leave on 4th August. She then surprised us by telling us all food and all drinks sports and entertainment were included in the price! Anything can happen in 3 months so we were a little anxious about paying so early, but right from the first time we heard of the Island we felt we were meant to go there, so, we just wrote a cheque out and suddenly 4th August was all on.

Singapore.

2011-08-05T16:35:00.006+12:00

The Bintan ferry waiting at the wharf for us.
We have arrived in Singapore, are now at the place the ferry leaves for Bintan Island, we have a 2 hour delay so we upgraded to Emerald Class where we get a lovely lounge to rest in with free coffee and biscuite plus free internet..... when I was able to et the kids off one of the computers, they were all playing silly games which was fine as long as they shared some time with others..... eventually they did.
Everything looks so lovely from here, can't wait to get on to the island with its white sandy beaches.

There is another couple from NZ going to Bintan Club Med with us a Brazilian lady and an English man both are very nice and I hope we get to see more of them while we are on the island. The ferry trip will only take 55 mins we are told, I shall have my camera at the ready, but will not be able to upload any pics till I get home.

Bintan Island

2011-08-03T21:44:00.004+12:00

We are leaving tomorrow for a lovely holiday on Bintan island in Indonesia. This island is not a usual tourist destination from New Zealand we only heard of the island at all by chance. My Husband overheard a man talking about Bintan while at the barbers and came home to ask me to look it up on the computer. How wonderful is Google for just that!
The island is quite close to Singapore, we are to take a ferry over to Bintan from the Singapore port. We both love sea voyages so are glad to be going to be out on the ocean for a time. it will break the 3 long air flights we have to take to get there.
For the very first time we will be staying at Club Med, I rather think it will be a real different experience that we will thoroughly enjoy. We are looking forward to some nice peaceful sailing in small yachts, swimming in warm waters, visiting the market for tropical fruit plus ofcause shopping for souvenirs.
I am sure to write up all about it when I return.

The secret to a long happy marriage. lol

2011-08-03T20:14:00.000+12:00

Particularly lovely evening sky.

2011-07-30T15:26:00.004+12:00

Do check out some other beautiful skies from around the world on this meme.

Last nights Sunset was particularly beautiful. Taken from our balcony looking over Picton Harbour.

The Third Gold Medal for Nyle.

2011-07-17T20:55:00.008+12:00

Please check out some other great posts from around the world.

My Wonderful Daughter Nyle has made it three Gold Medals for her sport of Race Walking at the World Masters Athletics in Sacramento. The Hat trick.

Here she is with her medal for the 20km walk, with her medal and the New Zealand Flag.
I warms my heart to see her huge smile of happiness.
She got a personal Best yet again 1hour 56 minutes, for walking 20 km, Amazing.
Her friend Tammy was second and got the Silver Medal
The effort exhausted her and she collapsed on the finish line, but a rest a drink and some ice and she was ready to collect her award.

Just Nyle the gold medal and the Flag,
A lovely winning photo.

A second Gold for Nyle

2011-07-13T13:02:00.005+12:00

Another Gold medal for Nyle.
Nyle won the 10km Race walk in Sacramento's World Masters Athletics games, in a time of 57mins! Her friend Tammy came second by just 32 seconds.

Nyle Racing fast to the winning line.

This link should take you to Nyle approaching the finish line with Tammy racing along behind her, not far back!

This girl is fast. I am so proud of my Daughter.

With her gold medal.

One more to go, the 20km race walk on Saturday.

Gold for Nyle.

2011-07-09T11:25:00.007+12:00

Nyle Sunderland World Champion Race Walker

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1863314224689&set=a.1141009287517.2020686.1295970344&type=1&theater
This should link you to the photo.
My Daughter Nyle ..... Champion of the 5km Race Walk at the World Masters Competitions, in Sacramento USA..

Nyle won Gold, her friend Tammy won Silver and a Russian lady got Bronze.
She won in a personal best of 27.33 mins. What a time for walking 5 km.
Nyle is wearing a silver NZ costume.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiE1cPsxEgs
The medal ceremony with the NZ National Anthem, what a moment! With sound.

2011-07-04T15:19:00.002+12:00

Just had a go at burning the house down!
I put a big pot of lovely pears on to stew for our breakfast, in my prettiest big pot, I had turned it right down but the element was still going.
Erle and I suddenly decided it was a great time to go for a walk up the hill behind us, its such a perfect day, too nice to stay inside for long, so off we went.
Discovered there has been a new walkway path made that goes a long way up the big hill, it was pretty steep and narrow but a well made path, so we just had to follow it up to great viewing point with a fine view over Picton, we lingered enjoying the said view, without a camera to record it! Then went on further till eventually the walkway came back down again and branched off in several directions, we follow one of the smaller paths till I came upon lots of big bags of potting mix! Never a good sign when your in the middle of nowhere on a small pathway! We didn’t hang around looking to see if there was a small plantation of anything there should not have been, we just turned and raced back down and off the big hill then on home.
As we got close to home we could here this loud beeping, but until we got right outside we didn’t realise it was our smoke alarm going crazy!
I ran in and very quickly knew what a stupid thing I had done; leaving a pot of stewing pears with lots of sugar on the stove- a recipe for disaster, at least for the pretty pot. The whole house was full of thick smoke only one window had been open, but we quickly rectified that, with every window wide open we soon had the smoke dispersing and the red hot pot was cooling in the sink. When I checked the pot it was to discover all the enamel had come off the base, stuck onto what once were pears in the bottom, the pot is totalled kaput, muntered, but I decided it would make a great planting pot, so next spring it will be full of pretty flowers, so all is not lost, and our house did not burn down, but none of our close neighbours seem to have heard the alarm either, which is a bit of a worry I guess, we had better not to it for real next time. Should there be a next time which I certainly hope there will not.
Proves that the smoke alarm is working and that a good thing too.
But...... is this the start of Alzheimers!!!!! certainly hope not.

Misty morning

2011-05-31T11:53:00.007+12:00

We awoke to a very misty morning, thick fog everywhere, spotted this big old oak tree with its autumn coloured leaves still on it shining through. There is a big bush covered mountain behind this tree but it can't be seen at all.

And some bare branched Birch trees too.

Thats my World for this week, do check out some more sights from this Meme.

St John's Ambulance New Shuttle Bus.

2011-05-06T10:50:00.006+12:00

St John's Ambulance have just got a wonderful new Shuttle bus to transport people to and from the Hospital in Blenheim. It will also be used to transport patients between Blenheim and Nelson Hospital for treatment.

Today is its very first day on duty, and my neighbour Pat Grieve was the very first passenger to be transported, she was taken from Picton to Blenheim for and ECG test
This vehicle will be a real asset, such a help to people like Pat who have no car or any way of getting to Blenheim hospital, there is a bus but it only goes to the railway station not the hospital.
Another wonderful thing about this Health Shuttle is that it is free, a donation is gladly accepted but there is no fixed charge!

White's bay.

2011-04-04T11:59:00.005+12:00

White's Bay

We took our caravan over to White's Bay for a short break, only 3 days but it was just so restful, very quiet and peaceful, we woke each morning to the dawn chorus of bell birds and other little birds serenading us..
There were very few others saying at the camp, mainly German tourists in camper vans, we found them very friendly enjoying their time in New Zealand, appreciating the wild remote places like this bay where only one person lives; the camp manager who comes around every evening to collect the fees.

I did a little rock climbing, which is amazing as I have a great fear of heights, the idea was to have my photo taken on the big rock, but then I found I just blended into the rock since I was wearing very pale clothes.
Also did some bird watching just the sort of activity to do when your not feeling very active.
Did manage to catch an Oyster Catcher wandering alone the waters edge. Because it is mainly black it is the Variable oyster Catcher.

Walked around a nice bush walk over a small hill to the opposite end of the bay to get the almost full halfmoon shape of the bay. While we were around here a lady arrived covered all over in tatoos, we were looking at them while she peeled off all her clothes and proudly walked into the ocean as nature intended, just like a mermaid. leaving my Husband and I gaping!!!! Seemed like a good time to leave - to me anyway.
You can see the Life guard building which has recently been renovated, its a very nice building now and available to hire, should you wish to sleep 10 people in bunks in one big room, not for me thank you.

Found a big Karaka tree ( a native NZ Tree) growing in the camp and was surprised to see it with a great crop of big orange berries, which are deadly poisonous in the natural state, but the Maori people do eat them if they are soaked for days then scraped of all the flesh, inside is a big stone with a delicious kernal which I think has to be cooked to be enjoyed safely. Have not tried them myself. I do hope children keep well away from the berries.

2011-03-31T21:36:00.001+13:00

We are home again over night then back in the caravan again. We are going to use it as a base for Mum's garage sale, because we have emptied her home so can't really do much in the empty house, though there is still electricity to run the caravan.

Erle and I will sleep over at mums in the caravan to protect all the gear we have got ready for selling at the garage sale. It will be all go from about 6am in the morning! Fortunately my Brother and Sister will be helping too.

Already the 3 wonderful relaxing days at White's Bay seem ages ago! Might have to do it all again!

2011-03-28T21:25:00.000+13:00

After working all day, helping to clear out my Mother's home, move her into her lovely new apartment, and prepare for a big garage sale on Saturday, came home exhausted and needing a few days relaxation.
Sooooo......
We are off in the caravan tomorrow morning, the weathers good and we are free for a 3 days so we are off! Would stay away longer but for the need to return to assist at the garage sale.

Christchurch three weeks later.

2011-03-10T13:44:00.003+13:00

I was asked how things were in Christchurch after the major earthquake Feb, on 22nd.
Things are not really good there, aftershocks continue, there is talk of moving whole suburbs away to a new location! As many as 10,000 homes have been badly damaged, most of central Christchurch business are too and may never re open. Death toll is about 200, not all can be identified, many are foreign nationals, mainly Japanese children who were in a language school.
Electric power has been restored to most of the city, but, water and sewerage has not been restored, thousands are using portable toilets, and living in tent villages, fine for now but won't be so fine in winter.

One bit of good news; there were no bodies found in the Cathedral, it was thought 20 people would be found there, but it is a minor miracle is that no one died in Gods House. But it. is so badly damaged it may have to be demolished and replaced entirely.
Another wonderful thing is that a gentleman in England has donated many millions of dollars to rebuild!
Thanks everyone for your kind thoughts.

Mother's 90th Birthday Party

2011-03-07T18:17:00.012+13:00

Mums 90th Birthday Party.

Mum decided to celebrate her birthday in style; she hired a great venue for the afternoon and invited 50 of her friends and all her family except for Shakara her 2nd Grand daughter who is living and working in Cairns Australia.
With all of my family in the one room, bearing in mind the devastating earthquake only two weeks ago ( some of the family were in it, but are safe) with death toll and survivors stories still ringing in my ears, also, realizing none of us have a guaranteed tomorrow, I took advantage of the opportunity to seek out every single family member to give them all a big hug and let them know I cared. Mum was doing the same as it was her big day.

There was a soloist clarinet player Gaven who played her favourite tune, 'Stranger on the shore' it sounded lovely. Then a gentleman sang several tunes from shows mum enjoys, and an old song, 'I'll walk beside you', finally a pianist played ' Have I told you lately that I love you', at my request, this is the song that Dad used to sing to Mum frequently, I knew it would probably bring a tear to her eyes and I was not wrong, in fact it did the same to many of us.

Mum then cut the cake, made by our sister=in-law Jan, she also iced it beautifully with red roses she had also made.
Rochelle another grand daughter put on a fantastic powerpoint slideshow of Mum's life, made from snapshots gathered from all the family and purloined from Mums own albums. She was so surprised and delighted by this. All of us were amazed just who had some of the photos we had never seen before.

We took advantage of the fanily gathering to take another 5 generation photo of the all first born females. Katie-May is now 3 years old, cute and lively, and soon to have a small brother or sister.

I neglected to take any photos of all Mums old friends! Sorry about that.
We all had a glass of Marlborough's finest white wine, and a sumptuous afternoon tea, plus lots of fun and laughter and noisy catch-up chats. Aren't families just so special.

I proudly took a couple of my family photos as well. Nyle and Teagan and Nyle and Kayne
Finally I got a shot of Mum with her young best friend Arther whom she calls her surrogate grandson. An a amazing friendship that keeps her young.
That is My World for this week, check out some other peoples worlds on this Meme.

The moment the earthquake hit Christchurch

2011-03-02T11:46:00.001+13:00

The moment the earthquake hit, taken from the port hills overlooking Christchurch City.

To make a donation.

2011-02-28T10:39:00.002+13:00

http://www.christchurchearthquakeappeal.govt.nz/

To make a donation to help the people of Christchurch in the rebuilding of their beautiful city, just click on this link, it is the Official Appeal link.
Should you be able to assist those devastated by the major earthquake that destroyed the city and the lives of these unfortunate people who have lost everything, please do so.
Any country any currency. Thank you so very much.

