Glorious

It is a glorious Autumn morning. The sky is a soft, cloudless blue and the sun is shining, however there is a slight chill in the air which highlights the change of season. The leaves are beginning to fall and the grass in the back garden has a sprinkling of pears which have fallen from the trees. Autumn was my Mum's favourite season so it's appropriate it is such a beautiful day on her birthday. She would have been 86 today and I miss her.
We had a fantastic weekend at Alison and Hugh's. They are now living full time in Boat of Garten until they decide where to live permanently, and it was great to see them. The weather was mixed but that didn't hold us back from enjoying ourselves! Alison and I went swimming on Saturday morning while Hugh took Hermes to the vet. He recently had an unfortunate and violent encounter with an unidentified member of the local wildlife, and was badly bitten and bruised, however I'm glad to say that he is responding well to antibiotics. He is very sleepy as he recovers. Oscar was in good form though, and he was hilarious as he made it clear that he didn't want me to sit on "his" couch! If a stern look wasn't enough to make me move, he got down disappointedly from the couch and then tried the other couches, none of which were quite right, and then came back to his preferred place of relaxation and looked up at me very reproachfully until I took the hint. He has such expressive amber eyes and of course I obeyed him! 

In the afternoon we went for a jaunt to Elgin where we visited the delightful (and very expensive!) Johnston's of Elgin which is famous for its cashmere. After a good browse around, James treated me to a gorgeous cardigan in a natural stone colour - it's so soft! We had coffee and cake in their pleasant tearoom before heading back. Dinner was at our favourite - Anderson's restaurant - and as usual the food was delicious. I was very glad of the walk back to the cottage to help me to digest the copious amount of food that I had consumed. 
Sunday was a lot brighter and we decided to go for a walk near Kingussie. We were so lucky because we could see rain clouds on the hills nearby but apart from the briefest of showers we remained dry. After labouring up 300 metres to a lovely viewpoint I decided to retrace my steps while the others went on a longer circuit. I thoroughly enjoyed striding downwards through the heather until I stepped into a hole and went flying through the air. I managed to twist my ankle and was very glad of my walking poles (which James had insisted I use) as I hobbled down the hill. I am so clumsy. Not long after I got back to Ruthven Barracks, where the car was parked, the others arrived and we headed back to Boat of Garten for a coffee before James and I set off southwards. When we got home I felt the need for a large donner kebab. I enjoyed scoffing it but as usual I soon regretted it due to my delicate digestive system. 

Health and well-being

I'm back! My last post was written at the end of our fantastic holiday to New Zealand. Since then I have been going through a rather unsettling period of change. I don't mean that something terrible has happened; in fact the opposite! I can't blog about it in detail because it's confidential which of course means that it's work related, but basically I had to say no to going back to school to cover part of a timetable after my retirement, because the conditions did not suit me at all. And it's not easy for me to say no!

But my life has much more in it than work, and at the moment I'm concentrating on improving my health and fitness. A healthy mind in a healthy body and all that!

So I have been swimming - a lot! At least three times a week. It's interesting watching all the different people who use my local swimming pool during week days. There is a usually a group of about ten male pensioners who occupy the shallow end and occasionally use the sauna or sit on the chairs beside the pool. They are in truly terrible shape with gigantic tummies. What is remarkable about them is that they do absolutely no swimming or exercise at all. I presume that their doctors have ordered them to go to the swimming pool but have not made it clear that they need to swim once they get there! The female pensioners are much more conscientious. They dutifully swim up and down the pool, as do I. The faster swimmers are very serious with swim caps and goggles, and they lash up and down the lanes until these are changed into an area for school pupils to get lessons. The pupils are very noisy but it's nice to see them enjoying the water. The young swimming teachers are very grim and shouty though, I was watching one of them and she didn't crack a smile the whole time. 

