31st March, 2016

An uneventful flight brought us to Newark Airport to stay with our next wonderful hosts – Bettina and Argyris who live in New Jersey…..or so we thought! Somewhere along the way we seemed to have missed the fact that they have moved, so it was a bit of a surprise when Argyris met us at the airport and announced that we now had a two hour drive to the north east of Pennsylvania. Never mind, it was great to see them and Mariah, their 15 year-old daughter and Ari their 7 year old son (and Leila the dog!) in their home deep in the woods (rather than a suburban street in NJ!). We had a lovely supper and a long chat and then headed to bed – and a nod of thanks to Mariah for sacrificing her bed for us.

I know some of you enjoy these bits, so I thought you might like to know that Pennsylvania (along with Delaware) was given to William Penn by King Charles II in 1681 in payment of a debt of £16,000 (over £2million in today’s money) he owed Penn’s father (Admiral William Penn). This made Penn the largest non-royal landowner in the world. He wanted to call it either New Wales or Sylvania (as in wooded), but Charles insisted on Pennsylvania in honour of the father. Penn wanted a haven for the much-persecuted Quakers and managed to settle some there and to establish what was a very liberal constitution for its day. He was however embezelled by a colleague and though his family retained the area until the American Revolution, he died penniless (nod to Nick Bradley for the pun there – one, I should acknowledge, that Val spotted) back in England. Coincidentally he was baptised at All Hallows-by-the-Tower, the same church where John Quincy Adams was married (and Thomas Moore and John Fisher as well as Archbishop Laud, are buried (it is conveniently close to the Tower after all). I believe my great uncle, Sir Ion Hamilton Benn, is also buried there. So there you go.

1st April, 2016

No April Fool, we really were deep in the Pocono woods in deepest Pennsylvania! The house overlooks Lake Wallenpaupack, a popular spot for the traditional American summer vacation, which meant that it was pretty much deserted the rest of the year. It was wonderfully peaceful though and reasonably warm – though I got to wear my fleece for the first time in 3 months. To be honest, it must have been wondering why it had had to come on the journey, only to be kept hidden away in the dark of my suitcase for months.

A bit rainy, but we had a lovely walk and it was easy to imagine what it must be like in the summer. That evening we went for a nice meal at a local restaurant and had a fiendish game of Hearts to finish off the evening (Argyris – claiming not to understand the game – came from behind to win).

2nd April, 2016

A little chillier today, but not too bad. A nice slow start and then off to go 10 pin bowling. If you don’t know, Val is an excellent bowler and was in fine form. I managed one of my highest scores (165) and although some of us struggled at times (it is surprisingly more difficult than it looks) we had a great time. We had time at the end to drop in at the new park that has been built in their local town.

This was not the end of the day though as Bettina had organised for us to attend a performance at the Shawnee Playhouse of The Diary of Anne Frank. So after another nice dinner, we settled down for what proved to be an excellent performance by a very professional amateur company. The Playhouse was originally built in 1904 and has a long tradition of providing theatre to locals. The Anne Frank story is always one of those where I hope the ending will be different this time )like in Romeo & Juliet). Very interesting (and chilling) portrayal of the 8 people cooped up together for two years of whom only one, her father, survived the war.

That should have been the last event of the evening, but we were halfway through a game of Crazy Whist (and I was winning!), so we finished that off (yes, I won) and it was off to bed before our early start in the morning for the airport. It was a wonderful stay and great to catch up on all the news and our thanks to the whole family for looking after us so well. Great friends!! Next time we will find out where you live before setting off!

3rd April, 2016

Now this was a bit of an eventful day! It didn’t start too well as it snowed overnight and whilst Val was making herself an early piece of toast there was a power cut – we later saw the offending tree straddled over the power line. Not a major problem, though and candles and torches were soon in action. However a shower was out of the question as you need electricity to pump water from a well (or you do here for all you pedants out there thinking ‘no, John. I think you will find that wells have been around for centuries before electricity was harnessed to get the water out of them’). Undeterred (and unwashed!), we set off just after 7am for La Guardia. What a difference a day makes as the snow lay all around…..

I thought you might enjoy a photo of my socks and shoes – I was complimented on them in the airport by a nice Australian lady! I know the photo of the New York skyline looks a bit odd, but I took it from a moving car. The bridge is the George Washington (named after one of the greatest Englishmen ever born!)

