Our first week in England

The week has gone so fast, with visits to London, Winchester & Portsmouth keeping us busy.

London with Shard in background

Tuesday we headed into London by train (£71 return for the two of us- return for the two of us - NZ$150 , bit of a shock!) and met up with Helen & Ralph who have been over here touring for the last 7 weeks. It was their last day in England before heading off to Ireland then back home to NZ.

H&R Posing in London

We had a lovely lunch in an old English Pub. Bill is finding the English beers underwhelming, but hasn't given up on the search for the perfect beer!

London is looking much cleaner than we remembered, our host Kath said there had been a big clean up with the Millennium preparations. As is with all of England, so much history. Helen took us to the old London wall remains that used to circle the city from Roman times. (Remember Humpty Dumpty on the wall?) We then walked along the Thames river, with many construction sites at work. we saw the London Bridge in the distance, but didn't have enough time to get that far down, perhaps next time. We then caught the express train back ( Great with no stopping till it got to Winchester on it's way to Portsmouth) before peak time. As it was, by 4.30pm it was pretty busy, we got on board just before it left the station, then had to walk through the carriages to find seats. At the 3rd carriage we found one reasonably empty, lovely upholstery, air conditioning, more spacious. It was lovely till I saw the "First" on the head rests and windows! I asked the lovely gentleman beside us if they have a class system on the trains, he said "fraid so", so we asked if we would be moved on, and he said "fraid so". We moved on before being asked, and about ten carriages down found some seats.Phew! Big day in London.

Tuesday was a local bike ride on a couple of Owen's high spec bikes, great with all the bridle and foot paths they have through the country, it was nice and easy to get into Winchester & back without getting lost. Thankfully Bill is doing the navigation, I'd hate to think where we would end up with my mother's sense of direction.

Roman West Gate

Wednesday we went into Winchester to hire a car for the rest of the week so we could get out and about to look for our home, but when we got to the only Operator who is physically in Winchester had all their cars out on hire.

High Street in Winchester

We then booked a car for next week, and with it being such a stunning day we decided to do two guided tours in Winchester itself.

The Great Hall of Winchester

The first one in the morning was the to tour the City itself with all its history, and the one after our late lunch was on


Winchester Cathedral, beautifully maintained & restored cathedral. Again so much history in this area.
We are much more interested in history now rather than the dusty old history lessons at school. Both guides were really interesting to listen to, wonderful to learn so much about the city we are based in.

Winchester Cathedral                              

Inside Cathedral

Thursday was our first wet day, a great one to catch up on our motorhome searching, which was getting a little frustrating with all the vans available but not sure where the places are, and how to get there once we get our rental next week.
Friday was a very interesting day in Portsmouth, Kath took her friend Jo and ourselves down there for the day. Portsmouth is a historic maritime port, one of the main attractions being the "Mary Rose" King Edward the VIII's war ship from the 15th century which has been raised from the sea bed and preserved in a purpose built museum. An amazing presentation of the history of that period.

           

Portsmouth Spinnaker      

"The Victory"

S&B by the "Victory"

And the "Victory" Lord Nelson's battleship, fully restored and great stories by the guides of events at that time.

Jo had to return home for her son, so we continued our tour of Portsmouth which we felt a bit under clothed with a drop in temperature over the day. Hot drinks at a lovely tea shop looking out over the harbour watching all the boats coming & going, a busy port to France and other parts of the world.

Old Portsmouth & opening to sea.

Saturday - Motor Home day! Started off fine & sunny, very positive, but after a few hours of wandering around more expensive motorhomes than we could afford, we came home via a lovely little English Pub "The Hampshire Bowman" where we had amazing baked potatoes full of bacon & brie. The bacon is very tasty here I must say. Bill found a beer a little more palatable, but he is still looking for "the one" though!

Our Hosts Dogs Ella, Hobbs & Ruby

  

Landed safely in London

We flew into Heathrow just after 7.00pm Friday night, which was amazingly quiet and few people around. We had expected issues entering the country with not having proof we would be leaving within the 3 months we filled in on our arrival forms. 35 years ago I had a terrible time trying to get back into England from France, so I was super prepared with paperwork incase it was the same today. Well! It couldn't have been easier.

Our Welcome at Heathrow

We got out into the Arrivals lounge to find our lovely English host Kath awaiting us with poster of Big Yella just incase we had forgotten what she looked like after 4 years since we last caught up in NZ. We then did the 40 minute drive back to Owen & Kaths home in the village of Twyford, in Winchester.

Our current home in Twyford

Kath & Owen live in the Waterworks Managers Cottage which they are renting, along with their three dogs (Hobbs, Ella & Ruby) and one cat (Pip) while they are searching out to buy their home in the area.
We have just had a lovely weekend, with the temperature quite mild as we come into late spring and the long light of the days. (Daylight by 5.30am and dusk around 8.30 pm) Roll on a lovely long summer as we have just finished in NZ.
Bill is full on hunting for our next motorhome! Watch this blog!

