Back in New Zealand

We are finally back in Auckland. Now there is a lot to do in the house, mainly paint and paper and the garden. We are looking for some kind of work, and will probably take some home stay students as well. We've bought a car, and are busy organising phone lines, internet etc etc. It's great to have such a lot of space after the cramped conditions we had in the UK, and the even more cramped conditions in the van! Now for Christmas .............................

Life on the Road - Ireland

Ireland was great - very green,very wet, very.............. well Irish. We visited the Waterford Crystal visitor centre, which closes next month. It had some beautiful stuff, we saved a fortune by .. not buying anything! We did a quick journey around part of the Ring of Kerry, beautiful scenery, narrow roads. Fortunately we did not meet any coaches coming in the opposite direction. The Cliffs of Moher we impressive, as was the weather at the time ... very strong winds sending spray ABOVE the tall cliffs, and squalls of rain. But worth it. Philip is now a certified whiskey taster after our visit to the Jameson's old distillery. We will compare the Irish product with the Scottish version in a few weeks time. Blarney Castle was on the tour too, but neither of us bothered to kiss the stone. A highlightwas the Ben Ratty folk park, a collection of houses etc from different time periods and different locations. We stayed ata mixture of Travelodge hotels (they had a special), and camping sites. Fortuntaely our van was warm and cosy and leak proof! We preferred the van as we managed to stay in some really nice scenic places.

No photos this time as we are on the road.

Now we are backin London for Roselle's wedding. After that it's up to the north of England and Scotland for a month.

Our big trip

We are now planning for our big trip around the UK and Europe, before travelling back to NZ for late November or early December. To give us more flexibility, and to keep costs down, we are investing in a camper van. Our first trip, once we leave Salisbury will be to Ireland. We will have a week there in various places (mostly taking advantage of a Travelodge special). Then we return to London for Roselle and Stan's wedding. After that we will spend 3 weeks or so in the UK going as far as John O'Groats in the far north of Scotland.

Then we will cross over to France, where we plan to spend some time. We have found out that you can stay for free in many places where there is either a vineyard or a farm shop, if you have a campervan. Mary plans to spend her birthday in the Loire valley, sipping wine by a famous chateau. We also would like to see some more of Italy, probably going as far as the Amalfi coast. Mary is keen on visiting Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, so these are on our last too. If time permits, (it may well not!), we would quite like to go further afield too (Greece, Czech Republic, ?,??, ??? ...). we will check our email regularly while we are in the UK, but rarely when we are in Europe.

Our final part of the trip involves 4 nights in Hong Kong before we fly back to Auckland in time for Christmas. Then we need to sort out our house, and look for work. Back to reality!!


Watch this space!

Jersey 2009

Once again, we spent some time this year in Jersey. On this trip, we went with our younger daughter Roselle, fiancée Stan, and son, Dominic. Mostly the weather was fine and fairly warm. One one day, Philip and Mary did a a walk around the cliff tops on the north coast of the island. We stopped to eat lunch and have a cider, at Geve de Lecq, one of the nicest bays in the island. The walk was up and down quite a lot,but gave great views across the sea as far as Sark



One the first night, we went as far as Corbiere, to see the sun go down behind the lighthouse. The tide was coming up, and the waves were crashing against the rocks. It was quite a sight, if rather chilly.

We also went out to Elizabeth Castle. We went out by amphibious vehicle, as the tide was partly up (the wheels stayed on the ground), but we walked back. From the castle, there are great views across to St Helier.


At Gorey, people went fishing for razor fish, while Philip continued to add to his store of photographs of the castle. Now we are moving into Mary's hyper busy summer season. Our travel plans are being organised around the long trip home to NZ at the end of the year. We hope to manage a few days in Ireland, then some time in the UK, followed by France, Spain and Italy (or somewhere). We are not sure yet if we will travel on the long haul part via North America or Asia.

Lulworth Cove, Durdle Dor and the Cerne Abbas Giant

We visited these places last weekend, on a fine spring Sunday. Lulworth Cove is always rather special. We bought crayfish tails from the little shop, and ate them with our sandwiches on the slipway. Someone was fixing up a fishing boat there, and the whole scene was very photogenic.

Then we made the 3km hike over the hill to the next bay at Durdle Dor. It was a pleasant walk as it wasn't too cold or too hard, and just far enough to give us some healthy exercise. The hole in the rock is a much-photographed site. Finally we took a long route home to view the Cerne Abbas giant. This a hillside carving in the manner of the white horses, but instead featuring a nude male figure. One theory is that it is some kind of fertility symbol. It's age could be anywhere from 400 to 1000 plus years. On 7 April we are once more off to Jersey, for what may be our last visit there.

Porchester Castle and Portsmouth Historic Dockyard

Last Last Sunday (15 March) we went down to these two places. Porchester Castle is another ruined castle, this one dating back to Roman times. It was modified by different groups, the Saxons, the Normans and so on. From the top, there is a nice view over the Solent. We had a picnic in the large grassed area just outside the castle walls.





After lunch, we went on to Portsmouth to see the Historic dockyard. Although there was too much to see in one afternoon, we did have a look around the HMS Warrior and the Victory.

Stonehenge

Last Sunday we took advantage of a (relatively!) fine afternoon to have a quick walk around Stonehenge. As always, there was quite a lot of people there. The light was quite dramatic at times. On the way home we had a quick look around Amesbury, a town we usually just drive straight through, en route to and from the A303.

For Easter, we will be making a last trip to Jersey, catching up with friends and relatives, and eating lots of seafood!

Salisbury snow

England has just had its heaviest snowfall in 20 years. Here in Salisbury we had 24 hours of snow, some of it being quite heavy Today we have had a light snowfall, but it is still very cold. However it makes for some great photo opportunities, especially looking across to the cathedral from the Harnham water meadows.




The main roads are clear, but side roads look very dangerous, with a mixture of snow and ice. Ambulances are only responding to serious emergencies, and London's public transport has ground to a halt.


We are crossing our fingers that Mary will be able to go Salisbury hospital on Saturday, for what we hope will be the final chapter in the saga of the broken ankle!