Still Traveling

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Barry

Up around 7:30, and as the motel had no breakfast (what do you expect for $40 a night) we headed over to Egg McMuffin land. Once the grease had lined our stomachs we headed South again, we left Virginia, crossed through Tennessee and the city of Chattanooga, and then clipped the corner of Georgia before entering Alabama. We stayed the night at Fort Payne. As we crossed into Alabama we also crossed from the Eastern Time Zone to the Central Time Zone, thereby gaining an hour. Rather than wasting the hour that evening we figured it would have more use the next day so we didn’t reset our watches! As we unloaded the truck a bag fell out, unfortunately it was the one carrying the Satellite Receiver, more on the consequences of that later.

Next morning we were up at 630, thanks to the extra hour, this time we had breakfast at the motel, the difference between a $40 and a $50 motel!

We still had some snow in the back of the truck as I found out when Lyn lobbed a snowball at me! Probably the only snowball fight in the state of Alabama. As we headed South the early morning fog changed into rain showers. We arrived at the camp site around 1 PM and found the trailer on our site already, unfortunately it needed leveling so we had to hitch the truck up for a little manoeuvering. By this time the rain had set in, but I managed to set up electricity, water and sewer. In the meantime Lyn was setting up inside, we were pleased to see that there was no obvious damage to the trailer which had sat in the 100F temperatures and high humidity of an Alabama summer.

Once the place was habitable we headed out to fill up the fridge and shelves with food and drink. By the time we got back from shopping the weather was clearing, so I started to setup the satellite dish. Guess what, no signal.

More to follow.

Posted in 2013, Folely,AL, Trips, Week 1 | Leave a comment

On the Road Again

Posted on January 6, 2013 by Barry

Friday morning, early, saw us packing up the truck and heading south. The afternoon before I started the truck up just to make sure everything was OK. It wasn’t! The truck refused to start. 48 hours of -20 and below temperatures had thickened the oil and weakened the battery, so out came the battery charger and on went the block heater. For those across the pond that may not be familiar with a block heater, it is a small device similar to an electric kettle element that sits in the the middle of the engine and heats the water that normally is used for cooling, this in turn heats the oil which thins it.

Truck started fine Friday morning, and as a bonus because the engine water was warm, it heated up quickly! First stop was Kemptville about 20 minutes south for a hearty breakfast then on to the 1000 Islands to cross over into the USA. Recently we   have had   friendly border guards, but this one was from the old school totally humourless and unable to speak words of more than one syllable, but despite him, we were allowed to cross into hallowed territory. From then on it was non stop driving until lunch time in Goldberg Pennsylvania. After lunch we left Pennsylvania, crossed through Maryland and West Virginia into Virginia where we spent the night at Winchester. We hit no bad weather, although blowing snow off the fields reduced visibility and made the roads slippery at times. A little experimenting with the toys on board the truck showed 65mph / 105kmh gave a reasonable 21.2 mpg. We arrived at the hotel 11 hours after leaving home.

Posted in 2013, Folely,AL, Trips, Week 1 | 1 Comment

Reflections

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Barry

Planning

This trip started in the planning stages about one year ago. I had a fistful of Aeroplan points that were coming close to expiration and either had to be used or lost. We had always wanted to go to New Zealand, but really didn’t like the idea of long hours in the back of the bus (I know, but we’ve grown to like our luxuries). This seemed like a good time to put the points to use. We decided if we were going to New Zealand we may as well see how much else we could squeeze out of the trip. Somewhere in the South Pacific was enticing. I started looking through all the permutations and combinations for travel to Auckland and the Cook Islands seemed like a logical choice as it was stopping point with Air New Zealand, and more to the point seemed to be a fantastic place to go. Choosing the right airline was critical in keeping the cost down; a number of airlines had fuel surcharges which were added to the “free fare”. Air Canada was to be avoided on International travel at all costs. United had no surcharge nor did Air New Zealand. Once we had got to NZ we had to decided how to get home, the terms of the ticket allowed us 2 stops with a third stop at the point of turn-around. So far we had used up 2 out of 3. The ticket also limited the number of miles we could fly in total, so it now became a battle to find a route home. The obvious choice was to come back along the same route, possibly stopping of in Hawaii instead of the Cook Islands, but having traveled as far as we had, a more exotic route home beckoned. At this stage everything was cast in jelly as the next major obstacle was availability in business class; this is normally restricted to two seats per flight, and we wanted both of them! One thought we had was to go home via Perth to Johannesburg to visit Lyn’s brother, however we couldn’t join all the dots in a timely manner. Next we thought of Hong Kong, but that didn’t pan out either. When it came booking the flight my homework had paid off getting to destination but I then spent the next 4 hours on the phone, from the trailer in Texas, trying to get home. We tried Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai, Peking, Turkey, Copenhagen and then finally Korea popped into the equation and there was space available! The trip was now booked. As this was a reward flight there were some obscure routings and a couple of long layovers. We had to overnight in Toronto, followed by 10 hours in LA and on the way back 14 hours in Chicago after a 13 hour flight (I am writing this on the Korea – Chicago flight, so hopefully that layover may be reduced).

