So today Thursday we returned to the lakes we had whizzed past yesterday!

The valleys all the way inland are lush and green with many animal farms. We saw pigs horses deer cows bulls lamas chickens alpacas….And many sheep farms.

First stop was a vintage antique shop. We saw loads of car memorabilia there.

Lake Tekapo was a beautiful turquoise colour because of all the salts washed down the mountains into the water. It was so windy, but a warm wind like being in a hairdryer! There weren’t many people around today and not much traffic. We stayed there for a while and ate our sandwiches.

The road then leads on to turquoise blue lake Pukaki. At the end of this long lake you can see Mount Cook. BUT it was shrouded in cloud😔

The wind was so strong there were lots of waves lashing down on the rocks. You could mistakenly think it was the seaside!

We stayed there for ages sunbathing and enjoying the scenery.

The road back to Timaru passed 2 more lakes that were formed by dams. Their water was deep navy blue in colour and people were on kayaks and small boats enjoying themselves. We were quite tired by the journey it is a long way to travel so we slowly headed back to Timaru. We did stop for a double ice cream that turned out to be a triple serving!

The Maori paintings were on the distinctive chalk cliffs at Duntroon. They were barely visible and had been tampered with in 1900s and some removed.

There was a large baby bird laying on the ground, I think it was a bird of prey because of its size and beak. It must have fallen down the cliff face. It didn’t look very well I hope it’s parents found it after we had gone. Well that’s all for today. We are staying around Timaru tomorrow, a day on the beach and around the town xxxxx Continue reading →

Today Wednesday we set out to visit Mount Cook. Determined to leave plenty of time to get there we whizzed past all the beautiful sights on the way, the lakes and viewpoints. We weren’t disappointed. There was the mountain top covered in sunshine and glistening snow. At the visitors centre there was a huge window looking straight onto the mountain.

I decided to have lunch before we did anything else and we had a lovely salad. Sadly for us while we were eating lunch the cloud descended and the summit was covered. Never mind we still got photos and had actually seen the top.

We followed the road round as far as we could into the mountains and came to a car park. There was a walk up to a beautiful glacial lake. 430 steep steps! It was so lovely up there. I’m afraid the dust was blowing everywhere though and I found it difficult to breathe. But I didn’t have my inhaler with me. Dad helped me down the mountain and as I got to a lower level I began to feel better. I’m pleased we did go up there and I’ve learnt always to have my inhaler with me.

We came back retracing our steps and visited a lavender farm. As you can see from the photos the smells were so good!

We had ice cream flavoured with lavender too, it was so yummy!

Next we visited the church of the good shepherd on Lake Tekapo. The setting and views are wonderful.

We didn’t get back to Timaru until 8.30pm. We had such a lovely day xxx

Sunday evening we left LAX airport at 11pm and travelled for 13 hours arriving on Tuesday morning at Auckland New Zealand…Where did Monday go to??? We then had an internal flight to Christchurch South Island, 45 minutes, and picked up our hire car.

So here we are in Timaru after a 2 hour car journey very tired but excited to finally be here.

No photos today as our cameras were packed away sorry.

When we arrived in Christchurch a Maori welcome of shouting, songs and dances was being given to a family with a small child. Nose and forehead greeting too. I wonder who they were and why the New Zealanders performed to them.

Our bed and breakfast is very lovely and the owners are very kind, we have huge glass windows along the lounge and bedroom with views over the sea and town.

well that’s all for now xxx

 

Santa Monica Pier and the 16000 steps.

We walked a long way today…over 16000 steps according to my Fitbit.

It was sunny and windy so we put on sunscreen and parked up by Venice Beach carpark.

The surf and swell on the sea was wild after last nights storms. Lots of surfers were there and crashing waves. We got some great action shots of surf.

We slowly ambled along towards the pier; a long way in the distance at Santa Monica. It is a pavement and a cycle track all along the coastal stretch with limited access for cars.

All along beach dwellers were selling their artwork and jewellery. We got whiffs of wacky backy at every part along there! There were such a diverse lot of people in every way . What an experience! Finally we made it to Santa Monica Pier. Hundreds of people were there and street performers artists and the huge

Amusement arcade with big dippers and amusements. So pleased we made the effort to see this culture of LA. People were hiring electric scooters, skaters, skate boarders,cycles of every variety were racing along through the crowds.

