It’s really easy to pack for a weeks holiday after having to pack for a 12 week holiday earlier in the year. One case, one climate, one activity. Unless you’re Ian of course who still managed to fill a huge bag and take 6 hours over it.
Bikini…check
Flip flops…check
Sun cream… check
However, there is something amiss this holiday. I pride myself in being able to manage a holiday pint in the airport (or wine, or G&T) regardless of the time of day. 7am is a very respectable airport time to hit the bar, no? Except this time I just didn’t fancy it. You heard me, I didn’t fancy it!?! Did I blink and get old in November?
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Monday, 30 November 2009
30/11 Claire - Chilli addiction
“Capsaicin stimulates brain to excrete endorphin and gives a sense of pleasure when ingested. This is the reason people get addicted to chilli” http://www.chilly.in/chilli_benefits.htm
I honestly think I am. Twice out for curry this weekend. Chilli pickle as a mid day snack. There seems to be a lot of evidence on the net that chilli is very good for you, from the high levels of vitamin C, B6, A and folic acid, being a natural antibiotic and increasing your metabolism to name but a few benefits. I wonder these wonderful benefits are countered when my chilli servings are covered in ghee ;o)
I honestly think I am. Twice out for curry this weekend. Chilli pickle as a mid day snack. There seems to be a lot of evidence on the net that chilli is very good for you, from the high levels of vitamin C, B6, A and folic acid, being a natural antibiotic and increasing your metabolism to name but a few benefits. I wonder these wonderful benefits are countered when my chilli servings are covered in ghee ;o)
30/11 Claire - Spinning class after a heavy weekend
If the next day laid up on the couch wasn’t enough of a sign that I’m just too bloody old for it these days the fact that my hangover spread into Monday should tell me loud and clear. I got up for spinning class as usual, within about 6 minutes of the class starting I was so out of breath my heart was about to pop out of my chest and my legs could barely carry my weight never mind keep up with the instructor. Needless to say I cheated most of the way through just so I didn’t embarrass myself by literally falling off the bike. Nightmare.
28/11 Claire - How grown up are we? Or not as the case may be
You know you are quite grown up when your friend’s daughter has just celebrated her 18th birthday. Oh Lord! So when we arrange a sensible evening meal out with Mica and take her out for her first Indian meal it starts out well, a couple of glasses of wine with a meal…then pop around the corner to a pub for a drink…later Mica’s boyfriend just happens to be in the same pub (I think she text him saying “help me, Mum and her mates are getting p*ssed and I need to get out of here”)… then they leave and we end up upstairs dancing to Retro tunes like we were the 18 year olds. How can we be so old and so young at the same time?
Monday, 23 November 2009
21/11 Claire - Ojos to Brujo
When we decided to buy tickets for Ojos de Brujo at the Sage for Rachael’s birthday I had no idea what to expect. I had the perception of “world music” which to be fair had all been deleted from the car i-pod in the same frenzied attack as “dub, “alternative”, “reggae” etc.
We get to the sage and it’s in hall one (groan). Hall one is seated, large and clinical and it’s where De La Soul got arsey with us for being un-hip hop (what gave them this impression I do not know, I didn’t even get my disco finger out).
They start with a flamenco dancer who comes out all stompy and passionate. Then the lead singer appears, she’s clearly young with gold sparkely eye shadow and trainers but the rest of her outfit confuses me. She is weaing a Carmen Mirander style out fit with feather boa and looked just like a child who’s raided the dressing up box. It was ironic, I think, but it cerntainly made for a colour show and photos.
These guys are a large 9 piece band from Barcelona and describe them selves as hip hop with a hint of flamenco (?! But it works). They are all really talented and they didn’t get arsey and seem to really enjoy themselves and the atmosphere. Maybe my hip hop appreciation is more European than Stateside!
We get to the sage and it’s in hall one (groan). Hall one is seated, large and clinical and it’s where De La Soul got arsey with us for being un-hip hop (what gave them this impression I do not know, I didn’t even get my disco finger out).
They start with a flamenco dancer who comes out all stompy and passionate. Then the lead singer appears, she’s clearly young with gold sparkely eye shadow and trainers but the rest of her outfit confuses me. She is weaing a Carmen Mirander style out fit with feather boa and looked just like a child who’s raided the dressing up box. It was ironic, I think, but it cerntainly made for a colour show and photos.
These guys are a large 9 piece band from Barcelona and describe them selves as hip hop with a hint of flamenco (?! But it works). They are all really talented and they didn’t get arsey and seem to really enjoy themselves and the atmosphere. Maybe my hip hop appreciation is more European than Stateside!
15/11 Claire – Here’s to reunions
Sometimes you get a feeling of nostalgia and need to get back to your roots and today I made the first step by meeting up with my brilliant old mate Rob. Rob and I were at school together, his best mate was my first boyfriend, and we went drinking together when we were allowed in the pub… you get the picture. We lost touch when I moved away from Easingwold when I was 20, managed to get back in touch again about 5 years ago only to lose touch again.
The longer you leave it the harder it is to make that step to get in touch but stuff it, in these days of multimedia communications it only takes a text message or friend invite on facebook to say Hi. It’s really easy. I sent Rob a text, luckily he still has the same number and here we are… having Sunday lunch in Alne with Ian and Rob’s girlfriend Claire. I stop myself from writing new girlfriend just because I have not met her before, they have been together 5 years!
Rob spends most of the afternoon saying “do you remember so and so” and I reply “erm, no” seriously what’s with my memory? A misspent youth I think. The important thing is that I remember Rob and what’s really lovely to see is that he’s not really changed. Yes we’re older, yes we are a little more sensible (at times) and quite grown up but inside he seems to be the same great, lovely guy from school that I remember. I won’t be losing touch again!
The longer you leave it the harder it is to make that step to get in touch but stuff it, in these days of multimedia communications it only takes a text message or friend invite on facebook to say Hi. It’s really easy. I sent Rob a text, luckily he still has the same number and here we are… having Sunday lunch in Alne with Ian and Rob’s girlfriend Claire. I stop myself from writing new girlfriend just because I have not met her before, they have been together 5 years!
Rob spends most of the afternoon saying “do you remember so and so” and I reply “erm, no” seriously what’s with my memory? A misspent youth I think. The important thing is that I remember Rob and what’s really lovely to see is that he’s not really changed. Yes we’re older, yes we are a little more sensible (at times) and quite grown up but inside he seems to be the same great, lovely guy from school that I remember. I won’t be losing touch again!
Sunday, 15 November 2009
14/11 Claire - A party… in a house… a house party… it could be messy ;o)
As you start to grow up you begin to think that some events are a thing of your youth and a house party is one of them. I mean, we do have people around to our house, and we visit others, but usually this involves a select few (we can only fit so many around the table), a meal and perhaps only later reduces to the drunken debauchery usually associated with a party. I must say I was dancing on my kitchen table at my last “dinner party” but I digress.
So a house warming party, with a large number of people all drinking, dancing and playing a horn (I’ll come back to that later), was very reminisant of house parties of old.. except we are all much older ableit not necessarily wiser.
Owen’s made a great job of decorating his new house, it’s all glistening white and shiney wooden floors. Personally I’d have partied whilst there was still brown/orange 70’s carpet down… just in case. He was the perfect host by supplying copious bottles of wine, party nibbles and a gazebo in the back garden for the smokers.
It started off all sedate (no one turns up on time for a party) and polite (meeting Owen’s new girl) but quickly descended into dancing, shouting, loud music and a musical instrument that sounded like an air horn being played repeatedly by numerous people at about 1am. Fortunately, his neighbour on one side had been to the party early and had since gone to Sunderland after a, the boys seemed to think, booty call. The neighhour on the other side was on night shift, her partner had been invited but didn’t show. If he was pissed off at the noise it was perhaps better than joining us to hear it first hand.
To be fair the bit of the party that was post Metaxa brandy (Jamie, it’s lovely but lethal, I know, I know… I’m sorry) is a blur… I have a vague recolection of Rob and I getting into Owen’s inactive fireplace in an arty fashion, read into that what you will. I have no recollection of telling the “legendary Ben Oakes” that until that evening I thought he was the boys imaginary friend since I have known them all for years yet this one friend I had never met… and, if I am honest, I still think he was a hired actor!
So a house warming party, with a large number of people all drinking, dancing and playing a horn (I’ll come back to that later), was very reminisant of house parties of old.. except we are all much older ableit not necessarily wiser.
Owen’s made a great job of decorating his new house, it’s all glistening white and shiney wooden floors. Personally I’d have partied whilst there was still brown/orange 70’s carpet down… just in case. He was the perfect host by supplying copious bottles of wine, party nibbles and a gazebo in the back garden for the smokers.
It started off all sedate (no one turns up on time for a party) and polite (meeting Owen’s new girl) but quickly descended into dancing, shouting, loud music and a musical instrument that sounded like an air horn being played repeatedly by numerous people at about 1am. Fortunately, his neighbour on one side had been to the party early and had since gone to Sunderland after a, the boys seemed to think, booty call. The neighhour on the other side was on night shift, her partner had been invited but didn’t show. If he was pissed off at the noise it was perhaps better than joining us to hear it first hand.
To be fair the bit of the party that was post Metaxa brandy (Jamie, it’s lovely but lethal, I know, I know… I’m sorry) is a blur… I have a vague recolection of Rob and I getting into Owen’s inactive fireplace in an arty fashion, read into that what you will. I have no recollection of telling the “legendary Ben Oakes” that until that evening I thought he was the boys imaginary friend since I have known them all for years yet this one friend I had never met… and, if I am honest, I still think he was a hired actor!
12/11 Claire - A little mouse with clogs on
Great! A day in London, a delayed train, Ian in Sheffield, a live mouse running around the kichen and two cats too stupid to see it. Nice.
I try the obvious mouse catching technique… hold the cat by the waist, thrust cats head towards area mouse is hiding, cat picks up mouse in teeth, chuck cat and attached mouse into the garden. Great plan however the cat seems oblivious to the mouse 10cms from her nose and turns to me, feet dangling freely, as if to say “Hiya, had a good day? I’ve missed you… Meow..”. This is the cat that is a country killing machine and brings in stuff every other day to eat… what is it about indoor hunting that seems to pass her by?
Ian calls within a couple of mins of me spotting the little critter so he kindly talks me through my options
1) Don’t feed the cats, go into the lounge, shut the door, go to bed and assume the cats will find it and catch it overnight
2) Catch the mouse with a bowl and release back into the garden
Is he ****ing joking? Then between my bouts of hysteria he says “sorry love, can I call you back later… my meal’s just arrived”. Yes, I decide, he’s taking the piss.
So, I need to move the cat beds and the sheepskin rug they sit on top of as the mouse is clearly now underneath. My cunning plan for ensuring that this act doesn’t result in mouse running over feet is to lie, belly down, across the kitchen table. I can reach down from this position and grab the edge of each of the beds and the rug, move them and not be anywhere close to the floor in case of a mouse escape attempt.
As I lift the rug in one corner with two fingers not only do I see the live mouse running behind the snowboards balanced in the corner but they have also left me a dead mouse under the rug to deal with. Great. The dead mouse gets flung out of the garden and in this time I see the live mouse taking tentative steps out of it’s hiding place. Right time to move, be a brave girl and do something about it. I take a large clear measuring jug, climb back onto the kitchen table and lie across it, reach down towards the mouse and quickly drop the jug upside down on top of it. Hoorar. Now, what the hell do I do now? Ok, piece of card, under jug, jug back the right way around, into front garden… and release!
Clinton seemed to have a new found level of respect for me after this, he followed me around making lots of loving meow noises, aw.
