It was an early start. The cycle group wanted to pick us up at 6:00am to take us to The Tahiti Sports Institute then on to Moorea Island for 3 days tourist adventures. The advantage of having a kitchen was we could prepare a good early breakfast – pawpaw, cereal and tea/coffee/drinking chocolate. We had a bag packed and loaded our bikes in small truck. We left the bike boxes and some items in the hotel storage room.

We were off to Tahiti Sport Institute. Traffic was bad after the long weekend and parents taking their children to school which starts are 7:00am and finishes at either 3:30 or 4:30pm. I gather school runs for 3 weeks per month with one week off. I think one afternoon per week is dedicated to sport.

There we meet another couple from NZ – Karen and Brent, who were representing NZ Road Cycling Magazine. I hope they find some interesting things to write about.

The next few hours was sitting around while the organisers of the cycle race had interviews and speeches which were reported and televised to France & locally, photos, all in relation to the coming event. With our group is a well know French Tour de France commentator who was welcomed and celebrated through out the week. The Tahitians, like the French, put a lot emphasis on promoting cycling events.

By 10:30 we were at the Ferry having a beer and later lunch. The ferry to Moorea was a large car ferry which took approx. 30 – 45 minutes. There were approx. 24 of us all together now – 1x Chilean, 2x Hong Kong, 6x French, 2x Wellingtonians, 2x NZ Cycling, 1x French journalist, 6-7 Locals plus the 4 of us. We were off on quad bike 3 hour excursion around the inter part of Moorea, visiting pineapple plantations, high points up and down steep tracks and low points through villages. This island again is very old volcano where the crater rim has worn away, creating a steep jagged mountain range covered in vegetation where it is able to grow, resulting in spectacular scenery. Here there is also one road around the island. 64 km circumference, ½ good and ½ not so good tarseal. Every one lives on the coast and none in the interior.

The four of us and the two Wellingtonians – Jo and Frank, stayed at the Hilton. Us with a lovely free standing unit with a private plunge pool each, while Jo and Frank on the bure over the water. They could step out of their unit, down the steps and have swim amongst the coral and fish. Our stay included 3x nights with breakfast.

That night the 6 of us had dinner at Hilton main dining area to celebrates Frank’s birthday.

Wednesday

We negotiated an 8:30am start for a cycle ride 1/2 way around Moorea. Debbie stayed behind to sit in the sun by the lovely fresh water pool. Although it is only 64 km around the island, part of the road is too rough for road bikes. Must come back here with our mountain bikes. There were 20 of us who biked back towards and pass the ferry terminal for about 30 km. The riding was fantastic when the road was quite, smooth and fast, with the warm breeze, sun drenched white sands, coconut palms and beautiful turquoise water glistening in the tropical sun. Often the road became potted holed and rough, causing a few flat tyres amongst our peloton, which was not so good. Dave had 2x flat tyres to go with the one he had in Papeete and was especially not happy when his bike went into a rather steep pot hole. We had many stops to enjoy the scenery, to wait for others to fix their flatties or just for the fun of it.

There was visit to pineapple juice factory on the way back. We had tour of the factory and tasting of various juices created. The factory have recently started producing and marketing a pineapple wine, which we all had a taste together with a lunch of rice and raw tuna.

Off back to hotel so that we could enjoy the amenities there including snorkeling in the warm ocean amongst the coral and fish. We could even swim to Jo and Frank’s bure to annoy them for a drink on their deck before locating some paddle boards and an attempt at paddling. Gave up and went kayaking even though they were a double, at least we knew how to do use them. Us 3x couples then proceeded to have kayaking races around the little bay – shouting and running into each other, which was later commented on by the staff of the hotel. This was mainly due to most of the guests at the hotel being honeymoon couples doing relaxed quiet activities. Even all the tables setup in the restaurants were for 2 people each. We had to ask to get table for 6 setup each time.

That night, all our group came to Hilton for banquet dinner and dance performance. There 28 people altogether by now. The food had an impressive number of ways to do fish, with different types and presentations of raw and cooked fish.

Trip to Tahiti — to participate in La Ronde Tahitienne Cycle Race

Flight NZ Sunday 3pm. Arrived Saturday 11pm

This is the first trip that Dave and I had attempted where we were taking our bikes on a plane, therefore a learning curve in transportation was occurring as

we went along. We packed our two bike ‘bags’. Dave’s a specially purchased bike bag which had hard base and soft sides. Mine a very soft bag which we put into cardboard box obtained from a bike shop. Bike front wheels, handle bars and seats were taken off and stored into the bags. Padding around the more vulnerable parts, then the boxes weighed. We were considerably under the 23km limit therefore into the bags went our helmets, bike shoes, tools, various food [never know what we may need]. We then packed between us a separate back with our clothes. Then off to the airport for the Sunday 3pm flight with Air Tahiti to Papeete. Tahiti Nui airline charged us $70.00 for one extra bag.

We traveled with my sister Debbie and her mad keen cycling husband Don.