Bans were playing, buskers were everywhere from Venice to Santa Monica

We didn’t feel scared at all as everyone was enjoying themselves and not extruding into others space.

We saw forest Gumps Baba shrimp stall.

After the long trail back we decided to go to the airport early as usual, and have our dinner at one of the restaurants.

I’m writing this at the airport now and feeling ready to sleep most of the journey if I can

Hope your first days back to work, uni,and school go well

Love and kisses xxxx

 

Today is Saturday and heavy rain was forecasted. We drove to the Tar Pits and managed to park nearby, realising there were museums close by too.

The tar pits are so interesting. Over millions of years the oozing oil and tar trapped dinosaurs and ancient animals. Their remains are being found all the time. We saw many examples of skeletons and reconstructions of the animals. In the lab we saw the technicians sorting through tiny remains under microscopes. The way everything was explained and displayed was fabulous. Hope you like the photos.

Next the skies looked full of clouds so we decided to visit the museum of modern art. There are 5 huge buildings and sculptures outside. Again there were so many people around it was awkward to take the photos.

There were several Picasso pictures and Matisse. We saw so many items from all over the world. We both found lots to interest us but some were weird and hard to believe are art. Not on our wave length.

At 3.30pm the rain showers started, but good timing as we were getting tired, we had walked so far around the exhibitions!

Tomorrow we fly out at 11pm Sunday and then lose a day as we arrive in N Z on Tuesday! How does that work Lily?

Love to you all

Xxxxx

A few photos of me and dad aboard the Queen Mary yesterday

 

 

It’s now Friday 4 January and we left Thornbury on Tuesday 1 January.

 

 

Times going quickly this week.

We set off early and hit the traffic going into the city. It moved very slowly for quite a few miles. We managed to find a car park near to the LA waxworks along the “walk of fame..” You pay 15 dollars all day and they park the car for you and return it to you!

 

Up on the pavement we saw lots of young people dressed up as super heroes and wanting to be photographed. Here is Spider-Man waving to me. He said ” I see you my lady” I thought Otis Louis and Xavi would like this.
We saw loads more characters and bumblebee. Grandad told him Louis has difficulty transforming him and he said, “you can learn from 7 year olds no problem…”. Grandad said “but hes 6” ….he said “you will learn soon”

So if I’m truthful I didn’t enjoy the bus tour through Beverley Hills and sunset boulevard and Hollywood areas. We were shown where the stars eat at restaurants and places they worked and filmed at. I thought it would be much more grand and we would see more historical areas and background stories to the stars, but it didn’t happen!

 

We spotted many stars names on the walk of fame. Grandads name was there Lily!

We went to the Hollywood Rock Cafe for lunch. I really liked it there and the food was delicious. The menu was calorie counted and I chose well to keep to my diet.

In the afternoon we drove up the hillside above,to view the Hollywood sign. There were hundreds of people up there and we realised we were at the famous planetarium and observatory

 

It was so impressive inside and explained all about things like planets orbits super planets, movement of the moon etc. But too many people were there though. I cant imagine what its like in the Summer!
The views over LA were amazing
I hope you like the photos.
Some bad weather coming tomorrow with rain, so we will go to museums if it is too bad, otherwise we are off to The Tar Pits and Santa Monica Beach.

I hope your work is going well Anona and that you are having a good time at the farm Lily.
I hope Matthew Blandine Louis and Alice that you had a lovely holiday. I think the photos look so beautiful

So yesterday after a long day with hardly any sleep for 24 hours we finally got to our hotel near the airport.

This morning we woke up early and after a large breakfast. We headed out to the Queen Mary in Long Beach LA

It is a huge ship and well preserved. We spent all morning and most of the afternoon on the ship. We only paid for children’s rate as the computer was down and she wanted cash only. We didn’t mind!

I hope you like my photos. We ate lunch looking out over the harbour from the ship and saw pelicans and 3 dolphins! We had such a lovely day today and a good start to our travels.The sand is part of Long Beach LA. We quickly drove to see it as it is close by the Queen Mary.

Tomorrow we are touring Beverley Hills and Hollywood.

Just to finish off our fab 2018 travel log, a belated entry!

Today in a lazy mood we packed everything up and loaded the car. We had wondered what to do on our last day and on searching the internet, grandad found there was a naval battleship at Quincy MA that is being renovated by volunteers and open to  public viewing as a museum. It is close by the airport and is the USS Salemu

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Length 717 feet    decommissioned1959        draft 26 foot

It was a hot day and even hotter below decks! There was no fresh air and a very hot dry atmosphere. I found it  bit overpowering and claustrophobic but persevered. The museum below deck was interesting; and so was imagining how over 1000 men lived and worked in the ship.

