Articles from this Category
7 February 2009
We did a circuit around the region today, heading north to Arrowtown, Cardrona and Wanaka. Arrowtown is an old mining town that has been kept in the style of the period … to the extent possible I guess. It was home to the first Chinese in New Zealand who came to work in the gold […]
6 February 2009
My Boeing 737 plane to Queenstown taxied towards the runway … being seated at the last row, I saw that a cabin crew member was standing outside the open loo. Rather strange at this late stage of the taxi. As it turned out, she was helping her chundering colleague. The plane turned back to the […]
25 January 2009
After a leisurely wake-up and breakfast, we headed out west to Pupu springs … reputedly to have the clearest water in the world! The clarity is explained by the filtration through layers of rock. Quite an irony considering its name, but officially its name is Te Waikoropupū Springs. This was followed by some swimming at Kaiteriteri […]
24 January 2009
Nelson is the Sunshine capital of New Zealand, recording the highest sunshine hours per year. Well, that’s arguable as nearby Blenheim hotly contest that title. After lunch and a nap, Marie and I walked on the long and broad Tahunanui Beach near the airport. Gorgeous … makes me want to move here. We collected Kim […]
17 November 2008
I was pleased to see the back of Aden and its humidity … give me the cool dry highland … I love Sana’a at 7000 ft. On the road from Aden back to Sana’a it was interesting to see how men should pee in Yemen. Well, I had known this before but had somehow forgotten. The […]
16 November 2008
On paper (or in a guidebook) Aden may seem to have quite a few attractions but there’s not much to see apart from the Aden Tanks. Of course, there’s beer (which isn’t quite me) and the beach. Text continues after this gallery. For some reason we chose the difficult way to go swimming […]
15 November 2008
Above: We bought three seats at the back (3rd row) for the both of us. So there were only nine people including the driver in the Peugeot estate. We took a shared taxi down to Aden in the afternoon … the port city was part of the British empire and has a very different feel […]
14 November 2008
We were worn out from our travels and spent a bit of time resting in bed in Taizz. We wandered around the market for the rest of time. Most noticeably were the fluoro-pink drinks that were being sold. I think they are strawberry shakes made from strawberries grown in Chernobyl!
13 November 2008
In the 14th Century, Taizz was described by the famous Arab traveller Ibn Battuta as the largest and most beautiful city. Today, it is the third largest in Yemen. We came over from Zabid in the afternoon for a 2 night stay.
13 November 2008
Having had such a great day yesterday on the bikes, we wanted more. We had heard that it was market day at the next town and that would make a nice little outing. But while waiting to go I wandered around Zabid a little first. Text continues after this gallery. Once at the […]