My mistake… he just wanted me to get the Whiskers out!!
I try the obvious mouse catching technique… hold the cat by the waist, thrust cats head towards area mouse is hiding, cat picks up mouse in teeth, chuck cat and attached mouse into the garden. Great plan however the cat seems oblivious to the mouse 10cms from her nose and turns to me, feet dangling freely, as if to say “Hiya, had a good day? I’ve missed you… Meow..”. This is the cat that is a country killing machine and brings in stuff every other day to eat… what is it about indoor hunting that seems to pass her by?
Ian calls within a couple of mins of me spotting the little critter so he kindly talks me through my options
1) Don’t feed the cats, go into the lounge, shut the door, go to bed and assume the cats will find it and catch it overnight
2) Catch the mouse with a bowl and release back into the garden
Is he ****ing joking? Then between my bouts of hysteria he says “sorry love, can I call you back later… my meal’s just arrived”. Yes, I decide, he’s taking the piss.
So, I need to move the cat beds and the sheepskin rug they sit on top of as the mouse is clearly now underneath. My cunning plan for ensuring that this act doesn’t result in mouse running over feet is to lie, belly down, across the kitchen table. I can reach down from this position and grab the edge of each of the beds and the rug, move them and not be anywhere close to the floor in case of a mouse escape attempt.
As I lift the rug in one corner with two fingers not only do I see the live mouse running behind the snowboards balanced in the corner but they have also left me a dead mouse under the rug to deal with. Great. The dead mouse gets flung out of the garden and in this time I see the live mouse taking tentative steps out of it’s hiding place. Right time to move, be a brave girl and do something about it. I take a large clear measuring jug, climb back onto the kitchen table and lie across it, reach down towards the mouse and quickly drop the jug upside down on top of it. Hoorar. Now, what the hell do I do now? Ok, piece of card, under jug, jug back the right way around, into front garden… and release!
Clinton seemed to have a new found level of respect for me after this, he followed me around making lots of loving meow noises, aw.
My mistake… he just wanted me to get the Whiskers out!!
5/11 Claire - Remember, remember 5th of November…
It’s Ian’s birthday! After a leisurely day off work, while the birthday boy worked at the kitchen table, we head off at 3pm to a secret location that he knows nothing about. Well I say that he knows nothing about it but he knows we are going away and that swanky food will be available as this is the theme of all of our birthday surprises.
We are starting to run out of michelin starred restaurants in the North East that we haven’t visited but there are a couple and the Box Tree in Ilkley is one of them. It’s not a hotel, just a restaurant, so I’ve booked us a small B&B a couple of mins walk away for convenience.
Fancy frock and tarts trotters on we wander down at 8pm for slap up meal. Now, I say wander like we sauntered, elegantly across the road toward our destination however this is not the case. You may recall my lack of heel wearing over recent months. Well, heels and tights is a double hazzard. Feet slipping out of my trotters due to a lack of friction grip whilst still being a little unsteady in a four inch spike must have been a sight to behold. Fortunately the rest of the evening was seated so I didn’t embarrass myself by looking drunk before the evening started.
I digress. The Box Tree is a really lovely place, the lounge is beautifully decorated, although the dining room a little plain, but the food was excellent.
We started with an amuse bouche of celeriac and whilte truffle soup, Ian then had scallops and I had a fois gras and ham hock terrine as our starters, we both has venison as a main and a cheese board instead of a dessert. Pretty much each course except the cheese had a layer of truffle or truffle oil which I do like. I was offered a very sweet wine (like a dessert wine) to go with the terrine starter. The venison was cooked, for fear of sounding like I am on Master Chef, to perfection. Then the waiter brought out a large tray of different cheeses that we could try any of.
Two strange things from the evening.
Ian not having a dessert!
Cheese without port!
I can’t explain Ian’s lack of dessert and this is possibly the first time in his life he’s not eaten something sweet after a meal.
As we’d both had a different (white/sweet) glass of wine with our starters we had loads of Malbec left when cheese arrived and if we had tried to just neck it in order to fit in port we’d have been even more wellied than we were already. And to be fair, I woke up at 2am in bed still in my clothes and still holding my belly so perhaps that was a good call :o)
We are starting to run out of michelin starred restaurants in the North East that we haven’t visited but there are a couple and the Box Tree in Ilkley is one of them. It’s not a hotel, just a restaurant, so I’ve booked us a small B&B a couple of mins walk away for convenience.
Fancy frock and tarts trotters on we wander down at 8pm for slap up meal. Now, I say wander like we sauntered, elegantly across the road toward our destination however this is not the case. You may recall my lack of heel wearing over recent months. Well, heels and tights is a double hazzard. Feet slipping out of my trotters due to a lack of friction grip whilst still being a little unsteady in a four inch spike must have been a sight to behold. Fortunately the rest of the evening was seated so I didn’t embarrass myself by looking drunk before the evening started.
I digress. The Box Tree is a really lovely place, the lounge is beautifully decorated, although the dining room a little plain, but the food was excellent.
We started with an amuse bouche of celeriac and whilte truffle soup, Ian then had scallops and I had a fois gras and ham hock terrine as our starters, we both has venison as a main and a cheese board instead of a dessert. Pretty much each course except the cheese had a layer of truffle or truffle oil which I do like. I was offered a very sweet wine (like a dessert wine) to go with the terrine starter. The venison was cooked, for fear of sounding like I am on Master Chef, to perfection. Then the waiter brought out a large tray of different cheeses that we could try any of.
Two strange things from the evening.
Ian not having a dessert!
Cheese without port!
I can’t explain Ian’s lack of dessert and this is possibly the first time in his life he’s not eaten something sweet after a meal.
As we’d both had a different (white/sweet) glass of wine with our starters we had loads of Malbec left when cheese arrived and if we had tried to just neck it in order to fit in port we’d have been even more wellied than we were already. And to be fair, I woke up at 2am in bed still in my clothes and still holding my belly so perhaps that was a good call :o)
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
02/11 Claire - Music Industry Trust Award
Well, imagine my surpirse when I received an email from one of our suppliers inviting me to the Music Industry Trust Award ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. In the words of my little sis, “whoop! whoop!”
The first things Jacks says to me is “what to wear??” and I think “shit, yeah hadn’t thought about that”. I didn’t worry as I’d bought myself a LBD from a small shop in Yarm on Saturday but had to look up on the internet what sort of “cocktail dress” was appropriate. Big mistake! Look on the inetrnet and you see designer frocks a plenty wrapped around the likes of Kylie and Cheryl from last year… how to make yourself feel inadequate in one easy step.
Next worry is my gradually (or not as the case may be) fading tan. Off to the salan for new lashes and a spray tan. Done. Then, OMG I don’t have an evening jacket. Fortunately my sister came to the rescue with a beaitiful black feathery number.
Down to London on Monday and check into the hotel (not the Grosvenor, Orange put me up in the Quality Crown!) 2 hours before I am due to leave to ensure I have plenty of time to get ready. An hour and a half later I still have sock rings around my legs. I do feel like Bridget Jones and make a mental note to self to check my dress is not tucked into my knickers before I leave.
When we arrive at the hotel we climb out of the cab to be approached by as set of paparazzi, who then quickly realise that we are no one of interest and walk on straight past. The car pulling up behind us is Jonathan Ross and his wife Jane so they probably made a good call there. The evening is dedicated to Jonathan Ross who won the award this year. They stood behind me in the cloak room queue and I froze in a kind of pathetic “erm, no, no after you” type stance until the cloak room attendant got shirty with me for holding her up.
In the reception I’m 5ft away from Russell Brand and David Baddiel. Then Kelly Jones from the Stereophonics played an acoustic set… then, no word of a lie, George Michael gets up on stage to present the award. What a legend! There was also a performance from Brian Ferry, I’m not a huge fan but it was still good.
A later see Kelly Jones in the bar and I’ve had a few glasses of fizz… apparently I comment quite loudly about his height, which to be fair he is quite short, but perhaps that was inappropriate since he’s only 3ft away from me!
Fab night, can’t remember getting back but I did manage to drink an alza seltzer before going to bed… I am impressed with myself :o)
The first things Jacks says to me is “what to wear??” and I think “shit, yeah hadn’t thought about that”. I didn’t worry as I’d bought myself a LBD from a small shop in Yarm on Saturday but had to look up on the internet what sort of “cocktail dress” was appropriate. Big mistake! Look on the inetrnet and you see designer frocks a plenty wrapped around the likes of Kylie and Cheryl from last year… how to make yourself feel inadequate in one easy step.
Next worry is my gradually (or not as the case may be) fading tan. Off to the salan for new lashes and a spray tan. Done. Then, OMG I don’t have an evening jacket. Fortunately my sister came to the rescue with a beaitiful black feathery number.
Down to London on Monday and check into the hotel (not the Grosvenor, Orange put me up in the Quality Crown!) 2 hours before I am due to leave to ensure I have plenty of time to get ready. An hour and a half later I still have sock rings around my legs. I do feel like Bridget Jones and make a mental note to self to check my dress is not tucked into my knickers before I leave.
When we arrive at the hotel we climb out of the cab to be approached by as set of paparazzi, who then quickly realise that we are no one of interest and walk on straight past. The car pulling up behind us is Jonathan Ross and his wife Jane so they probably made a good call there. The evening is dedicated to Jonathan Ross who won the award this year. They stood behind me in the cloak room queue and I froze in a kind of pathetic “erm, no, no after you” type stance until the cloak room attendant got shirty with me for holding her up.
In the reception I’m 5ft away from Russell Brand and David Baddiel. Then Kelly Jones from the Stereophonics played an acoustic set… then, no word of a lie, George Michael gets up on stage to present the award. What a legend! There was also a performance from Brian Ferry, I’m not a huge fan but it was still good.
A later see Kelly Jones in the bar and I’ve had a few glasses of fizz… apparently I comment quite loudly about his height, which to be fair he is quite short, but perhaps that was inappropriate since he’s only 3ft away from me!
Fab night, can’t remember getting back but I did manage to drink an alza seltzer before going to bed… I am impressed with myself :o)
Thursday, 29 October 2009
28/10 Claire - TC
It’s quite poor when you call a friend for the first time in ages and ask what he’s been up to through the summer only to be told “well… we’ve had another baby”. It made me realise that I have been a very poor friend and can’t even blame 3 months holiday on this as I didn’t even know that Tony’s wife was pregnant.
So off to Leeds to catch up on Tuesday evening.
Leave work at 5pm, drive slowly through the 50mph roadworks between Darlington and Boroughbridge, queue to get past the accident at Wetherby, go to the wrong Travel Lodge, drive around Leeds looking for Vicar Lane Travel Lodge, meet TC and drive to other end of the city, walk to restaurant, find that restaurant has no card machine working and we need cash, wait in restaurant while TC goes to nearby cashpoint, wait longer in restaurant while TC tries another cashpoint much further away as first one is broken, order food and eat at 9pm!
It was worth the wait as the steaks in this Argentinean restaurant were the best I have ever tasted, they are imported from Argentina and cooked to perfection. Apparently there is a saying in Argentina… “where there is no meat, there is no food”, I am guessing that if you are veggie you don’t holiday there ;o)
Had a great time catching up and drank far too much brandy! Ouch.
So off to Leeds to catch up on Tuesday evening.
Leave work at 5pm, drive slowly through the 50mph roadworks between Darlington and Boroughbridge, queue to get past the accident at Wetherby, go to the wrong Travel Lodge, drive around Leeds looking for Vicar Lane Travel Lodge, meet TC and drive to other end of the city, walk to restaurant, find that restaurant has no card machine working and we need cash, wait in restaurant while TC goes to nearby cashpoint, wait longer in restaurant while TC tries another cashpoint much further away as first one is broken, order food and eat at 9pm!