Earthquake.

2011-02-24T10:22:00.005+13:00

Christchurch Earthquake.
The major earthquake that hit Christchurch and devastated the city, many are dead more are still missing in the rubble of destroyed buildings, including the beautiful old Cathedral, there is no power or telephone or gas or water but help has come from around the world to assist, our military personal are all helping along with volunteers .
I personally and all my family are safe and unharmed. We live 300 km away from Christchurch and didn't even feel the vibrations, but we are feeling very depressed and upset at all the suffering.
Thank you for all your thoughts and prayers for our country. Christchurch will never be the same again.

Mikhail Lermontov

2011-02-16T16:56:00.003+13:00

The Mikhail Lermontov a huge Russian cruise liner hit rocks and sank in Marlborough Sounds 25 years ago today. The Harbour Master piloted the ship between the rocks at Cape Jackson, it hit the rocks and gouged a deep 12 metre gash in the side. The ship sank very quickly in the deep waters of Port Gore. amazingly with only the loss of one life, that of a crew member, all the aged passengers got off the ship safely.
The ship still lies in 33 metres of water, on its side, it is a haven for divers, a popular tourist attraction.
Only this Lifeboat remains, as a memorial to the ship in Picton.

Wonderful evening at our place.

2011-02-10T14:31:00.001+13:00

A lovely warm, calm summers evening in Picton, from our balcony.

Pinedale Camp Wakamarina River Valley

2011-02-06T16:04:00.009+13:00

My World for this week. Do check out some of the other wonderful posts from around the world, on this Meme.
We had a few days spare so we decided to hook the caravan on behind us and head away for those lovely 4 days. We first had to drop Porsche cat off at her Cattery, she is looked after well there but she would rather not be going anywhere in the car, so it is quite traumatic for her.
Then we stopped off at buy some supplies as we only decided to go last night, just spur of the moment, the best way to go for a short break we think.

Then we headed up to Canvastown where there had been devastating floods only a few weeks ago, we were hardly prepared for the mess there was left by the river flooding - right through the local Pub and many houses along the river, most is cleared and repaired now but we could see how bad it had been as we drove past up to the Pinedale Camp. he road had been washed out in some places, but was drivable now fortunately. There been a lot of hard work getting the road usable again.
We settled in under a nice shady tree in a good place that gets the morning sun and the afternoon shade, as it is the hottest part of the year for us afternoon shade is vital in temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius and higher.

There is a huge Totara tree in front of the amenities block that the birds all like, in the morning the dawn chorus was quite deafening, but lovely and melodic with the Bellbirds and Tuis singing to us.
We spent a lot of time down by the river, panning for gold now and again, not at all successfully I am afraid, but we tried. Many others did quite well and showed us all the gold they had managed to pan from the river bank, some had quite big chunks of gold worth quite a bit..Still it was fun messing around trying to find some.

Erle took my photo standing up on the bank of the peaceful stream that turned into a raging torrent not so long ago, where I was standing the flood waters were 6 feet deep over my head as shown by all the debris stuck up in trees! Amazing. The camp is on higher ground and was not flooded. We recon the water must of been about 50 feet deep as it roared down the river.

The whole area was alive with big Bumble bees, flying everywhere and buzzing around us as we did anything, I got bitten or stung under my arm in a very tender spot while I was doing a crossword in the shade of the Birch trees, then later I was got again my another Bumble bee on my forearm, same arm so I had 2 patches of itchiness! There were Sandflies too but we had repelent for them and were not bothered by them much.
We didn't swim as the river was very cold but we did paddle around in it. We took some nice bush strolls too, I saw this pretty native plant covered in bright blue berries, the berries are not attractive to the birds so are probably a bit poisonous.

We enjoyed a lovely relaxing few days and didn't want to return to civilization very much. The people in the camp were very freindly mostly foreign, like Danish, German, English, Dutch, but a few Kiwis too.
Porsche was pleased to see us back.

Picton Maritime Festival 2011

2011-01-22T20:52:00.009+13:00

Picton Maritime Festival

Picton Maritime festival unfortunately struck a very cold windy drizzly day, the weather was not kind, people stayed away in droves, but we went and enjoyed a lovely lunch on the foreshore with lots of others. We chose the Thai food stall and the food was delicious, we also sampled the King Salmon stirfry with noodles, also yummy, there were plenty of other interesting food on offer as well..
Met up with a couple of friends from Church, Noeline and Karen, always nice to find friends at these events to chat and laugh with.

Bought a few odds and ends at the small stalls along the road, and watched a rather chilling display put on by the Fire Service and the Ambulance Service, with an old car accident mockup with 2 victims that required the Jaws-of-life to cut them free.

Saw Captain Cook sitting motionless on the Foreshore, a gentleman sits there and slowly moves a little looking exactly like a statue.
The marine boating events were mainly cancelled by the weather. As this festival is totally free, except for food it is very sad that the weather and the crowd did not come to the party.

There was a big area set aside specially for the children with face painting and clowns among other entertainments. We liked the stiltwalkers that roamed around the small crowd.

A most unusual form of entertainment was the walking -on-water game where children were zipped into a big bubble and then were able to walk on water within a large pool, it looked such fun and it was free.
Later the music and dancing went on into the night, before there was a lovely fireworks display put on by the inter-islander Ferry Company, my poor photos do not do justice to the colourful noisy display!

Thats my world for this week.

Unfortunate incident in Marina

2011-01-21T11:26:00.004+13:00

This big launch has met with a mishap in the marina. During the night a mooring rope broke and allowed this big launch to slip in under the walkway within the Picton Marina, slowly the tide came back in trapping the bow beneath the walkway which is not a floating walkway, it is in the older part of the Marina.

The stern of the boat is now sticking up out of the water and bow is under water, soon the sea will flood into the launch if it is not rescued. Hopefully the tide will turn and go back out again before that happens. The walkway has also been lifted about half a metre too.
It is an overcast drizzly day and quite cold for a summers day, not a nice day for the owner to find his flooded launch sinking at his safe mooring within the Marina.
Eventually the tide did turn and the boat was ok, it didn't actually sink.
All of this unfolded right in front of our house, so we had a grandstand view.

Gifkins and Sons Steam Traction Truck

2011-01-12T20:41:00.004+13:00

W.M Gifkins and Sons Steam Traction Truck, from Harpington about 1910 by my Husband Erle's Grandfather. A very rare model.

This special traction truck was used by the familys Wool Scour Business in Mount Somers, Mid Canterbury, New Zealand.

Golden Hills

2011-01-11T16:02:00.005+13:00

The golden Broom covered hills of the Conway river valley near Kaikoura.
In the Springtime and early Summer these Hills are glowing with golden Broom flowers.
Broom is a weed plant in new Zealand it grows everywhere and seeds in profusion covering whole hillsides for miles. it is very pretty to drive through and there is a strong perfume too. Broom is marginally better than Gorse which also has pretty yellow flowers, but also has nasty thorns, Broom doesn't have any thorns and Sheep will eat it a little,

Christmas visitors at our house

2010-12-26T17:19:00.006+13:00

My Mother came to Christmas Dinner with us, we had a lovely meal,enjoyed a glass of wine, exchanged gifts.
Here Mother is unwrapping one of her presents.

My Daughter Nyle, brought my Great Granddaughter over on Boxing Day to spend the afternoon with us. Such a pleasure to have her at our home.

Our little Burmese Cat Porsche, received her present in bed. She played for ages with it before carrying it all though the house. She was even brought the toy to Katie to play with.

Merry Christmas.

2010-12-25T20:49:00.002+13:00

Ho Ho Ho. Merry Christmas. I wish you peace and joy and family around
you during the Festive Season.
Don't forget the Reason for the Season ....... Christ

Marlborough Sounds blue on blue.

2010-12-17T10:39:00.005+13:00

Blue on Blue in the Marlborough Sounds an a lovely calm sunny day. This a wind swept head land of the Outer Sounds, not much grows on these cliffs, but it is farm land, a few sheep find a living on there.

Cape Jackson Lighthouse

2010-12-10T21:39:00.005+13:00

Sky Watch for this week, please check out other posts of sky from around the world.

Cape Jackson Lighthouse beacon. It is situated in the open ocean off Cape Jackson, set on a small platform of rock, quite some distance from the Cape, where there is a second small light house. The sea is usually rough at this point being a convergance of ocean currents but this day it was a calm sea and a light breeze we found when we stopped off to fish over the reef between the lighthouse and the Cape. About 25 years ago a huge Russian Cruise ship hit these rocks and sank in the bay just around from here, with the loss of one person amazingly all the elderly passenger were lifted off to safety before it sank. Lots of little boats went to the aid of the people and did a wonderful job saving all but the one man who was an engine worker.

Ship's Cove Picnic.

2010-12-07T14:38:00.015+13:00

Ship's Cove Picnic with Bob and Jan.
After we had trawled for the scallops and done a bit of fishing, ( in the previous post) we called into Ship's Cove for a nice picnic lunch.
Ship's Cove is where Captain Cook who is credited with discovering the Marlborough Sounds and most of New Zealand really, he came into this quiet bay to beach his boat and clean off the barnacles that had attached during his long sea journey here. he also brewed up a type of beer from a native New Zealand tree, Manuka tree leaves to fend off the scurvy illness that troubled all the sailors on long sea voyages, and the brew worked.

There are lots of memorial signs set up on the shore to commemorate his visit to the bay.

Plus a big monument. with a set of canons from his ship the Endeavor.

We set out our food and wine in the sunshine on a special table shaped like a canoe sort of and ate our filled rolls and fruit and drank our wine, toasting old Captain Cook while we drank.

Then we had a little wander around looking at the Whare/shelter shed and the Maori bridge
A Whare is the traditional Maori name for house.
across the small creek with its carved posts.

There was a big Maori totem pole to examine too. it tells a story if you can read the carving, which I can not.

This bay is where the Marlborough Sounds Walkway starts that thousands of tourist walk every summer to admire the fantastic scenery and the lifestyle of the sounds people.
Soon it was time to race down the sounds in Bob's boat,for home to get back before the sun went down.

What a fabulous day we all had, must do it again soon.
That is My World for this week, please have a look at many other glimpses into other peoples worlds on this Meme.

Scalloping in Marlborough Sounds.

2010-12-03T14:03:00.013+13:00

Scalloping with my Brother, Bob, and Sister-in-law Jan and Erle.

Bob is very comfortable Skippering his boat, Jan is all ready for the picnic.

A few weeks ago when the season had not long opened my Brother Bob rang and asked us out for the day in his boat to do a bit of scallop dredging and some rod fishing, plus a picnic on the shore.
Wow we could hardly wait for them to arrive, it was such a lovely day all over blue sky, sunshiny and calm seas, there was no wind either, making it a wonderful smooth ride.

We had a lovely cruise down the sounds to the outer sounds near Ship's Cove. Bob rigged up the dredge and we made a couple of sweeps but the dredge kept lifting and letting all the scallops go, so he dragged it in and set about making adjustments to realign it with the oceans bottom, he is a mechanic and good at these kind of things. We dropped it again and made a quick sweep, lifted the dredge to test whether it was working and found a heap of wonderful big scallops, so it was back to dragging the dredge back an forth across the bay till we had about 100 scallops, not the full quota allowed but plenty enough for us four.
We did an hour or so of rod fishing but it wasn't our day for fish we got masses of bites but no fish big enough to keep, so we headed back to Ship's Cove for a picnic., thats Bob's boat tied to the wharf at Ship's Cove.
Back home we shucked all the scallops and had a big meal of wonderful sweet scallops.

Sun Kissed Sky.

2010-11-26T15:47:00.002+13:00

Sun kissed sky over Picton.
Enjoy hundreds of other wonderful views of the sky worldwide on this Meme.

on the wings of a Dove.

2010-11-12T17:01:00.002+13:00

He sends down His love on the wings of a snow white Dove
Taken at Goose Bay Kaikoura New Zealand.

Engagement and 21st birthday party

2010-11-08T20:19:00.007+13:00

My World for this week.
It is years since we have been to a 21st Birthday Party, often now young people celebrate their 20th or even their 18th Birthday instead of the old way of getting the key of the door at 21. But Amanda who is living and working in Australia chose to come home to her parents house for her 21st and to combine it with another wonderful event, her engagement to Daniel - Erle's grandson, who is also living and working in Australia.
We hadn't seen either of them for quite some time so it was nice to see them both again and catch up with them and help celebrate in grand home style their big events, As it was held in Rangiora it meant most of us had to travel down so it was a great opportunity to have a nice long weekend away for us and many of the others.

