Tania's Tales...

	England	10/01/04 The Snowman, and London Transport Museum
		18/01/04 Waverley Abbey, LOTR

	France	25/01/04 Le Mont St-Michel

	England	28/01/04 SNOW!
		07/02/04 No snooker

	Italy	28/02/04 Sardinia: Alghero
		29/02/04 Sardinia: four seasons in one day

England

04/03/04 The Gutenberg Bible, c. 1454-55

	France	06/03/04 To Paris!
		07/03/04 Semi-Marathon de Paris
		08/03/04 Paris: around and about

	England	12/03/04 Snow AGAIN
		14/03/04 Birthday bowling
		20/03/04 Change of season
		28/03/04 The Boat Race
		03/04/04 London with Nikki and Garry
		04/04/04 Sandy 10, Grantchester and Cambridge
		28/04/04 St George's Day, remembrance, and a wedding
		30/04/04 Robins are out and about for the spring!

	Ireland	30/04/04 To Ireland
		01/05/04 Cliffs of Moher, Croagh Patrick
		02/05/04 1: Sligo to Donegal
		02/05/04 2: Donegal to Slieve League
		03/05/04 Derry, Giant's Causeway

	England	08/05/04 Hexton, Rugby, Oxford
		09/05/04 Stonehenge, Old Sarum, Salisbury
		10/05/04 Shakespeare's Globe
		11/05/04 Mum and dad off to Paris
		14/05/04 Missing Orange and Mango Deep Spring

	Italy	15/05/04 Meeting mum, dad and Peter in Rome
		16/05/04 The Pope at St Peter's, Roccasecca
		17/05/04 Commonwealth commemorations, Monte Cassino
		18/05/04 Rome: catacombs, Vatican Museums, and sunshine

	England	21/05/04 A blur of a week
		23/05/04 Lord's, NZ v England, day 4

	Austria/Germany	24/05/04 Cross-country train to Innsbruck
		25/05/04 Alpen roads, Schloß Neuschwanstein, Munich

	France	28/05/04 To Bordeaux and the rugby 7s!
		29/05/04 Around town, more 7s
		30/05/04 Bordeaux - and Barbarians rugby in an Irish pub
		31/05/04 Heading home

	England	04/06/04 Things I like about England: placenames
		05/06/04 London 7s, day 1
		06/06/04 London 7s, day 2
		08/06/04 Transit of Venus
		11/06/04 Boo hoo! I am so unwell!
		04/07/04 1: Football fever
		04/07/04 2: Aldershot Army Show, White Helmets, new specs
		04/07/04 2: Aldershot Army Show, helicopter ride
		11/07/04 Two go mad in Dorset
		15/07/04 A squirrel and the Red Devils put on a show

	Germany	17/07/04 To Berlin via Leipzig
		18/07/04 A very full day in Berlin
		19/07/04 Lutherstadt Wittenberg

	Czech Republic	19/07/04 An evening in Prague
		20/07/04 Prague: gorgeous buildings, sweltering heat

	England	24/07/04 Rugby, Changing of the Guard, and a Scottish invasion
		25/07/04 Farnborough Airshow

Northern Ireland

27/07/04 Belfast

	England	29/07/04 We (and a HUGE spider) go exploring Farnborough
		31/07/04 Battle, Hastings, Beachy Head and Bramley
		01/08/04 Guildford - our favourite market town
		03/08/04 Electrical storms and trains don't mix
		07/08/04 Elusive Camel then to the Peak District
		08/08/04 Chesterfield, Bakewell, Keswick
		09/08/04 RAIN, Pencil Museum, Buttermere
		10/08/04 MORE RAIN, Durham, Alnwick, Warkworth
		11/08/04 Lake District, Pennines, North Yorkshire
		12/08/04 Around Seamer, Great Ayton, Weatherby
		13/08/04 Fountains Abbey, Studley Royal Garden, Nidderdale
		14/08/04 York and Pickering
		15/08/04 Troutsdale and Pickering
		27/08/04 Leaving work...
		29/08/04 Jenni arrives in Farnborough
		30/08/04 Wiltshire and Hampshire
		31/08/04 Around London
		01/09/04 Packing up

	Scotland	02/09/04 Glasgow
		03/09/04 Glasgow and Edinburgh
		04/09/04 Glasgow, Newton Mearns, Edinburgh

	Italy	05/09/04 Edinburgh to Venice
		06/09/04 Venice
		07/09/04 Venice to Florence
		08/09/04 Florence
		09/09/04 Florence to Pisa to Rome
		10/09/04 All over Rome
		11/09/04 Rome and Vatican museums

	Greece	12/09/04 Rome to Athens
		13/09/04 Warwick's birthday in Athens
		14/09/04 Athens and Ydra/Hydra

	France	15/09/04 Athens to Paris
		16/09/04 All around Paris

	USA	17/09/04 Paris – Luton – Heathrow – LA – San Francisco (!)
		18/09/04 San Francisco
		19/09/04 San Francisco to Phoenix to Flagstaff
		20/09/04 Tusayan, Grand Canyon, Flagstaff
		22/09/04 Flagstaff to New Orleans
		23/09/04 New Orleans: Bourbon Street
		24/09/04 New Orleans: Mississippi River, Sarah and Brennen
		25/09/04 New Orleans: Audubon Zoo, Aquarium
		26/09/04 To Auburn via Louisiana swamp... and alligators!
		27/09/04 Around Auburn
		28/09/04 Grits, fried green tomatoes, then to San Francisco
		29/09/04 San Francisco: Alcatraz

	New Zealand	01/10/04 Auckland!
		03/10/04 Waikato - and an important rugby match...
		05/10/04 “Warwick, do you have two cents?”
		14/10/04 To Christchurch
		15/10/04 (Doing) Nothing in Christchurch
		16/10/04 Nana, and dad's RSA talk
		17/10/04 To Tekapo
		18/10/04 Through Lindis Pass to Roxburgh
		19/10/04 Pinders Pond, Gore, Te Anau
		20/10/04 Milford Sound
		21/10/04 Kingston Flyer, Queenstown, Arrowtown
		22/10/04 Arrowtown to Haast
		23/10/04 Glaciers, and West Coast to Ross
		24/10/04 Arthur's Pass to Christchurch, Clem
		25/10/04 A family day in Christchurch
		31/12/04 Impressions of home

01 January 2004 02/01/04 Next Back to top Home

Happy New Year! Beginning as we hope to carry on, Warwick and I flew to Rome today (with a friendly pilot wishing us a happy new year at various times during the flight, and great views from the plane of the Alps towards Zurich). We took a shuttle into the city from Rome Ciampino, but had not thought to bring a map to find our hotel. We wandered around Repubblica, tourist info and bookshops were closed for New Year's Day, bought popcorn from Warner Bros and finally found a map for sale at a street stand. Lovely blue skies! My favourite linguine con aglio e olio for dinner, with some yukky-tasing wine but friendly service at a restaurant near our hotel. We arrived in our hotel on the first day to find a notice along these lines: we regret we have not opened on schedule (September 2003) but will honour all bookings and plan to open on Jan 1. The whole place was undergoing a huge makeover and we were in on the first day of business.

02 January 2004 03/01/04 Next 01/01/04 Previous Back to top Home

Warwick slept very badly so we started out late. We headed into town for our first stop: the Colosseum. The weather forecast was for clear skies and sunshine, but already there was cloud overhead. There was lots to take in at first, so we walked on by the Colosseum with its enormously long and slow queue, past the Arch of Constantine, to the Palatine Hill. There was almost no queue there so we bought a combined ticket for the Colosseum and the hill itself - a good tip! The hill was peaceful, ruins all around us, what can I say - it remains one of my favourite parts of the city. We walked to the front of the staggering queue at the Colosseum and using our combined tickets were inside in no time. This is a very sobering place, and a very impressive structure. While we were there the rain began (what happened to the weather forecast?) so we headed out to the Chiesa di San Clemente, a church I had visited before and wanted to see again. This was closed, and my overworked shoes were starting to let in water, so we headed back to our hotel and to last night's restaurant for lunch. We had planned to meet Sarah and Mark in town that night, as they were coincidentally also in Rome, and had arrived in time for the chaotic and crowded new year celebrations. We met - somehow! - on the Spanish Steps. So many lights and so many people! We wandered via the beautifully lit Trevi Fountain to a bar outside the Pantheon. From there we moved on to a charming wee corner of town, all ivy-clad and decked out in lights for Christmas, where we enjoyed some excellent food and conversation. After dinner we wandered town again, looking for buses to our hotels, stopping for gelato on the way. I chickened out and had a kind of tasteless kiwi and mango sorbet instead... have still never had gelato in Italy, but I am not much of an icecream fan. Found the cutest wee bus I have ever seen, an 8-seater! But we were headed in the wrong direction so had to jump off after a quick conversation with the driver. What a cute wee box that bus was, a proper bus but barely longer than a station wagon! There were so many beautiful things to see by night, we had a great walk through town, and Sarah and Mark seemed to know the place (and the language!) like locals, although they had only been there a couple of days.

03 January 2004 04/01/04 Next 02/01/04 Previous Back to top Home

With a dismal forecast of cloud and rain, we set off under clear blue skies for the centre of town. We went back to the Colosseum to see the outside of it in sunshine, then tried the Chiesa di San Clemente once more, and found it open. This is a 12th century church built on top of a 4th century church, which in turn is built on top of a 1st century Roman house which contained a temple. So much of ancient and medieval Rome is below street level! We walked down through the churches to the temple, which is as close as I've ever felt to walking back through time. We walked back towards the Palatine Hill, past the Arch of Titus, and to the church of St Sebastian at the top. We headed down from there into the Roman Forum, which just blew me away! Warwick was extremely happy and wandered about in the sunshine, photographing as much as he could. The warm golden light felt like summer to me, although the temperature hovered between 10 and 12 degrees C for most of our stay, and was very nippy in the mornings. From the Forum we went up to the Capitoline Hill, looking for a prison dad had told me about, where Peter and Paul were said to have been held. We found no sign of this so we carried on around the hill to the Vittorio Emmanuele II monument. We had seen this impressive structure from the bus the night before, all lit up. It is just as spectacular in daylight. We walked on to the Pantheon where we ate a supermarket lunch on the fountain steps. The Pantheon is another of my favourite places, such a beautiful and well-preserved, ancient building, where Raphael is buried. The Pantheon was built in 27 BC by Agrippa, who features in the Book of Acts, and was rebuilt by Hadrian around 120 AD. We have been reading Acts while we are here and it is quite something to walk around the places where these people lived and where the events described took place. The most amazing thing I find about the Pantheon is the dome, which is made of poured concrete. Hard to imagine the Romans working with such technology 2000 years ago, but they did. The opening in the top of the dome is never covered, and 20-something little holes in the floor drain water away when it rains. Relying on my sense of direction and navigational skills, we walked entirely in the wrong direction from the Pantheon, to Piazza Navona (where very busy Christmas markets were still going on), looking for the high-baroque (1732) Trevi Fountain. This we found when Warwick took over the mapreading and we turned back. The Trevi Fountain is breathtaking! Again, we had seen it lit up the night before, amid bubbles from bubble guns which were being sold on the street. It is said that throwing a coin into the fountain will ensure your return to Rome: Dad, you will be pleased to know I did not throw a coin in last time I was here, and have now returned :-) We ended our evening with a return visit to the madly crowded Spanish Steps, looking out over Via Condotti (which was so packed we had not the slightest inclination to enter it). The evening sunlight was warm and bathed the colourful buildings, the moon was up and clear, and the sky was still very blue. We went home for a siesta and out later to find dinner. This took forever, and we finally found a very friendly pizza place (C'era Una Volta), which offered slow but friendly service, good pizza and wine, and no English-speaking staff so we had to transact everything in Italian. Fun! Despite the warmth in the sun during the day, this was a bitterly cold night with a strong wind. Some things I've neglected to mention so far: beautiful starry Christmas lights on our street, Christmas and New Year decorations still up around the city, a creative approach to parking exhibited by locals. Crossing against the lights means taking your life into your own hands, but a green pedestrian light seems only to offer you the chance to play chicken with any vehicle which has a free turn, or which chooses to run a red light. Mealtimes drive me crazy: dinner doesn't begin until 8! And finally, a very wierd experience near the Spanish Steps, when two incredibly posh old ladies walked by us, they kind of glided together like ghosts! They had a very superior air about them, were impeccably dressed, and were really quite remarkable. Lots of people here are dressed in leather and fur.

04 January 2004 05/01/04 Next 03/01/04 Previous Back to top Home

The forecast was for cloud, but once more we headed out into a day of full sunshine and blue skies. A blast from the past: we walked by the hotel where I had stayed four and a half years earlier. I forgot how close I had stayed to St Peter's then. St Peter's Square and fountains were beautiful in the clear light. A giant nativity scene (complete with loud middle-eastern-style music!) had been set up in the square, beside the obelisk brought by Caligula to Rome from ancient Egypt. Again, a very happy Warwick wandered around taking pictures. Well... sort of... When he ran out of film, the camera would not load a new roll. We were worried he would have to get it repaired, and not get any more photos this trip. He tried and tried, tried everything - so much so that he finally resorted to the manual! And there, he found our return bus tickets to the airport for tomorrow, tucked there for safe-keeping and entirely forgotten. And then he tried the camera again and it worked, with no extra help. That's our little miracle of St Peter's square :-) We learned that St Peter's Basilica was built in the 16th century. It replaced a 4th century church built during Constantine's reign directly over the cemetery where St Peter was buried. We took the lift then climbed the narrow and slanting stairs up to the top of Michelangelo's dome (cuppola). Not recommended if you are at all claustrophobic! It was crowded up there, but the views of Rome and the Vatican were spectacular. We walked through St Peter's itself then right around the Vatican City (stopping for overpriced pizza on the way). That's just over 3.2km. Warwick thinks it's brilliant to have walked right around an entire country, and so it looks like we will have to get our tramping boots out for some of the smaller ones! But even Liechtenstein has something like 76 km of border, so I'm not so sure we will do any more... :-) Maybe Monaco (4.4 km)? After our overpriced-pizza stop we sought out some gelato, which I decided I ought to try at least once. It turns out I really, truly don't like it, and although I may be the only person in the world who feels this way, at least I now know for sure and am absolved of the responsibility of ever having to try it again :-) Warwick, needless to say, loved it. We got to the Vatican Museums about 1pm to find that last entry was at 12:30, so we walked back into town via Castel Sant'Angelo, which was built as a mausoleum for Hadrian. As in the other tourist spots, street sellers selling everything from scarves to dancing toys to fake Prada and Louis Vuitton products were everywhere. As the police came by they grabbed the corners of the sheets on which their products were displayed on the ground, and stood by trying to look innocent until the police had gone. Funny! As I had managed to leave my old gloves somewhere or other when we were out with Sarah and Mark, I bought a new pair from one of these guys. We found we were close to where we had been with Sarah and Mark the other night, even found the sofa that Sarah had discovered twice in her travels and managed not to buy. We made our way back to the Vittorio Emmanuele II monument, then to the Campidoglio Square (designed by Michelangelo) to watch the sun set over the Forum. Finally, we found the prison (Carcere Mamertino) where Peter and Paul were said to have been held, a pinkish building near the stairs from the Forum. The cell inside was small, dark and grim, and would also have been very damp. Prisoners were put through a hole in the floor to starve - an unthinkably grim place. Exhausted after a long day's walking, we headed home to rest, then went out to our favourite restaurant for the third time since we arrived! The staff found it very funny that we kept coming back and that Warwick kept ordering the same dish (farfalle con pesto, patate e fagioli) again and again. Have to write and thank them for their service.

05 January 2004 10/01/04 Next 04/01/04 Previous Back to top Home

As early as we could, and despite a chronic lack of working ticket machines and escalators on the metro, we headed out again to St Peter's for the Vatican Museums. Even at 9am, 15 minutes after opening, the queue stretched back to the city gates! We decided not to join it, and sat in the Vatican information centre writing postcards. When we rejoined the queue it was much shorter, although still 600 metres long. We made friends with a Korean girl while we waited - she was surprised we were not too cold to eat gelato! (Yes, I gave it one more chance, thinking if I would enjoy any flavour it would be strawberry. But I just don't like the stuff - give me a feijoa sorbet any day). It took an hour's queueing to arrive at the entrance. The museums themselves are very detailed and beautiful, and one of my favourite rooms is the room of maps. There is something about the skill and also the errors of ancient and medieval mapmakers that always gets me. I love to see how they viewed the physical world. (Captain Cook himself thought that Stewart Island was a peninsula, and that Banks Peninsula was an island). We missed Raphael's frescoes so will have to be back sometime (Jenni, Nikki, are you keen?)! The Sistine Chapel was very busy but also beautiful. When we left the museums at 1pm there was no queue at all, although last entry was not until 3:30. Here's a tip: avoid the early queues and go at lunchtime! At least, that seems to be true in the winter. We thought we'd walk to Termini station but it was too far and although we only travel with cabin luggage, it was starting to get too heavy on my shoulders. We took the metro then a bus to the airport, drinking in the last of the golden evening sunlight. It really has felt almost like summer here, despite the temperature. The pizza restaurant we had eaten at a couple of days before had had a mural showing the ruins of the Forum, with sheep grazing among them and ancient people walking nearby, which I thought was a kind of fantastical picture. We learned later from a guidebook that the ruins had indeed been neglected for so long that animals were free to graze among them. On the plane home I began reading Umberto Eco's Baudolino, set in the late 12th and early 13th century, and this book also mentions the animals grazing among the ruins. It is already a fascinating book, describing the changes to the role of Rome, its emperors and popes, by the early middle ages. It is a very happy accident to be reading it right after a visit to Rome :-)

10 January 2004 18/01/04 Next 05/01/04 Previous Back to top Home

On Saturday 10 January we took a train to London to see the production of Raymond Briggs' The Snowman. We are huge Raymond Briggs fans! Because of engineering works, our normal 40-minute journey took 80 minutes :-( We arrived to find the Peacock Theatre full of children with parents and grandparents, to be expected! The show was almost completely without words, it was all mime, dancing and music. Favourite scenes: riding a small motorcycle with a sidecar (disturbing rabbit, fox, squirrel and badger at the same time); and of course, the flying scene to the song Walking in the Air. We had our usual lunch at Pizza Express on the Strand, then headed to Covent Garden to find shoes for Warwick at the Dr Marten shop (oh, and the NZ shop is on the way! Burger Rings, Twisties, Fresh Up and Sultana Pasties...) We took a guided tour through the London Transport Museum, which was really interesting. We had an experienced guide teaching a trainee guide so two experts for the price of one! (Well, it was free anyway...) Great things I learnt... Trams: why horse-drawn trams replaced horse-drawn buses (less energy required (and a smoother ride) when pulling a tram over rails rather than over cobbles); how the first electric trams worked (electricity underground, no overhead cables); why they last so long (being so smooth they don't shake themselves to bits they way combustion engine vehicles do)... old trams had reversible seats - when the driver changed ends, he walked through the carriage, reversing the seat backs so that new customers faced the direction of travel. Buses: During the war, window glass was covered with netting so that it wouldn't shatter if a bomb exploded nearby. That London icon, the Routemaster bus, the kind you can jump on and off because there is no back door, will probably be phased out in three years, in accordance with European safety regulations! Oh no! The Routemaster was the last bus designed by London Transport for London Transport. Underground railway: London's was the first underground railway in the world; an underground railway is different from a tube... streets were dug up entirely, tracks laid and the streets recovered for the Metropolitan and District Line railways. The widest streets (such as Euston Road) were chosen, which is why the Circle and District Lines do not go through the centre of town, where the streets are too narrow. The first underground trains were drawn by steam locomotives... the driver stood in the open on the locomotive, underground - he had no separate cabin... you can't recycle hot water for steam as it doesn't expand as much as cold water does... The house at 23 and 24 Leinster Gardens, Paddington, is no more than a facade erected artificially, as the building there was demolished so the underground railway could be put in underneath. The Tube: While the Underground Railway was laid just below the widest streets, tubes were tunnelled through the clay deep beneath London, and tube trains are a bit smaller than a full-sized train. Until the 70's the public could open tube doors at any point during the journey, and did so to let air in during the hot summer months. We learnt all sorts of trivia regarding changes to the lines, ghost stations, and stations (such as Finsbury Park and Highbury & Islington) where you can tell by the size of the tunnel whether that particular one was built first for tube trains or underground railway trains. Today (Sunday) Warwick is watching the second Lord of the Rings movie... I am not because it makes me homesick!

18 January 2004 25/01/04 Next 10/01/04 Previous Back to top Home

We finally headed out to Waverley Abbey this weekend. It is the ruin of the first abbey of Cistercian monks in this country (Tintern was their second or third abbey here) and favourite picnic spot of our church, about 10 miles away. There weren't too many people there today in the icy cold - we almost had the place to ourselves. It was very quiet, and at 4pm there was still ice on the ground from the night before. I love wandering around these old places and imagining how the people there lived. On Sunday we bit the bullet and went to see Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. I loved the movie, it was so good that I almost forgot to be homesick! Browsing supermarket shelves... tinned macaroni cheese, tinned mushy peas - uk! and, drum roll please... tinned beer and beef! I think this is right up there with Sarah's spray-on cheese.

25 January 2004 28/01/04 Next 18/01/04 Previous Back to top Home

This weekend is the anniversary of our mystery weekend in Genoa, when Warwick didn't tell me where we were going until we checked in. Today I did the same for him! We flew to Dinard in Brittany, picked up a little red Citroen Saxo (I am not a fan) and drove about 70km to Mont St-Michel in Normandy. We had no map and got lost on the way and stopped in a friendly wee village service station to ask directions, did it all in French so very encouraged :-) We had fabulous friendly service all weekend. Driving along we added a new word to our vocabulary: biscuiterie. What a great invention! We stopped in on one and picked up a bag of biscuits similar to Chocoades which don't seem to be made in NZ anymore. And these are almost better than Chocoades, they are made in a small French biscuiterie! We have resolved to learn how to make them ourselves. We got to the Mont itself, parked and took a walk around the town. It is an abbey and little town built out on an island, linked to the mainland by a causeway. I love its medieval streets. High tide covers the car park so you have to remember to move your car before the tide comes in! A few days a year the spring tides cut the island off completely. We checked into our hotel, the whole hotel stretch was almost deserted and only a couple of places were even open, we were very much in off-season. Still there were plenty of people around the Mont. We drove around, past a beautiful windmill that was lit up for the evening, and finally ended up back at Mont St-Michel in search of dinner. Nothing was open (plague of the off-season) except for one terribly expensive place who were very polite when we asked for vegetarian food - there was none on the menu! They were lovely though, and we had the most delicious meal: mushroom cream, endless fresh bread rolls, fresh salad with lots of tomato, the lightest herb omelette ever, and for me the best apple sorbet I have ever tasted (for Warwick, a tiny wee apple tart made of puff pastry). Next morning we took another long last look at the beautiful Mont St-Michel, then drove through bright sunshine back to the airport. A flying visit but a sweet one!

28 January 2004 07/02/04 Next 25/01/04 Previous Back to top Home

The snow arrived today! At last! We woke this morning to a light dusting that looked like icing sugar, and got a call later from Nikki to say the snow was falling in large drifts in Glasgow. Our icing sugar snow melted about 2pm but a couple of centimetres worth came down again tonight, with lightning, sleet and a great deal of wind. This cold front from Canada has been widely anticipated and it seems tonight that the whole country is celebrating!

