As an aside, occasionally I travel by accident.
One day in July, a friend rang one Friday from Bourke - her car was broken into to be stolen, but the thieves were unlucky (it had an immobiliser - no key, no start) and so was she. It was undrivable. She had to be back in Melbourne on Tuesday, so never one to be backward I went up on the Sunday and drove her back on the Monday. Bourke is about 1000 km from home, so it only took ten hours (quite a bit in NSW was 110 and I didn't have to stop for fuel).
A few weeks later I did the reverse, picking her up from her home and driving her up to Bourke. Again it was simply the day up, overnight, then back the next day.
Unfortunately it was soon found out the thieves had done a botchy job - the car was not economically repairable, so she couldn't drive it home. I was away, so she came back by public transport. After a lot of looking around, she ended up buying a new car in Werribee. It spent its first night under my carport, then I drove it up to Bourke (and ran it in). We stayed up for a weekend, then packed all her belongings in (they fitted!) and we took it in turns driving it back.
I had made the offhand comment that I enjoyed driving so much that I never had the cash to really indulge it enough, so she took me at my word and we both benefitted.
For anyone interested, the route was the Ring Road, Hume Freeway, Northern Highway, then the Kidman Way. Very interesting scenery and towns like Shepparton, Griffith, Hillside and Cobar broke the drive up. Take music because radio reception is discontinuous. A very enjoyable trip which could be expanded up to a week and varied by returning through Deniliquin and Echuca - then three weeks, a week each way and a week in and around Bourke - or shorter, as required, but three days minimum. Bourke does has a Maritime Courthouse!
Friday, March 9, 2012
Monday, June 29, 2009
Where I've Been
visited 23 states (10.2%)
Create your own visited map of The World or Like this? try: Triposo Travelhacks
Thursday, April 16, 2009
January 14
The last day in New Zealand and I was awake at 0215 (not because of anticipation, but because of our flight time) and up at 0225. I showered, dressed and finished packing. Fran was quickly up and dressed. We had a cup of tea, I had a can of coke and took the suitcases outside.
Our taxi arrived at 0310, so we packed up and were off to airport. We arrived at 0330 with a fare of NZ$24.50 but it was only NZ$22 with our discount coupon. We went into the terminal and found that our flight was departing from the domestic terminal. There were no staff around, no check-ins open, but quite a few passengers. I quickly found that the auto check-in doesn’t work for International departures from the Domestic Terminal. After wandering to the International Terminal, I eventually found out because of shift changes, no-one would be on until 0430. There were very small signs and generally poor signage. We went into the lines at 0430, had our suitcases weighed (20.4 kg each) and were passed through. The luggage was going straight through to Adelaide, so that was no problem. We had to wait until the departure gate opened, then went through. There was no real problem at the security point. Finally we got onto the plane to Auckland and we were off on time. Sunrise was during the flight and scenery was nice.
We arrived at Auckland on time and went quickly around to the departure point for the flight to Adelaide. Here the security check was okay but my pack was selected for random testing – and, low and behold, it tested POSITIVE for EXPLOSIVES!
Fortunately both I and the tester were sensible about it, because like a lot of things, one negative test negates many positive tests. He reset the machine, used a fresh test strip and – all clear! Off we went, but now with little time. However we still made it to the flight on time and, again on time, the flight headed off to Adelaide.
The flight back was smooth, but they ran out of a selection of food so it was either take what was offered or nothing. After twenty flights within the last year, I didn’t mind and just ate what I liked.
We landed in Adelaide on time and I rang Ashley to pick us up. He was already at the airport, so we went through Customs and Immigration, hoping for no delays. Immigration was quick, but Fran held us up at two points because of declaring all the medicines and so on that she had, and because she ran into a parent from school. However, even so, we were through very quickly once the officials realised what Fran had (no prohibited material) and so we were soon in the public area of the terminal and met Ashley. Quickly we took the luggage to the car, put it and ourselves in and, for Fran, her New Zealand holiday was over.
For me, over a year of travelling had come to an end – and is never likely to be repeated!
