Saturday 20 August 2016

Wellington on a good day, Red Rocks walkway

It was a perfect spring like day today so we headed out on the Red Rocks walkway from Owhiro Bay carpark to the seal colony past Red Rocks. 
Lovely coastal walk with stunning views of the snow capped South Island mountains. We walked 5km, sat and ate an apple looking at the view then returned. 
There were tonnes of seals today basking in the sunshine. Man they stink en masse like this. Hard to get a good photo but the one above gives you an idea - yes the lumps that look like seals are seals. 

As it is a stunning Wellington day there were also hundreds of people, tens of cyclists, a handful of trail bikes and we thinks we gave way to over 200+ 4wd vehicles. 
My tiny rant is what a load of dickheads. This path is multi user yet the 4wd's sped, forced bikes and walkers to scramble up and down banks by not just slowing down and giving us room. Honestly of the 200+ only 7 vehicles did the kiwi index finger raise thank you gesture when we got out of their way. The most dickhead ones sped along the beach where kids and dogs were playing or drove full on at bikes not slowing down - for most of the way there was room for both. Not impressed.

Rant over. Well worth the walk as ever. I love the red rocks and Steve loves the view of the South Island. Great day for it too. 


Monday 25 July 2016

Spectacular Waiohine Gorge, yucky weather

Foolishly believing the Metservice forecast we set off for a hike on Saturday. The weather in Wellington was pretty terrible and while the whole country was facing record winds on Sunday the forecast for the Wairarapa was mild Saturday in comparison. 
We chose Waiohine Gorge as the swing bridge looks spectacular- and it is!
As is the gorge it crosses. A 120m suspension bridge, 40m above the river apparently, it's one person wide with a loading of 7 people. This is somewhere I wish I had brought Don and Imogen when they were young - very wow. There was a family down below us as we crossed. In the selfie pic you can see the bridge above. 
Back to our hike. We drove over the hill planning to hike and stay the night in Martinborough - the latter part we did. 
As we left the sealed road and hit gravel, realising we had no cell coverage on either phone it also dawned on us we didn't tell anyone else where we had gone. 
The rain was pretty bad and was sticking to the Tararua ranges, it had been clear on the Wairarapa straights driving there. 
Our wee 2 wheel drive car coped well on crappy gravel in pretty decent rain. We passed a Caldina stuck in a ditch at the side of the route causing a tiny moment of concern and making me glad I learned to drive on gravel. 
At the carpark there are great loos (flushing vs a long drop at the park entrance) and two Doc shelters with maps and didimo cleaning gear. About 5 4wd vehicles were in the carpark no doubt trampers or hunters. 
We ate our lunch under the shelter above while it poured after our walk.  Honestly crossing the bridge was awesome and I am really not keen on heights. Instead of heading into the bush we walked down to the river which was amazingly clear - very beautiful from above in a way photos don't do justice. It must be a great kayakers river. We also saw a couple of abseiling places which would be wicked if you are into that. 
The rain really got the better of us so we packed up after about 90 mins and headed into martinborough where we took another walk under ominous clouds before settling down for a lovely Pinot Grigio. Sunday was so horrendous I didn't even take any photos. Definately the scariest drive over the hill we have ever done. 


Tuesday 21 June 2016

London Day 14 - time to go home

This two weeks has flown by yet we are happy to have seen so many people and Steve enjoyed a great first visit to my former home town. 
Our last morning was pissing down. We packed, chatted with Paul who kindly worked from home so we could spend some time with him and headed into town to meet Karen for lunch 
Our last selfie at stop P Isle of Dogs and one last photo at Canary Wharf DLR station. 
Our big plan for the last day was going up the Walkie-Talkie building to the SkyGarden. As you can see from this before and after pic series when we headed to our long awaited booking time we couldn't even see the building for the cloud. 
So sadly we cancelled our booking. Impossible to get another the same day that has gone into the list for next time. 
Another of the things on the list was lunch at Caravan which we did achieve. Great coffee as promised Sophie. 
We escorted Karen back to work so we could delay the goodbye. So last photo on the tube. 
She works in such a fantastic part of London. Final selfies with Karen at work then with Paul at home before we departed. They have been so great letting us stay so long and entertaining us! Will miss them. 
The day had cleared up so our formerly dreaded commute to Heathrow was ok. We left the apartment at 6:30 and had an OK run on the tubes. 
Post checkin we ate in an Italian airport bar. Must say Heathrow terminal 3 is the most affordable airport we have seen this trip. 
The football was on so all bars were packed where tvs are present. 
Bye London it's been a blast. 

Sunday 19 June 2016

York - final day with Don in the UK

After our shorter than ideal sleep we headed off to York, a short train ride from Leeds. 
York is a walled town with Roman ruins, a cathedral and a castle too. We had yummy breakfast and set off on the wall walk, it's about 3km but we stepped off and on walking 13km in our short day there. 

We found the walk lovely but curious watching normal life go on in homes alongside it. Here are a few pics that sum York up really. 

Part of the walk had no wall section as it had formerly been a lake and moat section of the castle protection. Now it's a megacentre and housing. We saw baby geese and swans though. 
Around midday we spotted a gorgeous pub so just had to stop and sit in their courtyard. Lovely day for it. 
That's the wall behind Steve. 

The cathedral is massive and ornate. Great windows and gargoyle display.  Hard to photograph up close so these don't do it justice. 

The castle cost £5 EACH! To walk up but oh what a view. 

The pedestrian streets are full of standard high street shops and boutique stores. We had yummy gelato- too busy eating to take a photo. Bought train food for later in the market and stopped for a roadie before heading back to the train station for our 3pm train home. 
Quick trip with no stops and a high speed train. Back into Kings Cross station where I just had to take a photo of the ridiculous queue at platform 9 and 3/4 - OMG!
Yes that is a snaking queue, hundreds of people. 
Reluctant to say goodbye to my wee boy we went for a wander around the amazing developments behind Kings Cross/ St.Pancreas stations. 
Lovely spaces with fountains, seating, free table tennis and bars / cafes galore. 
We decided we were all still full so no dinner but Don wanted Steve to try his favourite local beer so we people watched in St.Pancreas station. Lovely wee bar. 
I was fascinated at how the police are treated like information people by the public. 
Such a sad way to say goodbye to Don at a train station. Had a great stay and will miss him so much but pleased he has a good job and great friends.