07 February 2004 28/02/04 Next 28/01/04 Previous Back to top Home

We had a visit from Robyn at the end of January. She turned up a bit late, having driven almost to London (or at least, almost to Kingston which is where you really get lost) but we had a fabulous day of catching up. We got Whale Rider out in the evening, my new favourite movie. Since last year we had planned to go to the snooker Masters at Wembley... we bought our tickets, chose the right side of the draw to end up at the semi-final of the century: Ronnie O'Sullivan v Jimmy White. Yeeha! With anticipatory glee we headed out, stopping quickly at the station down the road to check the air in our tyres. And then we got stuck! The car would not start again after we had checked the air pressure. All we could do was roll back so that other people could use the air, but the car would not start at all. I ran home in the rain to get a spare set of keys - maybe the battery was flat in the set we were using? Still no joy. It turned out that the petrol station was home to a cell phone mast, and increasing numbers of cars like ours with immobilisers in them are being jammed by the masts. Oh no! We were towed home but the car still wouldn't start as the mechanic who first looked at it had knocked something else out of whack, and it was too late to get to the snooker anyway :-( We watched on TV and next time we are taking the train.

28 February 2004 29/02/04 Next 07/02/04 Previous Back to top Home

Finally we made it to Sardinia! We had been trying for ages to find the right fares at the right times, then bit the bullet and just took the weekend, as we could not get time off from work. We left on Saturday afternoon, leaving icy cold England for the slightly milder climes of the Sardinian winter. We touched down in Alghero, in the worst turbulence I have ever experienced that close to the ground. It felt as though the plane would tip over as we landed! We picked up a hire car and map, and headed to our hotel. As we drove through the city, we got our first glimpse of the sea... huge waves were crashing over the a sea wall a short distance out, seeming to dwarf a far-away lighthouse. After checking in, we headed back to town, and got very lost while looking for a park... in fact, our tiny Fiat Punto met its match in the narrow streets of the old town - Warwick executed some very tight turns to get us back to the newer roads. Lots of the locals had tiny wee three-wheeled vehicles that looked a bit like tuktuks to get around these streets, although there was also the odd ambitious car about our size. We wandered around to find a likely-looking spot for dinner, which turned out to be a Spaghetteria in the centre of town. Yum! I had my usual aglio/olio and Warwick had a tomato pasta, all chased down with bread and olive oil, and a nice house red. Walking back to the car we stopped to watch the waves breaking in the moonlight, and to hear them crashing against the sea wall. Beautiful! I feel very connected to New Zealand when I am beside the sea. The wind was wild.

29 February 2004 04/03/04 Next 28/02/04 Previous Back to top Home

On Sunday we checked out and drove through increasing rain along the coast to Bosa, stopping for a flock of very woolly sheep with their tails long. We could glimpse snatches of rugged coastline through the rain, when suddenly the cloud lifted and we had a clear view of the green cliffs leading down to the turbulent blue water, and it felt like we were on the edge of the world. Beautiful! We were dancing around when IT STARTED SNOWING! There we were, on a mediteranean island, in beautiful sunshine, in falling snow, watching a storm approach over the ocean. Magic! The plants were beautiful too... lovely shrubby plants covering the hillsides, tiny little succulents (later we would see masses of cacti), green and white thistles... and volcanic-looking rocks, full of holes, some very large ones forming strange, peaked hollows in the cliffs. We left the sunny coast, planning to nip inland and down to a mountainous national park, then make a loop from the other side of the island back to Alghero. We had not gone far when we were suddenly driving in snow. The further we drove the worse the snow and the visibility became. We passed a car that had skidded off the road and landed to perfectly straddle a ditch, like a wee bridge. We drove onwards and upwards, then finally descended to a sunny plain, no sign of snow, just green fields and sunshine as far as the eye could see. This was already a wierd island! But then... ... we began to climb again, into the mountains. The hills were divided into lots of little terraced plots with trees, hairy cows (some gorgeous big white cows!) and more sheep. Higher up, we got back into snow. This area was beautiful, all red and green and brown foliage peeking from under a heavy white layer of snow. There was so much snow! We climbed and climbed, and the roads got narrower and icier. Warwick's expert driving got us through but when we were finally out we realised we had no time to get to the eastern coast. We doubled back... ... through sunny green plains... stopping for two policemen who checked Warwick's licence and our registration... climbing, through sunny green valleys and then, you guessed, back into snow. Snow then sun then snow then sun, all within a very small space and time. We continued on, into the sunshine and back to Alghero, where almost every petrol station was closed. We had well and truly run out of time to do everything we wanted so we hope to go back. The best ever tourist information service is at Alghero airport! They told us everything we need to know for when we return. Spinach frittata sandwiches and icecreams made a very, very belated lunch, and we headed back to England. Several times in the last few weeks Warwick has said "Enjoy the snow, it is the last time we will have snow in our backyard." But when we got back it had snowed AGAIN. Beautiful, dry flakes of snow everywhere.

04 March 2004 06/03/04 Next 29/02/04 Previous Back to top Home

I nipped to Oxford to see the Gutenberg bible displayed in the Bodleian library's Divinity School for World Book Day. This was the first book in the West to be produced using movable type. It was open to a page in Maccabees. The book was large, beautiful and very well preserved, I was expecting it to look much older. Of about 200 copies printed, 48 exist today. It was great to be in Oxford again, to walk around those beautiful buildings, and I queued for a short while to see the bible itself. It was displayed under glass, in a booth behind a screen, to keep light levels low and preserve it. But all I wanted to do was to pick it up and leaf through it.

06 March 2004 07/03/04 Next 04/03/04 Previous Back to top Home

Yeeha! Today we headed to Paris on the Eurostar - a nice change to go by train. We checked in, boarded, and relaxed for the smooth ride. Nikki and Garry had got there a couple of days before us so we headed straight for the hotel to meet them. Mmmmm, they were waiting with a box full of yummy cakes! Mmmmmm... A good sign: a fabulous patisserie on the corner, their cakes and petits-fours a treat for the eyes as well as for the stomach. After eating yummy mille-feuilles and other delicious goodies made mainly of pastry and cream (and after watching part of something akin to Candid Camera in French) we headed to the Parc Floral in the Bois de Vincennes to find our race start and pick up our bibs and goodie bags - oh yes, a half-marathon tomorrow! We wandered through the lovely park, but took ages to reach the Parc Floral - what a huge place the Bois de Vincennes is! Finally got there and registered. The moon was full and large and pink over the Château de Vincennes - beautiful! We headed home via a friendly Indian restaurant and a very expensive but friendly chocolate/cakes/champagne/luxury foods shop, where we took ages to decide not to buy a gorgeous-looking chocolate cake.

07 March 2004 08/03/04 Next 06/03/04 Previous Back to top Home

Up for banana, yoghurt, croissants, then out in the cold to get to the start line. 16,000 people had registered for the race - a capacity field! Nikki and I bade farewell to Warwick and Garry, who, finding the mini-golf shut, proceeded to the nearest cafe for copious amounts of chocolate, coffee and brownies over the next couple of hours. It was warmer in amongst the crowd, but it took us over 10 minutes to cross the start line. We inched to the start where we found ourselves suddenly leaping over discarded binbags and were away. I had a run/walk race plan so after a pleasant start together, Nikki took off and I proceeded at a more leisurely pace... The race was great! There were bands all around the course playing music for us - Gangsta's Paradise sounds great done by a brass band! Enthusiastic percussionists at about 10K, a band of clowns with at least one clarinet, and a band of beautiful French horns near the end are others that stick in my mind. The crowd alongside were great, - "Allez! Allez!" "Courage! Courage!" - and at the water stations: "Ce n'est pas fini - on y va!" A faint scream went up from the field as hail began falling at about 4km. I was feeling great until about 18km! Not bad! I also noticed about then that I was bleeding - silly me, I was running in the shorts I had worn with no problems in Budapest last year, but I had not trained in them for months since. They rubbed my legs raw! I had a fabulous cheering squad at the end: Warwick, Nikki and Garry came running up alongside me to cheer me on to the finish :-) We hobbled back to the hotel to shower (fantastic water pressure - could have stayed in there for hours). We celebrated our run with lunch in an Italian restaurant, which was open especially for Grandmother's Day. In the afternoon we headed back into town, first to the Arc de Triomphe where we saw the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and from there took a walk down the Champs-Elysées (past two building-sized Louis Vuitton bags which were part of a store front or advertising campaign or something). From there we took a metro to Montmartre, primarily to see the sunset over the city, but we missed that. We did see the artists' square though, and stopped for more food (crepes with Grand Marnier for the runners, omelette and hot dog for those who had had their sugar that morning...) We walked through Sacré-Cœur, a beautiful silent atmosphere, then out to see the basilica and the view of the city by night. A large pizza made dinner for Nikki and I, while Garry had thinly-sliced raw beef! Warwick had spread all his meals out over the day and wasn't hungry by the time we sat down to eat!

08 March 2004 12/03/04 Next 07/03/04 Previous Back to top Home

After a well-earned sleep in, Warwick and I nipped to the nearest patisserie for breakfast - we were in and out several times for more and more and more! We ate our pain au chocolat on a park bench, then brought more food back to Nikki and Garry. After checking out, we left our bags at Gare du Nord and carried on to the Louvre, via a yummy cafe near Châtelet les Halles, from where we could glimpse the Centre Georges Pompidou. Warwick was delighted to find large amounts of thick chocolate at the bottom of his hot chocolate. We walked from there to the Louvre, via a gold grass-like sculpture and a second-hand shop. It was lovely to be there again, and to take in the beautiful buildings in the sunshine. In fact, it was too sunny to go inside, so we wandered around the gardens a bit, solving the world's problems, ending up in a yummy cafe (where they served Royal Crown Draft Cola!) and then at the lovely Palais Royal. (Nikki and Garry had a whole conversation about Royal Crown Draft with the staff there - actually, we had nothing but incredibly friendly service from pretty much everyone we dealt with in Paris). Saw some excellent rollerbladers doing backwards and twisting jumps over a rope about a metre high. We revisited the Champs-Elysées, then all too soon it was time to get our bags from the station, say our goodbyes and head for home :-( The sun set slowly as we travelled through the north of France.

12 March 2004 14/03/04 Next 08/03/04 Previous Back to top Home

SNOW! Woke up to an inch of snow today! Saw sunflower heads with snow on them on my way to the station, then thick, white snow and low white skies from Farnborough to Birmingham, where I was working.

14 March 2004 20/03/04 Next 12/03/04 Previous Back to top Home

My birthday began with a wonderful evening and morning of almost constant phone chatter from here and from home :-) I baked afghans and hokey pokey biscuits and cheese scones and Warwick and I relaxed around home catching up with things for once, which was lovely. On Sunday Michael and Megan joined us in Woking for pool, ten-pin bowling (Michael got three strikes in a row on his last turn! And Warwick got 2!), and chocolate fudge cake to celebrate my birthday. Yeeha!

20 March 2004 28/03/04 Next 14/03/04 Previous Back to top Home

On Friday 12, heavy snow. On Tuesday 16, 16 degree sunshine. On Friday 19, heavy rain with gale force winds. Daffodils standing strong throughout, blossom appearing and and tulip magnolia trees about to burst into flower, a strange and beautiful time of year.

28 March 2004 04/04/04 Next 20/03/04 Previous Back to top Home

Finally caught up with Rahmin, and briefly with Georgia, this week. We then had a weekend of sport - yeeha! Woke up to internet commentaries on the Super 12 and cricket, then switched on TV coverage of the final three 6 Nations games (Michael joined us for the first of them). On Sunday evening we met up with Michael again, for the Boat Race in London. As we pulled into Waterloo, we saw the Orient Express sitting at Platform 19, and wandered down for a look. What a beautiful train and luxurious, old-fashioned interior! Very easy to imagine an Agatha Chistie scenario taking place there...! We got to the Hammersmith Bridge just in time to get a good spot on the side of the river, and not long after that the boats came into view. It was great to see them in real life - great to see how fast they went and the power they put into the rowing. Cambridge were well in the lead. When they had gone by we headed from there to a wee pub called the Oxford and Cambridge Free House (Free House, which sells wines, spirits and beer, as opposed to Ale House, which sells only beer and of which the last in this country closed a couple of years ago). We saw the rest of the race on screen in the pub, and the ensuing controversy over a clash that had happened before the teams had reached us in Hammersmith. The Cambridge victory was upheld in the end. We then headed to Clapham Junction for some pool, pizza and nachos. The tube was full of boat race people, including some possible Oxbridge types discussing the correct way to brown a pheasant...! A fun end to a fun evening!

03 April 2004 04/04/04 Next 28/03/04 Previous Back to top Home

Had lunch with Wendy on Friday, then met Nikki and Garry in London on Saturday. We met them in a pizza place near Waterloo: we walked in and told the Australian waitress that we were meeting friends, and she said "oh, you're looking for the Australians?" Hahahaha! N & G were not impressed. From there we headed to Denmark Street, home of fabulous guitars and drums. The boys dreamed and drooled, while Nikki and I weaved in and out of all the shops with sheet music in them. The London Dungeon was next on our list so we headed to London Bridge station. We had our photo taken on entry to the Dungeon, and it turned out to be the best part of the trip - a fabulous photo! The dungeon itself was a tour, with some high points (including the swirly fire bridge and some of the actors) but we couldn't really decide what audience it was aimed at. Too graphic for young children, too tacky for adults, and strangely enough, not in chronological order. Special effects included a terrible stench in the plague section, it was almost unbearable, and various actors waiting to scare you in the dark. As we left the reconstructed streets of Jack the Ripper's neighbourhood in darkness, an actor who blended right into the shadows silently pulled the hood of my jacket over my head. SPOOKY! I was very spooked but I didn't scream. We headed home to Farnborough for quiche and other yummy goodies that Warwick had secretly bought for dinner, and chatted into the evening.

04 April 2004 28/04/04 Next 03/04/04 Previous Back to top Home

We are mad. We had planned to run the half-marathon in Berlin today, but were thwarted by a lack of cheap flights. So we arranged to run the popular Woking TenTen (a choice of ten miles or ten km, we chose ten miles as preparation for the Shakespeare half at the end of April). A few days before the event we got an email to say it had been cancelled due to last-minute roadworks on the course. RATS! So we entered the Sandy 10 mile race, in Bedfordshire. Silly us. Hadn't we already been given two opportunites to cancel gracefully? We got to Sandy in good time and got ready to run. None of us had done that distance before so we didn't know quite what to expect. Warwick zoomed on ahead (he only has one speed, which is FAST) and Nikki and I ran/walked all the way around the course. It was a beautiful, rural race, and we saw Welsh mountain ponies, Jerusalem donkeys (which Nikki attempted to feed but stinging nettle stopped her) and hens. The marshalls were incredibly encouraging and the race well-organised. It was hard work and we decided we are NOT prepared for the Shakespeare half! We will find another 10K I think. After Sandy we drove through bright sunshine to Grantchester for well-earned scones with jam and clotted cream, but just as we got there it started to rain. There was no room indoors so we and some others sat stoically in the orchard as light showers came and went, until the hail came down. We then abandoned our display of true British pluck, and ran for the indoor cafe. After far too much food (Warwick couldn't finish the best cheesecake he had ever tasted) we drove into Cambridge to have a looksee. Ah, Cambridge! We drove by Warwick's old house and place of work, then wandered past colleges, past a teddy bear shop (while Nikki gave the bear in the doorway a big hug), into a fudge shop, and through the market. We decided the weather was not really right for punting, so ate nachos in the Rat and Parrot until it was time to head home. After dropping Nikki and Garry at Stansted, we drove slowly through terrible rain, stopping in long queues on the motorway for periods of time, and saw evidence of two car crashes on either side of the motorway from each other. On my side there were two cars with their noses crumpled up, and there were three in similar condition on the other side. Arrived home safely and very, very tired.

28 April 2004 30/04/04 Next 04/04/04 Previous Back to top Home

23 April was St George's Day, and I took the 76 bus from work to Waterloo. This is my favourite journey... I can take the tube part of the way and get there a bit quicker, but if I have time I like the 76. This route takes me through the City, past numerous old pubs and historic buildings, from Moorgate to Bank, past St Paul's Cathedral, along Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street, past the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand, along Aldwych and across Waterloo Bridge. From Waterloo Bridge you can see from east to west: the Monument and St Paul's, the Gherkin (officially the Swiss Re Tower, but gherkin is the best word to decribe it... one of the newest and most attractive additions to the London skyline), the London Eye, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, and of course all the activity on the Thames. This St George's Day was one of the first truly warm days of spring. Everyone was out after work, spilling out from the pubs onto pavements and even onto some of the smaller roads, enjoying their drinks in the sun. What a beautiful atmosphere! I love summer in London. I work not far from the Royal Artillery, and during the afternoon we could hear them singing Jerusalem. St George is the patron saint of England and while St George's Day is not an official celebration, it is growing in popularity. 24 April A quiet day but a big one. We spent time on the phone to NZ and remembered Anne. The bluebells are out in all their glory in our garden, and they always remind me of her. And in America, a wedding... Sarah and Brennen were married on a beach in Florida today, and although we couldn't be there it was lovely to have photos and updates almost as things happened. With all these things, and with major events at work, my A-level art exam (15 hours over 3 days) and plans to fly to Ireland to meet mum and dad on Friday night, I'm pretty tired. Life is big!

30 April 2004 30/04/04 Next 28/04/04 Previous Back to top Home

Robins are out and about for the spring! So sweet.

30 April 2004 01/05/04 Next 30/04/04 Previous Back to top Home

After work we flew from Stansted to Shannon where we met mum and dad. Yaaaay! Haven't seen them for a year! Lots of hugs and talking as we drove from Shannon, past a beautifully lit Bunratty Castle, to Limerick. Wine and chocolate and an exchange of presents and photos, a flick through dad's book, and our first glimpse of Sarah's wedding video (she was beautiful, of course, with wonderful shells in her hair).

01 May 2004 02/05/04 Next 30/04/04 Previous Back to top Home

We had an early start, heading out for the Cliffs of Moher. The wind there was amazing! Coming in straight off the Atlantic, with no land on its way to break it up, it was terribly strong. Seagulls were nesting in the cliffs, and on O'Brien's tower there we found a coat of arms very similar to the de Lautour one (mum's family). We carried on, with some Beach Boys and some Beatles, through the Burren. This was a very bleak landscape, incredibly rocky. We saw peat, a few scraggy cows, and a lot of amazing stonewalling. One particular field of rocks was separated from another by a long stonewall heading straight up a steep hill, as though the cattle might perhaps have broken through to the lush stone on the other side...?! We pressed on to Croagh Patrick, through some very pretty, colourful towns. Mum and Warwick wandered around the bay and visitors' centre while dad and I selected a couple of walking sticks and started up the mountain. Croagh Patrick is fabulous. It was hard work, scrambling over rocks on some pretty steep faces, and I was surprised at the strength of the sun, which burnt my nose! The views were spectacular, and there were lots of friendly people on the mountain with us. Apparently pilgrims walk 40 miles and then up this mountain, 762 metres above sea level, all in their bare feet... and I was in trainers wishing for something with better ankle support! Some of the comments we heard on the way up and down were funny. A young woman had decided that this climb would certainly do for penance. Dad met a man who said it seemed as though every time he rounded a corner they had piled more rocks on top... it turned out he had already climbed it three times and it seemed higher every time! A couple of the women were gracefully and seemingly effortlessly ascending the mountain, and looked like they had stepped off the cover of Vogue. Dad was very encouraging as I climbed and as I gingerly tried the descent... I ended up ski-sliding down part of the way. The walking sticks were VERY useful. We got to the bottom where mum was waiting, having lost Warwick. She kept catching glimpses of him but when she got to where she had seen him he had already moved on! When they found each other they went down to the poignant National Famine Memorial (a sculpture of a boat and skeletons - Warwick had said he had seen a ship in the bay, so we were expecting something modern and functional. The ship turned out to be the memorial statue, and so became for us "a tin boat that doesn't float"). We drove via Westport, past a house which was being thatched, and past some very large roadside shrines, of which we would see more throughout the trip. We stopped in Charlestown, ending up at the very friendly Walsh's B&B. Mum and dad got a shot of a traffic-calming sign, a concept which seems to have delighted them :-) Our B&B was down a long, quiet country road. We had dinner at a restaurant in town, and when we got back we sat in the lounge to chat over a bottle of wine. A young relative of our host family sang for us (See St Patrick's fla-ame! Sing St Patrick's na-ame!), danced an Irish dance and showed us her dancing costume and medals. So sweet! Mum had secretly bought Croagh Patrick T-shirts for dad and me, as the visitors' centre had closed before we came down the mountain. She and Warwick nipped out and put them on while we were chatting. What a great surprise! Mum and Warwick were very pleased with their trick. Dad's T-shirt count continues to grow...

02 May 2004 02/05/04 Next 01/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

We had a slightly later start today, and after breakfast including soda bread with eggs from the B&B's own hens, we drove on to Sligo in the rain. Tulips and cherry blossom everywhere, and bilingual signs. And we found out that mum can identify about half a million different grasses (give or take)! The gallery in Sligo which mum had been hoping to see was closed, but we saw the Yeats statue and a memorial to the 1798 uprising. Driving out of town, we came upon the cemetery where Yeats is buried, against a backdrop of beautiful mountains. Looking west there was beautiful sunlight on the bays. The light falling on one particular spot on the mountainside was absolutely lovely - it picked out all the different colours in the rock and foliage. From Sligo we carried on to Donegal town - ancestral home of the O'Donnells, including my nana's family. (Nana's dad was an O'Donnell from Limerick and her mum an O'Donnell from Letterkenny in County Donegal). We took a tour of the castle, and Anne, our guide, spoke some Irish to us. We learnt some fabulous facts about life at Donegal Castle... There was an unbroken succession of O'Donnell rulers in Donegal from the 13th until the early 17th centuries, and they built the castle in 1505. The O'Donnells left Ireland with the Flight of the Earls in 1607, and the castle was given to Sir Basil Brooke of England. The walls at the bottom of the castle are three metres thick! There is a trip-staircase, with uneven steps to fool heavily armoured invaders who can't really see where they are putting their feet. The trip-staircase is right-handed (you walk down anti-clockwise), so that the lord of the castle can use his sword in his right hand as he make his way downstairs. There is only one left-handed trip-staircase in Ireland, in a castle not far from this one. Pigs' intestines were stretched over the narrow windows to keep in warmth and let in some light. The O'Donnells liked their vino: 100 tonnes of wine were delivered to the castle from Europe every year. The castle had a secret staircase down to the first floor, from where a rope or rope ladder could be used to make a getaway. When they took over the castle, the Brookes took a Gothic doorway from a nearby monastery to use as a ground-floor doorway for their servants. They had their own doorway constructed in romanesque style, which they entered by a staircase onto the first floor. To avoid a tax levied on structures with rooves, the Brookes removed the roof when they left and the castle was abandoned to the weather for 300 years. The modern reconstructed roof took heritage craftspeople four years to build. It is all Irish oak and has no nails: it is held together by wooden pegs. In Donegal town we saw an O'Donnells bar, opposite a shop called Mary's of Donegal, just for nana :-) The day before we arrived in Donegal, a group of 29 O'Donnells from America had come through, and every O'Donnell souvenir in every gift shop was gone!

02 May 2004 03/05/04 Next 02/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

From Donegal we turned towards Carrick, on our way to Slieve League. All road signage was in Irish, with no English translation. The landscape was brown and grassy, and we saw turf-cutting along the way. (Mum had already bought a wee postcard which I rather liked: talking won't get the turf home!) As it happened, we had made a wrong turn, but it was the most beautiful wrong turn I have ever experienced. We drove all the way to a town called Glencolmcille, where we discovered our mistake and turned back. The cliffs of Slieve League are the highest sea cliffs in Europe. It's not possible to drive all the way to the cliffs so we didn't see the tallest of them. We parked near a wharf where people in full wetsuits were dive-bombing into the sea, and scrambled up the hillside. We climbed over rocks and ruins and past woolly sheep, and suddenly we were on top of the cliffs themselves. And my husband and my dad were perched at the very top! Aaagh! It was a pretty, quiet, very un-touristy spot. Mum sat on the hillside doing a chicken impression as there were no handrails near the edge. Driving on, we saw horses in sulkies in Ballybofey, and drove through crowded Letterkenny where dad's grandmother was born. Entering Derry, we took a wrong turn and ended up driving through a neighbourhood with red, white and blue painted kerbs, a large mural, and very emotive unionist slogans in graffiti. We got back into town and drove around looking for a B&B, and found one not far from the town walls. Proprietor Michael was a real character. On the way to dinner we stopped for a drink, and noticed an immediate difference between this pub and the last few places we had been to: all public places in the Republic of Ireland, including bars and restaurants, have been smoke-free since the end of March. Plenty of smokers were hanging about on the streets outside bars and restaurants there, but the air inside was clean. Suddenly we had to get used to smoky rooms again. A different story indeed. And at dinner mum and I managed by accident to give evil looks in stereo to a perfectly innocent Warwick (we were only demonstrating our skill) and he almost fell off his chair, poor lad!

