The Big Trip 4 – West coast and Fiordland

8 - 15 Feb 2018

South side of the sky

We collected the motor caravans on 8 Feb and after a lengthy handover stocked up at a supermarket before driving through impressive Arthur's Pass to Jacksons. The site there was a delight. It was in dark sky country and we have never seen so many stars in our lives - it was as if we were in a planetarium. We also went out on a successful search for glow-worms and did a short walk through the forest to Ngarimu waterfall.

Then on to the Franz Josef Glacier where there was only time for a short walk to a view point but the weather forecast for the next day was grim so we thought we had better be satisfied with that rather than not see it at all. It was only a short hop next day to Fox Glacier but we unable to make much use of the time we had as there was torrential rain all day. The rain stopped in the evening, and we were rewarded with the sight of a double ended rainbow.

Franz Josef Glacier

Our site at Franz Josef

From there it was a long drive to Wanaka, broken up with various stops along the way and through the Haast Pass. Another long drive to Te Anau followed, where we stayed for three nights to enable us to have a tour through the Fjordland National Park and a two-hour cruise on the Milford Sound. Jono, our tour guide, was brilliant, firing off information of all kinds and taking us to places we wouldn't have found on our own. Apparently Milford Sound gets 220 days of rain per year - thankfully, we managed to choose one of the other 145. The cruise was amazing, stunning scenery and sightings of bottle nosed dolphins. 

En route to Milford Sound - Lake Gunn

Milford Sound

On Milford Sound

Today (Thursday 15) should have been a chill out day but unfortunately both John and Jane's van and ours needed some attention at the garage. However, we had a very nice lunch at The Ranch with desserts to die for while the work was being done. 

Tomorrow it's onward to Dunedin. ....

The Big Trip 3 – Christchurch

6 - 8 Feb 2018

The Two Towers

At 12.51pm on 22 February 2011, Ruaumoko, God of earthquakes and volcanoes, kicked the earth below Christchurch. Twenty four seconds later, 80% of the central district was destroyed and over 180 people had lost their lives. *

Arriving in Christchurch on an overcast and cool afternoon, we were confronted with what looked like an enormous building site. Walking out in the evening everywhere was very quiet, and the place had a slightly eerie feel. The next day we discovered that (a) the previous day had been a public holiday, hence the quietness, and (b) the sun shone and the city was much livelier.

Walking past the ruins of Christchurch cathedral, we headed for the Transitional Cathedral, commonly known as the “cardboard cathedral”. This amazing structure, designed by the Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, was built in only 11 months, using recycled materials, including shipping containers and 98 enormous cardboard tubes.

Next we visited the Quake City exhibition, with artefacts, photographs and a rather moving film of locals recounting their experiences on that fateful February day.

In the afternoon we rode the Christchurch Gondola to the top Mt Cavendish with views over the city, 

then had a short walk through the botanical gardens alongside the River Avon!

We could easily have spent more time here, but I expect we shall be saying that many times in the next few weeks

·         * The Maori explanation for the 6.3 magnitude earthquake, 5km below Christchurch and centred 10km to the South.

The Big Trip 2 – Sydney

1 - 6 Feb 2018

Down under

We arrived in Sydney at 6.50am, somewhat bleary-eyed after a flight of a mere seven and a half hours, but five hours of time difference. We were delighted to find we had been upgraded to Business Class, with its amazing seats and footrests, which transform into beds if you adjust the buttons correctly! The food and attention from the cabin crew were in a league of their own.

We abandoned our cases at the apartment hotel and, after grabbing some much- needed breakfast and coffee, explored Darling Harbour until our apartment was ready. The next day we took the ferry across the harbour to Manly, passing under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and past the Opera House. Manly was pleasant, but not a must-see destination (though the fish and chip lunch was excellent!).

The hotel was well located; another day we walked to the Opera House and around the waterfront to Mrs MacQuarie's chair (named after the wife of an early governor), a rocky lookout point.  From there you get a good view of the bridge and opera house. We passed through the botanical gardens and celebrated Ruth’s birthday in the evening at an Italian restaurant in Darling Harbour.

We also walked to the Rocks, the area where the first settlers made their homes and climbed the south east pylon of the bridge where there is an exhibition about its construction and fabulous views from the top. There was a huge çruise ship moored - 1100 feet long and able to accommodate over 4000 passengers. 