There were masses of friends and relations of all ages at the house inside and outside. A big barbecue meal was prepared by Amanda's Father, and he made a great job of it, no charred chops and half raw chicken! Everything was cooked to perfection, rather more than we were able to manage to devour, but we all made a valiant attempt.
Amanda's Mum had been very busy baking and preparing all the food.

We watched the young ones down some 'shots' which we had never done and decided we didn't want to, but we did have a tiny taste of the strong liquor they were downing with the salt and lemon, with the loud toasts to the couple.
I wouldn't want their hangovers tomorrow!
.

Afterward there was lots of fireworks let off to make the day.

Feathers in the sky

2010-10-29T18:50:00.005+13:00

Our Final day in Rarotonga

2010-10-18T21:55:00.001+13:00

Our final lovely day in Paradise.
After our usual lovely breakfasted up our picnic gear and our swimming gear, packed it all into the convertible and headed out for the day. We had seen a Tropical gardens Café as we drove along the coast road, so today we just stopped and went in for a coffee, we didn’t bother with a muffin even though they looked delicious, but we had not long finished our breakfast, so settled for just the coffee. To get to the little Café we had to walk in through part of the gardens, over a rustic bridge where there were masses of colourful fish swimming in the creek/pond. This was a man made pond, apparently this land was once just a swamp, and the couple worked really hard to drain the land and grow all the great plants.
There was a nice welcome water feature with Hibiscus flowers floating in i t.
Near the table we sat at was an old native out-rigger canoe. Which I had to photograph, while I did so the owners offered to take a photo of us both enjoying our coffee.

While driving on the inland road we discovered a Prison, so even in Paradise there is crime. But the prison is quite small and didn't look very high security.

We wandered around for a while then left to find a great picnic place, at Avo harbour, we watched a small fishing boat come in and then set about cleaning and filleting a big Tuna fish, we were surprised how dark red the flesh was, this is not a fish that is caught around the area we live in. The locals trawl for these fish, just outside the reef.
We sat on the grass in the sun and enjoyed our picnic and watched the boats on the lagoon, before driving further along the coast for a swim and snorkel among the little fish and coral.
Drove back to the Resort and quickly had another nice swim, while in the sea I was amazed to spot what looked like a black and white checkerboard like sea snake! It was quite close to the shore too, so I alerted the families with small children to move away from the ‘snake’ and told the activities men about it. They were certain it must be a conger eel, which is a blotchy brown and white colour, oh no that was not what it looked like at all. They tried to tell us that it couldn’t be a snake, but a man came over to me and whispered that there was indeed some sea snakes around Rarotonga but they were not at all aggressive and wouldn’t harm anyone unless in danger themselves, but he said they were very venomous and best left alone.
We decided a quick dip in the pool would be good after that.
For our last night we decided to have a good meal at the resort, we have mostly avoided expensive meals, but as a grand finale it was wonderful, well cooked well served, after we had enjoyed a wonderful cocktail watching the sun go down.
I got my very best heavenly sunset photos at this time. It hardly look real, but, it and all of my photos are completely untouched.
Tomorrow morn early we will be picked up and taken to the airport and we shall leave for home, taking lovely memories with us and the knowledge that we will return.

Rarotongan Tropical Storm

2010-10-16T21:14:00.005+13:00

There was a big storm while we were in Rarotonga, black clouds were gathering in the evening, making quite a pretty but dark sunset, and a dark moon rose and seemed to fly through the sky. Because the clouds were moving quickly.
In the morning we awoke to the sound of water pouring, We were on the ground floor of a 3 story building so couldn't hear rain on the roof, but we could hear the rain water pouring over the overflowing gutters! We could also hear the thrashing around of the coconut fronds in the strong winds and the heavy pounding and crashing as the big waves smashing into the outer reef then went right over the top of the reef and crashed onto the sandy beach. Soon most of the lovely sand was washed off the beach into the lagoon. The storm lasted most of the day and the sun made no appearances so it was quick dark all day.
A good night to have room service and dine in our room, far too wet and windy to go outside for us. Pity the poor waiters that had to go out in it to deliver our meals.
But by next day it was all clear again, though it took a few days longer for the ocean to calm down again.
We were pleased to hear the locals say the sand would all come back again.

Wigmore's Waterfall.

2010-10-11T17:32:00.008+13:00

Wigmore’s Waterfall Adventure
Today we thought we would go inland to see the Waterfall at Rarotonga.
Turned off the good main road onto a smaller back road going towards the mountains, passed by the old ruins of Sheridan Hotel that was very nearly built when some problem developed and the building work all ceased and has stayed ceased, the tropical jungle growth is gradually taking over the complex. Which is really huge many big buildings just left to rot away.

A big black rooster led us down narrow unsealed lanes.

Passed the tethered piggy growing fat for Christmas maybe.

Passed by many small island farms like this one with their field of taro, passed on by the banana plantation, and pretty soon we were there at the pretty waterfall where children were swimming. It was lovely and cool up here so we unpacked our picnic and enjoyed lunch on the big picnic tables.
Then I spent a pleasant half hour plucking pretty wild flowers and laying them out in a pleasing design, for a photograph, many others also snapped the arrangement. I had just finished flower arranging when a motor cycle policeman drive in to the picnic area, he stopped for a nice chat and warned us to be very careful to lock up both our vehicle and also our resort apartment, he told us there had been a lot of petty criminal activity recently and that we needed to be vigilant and not leave thing in the car in plain sight. We are very careful anyway, but we took note of his words. I asked him if he was going to arrest me for picking the flowers, but he thought not at this time. Just then another motorcycle roared into the carpark, the young chap on the cycle, seeing the Police jumped off his cycle and hastily scaled the rock face by the waterfall and vanished into the jungle, with the Policeman in hot pursuit. I doubt the man will get away because his cycle is still there and the police noted the number plate! We had left before either of them emerged from the jungle.
The waterfall is so lovely.

Night Market.

2010-10-04T17:38:00.005+13:00

Another lovely day in the Paradise that is Rarotonga.
We headed first into Avarua, the main township, as we had decided we would try to buy a small electric frypan, we don’t have one at home so we could use it here and just take it home after our holiday. But we searched the only shops likely to stock such goods to no avail then went round the back streets to check out a big warehouse, but they too only stocked large economy size frypans for extra big families, so we decided to give that idea a miss. Besides we heard while in town that there would be a night market at Punanga Nui for the next three evening to see if folk were interested in evening shopping, so we decided we would head there tonight.
While in town I spotted a group of young people with a stall for Year of Youth, they were making t-shirts or rather the design on them with a lino cut block and a roller of ink, rather like school kids make, so I decided to have a go. Paid my donation and was given the biggest t-shirt they could find and I went to work with the ink roller and made a prize mess of it really but I was pleased except it was too black. My wish for it to be less black was granted as soon as we got back to Edgewater Resort as the activity of the day was making coloured patterns on sarongs, so I got the nice man to spray just a little blue dye onto my black pattern; improving it mightily, I may even wear it sometime now.
.As we drove back we passed a garage sale sign that I couldn’t resist. In we went to a private house selling masses of good stuff and some junk. I bought a lovely butterfly shaped necklace set in gold with dingle dangles, that I wondered a lot about; where it came from. How it got here etc for only $3.00 and another sarong for only $2.00 we plan to use it as a table cloth when we return home. Bargains!
Erle spent his time talking to the man of the house about land on the Island. Apparently it is all tribally owned, he was born on the island and had an island grandmother so was allowed to own his piece of island, he had built many houses upon it for family members.
As usual we gathered up the picnic food and headed off to another lovely beach for a few hours, swimming and wandering alone the sea shore, and eating ofcause.
An enjoyable, lazy way to pass the time away, in the sun.
In the evening we were off to the Big Game Fishing club for a nice glass of cool wine at the end of the day, we didn’t stay long as we had the night market to go to.
But while there, I had the pleasure of meeting up with a girl friend that went out of my life more than 30 years ago. When we recognized each other she took off the lovely Gardenia Lei she had around her neck and placed it over my head and we gave each other a big hug, then set about filling each other in about our lives in the interum, which was very interesting to me because this lady had walked out of her home and left her husband and 2 children. One of the children was very severely handicapped both physically and mentally. She told me that one day she looked at the baby son and thought he too was developing as the older child, and just knew she couldn't go through it all again, so just called her Husband and ordered him home from work and simply walked out; walked out of all our lives, never ever to be heard of again. I now know she drifted wild and free for a time then eventually found herself in a tiny remote coal-mining town on the West Coast of South island, ironically a town I wrote a blog about while we were caravaning earlier in the year.
It was hard to leave but we knew had to make it to the market, so we said goodbye and most likely won't see each other again. I tried 3 times to take her photo with my 100% reliable camera and 3 times it refused to take the photo, so finally she took my photo with Erle under the old Fisherman sign, with the gardenia lei around my neck.
Didn’t buy anything much at the market, except coconut toffee that we really enjoy and our meal for the night. There was a huge crowd so I think these night markets will continue. A lady was selling Oyster stew made from the big fat oysters that are used to grow the black pearls. These Oysters are nothing like the ones that we buy at home from Bluff, ours are smaller and have white flesh, these are smooth shelled and quite large with a much darker fish inside.
At home we love oysters, ususally deep fried in batter, so we chose this for our meal, it came with a big dish of steamed rice, we quickly drove home and shared out this delicious meal with some crispy bread we had leftover from the picnic. It was so delicious we could have eaten more, but halfway through my bowl I bit into something hard, very hard, in fact in actually chipped a small piece off my tooth! It was a small black pearl, wow a free pearl in my meal, it was worth the chip on my tooth, but just what I am going to do with this small pearl I have no idea, but it is going home with me.
A bit of a bonus. You can see the small pearl at top of the necklace photo.

Lazy Day of Fun in Rarotonga

2010-09-27T15:05:00.007+13:00

Lazy day in Rarotonga
While we were feeding the fish in the lagoon at Edgewater, we were told of how there have been fish fed for many years at the Rarotongan Beach Resort and Spa, so we thought we might go visit the big Rarotongan during the morning. In preparation we gathered up some of the bread crusts from the breakfast buffet for the fish and some small cup cake/muffins for us to nibble on.
The Rarotongan is about 15 minutes drive away from our resort, a pleasant journey along the coast or slightly longer if you drive along the inland road, through the countryside and all the small farms and gardens.
We arrived at the Rarotongan, and just walked ion as if we were residents straight though the dining room and out onto the balcony which is built out over the water so the fish can swim beneath it and hide waiting for their feast of bread to be thrown to them. We hurled some bread in and other people who had biscuits to feed them tossed their offerings, all at once the sea just boiled with thee threshing of all the really big fish all determined to be the one to get the food, they fought over the scraps even. These fish were a different variety to the smaller fish we had been feeding at Edgewater, and very much bigger since this part of the lagoon has been a reserve and fish sanctuary for a long time and the fish have been able to grow to full size. One day the fish at Edgewater might well grow nearly as big, but I wouldn’t like to be in swimming with them then!

We drove on along the coast road looking for a nice spot for a picnic, we had bought a long cheese roll to fill with lettuce, tomatoes and ham and a local banana Pickle, along with a banana each and a bag of the cup cake/muffins and a bottle of water. But as we drove along we passed a private home with a small sign at the gate advertising Choc Mousse, trifle and Pineapple Pie. We couldn’t resist the Pineapple pie, so we stopped and were about to go through the gate when a lovely lady ran out and welcomed us to her property with a big hug and a kiss on each cheek. She drew us inside to proudly show us the Pineapple pie. It was so delicious looking we just had to buy some; half was all we could reasonable expect to be able to eat, as it was quite large and covered with big piles of golden meringue on top of the pineapple custardy mixture in a pastry case. Only cost us $9 for this wonder creation, which we could hardly wait to eat, once we found a good picnic spot, it got us all sticky with juice that dribbled down our chins and arms, but we just loved it. Had to go for a quick swim to wash off the stickiness! And use up some of those excess calories!
There was a native out-rigger canoe sitting on the shore, we would have loved to have pushed this out into the water and had a spin around the lagoon, but we didn’t do anything as naughty as that. I sat in it for a moment and Erle took my photo, or was it the photo of the convertible! If you enlarge the photo you can see an white aura around my head, amazing, or is it the spirit of the owner of the canoe? The native people frequently where a ring of flowers on their head, both men and women, it looks so nice, but I was not wearing any flowers on my head at that time, later Erle gave me a flower for my hair but that was back at the apartment.(It was surprise to see this when we got home.)