03 May 2004 08/05/04 Next 02/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

On Bank Holiday Monday we woke in Derry to a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs and Irish potato farls (a kind of flat potato bread). We walked into town and around the walls, past a paint-bombed surveillance tower looking out onto west Derry. We walked past St Columb's Cathedral, which has a cross of nails from Coventry Cathedral (click here for more on this ministry). We stopped in at the large tourist information centre, then walked back through the Diamond, down past the Free Derry mural and other murals, some still being completed, and along to the Bloody Sunday Memorial. This was all very sobering and sad. From Derry we made the very pretty drive north to the Giant's Causeway. We drove through rolling countryside - still so many gorse hedges - past beautiful bays with white breakers and small communities of white houses, through a country glade and to the causeway itself. Fortified by Cookie Time and carrots we took the high road to get a view of the causeway and the ocean - we could even see the coast of Scotland. The view was amazing, and the sea so blue! We could also look back inland across the countryside. We walked along the gorse-edged path - still no handrails anywhere - as the weather came in across the ocean. Great gusts of wind came up and it was difficult to stand upright as we reached the top of the steep steps down the cliffs. We made it however, past banks of primroses, to the lower path which wound around the bays. The causeway was supposedly created by the giant Finn McCool to reach his girlfriend in Scotland (similar columns are found at Scotland's Staffa Island). We met some Irish fellows leaning against the cluster of columns known as the Organ, which they told us was played by Finn McCool's mother. The columns were spectacular, can't really describe them. It was a sunny afternoon (once that fierce little weather system had passed, which it quickly did), and the atmosphere was that of a great playground. With added little sinister-looking midge things. Finally we got down to the rocks that you can clamber over - clamber is a good word that you don't get to use very often, much less actually do. Great fun in the sun! Although we had spent about as much time as we could at the causeway, it was hard to leave it behind. We headed south towards Belfast, meeting bank holiday traffic on its way home, but arriving early at the airport. Rats. We sat around the foodcourt talking until it was time to leave. Rats! Said goodbye to my lovely mum and dad, who by now will be in Scotland with Nikki. Holiday quotes: "Where's that machine that makes photos?" (Dad looking for his camera) "I remembered I had no memory." (Tania had run out of space on her digital memory card) "Avena Chinochloa Lagurus Miscanthus..." (or something like that - mum's knowledge of grasses, quite incredible) "Not for me, I'm over the yardarm!" (Warwick declining another serving of wine) And the last word goes to our easyjet pilot, who informed us as we were approaching Stansted that the rainy weather we had left in Belfast was approaching at 50mph, and would be rejoining us in the early hours. This it did - and since then all we have had is heavy rain and some of the loudest peals of thunder I have ever heard.

08 May 2004 09/05/04 Next 03/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

We picked Nikki, mum and dad up from Heathrow this morning. From there we drove on to Hexton, where mum's family (de Lautour) lived for a few generations after leaving France and before settling in New Zealand. It was misty and wet, but very leafy and green. Hexton is a lovely wee village set in lots of farmland. We found a water pump donated by an ancestor, wandered around the streets, and with permission took a quick look around the immediate grounds of the Manor House. (Dad considered that we had no manors...!) We finished up with some yummy soup for lunch at the Raven. From Hexton we drove north to Rugby, home of the great game! There was a game happening on the famous Close, the field in the school grounds where Web Ellis first ran with the ball, and where the new rules were later agreed upon. So of course we wandered in, only to discover we were watching the second ever game of league to be played on that historic field. The bank on the edge of the field has been there since before the school, when an old priory existed nearby, and is possibly part of an old burial ground. We took some photos of the plaque commemorating Web Ellis' creative disruption of the rules, and spoke to a man nearby who told us that filming for Tom Brown's Schooldays was taking place at the school. Sure enough, there were film vans and lighting arrangements beside the buildings. Stephen Fry, with a perm, is to play Dr Arnold. The man we met there also told us that an Old Rugbeian had invented Aussie Rules. We took a tour of the Rugby School Museum, where we found the same wonderful lady who showed us through last time. She knows everything about Rugby School! The Web Ellis Trophy had been to town on its UK tour a week earlier, and in honour of the occasion the first trophy ever played for in the game of rugby was displayed in the museum. This is the Cock House Trophy, a school trophy, which is still played for each year and held by the reigning house. The William Web Ellis Trophy is modelled on this one. Sir Clive Woodward, Matt Dawson and Steve Thompson received the Freedom of the Borough of Rugby when they were here with the Web Ellis trophy the week before. Every year at the end of the season, the goalposts from Twickenham are given to Rugby School. And until recently, the England team would call Rugby School at the start of each season to ask permission to play in the all-white strip, Rugby's colours. We walked through the Museum of Rugby, a free museum attached to a sports shop, which displays a huge range of donated memorabilia and tells the history of Gilbert manufacturers of rugby balls. Dad could name so many faces in the photos, it was stunning! We were very taken with a picture of crates of rugby balls bound for New Zealand in the 1920s. Finally: a quick wander past the William Web Ellis statue, near the corner of Warwick Street, an an obligatory photograph of dad as ref beside it. We drove on to Oxford, heading south now, towards home. There we took mum and dad to our favourite Oxford pub, the Head of the River. As it was mother's day in New Zealand we gave mum a little flask as she is missing her tea on her travels. From the pub we walked into town past Christ Church College, then back through the Christ Church Meadow.

09 May 2004 10/05/04 Next 08/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

This morning we had a luxurious slow start. Sometime closer to 12pm than to our planned 8am we jumped in the car and headed to Stonehenge, about an hour's drive from us. For the first time, we went up to the fence to see how much you could see without going in... actually you can see heaps! Especially if you're tall like dad. In the end, dad did decide to go in and Warwick, mum, Nikki and I sat and chatted in the car with scones and icecreams. We drove towards Salisbury to see the town and cathedral, and stopped on the way at Old Sarum. Old Sarum was once an iron-age hillfort, and became a town with its own cathedral, completed by Bishop Osmund in the Middle Ages. The town later shifted to the present site of Salisbury. Osmund was made a saint and his tomb was moved to the present Salisbury cathedral. Although the last house had gone by 1540, Old Sarum continued to elect two members to parliament until 1833! This is what was called a "rotten borough" - for another example, see Blackadder series 3, episode 1, Dish and Dishonesty. We went into Salisbury, a market town where markets have been held twice-weekly for over 600 years. There is a gorgeous mix of building styles including half-timbered black and white buildings. I have seen the outside of the beautiful cathedral in Salisbury a few times, but this is the first time I have been in. The interior is just as beautiful as the exterior, and the Chapter House is home to one of four surviving original copies of King John's Magna Carta, which I, being old-document-mad, just loved. By the time we had strolled through the Cathedral Close, past the house with the sundial and around the town, it was evening. We headed home for dinner and watched videos of dad's book launch and a fabulous interview he had done with Pete Smith on the Canterbury channel.

10 May 2004 11/05/04 Next 09/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

Mum, dad, Nikki and I headed in to London to see Shakespeare's Globe. We took the tour, which was very informative. The first theatre burnt down only 13 years after opening, and the building we see today is a reconstruction. The original site is actually 200 yards away, buried under the road to Southwark Bridge and a row of listed Georgian houses. The new Globe is built entirely using old construction methods - so not a nail or a screw in the entire structure. The oak used in the new building's construction cracks as it ages and dries, but this drying strengthens the building so it becomes stronger as it stands there. The new Globe has the first and only thatched roof allowed in London since they were banned after the Great Fire in 1666 (well, it's a sort-of roof - the theatre is actually open-air, with a roof around the perimeter). Shows in Shakespeare's time were held during the day, but as that would not be financially viable these days, lighting is used to recreate the feeling of daylight for evening shows. Beautiful hand-turned oak balusters painted to look like marble are created to a pattern found in the ruins of the Rose Theatre, a contemporary and competitor of the Globe, in 1989. These theatres were all on the south bank of the Thames, outside the jurisdiction of the Puritans who ran London at the time. After the tour, Nikki had to leave us to catch her plane to Glasgow. Mum spent time at the Tate Modern, and I walked across the Millennium Bridge with dad, past St Paul's to Blackfriars tube station, before he headed away to Churchill's War Rooms and I went to work. We met again at the end of the day at Waterloo, dad stayed on to see his mate Kevin in London (discovering in the process that Callaghan's Irish Bar at Marble Arch is no more), and mum and I headed home. I had a class that night - I still had an art exam to finish!

11 May 2004 14/05/04 Next 10/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

Boo-hoo! Caught the train to Waterloo, dropped mum and dad at the Eurostar for Paris, and went to work. Boo-hoo!

14 May 2004 15/05/04 Next 11/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

Life is very, very busy, at work, at home, and everywhere in between. I am missing Orange and Mango Deep Spring a LOT. I hope they still make it when we get home. Off to Italy in a matter of hours, to meet mum and dad and Peter. Yeeha! Will try and squeeze some sleep in now.

15 May 2004 16/05/04 Next 14/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

We met mum and dad at Fiumicino Airport in Rome on Saturday afternoon - they flew in from Basel and we from London. It took ages and ages to pick up the rental car and we were glad to be out of the airport and on our way into Rome. We came up against the one-way system a couple of times, found our hotel, and Peter greeted us from the balcony with "Go the Crusaders!" Peter had arrived earlier and had walked around the Colosseum and forum that morning. He seemed completely unaffected by jetlag (he is a Crusaders supporter by nature, his greeting was not the result of excessive fatigue). After catching up with each other, we walked into town to the very busy Spanish Steps. So many people! We walked on to the Trevi Fountain, stopping for gelato from a shop mum and dad had discovered on an earlier trip, continued via the Pantheon (closed unfortunately) to the Piazza Navona, and home via a restaurant.

16 May 2004 17/05/04 Next 15/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

We drove from our hotel to St Peter's square... madness! Finding a park was difficult but we ended up not far away, in a metered park beside the river. Driving in Rome is a mad thing to do, but we did it. With all our luggage in the car, mum decided to take time out to read in the shade and watch over our things while we walked along to Castel Sant'Angelo, which was built as a mausoleum for Hadrian. Warwick relieved mum of her watch and she joined us to walk along to St Peter's square, which was very busy. We had happened upon a canonisation service conducted by the Pope! It was quite something. We were given a booklet about the lives of the people who were made saints that day, which was amazing reading. After another gelato stop we drove south to Roccasecca (yummy pizza on the way). It was so nice to see hills again! We arrived at Agristurismo Felicetta, a lovely rural B&B which Peter had arranged through his correspondent Alessandro, and were greeted by our hosts Gianni and Haida. This was the beginning of some long, friendly, multi-lingual conversations. The most crazy of all was when Peter and Gianni were speaking English and Italian until they could no longer understand each other, and roped me in to help. With my knowledge of Italian, that was short-lived, so we switched to Spanish and Gianni brought Haida to speak with us, as Spanish is her first language. When my Spanish ran out she got Gianni back so we could finish our conversation in French. As we arrived, we saw goats being herded through an olive grove on the property. Gianni told us that his cows will eat the olives if they are given half a chance. I wonder what that does to their milk? But the olives are needed for food and oil, so the cows are really not allowed to eat them. We sat down with a jug of wine and looked out at the amazing view below the house. We could see right along the Liri valley, where the Rome-Naples highway runs between between the Abruzzi and Aurunci mountains. It is so beautiful, it was difficult to imagine that it had been a place of war only 60 years ago. We decided to walk into town but as we got out there the first spots of rain arrived, and we jumped into the car. Then as we pulled out of the driveway, we met Alessandro, Roberto and Rudi (a German veteran paratrooper) coming in, so we went back to our seats with another jug of wine and that was the end of our trip to town for the moment. It was introductions, photos, gifts and stories all round for the next little while. Rudi told us about the different coloured parachutes that drop in supplies during the war. They went for the white ones first - these had food attached. Blue parachutes had medicine and red or orange carried ammunition. If they could get hold of American parcels they would be very happy - these had toilet paper, and the German ones did not! When Rudi, Alessandro and Roberto had left, we walked back towards town, meeting a very sad-looking dog on the way. We discovered there that Roccasecca was home to Thomas Aquinas, and the castle that sits above the town belonged to his family. Dad and Peter continued on to a wee grotto in the side of the mountain, but the rain was beginning to fall fast. Mum and Warwick and I decided to head home (yes, via a gelato shop...) The rain became terribly heavy. All along the streets people were standing in their doorways and windows just watching it. I was worried about a hole in the sole of my shoe, but pretty soon the rain had soaked through the leather as well and the hole in my shoe was really no longer an issue. We had a HUGE dinner, including an incredibly yummy entree of olives, tapenade, sheep's cheese and tomato with Italian bread, followed by gnocchi, followed by a huge quiche thing. Yum! We also had an evening chorus provided by frogs, birds, and dogs! We were too early for fireflies though. With the shutters closed it was really dark and quiet - a perfect night's sleep.

17 May 2004 18/05/04 Next 16/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

The next morning my shoes were still wet from the rain, so I sat them out on the roof to dry a bit more. Breakfast was chocolate- or custard-filled croissants with coffee, a typical breakfast according to our hosts. Warwick, dad and Peter had all gone running (up hills!) before breakfast. Rispetto massimo! We drove in to Cassino, getting our first glimpse of the mountain and the abbey above. All the way in, dad and Peter were identifying the strategic points of the battle in the landscape. The British and Commonwealth service was beautiful, and for me very emotional. There were lots of kiwis there, which made me very homesick. It was a gorgeous, hot, sunny day, and the highlight for me was hearing so many stories from the old soldiers. Being at Cassino it was easy to see the terrible task the Allied soldiers faced, with the Germans high enough above them to see their every move in the valley below. We learnt a lot from mum, dad and Peter about CC and grandad's experiences at and around Cassino. We had lunch at a quiet hotel next to the Cassino War Museum (the restaurant attached to the museum was packed - the Polish veterans were holding an event there). From there we headed to the train station, where the Maori wreath-laying ceremony was held at 3pm. There had been heavy fighting here and a lot of soldiers from the Maori Battalion were lost. People on the platforms waiting for trains watched as we gathered in the sunshine. A whole group nearly missed their train and had to run when the whistle blew. When the train pulled out, they were watching and photographing out the windows - the train whistle was sounded for us as they pulled away and a camera even appeared from the driver's cab for several seconds! At the station, we met a German veteran who was near tears as he told us of his experience, stationed half a kilometre from the New Zealanders near the station. When the sun got too much for me I headed back under shelter along the platform, where small groups of soldiers and their supporters were swapping stories in the shade. It was a lovely and moving day. When the ceremony at the station was over, we drove up the mountain to the abbey. Yes, the mountain looks high in pictures, but when you get right to the base of it and then drive up, you get a real sense of its scale. WOW! It is really high! And there are some sharp bends in the road. I found it quite amazing to imagine the battles here. The reconstruction of the abbey is really beautiful, and the views down the valley are amazing. I saw the memorial on the hill where our friend Karl had fought. We could see the British and Commonwealth cemetery and the station perfectly from the abbey. We could also hear bagpipes - we learnt later that these were part of a parade of veterans through the main street. We took a look at the monument part-way down the hill, which is made of old pieces of cannon and other weaponry. We met Alessandro and Roberto in a pub in town, did some shopping, bought postage stamps in Italian, kept running into kiwis and kiwis kept running into us. We stopped at Roberto's office which has a perfect view of the front of the mountain, and learnt about the gurkhas who had got across the saddle to take Hangman's Hill. They held the hill for about 15 days when they had to give it back because no-one had been able to get supplies to them. Kiwis were stationed in the castle, and the Germans above them in the abbey. We ate that night in the restaurant beside the war museum, where we met some of the Maori soldiers who had performed that afternoon. Something wierd that happened in Sardinia, at lunch today and at dinner tonight: when customers come in, Italian restaurants turn the TV on for them. A lovely sight as we drove home: St Thomas's castle aglow above Roccasecca, almost as though it was hovering up there.

18 May 2004 21/05/04 Next 17/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

Another beautiful morning, another lovely run for Warwick , another welcome sleep-in for me. We headed to Rome, along the Appia Antica, stopping at the catacombs of San Callisto. Our guide was a brilliant American priest with a very dry sense of humour. Some of the things we learnt... ... we learnt about the lives of Saint Tarcisius and Saint Cecilia. ... more than sixty catacombs surround Rome, although only about 5 are open to the public. About 15 hectares of surface area are occupied by the catacombs. The catacombs of San Callisto have 4 levels, a combined length of about 20 kilometres, and an estimated half a million tombs. ... the catacombs have a constant temperature of 15 degrees celsius. ... the tombs were dug from soft volcanic rock, which hardened when it was exposed to the air. This made it easy to dig, and strong and safe when it had hardened. There was a beautiful, peaceful air at the catacombs, and it was a sunny day outside - a beautiful place. Lots of poppies strewn through a mown field. When we had parked, Peter had noticed that we were right outside a war memorial. We had a look in; it was a very sombre memorial to a massacre of Italian citizens by the SS. We drove back into Rome and parked by the river once more. We strolled through the Vatican museums - I finally saw the Raphael frescoes which I had missed every other time! Great to see works I studied at school. I also always love the map room and its colourful ceiling. We walked through the modern art rooms, which had some fabulous works in them. In St Peter's I finally found the red disk in the floor where emperors such as Charlemagne were crowned. We took a long, last look at the beautiful colours inside the basilica, then left dad and Peter to go up the dome. Mum walked with us to the car where we picked up our packs... it was sad to say goodbye but I am looking forward to joining them again in Austria and Germany next week. Warwick and I walked through town, past the Teatro di Marcello and the fabulous forum, towards the Colosseum metro to get to Termini. It was so HOT!!! Especially with packs on our backs. I loved every minute - my kind of weather, my kind of surroundings. What a lovely place Rome is.

21 May 2004 23/05/04 Next 18/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

I don't really know where the last three days have gone, but these are the things I remember from them: - work - sunshine - strawberries - finishing my art assignments - a rotten cold I caught from doing too much - an enjoyably cool breeze, you don't get them in winter - arriving home today to find a new fridge had been delivered

23 May 2004 24/05/04 Next 21/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

We were up early for the cricket on Sunday - it was lovely to have Robyn and Megan join us for the day. We were at historic Lord's, in the third row of the Grandstand, very close to the action. While their men were batting, the New Zealand team were on a balcony in the pavilion to our right, and we were just close enough to watch them react to events on the pitch. There were lots of boundaries in our direction. While we were watching the game, Megan received a text message from a friend to say she had been on TV - the camera had zoomed in on her in the crowd. We had also recently heard from Catherine, who said that she had seen dad and Peter at the Cassino commemorations on the news in New Zealand. It seems we live our lives beside (but not in shot with) some very photogenic people! The day was all sunshine, a lovely atmosphere and a great day for cricket. I especially loved the crowd's reaction to the kids' Quick Cricket which was played at lunchtime - there were cheers and groans from the entire crowd at every crucial action, as if they were watching the internationals.

24 May 2004 25/05/04 Next 23/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

I was up early for trains through London to Stansted, from where I flew to Klagenfurt in eastern Austria. We had sunny views across England, France and Germany. We also got an excellent view of Lake Constance and its surrounding areas - my favourite bit of Europe (although Roccasecca might now tie with it...) I felt almost homesick looking at the lake, Lindau and other islands, and the road through the valley to Liechtenstein. Sigh! So nice! I took a bus from the airport into Klagenfurt itself and from there caught my train to Innsbruck by the skin of my teeth! This was done with the help of a friendly nun and two schoolboys who realised I was not sure if I was on the right train, as two trains were leaving from the same platform. We were talking in German when one of the boys - who looked about 12 - asked: "Was sprechen Sie?" "Englisch." "I look!" he said, got off the train, and zoomed away along the platform on his scooter. What a darling! While he was gone, the nun and I established that I was on the wrong train, and I met the boy again as he was zooming back. "That one!" he said, pointing to the train farther down the platform. What a darling! And so I retraced by train the ground I had covered that morning by air. This was the quickest cheap way to Innsbruck! Five hours of scenery, which was as gorgeous as I had expected. There was only a little snow left, lots of beautiful lakes, and the trees were covered with bright spring leaves. I nodded off in the bright sunshine (still unwell and sleep-deprived), only to wake in total darkness. An Alpine tunnel! I hate tunnels! Aaaagh! I kept wishing for a wide-angle lens to capture the sheer drops from high mountaintops to thin lines of houses around magnificent blue lakes. I could see snow barriers up high on the mountains, and ski runs which were by now without snow. I really wished Warwick could have been there, it was his kind of scenery. I noticed throughout my journey that total strangers would say goodbye to each other as they left the train, whether or not they had struck up conversation. This was not London! I began reading dad's book about CC, which reminded me of much of my childhood. What a nice way to spend the day. It was exciting to get into Innsbruck - I had never been here before. I had no idea the mountains were so high and dominating over the town. I found a map on the wall of the station, and walked towards the hotel thinking how nice it would be to bump into mum, dad and Peter in the street on the way. Then as I was about to cross the road I saw a beautiful lady in a fabulous cloak. Hey, that's my mum! Yay! We walked back to the hotel where dad and Peter were waiting. The hotel we stayed at was built in 1465, and Mozart had stayed and performed there as a 13-year-old boy. We walked along beautiful streets to the icy-blue river, and had a meal at a restaurant with a particularly jolly Tirolean waiter - typically Tirolean by his own description. I had a very nice and basic single room in our hotel.

25 May 2004 28/05/04 Next 24/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

After a yummy breakfast of German bread and we took a short wander through town, via a wonderful shop chocca with hand-decorated eggs. We got information for our onward journey from the very helpful Tourist Information Centre. Soon we had maps, directions, a motorway vignette, and we were on the road. We took the beautiful Fernpaß road towards Schloß Neuschwanstein. The scenery was gorgeous! Sheer mountain faces, pine forests in different, mottley greens, and still, clear blue lakes. A touch of snow, bright sunshine, blue skies. And a FIVE KILOMETRE TUNNEL. And a border tunnel: we drove under the border, which was marked by tiny blue signs on the walls. We arrived at the romantic castle... I always end up back here somehow! No matter, I think it's a great place. Ludwig had no picture of himself displayed in this castle, as it was to be his private retreat, never to be visited by foreigners or strangers. Ironically, it now gets 1.3 million visitors a year. We walked around to the Marienbrücke, the bridge behind the castle, where a man in traditional Bavarian dress was posing for photographs with the tourists. We drove from there on to Munich, where we met Karl, Roswitha and Katarina. After a Prosecca (a Champagne-style wine) we dropped our things off at a local hotel, and went into town with Karl for dinner. Mum, dad and Peter did the brave thing and chose traditional local dishes. Mum had Leberkäse (a kind of pork thing), dad had Schweinebraten (roast pork) and Peter had Leberwurst (liver sausage). I, being vegetarian, went for an omelette and green salad - yummy, but not typisch Deutsch by any stretch of the imagination. These meals were washed down with beers - mum, dad, Peter and Karl each had a different beer. Karl told us about the beginnings of beer gardens: beers were kept cool in underground cellers, and shady chestnut trees were planted above them to keep the ground and the beer cool. The brewers decided to put long wooden tables and benches under the trees and the beer garden was born. The lids on traditional-styled glasses and steins are to stop seeds and insects and things from falling in your drink when you are sitting outdoors. While we were waiting we could watch from our table to see the second round of beers - Pils - being poured - this takes seven minutes! They poured a little beer, and the glass filled up with foam. When that had settled they poured more beer, and the glass topped up with foam again. On the last pouring the beer reached the top of the glass and the foam sat in a peak above it. We walked around the centre of town after dinner, starting with the most expensive street in the most expensive city in Germany. A dog's chair for €1500, anyone? (This was not the most expensive in the shop!) A pair of ugly, shiny tousers for €2000? Gumboots for €200? The city was lovely and quiet by night. We walked in and out of the Hofbräuhaus - a snapshot of activity and sound! We wandered past monuments and squares and finally headed home to sleep. I flew home the next morning, after another big breakfast of German bread and fruit salad, in the hotel restaurant where an entire menu was dedicated to tea. It was so lovely to have seen mum and dad and Peter again. A helpful lady at Trudering station helped me buy my ticket, I changed in Ulm, and a helpful guard on the train helped me find the best train to Friedrichshafen airport from the town centre. I had pretzels in Friedrichshafen, which felt ever so familiar! In fact, Klagenfurt, Munich, Friedrichshafen Stadt and Friedrichshafen Airport stations all felt kind of like home. I bought Ritter Sport Pfefferminz chocolate and our favourite strawberry Yogurette chocolate from the airport to take back to Warwick. When I arrived at passport control at Stansted, the lady at the desk looked long and hard at my grandparent-entry stamp. "Come on lady," I was thinking, "Can't you see that's expired? Look for the replacement sticker a few pages in, I have indefinite leave to remain, don't get hung up on an expired stamp!" But she kept looking at the stamp. Then she looked up at me and said: "I gave you that stamp. I recognise my own writing!" That was two years ago!

