Read, Write, Ramble

  It rained in Belfast today but we accepted it with good humour and without surprise. After a short but solid sleep, we were all up by 8 and heading out the door, raincoats on and brolleys in hand, to walk the 800m to the nearest co-op to purchase breakfast supplies.  As soon as we had eaten, we were picked up by Hugh from a black cab tour company, taken to a few significant spots around the city, and given a potted history as we went. I think I caught about every third word on average!  I managed to grasp enough to pad out my sketchy knowledge of the area and its past ‘troubles’, and it was great to hear it from the perspective of a local. We even got to sign the Peace Wall.  By the end of the 2 hour tour my feet were sodden from standing at various sites in the light, but relentless morning rain, but it had definitely been worth it.  Hugh dropped us in the city centre and following his advice, we wandered around the Cathedral precinct, seeing some interesting...

32 hours after our first flight became airborne in Melbourne, our third flight touched down in Dublin. It was still eerily light for 10:30 pm, having flown for two hours towards the sun which seemed to perch in the same position, neatly balanced on the horizon, for the duration of the flight from Frankfurt.   The 13 hour stretch from Singapore to Frankfurt had elicited quite a bit of screen watching interspersed with brief periods of nodding off on my part. Again, we were all seated separately, so I can’t vouch for the amount of sleep anyone else managed to accumulate.  Wallsy did pop up from his aisle seat to my aisle seat a few rows in front, to do occasional food drops of bread rolls, cheese and biscuits, which he had saved from his meals, knowing I wouldn’t have been able to eat any of the main hot dishes they served up.   Unlike Singapore, our stopover in Frankfurt was quite brief, only allowing us time to walk from our arrival gate to our departure gate, which was s...

Well, here we are in Singapore for our 7 hour layover, enjoying the beauty of the butterflies  in the Butterfly Garden, but not enjoying the humidity in said garden.  We disembarked from our rebooked flight at 05:30 Singapore time, feeling somewhat jaded and quite dry, due to a lack of fluids offered on board.  Some of us had slept a lot, some only a little and others not really at all. Scattered as we were across the plane, I could just see Wallsy and can confirm that he got some sleep, although he claimed it was not particularly restful. I must have nodded off because I missed the breakfast service and the end of the movie I had been watching!   Our first goal on landing, was to catch the Sky Train to our departure terminal and then go in earnest search of coffee. This done, we visited the butterfly garden and are now seated back in the cafe, thinking about something appetising to eat before our ongoing flight in a little over three hours.  It’s amazing how qu...

And so the story begins before we have even left home… Bounding out of bed to the sound of the 06:30 alarm, my mind already running through the checklist of things to be achieved before our arranged pick up time of 11:00 am, the first task was to strip the bed of our sheets, get them washed and (hopefully) dried, and the bed made up with fresh linen ready for the arrival of the second of our two teams of housesitters in ten days time. Next, was to do the same with the towels, but as I was pressing ‘start’ on the washing machine full of sheets, Stephen wandered out, phone in hand, saying ‘don’t hurry, we have plenty of time!’ Singapore Airlines had helpfully ‘retimed’ our flight ex Melbourne to 20:05, from the original time of 15:20, according to an email sent at 01:38. Going back to bed was obviously not an option, although of our fellow travellers M & J, J wisely reported taking the decision to grab a couple more hours sleep in lieu of the delay!  We instead, went ahead with o...

And just like that my amazing birthday adventure is over and we are on the rather wet road home, having left sunny Christchurch this afternoon and landed in rainy Melbourne tonight.  Our Christchurch hotel was another historic building, and was the final surprise in the bucketload of surprises I have been treated to for the past 5 days.  The old Canterbury College, only the second university to have been built in New Zealand, is a magnificent collection of  bluestone neo-gothic, buildings dating back to 1873. It now hosts an Arts Centre which includes a mix of artisan spaces and  shops, galleries, eateries, cinemas, event spaces and a boutique hotel, known as the Observatory Hotel.  The hotel stands where the Observatory Tower once stood,; part of the physics and astronomy faculties. Waking this morning to look out on the courtyard of the old university and the buildings of the old campus was very special. The sense of history and the importance of the work achi...

Today was the final full day of my birthday extravaganza tour, and Dunedin turned on the sunshine for us.  Following our hotel breakfast we embarked on the final surprise element - a bus trip across the harbour and up onto the headland to the stunning Larnach Castle.  Built by a successful banker and businessman in 1871, this gothic revival masterpiece was rescued from ruin in 1967 by the Barker family and has long been a labour of love to faithfully restore and refurbish in decor that is true to its era and origins.  On arrival we were at liberty to wander the extensive grounds and immaculate gardens before embarking on a tour of the interior. We marvelled at lavishly carved wood panelling, audacious chandeliers, intricately worked tapestries and the view from the balcony atop the fourth floor tower, all the while being regaled with the tragic story of William Larnach and his family. We were then ushered back down to the ground floor ballroom and treated to a delectable ...