We tried out the local bus service to get to get to Bondi Beach -beautiful - from where we walked along the coast to the next two bays in the warm sunshine.

We really enjoyed Sydney, but we had to be moving on, so after 4 days we caught an early morning (and delayed) flight to Christchurch.

The Big Trip 1 – Singapore

27 - 31 Jan 2018

On a little street in Singapore

This was to be the “Big Post-Retirement Trip” – travelling around New Zealand for a month in a motorhome. We booked the trip through the Camping and Caravanning Cub’s Worldwide Travel Service, who did an excellent job with all the arrangements. We were travelling with our old friends John and Jane and were taking the opportunity to see a few other places on route. First stop – Singapore.

We arrived at Heathrow on a damp Saturday afternoon to find automation was on the increase - we had to check in, label and despatch our cases ourselves! The flight to Singapore was unremarkable, just long, and we appreciated being met at Changi airport the following afternoon. On arrival it was pouring with rain, so very humid as well as hot.

Our hotel was located close to the river and gave us the opportunity of a short walk to get our bearings. A tour we had pre-booked took in Little India, the National Orchid Garden at the Botanical Gardens, the Thian Hock Keng temple, and the area around the colonial district to which we returned another day for a longer walk. 

Thian Hock Keng Temple

One evening we explored Chinatown, lit up with lanterns and inflatable dogs in readiness for the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Dog. 

We enjoyed a river cruise with an excellent English commentary on the history and development of Singapore including the old trading houses now restaurants of every ethnicity. 

Decaffeinated coffee has been hard to source and much to our shame we have had to occasionally patronise Starbucks.

There was also a visit to the Marina Bay area and the Skypark viewing platform on the 56th floor of the Marina Bay Sands hotel. The speedy elevator took less than 35 seconds to rise 55 floors!  Amazing views. 

Then on to the Gardens by the Bay where light shows in the gardens and on Marina Bay rounded off the evening. 

On the final morning we had a walk around the old colonial quarter, with its old buildings dating back to the height of the British Empire. 

Sadly, the Raffles Hotel was closed for refurbishment, so no Singapore Slings on the terrace! After an enjoyable farewell lunch in one of the “shop houses” by the river (mentioned above) we headed for the airport and our evening flight to Sydney. We left Singapore as we had arrived, in torrential rain.

Scottish Highlands - Dunnet Head to Edinburgh

23 - 30 September

Going Home

Back in Scotland we spent the next two nights at Dunnet Bay.  A five mile journey along a narrow, twisting road brought us to Dunnet Head, where there were good views to Duncansby Head in the east and almost as far as Cape Wrath in the west.  It was also incredibly windy, making it hard to stand, let alone take photographs.

We then struck west towards Durness, and stopped at Sandside Bay.  

It was not particularly remarkable (other than the slightly alarming warning sign) despite being mentioned in North Coast 500, but we did strike up conversation with an elderly Scots gentleman walking his dog, who did not have a good opinion of the promotion of the route, due to the way it had pushed up prices, of hotels, for example.  He had had to pay an exorbitant price for a hotel in Inverness when his wife was in hospital.  We went our separate ways, but we thought we had inadvertently adopted a dog when it followed us back to the ‘van, with the owner nowhere to be seen.

  

Unfortunately things then went horribly wrong when Amelia had a close encounter with another motorhome, resulting in the loss of the driver’s wing mirror.  Given that there was no possibility of getting a repair in the north west of Scotland, we reluctantly turned around and headed back to Thurso, with some rear vision courtesy of a bicycle mirror and much gaffer tape!  On Monday morning we purchased a larger mirror and more gaffer tape in Thurso to improve the temporary fix and then drove to Inverness, the location of the nearest Fiat dealer.  The afternoon ended on a brighter note (literally!) when the sun shone and we sat outside for the first time.  The new mirror (thankfully in stock) was fitted first thing on Tuesday morning.

  

With stress levels returning to normal, we now needed a new plan.  Before leaving the Inverness area, we visited the site of the Battle of Culloden.  The visitor centre was very informative, telling the story of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion under Bonnie Prince Charlie through panels, audio and a very immersive 360-degree film of the battle. The battlefield itself, by contrast, was  peaceful, with flags marking the positions of the Government and Jacobite soldiers, and small stone memorials to the various clans.

