Last few days in and around Sydney

Erina valley probably has a nickname. Cicada valley.  After a while you get used to the idyllic countryside with a backdrop of cicada drone. We made a couple of trips to the Entrance. Wandered the promenade, took Connie on side shows, sat and ate. We said goodbye to Adam, Judy and Don.  Then there were 5.

We also took a drive to the Somersby waterfall. Rather pretty and unique with lots of pools for cooling down. Wonder what it would be like after torrential rain.

The next morning Becks, Mike and Connie drove to Sydney. We decided to take the scenic route. More walking in nature reserves where snakes make there homes (we didn't see any), and then off to church point (home of boats, sea and reminders of the sounds and $10 an hour parking fees).

It was new years eve and we met Mike and Becks friends for dinner. Sad to say we saw the 9 pm fireworks but missed the new years eve ones. They kept us awake tho and I do rather regret we didn't make the effort.

Now there are two of us sitting at the airport waiting for our flight to Hobart.

A family Christmas in Australia

We are sitting in Erina valley. Locusts are loud, rabbits are playing on the lawn with the dogs and chooks. Mostly happy until a doggy visitor bounds along and everyone scampers for their homes. We arrived here today from McMasters beach. And so we will go back there ie the start of our holiday. Picture a deck overlooking a lagoon. Cockatoos and kookaburras sitting in gum trees. Parakeets, ducks and pelicans flying by. Dogs trotting to the golden sands with their owners laden with towels and everything beachy. Barbeques, reading, swimming with the occasional walk at Bouddi national park or along the beach in either direction. Everyday felt the same but had something slightly unique. Sometimes there was a slight breeze and sometimes high tide bought pounding waves.  Sometimes the sand was burning hot while at other times sank underfoot. Christmas day was similar to others except Santa came overnight and there was pavlova after the barbecue and crackers during. It is the first time all the Keats have been together at Christmas for 15 years. Now there is a new son law, grand daughter and soon to be born grandson and us to join the party. Connie sang the Aussie jingle bells. "Dashing through the Bush, in a rusty holden ute, kelpie by my side, eski in the back ...". Then we said goodbye to Matt and then there were 8.

Then we moved on ....

Today we swam at Avoca lakes and wandered around the Entrance (reminded us all of the UK beaches as we wandered along the promenade).

Sydney

It is school holiday time and Haz and I have just finished a fun filled week with Connie. We must have visited a new park everyday. Connie seems to be able to sniff them out way before we can see them. Darling harbour park was too busy with kids fighting to get up the slide. But inside the mall Connie found another one where she played happily with 5 boys for almost an hour.  Grandparents on duty sat watching on. I think, like me, they were glad of a rest. We went on the Ferris wheel (my treat) and then caught the train back.  On other days Haz drove us to an animal farm and Watson's Bay. The former was reasonably busy and ok but the latter saw us wandering along the coast line with a pod of dolphins and wandering through a forest of laughing trees. I  kid you not. The theme for the week was trees. Hiding behind branches at the botanical gardens and anywhere else we can find them. We started a gumboot garden, fixed lots of things like squeaky beds and lights, and went to new places like Berry island,  a fair and Botany Bay with the whole family.

Joke of the week.  What do you call a navigator who uses a GPS? An unemployed front seat passenger. I only thought of that because one day we took Connie to the Wilde Creatures show. Connie saw a clown with a mike and kids could go up and tell jokes. Lots of Why did the chicken cross the road and knock knock jokes. The show was based on Oscar Wilde's fairy tales.  Quite good.

On our last night we went to the panto Sleeping Beauty. Exceptionally good. Connie did the red carpet with Tim and Steph. The theatre was a beautiful building built in the late 1880's.

We also caught up with Brian and Lynn at an Indian restaurant. Great company and food. Amazing way to do cauli so will look up the recipe. Haz and Brian went sailing for a day.

Last observation - there must be a 100 ways to do a baby chino. The only thing they seem to have in common is milk and chocolate.

We are planning our next Sydney holiday already.

Birthday Girl and Pelores Sound

How to spend a birthday while on holiday is always a serious consideration.  Holidays are special but somehow you remember what you did on your birthday for a while.

I suggested a cruise on the mail boat around Pelores Sound.  After all our activities over the last couple of weeks, a day sitting on a boat, fresh air and idle chatter seemed a fitting way to end the holiday.

The cruise took about 7 hours with a short stop for lunch at Te Rawa.  We cruised in and out of little bays and covered quite a distance - the Mahia Sound, Keneperu Sound and Pelores.   Some memories include

1. understanding more about salmon fishing - how the farmers have had to build high walls to stop the seals from having an afternoon snack.
2. not alot of wild life in the sounds that day - very little bird life, no seals or dolphins.
3. staying in a house up the sounds would be great for a weekend - but not my thing for weeks on end - if you are into boating, fishing, jet ski then it would be just perfect.

Funniest thing we saw.  A couple were unloading their dinghy.  Women sat in dinghy handing stuff to the man on the jetty.  All went well, until they dropped the bucket with their catch.  They weren't impressed!!

We bought a book for Blake and Connie to read at our place - A Hippo came to Havelock.  

In the evening, we went for dinner at a local pub.

Next day - pack up, small walk around Waikawa Bay, calm trip home - all ready to start work on our section the next day.

