9th March. Titirangi to Ohakune

Today we bid farewell to Heather, Michael, Engelique and baby Lucas and drove almost 400K from Titirangi to Ohakune. We had a really lovely stay with them, and, if any of the Law family read this - thank you so much for having us and for being such fantastic hosts.

The first half of the journey south was just 'highway' routine passing through Hamilton and we detoured through a pretty little town called Cambridge where race horses are bred. For some of the journey onwards we followed the 'Overlander' railway route that I took on 26th February. Only it was much better this time as the sun was shining, the sky was blue and was peppered with fluffy white clouds.

We are staying in Ohakune at a motel called Ossie's Place. It is a collection of alpine like chalets. Ohakune is a ski centre, winter sports are a big thing in this mountainous area, and it has snowed on the mountaintops today. Our chalet has a good view of Mount Ruapehu and, at sunset this evening I managed to get this photo (slightly zoomed in)


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8th March

Today was spent in and around Titirangi and Auckland. We left the house around 11am and, after doing few errands in the local shopping mall, we headed off to a friend of Terry's for lunch.

We then explored the various bays around Titirangi. It is a very beautiful area.

Afternoon tea was in the company of Leigh who skived off work for half an hour.


A quiet evening was spent at home, the last one here with Heather and Michael. Sadly we had to pack and prepare ourselves for an early start tomorrow when we have a 400K drive to Ohakune, on the central plateau of the North Island.

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7th March. Titirangi Tourist

7th March
Today has been a glorious hot day weatherwise. It dawned clear blue sky although there is a definite autumn chill in the air first thing in the morning and in the evenings.
Today we had no visits planned so we took off in the car along the shoreline westwards from Titirangi. It is very tempting to say 'coastline' as I keep forgetting we are actually on the shore of Manukau Harbour, not the ocean. The harbour is vast.
Our first stop was at Cornwallis

a lovely beach area edged by pohutukawa trees. There is a long wooden jetty there which is popular with fishermen and, in the summer, children for jumping off into the sea.
We drove on to Huia, Little Huia





then to Mount Donald McLean. We drove up the mountain as far as we could, the road deteriorating to a rough stoney track after a while. At the car park we left the car and walked up the track to the summit. The views from the top over the entrance to Manukau Harbour in one direction and towards Auckland in the other certainly make the trek worthwhile.





We stopped for a picnic lunch at Little Huia on our return journey - slightly concerned because the car was giving off a nasty burning smell. Fortunately it didn't continue and we are hoping it doesn't, as we have a long journey ahead of us on Wednesday.
When we got back we went for a walk around Titirangi, a very spread out and woody village with lovely houses, and during the evening we took Heather and Michael out for a 'thank you' dinner at a local curry house.

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4th - 6th March

Sunday 6th March
It again started out wet this morning so we drove into Auckland to meet Leigh for lunch. Afterwards, while Terry drove him back home, I visited the Auckland Museum to see an exhibition of Maori Song and Dance. I just love Maori music and dancing.
We then drove through Auckland and out to Mission Bay and St Heliers, two rather upmarket areas on the eastern suburbs of Auckland. I have decided that if ever I come to live in New Zealand (which will never happen unless I win the lotto and can buy a second property to 'winter' to!) Mission Bay is the place I would like to live. Sub tropical, beautiful beach and scenery and close enough to the sights and sounds of Auckland. I wish!!

Saturday 5th March
Unfortunately today dawned very wet and windy, so we met Terry's son, Leigh, at Lopdell House, an Arts Centre in Titirangi. We had lunch there and a quick look around a sculpture exhibition.


We pottered around in the car during the afternoon calling in at Titirangi Beach and French Bay but it was too wet to get out of the car. A quiet evening was spent indoors watching the NZ film 'Boy'.
Another quiet evening spent at Heather and Mike's house.

