The Killalea-Walford Travel Blog

20^th – 25^th June (never long enough)

Anyone who knows me well knows my love of Frank Sinatra and his music, so you can sing that title as you read it.

Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew Yooooooooooooooooooooooooooooork. I’m gonna wake up, in the city, that never sleeps….

Well anyway.

Leaving London was super easy, our transfer driver was supurb, he knew all the back streets so we avoided the majority of the traffic and the view was lovely. We got there with plenty of time to spare which resulted in no stress.

Our flight from London to Newark was with Lufthansa, the last of them thank god. Never gonna fly with them again. Never ever.

Stats to date:

• Hours in the air 49.5 hours
• Number of flights 14
• Number of airlines to never fly with again 1

We arrived in New York on the most beautiful afternoon, the views were amazing. We landed at Newark airport in New Jersey so we could easily see the Manhattan skyline in the distance.

We were both very excited to be in New York. I had not been since 1999! A life time ago. And we were going to catch up with some old friends.

Our First Evening – A Night of WTF

We arrived, got our bags, found our transfer driver – a very nice man, originally from Pakistan and so thrilled that we were from New Zealand as Pakistan had just beaten India in the cricket and he thought we would understand his excitement – needless to say we faked it.

The tip into Manhattan was very fast, I was expecting gridlock and chaos, but it was remarkably smooth. Especially considering it was the middle of the afternoon.

But the honking had started, the call of the impatient driver. I wonder if they actually believe that honking will work, that traffic will immediately free up and start moving just because they have bashed on their horn? The thoughts that go through my head…

I had booked us a hotel in Chinatown, there were several reasons for this, price, the view, and the convenience. So many people had said “oh Chinatown” so I was little worried about the hotel.

Luckily it was needless worry. The hotel was very nice and had everything we needed. The view of the Empire State Building was fabulous and the staff were very kind and thorough.

The plan was to unpack, relax, have a wander around the town, before a busy day on Wednesday 21^st.

I started to unpack and Jason started to surf the TV channels.

Our plans for Wednesday were Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and then onto the New York Yankees baseball game against the Los Angeles Angels.

As Jason surfed he stumbled across the local station playing the warm up for the baseball game. Ummm, isn’t that tomorrow? Why are they warming up now, it wasn’t a replay, it was live, and the game was starting in 30 minutes.

Jason’s watch said the date was the 20^th my phone and laptop put the date at the 21^st.

Panic. Rushing. Getting changed. Grabbing tickets. Asking for directions to the stadium, and we flew out the door. So much for a relaxing evening.

We had bought expensive tickets, to really throw ourselves into the ambiance, so there was no way, no how we were going to miss the game!

We walked briskly to the subway, bought tickets, and jumped on the D train.

In the wrong direction.

YOU. HAVE. GOT. TO. BE. KIDDING.

So we stood with the other sardines until the next stop and changed trains. Fumbling our way about and hoping for the best. Three trains later we got back on the D (like the wonderful women at reception told us to do in the first place) and we arrive at 161^st Street.

1 hour later.

The game had started and we were hot, tired, smelly, and grumpy. Oh hungry, throw hungry in there too.

Following all the people dressed in NY Yankee gear we found the correct exit and popped out right in front of Yankee Stadium. Fabulous. What a lucky break.

I get out our tickets, we line up, they scan them, and they flash red.

WTF!

“Miss”, says the nice old fella scanning the tickets, “these here tickets are for tomorrow night”.

Seriously! They play more than one game in a row?

We find a nice information man nearby and ask how many games are played in a row.

“Well mam, they can play up to four games in a row”. Oh.

Feeling very sheepish, and relieved, and embarrassed, and hot, tired, smelly, grumpy, and hungry, we get on the D train and head back to the hotel.

There is a bar and restaurant at the bottom of our hotel, so we stop there for burgers and drinks. The game is on the big screen so we try and do our homework for the next night by watching intently. I understand nothing.

Jason says it’s like softball, another game I know nothing about.

After dinner we grab our cameras and go up to the 19^th floor where there is a roof top bar. The view is spectacular and I wanted to take a photo. The barman said we cannot unless we buy a drink, so I took a photo when he wasn’t watching and we retired to our rooms. Such a rebel.

So starts our exciting time in New York.

The Yankees lost that night, 8 – 2.

21^st of June (for real this time)

We wake up to another stunning day in New York, laughing about our mishap the night before. At least we knew the way now right!

The morning view from our room was beautiful and indicated the kind of clear sky day we were going to have. Perfect for seeing Miss Liberty.

First things first, laundry, very necessary. The clean clothing combinations were not good, one of us was starting to dress like their dad – and it wasn’t me.

From the very first light the beeping starts. I find it amusing, it winds Jason up something terrible.

Once the laundry was completed it was time to walk to Battery Park. I love New York, even the rotting smell of rubbish before it is cleaned up, the craziness, the crowds, there is something about New York that makes me smile.

We made it to Battery Park, collected our tickets, and waited for our boarding time. As we waited in the park Jason found his new fascination, squirrels. Spot the squirrel! He now humours me and points them out saying “squirrel!”. I am so easily amused.

There are loads of them all over the park, some look a little manky but mostly they have such awesome tails and are as cute as Disney and Pixar make them out to be.

The boat to Miss Liberty takes around 20 minutes and the views back to Manhattan are awesome. Especially on a day like today.

Even though we were one of the first departures the island was already busy. We head straight for the statue. Because we booked in advance we had tickets to go up to the crown. Very exciting.

You have to unload all your bags and anything that may be a security risk, so we only had our cameras with us as we got to the statue. In order to climb to the crown you need to enter via her skirt. Seemed a little undignified but the only way to do it.

As you enter the skirt there are stairs to take up, to the first viewing platform. There are lifts to this level as well, but we have been eating VERY well, so take the stairs whenever we can.

Once you reach the first platform the only way to go up is using the spiral staircase. Which was built for anyone under 5 foot 10. Above that you are hunched over and at risk of concussion. Just keep your head down J

The climb to the top was not bad, warm, but easy. When you reach the crown there are two security personnel. It is their job to be in the crown all day, keeping Miss Liberty safe from assholes. What a job, this is a tiny space, and very warm.

We made the most of view, took some photos, and made our way down the equally narrow and low spiral staircase that takes you down. Luckily there is an up staircase and down staircase, good design – well done peeps.

We continued our tour of Liberty Island before catching the next boat to Ellis Island.

I am sure you all know the history of this island so I wont bore you going into it now. But wow, it must have been tough. The amount of people that were squeezed through this narrow island before reaching the promised land. Some having come from warm and tropical lands to a New York winter – that would have been quite a shock. The view of Manhattan showing it remarkably close yet still out of reach.

We did the usual look for your name on the wall. I am sad to say no Killaleas were located on the list. But we did find one Walford. Liz/Noel we will show the full name when we come and visit. Quite cool and completely unexpected.

The last hop is back to the island of Manhattan and from there we were going to visit the 9/11 memorial.

For those that have not seen the memorial there are two massive water features excavated into the ground where the original towers were located. The water runs down the sides, probably a couple of stories deep, creating a very soothing environment.

It was very moving and terribly sad. All you can think about is all those lives that were ended that day. All the emergency personnel who went into the building to save others. The mention of an unborn child, brings tears to your eyes.

You cannot help but feel moved by the names etched into the sides of the monuments, flowers next to the names of those whose birthday it is that day, there were some people who were huddled and crying. We could only assume they were friends or relatives of one of the people etched into the monument.

We spent time just being, without sounding too freaking fluffy, in the moment and paying our respects.

The whole time the new building, The Freedom Tower, loomed over us. I cannot imagine what it would be like to work in that building everyday watching over the monument – I am not sure if you become desensitised?

We left the monument and started heading to find food.

When travelling with children and husbands it is wise to have little goals to keep them motivated. In this case it was food. Normally I ensure that we have sugar and carbs in the backpacks to keep him going, just in case the walk/shopping takes longer than expected.

So we were walking and looking for food. We made the long trek, about 4kms, to Greenwich Village. I remember it as being a cool, hip little place with different cafes etc. And it has not changed.

Another thing I love about New York is the dogs, dogs, dogs. They are everywhere and accepted everywhere. Its awesome, yet we were not constantly dodging dog pooh. There are big dogs, little dogs, ugly dogs, but the most common (apparently it’s the trend) is the French Bulldog. And man they are CUTE!

Poppy does not have anything to worry about, there is no competing with a Poppy, but they were pretty damn neat.

We found a local café and ordered drinks and meals. The food was delicious and I can confirm the mojito was up to par. Feeling revived and ready to face the world it was time to check out the Empire State building, home of King Kong, its name is from the nickname for New York, the Empire State.

It was the world’s tallest building for nearly 40 years, from its completion in early 1931 until the original World Trade Centre’s North Tower in late 1970. Did you know that a B-25 bomber flew into the Empire State Building in 1945 but the design stopped the fire from spreading, holy crap. Who knows this stuff!

Tickets to go to the top are not cheap. Really not cheap! But it was a perfectly sunny day and we were in New York, so we had to do it! There were a lot of people all with the same idea, but it was so well organised you didn’t spend much time waiting – that’s a change.

The views were lovely and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Next stop – off to see Zeke, Abbie, and AJ.

Zeke had been kind enough to let me send all my Amazon deliveries to his house so I could pick them up and take them home. Save on shipping etc. So we caught the train out to Queens to do the collection, see Zeke, and meet his offspring.

And what a couple of gorgeous mini humans they are! Very entertaining.

I also got a good dose of doggy love! Zeke has two very large Rottweilers who seem to think they are lap dogs. I was completely ok with that, and got to have lots and lots of pats – happy place.

We could not stay long as we were off to the baseball, for real this time, and had to get changed, eat, sort ourselves out. Plus the man needed a haircut. He was super shaggy and starting to look dishevelled, I thought it was quite funny with his little curls coming through!

There was a hairdresser just across the road from our hotel, they were used to mainly Asian clientele, so it was hilarious when they gave Jason one of their robes to wear (which you do when getting a haircut) and it looked like a mini dress on him – he was still fully clothed underneath. But had a lovely little dress over top. Wish I had gotten a photo of that.

Having mastered the subway we knew exactly what train to catch now! WE boarded the D train, heading to the Bronx, and got off at 161^st Street. There was the yankee stadium, all lit up and stunning, and this time our tickets worked.

We had access to the lounges and fan areas so that was cool. All it really meant was you had a bit of a quiet area, free peanuts and popcorn, and no queues when paying ridiculous money for a cup of beer.

Our seats were just behind the NY Yankees dug out, and we were seated near some pretty hard core baseball fans.

What a blast! The noise, the entertainment, the thousands of people. Singing the national anthem and the other most patriotic song “take me out to the ball game”.

We started talking to the people nearest us and got an understanding of some of the finer points of the game – I pretended to care.

We stayed for over two hours, cheering where appropriate, eating hotdogs, drinking beer, and feeling very entertained.

Before the end of the game, based on some solid advice from people we had met, we hurried to the subway to beat the crowds. Man oh man we are pleased we did. Even though the majority of the 40+ thousand people were still in the stands, the subway was like playing people tetris.

