Kiwi Adventure – Page 3

Busses, Planes, Trains and Automobiles – Europe – The last Hurrah

Published on February 28, 2020April 2, 2022 by kiwisdofly23 Comments

Our time in Europe is almost at a close. We have been here for 5 months now and hopefully the authorities wont be too angry with us for enjoying an extra 2 months to what we are supposed to be intitled to.

The Schengen area is made up of 26 countries in Europe and as New Zealand passport holders we are allowed to stay in the Schengen area for three months only. An interesting fact though is that a few of these countries have a bilateral agreement with New Zealand which states that they will allow you to stay in their country for three months even if you have already had your three months in another country. Greece is one of these places. But with the open borders across Europe, we have no proof (passport stamps) of entry into Greece. With that knowledge under our belts we approach our exit from Europe next week with a few nerves, might be a time for fast talking! I will keep you posted on that one!

Europe has been wonderful. France was an absolute fairy tale, we have loved our time here so much! This is where we spent the first 2 ½ months and have now come back for our final 2 weeks. We are back at our house sit at the Castle. Our owners have gone on holiday and we are here to welcome the new house sitters. It is great to be back, we feel very at home here. But it is not the same without or lovely hosts! We are so honoured to have had this experience and to have met this wonderful family.

After our week in Crete we flew to Rome. There we picked up a rental car and drove the 3 hours north to Umbertide. Did I say 3 hours? Well google said 3 hours – hmmmm why did it take us 5? It was nearly midnight by the time we got there and we were very relieved, it was a pretty tough drive in the dark, not really knowing where we were going. But we got there safe and sound. We were staying for a week in the countryside right on the Tuscany/Umbria border. Our wonderful home owner in Greece has a home in Italy and offered for us to stay. Such beautiful countryside, not a tourist to be seen, magic!

We explored all around the region and found some wonderful villages and so many castles. I was amazed at how different Italy was to France. There were the same ancient buildings and narrow roads but the style of the homes were very different, some were huge!. So many hill-top villages, looking down through beautiful valleys. Cortona, Gubbio, Preggio were a few we found.

We had lovely weather while we were there, no rain, frosty mornings down to -3 first thing with beautiful blue skies following.

The drive back to Rome was better being in the daylight, then off to The Netherlands. A quick trip to Holland to catch up with friends. It is always so great when you see friends who you haven’t seen for years and it feels like it was yesterday! Holland is a favourite and though we were there for such a short time, we still squeezed in some of the favourite food we remember from previous trips. Chocolate covered bread for breakfast! Stroopwafels and pancakes, so many sweet things!! Yumm. Great cheeses, we are finding each country has its own variety/styles of cheeses, all pretty good too!! Cold meats and wonderful bread.

Sad to say goodbye to Eugene, Dennis, Nova and Vida, but we have a train to catch to Bruges, Oh how we love Bruges! It is winter in Europe, not many tourists in Greece, or Italy it seemed, but Bruges! I don’t think this city sleeps – ever! It was really busy, I was surprised. We spent 2 whole days wandering around this wonderful city. We saw things we hadn’t noticed last time we were there. The Belgium Beer popularity seems to have escalated since our last visit. It still amazes me how each type of beer will have its own special glass which is designed to get the best out of that particular brew. There are tourist shops now dedicated to beer, and of course there are still the Chocolate shops! Chocolate in every possible design you could think of – true artists who create these masterpieces!

Hot chocolate – get a paper cup, fill it to the line with what ever flavour of chocolate buttons you like, mix it up to make your own flavour, caramel, raspberry, mango, dark, milk, white 70%coco, 90%coco etc etc, fill with hot frothy milk, stir and voila! Steaming hot chocolate! It was cold in Bruges, so this was very welcome!

Did you know that French Fries are actually from Belgium?!
Beautiful Bruges

So next is the bus, 8 hours back to Chatellerault, France. 5^th country in about 3 weeks.

It still find it so strange that you can drive between countries. New Zealand is an Island nation and the nearest place to go is Australia and even that is a 3 hour jumbo jet ride. Even though you can drive from one country to the next, they are on the same continent, they have the same money and they all belong to the Schengen group, they are all still very different. From what I saw, the countries have been able to retain their own identity, the language is different, the buildings look different, the food is different, there seems to be a difference in cost of living from one to the other, yet they are united by no borders. It’s a fascinating place. We have loved being here and learning more. We do intend to be back – if they let us! But perhaps in the summertime next time!

Our plans from here? We are off to USA next week for a house sits on Long Island, followed by Charleston, South Carolina then Fajardo, Puerto Rico then back to the beautiful island of Vieques. This will take us up to about October……

See you there!

