Bergen photos

Norway minicruise - the end of an era

I am just back from a long weekend in Bergen, taking the ferry from Newcastle to Norway. I found it a wee bit sad, because the ferry is stopping at the end of the summer, and I couldn't help thinking that this would be the last time I would see Bergen. :-(

I got to Newcastle at the back of eleven, and went to get the bus to the quayside, but it didn't leave until 2 o'clock, so the nice man in the station suggested that I got the Metro to North Shields. So I did, and found the bus stop to the Royal Quays just round the corner from the wee shops. The bus driver let me off at the top of the car park and I walked down to the quayside and checked in. My wee cabin was lovely, with a wee desk, bed, sofa and bathroom. I had taken the laptop with me to do some work on my dissertation - good idea, because I was away from all my distractions. We set off, and I wandered around the ship, to see what they had. I booked in for dinner and had a peep in the shops.

Next morning, we got to Stavanger early on, then cruised up the fjords to Haugesund, playing Norwegian bingo, and finally to Bergen. When we got out in Bergen, it started raining. And it did rain! Included in the holiday was a walking tour of Bergen, which I really enjoyed because we went to some places I hadn't seen before. I got a bit lost, when I followed the wrong group and found myself in a group of Italian tourists. I found my lot again (luckily someone had an orange anorak on) and we finished the tour. I then went to Bon Appetit and had a hamburger, then headed back to the boat and did a couple of hours work.

Next day we left Bergen early, and headed back for home. More bingo, and this time I got a full house, or en god bingo on tjue tre. Haha. It's a while since I won ship bingo! It started to get a bit blowy leaving Stavanger, and by the time I had dinner, the waves were up a bit and one wee girl in the restaurant was a bit upset and scared, because the ship was banging a bit. I went to bed about 11.30 and could not get to sleep. The ship was rolling and it meant that I was sliding up and down the berth. Shame really, because I usually get a great sleep on the ship.

Back in Newcastle this morning, and back to the station to get the train home. Found out that there's free wifi on the trains, and no wonder it was free - it was the slowest wifi in the world. So that's that. Back from Norway, and no more minicruises - the first time I went was in 1995 just before I started this job I'm in. Ironic really, that now I'm looking for a new job. Maybe it's meant to be...

uchi ni ikimasu

Waiting at Narita airport - flight is delayed three hours, which means that I miss my connection in Heathrow. Never mind. There's some particularly bad lift music playing in the airport, which is reminding me of trying to get out of the right subway exit in Shiodome. Each part of the complex had its own tinny music playing, and going from one part to another was like walking through the Pokemon game. There was some particularly rousing music when I found the exit - I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence. Oh, yeah, and about the pillows - I didn't book an appointment with the pillow fitter, but found out on the second night that one of my pillows was a bean bag. And it was really comfortable!

Bought a couple of kokeshi dolls, but couldn't find one that really looks like me. That honour goes to the kokeshi doll that Adele has. It's scarily accurate, as she likes to point out while falling about laughing. And I have to admit, it does look like me :-)

Narita san koen

Narita san

Today I went to the temples in Narita park. The wee old ladies were trying to sell me stuff, and eventually I caved in and bought some lucky charms, so now I can travel safely, money will come to me, and I'll find the man of my dreams. All for less than 1000Yen - bargain!

Narita park was lovely. I wandered about in the woods for a while, intending to have lunch on the way back to the hotel, but all the restaurants beside the park had closed by the time I got back.

Nihon

A mad raven. One chased me along the road, away from a temple. I obviously have the appearance of a gaijin evil spirit.

Ginza. Everybody knows this part of Tokyo. It's in all the films.

The Shoebill. Look at it - you can tell that something's going on behind those wee, beady eyes.

A model of Edo.

A stone in the Palace Gardens.

My hotel, The Park, Shiodome. The hotel doesn't start until Floor 25 and I'm on 31.

Ooh, a few days in Tokyo for R&R. Weather was beautiful when I arrived, but there's a typhoon somewhere to the south of us and the past two days have been dull (Wednesday) and raining (Thursday). So far I have been to a museum, a park, another park, a garden, a zoo, and Ginza, that place you always see with the zebra crossings all over the road. I specially crossed the road there :-) - I'm such a tourist. Above some photos of Tokyo so far.

Got chased by a raven in Ueno Park (it was flippin' enormous), and upset a Shoebill in the zoo (it was bigger than the raven). It was flapping all over the place. It's the baboon all over again. Had a surreal moment in a restaurant today. I did my best to speak Japanese and was doing quite well, until I was leaving and had to pay the bill and the waiter started speaking Spanish, so there we were, Japanese and Scottish speaking Spanish in a Tapas bar. :-)

Bye Bye, Dunedin

Some views of St Clair beach. This is the beach at the end of my road. There were surfers practicing for the Polar Plunge - the name says it all! 

