Travellerspoint

Came across this website with a neat little map where you can simply and easily record your travels. It automatically gives you  information re larger towns and cities with additional hyperlinks. Allows you to upload photos etc and has links to other travellers' blogs . Will explore further, I know there are several like this but found it so easy to draw my map of this adventure.

http://www.travellerspoint.com/

Home at Last!

It always gives me a warm feeling as the plane flies over the The Forth Road and The Forth Railway Bridges when returning home into Edinburgh Airport.

The sunsetting over in the west and knowing I'll be home soon over the bridge northwards  to "The Crook" takes all the tiredness away........well maybe not quite!

Why don't they call it "Jet Confusion" rather than "jet lag"? My body clock will take a few days to readjust as I "ping" wide awake at 2.00am having forced myself to stay awake until 10.00pm. 

I watch the waning moon from my bedroom as it sets across from the field  behind the trees and the mists huddle over the cold ground as day breaks at 5.45am. 

The birds are "singing" a little differently to the screeching of the cockatiels. Come on spring, I am freezing, get some heat into the sun. Going for a drive up my favourite Glens, Glendevon and Gleneagles today. Have so missed my car!

The New Zealand Troup - Tamaki Village, Rotorua

"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page."  St Augustine

"To me, the world is more like a puzzle, and if we do not travel, we see only one piece".  Alan Fox, Chairman & CEO, Vacations to Go

Came across these quotes  and  started to think what they really meant. Agree with the first but not everyone has the opportunity or finance to be able to so do and  I think the second sums it up for me.

On my travels over the last few years in particular I've seen so many different and new places, met such interesting   and friendly people and learned such a lot about  different cultures and lifestyles.  To all my new  Oz and Welsh  friends in New Zealand  who will be travelling homewards today, if you find time let me  know your thoughts  of the second part of the trip which I am sure would just have been great.

Blog Viewing Statistics?

I was tidying up a couple of posts and for the first time had a look at the statistics tab. This blog was set up as my web diary to record my musings and keep track of what I did, where I went to and to keep my family up to speed.

I can only imagine that the number of folks who have viewed at some point came across the blog by accident.

I find the figures quite interesting. I would never have kept such a detailed paper diary but enjoyed writing in this way as I learned such a lot  in all the places I visited. It has been a great experience and I will certainly be returning to Australia and New Zealand and making better use of stopovers in places such as Hong Kong etc.

Some unrelated pics which all have meaning for a range of reasons.

These pics are not related but just taken in various contexts on my travels!

My new friends made in New Zealand in Wellington. Hope you are still enjoying the tour. Will be in touch once you are home!

A new maori Grandma in Otorhanga with her 4 week old absolutely gorgeous grandson. She was so proud and explained she was wearing the flower headdress to indicate her new status. A bit like an "L" plate.

Jim and I down under on a future visit to Blair. Watch out,  the Christies are about!

Thought I might put an offer in for this Mo to help me on my way round the golf course but couldn't  work out how I would get it on the plane?

Cape Reinga, just so beautiful one of my very favourite spots ever.

There were thousands and thousands.....no exaggeration, of these minute, tiny crabs on Fraser Island. They headed  straight for the sea but every time a wave touch them they scuttled, swiftly sideways and then advanced once more. Blair and I watched them going nowhere fast!

Lunch on 90 mile beach, Fraser Island, Australia in our hired jeep, no cars from the mainland allowed on the island.

Another bit of my laidback friend in the Ladies at Eurong Resort!

Stonetool Sandblow.

The view from our deck bedroom in a downpour in sub-tropical Fraser Island. The night noises were so loud from all the hidden creatures.

Veloceraptors etc hiding in the undergrowth so sleep with the doors closed!

Be careful on this highway because if you are really lucky you might just see another vehicle and you must keep to the 30 kph speed limit! I think that  is a car on yon horizon!

