I'm Coming Back

A few weeks ago after a chat to Wendy I decided that I'd been away too long. I'm not anticipating any change in my cancer treatment in the near future and my right knee is due for replacement but it's been agreed that the operation will be put off for a couple of months.

So on Monday 1st February I intend to be on a plane from Glasgow Airport arriving in Napier on Wednesday evening.

And this blog will live once more for at least another six weeks.

A Moment of Bliss

I lay in bed writing this post in my head and now I can't even remember the three brilliantly witty titles I thought up never mind the one of them that I decided to use.  I said in a text to a friend yesterday that I was reaching muddle age.  I meant to write 'middle' age but I left it because muddle age seemed so much more appropriate.

Anyway the subject of my thoughts was ribs.  Not in the sense of BBQ ribs but of cracked or broken ones in general and more specifically those belonging to the body that I inhabit.  It's over 6 weeks since the incident when they were injured.  Everyone said it would take at least six weeks for them to heal sufficiently not to cause discomfort.  At around 5.30am this morning I sort of woke and turned over and suddenly realised that I had not let out a yelp which has been the case until then.  At last perhaps I could lie on my 'proper' side?  I could!  It's a small thing in the scheme of things but a very pleasant one.

The view from The Cottage deck

A bit closer.  Is that a car there?  Never seen that before.

Not only is it a car in a strange place but they are pointing at The Cottage.  I wonder why.

The Joys of Travel (or Not Being Able To).

It's Friday evening.  The Family has left The Cottage having been fed and watered.  The decks have been cleared.  The dishwasher is on.  The place is tidy.  

Martin and David are on their way to Wellington accompanied by Wendy who will share the driving and drive the car back tomorrow.  Martin and David are supposed to be setting foot in Scotland sometime on Friday UK time.  As it is they will be leaving Wellington around 0700 tomorrow for a 7 hour stopover in Sydney airport.  They will all get about 4 hours sleep tonight.

Over the last few days I've started half a dozen posts.  Then something has happened that has altered everything.  Of course if you haven't got internet then you can't publish the post immediately and other things can come along and make that which you said irrelevant or completely out of date.  This week has been very much like that.  I had no internet (other than a weak signal on my iPhone insufficient to be of use for tethering the laptop) from Wednesday afternoon until this afternoon.

Yesterday the storm raged:  the continuation of Tropical Cyclone Ida which wreaked havoc up the north coast of New South Wales before wandering out to sea again and making a nuisance of itself over here.  We got away lightly with no damage although the wind and rain was the worst I've experienced here.  Some have had severe damage and the West Coast of the South Island has had lots of damage and Christchurch has had more flooding to add to its woes.   However Martin and David’s flight to Auckland was cancelled last night because of the weather.  The knock on effect was that they were still at home when they should have been on the flight from Auckland to Scotland.  There isn’t another with the same airline until Wednesday.

However after a full evening and a full day today negotiating with the airlines and the insurance company and with the help of their travel agent, they have booked seats on another airline in the morning.  The downside is a 5 hour drive this evening in the dark down to Wellington and a return journey for Wendy tomorrow.

It made all my irritations look unimportant just as the disaster in Korea put their travel disruptions into perspective.

On the plus side yesterday I managed to get a replacement small plastic lever for the recliner chair and fit it.  

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

Where, I wondered to myself (there was no one else here to wonder to), did that quote come from.  Then I gradually remembered a bit more and a bit more and then it all came back to me.  It's a nursery rhyme: To Market, To Market.

Pauline's and my annual Northland Adventure ended only too quickly yesterday with my flight from Whangarei to Auckland and then from Auckland to Napier.  As the plane few over the Auckland CBD (Central Business District = City Centre = Downtown dependent upon one's country of residence) I realised how huge Auckland seems from the air.  The area it covers stretches right across the country albeit at a very narrow point.  It has a population of only 1.4 m people but covers an area of 1,086 km².  Hong Kong by comparison has a population of over 7m but covers almost the same area (1,104 km² ).