Grantown on Spey was the next stop, where we got out the bikes to ride along the Speyside Way.  Between Grantown and Nethy Bridge it is really a path for walking rather than cycling and it was very hard going, so we didn’t get any further than Nethy Bridge for lunch and then opted to ride back along the roads.  Further south the path is a designated cycle way.

We had hoped to spend a night at Scone, near Perth, and to visit Scone Palace, but the site was fully booked.  There are obviously too many retired folks gallivanting about in their motorhomes and caravans at the moment!

Instead we travelled straight to Edinburgh, calling at Killiecrankie Pass on the way.  This is a National Trust site and the visitor centre provided historical, geological and nature information.  We walked to Soldier’s Leap, where a government soldier supposedly leapt to safety across the river away from his Jacobite pursuers, after the battle of Killiecrankie in 1689, during the first Jacobite uprising.  You can walk for miles beside the River Garry and it’s very peaceful  – except when RAF planes scream overhead on low level exercises.

We paused to watch three canoeists battle their way through the rough water before returning to Amelia and completing the journey to Edinburgh.

We had a cultural two days in Edinburgh visiting the National Trust for Scotland property "The Georgian House" (where the guides were eager to share their immense knowledge and would have kept you talking for ages), a small exhibition "Constable and McTaggart" at the Scottish National Gallery, explaining how the works of Constable had influenced the Scottish painter, an exhibition on Shackleton's ill-fated Antarctic expedition and finally an exhibition on the Rebus books by Ian Rankin.   Alongside this we had a lovely time with Louise and Steve, who always find a new cafe and/or restaurant to take us to and cook up delicious food at home.

The route home will include a detour to visit relatives in Filey, but otherwise we are done and dusted!

Orkney (2)

20 – 22 September

Farewell to Stromness

In the nick of time we saw the notice on the facilities block door saying that the exit from the site would be closed between 10 am and 2 pm while the road was resurfaced.  So our departure was a little more hurried than usual ….

The weather forecast remained unpromising, but we headed to the Brough of Birsay at the northwest tip of Orkney, where, at low tide, you can cross the causeway to see the lighthouse and various ruins.

It looked rather bleak so we settled for a photograph and walked instead to the Skiba Geo, a deep cleft in the rocks which was used as a harbour, with a fisherman’s hut and nousts (shallow depressions in the ground for boat storage) a little way up the bank.

After a leisurely lunch it was back south to Skara Brae, a magnificent village from the Neolithic Age (New Stone Age) which dates back to around 3000 BC.  It has survived so well partly because it was made of stone, and partly because it was semi-underground.  It wasn’t so much discovered, as emerged after a particularly bad storm in the 1950s.

We then headed to the site in Stromness; we missed a camping sign and found ourselves inching our way through the extremely (and I mean extremely) narrow roads of the heart of the town.  Lesson learned: always put the satnav on!

Next day included a brief explore in Stromness, a drive along the road along the south of the island and finally a pleasant walk from the campsite along the coast on a tarmac path overlooking the islands of Hoy and Graemsay.  While we were out we watched the evening ferry pass through the channel between these two islands and Orkney mainland*.  We even had some pale evening sunshine!

On Friday we had a few hours left before returning to Scotland on the ferry.  Ring of Brodgar, a Neolithic henge and stone circle, was still on the to do list.  It is generally believed to date from 2500 BC to 2000 BC and was probably used for ceremonial purposes.  Only about half of the sixty or so stones are still standing but it was very atmospheric and gave a feeling of the scale of the site.  Just a shame that as a result of ongoing drainage works, many of the stones were surrounded by fences!

The final outing on the Orkney itinerary was to Yesnaby, which is really wild coastline with steep sided inlets, sea stacks and arches resulting from erosion.

Then it was time to get the ferry back to Scotland*.  It was incredibly windy and the sea looked pretty rough, but, in actual fact, it was probably a smoother ride than on the outward journey.

*As Ian Banks has written in “Raw Spirit”: On Orkney never call Scotland ‘the mainland’. Orkney has its own Mainland; that’s the correct name for the big island that Kirkwall and Stromness are on.  Scotland is called Scotland.