Caught anything yet Jimmy? No not yet? Is this not the bit on the Pacific ocean that you are not allowed to go swimming .........because of the sharks? Should we be standing this far out?

Sunset at Echo point in the Blue Mountains, Australia

Known in New Zealand, although this is Sydney, as the American Embassy.....McDonalds!

Surfer in a wave in Manly, Australia!

Coming out of the Sydney Opera House,  Madame Butterfly, an evening never to be forgotten, a "Golden Moment".

Sunday afternoon at the opera with Nadine.




















You still look glamorous after the volleyball on Manly Beach Christina, even soaking wet!

My first morning in Australia at Q Station. How could anything be more perfect and yet every day just got better and better

Mothership has Landed!

Well Blair am home at last having had the most incredible  6 weeks. It has been fantastic seeing a new country, sorry two new countries, and meeting your new friends, they are indeed your family. I am so happy life is good for you and having picked up you email this morning I could have told your company you were brilliant.  Scott Timber eat your heart out.

Thanks to Ali and Christina for letting me stay, you'll wonder how much space you have now I'm gone and Eve is in Queenscliff. It's been a joy meeting you and I'm glad Blair has such good friends even if he is the "Kitchen Police".  I've obviously trained him well!

Love to you  both and you have a bed here any time. I will be back so any new place has to have a "put up space even on an air mattress on the floor!

See you all soon.

xxx

Going Home

I must admit I am not looking forward to the journey but I am doing it in reasonable comfort so just enjoy. I now know that Blair's advice re making maximum use of a stopover en route to Sydney is really good advice. I also know that once you start on your journey home you just want to get there ASAP.

Left Blair's flat at 7.05pm Sunday evening, drove to the airport and having checked in made my farewells to Blair ........nuff said! At least I know he will be back in August when we are planning a 100th Birthday party....his 30th and Jim's 70th!

I knew my way around the airport having left the international terminal to go to New Zealand.  10 flights in 6 weeks genuinely means I am not interested in duty free shopping!

I know Blair still believes that it is not right that something so large and heavy leaves the ground! The first leg of the journey Sydney to Hong Kong was 10 hours, slightly bumpy but on the whole reasonably uneventful and I did sleep for a couple of hours. The drunk on one side of me insisted on talking to a man on my  other side but after some discreet talking to from the purser he soon went to sleep and snored his way northwards to Hong Kong!  

Am I getting so intolerant as I get older?  Yes.......I did feel like kicking him on a number of occasions and did notice one or two folk nudging his feet as they went to the loo.  Enough  yoghurt and fresh fruit to last a lifetime!

Arrived in Hong Kong early at 4.20am their time, 7.20 Sydney time and not a dashed thing was open! Even had to rake for toilets! Couldn't get into the lounge I wanted near my departure gate as all these entrances were closed but I did learn I would need to get a train to my intended departure gate. 

Am always a little concerned in a strange airport how long it takes to get from point A to point B. How does one keep oneself awake and amused in an airport...........feel very grateful once you find a toilet and even take pictures!!!!!! My brain is definitely addled!

However this wall looked so good. It looked like a photograph or pebbled lino of some kind. In fact it was real pebbles embedded in some sort of plastic resin and was a great contrast to the marbled walls and slate floors. Another idea Raymond?   Can't believe  I've just posted this nonsense.

Five hours was a long time to pass but spent it sorting and compressing my photographs ( had to be done for every one on blog as a "dongle" has limited width) and  updating my blog posts  and managed to get free wifi access for emails etc, an expectation now in public areas, particularly airports. 

 
Managed to take a few pics from the plane as Hong Kong itself sits in a wonderful geographical area.....not great pics BUT!

The next 14 hours were long and again I managed only a 1 hour doze on 2 occasions! At least my legs were up and that makes everything much better for me.  I actually watched 6 episodes, a whole season of the Mentalist between blog posts and Sudokus!