Later when we got back to our room we sat out on the balcony in the sun,with a glass of wine, and wrote up lots of postcards to all our friends encouraging them all to come to this fabulous holiday destination.
Tonight there is a crab race held beside the swimming pool, we were surprised how many holidaymakers turned out to watch and bet on the poor Hermit crabs. You could only bet $2 on the race and it was winner takes all. A big bucket of Hermit crabs was brought out, everyone was numbered and ready to race. When the bucket was overturned onto a dish and pretty soon a few leapt out of the dish and headed of in all directions quite fast too, one of them much faster and soon a winner was declared. A happy winning punter beamed as he took his winnings but the hapless crab was put back into the bucket for the next race!
The races were interrupted from time to time by a call of “Whales” when everyone quickly turned and gazed out to sea, crab race forgotten, to catch the slow graceful arch of the whale back and tail flip before it dived under water again.
There was a couple of young girls watching with a huge bucket size glass of a extremely heady cocktail, I asked them about it and was told each of them had cost $50 and probable had nearly a bottle of mixed alcohol in it. A suggested that they take all night to drink it,, I asked to photograph one of the glasses. Doesn’t that look nice!
We then drove our cute little convertible to the Big Game Fishing Club for our nightly round of drinks and fresh fish and chips, with Prawn twisters, prawns wrapped in a pastry case formed into a long thin twist, absolutely yummy when dipped into chilli sauce.
I would have liked to have had a big cocktail but it looked like just too much for me. Isn't it a beauty!

Our wheels in Rarotonga

2010-09-20T14:36:00.009+12:00

Our Wheels in Rarotonga.
We got the phone number of a rental firm that hired the 3 wheel scooter/cycles and tried phoning them, but unfortunately we didn’t know you had to dial 9 for an outside line! So some poor person in Unit 225 got an early morning wake up call on Monday morning…. Oops. Finally got the right firm and they sent a car to pick us up. They showed us these weird 3 wheel scooter things, they have two halves, the base that stays solid on the ground and a top section that sways and wiggles from side to side, the man said it was quite difficult to master.

Erle has ridden motorbikes most of his life so he thought he would be able to control this strange vehicle, so hopped on it and wobbled wildly from side to side before he gingerly moved slowly forward with the bike swaying every which way, before he had time to get it under control it wobbled right into the side of a truck! He wasn’t hurt as he was hardly moving, just knocked a little piece of paint off and dented his pride a little. Erle said it was the oddest feeling, but he would of got used to it pretty soon, however I said to the owners, put that oddity away and bring out a nice convertible! Neither of us had ever had the luxury of a drive in a convertible, with the wind in our hair and all that.
We drove away with big grins all over our faces with that said wind blowing our hair around, an excellent deal, we are going to enjoy driving this, or rather Erle is, I didn’t buy my license over here so must not drive.

We took it straight back to our apartment, picked up our picnic lunch salads, buns and drinks and also our snorkeling gear., Off we went to Muri Beach, where we wanted to have our accommodation and couldn’t. Ah its so pretty round that way the beach is lovely and the small islands keep it nice and sheltered from the breezes, we checked out as many places as we could before settling on a nice private beach.

Erle could hardly wait to get his hands under the bonnet and tinker with the engine!

We saw this quite rude show-off, big carving while we were looking around.
We laid out our picnic on our big swimming towels and were just about to eat when 2 scooters and another car pulled in to the same nice private beach and preceded to also have a picnic or change to go snorkelling. Not a problem really, with so very many travelers staying on the island there is probably no where you can be alone for long. We lazed on the beach in the sun for a while before moving to a different cove to try out the snorkelling, we found there were less fish but prettier coral in the bay we chose, so there are differences as you move around the island. Each place is good but some are clearly superior.

We had been told to be sure to go out to the Big Game Fishing Club while we were here, so tonight seemed a very good time. The Fishing Club is about on the opposite side of the island from where we are at Edgewater, but that’s not a problem when you have a car. Now that we have been there we have to also say it is a great place to go for an evening drink, the prices are very reasonable, especially during happy hour, and there are lots of locals drinking here, its great to have a chance to chat with them, and hear tales of life in earlier times, specially the fishing trips. There is also a fantastic restaurant built in an old beached boat, The Flying Boat, they really do make the best freshest Fish and chips with salad, this is also very reasonably priced, I am sure we will be visiting here frequently while we are on Rarotonga. This place suits us perfectly on a warm balmy evening, we watched the sun go down as we ate and drank our wine and enjoyed our fish in crispy batter.
Be sure to check out lots of other interesting places around the world from My World Meme.
Sorry we did not take a photo of the strange scooter.

Update on the Earthquake at Christchurch.

2010-09-15T15:38:00.002+12:00

We had such a devastating shock to see one of our prettiest cities virtually destroyed, by the huge earthquake, it kind of put me off posting frivolous things for a while. Things are still very bad in Christchurch, the state of emergency is still in place, but some schools have reopened and the worst destruction has been bulldozed down, ie mostly beautiful, iconic, historic buildings, the huge deep cracks in the road have been sort of filled in a bit and the deep volcanic silty mud that came out of the ground as sand volcano's, is being shovelled up slowly, soon life will be back to a semblance of normality.
Fortunately I was not involved at all but my daughter is still shaken up about it, and Christchurch people are still feeling multi earthquakes everyday of varying strengths, make me glad I don't live any closer. All we have been able to do is send parcels of food to feed those that have been displaced from their homes and money to help with repairs plus prayers for all of them. Thank Goodness there were no fatalities.

Market Day Rarotonga

2010-09-15T09:21:00.002+12:00

Punanga Nui Market Day.
Today is Saturday, the big Punanga Nui Market Day in Avarau the main township on Rarotonga, so we were up reasonably early fed the fish in the lagoon breakfasted and went to catch the bus to Town. When we got to the reception area where the bus stops we saw two men with a very long extension ladder propped up against a very tall Coconut palm. They were there to remove the large bunches of coconuts hanging dangerously near to where people stand and also to the units. Falling coconuts, particularly from the tall palms cause a lot of damage in the island. One man was holding the ladder and the other right at the very tippy top, fortunately holding on tight with one arm, when the ladder started to slip and slide and then out of balance fell down to the ground with a crash, the poor man at the top just simply swung himself on to the trunk of the palm while he held on to a frond with one arm, as quick and gracefully as a monkey. He then started shimmying down as all the island youths seem to be able to do, even though he was middle-aged man. I called out for him to wait up while a got a photo, and he did so, loads of others waiting for the bus rushed to do so too. Could have been a terrible accident right before our eyes, but all was well. Both the men then proceeded to shuck the nuts and open them for all the many children gathered. We had a go at doing this and it is far too hard for us, takes a lot of strength and talent.
Bus dropped us at the gateway to the big Island Market and we happily went shopping for some vegetables and fruit like bananas, a pawpaw and tomatoes and lettuce. We wandered around looking at all the lovely black pearls some very expensive and some at as little as $5 each, I near bought another but I just love the one Erle bought me last time that has a pretty ring around it. I have been swimming in the ocean here with it hanging around my neck and it now has the most lovely pink lustre about it, so much so that a couple of pearl sellers told it was a lovely pearl, so I restrained myself, when you already have a good one why waste money getting another probably lesser one.
I photographed a big black rock that was all carved on every side in the middle of the market area.
Decided to buy a sarong, I do have some but it would be nice to have one from Cook Islands, so we made a grand tour of all the sellers looking for just the right one at the right price, finally we got a lovely one for $12 which I thought was reasonable, quite a lot of work goes into the painting and decorating of these sarongs.
We watched some more lovely island dancing that was the entertainment for the day, lots a little kiddies all dressed in grass skirts learning to wiggle their hips and dance, it was just delightful. Once again we bought up plenty of delicious ethnic food that we so enjoy, then we went out looking for a good place to rent a vehicle which we want to have for a week from Monday morning, there are so many to choose from, we don’t really want a scooter or a common car we want something different. We have heard there are some odd 3 wheeled cycles that have 2 wheels at the back for greater stability; maybe we will go for that if we can find them. Sadly the wonderful fun-mobiles we hired last time we were here are no longer available.
We flagged down the bus to go back to the resort, and were very soon out in the lagoon snorkelling among all the little fishes for the rest of the afternoon. Saw the whales frolicking outside the lagoon in the ocean again.
As this is Saturday night we decided to go out to a restaurant for dinner. We chose Alberto’s Steak house, we enjoyed some meals here last time, and we enjoyed ourselves again, the Swordfish steak was just excellent and the service quick and efficient even though they were very busy with a full house. As the resort was only a short walk away we could easily wander back home even with a few drinks under our belts!
Another great day, in this Island Paradise.
PS to my Cook Island visitors to my blog, welcome, do leave a comment and or become a follower; there will be more posts from here.

Major Earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand.

2010-09-05T15:52:00.010+12:00

Major Earthquake hits Christchurch.

Some photos of damage done in Christchurch by the major 7.1 earthquake that occurred at 4,30am on Saturday morning. My Daughter found herself stranded in the city, she was unhurt but badly shake. By nightfall she managed to get a flight home to Nelson away from all the after shocks that are still happening. There were no fatalities, just a few people hurt by falling masonry etc. Roads; destroyed, water and sewer systems; destroyed, many major old city buildings, private homes and Churches; destroyed, schools all closed, its is going to take a long time and a great deal of money to bring about repairs. After shocks continue to be felt very strongly.
These are not my photos, they are from the net, sent in by people who saw it all happen.
As Christchurch is 300 km away from where I live, we only felt a nasty jolt, with no damage, we were lucky.

The Needle., Cook Islands

2010-09-03T13:07:00.007+12:00

The Needle Rarotongan landmark.
Much bigger than it looks in the photos as it is so far away, inland. There apparently is a track up to The Needle but thats too much like hard work for us to attempt.
Sorry about the phone wires in one photo couldn't avoid them.

Sea Creatures and Cultural Trade Fair, Rarotonga.

2010-08-30T16:08:00.008+12:00

Sea creatures and more Cultural Trade Fair, at Rarotonga. Dancers from Pukapuka.
Another perfect day dawns, we were up and out to watch the Activities personal feed the fish in the lagoon before breakfast. For the last 2 years this area has been a Reserve, all the fish are protected and are fed regularly to keep them around so all of us holiday makers can enjoy snorkeling among them. Everyone that came to watch was given chunks of old stale bread so we could all have fun and make the shoals of fish chase after the thrown bread. The sea just boils with the movement of so many fish, lots of small ones but heaps of really good size for eating fish and such pretty ones.

After fish feeding it was a leisurely breakfast time out on the beachfront on tables with big umbrellas, in the fresh air and sunshine. How lovely.
As we have heard The Cultural Trade Fair is on again today, we hurried to catch the bus earlier so we could watch more of the dancing and enjoy the drumming and atmosphere of the market on the side of main street. There was just as bigger crowd as yesterday and the food and handicraft stalls were all setting up their wares.

Todays’ dancing was mainly from the small remote island of Pukapuka one of the most distant islands from the Northern Group. Because of the remoteness it has apparently developed a distinct style of drumming and dancing. We just know that the show was very enjoyable, the costumes colourfully bright yellow the dancing graceful and the drum band very musical and stirring. I liked watching some of the older ladies who were encouraging the young dancers and the drummers, on to greater heights, and singing with them. They were a show in themselves.

We decided to try the Coconut Curry today for lunch after watching the island chef preparing the food, absolutely yummy it was too, on rice with some chicken in the curry too.

We also bought a large pack of the Island cooked in-the-ground umu food of half a chicken and a chunk of beef with taro, cassava and our favourite taro leaves cooked in coconut milk all on a bed of rice, this we plan to take home and have for our dinner tonight, it only cost $10 and will easily feed us both deliciously.
Watched some local youths jumping into the harbour, swimming and clowning around in front of Trader Jacks restaurant and couldn't resist taking a picture of their fun and games.

We then wandered over to the Cook Island Police Dept, where Erle sat for his Cook Island drivers license, just a formality, filling in forms and paying $20 but very important, a nice little earner for the Islands as all visitors must have one if they wish to drive a scooter or a car. While Erle sat for the license I had a nice friendly chat with the Sargent who had not a lot to do at the time. He said we must make sure we take adequate care of our belongings both at the resort and in the car, not to leave the rooms or the car unlocked or anything visible on the seats etc, as there is quite a lot of petty theft against the holiday makers, the Police were working hard to get the problem under control. It was really nice to have a relaxed informal talk with lots of laughing and joking with the Police sergeant.
When Erle has the license we caught the bus and headed back to Edgewater resort.
We will do something about getting wheels tomorrow.
We were surprised when we got back to the resort to see about 30 people out on the reef across the lagoon in front of the resort. They had all waded out through the shallow waters, clambering over the coral covered rocks, not an easy simple wade! We had no idea what they were all doing way out there and so kept on walking back to our room to change into swimming gear. We had a nice swim and the crowd started to walk back though the lagoon all happy and pleased with themselves, they couldn’t wait to tell us all that they had been out watching Whales! In fact it was two mother Whales with little calves swimming alongside. When we knew what to look for we also could see the Magnificent creatures gracefully arching their backs flicking their tails high in the air as they dived down behind the reef, then came back up, noses pointing out of the water and they ‘blew’ a geyser of spray high in the air. What excitement, this is not something anyone of us had expected at all. The whales usually stayed at the top if the island when they called into the island, but here they were putting on a performance just for us. And, what is more they continued to do so every day while we were staying there, right out in front of the Resort. So lucky. Sorry there are no photos of them, my camera is not powerful enough or quick enough to capture them out there, even though it is not very far out in the ocean.