We arrived nice and early at 0915 (thanks Argyris!!) and settled down to wait for our plane to Boston at 1200 only to discover it was delayed by high winds. We eventually took off at 3.15pm – but that did give me time to have endless refilled coffees at the cafe and watch Leicester beat Southampton on the TV they had (curse you, Leicester!) and keep track of the T20 Cricket Final between England and the West Indies on the tablets they provide for the customers. Unfortunately I could only seethe text on the BBC website (though that is always an excellent way to ‘see’ the game) and only England’s innings, as after 3 cups of coffee I felt I had better leave the cafe (and go to the loo!!). I tried to get the game on my iPad only for the free wifi to run out after 30 minutes – but I snuck back and checked, only to end up disappointed for the rest of the day as England lost in what was the last over. A great game though by all accounts.

Tablet with TV behind – heaven!

The flight eventually took off – very, very windy and we bumped our way northwards before landing briefly in Boston. I say briefly as we definitely did touch down on the runway only for us to surge up again. All due to an unexpected ‘gust of wind’ according to our pilot. We circled round and landed safely and permanently this time  – to a small smattering of applause from the passengers. We had arrived in Boston for the last leg of our epic tour – more soon!

27th March, 2016

Well, here we are in Texas, the Lone Star State! We are staying with our lovely Shivonne’s lovely parents and other relatives and were met at the airport by her Mum (‘mom’?), Kim and her Dad (‘pop’?), Darryl, who then drove the 210 miles to the state capital, Austin, a mere 3 hour drive as if it was just down the road.

The plan was that we would stay a couple of nights with Kim’s sister, Karen in Austin and see the sights before heading off to Dallas/Fort Worth to stay with Kim’s parents. So first up was a drive to the Easter Sunday picnic at Willie Nelson’s Luck Ranch where there was a sort of gospel/Country & Western style concert at one of the smallest chapels you have ever seen. Luckily they had speakers outside, so everyone could hear. I was a bit worried that as I was in my travelling clothes I might look a bit odd – my travelling attire being my smart shoes, smart trousers and jacket, plus hat (of course). Why, I hear you ask, do I dress like this? Well, it is all down to weight as I reckon that the shoes are the heaviest I own and I can save some weight on our luggage, which is right on the edge. Naturally I cannot wear my tatty chinos with the shoes, so the rest follows. I thought you would understand….

Anyway, I need not have worried – I was in Austin where weird is normal and much celebrated. The ranch (I was saying ranch, which seemed to be viewed as quite funny, rather than the local dialect – raaaanch (if y’all see what I mean)) was good fun with lots of people dressed in an array of western styles and someone with a pig on a lead. We walked about a bit, met up with Karen, took some photos and generally enjoyed a nice warm spring day. No sign of Willie, sadly.

It was then off to Austin proper to Karen’s lovely flat overlooking the Colorado River where we were joined by Monica and Noah, Shivonne’s siblings – and Brooklyn, Monica’s cute daughter. Stupidly I seemed to have been enjoying myself so much I failed to take many photos of them, but here is one of the flat and its view!

28th March, 2016

By the by, my mother would have been 100 years old today. Happy Birthday, Mum!

Today we explored a bit of Austin, starting with Mount Bonnell which is a lovely park with stunning views (as you can see below). Austin is not as big as Dallas and Houston, but is the state capital. It has the usual downtown high rise buildings, but thereafter it is almost all two storey houses surrounded by trees. And really nice houses too. The ‘let’s hold up downtown Austin’ pose did not work as well as hoped! The TexMex lunch was great though (if a bit messy)!

That evening Monica, Patrick (her partner) and Noah joined us for dinner and Val cooked chicken rice and I made, wait for it, a fruit salad!! (Nod to Caroline there as this is her all-time favourite!).We managed to witness the famous bats of Austin, which congregate on one of the bridges and tend to set off for a fly-by at sunset…. (picture of Brooklyn also included).

29th March, 2016

Today we ventured into Austin proper, starting with the Capitol building, a very impressive edifice in pretty much standard architectural style. Interestingly the senators and Representatives only meet for 140 days every other year, spending the rest of the time doing their day jobs, which is just as well as they only get paid $7,000 a year. Sounds good to me! They had a portrait of Audie Murphy there, the most-decorated US soldier of WWII who also had a major career in the movies before an untimely death in a plane crash at the age of 45. There is also a photograph of the door hinges, which weigh about 8lbs each.

We also popped into the Texas Museum and caught up with some of the history of the state, including when it was a separate nation for a while having fought with Mexico for independence (‘Remember the Alamo!!’) before annexation by the USA. An excellent museum, but sadly we did not have quite enough time to fully enjoy it. Next time! We had a really excellent early supper at Monica’s restaurant and  then set off for Fort Worth where we stayed with Lee and Phyllis at their truly lovely house.