Cook Islands

An absolutely wonderful place, you can switch off from everything there. We had 6 days of no radio, TV, newspapers or internet and I survived. The people were friendly and laid back, and made the Caribbean seem busy. Hiring the motor scooter was a great idea and gave us a lot more freedom than relying on the bus. The accommodation and location was perfect, right on the beach with all the amenities we needed in the cottage.

New Zealand

An unbelievably scenic place, particularly the South Island. It was like going back in time, with all the towns relying on the High Street for their shopping rather than big box malls on the outskirts. I probably made a mistake in planning this part of the trip. I forgot things are “back to front” down under, and in an effort to do the warmest part of the trip first we went to the South Island, of course we should have stayed in the North first. We decided on 3 weeks in the South and 1 in the North, in reality we could probably have done with a couple of days less in the South and a couple of days more in the North.

Sydney

Unfortunately I never “bonded” with Sydney, we arrived in the early evening in hot and humid weather. We were confronted with a continuous traffic jam for most of the trip, and when we did get to the hotel it was almost dark, so our plan of going to see the bridge and the opera house were thwarted. Unfortunately the phrase First impressions are lasting impressions holds true here for me.

Korea

A totally different culture for us. From the moment we boarded the aircraft until we left I couldn’t believe the friendliness and willingness to help of the Koreans. It seemed nothing was ever too much of a problem for them. As I said in the blog, if we asked the hotel concierge for assistance with late bus arrivals he would do his best to find an answer and keep us updated. On the trip to the airport the bus was again late, I went back into the hotel to see if there was a problem, then went back to the bus stop. The concierge came out a few minutes later and updated us. He then remained with us and didn’t return to the hotel until we were safely on the bus and it had departed. The streets are kept clean by a team of tireless path cleaners and large vacuum trucks on the road. Although in some respects they did seem to go overboard; at a railway crossing with lights and barriers, there was a crossing guard who came out to ensure everybody stopped.

Flights

All the flights to date have been fine, Air Canada was its usual unspectacular self, United was OK, but then we hit Air New Zealand who had a fantastic crew on both flights. They were pleasant and attentive and took the time to speak with you if you wanted to. Their aircraft were a little old, and had the old style seating…. no pods or lie flat seats.

Asiana

Airlines was a whole new experience, we had an older aircraft from Sydney to Korea, but the onboard service and catering was exceptional. On the Korea – Chicago flight we had their newest aircraft in the fleet which had individual pods and lie flat seats, which after having finished a sumptuous 6 course meal, I am about to take advantage of.

Accommodation

The hotel for the stopover in Toronto was surprisingly good despite its low price and gaudy purple lighting outside, hence the name Indigo I guess. The Cook Islands beach cottage was ideal for what we wanted, and I think I would rather have stayed there than a resort or hotel. In New Zealand, as I said in the blog, we teamed up with a motel chain, and after the first couple of nights it was obvious there was consistency in the product wherever we stayed. Getting 2 free nights as part of their “frequent stayer” programme was an unexpected bonus. The hotel in Sydney, despite my first impressions of the city was quite adequate, and it made a change to be in a downtown location. The Korean Hotel exceeded all expectations, I was expecting that there was a possibility of a room upgrade due to my little “fiddle” in getting a platinum membership in their hotel programme, but to get a suite comprising a living room with an L shaped sofa, bar, computer desk and wash room, together with a full sized bedroom, bathroom with tub and shower, separate toilet and separate room for makeup / hair drying was ridiculous! We also got free breakfasts each day, Lyn didn’t get charged $31 for her bagel!, plus a lounge upstairs for evening snacks (meals), together with free beer, wine and cocktails.