28 May 2004 29/05/04 Next 25/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

This weekend we were able to combine rugby with a French city break - the 7s were held in Bordeaux. Yeeha! We flew Air France for the first time, and were not really impressed (apart from sterling service from Yves, a flight attendant on the London-Paris leg who helped us no end with our transfer plans to Orly). The plane left London late and although we made up time on the trip to Charles de Gaulle airport, we had to transfer across Paris to Orly airport for our next flight. Our itinerary left almost no time for this on a good day, and we had a late arrival plus traffic jams to contend with. We have had some close shaves, but this time, for the first time ever, we missed a flight. At Orly airport a friendly lady checked us onto the following flight to Bordeaux, although her machine for printing boarding passes kept breaking down and Warwick had to help her reel all the tape from inside it back in. The flight was so full that Warwick and I could not sit together, and a chatty lady next to me told me that the long weekend coupled with strikes at Bordeaux and Charles de Gaulle airports (following the collapse of a new terminal building at CDG) meant that some flights were cancelled and all flights running to Bordeaux were full. We found that our Apart'hotel was half way between the city centre and the stadium - perfect! We checked in and walked to the stadium. So far, Bordeaux was one big roadwork. We stocked up on water and juice on the way to the stadium, only to find we weren't allowed anything bigger than 500ml bottles into the stadium. We swallowed what we could at the gates and the rest was binned. We were heckled by English supporters on the way in - we were in All Black gear of course! Warwick spotted a very sunburnt man in the crowd who was also wearing All Black kit, and asked him how our first two games had gone. It turned out the man did not speak a word of English! They did end up communicating: we had won everything so far. The stadium was small and there weren't that many people there - it was Friday after all - and there was an ugly, loud, snarly noise instead of a horn to mark half- and full-time. Me on my soapbox: WOMEN'S RUGBY. So neglected! During a break, the women's finals were played. They used cones to mark out two mini-fields on the main playing pitch, so the women were running widths, not lengths, of the main field. Two games were played beside each other on these mini-fields, the teams swapped for another game, and then a final was played. Raaa! Why not a decent, full-length international tournament on a decent, full-length ground? The men get two days' worth after all. Funny stuff: the whole stand booed the English team mercilessly at every opportunity - when they appeared on the field to play, when they came out to warm up on the side of the field, and when they left after warming up. We would be watching a game and something great would be happening on the field, then suddenly the crowd would erupt in booing and we would look up to see the English team jogging out to warm up or jogging away. New Zealand won easily over France (40-0) but were never booed at all! At the end of the evening we found a band playing on the way out of the stadium - they were magnificent! They were a brass band with drums, dressed in dungarees, who also at times sang, danced, posed, mimed, and attempted ballet. They had great voices and created an excellent atmosphere. They were really enjoying themselves, and spontaneously jumped together to pose for Warwick's photograph before springing back into their dances, the music never stopping.

29 May 2004 30/05/04 Next 28/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

On Saturday morning I was so tired! Not that surprisingly, really. We walked around the city - it was a bright, sunny day with very high cloud and some glare. Bordeaux is very pretty with a lovely waterfront. We saw a medieval tower, bought Orangina and chocolate éclairs all in French, and walked along the very wide streets bathed in sunshine before discovering that the narrow, medieval streets were darker and cooler. It was really hot - France is a big country and we had come a long way south. Beautiful blue sky for the afternoon's rugby. On the way back to the stadium, we met another kiwi couple who had been tripping around France. This time around we had small bottles of water but the security team had changed their policy: any size bottles allowed, just no lids. So all our lids were taken from us, including my favourite Powerade sipper top. Rats. The French commentator realised that the crowd would boo wildly whenever he mentioned England. So he mentioned them as often as he could, translating everything so there would be two chances each time for the crowd to involve themselves emotionally in the day... "Le match Canada-Angleterre!" "Booooo!" "The match Canada-England!" "Booooo!" ... and this carried on throughout the day. It got really funny and the England supporters were very vocal but good-natured in their own defence. Although the French crowd cheered all good rugby and encouraged some teams, particularly Kenya, Fiji and New Zealand, they were relatively quiet unless England or France was playing. During a break the under-15s tournament was held. These kids were so cute! They also had an under-15 ref and touch judges. The crowd, as at Lords, cheered them on as though they were internationals. There were some real heroics on display - some spectacular dives over the try line. BUT! These boys got to play one game at a time, on an almost full-length field, and to referee themselves. And this tournament was on the final day which attracted many more people. RAAA! They were treated much better than the women. And there was no girls' competition at all. It was such a hot day, and I was still so tired and not 100% recovered from my illness of a week ago, that I had to keep leaving the stand to walk in the cool shade below. It was a lovely evening, but still very hot at 7pm. It got to around perfect temperature for my still-used-to-winter self at about 8pm. It was funny to think that mum, dad and Peter would have been touching down in NZ sometime that day. We spotted our sunburnt French All Black supporter friend in the crowd again - he got redder and redder throughout the day, it was hard to watch! Bordeaux's smokers reminded me of one of my very fond memories of Lord's - Lord's is a no-smoking ground. A highlight of the second day was the reconstruction of the 1924 Olympics France v USA final, which the USA won. Rugby was played at the Olympics in Paris in 1900, London in 1908, Antwerp in 1920, and Paris in 1924. After the 1924 Games, the International Olympic Committee cancelled rugby as an Olympic sport, even though it sold more tickets than track and field events. So the USA are the reigning Olympic champions in rugby! The reconstruction was brilliant - the ref and touch judges wore blazers and shorts, and they used an old-style ball, which was held in place for kicks at goal. They did not play as long as the original match: the original US team chose to play two halves of 45 minutes each. A running commentary described notable facts about the original game and rules at that time - in French unfortunately, so we only got a little bit of it. The atmosphere for NZ v England in the final was a bit like being at home. The whole stand seemed to cheer us on, and to boo the English whenever they made a break. "All Blacks!" - clap clap clap - "All Blacks!" - clap clap clap... We had our first win since Wellington. I felt the most exciting game of the tournment was France v Kenya in the Bowl final (France won). The best victory lap was by the Argentinians, who put the shield trophy on the touchline in front of us, ran back, then ran and slid towards it on their stomachs, hands joined, before standing to take a bow. When the tournament was over, all the ball-boys came out onto the field to convert it into a concert arena. The goalposts and advertising were removed, and the boys pulled black plastic over the grass, some falling and sliding and being carried along the way. It looked like they'd had a great day.

30 May 2004 31/05/04 Next 29/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

We woke late to a rainy day, ate our leftover croissants, and found all shops were shut for Sunday. We walked through the rain into town, past pretty squares and buildings, a carousel, and an old man carrying six chairs on his back as he set up his cafe for the day. Bordeaux was very pretty, although there were works everywhere as they were laying tram lines and remodelling lots of the city. We stopped at the Place des Quinconces, the largest square in Europe, and ventured from there to the lovely Jardin Public. We were very hungry but only the priciest cafes were open. Eventually we settled on McDonald's which is trying on a new image in a not-so-subtle attempt to appeal to people like me, using female Olympic athletes to promotes their salads. Ha! Not a burger and not even a single salad was vegetarian! Fries for me then. I won't make the Olympics eating like that I don't think. We walked back through the lovely old streets to the river, past Place de la Bourse, to Pont de Pierre, then back into town. They have used a very warm stone for their buildings - really lovely. We walked in through the Turkish part of town, we passed a synagogue and an old city gate, and came to the Museum of Aquitaine. This looked like a fabulous place to spend a few weeks browsing, but we didn't really have the brains for it that afternoon. Shame! So we wandered back to an Irish pub we'd spotted - The Blarney Stone - we'd noticed they were showing Barbarians v England. We were in time for garlic bread and Guinness before kick-off. Actually, the pub was really well set up - there were three screens, all on different sports channels, and you could watch all three if you sat in the right place! So we followed Tim Henman's winning French Open quarter-final during the Barbarians game as well. With yummy baked potatoes at €2 each, this was bliss! Jason Leonard scored the first try of the game against his old teammates, and after a five-tries-to-four-penalties win, a delighted-looking Anton Oliver lifted the cup for the Barbarians. This result bodes well for England's upcoming tour of NZ and Australia. We had another lovely wander through town that evening.

31 May 2004 04/06/04 Next 30/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

Again all shops were shut this morning, this time for the public holiday. We found a cafe and bought a pricey but delicious quiche and freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast. We visited the Cathedral Saint-André, where Elinor of Aquitaine was married in 1137 to the future King Louis VII (most of the original building from that time is gone). The stained glass windows there were lovely, and the atmosphere was still and silent, but of a living church. There was evidence that the stone walls of the chapels were once covered in colourful paintings - parts of a few faded scenes remained. Some of the stone pillars were also painted in beautiful patterns. We walked along to the circular glass building housing the Grands Hommes market, then to Place Gambetta - a very pretty place to wait for our bus to the airport. This square is a kind of large roundabout system with a wee garden - including waterfall - in the middle. We waited for our bus, watched it arrive on the other side of the square, watched it leave without us - our ambiguous instructions had led us to the wrong bus stop. We took the opportunity to grab pizza and Orangina for lunch before catching the next one. Highlights of the flight home: not missing any planes, seeing the coasts of England and France so close together, seeing the London Eye, Kew Gardens and other landmarks from the air. We even saw a tube train from above. Seeing how close England and France really are is quite poignant, with preparations for the D-Day commemorations going on just now.

04 June 2004 05/06/04 Next 31/05/04 Previous Back to top Home

Things I like about England. They really do call their towns things like Chipping Sodbury, Wallop Ho and Wednesbury. And Braintree, Nut Crackers, Christmaspie and Six Mile Bottom. And there is a River Uck and a River Ouze. But I like Shoeburyness.

05 June 2004 06/06/04 Next 04/06/04 Previous Back to top Home

We met Mike, Matt and Adrian for Day 1 of the London 7s, Mike ingeniously bringing his radio so we could keep up with the cricket during the day. Yay! We missed out on cheap seats so paid a bit more for excellent side-on views in the ground tier. The day before Warwick had received a huge parcel from UPS. What did it contain? A Samoa and an Argentina rugby jersey! So now he owns those two as well as NZ, North Harbour, Scotland and Wales, plus a ten-nations one and a practise jersey. With four jerseys (NZ, Scotland, Argentina, Samoa) and two flags (NZ and Scotland) I noticed he made 10 official wardrobe changes during day 1 - there may have been more, it was hard to keep count! He kept his NZ cap on all day though. But on the way home he bought a Samoa flag :-) Funniest event of the day: Arentina and Fiji were chasing the ball towards Argentina's tryline, a Fijian in the lead. The first Fijian overtook the ball and the first two Argentinians followed him blindly. The ball was scooped up by a Fijian player much farther back, who raced over the line for a try. Several stand-wide games of catch erupted when the crowd got hold of a couple of rugby balls. When the stewards took the balls back there was loud booing and some spectators tried to charge the stewards down. I was kind of relieved that the games had stopped though, I wanted to watch the rugby on the field and that was impossible when you had to keep looking out for flying rugby balls as they whizzed by.

06 June 2004 08/06/04 Next 05/06/04 Previous Back to top Home

Shane joined our quintet for the second day of the 7s, and when we arrived we were delayed by massive queues into the stadium. A real change from yesterday! We were with a chatty, good-natured crowd in the cheap seats behind the goalposts. The support from English fans was quite overwhelming - I can't remember the London 7s being like this before. My theory is that the 15-a-side World Cup win has brought a few more people into 7s. It seemed that the Fijian flags didn't stop waving at all through the day, and the crowd sang along to the Beatles' Help! rather tunefully during a break. An Austin Powers lookalike and a Waikato lady (who had been ringing a coloured cowbell all day) danced to the Proclaimers' 500 Miles, and a "Bring Back Buck" banner was paraded around the stadium. The two English fans beside me sang all the words to Advance Australia Fair - and with due respect - although no national anthems were officially sung. All in all, Twickenham created the fabulous atmosphere we have come to expect from the 7s (or the 6s, as it was at one point: South Africa and Australia each losing a man to a yellow card during their match). England won the London leg and New Zealand won the series, so most of our corner of the crowd were very happy. (Shame about the cricket!)

08 June 2004 11/06/04 Next 06/06/04 Previous Back to top Home

In the few days leading up to the transit of Venus I searched around for places to buy the right kind of glasses, but we were too late to order any by mail or online. Instead, I found instructions for using binoculars to project the image onto cardboard, and rigged these up with Warwick's tripod for a trial run at sunset the night before. It worked! I was kind of surprised but really should not have been. The transit was due to start about 6:20am the next day, which was good, because I had to leave to catch my train at 7:00. I got everything ready, woke up with the alarm about 6:30, lined up the binoculars and card, and there it was: the tiny dot of Venus' silhouette visible against the disc of the sun. Yeeha! I love this kind of stuff, and today we had the clear, sunny skies for it. Warwick wandered sleepily out to see, then wandered sleepily back to bed, while I headed to work. My work that day took me to a self-advocacy group for people with learning difficulties in Rotherham, near Sheffield. I love going up north - the people are very friendly, the accents are fantastic, and I had a bit of time to walk through Rotherham's colourful market before I left. It was the hottest day of the year so far - 29.5° C where I was, and 31 in other parts of the country! I was very appreciative of the breeze. England flags are out everywhere, especially on cars, ahead of their Euro 2004 football match against champions France on Sunday. There is actually some debate going now about the association of the Cross of St George with the far right and racism, and whether it ought to be reclaimed by the mainstream. By the sheer number of flags we see around the place, it seems most people really want to reclaim their flag as part of an inclusive and non-racist national identity.

11 June 2004 04/07/04 Next 08/06/04 Previous Back to top Home

Boo hoo! I am so unwell! I haven't been this ill for a couple of years. Lovely Andrea came around with loads of videos and DVDs for me on Thursday, so I am sitting woolly-brained in front of the TV, and I can feel the forced inactivity doing me good. I guess that's what you get for doing too much. I've got away with it up til now. Boo hoo!

04 July 2004 04/07/04 Next 11/06/04 Previous Back to top Home

I have learnt to love the Beautiful Game! Euro 2004 has blanketed soccer across our TV screens, and I began watching the last 20 minutes of key matches to get a feel of the game and to appreciate the results. Well, it truly is a beautiful game! I really enjoy it now. I was on the edge of my seat during England-Portugal and I felt it in my heart when England lost! Surely that was a goal? One high street bookmaker definitely thought so, and paid out on Sol Campbell scoring even though the goal was disallowed. The strangest thing was a 2-all draw between Denmark and Sweden, a result which saw both teams through to the next stage of competition. No-one won that game, but everyone was celebrating at the end. Strange! This result also meant that although Italy won the match they were playing simultaneously, they did not progress. The Italians scored a last-gasp goal to beat Bulgaria, but were told immediately by their management that it meant nothing. They had to play on for a few more minutes knowing they were out of the tournament, and the celebrating fans in the stand wondering why the players weren't happy. What a strange game! And I am now a fan of the football. Fancy that. Between Euro 2004, the NZ-England-West Indies triangular one day cricket series, two weeks of Wimbledon, regular southern hemisphere victories at rugby and the long-overdue creation of a Pacific Islands team, it's been a fantastic start to the summer from my armchair!

04 July 2004 04/07/04 Next 04/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

This weekend was the Aldershot Army Show, so on Saturday morning we trundled along, collecting Mark and Cathy on the way. There weren't so many people around when we arrived, but there were more and more over the weekend. The show was a mix of army stalls, military displays, markets, animal shows and the usual tacky amusements and sideshows that bring back memories of childhood. I love all the lights and noise and air-brushed murals of people resembling 1980s pop stars, and the smell of tents and grass and generators. Cathy and Mark tried their luck at a few of the stalls - Cathy's good with darts but still just missed out on a prize. Two very young children were manning a shooting stall - that was wierd. And being an army show, soldiers with large guns were patrolling around, which seemed also a bit incongruous... We filled up on chips in paper cones, spotted someone in a Waikato jersey (!) and happened upon the main arena just before THE ROYAL SIGNALS WHITE HELMETS MOTORCYCLE DISPLAY TEAM! These guys were fabulous and their sheer skill and heroism reacquainted me with my giddy schoolgirl self. What athletes! Half of the team have no road license, but their bike skills are indisputable... ... they rode high-speed crossovers, they balanced one or two or four or more men in various formations on single bikes, on ladders on bikes, and on other team members on ladders on bikes... ... they sat on ladders on bikes reading the paper or juggling while steering with their body weight, one man stood with both feet on one side of the bike and steered entirely with his bodyweight... ... they suspended a bar from which a man did various acrobatics between two bikes, they jumped through a ring of fire... ... they are the only motorcycle display team in the world to jump over a car using hand-held ramps... ... one formation they did involved several men balanced and leaning backwards out from the bike, which was carrying a combined weight of over one tonne. And most of the tricks I have described they also did in reverse, sitting on the handle bars and facing backwards, with most of the weight of the team over the front of the bike. Swoon! They have the most reverse riders of any motorcycle display team in the world. Until 1936, the team displayed a combination of horsemanship and motorcycling skills, but now they ride only Triumph TR7 Tigers (750cc) and Honda CRF450s (quad bikes, only used for car jumping). One of the team had a black peak on his white cap - this is given to the team member who has most recently fallen off during a public display. The bikers were followed by the Army School of Physical Training, a troupe of large, muscular men in Edwardian costume, who somersaulted gracefully through the air as though they weighed nothing at all. They had a routine which involved them jumping and vaulting from two different directions, to demonstrate teamwork as well as strength, flexibility and agility. In the afternoon, I picked up my new glasses from ASDA. Actually, this story begins a week ago, when I left my glasses on the floor right where an unsuspecting husband might stand on them. Not long after I had put them there, the visit to the optician which I had been putting off for so long was made necessary. Actually, the last time I saw an optician (four years ago) was also an appointment overdue by several years and eventually necessitated by broken glasses... oops... Anyway, new frames and a new (slightly weaker!) prescription were ordered, and my old glasses bent back into shape as far as possible without breaking them, so that I could survive the week. The assistant put them on my face, took a long look and said "Bless!" After a week of out-of-kilter vision, today I have new specs and they work a treat.

04 July 2004 11/07/04 Next 04/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

We went back to the Aldershot Army Show on Sunday: we had decided to book ourselves a chopper ride :-) Neither of us had been in a helicopter before, and they were offering 4- to 5-minute flights over Aldershot for £25 each. We were waylaid by a very cute Boy Scout on the way: "Excuse me, would you like to take part in our tombola?" A tombola is a kind of lottery/raffle thing, so for a pound we drew four tickets, and two of them were winners. We won two flapjacks (muesli-bar things), a cake and a soft-toy monster. The Scout was very happy for us: as soon as we drew our second winning ticket, he jumped up and said "Oh wicked, you've won a teddy!" and ran to get it for us. Buoyed - and weighed down! - by our unexpected prizes, we headed off to book our flights, then went back to the main arena to see what was on in the meantime. Quote of the day goes to the commentator for the Red Devils parachutes, who explained the trail of orange smoke coming from the plane: "There's a man hanging on the outside of the aircraft, for your entertainment only!" The smoke trail he created told us that the team were ready to jump, and the commentator had the crowd yelling "JUMP!" several times so that it seemed to the children that we had called them out. A flare they had lit on the field told the jumpers the speed and direction of the wind. This was followed by the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery Full Musical Drive. These soldiers, in full regalia, rode in formation around the field, at times at high speed, with an army band playing in the background. They looked and sounded fabulous! They led gun carriages, and stopped to fire the guns at one point, which for me recreated the air of a 19th century battle. Finally, we saw a flypast by the Army Air Corps Blue Eagles Helicopter Display Team, with one helicopter doing somersaults and diving about in the air. During the day we also saw more parachutes (the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment Freefall Display Team, and the Royal Signals Freefall Parachute Display Team), a dog show, and then... it was time for our flight. YIPPEE!! We were called early for our flight to make up numbers in another group - six people including the pilot could travel in the chopper. We were belted in and then we were away. It was wierd lifting straight up. We flew over Aldershot, which has many more lakes than it seems to from the ground, and I spotted a narrowboat cruising down the canal. We twisted and turned on some fantastic angles, and all too soon it was over. We loved it! We were buzzing all the way home (and in fact, Warwick had been buzzing all morning in anticipation - it was an upbeat day). We came home in time for the end of the men's singles final at Wimbledon, for the end of the NZ-England ODI (we won) and the final of Euro 2004: 80-1 outsiders Greece took the title, never having won a match in a major tournament before this one.

