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All Blacks v Les Bleus

After our gym and swim and breakfast routine, we are going to meet an old friend.  But first we watch High Energy, a two-year-old filly we are in a syndicate for (with the fabulous Ken and Karen Breckon and others) is racing - in Australia. We watch her race.  Here you can too....

Reggio to Paris

We leave Reggio early and are going to Milan airport, and with Lachie.  He is flying back to the US for his study, but Chiara is staying in Italy to start the field work for her study. The Reggio train station building is cool. We are looking for carriage 8 again....

Jack and Becks arrive in Reggio Emilia

Jack is Lachie's cousin and Becks is his partner. They are touring Europe for 4 months, and they have today arrived in Reggio for 3 days.  A happy timing coincidence for us.  Lachie and Chiara give them a tour of the old city - including our hotel.   ...

Reggio Emilia Day 2

The view from our hotel window in the morning - market day in the piazza.  Market days are Tuesday and Saturday.  ...

Reggio Emilia with the Ficarelli's

We leave Milan.  A  beautiful train station which has been renovated. I am anxious as with Anna another time in Europe we missed a train. Bill is not very patient with my anxiousness and says we have plenty of time. Something from the past I have not put in the past and I am looking forward to being with my family. We haven't seen Lachie for 5 months. Finally, we got on the train.  Bill has booked his favourite number - number 8 carriage and no 8A/B seats, We also left from the no...

F1 Italian GP Day at Monza

"Will Max Verstappen enter the history books with victory at the Italian Grand Prix – a record-breaking 10th consecutive win taking the Red Bull driver to a rarified plane of success never achieved by any driver in Formula One since the championship began in 1950?" First we bought a shirt and a hat for Anna and Harry.  Harry's favourite team is Aston Martin. I wore the shirt because I did not want to carry it....

Grateful and Grand Prix

I woke up this morning with a song I could not get out of my head. Bill and I had both watched a documentary on the plane.  About a musician who often portrayed the dark side of life in his songs. At the same time, he had a light charm in his lyrics.We had watched his last ever concert.  He opened that hunched over, and there was a long silence before he started. You could hear the sound of a pin drop.  Later he got up and danced, and was very rhythmical for a 79 year old.It was a...

Hidden Treasures of Milan Bike Tour

We have booked a bike ride with a guide, Polina - Less Politics More Pedalling!   We have done a few of these tours now , we like it as a way to get to know cities we are new to. Bill liked this on her website - "Milan has much more to offer than the Duomo and 'Last Supper'. Take in the city’s unsung gems with this guided bike tour that pairs famous sights and authentic neighbourhoods. Avoid the crowds of downtown by pedalling off to the quieter corners of the city, learn about Milan...

Milan 31st Aug 2023

It was mostly dark on the 2nd leg of our trip from New Zealand, more than 13 hours from Hong Kong to Milan with Cathay Pacific. I was by the window and with 3 hours to go I lifted the window blind and the light streamed in.  This meant we were close.  There were alot of crying babies on both legs.  When we disembarked young children filed out on scooters with lights, scooting all the way to the luggage area. You had to look out for them.  Bill declared he wouldn't fly Cathay ...

Under 6 Creating Aranga Kaitiaki on Rotoroa- 5-7th July

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La Fortuna - July 3rd-6th

Bill had picked up the rental car the day before, and we left after breakfast to drive to La Fortuna.  Roads off the main road are pretty rough - this was when the car wasn't bouncing around so much so I could take a photo!...

Manuel Antonio National Park - June 28th-July 3rd

We travel in a van from our hotel to Manuela Antonio National Park - about a 3 1/2 hour trip with a couple of stops on the way - San Jose to Quepos. It is the rainy season, though today's forecast is for just a few showers and mostly fine.  ...

San Jose, Costa Rica June 26th-28th

We flew early in the morning from Newark to San Jose, it was a 5 1/2 hour flight.   Ticos, as the people of Costa Rica are called, use the phrase pura vida (“pure life”) in their everyday speech, as a greeting or to show appreciation for something. I learnt this early on, and said it everywhere.  From Wikipedia: "Pura Vida (pronounced poo-rah vee-duh) represents Costa Ricans' relaxed attitude towards life, no matter the circumstance. It's used to say hello, goodbye, to say eve...