Arrived in Papeete and after queuing for over 1 hour to get through customs, we received a warm island welcome of flower leis and kisses from the local cycling group – Velo Club of Tahiti. Amongst the welcoming crowd were Stephanie, Benoit, Paulo, Claudie, and Roger. On the same flight as us were a Frank and Jo-anne from Wellington and another couple from Hong Kong who were to be in our group. The local club transported us and our bikes to our hotel and advised that there was an 8am bike ride in the morning and would we like to join them. Since it was now just past midnight [local time] and we had not even unpacked let alone reassembled our bikes, I declined. Which probably was not all the courteous but luckily the couple from Wellington said that they would join them. We did get out of bed in time to see them off.

We were staying at Manava Suite Resort located 10km south of Papetee. It has a lovely infinity pool which over looks the surf on the coral reef in the distance. Each unit has a full kitchen which is extremely handy when staying for a while considering we had been advised the Tahiti was very expensive.

The rest of the first day was spent sitting by the pool with the cyclists after their 60km ride and then had to wait for the local TV station to turn up to interview people. We did not understand and luckily the presenters did not talk to us.

Off to the supermarket to get our food for breakfasts, lunch and snacks. One large pawpaw together with muesli and weetbix we brought with us was a great breakfast to have. The soft cheeses and pate with baguettes or crackers went down well with wine, beer and gin/vodka in the afternoons and for lunch. Supermarkets we found in both directions from the Manava and were excellently stocked and well priced. Read meat seems to come mainly from NZ with a lot of packaged items from either NZ or France.

We tried the local food / restaurant across the road from the hotel and had great meals of fish, salads and potatoes. Good staple food at a reasonable price.

Monday was Public holiday which provided another opportunity for the local cyclists to take us on a ride. They decided to take us partly on the race course so that we knew what we were getting ourselves into. Therefore a 15km ride to the race start location, then 30km ride along the course and back again. The course was due north of Papetee, along the side of sea, primarily as there is only one major road around Tahiti as the island is made up of very old volcanoes, those craters have created very steep jungle clad mountains rising inland from the sea. These mountains rise to 2800metres from sea level in a very short distance.

Not all our entire expanded group went on the ride. Debbie, the Hongkong couple and a French journalist choose to drive and follow us taking photographs and enjoying the scenery – sea, sand, surf, surf kites, coconut palms, local villages. There was a slight language barrier with the common language being English, but with very minimal understanding by the French journalist and one HK person. Shared interests make things easier.

There was only one major hill on the ride which was not overly steep and about a 1km in length. I lagged considerably behind all the others as I was starting to overheat. It was now about 35 degrees. At this point I decided to withdraw from the 110km race occurring on the following weekend and participate in the shorter 55km race. I was not going to kill myself. Dave also decided this might be the wisest option.

There were lots of cyclist on the roads and drivers were considerate and used to people biking. We were told that there were 6 local cycling groups and lots of people enjoyed and participated in different forms of cycling.

We noticed over the week, that a high portion of the locals are out doing some type of physical activity, be it; playing soccer, body boarding, surfing, kite surfing, paddle board, running, walking, cycling, mountain biking. There seems a high participation in physical activities far more than any other Pacific Islands I have been too. This may result in the general population not being as large as other islands.

We were told that most people lived in Papeete. Population of Tahiti Nui and Tahiti Iti was 180,000. All business and most schools and work is in Papeete resulting in big traffic jams on weekdays as people tried to get their work and deliver child to their schools, as there is only one road around the island. There is no income tax paid. Tax is only VAT and import duty. The French Government contributes towards the utilities and pays the pensions.

I noticed that there is not much bird or insect life. Not sure why, at least no mosquitos. Maybe it is the time of the year.

We booked 4 nights in Malaga followed by hiring a car for 6 days with intention of traveling around Andalucia, Southern Spain and Portugal. The scenery and historic buildings were so interesting that we stayed within a 200 km radius of Malaga.

Every night following the pre-booked Malaga accommodation we stayed at accommodation which had WiFi and had a pool. The WiFi was so that we could book the following night’s accommodation.

The rental car company could not provide the car we had ordered and supplied a smaller higher cc car, which was very handy when we had to travel through the narrow streets of numerous villages we visited.

The GPS we took was invaluable as we would not have found the exits out of the 1,000s of roundabouts we drove through, nor would we have got to planned destinations easily [if at all]. Although we did go on some interesting roads as the GPS maps were out of date. My Windows phone provided an alternative map to when the GPS went flat as the car power lead was not charging. The phone keyboard translator also helped when ordering food and there was no English alternative on the menu and waiter/waitress could not speak English or buying food in the supermarket eg pate de higado de cerdo means pork liver pate. These were in self-opening cans together with cans of olives and toasted bread made great lunch meals when we were far from anywhere.

Highlights:

–          Andalucia has very dry climate, hilly/mountainous interior. Warm evenings

–          The cities/towns along the coast, beaches are full of people sitting by the beach. During the day foreigners sunbathing. In the warm evenings, young locals would sit on the beach to socialise until the sunset.

–          Beer and wine is cheap. Tapas are served with every drink. People are drinking and eating tapas any time of the day

–          Locals eat their dinner after 8:30pm. Each meal is accompanied by 3/4 slices of bread or a couple of buns plus a pile or packet of hard small cracker type of bread.

–          Shops and business close from 2 to 4pm. Cafes and restaurants seem to stay open. Shops open again after 4pm. Closing sometime in the evening.

