We awoke to another absolute cracker day in Karamea and the sound of the two milk tankers on the nearby SH67 that travel 234km each way every day to and from Hokitika on SH6 and SH67 to pick up milk from the 29 dairy farms in the Karamea region. Actually the tankers dont really make much noise it is just that with so little and going into Karamea that there is for road noise from other traffic on Read on...
Its been a while since I last wrote a blog - our wonderful adventures travelling having been suddenly cut short Lucky for us we had returned from an amazing journey around China just before the Covid outbreak started but since then life for us all has changed dramatically.
I would like to say a big thank you to fellow travel blogger, Alex Waring - your recent inspirational blog made me put pen Read on...
I wasnt really planning on being here. A number of decades previously, I had set off on the adventure, otherwise known as a University education and a group of us had decided to meet up in Manctopia to reminisce about our youth for a couple of days. Alas, COVID 19 got in the way of the plan (and just about everything else). The North West is pretty much in local lockdown, so it seemed pointless to Read on...
We took the Southern Scenic Route drive to Invercargill from Manapouri. Were struck by how little traffic there is down here and how good the road surfaces are. A scarcity of bloody great heavy trucks might have something to do with the latter. South through Borland, Clifden, Tuatapere where we stopped for some lunch and had our best cheese roll to date as we attempt to connoisseurs of the mighty Read on...
I heard of Bolita from other travelers who had been there. As I was considering going to Corcovado National Park, they suggested Bolita as an alternative, a hostel inside a primary rainforest, accessed from Puerto Jimenez.
What attracted me to Bolita (apart from traveler reviews) was this was an individual effort at conservation and its remoteness.
To get to Bolita (and to return from it), you h Read on...
I exited the Xtrk at 6.45am on a very, very cold clear sky morning. I hadnt walked 2m before 6 kookaburras sitting together 5m on a tree branch about 30m from me began their laugh, and laugh they did, waking anyone who was still asleep at that stage, for a full 2 minutes It was sensational. I had heard kookaburras laugh before but not that many all at once for 2 minutes. Those brave enough to tes Read on...
We are not in the quietest neighbourhood in Porto and that sure was not helped by their being a soccer (can not bring myself to call it football) game on the TV last night featuring the local team. Thank goodness so few goals are scored or we would never have gotten to sleep. As well theres a street drunk thats quite aggressive towards tourists so we have to be a little watchful and a little caref Read on...
We went for a morning walk with our friends around their part of Taunton and then we for North Devon where we had arranged to meet my wifes cousin and her husband, who we had also not seen in a long time.
On the way there, we stopped off at Saunton Beach for anther walk and some fresh sea air. This is a fantastic beach - wide, long, smooth sand and not that many people, or at least its size swal Read on...
As I scrunched my way to the Bridge to survey the height of the river I met an elderly couple . Its slippery underfoot on the bridge Indeed it was . The cobblestones took on a shiny appearance underneath the covering of snow . Snow which had been falling steadily for the last hour or so. The sky was white. It looked full of the snow . It was going to fall throughout the day . Sometimes heavy . Ot Read on...
The panorama is part of the view from the house. In the evening the sun looks as though it is rolling down the end of the Akamas Peninsular to set in the sea.
I am back in Polis with Barry & Carolyn, having returned from Gazimagusa (Famagusta) back to Nicosia where I spent 3 nights which gave me the chance to walk around Nicosia (Lefkosia) old town ( in the Republic of Cyprus) and North Nicosia ( Read on...