11 July 2004 15/07/04 Next 04/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

Warwick's an inspiration - he's always thinking of something new to do. He came across an article in the NZ Herald about Enid Blyton's Dorset, so on Sunday we upped and went to Swanage and Corfe Castle, and came home via Poole and Bournemouth. Dorset turns out not to be so far away as I'd imagined, so we had a really full day of sightseeing... We drove via the New Forest, pulling over to sample the fresh air and wide views at Burley. The New Forest is one of my favourite parts of England - I was very surprised to hear a couple of weeks ago that it had only just been given National Park status. We passed Corfe Castle, the inspiration for Kirren Castle in the Famous Five books, and went on to Swanage, one of Enid Blyton's favourite holiday spots. Swanage is a beach-front town (sandy beach), with yummy sandwich shops (we got toasted sandwiches, some yummy chocolatey-rice-cake-mars-bar-thingee and a strawberry brulee tart). Our walk along the beach took in every element of a proper English seaside experience: deckchairs and cabins for hire, tent-like shelters on the sand, a Punch & Judy show (not open until next week), hot chips, a pier (where you are charged to stroll: 30p per adult, 10p per child), and the constant threat of rain (none arrived). From Swanage we went back to Corfe Castle, and parked in the very pretty stone village of the same name. We walked around the castle, and back via an Enid Blyton shop which sold us some ginger beer. Aside from inspiring Enid Blyton to create Kirren Castle, Corfe Castle has a grim true-life story behind it... ... in 978 the 17-year-old King Edward was greeted at the castle gate by his stepmother Queen Elfrida. She gave him some poisoned wine and even before that took effect he was stabbed to death, so that his 10-year-old half-brother, Elfrida's child Ethelred the Unready, could become king. In 1001 Edward was canonised. Ethelred became king of Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex, which made him in effect the first king of a united England. (Click here for a map of Anglo-Saxon England). Linguistically excellent stuff: Ethelred's nickname "The Unready" doesn't mean that he was unprepared, but comes from the Anglo-Saxon unræd meaning "without counsel". He was apparently poorly advised during his reign, but this was also a pun on his name, Æþelred, which means "well advised". Constant invasions by the Danish Vikings forced Ethelred to flee the throne to Normandy in 1013. He returned to the throne after the death of Svein Forkbeard in 1014, and died in London in 1016. Æþelred and Forkbeard - what fabulous names. From Corfe Castle we drove to Poole, where heaps of people were out enjoying the sunshine with fish and chips. We walked along the sandy beaches and waterfront, and looked out to Brownsea Island, which inspired Enid Blyton's Kirren Island. We then pressed on to Bournemouth. I have always wanted to go on a hot-air balloon, and in Bournemouth we took a tamer option: the tethered helium balloon known as the Bournemouth Eye. Business was slow - we were the only people on our ride. The balloon took us 500 feet in the air, giving great views of the coast and of the town itself. It was very wobbly as it lifted off the ground, and I got a sudden, scary feeling of what a hot-air balloon would be like. No wonder no-one wants to go on one with me! Perhaps I ought to rethink the idea... I felt safe here though: the steel cable holding the helium balloon has a near breaking strain of over 48 tons, and the maximum lift exerted by the balloon is 4 tons. With the weight of the equipment and passengers, the balloon is only left with an upward pull of about 1 1/2 tons. We really enjoyed England today :-) And the following Tuesday work took me to Cardiff, so I got to re-enjoy part of Wales as well. It was a gorgeous day, and the walk from the train station to the office took me over the River Taff beside Bute Park. I love the stone animals on the park wall.

15 July 2004 17/07/04 Next 11/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

Warwick put some left-over fruitcake from the Army Show Scouts' tombola on the lawn today, to see what local wildlife would come visit. A squirrel came down from the tree and ate and ate and ate - he was so cute, standing up on his hind legs and scanning for predators, then grabbing the cake with both hands and eating. He was lucky, he got ages on his own with the cake, until a thunderous roar frightened him away... ... the airshow is back! And noisier than ever, it seems. All week the planes have been flying low and practising tricks above Farnborough, and today we were treated to full-on aerobatics with sharp turns and coloured smoke trails by none other than the Red Arrows! What a treat. We stood outside with bowls of soup in our hands (it was lunchtime when they flew over) and watched for ages. The show opens next week for industry, and to the public next weekend. Tonight we went out with Warwick's Toastmasters group, Talkability, to celebrate their second birthday. We had very animated conversation over our Indian meal :-)

17 July 2004 18/07/04 Next 15/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

We took two days off to make this weekend four days long, and headed to Berlin and Prague. As it turned out, we followed sunshine and sweltering heat across the continent all weekend, just ahead of thunderstorms from the west. We flew Ryanair to Altenburg, and caught a bus from there to Leipzig. Two sweet wee boys belonging to the bus driver accompanied us, climbing over and under the legs of resting passengers to hide from each other. It was sunny and blue from the moment we touched down, and by the time we got to Leipzig the heat was draining. We took a look around Leipzig seeing as we were there, wandering through a busy market and past an audition for the German version of Popstars. We happened upon Thomaskirche, the resting place of J. S. Bach - his grave was right near the altar! We took a train to Berlin, changing at Bitterfeld where we met a sweet wee boy and his grandmother. The boy was being chased by a bee - grandma thought perhaps the bee was after a gluestick in his pencil case, but the boy knew very definitely that the bee thought his yellow shirt was honey. From the train we saw lots of beautiful flat land, lots of agriculture, and a trainspotter sitting on a sofa on a bank beside the tracks! We bought a map at the Ostbahnhof and caught the S-Bahn and tram to our very friendly hotel in the east of the city. We were very tired, very hot and very drained.

18 July 2004 19/07/04 Next 17/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

We got up early and headed first to the TV Tower. There was a crowd of people gambling (find the marble under the matchbox) outside the tower. At the top we had sunshine and a great view of the city. From the tower we wandered through Alexanderplatz to the World Time Clock, then through the 13th-century Nikolaiviertel, a very pretty church square with a fountain, shops, and most importantly: shade. A lovely oasis. We had a Subway lunch (their tray papers are advertising Supersize Me!) and went to towards Checkpoint Charlie via the Deutscher Dom, where we rested briefly in the shade. It was incredibly hot in the Checkpoint Charlie museum - there is a lot of detail in the displays so it was nice to take a break near the open windows on the top floor. Back outside we saw a Trabi Safari: you can tour Berlin in an old East German-built Trabant, a two-stroke, 26 horse power, plastic car. (Click here for their website). We walked to the Brandenburg Gate, stopping for strudel and a cold beer on the way. From the Brandenburg Gate we walked in the shade of the Tiergarten (big city park) to the Victory Column (the angels sat here with the Victory statue and also with the horses on top of the Brandenburg Gate in Wim Wenders' Faraway, So Close!) From the top of the Victory Column we could see out over Berlin, this time looking towards the TV Tower. The Tiergarten is HUGE! It was a warm, sunny evening... Warwick casually mentioned the Mercedes building he had spotted... Mercedes building?! That's right near the church I wanted to take him to! Aaaagh! We raced down the tower (it was about to close anyway) and headed back into the gardens, past flamingoes, horses and pigs, making a beeline for the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche. The church was closed anyway, but we got to walk around it and still had plenty of light. It was bombed in the second world war, but the people held services in the ruins, before building a new church and belltower. They left the ruins standing as a memorial. We took the metro back to Unter den Linden, and walked to the Reichstag. I rested on the grass in front while Warwick wandered around taking pictures. What a great building! I had never seen it before. It was getting dark as we looked from the Ostbahnhof platform at the lovely lights on the River Spree, then rain began to blow into the station. God surely had our journey in hand: we made every connection with seconds to spare, and walked the last five or ten minutes through a warm, dry, summery evening with no further hint of rain. We got to our room, opened the windows, and were greeted by a raging thunderstorm and solid downpour. Lightning was lighting up the horizon like a sunrise and we held our grateful hands out in the rain to get throughly soaked. We spent ages looking out that window together.

19 July 2004 19/07/04 Next 18/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

We were just too late to catch the train we had planned on to Prague this morning, so we bought tickets for a later train and return ICE tickets to Lutherstadt Wittenberg, where Martin Luther studied and preached. The train was lovely - second class was like first class at home! (You know, England home). The LCD display told us we were travelling at 160 kph. A very helpful lady at the train station tourist information directed us to take a bus into town and walk back. She spoke so warmly and was so proud of her town! We took the bus to Wittenberg Castle, part of which houses the YH I had stayed in seven years ago. Luther was said to have nailed his 95 theses to the door of the attached church. We walked in the sun to the pretty market square, ate falafel for lunch, and headed to the museum in Luther's old house. There was a restful garden outside the house, and plenty of information inside it. The train back to Berlin was so full we had to sit on the floor in the vestibule. We looked out on golden fields, round haybales, some "harbine combusting" (as Warwick put it), rows and rows of sunflowers, a windmill, and some crazy buildings where the facade was set at an angle to the upright structure. Then we were back at our familiar Ostbahnhof once more, where we caught the train to Prague...

19 July 2004 20/07/04 Next 19/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

Sights from the train (for the record, to match Warwick's photos, so it's a bit of a list): Kurort Rathau (lake and homes, great rocks) Königstein (castle on hill) Bad Schandau (town on river, last stop in Germany, also looking out back of train) After Bad Schandau the light was turning golden. We had been following the river since at least Dresden, lovely boats and sunshine on the water. From Dresden we and two elderly men had the entire carriage to ourselves. German and Czech officials carried out a passport check, then it was announced we were approaching Děčin. "We're in the Czech Republic now," I said. But Warwick was already missing Germany... "Oh," he said, "I'm sad, bittersweet, bittersweet -" Then suddenly, as a white-domed building looming large over the river caught his eye: "Ohhhhh!" He grabbed his camera. "Excuse me!" And he was happy again. Throughout the train journey we saw people out and about in their gardens, enjoying their pools in the afternoon heat (Germany) or soaking up the warm evening light (Czech Republic). More sights from the train: Castle after Ústí nad Labem (also house on hill above river) Gold harvested fields, green trees and hills Distinct blue mountains, one reminded me of Rangitoto, though sitting above rolling golden fields Reflections on river just before Roztoky-Zalov, about 10 minutes out from Prague The sun was setting slowly as we pulled into Prague, it was still light and the sun was just above the hills. Warwick quotes: "We're in Prahahahahaha.... We shall check in at a Czech Inn... Prahahahahaha!" We had a triangular room over a suburban rail station, but we were high enough up that there was no noise. We took an evening walk around the crowded centre city - lots of tourists, high summer atmosphere - we were sweltering in T-shirts at 10:30pm! Seagulls swooping high over the bridge were a soft, ghostly white against the dark sky.

20 July 2004 25/07/04 Next 19/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

Having decided that the first one up should wake the other, we got up when Warwick woke at 6am! We were out and about by 6:20, and walked around sightseeing for over three hours before we got back for a 9:40 breakfast. Only locals were about that early, heading to work. The tourist areas which were so crowded last night were now almost empty. It was already hot at 6am - the heat reminded me of Rome. We walked through the wide empty square, over the empty Charles Bridge, up to the castle, and looked over the town. On the way down we found some shade in the Wallenstein Gardens on the way down castle hill where we saw a peacock and a couple of peahens out and about in the morning light. As we walked back along another bridge we saw fisherman catching a huge fish - maybe trout? We walked under trees to the other side of Charles Bridge to take some photographs, then back via an old tower/city gate for breakfast. Fed and happy and checked out, we headed to the very busy Wencaslas Square, which seemed to be where local people did their lunch-hour shopping. We found an air-conditioned metro - yay! - and took that back into town. We found some refreshing drinks at a museum cafe (it was too hot to visit the museum itself)... we paid: ...42 k - that's 87p - for 330ml of water for me ...28 k - that's 58p - for 500ml of beer for Warwick (Plzneň - Pilsner Urquell, a surprising 12% alc/vol) 58p for a half-litre of beer! Refreshed, we headed to the Jewish Quarter of the city. We visited the Pinkas Synagogue - a very sobering memorial to 77,297 Czech Jews from the area who died during the holocaust - and the neighbouring Old Jewish Cemetery, where 12,000 people were buried before it closed in 1787. In some parts people are buried 12 layers deep. Walking back along the river we encountered some very welcome sprinklers and shady trees. We crossed the bridge and took a long walk through the park to the funicular to Petřín hill. The funicular was so hot Warwick looked as though he would collapse! He managed to make it a controlled collapse onto the grass when we got to the top of the hill. Through the day we noticed various billboards advertising the temperature as 38 degrees, 28 degrees and 37 degrees. We walked around the park but it was just to hot to walk anymore, so we caught a tram back to the by now very crowded and sunny square. We picked up our bags from the hotel, made the very cheap and easy journey from the metro to bus 119 to the airport (12K - each about 25p each - made it our cheapest airport connection ever). We just loved this city! And a last pun goes to Warwick who, of course, instead of saying "tick" to tick off another long-awaited destination, said.. oh dear, I can't repeat this... "Czech!" Other memories: yummy falafels - we had them twice - at a place called Pizza Express, of all things, just on the Castle Hill side of Charles Bridge.

24 July 2004 25/07/04 Next 20/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

I met Garry at Waterloo on Friday night after his afternoon of London art galleries, and the next morning the three of us headed back into London for some rugby. South Africa seemed to have us soundly beaten until the very last few minutes when we snatched the game from them somehow. As we were in Victoria and it was about 11 o'clock, we walked on to Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard - it was so very hot I don't know how those soldiers coped in their busbies and coats. We jumped in the car to head home, but... ... an accident had closed the Hammersmith flyover and we were stuck in a very long queue. In fact, we queued from Harrods to Hammersmith, when we had to detour and figure out a new way home. It tooks us four hours to get home - a journey that we usually do in 40 minutes. We had planned to pick Nikki up from Gatwick, but instead turned into our driveway just as she did, on foot from Farnborough North station.

25 July 2004 27/07/04 Next 24/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

We had managed to drag Nikki and Garry all the way to Farnborough from their converted 16th-century windmill in Scotland by mentioning the airshow. Well, that had Garry hooked anyway. We packed a picnic and walked down to the airfield, where we were treated to an F18, B52, Harrier jets and Apache helicopters among other things. The fabulous Red Arrows finished the day for us. We walked home past the Farnborough Air Science Technology museum. The collection there told a fascinating story of flight technology in Farnborough, from Samuel Franklin Cody's 1908 controlled flight in a heavier-than-air machine (the first in Britain), to the design of Concorde. A triangular cupboard under the stairs had once made a tiny dark room.

27 July 2004 29/07/04 Next 25/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

Work took me to Belfast on the 27th, and Warwick was able to join me there. We walked around in the evening, and bells outside our hotel played Abide With Me (on each of the two spires there sat a seagull). The next morning the bells played "Immortal, Invisible" as I walked to work. That tune has been in my head ever since. Warwick toured the city and went out to Stormont while I was at work, then we met at City Hall where we took a taxi tour around the city. We caught our airport shuttle and checked in just by the skin of our teeth, only to be told that there was a two-hour delay on our flight. This in fact turned out to be three hours, and we were home very late indeed, negotiating the trains from Gatwick and walking from North Camp. It was a lovely, fragrant night walk through Farnborough.

29 July 2004 31/07/04 Next 27/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

There is a narrow alleyway near our place which is part of a network around a nearby monastery and Empress Eugenie's old place (now a school). We decided to explore it one night, crossing Abbey Way, and discovering large fields nestled behind the park and houses along Rectory Road. We took a footbridge over the train tracks and followed the path to its end in Highgate Lane. There is so much tucked away in there! We didn't get close to the monastery, but I did spot a meercat in the fields which looked remarkably like Warwick. When we got home I found the largest spider I have ever seen outside of a secure enclosure! Aieeeaieee! Warwick managed to catch it and let it go outside. Phew!

31 July 2004 01/08/04 Next 29/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

We met up with Nikki, Wendy and Mark on Friday night for dinner... Nikki had got off a boat at Westminster pier and communicated with the rest of us by mobile phone. Could we find her? We could not. We walked and walked around Waterloo, mentioning landmarks, not able to find each other at all. Then at last we got a call saying "look up and wave" - there was Nikki, looking like a movie star, on a highwalk above the street. YAY! We got pizza, and discussed rugby and the friendly dolphins of New Zealand with the one poor Australian who had gamely come to dinner with four kiwis. This was our last catch-up with Wendy and Mark for a while, but we hope to catch up in New Zealand next year. On the train home, Nikki contemplated the possibilty of putting spokey-dokies on the London Eye. The next morning Warwick and I went to battle with Nikki - I mean, we went to Battle with Nikki. This wee town was once known as Senlac, before William conquered the Saxons there in about, when was it now? Ah yes, 1066. AT LAST I have made it to this famous wee place! We started with three much-needed ploughman's lunches, then headed into the abbey grounds to the battlefield. The exhibition there was really well put together, with Saxon and Norman sides of the story presented. Actually, it was a step forward in time for us - the whole issue of succession was thrown in the air after Ethelred the Unready's son Edward the Confessor had died. We had come across Ethelred's story in Corfe Castle two weeks earlier. We wandered around the site of the battle, which is now a beautiful, peaceful hayfield. It was easy to imagine the conditions for the soldiers, who charged down opposing slopes to fight each other. So easy, in fact, that Nikki was overcome by the sense of history and after launching a frenzied ambush upon an unsuspecting Warwick, she fell down dead as a conquered Saxon. Inspired! We walked through the ruined abbey, meeting a Norman soldier who stood on the spot where Harold is supposed to have fallen. The soldier had made his own chain mail, a very heavy garment made of 18,000 metal loops. He was really entertaining - one of the highlights of the trip. And two very nosiy and mysterious ghosts were rattling and calling at the barred windows... Warwick and Nikki weren't around to see them though... After an ice-cream stop we pressed on to Hastings, a seaside town, its stoney and sandy shore lined with hotels and houses in bright white and pastel shades. We wandered along the beach, splashed in the sea (thanks Nikki for starting that!), revelled in the breeze (temperatures have been hovering around 30 degrees C lately), walked along the pier, and jumped back in the car drinving via Eastbourne to our next destination... ... Beachy Head. We walked along the clifftops in the golden evening sunlight, Garry joining us by mobile phone for a wee while. We drove on towards a brilliant red sunset, through Lewes, then towards Guildford in search of our favourite chip shop ever. It's actually a Chinese takeaway, and we had stopped there on the way home from Lewes once before. We just could not remember which way we had taken or the name of the town the chip shop was in. Things started to feel right as we drove towards a wee town named Bramley, and there on the right-hand-side of the road, opposite the park, and done up all nicely because their chips are just so good that they obviously do really well - THERE was our chip shop. The Jade Inn. YAY! More cool English placenames: Warninglid Pease Pottage Road sign on the hills near Beachy Head: "Try your brakes" OK then.

01 August 2004 03/08/04 Next 31/07/04 Previous Back to top Home

On Sunday we headed to Guildford, one of our favourite towns, not too far from us at all. We walked around the High Street, then discovered that the newly-refurbished castle had recently opened to the public. It is built in a gorgeous warm stone, and was built around the time of William the Conqueror. There seems to be a chronological thread running through our travels! Works taking place to widen the M25 for Heathrow Terminal 5 brought us right back into the 21st century. Traffic was so slow we nearly missed putting Nikki on the plane back to Edinburgh! And we would have missed it, if we hadn't got off the M25 at the Terminal 4 exit and zoomed around the airport to Terminal 1.

03 August 2004 07/08/04 Next 01/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

Megan and I met Jeannie at Southwark Cathedral tonight - and after 5 years I have worked out why I always get lost above ground at London Bridge. I always thought the tube station was on the north side of the river, I don't know why. Now that I know it is south I should not get lost quite so easily. It was getting really rather perplexing, as I go there often enough! We wandered through the streets of London Bridge and Southwark, which seem to be made entirely of little cafes, and found a bar just as it was theatening to rain. Warwick called: he was due to meet Megan and I for dinner at Megan's new place, but something had gone wrong with the trains... ... as we found out later, lightning had struck and taken out some electrics on part of the network. Then "trespassers on the line" (read "frustrated passengers deserting the stranded trains") meant that the rest of the electrics had to be shut down for safety. We cancelled dinner, and Megan and I walked slowly through the rain to Waterloo, where I caught one of only four trains able to leave the station. I stood in the crowded vestibule all the way to Woking.

07 August 2004 08/08/04 Next 03/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

On a sunny Saturday morning in the Elusive Camel, we watched our somehow shocking All Blacks team (made up of 15 individually none-too-shabby players) lose to Australia. We were joined by Mark and his brother, and sort of in part by Wendy, who sent text messages from Australia. From there we headed north for a week's break... ... we drove north through a very familiar London, past or near enough to some of our old north London haunts, then onto the A1 (we love the A1) to Tankersley, between Barnsley and Sheffield. We had booked a lovely hotel there, at a good price through lastminute.com. They have never, ever failed to disappoint. Barnsley's population seems to be made up entirely of wedding parties and hen nights. We grabbed a quick bite to eat and drove out across the Peak National Park towards Manchester. (It turns out there are no actual peaks in the Peak District; it was named for an ancient people who once lived there). We drove in sunset across the moorlands of the Dark Peak, turning for home when we reached Glossop.

08 August 2004 09/08/04 Next 07/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

We drove south today, rather than west as we did last night, stopping first at Chesterfield (Derbyshire). Chesterfield's claim to fame is the twisted spire of St Mary's & All Saints' Church. The spire is 68 metres high and twists to lean 3 metres to one side. This is the result of heavy lead tiles bearing down on unseasoned timber, and I think it is at least as cool as the Leaning tower of Pisa! It was a sweltering drive, and we stopped again in Bakewell for an almost-compulsory tasting of Bakewell Pudding (Bakewell Tart). It's yukky. Bakewell and the surrounding villages are very pretty though. We turned north through Glossop again, and were immediately entangled in a knot of small towns on the edge of Manchester, which seemed to stretch for ages. Finally we got onto open road and felt as though we were on the way to Keswick, where we were to stop for a couple of days. We drove through pretty-but-busy Windermere, and got to Keswick as the darkness - and the rain - began to fall. Our B&B was home to a tri-colour border collie: brown, black and white. We braved a particularly vicious downpour for an Indian dinner.

09 August 2004 10/08/04 Next 08/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

The RAIN! The English will talk about the weather, but my word, is there a lot to say on the subject. This was the tail end of ex-hurricane Alex, which had brushed past the Carolinas earlier in the week. It was too wet to walk, so I kind of sort of dragged Warwick to the Cumberland Pencil Museum... Well, I love all things stationery, especially pencils and they way they feel as you put point to paper. I even love the smell of them! So this place was made for me. It is a small but informative musem, attached to the Derwent Watercolour pencil factory, and home to the world's largest pencil (7.91m / 25ft 11.5in long, weighing 446.36 kg / 984.05lb). It is a coloured pencil, Deep Cadmium 6. The museum is here because pencil manufacture began here with the discovery of graphite in Borrowdale in the 16h century. There are also cool spy pencils, used in WWII. Teeny tiny maps were rolled up and slipped into pre-drilled cavities in the pencils, then tichy little compasses stuck on, then the whole lot capped with an eraser tip. It is not known if the Germans ever cottoned onto to these or not. We drove to Buttermere - lovely lake and churchyard, lots of happy and relaxed animals, little black sheep with white faces. I noticed throughout the trip that a lot of animals were kept together in fields - donkeys, sheep, cows, all together with whatever big birds decided to join them. Warwick got an ice-cream at a farm shop in Buttermere; we've noticed so far that many farms and dairies make their own ice-cream, so there are lots of different farm-made brands. Warwick is coping well with this cultural change. We drove to Maryport and then north, which is supposed to be an "area of outstanding natural beauty", but all we could see here, as in Keswick, was rain. Apart from the incessant rain which united the entire island this week, the north has a different feel to it; it felt like another country to me, almost as one country feels a little different from another as you cross land borders in Europe. Maybe it's just me. Dinner at the local pub - "Farmers" - just delicious. They gave us a sugary mint-cake type sweet (not actually mint-cake) and gave us our bill tucked inside a copy of Emma.

10 August 2004 11/08/04 Next 09/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

RAIN!!! Walking was pretty much impossible again, so we rearranged our itnerary and drove out to Durham. Glad of a 4WD! Durham is a lovely town, built in a warm stone, and the famous cathedral houses the Chapel of the Nine Altars and the tombs of St Cuthbert and the Venerable Bede. And I just found out that eider ducks were said to have nestled in St Cuthbert's clothing. Eider ducks! Hence eiderdown. We drove north from Durham to Alnwick, and a friendly man at the castle gates directed us to a bridge where we would get the best view of the castle. And we had spotted on the map the town of Warkworth. As Warwick is an honorary Warkworthian, we had to bend our path in that direction. The town is twinned with Warkworth in New Zealand, and it has a 14th-CENTURY CASTLE!!! A really good one. Warwick was very happy. We noticed a Sun Hotel and Roxbro House in the town, a very happy coincidence given the signifcance of Sun (Microsystems), Roxborough (South Island) and Warkworth (North Island) to Warwick :-) We drove back through the relentless rain (six weeks' worth in two days, apparently), passing very swollen rivers of a red-brown colour I had never seen in water before. This was the colour lent by peat, and it looked like Willy Wonka's chocolate river. We had dinner at Farmers again - they tucked our bill inside a copy of King Henry V.