Twyford Church & Cemetry

Bills version of Singapore: a riot of cultures and sensations.

Singapore was a riot of cultures and sensations.
We had been here in 1980 and really don't have many memories of the place.
As you realise we truly are infrequent travellers out side of godzone, and even though we like to think of ourselves as worldly wise, it was still an assault on all our senses.

Night time on the Singapore River

The first thing is the enormity of it all, I mean the world, it is big, really really big, even flying over Brisbane earlier in the week was a spectacle. Development everywhere spreading in all directions. At 10km high and 850 km an hr it is still a sprawling mass that went on for some time.As did the following desert..
The flight was long and very smooth but S would beg to differ. I'm sad to say she was pretty spooked most of the trip and can't have been much fun for her.
The in house entertainment was pretty swishy and the Singapore Girls very helpful, but  we were ready to get on the ground and get our bodies moving again after ten & half hours of incarceration.
The first real assault was the hot humidity. Its like a body hit, an energy sapping breath taking drain on your body. Thankfully the fact that all public building  space is air conditioned makes the place a little more tolerable especially for all the toffs dressed as you would expect at any business meeting in London or Wellington.
 The energy bill must be huge.

Lovely wide cycleways

It is Singapore's 50 year of Independence and plans are well afoot to celebrate. It is evident everywhere with lots of buildings being cleaned and tidied up, everywhere we ventured. Singapore's greatest resources would have to be unlimited cheap labour and very deep pockets. This is not to mention huge new development in buildings & infrastructure, city wide, teaming with ant like workers late into the night, though can't be sure, working 24 hrs.
The local paper makes mention of the care that is given to keeping noise nuisance to a minimum where this is happening in built up areas. Certainly as you travel at night there was much evidence of road works setting up to be undertaken into the small wee hours.

The other assault or juxtaposition of sense was olfactory. We were often salivating & excited by the food smells emanating from the food stalls as we drove by or pounded the pavements, but then as quick as, could be overcome (Sheryl almost gagging) by what I assume was sewerage smells venting into the street. Whether this was due to all the reconstruction and re routing of services, I can't say but would guess, may be to blame. Needless to say this put a quick stop to the salivating
Anyway our 3 days was full of us gawking, slack jawed, camera snapping, in awe, covering a lot of ground, not really even scratching the surface, there is a lot to do here and 3 days didn't cut the mustard.

Where some of the luckier residents live

We loved Chinatown and made some purchases there. It was like hundreds of $2 dollar shops plus much much more. Sheryl found it so overwhelming that she didn't make any purchases.I know! Unheard of !!!!!. I on the hand had a jolly old time:))

Amazing architecture

The other thing we did which I suppose in many way sums up our "a typical holiday" was the hiring of  bikes and doing about a 20km odd loop around the bay which followed pleasant waterside pathways through parks reserves and then through the river side cafes and bars, which in many places were very upmarket, and others still quaint  in the older developed ways, tho as alluded to, a lot of reconstruction impeding the way.

More of the cycleways

Nonetheless a highlight, and made the discovery of our hotel pool most welcome after 5 hours in the saddle and no air conditioning.The beer was also very welcome.
So after three days of exploration, energy sapping heat and mind bending architecture, we are now on the 13 hr leg to London on a plane less than half full and did I mention the entertainment system??? This leg has the latest model plane and it is very good with touch screens and a huge collection of music and movies and games. We also needed to enter thru the business section, (much to their discomfit) & wow. Keep buying the lotto is my mantra.

Bill went up in the Flyer alone!

View out to the harbour - Bill up in the Flyer

Singapore

We had forgotten after 35 years, how humid and hot Singapore was. With all buildings and vehicles having air conditioning, what a shock it is to walk out on the streets. Which we have been doing a lot of.
Met up with a friend of Amanda's on Tuesday who has been living in Singapore for the past four years, so was good to get advice on where and what to do. Thank you Amanda, it was lovely to meet Ros.
We have a bus pass for the time we are in Singapore which has been great to get around. There is such a melting pot of cultures here.
We started yesterday off with a massive downpour & thunderstorm that was full on for about an hour, then cleared to another hot humid day. Bill had a great time in China Town, so many tempting things, the shop keepers very keen to sell. I found them too full on and too much quantity of items, so lost interest in the shopping fast but loved watching the people.

We had a lovely evening last night along the river esplanade walking & doing a river cruise, such a mixture of buildings and colour. We are loving the "Cold Tiger Beer". 