Queen Charlotte Sound

The third to last day of our holiday dawned bright and sunny.  It was one of the hottest days yet and just perfect for wandering under the shade of native trees.

It was a reasonably early start as we walked onto the water taxi.  A pretty ordinary trip out to Ship Cove, stunning scenery, a few rocky moments under the wake of the ferry, and a short commentary on the history of the sounds together with a few tall stories.

Ship cove was a shelter for Captain Cook during his 4 voyages to New Zealand.  Shelter, scurvy grass, fresh water and friendly natives were a nice welcome for his crew after travelling from the UK.  There is a memorial to him and his crew at the Cove, which we briefly looked at - we were keen to be on our way.

The first part of the trail was steep and rocky - fun climbing up.  Harry and I soon realised that if we had bought our bikes we would have been out of our depth.  Getting ourselves to the top was enough without pushing the bikes.  Up and down went the trail with little appetising snippets of the rocky coastline below, deep blue water edged by native bush and the birdsong of tui, weka, korero and bell bird intermingled with the loud chirp of the cricket.

After a while we stopped for lunch and realised that it wasn't a good thing to leave Don and Judy behind at Ship Cove to look at the monuments - they had the bread for the sandwiches, we had the filling.  Good thing they walked a bit faster than us as we were just settling down to biscuits and orgages when they turned up.

Amused by the weka pecking around our feet while we ate we then packed up and continued on our way.  The trip took us about 4.5 hours (excluding lunch) and we thoroughly enjoyed it, as well as the relaxing on the verandah of Fernaux lodge. The water taxi was on time (to the second) and after a breezy start and a few drop offs for more mail we sat on the grass in Picton for a very lengthy wait for fish and chips.  It was such a glorious day we didn't mind sitting with a cool ginger beer.

One of our best days yet.  We are planning to do more.

Arthur's Pass

It is Queens birthday weekend and we are in Bealy, just a few k's east of Arthur's Pass. After one night in Christchurch where we caught up with Sharon we drove to Sheffield. The best pie shop probably in the world. People sat outside in the sun, 10 am with  beer in one hand and paper bag with pie in the other.  We stopped- opted to sit inside swapped the beer for a latte and devoured curry vege pie (me) and lambs fry and bacon (carnivore). We came across Castle Hill and wandered up and down the hills and around the limestone rocks.  We threw our bags in the little cabin and went  for a drive to Otira. The keas said hello in the car park, fought me for a plastic bag that had blown out of the car then lost interest as we looked at the viaduct.
Next morning we headed off to do the Arthurs Pass track. Lots of snow, icy and treacherous steps and lots of potential for slipping over. Great fun, if not a bit slow. We also wandered around the village which didn't take long and went back to the cabin to thaw out.  That night the rugby was on and I spent the 80 + minutes reading about Shrek the sheep living in the high country while the local crusader supporters drank happily and got louder and louder.

Next day we were off to Ashburton but spent the first few hours doing some more walking. First was Greyneys (beech forest and icicles), second Malley (along the Waimakariri river) and the last Bealey Spur (only half way -lots of icy mud and tree roots to climb over). The cloud came down and so the drive to Ashburton was as scenic as a soapy bath. There isn't a lot in this town to keep a tourist busy in the rain so in the morning we headed back to Christchurch and stayed indoors at the museum. Later managed a short walk in Riccarton bush before heading to the airport.

The first two days of 2018

The first day in 2018 turned out to be warm and sunny.  It was an early rise as there was no partying and we took off to look at the Rawhiti Cave before heading over to Picton.  Don and Judy decided to do their own thing so it was only us scrambling up the hill around 8.30 on the first morning of the new year.  What a way to start 2018.  First we walked over a dry creek bed, then quietly along a nice flat path that gently climbed.  Then the steep part.  Tree trunks, branches and roots helped pull us up the path to the most spectacular cave - stalagmites and stalagtites have grown for around one million years making a picturesque site for any of those keen to make the trek.  We took some photos at the top and then gingerly made our way down, bottoms first at times due to the steepness of the track. We met others on the way up and were secretly pleased we were on the downhill slide back to the car.

The drive over the hill was fairly uneventful and after a rather large late lunch at a pub we caught up with Jim and Margot.  Still in our dusty shorts we took another short walk to the centre of New Zealand (strategically placed on top of a high hill overlooking the city) and finished with a coffee where we caught up on each others news.  I am a little envious that they have three days now trekking in the Abel Tasman.

Incidentally Judy has mentioned that the centre of the country has moved about 4 metres after the last Kaikoura earthquake!!

Another uneventful drive to Picton, and after shopping have landed in our digs for the next few days.  The place is an eclectic mix of antique furniture, but should be comfortable.  We hung out some washing competing for space on the line with runner beans, wild mint and fennel and half heartedly started planning tomorrow - but I think we were all a bit tired to think seriously about more energetic activities - we didn't do well in the 5 minute quiz either.

January 2nd was a quiet day in Picton.  We wandered over to the water taxi to book our Queen Charlotte experience tomorrow and had a coffee and scone.  Harry went happily off to Omaka to see a world war two exhibition and a car museum.  I wandered with Don and Judy up the valley to a dam, a nice shady and leafy walk - perfect for a day that kept thinking about raining.