April 2022. We arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico at 1am after a journey we felt would never end! We often get asked, how long does it take to get here from New Zealand. In some countries, New Zealand is quite the “unknown entity”
It must be true! Google said so!
It is always a good topic of conversation to explain just how far away we live. We left for this trip from Brisbane, Australia, rather than New Zealand, but all that did was add another hour and a half onto the journey. With COVID still causing difficulties with travel, we were advised to be at the airport 4 hours before take off.
My awesome cousins Steve and Shelley were up at sparrow’s fart with us and Steve drove us the hour to the airport. The airport was not very busy and we had all our paperwork in hand. The day before we had been to the doctor who preformed a Rapid Antigen Test, then wrote a letter to verify we had taken the test and it was negative. We were so worried that we might contract COVID in that last week which would have grounded us completely and we wouldn’t have been able to fly. But we didn’t and here we are checking in on the biggest trip we had been on for 2 years. The check in guy was great and said that the flight was only half full and he would put us in a 4 seat row to ourselves – perfect! Before COVID the planes we always chocker block full, so this is a nice change – especially as this first leg, Brisbane to Los Angeles, is 13.5 hours!
4 seats to ourselves!
We do get to sleep a bit on the plane, spread out on our 4 set row. Our Steward was awesome, extra mini pies and red wine in the middle of the night…. Thank you!…
Still pretty tired on arrival at Los Angeles, half way! We clear immigration and customs here. All week I had been concerned that we had forgotten something, that we had maybe not done something right. All this “stuff” for COVID, declarations, attestations, certificates, tests, contact addresses etc etc But no, all done, all correct, WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES!
A four hour wait in LA then five hour flight to Miami. Now this flight was a different story altogether! Jam packed full and we were sitting apart. I was in the middle of three and Chris had the window seat a few rows behind me. Not to worry, 5 hours is nothing compared to the 14 we had just done.
We arrive in Miami, the three hour wait turned into four, and off we go to San Juan. It is now 1am and we arrive to an Island wide power cut! The city is basically in darkness. We arrive at our accommodation to candle light, is this a joke? This is exactly how we left 4 ½ years ago. So we cant say we didn’t feel right at home! There had been an explosion and fire at the power plant earlier in the evening which caused power outages for a couple of days. By now we were so tired we just fell into bed and had a great sleep – WE MADE IT!
21 hours flying, 11 hours waiting at airports plus traveling to and from the airports. So that’s the answer
32+ hour journey
slightly longer as we came from Brisbane, the usual flight time from Auckland, NZ to LA is 12 hours.
We spent 2 days re acquainting ourselves with the historic town of Old San Juan. Such a beautiful place. We just wandered around, drank in the sights, the sounds and smells. Its lovely and warm, 28°C. Its so good to be back!
House sit number 1 is in the Jervis Bay area, South Cast, NSW. We haven’t been house sitting for close on 2 years because of covid, so we are feeling a little bit nervous. We were in such a good rhythm before the world turned upside down. We needn’t have been! There are some beautiful people in this world and we are so lucky to be meeting so many of them.
Blenheim Beach
But the weather has turned on us, rain forecast for the next week or more, oh well, we have a beautiful home to stay in and there is always Netflix!
Rain, Rain and more Rain
We settle in and create our routine, but we really want to get out to explore the coastline here, we have heard it is beautiful. Two days in, we decide to just do what we do – too bad if its not sunny and hot. We mark off a couple of beaches on the map, pack a picnic and off we go. We head toward Murrays Beach as it is the furthest away so we will start there and work our way back. Woops, we find ourselves in a line of cars with no way to turn around. And why are they taking so long! As we sit and wait, trying to be patient, we try to figure out by google maps what we have actually come across. Is this the military base? Or it could be a National Park? Its not that clear on Maps. We finally get up to the kiosk and yes, this is the entrance to the Booderee National Park, who knew! Fee of $14 for a 48 hour pass. And we find out why the line took so long, the lovely lady just wanted to have a chat – with everybody! She was so nice you just couldn’t help engaging in her chit chat. So after understanding her whole family dynamics, off we go, Murrays Beach here we come.