Greece Is The Word

Published on February 10, 2020February 22, 2020 by kiwisdofly25 Comments

Sitting here at Athens airport waiting on the flight to Rome, I am filled with conflicting emotion. We have really fallen for Greece, both the islands of Leros and Crete, our two wonderful islands in the sun with the most friendly people. But we can’t be too sad because we are off to another adventure, with new people, food and paces to explore.

Crete has been a lot of fun! We have to remember that it is winter here so it can be a bit slower than it is in the summer months, though the weather is still very agreeable. We had sunshine most days and the island looked so wonderful and bright, temps got up to 19° C so very pleasant indeed.

We flew into Chania and stayed for 5 nights. We had a room right on the water-front, the location was amazing with a little deck looking out to sea. The evenings were a bit cool to sit out there for long, but we did our best!

Chania has an old Venetian port and a walled city. The old town was so cute with its narrow streets and wonky buildings. But the most amazing thing we found was the mountains behind. We met a lovely lady in Leros who said, don’t forget to look behind you when you are in Chania, the mountains are amazing. She didn’t tell us that they would be covered in snow and be quite so spectacular, she wanted that to be a surprise, and a surprise it was! You could be forgiven to think you were somewhere like Switzerland, the sight caught our breath every time we looked behind us! You felt like you could almost reach out and touch them!

We did a lot of walking in Chania, but that is easy, everything is in walking distance. And if it is not then the bus system is very efficient. Though we did always seem to be the last people on the bus! Again, a lot of English is spoken so that makes a huge difference.

We took a bus out to Souda Bay one afternoon and then walked the 2 km to the war graves cemetery. During the battle of Crete in 1941, 1000’s of brave New Zealand, Australian and British soldiers were killed. It was a very emotional place, we both felt bewildered when we saw the shear number of silver fern gravestones. Of the 1527 graves, 446 were New Zealanders, that is almost a third. This is the biggest war cemetery we have seen. We were there until twilight, it was very moving.

Leaving the cemetery we found a small local restaurant, not so much English here! We were shown the food which had been cooked and chose what we wanted, delicious beef with tomato sauce. Such friendly, hospitable people. That is a big part of what we love about Greece, the people!! Just amazing.

We took a trip out to Maleme which was the location of a huge battle during the war. The air strip there was a target to control and the battle went for days. We walked through the olive groves and came to the German war cemetery, we were glad to pay respect to these fallen soldiers too, they also had heavy losses.

A trip out to Galatas, Where New Zealand soldiers made a stand and held the Germans off while the Allies could escape. So well the kiwis were thought of, that the locals named a street after them! We have read so many stories of bravery by our boys. It is so important to remember the sacrifices these family’s made for us to live in the world we live today.

One particular story really touched me, of a soldier from the Maori Battalion. After 7 days of fighting near Souda Bay, they were exhausted and hungry, the Germans were approaching from the west. As they made contact, Private Aupouri ran out from his defence position wielding a Bren gun like a Taiaha (Traditional Maori spear) And did the Haka! (Traditional Maori war dance) at this they all rose up, NZ and Australian, yelling defiantly and charged as one. The Germans fled, overwhelmed by the ferocity of the attack! For 1000m they pushed them back through the olive grove to open ground then withdrew back to their defence position at “42nd street” This temporarily delayed the advance and allowed 1000’s of Allies more time to get across the White mountain range to the evacuation point on the south of the island. Very sad to note that Aupouri survived the charge but was later killed in Egypt.

I am certain there are many many more stories of tremendous bravery, on all sides, stories that will never be told, very sad.

Did you know …. The Greeks have been Mariners for around 6000 years! Unbelievable!

Heraklion was a great surprise, what a lovely city! Big modern city but very much still village like. Many narrow streets with cobble paths but also lots of open spaces, squares and parks. There is a great atmosphere, so many cafes and restaurants and lots of people socialising, and believe it or not, usually drinking coffee day and night! They love iced coffee or frappe as they call it. Heraklion also has a Venetian harbour with a harbour wall which stretches out 2.5kms, which we did walk one afternoon. There are many monuments and historical buildings.

There doesn’t seem to be as many buildings in bad repair as in Chania, maybe just more re-building done. There are a lot of derelict buildings in Chania. We also noticed that in Leros and read that a lot of the houses that were destroyed during the war were never re-built.

