Donna, Brenda & Amy, Flock Hill Station, near Arthurs Pass,
Kayaking on Lake Pearson near Arthurs Pass.Friday, April 30, 2010
Feb 09
Donna, Brenda & Amy, Flock Hill Station, near Arthurs Pass, Kayaking on Lake Pearson near Arthurs Pass.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Christmas & New Year 09/10
Overlooking Rangitikei river on our way back to Dannevirke 8th January.
Walking in Tongariro National Park, central North Island.
Mount Ruapehu, central North Island - 5th January.
View of Auckland from Northcote, out walking near Donna's dads on 4th Jan.
Christmas day in Dannevirke. Bruce (Noels cousin), Donnas mum, Uncle Bill, Donna, Brandon (Bruces son), Auntie Emma, and cousin Debbie. The 'New' van
The van with newly installed pop top, taken April 09 - Between Springs Junction & Lewis Pass.
Visitors From Milton Keynes - Dec 09
Tina and Steve, Hashers from Milton Keynes - our only UK visitors of 2009. A few weeks later Steve was doing some work on the house in Bradwell for us with Marcus.Hanmer Springs Dec 09
'The Waterfall', Hanmer Springs.
The Summit of Mt Isobel, just over 1300 metres.Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
St Arnaud Sept 09
A well deserved drink for 'The Lads' - Donna, Susan and Brenda after their 3 hours of rafting and 5 of running/hiking and biking in the Spring Challenge adventure race. Fantastic venue for the start/finish at Lake Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes, four hours drive from home.
Townshend Valley September 2009
About an hours drive from home, then we cycled and walked/ran for 7 hours, hardly seeing a soul all day, but getting some great views.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Mt Somers
Labour weekend - end of October. About 2 hours drive south west of home. Unseasonal snow on Friday night had melted back to a more comfortable level by Sunday morning.
Torlesse Range from Mount Oxford
Martins Birthday 2008 - a walk in the local mountains followed by an Indian meal in the
evening.
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Western Australia 19th March - 23rd May
Fiji - July/August 08
Escaping the English summer at the end of July, this was a typical Fijian day. We had to be there for a family reunion (Donna's dads side) on the island of Vanua Levu. This was taken on a little resort island called Leleuvia between the main island Viti Levu and Ovalau. We spent about a week here in the end with a great couple David & Brigitte from Sydney, most of the time as the only guests bar one other.
Monday, December 01, 2008
Brief summary of 2008!
Well it had to happen eventually. I’ve been doing a bit of work for the last few weeks for a company that does gardening jobs for Christchurch council – mostly clearing walking tracks and cutting long grass around trees in parks. We spent more than anticipated on our last trip overseas so I said I would get some work until we’d replaced the bank balance! Trouble with work is it gets in the way of everything else you want to do.
Our only visitor this year was John my mum’s ex-physio. He was with us for a couple of days around February time. Unfortunately we’d sold the campervan just before Christmas so didn’t have any transport whilst he was here, but we managed to get around a bit by bike (which he didn’t enjoy) and bus. Since we were going to be away for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year and then for 5 months we decided not to buy another till we got back – just as well as some of the money ended up funding our trip.
Donna’s mum’s partner of about 20 years, Noel was in a hospice very ill with cancer so we spent the 2 weeks with them – mostly camped out in the hospice grounds in Donna’s Aunt & Uncle’s campervan. Unfortunately Noel passed away in March just before we left. They hadn’t expected him to make it till Christmas, but her mum enjoyed her precious last months with him although he needed constant care, but he kept his wicked sense of humour till the end. We felt guilty about leaving when we did but plans were already made and tickets paid for. We left less than 2 weeks after the funeral.
We had a great time in Western Australia. There was a big Hash House Harriers event on over Easter weekend, then we hired bikes and cycled about 500 miles down to the south coast, 9 days and a few other bits on purpose built mostly off-road bike tracks. It was great fun and we were local celebrities when we turned up on a campsite with all our gear – until we met the round the world cyclists who’d already cycled from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego! We put the bikes on a bus back to Perth, did some cycling round there, then hired a campervan and spent a month travelling up the west coast visiting national parks and trying to spend as little on camp sites as possible. Highlights included hiking in Karijini National Park, canoeing in Kalbarri NP, watching wild Dolphins being fed at Monkey Mia as they swam around our feet, and to top the lot swimming with whale sharks – just young ones – only about 6 metres long!