Quite uncomfortable, you really get up close and personal with the locals. All the same it was an easy trip back to the hotel and we fell into an exhausted sleep.

We certainly are making the most of our days!

Jason is going to need a holiday to recover from this holiday.

We made it back to London, it was a miracle that we made it considering the queue at the Keflavik airport in Iceland.

The flight was very easy and we had fast track passes to skip the lines at security in Gatwick.

The wonderful Mr Gavin was coming to collect us AGAIN. We have to be his worst visitors ever.

He had kindly brought our other luggage with him and was taking us to our hotel in East London. That was about an hours drive, if luck and traffic was with us.

Luck and traffic was pretty good until we got to the Blackwell tunnel, then we got to experience some true London traffic. Thank goodness it did not last too long and we made it to our hotel a little after 300pm.

SHOUT OUT! Thanks again to the Honey family for taking such great care of us in London, I don’t know what we would have done without you. And thanks to Sir Carter for the bedroom and entertaining conversations.

London and the Gang

London had put on an amazing day to welcome us back.

We got settled into the Ibis Docklands, kind of a strange place. No reception. You take a seat and someone comes and checks you in with their mobile devices. It feels weird when you want to ask questions, get a map, etc.

Our room was quite tiny, but had what you needed. The bathroom was like an afterthought, Jason likens it to a camping shower. A dome that had been installed afterwards, quite unusual.

We unpacked and got a quick lay of the land before heading over to find Hui, Stacey, Akira, and Kailani! We had to sort out the bus route and, with the guidance of Hui and Google Maps, we made it to Mile End, East London and to meet up with the family.

Akira had a music recital so we found Hui in the most unexpected of places – church. I was relieved to see they were drinking wine and hanging out, phew!

After the kids were herded together we went back to the house. Hui had been cooking and we were very excited. I had been telling Jason about Hui’s cooking since the beginning of our trip, so he was very wound up. Plus I had not really fed him, oops.

After three helpings of beef rendang we moved onto the chicken and pork. Oh, my, good, GOD I was not exaggerating. The food was amazing.

It was fantastic to catch up with the family. I had not seen them for about 7 years and Kailani was a new addition. Such great kids!

At around 830 we waddled to the bus and headed back to the hotel.

We fell into a food coma and slept really well.

18^th June – Getting Reacquainted with London

Time to do some site seeing in London, though we had been using Greater London as a base the previous two weeks we had not had the time to venture into the centre. Now was that time.

Google maps and an Oyster card in hand, off we went! Straight into the heart of Westminster and the type of chaos that comes with so many tourists and security lumped together.

There were armed police everywhere, understandable with the ongoing events, there are constant sirens, helicopters overhead, beeping, cars whizzing past. You always knew to look around you and were in a constant state of awareness.

As we were walking around Westminster Abbey we started to hear the sound of bag pipes. So we decided to follow and see what it was all about. There was a parade of mostly elderly men marching around a memorial. They were led by officers on horseback and followed by bagpipers.

We spoke to the local police who told us it was an Irish unit laying a wreath to honour fallen comrades.

Very cool to stumble across things like this.

We walked on towards Big Ben, around Westminster, before setting across the river to Southbank and walking towards Tower Bridge. We wanted to see as much of the town as we could. And London had put on another stunning day for us to do it.

Jason loves the heat, that’s a lie actually, he hates it and really struggles to cope. I can tell you it was a damn hot day. Around 32 degrees, not a lot of breeze,

But he did really well, we walked for hours and hours, then we found a pub. Time to stop for a drink. It turned out we stopped at the The Anchor, apparently one of the oldest pubs in London and was used as a dressing room by players at the Globe Theatre – back in the day.

The drink was lovely and refreshing. It charged us up to continue our walk. Onwards to the bridge.

We did the Tower Bridge tour, you take the lift to the top and there are walkways across the bridge. There are glass panels throughout the walkways that let you look down on the road below. I love that feeling. Plus, once you have stood on the glass panels at Chamonix, everything else is quite low.

It was getting late in the afternoon and we had a date with Roberts clan and the ever lovely, always entertaining Michelle Downey.

We jumped back on the buses, went to the hotel and cleaned up, before heading to the park to meet up.

At Victoria Park, back in Mile End, there was a free concert where up and coming entertainers get to perform and try out their material. It was pretty damn cool!

We spent a couple of hours lying around and catching up. It was so lovely to catch up with Michelle who I had not seen in around 10 years. She has not changed a bit.

When the concert was over we headed back to the leftover Rendang for round 2.

Another lovely evening spent with Hui, Stacey, and the girls. It is a shame they are so far away from us.

Back on the buses, which we have mastered BTW, and home for another good nights sleep.

More site seeing tomorrow and the weather is expected to be hot, hot, hot.

19^th June – The Melting Pot of London (literally)

Our last full day in London, time to make the most of this town. As expected the weather was stunning, perfectly blue sky and not a cloud, quite unusual for London – or so we are told.

So we had to dig out the clothes we had not used since our Mediterranean cruise. I was loving it, Jason was not as impressed.

We were back on the tube, we are masters at it now, and into the centre!

We were going to experience the London Eye. It stands at 135 metres high and takes 30 minutes to do a full rotation which averages out at 1 pound per minute – Jason thought it was worth it just for the air conditioning. On a day like we had, the views went forever.

Next on the list was The Monument that is the name, The Monument. So we walked over towards it, a good couple of kilometres away. It was getting close to lunch time so we stopped at the Greene King for lunch and a couple of drinks before climbing the 311 steps to the top.

Probably would have been wiser to have the burger, fries, and wine after the walk – hindsight is a great thing.

Anyway, The Monument is dedicated to those that died in the great fire of London.

It is 62 metres tall and 62 metres from the spot in Pudding Lane where the Great Fire started on 2 September 1666. That is not a coincidence by the way. Its height marks its distance from the site of the shop of Thomas Farriner (or Farynor), the king’s baker, where the Great Fire began – bet he felt stink.

The Tower of London was only 2 kilometres away so on we went. We walked on the Thames Path wherever possible, it is pretty, less noisy, and if theres any breeze you will find it there.

We made it to the Tower and hooked onto one of the beefeater guided tours. Those guys are very funny and knowledgable. It was a great way to get some insight and history. Lots of photos too. I am not sure if people were taking their kids out of school early but there were an awful lot of tourists!

Cruising the River Themes. My planning got a little up the shite. I had us booked om a river cruise, you have to do it when you are in London, but the timing didn’t quite work out so we ended up doing a lot more walking than we had anticipated. The 3.5kms back to where we were on the London Eye only four hours before.

A hot, fast walk back, as we did not know if they would let us take the next tour since we missed the one we were booked on. We arrived, hot and sticky, and stood in the queue to find out the fate of our cruise.

Warning Tangent: I am not going to miss queues. Queues at the airport, queues at the bus, queues for security, queues for shows, queues for food, queues, queues, queues. Sometimes you don’t even know why there are queues, there just are! All that time waiting, and waiting some more. I am glad we have not kept a tally of how much time we have waited in queues, it would just be depressing.

Back to the sightseeing. Eventually we got to the front of the queue and the lovely young man behind the counter changed our tickets and didn’t even charge us the 10 pound to do so. YAY, made our day, just a little act of kindness goes a long way.

The river cruise was good fun with a very entertaining young man doing the commentary. Of course there were Australian’s on the tour and they found Jason – there is no escape antipodeans are everywhere.

It was so hot I even drank a beer, though apparently Budweiser isn’t actually beer – something about it being closer to puddle water. But at 32 degrees and high humidity it tasted really good, and I nearly finished it (Jason benefited from the leftovers).

The other awesome thing about being on the cruise was sitting down, in the shade, and just chilling. We had such a busy day so far we needed to rest our legs. So far we had clocked up 12kms.

But, we weren’t done yet!

Michelle, god bless her, had told me about a shoe shop. One I had not heard of before. Needless to say, I had to go there. It was not that far, around 1 kilometre, so off we went. It was in Covent Garden, a very pretty area and still not too busy with people. Michelle was right, the shoes were amazing the only problem is narrowing down your choice. Jason waiting patiently, as always, and a selection was made.

The last thing on our sightseeing hit list was to see the big streets. Oxford, Bond, Regent, etc. Jason wanted an appreciation of how busy it is and how many people squeeze into this area.

Not my idea of fun, but what the hell. When in London, do as the Londoners do!

And it was crazy! Wave upon wave of people. It was nearing 530pm so people were pouring out of work and into the streets. Tourists were everywhere and it was hot.

I have to say he coped well. I thought he would have lost the plot but he was really interested in walking along the monopoly board so we kept going.

Around 630pm we threw in the towel, plus we had dinner plans with Hui and Stacey, grown up time!

The tube stations on Bond Street had queues of people standing outside to get in. There had been an incident and so they were closed. We opted to keep walking and find one that was a little friendlier.

Which turned out to be quite easy. All you had to do was walk a few blocks and the queues were gone. Onto the tube (I wish they would air condition the damn thing) and back to the hotel. Shower, refreshment, poor feet, stinky clothes, suitcases to pack, and off to dinner.

This time we were not eating at the Roberts kitchen extraordinaire but going out for dinner at Canary Wharf. It was not far away but we opted for uber (our feet were thankful).

Hui and Stacey came to meet us and we went to a really nice Mexican restaurant. The food was lovely, the wine was cold (so was the beer apparently), the service was ok, and we got full! Really full.

It was the perfect way to finish our wonderful time in London. With friends.

SHOUT OUT to Hui for her amazing cooking and to the Roberts family as a whole for their fabulous hospitality.

Jason wanted to get a real English black cab back to the hotel. So we flagged one down and said goodbye to our friends.

The cabby was lovely and when he saw how excited Jason was, he offered to let him drive it. This was politely declined as we had been drinking. What a hoot!

Finalise the packing. An early start in the morning – for a change.

Time to rest the weary legs.

Farewell London and Friends – 20^th June

Tomorrow we head to New York! So very exciting as I love New York. But very sad as we are nearing the end of our wonderful adventure.

We experienced the usual level of service from Lufthansa – don’t fly with them. But our departure was pretty hiccup free.

Day 3  – 15th June

The sky was light, as always, the temperature a whopping high of 11 degrees expected today with intermittent showers.

Before I write about the daily activities, I thought I would let you know the cost of a few things in Iceland.

• Glass of wine $18.00
• Pint of beer $15.00
• A steak $73
• Subway, sub of the day 6 inch, $8.50
• Hotel room $450 per night, on average

I know that Singapore was expensive, but only for alcohol. Everything else was so damned reasonable.

If you are travelling to Iceland, take your credit card.

Our plans were set last night, Jason had mapped out the route, we knew what we were going to see. It was going to be a 10 hour outing and lots, and lots of kilometres. I get up early so I can get myself sorted – plus even now I still cannot sleep in. I think that might be related to FOMO (fear of missing out).

Jason wakes up and decides he does not want to spend the whole day in the car. We had done that two days in a row and he was over it. Fair enough too. It’s not comfortable and the roads are long and boring.

That plan was put on hold and we decided we would do stuff closer to Reykjavik instead.