Clouds over Rarotonga.

2010-08-28T10:24:00.005+12:00

Sky Watch, do check out all the wonderful skies from around the world.
Clouds gather over the big rugged mountains in the center of the island of Rarotonga Cook Islands.

Rarotonga; a tropical Paradise

2010-08-23T21:10:00.007+12:00

First day on a tropical Paradise Island; Rarotonga
Once we were settled in our lovely new apartment we scattered a few things around to make it look like home then raced out to catch the Round the Island bus, this is a great service which has 2 buses that run, one clockwise and one anti clockwise so there is always a bus about every 20 minutes, we didn’t have to wait long before we were on our way in to the main township of Avarua. Just before we left, a lovely Cook Island lady working in the gardens called me over and placed a beautiful smelling white Gardenia flower behind my ear; I left it there all day long. A sweet gesture I appreciated.
As we were driven down the main street the passengers all let out a collective whoop of joy and surprise to see a big Market day being held. There were many tents and hordes of people but the most obvious thing was the powerful drumming beat, this is really stirring and quite musical, kind of. As, this was Wednesday and not a market day, everyone was keen to investigate.
It was in fact a Between Islands Cultural Trade Fair, ( Cook Islands consists of many widely scatter islands) with competitions of island dancing and drumming and also there was lovely ethnic local food from all the outer islands, as well as many interesting items of basketwork, word and shell carvings and black pearls as well as many other hand made trade things.
We decided to find a comfortable seat on the rocks in the shade of a coconut palm and watch all the wonderful dancers and tap our toes to the drumbeat while eating our lunch from a stall selling smoked fish with cassava and taro, followed up with some special stuff called Poke it appears to be coconut bread soaked in coconut cream and sometimes bananas we rather liked this. Apparently the fish is a delicacy from Mangaia, one of the other Islands within the Cook Island group. We spent a while chatting to the interesting locals and happy people from other islands. I am not sure which Islands these dancers represent, but they were very good.
When the dancing finished we went grocery shopping to stock up with lunchtime food for the next few days, before catching the bus back to Edgewater Resort and our lovely apartment. Once home we collapsed on the bed for an hour-long Nana nap. Nothing better; especially when on holiday. Thus refreshed we went to the pool for our first swim both in the pool and in the lagoon.
We haven’t done a lot of snorkelling before but the waters are so full of small and large colourful fish and the water so nice and warm we decided to give it a go. Wow, this snorkelling is so much fun, once you get the hang of it, we stayed in for ages following the fish around the coral outcrops.
We had a quick drink or two while sitting out on the balcony/deck of our apartment watching the sun set, then decided to eat the cold meat and salads we bought for lunches as we just couldn’t be bothered going out anywhere for a meal.
Already we are feeling lazy and relaxed, this is going to be a great holiday.
PS, to my Cook Islander visitor/reader, do leave me a comment, feel free to correct and mistakes I may make, or sign in make a blog and click on become friends (Follow) button at the top of my page.

Sunset from Trader Jacks.

2010-08-21T15:09:00.006+12:00

Sunset from Trader Jacks Restaurant and Bar, at Rarotonga, Cook Islands. The favourite place for many people in the evening, but rather too crowded for us to stay long. But we stayed long enough to capture this lovely glow across the harbour.

2010-08-19T14:04:00.006+12:00

Rarotonga.
Winter this year has been very wet and dismal rather than actually cold, but constant rain and muddiness under foot convinces one that a holiday on a South Pacific tropical island would be a great idea. We have been to Rarotonga about 4 years ago and loved the slow relaxed happy way of life, so we decided to make another longer trip. Our first thought was to stay in the beautiful Muri Beach area, where the small islands are scattered like little jewels just off shore, some can even be walked out to at low tide. But our travel agent couldn’t find a single source of accommodation for us anywhere in Muri Beach as it is very popular. So we opted to return to Edgewater Resort and Spa, where we stayed last time. It was comfortable with a great view and the sunset was spectacular there every evening, the breakfasts also were rather nice and are thrown in for the accommodation cost.
We chose to travel by Air NZ rather than the cheaper Jet Star as we knew we would be hungry after driving to Christchurch to catch the [plane and we would get a nice meal on Air NZ. Was a good idea, we firstly were offered nice packs of chips, the Steward offered the passengers behind us an extra pack, and I cheekily said it was mean that we didn’t get an extra pack, and he said “you only had to ask” and tossed us 4 packs of chips. He then said, “If you don’t ask you don’t get.” And looking directly at me added “And you remember that!”
We arrived just on dark and were showed to our apartment, we quickly dashed out to get a meal at the next door restaurant where we had eaten before on our last visit. The meal turned out to be very nice, but we were very hungry so anything probably would have tasted good. But when I inquired about a drink of water I was told I had to buy a bottle of water, I did so and the bar tender attempted to charge me $7 for it, luckily another tourist at the bar said hey you only charged me $4 for a bottle of water, so the bar tender relented and charged me $4 also. We made a mental note not to eat there again! Walked back to our apartment in the pitch darkness, no street lighting much in this area. We were quick to bed but didn’t sleep very well as we had noted that there was no cooking facilities in the apartment and we had paid extra for rooms with a kitchen, also we spotted that there was no balcony which we had intended to sit out on in the sun reading our books, further more the rooms were so tiny there was only room for one chair and the small double bed, as there are two of us we didn’t think we would be at all comfortable in this mean little room , fighting over who would have the chair and who would stand that day, and resolved to complain heartily in the morning and try for another room, any other room would be better.
In all the years of travel we have done, never once before have we complained about our room or tried to change to a nicer one, but we sure did this time. When morn dawned it showed us that the tiny mean little room had only one window and it was completely blocked but a big tree right hard against the glass, so we would have to have the lights on all day and night!
Right after breakfast we marched up to the reception desk ready to take on any receptionist, the poor lady didn’t stand a chance really against our demands, and very soon agreed to allow us to change to another room, but, without any cooking facilities. Who cares about that, there were almost none in the other room anyway, just a tiny microwave with 5 tiny buttons on one side, how it worked I have no idea, but didn’t plan on finding out either. The receptionist sent us to have a look at another empty room we could change into. It turned out to be the most wonderful beach front ground floor apartment, about 3 times the size of the previous room and this one had a sunny balcony we could watch the sunset from, plenty on space for not only 2 comfortable chairs but also a nice settee as well in the lounge part and a huge double bed, with no hesitation we agreed to accept this new room as long as there was no further charges! There were no extra costs so we joyously hurried to repack our gear and transfer it all to the lovely sunny rooms with a view!
I am sure this will be the first of many stories from Rarotonga.

sky writing.

2010-07-30T15:21:00.003+12:00

This reminds me of a boney arm and fingers making an O sign. What do you see?
Another great Picton sky scene.

Townsville

2010-07-19T20:03:00.008+12:00

Townsville, last few days, the final installment!
Back in Townsville again with a very much happier Daphne, Erle’s sister, the holiday has done us all good.
Daphne bounced out bright and early as I prepared again the huge bowl of tropical fruit salad for our breakfasts, she said “right folks what are we going to do today? Where would you like to go, is there somewhere in Townsville you haven’t seen yet?”
The empty rock pools,

After a bit of discussion we decided we should go for a swim in the rock pools on the Strand beach. The rock pools are not quite natural, they have a concrete base and lots of rocks all around the sides but the sea still flows in and out tidally keeping the water nice and fresh but warmed by the shallow water over concrete, sounds a great idea to us, but first we all decide to take a nice walk to the nearest shopping centre to pick up a few supplies for lunch.
After lunch we were away to the rock pools, and some disappointment, as the pools were completely empty, for maintenance. However there is an area with a stinger net around on the main Strand Beach, not nearly as warm or calm but we thought we should still give it a go.
Erle walked first down the beach and stopped to ask a man coming from the ocean whether it was cold in the water. The man said “no mate its just fine and hey are you a Kiwi, so am I.” So the two of them stood there chatting a few moments and discovered that the man’s parent lived next door to us at our last house, and are good friends with us! It’s a small world isn’t it!
We had a nice swim. It was not particularly warm, bracing in fact, but we still enjoyed swimming in the ocean. Then quickly home again to shower off the sea water.
Decided we would go out to the big Townsville RSL for a meal tonight, it is about 2 kms from Daphne’s house and we thought of taking the car, but Daphne said no we shall walk, it will do us all good, we can all enjoy ourselves and have a drink, then get a taxi home. Such a long walk certainly developed a good thirst and a hunger, we did plenty of window shopping along the way so the walk went quite fast.
Because I have had such a good run of luck, I decided to try my luck again with the poker machines, and quickly won over $100! Hard to believe! I drew out all the winning very quickly, I am not really much of a gambler, and went off together to the restaurant.
So after we had a particularly lovely meal, as its our last night together, I sneaked out without Erle or Daphne seeing and paid for the meals again. I do believe my run of luck has been for doing just this, not for keeping for myself. However I did let Daphne pay for the taxi, I am more used to receiving not handing out money in a taxi!
Next morning, we packed all our luggage and Daphne drove us to the airport, it could have been a real sad parting, but Daphne parked in a not stopping lane to let us out, so we quickly gave each other a big hug and said very quick goodbye and promised to do it all again soon, and a happy Daphne drove home while we happily boarded the plane for home. What a great holiday!
Thank you all for being interested enough to read of our hoilday, we are about to embark on another one in Rarotonga, cook Islands!

The return journey to Townsville

2010-07-12T17:23:00.008+12:00

The return journey, back to Townsville.
We are heading back to Townsville today, but, we are in no hurry to leave this pretty place, and so take our time packing up and driving back through the township.
I had heard people speak of a town nearby by the name of Proserpine, a sugar producing town, every time I heard this towns name mentioned, the word "prosperity" sort of lit up in my mind, I just knew I had to go there, so I suggested that we make a small detour to visit this town, everyone agreed it might be nice so the detour was made. The town Proserpine is nothing special really there is a giant smokestack where the sugar cane is refined and lots of fields of sugar cane growing all around, plus lots of other fruits. We stopped in the main street, and Daphne remembered she knew someone here and dashed into a shop to see the person, while I dashed into a hotel and quickly dropped a coin into a machine, which turned out to be a 20 cent machine not a 1 cent machine and I got the feature immediately but also I heard the jackpot music being played and realized that I had won the Jackpot as well! I quickly cashed in all my loot and was out on the street feeling very prosperous, just as I knew I would be! Met up with Erle and Daphne and we all decided to buy a lottery ticket for the big draw tonight that with a prize of about 8 million dollars, just in case! The lady selling the tickets told us that the town had been named after the Greek Goddess of Prosperity and fruit, aptly named we thought.
We didn’t linger long before we were away and on the road to Townsville again, Erle drove again as he is most happy to do so, being an old taxi driver, and we could relax and know the car was in safe hands. As we traveled along we passed the time away dreaming of what we would do if we should win the lottery tonight. We had many suggestions but with the best will in the world we realized that we just could not spend that much money in our lifetimes and so don’t really want to win the main prize, however a small win would be lovely and welcome. Only so much money is really needed, it is not the be all and end all, nor does it bring happiness.

Decided to make another side trip to the city of Ayr another intriguing name really. This was quite a big city with wide streets and lots of trees and a wonderful unusual bridge that I couldn’t resist photographing as we drove on to it. We decided to stop for a late lunch at a nice pub, I like old pubs they have lots of character and characters in them. While our meal was being prepared I, ofcause, went and played the machines again, and had another lovely win, which I used to pay for all our meals and there is still plenty left over. I just seem to be so lucky at the moment.
After a nice meal we leisurely drove on toward Townsville, saw some signs advertising fresh fish and decided it would be just the thing for dinner, so Daphne directed us to a Seafood Supermarket down in the docks where the fishing boats come in, I used the remainder of my winnings to buy up masses of giant Prawns and Scallops to have a real feast of them tonight.
I can tell you that seafood meal was truly delicious and something we can’t do at home, prawns are all frozen and small back home, scallops are plentiful though and we like them.
Sadly I must report that even our hopes for a small win in the lottery were dashed, in fact the big prize was not struck and will jackpot to next week, we had fun checking off our tickets in the hope.

More Magic in the Whitsundays.

2010-07-05T14:11:00.005+12:00

My World for this week, Whitsundays, Australia.

