Page 5 of michelleandkev Travel Blog Posts


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michelleandkev
May 30th 2012

...is my idea of nothing to do! (with apologies to Cole Porter.) Nevertheless we are doing it again...so on Tuesday 12 June we left a wet rainy Sydney to fly to New York via Los Angeles only to find that NY was also wet and rainy! But then again it was another Tues 12 June so what could we expect. It was about 7pm before we finally arrived at the Upper East Side apartment to be met by Kerrii, Seb, Grace & Rupert for a fantastic reunion!! After dinner Kev, Kerrii, Grace walked down 5th Ave (in the rain) to take part in the Museum Mile Festival. A slight drizzle when we started before long it was pouring down! But it was fun! Today however we only had a little rain and for most of that ... read more



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michelleandkev
May 6th 2011

Flying from Uluru to Alice Springs took us over Lake Amadeus, 50 kms north of the rock. Ten km wide and 180 km long, most of the time it is a salt lake. Only filled with water during times of flood, the water eventually drains into the Finke River which we were later to cross over during our train journey from Alice Springs. While in Alice we'd hoped to be able to visit Simpson's Gap and Standley Chasm but that wasn't possible so instead we went on a tour which included a visit to the School of the Air, Alice Springs Telegraph Station, the Royal Flying Doctor Centre, a Reptile Centre and to the top of Anzac Hill for the panoramic view of the town and surrounding Macdonnell Ranges. Before boarding the Ghan for our trip ... read more



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michelleandkev
May 3rd 2011

It's been Kev's goal to travel on the Ghan ever since we took the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth a couple of years ago. The train left Darwin just after 9am. Apart from its name, it was exactly the same as the Indian Pacific. Naturally it didn't take us long to settle into our compartment; a lounge during the day which one of the staff converted into bunk beds while we were out of the way, eating dinner in the dining room. All very easy to take. After lunch the train stopped at the town of Katherine for four hours where there were various excursions to choose from. Since we'd explored Katherine Gorge by boat when were last in town with our own Katherine (do you remember it Katherine?) we opted to take a ride ... read more



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michelleandkev
April 26th 2011

Flying into Darwin on 27 April we arrived around 5pm where it was still 33 degrees C with not a cloud in the sky; a bit of a change from the rainy 22 degrees we'd left in Sydney. The next morning, about a twenty minute picturesque walk from our motel, we visited the George Brown Botanic Gardens; a quiet oasis to wander in. It was a perfect day in Darwin. In the gardens, apart from the beautiful flora and fauna, we met a group of ladies sketching in the area overlooking the lilypond, then bumped into Leonie Norrington (of ABC Gardening Australia fame) and her granddaughter Bethany. With the end of the rainy season the weekly Mindal Beach Markets commenced on Thursday night and, being the first market of the season, it finished with a fireworks ... read more



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michelleandkev
April 17th 2011

One of the temporary bus exchanges on Bealey Ave ran free buses to the Christchurch Hospital; quite convenient for me since the Dickens Society events I went to Christchurch to attend took place at the Hagley Park Community Centre right next door to the hospital. Friday night, after meet and greet drinks and nibbles we watched Helen Moulder in “Playing Miss Havisham”; a very interesting play which I thoroughly enjoyed. Written by Helen Moulder and director Sue Rider, it has been playing since 2006 touring around NZ, Australia, UK, France and the USA. Saturday 16 April was an all 'Day with Dickens'. Jeni Curtis, Christchurch Conference Chair welcomed everyone, thanking so many of us for coming from far and wide. She also told us the correct procedure should an earthquake occur – that is to roll ... read more



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michelleandkev
April 17th 2011

Well all good things have to come to an end and Thursday 14 April was that day for the literary tour members. We'd already said our goodbyes Wednesday night to three of the girls from Melbourne who had a plane to catch at 6am in the morning. Those members who were to catch a 1.30pm plane were dropped off at Christchurch airport before we headed off to see Ngaio Marsh's house. We were to have a private viewing of her house, situated in Christchurch's Cashmere Hills and now known as the Ngaio Marsh Museum. However when we arrived, there no one to let us in as promised. That was a real disappointment but at least we were able to look around the beautiful garden. While I've never read a Ngaio March book (she is known as ... read more



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michelleandkev
April 14th 2011

The day we headed off to Akaroa was quite foggy to begin with but soon we were once again in bright sunshine as we travelled from Ashburton towards the Banks Peninsular, named of course after Sir Joseph Banks. First stop was the Barry's Bay Cheese Factory which wasn't very impressive. No doubt they made nice cheese but we were only given three different cheeses to sample and none of it was a blue cheese so that wasn't much good as far as I was concerned. But the fact that the drive down to the cheese factory was through such beautiful countryside more than made up for my little complaint! From there it was off to Akaroa, the only place in NZ settled by the French in 1840. It was also the site of ferocious Maori wars ... read more



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michelleandkev
April 13th 2011

Well so far the NZ weather has been just fabulous; day six of our literary tour was another perfect day. I even got to wear my famous (or infamous, depending on who you are talking to!) red hat. Once again we didn't leave Ashburton until 9.30am, a reasonable hour. Then it was a drive to 'Steventon Homestead', about one hour's drive from Christchurch. Along the way Susannah gave us information about both the homestead, Jane Austen and Lady Barker. The Jane Austen connection with the homestead – named after the tiny Hampshire village of Steventon where JA was born – is that it was established by two of her nephews Arthur and Richard Knight in 1852. When the homestead was eventually sold it became the residence of the best-selling writer, Lady Barker. Born Mary Anne Stewart ... read more



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michelleandkev
April 12th 2011

Day Five of our literary tour was just magical. We left Ashburton at the decent time of 9.30am and were taken deep into McKenzie Country where we enjoyed some spectacular scenery along the way. While the morning tea stop seemed to occur not too long after we'd had breakfast there was no deciding not to partake; beautiful home cooked biscuits and blueberry muffins. On the road again we followed in the trail of a young Englishman Samuel Butler who arrived in NZ in 1860 setting up a sheep station called 'Mesopatamia'. Remaining there for five years he wrote “A first year in Canterbury Settlement” on his return to England. Samuel Taylor was also a talented painter with a passion for music, (especially Handel's) as well as a writer. His written works include a satirical novel “Erewhon”, ... read more



Oamura & Janet Frame

Published: April 11th 2011Oceania » New Zealand » South Island » Oamaru
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michelleandkev
April 11th 2011

It was an early morning start as we headed out of Dunedin; first stop Kockohue Beach to see the Moeraki Boulders. According to Maori legend, they are the food baskets (Te Kaihinaki) of the Arai-ti-ura canoe, one of the great ancestral canoes that brought Maoris to New Zealand from Hawaii. Scientific evidence says they were formed on the sea bed about 60 million years ago (the Paleocene epoch) as lime salts gradually accumulated around a hard core (in much the same way pearls are created in oyster shells). They are nevertheless fascinating to see. Then it was off to Oamaru, the main town of North Otago, 120 km north of Dunedin where many of the main buildings were built in the 1880s of Oamaru stone (cream coloured limestone). While the buildings were very interesting, our main ... read more






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