New York City June 24th-25th

We had an early start to catch the train to NYC with Lachie and Chiara - for two days there for Lachie and us before we fly to Costa Rica, Chiara flying out to Italy this evening.  ...

Providence, Rhode Island June 20th-23rd

We catch the train to Providence with Lachie and Chiara who have flown into Boston froma wedding weekend in Chicago.  It's a little over an hour's trip from Boston to Providence. ...

US Golf Open, June 16th-19th

 From Wikipedia .....The 2022 United States Open Championship was the 122nd U.S. Open, the national open golf championship of the United States. It was a 72-hole stroke play tournament that was played between June 16–19 at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb west of Boston. It was the club's fourth U.S. Open, having been held there in 1913, 1963, and 1988.The 1913 Open was particularly famous because a young US amateur caddy called Francis Ouimet, who lived across the r...

Arriving in Boston via LAX - June 14th-15th

We arrive in Boston 14th June 2022. Our first overseas flight since leaving Peru in a hurry in March 2020 because of the pandemic.  Bill and I took a walk along from the Royal Sonesta where we stayed. ...

Aranga Kaitaki Rangers Trial of Rotoroa Island Education Programme (RIEP)

Written by Benjamin Hepi Brown, assisted and edited by Robin Kermode.Photographed by Robin Kermode and Luiza Turganova. Day One: Jan 6th We packed, went to the supermarket and were early (by half an hour) for the shuttle taxi at the Akarana Yacht Club. I couldn't wait to go to Rotoroa Island. We had been online with Robin for 11 episodes in Term 4 2021 lockdown, being Aranga Kaitaki Rangers, and now we were going to be Aranga Kaitaki Rangers on Rotoroa Island for three days and two nights. For m...

Rohe's Tuna

In Māori mythology, as in other Polynesian traditions, Māui is a cultural hero. This is a story of Māui mistreating his wife Rohe in a cruel and unusual way, (1000 years ago). Māoris lived differently then. In the rivers there were only big eels and very few other fish.. Night time was pitch black with no light from the stars or the moon. It is not now acceptable to treat your wife in the way things were done in those ancient times nor  mistreat Tuna. The old story goes like this&hellip...

Kuwharuwharu Tuna on Waiheke

Most families I knew went to the beach during their summer holidays. As an 8, 9 and 10 year old I spent my Christmas holidays beside Mangaone Stream in Te Horo in the Horowhenua. I have significant memories of those days – eels/tuna hanging in a shed, holding tuna, damming the stream (I thought it was a river), and swimming in a grey bathtub.  After we helped dam the stream, our father found an old bathtub. He half filled the tub which allowed us to cool down on a hot summer’s day and s...

Return Nature to the Wild

This afternoon I headed to Onetangi Beach, just below our home, to do some earthing. I put my feet in the water and walked for about 2km there and back again along the beach. ...

Back to Ushuaia, and Our Last Night on Silver Cloud

The Drake Passage was rough for a little while after our dinner, but we both slept well. Neither of us got seasick on either of our two trips. We had both taken a Sealegs pill every day. It was very calm through the Beagle Strait. We had woken at our normal 5am and I chose to finish my book. This is what I have been reading....

Sea Day on the Drake Passage Going Back to Ushuaia

We head back to Ushuaia. This is our deck. It is a lot colder outside than it looks, and very warm inside. ...

More Kayaking, Then Landings at Half Moon Bay and Yankee Bay

We get ready for kayaking again - we were lucky to get chosen for a second time, maybe asking Jake out for dinner earlier on the trip was a good idea!  Bill is in the back this time and I am zipping.  This is all of us at the end....

French Passage and Neko Harbour (and Una's Tits)

We spend the first part of the morning sailing through the French Passage/ Lemaire Channel looking for wild life, and soaking up the beautiful mountains on either side. It is hoped we might see orca. We don't.  Bill goes out on deck for a bit. I stay and hang with Judy. She tells me about Una's Tits / Peaks. And she wants a photo. Today's blog is censored for 13 and under. Here are the photos. We had trouble identifying Una's in the background....