The archaeological museum in Heraklion and the Knossos palace are worth a visit. The Minoan people of around 2500 – 1600BC were believed to be the first great civilisation of Europe, a really advanced race and it is not really known what happened to them. They have found so much evidence of their existence which is fascinating. Mythology and history do overlap a bit and in the museum there is a family tree of the God Zeus. The ruins of Knossos Palace is incredible, the work that has been done from the late 1800’s through to today, to uncover all the artifices and foundations of this amazing settlement is incredible. There is a theory that around 1600BC, a massive earthquake shook the island of Santorini which caused a tsunami which was large enough to wipe out all the Minoan cities throughout the region, but this is not proven. It is even suggested that this civilisation was in fact Plato’s Atlantis……

227 of the 6000 Greek islands are inhabited! Google says “a truly unique phenomenon!”
We have been to two!

We found Greece to be The land of wonderful clear air, beautiful friendly people and deliciously fresh food! We look forward to coming back!

When In Rome….

Published on January 25, 2020April 2, 2022 by kiwisdofly22 Comments

A huge part of what I love about travelling is experiencing the different cuisines. I have become a lot braver in recent years and have started ordering things which I have no idea what they will be when they get to the table. The other night at Moranos, our favourite cafe bar, I asked the waitress what Soutzoukakia was. She had limited English and wasn’t able to explain, but she did say that it was “beautiful” so if it is beautiful then surely worthy of a try. It was really good! Meatballs – long sausage shaped meatballs, with the most amazing thick sweet tangy tomato sauce.

With us being in house sitting mode, we can’t pretend that we are on holiday constantly – Oh wouldn’t that be great though? Unfortunately the funds wouldn’t stretch to that luxury! So trips to the supermarket each week is the normal for us – just like home. But it is not a hardship! It’s like a tourist attraction for us, the humble trip to the supermarket! We just love looking at all the different things on the shelf, the fresh produce department, the meats, cheese, bread, spices, even the canned goods! The beautiful mouth-watering cakes and then the weird and wonderful things that we can’t even start to guess at what they could be! Sometimes it’s hard to work out what things actually are, and good ole google translate comes in handy. We love seeing things which are common for us but are in a different language. In France we were quite regularly “Missing In Action” – just at the Intermarche AGAIN!

It is funny how we seem to slot into using the food which is usual in the country we are in. While in France, we always had cheese and bread. Almost every meal had a cheese and bread component, even though I felt I was cooking similar to home. Now in Greece we are favouring the locally eaten produce. I am fascinated because this has not been a conscious decision, it seems to have just happened. So here in Greece we are living on pita bread and hummus, tomatoes, feta and olive oil, and drinking Ouzo (anise flavoured aperitif). The fresh produce here is outstanding and so reasonably priced. Tomatoes like you have never tasted before! We bought butter the first week and have hardly touched it, yet in France we were going through it like crazy – nothing beats a fresh baguette with butter, so simple yet so divine! I suppose it all depends on what is available.

In Asia we ate out almost all the time, it is so cheap that it was almost not worth cooking at home, and boy can they get the flavours right, so much better than anything I could cook at home! But this didnt stop our trips to the supermarket. Probably the most fascinating grocery shelves we have seen. Oh and the food markets in Asia – WOW, so much to see and smell! Little lady sitting cross legged on the bench chopping meat, with the biggest cleaver, in front of her while babies sleep behind her, chickens with heads, chickens with no heads, live, unrecognisable seafood in buckets swimming on top of each other, little girls selling plates of dried crickets and grasshoppery looking bugs! Its a feast of all the senses.

Some of the house sits we have done in Asia have had quite primitive cooking facilities, so eating out has been a good option. But at USD$1.50 for 2 fried eggs on toast with coffee, or $2 for a bowl of stir fried veg, who wouldn’t. It is such a social thing too, the motorbike kitchens all gather in the same area and start cooking, you sit on tiny child sized plastic chairs, or on mats on the ground, and all sit around eating and laughing and being together. So cool!!

Eating on the street in Cambodia

Brazil! Brazil was the carnivores dream! Meat meat and more meat! All you can eat meat! Yumm. 600g streak. Pork roasted, stewed, chops, ribs ….. burgers and more burgers. We did miss the fresh veg and salad there but hey! When in rome! Delicious! And we drank Cachaca! (fermented sugarcane juice – blows your head off)

Italy next….what’s the bet we end up cooking a lot of pasta!! And will no doubt drink Limoncello!

Eating is really one of life’s greatest pleasures, and discovering the various cuisines from different countries is a huge part of our journey. Bon Appetit!,

And best of all – the Home Grown, from the Chateau garden in France

My Favourite Travel Picture Challenge

Published on December 5, 2019 by kiwisdofly22 Comments

I was nominated by a lovely lady, Rachael, to post on facebook, 1 of my favourite travel photos every day for 10 days. A photo which has had an impact on me, post it with no explanation and nominate another person for the challenge. It was great fun going through my photos and trying to pick the favourites. As I am traveling still, I dont have many years of photos with me, but I was creative with my searches and came up with these, with explanations!