Booderee National Park
The day is still not very nice but we have our picnic on the beach and Chris has a swim, its too cold for me. We get back into the truck and head for the historic lighthouse, Cape St George Lighthouse. This is a ruin and quite lovely. Sad story about it though. It was erected in 1860 a spot that was easy to build, ie transport the sandstone etc in, but it wasn’t in the best spot for the job it was intended to do – be a lighthouse. Being in a poor position, it didn’t halt the shipping toll and was replaced by Point Perpendicular Lighthouse in 1898, which was built on the opposite side of the entrance to the bay. The lighthouse tower was then torn down in early 20th century as the sandstone it was constructed with was too bright at night and was distracting to shipping. There were many deaths among the around 15 people living there during its short life span, mostly children. From Typhus and Pleurisy to falling over the cliffs, being kicked in the head by a horse and being shot by mistake by a teenager playing around with a loaded gun. Quite sad, but probably quite typical for the time.
We had 14 days here and it rained for the first 10 days. We still got out a few times and discovered some stunning beaches along this coast, all within 20 minutes of the house sit. We completed quite a bit of the White Sands Walk, from Nelsons Beach to Hyams Beach. We fell in love with Huskisson, and spent a bit of time in the local pub there – well it WAS raining!
We had a stunning house and two beautiful, affectionate cats to care for, life is good. There is a field across the road from the house and there are kangaroos grazing there every morning. In the evening they sometimes come right up to the road, it is so exciting to see them. One day there was a Mum with a baby and they turned and jumped right down the street, it was so funny – love Australia!
Our furry friends
Our lovely home owners returned and we a had another great night together, catching up on the previous 2 weeks, then back into FatBoy to hit the road again.
We head back to Sydney to celebrate Australia Day with a group of English, Welsh, American, Dutch, Slovakian, Kiwis and even a couple of Aussies – How about that!
What a blessing in disguise having to fly to Sydney rather than Brisbane. Again, we have landed in a place where we had not planned to come but are so very glad we did. A couple of days in Sydney with friends, feeling so welcome and loved, we take off south toward our first house sit. Yippeee- WE’RE ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
FatBoy
I am introduced to “Fat Boy” Chris’s Toyota Hilux campervan, and off we go. Heading to the South Coast, NSW. The first thing I notice is the stunning rocky coastline.
Kiama
We are very lucky with beautiful weather, but not so lucky with this being the height of the season so camping grounds are all full. Not to worry as we talk ourselves into a space on the Kiama rugby field which opens up for 4 weeks only every year as a camping area. Perfect! Just a short walk finds us at a stunning lighthouse and famous blow hole. Not far round the corner is an ocean rock pool. We had seen another one of these ocean pools at Corrimal and thought the concept was awesome, it fills up at high tide and retains the water as the tide goes out. Unlike Corrimal though, this one was mostly built into the natural rock formations. There was quite a display with the heavy swells and high tide, the rock pool was actually closed due to the heavy swells, but no one seemed to take any notice. It was like a washing machine in there! I could have watched for hours. Always in awe of the power of the sea.
Heading up into the hills behind Kiama the weather comes down. The road is so narrow and windy and remembering this is only the second trip I have done in this camper, so was feeling a little nervous. The weather kept closing in as we progressed up and up. I have seen a heavy fog in my days off shore on the North Sea, but this really seemed to be the thickest fog I had ever been in. Chris did an awesome job at keeping us on the road, the visibility was almost zero.
We found a National Park camp site and didn’t want to go any further with the weather, so made camp. We tried to call to book in but no one seemed interested, even though all signs say – booking essential due to covid. Oh Well….. we tried! The camp was right by Carrington Falls. We took the short walk to the falls and could hear the rumble so knew there was something mighty in amongst the fog but couldn’t see much. The bush had a very eery feeling in the mist, it was quite spectacular and almost mystical – and safe, now that we were not having to navigate through it. By the morning the fog had lifted so revisited the falls and were blown away by the sight, so beautiful. So not just beaches and sunshine in Australia.
We followed the road down through Kangaroo Valley back to the coast. Australia is a massive country, some of the views out through the valley show just how extensive this country is, quite breath-taking and we are surprised at how green everything is. But this is due to all the rain they have had lately, which has also left all the rivers and waterfalls at their peak which is great for us – except when the road is now a river! I said no, Chris said yes and Fat Boy was quivering with excitement at the challenge – across the ford we go – NO TROUBLE AT ALL!!
No problem for FatBoy
We are starting to get used to life on the road in the camper van and are getting braver with pulling up and free-camping. There is quite a community and we are seeing some of the same people over and over. Some of the Surf Life Saving Clubs allow overnight parking which is great as they always have toilet blocks and showers (though cold) and of course they are right on the beach!