11 August 2004 12/08/04 Next 10/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

Almost sun today - or at least clearing. We drove the scenic route south and east, past Thirlmere and over Kirkstone Pass (spectacular views of mountains, lakes and floodwater, and of the church-shaped boulder that gives the pass its name). Lots of long-tailed black-faced sheep around. Warwick is an excellent driver, expertly navigating the steep and winding road known as "The Struggle" (although it would have been more of a struggle for horses, especially at the time it was named, than for today's cars). There was a real holiday feel along the shores of Ullswater. We drove on via Penrith to a scenic road across the Pennines. We passed a unicyclist we had spotted in Keswick the other day - she was attempting to cross the Pennines on one wheel! And her poor mate was sweltering on a bicycle under two loads of luggage. We passed the 1903 ft summit and descended, past old mines and the Killhope Wheel, into North Yorkshire. It was now HOT! Even in all the rain before, it was hot. At about 3:30pm we were met by Lucy, the brown border collie, when we arrived at Peter and Jane's. The four of us talked all afternoon, then headed out to Mark's farm, where we went out on a four-wheeled carriage. I have been reading lots of classic English novels lately, and this is pretty much the way the people I have been reading about travelled whenever they needed to get from A to B. Cool! I learnt about tramlines at last: these are the deep grooves seen running along fields of crops, and are also mentioned in some of the 19th-century novels I've been reading. They are made by a super-tall spray buggy: this way the field can be sprayed with a minimum of crop damage. The rural scenes around here are beautiful. We went into Middlesbrough and crossed the River Tees on the transporter bridge. We drove through the streets which had once been the family farm, and past the large pub (The Coronation) which stands where the old farmhouse stood for only 60 years. Finally we found a Sickling grave (Charles Thomas and Mary Isabella) at St Mary's church in Ancram.

12 August 2004 13/08/04 Next 11/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

This morning we drove through the towns and countryside around Seamer, spotting ducklings nestled in the grass by the side of the road. Jane named for me the purply-pink flower tha tis growing everywhere just now: Rosemary Willowherb. We also saw vast expanses of bracken which is taking over farmland in the area: it has now become economically inefficient to fight it. We could see the Captain Cook Monument on the misty hills, and drove into Cook's old home-town of Great Ayton. We stopped there at the Cook Museum, a fabulous little place which gave a lot of detail about Cook's life and achievements (what an achiever!) and about the time in which he lived. I really had had no idea of the scope of his travels before that. And I learnt how to use a sextant! Peter was lamenting a place selling non-dairy ice-cream (the ice-cream industry seems to be popping up everywhere here) - he remembers the original farmer there carrying cream cans on a yoke over his neck. We went on to Stokesley, where Peter had gone to school. This is a lovely old town, with an uneven roofline, and a very nice statue of Cook as a boy. We talked all afternoon, about family history and memories (we had talked yesterday about Jack and George, George's time at war, and their involvement in the construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge). We drove from Peter and Jane's to Wetherby - via Helperby, what a nice name for a town! - where we had dinner with Elizabeth.

13 August 2004 14/08/04 Next 12/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

On Friday, the three of us set of for Fountains, a 12th-century Cistercian abbey, where we caught up with a fabulous tour guide. The size and beauty of the ruins, and the colour of the stones, were just fabulous. There are no foundations to this large abbey: as there was no building carried out over winter, the heavy stones were left to consolidate and did so well enough that they are still standing almost a thousand years later. Monks there had a pretty grim health routine: four times a year their blood was let until they passed out! But they were restored by 48 hours of relative luxury, in a warm sanitorium and feasting on some decent food. The monks followed the Rule of St Benedict, who had decreed that no monk should wear underwear. OK for St Benedict who lived in the warmth of Italy, said our tour guide, but the dedicated men at Fountains lived through Yorkshire winters! The warm colour of stones we see today was not visible to people when the abbey was built: the whole interior was painted white, and some of the 800-year-old paint is still visible. They had a wax tablet which served as our whiteboards do: a weekly roster was scratched into the wax, and at the end of the week it was melted down and re-done. The monks were silent for most of their daily routine, and developed a sign language to communicate noiselessly. And they shaved with oyster shells! I love these old places and learning how the people lived. We have heard a lot about the dissolution of the monasteries; pretty much anywhere we go, Henry VIII's men had got there first. I hadn't clicked until today that Henry was not only in disagreement with the pope, but was also at constant war with France and needed money. The opportunity to grab the estates and assets that the monasteries were sitting on was a powerful motivation for dissolution. Henry sent his men late at night to intimidate and interrogate the communities, and to find fault with the way they were run. We picnicked in the car at the other end of the grounds, and walked through the Studley Royal Water garden. This was being cleaned out but was still a remarkable place. We went to the mill behind the abbey, which has been in constant use for 850 years as a flour mill, then a saw mill, and now generating electricity. As we walked back to the car we were treated to some singing: an opera was due to be held at the abbey that night, and we sat and listened to part of the rehearsal. Deer, swans, geese, ducks and pheasants were all to be seen in the park. We drove on to Nidderdale, through which flows the River Nidd. There was heather everywhere, stone walls... and the so-called "golf balls", part of the American "Star Wars" early-warning defense system. The sun on the hills was beautiful. We saw "York's follies" high up on the hills; these are two stone pillars which were built simply to give men employment. And Warwick spotted a horse and rider with an L-plate! It was brightening into a Yorkshire evening, as we drove past the Pately Bridge reservoir. Elizabeth was surprised to see this full to the very top and flooding into a neighbouring field at Ramsgill: in August it is often so dry you can see the outline of the original stream. Again we saw black sheep with white faces, which Elizabeth said were Herdwick sheep. We stopped in the stone town of Middlesmoor, and looked beyond the churchyard there down the dale. Behind us the next dale was Wensleydale, famous for its cheese. Moorhens and rabbits crossed the roads around us as we drove home. We had dinner out at a pub chosen by Elizabeth - lots of laughing, talk of travel, and far too much peach and brandy ice-cream...

14 August 2004 15/08/04 Next 13/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

Another sunny day... we said goodbye to Elizabeth and set out for York. Elizabeth and Jeremy had said to use the park and ride and avoid the hassle of parking in the city - excellent advice. The park and ride was cheap and efficient. We were dropped near the minster in Museum Street - what a beautiful building. A combined ticket took us inside (stonework! stained glass! sheer size!) and into the undercroft, where a fabulous audio guide took us through the foundations and sites of previous Roman, Saxon, Viking and Norman buildings. What huge history! A Roman culvert there still functions, various treasures are on display and excavations displayed and explained. All this wealth of history below ground was discovered only in 1967, when cracks appeared in the minster above and excavations were made to preserve its structure. King Edwin's 627 baptism took place here and Constantine, on holiday in York with his father, was declared Emperor here at his father's sudden death. I didn't know that! We were in and around the minster all day, not bad for two people who are almost cathedralled-out. We (well, I) ate nectarines in bright sunshine on the steps, then walked through the Shambles, the busy but character-filled medieval street where the buildings on opposite sides lean toward each other. And Guy Fawkes was born here! And Dick Turpin was convicted and imprisoned here, hanged in York Tyburn, and buried here in York. After a light and breezy lunch at Pizza Express, we walked along the city walls, and headed to Clifford's Tower. Clifford's Tower is a stone keep sitting atop a motte built by William the Conqueror (who pops up everywhere lately, and seems not to have wasted time stamping his mark on his new kingdom). The views from the tower are excellent. Walking back around the town, every street held something beautiful, all stone and wood and history. What a beautiful city York is! Why have I never been here before?! York was known to the pre-Roman (pre-71 AD) Brigantes tribe as Eborakon, to the Romans (71 - 406AD) as Eboracum, to the Saxons (7th to 8th century) as Eoforwic, to the Vikings (867 - 944) as Jorvik, and then from Norman/medieval times (944 - 1066 - now) as York. More cool language stuff: many streets here end in the word "-gate". This is related to the Swedish "-gatan" and Danish "- gade", also meaning street. Little alleyways are known as "snickets" or "gimmels". Jeremy later referred to snickets as we walked through Pickering. And everyone we spoke to said "aye" for "yes". We headed on from York to Pickering, where we met Jeremy. We walked to the church and around the town, then drove to the moors... purple heather, sunset, hairpin steep turns, and another strange-looking top-secret MOD structure. We had dinner at a pub in pretty Thornton-le-dale, and heard the river running as we walked through the town. It was a beautiful, clear, night sky. We stopped at the Royal Oak in Pickering for a quick drink before heading home - here there was a championship board of local leek-growers.

15 August 2004 27/08/04 Next 14/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

We had a leisurely start on Sunday morning, and drove out to Michael's (Jeremy's dad's) place for lunch. Michael lives in a lovely spot beyond Troutsdale. We had a delicious lunch, learnt to eat apple pie with slices of Wensleydale cheese (delicious...!), met Valerie, witnessed a spider fighting a wasp (tiny little spider won!), visited the resident Jerusalem donkey, saw some beautiful butterflies, and made friends with Milly, the border terrier. Seagulls soared almost impossibly high in the blue skies above: a gorgeous day. We drove back through the countryside, where lots of harvesting was going on. There was none of the usual dust: the farmers were harvesting although it was not completely dry, as they did not want to risk another rainfall. The effects of the battering of rain upon the fields was clearly visible. We passed England's smallest stately home in the Vale of Pickering. This is Ebberston, and it looks like a perfect miniature of a stately home - it is smaller than the nearby church. Back in Pickering we walked around the lovely castle (Bill the Conqueror woz here), and stopped at the station which is being re-done in 1930s-style. This is part of the North Yorkshire Moors railway - we saw a steam train go by. We stopped in at the church to see the medieval frescoes which were preserved under the Reformation's whitewash - they really are something special, well worth a visit. All too soon it was time to head home, and the five-hour drive we were expecting stretched out into something much longer (partly due to a detour via Castle Howard, which was closed but visible from a distance). It was late when we got home but what a wonderful week we had had!

27 August 2004 29/08/04 Next 15/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

Europe, America, New Zealand: 27 August – 01 October 2004 This is an account of our travels while moving house – we quit our jobs, quit our flat, quit the UK, met up with a grand total of three sisters (and twelve alligators) en route, and headed back to New Zealand to stay :-) I left my job on Friday 27 August after five intense years and a few mad final weeks finishing things up. I noticed when I got to the end of the block that Friday evening that I hadn't once looked back. Freedom!

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Jenni arrived today: we picked her up from Heathrow and brought her home, where she elected to sleep for a few hours. And another few hours. And another few hours... until the Olympics closing ceremony, which we watched together. From the next day, she was on European time. Things I will miss about Farnborough: - Cell Group; we (and some local wasps) had a farewell lunch on 22 August - the milestone on Farnborough Road - the elderly man from the end of the street and his wee barking collie dog - the leafy streets and big houses - McChinaWokaway and Zaffron Indian takeaway

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We headed to Stonehenge today for the last time in a while... after all the rain and flooding of late we saw grass growing on hay bales in the fields. We had lunch at Avebury, where there is a stone circle that you can go right up to and touch, and a pub with an old well in it. From there we headed to Winchester Cathedral, resting place of Jane Austen and a pretty fabulous cathedral in itself. This was a kind of introduce-Jenni-to-the-local-sights-and-at-the-same-time-say-goodbye-to-them day out.

31 August 2004 01/09/04 Next 30/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

As yesterday was a bank holiday, today was my first official day of unemployment. Yeeha! Jenni and I headed to Westminster Abbey in London. I had never been inside the Abbey before; I now wish I had so I could have returned a few more times! It seemed to me to be as much an indoor cemetery as a cathedral, with huge tombs and plaques everywhere, in colourful marbles and stones. Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots are buried there, among many, many other great historical figures. We stopped for a picnic lunch in St James' Park (with squirrels, pelicans, geese, and a host of other creatures enjoying the sunshine), then headed on to Buckingham Palace, another new one for me. The Music Room was among my favourite rooms in the palace, and there was so much on show that it's hard to remember it all. I remember a font where various members of the Royal family were baptised with water from the River Jordan, and a magnificent yellow, gold and white room into which there is a secret passage used by the Queen. Rushed for time, we headed to the Tower of London, home to the Crown Jewels (including a 530-carat diamond and what must be the world's most over-the-top golden punch bowl). The Tower is one of my favourite places in London.

01 September 2004 02/09/04 Next 31/08/04 Previous Back to top Home

Today was a day of mad packing and cleaning for me, while Warwick and Jenni headed to Glenfield (near Leicester) and the historic town of Warwick. In the evening we dropped in on Mark and Cathy to say goodbye... it really feels like we're leaving now.

02 September 2004 03/09/04 Next 01/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

After a massive whirlwind clean-up, we said goodbye to our wee house and carted our huge luggage to Luton. We hadn't ordered enough boxes to ship things home, so two old suitcases were called into service and filled with all sorts of things which we didn't feel we could leave behind. While we felt we were being immensely ruthless and strict during our packing, we are rather afraid we will open our cases and boxes in New Zealand and despair at having brought home even half the things we did. A mix of taxis, trains, and planes made up our journey to Glasgow, via Luton. A lovely attendant at the Luton train station, who had said there were no trolleys allowed on the station, saw us struggling with our bags on the platform and broke the rules for us. The trolley he found to help us over 100 metres probably saved us half an hour! We arrived in Glasgow that evening, where a very funny taxi driver regaled us with stories on the way to our hotel. ('One man asked me: "Does this tunnel go over or under the river?" Over or under the river?! It's a tunnel! OVER or UNDER the river?! It's a TUNNEL!') The telling of the stories was at least as funny as their content. We finished the day with a late but lovely meal at our hotel, the Campanile.

03 September 2004 04/09/04 Next 02/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We had a necessarily slow start to the day, after yesterday's mammoth luggage-dragging feat. We headed to the SECC (the Armadillo), and walked along the river to meet Nikki. She has brilliant dreadlocks! We shopped, stopping in a mall where there is a Foucault's Pendulum. This is nothing more than a very heavy weight attached to a very long wire, but it is attached at the top to a universal joint which lets the pendulum rotate freely around its fixing point as it swings. Foucault's Pendulum demonstrates the earth's rotation, and it's all to do with relative motion. As a Foucault's Pendulum swings back and forth, its direction of swing appears to rotate a certain amount every minute, depending on where on the globe it is. In fact, the pendulum is not really rotating: the Earth is rotating underneath the pendulum. At the North Pole, the pendulum would appear to rotate through a whole 360 degrees once a day, because the Earth rotates all the way round underneath it, and at the equator it wouldn't appear to rotate at all. We spent some time at Glasgow University, where Warwick's mum Anne had worked for a while. By chance, Warwick spotted a sign saying that the tower was open Fridays at 2pm... he saw the sign at 1:55pm, so we climbed the tower and got a fabulous view over Glasgow from the top. Nikki took us to Stravaigins for a very yummy lunch. We missed the last cheap train to Edinburgh by one minute, and had to upgrade our tickets for the rush hour. It was worthwhile: we arrived home to a yummy roast dinner, cooked by Garry, and chatted through the evening in front of TV and the fabulous Pet Shop Boys PopArt DVD.

04 September 2004 05/09/04 Next 03/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

After an at-Nikki's-and-Garry's-place-traditionally-scrumptious-breakfast of soda bread and seed bread, Warwick and Garry picked up our rental car and we drove into Glasgow. There were some cool sculptures along the road, including a wiry horse, a row of large, grassy earth pyramids, and something that looked like the soundpiece from a gramophone sticking up from the treeline. We browsed St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art, then headed to Tapa, a Kiwi-run bakery complete with paua-shell ashtrays, which was Nikki's and Garry's local when they lived here. They do a lovely onion and thyme tart. Back in town I bought a whiz-bang new backpack to replace the one I had, then we drove to the Arthurs' in Newton Mearns for a chatty afternoon tea with David and Marsha, Jean and Annie. Nearby in Giffnock we stopped in Ravenscliffe Drive, to see the house where Anne was born. As the sun went down we drove back through Edinburgh, along the Royal Mile, past Hollyrood and the new parliament building where Nikki works, and around Arthur's Seat. From Nikki and Garry's place we called our dads for NZ Father's Day. We stood in the roof garden (it's like the top of a turret) and looked out over the port, the lit-up castle, the cannonballs decorating the street, and the large clock across the way. After a late night Drambuie on ice from one of the bars downstairs, it was time to sleep.

05 September 2004 06/09/04 Next 04/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

Boohoo! Not only did we have to get up at 5am, but we had to say goodbye to Nikki and Garry! We waved goodbye while it was still dark, and drove through the fog to Prestwick. Sheep were sleeping on the grassy pyramids (that's not a sentence one types terribly often!) The sheep were all on one side of each pyramid, sheltering from the wind but looking for all the world as though they had been deliberately arranged there. We flew via Stansted to Venice Treviso, a tiny wee airport, where we were suddenly immersed in summer. 29 degrees and sunny! Our camping ground was a shuttle ride out of town, so we went straight there.

06 September 2004 07/09/04 Next 05/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We headed into town on a very slow bus, found a quick breakfast and drinks near the bus station, and took water taxi number 3 up the Grand Canal to San Marco. The trip up the Grand Canal took us past colourful, crumbling buildings to the grander places nearer the main square. The square itself was crowded with people and pigeons, and the queues into the basilica were far too long for us in the heat of the day, so we went into the Palazzo Ducale (Doges' Palace). Inside the palace we were treated to a short exhibition on the history of the cumberbunds of the Polish aristocracy...! More interestingly, we looked out from inside the Bridge of Sighs, and walked through the prisons below ground and the magnificently decorated council chambers above. We found we were doing OK when it came to transactions in Italian, but our best effort happened by accident. We were wandering the narrow streets and ended up at a dead end beside a canal. A gondolier there offered us an hour's tour, but we had already decided that would be too expensive, and said no immediately. He offered a lower price but it was still too expensive and we turned away. Just then, two French women arrived, and they could speak Italian. He offered to take the five of us so we could split costs. They negotiated a lower fare with him then asked us in English if we would like to join them. We started to walk away because we really did mean it: NO! So the gondolier offered a half-hour tour at a much lower price, obviously figuring that some work was better than none, and split between the five of us it suddenly became affordable. So we did it, and it was a peaceful, beautiful ride. Some of the highlights for me were the conversation and camaraderie between the gondoliers as they passed one another, scooting beneath the bridges, and peering around corners into tiny, narrow waterways. There were lots of signs up all over the waterways, put there by gondoliers who were protesting the increased amount of water traffic and the dangers it poses. We were also there at the time of the film festival, but saw almost no sign of that at all. As we continued our walking tour, we saw a postcard picture of a beautiful staircase... it turned out to be the Scala Contarini del Bovolo, right in the heart of the city, so we made a beeline for it. It took a bit of finding, but as usual we were rewarded with the atmosphere of the streets we passed through. A young couple in full wedding dress were using an ATM, then walked hand in hand through the streets ahead of us for several blocks. The Scala Contarini del Bovolo is worth the effort it takes to find it, and we sat there for a while taking it in. Some lost English tourists happened upon us, and asked if we could help them read their map and find a particular restaurant. They were going our way so we walked with them and ended up completely lost as well. It turned out the group were on leave from the British Army – map-reading skills not so good though!

07 September 2004 08/09/04 Next 06/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We had a long, slow bus ride to the train station, an hour wending our way through the sprawling outer suburbs of Venice. We took a train to Florence where we were met by our very welcoming landlord, then took the afternoon to rest. We went out in the evening, along Florence's main shopping street, Via Tornabuoni, to the river and Ponte Vecchio. There was a bright circle of sunlight on the river, beaming down from a break in the clouds. A huge cheap dinner was followed by a huge expensive gelato (7.70 euros! At least it was a lot of ice-cream, probably almost seven euros' worth, and I didn't have to eat it!) We walked home via the Duomo, to find our hotel was very close by – an excellent location.

08 September 2004 09/09/04 Next 07/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

The Duomo looked fabulous as ever in the morning sunlight, with its pale-coloured pink, green and white marble exterior. We stopped at a tabacchi for a round of coffee, hot chocolate and croissants, then headed to Piazza della Signoria. There were mopeds lined up along one of the streets, plugged into electric charging units! We saw lots of other electric vehicles in the city, including small buses and trucks. There was scaffolding along the face of the Palazzo Vecchio, but the copy of Michelangelo's David was visible in its own wee cage with no bars on the front, and the fountain beside it was golden in the sunlight. We walked to the river again to see it in the morning light, back via a fruit shop which sold us some grapes, and on to the Galleria Accademia to see the real statue of David. We were among the first in. I have seen this statue before but it is one of my favourite works of art ever. I love David's expression and posture which seem to me to be both nervous and strong at once. There is now a digital David - you can manipulate images of parts of the statue and the light source (most people chose to look at the top of his head!) We found out later that we had seen the statue on its 500th birthday, to the very day it was first unveiled. We had a sudden spurt of successful shopping: we managed to buy a bandage for Jenni's sore leg, grabbed a supermarket breakfast which we ate in a small square, then happened upon a leather goods shop where Jenni bought a beautiful leather jacket. The salesman was very friendly, but we all jumped when he pulled out a cigarette lighter and held the flame to the jacket Jenni had chosen! He was proving the jacket was genuine leather, and it was not damaged in any way. This had all been accomplished by 11am, so we went home for a well-earned rest. We went inside the Duomo in the afternoon - Jenni had to don what looked like a hospital gown to cover her shoulders. The paintings inside the cuppola were the most lovely feature to me. It was an afternoon of organising things: internet, lunch near the Duomo (including a huge helping of gelato for those who enjoy it) then Warwick and I sorted trains for the next day while Jenni went shopping again. She came home with a rather stunning pair of high-heeled leather boots. Not a bad day's shopping! We ended the day at the Boboli gardens, which weren't looking as good as I have seen them, a bit overgrown and dry. Still, they are beautiful and extensive, and provided many cute cats in the sunlight for Jenni to photograph. Dinner opposite the Pitti Palace involved truffle tagliatelle and the most delicious hot chocolate I have ever tasted... brand name Eraclea, sounds like a vampire spider to me! We laughed all the way home, talking about what I don't remember, and I was very, very, very tired indeed.

09 September 2004 10/09/04 Next 08/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We were up early to make the most of our last couple of hours in Florence... Warwick and I headed to San Croce, where the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo are, while Jenni went to the Uffizi Gallery to see what she could before we met again at 9:30. These would be exercises of mixed success... We looked into the church but it was closed until 9:30. It was very peaceful, with lovely paintings, a star of David on the outside and white/pink/green marble exterior. Poor Jenni had only managed a brief look at the Botticelli paintings she most wanted to see; queuing had taken up most of her time in the gallery. As he did through most of the holiday, speedy Warwick led us like a tour guide through the streets, with his hand up as if he were holding a tour guide's brolly. We took a train to Pisa (only 5 euros each way), and a taxi from the station to the tower itself (lovely bridges and church on the river). The angle of the leaning tower is impressive, especially on first sight. It is open to climb but not many people were up there... at 15 euros a head I am not surprised! It was terribly hot as we wandered around, the bright sun glaring off the marble. The taxi driver who took us back to the station was a surfy-looking Croatian who had been to New Zealand twice and knew Piha! We got back to Florence and caught a train there for Rome. A blast from the past: from the train I could see a town on a mountain-top, and I started to tell Jenni about Cortona, a Tuscan mountain town where I had stayed five years earlier. "A little like that one over there," I said, pointing out the window. "In fact, a lot like that one over there... in fact, it IS that one over there!" Brilliant! Apart from the odd yellow field, the sunflower crop was finished, but the dried heads were still on the plants. We zoomed past the lakes and the town of Castiglione del Lago, where I used to say I would come back to live. I was still terribly tired and could feel myself coming down from the recent pressures of work. We arrived at our very clean and friendly hotel near Termini in Rome, found dinner, then slept.