Day 1.

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

We house sat in Phnom Penh for 1 month November 2017. Cambodian men dont seem to mind peeing anywhere! Usually it is up against a wall, so this was a bit out of the ordinary, but a common occurrence this all the same. I chose this as a bit of a cheeky shot for Jacqui who we met there. She noticed it too and said she would make it a game each day and count how many she saw in a day! Not sure what the most in 1 day was, but given what I saw, it would have been many – Jacqui was my first nomination. Check out her blog Jacq The Tripper http://www.jacquirawson.org/

Day 2

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

A holiday in Vietnam August 2016. This is an incredibly vibrant city. Venture out on the city streets and its BOOM! Sensory overload! There is noise, colour, smells. There are motorbikes everywhere fully overloaded, zooming in and out of the traffic, total organised chaos! I loved these two, taking time out from their busy day in amongst the chaos. Always amazes me how much they can fit onboard, awesome!

Day 3

Cadouin, France

This is a new shot, only taken in November 2019 while house sitting in France. I spent a day with a dear friend from long ago, Tricia, and she took me to this stunning village. This could be my favourite photo of France, I fell in love with the Dordogne, the pretty villages and friendly people and this reminds me of a wonderful day, I feel peaceful when I look at it

Day 4

Ghent, Belgium

A holiday in Belgium July 2013. I have to confess I did not take this photo, Chris did. He had a trip to Belgium on a Kiwi Fruit boat and convinced me to come out and meet him. He sent me this photo to show how nice it was, so I went with 3 days notice. He took me back to this very spot a week later, we sat in the same chairs, under the same castle and drank Goliath, that was the beginning of a fantastic holiday!

Day 5

Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

We house sat for 5 months in Puerto Rico during 2017. Friends were traveling through Puerto Rico from Cuba onto a cruise ship. We left our island of Vieques and met them for 2 nights. We were so taken with Old San Juan. It is a beautiful old town. The people are super friendly, beautiful buildings, cobble streets, ceramic tiles, wonderful colours, GREAT music! Fantastic mini break!

Day 6

Rabbit Island, Cambodia

Chris and I house sat in Kampot, Cambodia for a month in December 2017. My dear friend Karen came to join us for Christmas. We left Chris looking after the pets and had 3 days on Rabbit Island. We stayed in a hut on the beach, it was freezing! We couldn’t believe how cold it was. These two cuties lived on the island, they were adorable, sharing a pair of jandals, too cute not to take a photo. We left the island a day early and booked into a good hotel in Kep, great fun!

Day 7

Waterford, Maine, USA

October 2017, after house sitting in Puerto Rico we ended up in Maine, almost by accident – we are so glad we did! Maine in the fall! STUNNING, the colours of the tree fall was out of this world. We spent 10 days with our wonderful Vieques Home Owners, Bob and Lou. We never expected to go to the States at all, and this part of our adventures has become a favourite and we are looking forward to going back one day. We met and got to know some wonderful people through this part of our journey, great memories!

Day 8

Lost, Scotland

OMG I dug this one out of the archives, yes there is a place called Lost in Scotland! I lived in Scotland for 8 years from 1990. My old school friend Sheryl came to visit in, around, 1992 or 93, she was staying in London at the time. I think we found this totally by chance. No GPS or cell phones in those days! Great fun and wonderful lifetime friendship which goes back to primary school. This photo screams to me – 90’s Kiwi OE! LOVE IT!

Day 9

Ha’apai, Tonga

And there has to be a sunset! We have seen some stunning sunsets in different parts of the world, but this one is up there with the best! Chris sailed up to Tonga from NZ in May 2010. I met him off the boat in the Ha’apai island group for a weeks holiday. We were having a drink at the bar when someone said “man you should see the sunset!” We all rushed out and this is what we saw. I promise there is no filter or adjustment to this shot, this is exactly what it was like. Stunning!

Day 10

Hahei, New Zealand

Cant have travel photos without a photo of travel at home. New Zealand is a wonderful country and when we came back after a year of travel in 2018, we saw our own country with fresh eyes. We may not have the history of Europe or the speed of Asia, but New Zealand has the most wonderful people, stunning scenery and our own very special history, not so very ancient, but very special all the same, all wrapped up in a time package a long way from anywhere else. I am so proud to be a Kiwi. This photo is my home – it says “home” to me