After 2 months of almost constant sunshine, we arrived in England at the end of May to a terrible summer. I did my last 2 weeks back at Banco Abbey, and we spent a week at a cottage in Devon with my sister and mum and dad to celebrate his 80th birthday. Weather wasn’t even too bad that week apart from the hail storm we had while walking part of the south west coastal path when we were miles from anywhere. Rest of the time was taken up with visiting friends and relatives and doing jobs around the house with my dad – like pruning trees and repairing 8 foot garage doors.
The last week in July we flew to Fiji to resume holiday mode. After a couple of nights on the main island we took the overnight boat to Vanua Levu – the second largest, where the reunion was to take place. Donna’s dad was one of the youngest of 18 children brought up on the family plantation here. The land is still in family hands, and one of Donna’s cousins has a holiday home here. This is where the event was held – he’d put up various other shelters in the grounds, and some toilets and showers so a few of us camped there for the 3 day event. The rest stayed in the town of Savu Savu, 20 km away. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but it was around 150 I think. The last reunion had been 28 years ago. It was a great do with snorkeling on the reef and bush/plantation walks and games during the day and feasts at night. Afterwards we went to 2 other smaller islands – one you could walk round in about ½ hour, and did some rainforest walks, snorkeling and relaxing, before going back to the mainland to catch up with relatives again before coming home.
As we flew over NZ on the way back at the end of August there was a lot of snow on the mountains – it had been a long cold wet winter. We had a weekend away at the end of October in the foothills about 2 hours from here and we had another snowfall then, but it soon melted the next day. Since then we’ve had several days with temperatures in the 30’s.
Donna had a job 2 weeks after getting back, temping but due to be made permanent soon. It’s in Christchurch, but she cycles most days, having bought a super duper bike and is loving it even though it’s a 66 km round trip. We have bought another van and we’re kitting it out as a camper – Donna has made curtains & I’m doing the rest – in between my work golf and gardening – we’ve decided to grow some veggies this year, which involves some backbreaking digging up of lawns.
Donnas mum is coming for Christmas. She has sold her house and coming for a trip south before buying another smaller place. She is doing a bit of a tour with a friend. They’re coming next week for a few days then coming back for Christmas. Donna’s Aunt and Uncle are coming for Christmas too with their camper van, so for the first time we’ll be entertaining for the holiday, and spending only our second Christmas in New Zealand at home.
Our only visitor this year was John my mum’s ex-physio. He was with us for a couple of days around February time. Unfortunately we’d sold the campervan just before Christmas so didn’t have any transport whilst he was here, but we managed to get around a bit by bike (which he didn’t enjoy) and bus. Since we were going to be away for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year and then for 5 months we decided not to buy another till we got back – just as well as some of the money ended up funding our trip.
Donna’s mum’s partner of about 20 years, Noel was in a hospice very ill with cancer so we spent the 2 weeks with them – mostly camped out in the hospice grounds in Donna’s Aunt & Uncle’s campervan. Unfortunately Noel passed away in March just before we left. They hadn’t expected him to make it till Christmas, but her mum enjoyed her precious last months with him although he needed constant care, but he kept his wicked sense of humour till the end. We felt guilty about leaving when we did but plans were already made and tickets paid for. We left less than 2 weeks after the funeral.
We had a great time in Western Australia. There was a big Hash House Harriers event on over Easter weekend, then we hired bikes and cycled about 500 miles down to the south coast, 9 days and a few other bits on purpose built mostly off-road bike tracks. It was great fun and we were local celebrities when we turned up on a campsite with all our gear – until we met the round the world cyclists who’d already cycled from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego! We put the bikes on a bus back to Perth, did some cycling round there, then hired a campervan and spent a month travelling up the west coast visiting national parks and trying to spend as little on camp sites as possible. Highlights included hiking in Karijini National Park, canoeing in Kalbarri NP, watching wild Dolphins being fed at Monkey Mia as they swam around our feet, and to top the lot swimming with whale sharks – just young ones – only about 6 metres long!