Everybody else is sleeping, folks obviously trying to get body clock in a pattern for home arrival….mine doesn’t seem to want to work like that!  Looking around the dark cabin because blinds down  but brilliant sunlight outside and my body telling me 6.30pm,  23hours 30 mins since I left Blair’s flat, my watch saying 3.30pm (HK time) and my screen telling me it is 7.31 am in London. Yes I am confused!

It’s a bit like Cell Block H in here……..yes I had forgotten such a programme ever existed until Blair reminded me the other day that when he was little he used to see it at my mum’s and then he explained it had become a “cult” thing at school. Mmmm!

Here are 20 people in this upstairs cabin all paying a fortune to be literally tied into your bed (it’s been a very bumpy ride),  and told when to nap, eat and so on………  If you go to sleep with the duvet you must close your seatbelt  on top of it, otherwise you are wakened in the event of  turbulent weather. There was plenty of that for the first 7 hours of the flight! 

 Every so often I try to turn around and look out of the window which is not really within reach. 3,514 miles to go  and another 7 hours 2 min.  Map showing we are west of Beijing  above  somewhere called  Ulan Bator  and flying north westwards to Novosibirsk, crossing over  the Sayan Mountains. Can’t quite read the Chinese so await to find out where I am in English!

Will need to google once home to check out.  Looks fairly forbidding, black mountainous area with snow on tops.  followed by an incredibly flat and snowy landscape. I wonder who lives down there and what kind of lives they lead?

The journey seemed endless but like all good things.... it did come to an end at Heathrow with the gentlest landing I've ever experienced. Couldn't get free wifi in Heathrow - have to pay for something called  Boingo which I refuse to do  - and of course needed to get train to  Terminal 5. For some reason this time it involved an exceedingly long walk through Customs, Immigration and umpteen exits to get there. Two more hours and eventually on another plane back to Edinburgh. Jim picked me up and eventually we arrived home at 7.30pm.

Straight to bed and ping! awakened at 11.45, dozed for another couple of hours and have now been awake since 2.00am. Keeping going now and will make some calls and do chores like washing etc. Feet firmly back on Scottish Terra Firma! I watched dawn break around 6.00am, same time as in Sydney.  It is lovely to be back in my own bed and seeing my own view.................but am missing the ocean already! Still the sound of the birds tweeting is soft and gentle, somewhat different to the raucous screechings of the cockatoos. Two very different worlds.

Last day! Sunday March 20, 2011,

My flight was not until 10.20 in the evening so needed to make hay while the sun shines, well maybe hides behind the rainclouds!

Christina's football game had been cancelled  because of the rain so she  was taking the time to chill out and do the chores we all need to do at weekends. She was going into Sydney later in the afternoon. Hope that went well for you Christina! Eve had moved out on Friday evening to her own new shared flat over at Queenscliff.

They seas were indeed high on Sunday. It was raining hard (but not cold) as I,  with Blair and Ali, took my last nostalgic trip over to Sydney. 

There is something 'retro" about Manly, a feel of the seventies and maybe the ferries contribute to that. I think there are some stories in there somehow! Thomas the Tank Engine and the Fat Controller on the high seas?

At "The Heads" where the Ocean current meets the sea,  the swell was really deep and instead of sailing  in the usual straight lines, the ferries were tacking carefully through the currents. We on board were totally drenched........we could of  course have gone inside BUT ladies of my age.....remember Christa  "When I get Old I will Wear Purple"! 

Blair was quite insistent I move back and sit down, I think he thought I would fall overboard as we were tossed about quite forcibly.  I will admit… I have a couple of large bruises to prove it!

I don't think I will ever lose that joyous  feeling as you sail out of Manly, through "The Heads" and round the Bay with Sydney, The Bridge and The Opera House before you. There are always little boats, yachts and liners moving and changing the dynamic scene.

Today was no different except for the enormous swell bringing a whole new perspective and memory! I spoke with a lady from Dee Why (how did this place get its name) who seemed to find it a bit scary.........we passed Dee Why last night so I could picture where she lived!