The photo covers slightly more than the CBD.  It emphasised to me however just how things have changed with the advent of Google Earth.  Now one can not only see almost any city in much greater detail from the air but one can zoom in on any address and have a really good look.

I arrived home early evening and then after dinner with The Family and a few phone calls I downloaded my photos and my ribs and I went to bed (although it turned out that the recliner is still the only comfortable way to sleep).  Today (Sunday) is the last day on which the Croquet Club's championship matches can be played so guess what I shall be doing today: not blogging unfortunately unless I get some time this evening.

On My Travels....Again

It's nearly midday on Tuesday in this neck of the woods.  Within the hour, assuming that all goes well, I shall be airborne for Auckland and thence to Whangerei to meet Pauline for our annual trip in Northland.  So there will be a little delay before the remainder of the Australian posts are done and then there will hopefully be some more from Northland.

Bye for now.

Thankful Thursday

It's been a super but very mixed week so far.  I've been having problems trying to get a post sorted with photos despite all the theory being right.  Trying to do a simple task like get the photos in the right order now that I've got an app which will downsize them is taking too much time.  I've been doing the real tourist things is Sydney which is really good when one has a Sydneyite to show you round.

Today we came to the Blue Mountains and went on a 3 hour fairly easy tramp. Given the fact that I need a new knee I was delighted to complete it with very little pain or inconvenience.  For that I was very thankful.

We managed to get a tourist bus back from where we were to the town we are staying in after the tramp.  Unfortunately my innate feeling that busses are inherently a form of transport to be avoided was justified by the fact that I didn't sit down quickly enough and was catapulted ribs first onto a seat rail with unfortunate consequences for my ribs.  At best I've cracked one or two. The good news is that there's nothing to be done about it.  The bad news is that it's very very painful.  

So tonight I'm very thankful for the fact that I didn't break an ankle or a leg today. 

As for a blog post with all the pictures I'm sure that at the very worst I'll get a post done when I get back to New Zealand.  

Thinking Ahead

Okay so by ahead I only mean this coming week but that's quite an achievement for me these days. That doesn't mean that I don't plan.  I do.  Sort of.  But this time I've done no planning apart from booking my flights. The rest is all being planned for me.

I'm going to Sydney to stay with a close friend of over 50 years who lives in Canada but who has a daughter living in Sydney.   The last time we were all together was when we all holidayed in Italy in 2012.  Her daughter has been on at me for years because we meet in Europe or here in New Zealand but I've never been to visit her in Sydney which is less than 4 hours away across the Tasman from New Zealand!

It is more years than I can remember since I have been away for more than a day or so without my laptop: especially if there were photos to be downloaded and blogs to be written.  Well the next eight days will be different.  I leave here at crack of dawn tomorrow morning.  Me, my iPad and my iPhone and no Macbook!  I have, however, decided that by the time I get to Sydney I will have learned more about using my iPad.  I know that at the moment I do not realise its full potential.  I've even downloaded the Apple manual for it.  My intention is to carry on blogging as if I was doing so on the laptop.  I suddenly decided this because of a post by Carol in Cairns.  Thank you Carol for that and for the subsequent information.

Why the photo below?  Simply because I wanted to see if I could do this post with a photo from the iPad.

A rather large hearse with a 1929 Austin 7 tucked in behind.

Addendum:

Well it didn't all go completely to plan.  The picture downsized itself and you can't take photos off the iPad using Blogger in Safari on the iPad which is rather odd.  However I'm sure I'll overcome these difficulties and carry on blogging.

Booked to Return to my New Zealand Home

I've done it.  I've booked my flights back to New Zealand.

I arrive on New Zealand soil (or tarmac) on 5 November 2013.

What Are The Odds?

Yesterday evening when Jamie was leaving I texted a friend who is travelling from Scotland to Hawaii at the crack of dawn Monday UK time just to make sure that she had completed her ESTA for the Visa Waiver for the USA.  "What's an ESTA?"  "Read the blurb that came with your ticket from the travel agent."  