It was worth the wait as the steaks in this Argentinean restaurant were the best I have ever tasted, they are imported from Argentina and cooked to perfection. Apparently there is a saying in Argentina… “where there is no meat, there is no food”, I am guessing that if you are veggie you don’t holiday there ;o)
Had a great time catching up and drank far too much brandy! Ouch.
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
27/10 Claire – Gym
So as part of my overpriced gym membership I also get personal trainer sessions once every few weeks to revisit my workout, track progress etc and generally keep an eye on me.
This morning I met Nathan. It started well and kinda went along the lines of…
“I can honestly say I’ve never done a personal trainer session this early in the morning”, OK. “what do you want to get out of your workout Claire? What’s your goal?”
“well erm, I would like to be able to eat whatever I want but not put on any weight”
[snort] “I’m not sure we’ll be able to do that” [chuckle]
“for £80 per month, I am hoping you can…”
“erm, let’s see what we can do”
It’s not like I eat Maccy D’s every day or anything, this really shouldn’t be that hard. By the time I’ve finished my new work out this morning I believe he’s managed a decent enough work out. I could tell by my shaking hands when I was trying to get my key in the locker door after I had finished :o(
This morning I met Nathan. It started well and kinda went along the lines of…
“I can honestly say I’ve never done a personal trainer session this early in the morning”, OK. “what do you want to get out of your workout Claire? What’s your goal?”
“well erm, I would like to be able to eat whatever I want but not put on any weight”
[snort] “I’m not sure we’ll be able to do that” [chuckle]
“for £80 per month, I am hoping you can…”
“erm, let’s see what we can do”
It’s not like I eat Maccy D’s every day or anything, this really shouldn’t be that hard. By the time I’ve finished my new work out this morning I believe he’s managed a decent enough work out. I could tell by my shaking hands when I was trying to get my key in the locker door after I had finished :o(
Monday, 26 October 2009
24/10 Claire – Jamie’s birthday doo
It’s been a while since we’ve seen our Jamie. We’d arranged to meet up in Newcastle for food, booze and dancing and, bonus, we get to meet the new lady in his life Andrea. Andrea is very beautiful so she’s likely to be unpleasant, right? No, she’s friendly and charming. Damn!...[joking].. Jamie, if you read this, she’s a keeper ;o)
Starting in the pub at 5pm, unsurprisingly, Jamie is late and it turns out that the original plan of “getting to Newcastle between 4pm and 5pm” actually means “we’ll meet you at the restaurant at 6.30” - par for the course. After a crap meal at El Torero tapas restaurant we headed out for rather too much rum. Ian started this by getting a round of Mojitos, then most of us moved on to Cuba Libra either way the measures were huge, the sort that make you eyes water and lips purse for the first two sips, I battled through. Since these followed G&T and huge glasses of red wine I should have known it could get messy… and indeed it did.
Had a great time in World Head Quarters, I didn’t stand out like an *old* sore thumb amidst throngs of cool, trendy kids… there wasn’t really any that I recall, perhaps the place has moved more mainstream recently? Or perhaps I was too drunk to pay that much attention to those around me with the exception of our group who, if the photos are anything to go by, I seem to be throwning myself upon each time the camera came out. Bed by 5, yes 5am! How the hell did THAT happen?
Starting in the pub at 5pm, unsurprisingly, Jamie is late and it turns out that the original plan of “getting to Newcastle between 4pm and 5pm” actually means “we’ll meet you at the restaurant at 6.30” - par for the course. After a crap meal at El Torero tapas restaurant we headed out for rather too much rum. Ian started this by getting a round of Mojitos, then most of us moved on to Cuba Libra either way the measures were huge, the sort that make you eyes water and lips purse for the first two sips, I battled through. Since these followed G&T and huge glasses of red wine I should have known it could get messy… and indeed it did.
Had a great time in World Head Quarters, I didn’t stand out like an *old* sore thumb amidst throngs of cool, trendy kids… there wasn’t really any that I recall, perhaps the place has moved more mainstream recently? Or perhaps I was too drunk to pay that much attention to those around me with the exception of our group who, if the photos are anything to go by, I seem to be throwning myself upon each time the camera came out. Bed by 5, yes 5am! How the hell did THAT happen?
Saturday, 24 October 2009
23/10 Claire - Naan heaven
I have been told to go to Akbars in Middlesbrough before by a number of people. I have been to Akbars in Leeds a few years ago but the Mbro one is relatively new. What I remember of the Leeds restaurant is that it's busy, loud and they have huge naans that get brought to your table on hanging stands. In Middlesbrough they do exactly the same.
I could write about the naan all day but it would take away from the fact that these guys just have THE best place to get a curry. It's decor is really amazing with modern designs, the guys running the place and waiting tables are genuinely nice and very friendly, and the food is the best curry I have eaten in a long time.
I swear, if this is a standard naan I would cry with joy if we'd ordered a family size.
Friday, 23 October 2009
23/10 Claire – Staying fit
One of my colleagues at work, who to be fair I haven’t seen in nearly 4 months, said to me this morning “by, you’re looking well… and have you lost weight?”. It doesn’t take much to make me smile I tell you. Anyhow I’d like to say it was, although it isn’t, down to my new fitness regime of early morning gym sessions.
It’s dark when I get up and it’s dark by I get home so this means I can’t run before or after work at home. I mean, I could, but I wouldn’t be able to see the road, where the verge starts, or where the road turns and I have tried this in the past only to end up running off into the hedge. It’s literally pitch black where we are and so dark that even a head torch with full, attractive, back of the head battery pack is too weak to really see where you are going. Besides that running next to the forest with the limited light of a head torch is too spooky for me and I am not sure my nerves are up to it.
The overly priced, large chain gym on Tees Barrage has a new recession busting 3 month membership. They also have an offer now where you get the rest of 2009 free and start paying in January so I now have over 5 months membership for the price of 3 and I can hand in my notice for March when I should start to see lighter nights and can get back out on the road.
What I hate about the gym, or rather one of the things I hate about the gym, is that by the time you finish work, drive to the gym, work out, shower, drive home, have dinner… hey presto it’s time to go to bed. I can’t, just can’t, bring myself to get into the cycle of winter days and evenings disappearing before my eyes so I have a cunning plan of morning workouts. I figure that if I can get up at 6am (which to be fair is the time I have to get up to go to London), be at the gym at 6.45, workout til 7.45, shower changed and drive to work I can be at work for 8.30. It’s like using bonus time and my evenings are free!
Of course, last night I was so knackered I couldn’t keep my eyes open past 9pm but I am hoping to get used to the new routine ;o)
It’s dark when I get up and it’s dark by I get home so this means I can’t run before or after work at home. I mean, I could, but I wouldn’t be able to see the road, where the verge starts, or where the road turns and I have tried this in the past only to end up running off into the hedge. It’s literally pitch black where we are and so dark that even a head torch with full, attractive, back of the head battery pack is too weak to really see where you are going. Besides that running next to the forest with the limited light of a head torch is too spooky for me and I am not sure my nerves are up to it.
The overly priced, large chain gym on Tees Barrage has a new recession busting 3 month membership. They also have an offer now where you get the rest of 2009 free and start paying in January so I now have over 5 months membership for the price of 3 and I can hand in my notice for March when I should start to see lighter nights and can get back out on the road.
What I hate about the gym, or rather one of the things I hate about the gym, is that by the time you finish work, drive to the gym, work out, shower, drive home, have dinner… hey presto it’s time to go to bed. I can’t, just can’t, bring myself to get into the cycle of winter days and evenings disappearing before my eyes so I have a cunning plan of morning workouts. I figure that if I can get up at 6am (which to be fair is the time I have to get up to go to London), be at the gym at 6.45, workout til 7.45, shower changed and drive to work I can be at work for 8.30. It’s like using bonus time and my evenings are free!
Of course, last night I was so knackered I couldn’t keep my eyes open past 9pm but I am hoping to get used to the new routine ;o)
Thursday, 22 October 2009
22/10 Claire - To watch or not to watch
I have now decided that reverting to a world of evening TV in the dark, winter nights is not what I want to do. I mean, in the past I have been a couch potato and a bad one at that. I could seriously watch any shit on TV and would look forward to weekends when I had nothing planned so I could do this without even getting dressed.
Something has changed…
My first day back home I clicked on the box, flicked through the DIY, property development, antique sale, moving to sunnier climate day time TV programmes and just thought “I can’t do this anymore”. It was raining outside and I stood at the back door feeling caged between crap TV and crap weather. Oh dear.
Anyhow, I have decided the best thing to do is keep myself busy, keep the TV off and try to make sure that the winter doesn’t become a cycle of getting up, going to work, eating dinner, going to bed.
Some nights you just don’t have planned things to keep you out of the house and although I have been reading a little more I have also found myself on the laptop a lot sorting things for myself that I have been meaning to do for a while, sorting birthday presents, working on photos etc. What I have also found is that I am also constantly on twitter and facebook (I mean you might as well have them on in the background, right?).
Somone at work says to me “you’re always on facebook you, I didn’t think you were the sort” and another chips in with that being OK “if you don’t have a life”. To be fair to her she also quickly contradicted this with an “oh I suppose we can’t say you don’t have a life” (this based based on the usual exchange of weekend plans between parents of young children and those, me, with no kids + having my just come back from the round the world trip). What I can’t get my head around though is that if I had spent 4 hours watching crap on TV this would have been quite acceptable but a couple of status updates and uploading pictures on to facebook could constitute a “no life” comment.
What I have managed to do though through the marvels of social networking instead of watching the box is contact a number of old friends that I haven’t seen for periods of between 18months to 20 years and bloody done something about it. And it feels good.
I am sure it’s only a matter of time until I revert but for now it’s busy, busy, busy ;o)
Something has changed…
My first day back home I clicked on the box, flicked through the DIY, property development, antique sale, moving to sunnier climate day time TV programmes and just thought “I can’t do this anymore”. It was raining outside and I stood at the back door feeling caged between crap TV and crap weather. Oh dear.
Anyhow, I have decided the best thing to do is keep myself busy, keep the TV off and try to make sure that the winter doesn’t become a cycle of getting up, going to work, eating dinner, going to bed.
Some nights you just don’t have planned things to keep you out of the house and although I have been reading a little more I have also found myself on the laptop a lot sorting things for myself that I have been meaning to do for a while, sorting birthday presents, working on photos etc. What I have also found is that I am also constantly on twitter and facebook (I mean you might as well have them on in the background, right?).
Somone at work says to me “you’re always on facebook you, I didn’t think you were the sort” and another chips in with that being OK “if you don’t have a life”. To be fair to her she also quickly contradicted this with an “oh I suppose we can’t say you don’t have a life” (this based based on the usual exchange of weekend plans between parents of young children and those, me, with no kids + having my just come back from the round the world trip). What I can’t get my head around though is that if I had spent 4 hours watching crap on TV this would have been quite acceptable but a couple of status updates and uploading pictures on to facebook could constitute a “no life” comment.
What I have managed to do though through the marvels of social networking instead of watching the box is contact a number of old friends that I haven’t seen for periods of between 18months to 20 years and bloody done something about it. And it feels good.
I am sure it’s only a matter of time until I revert but for now it’s busy, busy, busy ;o)
22/10 Claire - Low Newton-by-the-Sea
Been up to “the van” last weekend to see Pippa and Phil in Northumberland. Got there at 1pm and before 2pm Pip and I had polished off a bottle of white wine...! Well it all started with needing to make room in the fridge for BBQ food, there were too many bottles of bud in the fridge, Phil had to drink a beer to help out, I don’t like beer so had to have wine to keep him company, Pip had to put her beer back and help with the wine to keep me company and before you know it we’re getting merry in the afternoon.