–          Locals would often be seen walking around the villages/towns from 6pm onwards. Older groups sitting in cafes drinking together before leaving for home about 8pm

–          There were lots of tourists with most seeming to be speaking Spanish.

Malaga [4 days]

Arrived in Malaga midnight staying at Las Vegas hotel on Paseo de Sanche which was 2.2km from central Malaga, across the road from the beach. The following morning, since the day was lovely and warm although a little windy, we decided to follow the multitudes to the beach. There were a lot of white skinned and some topless bathers there on the beach in the morning. I attempted a swim but it was far too cold. Only got in up to my knees and decided that the hotel pool was more inviting. This was the first and last time we attempted to swim in the sea although we did swim most days in the various hotel pools we stayed in.

The following few days were spent walking into central historic Malaga visiting the Castillo de Gibralfaro, Picasso House and museum, lunch eating tapas and drinking beer [for Dave] and sangria [for me], walking around narrow older streets looking at the old churches, cathedral and other buildings, then the wider modern shopping streets, back to the hotel for swims in the pool. Dinners were spent in restaurants handy to the hotel. We found a lovely one that was only 2 building away which only had locals in, called La Traberna. The food and wine was great. We went twice to this restaurant and one meal consisted of; 2x beers, 2x summerwine [sangria without the orange slice and straw], 1x bottle of Verdejo wine, 1x large salad, 1x squid fried, 1x beans & partridge, 1x hard cheese slices, 2x bread basket. E53.70. A middle aged couple sitting on bar stools behind me but in full view of Dave, provided him with demonstration on how to have sex in a public place.

The temperature at 8:30pm was pleasant and as per the electronic street sign was 34C. During the days it was hotter reaching 40C, although it did not feel so draining as it would in Auckland due to the low humidity.

Castillo de Gibralfaro is old Moorish fort that towers over the city. There were views over the city, out to sea and up to the inland hills. We walked around the top of the old walls looking at the views and old walls. Not much of anything else to see in relation to old building.

The Picasso House was the original house that Picasso was born into and spent his very early years. Although he never came back to live in Malaga, as he never wanted to live in a country controlled by a fascist, his daughter-in-law and her son gave/lent the Picasso museum 200 works. This exhibition was also interesting and there were so many etchings/drawings to see that we both had got sore legs from all the walking.

Drive from Malaga to Ronda

We caught the Malaga airport bus to the airport to pick up a rental car. With much walking around the found the Goldcar rental company on -1 floor of carpark building and with a long wait in line to get the paper work completed including taking a $100 for insurance excessive cover, we were on the road.

Using the GPS we put in the name of various white villages that sounded interesting as per the guide book we had purchased in London. This book was invaluable to give us ideas what was worth seeing and had maps of all the area. Marco Polo – Andalucia.

Drive took us from Malaga via [see the pictures]

• Pizzara – first GPS point
• Valle de Adbalajis – first white village in a valley with majestic steep barren mountains looming above where we sat on the side of the road to have canned olives, pate, bread and cheese. Put Teba into the GPS and this took us across the base of a steep mountain range – windy, narrow, tarsealed road. Very dry, hash environment, sheer rock faces, cacti, occasional white ‘farm’ house and lots of olive trees.
• El Caminito de Rey – steep cliffs over a river where a bridge was built across linking cliff to cliff and a walk way snaking around one cliff leading to lees of an incline. These were built to provide workers at the hydroelectric power plants connection between Chorro Falls and Gaitanejo Falls. Construction began in 1901 and was finished in 1905. It is now to dangerous to walk on but is impressive.
• Pantanio del Chorro — Guadalhorce Dam and reservoir. Large reservoir high above steep gorges below. Great views below
• Teba – lost in the narrow streets of this old white village which had numerous dead end and one way streets.
• GPS complained constantly as we took sudden turns down/up. Village built on high cliffs therefore could not just drive out. Spent about ½ hour driving in circles.
• Almargen – white village
• Canete la Real
• Ariata
• Montecorto – stayed the night in family hotel which had a lovely pool, once the kids got out. We were the only guests. Hostal Venia La Vega.

Saturday

Visited Ronda which was perched on high steeps hills and has an old bridge across a deep ravine to connect the old city to the new city. This bridge was built in the 18^th century. The old city was first settled in 6^th Century BC while the new city is not so new, as it was started in the 16^th Century. The drops from the city to the plateau below are 165 metres. The bull ring was built in 1785 and is the oldest in Spain. We wandered around for 2 hours looking at this old fortress city.

Then on to Cueva de la Pileta with the guidance of the GPS which took past the entry of the entry to the caves which wanted to go to. We turned and found the road, parked and walked up the side of the hill to find that the last group was being processed to go into the cave before the 2pm stop work. The limit set for the cave is 25 people and lucky for us, there must have been less than 23 people there. We did not want to sit around until 4pm to wait for the next sessions. The caves have cave drawings dating that have been carbon dated back 27,000 years.  To think this is about 108,000 generations and we may only know 5 generations over our live times. These drawings are attempting to be preserved by having no direct lighting, no photographs allowed, 25 people at a time and no touch the walls. This last was not adhered too by the person in front of us who was for ever trying balance himself by touching every surface.

Then another windy road, on to Algercias. The GPS took us the old main road – A369 which had hardly any cars. We were in no rush therefore it did not matter.