30th March, 2016

Amazingly, the weather forecast was for rain (in TEXAS???), so any outdoor pursuits were out of the question, so instead we had an excellent visit first to the Amon Carter art gallery with a very good display of Western art, especially the gallery dedicated to Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell, two of the best artistic recorders of the last remnants of the old Wild West and also an exhibition on Thomas Hart Benton (look him up). And then we followed that up with another iconic American pursuit, going to the cinema – where we saw The Revenant. Great performance by the Bear – and Dicaprio!. A few photos, including two exhibits we found at the gallery (Lee and Phyllis!) and a few of the kitchen at their house, where Lee makes a superb breakfast!!

After a last minute game of Yahtzee it was time for the traditional photos before Kim took us to the airport. Many thanks to all concerned for looking after us, especially Kim and Darryl who did so much driving and Karen, Lee and Phyllis for accommodating us so regally.

Next stop – Pennsylvania!

24th March, 2016

OK, no, this is not the latest episode of Hawaii 50 where Dixon of Dock Green (a TV policeman from a LONG time ago) makes an appearance, it is the final blog from Waikiki!!

Well, today we set off by shuttle bus for Pearl Harbour having woken up just before 7.00am the day before to reserve two tickets to see the USS Arizona Memorial (there is a limited supply of tickets). There are 4 attractions to see in PH – the Memorial (more on this shortly), the USS Missouri (the last US battleship – more soon), the USS Bowfin, (a submarine) and a museum of planes that featured in the Pacific war zone of WWII.

First up was the Arizona. This was one of the battleships that was lined up in pairs on what was known as Battleship Row on the fateful day, 7th December, 1941 when the Japanese launched their surprise attack. It was sunk upright (in 3 minutes, I believe) in quite shallow water and has never been moved. The Memorial has been built straddling over the top and after a 23 minute film on the attack on PH you are shuttled over to it by Navy boat for a visit of about 20 minutes. It was really well done with the right level of sombre remembrance for those who died as well recognising the reasons for and consequences of the attack. The bodies of those who died were never recovered, so it is in effect a war grave. The ship still leaks oil (its tears, as someone described) and you can still make out the shape of various parts that remain above the surface such as a gun turret.

You can see the USS Missouri in the background and it was to this we went next. The ‘Mighty Mo’ as it was known was the last battleship to be launched (in 1944) in the US Navy and saw action at Iwo Jima and Okinawa including being hit by a kamikaze fighter. In this particular incident the plane hit the railing on the side of the ship and burst into flames, but did not explode. The pilot was the only one killed and was given a military burial – you can see the photos on the ship and they have put footprints on the deck to mark the position of those who took part. I have included a photo taken of the plane about to hit. The Missouri also served in the Korean War (1950 to 1953), was decommissioned and then brought back in 1984 to 1990 until finally returning to PH. What is particularly significant is that it was where the Japanese surrender was signed on 2nd September, 1945, moored in Tokyo Bay. The photo shows General  MacArthur signing it on the deck. One of the men behind him is General Sir Arthur Percival who was the British commanding officer at the surrender of Singapore and then a POW. The other man is the  American General Wainwright who had also been a POW for much of the war – MacArthur was presumably making a point to the Japanese! I can only imagine what the Japanese tourists – of whom there were many – thought of the whole experience.

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Note the statue of the sailor and girl (as in the famous photo in Times Square) at bottom right of the bottom left photo above!

We reckoned we had seen about enough for the day so headed back to town after a nod to the USS Bowfin  and the memorial to the USS Oklahoma on the way.

We rested the remains of the day, had a nice tabbanyaki meal in the evening and signed up for a luau for the following day.

25th March, 2016

Disaster – it is actually raining! This does not happen much in Waikiki apparently, but it did not stop us going to the Ala Moana shopping centre, the largest ‘open air’ shopping mall in the USA or so we were told. I think we were expecting a sort of market, but it was really only a shopping mall where some of the walkways between the shops were a bit open to the elements. It was worth going just to see the food court! Same old shops though, many of them very high-end (Tiffany, Cartier, Prada etc), so a bit disappointing, not least as the prices were much higher than the UK.

Sadly, due to the inclement weather our luau was cancelled, so our stay in Hawaii ended with a bit of a flop, but overall it had been good. It is pretty crowded on Oahu (the island we were on) and obviously very touristy, but it is still worth a visit.

26th March, 2016

We spent most of the day resting up prior to getting our flight to Dallas, so not much to report. I cannot say I was very impressed with what American Airlines had to offer on our 7 hour (domestic) flight – no food (unless you wanted to by a snack) and no movies – and I cannot sleep on flights.Not a major gripe (‘first world problems’!), though.

Next stop Texas!!

22nd March, 2016

OK, not another sitcom based in wartime France, just part 2 of our sojourn in Hawaii.