A walk along the beach in the afternoon sobered us up a little, which was just as well as the walk was too the pub (it’s all about maintaining equilibrium).
As Newton has its own weather system (it’s always sunny) we even managed an evening BBQ but, of course, the fizz was open at this point. Turns out I “fell asleep” later in the evening and missed the Geordie tapas, the left over BBQ’d food stuff that you then leave out to graze on whilst continuing to drink through the night ;o)
A walk along the beach in the afternoon sobered us up a little, which was just as well as the walk was too the pub (it’s all about maintaining equilibrium).
As Newton has its own weather system (it’s always sunny) we even managed an evening BBQ but, of course, the fizz was open at this point. Turns out I “fell asleep” later in the evening and missed the Geordie tapas, the left over BBQ’d food stuff that you then leave out to graze on whilst continuing to drink through the night ;o)
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
21/10 Claire - Nina
I missed a lot of things during my three months off.
Some of these being:
Many birthdays
People handing in their notice at work
Others having babies
Babies being christened
On a personal note we missed the arrival of Nina Lancaster. I expected this as she was due the day after we travelled. Although I hoped she may decide to join us all early she decided she wasn’t ready and waited a whole two weeks.
Some of these being:
Many birthdays
People handing in their notice at work
Others having babies
Babies being christened
On a personal note we missed the arrival of Nina Lancaster. I expected this as she was due the day after we travelled. Although I hoped she may decide to join us all early she decided she wasn’t ready and waited a whole two weeks.
Monday, 12 October 2009
12/10 Claire - Being home
Today is my last day before I go back to work :o(
I haven't won the lottery even with my extra £10 worth of tickets
However I have bought lots of flat boots and shoes and I can't and choose not to walk in heals anymore. Saturday night proved this when I tried, and failed, to glide effortlessly from car, to bar to table. Agony.
The coal fire has been on more this week that most of last winter as I still want to feel that I am lying in 30+ degree heat.
Although my drinking has obviously reduced dramatically it is strange that I have reverted to UK style hangovers as soon as I touched down on british soil. Why are holiday hangovers only a fraction of the pain of a holiday hangover?
How long is an appropriate amount of time to wait between coming back from a sabattical and taking your next holiday? I am sure I will find out tomorrow ;o)
I haven't won the lottery even with my extra £10 worth of tickets
However I have bought lots of flat boots and shoes and I can't and choose not to walk in heals anymore. Saturday night proved this when I tried, and failed, to glide effortlessly from car, to bar to table. Agony.
The coal fire has been on more this week that most of last winter as I still want to feel that I am lying in 30+ degree heat.
Although my drinking has obviously reduced dramatically it is strange that I have reverted to UK style hangovers as soon as I touched down on british soil. Why are holiday hangovers only a fraction of the pain of a holiday hangover?
How long is an appropriate amount of time to wait between coming back from a sabattical and taking your next holiday? I am sure I will find out tomorrow ;o)
4/10 Claire - Leaving Kefalonia
Having had to leave the villa at 10am but not flying until 9pm it could have been a long day but we managed a last day on the beach thanks to Vaios arranging for us to have access to a hotel room shower in Spiros's hotel in Katelios before we travel to the aiport. This was a really kind thing for the two of them to do and it really made our last day like a bonus day.
We have said our goodbyes now and it's time to go home.
We have said our goodbyes now and it's time to go home.
1/10 Claire - Classy cocktails
I'll forgive you for thinking that I might have spent too much time in Captains Bar (or Mad Mikes Mad Bar according to Jacks) due to the number of pictures I have of Del Boy style cocktails but in fact this was over three nights in the whole three weeks.
I couldn't allow the last week to go by without a blue cocktail for Gwen and Mum. Indeed they didn't let me down and this time sparklers too ;o)
I couldn't allow the last week to go by without a blue cocktail for Gwen and Mum. Indeed they didn't let me down and this time sparklers too ;o)
28/9 Claire - Roadtrip
The rest of the roadtrip was a whilwind of mountain roads and beautiful northern villages and towns.
Sami is a larger port town and where Captain Corelli’s Mandolin was filmed. A quick stop off for a coffee.
Fiskado is at the north of the island and was untouched by the earthquake so many of the more traditional buildings are still available. It’s also where the money is the harbour is full of beautiful yachts, beautiful restaurants and beautiful people. Well not exactly it’s still full of British tourists.
Assos is on the west coast but still pretty far north. We stopped for dinner and here I found my perfect Grand Designs abroad house which was for sale and had been a shell for so long it had trees growing inside it. I really want to live here.
Sami is a larger port town and where Captain Corelli’s Mandolin was filmed. A quick stop off for a coffee.
Fiskado is at the north of the island and was untouched by the earthquake so many of the more traditional buildings are still available. It’s also where the money is the harbour is full of beautiful yachts, beautiful restaurants and beautiful people. Well not exactly it’s still full of British tourists.
Assos is on the west coast but still pretty far north. We stopped for dinner and here I found my perfect Grand Designs abroad house which was for sale and had been a shell for so long it had trees growing inside it. I really want to live here.
28/9 Claire - Roadtrip
So the roadtrip, we decided to do our tour of the island in one day so for this reason it wasn’t a tour of the island as such but certainly took us to the north and two of the best places Gwen wanted to show us Fiskado and Assos. We started however in Poros for breakfast and found a sea front restaurant that was open at 10am. After being pointed towards the caged parrot by the restaurant owner we spent the next hour listening to the parrot talk, make kissing noises and laugh. Cute. Believe me I had no issue with the parrot, but the incessant way the owner kept talking to the parrot in order to make it talk really wasn’t that fun. She would talk to the parrot in the same pitch and tone as a parrot but looking back to us all wide and crazy eyed in anticipation of our glee at the performance. Seriously this went on for an hour. Now my Mum has one of those irrational fears of anything birdy, feathers, flapping the actual birds. Imagine her pleasure when this appeared from behind her after our meal was finished. That look on her face was frozen for the next 2 and a half hours.
25/9 Claire - Turtle Beach
No pictures of Turtle beach as I was travelling light and didn’t want to get sand in my camera but I should have done.
The water was warmer than our villa pool, not by a little but by a significant differential. There’s no tide or waves as such on this beach as it’s actually sheltered in a long wide bay and Zante is opposite. It also very shallow so you can walk out for a long way before you become out of your depth, although that is not really an issue as the water is very salty so you just float. Vaios has been telling me for weeks that I should be swimming in the sea, not the pool. I finally do this 3 days before we leave.
The water was warmer than our villa pool, not by a little but by a significant differential. There’s no tide or waves as such on this beach as it’s actually sheltered in a long wide bay and Zante is opposite. It also very shallow so you can walk out for a long way before you become out of your depth, although that is not really an issue as the water is very salty so you just float. Vaios has been telling me for weeks that I should be swimming in the sea, not the pool. I finally do this 3 days before we leave.
25/9 Claire - My little yellow Greek car
Actually its a Hyundai.
Until today I have only been as far as Sami which is an hours drive from the villa. No I am not proud but with Mum and Gwen here they are keen to do a little exploring so it’s time to take the Hyundai out of its comfort zone. It’s just over two hours to get from Skala in the south to Fiskado in the North. I am confident in the little car since our off road experience the other day.
Having arranged to go to Turtle beach my friend Vios gives me some directions in the form of pointing down the mountainside towards twisty roads that are only visible by the late night street lights and seem to be intertwined with many other twisting roads. Looking down over a town in the dark doesn’t really help you visualise the road to take, neither does the copious amount of alcohol that I have consumed before said directions (if I recall it was Ouzo, wine, a “surprise cocktail”, metaza and some kind of shot that Vios, Gwen and I had to keep warm) so needless to say by the time we set off the easiest thing to do was to follow the local green sign for Turtle beach. Easy. Unless you also think, which I didn’t, these are the same local green signs that point towards the mini market that, when asked, Vios and Spiros laughed that when we find it we can let him know where this is too. OK, I digress, the sign for Turtle Beach is halfway up the mountain and takes you off the usual road down to town (I refrain from using the term “main” road). In fact the junction that I take to get of the usual road is so steep and sharp that the little car has to do a three point turn whilst hovering precariously close to the un-barriered mountain side. This is the first swear word of the journey I hear from my Mum in the passenger seat. As we follow the road it starts to become even more narrow, then a little more rubble appears, then it becomes completely unsealed, then it turns into a track of only stones, then the stones become the size of those that you’d struggle to walk on never mind drive over in a car with tires the size of an electric wheelchair, and then also becomes steep enough that you have to kinda steady yourself with hands on the steering wheel/dashboard. This was the second swear word from Mum. Then we start to pass through what is the back end of a farm or small holding with chickens, rusting equipment, a hammock for some tired Greek man to take a snooze. As far as Gwen and I are concerned this is still part of the same road and quite an exciting journey. Mum disagrees and I hear the third and final swear word of the journey.
Until today I have only been as far as Sami which is an hours drive from the villa. No I am not proud but with Mum and Gwen here they are keen to do a little exploring so it’s time to take the Hyundai out of its comfort zone. It’s just over two hours to get from Skala in the south to Fiskado in the North. I am confident in the little car since our off road experience the other day.
Having arranged to go to Turtle beach my friend Vios gives me some directions in the form of pointing down the mountainside towards twisty roads that are only visible by the late night street lights and seem to be intertwined with many other twisting roads. Looking down over a town in the dark doesn’t really help you visualise the road to take, neither does the copious amount of alcohol that I have consumed before said directions (if I recall it was Ouzo, wine, a “surprise cocktail”, metaza and some kind of shot that Vios, Gwen and I had to keep warm) so needless to say by the time we set off the easiest thing to do was to follow the local green sign for Turtle beach. Easy. Unless you also think, which I didn’t, these are the same local green signs that point towards the mini market that, when asked, Vios and Spiros laughed that when we find it we can let him know where this is too. OK, I digress, the sign for Turtle Beach is halfway up the mountain and takes you off the usual road down to town (I refrain from using the term “main” road). In fact the junction that I take to get of the usual road is so steep and sharp that the little car has to do a three point turn whilst hovering precariously close to the un-barriered mountain side. This is the first swear word of the journey I hear from my Mum in the passenger seat. As we follow the road it starts to become even more narrow, then a little more rubble appears, then it becomes completely unsealed, then it turns into a track of only stones, then the stones become the size of those that you’d struggle to walk on never mind drive over in a car with tires the size of an electric wheelchair, and then also becomes steep enough that you have to kinda steady yourself with hands on the steering wheel/dashboard. This was the second swear word from Mum. Then we start to pass through what is the back end of a farm or small holding with chickens, rusting equipment, a hammock for some tired Greek man to take a snooze. As far as Gwen and I are concerned this is still part of the same road and quite an exciting journey. Mum disagrees and I hear the third and final swear word of the journey.
Friday, 25 September 2009
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
22/9 Claire – More coloured food
Very excited to see Sandra today as we’ve not seen each other for over a year. Very sad to see Mog and Jacks leave today, it’s been a brilliant week.
Having tried purple I have now moved into a new week with Sandra where it’s OK to try blue cocktails and pink dip. I just hope these don’t make me sick that wouldn’t be a easy stain to remove ;o)
Having tried purple I have now moved into a new week with Sandra where it’s OK to try blue cocktails and pink dip. I just hope these don’t make me sick that wouldn’t be a easy stain to remove ;o)
Saturday, 19 September 2009
19/9 Claire – Goats
There’s a very relaxing sound of bells chiming all around the villa most times of the day and it’s from these fellas. This morning they were stomping down the road, about 150 of them, and some took a pit stop at the bottom of the villa drive.