Imagine my surprise on Wednesday when the class that came in for a lesson was from the school I left a year ago! I swam over to say hello and one of the pupils immediately said "Mrs S Anderson - born on New Year's Eve!" These are my people! I set up those swim sessions years ago and used to go with them every week - it felt a bit strange not being part of it any more. Then when I was getting changed in one of the cubicle I heard a couple of the teachers talking about me - they didn't know that I was still in the changing area. Luckily they sounded quite affectionate about me! 

Goodbye New Zealand

Saturday was another warm, sunny day in Russell. However unfortunately we had to leave because it was the last day of our holiday. I would very much like to return to visit the Bay of Islands and definitely stay at The Gables again, it is such an amazing apartment in a perfect location. 

The journey to Auckland was pleasant and of course included one last brunch, but we were very sad saying goodbye to Jamie at the airport. 

I have never been in such an empty plane as on the first leg of our journey, from Auckland to Melbourne. It was fantastic. It must have been only about a fifth full and as a result it felt very spacious and somehow more relaxing. The same could not be said about our next flight from Melbourne to Dubai, which was almost full.  James and I had adopted the strategy of booking a window and an aisle seat in the hope that nobody would book the middle seat between us. However as the flight filled up I became convinced that someone would turn up to claim the seat. I watched the last few stragglers like a hawk as they came onto the plane and approached our row - but we were so lucky! The seat remained free which meant that we could stretch out a bit. Happy days.

We made full use of the in-flight entertainment and both watched several films. I watched a couple of wee quirky art house films and then decided to watch Moana, the Disney cartoon film set in the Polynesian Islands. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the meeting houses, dancing, spiral and fish hook jewellery, scenery and even the men's tattoos were very reminiscent of those of New Zealand - after all the Maori people originally came from the South Pacific Islands.

The final leg of our journey was from Dubai to Glasgow; our total journey time was 30 hours including the four hours of stops in Melbourne and Dubai - so 26 hours of flying. We arrived home at lunch time on Sunday to be welcomed by Davie and Tom. 

Twenty reasons to visit New Zealand in Winter

Here are our top twenty (in no particular order!) And there's still a lot of New Zealand that we haven't seen yet.

• Skiing of course - Coronet Peak and The Remarkables.
• Snowy mountains looking beautiful in both North and South Islands. 
• Waterfalls aplenty.
• Lots of sunshine - rain too but never for long. 
• Thermal springs especially in Rotorua but also Lake Taupo.
• Hot tubs - Onsen Hot Pools near Queenstown. 
• Spas - the Polynesian Spa at Rotorua.
• Boat trips - Queenstown, Milford Sound, Whitianga, Russell.
• Short hikes - everywhere in such beautiful scenery.
• Big hikes - for the very fit among us - the Tongariro Crossing
• Brunches and dinners - I didn't know that New Zealand food is so healthy and delicious. 
• The lively atmosphere of Queenstown - Fergburgers and Patagonia ice cream.
• Museums in Auckland, Dunedin and Waitangi where we found out about the history and culture of the country. 
• Plane trip to Milford Sound - and as a bonus this was much quieter than in summer, as were all of the trips that we took. 
• Emersons Brewery at Dunedin.
• Cafés at the harbour in Auckland.
• Wine tasting - Brick Bay Winery and there are many, many more.
• Hobbiton film set - again this is quieter in the winter than in the summer.
• Beaches - including digging your own hot tubs on Hot Water Beach.
• Wildlife - dolphins, fantails, bellbirds, tui and even a penguin at Milford Sound. 