Our taxi arrived at 0310, so we packed up and were off to airport. We arrived at 0330 with a fare of NZ$24.50 but it was only NZ$22 with our discount coupon. We went into the terminal and found that our flight was departing from the domestic terminal. There were no staff around, no check-ins open, but quite a few passengers. I quickly found that the auto check-in doesn’t work for International departures from the Domestic Terminal. After wandering to the International Terminal, I eventually found out because of shift changes, no-one would be on until 0430. There were very small signs and generally poor signage. We went into the lines at 0430, had our suitcases weighed (20.4 kg each) and were passed through. The luggage was going straight through to Adelaide, so that was no problem. We had to wait until the departure gate opened, then went through. There was no real problem at the security point. Finally we got onto the plane to Auckland and we were off on time. Sunrise was during the flight and scenery was nice.
We arrived at Auckland on time and went quickly around to the departure point for the flight to Adelaide. Here the security check was okay but my pack was selected for random testing – and, low and behold, it tested POSITIVE for EXPLOSIVES!
Fortunately both I and the tester were sensible about it, because like a lot of things, one negative test negates many positive tests. He reset the machine, used a fresh test strip and – all clear! Off we went, but now with little time. However we still made it to the flight on time and, again on time, the flight headed off to Adelaide.
The flight back was smooth, but they ran out of a selection of food so it was either take what was offered or nothing. After twenty flights within the last year, I didn’t mind and just ate what I liked.
We landed in Adelaide on time and I rang Ashley to pick us up. He was already at the airport, so we went through Customs and Immigration, hoping for no delays. Immigration was quick, but Fran held us up at two points because of declaring all the medicines and so on that she had, and because she ran into a parent from school. However, even so, we were through very quickly once the officials realised what Fran had (no prohibited material) and so we were soon in the public area of the terminal and met Ashley. Quickly we took the luggage to the car, put it and ourselves in and, for Fran, her New Zealand holiday was over.
For me, over a year of travelling had come to an end – and is never likely to be repeated!
January 13
This was our last full day in New Zealand. I was up at 0710, had tea and toast, then showered and dressed. Quite a bit of time was spent organising luggage, but mainly emptying the car out.
We set out at 0900 and went to visit the Antarctic Centre. We arrived at 0915 and finally left at 1115.
During the time we spent in the centre, I spent some time in the cool room. This was normally at –8°C but on occasions the wind machine started up and there was a wind chill down to –21°C. We had a look at the penguins, most of who were either injured or physically incapable of caring for themselves in the wild. When they were being fed, it was interesting to see the different behaviour of the individual penguins – some were gluttons, some shy and some would only take food from a particular keeper. On the way out, we went into the “storm”, down to –20°C. Both the normal temperature and the storm conditions were warmer than yard duty at Werribee on the oval in winter.
On the way out we went for a ride on the “Hegglund” all-terrain vehicle. Fran had to ride in the front because the back was full (normally this would be an area for troops. It was very different, climbing up 45° slopes and traversing 40° slopes and then floating through over a metre of water. I was interested because I had seen fleets of them in the northern areas of Finland and Norway.
We returned to the city and parked on the street. We walked through a mall to visit Christ Church. Here we looked around and I walked up the tower. The view over the city was impressive, but unlike European places, modern buildings had blocked out long-distance views. There was a performance on in the square, which we looked at for a time. There was audience participation, reluctant on the part of some but everyone ended up enjoying themselves. There was also a tourist tram which ran around the central parts of the city. Opposite the tram stop was a giant chessboard, with people playing chess there.
We walked back to the car and headed off to visit the Roman Catholic Cathedral – I had promised the preist at Invercargill that we would visit, and it was quite impressive, but lacking in the grandeur of Christ church. We had lunch at a Burger King and then bought soup for tea at an adjacent supermarket.