A few general comments on Hawaii (and the USA) might be good here:

• It is warm and sunny, but not too warm and not always sunny
• Huge numbers of tourists, many of them Japanese
• It is expensive! Lots of very high-end shops. Meals can be pricey unless you go down the more fast food route
• Surfing is very serious stuff here
• Food has been a bit so-so in our opinion and has not lived up to the hype you read about (maybe we have been just unlucky?)
• Tourist info has not always been as clear as it could be
• Why are all their banknotes the same size??
• And why are 10 cent coins smaller than 5 cent coins?
• Tipping!!! Is this just an excuse for not paying your workers enough? The ‘suggested rate’ can be 15 to 20% on your bill (they very kindly give you how much each might be). And the expectation is to tip virtually everyone – even shop assistants! I expect good service as part of the contract I have entered into, I don’t expect to pay more to get it. OK, I will stop now, but I might do a complete blog to get this one off my chest. You have been warned!
• Why can’t the sales tax be included in the price instead of being an annoying extra on the bill for everything?
• I know jaywalking can be dangerous, but it feels as though we have stood for hours in total waiting for permission to cross what are effectively empty roads.
• Very friendly people (though more than their fair share of ‘the nutter on the bus’ (look up Jasper Carrot on Google for that one))

OK, thanks for that, I feel better already… Back to the blog!

Not a lot to report for today – we went shopping, mostly for windows (if you see what I mean). We did manage to stop over at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Luckily it serves more than cheesecake, but we did manage to finish off the meal with one between us. As you can see we were happy with the result!

The day may have been a bit mundane, but the evening was superb. We booked dinner and a show at the Blue Note, Hawaii. The Blue Note is most famous for the one in New York and this is an offshoot, but it is wonderfully intimate and you are really close to the stage. The show was The Blind Boys of Alabama, essentially a gospel group, though they cover a lot of more contemporary songs as well. They started as a group in Alabama in 1944 though the original members sang together at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in the late 1930s when they were 9. There are two members still performing (though one could not tour due to ill health). Among many awards, they also have 5 Grammys. One of the original members, Jimmy Carter (no, not that one, obviously) was the leader for our concert and is a decidedly irreverent 90-something year old who very much enjoyed what he was doing. The musicians on the instruments are sighted and look after the 4 blind singers by making sure, for example, that they land back on their chair when they sit down and don’t walk into the microphones. I liked a quotation from one of them:  “Our disability doesn’t have to be a handicap. It’s not about what you can’t do. It’s about what you do. And what we do is sing good gospel music.” And that is exactly what they did – totally uplifting, including a ‘walkabout’ by our Jimmy among the audience! Here is a link (not the greatest quality, but not bad) if you want to get a feel for them – including Jimmy’s wonderful audience control.

A few pics of our particular concert…..

We finished the evening off with what seems to be a particularly Hawaiian delicacy – shave ice (or shaved ice). Brain freeze food!!

23rd March, 2016

Happy birthday, Claire Benn!!! And can I just mention here that some of the photos in the blogs from Malaysia were in fact taken by Claire, so credit due, etc.

Today we did get out a bit more by booking ourselves on a boat tour. This included sailing on a catamaran off Waikiki Beach to go snorkeling with the turtles that congregate there as there seems to be a particular shoal of fish that like to eat the barnacles and other debris that sticks to the turtles – a sort of car wash for turtles. The crew were fantastic and included in the fee were cocktails so we and our fellow shipmates had a very jolly time. The snorkeling was brilliant and I just wish I had invested in an underwater camera. Val is not a snorkeler, but did join us in the water and one of the turtles did the decent thing and rose to the surface close to her. She did suffer a bit on board though as poor Val could probably get seasick in a rowing boat on the Serpentine – and it had nothing to do with the cocktails, I would add (I had her share!).

Ok, this might be the bit that my nearest and dearest were dreading, but I feel it is time for the ever popular SUNSET shots!!! Oh come on, you have only had two other ones in 2 and a half months of travel, so you are well overdue for another one. I will try and keep it short…..

Ok, that probably does it for this post. More soon.

19th March, 2016

Yes, you’ve guessed it, we are in….Alaska!! No, only kidding it is indeed, Hawaii, more specifically Honolulu and more specifically still, Waikiki.

Getting here was fine in so far as we had an evening flight with Qantas from Sydney that took about 9.5 hours. I have to say I was not that impressed with the plane, the service or the food – and this is from someone who actually likes airline food. I usually eat Val’s as well as my own. I suppose we have been spoiled somewhat and, as Caroline likes to comment, ‘first world problems, eh?’

What is really weird is, of course, arriving before you have left. We left Sydney at 7.45 on Saturday evening and arrived in Honolulu at 8.00 on Saturday morning. Having just spent the last two months getting up to speed with the time differences back home, especially when it comes to sports results, I am really thrown as everything is now ahead of us. Ah well….