You have to keep all gates closed as they get in the villa, eat the garden, drink out of the pool and crap all over the patio, apparently.
You have to keep all gates closed as they get in the villa, eat the garden, drink out of the pool and crap all over the patio, apparently.
18/9 Claire – Local wine
Hmmm, wine in the same bottle as you would buy vegetable oil. I couldn’t bring myself to buy the white wine and it really does just look like you’d fry your chips in it so we stuck to the red. Turns out that’s more for sprinkling on your chips! Not sure I’ve ever been on a Ellison/Moxon holiday where a bottle of wine has remained unfinished, but there is a first time for everything.
17/9 Claire - Octopus
So one day I wake up with the mother of all hangovers, a dip in the pool helps temporarily (I think that’s a distraction technique, you can’t feel sick if you jump in really cold water) but it takes a while to really come around.
It’s a little overcast so we drive up to Sami about an hour away from Skala, it’s a beautiful drive and Sami has a great harbour. The beach is quite ropey but lots of nice restaurants over looking the sailing boats in the harbour make it a pretty little town.
By 6pm I’m starving, in an outdoor restaurant I’ve decided I would like to try the octopus cooked in vinegar. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had octopus before in a stew and it was nice… I like food with a hint of vinegar…. Jackie’s squid the other day had what looked like baby octopus in and they were delicious.
Imagine my surprise when my main course was delivered looking like this. Just this. No accompaniment. Just this. On a hangover day.
So once you get over the MASSIVE suckery bits on the tentacles on the fist piece (and believe me I didn’t really get over it, but I put on a brave face) the second piece was it’s head and the third piece, apologies to anyone this might offend but no other words can describe the horror, looked remarkably like a boiled penis.
One bite triggered my gag reflex so badly that I had to slap my hands around my mouth whilst my eyes popped out on storks in Jackie’s direction.
Throughout the meal the conversation seemed to be between Mog and Jackie and only a few glances in my direction, in fact I am sure that Mog was answering Jackie when I’d asked a question. He explains “If I even look at you I’ll hurl” (nice) which much later was backed up with “to be fair you have to take that comment in context”. When offered a little to try, as we had been sharing meals since the beginning of the holiday, Mog’s response was “I’m all good for c***, thank you…”
Jackie’s right, I mean “who the **** eats purple food?!!”
It’s a little overcast so we drive up to Sami about an hour away from Skala, it’s a beautiful drive and Sami has a great harbour. The beach is quite ropey but lots of nice restaurants over looking the sailing boats in the harbour make it a pretty little town.
By 6pm I’m starving, in an outdoor restaurant I’ve decided I would like to try the octopus cooked in vinegar. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had octopus before in a stew and it was nice… I like food with a hint of vinegar…. Jackie’s squid the other day had what looked like baby octopus in and they were delicious.
Imagine my surprise when my main course was delivered looking like this. Just this. No accompaniment. Just this. On a hangover day.
So once you get over the MASSIVE suckery bits on the tentacles on the fist piece (and believe me I didn’t really get over it, but I put on a brave face) the second piece was it’s head and the third piece, apologies to anyone this might offend but no other words can describe the horror, looked remarkably like a boiled penis.
One bite triggered my gag reflex so badly that I had to slap my hands around my mouth whilst my eyes popped out on storks in Jackie’s direction.
Throughout the meal the conversation seemed to be between Mog and Jackie and only a few glances in my direction, in fact I am sure that Mog was answering Jackie when I’d asked a question. He explains “If I even look at you I’ll hurl” (nice) which much later was backed up with “to be fair you have to take that comment in context”. When offered a little to try, as we had been sharing meals since the beginning of the holiday, Mog’s response was “I’m all good for c***, thank you…”
Jackie’s right, I mean “who the **** eats purple food?!!”
Thursday, 17 September 2009
16/9 Claire - Poros
We took a trip to Poros this afternoon to try and find a good seafood restaurant. I imagined that harbour = fishing boats = good seafood.
On the drive around the coast line of the south east side of the island we came across beaches and sea that was very attractive compared to Skala’s beach. It’s a 10minute drive to a really beautiful pebble beach where you can pull over at the side of the road and take a dip. Nice!
On the drive around the coast line of the south east side of the island we came across beaches and sea that was very attractive compared to Skala’s beach. It’s a 10minute drive to a really beautiful pebble beach where you can pull over at the side of the road and take a dip. Nice!
15/9 Claire - Running
Running on a morning, 8am heat: fine
9am heat following a night of wine and brandy: not fine
9am heat following a night of wine and brandy: not fine
14/9 Claire – Villa
Wow, it’s nice. My new home for the next three weeks is a modern large new villa with a large private infinity pool overlooking the sea. There are olive groves dotted around and ruins from the old town of Skala which was flattened in an earthquake in 1953. Would be even nicer if the sun came out…
Since it is overcast today we have been to the new town of Skala about 4km away for the supermarket, a drink and lunch. The sun came out during this time and it’s really warm but by the time we got back to the villa it had clouded over. Still managed a short time in the non heated pool! Brrr
Why is it I can’t hold in my brain any Greek words? I am being reminded over and over and now feel like a proper English tourist where I am not attempting any Greek in shops or restaurants. Fortunately the locals command of English is very good so I don’t have to start speaking loudly and slowly ;o).
Sunny day… decided today was a day at the villa by the pool, there’s worse places to be!
Since it is overcast today we have been to the new town of Skala about 4km away for the supermarket, a drink and lunch. The sun came out during this time and it’s really warm but by the time we got back to the villa it had clouded over. Still managed a short time in the non heated pool! Brrr
Why is it I can’t hold in my brain any Greek words? I am being reminded over and over and now feel like a proper English tourist where I am not attempting any Greek in shops or restaurants. Fortunately the locals command of English is very good so I don’t have to start speaking loudly and slowly ;o).
Sunny day… decided today was a day at the villa by the pool, there’s worse places to be!
13/9 Claire – Travelling to Kefalonia
After a tearful farewell I have had to leave Ian at the airport. Spending 8 weeks with someone night and day will do two things to a couple, it will either drive you insane or closer together and for us it was later. To suddenly say goodvye for 3 weeks, which is two weeks longer than we have been apart before, was a little more than my jet lagged, sleep deprived, hormonal mind could handle today.
Mog and Jackie are here looking after me so first stop was the new champagne bar in Newcastle airport for a glass to celebrate the next weeks holiday. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to help them with the bottle of champagne on the plane, these guys have style, as I have a car at the other end. I will somehow make up for this by buying fizz in the supermarket at stocking the villa fridge.
When I picked up the hire car it was already dark in Kefalonia and 2hours in front of the UK. The car hire company have advised me to travel at 20kph as it has been raining and the roads of very slippery. I didn’t really appreciate why his conservatism was important until I saw that he was really talking about the roads in the close vicinity to the airport and that these roads are about 45 degrees. The little car I have is a front wheel drive Hyundai and with the adults and the pieces of luggage this was going to be tricky. Most of the 38km drive was windy 30km roads, this was the first country of my whole holiday that is drives on the right, and it was raining again. To say this was a challenging drive for me was an understatement. I am looking forward to seeing the island in the daylight as I know this will be a completely different story. The villa details have warned us that the driveway to the villa is very steep and the advice given was to turn off the air con in the car to give the car more power (?) or if the car is laden with passengers and luggage you should kick out the passengers at the bottom, drive the luggage to the top, unload it, drive back down for the passengers (where ARE we staying??) which I have found comedy… until we arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm and found the car couldn’t get up the drive with or without Mog and Jacks in it. In fact after both myself and Mog trying and failing to get the front wheels to grip the steep drive, which was like a river of water also, so we dumped the car outside the gates and walked up with the cases.
So we get into the villa with the car abandoned smelly of burnt clutch, soaked to the skin and too late to really go out for any food… en vacance!!
Mog and Jackie are here looking after me so first stop was the new champagne bar in Newcastle airport for a glass to celebrate the next weeks holiday. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to help them with the bottle of champagne on the plane, these guys have style, as I have a car at the other end. I will somehow make up for this by buying fizz in the supermarket at stocking the villa fridge.
When I picked up the hire car it was already dark in Kefalonia and 2hours in front of the UK. The car hire company have advised me to travel at 20kph as it has been raining and the roads of very slippery. I didn’t really appreciate why his conservatism was important until I saw that he was really talking about the roads in the close vicinity to the airport and that these roads are about 45 degrees. The little car I have is a front wheel drive Hyundai and with the adults and the pieces of luggage this was going to be tricky. Most of the 38km drive was windy 30km roads, this was the first country of my whole holiday that is drives on the right, and it was raining again. To say this was a challenging drive for me was an understatement. I am looking forward to seeing the island in the daylight as I know this will be a completely different story. The villa details have warned us that the driveway to the villa is very steep and the advice given was to turn off the air con in the car to give the car more power (?) or if the car is laden with passengers and luggage you should kick out the passengers at the bottom, drive the luggage to the top, unload it, drive back down for the passengers (where ARE we staying??) which I have found comedy… until we arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm and found the car couldn’t get up the drive with or without Mog and Jacks in it. In fact after both myself and Mog trying and failing to get the front wheels to grip the steep drive, which was like a river of water also, so we dumped the car outside the gates and walked up with the cases.
So we get into the villa with the car abandoned smelly of burnt clutch, soaked to the skin and too late to really go out for any food… en vacance!!
Wednesday, 16 September 2009
5/9 Claire – Travelling back to the UK
One coach, three flights, two trains, one car and we are back home. At this point I have to leave Ian as he will be going back to work :o(
I will be back in touch from Greece.
I will be back in touch from Greece.
Friday, 11 September 2009
2/9 Claire – Aitutaki Scuba
OK yes, it was a very different story. They are quite laid back about the diving rules you learn in your PADI course. Onu, which means Turtle, owns the Aitutaki dive centre and he came out to introduce himself and chatted for a while about where we were going. Basically to see the turtles, maybe about 20-25metres (erm we are qualified to 18m and he knows this) and he seems VERY vague about some of the other stuff. Now if I wasn’t so new to all this I’d be less worried but I have to come to terms with the fact that he does this all the time, he says we can stop at a depth we are comfortable with, and he has a good reputation.
So after a little panic at the surface, Onu comes over to me… tells to keep calm, pop in my regulator and he takes my hand in his massive shovel of a hand and tells me he’s going to take me to see the turtle… and down we go…
I have NEVER seen, or imagined I would see, a turtle this big. It was happily sitting on the coral, about a metre from head to tail. Onu gets close, balances himself on a bit of coral close to the turtle and starts giving him a pat. The he starts cleaning off his shell of algae and scrub. I also had a go but after a couple of gentle shell pats I had to back off, my balance isn’t as good and it’s one thing turtle tickling but unexpected turtle mounting is not at all OK.
Within a few mins of this Onu signals for me to follow him again. He points down toward something that another couple of divers that were on our trip were photographing, under a coral shelf was a baby reef shark about three quarters of a metre long. Fortunately we didn’t see the bigger one at the back of the same area that was apparently three times that size! Not sure I might not have wasted a little air from my tank if I had seen that.
Next up, there is so much wildlife on show during this dive Ian thinks they are all on a retainer, is a ray. I can see what I think is 3 graceful rays gliding past in the distance, no there were four. By the time I had tried to get Ian’s attention to point them out there were 5. I was expecting that they’d sense us and do a runner (or a swimmer?) quickly but they didn’t. They stayed around that area for the rest of our dive and we were close enough to see them clearly.