I wonder how many people turn up at airports without the ESTA and cannot then travel to the USA or anywhere if they are stopping in the USA even as a transit passenger for 1 hour.  It's the stuff of nightmares.  After completing the on-line form and paying £40 it looks as though all may be OK for  my Scottish friend even though the ESTA confirmation hasn't come through yet.

I wonder what the odds are of a near problem in New Zealand making a bystander think of a friend on the other side of the world and just asking......

We'll see what happens tomorrow morning.

The Gap Year

Jamie, The Family's, 18 year old first born has left for his gap year.  Even I, male used to a son travelling the world, was a bit on the choked side as Jamie got on the plane for his first unaccompanied flight via Auckland, Los Angeles and London Heathrow to Edinburgh before going on to Switzerland for the winter's skiing season (working) and then China to do a course learning Chinese.

The last hour had not been without drama when a problem with the visa waiver for the USA transit was discovered but with the help of the wonderful Air New Zealand staff at Napier Airport all was sorted in time for the first leg of the flight.

That's Jamie in the blue T-shirt

Poor light through a plate glass window at 30x is my excuse for the poor quality

Looks happy!

Ready for the off

Left behind!

The Journey

I know many people for whom the journey is the enjoyment: it is better to have travelled and not arrived than not to have travelled at all.  Generally speaking I travel purely as a means of moving myself from one place to another.  I travel as a means to an end and not as a means in itself.  That doesn't mean that I cannot and sometimes do not enjoy the journey or at least parts of it and occasionally, of course, I do travel for travel's sake but not usually by air.

So on my travels from Lewis to Napier there were some good moments: over the Scottish Highlands in late afternoon as the light fades on a cloudy and cold evening:

The picture from the camera on the tailplane of the Emirates Airbus A380-800 flying at 39,000 feet over Australia

and over the Tasman towards  a rather cloudy New Zealand

Seating around 500 passengers these babies are BIG but very comfortable with excellent facilities on board.

The one irritation was in Auckland.  Air New Zealand have now automated their check-in system.  The Domestic Terminal is about 10 minutes quick walk from the International Terminal or there is a 15 minute bus service.  Transfers are easy though because you just exit International arrivals, walk a couple of yards and book in and leave baggage at the transfer area.  Unless you are later than 60 minutes from the domestic flight.  I had 5 minutes to spare but by the time I'd fathomed the system had managed to get it to read my ticket (which it initially refused to do) I was 1 minute late.  Human beings allow for that (I've started so I'll finish) but machines don't.  So I had to walk my luggage (I just missed a bus and the next bus would mean me missing my connection) to Domestic.  It's that part of travel I don't like.

I'm on my way

I'm in Glasgow.  In a few hours time I shall be on my way back to Napier.  This time though I shall not be traveling via Los Angeles or Hong Kong but via Dubai and Australia.  I've been quite lucky given the chaos that transatlantic air travel is in as a result of Superstorm Sandy.  My loyalty to Air New Zealand has been interrupted by the fact that ANZ wanted almost twice as much as Emirates to get me from Scotland to New Zealand.  So in a few hours I shall set off for Napier on a different route to usual:

Leave Glasgow Thu 2045 Arriving Dubai Fri 0815 (local time) Friday 0415 (UK time)

Leave Dubai Fri 1010 (Local time)

Arrive Auckland Saturday 1345 (local time) Saturday 0045 (UK time)

Leave Auckland 1545 (local time) 0245 (UK time) Arrive Napier 1645 (local time) 0345 (UK time)

I've Booked

my flights back to New Zealand.

I am scheduled to leave the International Terminal at Glasgow Airport at 2045 on Thursday 1 November.  I should arrive in Auckland at 1345 on Saturday 3 November and then fly on to Napier.

I am disappointed though.  Not, of course, at going back to my second home but because I will not be travelling with what has become my favourite airline: Air New Zealand.  Why?  Money.  A lot of money.  I had also hoped to go via Hong Kong and stay there for a few days both to break my journey and re-visit that wonderful, vibrant and exciting city again.

Unfortunately Air New zealand wanted almost twice the price of Emirates to get me from Glasgow to Auckland.  That stretched my loyalty a bit too much and I booked with Emirates.