Speedi Shuttle kindly dropped us off at our boutique hotel Vive Waikiki. That is Vive as in ‘revive’ and not Vive as in ‘vive la France’. It is very chic and boutiquey which largely translates as small, but it is well situated with only about a 4 minute walk to the famous Waikiki Beach. OK, I know you are desperate to see the room… The views are quite good as we are on the 15th floor (14th in UK) (13th in fact as they don’t have a 13th floor!).If you press your face up to the window and squint, you can see the sea (top right-hand pic). In the words of Basil Fawlty, it is there, between the land and the sky.

We had a bit of a snooze and then went for a walk down to the beach. Wow, what a lot of people! We then walked east, which was a bit of a mistake as we were looking for a restaurant for a snack and there did not seem to be any – or, at least, none that looked like the sort of snack we had in mind. Our fault as, if you go west it is chock full of shops and restaurants. The end result was a rather indifferent and expensive meal at a restaurant we read about in one of the free hand-out magazines. Still, they did have cocktails and a hula dancer! The evening ended with a brief glimpse of the Beach at night.

20th March, 2016

We had a bit of a lie in, but then decided we needed to get out and see what Hawaii was all about. So off we went via the No 2 bus to Diamond Head. This is the crater of an extinct volcano that the US Army used as an artillery location (firing mortars out to sea, in case you were wondering, like me, how they could fire from inside a crater), though it was never used in war.The bus dropped us off at the bottom of the road going up the hill to the crater, so we set off and, via a tunnel, arrived in the crater. It was then a stiff climb to the viewing platform from which fantastic views were available, including all the way back to Honolulu and Waikiki. Hot and tiring, but very well worth it (though we did take a taxi back!).

Another rather indifferent (and expensive) meal that evening, though at least we were consoled by another cocktail and some nice surroundings. I do look as though I am practising to play the bagpipes, though….

21st March, 2016

An early start for our round-island tour with Discover Hawaii Tours. An 8.10 am pick-up saw us join a very international passenger list for a long day of touring with about 140 miles and 10 or so stops before being dropped off again at 6.00 pm.

Fist stop was a coffee plantation (with a nicely decorated gift shop and free coffee) prior to the main event (we were early and it was not open yet), the Dole pineapple plantation. Founded in about 1900 it is very big and at one point Hawaii accounted for 2/3 of all canned pineapples in the world. I can tell you also that the gift shop has more pineapple-related items than you can possibly imagine! Nice photo of Val, don’t you think?

Next we went to a really lovely botanical garden called Waimea Valley. The main aim was to swim in the pool fed by a waterfall, but the gardens/valley were worth a visit in themselves as they were very well marked up as to what was what with an excellent variety of trees and flowers affording, of course, an excellent opportunity to snap a few pictures. I particularly like the pretty blue flower!! I did manage a swim though it was painful clambering over some quite sharp and slimy rocks to get in, so only Val’s feet managed to experience the ‘refreshing’ (aka ‘cold’) waters of the pool. We were all equipped with compulsory life vests, for all those of my ex-colleagues who enjoy risk assessment and Health & Safety!

On we went, our fellow bus passengers now bonding with each other at each stop, guided by the charming Rick, our guide. Lots of beaches and the chance of another swim (after a short boat ride to a ‘secret’ beach – see our VERY impressive guide below) as we crawled along the North Shore (the traffic is dreadful). Lots of the island has been the location for countless films and TV shows including Lost, Pirates of the Carribean, From Here to Eternity, Blue Hawaii, the Deep, Pearl Harbour (of course) and Jurassic Park to name just a few. The beach where the famous kissing scene in From Here to Eternity was shot is pictured below too (the big one near the bottom). The mountains are really impressive and I fear my photographic attempts do not capture their majesty. One of the stops was to a replica of a temple from Japan that was built to commemorate the first Japanese to arrive in Hawaii 100 years before. It gave Val a chance to hug a tree too! One unusual feature of the island is the abundance of mongooses (yes, that is the right plural!). I squeezed in one bird photo in case anyone was feeling deprived.

A long day so we decided to go to a food court we had found, which meant that Val could have Asian and I could have a (very good) burger – at a fraction of the cost of our other two dinners in Waikiki.

Ok, more soon…..

16th March, 2016

So, our last stop in Australia, in one of my all-time favourite cities, Sydney. We arrived nice and early from NZ and took the train the two stops to Mascot where Val’s friend from way back, Alfie has her very nice flat. It is IMMACULATE! with stunning views over the city. Val took the opportunity to have a swim and we ended the day with a drive down to Botany Bay with a windy (as in blowy) walk along the beach near a place called Brighton Le Sands! Honestly, it sounds like somewhere out of Keeping Up Appearances. Supper was at Hurricane Grill – ribs!! Fantastic. I particularly like Val’s expression (and bib) in the photo below.