Blending in with the locals

Such a mixture of cultures

The start of the evening on the river

Singapoure River 

Lovely to be Back In Nelson

Monday 20th April. NELSON.

Its nice to be back, we spent the night with Vicki & Trevor and awoke to a sunny morning overlooking the the Bay and again wondering if we are doing the right thing......, but we are committed.
This fortnight will be a blur as we see & talk to all we can (this is very serendipitous) and winding up the last vestiges of putting our work on hold indefinitely whilst we travel.
Without the luxury of a big  bus to throw our gear into the compact pack we  need to acheive for flying out seems a daunting prospect, well for Sheryl anyway.
Blokes only need a change of undies and a spare set of jandals, cause you never know when you might need to scrub up!!!!
The section is pretty good and we won't need to do too much in the gardens so are in the midst of catching up etc etc.

Lovely last evening in Nelson

Nelson on sunset

We blinked & true to form missed it. The 2 weeks blurred, but we did get to say hello and good bye to some, got a little work done, tied up a lot of loose ends, ate far too much.

I also got down to Duncan Bay assisting brother Alan sort out some issues with his launch. Hope it all went well Alan. Look forward to the report when we normalise contact again in the not too distant future. Alan & Eare's house was also the venue for the family get together, being able to catch up with Mike who's been in Aussie for the last couple of years and Nuana who is busy working in the Marlborough sounds presently. Caught up with Ian Trudy at Nelson airport as we left. 

Would like to welcome Mum (Nana Joan) to the small but dedicated band of followers of our quiet adventure. (yes all seven of you will eventually get a mention) We took Mum to the Richmond library introducing her to the computer suite & Internet thingy so she can easily log in and with a few easy steps get too the blogg, and catchup on our exciting???? exploits.

And Mum don't worry, pressing the wrong key will not bring the world crashing to a stop or take you to a sordid porn site so relax and if things do go wrong just log out and start again.  

At Christchurch for a night where our friends Marg & Don hosted & ferried us to and from the airport was muchly appreciated.

Our gratitude to Vicki & Trevor in Nelson who were our hosts as we were preparing to leave, certainly makes things more manageable when options are provided in the way of accommodation, meals etc.....

So we board our plane, Sheryl freaking and me looking forward to the thrill of speed, and am led to believe an entertainment system that will make up for the years of spurning TV.

 Will resume transmissions when we are able.

Wellington

You can't beat Wellington on a good day, it is said. We would agree however that doesn't cut the mustard for the other days. Wellington has shown us all its variations and vagaries in the weather over the last fortnight.But what it lacks in a settled climate it makes up for in its variety.
We have been here since prior to Easter variously staying with Nick & Jacky moteling for 2 nights and most recently staying with good friends John & Sarah (recently of Nelson) Being situated 5 minutes from the Ngaio rail station and with also the generous use of their car we have been having a good look around the city.
Catching up with kids & Theatre & shopping & trekking & shopping its been a full two weeks.
Whilst Sheryl lunched with the girls I visited the Maritime Museum on the anniversary of the sinking of the Wahine, which I do recall (tho only 10 years of age) The museum was doing a commemoration which was low key but some survivors on hand and and some very brief words by the curator before the Victoria String Quartet entertained a small gathering of perhaps 40 people for an hour of superb classical music selected to reflect the gravitas of the occasion. I was in my element reflecting on our good fortune in not having been in any disasters at a personal level and our time & place in this tumultuous world. This with my good fortune to have happened upon this fine hour of beautiful reflective music, I think sums up my expectations of our busy capital. It is a place we would suffer if the need ever arose. But not any time soon as the days tick away to our leaving NZ on the 4th May.
Rochelle flew back to Perth, Shannon went to Gisborne and Nick put his head down to study and work with Exams imminent and work pressure whilst we spent the week looking around & I did some work for John & Sarah.
The plan has us now moving on to Nelson for 2 weeks before a flight to CHCH 3rd May, then onto Singapore for 4 nights, then arrive Heathrow on the 8th May.
We will be leaving Sunday the 19th April, crossing on the ferry with Vicki & Trevor as they return from a week also in Wellington, primarily to celebrate Michele's Graduation.
The Bannings & Tylers (minus Rocky & Nick) all brunched together Sunday AM before  saying our farewells and meeting at the ferry terminal, having got lost on our walk to the terminal and losing our way round the CakeTin concourse, then having to back track for 40 mins. Luckily we did have a few mins up our sleeve.
So Nelson here we come or as you may glean from the published date "We are here"

Lovely view from Shannons

Happy Birthday Nick

Taupo to Wellington (and Easter)