After that we went out to the New Zealand Air Force museum. It seemed much smaller than I remembered, but the problem is that I have been to too many since then – and some of them were huge. The afternoon wore on and we went back to the motel. I emptied the car and left Fran at the motel while I drove to the depot to drop the car off. At the same time I was returning the car, there was a French couple picking up a car. I could now appreciate how difficult it would be for them – language, colloquial speech relating to driving, driving on the “wrong side”, unfamiliar road signs and in a different language. I got driven back to the motel.
The shops were still open so we walked around to Westfield Riccarton shopping centre and went through a variety of shops there – but there was no shopping as our luggage was already up to weight. Then we went back to the motel and had tea, using up any food which we had left.
Later in the evening I transferred and processed today’s photos, wrote up today’s blog as a summary and then watched a little TV. We went to sleep early as we had to be up at 0215 tomorrow to catch our taxi at 0315 tomorrow morning to the airport.
We set out at 0900 and went to visit the Antarctic Centre. We arrived at 0915 and finally left at 1115.
During the time we spent in the centre, I spent some time in the cool room. This was normally at –8°C but on occasions the wind machine started up and there was a wind chill down to –21°C. We had a look at the penguins, most of who were either injured or physically incapable of caring for themselves in the wild. When they were being fed, it was interesting to see the different behaviour of the individual penguins – some were gluttons, some shy and some would only take food from a particular keeper. On the way out, we went into the “storm”, down to –20°C. Both the normal temperature and the storm conditions were warmer than yard duty at Werribee on the oval in winter.
On the way out we went for a ride on the “Hegglund” all-terrain vehicle. Fran had to ride in the front because the back was full (normally this would be an area for troops. It was very different, climbing up 45° slopes and traversing 40° slopes and then floating through over a metre of water. I was interested because I had seen fleets of them in the northern areas of Finland and Norway.
We returned to the city and parked on the street. We walked through a mall to visit Christ Church. Here we looked around and I walked up the tower. The view over the city was impressive, but unlike European places, modern buildings had blocked out long-distance views. There was a performance on in the square, which we looked at for a time. There was audience participation, reluctant on the part of some but everyone ended up enjoying themselves. There was also a tourist tram which ran around the central parts of the city. Opposite the tram stop was a giant chessboard, with people playing chess there.
We walked back to the car and headed off to visit the Roman Catholic Cathedral – I had promised the preist at Invercargill that we would visit, and it was quite impressive, but lacking in the grandeur of Christ church. We had lunch at a Burger King and then bought soup for tea at an adjacent supermarket.
After that we went out to the New Zealand Air Force museum. It seemed much smaller than I remembered, but the problem is that I have been to too many since then – and some of them were huge. The afternoon wore on and we went back to the motel. I emptied the car and left Fran at the motel while I drove to the depot to drop the car off. At the same time I was returning the car, there was a French couple picking up a car. I could now appreciate how difficult it would be for them – language, colloquial speech relating to driving, driving on the “wrong side”, unfamiliar road signs and in a different language. I got driven back to the motel.
The shops were still open so we walked around to Westfield Riccarton shopping centre and went through a variety of shops there – but there was no shopping as our luggage was already up to weight. Then we went back to the motel and had tea, using up any food which we had left.
Later in the evening I transferred and processed today’s photos, wrote up today’s blog as a summary and then watched a little TV. We went to sleep early as we had to be up at 0215 tomorrow to catch our taxi at 0315 tomorrow morning to the airport.
January 12
Despite the late evening, I was awake and up at 0640. It was tea, toast, coke and then a shower and finally dressing. I packed up, checked the unit and then packed the car. Because we left so early, we left the key in the unit and were on the road by 0745. I refuelled in Dunedin city at Mobil, heading south, and then left, going north, at 0755. We went by the Moeraki Boulders and I gave Fran the same commentary as yesterday, just so she knew I could remember. Not far north, we went through back roads to cut across to the main road to Mt Cook via Takiroa, where we stopped to view Maori paintings. We stopped in Kurow to use a toilet – they were very clean and there was an interesting display in the town.