Back to sleep for Jason and I write postcards and update our blog.

The Hike from Hell

Jason had heard about a mountain range called Esja, only 10kms from where we were staying. Esja is not a single mountain, but a volcanic mountain range, made from basalt and stuff.

The trail that Jason had researched was not long, a couple of hours, and was listed as easy. We thought we would “knock the bastard off” and then have lunch before heading to another hike towards the south.

Off we went.

We parked up and looked at the sign, it all looked very straightforward and relatively easy. I left the navigating to the man, it had become apparent I am hopeless at map reading.

There were two options, go left which was steeper, or go right which was slightly longer but less steep. We went with the less steep option. THANK GOD, because it certainly felt steep!

At first the path was very pretty, lots of purple lupin, a babbling brook, little bridge, and pine trees. Ahhh. Queue alpine relaxing music now.

Then we started to climb, and climb, and climb. I was doing my best to keep up with Jason, but I am just unfit, plus my legs are shorter (that’s my excuse and I am sticking to it).

About 30 minutes into our 2 hour hike we started to get cold, time to apply the layers. The views were exceptional I should add, you could see right across to Reykjavik and the mountains beyond.

We could also see the rain settling into the city. Hopefully it was not coming for us.

The hike up was hard in places, the incline was occasionally steep and the basalt stones could be slippery buggers! I kept thinking, oh well, its only two hours, we must be halfway through. But I was wrong. After over an hour we had reached a small summit, but it was not the top.

Jason found snow and that made him a happy man, he had to play in it of course J

During our hike we could see a lot of people on different paths but no one on the route we were taking. Makes you wonder…

After nearly 2 hours we made it to the Steinn, which means stone, and Jason gets that “top of the hills” look on his face again. Bright eyes, bushy tail, massive smile, and a precarious cliff to climb.

Grumpy, tired, and hungry Jo was not happy. But he wanted to do it and I told him he should. However, that came with a hitch. Jason did not want me to stay at the stone, or start my way back, I had to follow him up!

He galloped off at great speed and I slowly plodded my way up. The Crime Scene Investigation quotes flooding my mind as I slipped and tried to find a path that didn’t look too lethal – it is important to note others had come down from this cliff including a kid who looked about 10, however I don’t think any of these people had my track record for clumsiness.

I was on my own, scrambling along, and I was not a happy hiker.

As I continued my ascent I was struggling to find a positive spin to put on this particular outing. Was he really trying to kill me? Had I been that bad to travel with? Maybe he really was happier being single?

Oh, and to top it off, the rain had come! Wet, cold, scared, hungry, tired, female.

I made it about three quarters of the way up the cliff side before Jason came back into view. Time to turn around and head down. As much as I hate steep ascents, steep declines terrify the crap out of me. Seriously! One slip and you’re off!

He had scaled the steepest part of the cliff and reached the true summit and come back in less than 30 minutes, very impressive. And he was ecstatic having completed his climb and seen the wonderful views. However, he was greeted with grumpy silence.

Time to head back down, we were getting cold and wet, and definitely hungry. This time we went back down the way everyone else had come up. It was steep and slippery, but at least it was fast.

We made it back to the carpark 4 hours after we started. Hungry, cold, and wet.

As grumpy as I was it was a good hike and great to do some exercise. But there is now an agreement that I do not have to follow when the excursions are crazy scary.

By the time we had eaten an overpriced, soggy, disappointing pizza from the café at the bottom of the mountain we headed back to the apartment to warm up. The idea of a second hike was removed from the agenda – no surprise there!

On the way back from the hike we stopped off at a speciality fish shop. Make sure you visit this place if you are in Reykjavik this is the best place to find out about the local catch and get some amazing fish to eat.

They also have a fish and chip counter so if you are not staying in an apartment you can still indulge in beautiful, fresh, tasty haddock, halibut, cod, etc.

Today we opted for halibut and smoked salmon.

Another lovely home cooked dinner courtesy of chef Jason, a late night walk around the city, and then into bed.

The plans for the next day were reasonably relaxed. It is our last day in Iceland and there were a few must dos that needed to be ticked off.

The only down side to staying in the centre of town is the noise. Most of the time its fine, but as we were there heading into summer solstice and Iceland’s national day, there were parties, and music, and drunks. Hilarious, thank god for ear plugs.

Another Day in Iceland – 16^th June

Another stunning day with 11 degrees and a brisk wind to ensure you stayed awake.

We didn’t have any reason to get up early so Jason got a much needed sleep in.

There were several touristic things that we had read about and wanted to do before we left. A walk around the sea, blue lagoon, and the free guided city walking tour (donation at the end).

We had breakfast and set out through town to the walk around the coast. It is described as a romantic walkway. We didn’t realise it was quite so far from town, by the time we made it from our apartment to the beginning of the walkway we had to turn around and walk back so we were not late for our guided city walking tour.

Oh well at least we knew where it was now and we could come back and do it later in the day.

Right now, we had a city walk to do.

We arrived a little early so grabbed the closest park bench. We must have stuck out in our shorts and puff jackets because the tour guide, as he ran past, pointed at us and said he would be right back. Go figure, not many people were wearing shots.

The crowd for the city tour was quite big, it is very popular and it pays to book in advance on their website.

They divided us into two and off we went. Our tour guide was Martid, again the d looks like an o with a little squiggle on the top. He told us all not to attempt the Icelandic pronunciation as we may get injured. So, Martin it is J

And what a funny guy Martin is. Sarcastic as any Kiwi bloke, amusing, and very knowledgeable. All guides have to be history graduates. So you know you are getting the real deal.

The tour takes around 2 hours and you walk to the interesting areas and hear of the history and unusual events.

A lot of the architecture is similar to home, corrugated iron. Yes really, if you walk to the “old town” it is nothing like we saw in Zermatt. It is corrugated iron homes. Mainly they are wooden underneath but this is covered by the corrugated iron to protect it from rotting. Around the old town they are painted different colours and quite pretty, just not what we expected.

Martin encouraged us to take photos, “but not through the window, that is creepy”. Noted! No voyeurism on the tour.

We were taken to see an Elf Stone (actually a boulder, quite large) – the story behind the stone is that it needed to be moved so that other houses could be constructed. The construction company bought in many pieces of machinery to move the stone but they kept breaking and the stone stayed.

They then realised it was an Elf Stone. It has feelings and powers. So they had to bring in a whisperer. Someone to convince the elves that live in the stone, that they want to move, that they are going to be moved to a nice quiet location where no one will disturb them.

So, they get another machine to move the stone and this time it goes peacefully to its current resting place. A very pleasant park with trees and stuff.

I walked up to the stone to get a good look “don’t go close” says Martin. Spooky things happen. I take a step back, until he stops looking then I put Lulu on the stone and take a photo. Lulu is still alive and well so I think he may have been teasing.

Once we had finished the tour it was lunch time. And we wanted to finish our romantic walk. We scoffed down some food and headed back down to the water. This time we drove to the start of the path and then walked.

These Icelandic peeps have a funny idea of romantic. Cold, wet, uneven path, past a treatment facility with smell and seagulls. Oh the love! HAHA. But nice to get out in the air I guess, even if it does smell.

After the walk we drove straight to the fish man to get some more dinner for Jason to cook up. I am addicted.

Then onto the blue lagoon. Everyone talks about the lagoon and everyone told us we needed to go!

I had booked tickets on line and we were expected to be there at 500pm for our swim. What I was not thinking about when I booked the ticket was the actual price. 8000isk, I must have been distracted because I nearly died when I realised that was about 110NZD each for a swim!

WTAF! This had best be the most relaxing, invigorating, enjoyable, entertaining swim the world has ever encountered. Ever!

The place was heaving, so many people, tour buses, cars, vans, families, all nationalities, crammed in. But it was not too crowded. I have to say that they had it very well organised.

As you go into the facility they give you a bracelet, it is used for identification, locker access, paying at the bar, etc. Very awesome idea! No need to carry anything with you and you can buy a drink and just pay at the end.

We got changed and went into the water.

The blue lagoon is a natural

As it was a high of 11 degrees I decided to take the wussy option and enter the water from inside the complex. This means you go into the water and are already warm, with just your head sticking out, before you go outside.

And the water was warm, it was lovely. Because the sky was overcast the water was not blue but more a milky, opal type colour.

There are life guards, poor bastards, in their water proof jackets, and puffer jackets, and leggings, and hats, scarves, glasses (very glary – if you are going take your sunglasses, if its sunny, take a hat), gloves. I would hate to think what would happen if they had to jump in and rescue someone. Would be interesting to watch though.

There are a few extras other than just wading around in the water. There is a bar, so of course we had to have an extravagantly priced beer and wine whilst having our extravagantly priced swim J

Further around is a mud bar, they hand out sulphur mud so you can put a face mask on. It feels really, really, really good. But looks ridiculous. However, Jason’s pores were so cleansed afterwards ha, ha. ‘

There is also a waterfall area, where the water pours down at a fast and heavy rate. You can stand underneath it and it is like a massage. I had to pry Jason out with a stick. He had found his happy place.

We stayed in the water for as long as we could handle, your skin starts to prune and your head gets cold, and, of course, I get bored.

Was it worth the 110NZD? Well it was enjoyable, and a nice way to reheat after the ice cold day we had.

We headed back to the apartment to enjoy the last of the fresh fish. Pack our suitcases. Have the final walk around town, and then head out to stroll the town for the last time.

As usual, we have a very early start to our travelling day. Back to London.

Leaving Iceland

We have had a great time in Iceland and seen some amazing sites. Many parts felt like home, and that was great, it is a shame we could not get to see the rest of Iceland but we enjoyed the parts we did see. Apparently the rest is amazing.

We were up at 430 and on the road at 510.

As it was a Saturday morning the locals were all up partying the night before. It must be very easy to stay out all night when the sun does not set, ha, ha.

So as we leave to drag our suitcases to the car there is still a decent smattering of people standing, lying, sitting about. Scoffing Subway, drinks in hand. A couple, I bet they weren’t locals, had shirts off (8 degrees) and one was only in a pair of shorts.

They were all harmless enough and definitely having a good time.

As we headed up the road one young man decided to try out his English.

“Welcome to Iceland” he yells. I didn’t have the heart to tell him we were leaving. So politely replied thank you.

We drove out and dropped off the car, then a shuttle to the airport.

Despite the 1.3 million visitors each year we had not really witnessed any major floors in their ability to cope with the numbers – until now.

Iceland have been struggling to deal with the tourists but had been battling on relatively well.

Their airport is not coping. The queues were out the door. The chaos was insane. An airport the size of Nelson, or smaller, with hundreds of people trying to get different flights.

Iceland is also a stopover destination from the USA, so that makes it a transit airport too!

Hopefully they get all this sorted and figure out how to bring down prices to ensure the tourists keep coming.

Thanks Iceland, its been great.

I know it sounds much like a Kung Fu movie title but the golden circle is one of the recommended areas in Iceland. For those with limited time you are able to see beautiful waterfalls, geysers, volcanic craters, and a volcanic lake.

In fact Golden Circle is the name that is used for marketing, there is no historical roots for this name, got to love PR.

