Tuesday 4 - On Holiday

 On Holiday

 Welcome to Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4...

Summertime means travel time for many people.

Let's talk about travel and holidays.

1. Will you be traveling this summer at all?

We rarely go away in summer now the kids are grown up and have their own families. Christmas happens in summer here and the grandkids tend to go to their parents homes and so that's where we go. And they mostly live in Dunedin just a few minutes away. In the past we did tenting and then caravan holidays at camping grounds with the kids. They were a lot of fun.

2. Will there be day trips in store for you? visits to the beach, evenings out:?

Maybe, who knows, it's still a wee way off. I'm hoping we might head north for a few days about the end of July or beginning of August though but that's still to be decided. And it will still be quite cool but lately their temperatures have been averaging 7 or 8 degrees warmer than us so we'd enjoy that.

3. Do you eat out more in summer... do you go for ice cream or treats more?

We go for day trips occasionally, often go out for an ice cream, Outram is a favourite place for that as it is only about 10 to 15 minute's drive away. We sit there and eat it and then take a leisurely trip home around the plain. We don't eat out a lot, we sometimes go to a cafe for lunch and probably yes, more so in summer.

4. What is your favorite place to visit and what is the most exotic place you've been to?

My favourite place to visit is wherever the kids are, big ones and little ones. Even my brothers and sisters are kids, they're all younger than me :) I love visiting family. We've been to Australia, which is like us but not the same :) I've been to Fiji when I was a teenager and loved it. Bob and I thought we might go over several years ago only to wake up the day after we'd decided to discover there had been a military coup! And we went to Japan for Aaron's wedding. That was probably the most exotic place we've been. The culture was so totally different to anything we were used to, the cities were so clean, no graffiti, the people were very friendly and we felt very welcome wherever we went.

But it's winter here so summer holidays are just a dream at the moment. Instead we're eating stodgy comfort food and hunkering down and keeping warm. 

And here's the link if you'd like to join in. Tuesday 4

Keep well until next time,

blessings,

Diana

Travelling with Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4

Hello! It's time for Toni Taddeo's Tuesday 4

Summer is June 21st and people usually take advantage of the warm weather to take a trip or vacation or day trips to visit, shop or for recreation.

  So could we talk about travel?

1. What are the most memorable destinations you've visited, and what made them stand out? (this could include places like museums, art galleries, etc. not only a vacation site.)

Memorable places? The first that came to mind when I saw this question was my trip to Fiji with a nursing colleague when we were  just 18. The culture was so different to anything I knew and the colours, smells and sights were so wonderful. The first overseas trip either of us had ever made, in an age where no one went overseas (not where we lived anyway). It was so exciting and we looked forward to it for so long.  It was probably another 40 years before I went overseas again and that was to visit my sister and her husband and family who had moved to Australia. We took the family and that was an exciting time for all of us. We had a great time, visited one of the islands off the Queensland coast among other things. But we learnt a good lesson, don't visit north Queensland in the summer, we'd gone for Christmas! Never again.

Then Aaron  was living in Japan, met a Chinese girl and we went to Japan for the wedding. What a wonderful time and I don't really know where to start. So totally culturally different and we didn't speak the language. Thank goodness we had our family interpreters with us most of the time :) We learnt how to use the buses and some of the drivers got to know us and where our stops were. All I can say is if you plan on going to Japan - do. It was a wonderful experience made even better because we were staying in Aaron's flat in an older part of the city and didn't do only tourist things.

the view from Aaron's flat in Kobe, Japan

2. Which hidden gem locations have you explored that you'd recommend to others ?

I don't know that Te Papa the national museum of New Zealand could be called a hidden gem but if you're in Wellington make a point of visiting, even if it is just to visit the Gallipolli Exhibition. I found it to be a very emotional experience but had to rush the end of it, one because I was getting emotional and two because my GKB had disappeared about 10 minutes earlier. It depicts conditions for the men and women in the battle at Gallipolli during the first world war and as well as letters, photographs and short films there are life size models of soldiers and nurses as well as a model of the trenches. Well worth a visit.

Anywhere in New Zealand is well worth a visit though :) We have lakes, beaches, rivers and mountains all within a short drive of most places.

