It was another glorious morning in this lovely part of the country and we were up and ready to go by 7.30. But first, breakfast, which we had at the White Elephant Beach Cafe overlooking the sea at Gnarabup Beach. This is a popular surf beach and we enjoyed the sublime view, ate our breakfast and then drove the length of the beach to watch the surfers tackling the breakers. With the sunshine, surf and gleaming white sand it was a fantastic sight. View from the cafe, Gnarabup Beach The next stop was at the Yahava Koffee Works, a coffee roasting company where we were greeted by th ..read more

 I had heard so many people talk enthusiastically about their trips to Margaret River that I just had to go to see for myself.  I had flown from New Zealand  to Perth to take a trip on the Indian Pacific train which crosses the Nullabor Plain to Sydney (more about this in a later post). Anyway I planned the trip to have a few extra days to explore the Margaret River region so booked a 3 day tour with McLeod's tours, a small family run business.  Always keen for a new adventure I, along with 9 other passengers, was raring to go early on the first morning. Our first stop on t ..read more

 Any excuse to go to Waiheke Island is a good excuse and none more so than spending a glorious summer's day enjoying the bi-annual sculpture trail, Sculptures on the Gulf. This year it is titled Anything Could Happen.  With my friend, Pat, I set off on the enjoyable 35 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland to the island, looking forward to what the exhibition had to offer.  The trail is 2 and a half kilometres long and winds around the Matiatia headland providing magnificent views along with thought provoking art installations.  This year there are 21 pieces,  fewer ..read more

  To be honest I had never heard of the internationally acclaimed Chinese fashion designer, coutourier and artist, Guo Pei before her exhibition, Guo Pei: Fashion. Art. Fantasy. opened at Auckland Art Gallery.  I went to see it yesterday on the recommendation of a friend.  All I can say is that I was completely blown away by the astonishing beauty and inventiveness of her creations. The garments on show are taken from eight of her couture collections and lead visitors through dream lands, magical gardens, gothic tales, cosmic and ancient Chinese myths and legends.  The lu ..read more

On a family holiday to Greece to celebrate my special birthday I was lucky enough to be treated by the family to dinner at this truly lovely restaurant.  Olea Kouzinaki is located in a quiet garden on a hillside overlooking the town of Argostoli. It is a bit out of the way and not easy to find but well worth the effort. Family meal under the olives As we are a family of nine a special table had been set up for us under the olive trees.  It was perfect since we had three children under 12 and they had plenty of room to get up and move around without disturbing other din ..read more

 I have been very quiet on my blog lately, mainly because I have other projects on the go. I do intend to make more regular posts, it's just a case of finding time! Anyway, I couldn't let Christmas go by without wishing everyone peace and blessings for Christmas and all things wonderful in 2024. It is the afternoon of Christmas Day here in New Zealand and soon my family will arrive for Christmas dinner.  I am looking forward to it.  This beautiful tree is a Pohutukawa, known as the New Zealand Christmas tree because they always bloom at Christmas time. This year they are parti ..read more

 Kefalonia is the largest of the Ionian islands at 780 square kilometres, it is also sparsely populated with only 34,000 residents. We were keen to have a tour of the island and see some of its treasures so as a family of nine without cars the best thing to do was to hire a van and driver to take us. Our van was spacious and air conditioned and since we had it to ourselves everyone had a window seat. It was perfect for sightseeing and our driver was polite and friendly albeit with very limited English. Fair enough, though, we had worse than limited Greek. Kefalonia's coastline Ou ..read more

 After a couple of weeks sightseeing in London our family was off to Kefalonia to enjoy sun, relaxation and some family bonding.  Since the two halves of our family live on opposite sides of the world time spent together is precious and it was a good opportunity for my four grandchildren to get to know each other well. I chose Kefalonia for two reasons, firstly you can get direct flights to the island from Gatwick and, secondly, it is not as over run with tourists as some of the other islands. We had an interesting start to the holiday when our flight's take off was delayed for four ..read more

As an enthusiastic lifelong traveler I have travelled in many different ways; by air, by sea, through the Canterbury skies in a glider, piloted by my brother, in a hot air balloon over the spectacular Turkish landscape of Cappadocia and in numerous cable cars but my favourite way to travel has always been by train.  Flying I find a bit of an ordeal, it is simply a means to an end and is the fastest way of getting where I want to go. It’s no joy to be cramped in a steel tube for endless hours, however until someone can come up with something better it is still the quickest and mo ..read more

The Walkie Talkie Building When you're traveling your money doesn't seem to go as far as you think it will,  things cost more than you expected, you eat out more than usual and the admission prices to attractions can, at times, seem prohibitive.  Many people have a tight budget but want to squeeze in as much as they possibly can from it.  That's why I highly recommend getting tickets to London's Sky Garden.  Located on the 35th to 37th floors at the top of 20 Fenchurch Street popularly known as the Walkie Talkie building the observation lounge and deck offer ..read more