Friday 4th March
We left New Plymouth at 8am as we had a long drive ahead of us to Titirangi, near Auckland. I drove for the first two hours. I was the one who drew the short straw this time as we started out in heavy rain. I drove over the pass crossing Mount Messenger negotiating steep hills, hairpin bends and sheer drops. It was high and the views were stunning over miles and miles of bushy hills. Then we drove up the Awakino Gorge, following the river between high limestone cliffs covered native trees with the punga fern dominant. We had one coffee stop then arrived in the town of Huntley at 1pm. Terry has a friend who lives there so we stopped at his house for lunch.
We continued up State Highway 1, past Hamilton, and on through south Auckland to Titirangi which is situated in the thickly forested hills above Manukau Harbour. The drive was just over 400 kilomerers. Terry used to live here and we are saying with her ex-neighbours Heather and Mike. I have stayed with them before so it is good to see them again. They have made us very welcome.


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28th Feb - 3rd March

3rd March
Today Helen was kind enough to take us out and about in her car. After all the rain yesterday today has been beautiful and the iconic Mount Taranaki was clearly visible. It was lost in low cloud the last time I was here.

We drove approximately one-third the way up, then walked a bit further. The views were stunning, albeit a bit hazy.


We then drove to a Possum factory where possum leather and knitted goods are manufactured. Some of the knitwear designs were beautiful and I was able to resist apart from a hat, gloves and scarf for the winter - and a possum pelt as a souvenir.


Again, a quiet evening was spent at Helens where we enjoyed her 5* hospitality.

2nd March
We left Waikanae around 10am for New Plymouth, a drive of just over 300K. I drove the first half. Our first stop was in a town called Bulls. I had visited there before and found it very amusing. Many of the shops, amenities etc have names ending in "a-bull" ie the library is " read-a-bull" and the public toilets are "relieve-a-bull"


Our lunch stop was at the lovely Art Deco town Whanganui. Some of the New Zealand towns are beautiful.


Terry drew the short straw by driving for the second half of the day. It rained a lot and at one stage we had to stop for 10-15 minutes as it rained so hard that the wipers just couldn't cope and we couldn't see a thing. We arrived at New Plymouth at 4pm where we are staying with Helen, a cousin of Terry. She is a lovely lady with a terrific sense of humour so it is a laugh a minute staying with her. Again, I met her on a previous visit to NZ.

28th Feb/1st March
Terry and I spent a quiet couple of days in Waikanae. We didn't do very much, just chilled. On the Tuesday 1st March we had a lovely lunch at the Drift Cafe at Waikanae Beach followed by a very pleasant long walk along the beach. Much needed exercise.


Waikanae Beach showing Kapiti Island
The evening was spent sorting and packing ready for an earlyish departure for New Plymouth the next day.

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23rd - 27th February

Sunday 27th February
Today I am enjoying my first day in Terry's company at her lovely bungalow in Waikanae. Carolyn left on the train for home this morning (2 days on a train, good on you Carolyn) and Terry and I have been re-planning part of our South Island tour vis-a-vis the Christchurch earthquake. We were due to spend 3 nights in ChCh but as it is now a disaster zone we have to give it a miss. We tried to rebook our flight to Queenstown instead of ChCh but the Air New Zealand phone lines were continually engaged, so we have decided to stick with the flight to ChCh, hire a car at the airport and head straight out of town to a small town called Geraldine, about 2 hours south, where we have booked a motel for the night. The following day we will drive 4-5 hours to Queenstown where we will hopefully meet up with Clare, Dave and Georgie.

The remainder of the day is being spent quietly with a visit by Lynne, Terry's niece. Lynne stayed with me in Woking for a few days in early January when she was doing her 'European Tour'.


