8/24 thru 8/26 - Exploring Auckland and Beyond

The last post occurred today... 8/26, before I changed the date and time on our laptop.  Apparently, the blog is on US time.

8/24/2012 - We awoke to ANOTHER beautiful day and decided to drive up to Goat Island Reserve and do the glass bottom boat tour - it's way too chilly to snorkel.

We drove north on the 1 to Warkworth and then East on Matakana Rd and Leigh Rd to Leigh, then north to the Goat Island cutoff and car park.

The views from the car park were fabulous and included some nesting birds with the Pacific, some resting birds, a fisherman, and Goat Island.

We were a tad late to the 11:00 am sailing - we had trouble knowing whether we were in the right place so we headed off to find some lunch in Pakiri (PACK-er-ee).  It was a fascinating drive on a mostly gravel, nigh on one lane road with a couple of escaped cows chowing down on the 'greener grass' outside their fences.  This road had spectaculars views, too.  

 The pictures are not showing Pakiri!





What we didn't realize was that Pakiri had only a campground with a camp store... so we each had a large chocolate covered ice cream bar on a stick.  They were nummy!

We drove back past the cows and got on the boat.


 It was a good tour...  they don't have the brightly colored fish due to the water being cold, so I'm glad we didn't snorkel.  Goat Island's geologic features were intriguing and somewhat scary when the boat got close to the rocks.

We hiked back out, drove back to Auckland and basked in the good experience of the day.

08/25/2012 - Today we decided to do a city hike called the "Coast to Coast Walkway" (Tasman Sea to Pacific Ocean).  The good thing was that we knew we didn't have to do the whole thing and could get a bus if we pooped out... the bad thing was that we already did 3/4 of it when we found the bus.

We started out taking the bus to Onehunga (Oh-ne-honga), printing maps at the library since Lee forgot his phone, and having lunch before taking off toward Auckland.  

The normal hike would be about 10.6 miles... and it was NOT mostly level!

The route went through one of the most beautiful parks ever, Cornwall Park.  They have cattle and sheep in fields throughout the park - and the babies were SO CUTE!  And there were warnings... don't mess with the sheep or you could cause 'mis-mothering'.  Some of the mothers didn't get the memo and were close to the fence.

The trees were gorgeous and different.

We didn't go up all the way to One Tree Hill, but we were close.

We wove our way through the rest of the park, a number of neighborhoods, and part of the University over to Mount Eden.  Then we started climbing... this felt a tad like a hike in France.

 You can see the One Tree Hill in the distance... this was when we decided we needed to find a bus!

We still had to hike over the shoulder of Mount Eden, but we did it.

Sitting down on the bus was heaven - or felt like it.

Take away Chinese was dinner and that ended the day,

08/26/2012 - Chris, Hilary, and Franca returned from LA.  We had breakfast with them, gassed up the car, wandered to the Queensferry Hotel Tavern for the "Best Fish & Chips in Auckland", and spent the afternoon blogging and packing.

Chris was selling one of his vehicles... quite a classic convertible.  Couldn't resist a picture of it.

We will miss New Zealand - it is comfortable!

8/20 thru 8/23 - Travel and 1st Days in Auckland

8/20/2012 - Kelly got us to SeaTac right on time... the plane had a major 'mechanical' delay (they had to bring another in from Portland) so we had lunch.

The trip to LA was uneventful (arrived a tad late near 5 pm) and we made our way to the International Terminal, checked in, zipped thru security, and went to the New Zealand Air Business Premiere Lounge to "lounge around" / nosh / taste wines & adult beverages until our flight at 9:50 pm.  The New Zealand Air lounge is NICE!!! Loved this picture of a church on the south island...

They put out a pleasant buffet and had quite the wine selection.  They do their own 42 Degrees Vodka (produced at 42 degrees South Latitude).  It's good, but Grey Goose is still the best!  

As usual, the wines were wonderful - we tried a bit of each NZ (N-Zed) wine - the Martinborough Pinot Noir was our favorite... and we cannot get 'Martinborough' in the US.