We stayed in Hostal outside between Algercias and Tarifa, which is part of chain called Alberque Interjoven. This was quite cheap at 54E per night including breakfast but basic. Had a lovely 25m pool but there was no TV [who cared],no towel/soap etc unless you asked and a very basic breakfast. We did not seem to be charged for towels.

A drive to Tarifa which is the closest point to Africa which is just across the water and seemed close enough to swim too. Africa is closer to Europe than Auckland CBD is to Waiheke Island.

After a lovely sunset across the Atlantic while sitting on a beach wall, we found a car park closer to the centre and wandered around until we found a café to have diner in. Another great local meal sitting outside watching the locals and tourist going about their business which is a lovely way to spend a warm evening.

Sunday

Woke to the sound of cow bells which seemed just outside out window. By the time we got up, I could not find what they were even though I could still hear them in the distance and there was not much vegetation to hide amongst.

Off to Gibraltar. We had heard that the queues to get into Gibraltar can be horrendous but when we arrived at 10am there was no queue at all. With the help of the GPS again, we navigated our around the one way streets to find ourselves at Europa Point with views across the strait to Algercias and to Africa.

Gibraltar continues to be a British colony much to the annoyance of the Spanish. Both pounds and euro are accepted as currency.

Again we got confused amongst the narrow one way streets (some so narrow that there was no room to pass a parked motorbike – you could not have driven a camper-van up most roads)) trying to get to drive up the rock into the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. After a discussion and with me saying which road to take before we passed it and Dave following directions we found the entry and paid the fee, took the road that snaked up and across the Gibraltar rock face. We parked the car with difficulty and visited some St Michaels’s caves which were fully lit up and very commercialised compared to Cueva de la Pileta.

The Gibraltar monkeys were interesting and for ever hopeful of being feed. There are signs everywhere telling people not to feed them and the only people I saw feeding them were 2 of the staff. One was feeding a monkey a peanut and another giving an apple core to a monkey with a young baby.

The Great Siege tunnels built in the 18^th century were also interesting. The views were fantastic in all directions including across La Linea [the city next to Gibraltar] into the hills of Spain.

Driving out of Gibraltar there was again no queues which helped mainly due to cars been stopped crossing as the road leads across an airfield and a plane had taken off.

That night was spend at another Alberque Interjoven in Jerez de la Frontera , with another lovely pool. Cost E36 per night and we stayed two nights.

Cadiz and Jerez

Monday – we drove to Cadiz for a look at the old part of the city. Took about ½ an hour – 40km. Cadiz is large city on a narrow slice of land surrounded by land. It is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in Spain and one of the oldest in southwestern Europe. Since we had limited time and did not know quite what to do, we used the Hop On Hop Off bus, that seems to be in every major city in the world. There were well preserved parts of the old city wall, Cathedral, old town hall etc

This took us around to all the major tourist attractions. We hoped off after on circuit and decided to have lunch before going on a walking tour attached to the bus tour. After wandering around the central square and side streets for a while we found a place to eat. The meal of a selection of the local delicacy of fried fish and wine took us past the time to meet for the walking tour, therefore missed out on that. Not too concerned as the day was nice to spend sitting eating and drinking.

Drove back to Jerez and had a welcome swim in the pool. Jerez is famous for its fortified wine which we call sherry, and has many bodegas [storage houses where sherry is aged] which have guided tours. Sherry is the Anglicisation of the Jerez. We decided that we needed to check one of these bodegas out including a tasting and went to Tio Pepe which is central town area. We drove and tried to pay at the pay and display and could not understand why the coins were not being accepted. After asking a family wandering by who also could not read Spanish and local couple who could not speak English other than free we figured parking was free in the evenings. Tio Pepe ran tours at various times of the day and this was the only bodegas we could find that had a tour after 2pm. Tour groups were divided into groups depending on language and we were driven around in a small imitation train to look at the various storage buildings and contents. The tasting consisted of 3 glasses of sherry. We then purchased 6 more glasses lining them in up in order of sweetness. Some were quiet nice, especially the drier less sweet ones. Due to the amount of alcohol consumed we wandered around the streets for a while before Dave attempted to drive back to the hostal.

Dinner again in a café overlooking the street watching the locals and tourists filling their time in. Many an old lady out meeting their friends and having a drink or two with tapas, before catching the bus home.

Tuesday

Off to Real Escuela Andaluza de Art Ecuestre – The Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art which holds 18^th century style shows. Luckily there was a show that fitted in with our timing as we had to start travelling back towards Malaga in order to catch the plane on Thursday back to London.

The show was excellent. There are no photos of the actual performance as photography was not permitted. There were also a museum of horse drawn carriages and we could walk through some of the horse stables to view the horse here. I did feel that these horse we in a confined area and could not do much other than stand or lying down all day. Felt a bit sorry for them. No wonder they do some fantastic horse performances and exercises – maybe it is only time they get any exercise.

In the afternoon we drove 170km to Antequera to stay two nights in a five star hotel called Paseo Garcia del Oimo at 125E a night. The sheets we extra nice and we could not hear the couple in the next room enjoying themselves.

On the road to Antequera we saw; fields of sunflowers with their heads hanging low and dry, fields recently harvested, rolling hills with scrubby trees, white villages perched on the side of steep cliffs, gumtrees, road built between hills then covered over with dirt to create tunnels, hundreds of acres of olive tree plantations, wind farms with over 50 turbines in a row.