Hanging out with FatBoy
Next stop house sit number 1, 2 hours south of Sydney, It is so good to be back on the road!
So much frustration for most of the year trying to get to Australia, but I did it! I got here in the end, and looking back it was rather easy.
See ya later Mount Maunganui
Before I left there were so many questions, the most important of course was, will the plane fly? Putting that question aside, there are also many other questions to think about. I spent hours trolling the Australian government web sites and Government State websites for information on what was expected before departure and on arrival. I had already come to the conclusion that I would have to fly into New South Wales instead of Queensland as the QLD border was still shut. The information I was getting was very conflicting at times, I felt I was going in circles. Omicron is showing herself everywhere now and border controls are changing daily. I was questioned daily by friends and family, do you think you will get to go? Do you have to isolate? I really don’t know! I was getting totally confused and didn’t know whether I was coming or going. At this point I had left my job and had tenants coming into my house in a few weeks, so really, I HAD to go.
In the end this is how is worked:
I got a COVID test 3 days before take off at the local Pathology Lab at a cost of $200. The result was in my in box within 36 hours.-tick
I registered with the Australian Government Department of Home Affairs. I had to give them full details of my immunisations. They wanted to know the dates for each shot and the brand of the drug. They also needed my Australian address and phone number, and was I going to travel inter-state once I arrived. As I understood things, I was able to land in New South Wales quarantine free as I was a NZ passport holder reuniting with immediate family who normally reside in Australia. On arrival I was to self isolate until I had a negative covid test which need to be taken within 24 hours of arrival. tick
So off I go to Tauranga airport with copies of my vaccination certificate, Australian Department of Home Affairs acceptance and proof of my negative covid test. How hard can this be. Checked in, bags checked all the way to Sydney – surely they cant stop me now!! A very sad good bye to Leigh-Ann, I found it hard to let go of that last hug and they called – “would the remaining passenger Donna Bennett, please board your aircraft at gate 4” Oh crap! Don’t go without me!
Auckland International Airport – where is everyone?
Into Auckland no problem, 5 hour wait for my flight to Sydney. Tauranga airport was fairly busy but Auckland International Airport was so quiet. Only 9 flights for the whole day. Therefore limited shops open, only 1 place to get a coffee and only cabinet food, no kitchens open. Even McDonalds was closed.
We get called to board, this could really be happening! With all the changes to my flights and credits on and off throughout the year, this flight ended up being premium economy. Now this is the way to travel! The seats were huge, so much space and a 3 course meal, a proper pillow and the BEST pour of Sav in a beautiful stemless wine glass LOL. I was wishing the flight was longer than the 3 hours! My section had 35 seats, there were 5 of us, and I was the only one on the port side so I felt I was already isolating.
Arriving in Sydney. The announcement on the plane was for arriving passengers to take a Rapid Antigen Test on arrival and isolate until a negative result. Really? Don’t those tests give a result in 15 minutes? And how do these tests get monitored? How would they know I have done it and done it right? Do I just go to a chemist and buy one? OK, that’s not what I expected. Chris had researched and had found that there was a PCR (nose swab) testing station at the airport for arriving passengers, so with this announcement and the signs at the baggage carousel, I was feeling a bit confused – again! I felt I should get a full PCR test as advised by the government web site, so I rock up to the car park-come-testing station and ask the question …… YES, they said, get a test here, now – ok will do. So I registered there and got my test. I am now self-isolating.
hmmmmm
I found Chris and am just so overwhelmed to see him!! It has been a long 6 months! We are now isolating together. This is New Years Eve, last day of this retched 2021. I received message from Service NSW at 0130 1/1/22, your results are NEGATIVE!
So let the adventures begin!! We did it!!
Funny thing is though, there were no questions on arrival, no checks and balances, automatic passport control, I spoke to no one except for one person who was taking statistics of how many vaccinations I had had, he didn’t even ask my name, I was a tick in the column for 3 vaccinations. I could have walked right out of that airport, full of COVID, right into the community………………
Oh how time fly’s by! Even in lock down. It is now November 2021, the world of COVID 19 has been with us for a year and a half, the world as we knew it has changed dramatically. But recalling our adventures and memories is a wonderful pass time!
River running through Kampot
2017, Chris and I took off from our everyday “normal life” and spent the year house sitting in various parts of the world. My last story got us half way through our 10 month adventure, so we carry on, flying from Pankor, Malaysia back to Cambodia, this time a small town in the south called Kampot for house sit No.4.