After that stop we went straight through to Mt Cook. Our first stop to view Mt Cook was at Peter’s Lookout – there were many views as we went along the road through the valley, each unique in its own way. At Mt Cook Settlement, we looked through the Visitor Centre, which was new – it had not been there when I had last visited with mum. We ate our lunch outside at the picnic benches – Fran spilled her drink water in her bag over books and all the paperwork in there. When we left we drove back through Geraldine (I got a photo for Elizabeth there) and Ashburton, drove over a very long bridge (remember that a lot of New Zealand rivers are glacial, and so have small and narrow main channels but wide beds up to a mile wide) and had to put NZ$10 petrol in along the way (too close to call, so I decided to play safe).
We got into Christchurch at 1705 and went straight into our motel. It seemed very good. I immediately booked a taxi for Wednesday morning early, to go to the airport. In the unit we had a cup of tea and unpacked. I checked my emails, but the Internet allowance was not sufficient to upload photos. We went out for tea at Robbie’s, as we had a discount voucher from the motel for a meal there. We walked there and back. At the office, Fran requested a newspaper for tomorrow morning (we had seen a police car rushing up towards Mt Cook and wanted to know what the story was).
Back in the unit we changed, I processed today’s photos and then summarised my blog for today. Fran watched TV while I did this and we were soon to bed and to sleep about 2200.
After that stop we went straight through to Mt Cook. Our first stop to view Mt Cook was at Peter’s Lookout – there were many views as we went along the road through the valley, each unique in its own way. At Mt Cook Settlement, we looked through the Visitor Centre, which was new – it had not been there when I had last visited with mum. We ate our lunch outside at the picnic benches – Fran spilled her drink water in her bag over books and all the paperwork in there. When we left we drove back through Geraldine (I got a photo for Elizabeth there) and Ashburton, drove over a very long bridge (remember that a lot of New Zealand rivers are glacial, and so have small and narrow main channels but wide beds up to a mile wide) and had to put NZ$10 petrol in along the way (too close to call, so I decided to play safe).
We got into Christchurch at 1705 and went straight into our motel. It seemed very good. I immediately booked a taxi for Wednesday morning early, to go to the airport. In the unit we had a cup of tea and unpacked. I checked my emails, but the Internet allowance was not sufficient to upload photos. We went out for tea at Robbie’s, as we had a discount voucher from the motel for a meal there. We walked there and back. At the office, Fran requested a newspaper for tomorrow morning (we had seen a police car rushing up towards Mt Cook and wanted to know what the story was).
Back in the unit we changed, I processed today’s photos and then summarised my blog for today. Fran watched TV while I did this and we were soon to bed and to sleep about 2200.
January 11
Again it was the usual procedure, up at 0640, a cup of tea, toast, a shower and got dressed.
I packed, packed car and got ready to leave. Alas again, the hosts don’t make things clear and I found I was up for a NZ$5 charge for Internet, so I was not too happy. Next time I will be ensuring that either the cost is stated upfront or otherwise I will not pay.
We set course for Mt Cook but Fran soon decided the day would be too long. After filling up at Shell (no Woolworths discount dockets) in Invercargill, I headed out (on wrong heading) for the Southern Scenic Route. I eventually caught up with the correct route after going through some very scenic little places.
Along the way we sidetracked into a number of interesting places – one was Niagara Falls, certainly falls but on a different scale to the Canadian/American one. There were nice beaches and coastal scenery at Curio Bay and Owaka.
At Nugget Point we had something to eat from the prepared food we had bought the day before and then walked out on the point to see the rugged scenery and many seals resting on rock shelves and small sandy areas. Back at the car, we spoke briefly to a couple in the car next to us – another brother and sister, the sister from near Invercargill but the brother from Melton (Vic), who had his Mazda car serviced at Werribee (just near where I have DOUG, ARTIE and DOUG 2 serviced). We called in at Balclutha and then went straight onto Dunedin. Unfortunately the SatNav took us on a torturous route before we found the motel. We booked in, put all the luggage in and went straight off to Moeraki. At Moeraki the tide was nearly in, and we had to scrabble along the top edge of the beach and at the foot of a cliff. I had no problem to see the boulders but Fran was reluctant to run the risk of being trapped by the sea. Then it was quickly back to Dunedin where we did some shopping.