Conclusion

A great time was had, problem is now Lyn won’t go anywhere unless we are in the front of the bus and stay at 5* hotels.

Breaking News

We’ve just got an earlier flight, so we are happy campers!

Posted in 2012, DownUnder (Mostly), Trips | Leave a comment

Old Korea

Posted on November 11, 2012 by Barry

We woke up this morning to a cool, misty, windy and rainy day. We had a tour booked for later in the day, which was mostly outside. The decision was whether to  cancel and spend most of the day in the hotel, or trust in the weather improving. We went for the latter.

At the appointed time the bus had not turned up (sound familiar?) so off to the concierge who was very apologetic and immediately called the tour company for an explanation. A few minutes later a minivan turned up off we went with apologies for the traffic causing the delay.

We were the only 2 in the van, and we figured we would either go to transfer point or pick up from other hotels. It turned out that there were a lot of cancellations and we were the only 2 on the tour.

We reached the village after an hour and a bit with moderate traffic. The village has been constructed to represent a Korean village of 150 years ago.

There were two styles of houses, those with rice straw thatched roofs, and those with tiled roofs. The tiled roofs were for the men of the family and the thatch for the women. The only exception to this was the wife’s bedroom which was tiled as the man may visit!! There was a corridor between the husbands bedroom and the wife’s  If the door to her room was open hubbie was allowed to visit, if it was closed she had a headache!

Female House

Male Home

Decorative Rafters

Due to the weather many of the activities were not taking place, we did see some cotton spinning, rope making and bamboo working.

Rope Maker

Cotton Spinner

Bamboo Worker

There was entertainment from a traditional band.

Drum Band

Korean Flute

Drummer

There was enough to keep us busy for a few hours, and as the afternoon wore on the clouds broke up and the sun came out, however the wind rose and the temperature dropped.

On the way home we hit the traffic. Seoul has 10,000,000 inhabitants with another 10,000,000 in the suburbs. I would guess about 99.999% live in apartments (we have yet to see a house).

Apartments

More Apartments

As they have no gardens, they all hit the roads on weekends to go to parks and outdoor areas. The apartments start at around $500,000!

We were stop and go for quite a while, to give some perspective at times there were three main roads in parallel with a total of 22 lanes, the main  streets in Seoul are generally 12 lanes wide. LA is a piece of cake compared to this. Red traffic lights seem to exist as challenge to see how long you can keep going through them before some brave soul with a green pulls away. It seems motor cycles deem the roads too unsafe, so they speed down the sidewalks, when it comes to making a turn across the traffic they will seek out the nearest pedestrian crossing and ride across it.

Tomorrow then a 2 hour flight to Ottawa is an early start, again for a 14 hour flight to Chicago. As it stand now we have an 11 hour stopover. I am hoping to use my considerable charm to get an earlier flight.

Depending how things transpire tomorrow there may or may not be another entry.

If there isn’t another entry, I will probably start up again when we get to Alabama in January.

Sooooo how many have been reading this?

 

Posted in 2012, DownUnder (Mostly), Korea, Trips | 4 Comments

A Trip to the North

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Barry

An early morning start, an possibly the most expensive bagel Lyn has eaten. Weekdays breakfast is served in the lounge upstairs, and due to my temporary platinum status it is free (theoretically, I believe that it is only me who should get the free food, but they are very lax and don’t seem to care if you take in a guest). At week ends they have breakfast in the lobby cafe, here they seem a little more strict and have you sign for the buffet breakfast at $31 a pop. Lyn had just a bagel and glass of OJ! Lets see what happens.

We were waiting in the lobby after breakfast for the shuttle bus to take us to the main departure point for a trip to Panmunjeom, which is on the N. Korean border within the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). We had been speaking to the concierge and he knew our departure time was 7:20. At 7:21 he cam over and asked which tour company we were with, and immediately phoned them to find out where the bus was, evidently in Korea 7:20 means 7:20! It appears one of the guests at the previous hotel had overslept and caused a 2o minute delay. The bus arrived and off we went with much bowing and apologising from the tour guide. Soon the plan began to unravel, and there were heated discussions between the driver and the tour guide. It seemed that the driver didn’t know where he was going, wasn’t able to programme the GPS and wasn’t doing anything (including driving) fast enough. The bus was picking up people for a number of different tours, but we were the only ones on this particular tour. Because of security issues surrounding this tour we had to be at the collection point at a specific time so that our passports could be inspected.