There are recommended stops on this tour/route and in total its about a 300km drive. I am getting used to driving Miss Daisy/Jason about so it really does not seem that far.

We decided we would spend our day driving the Golden Circle and in the hope that we would avoid all the tour buses, with the masses of tourists that go with them, we would do it in reverse order.

Packing up our lunch, some snacks, we picked up our faithful steed and hit the road.

Hot tip: for those who visit and stay in Reykjavik, parking at the Church is free! That’s right free. And there is not a time limit on your parking. You are welcome!

Oh, another interesting fact! Drowning was commonly used as a form of execution in “olden times” and there is a plaque listing the names of those drowned in this particular water source. Women, in particular, were put in a sack, thrown in the pond, and held under. Civilisation at its best.

Pingvellir

This is a historic site and was the place of the first parliament, 10^th – 18^th centuries.

The other cool thing is the park is the result of a rift valley where two tectonic plates have separated. There is even a place where you can stand with one foot on each of the plates. As you are doing this, feel free to look down and do not drop your keys!

Also, take a moment to think about what would happen if there were an earthquake at that exact moment…

The park has loads of little pathways where you can explore the river, lake, church, and rocky cliffs. It really is beautiful, you can see all the way to the mountains on a clear day (we had a stunning day).

The cliffs also have the basalt structures but with more boulders than we saw at Black Beach. The rocks are so precariously balanced in some areas it makes you walk on the far side of the path. Definitley look up and around you on this walk and see how nature is playing pick-up-sticks. Very cool.

As we were walking around the small riverside path, we came across a couple of geese families. As we all know geese are friendly and welcoming creatures, said no one ever, so we walked carefully and gently past them. Actually, I did, Jason proved again that birdlife were not his friend and put Lulu in the middle of their patch for a photo op.

Needless to say the geese were not impressed and he got hissed at a lot. But, they didn’t go for his head, so that’s a bonus.

The day was so stunning we pulled up a rock and had lunch before heading to site number two.

Geysir

Any of you kiwi folk will be familiar with geysers. Geysir is not a spelling mistake, it seems our geyser is derived from geysir. Oh the things you learn!

Iceland is a very active wee country, not so wee as noted in the last update, with lots of volcanic remnants to make it an interesting landscape.

This particular geyser spouts boiling water up to 70 meters in the air, take that Rotorua! So you would think that many people would avoid that. I mean who wants to be boiled, Not me!

Usually the geyser is pretty regular, every 10-15 minutes something happens. That something varies in ferocity and size. When we park up and wander over to the geyser it is slightly reminiscent of home, but the sulphur smell is nowhere near as bad. There are little bubbling ponds, the sulphur stained rock, steam, and crowds. Welcome to Hell’s Gate 😛

One thing we did note is there was no boiling mud. Maybe that is why the sulphur smell was not as strong?

We watch as groups of kids, and some adults, gather up to the rope waiting for the eruption and then run screaming, as fast as they can, from the water. Duh, physics, you aren’t gonna win. So they just get wet. I guess the water was not that boiling after all.

Jason had identified the wind direction, he’s so clever like that, and we stood very close but out of the water’s path. Watching the eruption occur was very, very cool. If you watch the pool of water you can see the massive gas bubble building, and building, and then eventually exploding out of the pool driving the water into the air. AWESOME.

We did not spend too much time here, some of it was so similar to home, but the geyser itself, fabulous.

Gullfoss

I am beginning to figure out that foss has something to do with waterfalls, so if it ends with foss, you can happily assume that there is a waterfall.

And Gullfoss was QUITE a waterfall.

On the way there we encountered our very first asshole driver. There were roadworks with people working, and gravel, the speed limit was set to 30kms.

Some of you may know I am not huge on speed limits, but when people are working on the side of the road and there is gravel is manners to slow down. Not this w*nker! He sped up and over took us all! We saw him later and both Jason and I gave him the New Zealand wave of affection!

We walk down to the waterfall and WOW, really, seriously WOW. It is massive, easily 20 times larger than the ones we saw the day before and it has tiers.

The noise that the waterfall makes gives you an indication of the power behind the beauty. You definitely do not want to go rafting, that would not end well with 140 cubic meters of water per second. WTF, crazy mothernature and all her quirky stuff.

The height of the waterfall is 32 meters, but I swear when you are standing near it, it seems much bigger than that! The first tier has an 11 meter drop followed by a more drastic 21 meter drop. Disappearing down the canyon and out of sight.

Amazing!

Kerid (Kerith)

Its kind of hard to write this name as the d actually looks like an o with a tail on the top, very confusing for our attempts at pronunciation – which must offend the locals!

Anyway, Kerid is a crater lake, one of several in the area, but the easiest to get to so most popular with tourists.

When we arrived there were very few people there, our backwards plan was working!

This is the only attraction on the Golden Circle that we had to pay for, it was not a lot and definitely worth it. The money goes towards keeping the area pristine, and it certainly seems to be working.

The first think I noted was the scoria and, given my interaction with scoria on Mt Etna, I was a little nervous walking about. Slippery shite!

What also makes Kerid so interesting is the caldera is very distinguishable and intact. It is what happens when a volcano collapses in on itself. So Kerid is very clearly defined and most of the walls are sheer and not suitable for climbing, Jason would disagree of course.

One face of the caldera has quite a gentle slope so this has been maximised with steps created so you can walk right down to the volcanic lake and around the edge.

We were at the top, it is like a viewing/photo op spot. Taking photos and generally admiring the surroundings. A very nice, and very good looking, couple asked if we would like a photo together.

Please note whenever we are offered this opportunity we jump at it, that way you guys know we are actually travelling together. I don’t have to do a selfie where I end up looking like an emu!

As polite peeps, which we are, we returned the favour and offered to take a photo of them.

The chap, who turned out to be called Manu, started telling me where to stand to take the photo and what to do. Being the shy reserved creature that I am, I sarcastically asked if he was a director or something, he said “something like that”, I told him in my world, you are just bossy. Always the charmer aren’t I.

Anyway we started talking and instantly noted the Kiwi accents. What an absolute HOOT. Turns out they are brother and sister doing a bit of a world travel, some of which was work related.

It is always wonderful to meet nice people from your country when you are travelling but to meet these two lovely folk was awesome. Manu, his sister (so sorry I cannot remember her name – but I could easily picture a bottle of wine and fun afternoon in the sun with her), spent the next 30 minute chatting and swapping recommendations with us.

They were starting the GC, NOT Gold Coast in case you were wondering, tour late in the day as we were nearing the end of our excursion so time was short (not that they were going to run out of light, ha, ha).

Manu declared “this deserves a selfie”, took a great photo and emailed it to me, how cool is that. ANYWAY, eventually we bid farewell. We all had places to be and things to see.

Jason and I climbed down the steps to the water’s edge. On the way Jason said, oh he’s famous or something. Been in a bunch of stuff. Oh really? Said I. End of that.

We finished our tour, it was late in the afternoon and time to head back to town.

Manu and Sis had recommended a drive up North. It was a long way so we wanted to get back, get organised, and get some sleep in preparation for the next day.

Jason did his navigation homework, cooked dinner (fresh fish again – will never get sick of that), and we went for a walk around the town at 900pm because it was light and seemed rude not to make the most of it.

I saw the email, with the selfie, from Manu and replied saying how lovely it was to meet them and they should catch up if they are in Wellington. Hit send!

Then we thought, maybe look him up. Onto Google we went.

Oh, did we feel silly! Yeah he’s been in a lot and is quite famous. Hobbit, Spartacus, Arrow, Shortland Street (of course). And we suggest he pop by for a BBQ – ha, ha.

OMFG! Insert embarrassed emoji here. Ha, ha. But, god bless the man, he replied to our email. What a gem.

Bed time! Thanks Iceland.

Some data for you!

• Hours in the air, up to and including landing in Iceland, 38 hours and 45 minutes
• Number of flight, up to and including landing in Iceland, 11.

Where did I leave you? Oh yes, we had been to Dublin and were heading back to London for a quick change in suitcase contents before heading to Iceland.

The wonderful, generous, amazingly great chauffer, Gavin picked us up, again, from the airport and took us back to the Honey Home.

Sandra had cooked us dinner. Sandra is now 1^st favourite, tied with Niamh Kromo, for the most wonderful person ever. He had been craving home cooked meals and both Sandra and Niamh made him a very, very happy man.

As we got in late it was a short catch up with Carter and his parents before we all hit the sack. We needed our rest, the next day was THE LONDON UNDERGROUND!

Heading to Iceland – 12th June!

Unfortunately Gavin has a job other than driving us back and forth to the airport, so we were on our own this time.

Our flight departed Gatwick at 110PM, so we wanted to give ourselves lots of time. To get lost, get on the wrong train etc. So we left the Honey Home at 845AM. According to the Oracle, Google Maps, it was going to take us 1 hour 45 minutes to get there. All going well.

Of course we could not assume that all would go well, because it just doesn’t sometimes, so we added extra time, just in case.

But it did go well, we made it to the trains, found our connections, dragged suitcases, stood to the right as good citizens should, and made it onto the Gatwick express. All arriving with 2 hours to spare. Well done us!

We had access to the lounge and hung out there having lunch and a couple of refreshments before our flight. I had to be sensible as I was driving in Iceland.

The flight itself took just under three hours. Then we were there! We landed in the late afternoon to a beautiful sunny, yet still a little chilly, day.

Coming into Iceland you started to get an idea about how big this place is, for some reason I had it in my head that it wasn’t overly large and driving around should not take us too long, WRONG 😛

The airport was super busy, lots of tour companies, car rental companies, people, bags, chaos, the whole thing. We didn’t realise that the rental company was based 2kms outside of the airport. So there was a fair bit of standing around waiting for them to come and get us.

Collecting the rental car was a bit of amateur hour, only one person on, long queues, standing about, but finally we got our vehicle, wahoo!

A Few Things About Iceland

Before we get started there are a few things I thought I would share about Iceland. It may help put things into perspective J

1. The total population is 340,000.
2. Last year the number of tourists topped 1,300,000.
3. They have neither the infrastructure nor workforce to deal with that number.
4. They have the highest suicide rate in the world.
5. In summer there is no night time, it gets a little dull, but not dark.
6. Which means in winter they have no day time, most likely influential in point 4.
7. As they have a very small population it has been necessary to create the Anti Incest Database their catch phrase is to “stop Icelanders from becoming too close”, yes really.
   1. This database has its highest use every Sunday morning – somewhat after the horse has bolted.
8. They equal New Zealand in the level of sarcasm – a trait I really liked about them.
9. They have a strange idea that New Zealand is a hot place – we laughed and laughed.
10. Iceland is one of the leading countries when it comes to gender equality. Equal pay, equal treatment, love it! In August they are having a “free the nipple” rally – kind of sad I will miss that. According to our guide it’s going to be a sea of nipples. All to show that breasts and breastfeeding are just a normal thing!

Back to the Story

The drive from the airport Keflavik to the main city, Reykjavik took 45 minutes, Google Maps did a wonderful job of getting there and we easily found a park, and our accommodation.

This time I had booked us an apartment so we could be as self-sufficient as possible. Iceland is renowned for being expensive so I wanted to be sure we could make our own breakfasts and stock up on a few wines and beers for our stay.