After going back to the motel and unloading that shopping, we set out to the Otago Peninsula. There were some very scenic areas along the way, and out at the point we got fish and chips for tea (at a very busy shop). We went right out to Taiaroa Head and then headed back to Sandfly Bay, on the advice of the chip shop owner and a customer.
We parked in the car park, then went down to beach. Along the way we saw some wildlife officers who confirmed there would be sea lions for sure and penguins possibly. The path started out as a sealed track, then sandy, then scrabbling across dunes. We walked along the beach to a hide, passing very close to a sea lion. We saw many sea lions from the hide but only one penguin (from hide) struggling up a cliff-face. It stopped for a breather, but out of our sight. On the way back along the beach we saw another climbing up a sand face. Fran had real trouble getting back from the beach, having great difficulty on the loose sand of a few dunes. We ended up with me at one end of a stick pulling Fran at the other (lower) end. Even so, it took a long time and gave Fran a bit of a scare.
After that, and a drive back along a narrow ridge with strong winds pushing us in both directions (but not at the same time), we were back at the motel by 2245. Fran went straight to bed. I piggybacked on an open network and checked my email, then transferred and processed photos, summarised my blog (no detail, as it was getting late), did some other work and then went to bed.
I packed, packed car and got ready to leave. Alas again, the hosts don’t make things clear and I found I was up for a NZ$5 charge for Internet, so I was not too happy. Next time I will be ensuring that either the cost is stated upfront or otherwise I will not pay.
We set course for Mt Cook but Fran soon decided the day would be too long. After filling up at Shell (no Woolworths discount dockets) in Invercargill, I headed out (on wrong heading) for the Southern Scenic Route. I eventually caught up with the correct route after going through some very scenic little places.
Along the way we sidetracked into a number of interesting places – one was Niagara Falls, certainly falls but on a different scale to the Canadian/American one. There were nice beaches and coastal scenery at Curio Bay and Owaka.
At Nugget Point we had something to eat from the prepared food we had bought the day before and then walked out on the point to see the rugged scenery and many seals resting on rock shelves and small sandy areas. Back at the car, we spoke briefly to a couple in the car next to us – another brother and sister, the sister from near Invercargill but the brother from Melton (Vic), who had his Mazda car serviced at Werribee (just near where I have DOUG, ARTIE and DOUG 2 serviced). We called in at Balclutha and then went straight onto Dunedin. Unfortunately the SatNav took us on a torturous route before we found the motel. We booked in, put all the luggage in and went straight off to Moeraki. At Moeraki the tide was nearly in, and we had to scrabble along the top edge of the beach and at the foot of a cliff. I had no problem to see the boulders but Fran was reluctant to run the risk of being trapped by the sea. Then it was quickly back to Dunedin where we did some shopping.
After going back to the motel and unloading that shopping, we set out to the Otago Peninsula. There were some very scenic areas along the way, and out at the point we got fish and chips for tea (at a very busy shop). We went right out to Taiaroa Head and then headed back to Sandfly Bay, on the advice of the chip shop owner and a customer.
We parked in the car park, then went down to beach. Along the way we saw some wildlife officers who confirmed there would be sea lions for sure and penguins possibly. The path started out as a sealed track, then sandy, then scrabbling across dunes. We walked along the beach to a hide, passing very close to a sea lion. We saw many sea lions from the hide but only one penguin (from hide) struggling up a cliff-face. It stopped for a breather, but out of our sight. On the way back along the beach we saw another climbing up a sand face. Fran had real trouble getting back from the beach, having great difficulty on the loose sand of a few dunes. We ended up with me at one end of a stick pulling Fran at the other (lower) end. Even so, it took a long time and gave Fran a bit of a scare.
After that, and a drive back along a narrow ridge with strong winds pushing us in both directions (but not at the same time), we were back at the motel by 2245. Fran went straight to bed. I piggybacked on an open network and checked my email, then transferred and processed photos, summarised my blog (no detail, as it was getting late), did some other work and then went to bed.
