Sunday in Ireland

Killarney is where Nicky lived for a year and so we visited some of her old haunts like Muckross Castle and the Lake Hotel and wandered the town on Saturday evening enjoying the crowds wandering around and the music. We drove around the Castle in a 'jaunting car' (known to us as a horse and buggy), visited the waterfall and saw some rare irish cows (they are black and no longer bred for milk or beef but have a lazy existence in the green fields because they are one of the oldest breed of cow in Ireland) and a dog chasing a bird. The Lake Hotel was at the right place for a cup of coffee and we met someone who remembered Nicky. I can see why Nicky enjoyed it what a lovely setting for a lazy or romantic weekend. We succumbed to an hours worth of shopping where I bought a skirt, Harry a jacket, Jill some shoes and Graham (I can't remember what but he did come out with a package) before driving on to Limerick stopping at little villages on the way. I almost saw a leprechaun (well he was dressed in green but spoilt the image because as he played the accordian he was listening to the gaelic football). The Irish also love their sport and we saw many a young child going off to the under 16 hurling championships. In Limerick we drove around to the Castle and found a lovely little bridge with hanging baskets before having dinner and finishing the weekend with a game of 500 (I am not going to tell you who won!!). Saying goodbye to Jill and Graham was very sad and I could easily have jumped into their suitcase - our weekend together will remain etched in our memories for ever.

Ireland with Jill and Graham - Friday and Saturday

We've been looking forward to going to Ireland with Jill and Graham since we arrived...after 3 months away from kiwiland a weekend with good kiwi friends was going to be very special - we could hardly believe that we were visiting Ireland together. Friday afternoon saw me skipping down the road to meet the bus and Harry driving in from town with our bags. Haz had just been for a job interview and like me when I had one recently decided that he needed the rest of the day to recover from the experience. We had a coffee in a little place in Clifton (Haz and I still don't know the nice little cafes and coffee places in Bristol so we took pot luck and it was o.k. - just). The sun was shining the first sun that Jill and Graham had seen in nearly a week and it was a good time to show them the suspension bridge and the view of Bristol before heading to the airport. We felt like tourist guides and we surprised ourselves about how much we knew about the city in such a short time. A smallish cruise boat was travelling up the river and we passed it in the lock. We arrived at the airport carpark (the same price to park the car for 3 days as it was to catch the bus from town). Booking online is great you zoom in, use our card (whatever one we used to pay with online), and the gate opens and let us in. You can then drive round and round and round and round and round (I think you probably have the picture by now) trying to find a park which we eventually did. Lesson Number One for the weekend away - if you are going to leave the car door unlocked over the weekend find a smallish park right beside a large concrete pole so that no one can open the door. Lesson Number Two make sure your car is a bright colour otherwise you'll never find it again!! Harry insisted on bringing the pineapple lumps Jill and Graham had bought me stating they would melt in the car - I intended to keep them all to myself but ended up having to share them!!!! Incidentally he did leave the weight watchers muesli bars behind - I don't think he cared what the heat did to them. We had a great (laid out like a patchwork quilt), lakes and rivers. My first impression of Ireland is one of green and flat with few animals and few people. Ryan Air is a no frills budget airline, where the air hostesses hop off the plane at the end of the trip and act as ushers into the airport (and check in operators do as well at the beginning of the flight) and Budget rental cars is the cheap rental car company where the queue was very long and other rental car firm employees eg Hertz and Avis stood bored and enviously watched the queue hoping that customers might decide to change allegiances and opt for something more expensive. Friday evening we drove to our bed and breakfast and that was about it really. The bed and breakfast was in the country about (5 kms from the Limerick - we initially turned around cos Harry said we had gone 5 kms and we must have missed the turnoff - we think it must have been in miles as when we eventually asked for directions we went down the same road as before). Arriving at the bed and breakfast we were welcomed by two dogs, one insisting on peeing on both front tyres, before acknowledging there were any humans getting out of the car. Highlight of the b&b were the door handles installed upside down and our experiences with the beds. In England a lot of people don't use top sheets and every week or so wash the duvets instead. We reckon this just makes work but did wonder if the b&b couldn't decide what to and decided to compromise with a little top sheet instead. Haz and Graham in particular enjoyed tussling with the sheets all night! Saturday we drove off armed with the emails from Nicky and Brian telling us the best places to see and with huge plans to see the south west of Ireland. We soon discovered the roads are a bit like NZ, windy, narrow and we revised our plans as what we thought might take 2 hours started to look like 4 to 5. We stopped at Carrigafoyle Castle - a castle in ruins that isn't sold as a tourist attraction - and climbed the many steps to the top. Graham decided to do a jig in preparation for the evenings of music, laughter and guinness and Haz could not resist videoing him while I was in hysterics. (Before downloading the video the blog asked me if the video was 'obscene or infringing copyright' I said no but after watching it am not so sure anymore). We drove around the waters edge and turned around when it looked as though we might get stuck in the mud. After driving through Tralee and missing the Rose of Tralee festival by a week we stopped for a picnic by the river at Killogran. Lovely, relaxing and we could have stayed a lot longer looking at the flowing water and the statue of the 'Great Puck' (big deer). Then we drove ...... the Ring of Kerry is a picturesque and long piece of road, it reminded us firstly of Central Otago and then around the Wairarapa coast and then Northland. The roads were lined with spring bulbs, scotch heather and gorse. We stopped at lots of spots to take photos and to enjoy the scenery before arriving in Kenmare. This is a quaint little town that we could have spent a few hours relaxing in and browsing round the shops and parks (yes i did say shops). Then moved on to Killarney. Had a great set menu where we all ate too much. We all tried 'Boxty' the Irish pancake made from mashed potato (girls won't get a man unless they know how to make boxty - or so the poem goes). Things we noticed about Ireland so far - the Irish love colour (alot of the stone houses have been plastered and painted which takes away the 'old' look but gives every little town life and vibrancy), they take great pride in their gardens, lots of hanging baskets and well weeded gardens and tidy lawns and they love music. Surprisingly, Harry enjoyed driving the Skoda round and has even said he was 'quite impressed'. The biggest lesson of the weekend so far for me was 'it isn't a good idea to put deep heat on your toothbrush (thankfully it fell off before it reached my teeth).