We met up with another shuttle bus an were transferred to it in an effort to speed things up, buy apparently this bus had to wait for other people before he could leave! Next thing we knew a minivan drew up and with more apologies we transferred to it for a high speed drive across Seoul.

Finally we got onto the tour bus and headed about an hour north to the border. On the bus we were given a list of rules that HAD to be obeyed or the tour could be cancelled. The area we were visiting was the JSA (Joint Security Area) which is administered by the UN, and it was their rules that had to be obeyed. Cameras could only be used when the guide gave us permission. No pointing or other hand gestures were allowed within the JSA, sandals were not allowed (they slowed down egress if you had to run like h**l if an incident occurred), the only item you could carry was a camera, all other items had to be left on the tour bus.

Some rules made sense, others appeared to be nothing more than a bureaucrats job justifying effort.

The JSA is out of bounds to South Korean citizens due to the emotions it could evoke within them, the only way to gain access was via an accredited tour. There were three checkpoints we had t go through for passport, clothing and footwear inspections. (ripped jeans, shorts and various other types of clothing were not allowed!)

At the second check point we had another briefing outlining the area we were in, we then transferred to a military coach and picked up a soldier to accompany us. Through another checkpoint and we were finally at our destination.

The blue hut is where any talks take place between the North and the South

Meeting Room

The North / South border can be seen between the blue huts as a raised concrete platform. There are also 3 South Korean guards in the foreground, and one North Korean Guard at the top of the steps in front of the white building (right side of left most doors).

Border

Inside the meeting room the is the conference table that straddles the border. The photo below was taken while I was standing in North Korea.

Table Along Border

Guard in Meeting Room

Once we had finished this part of the trip we were driven around the JSA area past the Bridge of No Return. After the armistice was signed Korean citizens were given a one time chance to cross into either the North or the South to live. Once this choice had been made there was no turning back, hence the name.

Bridge Of No Return

Having bored you with all this, we’ll now leave the DMZ and head out for lunch. We stopped at a typical Korean restaurant where we had to remove our shoes before entering the dining area. Luckily we were sat at western type tables, rather than been sat on the floor.

As we left the restaurant we drove through a series of rice (paddy) fields

Rice Field

Next stop was back in Seoul, where we now appear to have mastered the subway, on the way to the station we passed Seoul City Hall

Seoul City Hall

The end of his entry is a little rushed as the internet is showing signs of terminal collapse, and I have just recovered from writing this entry while watching a rather hilarious episode of Top Gear on BBC.

 

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Lost in Seoul

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Barry

We woke up to a misty morning and headed up to the club lounge for breakfast. Life is tough so it was time for a full English! Next we headed down to the travel desk to try and organise the weekend. Today we headed out into Seoul for a city tour using a hop-on-hop-off bus. That was the east part, we had to get to the bus by underground.

The nearest station was about 500m away, and we found that OK. We then found the ticket machines. They issue re-usable ticket cards here for which you pay a 1,000 wong deposit. All stations have a name in Korean, a name in English and a 3 digit number, the first digit is the line number and the other 2 numbers are the station number. To get the ticket you punch in the destination number and then some cash. Out comes the change and the ticket. Total cost for 16 stations was 300 wong! ($3.50) of which 1000 wong ($1) was refundable. Not bad.

We got a little lost when we had to transfer to another line, but a young guy asked if he could help and not only told us how to get to the other line, he insisted on walking us there and waiting til we got on the train. Amazing

We got off the train at a palace, I won’t even try to put names to places, it’s too late. We timed it perfectly as there was a changing of the guard ceremony just about to start. One unusual thing, there were two oriental guys (Korean or Chinese or Japanese) who asked if they could have their picture taken with us. I know we are deeply in the minority out here, but I didn’t think we were that rare.

View From Palace Grounds

Palace Main Gate

New Guard Marching In

More Guards

The Guy With the Big Drum

Old Guard

Guard Leader

We watched this for a while, and looked around the grounds, then headed off to catch the bus. For a 2 hour route, with as many on / offs as we wanted until 7pm we were charged 10,000 wong each!

Next stop was at a Korean village reconstruction showing houses, gardens and general village layout of years gone by. Again I’ll let the pictures speak. We met a family there from Ottawa, the husband was on a 5 year contract working as an engineer and his wife and son were visiting. He explained a little about Korean life, it seems male chauvinists would be at home here. Where he works all the secretaries are single, and good looking. Marriage is a cause for dismissal, as I suspect is aging.