January 10
I was up at 0640 and had a cup of tea, sausage rolls for breakfast (which otherwise would have been last night’s tea), then drank some coke (to replace the fluid which I had lost).
Then I had a shower and dressed (Fran had her shower last night), packed, packed the car and we were ready to leave just before 0800 – Fran returned the key.
I filled up with fuel at Caltex (138.9 cf 142.9 at BP) – the same place I had filled the day before and then we left Te Anau on the Southern Scenic route.
Once we had set out, it started to rain and became misty and cloudy. We went through Tuattapere and on to Riverton. Here I stopped to go to the toilet. Like many small towns, it had its own lolly shop (New Zealanders must have a very sweet tooth). We headed on into Invercargill. Our first stop was the iSite Information centre and then we toured the attached museum. One of the displays in the museum was for “the fastest Indian”. Armed with maps and information, we did the heritage route through town, then called into our motel about 1300. We booked in, then had our lunch in the unit. The unit had an upstairs bedroom as well as the downstairs room including a bed. I found there was Internet access, so set up the laptop for it and started uploading previous photos. We headed out again and visited Bluff, then toured the main shopping areas of Invercargill on the way back. We called into St Mary’s Basilica, but found it locked. I knocked on the door of the presbytery to get a key, then ended up chatting to the priest who opened the church up for us. He said the design was based on St Sophia in Istanbul, as the first priest to arrange the church building had spent some time at the church in Istanbul (this was poignant for me as I had been in St Sophia not too long ago). When we left, we did some shopping on way back to the motel. After putting that shopping in, we went to do some more shopping (at a New World, just down the road) and then called into Burger King for tea.
After refreshing the inner man, we went back to the unit. Tragedy – I found that the signal had been too low in the room to keep the strength sufficient and so no photos had been uploaded. After a bit of experimentation, I ended up with the laptop on the lounge table to get sufficient signal. Then I downloaded today’s photos and uploaded all the others while Fran watched TV and read, all the while complaining of a cold.
Then I summarised today’s blog, saved it, charged all the other batteries, got ready for bed and was soon to sleep.
Then I had a shower and dressed (Fran had her shower last night), packed, packed the car and we were ready to leave just before 0800 – Fran returned the key.
I filled up with fuel at Caltex (138.9 cf 142.9 at BP) – the same place I had filled the day before and then we left Te Anau on the Southern Scenic route.
Once we had set out, it started to rain and became misty and cloudy. We went through Tuattapere and on to Riverton. Here I stopped to go to the toilet. Like many small towns, it had its own lolly shop (New Zealanders must have a very sweet tooth). We headed on into Invercargill. Our first stop was the iSite Information centre and then we toured the attached museum. One of the displays in the museum was for “the fastest Indian”. Armed with maps and information, we did the heritage route through town, then called into our motel about 1300. We booked in, then had our lunch in the unit. The unit had an upstairs bedroom as well as the downstairs room including a bed. I found there was Internet access, so set up the laptop for it and started uploading previous photos. We headed out again and visited Bluff, then toured the main shopping areas of Invercargill on the way back. We called into St Mary’s Basilica, but found it locked. I knocked on the door of the presbytery to get a key, then ended up chatting to the priest who opened the church up for us. He said the design was based on St Sophia in Istanbul, as the first priest to arrange the church building had spent some time at the church in Istanbul (this was poignant for me as I had been in St Sophia not too long ago). When we left, we did some shopping on way back to the motel. After putting that shopping in, we went to do some more shopping (at a New World, just down the road) and then called into Burger King for tea.
After refreshing the inner man, we went back to the unit. Tragedy – I found that the signal had been too low in the room to keep the strength sufficient and so no photos had been uploaded. After a bit of experimentation, I ended up with the laptop on the lounge table to get sufficient signal. Then I downloaded today’s photos and uploaded all the others while Fran watched TV and read, all the while complaining of a cold.
Then I summarised today’s blog, saved it, charged all the other batteries, got ready for bed and was soon to sleep.
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