Saturday 26th February
Today Carolyn and I travelled by the Tranz Scenic 'Overlander' train to the Kapiti Coast situated on the south west of the North Island, just north of Wellington. http://www.tranzscenic.co.nz/services/overlander.aspx
We had an early start, leaving the house at 7am in order to be in good time for the train which was due to depart at 8.15am. The train runs daily during the summer months from Auckland to Wellington and vice versa. We boarded it just south of Auckland at Papakura and travelled to Paraparaumu, just short of Wellington where Terry met us. It was a very long train journey, 10 hours, but time passed quite quickly as there was so much to see on the way.

After leaving the industrial, built up Auckland suburbs the scenery changed to gentle farmland then up onto the mountainous Central Plateau. Much of the gentler scenery reminds me of 'tellytubby land, - lots of small gentle rounded hillocks. There were several stops on the way, both to drop off and pick up passengers and change engines (from diesel to electric and vice versa) and crew. The final few hours changed to gentle farmland again but there were always mountains in the distance. I just love the New Zealand landscapes. In many ŵays similar to England but also, in many ways, so different.

I have to say the train was not all that comfortable. Although I wasn't exactly expecting luxury, I did expect better than we had. It was a very bumpy ride - I would think hardly any springs in the undercarriage. It was quite a challenge carrying coffee, tea etc from the buffet car! The carriages were old, it was like travelling by train in the 60's.

Here are a few photos I took along the way - camera pointed out through a somewhat dirty window.





Friday 25th February
Today Carolyn and I visited Waiheke Island, an offshore island in the Hauraki Gulf off Auckland. We drove to Half Moon Bay at Howick, an Auckland suburb, and took the 45 minute ferry ride across to Kennedy Point Wharf. We had intended taking Carolyn's car on the ferry but the cost was prohibitive - $NZ200 (about £100) and it worked out far cheaper to leave the car on the mainland and travel as foot passengers and hire a car on the island.

The island and it's bays were beautiful:


My reason for wanting to go to the island was to visit a lady called Wanda Cowley, a cousin of the late Desmond Harper. Even though I have been to NZ twice before, this is the first time I have met her. And what a savvy old lady she is! In her late 80's and is a well known children's author, although she told us she has just completed a historical novel which I presume is for the adult market - not sure. She is very 'into' her computer and is well into emails, the internet etc. She lives in a beautiful house, old, not very big but with views to die for.

View through Wanda's window

We took her out to lunch but didn't stay afterwards as we wanted to get the 3pm return ferry. We arrived back on the mainland around 4pm and drove back to Pokeno. Unfortunately we got caught in the rush hour Auckland traffic, and the southbound State Highway 1 was somewhat congested for a few kilometres but it soon eased. We arrived home around 5.30 and it was time for me to gather my belongings and pack ready for an early start tomorrow.


Thursday 24th February
There is nothing really to blog today. Carolyn is having a really busy week at work so I had my usual slow start to the day and we just vegged out in the afternoon and evening. The continuous TV coverage of the Christchurch earthquake is practically compulsive viewing.

In have come to have the greatest respect and admiration for Bob Parker, the Mayor of ChCh. He seems to be continually on the TV giving the latest updates. He is very articulate and has all the facts and figures readily available when asked questions by the journalists. I can't imagine when he gets time to see his family or sleep. A great guy.

Wednesday 23rd February
After Carolyn came home and had a short rest, we headed off to the Botany area, just outside Auckland, to visit "Geneva's" (the brothel) and to browse a nearby shopping mall.

The brothel visit was a bit of a non-event as Julie (Carolyn's daughter and the owner) had a business appointment elsewhere and could not be with us, and we felt slightly awkward with the 'girls'. We were only there for 5 minutes or so when a client arrived so we beat a hasty retreat! So I sadly didn't get to see much of the place, although my imagination was working overtime!!

From there we went to a huge shopping mall. Julie met us there a bit later and I took them both out for an early dinner. I had a meal I had never had before - my raw lamb filet came served on a very hot stone, called a 'Stonegrill', and I cooked it to my liking on the table in front of me. Delicious!