After 2 months of almost constant sunshine, we arrived in England at the end of May to a terrible summer. I did my last 2 weeks back at Banco Abbey, and we spent a week at a cottage in Devon with my sister and mum and dad to celebrate his 80th birthday. Weather wasn’t even too bad that week apart from the hail storm we had while walking part of the south west coastal path when we were miles from anywhere. Rest of the time was taken up with visiting friends and relatives and doing jobs around the house with my dad – like pruning trees and repairing 8 foot garage doors.
The last week in July we flew to Fiji to resume holiday mode. After a couple of nights on the main island we took the overnight boat to Vanua Levu – the second largest, where the reunion was to take place. Donna’s dad was one of the youngest of 18 children brought up on the family plantation here. The land is still in family hands, and one of Donna’s cousins has a holiday home here. This is where the event was held – he’d put up various other shelters in the grounds, and some toilets and showers so a few of us camped there for the 3 day event. The rest stayed in the town of Savu Savu, 20 km away. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but it was around 150 I think. The last reunion had been 28 years ago. It was a great do with snorkeling on the reef and bush/plantation walks and games during the day and feasts at night. Afterwards we went to 2 other smaller islands – one you could walk round in about ½ hour, and did some rainforest walks, snorkeling and relaxing, before going back to the mainland to catch up with relatives again before coming home.
As we flew over NZ on the way back at the end of August there was a lot of snow on the mountains – it had been a long cold wet winter. We had a weekend away at the end of October in the foothills about 2 hours from here and we had another snowfall then, but it soon melted the next day. Since then we’ve had several days with temperatures in the 30’s.
Donna had a job 2 weeks after getting back, temping but due to be made permanent soon. It’s in Christchurch, but she cycles most days, having bought a super duper bike and is loving it even though it’s a 66 km round trip. We have bought another van and we’re kitting it out as a camper – Donna has made curtains & I’m doing the rest – in between my work golf and gardening – we’ve decided to grow some veggies this year, which involves some backbreaking digging up of lawns.
Donnas mum is coming for Christmas. She has sold her house and coming for a trip south before buying another smaller place. She is doing a bit of a tour with a friend. They’re coming next week for a few days then coming back for Christmas. Donna’s Aunt and Uncle are coming for Christmas too with their camper van, so for the first time we’ll be entertaining for the holiday, and spending only our second Christmas in New Zealand at home.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Perth WA, March/APRIL 2008
Martin with Neil & Kerry at their house in Perth. They moved out here from Northampton about three years ago. Neil used to work at Abbey, though never with Martin. They put us up for a few nights, and looked after some of our kit whilst we were cycle touring.Wednesday, June 25, 2008
June Update
We left NZ for Australia in March, and have been travelling ever since so haven't had much chance to update things. Needless to say we're having a great time and will post an update and some photos when we get back to NZ in September.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
December 1st 2007
Donnas works Christmas do in Hanmer Springs. The theme was famous couples, but for some reason someone decided six of us should go as The Village People. No prizes for guessing which ones we were.
November 2007
Vivian used to work with Donna at Audi in Milton Keynes. They have since moved to Melbourne. Gary's mum lives in Rangiora where Donna works. What's more, Lee who is the husband of an old friend of Gary's works with Donna now! We only discovered this when they were over for this visit.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
October 2007
We decided to take a week off to see a bit of New Zealand for the first time in ages. We headed south and west. This is Lake Tekapo which is about 4 hours drive from home. I was last here in 1992 with Cynthia, and Donna stopped briefly once on her way to Queenstown. We didn't stay here, but carried on to Wanaka and Mount Aspiring National Park, another couple of hours further on, having stayed the night near Twizel and watched the rugby World Cup Final in a pub there first thing Sunday morning.
The second day we travelled up the Matukituki Valley where we stayed for two nights, and biked so far up the valley, left the bikes then hiked for a couple of hours. It was uphill into the wind so the final bike ride back was great fun. This photo is looking back down the valley. We did another day hike out of Wanaka up the Little Griffel - a very windy hill with good views, then spent the night on a DOC camp site by Lake Hawea - our only night we paid to stay - $12.