Milford Sound on a misty day

The Southern Alps 

3. What’s the most unique cultural experience you’ve had while traveling ?

Well, lets see. I've been packed like a sardine into a commuter train in Japan, eaten raw seafood which was still moving. I couldn't get out of it as I was the future mother in law and that position held a certain amount of prestige apparently. And part of that was getting to eat first whether I wanted to or not. I didn't want to actually but was told I needed to and looked around the table and every eye was on me, kids and all. My GKB was smirking away but he got to try it too. So I bit the bullet, or raw, moving octopus, and swallowed. Then they all  clapped and I had to do it again. And then they all tucked in. Not my most exciting moment I can tell you but certainly memorable.

that greyish stuff is the still moving, sliced octopus

On the day of the wedding I got to take part in a tea ceremony at the reception. No one warned me but I duly took part and Aaron's sister in law guided me through, We finished our tea, only the bride, groom and mothers took part, and I looked up to see Aaron and Sofi kneeling in front of me. Once again no one had warned me I was supposed to bestow a blessing on them so I stumbled through something, I'm not good at off the cuff stuff, but finally it was over. 

4.What mode of transportation is your favorite for a long trip? How about a short trip?

I would have to say I prefer to travel by plane for a long trip. Well let me qualify that. I live on an island. If I want to visit family who don't live in the South Island I have to cross the sea, to the North Island or to the bigger island to the west (Australia) so really I don't have a choice. I don't enjoy flying and we usually drive if we're going anywhere in the South Island.

A family barbie

We've had some high temperatures this past week, 

touching on 40 C. Just a little bit hot for us southerners. 

It has cooled down somewhat today with a bit of rain

 but not enough to do much for the ground or gardens.

But before that sort of heat set in we managed to have 

a barbecue over at our son's home last weekend. 

Getting the fire started, one to light and several supervisors. 

Son in law hadn't arrived yet so couldn't stand there with 

the others giving helpful, or not, advice :)

The pohutokawa (red flowering tree) in the

 background was beautiful, in full bloom.

Daughter in law and visitors from Japan - they haven't 

cottoned on yet that the blokes do the cooking 

and the girls leave them to it. I can see there is some 

educating to be done. But never mind, 

the food was delicious.

Relaxing on the deck. Youngest daughter and her 

 hubby came over too. Our eldest daughter was away  

for the weekend so couldn't make it, and as it is school 

holidays the kids were away doing what kids do with 

their mates during the summer.

Later we adjourned to the garage to play pool and darts 

and as our new Japanese friend had just celebrated

a birthday we had a birthday cake for her

 much to her surprise and pleasure.

Brother and sister facing off. He has just knocked her

 off the table, up until then she had taken on all comers

 and won. Oh dear :) I didn't realise I'd caught them like this 

until I saw the photo and it just looks so funny.

Well that's it for this week.

See you next time.

Diana

joining Debbie over at
Breathing in Grace for 
friday foto friends

Scavenging again

For photos that is. Most of them are from the archives, some are new. We haven't been out and about much in the last few weeks what with my GKB being a bit under the weather and then the snow followed by floods. I hope you enjoy them anyway even if you have seen some of them before. 

1:  Crane

We had been to Nunobiki Herb Garden at the top of the Ropeway (cable car, gondola) overlooking the beautiful city of Kobe in Japan. Travelling back down and naturally taking photos of the view we spotted this building being constructed. The crane was in the centre of the building on a gantry and as the building pushed skyward the crane was also heading skyward. Three photos I'm afraid.

2:  Ring

A cinnamon roll (ring?) I had for lunch one day whilst out with my GKB. Technically not a ring but with a smidgen of imagination it could be - it's circular, sort of :)

3:  Set

My DIL was baking and when I went out to the kitchen this is what I saw. I have never seen a cake cooling like this before but apparently it stops the weight of the cake from flattening itself. Who would have thought? Not me. Anyway I thought this cake was well enough 'set' to put in this post. I hope you all agree :)

4:  Light

Light reflecting off the top of the display case containing antique pocket watches. We took this photo in the jewellers/watchmakers shop in Shantytown earlier in the year.