17th March, 2016

One of the main purposes of visiting Sydney (and indeed Australia) was to catch up with old friends and as some of you may have noticed, Inspector Val of the Yard was doing a pretty spectacular job of tracking down virtually every friend of hers that exists and today and tomorrow were no exception.

First up were two friends from Malaysia days, Denzil and Peppy who very kindly hosted us at their house along with a distant cousin of Val’s, Sulo and her husband, Nick. Denzil gave us a tour of the local area including a great looking beach at Cronulla and we feasted on superb prawns and salmon from the barbie – VERY Aussie! Stupidly I forgot the camera, so the following photos are courtesy of Denzil – which means, of course, that he is not actually in them!

18th March, 2016

Another day, another meal and more catching up with friends. Lunch was with more Methodist Girls School’s alumnae (is that the correct female plural? As in mensa?) Sally and Helen and their husbands,Eddie and Chee Hong. Great Chinese food and lots of laughs and chat about the old days.

The evening was time for catching up with some friends from Papua New Guinea days. Unfortunately Val had a slightly upset tummy, so I ventured out alone to dine with the loquacious Irishman that is Bill and his wife Hung-Ying and the frighteningly tall Aussie that is Rod. LOTS of catching up, jokes, wine and not enough time, but so much fun.

19th March, 2016

Our last day in Oz and as our flight was not until the evening, Alfie very kindly ferried us about the city. First stop was to pick up some scrummy Vietnamese rolls and then it was off the Centennial Park for a picnic. Really nice, helped, of course by the usual great Sydney weather. And even better – they have lots of BIRDS! Oh you lucky things (there are even some black swans). And I have thrown in some lovely flowers and even some, wait for it…..bats!!!

Alfie then drove us down to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, a lookout point in the harbour and left me there so that I could have a quick photoshoot of the Opera House, Bridge and other bits of the city – so here you go, a photo montage of Sydney (not as good as the birds, but there you go).

And so we then had to say goodbye to Australia. A great place to visit and it was so good to see old friends again. Our thanks to all who hosted and looked after us so well.

And now the last ‘leg’ of our journey – the US of A, starting with Hawaii. ALOHA!!

11th March, 2016

Hello again, dear readers and my apologies, once again, for the delay in getting digit to keyboard. Indeed, I have even had complaints! (Thank you, Kathy). Well, here I am again, now in Sydney, but ready and willing to cover our visit to Auckland and a tiny bit of New Zealand.

It was an early start by taxi to the airport in Melbourne for the 3 hour 20 minute flight to Auckland, but all went well and we were picked up at the airport by Val’s younger, older brother (see the Melbourne post for the syntactic difficulties discussed there), Vijayan (Viji) and his wife Radha, who whisked us off to their house in the suburbs of Auckland.

It was nice to see some green again after the khaki brown of Melbourne and Victoria (and the endless brown of Western Australia).The weather was a nice 25 to 28 degrees, the sun was shining and you could have been forgiven for comparing it to a nice summer’s day in England (though possibly not Scotland!). On previous visits it has sometimes felt that you were stepping back in time by about 30 years (no bad thing, I hear some of you say), but this time it was obvious that there had been a huge amount of development in recent years. One sign of the times is that some of the signs at the airport are in Chinese, a reflection of the increasing tourist interest from China as well as the investment from there in NZ. Lots of houses being built everywhere we went and lots of traffic on the road. Admittedly we did not stray far from Auckland. You have to remind yourself that the total population is still only 4.5 million in an area bigger than the UK with 65 million (NZ is 990 miles long and about 10,000 sq miles or 10% bigger than the UK).

We had a nice quiet day with a family dinner that evening with Radha’s sister Leela, her husband, Lindsay and their Mum (Auntie!).

12th March, 2016

Viji and Radha took us out for the day with our first stop being the site of the new house they are building out by the coast. Foundations have been laid and they are hoping to move in by September. They are within a very short walk of a lovely beach…..

We had picked up some oysters en route and set off for a favourite picnic spot a little further along the coast for a spot of lunch. It’s a tough life! I would point out that yours truly is not a great fan of oysters, largely because I simply don’t see the attraction (they just taste a bit fishy with a dash of lemon and are over in a second). Anyway, I did have one and a photo was duly taken as below – note the brave smile. If you want to see true oyster lovers, see Val and Viji tucking in. Val did manage to get her feet wet!

That evening saw us tuck into even more excellent food as our hosts took us out for a lovely meal in Auckland (no oysters!).