Clovelly

I had always wanted to go to Clovelly ever since Mum came back from her trip a few years ago and described a quaint little fishing village built on the side of a cliff. So we headed off on Saturday....We had plenty of time on the M5 to look at the range of caravans and trailers that Britons take on their summer holidays as well as bike racks. The racks are either the conventional ones that are attached to a tow bar, or sit on the roof or on the trailor or are attached to the back of a hatch with belts and buckles. We rather liked the look of the latter (after thinking of the difficulties of getting a bike onto the roof of a car) and may investigate the possibility if we want to take our bikes on holiday with us. The day was foggy with drizzly rain - but somehow this added to the atmosphere of Clovelly. We wandered down steep cobbled streets, where no vehicles are allowed and donkeys used to carry heavy loads but now people pull sledges, past little gardens and stone houses. Donkeys still live in the village but now only offer small children rides, live in comfort in a barn and are adopted by the locals every year. (One donkey was called Kiwi). Although the village dates back to the 14th century it wasn't until the early 1900's when one of the family members who owned it, took the seriously deteriorating fishing village under her wing and renovated all the houses, church and hotels. Each house has a date above the door, not signifying when it was built, but rather when it was renovated. It is still owned by one family (the Hamlyn's) - the second only in hundreds of years. The town was home to Charles Kingsley, the author of 'Westward Ho' (which is a little town not far away) and poet of 'for men must work and women must weep' . Little did I realise that this poem was about men who risked their lives daily in fishing boats - perhaps I never read the whole poem thoughtfully as a teenager. You could imagine the harbour confronted by a storm at high tide and the life boats setting out to rescue those on a ship in distress (the topic of many of a historic novel set in England). But today the town had a tranquility about it that was not disturbed by the weather or the number of people wandering around it. There were few seagulls (I think reflecting its cleanliness) and boats going nowhere in the harbour due to low tide. We wandered along the beach to the waterfall, where I suggested going under the waterfall with the umbrella was a good idea. 3 people jumped at the chance, a Dad, Harry and a young teenager to the amusement of those close by. We could have started a business 'hire an umbrella for 20 p'. The water that fell from the cliff formed a stream under the stones we walked on and in places people had piled up the stones to see the flowing steam. After picnicking in the rain we drove through many small towns, past what I think must have been hotels for tired coach travellers and the Exmoor National Park up to an altitude of 500 metres (where scotch heather and 'bonsai' gorse grows), through hedges and trees just turning colour for the autumn. We had dinner in a 400 year old pub in Wellington (how could we resist going there?) and tasted the best chips we have had so far (well worth an hours travel when ever we feel like chips we think). Moments of the day - when Harry seriously told me that the red tarmac on the downhill side of the road was a special 'anti grip' tarmac (I think he meant 'anti slip') and I seriously misread the name of a little town on the map called Shillingford. Today,marks three months since we left NZ - it seems so much longer in many ways and yet such a short time in other ways. There is so much more to see and do and yet I can feel the pull of home every day which just confirms what I already knew - home is where the people that you care about are.