More Magic in the Whitsundays.
The reef Jet Catamaran roared off again around another big island to the next wonderful feature of this trip; the bush walk to the top of Hill Inlet to the lookout viewing point. This time the shore is very rocky so the reef Jet can not go very close in, which means all 68 of us must be transferred to the shore in the inflatable, quite a time consuming job but it was all handled very professionally and we landed each group with a crew member who led us up the bush walk track.

The track started off gently then became much harder, steeper with giant rock steps to negotiate, which us unfit oldies found rather hard on the knees, Daphne found a nice shady seat and said, we were to go on without her she would just rest there and wait for us. So we did leave her and made our way up many more giant rock steps and steep bits, puffing and panting we suddenly arrived at the top and in front of us was the most magnificent view over the Inlet, all snow white sands and azure waters with small boats and people sparkling in the sunshine, a long way down. We and everyone else were enthralled and took lots of photos.

After some time we were amazed to see Daphne come up over the top to join us. A young crew man had stopped with her and encouraged her to give the walk another try, he gave her his arm and at times nearly carried her but he got her up to the top, her enthusiastic thanks and big smile were all the payment he needed, a lovely young man. So all of us were able to get the full enjoyment from this beautiful sight.

Going back down was so much easier, we even looked for the wildlife that was supposed to abound in the area, but the 68 noisy tourist laughing and chatting plus 3 oldies puffing and panting, had driven the wildlife to the ground for the day.

Slowly, we were all transported back to the Reef Jet, but not without incident as the tide had dropped while we were walking and even the inflatable dinghy had a hard job negotiating its way through the rough heads of coral sticking up out of the water and worse the coral just below the surface, the bottom could have been torn out very easily, but all was well and we soon found another cup of coffee awaiting us along with a huge fruit platter with lots of fresh pineapple and many other fruits too.
While we enjoyed all that yummy pineapple the Jet powered its way home around the many Islands of the Whitsunday’s.
I went up to the top deck and chatted with the Captain, who was scouring the horizon with his binoculars for Whales that apparently journey regularly through the Whitsunday Passage, his plan was to take us Whale watching to finish the day. Wow, now that would have been something! But no Whales blew or lifted their tails or what ever Captain was looking for, unfortunately.

I noticed the sun was starting to go down over the island peaks and suggested that maybe we might still be out on the water when the sun actually went down so I could catch some sunset photos. He replied that it could be arranged, and as a driver myself I heard the engine being throttled back to much slower revs, and I knew we would indeed still be out there for the sunset. I gave him my best big smile and raced out onto the front deck to wait for the big moment, several others joined me and we snapped that golden sun all the way down complete with sun path across the calm ocean waters! More magic!
This little slow down did make us very late back into port, but I didn’t hear anyone complain that we had been on board for more than 12 hours!

I captured my favourite sunset picture here at the marina, through the masts of many yachts and a palm tree, looks like a peacock sunset to me!
By the time we had been bussed back to the camping ground we were very tyred but exhilarated as well, not wanting the evening to end we decided we were all too tyred to cook and went out for a takeaway meal, a huge Chicken and plum sauce Pizza with a basket of chips was wolfed down very quickly with a small splash of wine!
What a great day we have all enjoyed, we will sleep well tonight.

Magical Whitsundays

2010-06-30T10:12:00.003+12:00

Magical Whitsundays.

We were all up real early excited about our boat trip. I had prepared a huge bowl of tropical fruit salad for our breakfast, we had mango melon, mandarin, banana, papaya and passionfruit, really yummy, with yoghurt and a sprinkle of muesli to top it all off.
There were a surprisingly large number of people waiting at the camp office to be picked up by the bus to take us to the Reef Jet, at 7.30am. The day is going to be just perfect, the sky is all over blue and the sun shining brilliantly already.
The Reef Jet is a large catamaran with three deck levels, it is licensed to carry 70 passengers and today they have 68 the most they have ever had; and we thought a Monday morning would be the quietest day! We were welcomed on board and offered a wetsuit at $7 a head so we could go scuba diving or snorkelling, without being stung by stinger jellyfishes, when we get out to Border Island, the three of us declined, we didn’t want to do either, though we may swim, and we also doubt whether there would be and stingers in the water this late in the season, but what do we know. Everybody else did hire a wet suit. We were all served a hot cup of coffee with cake, as the boat roared out of the harbour and towards the islands in the distance.
It was so beautiful as we headed out towards the Whitsunday passage, with the sun sparkling on the water, which was lovely and calm.
The crew of the Reef Jet were all very young, in their twenties except for the captain of the boat, we can’t speak highly enough about the service and kind treatment, always with a friendly smile, they have been well trained, even though none of them had been with the company long, 4 months seemed to be the longest anyone had worked on-board..
Most of the passengers were young tourists we, and a couple of others are the oldies on board, and somehow the crew seemed to treat us like their special pets, we got all the best treatment and perks.
Took us couple of hours or so to get out to Border Island where all the young ones were going to snorkel and scuba, we were taken to sheltered bay where there is lots of pretty coral and plenty of colourful fishes.

Once all of the swimmers had gone overboard to observe all the sea life, the crew dragged down the inflatable dinghy from the roof and invited us oldies to come out in the dinghy and use special periscope things, which you press into the water and look down into. The view was amazing and magical, thousands of multi coloured fish skittering everywhere not only tiny fish but some huge fish too, I wanted a fishing rod so I could catch one; but no we were not allowed to fish. These are tame fish, fed every day by the boat people. There was so much colour in the coral too and we could see giant clams and lots of wavering kelp fronds, so pretty, we stayed looking as long as they allowed us to. We drifted in between all the young folk swimming with their snorkels and wetsuits; the biggest fish of all.
(These photos are not mine, I have no underwater camera, they are just from the net.)
Once everyone was back on board we headed to Hook Island and anchored in a sheltered cove while we all enjoyed a feast from the buffet set up on the sunny deck; a cold meats and many salads and breads type meal that was very enjoyable, though it took a very long time to feed 68 passengers.

After the buffet we headed for possibly the best part of the trip, Whitehaven Beach with its sparkling white fine powdery sand and shallow waters, so very pretty, and crowded too, we were not the only folk there, many boats and helicopters and a light plane, were lined up along the shore. The crew told everyone that they would have to wade into shore as the water was too shallow to get really close to the beach, we watched them all throw themselves over into the waist deep water and decided we would stay on board as Daphne had no swimming suit with her. But when the crew realised that we were staying on board, they dragged down from the roof again, the inflatable dinghy and rowed us and the other older ladies in so we only got our feet wet. Erle and I were delighted as we really wanted to have a swim in the warm tropical water, didn’t take us long to don our suits and have a great swim in the shallow water, no talk of stinger jellyfish now. Daphne enjoyed sitting in the warm sand watching everybody and us else frolic, pity she didn’t bring her swimsuit, but she is having a wonderful day just like we are.

The Reef Jet is behind me.

A professional photographer wandered around among us all taking many photos, even of us, probably the first time we have been professionally posed, we didn’t end up buying any of the beach shots, but I will remember how to do the poses in the future.
After the 2 happy hours on Whitehavens lovely white sands everyone was called back on board, and the inflatable was brought to shore for us spoiled oldies.
We raved to the young crew about what a great day we’d had as we enjoyed another cup of coffee with them, and they told us, its not over yet, more fun things to do yet……..

last of the sunset.

2010-06-26T10:38:00.002+12:00

Last of the sunset Shingley Beach Marina, Airley Beach.
Check out this meme for many hundreds more wonderful sky shots.

Road trip to Airley Beach

2010-06-23T13:59:00.007+12:00

Whitsunday Islands here we come!
All of us were up nice and early, after breakfast Daphne suddenly decided to pack herself a bag and come along too, we just threw our luggage in the boot along with the chillybin and were off. Erle driving, Daphne was very quiet in the back, she didn’t like being forced to go on holiday, but about an hour into the trip she had thought of how this short break with family, was a real treat not a punishment, and so she started to cheer up and enjoy the trip. The drive was just over 3 hours long and we keep moving fast all the way so as to be able to acquire good accommodation in Airley Beach at a Camping ground, as we wanted a 2 room cabin we thought we had better get there early before all were let out.
As we drove, there was a huge storm brewing layer after layer of big black clouds raced past or did we race under them? Maybe a bit of both, some rain did fall but nothing too much.
There was a nice fruit stall near Bowen selling Mango Melons, a large smooth skin bright yellow fruit that is very juicy and yellow fleshed, we just couldn’t resist the delicious taste of mangoes, so I bought a large Melon to go with all the other fruit and some passionfruit as well, it will be fruit salads for breakfast each day! If you ever get the chance to try a Yellow Mango Melon do so they are the most superior melons there are I think they might only grow around this area.
By time we got to Airley Beach the sun had broken through and it was a lovely sunny day.
As we drove into Airely Beach we saw that a Market day was in progress, so we stopped and had a wander around, tasting wine at one stall and sweets at another and buying some Lady Finger Bananas, the best there are., then we came to the man selling hot spit-roasted beef sandwiches which we all decided would be just perfect for lunch. We took our sandwiches and sat on the edge of the beach to gobble them all up.
I could hardly believe my eyes when a string of Camels all dressed with saddles and passengers, ambled past us. I love to ride Camels, so I just had to jump up and take a photo of them, I wished to have a ride too but we really need to find our accommodation for the night so I let the moment pass.
It took 2 attempts to find a 2 room cabin but we ended up at Island Gateway camp and we couldn’t have found a better place, they make a feature of the local birds and attract them by having feeding stations around the camp, I saw hundred of Lorikeets being fed, very noisy and a bit messy but it looked wonderful as the birds are so colourful. Palm trees and many amenities, like a pool and tennis courts, surrounded our cabin in a real nature wonder land. We broke out the duty free rum to toast such a great place to stay.
As there was an electric frying pan and a microwave in the cabin it was decided we would cook for ourselves tonight. A small shopping centre was just down the road so we set out on a buying expedition to get dinner supplies, beef rissoles, mushrooms, sweet potatoes (kumaras) and a big bag of salad greens and tomatoes. Plus we decided a bottle of wine to celebrate being away together; all of this came out of $15 so a great dinner cost only $5 a head with wine! Prices are quite reasonable in Australia; it would cost more in New Zealand I felt. Tasted wonderful and Daphne who thought she couldn’t eat anything found that she managed to eat as much as we did and enjoy every mouthful, she is so much better and happier already. Postcard of Airlie Beach township, and hillside buildings.

We decided to have a rest day in Airley Beach tomorrow and to book a full day boat trip out to the Islands for the following day, a good scheme, it gave us a chance to explore the small town and have a good look around while still taking it all easy.

We have booked to go out in the Reef Jet to three different Islands tomorrow, its going to be so great, the weather is expected to be fine and sunny and calm; good one. Not particularly cheap but with dinner and snacks all day its should be good value’ and we get the Seniors discount!
More wine was purchased for tonight plus a big pack of pork chops for dinner with all the rest of our vegetables, was extra good. Once again we got dinner for $5 a head!
We noticed with surprise that the local taxis all had advertisements painted on their sides, not something we are used to.
I went out after dinner to have a little flutter at the poker machines in the local hotel, and won a small jackpot, it made my lovely day even better, to come home with more cash than I went out with.

Dusk

2010-06-18T16:55:00.005+12:00

.Dusk, Whitsunday Island. The calm of the evening after a beautiful day.

Do check out some more lovely sky views from around the world.

Off to Townsville Australia.

2010-06-16T13:23:00.005+12:00

My World Meme It is hosted by Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Sylvia and Fishing Guy, please check out lots of other worlds.

Off to Townsville
Leaving Surfers paradise was a bit of a mission; because the street was completely blocked we were not able to walk just next door with our luggage to the bus station. We were forced to call a taxi to take us right around a big block and back up the street to the meet the bus. We could have walked the suitcases around I suppose as they are on wheels but it was just too far. As taxi drivers ourselves we were very embarrassed to ask the poor driver to just take us next door. He didn’t even bother to put his meter on, he said just give him what we think it is worth, so we paid him what we would charge back in NZ for the same distance, but no tip as he didn’t go the way we asked him to, taking the long way round wasn’t in the equation for us.
We quite enjoyed the hour-long bus trip to Brisbane airport, relaxing in the sunshine, not having to drive. There is a 4 lane highway all the way, a toll road and quite new I think, a good fast highway.
Landed in Townsville on a lovely warm sunny day, Daphne, Erle’s sister was there waiting to pick us up, lovely to see her and be taken back to her cosy flat in the suburb of Roselea. Daphne has fairly recently retired and has not been too well of late, we found her quite down and depressed and lonely and unhappy, all that will change! We shall make it!
We all relaxed and chatted over duty free whisky and a bottle of wine for me, catching up on a years absence. Daphne has plans for entertaining us tomorrow, we are going visiting an old friend that Erle also knows, I don’t but that is not a problem, I can get on with nearly everybody. Michal turned out to be a Yugoslavian native though he has been in Australia a long time, we all got on well for the morning. He showed us around his big garden and plucked a ripe Papaya from his tree and gave it to me, I might be his friend for life as a just love fresh ripe papaya, we shall all have it for breakfast for most of the rest of our holiday. Showed us his ride on mower his prized possession, but wouldn’t let us ride on it!
Michal’s home is a genuine old ‘Queenslander’ built high above the ground on poles, to keep the house cooler and free of snakes and other nasty things, he has made his den in the lower ground floor of this house, he said he only cooks and sleeps upstairs as it is so much cooler downstairs and his dog lives down there too, we found it rather comfortable there too.