That night we walked into Antequera to look at shops and to go dinner. Got lost amongst the narrow streets and finally found our way back to the hotel. By this time too tired to go back to café part of town therefore went to small café in the back streets. We had lovely meal including wine for 12E.

Antequera – Wednesday

We drove a few kilometres out of town to visit El Torcal de Antequera, which is park with limestone formations.

This park is on the top of the mountain range that we had previously seen when we had left Malaga the previous week. The views of the limestone and beyond we fantastic. Dave and I did the long walking circuit of 3km which in places would have been challenging for some. No NZ OSH here, thank goodness otherwise you would never get to see anything much.

Lots of pictures to view, including one of a mountain goat perched high on a rock face watching.

Back to the hotel to soak in the pool. Lovely….

Out for the last dinner of a bottle of wine and tapas. The streets were full of locals – couples who must have just started dating tentatively holding hands, couples walking with their children, a limping mother and her 5yr daughter – the mother picking up cigarette butts and daughter looking embarrassed, old couples holding hands etc

Thursday

Drove to Malaga airport to return the rental car, now with a scratch down its side. We were not sure where this came from and luckily we had decided to take extra cover out otherwise we would have had to pay the first 600E.

It would have been very difficult to do this trip without a GPS and the phone as standby, due to numerous roads and roundabouts we had to negotiate, and places we had to find.

On to London to see Josh and Will.

The CLAWS [Central London and West]  run started at 6pm from the Civil Service Club in Great Scotland Yard Ave, which was 20 minute walk from J&W.

It was a run/walk around most of the major sites in Central London including the South Side of the Thames. We were all given a sheet a paper with squares to enter letters from various location clues around the city. It was a good way to see the monuments that we had seem or missed in the past. We both walked due to my sore calf muscle and Dave’s continuing knee problems. The evening was warm and as per usual all the hashers were friendly. The trail was well marked and easy to follow considering the 100’s and 1,000’s of people out on the Street on the warm summers evening. After 1-2 hours we had an ‘On ON’ in small park then back to the Officers Club for chips, burger and salad. Plus beer, of course.

About 150 hashers including the Wessex members who we often see when away on overseas hash trips.

We were given a Tshirt for the event and it was not until a couple of days later that I could figure out what was on the shirt. Have a look at the pictures.

Thursday

The 2pm Eurostar train to Brussels along with lots of other hashers, saw us arrive about 4pm and caught a cab from the station with 4 Wessex hashers to the Husa President Hotel. After dropping off our bags we walked to the venue – Tour and Taxis – which is large older warehouses complex in the process of being converted into upmarket shopping. The Hash had an open warehouse area that easily fitted 3,000 hashers that were going to be there over the weekend. The venue tended to be noisy/echoing due to the age and type of building it was.

Allan, Pam, Dave and I had meal at a manmade beach entertainment area close by on the edge of a canal, which was crowded with people sitting in the evening eating and drinking. Lots of younger people hanging around socialising. The meal was an edible bowl filled with salad which include meat, avocado, tomato etc. Very nice

 Friday

A quick walk to the Tour and Taxis to register for the weekend activities. There were numerous ways to walk from the hotel to the venue, some more dodgy than others. There was a high rise housing complex behind the hotel and the large police station next to the hotel. I would not want to be walking around here at night by myself and luckily there are buses available from 10:30 to take people to select hotels around central Brussels.

With the Wessex hashers – Gates, Poppet, Mr Beaky, Thirsty Ferret and Jackie – we decide to go to central Brussels via the Metro. There was much too and frowing and lots of discussion at the metro station trying to figure out how to purchase a train pass. In the end we all purchased a 5 trip ticket for E8 each. Then we had to figure out which direction to go to get to the middle of the city. There was a lot of laughter but we figured it out in the end. English signage was lacking.

We exited the Metro for more wandering around until we found the central old square. Allan was adament that he was going to show us a restaurant he had visited 30 years ago that had pigs bladders hanging from the ceiling. He must have visited most of the restaurants on the square until he found it, but he was disappointed that the bladders were so small and few as what he remember. Maybe this comes with age or did they dry up and disappear over time?

We were thirsty and found a pub that sold beer for E1 and spent the next 3 hours sitting outside enjoying each other’s company including a hasher from Scarborough who wandered by, who the Wessex hashers knew.

Off back to venue and we decided to walk there, as we all felt quite good after the afternoon in sun. Somehow we found a canal and followed this until we came across Tours and Taxis venue. 3km walk

The OnOn started not long after we arrived back, therefore there was more beer and wine. Food serveries were opened. Food was basic but OK.

There was lots of catching up with old friends, although difficult to talk due to the noisy environment.

 Saturday

The location from where to catch the buses from for the runs, was some distance from the hotel in the Parc du Cinquantenaire, therefore we had to catch the metro to get there, which included a train transfer. It was a little confusing again mainly as none of us could read or speak Flemish and English was lacking.