Bay of Islands

We woke to a beautiful sunny day on Friday with the temperature a balmy 16 degrees. Our friendly local tui was singing in the tree outside our window. We decided to spend the morning on a boat trip in the Bay of Islands. Aisling wasn't feeling too grand so she had a relaxing morning at the apartment instead. James, Jamie and I were welcomed by the friendly crew onto the catamaran which picked us up at the jetty. The water was rather choppy on the way out into the bay once we rounded Tapeka Point, but it was warm in the sunshine and we sat out on the top deck enjoying the views of the many islands and rock formations that are scattered around the bay. It was a spectacular journey. We came across a pod of about twenty dolphins and they surrounded the boat, swimming alongside and rolling over. Just as we were leaving them, two of them leaped in the air and did back flips! We arrived at our furthest point which was the amazing sea arch of Motukokako, and although the sea was too rough for the boat to go through the hole in the rock, we got scarily close and enjoyed watching the water churned my and foaming around the rocks. On our way back to Russell we stopped for about half an hour on Urupukapuka Island at Otehei Bay. It was so tranquil in the little bay, and we climbed a small grass covered hill. On the way up a very friendly fantail was hopping about and following me and even jumping in front of me on the path - it was such a cute wee thing and got so close! 

Aisling met us at the jetty; she was feeling much better and we all had lunch sitting outside the Waterfront Café in the sunshine. We had such a relaxing afternoon sitting on the balcony reading our books, writing postcards and watching the tui flitting about in the branches of the tree.

Our last night dinner was again at The Gables downstairs from the apartment. Quite a few of the other restaurants are being renovated just now (I suppose it's their quiet season) but we love it and we're keen to go back. When we took our seats we were surprised and very moved that Jamie and Aisling gave us a card and some very thoughtful gifts. It really has been a marvellous holiday and I will treasure our happy memories. 

Treaty of Waitangi

On Thursday it was raining (although still warm) in Russell so we decided that it would be a good day to cross over to Paihia to visit the place where the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840. There is a lovely and informative museum there, with a really good short film about the Treaty. My understanding (very basic!) is that the British had meetings with lots of Maori chiefs from all over New Zealand, and proposed their treaty, which declared British sovereignty over New Zealand. This was allegedly intended to protect the Maori from unscrupulous settlers (both British and other Europeans) but mainly, of course, to take control of the country. One problem was that the word "sovereignty" was translated into Maori as "governance" which led the Maoris to believe that they were not giving up all of their authority. Needless to say, this led to clashes over the years and the Maoris lost out because they were soon outnumbered by settlers and also were not initially represented in the New Zealand government. However it does seem that a flawed treaty turned out to be better than no treaty at all, and prevented all out war while giving the Maori people at least some rights. 

After our tour we went to the nearby Maori meeting house for a bit of culture. This took the form of a haka; a type of ancient Māori war dance traditionally used on the battlefield, as well as when groups came together in peace. We quickly elected Jamie as the leader of our tribe and he had to square up to one of the Maori men, who did a rather fearsome dance. Jamie then had to make an impromptu speech of peace which he did very well, and the Maoris all sang and danced about (extremely skilfully) while doing their signature staring and sticking their tongues out. This was fascinating, followed by a delicious savoury muffin in the café!

We went downstairs to The Gables Restaurant for dinner later and our meal was yummy despite a slight scare involving Jamie, his mild allergy to shellfish and a mussel in batter of which he ate half without realising what it was. Nothing too serious transpired I'm glad to say, and the restaurant staff were very apologetic and concerned. 

From Whitianga to Russell

Wednesday was a big driving day for us - about six hours not including stops - because we had decided to head to the very north of New Zealand for the last three days of our holiday. We facilitated this by setting off reasonably early and breaking the journey a couple of times for coffee and lunch. Our coffee stop was at the amusingly named Buggers Café. Our route then took us right through Auckland and over the bridge to the north. We had a leisurely stop for lunch at the Brick Bay Winery Restaurant at Snells Brach. It was in a beautiful glass building overlooking a small lake. The lunch was delicious and the others also did a wine tasting. After this relaxing break I did the next bit of driving towards Russell. There was a wee ferry crossing just before we arrived at the seaside village. Our apartment is absolutely gorgeous; it's above the Gables restaurant right on the front and is very spacious on two levels with French windows leading out to a balcony overlooking the beach. Jamie ordered in Thai food for dinner and we watched The Hobbit. It was so exciting to see Hobbiton on screen just as we saw it a few days ago!