We had bid on an upgrade to Business Premiere and we got it - it was quite reasonable and well worth it.  We got champagne (not a wussy glass either) and a packet of goodies that included loud socks.

The seats were fascinating, although it was odd not sitting next to each other.  We had a nice dinner, finished looking at media, then folded the seats down to a bed.  We took our sleeping tablets and slept until they woke us all for breakfast.

8/21/2012 - the day was lost to the International Date Line.  We'll get it back later.

8/22/2012 - We arrived around 5:30 am  then sailed through Customs and into the Cab.  We got to the condo as the sun was coming up and a rainbow welcomed us.

We unpacked a bit, took a drive to the store in the new Audi Chris has - automatic transmission (YAY).  I did like the Fiat, but not having to shift lets me concentrate on my mantra - "Drive on the left, keep left, turn left into the left lane, and turn right into the left lane".  This is such a fun car to drive!  

The rest of the day was taken with walking the city, Lee inflicting himself on Capitol One ("your card has been declined" is so embarrassing), and Di getting her hair done.

8/23/2012 - The weather this trip is much sunnier than December 2010, though it is winter now and the breeze is quite chilly.  We got a great view across the harbor of the new Emirates boat and the people getting it in and out of the water and into good racing condition.  Some bucks went into this thing!

They putzed with it most of the day and then put the catamaran into the white garage on the left and the sail into the one on the right.

We walked a different part of the city, then came home and watched a Florida style rain storm before the sun came out in glorious fashion.  Then we took a cab to dinner at Cibo... what a fun place and what fabulous food!  

The evening lights from the harbor are great, too.

It's good to be back here!

The Rail Trip from Valence to Vienna and the Apartment!

Yes, this post is for August of 2011 - After we met up with the Dodd family, there was no time to blog and I became lazy in the fall.   There will be more posts from August (the rest of Austria and Germany) and September (Yellowstone National Park, USA) in the near future.

The trip from Valence to Vienna was a LONG train trip, but it was great!  The high speed train took us from Valence to Lyon where we caught the Austrian Railjet called the Wiesel.



 We had purchased a 1st class rail pass for 3 countries and this was one ride that made it worth it.  For most of the day we were the only ones in the car.

Beautiful Lake

And the views of France, Switzerland, and Austria were Magnificent! 

Different Lake

 

Para-sails galore

Awesome Mountains

Fields are SO green

And MORE Mountains!

We stopped at Salzburg and stayed at a hotel close to the station.  The station was being renovated and the area of the city was disrupted by it all.  We walked and walked to try and find some place for dinner - no luck.  We had passed a bar early in our travels and just headed back there for a bite.  It was OK.

Walkways in Melk

We planned to arrive in Vienna later in the afternoon so we took a short train trip to Melk.  We thought we would have a chance to put the suitcases in a locker at the Melk station, but that station was also under construction and the lockers were closed so I watched the bags and sat on the platform while Lee wandered into town.  Then he stayed with the bags while I trekked up to the Monastery, made a couple of purchases at the Monastery gift shop, wandered around the town square and went back to the station.  Melk is a very quaint town! 

Monastery Entrance

Heading back down to the City

Melk City Center

Old Church

Melk Memorial

 















It is a beautiful City and we return with the family later in August.

We caught the afternoon train to Vienna and arrived at the Wien Westbahnhof about 45 minutes before we were to meet Dr. Prusa at the Apartment.  We got a taxi with a driver who spoke some English and had somewhat of an idea of where the apartment was - even with the address though, he had some trouble finding it.  It was rush hour and the streets in the neighborhoods were very small, but we made it.

The Dr. met us and helped us take our bags upstairs... The apartment was on the 3rd floor - we never ever found the elevator, though he indicated there was one.

The apartment building was incredible as was the apartment.  Dr. Prusa spent an hour or so telling us the tricks of the kitchen, bathroom, windows, and antiques.

The Building Entry

Dragon Bannister

Living Room

Ceramic Fireplace - taller than Di

Then the Dr. walked us around the neighborhood and showed us some of his favorite restaurants and shops in the area and then he headed out to his villa.  We unpacked a bit, went out and had a fabulous Austrian dinner and looked forward to the next days exploration.