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22nd February - A Devastating Day for New Zealand

As usual I spent the morning pottering in the house with the usual sojourn to the local coffee shop. Carolyn came home at lunchtime and we went out in the car to Port Waikato. The Waikato River is the main river running through North Island, and is huge. Extremely wide in places and very dangerous in others. The river has claimed many lives. It was a very pretty journey through lovely scenery and bush. The Port itself is nothing but a commune of houses mainly favoured, I think, by second home owners and hippies. We couldn't even get a cup of tea there! It is very remote.

Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful beach there:




And here are some pics of the river itself:


It was while we were out enjoying ourselves that we heard on the car radio of an 'aftershock' in Christchurch. We didn't know then how devastating it was. We meandered home through beautiful countryside during which I received a text message from Clare's friend, Georgie, who lives in Christchurch, saying that she was OK, at home safely but with no electricity. We then began to realise that it was quite serious. We put the TV on as soon as we got in and the first thing I saw and heard was that Christchurch Cathedral was in ruins. We just couldn't believe it. The news coverage was continuous and we watched it for a long time trying to take in what we were viewing. It is just awful especially as the city was just beginning to recover from the September earthquake last year.

Clare and Dave are due to fly to Christchurch on 11th March to spend a holiday with Georgie, and Terry and I are due to join them there on 19th to celebrate Clare's birthday on the 20th. I am really hoping that we can all continue with our plans and that Christchurch will be 'open for visitors' by then. We can only wait and see...

A truly sad day and my thoughts are with the victims, their relatives and the survivors who must be severely traumatised.

21st February - Pottering Around in Pokeno

I have spent the day in Pokeno. Carolyn runs a catering business so is out to work before 7.00am until around lunchtime, which left me the morning to lazily start my day. Jet lag seemed to catch up with me today so I was quite happy when Carolyn came home saying that she had new orders to deal with and had paperwork and telephone calls to catch up with, therefore we wouldn't be going out. So I spent the day at home resting, reading and sitting in the sunshine trying to add a bit of colour to this pasty body of mine! I did stroll into the village in the morning for the obligatory 'flat white' and muffin, sitting outside a nice little cafe in the sunshine.

I spent a very interesting evening as Carolyn's daughter came for dinner. Julie is a business woman in her early 30's and apart from running a property development business she is also the owner of a brothel. I hasten to add she is a 'non working' owner! Brothels are legal in New Zealand and it was most interesting to learn about the 'ins and outs' (no pun intended!) of the business. She has about 12-15 girls/ women working there, some on a part time basis with 5 private rooms. Our conversation was a bit of an eye opener for me. We live and learn. I am hoping to pay a visit there later this week to see a brothel for real for the first time in my life.

20th February - First Full Day in New Zealand

It's now Sunday morning and I feel refreshed after a good night's sleep. It looks as though it will be a lovely day. Carolyn has made me feel very welcome. It feels good to be back in New Zealand.

The short flight - well, around 3 hours, but it felt short after the two previous long ones - from Sydney to Auckland was not all that enjoyable. Very crowded plane and very little leg room. I had requested a window seat as I was looking forward to the view on the approach into Auckland but my 'window seat' was in fact next to a wide pillar between two windows so I could see nothing at all. I felt cheated! For once my luggage arrived at the carousel the same time as me. Immigration went smoothly and I was out of the airport within 20 minutes of landing. Carolyn was waiting for me. It took half an hour to drive to the small town of Pokeno, south of Auckland, where she lives and we spent a quiet evening chatting and eating dinner. I had a much needed shower and managed to stay awake until around 9pm when I retired thankfully to bed.

Today, Sunday, has been my first full day in New Zealand. After a slow start to the day Carolyn took me out to see a bit of her local area. Her nearest big town is Pukekohe where we stopped for coffee. From there we went to The Glenbrook Vintage Railway where we had a trip to Waiuku and back on a wonderfully restored old train pulled by a gleaming old steam engine. www.gvr.co.nz

After that rare treat it was lunchtime so Carolyn drove us to Wrights Water Gardens - a water lily 'farm'. We had a lovely lunch in the cafe there followed by a walk around the water lily ponds to the impressive waterfall. www.wrightswatergardens.co.nz









The day ended by a quiet evening indoors sipping chilled white wine. It has been a very warm day today with the temperature in the high 20's. Lovely!