I say it in every story and I will say it again – it’s the people we meet who make the difference! And another awesome home owner couple we meet here in Kampot. We usually have a night with the home owners before they leave, to get the run of the place and be introduced to the pets etc. We had a fantastic night and fell instantly in love with the 2 dogs, Zena and Eric. We also have 3 cats, 2 chickens and a pond fully of fish. This is our home for 4 weeks.
Kampot is a great place, all the same kwerks of Phnom Penh but on a much smaller scale. We are able to cycle everywhere, it is as flat as a pancake and hot! Still very hot! Again we do not do much cooking at home, the food available out on the street is phenomenal and so cheap and tasty. We have a soft spot for banana in sticky rice – 75 cents (USD) and steamed buns, $1. During this stay, our dear friend Karen came for a visit from NZ. It was so great to see a friend from home. At this stage we had been away for 8 months.
I went to Phnom Penh to meet Karen and left Chris to look after the “farm”. We spent 4 nights in the city. It felt good to be back, as we had been there for a month previously, I felt really at home. We caught up with Jacqui and Randall, shopped at the markets, went to Christmas parties. We also visited the S21 genocide Museum and Killing Fields. Horrific and very sad, hard to believe that this all happened in our life time 1975 – 1979. On the bus back to Kampot for 1 night then onto Kep, on the coast. We took a small boat out to the Island of Kaoh Tonsay AKA Rabbit Island where we spent 2 nights in a shack with no power except from 6pm – 10pm. It was so lovely out there but sadly Cambodia was going through its first cold snap in 10 years! DAM!! Lucky the bungalows had fleecy blankets! We had a great time though and met some awesome people. Poor Karen didnt get her bikini on once! We made up for it trying some wonderful food and delicious cocktails.
Rabbit Island, colder than expected
While we were away Chris explored the town of Kampot and made friends with the local Cider maker, home of 14% home made cider, and others and was able to introduce us to Kampot when we got back. A driver took us up to Bokor Mountain. Well worth the hair raising trip up the windy road, fabulous view from the top. We cycled to a pepper farm where we learnt all about Kampot Pepper. World famous – this time truly! Karen and I took part in another cooking class which was out in the country and basically outside. We met some more wonderful people and cooked some delicious food. Now time to say good bye to Karen – This has been such an amazing trip – but too many goodbyes!! The people we are meeting and getting to know has been the absolute highlight if this adventure.
We felf really comfortable and safe in Cambodia, even though it’s a very corrupt country and has many serious problems with the government. We saw for ourselves in Phnom Penh when the government sacked the opposition (late Nov 2017) the city closed off and police barricading the whole down town with riot gear at the ready…….but the people on the ground? The regular Cambodian worker? Happy people generally, and very glad to say hello and give you a beautiful smile. This kiddies are gorgeous and fight with each other just to say hello! Love it!
Phnom Penh Nov 2017, city locked down
We had an orphan’s Christmas, 3 kiwis and an American, Jacqui and Randy came down to visit, we had so much fun!
BUT
Time to say Goodbye Cambodia! and Hello Thailand!
House sit No, 5. After a week visiting a great friend in Chang Rai, we travel south to a small island off the west coast near Ranong, Ko Phayam. We are met off the ferry by our awesome home owner. First question, can you ride a manual motorbike? After our efforts in Pankor – YES of course we can!! Off we go. Me on the back of Cristina, Chris following with a backpack and another bike behind that with the other bags, Its amazing how much they can get onto their bikes! Nothing short of miraculous! There are no cars on this island, the roads are like footpaths, only wide enough for bikes, so cool! So off to our new home.
We find ourselves up on what seems like a mountain, even the bikes cant get up there, well not when we were riding them anyway, up we trudge and what a view! We can see almost every corner of the island. The house is open to the view on 3 sides, this is amazing! Stunning. We are met by 16 excited dogs! This is going to be fun!
We spend a week with Christina helping with the dogs and exploring the island. I don’t think we have met a more selfless person. Not only does she adopt dogs who have been neglected off the street, cares for them and nurses them back to health, she feeds and cares for other dogs in the community where the owners are not able to (or want to) look after them. She cares so deeply. Such a beautiful human being. It takes a week to get to know all the dog’s names and what they eat, then Cristina leaves us go away for a week – we are now on our own!