Views from the top of Castlehill in Townsville. Towards Magnetic island.
And over the city,

Daphne then drove us around Castlehill to a lookout over the city, nice views from up there, right over the city of Townsville and out to Magnetic Island.

Once we were back home again we told her to pack herself a bag for a four day holiday in Airlie Beach, The Whitsundays cause we were taking her for a short break away.. She wasn’t at all keen, quite happy to lend us her car so we could go, but that was not what we wanted so we twisted her arm and forced the issue, and said we were all leaving in the morning whatever. I had to pack up some food from Daphne’s fridge as she wasn’t going to, so into the eskee chillybin went the papaya, bananas, yogurt, weetbix, butter, marmite, ham and tomatoes, and bread, that should pretty well cover all the breakfasts for us all plus the milk and coffee jar.
We shall be leaving by 10am in the morning – all of us!

filling our days in Surfers.

2010-06-12T20:21:00.006+12:00

Filling our days in Surfers Paradise
We never intended to do very much while in Surfers Paradise, we just wanted to blob out on the beach and relax, so that is basically what we did. Wandering down to the beach to stroll along the squeaky sand and people watch most days, and as we passed several gaming halls I was kept happy too, playing a few coins and winning back many more, we just what I had in mind for this week, we are just not theme park kind of people, we love to swim but the idea of a hyper super slide made us feel quite ill, so we found other smaller treats to enjoy.
Every day as we walked through the nearby Mall a nice Asian lady would paint one of my finger nails, just a tester, each day she painted a different image , like flowers, butterflies, stars, so I ended up with most of my nails painted; each one different!
We did have a lovely day at Carrara Markets a really huge largely under cover market place full of small stalls full of everything you can think of. We seemed to dash between all the food stalls, mainly the wonderful and new to us Greek food, there is a custardy pie made with filo pastry we simply loved! Dolmades are also yummy. Didn’t need any lunch that day and not much dinner either.

We also spent a day at Pacific Fair a huge in fact the biggest in Australia market place with over 350 small shops with lots of food outlets too, but no Greek food fortunately! As this day was hot we found the icecream sellers more interesting.

We also spent a great (for me; not Erle) day at Jupiter’s Casino where I managed to play most of the day and only lose less than $5.00, I feel so lucky everything I touch seems to win at the moment, love the feeling.Every day we made for the big spa pool and as we had it to ourselves we could swim in the warm fizzy waters to our hearts content.

The best day we had was the day Erle’s son Gregor and grand daughter Emily came to visit us, we had so much to catch up on as I had only met Emily once before when she was a shy 5 year old now she is a delightful young women. They stayed to go out to dinner with us at the RSL Club, the meals there were superb inexpensive and delicious, a great evening was had by all of us I think. Gregor took this lovely photo of the two of us in a strange iron chair out on the street when we all walked down to Wendy's to buy icecreams to finish our evening off sweetly.I had hoped to be able to visit a dear friend who had just had an operation on her knee but were unable to, however we had a lovely chat on the phone. Next time we will meet up when she is not so incapacitated.

We also had to fun of watching repairs being made to the bulging building wall, from our birds eye veiw, watching the very tall crane was interesting to us and we could do so while enjoying a glass of cool wine from the safety of our balcony. We were never in any real danger.

I am not a big shopper so we only window-shopped as we wandered around the streets, fielding off Estate agents wishing to sell us apartment s in various sky- scrapper both new and old; some of them quite affordable too, but hardly buying anything, a good cheap holiday really.
Queensland Apartment buildings are all actually owned by some big conglomerate or other, but each separate apartment is privately owned from the conglomerate and are furnished and maintained to their standard of personal taste and their bank balance., then the appartments are let out to tourists like us while the owners don't wish to be in them. We feel the folk who owned our rooms were not rich at all and didn’t use the rooms often, there was not a single extra item beside the basically required things in it and lots of painting and repairs were needed, we asked for the three light bulbs that were not working to be replaced, and they were but we just managed with what was there otherwise, we used dining table chairs outside on the balcony as there was nothing else.
All too soon our 7 days were over and we were preparing for the move to Townsville and the rest of our holiday.

Sunset among the sky scrappers of SurfersParadise.

2010-06-11T18:14:00.003+12:00

SkyWatch for this week is Surfers Paradise for me, do check out many more lovely skies from around the globe.
These pretty sunsets between the sky scrappers took our eye, on different days. Fascinating to people who do not have a sky scrapper in sight usually.

Danger in Surfers paradise.

2010-06-09T10:48:00.006+12:00

Danger at Surfers paradise: Second day.

This morning we decided to go shopping and stock up with food for the rest of the week that we could easily prepare for ourselves, mainly breakfasts and lunches as we had already discovered the RSL (Returned Serviceman’s League} Club across the street where meals are very reasonable and very good.
So, loaded up with big bags of goodies from the supermarket we headed back to the Islander apartment. We ran into the Manager of the building standing at the base of the Backpacker’s part of the building with his arms out stretched around the corner of the 12 story brick building sort of holding it up and stopping it falling on anybody! He said ‘Go back. Go back. Cross over the street and walk that way, there are issues here. It could be catastrophic just catastrophic, the whole building could fall into the street any moment’ He was panicking big time.

( If you look just above the man in the white shirt, there is a white sign on the wall, the bulge goes right through the sign, on the black part of the wall, it can be seen if you enlarge this photo. Top photo shows the appartment block we were on the 8th floor of and the Vegas in Paradise gambling rooms I frequented sometimes.)

Far too curious about what was wrong to heed his advice we demanded to know what was the problem, so he showed us where the wall was starting to bulge along the front. The bulge can be seen in my photo if you know where to look but it is hard to spot. Having seen the bulge we walked smartly across the road and into our part of the building, wondering about how safe we might actually be should that wall crash into the street. Soon after a few road cones were placed across the pavement to stop people walking past, but the road was not closed to traffic.

The next day we went to observe how the bulge in the wall was. By now the bulge how grown and several bricks had broken along the line of the bulge, a few more road cones appeared on the pavement, but back packers living in the building were not evacuated.
We watched from a safe distance how this wall slowly became worse over the days, til finally on the 5th day after the bulge started four Police cars arrived with lights and sirens blaring to block of the busy street. They stayed all day and all night before they were replaced with other security people to guard the area and keep sightseers away. A very big crane arrived that could reach right to the top of the building, it had a big red basket on wires within which a group of building inspectors were carried up to the top to inspect how much damage had been done. They checked extremely well every brick, virtually, while they were deciding how to approach the fixing of the problem.
The news and TV men arrived to watch all the action and report upon it, the papers and TV were full of it that evening.

It appears that the damage was only in the three foot strip across the wall that we could see, and maybe lower down too. Subsidence had occurred beneath the corner of the building where a stream used to flow, years ago, very heavy rain had fall over the previous month and the area had scoured out. The inspectors decided to pin most of the brick to the concrete backing then slowly remove all the broken bricks and replace them. Ofcause they will have to fill in the subsidence beneath the building too, but I am not sure how this will be done or how it will be stopped from happening again.
We were absolutely safe at all times, but I quickly got online to leave messages on my facebook page to let family in Australia and back home that all was ok with us.

On our way to Australia

2010-06-05T14:17:00.005+12:00

Our views from the 8th floor of Surfers Paradise

We have family and friends in Australia, all in the hot tropical north of Queensland, so we were easily seduced by the advertised cheap fares. It was cheaper to book a 7-night trip to Surfers Paradise and go on up to Townsville for another week, than to just fly to Brisbane and handle our own accommodation. So we were happy to have 7 lovely days in Surfers paradise, I have not stayed there for over 40 years so I expected plenty of changes and I certainly found them! Back then, it was just a small town of single story buildings, I stayed in a small motel beside to beach, but that’s long gone.
Surfers now is: just a tourist haven, a concrete jungle, Theme parked to extinction, a jumble of highrises that block the sun, full of beach bunnies and topless at that, yes its all of that, though we didn’t see too much topless bathing as it was too cool, but Surfers is more than that. There is some great cafes, a beaut Casino, apartments for all at every price range, some of the biggest shopping centers I have ever seen, and ofcause the great beach, it also has still got the wonderful squeaky to walk on sand that I can remember loving so long ago, plus a lovely climate and lots of friendly relaxed people,; not all of whom are tourists, about half of them are fellow Kiwis who have made the big shift to Auzzie, to the warmer weather and the better pay that can be had over there. A few years ago we might well have upped -camp and moved over too, but now we are retired and happily settled in Picton, also a tourist town! Tourists are happy people.
We left Picton on the Bluebridge ferry and stayed overnight in Wellington, our Capital city. I had only just booked into the hotel when the leather strap on my handbag pulled away from the bag! Lovely, at 7pm at night and leaving on the 4am plane! But this is our biggest city, the receptionist told me to go to the railway station and look for a little Indian mans leatherwork and bag repair shop. I didn’t think it would be open still, but it was and he was more than happy to repair the bag while I waited and only charged me about $5.50 for his work, which was just perfect, I can’t tell where the repair was made now, so as I was delighted with the job I actually gave him a tip! Not like me who doesn’t believe in tipping ever, but I gave him $10 and told him to keep the change. He gave me a big smile and wished me a happy holiday.
Getting up and out to the airport by 4am was hard but we managed it and had a good flight to Brisbane, it didn’t take long and we were on land again, but Erle’s library book was not, he left it in the pocket of the plane!
Its still there, if you find it send it back to us!

The bus took us to our accommodation, in a 12 story highrise! Half of which is cheap back packers and our half is much more expensive fully self contained 2 bedroom units with a balcony and a wonderful view. A trifle shabby and rundown, a good lick of paint would not go amiss, but still it was comfortable enough for a weeks stay. And there was a great big spa freely available to us, which we put to good use.
We were quickly unpacked and back out on the street wandering down to the beach, it was too chilly to go in for a swim but it was nice just to get out feet wet and squeak the sand as we walked along snapping photos.

Views from the beach on an overcast windy day, still plenty of people on the sand and in the water.

Storm clouds near Bowen

2010-06-04T20:51:00.003+12:00

Big black layers of storm clouds gathered as we drove towards Bowen, in Queensland Australia, eventually some rain did fall, but we seemed to drive right under and through the storm as we continued on our way to the Whitsunday Islands and wonderful sunshine.
Taken through the windscreen as my Husband drove.
Find more good skies on Sky watch each week.

Up and away

2010-05-18T21:13:00.002+12:00

Up, up and away for a short while. Australia beckons.

cross the 'Ts;

2010-05-15T14:14:00.004+12:00

Dot the 'Is"and cross the 'Ts'.
happy Sky watch. do check out all the other pieces of sky from around hte globe.

For Mother, mine and yours

2010-05-08T19:32:00.005+12:00

For My Mother and Yours, may they have a grand day surrounded by family.
Mother know that your well appreciated even if your not told nearly often enough.

Happy Mother's Day.

Yes I did grow these Orchids.

The beauty of the evening

2010-05-07T10:01:00.004+12:00

The beauty of the evening. God's paintbrush dipped into the gold.
Do check out some other wonderful skies from around the world.

Blenheim Clock tower

2010-05-05T14:39:00.004+12:00

My World for this week is;

An Autumn leaved street tree for the center of town and the Clock Tower of Market Square, in Blenheim.
The clock tower was originally on top of the old Post Office building, but when the old building was demolished and replaced the tower was moved to here and kept as a good place to sit down and to use the phone and also to study the street maps of the town. The pretty Liquid Amber tree is just across from the tower, outside a Fashion store.