Dave and my first choice of bus was full, therefore went to another bus. We were not sure where we were going and ended up a small village in Flanders. From here we ran [or rather walked in our cases and most of the others] down little farm roads. These were about 4m wide and were either concrete or cobbled and were through corn, marrow, turnip, salad plants etc and went from one small village to another. Each village had an old church and the houses were mostly large and well looked after. Some had lovely old gardens with flowers. The day was very warm and muggy.

Following more beer and very very light snack it was back to the city. Luckily we had figured out that the bus route was about 1km from our hotel, therefore we asked the driver if we could be dropped off so that we could go the hotel for a shower before going to Tours and Taxis for the nights event.

The food was similar to the prior nights. Saturday night had theme to dress too, if you wanted. Comic character. I borrowed one of the Wessex Flintstone long Tshirts which looked good considering there were lots of Flinstones.

Hardy UK hash went as Willie Wonkas from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. They won the group prize. The individual finalists was between a woman who hardly anything on [not sure who she was trying to be] and male also were hardly wore anything other than shorts and small green ears. Since he was very round/fat, had no front teeth, bald and had painted himself completely green he was the perfect ‘Shrek’ and won.

The hash acts were excellent and the best seen for some considerable time. These included a hasher signing Queens Bohemian Rhapsody with the words changed. An India hash doing a Bollywood performance with a twist. Hamersley Hash doing a repeat of Jersey Boys that they had performed at Hainan Interhash, although more polished and an added song or two. Brumby Hash signing and performing to Rawhide

Sunday

The run we choose this time was set at the end of the Metro line in a forest park which had an old Abbey set up for people to picnic in the grounds. We ran and walked through forest walkways for a few hours ending up at a small park near the Metro station. Again very light snack lunch consisting of small packet of chips, 1 orange.

Caught the Metro back towards the city figuring out how to get the station we needed – Gare Du Nord Noorstation – to get back to our hotel then onto the venue.

More food, drinking, talking, only one act by two Wessex guys who had nothing on other than 2 beach towels that they pulled off each other – very clever. The band played to 12:30 with lots of dancing [not a lot by Dave] then back to the hotel for well needed sleep.

Monday

Another day wandering around Brussels with the Wessex crowd. Visit the UE headquarters had were told to leave. One of the Wessex is a member of UK Independant party and wanted to leave a reminder there.

After flight with RyanAir to Malaga for a well-earned rest. The Flight was ok (less than 3 hours) as for some reason, that we are unsure of, we had priority bookings which gave us a set seat, first on and off the plane. We left Brussels at 8pm and it was good that Dave had booked a shuttle in Malaga to get us to the hotel Las Vegas where were staying. In bed by midnight

Caught the bus to Ringwood, which started 20 minutes late and got stuck in traffic. The air conditioner did not work and passengers were complaining. Ended up 1.5 hours late.

Allan was there in his old Rolls Royce waiting for us. A quick call in to their house to pick up Pam then off to a local pub for meal. Pub named ‘Old Pub’

Pam and Allan, have lovely old thatch cottage about 15 minutes from Ringwood which Allan has added to and renovated over the year. They also have added a garage for the 1964 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud and a 1938 Humber limousine of which there are only 9 in the world.Plus a barn for their married son’s Artic pony.   Cottage is named Strawberry Cottage.

 Saturday

A late rising to a breakfast of fruit, yogurt and cereal then off to an auction in Ringwood where Alan wanted to bid for some old books and a mountain bikes. Both went for higher prices than Alan was willing to spend. For the books there were book traders down from London who paid more and will sell them for a lot more in London. There was a lot of old dark stained furniture that sold very cheaply.

An ornate side cabinet for 75 pounds and low cabinet for 10.

After a lunch prepared by Pam at Strawberry Cottage Alan, Dave and I sent for a drive to Poole and Bournemount. Back by 6pm at which time Martin had turned up.

Leaving Pam at home we walked to local pub about 50 metres away. It is a tiny quaint pub calleled The Cross Keys. We were the only people there other than the bar attendant and owner until Jackie and Steve [more hash people we have known for years] turned up. Steve has actually stayed at our house in NZ, just as we had started building. I think he stayed for a couple of weeks. While we had another beer or cider the local old guys turned up for their nightly beer and meal. They had very broad Dorset accents and this made the atmosphere in the pub.

Back to Strawberry Cottage of lovely pork roast and vegetables followed by homemade icecream

 Sunday

A lazy morning including putting the horse out to graze. The horse is put into its stalls for the night, as if he is left out he eats too much and he is fat enough already. It is a trait of his bred that they eat constantly.

Midday we all climbed into the Rolls off to the Wessex weekly hash run. This weeks run was a family affair and a fundraiser for the Cancer Society. The start and finish was from another old pub called Holme Bush. There was BBQ, raffles – pick a bottle and get wine or water. The odds were not high and I only saw one person get a bottle filled with wine. The other raffle was better were you won from a selection of small gifts. Although neither Dave or myself won anything.

The run/walk was 4.8 [short] and 8 miles [long]. As per our hash the average age in increasing. About 40 adults and children turned up. An old steam roller also arrived. The drivers here are a lot more patient on the narrow roads when passing the slow moving vehicles, bikes and horse/carts we see every now and again.

Back to Pam and Alans for another lovely dinner, this time whole fish cooked in bag with green salad and small potatoes.