Monday 23 March. Omori Bay, Lake Taupo. " In Recovery"
 We spent a dull day on the shore of Lake Taupo catching up with Gst / blogs and paperwork. The DOC reserve is on the shoreline walk but this time of year saw only a few souls.
It's "the same old same old" even though the weather is goodish the holiday spots not on State Highway 1 are deserted. With a late afternoon walk round to Pukawa Bay to stretch,(the next beautiful peaceful spot full of batches) . Could've been a leafy bush suburb any where in NZ but deserted. Bird song was amazing, the residents are doing a comprehensive trapping regime in their pocket of bush, making a real difference to the bird life.
 Late afternoon saw us heading towards Tauramanui via highway 41 Kuratau junction, a new piece of road for us. The NZMCA has a spot at Piriaka which is nicely placed to go forth. Great for catching up on the laundry and chillaxing as the washing dryed.
Piriaka to Wanganui via a walk in Owhango. Did a walk thru a bush block of 2 hrs. Got talking to the trappers, older folk who weekly come in and clear the traps. They enjoy it as it keeps them busy, and really are doing something worth while, which DOC don't have the resources to do. On this day collectively they had cleared 5 rats over (guessing) a hundred traps.The bush was majestic with some truly big Totara and stands of trees not entirely identified apart from the Rimu.
Further down stopped at Raurimu to observe the world famous Rail Spiral, a great feat of engineering design, sadly not well observed on location, the Tauramanui "I" centre has an excellent scale model of it and of course using google earth gives you a good appreciation of its achievement in lifting trains in a short distance up to the Volcanic Plateau level. We then trundled thru rainy hills making Whanganui in the evening and finding" Picwick" a girl guide camp, which offered a parking spot  to motor homers. A few sheds on some land tucked in the small valleys of ST Johns Hill. Was securely off the road and quiet,with a few sheep, a definite "come back to spot".
We re supplied at Whanganui then went onto Waiinu.

Waiinu Beach Reserve

Waiinu - a small seaside holiday spot 30km. north, appears to be a purely constructed holiday spot as there are no old buildings etc, the houses all of a similar age are just there in a tidy grid with a big reserve area leading into the sandhills and beach. They encourage camping and though exposed to the south we spent two pleasant days walking the beach and reading books.
The beach is known for ventifacts and fossilised shells. As the sea bed has risen over the last few million years, coupled with the last ice age, exposing cliffs of shell fossil. On a clear day you can see the Marlborough Sounds but not whilst we were there this time.

Back thru Whanganui to Marton NZMCA in the middle of town, again wet with some real rain, the first we had seen since leaving home in 7 months. The plan had been to go to a local pub and watch the Cricket World Cup final, however from the opening ball listened to on the radio the excitement wained till finally we dined in dismal solitude in the bus with rain falling, and the Kiwis being taken apart by the Aussie bowlers.
The next day saw us walking the thriving metropolis of Marton High street. Well Sheryl got a coffee & I found an interesting book on antique firearms which I hope Sam at Hahei might enjoy as a belated birthday present. I had bought him some craft beer from Hotwater Beach Brewing then proceeded to drink it myself, sorry Sam, was a great party, hoping you didn't miss the beer & will enjoy the book.

As arranged for the afternoon we presented Big Yella for a mechanical inspection at Hunterville's local garage, allowing  the new owners to ascertain there were no issues to worry about, which there wasn't, and a discussion on the handover details the following Wednesday after Easter, not long now.
This is nearly upon us & viewed with some sadness by us both,  there has never been a day we weren't happy with our travels, but now its time to move on overseas and start a new chapter. There is definitely unfinished business in NZ but time enough for that.
Twas but a short drive to Otaki to catch up with cousin Sandra for two nights where we filled in our day with a beach walk and helped Sandra with some window latches & a towel rail, and Sheryl a little gardening. Thank you for your hospitality Sandra and will be back to finish the other work:)

Plimmerton Waterfront

From Otaki we braved State Highway 1 yet again, and as I've oft ranted what a pitiful stretch of highway into Wellington. Its like a choke hold on the country's Capital. (mind you, there may be an argument in there somewhere). We dropped into Plimmerton on a stunning day, what a scenic little spot. Had tasty F&C's on the waterfront gazing upon the distant shoreline of the Malborough Sounds.

Laundry day in Piriaka

Rare Whiowhio Ducks

The Raurimu Spiral

Raurimu Rex

 

 
 Awaiting Rocky's arrival with the Big Guys

Hanging out the washing at N&J's 

Was then a small trip across the hills into the big smoke of Lower Hutt, to spend Easter parked up with Nick & Jacky and a progression of kids for the Easter Break (Shannon locally & Rocky from Perth). Excited to have all the kids and Nana Joan together for a few days. With that and the added excitement of Nick & Jacky's new house (Possesion in May) it will be a buzz over the next few days. Roll on Easter Bunny.

Our three Darlings bonding

A misunderstanding Spit!

Easter Time- Jacky & Rocky first in.