We bought two bottles of wine and a 6 pack of beer at duty free, $77 NZD thank you very much.

The apartment was lovely, had everything we needed, and was right in the centre of town. Easy for us to walk about.

A quick dump of the bags, and off to the supermarket. Jason really wanted to cook whilst we were here, and of course I really wanted to do some dishes (said no one EVER).

Fish, breakfast food, salad stuff, and a few necessities and the bill was 5,550 KRN, which equates to around $75 NZD. We did not buy a lot, but it seemed reasonable enough.

Jason cooked us some amazing haddock, Iceland being so close to wonderful fishing waters, has an abundant supply of tasty fish.

As it was still light, no surprise there, we went for a walk about town. It’s a little disconcerting to be out and around at 1000pm with the blue sky and bright light. It does mean you can make the most of your tourism time though.

First impression, a very pretty town, friendly people, yummy fish. Happy!

13 June – Our First Full Day

Jason did his homework whilst I did dishes and mapped out a route for us to explore the south of the country. We had highlighted sites we wanted to see and the road to get there.

So, a yummy breakfast of avocado and tomato on toast, filled roles and snacks from the supermarket, to the car and off we go! Very exciting.

Our first stop was at the Seljalandsfoss waterfall it was about 75 minutes outside of Reykavik and you can see it at least 10 minutes before you get to it. It is METERS high and is one of three waterfalls that are grouped together. We did the obligatory photos and walking behind the waterfall to get soaked with icy cold water.

After climbing a few banks for some great photos, Jason thought it would be a great idea to climb to the top of the biggest of the waterfall.

Warning!

Now, I would like to take a little time out to mention that Jason loves hills, tops of hills, and climbing to the top of hills is number one on his fun list.

He gets a look on his face and his smile is so big his eyes disappear. So we climbed.

And its about this time that all the programmes I have watched on the Crime Scene Investigation channel start running through my mind.

“The newly married couple were enjoying a scenic walk when a tragic accident happened… or was it an accident..”

“…at first they seemed like a perfectly happy couple…”

“her friends could not understand why she would walk up such a path knowing how clumsy she was, and immediately had their suspicions”

Anyway, we scrambled, please keep in mind I still have a munted finger so cannot grip with one hand which made some of the manoeuvres quite exhilarating, up the side of this hill to reach the top. And he was right, it was a pretty damned good view. Which I tried my best not to get too close to ha, ha. “A tragic end to the honeymoon of a lifetime”…

We hiked along the top to where the water poured over the cliff top to the pond below, around 270 meters below. Really amazing and pretty. A group of young guys had seen our trek and followed us up.

We had a quick chat with them and found they were Australians, goes to show antipodeans are usually the crazy ones – I wonder how many holiday photos we are going to be in as we hovered by that cliff.

A quick, but not any less perilous, trek back down to continue our tour.

We continued around the south coast, it is very bleak. Flat, with stunning hills off in the distance, and very similar to the dessert road.

Off in the distance I saw another waterfall and decided one was not enough so we needed to visit this one too. This waterfall is called Skogafoss, yet another spectacular vision! It seems that Iceland have a lot of these things, and they are well worth visiting!

There had been some forward thinking around this waterfall and steps had been built to the top with a site seeing path winding along the river. So much more sensible than the death defying hike (I may be exaggerating – slightly).

There were 418 steps to the top, got the heart rate going I can tell ya! Then 418 steps going back down.

Back on the road!

Lemmings!

Once back on the road, we continued our way around the coast when we saw a large parking lot with lots of cars and people heading down to the beach.

There was nothing on our map, there were no signs, but there were lots of people all walking down to the beach. We ummed and erred about whether we should follow the crowd, and with all these people it must be something good.

So we parked up and off we went, we followed the crowd, and we followed, and followed, and kept walking. To set the scene the wind chill probably made the temperature around 1 degree! Bloody cold, hands cold, face cold, walk long.

The track we were walking was desolate, black rocks, black sand, cold wind, freaking cold wind. But we were committed so we kept walking, and walking, and freaking walking!

In fact it was nearly 4km in one direction! 4km in this bitter wind with no idea of what we were walking for, or why. What were we thinking. For the love of God! Oh, I have to add that we had not eaten yet, so it was like 1pm, and no lunch.

So we continued on the desolate voyage, following like lemmings, and with no idea of what we were doing. Eventually we got to the thing, everyone was walking along to!

And we were not happy, not impressed, and not grateful to have made it! It was a downed DC3 plane that belonged to the USA Navy. It had crashed in 1973 (either due to lack of fuel or ice on the wings, depending on the Wikipedia article you read) and all on board survived. So what is the big deal! For the love of PETE!

Why did we trek nearly 4kms down to see this thing, a decaying carcass of a plane, not a monument, not a treasure, not a relic, just a broken thing that no one has bothered to clean up. I was not a happy camper.

Time to walk back then! Another 4km to go before we could have lunch! Needless to say it was not a chatty walk ha, ha.

Hangry, cold, tired, and grumpy – always good 😀

Once we got back to the car we scoffed down our supermarket rolls and lots of lollies, then on to the next thing – we do not speak of the walk of the lemming!

The Hole and Black Beach

Next on our list of things to do Dyrholaey! Or as our lovely receptionist at the apartment told us, its this big hole in a wall, and it’s really awesome. We cannot laugh at her for her simplistic description because that essentially is what it is!

Similar to the one that did exist in Gozo. You get an amazing understanding of the power of nature and how the sea can tear the rock apart with its persistence.

On the way back to the car, we decided to walk across a large paddock type area. As we progressed there were some birds, artic terns, that started to get a little agitated. In fact you could say they were a little frosty towards us.

As a bird myself I realised that these particular feathered creatures were not happy and we were probably walking on their nesting area. I opted for the sensible approach and veered away from the paddock, but not Jason, he decided a front on attack was the best way.

Hmm, silly man, birds were dive bombing him, screeching and crying, the noise was incredible. This attracted the attention of the massive male bird! And he really was big and he really was angry. Missing Jason’s head on each dive bomb by around 6 inches, madness – but funny to watch. You must see the video, it’s on Facebook and hilarious.

Goes to show that not all animals are subject to his animal wiles, I have to say I laughed, and laughed, and went the long way round 😛

He did make it safely back, no injuries but a lot of really pissed off birds.

Onto the beach.

The fascination of the black beach is the black, iron, sand. Like quite a few things we saw in Iceland, the black beach itself was very familiar. Wanganui, don’t get me wrong I am not comparing Wanganui with Iceland, has black sand and it is very cool. But the most fascinating thing is the basalt.

The basalt rock is fascinating, scary, intimidating, and amazing. As you see the rock formation clinging on, with the underlying threat of collapse, you cannot help but want to climb and touch it. Hopeful that it won’t choose to collapse at exactly that moment.

Jason climbed to his heart’s content, well possibly not that much as I am telling him not to fall and die (in a very grumpy voice).

There is a tiny little village called Vik about 9kms south, so we drove on and did a tiki tour before heading home.

It was getting late and we knew, if we did not head back soon we would be eating late, sleeping late, and shite the next day.

Due to my slightly heavy foot, speed limit ummm, we made it home and it was still light (no crap lady, it’s always light) and Jason had lots of time to cook me another amazing dinner! I love the fish here.

A very tiring day, lots of driving, walking, hiking, and after a lovely dinner, an amazingly great sleep. God bless black out curtains!

Tomorrow we head to the golden circle. To see what everyone talks about.

Night, night, except it looks like day, day.

10th – 11th June

Killalee, Kilallee, Killele, Killalea

Our big plans for day two was to find Killalea which, according to Google maps and some digging around, was only 90 minutes out of Dublin.

We made plans, rented a car, agreed a meeting point with Kylie and were set to go.

A wee mishap with Google maps and getting to the rental car though. I normally love the work of Google maps, its amazing. You can enter your destination and then choose to walk, drive, cycle, or public transport to your location. We have used it endlessly and 95% of the time, bingo, you make it.

This time it instructed us to catch the Green 747 bus, sweet, been on that before and knew where it left from.

We bought the full day, all zones, travel pass and waited for the bus. When it arrived it turns out that it is not covered by the pass, and we would have to pay extra, the driver said to take a tram. Awesome, there was a tram right there.

Directed by the bus driver and the enthusiastic Jason we jumped on the tram. Without knowing the number, the destination or the stop we needed. It was like intrepid journeys, but not really. Turns out they all go in a straight line and within 10 minutes we were 300 meters from the rental car place.

Ta da! How often does stuff like that work out!

For breakfast we popped into a local dairy type setup, at least that is what we would call it at home. And they make rolls and sandwiches to order. Kind of like Subway but better. Jason had the black pudding, white pudding, bacon, and hash brown roll (coronary here we come) and I opted for the bacon and salad roll. Amazingly tasty and much less than the 12.95 buffet breakfast at the hotel.

We got to the rental company, SIXT, early. Thank god, the queue was forming already and the staff appeared to be in the queue with us. Oh dear, the person with the key had not turned up on time. By the time the key holder arrived and we finally got sorted, just after 930, the queue was 20 people deep and not very happy.

Oops.

This time Jason was driving. They drive on the same side as home so should not be a big deal. And he did a great job. We navigated through the Dublin rabbit warren and out onto the motorway. It was actually remarkably simple.

Killalea is near Donore, 95kms from Dublin. Simply follow the M4 and M6, sounds easy.

Of the 95kms over 80kms of them were on the motorway and only the last stretch was through towns and little country alley ways. These little country alley ways had a speed limit of 80kms – bugger that. You could not see over the hedges, the stretches of road you could see in front were 50 meters or less, so Jason opted for the safer tack of driving slowly.

The little line and the bossy woman on my phone told us we were getting close. And I have to admit I was getting quite excited. What a cool little outing, going all this way to see where one line of my family is from!

Then we arrive.

And there is nothing.

No sign, no road names.

Nooooooooooothiiiiiiiiiingggggggggggggggggggggggggggg.

We drive up and down this little road a couple of times hoping for some indication but we found nothing. Jason pulled over and I start having a serious conversation with Google Maps. Had my faithful companion lied to me, misled me, and sent me on some random folly!

Just as I was voicing these thoughts directly to my phone, the keeper of Google Maps, a car pulls up beside us.

We get out and the lovely young lady, with the beautiful accent asks, “are ye alright”? You do melt a little when you hear the accent, it’s so sing songy – or melodic if you prefer.

Jason tells Kathleen, I think it suits her and I am sure you’d agree, that we are from New Zealand and my last name is Killalea. She just kind of blinks at us (probably thinking, well done you).

And we wanted to know if this was Killalea. Kathleen smiles and says, yes, well that side of the street is.

Kylie had joined us by this stage and we all turn to look behind us.

“That side”? ask us

“Yes” says Kathleen

“No sign or anything then”? we enquire

“Ha, ha, ha, ha, no” replies Kathleen

We laugh. I am sure she thought we were a bit touched in the head. She continues to smile nicely and says she has to go. Making her escape no doubt.