After a rainy day we drove back up to Twizel, and out to Lake Ohau and the Hopkins valley. We stayed on a free Doc camp near the end of the road which we had to ourselves. Again we took the bikes, cycling an hour and a half up into the wind, then left the bikes and hiked for about 4 hours up the Hopkins then Huxley Valleys to the Huxley Forks hut for the night. We had intended going further but about a half hour further on, an avalanche had blocked the track and the weather was deteriorating so we went back to the hut - which we got to ourselves for the night, and retraced our steps the following day. This is the view from just outside the hut.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Waiau River 29th September
Just outside Hanmer Springs, an hour or so from home. Two of Donna's workmates were competing in an adventure race which involved cycling, hiking and rafting down the river. We followed down river on bikes then had to cycle back upstream directly into a howling nor'west wind.Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Lake Coleridge 22nd July 2007
This is Donna getting into a very cold (8 degrees) lake to do her second day of open water dives to complete her diving course. That is a very thick wet suit she's wearing. Given the opportunity to do it in 28 degree water whilst I was diving in Thailand, she decided to pass. Yes that is snow in the background. The lake is about 500 metres above sea level and they had forecast snow down to 400 metres overnight but fortunately they got it wrong again. It was about 2 hours drive from Christchurch to get here.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Mt Hutt 7th July
An hour or so drive from home. It's about 1000 ft above sea level here, and it snowed Friday afternoon but as you can see it had mostly melted by Saturday afternoon.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Waikuku Beach 12th May
Donna Tim and Anne. Anne used to be my boss at Abbey. Both her and Tim were made redundant and given early retirement. Anne's stepmother lives in Christchurch so they were over visiting. They came over for dinner the night before, and we'd gone up to Waikuku which is the next village north of here to see her step-niece who lives down by the beach. They have a chocolate labrador pup - which explains why Anne is holding a stick which she's about to throw.
8th May 2007
No prizes for guessing where this was taken. It's about 3/4 hour drive from Woodend, out the other side of Rangiora, then it was a two and a half hour walk up to the top, during which time I saw just one other couple, and a very quick hour descent back to the car park, but my legs regretted that for about a week after. In case you can't read it, it's 1023 metres high. The next shot is a view from near the top looking across to Mount Grey which is just a bit smaller.
Mayday
Your typical English dancing round the Maypole in New Zealand? Despite living here for about 30 years, Dagy likes to keep some traditions alive - even though it was 2 days early so we could take advantage of the glorious April Sunday afternoon. We were entertained by a band and caller (in the foreground). The many guests had brought nibbles and desert, whilst Dagy, his wife Carol and various others had prepared a roast dinner for all - including plenty of veg for me!
Monday, April 09, 2007
Easter 2007
Donna and her dad outside the Mud House Winery in Waipara, about 18 miles north of Woodend. We'd just had a bit of a tasting, and Donna has a carry out for ron. Her dad and Rose were here for a few days over Easter Weekend - this was Good Friday.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Lake Taylor 3rd February
We spent the night up here and did a walk of about seven hours with stops, past another lake to a third - Lake Sumner. It was 2 hours drive to get here - the first on tar seal, the second on gravel.
Taylors Mistake 31st January
Martin on the cliffs above Taylors Mistake. Our second visitor John, who used to be my mum's physio before he retired, stayed with us for a couple of days at the end of January, so one day we did this walk of about 3 hours from this Christchurch suburb across Godley Head to Lyttleton Harbour and back.Helen Bob & Martin
January 18th - our first visitors at home this year. Helen who works at Abbey and husband Bob out here on a 25th Wedding Anniversary tour. Unfortunately this was their last full day in NZ when we finally caught up with them, and they were staying with other friends in Christchurch, so we just got to have a couple of drinks with them.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Queen Charlotte Track
View from the track.
Donna Claire & Andy with lashings of lemonade and muffins - now this is tramping in style. A well earned elevenses break at Resolution Bay, on our 14km walk from Ship Cove to Furneaux Lodge. Claire is an old university friend & they were out here for a few weeks in January but couldn't make it as far south as Christchurch so we spent the weekend with them in Picton, doing this walk and a tour of the Blenheim wineries.Waimakariri River January 4th
We went for a bike ride up the river bed - well it was partly on gravel road, but there's not a lot of difference between the river bed and the road. There was still snow on the mountains but it was a gorgeous spring day.