Mussel Harvesting

2010-04-29T19:05:00.009+12:00

My World for this week. Thanks to Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Louise and Sylvia
Erle went out with a friend to help harvest some mussels from his mussel farm in the Port Underwood Sounds. He had to assist with lifting the ropes, that hang from the big black floats, stripping all the mussels from them, fortunately with a special machine, it is a dreadful hard job by hand, then sorting out the wild blue mussels from the good green lip ones. This was work he had never done so he found a few muscles of his own before they had finished the work. Good healthy work out on the big mussel harvester boat.
He came home with a big 25kg sack of delicious fresh mussels straight from the ocean. As I was working all day and the next day too I had to leave Erle to steam open all those shellfish, a big job, but by time I arrived home from work he had the majority all cooked, I just helped mix marinades and bag up some for freezing. Plus I helped by eating a few lovely hot freshly cooked mussels.
Ofcause we had a good feed of them for our meal. I did a tray full of half shell mussels drizzled with garlic butter and sprinkled with grated cheese and parsley, Yummy!
For tonight I made a curried coconut mussel mixture that I served over rice, this was extra good. All the omega 3 in the mussels will have us so healthy.
This recipe can be found on my other blog, HERE.

ANZAC Day

2010-04-24T21:17:00.003+12:00

The ANZAC display at Picton RSA.
The day we remember the men and women who fought in the world wars, and those who didn't come home.

Lest we forget.

Lavender sky.

2010-04-23T09:24:00.002+12:00

Sky Watch.
The sun kissed clouds turn lavender this lovely evening in Picton.
Check out hundreds of other interesting skies from around the world at this meme.

Steam Train

2010-04-13T20:57:00.005+12:00

My World, Thanks to Klaus, Sandy, Wren, Fishing Guy, Louise and Sylvia
A rare steam train came through Blenheim. I was working driving a taxi in Blenheim. On hearing the toot toot of the steam engine i drove to the railway station and took some photos. Because I was in the taxi i was able to drive over to the other side of the train where vehicles are not generally allowed and take these photos.
Crowds of people came to watch it at Blenheim railway station. The six red carriages were full of railway enthusiasts who were traveling the length of the country on holiday.

Going fishing

2010-04-10T10:58:00.003+12:00

Going out Groper fishing in the deep waters of Cook Strait on a rough day. Sky is blue but sea is rough. On the horizon is a small New Zealand Navy vessel
.Have a look at all the wonderful skies from around the world, on this meme..

Two little otters.

2010-04-06T17:26:00.002+12:00

These two little Otters that I wrote about a couple of years ago, lived in a Nature Park in Nelson, they were vey elderly and well loved by all who visited them. last week one had a heart attach and died suddenly. The other Otter just lay down beside the body and within the day died too! What amazing love, from dumb animals, they had always lived together and couldn't live without the other.

Our old flowers.

2010-04-06T09:51:00.005+12:00

My World today is just a simple vase of flowers, but they come from our old home in Grovetown, which we sold 2 years ago. We were privileged to be allowed to revisit the old house and garden and pick a bunch of my favourite flowers.
Here they are on the windowsill of our new home in Picton with our view of Picton and the harbour behind.
Do check out some other wonderful interesting postings on the
My World Meme.

Good Friday.

2010-04-02T10:30:00.009+13:00

Good Friday.

St Marys Catholic Church Blenheim.
Not my Church, but a very lovely old house of God.

Good Friday, a day for remembering our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

and for some reason;

Chocolate Eggs, Bunnies and Chicks!

Have a happy enjoyable Easter Break.

Groper Fishing, Marlborough Sounds.

2010-03-30T20:42:00.007+13:00

My World.
Groper Fishing.
Erle went out groper fishing in the Marlborough Sounds, with his fishing club.
12 Men had a great day out on the open ocean in quite rough rolling seas.
They managed to catch 4 reasonable sized Groper on a long line, along with assorted other species. They also caught the quota of Blue Cod on their rods, so they came came home with a good lot of lovely fresh fish.
The photo shows the long line being pulled in, on to the boats deck.
Erle took the photo for me.

Hawks Crag, Buller River, Westport.

2010-03-19T13:25:00.006+13:00

Do have a look at other wonderful skies at this Meme.
Hawks Crag and the Buller River.
The main highway in and out of Westport skirts along the Buller River right from the source at Lake Rotoiti to the ocean at the town of Westport, the river gathers water and speed as it goes along, cutting its way through the rock walls of the Buller Gorge. At this Hawks Crag point there was nowhere to put a roadway when the early settlers were putting in a means of transporting stores and people and coal. The only possible way was to chip away the solid living rock to allow a coach and 4 horses to negotiate around this bend. They had plenty of coal miners capable of doing this tunneling work. The road here is still only just wide enough to allow a coach and four horses, it is low and narrow with traffic lights at either end for safety allowing only one way traffic at a time around this big bend. It is quite unique.
The Buller is a beautiful river that is used by kayakers and white water rafting, as well as for trout fishing.

Punakaiki Pancake Rocks, Westport.

2010-03-15T16:53:00.009+13:00

Punakaiki pancake Rocks New Zealand.
We visited the Punakaiki Pancake rocks to watch the sea spurt up high in the air through the blowhole known as the chimney, but we miss judged the tides and arrived 3hours after the high tide. There was a huge rough sea running so we thought we still might be lucky enough to catch the spray.We were surprised to find entry was still free to walk to the pancake rocks, it is many years since either of us had visited before. The walk to the rocks is very nice in itself, the path is very well tended and is completely wheelchair friendly to the main blowhole, chimney, you walk through lots of Flax growing all the way to the rocks so it is quite
Stone steps
sheltered from the

winds.The rocks do indeed look rather like a huge stack of pancakes all piled up together, the huge raging seas pound into the rocks gradually eroding the softer parts of the rocks and causing the pancake effect.

Even though we were 3 hours too late for the main show of the blowholes because of the high seas we were lucky enough to sea a small amount of spray shoot out of the chimney rather like smoke, it was still impressive but we didn't get soaked by the spray as we probably would have at high tide! After the Chimney the path is no longer wheelchair friendly as there are some steep stone stairs to go down, these are very impressive too. The path winds around past other stacks of pancake rocks and boiling seas before we made the return walk back to the cafes, this part of the walk is quite different as you wander through quite dense forest trees and ferns and lots of native birds.We joined the masses of people from all the bus tours, as one of the cafes for a
delightful lunch, not cheap, but very nice.

It was also nice listening to all the foreign tourists talking about how much they had enjoyed the area, I just love being with happy travelers. This area was and still is very important to the Maoris who used it for the gathering of sea food of which there is a plentiful supply. The Maoris of old apparently used to put themselves at enormous danger by climbing down the high rocks on plaited vines to get to places where they were able to catch the fish. I know that I couldn't do that even with good solid strong ropes, let alone flimsy easily broken vines!We didn't stay at Punakaiki, but drove back to Carter's Beach Motor Camp where we had left our caravan

Carter's beach Westport.

2010-03-12T10:04:00.007+13:00

Sky Watch Friday.

Heavy seas raging into Carter's Beach pound the shore under a sky that was blue on one side and grey and misty on the other. Soon rain was falling so we didn't linger long.
Carter's Beach, only about 6 kms from Westport, is a nice sandy beach and very popular for swimming and other activities on a good day.
Do check out lots of other skies from all around the globe, at the Sky Watch Meme.

Westport and the historical Coal Mines

2010-03-08T19:15:00.007+13:00

My World for this week is adventures at the old Coal Mines, do check out other peoples adventures.

Westport.
After we had set up the caravan in the Westport Camping Ground, in a nice place that would get lots of morning sun but6 not too much late afternoon sun plus still being close to the facilities, and been welcomed by, this time a friendly but equally cheeky Weka, we headed into the town of Westport.

The town is very ‘olde worlde’ the buildings are mainly in a colonial style, with big high false fronts with lots of fancy concrete work on them, almost all shops are on the one long main street that leads down to the wharves, so we ended up at the wharf watching a Tuna Boat unloading the catch of Albacore Tuna. The Skipper was looking very pleased with himself, as well he should be, we were told by a fishery worker that his catch would be worth about $10,000 NZ. A great deal of money for a hole of fish! Apart from this skipper and his boat the wharf was empty, all the other boats still out trying to catch Tuna, which is worth so very much on the Japanese market.

Westport was first built as a gold mining town, but quickly became a coal mining town, it still produces New Zealand’s only bituminous coal, though not so much now as it used to.
Next day we decided to head out to Granity a small town 30 miles further up the coast, as we wished to find out about the old coal mining activities in the district. We first visited the only old Pub still operating in the town, The Big Fish it is now known as but I think it has had many names over the years, and is on its last legs now. We decided not to have a drink but instead amused the bar tended by buying a couple of Chocolate fish to nibble!
We next chose to drive up to Millerton Mine, it has been operating since about 1880, there is a wonderful new road, built in 2006, up to the still operating mine, modern machinery has hacked a cutting though the solid multi coloured rock to replace the very narrow unsealed steep mountain road.

The mine was working in a small capacity, but we could not enter past the sentry on the gate. We read the sign of info and found that there had been 500 people living on the hillside behind us where now only bush and scrub existed. Apparently when the miners lost their jobs or no longer needed to live there, they just dismantled their houses and carried them into Westport and reassembled them again.

I looked up the hillside and saw a lone oak tree and a patch of orange flowers, so I clambered high up the hill to discover there was a large clump of naturalised Orange Tiger Lilies of a type I have never seen before, these were not double but triple flowers and some of them were actually quadruple layers of petals, very pretty, so I quickly collected some seed to take home and try to grow and climbed back down, sadly I did not take my camera up the hill so no photo of them.

Then, on to Stockton Mine, this mine has been working since 1870 and is an open cast bituminous coal mine which also produces some electricity, but we didn’t see any of that we just checked out the old ruins of an old bath house built for the mines to clean the black coal of themselves after their mining work. It is a huge concrete building with dozens of small cubicles off a large room, completely in ruins now, with the old concrete bathes next to the house, I gather the water was heated by coal furnaces for the men as there are rail tracks and small coal trolley carts still there plus a small tunnel entrance to bring the coal down to the baths.

There is a small museum but it really only has a few photos of the old days. Its fun to wander around on foot at the old settlement and there is a lovely rushing stream that was used during the mining and also for generation of electricity now.

Our next and last stop was to Dennison Mine, the most interesting of all the West Coast coalmines. The mine with all its miners lived up on top of a mountain plateau which was very difficult to get to and to get the coal out from, so the Denniston incline was built, called by all who knew it as the eighth wonder of the world it is truly an outstanding engineering achievement.

The incline was built in the 1880s, it cuts a swath down the mountainside, it’s a rail system to bring down coal wagons on rails. The weight of the full, 12 ton, wagon of coal going down pulled up an empty wagon, by a steel rope, on rails that went almost vertically up and down the mountainside at speeds of 80km an hour. The incline was as steep as 1 in 69ft which is steepish!
The wagons had a strong braking system, but sometimes it failed and the full wagon would come hurtling down right on top of the workers who were emptying the previous wagons, it was a very dangerous job, many lives were lost.

The coal was so valuable at the time it continued to run until 1997. Then coal was brought out by an aerial monorail, which we didn’t see. There are some small relics and the last old wagon, still at the base of the incline where we visited, but not much more. The bush surroundings contained lots of pieces of iron that had presumably fallen down from the incline; I imagine there would be plenty of loose coal there too.
Some of the incline was buried during an earthquake only a year after it had been closed.

We called into an old miner’s cemetery at the base of the mountain and found so very many graves where miners either died in their 20s, and ladies too either died in their 20s of childbirth, or lived to a ripe old age of 70 – 80. A very hard life but it was their way of life.
After all the mine visits we just had to find a good old Coaster Pub at The Pines and enjoy a cool drink and a chat with the locals.

Sheep Country

2010-03-06T11:27:00.006+13:00

Sky watch this week is scenery along the drive to Westport, through sheep and cattle farms and lots of hills,

Lake Rotoiti

2010-03-02T21:12:00.013+13:00

Lake Rotoiti, My World for this week. Check out the other great places around the World
For my birthday we took the caravan away to Westport on the West Coast of South Island for a weeks holiday.
Our first night was spent at the beautiful Lake Rotoiti, a very deep cold mountain lake that is much used for speed boat racing and other water sports. The Lake is about 115 Km from Picton where we live, and is about halfway between Picton and Westport our ultimate destination.

We were greeted by a cheeky little Bush Robin, a bird seldom seen as it only lives in the Beech forest of which there is plenty around the lake. Our camp site was number 21 same as my birthday! The birds are all banded as they are carefully managed, trying to breed more of these lovely friendly birds.

There were many more camper vans both large and small like this one at the camp, all the foreign tourists like camper vans because they can travel at will and stay just anywhere around the country; freedom!

We walked down to the lakes edge and watched the people swimming near the jetty and thought of joining them, but decided against doing so. Glad we did cause when we returned at dusk we stood on the little jetty and watched the giant black eels swimming just where the swimmers had been, there were many more than I managed to photograph, the ducks and swans were not worried by the eels at all.

I went for a lovely cool bush walk among the ferns and native trees, I could hear lots of birds singing but didn't see many. We ae so lucky in NZ as we have no dangerous animals in our forests, walking is very safe and peaceful.
A lovely restful start for our weeks holiday.