13th March, 2016

The morning started quite early as Radha had kindly recorded the England – Wales 6 Nations game which, due to 13 hours time difference, had been on the TV at 5.00 in the morning. There is a real advantage about being in NZ – they LOVE their rugby and I was in a house that also LOVE their rugby (and sport in general) so the TV was properly tuned to all the right channels. You all know the result, but I did get nervous at half time when the commentator advised that England had never lost and Wales never won when the difference at half-time was 19 points. So the last 15 minutes when we went from 25-7 to 25-21 were distinctly unnerving. Still, all well in the end (and Spurs won!).

Viji had to take a couple of days out to fly to Nelson on the South Island for business (Nelson is almost opposite Wellington on the North Island, which pleased my sense of history no end). However, we had a busy day ahead of us as Val had tracked down more old classmates/former members of the Secretaries Society of Malaysia and it was off for lunch at a Chinese restaurant.

Radha then took us to a lovely park called One Tree Hill and Cornwall Park (they are combined). The former has an obelisk to commemorate the Maoris and there did used to be a tree, but it was attacked by a Maori activist in 2000 and had to be removed (some wags now call it None Tree Hill). Fabulous views though!

14th – 15th March, 2015

Not much happening on either day, though Val and Radha went shopping and I watched the Rugby Sevens finals from Vancouver – this is a very civilised country! I was also able to get stuck into my book (Dictator, by Robert Harris – the last in the trilogy about Cicero, highly recommended as is anything by him (Harris) (though a lot of what Cicero wrote is also highly recommended!)).

We had a lovely dinner at Leela and Lindsay’s and Val cooked Chicken Rice the next night (and I made a fruit salad – nod to Caroline on that one). Also included is a guest appearance by Tiga, Leela and Lindsay’s dog!

16th March, 2016

VERY early start for our flight to Sydney. It had been a really, really lovely stay and so nice to catch up with Viji and Radha. Can’t thank them enough and we only wish we could have stayed longer. I have to say that if I had to settle anywhere else in the world, it could well be New Zealand. It is such a lovely country. I shall return!

Sydney next up!!!

9th to 10th March, 2016

Yes, me again and so soon!! Now, the main reason for coming to Melbourne was to visit Kumar, Val’s oldest brother (or is that older as she only has two of them?) (but, they are both older, so what to do?). OK, we were there to meet the older of Val’s two brothers, Kumar!

He was keen to get out of the city early to avoid the traffic, so we met at 7.00 am (!), had a quick breakfast and set off on a trip to the Dandenong Range and the Yarra Valley. It was a nice day (NOT 40 degrees!) and we had a beautiful drive, ending up in the vineyards for a spot of lunch. The hills of the Range are home to some quite twee shops for the tourists and I hope you appreciate the Miss Marple’s Tea Room in the photos.

On a whim en route, we stopped at an animal sanctuary (more of an outdoor zoo), which was great, though Val did manage to get lost at one point. So, here is the moment you have been waiting for, oh loyal followers – the bird photos (and other animals, as Lawrence Durrell said)!!!

Thought you would enjoy that!

We had tea at Kumar’s house and then collapsed contentedly back at the hotel.

Not a very early start the next day, but we trammed back to Errol Street for brunch (Malaysian) and then trammed on (is that a verb, trammed? Well, it is now) to the Victoria Museum, a modern building housing a very good number of displays in a very innovative way. There was something on the First Peoples (ie aborigines), some excellent dinosaur exhibits and bits on the body and mind, the history of Victoria and a whole bit of forest. There were also some silly mirrors, which I know you will enjoy. And, amazingly, there was the stuffed remains of a very famous racehorse icon, Phar Lap, which was a horse from New Zealand that was trained in Australia and won the Melbourne Cup in 1930 as well as many other races 37 out of 51 in 4 years of racing (being placed in most of the other races) before dying early in strange circumstances (see Wikipedia). It was particularly significant and emotional for Val and me as when we were living in Papua New Guinea we liked to play a new game called Trivial Pursuit – but it was the Australian version. This meant the Geography questions were a doddle (Name the river that runs through London) but the Sports ones were near impossible, so our standard answer to any horseracing question was Phar Lap, which was often right! So it was nice to meet him in person (if dead!). The visit was all very educational and it kept us dry as it was now back around the 20 degree mark and raining). That evening it was dinner with Kumar and Eileen, his wife at a very nice Japanese restaurant and then back to pack for an early start for the airport in the morning and our flight to Auckland.

OK, that’s all folks. New Zealand here we come!!

7th to 8th March, 2016

Well, apologies, once again for the poor service on the old blog front. We are, in fact, currently in Auckland so yes, you are right, I have missed out on a whole city in Australia. So I hope this will make the difference – and good news, we have a hotel bedroom to show you and, wait for it, some more birds (see part 2)!!! Yeay!!