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17th - 19th February. En route London-Sydney

I am on my way to Auckland in a Boeing 747. Quantas Flight QF2 departed London Heathrow roughly on time at around 2200 on Thursday 17th February. I have a wonderful seat. I am in premium economy class and have all the legroom in the world as I am by an emergency exit. The seat is comfortable and wide. I have been given my menu and, as far as I can see, I get two dinners and two breakfasts. Proper cutlery too, none of that plastic stuff!

So far I have had a glass of Rose before boarding, a glass of champagne on arrival in seat and a glass of red with my meal. That, together with a sleeping pill should surely guarantee a few hours sleep? We shall see......

Breakfast was served a couple of hours before we landed at Bangkok. I had the 'continental' ie muesli, fresh fruit salad and small cinnamon Danish pastry with orange juice and coffee.

I am now on the Bangkok-Sydney leg of the journey. I did not get much sleep on the previous leg. Probably dozed off for an hour or so but was always aware of noises etc so didn't get into a deep sleep.

We had about an hour and a half at Bangkok. Enough time to stretch legs. I avoided the shops! The person in the seat next to me is a 'platinum frequent flyer' and has access to First Class Lounges so he invited me as his 'guest' into the Quantas First Class Lounge a Bangkok, and very nice it was too.

It seems a very short day today. I have pre-set my watch to Sydney time and it is 10.35pm already. Soon be time for another go at having a sleep. Dinner first though although I haven't long had breakfast!

I had another glass of champers on arrival in my seat followed by a glass of Chardonnay, and a third glass with my dinner but I still did not sleep much. Dinner was a very tasty Thai lamb dish with rice.

We are due in Sydney in about an hour where I have to catch a connecting flight to Auckland. Luckily my luggage is checked through so I won't have to bother with that and hopefully there will be wifi at Sydney airport to enable me to publish this. I have a 3 hour wait there before my Auckland flight departs.

All in all the journey has passed well. I would have liked more sleep though. I will post again when staying with my friend Carolyn, just outside Auckland.

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... And More Trips Planned ...

Since arranging my forthcoming visit to New Zealand and Australia (68 days, 21 hours and 10 minutes to departure as I type!) I have two further holidays planned for 2011.

I am returning to Cairns and Sydney, Australia, for almost 3 weeks in July and August. I am doing a 'house swap' with friends who live in Cairns. They have family and friends in this area and visit the UK every couple of years and we came up with the house swap idea.

And I have today finalised a week's Safari in Kenya with two friends planned for September. A Safari has long been on my 'bucket list' so at last I am going to fulfil that dream. We are staying at Governor's Camp on the Masai Mara. www.governorscamp.com

It is a lovely feeling spending my kid's inheritance!




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Trying out blogging on iPad

I am endeavouring to blog using the iPad which I will be taking away with me. I could not upload photos using my usual blogging program so I have downloaded an App which should enable me to do just that.

So here goes. I will try to insert a pic from my photos installed on here

This is one of the photos I took in Florence 

Yipee, it worked. Now will it get to Facebook I wonder?


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Itchy Feet Again

Here I am with itchy feet again and back in the travelling light mode so will be continuing on with my travel blog.