Each day we go to the little shop – no supermarkets here – buy kidneys and hearts, blocks of congealed blood!, a few carrots and any other veg we can get. Boil up 2 big pots, one of rice and the other a soup made from our purchases. This feeds the dogs for the day. So cool at feeding time, they all wait and know the drill, and not one complaint about my cooking! We spend the week in this routine. We are able to go on the bike to the beach, taking 3 of 16 dogs with us – yes we all fit on 1 bike. This is a great life, the dogs all have their own personalities and we quickly find our favourites! Most of our day is filled with spending time with the dogs, relaxing and drinking in this incredible view!
By now it is March 2018 and 5 house sits done, we now need to get back to NZ and back to work. We loved everything about that year, so much so that it wasn’t long before we realised we wanted to do it again. So 1 year later we were back on the road, doing it all again. From Australia to Brazil, then France, Greece and New York. COVID hit and we had to return to New Zealand.
Thank you for reading my story! We are hoping to get travelling again soon, there are many more adventured to have!
Things are changing so quickly! 2 days ago we were coming home in 10 days, today, we are coming tomorrow! After advisories yesterday from NZ government saying for “All Kiwis – please fly home” we came to an agonising decision to leave our house/pet sit and change our flights to this Friday, a week early. 10 days is a long time in this rapidly changing environment. New York are threatening a “shelter in place” order, San Francisco has already implemented this. If this comes in then there will be no public transport. It is so hard to imagine a city as big and vibrant as New York coming to a grinding halt.
This morning we wake up to the news that NZ has completely closed her borders to everyone except for citizens. First time in history this has happened. So now we just hope that our flight which is still a day and a half away, will still fly. The good thing is is that we booked with Air New Zealand, of all the airlines, this should be the one which will still get through. What times we are in! You could never imagine this could be a thing, but it is. We have booked a separate ticket to LA from New York, We have given ourselves an extra 7 hours for the connection and hope this is going to be enough.
So now not only are the cafes and restaurants closed but the shopping malls and many shops. Our lovely friends in Thure keep on smiling, though we know it must be hitting them so hard. These ladies are the life blood of that community, how will they survive this? All the small businesses out there who don’t have multi million dollar back up, where will this leave them. So many people are going to be out of work, it will take time, when this is all over, for small businesses to recover. It really is a nightmare of the biggest proportions. We made great friends with 2 café owners in Leros, both of them, along with the rest of the island, have had to close their doors also. I don’t think there is 1 person in this whole world who is not being touched by this virus in some way or another. They might not be getting sick, in fact, very few will, but they will be totally knocked to the ground with it.
We have met a wonderful lady here in Breezy Point, Diane. She has offered to take us to the airport in the morning, and take over feeding the lovely Mac and Jack. We feel so blessed and humbled to have met so many amazing people during our travels. I have said this many times during these wee stories, that it is the people that make the place, it is the people that we meet that endears us most to a country/town/city and I cannot express enough of the love and friendship we have received, its hard to find the words. Thank you. Thank you for being part of our life, which is so much richer for your presence in it xx
We arrive back in NZ on Sunday morning 0700. My wonderful daughter Tayla will be there to pick us up and take us to our isolation spot. It is a relief to be going home!
Every day new information comes out, new advice, new alerts. What to do, what not to do. We have had a very exhausting few days with all these questions and not so many answers. Since my last story – only 2 days ago, seems like weeks!! We have come to a decision and we have booked our tickets home! So we fly to NZ in 10 days time, when our lovely home owners come home. We feel some relief at this, here is an answer.
Just looking at how things are changing and how quickly, we are wondering what things will look like in 10 days. Will more borders be closed? Will NZ have closed the door completely? Will our home owners be able to return as planned? We just have to do what we can with the information we have at the time. At this stage most airlines are still flying with a few disruptions and restrictions. We have a commitment and we intend to fulfil that obligation.
It’s the most crazy thing. Would you ever believe that we would live through a situation like this? There is no other topic of conversation at the moment, facebook, TV news, people on the street, we are all talking about it. Some taking it more seriously than others, some panicking, some don’t care. I don’t mind admitting that I have had the full range of feelings about this. But we have to keep our heads and as I said, do the best we can with the information we have at the time. We have booked our tickets home, that’s the best we can do, if things change, well, we just re assess at the time and work it out.
We spoke with all our up-coming home owners and the consensus is that we have made the right decision. Puerto Rico is under Curfew now. They have to stay in their homes and are not even allowed to go to the beach, this is both Vieques and the Big Island. I am so heartened by the things I read on the Vieques community page and the way that lovely community comes together in these hard times. We have some very dear friends there and we are very sad that we are not going to be able to get there this time.