 Monday

Pam and I visited Pam’s mother who lives in a Social Service apartment building. The tenants purchase their apartment with the 25% of value of the prior home selling price. She then pays directly for own care as required. We all visited Pam and Alan’s son and daughter law cottage. This is a heritage cottage that they are trying to get permission to extend and considering they are expecting their 3^rd child they are hoping to get permission soon, although they have been turned down many times already. It is a small cottage, with low doors, small rooms, heavy beams, modern fire range which heats the water and is there only cooking except for a toaster and kettle.

Our bus back to London this time had the air conditioner working and got to London on time.

Back to J&W place even though we got separated when getting onto one of the underground trains we found our way successfully back to the apartment separately.

Again another excellent meal cooked by Josh – roast chicken and salads.

Tuesday

A lazy morning, then off to the Churchill War Room museum. Interesting and we were there for about 2 hours. It was a little confusing in parts when the display tracked back into Churchill past prior to the War period. I lost contact with Dave while in the museum and decided to sit outside in the warm sun watching the tourist line up to enter. It pays to come early to the tourist attractions. Dave emerged about ½ hour later, saying that he had been looking for me all over the place within the display. I think this is a common occurrence as I watched a few people exit then go back in, presumably to look for others they were with.

Wednesday

A visit to PSHealth to have a viewing of their software. PSHealth are located on Waterloo Road, therefore a pleasant walk from Josh and Wills. The weather continues to be lovely although a little on the warm side.

Spent the afternoon watching Tour de France on TV and reorganising the food cupboards as Josh seems to buy things without first looking if they have them already. It is difficult to see what they have as the cupboards are deep.

The first of the Hash event is on tonight.. CLAWS meeting at 5:30pm at the Civil Service Club in New Scotland Yard Ave, by the Mall. See the next post.

We had a reasonable day time flight from AKL to KL on a Malaysian Airways 737, staying overnight in the Tune Hotel at KLIA Terminal 2. Our bags had been forwarded to the UK therefore there was nothing to collect. On arrival at KL1, we located the train to take us to KL2 which is the new terminal a few kilometres from KL1. The cost of the train was 2 Ringit, therefore we had to locate an exchange to convert $NZ5 into 13 ringgit. After a little wandering around we found the train a level 1 which took us to KL2. A quick walk through the sparkling new shopping mall and we were at the Tune hotel. It is a clean, tidy, basic hotel with all furnishing in red and black for $NZ70 app per night.

The following morning we discovered that there was a shuttle bus to connect the KL1 terminal. Not only was it free but it was closer to the arrivals and departure lounges. There was no tea/coffee facilities in the Tune hotel therefore grabbed a hot drink in the small supermarket and later in KL1 went to food court on Level 2 for roti and curry sauce. Then on to catch an A380 for the flight to London. We left at 10.15am and after 12 hours arrived at Heathrow at 5.00pm. Because it was a daytime flight we both stayed awake all the way, either reading or watching movies. Air Malaysia only has about 3 of the recent movie releases.

It was very handy that we had purchased a London transports Oyster card and could use the underground without the hassle of purchasing a train ticket. The oyster card cannot be used on the Fast train to London. We caught the underground tube direct to Covent Garden where coming out of the station the narrow cobblestone streets were crowded with people either walking, talking, shopping, looking at street shows etc. It was a warm early evening. A five minute walk took us to Josh and Will’s apartment..

Josh was there to welcome us and including a lovely welcome bath. We now know why Marie was so impressed, It is a lovely airy, light, spacious, corner, top floor 2 bed roomed apartment overlooking the street. The stairs up to the 3^rd floor were step and the treads narrow

We went around the corner for dinner at a Thai restaurant with Josh and Will. Then went to bed to try to recover from the trip.

The next day we had a quiet day and went for a walk through Covent Garden, Soho, and Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square. We had a pub lunch and the came back to the apartment for a quick rest but didn’t go out again as we fell asleep. Josh cooked dinner and as per usually it was great. We were in bed by 10.30

We were woken early in the morning to the sounds of clanging and it was the weekly delivery of kegs to the pub outside the window. We are not use to the noises of an inner city.

The apartment is surrounded by sound for most hours of the day: shoppers spending their money, pub patrons drinking their beers in their roped off area in the small square, horse and cart clanging by, ice cream van vendor who is parked every day on the edge of the square, drunken street artist who is there sometimes [so we were told], ……

Wednesday

This morning we started out at 8.30 with Josh, catching the tube to Monument Station, walking Josh to his offices and then we were off to the Tower of London. There were not many people when we arrived so we had a good look at the Crown Jewels and spent almost 4 hours looking at the various buildings in the Tower complex. It was well worth the effort to go early to the Tower as by the time we came out the Crown Jewels building the grounds were getting quite crowd..

We walked up to Josh’s office and had a beer with him in the Leadenhall Markets which are an old market area which has been done up and has lots of eating places. Crowded with people – drinking and eating.

After Josh had left to go back to work we purchased two filled rolls and sat in the sun to eat them. We  then walked to St Paul’s cathedral and spent the rest of the afternoon in there, including climbing up to the Whispering Gallery and then right to the top at the outside of the dome for great views of London. I cannot remember how many steps there were to the top but there were a hell of a lot.

We caught the tube home and waited for J & W to come home then a taxi to KnightsBridge to see stage show – Wicked. We had good seats considering we had booked so late.