What a lovely girl, stopping to speak to us because we looked out of place. I wonder if she will ever do that again 😛

Well, my apologies Google Map, we were indeed in Killalea. On one side of the road.

What to do? As we had driven all the way there it seemed only right that we walk around a bit, get a feel for the place. So we walked to one end, and then back down to the other, took some photos, I stole a rock from a fence outside a Killalea house (naughty eh).

And then? Well, then we left. There wasn’t actually much else to do.

It was cool to see two houses with the name Killalea on them, even though they were both different variations.

Thanks to Jason for suggesting it and Kylie for humouring us.

So Long Killalea – it was… fun?

It was only 1130am by this stage and we had the car for the whole day, so we decided to drive out to one of the coastal towns for lunch.

Malahide was only 70 minutes from Killalea, HAH Killalea is a place, so off we went. The drive was much like the drive down to Killalea (I am going to keep referring to it because Killalea is a real location) and we followed the motorway.

Arriving in Malahide without issue and hungry! We easily found a park and were blown away at how beautiful the seaside is. Let alone the cute little town itself. Photos had to be taken, and they were! Seriously it was so damn cute, it is really hard to align Dublin and Malahide, they are only approximately 15kms, away from each other but vastly different worlds.

After a spot of research, god bless Google, we followed the blue dots of Google Maps to our preferred restaurant – Fish Shack!

The meal was delicious, Kylie and Jason order the fish and chips, and I went for the salmon salad. When will I learn that eating healthy will always result in food envy! My salad was delicious, but the fish and chips looked so good. At least I managed to scavenge some chips from my companions!

Time for site seeing and walking off lunch. The streets are very pretty and the town quite compact so we headed to the castle for a look. You had to pay to go in, and weren’t really THAT interested, so walked the grounds and slowly made our way back to the car. With a spot of shopping – of course.

The trip back to Dublin was easy! It was a lovely day out thanks again to Jason for suggesting it and Kylie for coming along.

We parked up and returned to our respective hotels to dump our stuff and get ready for dinner.

Tonight we are dining at Kelly Darkeys. Researched and booked by the lovely Kylie Smith!

We took the tram, getting quite good at that now, and then walked the remaining distance. Another eye opener walking past a shelter that was due to open soon. The homeless and down on their luck customers were lined up outside. Nothing was said, but you felt you would not walk back that way.

Every city has their issues, and Dublin is no different. I felt it was a lot more evident, perhaps because of the confined space of the city, and we saw quite a few people who clearly were unwell. Like any city, don’t walk anywhere you don’t feel safe, be sensible and don’t take risks. A gentle reminder to all you travellers.

Dinner was tasty, the food was promptly delivered and with lots of flavour, we washing it down with a suitable amount of wine and beer.

It had been a long day so once we were fed and watered we ubered our way home for a big sleep in our massive bed. The amazing bed. The bed dreams are made of. With fluffy pillows.

Last Day – To Be Sure

What better way to start the day then a trip to the Guinness factory for a tour and tasting.

Yay, I cannot wait, you all know how much I love beer, especially dark beer – NOT EVEN SLIGHTLY.

But, my very patient man has waited outside many shoe shops over the past 5 weeks, so it is only fair that we do some things that are completely about him.

So Guinness for breakfast it is!

We met Kylie at the storehouse for our self-guided tour. The tour also included a tasting and a pint of Guinness. We kicked off the fun at 945am.

The place is very cool, and well laid out. Despite the fact it was already busy when we arrived we did not encounter long waits or queues. This is a well-oiled machine that puts through 6000 people EACH DAY.

Jason was in his happy place. The tour talks about how the beer is made, the history, and the amount of beer that is produced. Guinness uses 2/3s of the barley produced in Ireland, they are a busy bunch!

There is a smell room, where they pump the different smells from the beer into the room. I actually liked the smell, maybe there is hope for me and my relationship with Guinness after all.

You are then poured a tasting glass and led into a dark room with real ambiance lighting and told how to drink and taste the flavours. It is quite different to wine tasting, you are encouraged to take a big mouthful, fill your gob, wash it around, and chug it back.

I can confirm – we have NOT made progress. My stance has not changed. Is fecking awful.

Next was a lesson on how to pour Guinness correctly to ensure the perfect pint. Definitely a skill that we should all have 😀 we even got a certificate stating we have completed training and achieved the outcome ha, ha.

So now we had three perfectly poured pints, well done us, and only two people willing to drink it. Luckily Jason was willing to take one for the team, and finish two pints. Kylie, much to my surprise, has decided she quite likes Guinness and finished her own. Well done you Kylie Smith! You are a braver woman than I am.

The entire tour took 2 hours, it seemed to whiz by.

If you are going to Dublin, DO THE TOUR. It was really good fun and even non beer drinkers can find it fun.

After the tour, with two boozed up travel companions (well boozed up may be an over statement) it was time to do a victory lap of Dublin, more site seeing, shopping, and then packing and off to the airport.

It is like déjà vu, we are spending a lot of time going to, from, sitting in, and leaving airports lately. But all in the name of a good time.

We really enjoyed our time in Dublin, it was awesome to see Kylie, visiting Killalea (spelt however you feel), malahide, shopping, eating, and drinking.

Thank you to Ashling Hotel for the amazing bed, free earplugs to “avoid the war”, and lovely food.

8th – 10th June

Our 400am wakeup call was lovely, said no one EVER! But we got up, sorted ourselves out, hopefully did not wake up our hosts, drove to the airport, dropped off rental car, checked in, and relaxed. All by 530am J That, my friends, is a productive day!

We were flying with Swiss air and it had been a while since I had done that, I forgot how great they could really be. The flight was on time, efficient, and came with croissants. Dream trip really.

Our wonderful friend Gavin had offered to pick us up from the airport and take us to his family home. Where we will base ourselves over the next week or so.

Gavin, his lovely wife Sandra, and Sir Carter (age 5) live in Ruislip. These wonderful people offered us a place to stay, storage of baggage (no, not me you cheeky people), and airport transfers where possible. How god damn kiwi can you get!

At first I was concerned, would I recognise Gavin, it has been a wee while. But there is no mistaking that face! Massive hugs, relief to see him, still the same awesome dude I remember.

Gavin drove us our to his home where we lugged the bags up the stairs to our new accommodation, the lounge, poor people probably had no idea how much shite we were lugging around when they made the offer 😛

On the upside, dispensing of the chocolate and lollies I had bought over for the Honey family, definitely made the bags a bit lighter. Wahoo, room for more shopping! KIDDING, not…

We were both really tired from our late night and early morning so were not in a rush to do anything, at all, not a single thing. So we sat about the lounge talking shite and shooting the breeze.

Our stomachs eventually got the better of us and it was off to the local “greasy spoon” for lunch. Jason was especially excited by this idea, it had been a while since he had food he could pronounce and recognise!

Jason and Gavin indulged in the big breakfast whilst I settled for the bacon and egg sandwich. Delicious, hit the spot, we could have all napped I am sure.

The rest of the afternoon we prepared our suitcases for Dublin and Iceland, tried to organise ourselves bags so not to leave too much chaos in the Honey lounge, and decide what we wanted for dinner.

There was really only one option, for Jason – and I do owe him for his shopping patience, and that was curry. He was hanging out for a decent curry! Luckily there was a curry shop just down the road.

We suited up, essentially put on shoes, and headed out for dinner at around 600pm, 700pm Geneva time and our energy was waning. The restaurant was very quiet, but the only one in the area so we braved it and went in. The waiter, Pedro (strange Indian name, but that is what I am calling him) was very surprised when we said we wanted to eat in.

Quickly sorted and seated, onto YouTube to find background music, yelling to warn the kitchen of our arrival, we settled in for some food.

A good sign was the phone kept ringing with takeaway orders. Can’t be too bad then.

There was no saagwala, much to Jason’s disappointment, so he had to choose something new for him! Ohhhh, branching out on the Indian menu, but not really, he went with Chicken Rogan Josh. Essentially he ordered an Indian casserole. I opted for lamb dish, it sounded exotic and different so why not.

YouTube finally found the Indian background restaurant music channel so the ambience was set. The drinks came – wahoo. And we were left to our own devices.

After about 30 minutes the food arrived and it was lovely, the flavours were fantastic, enough to make Jason’s face sweat but he could still eat it.

We enjoyed our meal, got the leftovers as takeaway and went to pay the bill. As we ate in, paid in cash, it was 40% off! Yes really. Quite an inexpensive meal in the end BONUS.

We wandered the short distance back to the Honey Abode (I shall refrain from calling it a hive, yes I shall). Sandra was home from work and it was so great to see her and catch up. She had a massive exam the next day so we were all very sensible, except for Gavin, he was out partying ha, ha. Not really, but kind of J

The airbed was blown up, the blankets prepared, showers had, head pillow. Yet another early start tomorrow.

This time, Dublin.

Gavin, chauffer of the year, was driving us to Gatwick airport. God bless him.

Dublin and the Curry

Thanks to the amazing skills of our chauffer and his faithful steed we made it to the airport with lots of time to spare.

I had paid for priority check in and boarding. We are so over standing in queues, the ability to bypass them sounded irresistible. Our bags were checked in without an issue, we went through security with no issues, other than Jason’s bag getting a random check. Well, he can be random.

We were flying with Aer Lingus. When booking I added the priority check in, boarding, and lounge access. What I wasn’t aware of was the lounge access was only for Dublin not London, so we were out in the cold.

A touch hungry we went in search of breakfast. Jason found an amazing airport restaurant. I had spinach, salmon, and poached eggs, and Jason had eggs Montreal. The service was great, food SO TASTY, and price – well we won’t talk about that. But it was well worth it.

I had started to feel a bit queasy before breakfast so Jason had to have half of mine – he managed the hardship though. Good man.

Our flight was on time, exit seats with lots of room, nice service, and an easy flight into Dublin. Would definitely fly Aer Lingus again.

There was a stag party on the plane. They were quite entertaining. Snow White and her 20ish dwarves. These boys were partying. I did feel a little sorry for the groom to be, but only briefly. I am not sure what the boys had done to him, but he was the last to get on the plane, was not thrilled and they all just whistled “hi ho hi ho”, brilliant.

We arrived on time and, thanks to Gavin and his contacts, we knew we had to find the Green 747 bus to Dublin. Easy peasy, it was right outside the door, there was a lovely young man making sure everyone had tickets, their luggage was stored correctly, and everyone knew where they were going. Service A+. Return trip to the city 14 euro each.

The bus into town took around 1 hour, this was mainly due to the massive roadworks going on around Dublin. Every roundabout seemed to be under construction – a theme that continued throughout the entire city, buildings, railways, tram lines, everything.

We arrived at Heuston Train Station and walked the massive 210 meters to our accommodation the Ashling Hotel. Wow, wow, and double wow. Recommended! Stay there, service, food, rooms, location, everything. And the bed, the best bed we have encountered so far. You do not need to worry about roll-together! You only need to worry if you are still in the same timezone!

A quick unload of bags, orientation, gathering of maps, outlining of the major attractions and it was time to fill in the afternoon before the arrival of the much anticipated, Kylie Smith.

Out and About

Other than the construction and road works the second thing I noted about walking around Dublin is the crossing signals. Or the lack of them. It’s like an orchestrated game of chicken.