At this point I’m trying to remember if these any of these things are at all dangerous but they aren’t. That’s not something that can be said of a Moray Eel, a giant Moray Eel at that. I have seen an Eel in Raratonga with a head about as big as my hand. This one, a head as big as a football. You can go and have a look at a safe distance, they don’t come out of their holes during the day unless you provoke them or get too close. Needless to say I was about 15ft away. Onu however got a little too close for my liking (hey he does this sort of thing every day so he knows what he’s doing). In our next dive there was a larger Moray Eel down in the depths of a dark cavern toward the bed of the sea, he was trying to get us to go down and see it but not on your life, one of them things could have had me arm off.
Finally we saw a bright blue fish, the type you might expect to see illustrated by computer graphics in Finding Nemo, but this fella was about 4ft high by 6ft long.
Then of course there were the hundreds of other small brightly coloured Nemo style fish but it’s a great dive when these suddenly don’t become priority viewing! I wish we’d had an underwater camera for this day but this wasn’t available. You will have to take my word for it.
So after a little panic at the surface, Onu comes over to me… tells to keep calm, pop in my regulator and he takes my hand in his massive shovel of a hand and tells me he’s going to take me to see the turtle… and down we go…
I have NEVER seen, or imagined I would see, a turtle this big. It was happily sitting on the coral, about a metre from head to tail. Onu gets close, balances himself on a bit of coral close to the turtle and starts giving him a pat. The he starts cleaning off his shell of algae and scrub. I also had a go but after a couple of gentle shell pats I had to back off, my balance isn’t as good and it’s one thing turtle tickling but unexpected turtle mounting is not at all OK.
Within a few mins of this Onu signals for me to follow him again. He points down toward something that another couple of divers that were on our trip were photographing, under a coral shelf was a baby reef shark about three quarters of a metre long. Fortunately we didn’t see the bigger one at the back of the same area that was apparently three times that size! Not sure I might not have wasted a little air from my tank if I had seen that.
Next up, there is so much wildlife on show during this dive Ian thinks they are all on a retainer, is a ray. I can see what I think is 3 graceful rays gliding past in the distance, no there were four. By the time I had tried to get Ian’s attention to point them out there were 5. I was expecting that they’d sense us and do a runner (or a swimmer?) quickly but they didn’t. They stayed around that area for the rest of our dive and we were close enough to see them clearly.
At this point I’m trying to remember if these any of these things are at all dangerous but they aren’t. That’s not something that can be said of a Moray Eel, a giant Moray Eel at that. I have seen an Eel in Raratonga with a head about as big as my hand. This one, a head as big as a football. You can go and have a look at a safe distance, they don’t come out of their holes during the day unless you provoke them or get too close. Needless to say I was about 15ft away. Onu however got a little too close for my liking (hey he does this sort of thing every day so he knows what he’s doing). In our next dive there was a larger Moray Eel down in the depths of a dark cavern toward the bed of the sea, he was trying to get us to go down and see it but not on your life, one of them things could have had me arm off.
Finally we saw a bright blue fish, the type you might expect to see illustrated by computer graphics in Finding Nemo, but this fella was about 4ft high by 6ft long.
Then of course there were the hundreds of other small brightly coloured Nemo style fish but it’s a great dive when these suddenly don’t become priority viewing! I wish we’d had an underwater camera for this day but this wasn’t available. You will have to take my word for it.
Saturday, 5 September 2009
1/9 Claire – Relaxing in Aikutaki
So this here is the view from our bungalow,a beautiful thatched building sat on the white sandy beach. Open the double doors onto a veranda with cosy padded furniture and look out onto our own stretch of beach, with palm trees holding up a hammock for lazy days. Me? Smug?
The sea is a wide expanse of green crystal water as the volcanic island is also an atoll, the surrounding lagoon is full of coral and tropical fish. It’s no more than a meter deep and you can pretty much walk all the way out. In the distance you can see the darker sea ahead with waves breaking where the two meet, this is basically the end of the shallow reef where shelf drops off into a deep, dark ocean. We are booked to do more diving in a couple of days so we can explore this part more. Apparently this is the season for turtles in Aitutaki as it’s mating season and they all make their way north. We were lucky to see a turtle a Raratonga at this time of year, here it may be a different story.
The sea is a wide expanse of green crystal water as the volcanic island is also an atoll, the surrounding lagoon is full of coral and tropical fish. It’s no more than a meter deep and you can pretty much walk all the way out. In the distance you can see the darker sea ahead with waves breaking where the two meet, this is basically the end of the shallow reef where shelf drops off into a deep, dark ocean. We are booked to do more diving in a couple of days so we can explore this part more. Apparently this is the season for turtles in Aitutaki as it’s mating season and they all make their way north. We were lucky to see a turtle a Raratonga at this time of year, here it may be a different story.
Friday, 4 September 2009
3/9 Ian – Chopper!
Well, it’s been a while since my highly juvenile Japanese superloo post, and to be honest I wasn’t sure I’d get another opportunity to so blatantly abuse Clazzer’s blogger’s code. But I’ve just discovered this Cook Islands $1 coin in me wallet. The currency is the same as New Zealand, but I believe the Island specific issues are only valid out here on the Islands. Anyway, explanations aside, look at this design and try not to snigger, remembering of course that Queen Liz is on the other side. This is the God of the sea, Tanga-Roa ocean God – he crops up all over the place. Sweet lord. Look at the size of that chopper!
2/9 Ian – The island way….
A few days ago was our first day on Rarotonga, capital of the 15 Cook Islands. As per the previous post, we’d procured hire scooters, passed our local driving tests and obtained fully legit local driving licenses. We’d also sorted out our scuba qualification intentions, which Claz has already talked about. So with our own transport for the couple of days before our scuba course commenced, we decided to head out around the island’s 32km circumference road, seeking one of the four recommended ‘quality’ dining establishments out here, The Flame Tree.
Working to the plan of a quick, early dinner and a cheeky beer (we were both driving, remember…) we rocked up at 5pm, opening time. To find The Flame Tree firmly closed, with no signs of life in the place. No problem though – clearly far too English of us. Chill, relax, take it easy, remember? So we killed time with a stroll down the beach for half and hour and headed back. No problems. It was open now, front of house staff gently setting the room up for the coming evening’s trade. We got a table easily and set about deciding what to order. Just a few changes to the menu to be aware of though, informed the waiter. No fish dishes on at all. About half the menu then. No fish on the island, you see. Fishing conditions too rough, apparently, so no one had been out for weeks. Oh well. Fair doos I guess. Fancied the belly-pork anyway.
Perhaps one of the locally brewed beers then that I’d been looking forward to then, whilst we waited? Unfortunately not possible sir, replied the waiter. No local beer on the island at all. Supply ingredients hadn’t been shipped recently, so no local brewing had taken place for weeks. Oh well. Imported Kiwi brew for me then. Good job I like it, eh?
So maybe a side order of veggies to go with our mains, we thought. So what were these local beans they had on offer, we pondered? Ah, replied the waiter. They’re kind of like a runner bean, local to the island. Oooo, interesting. Let’s have a try of those then, please. Ah, not possible I’m afraid sir. No one has been out to pick any beans recently, so we haven’t got any. We could offer you a bowl of assorted imported veggies though? Splendid, we thought. Just what we were after….
To be honest, you get used to it really quickly, and the more little things you spot, the more you just shake your head and chuckle. I went for my first shower, in a pretty respectable resort apartment that we’d booked, mind. Fully on, it was clap cold. Bloody hell. I let it run for a while, with no improvement. Just as I was about to call reception, I had a flash of ‘island way’ inspiration – of course, it was connected backwards. Turn it round to cold and there was the hot water. Hey, it’s a shower, right – why get all worked up about something as daft as the correct controls…?!
I’m actually writing this from our second apartment, in Aitutaki. The whole place is pretty swanky for sure, but those little ‘island way’ tell-tale signs are there if you look for them. Want the room fan on full? Turn it all the way down to 1 of course. Want it humming gently on low? Crank it up to 3. Need to paint the outside of your house? Hey, grab some paint and crack on. Run out part way through? No problem! Find some more paint and keep going. Not remotely the same colour – what, like that actually matters? Multi-coloured looks great in the island sunshine.
Life’s too short to worry about these pesky little details. The sun’s out. Grab a beer and forget about it. Nice.
1/9 Ian - Can you actually drive that safely…?!
Honestly. You just have to laugh. Yet again. Seems that as we’ve moved from place to place, and tried to absorb a little bit about the different cultures we’ve passed through, it’s often the differences that make the biggest impression. Last time I was pondering this was up in Auckland, as Andy, Chris, Claz and I explored an old military installation over in the Devonport district hillside. Dark unlit tunnels full of trip hazards and evil wetas (go Wiki if you really want to see one – the reason Peter Jackson’s Kiwi special effects company is called Weta Workshop), replica gun installations to be clambered all over, and thin, slippery concrete pathways perilously close to nearby crashing waves. But did the Kiwi Department of Conservation (DOC) seem worried? Did they plaster signs all over the hillside, warning inquisitive visitors of impending serious injury or death, or barricade tunnel entrances closed? Did they buggery. No nanny state or claims culture here. In New Zealand, if you knack yourself, it’s your own stupid fault.
But I digress, for a change. In fact, we’re (sadly) not even in that lovely country any more. We’re in the Cook Islands. And man, are they culturally different. You can read a bit more about this in the next post, but we’re talking ‘the island way’ here, through and through. Which is essentially “Hey, no worries. It’s fine. No problem. Relax. Chill.” And of course, it makes for some great cultural observations.
The weather wasn’t that grand when Claz and I woke up on our first morning here, so we thought we’d spring into planning mode and get stuff sorted. We needed scooters. We needed to enquire about scuba diving courses. We needed pop, creamers and booze. So we headed off into ‘town’ on the clockwise bus (only two on the 32km circumference island. The other, surprise surprise, is the anticlockwise bus) and set to work on the main mission of the day - procuring us some hire scooters.
You know, it still makes me chuckle. And I’m still not sure whether this is just a cunning ruse to bring a steady income to the islands with a bit of tenuous safety consideration on the side, or the other way around. It goes like this. You hire your scooter for about the equivalent of £15 a day. But you can’t ride it yet. You then push it to the local police station next door. You fill a form in, produce your UK driving licence, pay the very stern and matronly police lady $20 (less than £10 each) then head over with your receipt to the test area outside. Here, a tanned, friendly, moustachioed gent of an ageing local bobby - whose main perk of the job, incidentally, is clearly to hold his charming, if short-lived, power over tens of young island-visiting ladies each day whilst they attempt to pass – instructs you to run the gauntlet down his test-centre obstacle course, down the side of the police station grounds.
Down one side for 50m to a give way, round and back up, then the same again, but this time weaving there and back through traffic cones. I’d like to say clear it with joint high-scores in safety and panache and you’ve passed, but that would be generous and factually inaccurate. This is ‘the island way’ we’re talking about here, remember. Clear it without riding into the wall, any of the cones and/or innocent bystanders and that’s close enough for jazz. Put your feet down as you wobble through the cones? Hey, no worries. It’ll be reet. There are only pigs, goats, chickens, other vehicles and island inhabitants out and about on those island roads, nothing dangerous, eh? It helps of course if you’ve struck up a bit of comedy banter with the local bobby first (in the case of the gents) or charmed / flirted with him (for the ladies).