The whole area around Circular Quay just buzzes and, as Ali had a date later on in the afternoon, we three went for lunch in the 'Rocks" area and, being the veteran that I am .....we went to a place I had noted on my last visit, the "dare" restaurant, the healthy one with the organic vodka?

Blair and I then sauntered around and just happened to go back to the superb photographic gallery I had discovered on my first visit, the one with the most fantastic black and white photos from interesting perspectives - noted in a previous post. Blair encouraged me!!!!!!! (you can imagine I needed a lot of persuasion).... to buy one as a memento of my visit.   

We came down and round beside the  Museum of Contemporary Art, Annie Leibovitz  Photography Exhibition  still going and came upon some music and the new Hyundai car. They do things well here. Not just gorgeous girls but gorgeous, talented girls playing good music.  

As well as supporting live music, Hyundai were offering  Australians their first glimpse of one of the 'cars of the future', the different  all-new Veloster. Veloster's unique three door layout has one door on the driver's side and two doors on the opposite side allowing easy rear seat access. Veloster is  on display at two locations, on the Western Broadwalk of Sydney Opera House and at the First Fleet Park Hyundai Live Site between the 16th and 20th March. We also saw the  Veloster driving simulator and interactive iPad displays but didn't participate. This is all related to the previous post regarding the Digital Art on the Opera House. 

 

Once more round past the Opera House and we just looked, absorbed and enjoyed being!   I realised I have not posted any Pics of Lunar Park  with its iconic face at the entrance,  just across the Bay and  along from the Harbour Bridge, near Blair's Vodaphone office.

 

I felt a little sad but very happy as we travelled back to Manly. You can see Blair's house here, the red roofed one above the little green boathouse and across the road from the very expensive white house with its own  jetty in the middle of the pic.

We sauntered back along the coastal path enjoying the peace and quiet and the sounds and smells of the sea.

I finished packing and before too long Blair  went back into Manly to pick up a car again to take me to the airport.

 

Newport and Palm Beach

Last Saturday, full day here,   saw us having a coffee with Nadine in Balgowlah (our opera companion) before she went off looking for an outfit for a fancy dress do on Saturday evening. Your Facebook pic Nadine looked great, Ken is out there somewhere looking for you! I also revisited the only "home" shop,  Akita  I  have been in Oz and drouled appropriately once more.....won't fit on the plane.

After doing a bit of preliminery packing I also did a lot of throwing out....remember the packing stuff picture? I did bring too much although I have not bought very much here to take home...only one pair of shoes!

Blair hired a car for a few hours and we headed northwards to Newport in the late afternoon passing  places with interesting names such as Dee Why and Warriewood. It was raining, hard at times,  but it didn't matter.

Our destination was The Newport Arms Hotel. Nestled on the shores of Pittwater on Sydney's Northern Beaches, The Arms is a great Sydney location to meet with friends and family whilst overlooking the scenic splendour of Bayview, Church Point, Ku-ring-gai National Park and  Scotland Island. Please note you can see Scotland from here!

It had been our intention to sit outside but  it was teaming down?  There are lots of different types of restaurant available and Blair had opted for the upmarket one with a fabulous menu. The restaurant was closed due to its being used for a wedding. We opted for another where the menus sounded good.

It was pretty busy and I reckon every family in the surrounding area within a radius of 50 miles were there and all the kids were having a riotous time splashing and jumping in the deep rainpuddles! I know it was not what Blair had planned but we burst out laughing  and just enjoyed ourselves.  The rain did ease off for a little while and it is a great venue, one I will return to. With just 40 minutes or so to sunset we drove on to Palm Beach (James and Felicity's wedding venue) and it was indeed stunning. We just enjoyed the view and watching/ imagining where the sun was setting and see the moon rise.  It was one of those "Golden Moments", one I'll always remember. I had a lovely day. Thanks Blair