Half the streets appear not to have them and none of them seem to make any noise. So half the time you are unaware if you should actually cross unless you stare at them intently. Eventually you think “feck it” and just make a move anyway. Surely they wouldn’t run us over…

We had decided we would wander around, see the sights, and find a quiet place for lunch.

We crossed the river and walked towards the Guinness Storehouse – that place is freaking massive – and stumbled across one of the oldest pubs in Dublin (which is a claim they all seem to make…). The food options, stapled to the door, looked ok so in we went.

Holy shite! We were not entirely sure what we had walked into. There was a group of blokes taking up 50 percent of the bar, not a large space to be fair, and they were singing, chanting, laughing, and cheering! Ah well, it all adds to the experience right.

The bar tender, just the stereotypical bartender you want on your first outing in Dublin, was very nice. Apologised for the noise, and asked “what can I get you sweetheart” with the loveliest Irish accent.

We ordered drinks and food and continued to watch the hilarity happening with the blokes next to us. Turns out it was your standard Irish stag do, no costumes required for these boys.

Jason ordered the beef and Guinness stew with a pint of Guinness of course, and I ordered the Irish salmon salad with a glass of wine.

As we ate, the food was tasty and filling, we started to chat with some of the stag do boys.

They were playing several drinking games, which all came with a song of some sort, and they were downing pints of Guinness. Like skulling, chug, chug, finish it up.

One game consisted of dropping a coin in the other guys drink, if you could get away with it, that guy then had to empty his drink to rescue the queen from drowning, there was a song that went with it, but I cannot remember how it went. All very amusing.

Being the good sports that we are, and I just cannot help myself, I asked our new friends who the stag was. When he was duly pointed out, I said, well I could drop a coin in his glass on my way out.

They were ecstatic and quickly ordered another round even though they were ready to head off to their next location.

The stag had started to get a little protective of his glass so this was not going to be easy. My new friend Mike, I have chosen Mike for several reasons and it suits him well, passed me a coin and the plan was put into action.

Due to the stag being hyper vigilant, for a dude three sheets to the wind, Jason was to run distraction and I was to do the coin drop! So we gather our things and slowly make for the door. Jason says “mate, congratulations” and holds out his hand for the handshake.

Groom to be lets glass out of his site for 5 seconds and BOOM the coin is in. The rest of the stag boys, who had no idea about the plan we had hatched with Mike, launch into massive cheers, singing, and laughter.

The stag just cries “you bastards”.

As we leave the bar we turn and get a photo of the stag party cheering us out the door.

I love the Irish. I really do. We could hear them all the way down the road and around the corner.

Thanks Mike and friends, you made our day.

We continue with our site seeing and crowd dodging, keeping in touch with Kylie as she lands, gets on her bus, and heads to town to meet us.

We attempted to see a few of the key sites but most were covered with construction, or road works which really detracted from the beauty. However, we had a list and we stuck to it. Including the main shopping street Grafton.

Dublin is very deceptive, you do not realise how far you have walked. When Kylie said she was close we were still a good couple of kms before we were anywhere near our hotel. Time to pick up the pace. Quite necessary too as both Jason and I had very, very queasy stomachs – no details required. Do not try the curry, is our only thought.

Kylie arrived around 530 and we have drinks and nibbles in our hotel room. The intention was to go our exploring and find a place to eat, but instead we opted to eat at our hotel.

So glad we did.

The food was great, the service was so awesome, thank you Lauren (her actual name, I did not make that one up) for your attentive service and celebratory champagne.

I made the mistake of ordering the venison burger (damn it) which was nowhere near as good as home. Whilst Kylie and Jason ordered the steak, food envy for sure.

Back to the room for a nightcap. Kylie calls her uber and disappears into the night.

We prep for sleep, a big day tomorrow, driving to Killalea, exciting.

And climb into our bed that could also double as a barge!

Evening 6th – early 8th June

We had to leave Zermatt to come back for the bestest date EVER.

Dinner with Niamh, John, and their beautiful children.

When I left Switzerland Dylan, their eldest, was around 8 months old and one of my favourite people on the planet already. He was small and chubby and cute and cuddly and adorable and, and, and.

Now this kid, not a kid really, is 13 and taller than me. And handsome, funny, charming, and the big brother to two gorgeous girls Mia and Zara.

So, we left Zermatt and I drove back to Geneva. That was damn exciting, torrential rain, no visibility, crazy wind, fun times. But we made it and Geneva had put on a beautiful and sunny afternoon to welcome us back. We had heard the weather was absolutely obscene that morning, but she was innocently smiling sunshine, as if “who me”?

I had a few chores to do, so we parked up at Chateaux Streiffjert delivered our luggage, put on some washing and went to the mall.

All tasks were done and dusted in record time, so we went back to the Chateaux and got ready for our dinner. Jason was super excited, a home cooked meal!

We caught the bus and did a little tour of the supermarket to get wine and beer, before heading to Niamh’s place. Where we promptly got lost. Luckily Mia and Zara are experts at finding lost visitors and they came and rescued us. Meeting number one, they are GORGEOUS!

Dylan was a shock to the system, it’s hard to think of that adorable baby being so grown up despite seeing photos of him on Facebook. But I would recognise that face!

Niamh and I hit the road and went for a walk, so great to spend some alone time with my good friend and just talk shite! And we did J it was awesome to do the same trail I used to do when I worked at WHO and see the beautiful scenery.

We left the boys to look after the house and do the dishes, yeah right 😛

Seeing the kids, and the parents of course ha, ha, was just wonderful. It was great to get to know them, even just a little bit. What a wonderful night, with great food (thanks for the feast Niamh), wine, company, and amazing kids who I miss already.

After enough wine was consumed and it was getting a little late on a school night, we jumped on the bus, after a failed Uber attempt – flat battery etc, and made it home at a reasonable time, kind of J

A lovely and wonderful evening. Gush, gush, gush.

Tomorrow, our last day in Switzerland.

After my apprehension of being here, I am going to miss this place and the people I have reconnected with.

Sleep time.

Geneva site seeing tomorrow.

7^th June –Last Day with an old friend

We decided that we would spend the last day really seeing around town, we had mainly spent our time going to different places but Jason had not really explored Geneva. So time to do the proper introduction, if a little delayed.

We organised our suitcases and got ourselves sorted, as much as possible, s our flight, what was I thinking, is at 700am the next day. That means getting to the airport at 500am. Sometimes I am just not very bright.

Then we got on the tram and went into town. We walked around one of the main shopping streets, rue de Rhone, waiting for the Victronix shop to open. We had souvenirs to buy!

After purchasing some weapons of mass usefulness, Swiss army knives rule, and a few other bits a pieces we wandered across the river around streets, in and out of shops, just weaving our way through the streets. Mostly the town looks the same, I can remember old haunts and favourite shops, but the feeling wasn’t the same. I am not sure how to describe it.

Jason seemed very unimpressed by the area too, mainly due to the fact that we have been to so many cities, with old buildings, and pretty outlooks. Clearly it was time for lunch.

We decided to end how we started and hunt our some fillet de perche. We threw caution, and francs, to the wind and opted to eat at one of the courtyard restaurants. This time we selected Café du Center. The service was fast and efficient, the fish divine, and the wine tasty. It was a little different to L’Impreinte but both were lovely.

Lunch in, wine and beer on board, time to see old town. This truly was a flash back in time, we even found Roi Ubu! It was closed so no opportunity to go in and reminisce, probably a good thing.

The day was still young so I offered to drive Jason to the Saleve summit to see the view and take photos. After all, Geneva had put on a stunning last day for us, mostly.

We headed back to CS, picked up the car, and hit the road. Miss GPS took us the French route, not my favourite, but we got there eventually and went walking around the tracks. There were loads of paragliders, due to the wind, and that was amazing to watch! At one point there were around 8 in the air at one time.

The views were great, lots of photos were taken, and back to the car. Time to head home, fill up the car, get ready to visit Charlotte hopefully, and get ready for dinner.

Easier said than done.

Sigh, every trip needs an argument right, getting back down the hill was easy, we went the Swiss route and that is always such a fun drive. Next item on the list, petrol station. The only one we could find nearby was on the motorway.

So we foolishly manoeuvred our way there, without thinking. This petrol station has us pointing to France. A bit of chaos, late decision making, hesitation from the driver, and yet again we were in France. There was eye rolling, grumpiness, and sulking (no names mentioned).

Next time the car goes back empty!

Eventually we made it back to the Chateaux in time to get ready for dinner, and not a lot else. But at least we were not stuck in France, no offense France 😛

DINNER

Our host and food connoisseur, Carlos, had been telling us about this restaurant Small Meats (some things are best left untranslated) and we were really looking forward to going.

We arrived, a little late, to find the lovely Mariko waiting for us. Fred and another friend of Carlos also joined and pretty soon it was a table of 7 having a great night!

The restaurant only serves one thing, meat. Meat, and more meat. And, they just keep bringing it until you explode. There are little charcoal BBQs on the table that you use to cook the meat to your own liking.

Mariko is a legend, where does that girl put that food!

I gave up, amateur, and the others continued for a few more rounds.

The meat, meat, and meat was followed up with a vodka sorbet – yes please, and thank you.

Then Manzana – that stuff is lethal, it tastes like spicy apple juice, warms your throat and, I can imagine after a few, kicks your arse.

Jason and I wisely stopped at 1, there was a 400am wakeup to think of.

The night was great, the company amusing and interesting, and the time in Geneva was drawing to a close.

I cannot emphasise enough our thanks to Carlos and family who made us so welcome in their home. We owe you and cannot wait to see you in NZ.

At 400am the alarms went off and we dragged ourselves out of bed to head to the airport.

It all went smoothly, we made the flight, our bags were within the correct weight, no delays, cancellations, or drama.

Just goodbye Geneva, it was great to see you my old friend.

Sorry about the title folks, but I was trying to come up with something catchy. And, I have been to Zermatt before 🙂

I also had to point out that our fine weather run has met its end. Its not terrible but my tan is fading already. Noooooooooo.

Jason had a wee bit of a sleep in, I think maybe all this travel nonsense is catching up with him. So eventually I made some noise, I mean I accidentally closed the door a little loudly and he woke up.

Once we were organised, had breakfast, packed a bag it was time to hit the road.

We asked Miss GPS if she would kindly guide us to Zermatt and off we set. It is around 250kms from where we were staying at Château Streijffert (apologies to Carlos for the incorrect spelling in our previous edition – nice way to show appreciation Jo!).

The time to destination however was showing as over three hours, but we had to take into account the twisty turning road to get to Tasch and then the train from Tasch to Zermatt.

Zermatt, is in southern Switzerland’s Valais canton. Valais is often argued to be the wine and meat capital, but I have never been fussy enough to turn down any Swiss wine 🙂

Back to Zermatt, it is a mountain resort renowned for skiing, climbing, hiking, and fondue (yeah baby). The town, which is about 1,600 meters above sea level, stares up at the beautiful (and shy) pyramid-shaped Matterhorn peak. More about that later.