I am going to New Zealand and Australia between February - May next year (2011), and my itinerary is as follows:

17th February. Fly from London Heathrow departing 21:45 arriving into Auckland two days later

19th February. Arrive into Auckland at 14:20, then touring New Zealand until

23rd April. Fly from Nelson at 13.40 arriving into Sydney at 17.50. 4 nights accommodation

24th April. Sydney City Sights and Harbour Cruise Tour

25th April. Sydney Opera House Tour

26th April. Blue Mountains with 4WD Wildlife Discovery Tour

27th April. Board the Indian Pacific (train) and travel to Adelaide in a gold class sleeper. Departs at 14:55

28th April. Arrive into Adelaide at 15:05. 3 nights accommodation

29th April. Kangaroo Island Tour. http://www.tourkangarooisland.com.au/

30th April. Barossa Valley Day Tour. http://www.barossa-region.org/

1st May. Board the Ghan (train) and travel up to Alice Springs in a gold class sleeper. Departing 12.20pm

2nd May. Arrive into Alice Springs at 13:45. 1 night accommodation.

3rd May. Begin 3 day Alice and Uluru Adventure.

5th May. Fly from Ayers Rock departing 14:35 and arriving into Cairns at 17:35 where I am staying with friends until

15th May. Fly from Cairns at 12:45 to London Heathrow

16th May. Arrive into London Heathrow at 06:35

While in New Zealand I shall be spending a week with an old (no - not old as in 'old'!!) friend from Woking who lives just south of Auckland, then together she and I will travel on the 'Overlander' train to near where Terry lives just north of Wellington in the south of North Island. Carolyn will return to her home after a day or so, then Terry and I will depart on yet another tour of New Zealand. Starting in the North Island, then travelling to Christchurch in South Island where we will hire a car and tour around, this time as far south as Stewart Island and ending up in Nelson from where I depart for Australia. Terry is staying on in Nelson as she is house/dog sitting for her son and family for a few weeks.

My Australian bookings have been made through a very helpful agency in England - 'Freedom Australia'. I telephoned them with roughly what I wanted to do and they came back with a fantastic itinerary which is just right. I have chosen to travel overland by train in Australia. I love train journeys - you get to see so much. (Not like flying where you just look down on things, assuming you have a window seat). Freedom Australia have done all the bookings which has taken the onus off me. Not like last time where I booked everything.

So - watch this space for further updates.

That's All Folks!

We are now back in leafy Surrey and for both of us, for the moment at least, the last three months seem like a dream. We can’t believe all we have done and seen and everything is still a muddle in our heads. I am really glad I kept this blog going as it will be a reminder about just about everything.

The journey home went well although we spent Monday night without sleep as the flight from Boston to Dublin (where we changed planes for Heathrow) was only five and a half hours, so by the time the drinks trolley had gone down the aisle and dinner was served there was only a couple of hours of the flight left, not enough to have a good zzzzz. We landed in Dublin around 5am local time and finally got to Heathrow at 8am and we were home by 10am. Terry had a couple of hours sleep yesterday afternoon, but I managed to stay awake until around 9.30pm, then went to bed and slept for 10 hours. We both feel fine today.

Leaving Boston Airport

Summing up:

We:
slept in 37 different beds
stayed in 19 different hotels plus the cruise ship
travelled on 17 trains, not including various subways
spent almost 100 hours travelling on trains
visited, or travelled through, 22 different states not including BC and Alberta in Canada and Washington DC (which is not a state)

I have:

taken just under 1000 photographs
travelled between 35,500 and 40,000 miles (including day trips etc)
(Terry will have probably travelled more by the time she gets home to NZ)
….. and it has cost me? goodness knows, I have yet to work that one out!

Favourite place:
Probably New Mexico (Santa Fe and Albuquerque) and we really enjoyed Chicago and New York.

Least favourite place:
It has to be Dodge City although we are both pleased to have been there.

What did I like best?
Surprisingly enough, the clean Americal loos, sorry - 'restrooms'! (not the paper - see below). Especially the availability of tissue seat covers and more especially the loo (we can't remember where) where you could push a red button and the loo seat revolved and the new section was covered in fresh, clean cling film!
Free coffee refills
The viewing lounges on the Amtrack trains

What did I like least?
The paper plates, the styrene cups and the plastic cutlery (just how much waste is generated daily by all that stuff being thrown away?)
Seeing the poor cattle baking in those grassless, shadeless 'fields' in Dodge City and being fed loads of crap to be fattened up before travelling a couple of miles down the road to the meat processing plant.
The thin, crappy (pardon the pun) loo paper - tissue paper is stronger! It's good to be home to the good old Andrex! (Sorry to be personal!)