5:  Bow

The bow used to be the pointy bit of the boat and landlubbers like myself could tell one end from the other. But looking at these two ships I'm not sure which end is the bow and which is the stern but I believe the ship on the left is bow toward us. If not we can see both ends of the ship on the right so one end must be the bow. Mission accomplished! Phew.

6:  Spring

Out visiting the local vet one 'spring' day and this was 

what I saw over the fence. 'Spring' lambs and one

 of them is 'springing'. 

7:  Open

Only 'twasn't. In fact it had been shut for a couple of weeks and was due to reopen the following day. We took this while strolling around one of the city suburbs one lunchtime and thought number  one son and DIL might be interested in visiting Kamome for a meal sometime. 

8:  Grand

We certainly felt grand sitting in these throne like chairs when out for dinner one evening with friends while on holiday. If we had realised how grand the setting was going to be we might have taken some grander (cringe) gear to wear. Still everyone enjoyed the dinner and the company and that's what it was really all about.

9:  Park

A sign pointing to a car park in a national park. Jacksons is a small place in Arthur's Pass National Park in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. If you blink  passing through you could well miss it, literally. There's a pub and not much more. That is the car park on the left, the sign on the right and it is surrounded by beautiful national park. 

10:  My own choice

A Thrush singing his lungs out one grey day.

 Just enjoying being alive

Joining Hawthorn and friends over at 

  I live, I love, I craft, I am me  

Heading north, then west

Our family arrived from Japan on Wednesday. 

It is so good to see them. 

This coming Wednesday we will leave to travel

 to our family reunion at Easter time. 

Already family members from Indonesia and Australia

 are in New Zealand and others from Australia

 are travelling in the next day or two. 

Most of us will be 'home' by Thursday

 and we'll be enjoying a meet and greet evening on Friday. 

I'm looking forward to seeing cousins I haven't seen 

for several decades and meeting their families.

I'm thinking we'll all be blessed one way or another.

I'll share about it when we get home but just so you know,

 I may not be checking in for a week or so. 

************************

And as it is Palm Sunday let me wish you all a blessed Easter

 no matter where you are or what you are doing.

Diana

A Japanese jaunt

In just over  a week our number one son is coming home for a visit. We know when he is arriving but have no idea how long he is staying. We're hoping it's going to be a reasonable length of time but will be happy with whatever. It's a couple of years since he and his wife have visited so his sisters are getting excited as well, there could be quite a delegation at the airport to welcome him. He is flying in from Japan. Yeeha!

Four years ago we were in Japan for his wedding. We loved Japan and the people and hope to get back someday.

Church in Japan where the wedding took place

We thoroughly enjoyed living in a completely different culture, even if just for a few weeks and because we were staying with family we didn't just do the tourist things.

Yes, this is the road, and yes this car was driven up here and parked for the night.

We found it was very safe to go walking at night time when the air got cooler, a lot of other people did the same thing, including young families.

Chinatown

One night we went for a lovely stroll through Chinatown, we were even stopped and had our pictures taken with a delightful elderly Japanese gentleman and his friends. We communicated with signs and play-acting.

We visited Nara and the deer park there as well as going to see the Great Buddha in the Todaiji Temple. The buddha is bronze and 15 metres high (50 ft) and the temple is the largest wooden structure on earth. It is huge and my photo doesn't do it justice, it doesn't show the perspective.

standing in front of the Todaiji temple, Nara

The ornamental gates are beautiful, even the gates to some of the houses are lovely, totally different to european style.

the inside of  a temple gate

I think this is a shinto temple, in Kyoto


While we were in Kyoto we went to the Kinkaku-ji Temple. It is set in beautiful gardens and is built in the middle of a lake. The two top storeys of the temple itself are covered in gold leaf and it  belongs to the emperor who is the only person who is allowed into it apart from a priest. And he only gets to visit it once a year.

We also went to Himeji castle which is a world heritage site and the allies were ordered not to bomb in the area during the second world war. While there we met another lovely Japanese gentleman who told us a story of the castle shogun. The castle was under attack and he had to escape by jumping naked out of a window and escaping across the roof and jumping into a well. There was a tunnel in the well and he made his escape. We all enjoyed a wonderful story time with him speaking no English and us no Japanese but with a lady interpreting in broken English.