Christmas Eve in Canterbury
Not the best of photos, but this was taken nearby on Christmas Eve, and yes that is snow on the mountains. It was brief and it was soon gone, but was indicative of the summer we were having - occasional good days, and some very cold ones. Since the end of January, it's been a lot better, although we had snow on the mountains again the week before last.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Farewell Spit 9th Dec 06
On the way back down south we had a caouple of days of summer (this wasn't one of them) so we decided to stop off for a few days and visit the far north west tip of the south island, where neither of us had been before. This is Farewell Spit which is about 27km of sand.
Piha South Beach - West Auckland
On a rare trip out of the city whilst staying in Auckland in November, we went over the Waitakere Ranges for a look at the wild west coast.Monday, December 04, 2006
Christmas Newsletter
We’ve now been here for just over 2 years. Last Christmas we split our time between Donna’s mum & dad in Auckland then went to Waiheke Island which is less than an hour from Auckland central, but a world away – more like a small Greek Island. We spent 5 days there over new year with a bunch of mates including Paul from Milton Keynes who was out in NZ for a few months. We had a great time there, walking cycling drinking, visiting vineyards and swimming in the sea.
Back in Christchurch, with a concerted effort we finally got the house finished – well, I got it finished whilst Donna went out to work for a living. The final touches were just a matter of creating lawns and pathways – out of the several tonnes of stones I dug out of the garden to make the lawn, and building a postbox – mail is only delivered to the end of your drive here – ok unless you live on a farm and your drive is several miles long! I just managed to get everything done before we left for the winter.
Winter seemed to arrive a good month earlier this year by my yardstick of my last swim in the ocean which was at the end of April rather than May. In june we had a heavy snowfall, although thankfully it didn’t affect us much and soon melted, but people further south and inland were without power for weeks. As if that wasn’t a cue to leave, we’d already planned to spend a few months in England, and left at the end of June, packing the house up and leaving it in the hands of a letting agent. This was to be my annual trip back for 2 weeks work at Abbey (now Banco Santander), and visiting family & friends, but got extended by 2 friends getting married – one at the beginning of July and one in August. Wayne asked me to be Best Man, so we had to be back in time for the stag night on 1st July, which we spent at Henley Regatta. My dad’s birthday was the following day and with a bit of conspiring with my sister we managed to keep it from them that we were coming back and managed to surprise them. Unfortunately due to being in Henley the night before, a suicide on the line causing a train delay, and a trip back to London via Guildford, then an electrical fault causing us to go to Birmingham via Stafford, we didn’t arrive until after 9pm – 11+ hours to travel about 150 miles!
The wedding in London went off very well, with the service at a church used in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral, a boat trip on the Thames and a reception at the Ritz. Two days later I started my two weeks work which turned into seven weeks due to the fact that the Spanish have made so many people redundant there’s hardly anyone left to do the work. I even ended up doing recruitment interviews, mmmm don’t ask. The second wedding in the midst of all this was Robin’s, another excellent do and a stag weekend of exercise in Snowdonia – and not just the elbow variety.
The day before I finished work, my sister Susan went into hospital at short notice (she got a cancellation) for an operation, so we went up to stay at her house and look after her when she came out for a couple of weeks. This was quite handy as my mum is currently wheelchair bound and unable to negotiate her stairs. Unfortunately this curtailed our plans somewhat for the rest of the trip and meant we didn’t get to spend so much time with my mum and dad as we’d hoped. Mum had a knee replacement this time last year and hasn’t been able to straighten the leg properly since. She’s just had the other one done and we’re hoping for better things this time. Anyway we managed to spend the last week or so with them, seeing us through to the 20th September, including mum’s birthday on 17th.