The downside is that I'll be travelling in an Airbus A380 800 which is something I had hoped never to do.  C'est la vie.  The upside is that I don't have to travel through London's Heathrow which saves a  great deal of time.

Travelling Again

It's just after midday here in New Zealand.  It will be another 6 months or so before I can say that again.  I'm sure that those 6 months will fly past unfortunately.  I wish that time would slow down.  There is so much already if not exactly planned then at least ready to be slotted into a plan for my time in Scotland.

This blog will continue whilst I am travelling.  At least there are posts scheduled and I shall read and respond to comments when I arrive at my first destination which is Glasgow.  I shall be staying there for a few days and catching up with friends.  Tosca with Scottish Opera is booked for Friday evening.

Lewis on Sunday.

I look forward to catching up with all my Blogland friends in a few days.

The Journey Home From Mount Maunganui

I've often been asked to show more of the countryside of this beautiful country.  Like my brother, CJ, when I am lucky enough to be a passenger rather than the driver (which is my usual role) I continually click away with the camera in the hope that I'll get the occasional, or hopefully more frequent, useable photo.  Here's some to show the journey home on Tuesday. The countryside in New Zealand is immensely varied from Alpine glaciers, fiords, live volcanos and subtropical forests to beaches stretching for 50 miles or more.  It's a wonderful and spectacular place.  These photos represent one tiny part of that rich variety.

Thankful Thursday

I woke to the sound of the rain hammering on the roof of the deck.  Not, I thought, as I realised it was still darkish at 0710, really the sort of day for driving up to Tauranga for a 5-day tournament.  One day at home was all I had to do catch-up and, of course, I have nowhere near managed it.  Not only have I got a myriad of posts from my adventures in Northland but there are still lots from Art Deco weekend.

Time.  There's an old saying 'when the Lord made time, he made plenty of it!'  Sorry that's no more valid than the old feminist saying 'when God mad man He was only practicing.'  There is never enough time.  

My lift is due in 3 minutes.  I'd better get out there with my luggage - which, ironically, is more than I have when I travel between Scotland and here.

For all of that little gripe I am truly thankful that I do have the time that I have and that I have the opportunities to spend so much of it in enjoyable pursuits.

Have a great day!

PS It's 0945 an the sun is now shining!

Off to Tauranga

After a horrible day yesterday when the temperature plummeted from the 30s the day before to the teens and it rained, the sun is shining again and is apparently shining over most of the North Island.  This makes me very happy because I'm driving up to Tauranga today.  I shall have the top off The Handbag and I'm hoping for lots of stops for photos along the way.  I should have a signal on the laptop so I'll hopefully keep up the blogging while I'm away.

A Seeing To By Adrian

Adrian commented that he liked the first picture on my last post.  It was, I think, posted straight from the camera.  I've just received an email from Adrian with a version to which he has given a seeing to.  I like it.  As I've said a million times before I must, I must spend some time learning Photoshop.

I'm sorry Jill.  The turbines are still there.  Ironically if I got rid of them I think the photo would be less interesting.

The Journey From Palmerston North

Just a few shots from the car window (I wasn't driving) on the way home to Napier from Palmerston North last Friday.

The State Highway south of Ashurst towards the Manawatu Gorge (which is closed at the moment due to a huge landslip)

The view from The Saddle Road over the Ranges

A rain cloud on the Ruahinies from SH2 just north of Norsewood

This shop building in Woodville is hardly an architectural gem but the cheesecakes are renowned throughout the area

Coming Home - The Other One

In an hour or so I shall be leaving Anna's for Glasgow airport.  I shall fly to London Heathrow from there and this evening I fly with Air New Zealand to Hong Kong (where my son Gaz and his girlfriend Carol are at the moment) where I shall avail myself of that lovely airport's showers to freshen up before the flight continues to Auckland from whence I shall fly to Napier and my New Zealand home.  The first leg from London to Hong Kong is about 5700 miles (9170 Km) and the Hong Kong to Auckland leg is about 5900 miles (9500 Km).  I should manage a bit of reading over the next 48 hours!