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Grandad was shown round one of the 4 engine rooms. The scouts association regularly stay on board for weekends on the ship. In October there is a huge public input for Halloween as the ship is said to be haunted. We didn’t find anything spooky at all as we wandered around

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Do you like granddads photo ha ha!

We then explored the surrounding areas but it was mainly industrial and not as pretty as we had hoped. We decided to go to Boston waterfront.

We were so pleased we did as it was so pleasant in the afternoon sun. As it was Sunday afternoon everyone was relaxed and wandering round and there were people dancing and buskers playing. We had a light lunch of…. yes you guessed correctly…fish!

We sat listening to a very talented guitarist who played improvisations around 60s and70s music, so clever and lovely to hear

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We found it very hard to say goodbye to Boston and our fab holiday, but made our way to the Airport.

Our plane was delayed by 2 hours, but fortunately they could put us on an earlier flight still travelling business class using our air miles!

We’re looking forward to catching up with our sleep and getting over our aches and pains, but most of all seeing our family again as we’ve missed them so much

Bye till next Mann tours!!! xxx

 

Hi it’s our anniversary 44 years married. 2pm 27 th July 1974. We got married at St. Andrews Methodist Church Cleethorpes on a cold cloudy but dry day. We had our reception at the Grimsby conservative club as it had a big hall to fit us all in. We left there for our honeymoon to Lincoln opposite the cathedral; and then on to Shropshire the next day. Here we stayed at The Feathers Hotel Ludlow for 3 nights. We then went camping but our car broke down! My parents and Uncle Phil Aunty Babs came to rescue us and we travelled back to Grimsby in different cars!
So today we celebrated by going whale watching! It was a hot clear day and not too much of a sea swell. We went to Gloucester Massachusetts. Cape Ann.
We spent the morning at nearby Bearskin Point and Rockport. We came here 5 weeks ago!
The whale watching was fun.

The first humpback whale wasn’t far from Gloucester port but it only came up briefly for air and dived twice quickly again. They gave up on that one! We sped off in the ship to find a mother and calf. They were very obliging especially the calf, and we watched them for a long while.

Lastly we travelled on again to find 2 larger humpbacks hunting fish together. They may be both pregnant and have been together for 2 weeks.
We got good pictures of them diving together. So we were very lucky and were out at sea for 4 hours.
When we got back to Gloucester we were soaked to the skin right through our pants! As it was rush hour we decided to stick it out and go to a nearby restaurant for our dinner.
Eventually after a nice celebration meal we headed back to our hotel, still soaking wet!
Hope you like our photos all taken by grandad. Xxxxxx WE LOVE WHALES
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🚢⚓️🐳🐳🐋🐋🐋🐋
Sent from my iPad

It only took us two and a half hours to drive here from Brunswick on the motorways. You have to pay a toll a few times but cost us about 6 dollars all in.

We took it easy and stopped for lunch at a crackle barrel restaurant, the first one this time in USA. We had a salad and I had lemonade.

We then went to the house in Concorde where ” the little Women” book was written and where Louisa Alcock lived for 20 years…Orchard House. We had a guided tour around the house and were told all about her life and the family she came from. There were 4 girls and their father was an educated and their mother a social worker.

They were in the fore front of anti slavery movement , treating black people as equals and helping them to escape slavery. The father taught black children in his school and let his own daughters be educated and to follow their dreams. So encouraged suffragette movement and also insisting black women had the right to vote. All this was ahead of thinking at the time and the family were very influencial in the community. There is much more to learn about them ask me if you’re interested in their philosophy and beliefs.

The house tour lived up to my dreams and I found it much more interesting than the tour of Anne of Greengables in PEI

Concord is steeped in history. It is where the American revolution began and the first recorded battle against the British.

This is the house of concords black heritageThe Robbins House – There are highlights about Brister Freeman, whose home was in the town forest …

I saw posters in houses saying ” black lives matter” from the black lives matter movement.
Well I was immersed in history today and really enjoyed stretching my mind.

To finish ill leave you with some photos from the Maine botannical gardens that we saw.

 

We will be home very soon now and whale watching tomorrow, hope we manage to see a whale!!! love and kisses xxx