Himeji Castle

Just outside the castle walls were formal gardens representing the seven different areas of Japan.

one of seven formal gardens, Himeji

We visited a lavender farm in Kobe and also went for a harbour cruise while there.

part of Kobe city from the lavender farm

Harbourland from Kobe Harbour,

We ate a variety of foods, Japanese and Chinese, in a large range of restaurants from formal to informal, outside and in. This was quite a challenge for me as I am a basic meat and veges girl.

We were treated to a meal of Kobe beef in a shubba shubba restaurant - extremely expensive, and something we couldn't have afforded ourselves.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed my short tour of Japan. I have great memories. One of the best, apart from the wedding, was meeting yet another elderly gentleman who invited us inside and we found ourselves in the midst of a group of elderly ladies and gents who were making simple toys of paper and straws. We spent about an hour with them, some of us revisiting our childhood. Our new daughter-in-law interpreted and we had lots of fun and laughter. We did and saw lots more but too much to tell here.

Wishing everyone a wonderful week.

Diana

Oh, and yes we did meet and talk to young people as well :)



Christmas doings

What a busy time of year, I'm finding it hard to fit

 in everything I need to do. I haven't even got my

Christmas tree or any decorations out yet, let alone put anything up. But...

I have got the parcels for Japan all wrapped and in the post and so number one son and his lovely wife  should get them some time this week.

My youngest grandson came with me to post them, he was having time off from school because he hadn't been well and there was a BIG bus trip coming up and he wanted to be well enough for that - of course. He's five.

After we had been to the post office we went for a drink at a 'grown ups' cafe, as opposed to McDonald's or similar. After he picked what he wanted to eat and drink I let him find us a table while I paid up.

He sat very nicely and half way through he said to me very earnestly

"you know Granma, I haven't done this before".

I thought it was a precious moment.

Yesterday we went in to the city to watch the Santa parade, youngest grandson and his sister were on a couple of floats. Their brother was too shy to take part.

The Lego float has Daniel in it, he is the Lego man in the red.

The one below that is a back view of his older sister - trust us to be on the wrong side of the street to see either of them properly, but it was a fun time.

We took my little mother in with us as well and afterwards she told us that was the first Santa Parade she had ever been in to see. Oh dear, I hadn't realised that.

Tonight I shall try to get some Christmas cards done.

The south of the south

A while since I have been on and written anything, so here goes.

My GKB and I have been gadding about the countryside, first back over to the West Coast and then down around the Catlins area for a few days before heading to Invers (Invercargill to the uninitiated) and then on to Central Otago.

We took Mum up to her sisters 80th celebrations and met up with another sis who had flown in from Aussie the day before. We partied at a lovely restaurant on the Taramakau River, which was absolutely beautiful, but as evening fell the sandflies came out and those of us who had been sitting enjoying the view as well as the beverages were, on the whole, forced back inside. Another great reunion with all the cussies we had grown up with, and more nostalgic thoughts and homesickness from those of us who have moved away and made homes in other parts of the country.

Then it was home and dropping off the mother and the sis and the GKB and I took off for a well earned break without any family or whanau attached to us for a change. We had a great time even if the weather wasn't the kindest to us. Mind you we got sunburnt on the Coast while fossicking for gem stones on the beaches, now all we need is a drum to tumble them in! We saw the penquins at The Nuggets, and because of the heavy rain the Purekanui falls and the Mclean falls in the Catlins were lovely.

We stayed in motels in Invercargill and were shown real southern hospitality by the lovely Indian lady who was our hostess. She brought us freshly baked loaf to have with our coffee when we first arrived and couldn't have been more helpful. After a day looking around the city, H and J Smith's hasn't changed, it is still a great old store to go into, we headed for Central Otago via the Devils Staircase around the lake. Two days later there a was a major rock fall, so we were pleased we went when we did. The lake was a magnificent turquoise colour, hard to describe if you haven't seen it.

At the camping ground each evening we had a rabbit visit, this was the first time in about 20 years of going up there that I have seen rabbits in the camping ground - they must be pretty prolific for them to come in amongst us like that, they are usually extremely timid. We spent a day in Queenstown and then it was time to pack up and head for home.

So now we are back home and back into the workforce, planning for another trip to Japan sometime later in the year, hopefully.