Best memory – all of it!

To those of you who have followed this blog, thank you for taking the time reading it, and to Terry’s friends and relatives the next section of her travels here in the UK and Eire will be blogged by the lady herself on http://terry-terrystravels.blogspot.com

That’s all folks! Thank you and goodbye
(until my next holiday!)

Friday 17th, Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July

Sunday 19th July
On Sunday we all went out for the day to Salem. We set out around 10am after a lovely pancake and syrup breakfast - Mike makes good pancakes as well as pizza! The intention was to give Emma some beach time before we did the boring (for her) sightseeing bit so we headed to Plum Island north of Salem and on the Atlantic coast. But it seemed that all of Massachusetts had the same thought and when we saw the queue of traffic we abandoned that idea, much to Emma’s disappointment, and headed for Salem.

Salem was not at all what I expected - I guess I had the Hollywood version of the town in my head - all rustic houses and farms, green fields, and lots of fresh faced girls and dour old men in costume, but it is just another average, but quite nice American town with lovely architecture - quite big and with a scenic coast and harbour.
There were few ‘historic’ houses around but we didn’t go into any. Again sightseeing overload set in and it was very hot. So we paid a visit to the Salem Witch Museum where we were given a dramatic history lesson using stage sets with life-size figures, lighting and a narration - an overview of the Witch Trials of 1692. It was well done.

This picture was taken at the memorial to those people falsely accused of witchcraft and hanged.

On the way home we made a slight detour to follow the Battle Road which is the site of the beginning of the American War of Independence. We visited the Old North Bridge where colonials first fired on British soldiers - ‘the shot heard round the world’

Finally, this is my last blog before departing America for home, and here is a picture of ‘Gogga Blogga’

- a familiar pose over the last 3 months!
I will do a final blog when I get home then, although Terry has done a few of these blogs, she will be taking over for our UK part of the trip on a different site:
http://terry-terrystravels.blogspot.com/

starting after we get back to England on 21st July.

Saturday 18th July
On Saturday, apart from going into Maynard for an iced coffee and a visit to the Farmer‘s Market where Mike was helping on a stall run by a group he belongs to - ‘Maynard Climate Action Network‘ - we spent most of the afternoon preparing for a party that Mike and Nan was giving for us - celebrating 101 days around the world! Mike had spent hours making the most fantastic invitation:

This photo does it no justice at all, and he has kindly printed off a large version of it for us as a souvenir.

It was a good evening but unfortunately a lot of people were out of town for the weekend and could not attend. There were about 16 adults and 6 children in the end and it was good fun. Mike had all of my photo’s running as a slide show on his computer and many people found them interesting to look at. It was a good, fun, evening and enjoyed by all. Mike won a cake in a raffle at the Farmer’s Market during the morning and that took pride of place on the buffet table.
Friday 17th July
We have did very little today. Terry and I had much needed haircuts and in the evening we went to watch Emma in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. She has been attending theatre school for the past two weeks and in that time they rehearsed and perfected a 45 minute version of Shakespeare‘s play. The script had been amended and abridged incorporating modern ‘Americanisms’ with some of the original script. The ages ranged from 15-16 down to about 5, and they all did very well and it was very funny in parts.

We had a lovely ‘take-out’ curry when we got home.

Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th July - Boston

Thursday 16th July
Once again, we took the morning train into Boston and signed up for another hop on/hop off trolley bus. First stop was Boston Common, a large green area, which was first declared a common in the 1600s. In those days, people grazed their cattle there, but it is now an open grassy space that the public can enjoy. Across the road was a beautiful park - the Public Park - with gardens, ponds and a number of bronze sculptures of important historical figures. The historic Swan Boats, est. 1877 operate on the lagoon in this park.