Last days in Dunedin

The last of the photos of my time in New Zealand. The top photo was taken early in the morning in Motueka at the vineyard I was staying at. How beautiful is it? The weather up in Nelson was beautiful and even warm, despite it being the middle of winter.

The middle picture is from Aramoana Beach, looking over to the Albatross colony, and the bottom one is of a strange rock formation on the beach. Aramoana means pathway to the sea in Maori.

I went out last night with everyone to celebrate the end of my time in Dunedin. We opted for pizza, but I should have known better. They were unlike any pizza I had ever seen, anywhere. Sample recipes include - curry sauce, yogurt and banana; turkey and stuffing; guacamole, hot sausage and blue cheese; sweet potato and broccoli...and then there were the dessert pizzas I couldn't even look at! It reminded me of a film with Timothy Spall who was trying to be a chef but kept coming up with ideas like king prawn and strawberry jam... :-)

Still, it was good fun. I had planned on taking my time going up the North Island, but Lisa and Graeme got engaged and so I have waited until their engagement party then I'm flying up to Auckland, and off to Japan for a few days. Japan looks like it'll be fun. I'm staying close to the old fishmarket, and my hotel has its own subway station. The hotel also has a fully qualified "pillow fitter" who will measure me up for a pillow to ensure a good night's sleep.

I think I might give that a miss, but I'll let you know.

One Ring to Bind Them All...

I spent the weekend in Nelson and Motueka. I stayed with friends that I met on a wine trip in Australia. We went all around the area and went to see the Wearable Arts exhibition. This is one of the rings made for The Lord of The Rings film. It's 6 inches (15cm) across.

Around Nelson

Milford photos

Milford Sound

A couple of weeks ago I went to Milford Sound. It was absolutely spectacular. I went with my next door neighbour, Leica. We spent a night in Queenstown, where we went to the Kiwi Haka and learned to twirl pois (badly), then had an evening of wine-tasting at the try-as-many-wines-as-you-like bar - interesting as you charge a credit card with $10, then put the card in the slot and choose your wine. Then we have hotel movies and watched "The Bucket List" about two men dying of cancer who decide to live a little in the time they have left. It was a really nice movie. The next day we had an early breakfast and hopped on the bus to go to Milford Sound. Hours later we arrived, after seeing some absolutely spectacular scenery and went on our boat trip. The scenery was lovely, but there were absolutely NO animals - no dolphins, no seals and no penguins...

Made it back to Queenstown and had another movie - this time "Lars and the Real Girl" about a guy who buys a doll and pretends it's his girlfriend and everyone in the town goes along with it, until she really is a part of their community. Another film worth a look.

On the Monday we went back to Dunedin via the Taieri Gorge Railway. (see below) Another spectacular day of sunshine. And then, back to work.

Peninsula photos

Otago Peninsula

A couple of weeks ago I went out on the Otago Peninsula in search of penguins and albatross. Also on the menu were seals and sealions. It was a beautiful day, and we tramped up and down hills (I was out of puff) in the cold, and wandered around sand dunes. 

We got chased by a friendly sealion pup who gave us up as a boring lot and went off to pick a fight with the big boys.

Had a lovely day in beautiful scenery.

In search of penguin

This weekend I went on the Otago Peninsula to look for Albatross, Yellow Eyed Penguin, Sealion and Fur Seal. And I saw them.

:-)

Queenstown and a bungee jump

This is Queentown. I spent last weekend there. The wifi connection was rubbish so I couldn't do a blog from there. Ironic, since it's full of backpackers, miserably hanging around the adventure centre, lining up to do their bungee jump...

I opted for the jetboating and realised that I have late onset thrill seeking. It just wasn't exciting enough. It was fine, bumping over the water, but I wouldn have liked something a bit more death-defying. But not a bungee jump.

Scenery in Queenstown is breathtaking, but the place is a bit fake. The town has no soul, probably due to the transient nature of its population. I don't think I met a kiwi the whole time I was there. Still, it was nice to visit.

I'll be doing the luge the next time.

Track and trail to Queenstown

Today I took the Taieri Gorge Scenic Railway on the way to Queenstown. It was spectacular, and amazing to think that they built it using picks and shovels and couldn't use dynamite because the rock formation is too unstable. The photos speak for themselves. At the end of the line, I was the only one going on to Queenstown, so I had a whole bus to myself and we got there more than an hour early. There were lots of sheep.