Westonbirt Arboretum

This afternoon after Harry spent most of the morning applying for jobs and I spent most of it in bed (I did make breakfast though) we decided to go and visit the Westonbirt Aboretum which had been recommended to us by someone at work. To get there we drove through towns with cool names like: Chipping Sodbury, Sopworth, Didmarton, Dunkirk and Knockdown. Most of them so small that you would miss them if you blinked. At one stage the road was narrow, with high hedges on either side and we had to stop to let wild pheasants cross the road. The Arboretum was founded in 1860's by a guy - Horton I think was his name - doesn't really matter but he had pots of money. He built a house and then wanted a view from the front windows of trees. So, not to disturb the view he lowered the road that the horse and carriages and now cars travel on and built the villagers new houses away from the house and moved the village. The guide we went on the tour with was proud of the fact that the houses were nice for the villagers but I did think the act had a bit of selfish and eccentric streak to it. Anyway, we had confirmed that all the little mounds of dirt we see everywhere is actually evidence of moles living underneath, saw a badger hole and his little footprints and lots of trees. Also saw the cattle stops that they used to build with a ditch and stone wall - it has a special name which we can't remember. The place was apparently in disrepair prior to 1960 when it was taken over by the Forest Commission (the same year we were told that Elvis Presley released his song 'wooden heart'). We saw lots of different trees with Latin names, all green and we were told we must come back in summer when the trees are in bloom, and we also in autumn as they shed their leaves. Very enthusiastic volunteer guides. Anyway the cafe had a roof that is growing - it likes damp winters and the warm summers and it has taken a while for them to get established - it too changes colour depending on the season. We saw heaps of trees 'that are extinct in the wild' and learnt that it takes 40 litres of sap from a maple tree to produce 1 litre of maple syrup. Silly me, I thought maple syrup was made from sugar and water!! Anyway, for those of you who love trees, or maybe hug them, they don't kill the tree but gradually drain the sap out of it while letting it grow more. After seeing maples, oaks, pines, douglas firs etc we enjoyed a picnic and then drove to 'old Horton's house' which is now a very well to do girls school. Took a photo so you can see the windows that you can look out of and see the arboretum but not the road or the village. We then drove another 2 kms down the road to take a photo of the village - the houses are indeed quite lovely and would have been superior to those the villages were likely to be living in.

Up, up and away

This is the story of the balloon festival - over 100 balloons taking to the air over a 4 day weekend, the balloonists enjoying camping together in a field while a crowd of over 20,000 each day enjoying the delights of ballooning. Thursday evening saw us sitting on a hill with Adrienne and Shane in Bedminister a few kilometres away from the launch site watching balloons floating through the air near to Clifton Bridge. The novelty shapes of a house, car (Harry says it was a Jaguar XK8), fire extinguisher, wine caskets and and it has to be our favourite the kiwi float past Clifton Suspension Bridge. After sitting on the hill for a couple of hours we wandered past pubs hoping for a late meal, but most finish serving food about 7.00 ish. We found an Indian Restaurant that was prepared to cook all night and enjoyed a banquet.

On Friday morning we pulled the curtains at 6.30 to see balloons floating past our bedroom window and as we rode to work continually looked up to watch them float past. It was somehow a very peaceful start to the day. Friday afternoon was the hottest it has been since we have been here and after work we rode across to the park to watch the evening mass lift off. There we saw for the first time the piper in all his glory. Before lift off the balloons were laid out carefully in quite a small field and as they started to inflate they all jostled for space - it almost felt extra terrestial watching them go from long and flat to partly inflated and then fighting for position. We rode back before dark through the parks as the 'Flying Scotsman' looked over us and were pleased to have our bikes with all the crowds. Saturday started off lazy, I drove to the shops and got lost (how could I?) and then we packed a picnic and went back to the park. We decided to take the car half way this time and walked to the Estate against a flow of red and white teeshirts and a few blue and white striped teeshirts (Bristol City Football Club had just drawn their first match of the Season with Queens Park Rangers) for the night glow and met Anne at the Estate. There were a number of side shows and food caravans there and many people were wandering around with huge stuffed toys they had won. We liked the wolf and the tiger obviously enjoying the evening out. The evening was still and warm and the Estate Gardens looked across Bristol. We parked ourselves on the hill and watched a spectacular night glow where the balloons lit up to music finishing with the 1812 overture and fireworks. Again we have been impressed with how England organises large events - they are lucky to have such large and lovely estates gifted to the National Trust where there is so much space the crowd isn't overpowering and space for so much entertainment for all to enjoy.