In the lead up to a house sit, we generally have many email conversations. We form a relationship with the home owners and when we meet, we often feel like we already know each other. This is true for the house sits which were coming up and it is really sad to realise that we are not going to get there and meet these people, that, even though we haven’t actually met, we would call friends. Everyone has been so wonderful and understanding. They have had to cancel their holidays as well, they have had to endure restrictions on everyday life too.
So here in New York, in our little corner of Long Island, all restaurants and cafes are closed, NYC is like a ghost town, we feel we are already in “Self Isolation” As far as I know the public transport is still running. Some supermarket shelves are still empty, or they empty as soon as they are stocked, either way, there is still food there, just some lines are going very fast. This is America! Surely food will keep coming…….
9/11 memorial at Breezy Point
So we are going home, this part of our adventure is coming to a pre-mature ending. Well we didn’t see that coming!
New Zealand – That way!!
We will have to “Self Isolate” when we get back. We have been doing research on what this actually entails. We can get a family member or public transport or a taxi to our final destination, but once there we have to stay there. We will have to get someone to bring groceries, but no visitors. That is going to be very tough! We have been away for a year, we are going to want to see people! We can go for walks or bike rides or even go for a drive as long as we stay away from everyone else. We have been offered several places to go for the isolation period, Our friends and family are wonderful, we DON’T have “nowhere” to go! So amazing how people pull together.
But you know what? We are not the only ones in this situation and I know that we are so much better off than some. My heart goes out to all who are having to lose their jobs, the ones who are sick, the ones isolated from their families and CANT get to them. This is a shit situation for the whole world and this story is just a tiny tiny paragraph of this massive novel.
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!
Chania
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.
Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery
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.
German War Graves Cemetery
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.
Street in Galatas
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!
0600 the alarm goes off. We are staying at Saint Malo which is 50 minute drive to Mont Saint-Michel. High tide is at 0833 and the advice is to get there 2 hours before high tide so that you can see the tide rushing in. I am so fascinated by the 15 metre tidal range. They say the water comes in at 30km per hour, as fast as a racehorse. We are at the end of the spring tides so we want to go today to see it as high as we can. So we choose the morning tide as, being winter, the afternoon highs are in the dark. We intend to get there about an hour before high tide and see what we can see.
Just getting light, quite mystical
Navigating with Google Maps again, we find our way out of Saint Malo, and get to St Michel about 0730. Oh woops……. Its still dark – like really dark! We came to a barrier arm which needed a code or credit card to go through, its pitch dark and we don’t really know what to do. We reverse back out and find there are many many car parks. Only 2 other cars, not many other silly buggers here in the dark! We didn’t realise that the whole of the town/village was actually out on the “Mount” we really thought there was a village on the mainland before the access to the mount. But NO, there is a hotel and a restaurant and this car park – this HUGE car park, numbered 1 – 14. Google says it is still 3.5 km to our destination of the tourist office. We start walking and can see the majestic Mount lit up in the distance, but we are actually heading the wrong way, we are just heading to the far end of the furthest car park! We re assess and follow some lights to the road and make our way. We do get to the causeway and by now it is getting light, we make it onto the bridge right on high tide, so we don’t get to see the racehorse rushing in. We never would have though as we mis-calculated the darkness.
Yesterday the water was meeting in the middleHere comes the sun
She is a beautiful site! We have had rain this morning and it is overcast, hence so dark so late, but still……WOW!! The end of the causeway was closed yesterday so we really are seeing her at her highest. A construction worker shows us the way in up a ramp, as the entrance was blocked by water, this is so cool! Legend says that the archangel Michael appeared to Aubert of Avranches in 708 and instructed him to build a church here. 1300 years ago! Then she was seized by Vikings, then, in the 10th century, the Benedictine Monks settled here and expanded the church. The English tried to capture her during the 100 years war and the abbey was closed in the 17th century and used as a prison until 1863, she has seen so much! But now she can rest as she has been declared a Historic Monument, since 1874.
We stayed on the Mount for about 2 hours, wandered around all the streets, went up and down many stairs, took many many photos but I feel they do not do her justice! This is a spectacular place and we are so thankful we got here!
40 minutes after high tide1 1/2 hours after high tide
We may not have seen the tide racing in, but in the 2 hours we were there we saw the evidence of the tide receding, it is quite a site to see
Kiwis Do Fly 