10 September 2004 11/09/04 Next 09/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We were up late, and the cleaning lady showed us down the stairs, down the street, and across the road to a cafe on the corner run by a very smiley Chinese man. This was where we would breakfast for the next three days - one drink and one pastry each, included in the price of our room. We took the morning off from holidaying to do our laundry and internet. We took a metro to the Colosseum, and went straight to the Palatine Hill, one of my favourite parts of Rome, moving very slowly because of the heat and the bright sunlight. We ate a superb supermarket lunch in the shade outside the Chiesa di San Clemente in Laterano, waiting for its 3pm opening. This is the 12th-century basilica built on top of a 4th-century church built on top of a 1st-century pagan shrine, that I have visited a few times before. While we were there, people were working to conserve one of the frescoes, carefully brushing away the dirt and revealing brighter colours underneath. We visited the Colosseum, always a grand and sobering place, then wandered happily through the Forum. We heard a guide talking about a pair of bronze doors which, including its locks, was still functioning fully after 2,000 years. We visited the grim little prison where Peter and Paul are said to have been held (a wedding was taking place nearby, everyone dressed to the nines in the stifling heat), then walked via the Capitoline Hill to the Vittorio Emmanuele II building. By then we were thirsty, hungry, and needing to sit down, so we found a coffee bar nearby. After some water, coffee and biscotti, we pressed on to the Trevi Fountain, Jenni buying some Italian silk ties on the way. When we got to the fountain, her attention was immediately taken by a shoe shop, and she walked out of there with two more pairs of shoes. Another excellent day's shopping! On the way out of the square, Jenni befriended a statue busker, who kissed her hand and gave her a beautiful smile. We had colourful gelato at our favourite colourful gelato shop, walked through the shopping mall via the Piazza Colonna and the Marco Aurelio Column (which was beautifully lit against a deep blue night sky), and ended up at the Pantheon. Warwick set up his tripod and happily snapped his favourite Roman building, while Jenni and I soaked up the atmosphere.

11 September 2004 12/09/04 Next 10/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

Warwick had an eventful run before breakfast today... eventful in that he got lost and ran for far longer than he intended! We got to the Vatican Museums to find a very long queue, but it was moving quite quickly. A young boy was busking there, singing and playing the accordion. The museums were as crowded as I have ever seen them, but beautiful of course... my favourite rooms continue to be the map room, the modern religious art and the Sistine Chapel. Outside the museum there were lots of people selling bags by "Prada" and "Louis Vuitton" among other things. As we walked by, a policeman came to round them all up. The traders each slipped their 20 or so bags over their arms and tried to leave innocently, as if they always took this many bags shopping...! Warwick was not allowed into St Peter's Basilica because he was wearing shorts - just as well he's seen it often enough. Jenni and I went in and saw Michelangelo's Pietà and the red marble circle where emperors, including Charlemagne, were crowned, then we wandered around absorbing the sight of all that coloured marble. We had lunch at a small restaurant nearby, then walked past Castel Sant'Angelo, where Jenni haggled and bought herself a great pair of sunglasses. It is an education watching Jenni shop! We crossed the bridge and walked via Piazza Navona to visit the Pantheon. When we got home we could hear singing. We opened our window to see nuns sitting in a circle and singing on the balcony across from us. It was beautiful! We had an evening of internet access and packing - nice to feel organised every once in a while.

12 September 2004 13/09/04 Next 11/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We took a train to the airport then flew to Athens. I had always heard that Athens was a run-down city, but we were there at the right time: right between the two Olympics. The transport systems were running beautifully, all shiny and new. We met a friendly man on Syntagma Square who stopped to give us directions, and we got to Hotel Tempi with no trouble. We wandered around the Plaka district in the evening, stopping for a drink and some baklava in an outdoor restaurant. A young girl came up to our table, blew not-terribly-tunefully into a harmonica four or five times, then held her hand out for some money! She looked like a hardened wee cookie, not making eye contact, just waiting for some change, and leaving the second she knew she wouldn't get it. Later we saw another young girl being chased away by an angry restaurant owner for doing the same thing. We walked around the flea market, encountering many people who looked like they had lost their way in the 70's and had been stuck there ever since! We had "humbuggers" for dinner (according to our menu) and later in the evening Jenni stayed home and rested her leg while Warwick and I walked around a bit more. The evening colours were breathtaking, and the bustle, the ruins, the churches, the lights and the stray cats all stick in my mind. Plaka is pretty, kind of perfect-imperfect, like a film set.

13 September 2004 14/09/04 Next 12/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

Happy birthday to Warwick! Happy birthday to Warwick! Happy biiiiiiiirthday to Waaaaaaaarwick! Happy birthday to Warwick! A cafe near our hotel gave us hot chocolate and spanakopita (spinach pie) for breakfast - YUM! I can't say much in Greek, but I can ask for two spinach pies with no trouble at all. So far here all our bills were given to us in shot glasses, and water served free with every purchase. We walked through Plaka to the Tower of the Winds and St John's Church, treading carefully to avoid slipping on the marble curbs and paving stones. Sleepy cats sat in flowerpots and among plants on the rooftops. We walked on up to the Acropolis - everything here was white and bright. The Parthenon is less complete than I realised, truly ruined (having been used to store gunpowder at one point in its history, the enemy needed only fire into it to destroy it pretty thoroughly; later Lord Elgin took the best of what statues were left - these now reside in the British Museum in London). Some of the paralympians were already in town, and we saw various teams touring the city that day. The views over Athens were extensive - it is large and sprawling, and not without some smog. We walked back through the Ancient Agora, where Plato taught and where Paul later preached. Moving on through the flea market and the bustle of shops, we bought pistachios from a street seller and found a travel agent to book a ferry journey for the morning. After a short rest at the hotel - the heat is draining and I for one was getting a cold - we took the metro to the National Gardens, and saw the soldiers guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on the way to our main object: the Temple of Olympian Zeus. This is another spot where Paul is likely to have preached, and it's a beautiful, simple ruin. One pillar had fallen down and lay in sections like a sliced up cucumber. The big, blue sky which sets off the ruins is as much an attraction to me as any part of Athens. Somehow home-made jokes about life in neolithic times became order of the day as we walked... ...What do stone age people play tennis on? Courts! (Quartz) ...What do stone age people eat when they crave chocolate? Pebbles! We had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant in Plaka, which was much less busy than last night. Still, there was a beautiful atmosphere... a richly coloured sunset, the busker on the recorder again, and the Parthenon lit up above it all. Everywhere, shopkeepers stood on their steps asking us in (“My restaurant has a roof garden!”)

14 September 2004 15/09/04 Next 13/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We were up early - Warwick and Jenni after a disturbed night's sleep, and I still not 100% well - and took the metro to Piraeus, then a hydrofoil to Ydra (Hydra). It was a gentle ride over a calm, flat, blue sea. Donkeys waited at the port; there is only restricted motorised transport on Ydra, so these poor guys did the donkey-work, so to speak. They were thin, bored-looking, hard-working animals, taking tourists around or lugging loads of lumber or other industrial materials around the island. Gleaming white houses lined the hills behind the port. We stopped for a yummy omelette breakfast (a cute wee dog whose legs flew everywhere as he ran providing some entertainment), then walked up to the cemetery for views over the port. The images that remain with me are of beautiful, barren hills, white houses with brightly coloured shutters and orange rooves, pink bougainvillea and an inky blue sea. We walked down a different path, cats and donkeys everywhere, and people heading home from school and work at 2:30pm. I was exhausted, so while Warwick swam in the sea and Jenni shopped (she spotted some pretty citrine earrings which she later bought), I dipped my feet in the clear water, watched some little silvery fish, and sat in the shade. It was a lovely place to be. We walked some more and had lunch at a waterfront restaurant. I was so drained by then I felt I couldn't take another step, so I caught up with some emails while Warwick and Jenni explored a little more of the island. Still, if you have a rotten cold and no energy, a Greek island is not a bad place to be.

15 September 2004 16/09/04 Next 14/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We were up at 4:30 to catch the first metro to the airport - it was still dark when we arrived. We flew to Paris, then everything slowed down... Our luggage took an hour to arrive; despite all our bags the taxi wouldn't take us to our hotel as it was too near the train station; we took a wrong turn trying to find the place and ended up paying over the odds to persuade another taxi driver to take us in the end. At least our hotel (Hotel Avenir, Boulevard Rochechouart) was nice. It was cloudy and noticeably cooler in Paris - autumn was on its way here. We walked to Sacré Cœur, which was very close to our hotel. Images: lovely blue skies and cumulus clouds, a view over the city, the resurrection painting on ceiling, modern stained glass. We walked around Montmartre, which was as busy as I've ever seen it. After omelette and crepes at what has now become our regular cafe there, we took a metro to the Eiffel Tower... ... when we got there, there were soldiers guarding the entrance, and the whole thing was closed! We picked up a newspaper which talked about pre-emptive security measures for the start of the Jewish new year, but it didn't mention the Eiffel Tower at all. We carried on to Notre Dame... I learnt that the decision to rehabilitate Joan of Arc was taken here. We walked all over the two islands, discovering the lovely Place St-Gervais on the way, and ending up at a nearby Italian restaurant. So far we have managed to carry out most transactions in French. From our table we could see a TV crew on the streets, chatting with people on the streets and giving them champagne.

16 September 2004 17/09/04 Next 15/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

Paris feels like home now. We had yummy hot chocolate, French bread and croissants for breakfast. There is nothing like French bread, and it is always best in France. YUM. Warwick and Jenni went out to the Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysees (unsupervised on a major shopping street! How did I let that happen?!) while I took it slow as I was still not so well. I had a long, slow morning reorganising my packing, walked up to the Moulin Rouge, then met Warwick and Jenni at the Louvre by 1pm. We had mini-quiches for lunch, and walked around the pretty Palais Royal which we had never before seen in summer light and flora. There were rollerbladers doing tricks in the square as we headed to the Louvre, where the whole top floor was closed. We did see the Mona Lisa again though, an exceptional work which really stands out even among the other great works lining the walls. Once again the Eiffel Tower was closed - it turned out to be a staff strike. We talked to some other Kiwis there, then had a Lebanese dinner on the way to the metro. On the metro were the happiest, grooviest pair of old men, singing away for their supper. Warwick and I saw a sign for an internet cafe near our hotel. We went in and found the tiniest, most densely crowded of souvenir shops, and were directed downstairs to a tiny storeroom packed with boxes, among which were sitting about five computers. Talk about making money from every square inch! These computers were also running Linux and Mozilla, to our complete delight. We have really loved being in Paris again, it was my sixth visit or thereabouts but it never grows old.

17 September 2004 18/09/04 Next 16/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We had smooth transfers this morning to Charles de Gaulle airport, and with Warwick pedalling fast to make the plane go (!) it was a quick hop over the channel to Luton. We had some tight connections to make from Charles de Gaulle to Luton to Heathrow, and no small amount of prayer went into them. We were one of an average of 74% of easyjet flights to arrive on time. After a bit of a rigmarole Warwick managed to retrieve our left luggage at Luton, and although we had booked the most direct bus between airports we could find online, we found an even more direct one while queuing, and they were happy to take our tickets. This turned out to be very important: while we waited to leave, a bus and van collided in front of us and caused a delay, but because our bus was direct we were not late. There were two trolleys at Heathrow right where we were dropped off, and scales near our check-in so we could check the weight of our very many bags. We checked in and said our goodbyes to Jenni who was flying home to New Zealand through Thailand, and all of a sudden were leaving Europe and our home of four and five years. We flew Air New Zealand, and the Kiwi accents made me homesick. I was very mixed up with leaving the continent (sad), arriving in England (happy), leaving England (sad), looking forward to the USA (happy), missing New Zealand (sad) and looking forward to New Zealand (happy). POOR Warwick! We flew near Edinburgh (hi Nikki and Garry!) then over Greenland with a clear view of mountains and a glacier running into the sea. The flight went very quickly for me, 11 hours felt like two hours. We transferred easily from LA to San Francisco, and I ate all the free Jelly Bellies I could between flights in the muted, air-conditioned atmosphere of the airline lounge.

18 September 2004 19/09/04 Next 17/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

The only option for breakfast at our hotel (at San Francisco airport) was the IHOP next door, so we went there for huge plates of Migas and Huevos Rancheros, washed down with a pint each of juice. And I thought English breakfasts were a bit OTT! I laughed all day (actually, all trip) about some of their slogans: Never-ending Popcorn Shrimp! Grab. Eat. Repeat. We're not selfish with our shellfish! Come hungry. Leave happy. Hahahaha! We left our excess luggage at the airport and took BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into town. We spent the day walking among busy Saturday shoppers downtown, but were so jet-lagged that we were home by 4 and in bed by 6pm.

19 September 2004 20/09/04 Next 18/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We ate breakfast in the hotel, sitting beside large, low picture windows at street level so we could watch the world go by as if it were a movie. Warwick was very happy to find a decent rock station on the radio in our room - we even heard some Janis Joplin, which we thought was appropriate. We found ourselves in a terrific downpour of rain while heading to the laundromat, rivers of water were cascading down the streets, and by the time our washing was done it was a beautiful blue day. Things that struck me about San Francisco: cable cars (and queues for the Powell-Hyde cable car), steep streets, steam pouring from manholes, a lot of homeless people, chess games being played out on the street. At the Visitors' Centre we learnt that the ferry to Alcatraz was booked until Tuesday, so we would book later for when we return. We ate Wendy's - aah, Wendy's - then headed back to the airport for our flight to Arizona. Although we were on a short domestic flight, we underwent the most thorough security screening I have experienced in any airport ever. Every passenger had to take their shoes off, and every pocket of every bag was searched. Our flight to Phoenix was delayed due to stormy weather but so was our connecting flight to Flagstaff, so all was well. In fact, I was really impressed with the quick turnaround and laid-back attitude involved in domestic flight connections. Flying into Phoenix was beautiful. It was very colourful, with the reds and browns of the desert, the blue waterways and green pockets, and yellow shimmery sunlight reflecting from the wet streets which looked for all the world like rivers. Piles of cloud above; mountains and plains below. We flew from Phoenix to Flagstaff in a Dash 8 Series 200, a tiny plane which seats eight rows of four people and one row of five people, plus one attendant. There is no water between Phoenix and Flagstaff, so during the safety instructions, we were told we would find lifejackets under our seats "in the VERY unlikely event of an emergency landing on water...!" We flew at about 10,000 feet, and it was a very bumpy ride indeed. When we had landed safely, our humorous flight attendant was “VERY PLEASED to welcome you to Flagstaff..." Warwick drove us to our hotel, avoiding tumbleweeds in the dark.

20 September 2004 21/09/04 Next 19/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

A note on American customer service: it's EXCELLENT! Everywhere we go it's "How can I help you?" and "Have a nice day" and "Thanks for coming". Very different from the UK. We found a decent rock station on the radio, so to the strains of Cherry Bomb, we headed out to Tusayan and the Grand Canyon. It was great to be in Arizona... ... except for the American food: trans fats in EVERYTHING, even plain potato chips. WHY??? We were going hungry avoiding these nasty ingredients. And in every hotel on this trip – not just the budget ones - we were to be served breakfast on disposable styrofoam plates with plastic cutlery. Every guest in every hotel, every morning – how much toxic landfill is that? There was a lovely blue sky today, nothing at all around, just plains and the long road stretching before us. And the odd fence - what on earth do they farm here? We shared the road with several trucks, bringing to my mind the song Convoy and the movie Dual. Also giant utes! It would be great to road-trip America. We stopped at Tusayan, a mile out from the canyon's south rim, where we had a hotel booked. The town's location is excellent, but it is a real tourist trap. If you come here, bring everything you need with you, don't buy it here! Warwick was looking for camera film, and we knew he could buy what he wanted for around $8.99. The best price we could find in Tusayan was twice that. When Warwick found a pack of film priced at $7.99 he checked the "develop before" date: August 2003! I needed a 37 cent stamp, and nowhere in town could I buy it for less than 75 cents. 75 cents for a 37 cent stamp?! What?! I mean, WHAT??!! On the other hand, the Grand Canyon park entry fee is great value - $20 per car (no matter how many people inside) and that ticket is valid for seven days. And the canyon itself: STUNNING! It is difficult to describe the colours and scale and beauty of this magnificent piece of creation. The plateaus as well as the canyon caught my attention. We watched the sunset as pinks and golds became subtle shades of blue. I heard this on the Grand Canyon radio: “The Grand Canyon is over one mile deep. Much of that depth is the result of steep cliffs..." Hahahahahaha!

21 September 2004 22/09/04 Next 20/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

The hotel at Tusayan was into conserving water: there is none naturally available there, so it is all trucked in. Reclaimed water was used for gardens and toilets. This was to be a frustrating and expensive morning, and it all began with American food: we were served doughnuts (deep-fried and iced) for breakfast this morning. That and a yukky-looking non-vegetarian sweetened yoghurt was the entire choice for breakfast. YUK! We didn't eat any of it, and decided that even McD's across the road would be better. Nope – we had one hash brown between us, yukky food and $1.78 at that! So we found an expensive cafe and chose their most basic breakfast, cornflakes for me and bran flakes for Warwick. Warwick was short-changed ten dollars when we paid, but we didn't notice until later. What a morning! So we cut our losses and headed back to the beautiful canyon as quickly as we could. (A little too quickly, as it turned out... Warwick left his togs behind. We think that sounds like a good country and western song: "I left my togs in Tusayan". We have enough woeful experiences of that town to write several verses!) There was a very heavy frost that morning, which surprised us, and gorgeous clear skies. We had had a little trouble the day before with feeling more unfit than we expected, and I woke in the morning with a nosebleed for the first time in about 15 years, and probably about the fourth time in my entire life. All this was explained in the altitude - Tusayan is 7,000 feet above sea level. I loved that there were no people visible as you looked out over the canyon and plateaus. I could imagine the Wild West and pre-European history, and feel remote despite the tourism around. We walked a little way beyond Hermit's Rest, spotting a little grey squirrel that moved like a lizard. At Hermit's Rest gift shop there is a huge walk-in fireplace, which I imagine would be an atmospheric and snug wee alcove in the winter. The daytime high temperatures in Phoenix at this time were in the 90's (30s C), while Flagstaff's highs were in the 60s (15+ C) and overnight lows were in the 20s (-6+ C). The temperature at the top of the canyon is cool because of the altitude, but at its bottom it is as warm as in Phoenix! Apparently this is the cause of a lot of trouble for hikers who are not prepared for the heat into which they descend. We drove to Flagstaff past Red Butte, a mountain of sandstone which would otherwise have eroded away with the rest of the sandstone that covered these parts a long time ago, but for a volcanic eruption that covered it with lava and preserved it. The colours as we drove home were magnificent: purples and pinks to the east, and a fiery orange and yellow the the west. Mountains and clouds were silhouetted in blue. A breathtaking sight.

22 September 2004 23/09/04 Next 21/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

The stars were still out when we woke in the morning, and we looked out at the truck stop where the trucks slept with their engines purring. As I packed the boot I ripped my hand open on a nasty metal rod hidden inside. Aaagh! It left an ugly, long wound across the top of my hand. The offending car was a Chevrolet, and if I can help it I will never ever go near one again. Every time I touched that car I got an electric shock, which became worse and worse until once I almost dropped my camera, the shock was so bad. We drove a bit of historic Route 66 (Flagstaff is at its highest point). It is a bumpy road and is not maintained well, if at all! Again we had another gorgeous, clear, shiny day - love it. We had the world's most delicious apple pie and blackberry pie at Air Fares cafe in Flagstaff airport, and were seated right in the middle of the plane on our flight to Phoenix. We were able to watch the wheels go up and down, and we watched them make hard contact with the ground as we landed. Cool! The Arizona landscape was mostly wooded, very dry, and showed almost no sign of settlement. There were mountains and plateaus, a bright blue reservoir, and some very sheer cliff drops. On our connecting flight to New Orleans, Warwick was served "Motts 100% tomato juice (from concentrate with added ingredients)”. Hahahahahaha! Admittedly the added ingredients were salt and ascorbic acid, but still!

23 September 2004 24/09/04 Next 22/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We stayed in an airport hotel near the runway, but it was as quiet as could be. On Thursday morning we took a bus through the suburbs into the centre of New Orleans, and found our next hotel between the CBD and the French Quarter. Hurricane Ivan had left Louisiana, dying down and heading to Texas by the time we arrived, and the forecast was good. However, my health wasn't good - I was coming down with another cold, and found myself up to no more than a Family Ties marathon on TV! Warwick caught up with the world on the free internet connection, so we had a much-needed rest that afternoon. In the evening we walked along Bourbon Street, an atmosphere of real buzz and colour. People tried to herd us into clubs as we walked along, and music poured from every second door. Our guide book had told us of a scam that is popular in New Orleans: "I bet I can tell you where you got dem shoes!" If you take the bet up, you will be told "You got 'em on your feet, right here in this street!" - and you will lose your money. We didn't expect to hear this but that first evening we were targeted twice, and by the end of our stay potential conmen had tried that on us 6 times!

24 September 2004 25/09/04 Next 23/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

In the morning we walked back along Bourbon Street into the French Quarter. It wasn't buzzing like the night before, but some places were still noisy. We sat on a park bench and listened to jazz being played at the Market Cafe - a sped-up version of "Summertime". I thought we should try a food court for a quick, cheap lunch – bad mistake. My pizza was bearable but Warwick spent $2.74 on a plate of nachos and cheese which was just too awful to eat. Thick, goopy, orange cheese was ladled thick onto the nachos, and held its shape where it fell. We walked along the Mississippi River, and on impulse we bought tickets for the Natchez paddle-boat as we walked past it. We had time to find Wendys for a slightly more edible lunch before we sailed, and as we walked back towards the boat, a terrible sound met our ears... a wailing sound, attempting melody but falling flat in more than one sense. A very bad busker? No, the Natchez calliope! The Natchez tour was non-stop information about the history and sights along the Mississippi. The river is five and a half feet above street level, and the street is 15 feet below sea level at some points, 16 and a half feet below at Arrowby! We passed the sweet-smelling Domino sugar refinery, which refines one million pounds of sugar per day. This river was part of the Gulf of Mexico 600 years ago, but the outflow of topsoil into the gulf built up new land. This soil is unable to support bridges so there are none beyond the oil refinery - it is cheaper to build and run ferries. We met Sarah and Brennen in Jackson Square at half-past four, who had driven down from Auburn that afternoon. This is the first time we'd seen Sarah in three years and the first time we'd met Brennen! After some raspberry lemonade and some walking around, we headed home and then back to town along Bourbon Street. I had omelette and biscuit for dinner in a very friendly diner... biscuit being a fried scone-type thing. We gave up on the queue to Preservation Hall (a jazz club), and ended up back at the Market Cafe where there was a live band. Musically, the buskers we saw that night were the highlight, including a pair of women on Decatur Street playing an accordion and a saw, and a brass band on the corner of Bourbon and Canal. We walked home along the river by night.

25 September 2004 26/09/04 Next 24/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

On Saturday we we took a streetcar through the pretty Garden District to the Audubon Zoo. There were child volunteers there, and a keeper gave a great talk about some of the animals. During the day I learnt that flamingo knees are actually ankles and don't bend backwards as they seem to; that hawks catch their prey in mid-air; and that the indigo snake eats venomous snakes, such as rattlesnakes, and doesn't die because it has anti-venom in its blood. But if a rattlesnake bites itself it will die! We got to touch some snakes, they were soft, like liquorice. Back in town, we split up with Sarah and Brennen for a few hours, and Warwick and I headed to the aquarium (past a very earnest a street preacher with a rainbow umbrella-hat). For me, leafy and weedy sea-dragons stole the show at the aquarium. I was also taken by the large pacu fish, a relative of the piranha, which eat fruit that has fallen into the water. Sometimes the fruit ferments, becoming alcoholic and intoxicating the fish. Drunken fish have been known to leap into fishing boats! I also like the anableps (“four-eyed fish”). Really, this fish only has two eyes, but each eye is split in two so they can peer above and below the water at the same time. I learnt about electric eels: most of an electric eel's body is a battery. One organ gives weak currents, while another generates powerful electric shocks which eventually blind the eel by causing cataracts to grow over its eyes. Weird. Other cool things: all spiders are venomous, but they are not all capable of poisoning humans (their venom is too weak or their fangs are too short or fragile to pierce the skin); and anemones are related to jellyfish. We went back into town to meet Sarah and Brennen, passing a busker with marionettes doing Pink Floyd's Money song on the way. We found dinner at a Japanese Noodle Bar and Tea House on Decatur Street - it was excellent food. Sarah's opinion: "It was actually very good. And do you know how I could tell? I didn't like it." Hahahaha! That evening, Warwick headed upstairs to the pool for a swim. He came back to tell us that the 1975-1976 USAF Thunderbirds were up there at a reunion party! We went up to meet them, they were very friendly.