France: Crest Day 4, 5 & 6 - Villages, the Market, Mushroom Lasagna, and Ocher Hills

I received corrections from Edwige so I am updating this today, 10/16/2011.

Day 4 (Friday, July 29). We wandered to the train station to set up our trip to Vienna.  The station clerk was great - wrote out the list of trains we had to take and with Edwige's help, we reserved our seats for Monday morning.

Then we went to her favorite market, went home, and had another one of Edwige's fabulous lunches before we all headed out to explore two of the 'nearby' villages; Mirmande and Cliousclat.  Both villages are up in the hills and you hike up further after you park your vehicle.  The stone buildings and skinny streets / walkways are just beautiful.

 
Mirmande had a quiet, country luxury feel to it. Edwige told us that people are rebuilding the stone home in many of the villages, using the stone that was part of the original structures.  It is definitely a labor of love because you must build a normal house structure and then use the stones on the outside.  Not some remodel to be done in a heartbeat or over the summer.

Cliousclat is one of the pottery centers of the region.  It has more artists and shops and restaurants than Mirmande so it is a bit busier with a larger street running through it, but the same small paths between structures. 




The pottery is very nice and we wandered through their operations areas and the gift stores...

I wish I had had the room to pack a few items, but it would have been tragic to have them break.

Day 5 (July 30). This morning we explored the Crest street market while Edwige got rooms ready for a couple of students participating in the Jazz Festival classes.  

The Crest Market was great!  This market seemed twice as big as those in the cities around Paris.  The artisans (jewelry, leather, fabric, etc) had their stalls down the side streets while the meat, cheese, and vegetable stalls were situated along the main street.

It got very busy, but we had a chance to get through it early and bought a wheel of the best cheese ever for Edwige.   It is called "Reblochon" and if you ever get a chance to taste it, please do.  It is made from raw cow's milk so it cannot be brought into the US.


Then we explored the area where Edwige's family had their summer vacation home near Gigor.  We stropped at a wonderful village called Corbonne - like many villages, it had a beautiful, clear pool of water for thirsty visitors.  We drove to Plain de Baix and hiked up to Veylans,  a giant cross on one of the hills.  The countryside is beautiful and the hills are deceivingly high. 

After marveling at the views from the top including the "3 Beaks" (Trois Becs), we made our way to the car and headed back to see the art exhibition and have dinner.

On the way to Matthew and Isabella's house, we noticed an oddly shaped mountain and a castle.  Matthew Tyson and Isabella Oulton have a gallery called Imprints and they live at the foot of Piégros La Clastre (name of the mountain and the Castle.

The dinner was incredible since Matthew and his daughter took a short hike in the afternoon and picked 3 kilos of porcini mushrooms.  They made porcini mushroom lasagna for 20 people.



Day 6 (July 31). Edwige wasn't able to accompany us today because she needed to visit her father and she had some work she needed to get started on. We packed a picnic lunch and Christian and us headed out for Avignon. 
Avignon is famous for being a completely walled city and its bridge (surely you remember the song - Sur le Pont d'Avignon from childhood?).  As you can see, the bridge does not go all the way across.
 We did a driving tour of the city with Christian masterfully navigating the small, winding streets. It would be wonderful to explore Avignon on foot when there is more time.

We then drove on to Roussillon which is famous for its red rocks and and red pigment manufacturing.  These ocher hills have a variety of colors.  This park, Le Senter des Ocres, has descriptions of the plants that inhabit areas, too.  It is a fascinating and beautiful spot.

Christian got a pair of beautiful ocher earrings for Edwige as this is their anniversary.


We stopped in a farmer's field and had our picnic (sausage, cheese, and beer). We visited several additional villages most of them on hilltops with a ruin, church, or castle at the top before stopping to taste wine at one of Christian's favorite vineyards. Needless to say, the wine was incredible. Christian has a fabulous wine cellar.

We went out to dinner with Christian, Edwige, and Delphine to wind up our stay in Crest.   Christian - who is not a morning person - bravely took us to the Valence Train Station  at 7 am on 8/1.   Au Revoir -  it was a wonderful visit.