 Thursday

Caught the tube and a walk to the Barbacian Museum to see the Digital exhibition which was of computers, games and fun programs since computers were invented. Simple games to complex displays. Very interesting.

That night Josh cooked a lamb roast. Again a lovely meal.

 Friday

A walk to the National Portrait Gallery and a look at some of the paintings. It would of good to have a better understanding of British Royal history.

It was again a hot day and the streets were full of tourists. The numerous pubs and restaurants were full by midday

A quick trip back to the apartment to watch Tour de France prior to collecting our gear for our weekend away in Wessex with Pam and Allan – hash house friends who we have met numerous times in different places around the world. The Tour broadcast by British EuroSport Live is not as half as interesting as the one that is available to Australia and NZ. They do not talk about the regions and the history. Do bit seen it know anything much about where they are. Whenever the broadcaster ran out of words to do with the race, they reverted to previously recorded interviews with the competitors.

Both British Columbia and the NW states of USA are well worth a visit. People are friendly and helpful, and the scenery is spectacular. Seems safe and it was easy to get around, particularly with the GPS. We had been warned about the police and how hard they were on speeding, but on the whole 5000km trip we saw less than six police cars on the road, so unless they had a whole lot of hidden speed cameras, the trip was uneventful. Accommodation was not difficult to find and we booked in advance only for Portland, Vancouver and Spokane. Everywhere else it was relatively easy to find a motel when driving through a town.

See map at the bottom of the page. 1 is Auckland, 2 Hawaii, 3 Hawaii etc

Notes:

•  Tipping is confusing if not used to it. 15% is expected in restaurants and bars regardless of service quality. Hotel porters and taxi drivers also expect tips. It is common to leave a tip in the hotel room.

• Final price of purchases are unknown as variable tax and service charges are added on top of listed prices.
• Information centres are in most towns and often in the local museum. These were all run by very helpful and friendly people, who were often volunteers. They were helpful in providing comment, brochures and maps about where to go and what to see in the area. Also provided information on suitable accommodation.
• Motorways/highways have wide verges and pull off/picnic areas with toilets.
• Speed limits vary across the States. It is was very helpful and sensible that the changes to speed limits were signed posted prior to the actual speed limit change, giving ample time to reduce speed.
• Most supermarkets have a public toilet.
• Canada parks are well maintained, used and respected. There was no sign of damage or graffiti.   They have toilets even if some are long-drops.
• Forests are quiet. There were not many birds.
• Canada had large amount of RV, 5^th  wheelers and motor homes been driven around on extended holidays.
• US had information signs on the side of the road, in picnic areas and road pull off areas, giving the history of a site.
• Road workers did not have over the top safety provision eg no safety trucks metres prior to workers. Large “top hat”style road cones are used more than the simple cones we have.
•  There were huge numbers of RV and 5^th wheelers for sale in yards everywhere.
• Caravan parks were everywhere. Often on the outskirts of towns and cities.
• A lot towns and cities had a mobile home area, where transportable houses were located. Residents had a small home, garden, car parking and shared communal services eg driveways, roads and entry. This seems a sensible and cost effective method of housing people who are happy with a small house eg up to 120 sq metres in size.

 Driving

• At most traffic lights, you can stop and then turn right on the red light if the way is clear – also look for pedestrians and cyclists crossing on your right.
• At cross roads where all roads have “Stop”signs, the first car to stop has right of way.

 Cycling

• Drivers are courteous; less stressed, wait and are not rushed. They give way to cyclists.
• Most buses have bike racks on the front and can carry about 4 bikes at a time.
• Trains have a section where cyclist can put their bikes
• Cycling is encouraged
• Victoria has numerous bike lanes and trails- most shared with pedestrians.At intersections, cars give way to cyclists.
• Bike lanes over bridges [even those longer and higher than the Auckland Harbour Bridge] were shared with pedestrians and had wire fences about 8 foot [2.5m] high on the water side and 4 foot [1.5m] on the road side.

Helpful hints

• Purchase a cheap chilly bin from the supermarket – $3-$4
• Keep it filled with ice from the ice dispenser that most hotels and motels have. It’s free.
• Take your own breakfast. There are microwaves and fridges in almost all hotels and motels.
• All motels and hotels have coffee machines – these can be used to boil water for tea or hot chocolate.
• Purchase or take with you; knifes, spoons, plates and cups
• Supermarkets have lots of choices of microwavable meals.
• Apply for supermarket customer card from SaveMart. This will save you $ on purchases at the SaveMart supermarkets in Canada and USA. Just fill in a form at the checkout when you first go into the store.

The wedding of Laura and Sam went well. Sam is the son of Dave and Triss [Dave’s sister] cousin.

The ceremony was held outside on the grass and was short and sweet. followed by a sit down reception with lots of food including salads, potato, battered oyster etc. A couple of speeches by the brides maid [brides sister] and the best man. Plenty of wine, with a tip jar out for the wine pourers. DJ music which was rather loud and who was asked to turn the music down at 10:30. Dessert were s’mores which is local delicacy consisting of roast large marshmallow on the open fire, put on top of chocolate square between two crackers. Very sweet and the marshmallow became very char coaled. We were in bed by 1:00am.

The grooms family

The Brides Family

T