We both passed with flying colours, so it seems. So back to the stern matron for our photos and – get this – Cook Island driving licenses! 45 mins from start to finish to be legal. Sunnies and Jandals (local term for flip-flops) on, no helmets in sight, we zipped off to the local shop for some booze to load under our seats. And I’ll tell you this for free – that is exactly how scooters should be ridden. Forested volcanic hillside to the left, tropical blue lagoon to the right, whizzing along in the sunshine. Hilarious!
We were chatting this crazy situation through with our new buddies, Dive Rarotonga staff, a few days later. The current law states that you can travel at 40kph without a helmet, but the only up to 50kph with a helmet on. Think ‘the island way’ doesn’t have the power to rise in protest, if sparked? Think again. Apparently, a few years ago the government commenced the introduction of compulsory helmets for all riders. Some (foolishly) even bought them in readiness, fearing a rush on limited imported stocks. What actually happened was a national petition stating that all bike owners would refuse to wear helmets if the law was passed, and that the ensuing administration nightmare of all the prosecutions would bring the island's police department to a paperwork-based standstill. It worked. They won. The 40mph helmet-less limit was the outcome.
Monday, 31 August 2009
26th-30th August Claire – Scuba
Back to the diving then, loads of really beautiful fish in and around the coral reef. Whilst we were just slowly mooching around watching Louise the Dive Master feed the fish by helping them get sea urchins free from the coral and patting a massive trigger fish, who they call Tommy, we then move around a little further to see a turtle. It was just minding his own business, eating the coral and really wasn’t too bothered that we were gawping and taking pictures. Ian had hired an under water digital camera so he has loads of shots of fish (and me). Louise got a couple of shots of the two of us together and the great one of Ian with the turtle.
All the time during our second dive we could hear the whales making noises and we were convinced they were closer than they actually were, I kept looking around to see if we one was going to come into view but they were quite a way away apparently.
What an amazing few days.
All the time during our second dive we could hear the whales making noises and we were convinced they were closer than they actually were, I kept looking around to see if we one was going to come into view but they were quite a way away apparently.
What an amazing few days.
26/8 Claire – Scuba
Ian is very excited (again) about being able to do a PADI open water scuba diving course for a lot less money than we could ever imagine at home – at this point I wonder if I have enough books to keep me entertained by the pool. I have done a dive before once in the Maldives but one where you don’t really have to be trained as they take you to about 6 meters to look at the fish and basically hold on to your collar for the 30mins you are down there. The full open water course is 3 or 4 days depending on how quick you get on. This is split into 2 parts, the first day and a half gets you a PADI Scuba qualification which allows you to go to 12m with a Dive Master but the Open water gets you to 18m and you can dive without a Dive Master.
I didn’t really fancy it but I thought that perhaps I could go along for the first day and a half. In this you get pool training and two sea dives so it seemed daft not to go and have a look at the fish. I could then lie back on the sun lounger whilst Ian finished the full thing. The full course is more theory, more pool training, and exam and a further two more sea dives.
During one of our final instructor dives Karen was showing me a roll collar anemone, I had no idea hat that was just that she was seemingly pointing to it and stroking it with her finger. It wasn’t doing much so I assumed it was furry or something. She signalled to me that it was OK that I did the same, I was like “ erm, who? Me?” in under water signals but she suggested I give it a stroke. It darted into the rocks so quickly that I gave out an audible scream with an outburst of bubbles from my regulator… she swam away chuckling.
The reason for my lack of communication over the last few days is for a number of reasons, firstly there is no mobile coverage on the island. Secondly, the internet access via two computers on the resorts both at crappy dial up speed it’s really painful. Thirdly, I did the Scuba course… stayed on for the full Open Water course… went back out again after getting qualified for another two more sea dives the very next day! Sorry, have been a little busy since we got here. Have seen more of the Cook Islands from below sea level than above!
So now fully qualified today’s dives were much more relaxed as there was no more tasks to do underwater. When you are a student you have to keep practicing things like taking you mask off, putting it back on and clearing the water out of it at the bottom of the ocean, swimming tests, buoyancy exercises etc. Today we simply went for a tour of a wreck and to a place we have been before called Paradise reef. The trip started well when two Hump Backed Whales came within 10 meters of the boat. With the Dive Master who was taking us out we all popped on our masks and fins and popped in the sea to see if we could have a closer look but they’d already swam away from us. Apparently this happened a few weeks back with another group and Karen our Dive Instructor from the dive centre. They’d been swimming that close to them. Never mind, we got back in the boat and the two whales did a few tail flips for us and… I swear… popped up a side fin to wave before moving on. So that was pretty amazing!
I didn’t really fancy it but I thought that perhaps I could go along for the first day and a half. In this you get pool training and two sea dives so it seemed daft not to go and have a look at the fish. I could then lie back on the sun lounger whilst Ian finished the full thing. The full course is more theory, more pool training, and exam and a further two more sea dives.
During one of our final instructor dives Karen was showing me a roll collar anemone, I had no idea hat that was just that she was seemingly pointing to it and stroking it with her finger. It wasn’t doing much so I assumed it was furry or something. She signalled to me that it was OK that I did the same, I was like “ erm, who? Me?” in under water signals but she suggested I give it a stroke. It darted into the rocks so quickly that I gave out an audible scream with an outburst of bubbles from my regulator… she swam away chuckling.
The reason for my lack of communication over the last few days is for a number of reasons, firstly there is no mobile coverage on the island. Secondly, the internet access via two computers on the resorts both at crappy dial up speed it’s really painful. Thirdly, I did the Scuba course… stayed on for the full Open Water course… went back out again after getting qualified for another two more sea dives the very next day! Sorry, have been a little busy since we got here. Have seen more of the Cook Islands from below sea level than above!
So now fully qualified today’s dives were much more relaxed as there was no more tasks to do underwater. When you are a student you have to keep practicing things like taking you mask off, putting it back on and clearing the water out of it at the bottom of the ocean, swimming tests, buoyancy exercises etc. Today we simply went for a tour of a wreck and to a place we have been before called Paradise reef. The trip started well when two Hump Backed Whales came within 10 meters of the boat. With the Dive Master who was taking us out we all popped on our masks and fins and popped in the sea to see if we could have a closer look but they’d already swam away from us. Apparently this happened a few weeks back with another group and Karen our Dive Instructor from the dive centre. They’d been swimming that close to them. Never mind, we got back in the boat and the two whales did a few tail flips for us and… I swear… popped up a side fin to wave before moving on. So that was pretty amazing!
25/8 Claire - Cook Islands day 1
You may not have noticed, but brownie points if you did, that 25th appeared twice. You could be forgiven for thinking that 6 weeks into a holiday I may become confused as to what date it is, and I have indeed forgotten the day on many occasion but this reference is correct. Flying out to the Cook Islands means that although we have gone forward by another 2 hrs (we have gone forward on every flight so far) we have now crossed to international date line. So… we left NZ at 8pm on 25th August, arrived in the Cook Islands at midnight NZ time but being 2 hours ahead we are now 2am (still with me?) but in fact this is now 2am on 25th not 26th. We have 25th to enjoy all over again!! But not in a ground hog day kinda way, you get to do something completely different!
On this particular 25th August we hired scooters. You have to take a test at the police station + have a current driving licence to get a Cook Islands driving licence.
On this particular 25th August we hired scooters. You have to take a test at the police station + have a current driving licence to get a Cook Islands driving licence.
23-25/8 Claire – Auckland
So this is quite exciting, the North Island. We haven’t spent any time here as we only had 2 and a half weeks in NZ so without risking spending every waking moment in the car we made a conscious decision to keep to a small schedule. We did however make some last min plans to bring forward our flight to Auckland (you can fly into Christchurch but to fly out to the Cook Islands you need to fly from Auckland creating a need for an internal flight from south to north islands) by a couple of days. The reason for this is that Ian’s “mate Andy from Hong Kong” now lives in Auckland and after losing touch after Uni they haven’t seen each other in about 15years. To be honest I thought “Andy from Hong Kong” was a made friend so thought it would be good to see if he was indeed real.
Andy who is in fact Andrew (apparently never used the name Andy other than when the guys in Uni started using this) and his wife Chris met us at the airport and we had two days of catching up planned with them. The next couple of days have been a whirlwind tour of Auckland with lots of fantastic food thrown in.
Now when Ian got excited about Frisbee golf, he’s told EVERYONE about it. Chris had to work today so Andrew drove us to a beautiful beach near Auckland called Puhe. It’s volcanic so black sand and as the boys took the Frisbees a made up course was created. Thankfully I had my camera so could leave them to it. Part of that however might have been that I didn’t want my double par Frisbee shot skills being aired in a public arena however.
Andy who is in fact Andrew (apparently never used the name Andy other than when the guys in Uni started using this) and his wife Chris met us at the airport and we had two days of catching up planned with them. The next couple of days have been a whirlwind tour of Auckland with lots of fantastic food thrown in.
Now when Ian got excited about Frisbee golf, he’s told EVERYONE about it. Chris had to work today so Andrew drove us to a beautiful beach near Auckland called Puhe. It’s volcanic so black sand and as the boys took the Frisbees a made up course was created. Thankfully I had my camera so could leave them to it. Part of that however might have been that I didn’t want my double par Frisbee shot skills being aired in a public arena however.
22/8 Claire – Travelling back
Basically spending Friday and Saturday getting back to Christchurch via the east coast. There isn’t that much to see up this way so other than a stop off at a couple of sea side areas and the Moeraki boulders we just drove. We are finishing our South Island experience this evening in Christchurch at a fancy restaurant that is apparently good for “lamb aficionados”, not sure I fall into this description yet but the amount of lamb consumed in the last two weeks might get me someway towards this label.
Tuesday, 25 August 2009
25/8 Ian - Doubtful wildlife....
Quick post, as just got to share this. Video clip taken whilst on Doubtful Sound. Once in a lifetime experience, for sure. Astonishing. Enjoy.
Saturday, 22 August 2009
20/8 Claire – Doubtful Sound (day 2)
Kayaking this morning was fantastic. There was no sound, no movement and a light that was close to being black and white around us. Very surreal! Ian has loads of great pictures of this which we’ll upload later.
Cereal for breakfast was a good idea as we were still full from last nights feast, but after I had eaten this I found out from Mandy that this was breakfast number one and number two of toast, scrambled eggs with lobster, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and sauce was on it’s way… I am so full it hurts but clearly not enough to stop eating!
As we travelled back up one of the sounds we came across some dolphins in the distance. Now Richard has told us previously that some academic had recently visited Doubtful and published research that stated the Dolphin population in this sound (I think he said there were 56) was being decreased by the stress the cruise boats were having in the area. Now Richard isn’t one for shy opinion and has already stated what a load of rubbish this is, his opinion also backed up by a recent whale and dolphin expert on his boat who said that if the Dolphins where at all stressed by boating activity they would high-tail it out of the area if a boat appeared, which they don’t. Next thing you know the Dolphins are making their way toward the boat, not just to play at a distance but to literally get a free ride in the water being pushed forward by boats bow, swimming on their sides to get a good look at us lot hanging over the bow with our cameras and they must have done this, about 5 of them, for over 5 mins. They looked as curious about us as we were about them. It was amazing, truly amazing. I’d go as far to say the highlight of my trip. Ian got amazing video footage which he can put up also.
Oh and I caught a fish!
Cereal for breakfast was a good idea as we were still full from last nights feast, but after I had eaten this I found out from Mandy that this was breakfast number one and number two of toast, scrambled eggs with lobster, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and sauce was on it’s way… I am so full it hurts but clearly not enough to stop eating!