Entrance to Korean Village

Korean Village Houses

Fall Colours

Todays Mystery Object

Last stop was a market. Once we finally found it we were amazed at it’s size. At first we though the market was just a few small shops. Then we went into a shop and found that the backs of all the shops opened up into a long building about 5oom long, it was ridiculous! We wandered around there for quite a while, then decided to head back to the bus. Problem is, where was the bus stop. We walked back along the indoor market to where we thought the correct exit was, WRONG!, we walked around the complete building before finally recognising where we were.

Outside the Market

Lyn Checking Out the Market

Time to get back on the bus and complete the tour, then catch the subway back. The first part was easy, the second less so. We went back to the palace where we got off the train, but it was now closed. This wrecked our planning as the subway station came up in the palace grounds. Luckily a little waking and a little help from another local got us to the station.

The city is kept clean by a number of street sweepers. This one obviously took pride in his work as he was sweeping up the leaves.

Artistic Street Sweeper

Back to the hotel after around 8 hours sight seeing found us a little tired! A trip up to the lounge found some refreshing (free) beer and wine and enough hors d’ouevres and deserts to make a meal.

Hope the above makes sense, yesterdays long day and travel as well as today’s has tired me out, I think I need a vacation.

Posted in 2012, DownUnder (Mostly), Korea, Trips | Leave a comment

Back in the Northern hemisphere.

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Barry

We woke up at the unearthly hour (for us) of 6:15 and caught the shuttle bus back to the airport. Again, even at this early hour Sydney was very busy, but this time the trip was only about 40 minutes. At the airport we were dropped off about as close to our check-in counter as you could get, purely coincidence but a good one anyway. Check-in went very smoothly, this is the first time we have flown with a Far Eastern airline, so I was interested to see whether the service was all it was hyped up to be.

As we were flying business class we got to see the best of the service. When we checked in all our paperwork was already printed and was in a folder for us. The customs and border control forms had been partially filled out for us by the staff!

Next stop was the Border Control which was quick and painless thanks to the Express Pass that took us to the front of the, somewhat long, line. Thanks to the same pass we got to the head of the security line as well. The system was working well, unlike back home! We had a bite to eat in the Air New Zealand then settled back and waited.

We headed down to the boarding gate when called, only to see a couple of hundred people scrambling to board. There was a separate and empty line for business class passengers that we took. Again this got us to the head of the line where an agent then stopped the rest of the passengers to allow us to board. Getting to like this. On board it turns out that there were only 6 of us in the front cabin which could hold 30 people. We had 4 flight attendants to look after us.

After takeoff we climbed out to the North, over Papua New Guinea, where it began to get nice and bumpy. We had our first meal, a SIX course lunch. Depending how you look at it this was either served at  1130 (Sydney time) or 0930 (Korean time). Either way it was good, the service was excellent almost bordering on too much. The flight attendants wanted to do everything they could for you and I almost got the impression that I was infringing upon their duties if I offered to take something from them before they placed it in its exact place on the table.

We are now back in the Northern Hemisphere having just crossed the equator, we are now just at the halfway mark of this 10hr 40min trip with 2700 miles left.

Food is going to be optional for the next few days, we just asked for a coffee. It came with a bowl of fruit and 3 small pastries. It would have been too offensive not to eat them.

We landed in Seoul after a 10 hr 40 m flight. We knew which bus to get, but made it to the bus stop just after it pulled out. Half our later we were on the next bus. These buses depart exactly on time, amazing. The bus is run by Korean Airlines and is very spacious and comfortable. Even had a TV, but trying to watch the TV with no sound and Korean and Japanese subtitles was an exercise in futility. 70 minutes later we were at the hotel. We checked in, and thanks to a little trick I learnt from one of the forums we were given the Royal treatment. Our free (bought on points) room was upgraded to a 2 room suite, massive in size on the 15th floor (Normal rate $600) per night. We also qualified for club access giving free breakfast and free evening snacks and booze. Might as well finish the trip with a bang!

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Reality Check

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Barry

Having left the peace and quiet behind us we landed in a hot, humid, bustling Sydney.

The 20 minute ride from the Airport to the hotel took over 90 minutes, and I think we saw more traffic lights (nearly all red) in that 90 minutes than we saw in 4+ weeks in New Zealand.