26 September 2004 27/09/04 Next 25/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

In the morning we found that our lovely new Thunderbird friends had left a signed picture for us at reception :-) We went in search of a local delicacy called beignets, a fried pastry-dough-thing, far too sweet for me to eat more than just a tiny bite. The last thing that was too sweet for me to eat was a deep-fried mars bar, so that's saying something! We drove out of New Orleans, catching a view of one of the above-ground cemeteries from the motorway, and headed for Auburn. We crossed the divided two-lane highway over Lake Pontchartrain (each span has two lanes for each direction of traffic). As we drove we kept an eye out for swamp tours along the way. Near Slidell we came across the Honey Island swamp tour, which was a real highlight. We saw floating weekend homes, which rise with the river. I learnt that a bayou is a tributary or distributary to the river (our word bayou coming from a Choctaw word for shallow). Swamps began in this area as floodplains about 400-500 years ago. Among the animal life we saw were: huge dragon flies, tiny lizards, Love Bugs, Blue Herons, a Louisiana Tri-Colour Heron, turtles, a Golden Orb spider, White Egrets, a green Tree Frog, and of course... ALLIGATORS! We saw 12 alligators in total, two of which appreciated the marshmallows the captain threw to them. Alligators mostly eat fish, but they learn to take the marshmallows which the tour guides throw to bring them closer to the boats. The first alligator we saw was a baby, about 4-5 feet long, but he was nervous and slid into the water when we came by. Apparently you can tell an alligator's body length by estimating the distance between his eyes and the tip of his nose - that distance in inches gives you roughly the length in feet of the whole body. We passed a red wasp nest. Apparently these wasps will sting repeatedly, and the only way to escape them is to jump in the water and take your chances with the alligators! We went past rather quickly. Among the plant life around were: Cypress trees (and their knees), Tupelo Gums, Duckweed, Water Hyacinth, Duck Potato (an example of submerged aquatic vegetation), Wild Rice, Poison Ivy, Palmettos, Cut Grass or Saw Grass, St John's Wort, and Spanish Moss (hanging from branches and blowing in the breeze, examples of epiphytes or air plants, which depend on other plants for support but not for nutrition). Our captain pointed out a willow tree, the bark of which contains salicylic acid and was chewed by Native Americans for pain relief. We found the biggest alligator we would see - a 60-year-old, 600-pound bull alligator named El Guapo (Spanish for handsome). The captain picked up the alligator's tail, telling us that the gator could break his arm with its tail if it wanted to. Alligators have excellent hearing - they hear the marshmallows land in the water, and they can distinguish between the boats that come by. They like to stay in sheltered waters where there are no winds, and on a bright, warm day like today they will sun themselves on logs and mudflats. They can spend 8-12 hours underwater in the winter, when they are semi-dormant and slow their heartbeats to 3-4 bpm. We sped back down Pearl River, named for the pearls in the oysters found here. Otters and racoons feed on oysters and clams here, but we didn't see any. We passed some people fishing for catfish; they had a big blue gill thrashing about in their net, which they threw back. Further down we saw various homes on the river, some like little shacks, others more like mansions, which can only be reached by boat. We were now on Doubloon Bayou, so-named for the French pirates who held up Spanish boats and apparently hid their spoils here. Our captain told us that the first bald eagles had arrived here for the winter five days ago. We came to freshwater marshland which was gradually becoming swampland. This was a wide-open space, where the sounds of crickets and other insects filled the air, and where the cut grass and St John's Wort grew. The autumn colours were beginning to appear, and our captain told us that the first leaves began to fall at about 11 o'clock last Wednesday! After our tour we got back on the I-10 to Auburn, crossing the river we had cruised just an hour earlier, then driving over bridges which spanned wetlands stretching as far as the eye could see, and into Mississippi from Louisiana. Exits on the interstate are numbered by nearest mile, not sequentially. We continued on Ocean Route 90 and stopped at a beach in Bay St Louis: white(ish) sand, the Gulf of Mexico, houses still boarded up for the hurricanes and a jetty broken down by Hurricane Ivan. It was a lovely wee town on a lovely day, and hard to believe that Hurricane Jeanne was battering the east coast of Florida at that time. Apparently the last time four hurricanes hit one state in one season was in Texas in the 1800s. We came to the most emphatic stop I have ever seen: four stop signs on the one signpost controlling the one lane. All the while we drove with the windows down – a natural kind of air conditioning! The red sun was setting behind us, casting soft golds and pinks across the sky. Sarah and Brennen introduced us to Almond Joy bars and Nestle S'mores bars on the journey. They also pointed out the Sonic drive-in restaurant, where you drive up, order, and eat in your car!

27 September 2004 28/09/04 Next 26/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

"Stars Fell on Alabama" – these words on the Alabama number plate refer to a song about a meteor shower over the state in the 1800s. We did a lot of number-plate spotting during our trip – the one that had come farthest from home was from Maine, spotted in the Grand Canyon. Sarah made us pancakes for breakfast :-) and we went into town to the tattoo place owned by Sarah and Brennen's friends, where Sarah has some paintings hanging. We had the best (and most expensive) lemonade ever at Toomer's Drugstore, then drove around town and past the very pretty Samford Hall. It was a rainy day - the second of our month-long trip. It was quite refreshing, and nice to have a less touristy time, seeing where Sarah and Brennen live. We browsed Angel's Antiques where Brennen ran around saving poorly-strung guitars, then went home for soup and grilled-cheese sandwiches. While Brennen was teaching guitar, Sarah taught us the game of Pente, and we played some Backgammon for old times' sake. That evening we went to La Bamba restaurant where we met Chellis; it was an evening of great food and lovely company. At home again we met Jerry, and watched photos of our New Orleans trip scrolling on the TV. Sarah's mice were very active and very cute, nesting and playing on their wheels. We shopped at Walmart for a replacement pair of togs for Warwick, and Brennen found us some Jalapeno chips, not only after the shop had closed, but also for free! Warwick tried some pumpkin pie.

28 September 2004 29/09/04 Next 27/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

Mmmmm... for breakfast Sarah made us grits, tofu scramble, and fried green tomatoes... mmmmm... [Blissful reverie] Sarah also gave us dill pickle chips to try at the airport. Yum! We all piled into the Volvo and headed to Atlanta where we said our goodbyes and were suddenly horrendously early for our flight. And after we checked in, the flight was cancelled! We were re-routed through Chicago, and the flight was brilliant: we got to listen to the communications channel, and heard our pilot conversing with air traffic controllers throughout the flight. This was especially interesting before and during turbulence and during landing! Our luggage didn't make our plane however, and was delivered to us much later that evening, after travelling through Denver.

29 September 2004 01/10/04 Next 28/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We left our luggage at the hotel and headed into central San Francisco for a second time, less jet-lagged than before. We walked up Powell Street - the steep hills were fabulous! We could hear the cables moving as they pulled the cable cars up the hills. We walked down towards the bay, through Chinatown and then through Little Italy, where Italian colours are painted on the poles of the street lamps. We did the very steep walk up Lombard Street, known as "The Crookedest Street in the World", because of its eight sharp turns on a 40-degree slope. There are actually crookeder streets in the world, and indeed in San Francisco, if you want to go into bends per yard divided by percentage of grade times angle or something, but as exceptionally crooked streets go, this one is also exceptionally pretty. From the top of Lombard Street we looked out to the bay, and as we walked down Hyde Street we got a view of Alcatraz. The Golden Gate bridge was covered in low cloud. We walked along the crowded wharf and caught the ferry to Alcatraz (near some noisy sea-lions!). On Alcatraz we met a former inmate, who was promoting a book he had written. We learnt about the 1969 Native American occupation, and about the escape by three prisoners in 1962 – no trace of the men has ever been found. From the dining room, inmates could look across the one and a half miles of water to the outside world, and they could hear music and laughter from the yacht club in San Francisco, particularly on New Year's Eve. This breakfast menu was displayed in the kitchen: 21 March 1963 ASSORTED DRY CEREALS STEAMED WHOLE WHEAT 1 SCRAMBLED EGGS 2 MILK STEWED FRUIT TOAST BREAD BUTTER COFFEE That's better food than we could find for breakfast most mornings in the USA! We took the F-line streetcar back to town. A very chatty man drove our very crowded tram. (“We're glad to see you go!” he called after departing passengers, and to those waiting outside: “Don't bother boarding if you're claustrophobic!”)

01 October 2004 03/10/04 Next 29/09/04 Previous Back to top Home

We lost a whole day in flight! Ah, Air New Zealand again. A full moon and a magical view over moonlit cloud. I got very excited when we passed Fiji! We came into heavy rain as we approached Auckland; the rain appeared to be sucked into our engine, sparkling in the lights as it was drawn sideways. It was good to be home, and weird to think we were staying! We had breakfast at airport with mum and dad and Ron, with a phonecall from Peter, then drove to Northcote through familiar landmarks (including what must be New Zealand's most enduring small business, A Touch of Glass). Home... Milo and toast... needed jerseys and slippers - it's cold here! I had to bank a cheque that day, so we went into town. I explained to the teller that my account name and cheque name didn't match as the account was still in my maiden name. She was fine about that and very friendly. “When did you get married?” she asked. “Ummmm, two and a half years ago...!” I went on to explain that I'd been in the UK since then and hadn't been able to change my details. “But we're back to stay now,” I said. “Are you enjoying being back?” “Loving it.” “How long have you been back now?” “Ummmm, a couple of hours...!”

03 October 2004 05/10/04 Next 01/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

Mmmm... corn fritters... pikelets... mmmm... the countryside around home in Morrinsville... home, home, home, home, HOME! Well, we could have had another few days in the US perhaps, but North Harbour was playing Waikato at Waikato Stadium today and we HAD to be back for that. Warwick wore his colours to the game but was wise enough to wear a jacket over them when we went to the Harlequins lounge! I could tell you the result of the game but that might be construed by certain parties as bragging.

05 October 2004 31/12/04 Next 03/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

We took mum and grandad to the airport on Tuesday, then went on to town. I was looking to pay $72.82 in cash... I had the $72.80, but couldn't find a two-cent piece anywhere. “Warwick, do you have two cents?” I asked. This earned me a lengthy lesson on New Zealand currency and Swedish rounding by the lady at the counter! In my defence, I am used to looking for one and two pence pieces, I KNOW our copper was phased out years ago!

14 October 2004 15/10/04 Next 05/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

We took the cheap way to the airport from Ron's place... a bus to Customs Street, then a bus to Mangere, arriving late, missing our connection and waiting over an hour for the next bus to the airport. The people at the bus stop in Mangere were really friendly though, and we made our flight – just as well we allowed two extra hours, we needed all of that time to get there! We were met at Christchurch airport by Luke and Alex, and headed to the McDonalds' place to see dad, Brad and Catherine.

15 October 2004 16/10/04 Next 14/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

Had a great, slow day. Relaxed at home – designed an educational consultancy business! We went to town to see nana but she was fast asleep, so we popped around to Peter and Judy's. Olivia was not very well, but later that night Ben and Peter came around for dinner, and Clem joined us too. Clem had kindly agreed to let us use his car to explore the South Island. We played a card game called “Nothing” – this was the beginning of a habit throughout the trip. It came up that Clem had a new job starting in Wellington shortly - this was the first we'd heard of it. "When do you go to Wellington?" I asked. "When are you bringing the car back?" he replied. "Ummm, Sunday 24th." "I'll go on the Monday then." "So when does your job start?!" "Oh, as long as I'm there by the Wednesday, it's alright." Never really seems harried, my lovely brother :-)

16 October 2004 17/10/04 Next 15/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

Another lovely, relaxing morning. I like this. We dropped dad at Peter's – they were due at the Italy Star Association where dad would be talking about the Cassino commemorations in May. Warwick and I carried on to see nana, and spent an hour and a half with her, talking and looking at the photos in her room. We went to the Papanui RSA that evening for dad's second talk of the day – it was an excellent talk! We watched the rugby there (Canterbury beat BOP in the NPC semi-final).

17 October 2004 18/10/04 Next 16/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

We left late morning after a slow start, via Ashburton to Tekapo. It was a rainy day but it cleared up as we got to Tekapo – what a beautiful place! Lake, mountains, a lot of blue in the sky and the water, and the Church of the Good Shepherd – the most beautiful church I have ever seen – including all the cathedrals I have visited in Europe. We stayed at the Tailor-Made Tekapo Backpackers (BBH), and the porprietor was a real character. He told us his plans to build a frozen waterfall in the backyard – we'll have to go and see it some time!

18 October 2004 19/10/04 Next 17/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

Leaving lovely Tekapo, we headed south through the Lindis Pass and its seemingly endless fields of golden tussock grass, bordered always by beautiful mountains. We stopped to look out over Cromwell, which was partially flooded in the 1980s with the creation of the Clyde Dam and Lake Dunstan. We could even see shadowy areas where the old road was submerged under Lake Dunstan below us. Carrying on, we reached the huge Clyde hydro-electric dam. HUGE! We stopped in Alexandra for a quick lunch, then pressed on to Roxburgh. Warwick picked fruit here for two seasons while he was at university, and has always spoken of the town and its surroundings very fondly. At last, I got to see it! Roxburgh is a sweet wee town, with an extra-wide main street. We drove around Warwick's landmarks, including the hydro and the orchards where he had worked. From the hills above we found wonderful views of the town and the blue-green Clutha River. It was very colourful under the changing spring light, and we spent a lot of time looking at the river and just taking it all in. We drove by the local racetrack, which reminded me of my dad's dad and the times I had heard of his bringing horses there to race. Finally, we arrived at our lodgings in the old Commercial Hotel, a grand old building which has housed travellers and seasonal workers since the 1870s. We took an evening walk through the town. Warwick's favourite chip shop had changed hands and was closed, but the youth club where he played as part of the exclusive-formed-for-one-night-only band Orange Roughy and the Chocolate Fish was still there :-)

19 October 2004 20/10/04 Next 18/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

Today we had planned to detour through Gore on our way to Te Anau. But we had not quite finished soaking up Roxburgh... Warwick took me out to Pinders Pond, where he had swum during his summers here. (Actually, before breakfast, he ran out to Pinders Pond and back, a round trip of about 10k! I had a more leisurely start to the day). Warwick is apparently half fish. He has this compulsion to swim anywhere in any weather – only the icy lakes of Sweden have ever conquered his resolve. The deep, cold Pinder's Pond on a nippy morning was a challenge, but a mere 20 minutes after dipping his toes in, Warwick finally managed to immerse himself in the water. Yeeha! Shortly afterwards he was drying out on a sunny rock, shivering with goosepimples all over, and supremely happy. His last two swims here were at midnight and at dawn! We drove around taking photos, stopped for some famous Jimmy's pies (although none were vegetarian – we had to settle for quiche), and drove out of town for Gore. We drove by orchards, lots of rabbits, lots of country that resembled the Waikato remarkably, and lots of sheep! No wonder my dad (a Southland lad through and through) is so at home in the Waikato – I had no idea how green and rolling the Southland countryside was. We stopped in at Gore to see my dad's aunty Emmie and cousin Val, and to take in some family landmarks in the town... ... the giant trout statue, the Creamota factory where my grandad was lucky enough to have work during the Depression, the brick house built by my great-grandparents (now for sale, built so sturdy in double brick that it would be too expensive to knock down), the convent where dad and Bryan used to go to school... All these places I had heard about, some in stories told throughout my life, and some I had recently learned from dad's book about CC. We stocked up on chocolate, then pressed on to our motel in the lovely wee town of Te Anau.

20 October 2004 21/10/04 Next 19/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

From Te Anau we had a lovely drive through gorgeous snow-capped mountains to Milford Sound. Sheep everywhere! We decided to make it a leisurely trip, and pulled over to see the view at any rest areas we came across. The very first place we stopped there were three or four kea darting in and out of the bush, and tourists feeding them apples with their bare fingers! Eeks! We continued to stop at all the little sights along the way, of which the most impressive to me were The Chasm and Mirror Lakes. Another lovely stop was in a wide, flat-bottomed valley carved by glaciers long ago. We kept seeing kea too, in every car park, and they tried to take our windscreen wipers, the rubber around our windows, and the wing mirrors! We took a boat trip out on Milford Sound (which is actually not a sound, but a fiord; the difference being that a sound connects two bodies of water, and a fiord is an inlet from the sea). It was a lovely day with beautiful views, but very windy and we got wet from the spray! The sun on the water was lovely. We saw and learnt heaps of things! ... The trees growing up the side of the cliffs tangle their roots together to hold each other to the cliff face. When an old tree up top finally keels over, it drags others in its path down into the Sound. ... There's gold and greenstone in the rock. ... The fault line that runs though New Zealand is visible here, in a large crack in the cliff. ... There are sea creatures here at a depth of 10 metres which are normally found at depths around 1000 metres! This is because there is a layer of fresh water that has flowed down through the surrounding forest and is stained with tannin from the tree leaves. This stained fresh water sits on top of the salt water and filters out much of the light. ... From its peak to the sea floor, Mitre Peak is the highest sea cliff in the world. ... We saw the powerful falls, which had blasted away all foliage below them, being blown off course by the strong winds. All power and drinking water here comes from the falls. ... This part of the country is our nearest land to Australia. ... Oh! My favourite! Glacial steps. You can see where ancient glaciers carved their way through the rock in a succession of steps. ... Saw some lovely, lazy southern fur seals. ... Milford Sound was discovered by a Welsh sailor who, from the sea, had believed he was about to be shipwrecked on the cliffs. He was blown right up to the cliffs and then into the Sound, which he had not been able to see from the ocean. ... Today's Milford Track follows the overland route taken by local Maori before European settlers arrived.

21 October 2004 22/10/04 Next 20/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

Warwick was up early for a run, then we took a leisurely drive to the very pretty Lake Manapouri (rainbows on the way). We drove back through the beautiful red tussock conservation area, somewhere between Te Anau and Lumsden. We carried on through the misleadingly-named Five Rivers (we counted a total of zero rivers!), when we saw the Kingston Flyer so we pulled in at Kingston and watched it pull up. Cool! This is the train they filmed the old gold rush Crunchie Bar ad in. We passed Lake Wakatipu (beautiful) then to arrived in Queenstown. Queenstown was a busy little knot of streets, densely populated with tourists, and seemed to have no real character of its own, so we were keen to get out and head to lovely Arrowtown. I was really impressed with this leafy, old, gold prospecting town! Its pretty streets, old Chinese settlement and the interesting museum made it esay to imagine the lives of the Chinese and European prospectors.

22 October 2004 23/10/04 Next 21/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

We drove up into the hills above Arrowtown for a scenic view across the land between there and Queenstown. Gorgeous! We nipped into Queenstown... oh, dear, how can I put this? We nipped into Queenstown to buy Warwick an Otago rugby shirt that we'd seen the day before! Best to say no more, I feel ;-) Back in Arrowtown we hired pans from the museum and went down to the Arrow River in search of gold... It was a lovely sunny day at the river. we found a tiny wee fleck that we were pretty certain was gold, and as we held it up together to see for sure... we dropped it! Oh well. It was never going to make us rich! And panning for gold was fun. When we had finished we left for Haast, stopping at the scenic summit on the way to Cardrona. There were cyclists up here, and patchy snow. Cardrona itself was pretty, the famous bra fence was rather astonishing, then we were winding our way into the along a gorge into Haast Pass. We were hemmed in by steep hills on either side, until the mountains slowly opened out into the sea at Haast: beautiful. We enjoyed a glorious orange sunset over Haast beach, and it felt almost as remote as anywhere I've ever been in New Zealand.

23 October 2004 24/10/04 Next 22/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

A note about Clem's car: we shared it with about 200 golf balls! No matter how we stowed them they seemed to find the floor of the front seats with stunning speed and accuracy (I hope they find golf holes in the same fashion!) The door handle behind the driver's seat had been feeling a bit funny throughout the trip, and when I went to open it in Haast it broke completely. It was still attached to the door, just no longer attached to anything inside the door by the feel of it. We could open it from the inside though, so we messed around with it a bit, trying to fix it, and ended up accidentally kiddy-locking it! Now it couldn't be opened at all! Clem and a friend had to pull it to bits to fix it before it could get its next warrant :-/ We drove from Haast up to the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers - yeeha! I had been looking forward to this for the whole trip. And they did not disappoint, from the waterfalls, to the pastel-blue colour of the rivers, to the huge size of the ice flows, to the signposts and pictures marking the earlier positions of the glaciers... I was bounding for joy over all the rocks right up to the edge of each glacier. At Franz Josef some of the rocks were red, and there was an ice cave for me to buzz about :-) During our lunch break we got a call from Ron, to say that our boxes shipped from the UK had arrived. Yay! From the glaciers we drove on towards Ross, where we stayed in a renovated church a bit south of the township. This place was full of character, with an open common room (with pool table) looking out onto the river, large hunks of driftwood about ouside, and corrugated iron a feature of the bathroom decor. That night we needed milk to make our dinner, so Warwick nipped into town to find somewhere to buy it. The only place open was a tea-room who said no, they didn't sell milk. However, my cunning husband had spotted that they sold milkshakes, and he asked for a milkshake with no flavour in it! A perfect solution, and he brought home the milk in a milkshake cup.

24 October 2004 25/10/04 Next 23/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

Mmmm... yummy... rain on the tin roof in the morning :-) Unfortunately it followed us all the way to Arthur's Pass! The Canterbury side (which was all we could see) was gorgeous, especially the colours in the mountains, and the valley flattening out into farmland and then into the plains. We had a quick lunch with Luke then headed into Christchurch to see Clem, who was living pretty much one block back from Hagley Park. The three of us headed around to Peter and Judy's, where we dropped off a chest of drawers Clem had been borrowing, and played some cards, before heading out for a Thai dinner.

25 October 2004 31/12/04 Next 24/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

Warwick and Alex began the day with a swim, then we drove into town to see nana. We were lucky enough to have another good long chat with her over morning tea, before heading to Peter and Judy's for lunch, then made our way home via the shops. The boys swam in the afternoon again, and we chatted all evening. Mmmmm... french toast with fried banana for dinner, followed by a dessert made of caramello chocolate, cream and Tia Maria, with cheesecake and ice-cream! We headed home to Auckland in the morning.

31 December 2004 25/10/04 Previous Back to top Home

We spent New Year with Fergus and Nathan, playing a Settlers-type board game whose name I can't remember any more. Puerto Rico maybe? A general collection of impressions of life since we got home... ... October, November and December were COLD! Summer was not to come until January! ... We went mad on Moro bars, Toffee Pops, Mint Slices, Jaffas and Krispa Salt and Vinegar Corn Chips, for months! Now the "we haven't eaten these for five years" argument no longer works, so we are scaling back on our treats :-) ... Bussing about town from the North Shore, rediscovering the city and the beautiful view of town from across the water. ... Moving back to Ellerslie: familiar places, noisy cicadas, and seagulls. ... Unpacking our boxes from the UK, and from storage in our parents' homes: lots of nostalgia, and a feeling of achievement from throwing the rest of it out. It took (is still taking) months. ... Our house has its light switches in all the wrong places, and it seems there is no getting used to them :-/ ... Cricket, cricket and more cricket. Yay! ... Jan and Rex's 30th wedding anniversary. ... Christmas in Morrinsville (mum, dad, Clem and grandad) and Auckland (Ron, Jenni and Derek, Asian students), and Boxing Day with Tui and Arthur: it's lovely to be home :-)