The plan had always been to spend some time in Asia on the way back, including a Hash House Harriers event in Northern Thailand. Here’s a rough summary of the trip. Skip to the end of this paragraph if you like! Starting at the beginning, we had one night in Singapore where we wandered around Chinatown and had something to eat. Its a strange idea having a Chinatown in an essentially Chinese city. Next morning we travelled to the causway by public transport and crossed to Malaysia. Went straight up to Melaka, had a bit of a look around and one night there then on to KL. 2 nights there and a day looking around then up to Penang -stayed in the heart of the old town on Love Lane! Again a couple of nights, and a day touring round the sights. Boat from there to Langkawi for another 2 nights and hired a car for the day to travel around. Boat from there to Thailand. 2 nights in Krabi, boat trip up river walked up a mountain to a temple at the top. 2 nights in Phang Nga - walk in National Park, boat trip out to islands of the bay including the one where they filmed a bit of The Man with the Golden Gun. Got sick of the rain so got bus and ferry to Ko Samui. 2 nights agian and hired bikes for the day to see enough of the placce to decide we didn't want to stay. Boat to Ko Tao. 4 nights - including the England Macedonia game 11pm kick off. Managed 5 dives including a refresher dive & test. Did a bit of walking and beachy stuff too. Boat and bus for 1 night in Bangkok (don't sing) then bus to Kanchanaburi where we spent 3 nights including my birthday (card's in the post I know). Nice place in the middle of no-where with pool, so a bit of relaxing plus the Bridge on the River Kwai, few museums, National Park with big waterfall. Bus to Ayutthaya - 2 nights, old capital - lots of ruined temples, and floods. Train to Pak Chong - 2 nights, Khao Yai National Park - bats, snakes, scorpions, deer, macacques and gibbons. Long bus trip overnights to Chiang Rai 4 nights including hill tribe trek, museums, local hash, trip to Myanmar for an hour or so to renew Thai viisa. Doi Inthanon National Park - waterfalls and Thailands highest mountain - lowest temperature of the trip 12 degrees at 2500m. Chiang Mai 6 nights - hotel with pool, temples, cookery course - and Interhash - few beers, couple of runs, few more beers.. Then flew back to SIngapore for one night and a bit of shopping/sightseeing - and the odd Singapore Sling in Raffles.
Arrived back to 3 superb days followed by winter again - snow on the mountains and rained with us. Apparently it’s been a really bad winter and is reluctant to go, and we’ve got an El Niño pattern again. House is still let till 8th December so travelling round in the camper van and visiting Donna's folks. Donna’s mum recently moved to Dannevirke which is 7 hours drive from Aukland and about 4 from Wellington. So we spent a week or so here, then went up to Aucland for almost 2 weeks then came back here last week for the wedding. After something like 16 years of living together, Donna’s mum and Noel finally decided to tie the knot.
So after 5 months on the road and living out of a backpack, we’re on the home straight and finally looking forward to going home. Donna is itching to get a job, as despite her best intentions and going throught the motions (and expense) of getting another work visa for the UK, she didn’t manage to pick anything up – too many East European immigrants doing those temping jobs these days. I might even look for something myself!
Back in Christchurch, with a concerted effort we finally got the house finished – well, I got it finished whilst Donna went out to work for a living. The final touches were just a matter of creating lawns and pathways – out of the several tonnes of stones I dug out of the garden to make the lawn, and building a postbox – mail is only delivered to the end of your drive here – ok unless you live on a farm and your drive is several miles long! I just managed to get everything done before we left for the winter.
Winter seemed to arrive a good month earlier this year by my yardstick of my last swim in the ocean which was at the end of April rather than May. In june we had a heavy snowfall, although thankfully it didn’t affect us much and soon melted, but people further south and inland were without power for weeks. As if that wasn’t a cue to leave, we’d already planned to spend a few months in England, and left at the end of June, packing the house up and leaving it in the hands of a letting agent. This was to be my annual trip back for 2 weeks work at Abbey (now Banco Santander), and visiting family & friends, but got extended by 2 friends getting married – one at the beginning of July and one in August. Wayne asked me to be Best Man, so we had to be back in time for the stag night on 1st July, which we spent at Henley Regatta. My dad’s birthday was the following day and with a bit of conspiring with my sister we managed to keep it from them that we were coming back and managed to surprise them. Unfortunately due to being in Henley the night before, a suicide on the line causing a train delay, and a trip back to London via Guildford, then an electrical fault causing us to go to Birmingham via Stafford, we didn’t arrive until after 9pm – 11+ hours to travel about 150 miles!