We finally got to the hotel as daylight disappeared, and rain appeared so we really saw very little of the Sydney attractions.

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The End is Nigher

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Barry

Still running out of titles, so I had to invent a new word (I think?)

Again, dry and not too cool for our last full day in New Zealand. I think we have both psyched ourselves into the state where it is time to move on. The only real thing on the itinerary today was to reach Auckland, which we did.

Again we avoided the main roads as much as possible, and took the longer coastal route. Unfortunately we didn’t see much coast, as the route was too far in land.

From the Passenger Seat

Approaching Auckland

We reached the hotel at Auckland airport with more than  little trepidation. It had been booked on line for NZ $85 (which is the cheapest we have paid in NZ), and although the pictures looked OK there was no telling what we might find. The outside of the building confirmed our fears, the place looked tired and run down. However, once in our room all was fine. The room was well equipped, clean and spacious with a 42″ LCD TV and unlimited free internet!

REFLECTIONS

  • New Zealand is a fantastic place.
  • The people are friendly
  • The drivers are polite
  • Drivers are incapable of exceeding the speed limit
  • Drivers stop when the traffic lights change to amber
  • Hot and cold water taps are randomly inserted. Hot will be on the left one night and the right another
  • The water does rotate the opposite way down the drain
  • New Zealand still has a bountiful supply of fresh cream cakes
  • There are no big box stores
  • It didn’t rain as much as we expected
  • Gas is expensive ~CDN $1.75 / litre

STATISTICS

  • Days in NZ 31
  • Distance Traveled 6247km
  • Average Fuel Consumption 45.1mpg
  • Average Speed 57 kph
  • Time Spent Driving 111.5 hours

I have to admit, writing the blog became a bit of a challenge at times, as without being where we were it was difficult to describe what we saw. Reading through the blog may lead to the impression that some days were just plain boring, this is not the case all the days we spent here, with the possible exception of the one day when the skies opened were fantastic.

Tomorrow may be blogless as we get into Sydney around 7PM and we are hoping to at least get to see the Opera House and the Bridge before it gets too dark. Hopefully I’ll be able to get something together once we settle in Korea.

 

Posted in DownUnder (Mostly), New Zealand, Trips, Week 5 | 2 Comments

The End is Nigh

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Barry

This may be shorter than I originally intended as I managed to lose all I had previously written!

Tomorrow is our last full day in New Zealand, over 5 weeks since we arrived here.

This morning was bright and warm. After breakfast we headed out to 90 mile beach, which for some obscure reason is only 64 miles long. The beach runs up the west side of the Aupori Peninsular (the long bit that sticks out at the top of the North Island). What makes the beach unique (to us) is the fact that it is part of the highway system and is treated as a road under the road traffic act. Of course we had to go drive on it; the only thing o remember is to remain between the water and the high water mark, outside of those limits you either get wet, or bogged down in soft sand.

Our Car on the Beach

View Along 90 Mile Beach

Next stop was the Herekuno forest, home of a number of Kurai trees. These trees live to over 2000 years, and grow to be pretty large. The one below is 51.5 metres tall and 10m across. Smaller versions of these trees are used to make the Maori war canoes.

The BIG Tree

Talking of trees, can anyone identify this one

Mystery Tree

As usual we took the back roads, which today required us using a car ferry, not as grand as the previous ferry we had been on, but it did the job.

Car Ferry

One thing that has been quite common, but I haven’t commented on yet, is the suicidal tendency of NZ birds. Apart from being very late in alighting from the road surface as you approach them, they very often fly very close across the front of the car, quite often they will get half way across and the turn back, very disconcerting, and on more than one occasion I have ducked to miss them! So far there has only been one fatality, and that was solely the birds fault. It flew into the side of the car. If a small bird can’t avoid the side of a big car, well……….

We continued on towards the hotel with stops for scenery viewing and beach walking, getting to our destination around 3:30. This left Lyn plenty of time to re-acquaint herself with the washing machine.

View From the Passenger Seat

This was only the second hotel that we had stayed at that was not in same chain as the others, and it showed. It wasn’t a disaster, but it could have been better. Staying with the same chain had served us well. We stayed enough times to get two free nights, but more importantly we knew that the quality of the accommodation would be consistent.

Tomorrow we head off on our last day of travels down to Auckland.

 

Posted in 2012, DownUnder (Mostly), New Zealand, Trips, Week 5 | Leave a comment