Exploring
Desert Castles
From Amman there is a route East that takes you past several castles in the desert. We rented a car and instead of doing this as a day trip loop , did the trip and carried on to Jerash and based ourselves there. First castle we came across was Qasr Hraneh… built in the 8th century, about 710 they reckon… although scholars aren’t in agreement on what it was used for. The most likely scenario is that it was a khan (inn). Another 10 […]
Amman – Jordan’s Capital
After relaxing in the Red Sea coastal town of Aqaba, enjoying the beautiful desert at Wadi Rum and then exploring the incredible ancient city of Petra, it was time to head for Jordan’s Capital Amman. The biggest impression the city left on me was the incredible amount of street art… in car parks, on the sides of huge apartment buildings, on walls, and up steps. The street art was everywhere – downtown, in the suburbs, small alleyways and main streets. Here’s just a small […]
PETRA Day 2
After a wonderful DAY 1 exploring Petra we head back in the way we did yesterday (the only entrance open to tourists). No need to get another ticket – show yesterday’s one at the entrance and walk back in through the Siq. A few minutes walk past the Treasury, you take the steps on your left (near the toilets, before the theatre) up to the High Place of Sacrifice. With our early start and most people heading down the main strip of Petra we […]
PETRA – Day 1!
Petra is one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It features on most “must see before you die” lists. The ancient city, carved into the mountains around 2000 years ago, is incredible in so many ways, so settle in and enjoy this taste of being there! For those who plan to go, hopefully my bullet-pointed suggestions for how to tackle Petra in 2 days will be helpful. Petra is overwhelmingly huge and well worth joining the […]
Living with the locals
Copenhagen & Surrounds (Denmark Part 4)
Copenhagen and the area around it was our last stop in Denmark. First up we walked from the main train station to Kingosgade to see Mona and Rene, another set of host parents from when I was an exchange student in 1995. They still live in Odense but the timing didn’t work out for us to catch up there so we saw them while they were on holiday in Copenhagen, staying at their son Klavs’s apartment. Klavs & Anders were away overseas at the […]
A Danish New Year’s (Denmark Part 2)
Maya and Johan live with their two boys (7 and 2) in a sweet little house in the small rural village of Ommestrup in Djursland. I had heard a bit about the house and the dramas faced after they purchased it. After discovering mould they had to gut the whole place and re-do it all! It was great to see them and the house looking so good now. We had some really lovely, relaxing, ‘hyggelig’ days here, including our 6th wedding anniversary. The 2 […]
A Danish Christmas (Denmark Part 1)
Never mind the dark, dreary days when it doesn’t get light until around 9am and darkness descends again around 4pm- a month in Denmark over winter meant experiencing a Danish Christmas with all its lovely traditions and food and lots of time spent with wonderful people. This was to be Antony’s first Christmas in Denmark and my seventh. We’d had enough sunshine in the previous 11 weeks of tripping around Israel, Jordan and Cyprus to carry us through the dark Danish December/ January period […]
Odense- My Other Home (Denmark Part 3)
It was just over 25 years ago that I arrived in Denmark as a Rotary Youth Exchange student. Little did I know that this small Scandinavian country and its people would capture my heart and play a major part in my future. I still remember bawling my eyes out at the airport when that magical year was over and I thought I might never come back. But I did come back – in 1999 for a few months, then a year doing youth work […]
Travel tips
Arriving in Fiji
Nadi (said Nandy, rhymes with Andy) is home to Fiji’s only International airport, so travellers usually need to stay here for at least a night before their boat leaves to the islands the next morning or they head off for more beautiful spots on the mainland. There is plenty of accommodation available here with all the fancy hotel chains having beach side resorts in Denerau (where the marina is) and a few backpackers and hotels in Nadi itself. I opted for an air bnb […]
Money Matters Poland
We got just a brief look at Poland, visiting only Warsaw and Krakow, both cities I really enjoyed. We also had just over a week at Moscibrody for a couple of Angloville programmes (more on this here). In total we had 20 nights in Poland, 8 of them at Angloville. Costs are given in Polish Zloti (Zl). The exchange rate for Zloti to New Zealand dollars was 1 NZD = 2.94 zloti Accommodation Antony and I were in Poland from May 2 -22, 2016. […]
Angloville
In 2016 Antony and I did 5 different Angloville programmes (and a Diverbo Englischhausen which I will blog about separately). All the programmes were really enjoyable and a great chance to meet locals. We can highly recommend doing these programmes if you are a native English speaker travelling in Europe! Participating in an Angloville programme usually means spending 5 nights in a resort or hotel in the countryside, where, as native English speakers, you receive all meals and accommodation for free. In return you […]
How can you afford to travel for a year?
Many people ask us (or perhaps want to ask); ‘How can you afford to travel for a year?’ The short answer; We spend less when travelling than we do at home! We spent less flying around the world for a year than we did at home in Ashburton the previous year. If we factor in the income we earned from renting out our house while we travelled, the cost of travelling was actually less than half the cost of living at home. And this was when […]
Quotes
Rumi wisdom…
Listen with ears of Tolerance. See through eyes of Compassion. Speak with the language of Love ~ Rumi This mural was painted by a workawayer on the wall of the accommodation at the restaurant in Qeshm, Iran, where I workawayed (twice). Sarah C from Ireland painted this in January 2017 and chose the quote with the host Annelie… it’s another of Rumi’s wise sayings! The art reflects Southern Iran… camels, desert, and a woman in typical Bandari dress. I love it!
Life, Death & the year 2016
It is the last day of 2016. A memorable year for many reasons. On the international stage it seems the year has been full of alarming events (Brexit, Trump’s election, heightening of the Syrian refugee crisis, Standing Rock, truck attacks in Nice and Berlin, the rise of right wing party popularity across Europe etc.). In New Zealand our prime minister standing down mid term was also rather surprising. On a more personal level, I have had THE most amazing year one could really wish […]
Life
Day 37
Just a quick update as I have a bridge tournament starting soon… I said yesterday I was going to have stuffed marrow for dinner… was quite excited about trying my new recipe. I made the ‘stuffing’ part and then Antony sliced open the marrow… only to discover there was no big seedy middle bit to take out where the stuffing should go! He took out a very small seedy bit at one end- would have fit about a tablespoon of filling in it! So […]
Day 36 – The Dishwasher Incident
Last night I went to the kitchen to put the kettle on for my hot water bottle and I discover the kitchen floor is flooded – so I get Antony who’d just gone to bed. I was like- there must be something wrong with the dishwasher… then I opened the door (it had just finished its cycle). This is what greeted me: I was like… Ants what did you put in the dishwasher??? He pulled out the container of liquid dishwashing stuff we use […]
Day 34 – Lockdown Level 3 begins
So today we moved to Level 3 of New Zealand’s Covid 19 alert level system. It’s still heavily restricted- I won’t have any social contact with anyone except Antony but was able to see my colleagues today – keeping our 1m distance at our staff meeting. I wasn’t sure if I’d keep blogging in Level 3 but felt like a quick update from today… so here you go. 3.19am – woke up before my alarm and thought that’s good.. until I saw the time! […]
Day 33: Last day of Level 4 Lockdown!
If you missed Day 32 it was because I didn’t post a lockdown update yesterday! Instead I published this post about Wadi Rum, one of the highlights of our time in Jordan last November. Please read it and be amazed at these wonderful places on our planet! My travel posts take me many, many hours to write. I have so many amazing experiences and photos from each place that it is hard to choose what makes it to the blog and what to leave […]