There was also a group of bronze ducklings, which were attracting a number of small children who were having great fun pretending to ride them.

We walked around the Granary Burial Ground which contains the graves of Paul Revere, John Hancock and Samuel Adams as well as the victims of the Boston massacre - civilians who were shot by British soldiers in 1770. We couldn’t visit Boston without sampling the local delicacy of clam chowder, so we chose an Irish pub which looked promising and ordered a bowl each. We were not disappointed, as the flavour was superb.

The trolley ticket entitled us to a free harbour cruise,

Boston skyline from the harbour

so we took the boat around the harbour and across to the far side of the Charles River, accompanied by an interesting commentary, then disembarked to look over the USS Cassin Young, a WWII US Navy destroyer which experienced the Japanese suicide tactic of the kamikaze aircraft.

We had hoped to go on board the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) which was constructed in 1797 and is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world, but we were running out of time so just looked through the museum instead. (HMS Victory is older, but is in dry-dock, not afloat!). That proved to be a very worthwhile substitute, as some of the rooms were reconstructed to resemble the inside of the old ship. Children could lie in the hammocks to get a taste of shipboard life.

There was a trolleybus stop close to the museum, so we hopped back on and did a complete circuit of the town before catching the train back to North Concord, where Mike was waiting in the car to take us home.

Wednesday 15th July
Today is Emma’s 10th birthday. Happy Birthday Emma! Terry and I had a quiet day today. We wandered into Maynard in the morning and had a walk around the lake (called Mill Pond) and then browsed a few shops. We went into my favourite diner for lunch - Babico’s. It’s decorated in real 50’s style - pink and turquoise vinyl striped booth seating and pink vinyl upholstered stools along the counter. Sounds tacky but it’s great. And they serve the BEST pancakes. Emma had a few friends in during the afternoon for birthday cake, and some neighbours stayed for pizza in the evening. Mike makes great pizza. I recommend this hotel!

Tuesday 14th July - Cape Cod

We spent most of today at Cape Cod, about two hours drive from here. Leigh has a friend, Monique, who lives there he and put us in contact with her. Mike kindly drove us down and we had a great day in that wonderful place. Monique lives in a town called Dennis and she met us in a parking lot and drove us to a harbour side café at Sesuit Harbour for lunch.

She has a jeep with no doors or roof and it was great to drive around in as it was again a hot day.
Lobster is the food to eat in these parts and we had a huge lobster roll with coleslaw and fries for lunch which just about finished us off for the afternoon! From there we went to Chapin Beach

- a beautiful unspoiled sandy beach with very clear blue sea. We walked along the beach for half a mile or so, very quickly leaving the crowded part behind.

We could not understand why, with so much space, people all crowded together near the car park and entrance to the beach and not walk 100 yards or so to get a bit of space and privacy. We have come to the conclusion that most Americans just do not like to walk!

Monique is very interested in marine biology, among other ’nature’ things, and pointed out several sea creatures that were washed up on the shoreline, including a horseshoe crab - huge!

Terry’s foot is there to show the size of it.

And here is a pic of a baby one:
What a difference in size!

Cape Cod was very picturesque and the architecture and colours of the houses was quite different to what we have seen before. A very expensive place to live, I believe. Monique was born and bred there and seldom ‘goes over the bridge’ to the mainland. We didn't get to see the Kennedy Compound - I suppose we should have done really, having seen Rose Kennedy's birthplace in Boston's North End.

Another volunteer ‘job’ Monique does on her daily walk in that area is to keep an eye on an osprey’s nest perched atop a tall pole. There are three fledglings in the nest and we were lucky enough to see the mother feeding them.
. . . . and as a finale to today’s blog - here are a couple of funny pictures of our ‘holiday sandal feet’!!