So, off we went from Brisbane and arrived safely in Melbourne. A taxi ride from the airport (there is no train, oddly) brought us to our hotel, the rather oddly named Art Series – (The Larwill Studio). To be honest, I have no idea why it is called that other than there is a whole art theme throughout the hotel. Why the brackets, I hear you ask in grammatical umbrage – I have no idea and I had to work hard not to let it irritate me (‘You are on holiday, John. It really doesn’t matter. It is probably just an ‘art’ thing. Let it go.’). It is housed rather incongruously in the same block as the Royal Children’s Hospital, but was perfectly ok and quite well situated near the trams in North Melbourne. Note the artwork on the walls – and no, I don’t know why Val is hiding in the corner of the room…

We had a nice walk to Errol Street that evening to find something to eat (pizza!!!). The next day we had a day of sightseeing ahead of us and set off to our first spot, the Queen Victoria Market. Val loves a good market and this one was pretty impressive. The aim was then to catch the round-Melbourne hop-on-hop-off (hoho) bus, which we duly did which took us to our next point of interest, the newly rejuvenated Docklands area – another shopping precinct largely. So Val did what she does best and I set off to take a few photos. I should add that the temperature when we set out had been about 22 degrees and was now up around the 30 mark and rising. Note the statue of Dame Edna, below and the rather strange collection of crouching ‘red’ men.

Being quite warm, we were glad to get on the air-conditioned bus for the rest of the tour. A few iconic spectacles included the Melbourne Cricket Ground (note the statue of Dennis Lillee), the Bourke Street Royal Arcade, Victoria Art Gallery, the Arch of Remembrance, the tram, the wide streets and mix of old and new buildings. Melbourne was founded in the 1830s and laid out in a grid style with very wide streets (it was considered healthier). The only bad thing is that there is an intersection every few hundred yards and the tram stops at every one of them, as does the traffic! It is very pleasant though with quite a lot of the old terraced one storey buildings with their remarkable lattice ironwork. Tiny buildings though. We did have one more stop in the Central Business District (the old grid part of the city) and had a quick walk along the Chinatown part of town.

The temperature had now reached about 35 degrees, so it was a delight to get back to the cool of our hotel, especially after all the walking. And we had a treat in store for the evening as Don Whyte, an old friend who now lives in France, emailed to say that he had discovered by way of THIS BLOG (!) that we were in Melbourne and were we free for a drink. He was in the city on a work trip. So we managed to have a few drinks. Don is turning into the world’s slowest stalker as about 8 to 10 years ago he happened to be in Brussels at the same time as us. A few evening scenes from Melbourne too – note that the temperature had now reached a remarkable 40 degrees with a hot wind that did nothing to cool us down. Certainly the hottest evening I have ever experienced (well, weather-wise, at least).

OK, time to get this posted and to start on part 2.

4th March to 7th March, 2o16

Off we went again, arriving in Brisbane latish on 4th March to be met by our hosts, Chas and Chris(tine), a great couple from our PNG days who had kindly agreed to house us whilst in Brisbane, They have a lovely house, of which we have taken a number of photos to inspire us when (or if) we come to build our own place.

First day it was off to see more of Val’s friends from her Malaysia days for lunch and another couple for tea. Most important of all was to see Auntie Hilda, the wonderful mum of our lunchtime hostess, Ronnie (Veronica). And then a great curry with Ronnie and Norman and some friends of theirs followed by tea with another couple Val knew way back when.

6th March, 2016

Chas very kindly drove us all down to the Gold Coast. I was a little sleepy after staying up to watch Tottenham-v-Arsenal draw 2-2 (disappointing), but we had a lovely day out. We first took a ferry across Brisbane River (which flooded so badly in 2011). The Gold Coast is south of Brisbane, about 100 kms away and consists of holiday high rises and some stunning houses grouped around canals behind one of the longest beaches I have ever seen. An excellent lunch (I continued my love affair with the burger, which was excellent). We (well, Chas) drove back to Brisbane for a bit of a rest and a dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant.

Chris (the Bird Lady of Brisbane) is something of a bird enthusiast and feeds anything that flaps into her garden, which of course gave me a wonderful excuse to snap away at anything I could – a selection (plus their two cats!)…..

Sadly today (yes, I am actually going to post this on the day it refers to!!) we had to say goodbye to our wonderful host who could not have been bettered. Chas did masses of driving (yes, Chas, I am impressed with your Mazda! And the Brisbane tunnels!) and Chris fed us royally. It was great to catch up with old times. And I am delighted that we finally nailed the population of Australia as 24 million. Many, many thanks.

Today (7/3) we have arrived in Melbourne and are resting up at the Larwill Studio hotel readying ourselves for 37 degree heat tomorrow! Nice room…..