The city’s main street, Bahnhofstrasse (dear god!), is so damn cute you wait to hear the yodelling and cow bells – we heard the bells but luckily it was not yodelling season – Jason gave it a crack though.

For a wee town there are loads of boutique (read expensive) shops, hotels, and restaurants.

Another cool thing about Zermatt, other than the nature, quiet, wine, food, hiking, scenery, is the fact it is a car free town. So the only vehicles allowed there are these beefed up golf cart, electrical vehicles, and electric buses. Its awesome, all you get is Zermatt natural air, no noise or air pollution.

However, those suckers are quiet and sneak up on you!

I have been to Zermatt a couple of times for hiking and knew, just KNEW, Jason would love it.

Our journey was pretty incident free. I had made us a packed lunch (am I an amazing domestic goddess or WHAT) and we had snacks and water for the car.

The weather driving to Zermatt was a bit wet, but I was hopeful we would drive through it and the forecasted “mostly sunny” for Zermatt would hold true.

We found Tasch, parked in the train terminal, and made it to the next train with 5 minutes to spare. They run every 20 minutes so you never have to wait long.

The train is very comfortable with big windows so you can stare, open mouthed, and your surroundings. Which are, of course, stunning.

The train ride takes around 12 minutes, so quite short and only costs 8 francs. Deal!

Arriving in Zermatt the weather wasn’t perfect but not raining either. We dragged our suitcase the 900 meters to our hotel. Hotel Bristol, set right next to the river – a milky kind of colour due to the water and the melted snow from the mountain (brrr).

Our room was ready and we had been upgraded to a Matterhorn view. Awesome. To be realistic though, I kind of had to stand on a chair on the balcony to see the summit, but the thought counted. If we had been up a few floors it would have been amazing.

Something weird about the hotel was the bed. They were two single beds squished together, not that strange you think, but there was a wooden divider between the mattresses and you get individual duvets – I guess they know we are married now, separate beds it is.

As the weather forecast was a bit dodgy for the next few days we decided to squeeze in as much as we could that afternoon. We popped down to the Matterhorn railway ticket station and purchased a return ticket. Holy Mother of God, 188 Swiss francs return – 271NZD. There had better be a damn view I tell you.

The idea had initially been to catch the train up and walk down from the top. But the top track was closed, unless you had the equipment, due to snow. Damn it, so we decided to walk down from one of the lower stations, this should take us around 3 hours.

By the time we caught the train it was 300pm.

The train takes 33 minutes to get to the top, stopping at cute little stations along the way.

We arrived at the top station Gornergrat and the weather was moving and moving fast so we started our exploring whilst the view was still there.

The Matterhorn was mostly visible and we saw the peaks of many surrounding mountains, but Lady Matterhorn herself was playing hard to get, dance of the 7 clouds. Just when we thought she would break through another cloud set it.

On Gornergrat we got up to 3135 meters again experiencing the thin air and difficulty to breath. Nothing on the Chamonix experience but you could definitely feel it.

We jumped back on the Matterhorn railway and got off at Riffelberg at 2583 meters. From here we will walk down towards Riffelalp 2211 meters, then through to Zermatt itself. The maps showed around 3 hours in total.

The walk down was very different to the track I remember, initially it was like a logging road and very sparse. Quite boring if it wasn’t for the game of spot the Marmot. Jason was very excited to see one of the local cute and furries out and about.

Once one had been spotted it turned into a game. I wonder if they used to be eaten by the locals, they look kind of plump, and the fur looks super warm. Just a thought… Marmot gloves J

The walk was quite easy but hard on the knees, Jason was going to pay the next day (but not if you asked him, of course).

When we arrived at Rifflealp we were so sure Lady Matterhorn was going to reveal herself, saucy minx, so we sat down and watched for 10 minutes. But nope, she was really playing this up. Back on our feet we followed the next track down, this was much nicer, through the pine ridden track.

The sign posting in Zermatt is not what I would have expected from the Swiss Germans. They were sporadic and only had timings listed occasionally. The numbers on the sign posts did not align to the numbers on the map so often you were left wondering if you had taken the right turn off.

We figured keep walking down and you will end up in the right place.

Nearing the bottom Jason spotted a deer! That’s right folks, he finds them in Zermatt too. The creature in question obviously had not heard about him as it simple stood, ate, and stayed. But that made his day, happy man. The last wildlife creature he found was a very affectionate ginger tom cat, hanging around on one of the viewing benches placed along the track.

By this time we were only 10 minutes from the centre of town, constantly looking over our shoulder to see if Lady Matterhorn and exposed herself. And sure enough she did. Wahoo, so we stayed and watched as the clouds parted and swirled around! YES, we got it.

Back to the hotel to rest, have a drink on the deck, feed the very friendly sparrows (they are everywhere!!!) and go for dinner.

We arrived in Zermatt on Sunday and it was a long weekend for Switzerland with Monday being a public holiday. This mean the town was busy, some shops were closed, and the restaurants were full. We tried one that Google had recommended but they were full so we booked for the next night.

We ended up at another local favourite and were lucky to get the last table. Jason had the bratwurst (he just had to) I had the chicken, we both were lovely and full and waddled our way back to the hotel.

Day number one in Zermatt was a success! Well done!

Day 2 – Here Comes the Sun – NOT

We woke up and there was no kidding ourselves the weather was crap. Overcast, rain, wind (nothing on Wellington). So we slept in and lazed about.

Went down for breakfast and thought we would walk around town and do some shopping. Eventually we left the hotel all rugged up, we actually had to put on a few layers.

Not all shops were open, due to the long weekend, but there were enough boutique shops open to occupy us for a couple of hours. And Jason finally got this whole thing about shoes and shopping abroad and finally bought himself some shoes, ok boots, ok hiking/hunting boots!

But he was very pleased with his purchase.

There is only so much shopping one can do in Zermatt so it was time to figure out other options. We went to the Visitors Centre and the wonderful young lady behind the counter helped us decide what we could do on a day such as this.

There were two recommendations – a hike down to the town of Tasch, hiking down on such a cloudy day sounded awesome, and going to the Gorner Gorge, we figured, we may as well do both.

We bought lunch at a little bakery, packed our backpacks with a few extra layers, our food and treats, then off we went.

The hike was lovely and followed the train tracks down the hill towards Tasch. Unfortunately the more we walked the lower the cloud got, so we really didn’t see anything. It was still great though, and we took a couple of diversions just for the views, and made it safe and sound to Tasch.

The walk itself was very easy, it only took it 90 minutes. Not a lot of climbing. Which was a bit of a relief. Ha, ha.

We ate our packed lunch in the train station – it was quite yummy, probably helped that we were really hungry. Then we got back on the train and headed to Zermatt, neither of us felt the desire to walk back.

There was still Gorner Gorge! So prep yourself, get out google maps, and start walking.

We were unsure exactly what the Gorner Gorge was, so we did a little bit of googling to prepare ourselves.

Apparently “The Gorner gorge is a place of exceptional natural beauty. The wooden walkways leading between the towering cliffs provide a dramatic insight into the power of nature.” Well, that was a pretty apt description, but first we had to find the damn place, we definitely took the scenic route, but got there!

Essentially two brothers were gifted the land to build an access through the gorge, which they did using natural materials, for the love of God I have no idea what they were thinking or why they thought it was a good idea.

It was quite scary. No where near as high as some of the mountains we had hiked up, and walked around, and looked down, but there was a simple wooden pathway hovering 50 meters above the torrential waters below. Waters that, if you fell into, would drag you under and drown you in minutes.

But beautiful all the same, the photos do not do it justice. It was staggering to think how, in the early 18 hundreds, two blokes built this pathway in the first place. The remnants of which still hang below the more modern, sturdier pathway we used.

It cost 5 francs, because everything costs in this country (the expensive of it astounds me), but is really worth it. Scary, heart stopping, beautiful, and amazing.

The gorge crosses you to the other side, but you can walk back the same way if you choose. We didn’t, we opted to keep walking and find our way to the true “old town” of Zermatt. Another recommendation from the lovely information lady.

We wandered up and down the little pathways and saw some truly beautiful buildings, then we saw old town. Holy crap it must have been hard living, they are sparse little buildings, up on “stilts” of slate and wood, the size of most people’s sheds. Sadly the main old town road was closed to be revamped but we did see a few buildings. They were so cute, and small, and cramped together. Jason, standing next to the door of a normal building, would have had to kneel going in and out.

Weeeeellllllllll, it had been a long day and we had a dinner booking, wahoo, so we needed to get home, regroup, rest, change, and head to dinner.

This time we were eating at Whymper-Stube. And we were not disappointed! Google, I love technology, told us it was well liked, cute, cosy, tasty, and good service. I would like to point out that Google was right!

We were squeezed into our little table and ordered cheese fondue, bratwurst, and a steak salad. The food was amazing. As Jason’s first fondue he was truly spoilt. He dipped every damn thing into the cheese, whilst repeatedly saying it is “just a cheese sauce”, and finished the lot. I think we are on to a winner – a winner we won’t have too often though. We would have to carry around our own defib!

This time we TRULY waddled back to the hotel. Thank god my clothes are stretchy, that is all I have to say about that.

Bed time! Food coma. Sleep!

Day 3 Zermatt – Goodbye Matterhorn, it’s been fun!

When we woke, very early (sorry darling, I thought it was later – cough cough), the sky was clear and blue and we saw the mountains all around us. RIGHT, says I, early start, have breakfast, hit the mountain, there is sh*t to see!

We have another delightful breakfast, pack, and put our luggage in storage.

Already the clouds were moving. Before breakfast I could see the peak of Lady Matterhorn, by the time we had eaten and checked out, she had her 7 veils ready again.

Thanks to the information television station we knew which peaks had the best view. So we walked up the town and decided to take the gondola to Trockener Steg! This was slightly less expensive than the previous trips, but still not cheap.

We had decided not to go to the very top, Matterhorn Glacier Paradise, and we both realised when we arrived at Trockener Steg, that this was probably a mistake. The view was so clear and so beautiful you would have seen to Italy and beyond, too late.

So off we hopped to make the most of the view we had, as the cloud moved in, the views were outstanding! We spent the first 30 minutes walking around the terrace taking photos before venturing to the snow level below.

Jason saw a snow machine and was adamant he wanted a photo sitting on that. So in true Jason fashion, he’s so great, he walked up to the dude and asked if he could. So the guy says “just don’t drive away on it” and they chat, get photos, done and done.

Meanwhile I had found a dog that needed playing with. She was so gorgeous, playing fetch, eating, snow, going crazy. SO CUTE!

We were told we could not walk down from here (event though Jason wanted to regardless). The risk of avalanche was too high after the melting snow and the rain so we had to go back down the mountain to Furri and walk from there. Ah well, it was better than nothing and should only take a couple of hours.

Somehow we found ourselves on the fast track and made it back to Zermatt in record time.

When we got back to town the cloud had arrived, thick and fast! With the threat of rain not far behind.

We congratulated ourselves on getting our bag, walking to the train station, and getting on the train without getting wet! Well done and well timed!

Departing Zermatt was sad, we both enjoyed our time there hugely.

Back to Switzerland for dinner with our Swiss family.

We miss you Lady Matterhorn. Mwah.