As we travelled back up one of the sounds we came across some dolphins in the distance. Now Richard has told us previously that some academic had recently visited Doubtful and published research that stated the Dolphin population in this sound (I think he said there were 56) was being decreased by the stress the cruise boats were having in the area. Now Richard isn’t one for shy opinion and has already stated what a load of rubbish this is, his opinion also backed up by a recent whale and dolphin expert on his boat who said that if the Dolphins where at all stressed by boating activity they would high-tail it out of the area if a boat appeared, which they don’t. Next thing you know the Dolphins are making their way toward the boat, not just to play at a distance but to literally get a free ride in the water being pushed forward by boats bow, swimming on their sides to get a good look at us lot hanging over the bow with our cameras and they must have done this, about 5 of them, for over 5 mins. They looked as curious about us as we were about them. It was amazing, truly amazing. I’d go as far to say the highlight of my trip. Ian got amazing video footage which he can put up also.
Oh and I caught a fish!
19/8 Claire – Doubtful Sound (day one)
We were very excited to be able to book a two day, overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound. Phil and Sazzle had suggested we do this but when we tried to book from the UK with the guys that had ran their trip when they were here we found out they weren’t running over winter. It was only at the i-site (tourist info) place we found a different company called Fiordland Expeditions who did run a small boat with a max of 10 guests.
We had to drive to another town, take a ferry and a bus to get to the start of the cruise, Doubtful is the less accessible of the two. Whilst looking around it was apparent that we had the company of another young French couple and a family of four from the states. Whilst waiting for the boat to arrive they Americans starting high fiving each other whilst shouting wooo-hoo, yee-haaa or similar (have tried to blank from my mind) at which point my reserved Britishness started to get agitated. Now these boats are only 17m long and sleeping arrangement or bunk style… you understand my concern I am sure.
So the boat I run by a married couple Mandy and Richard. Richard drives the boat, arranges your fishing and other masculine roles. Mandy makes the beds up and cooks endlessly feeding you til you have to roll yourself of the boat after 48hours. Richard has the driest sense of humour where the fine line between hilariously sarcastic, that has you doubled over with laughter, and the feeling of being chastised is very hard to distinguish. He also has a very good memory for very bad jokes that he rolled off one after another during the evening for the kids.
Richard took the boat up the main sound and off various other small sounds that are arms off the main one over time we were with him. First stop was to his lobster holding pot. He’d been diving for rock lobster (he called them crayfish because they were salt water) for our evening meal and basically pulled up the cage with 10 live lobster waiting for us.
He then took us out to sea to see a fur seal colony. At this point we were asked not to make any more drinks, and the fridge doors where tied up and you just have to hold on. Ian has an ace video of this so he can update you later.
Back into the calm of the Sound we got to fishing, or not as the case may be. 4 rods were set up that we could share one between two. There’s sonar on the boat so we travelled to where the fish where and were told we would eat what we caught and that it would be very easy if we didn’t catch anything we’d have to sell our fishing gear when we got home if we didn’t catch anything. Within minutes Richard had caught a massive blue cod which is exactly what he wanted for tea. Peter the American Dad caught another, Ian caught a red fish I forget the name of but it had to go back as it wasn’t the right type of fish he wanted, the French dude and Lucas the American younger son both caught dogfish which look exactly like baby sharks (perhaps they are related) which were huge but again had to go back in. Audrey the French girl caught a tiddler called a Jock Stuart which was kept for bait. I managed to catch two other peoples lines (and get a telling off for not keeping my line off the bottom of the bed) but nowt else. I can’t even catch a fish with a sonar telling me where they are, how rubbish is that?
So… after cheese and biscuits, pumpkin soup, half a fresh lobster, battered blue cod and roasted veg and a desert of dairy milk we rolled into our bunks.
We had to drive to another town, take a ferry and a bus to get to the start of the cruise, Doubtful is the less accessible of the two. Whilst looking around it was apparent that we had the company of another young French couple and a family of four from the states. Whilst waiting for the boat to arrive they Americans starting high fiving each other whilst shouting wooo-hoo, yee-haaa or similar (have tried to blank from my mind) at which point my reserved Britishness started to get agitated. Now these boats are only 17m long and sleeping arrangement or bunk style… you understand my concern I am sure.
So the boat I run by a married couple Mandy and Richard. Richard drives the boat, arranges your fishing and other masculine roles. Mandy makes the beds up and cooks endlessly feeding you til you have to roll yourself of the boat after 48hours. Richard has the driest sense of humour where the fine line between hilariously sarcastic, that has you doubled over with laughter, and the feeling of being chastised is very hard to distinguish. He also has a very good memory for very bad jokes that he rolled off one after another during the evening for the kids.
Richard took the boat up the main sound and off various other small sounds that are arms off the main one over time we were with him. First stop was to his lobster holding pot. He’d been diving for rock lobster (he called them crayfish because they were salt water) for our evening meal and basically pulled up the cage with 10 live lobster waiting for us.
He then took us out to sea to see a fur seal colony. At this point we were asked not to make any more drinks, and the fridge doors where tied up and you just have to hold on. Ian has an ace video of this so he can update you later.
Back into the calm of the Sound we got to fishing, or not as the case may be. 4 rods were set up that we could share one between two. There’s sonar on the boat so we travelled to where the fish where and were told we would eat what we caught and that it would be very easy if we didn’t catch anything we’d have to sell our fishing gear when we got home if we didn’t catch anything. Within minutes Richard had caught a massive blue cod which is exactly what he wanted for tea. Peter the American Dad caught another, Ian caught a red fish I forget the name of but it had to go back as it wasn’t the right type of fish he wanted, the French dude and Lucas the American younger son both caught dogfish which look exactly like baby sharks (perhaps they are related) which were huge but again had to go back in. Audrey the French girl caught a tiddler called a Jock Stuart which was kept for bait. I managed to catch two other peoples lines (and get a telling off for not keeping my line off the bottom of the bed) but nowt else. I can’t even catch a fish with a sonar telling me where they are, how rubbish is that?
So… after cheese and biscuits, pumpkin soup, half a fresh lobster, battered blue cod and roasted veg and a desert of dairy milk we rolled into our bunks.
18/8 Claire – Milford Sound
For a little more sedate activity we took a day trip to Milford Sound. Milford and Doubtful Sound (Doubtful we are visiting tomorrow) are the top 2 things on the 100 best things to do in New Zealand. There are 14/15ish sounds on the south west coast of NZ but only these two are accessible without flying. Milford is the most beautiful and breathtaking places in this world, completely untouched by man (if you pretend the cruise boat and the other couple you see on the sound during the two hour boat trip don’t exist)
17/8 Claire – Glow worms
We’ve arrived in Te Anau today as this is the best place to stay for trips to Milford and Doubtful Sounds. It’s a ghost town. I swear, 3 out of 4 restaurants and shops look like they are open; they have outdoor tables and chairs out, and menus on display like someone just shut up shop for lunch but never came back… On closer inspection there are small signs on the doors that don’t say “back in 30mins” but “closed for winter”.
There was a trip to a Glow Worm cave on so we decided to try this. We needed to take a fast boat across the lake for about 30mins to get there (this is the picture attached). I have no photographic evidence of this as you can’t take pictures in the caves. You walk for about 10mins in the dark in a wet cave before stepping into a small wooden boat. Still in the dark at this stage and you can not make a sound the tour operator pulls the boat through the remainder of the cave via a rope pulley. Then when you get to the glow worms it’s like looking up at a star installation. Thousands of tiny lights that the boat pulls you up towards so you face is only inches away. It’s truly magical until after the trip back in the main building where they play you a video of the lifecycle of glow worm and you realise your face was within inches of the slimy, sticky, gooey little blighters.
There was a trip to a Glow Worm cave on so we decided to try this. We needed to take a fast boat across the lake for about 30mins to get there (this is the picture attached). I have no photographic evidence of this as you can’t take pictures in the caves. You walk for about 10mins in the dark in a wet cave before stepping into a small wooden boat. Still in the dark at this stage and you can not make a sound the tour operator pulls the boat through the remainder of the cave via a rope pulley. Then when you get to the glow worms it’s like looking up at a star installation. Thousands of tiny lights that the boat pulls you up towards so you face is only inches away. It’s truly magical until after the trip back in the main building where they play you a video of the lifecycle of glow worm and you realise your face was within inches of the slimy, sticky, gooey little blighters.
16/8 Claire – Jet Boating
Still on an adrenalin buzz from yesterdays sky dive we decided on a jet boat ride today. Since Whale Watching in Australia I have felt the need for further fast boating experiences and apparently Queenstown is the place to do this. There are many jet boating companies around but one is always mentioned when you are talking about extreme activities… the Shotover Jet! On the Shotover River these guys take about 10/12 people at a time through narrow canyons at about 60km per hour. They are the only jet boat firm (perhaps in this area I don’t know) to do 360 degree spins. Basically it’s a handbrake turn on the water and a little close to the canyon rocks to make it a relaxing experience – but it was a helluva ride. The boat drivers hobbies where base jumping and sky diving, say n’more!
Tuesday, 18 August 2009
15/8 Ian – Renault Fuego
This is one for Dad, Rob and Jamie F, as I’m not sure anyone else will get this. But look – a real life Renault Fuego, right there, outside our Queenstown motel. How cool is that?! Dad had one of these when we lived in
15/8 Ian - Frisbee golf
Man, how excited can a Frisbee fan get?Queenstown is addicted to adrenalin, and you get sucked right in. Stay a few days and you’ll probably have skydived, jet-boated, luged, river-rafted, parascended, paraglided, bungeed, or heli-boarded all the way to a very empty wallet. I have never seen such impressively slick operations that give their punters bite sized fixes of adrenalin in such perfectly branded, incentivised, cross-marketed, photographed and filmed, certificated and merchandised packages, at such a speed. It’s like Derren Brown on speed. Blink once and you’ve missed it. The antidote? Frisbee golf, of course! A disc, a pen, some paper, and the 18 hole course in Queenstown Gardens. That’s all you need. Unless you’re serious about your Frisbee golf of course, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
Now I heard about Frisbee golf years ago, but had never actually come across a course. Imagine my over-excited Christmas morning boyish glee when I discovered the course here! So we made some enquiries, hired us some discs and made our way across town for our first round yesterday morning. So we’re stood there at the tee of ‘hole’ one, reading the instruction board and thinking about some practice throws, when who should rock up for a round but James Smithells, the man responsible for the installation of this very course in 1996! And he had a disc bag, with different discs for different pitches – how cool is that?! You can guess what’s on my next birthday list, right…? You also need a disc towel so you can wipe your disc down before each shot, and you might want to tape your fingers up to avoid the dreaded ‘Frisbee finger’. So James seemed chuffed to bits that we (ok, mainly me, not Claz) were so excited about our virgin round on his course. After some technique tips for Claz we set off.
Long story short, this game is well harder than it looks, but brilliant fun, hilarious and frustrating in equal measures, and well addictive! This course was a par 56. We’ve had two rounds in the last two days and are both improving. First round: me, 23 over with 79; Claz, 71(!) over with 127. Second round: me, 13 over with 69; Claz, 53 over with 109. It’s harder for chicks – birds just can’t throw Frisbees. I reckon it’s an evolutionary thing….
I also got myself up early this morning to squeeze one last round in before we had to check out and move on. Claz stayed tucked up warm in bed, so with my iPod on I managed a 65 – 9 over. Well chuffed with that. Both my putting and driving was much improved! Still, it should have been a 61 (completely went to pieces on the 6th), but that’s the way golf goes I guess….
As soon as I get back to the UK I’ll be checking out the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) website, as apparently there are courses all over the world. James, there could be a new course in Croydon. I’m coming down for a game with you, geezer…! Perhaps we should try and get one set up in Yorkshire too?!
http://www.pdga.com/
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