The wedding in London went off very well, with the service at a church used in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral, a boat trip on the Thames and a reception at the Ritz. Two days later I started my two weeks work which turned into seven weeks due to the fact that the Spanish have made so many people redundant there’s hardly anyone left to do the work. I even ended up doing recruitment interviews, mmmm don’t ask. The second wedding in the midst of all this was Robin’s, another excellent do and a stag weekend of exercise in Snowdonia – and not just the elbow variety.
The day before I finished work, my sister Susan went into hospital at short notice (she got a cancellation) for an operation, so we went up to stay at her house and look after her when she came out for a couple of weeks. This was quite handy as my mum is currently wheelchair bound and unable to negotiate her stairs. Unfortunately this curtailed our plans somewhat for the rest of the trip and meant we didn’t get to spend so much time with my mum and dad as we’d hoped. Mum had a knee replacement this time last year and hasn’t been able to straighten the leg properly since. She’s just had the other one done and we’re hoping for better things this time. Anyway we managed to spend the last week or so with them, seeing us through to the 20th September, including mum’s birthday on 17th.
The plan had always been to spend some time in Asia on the way back, including a Hash House Harriers event in Northern Thailand. Here’s a rough summary of the trip. Skip to the end of this paragraph if you like! Starting at the beginning, we had one night in Singapore where we wandered around Chinatown and had something to eat. Its a strange idea having a Chinatown in an essentially Chinese city. Next morning we travelled to the causway by public transport and crossed to Malaysia. Went straight up to Melaka, had a bit of a look around and one night there then on to KL. 2 nights there and a day looking around then up to Penang -stayed in the heart of the old town on Love Lane! Again a couple of nights, and a day touring round the sights. Boat from there to Langkawi for another 2 nights and hired a car for the day to travel around. Boat from there to Thailand. 2 nights in Krabi, boat trip up river walked up a mountain to a temple at the top. 2 nights in Phang Nga - walk in National Park, boat trip out to islands of the bay including the one where they filmed a bit of The Man with the Golden Gun. Got sick of the rain so got bus and ferry to Ko Samui. 2 nights agian and hired bikes for the day to see enough of the placce to decide we didn't want to stay. Boat to Ko Tao. 4 nights - including the England Macedonia game 11pm kick off. Managed 5 dives including a refresher dive & test. Did a bit of walking and beachy stuff too. Boat and bus for 1 night in Bangkok (don't sing) then bus to Kanchanaburi where we spent 3 nights including my birthday (card's in the post I know). Nice place in the middle of no-where with pool, so a bit of relaxing plus the Bridge on the River Kwai, few museums, National Park with big waterfall. Bus to Ayutthaya - 2 nights, old capital - lots of ruined temples, and floods. Train to Pak Chong - 2 nights, Khao Yai National Park - bats, snakes, scorpions, deer, macacques and gibbons. Long bus trip overnights to Chiang Rai 4 nights including hill tribe trek, museums, local hash, trip to Myanmar for an hour or so to renew Thai viisa. Doi Inthanon National Park - waterfalls and Thailands highest mountain - lowest temperature of the trip 12 degrees at 2500m. Chiang Mai 6 nights - hotel with pool, temples, cookery course - and Interhash - few beers, couple of runs, few more beers.. Then flew back to SIngapore for one night and a bit of shopping/sightseeing - and the odd Singapore Sling in Raffles.
Arrived back to 3 superb days followed by winter again - snow on the mountains and rained with us. Apparently it’s been a really bad winter and is reluctant to go, and we’ve got an El Niño pattern again. House is still let till 8th December so travelling round in the camper van and visiting Donna's folks. Donna’s mum recently moved to Dannevirke which is 7 hours drive from Aukland and about 4 from Wellington. So we spent a week or so here, then went up to Aucland for almost 2 weeks then came back here last week for the wedding. After something like 16 years of living together, Donna’s mum and Noel finally decided to tie the knot.
So after 5 months on the road and living out of a backpack, we’re on the home straight and finally looking forward to going home. Donna is itching to get a job, as despite her best intentions and going throught the motions (and expense) of getting another work visa for the UK, she didn’t manage to pick anything up – too many East European immigrants doing those temping jobs these days. I might even look for something myself!
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