Postcards from around the world

For my final postcards I am going to revisit New Zealand. An all too brief visit almost 10 years ago and one which I had hoped to repeat, but my enthusiasm for long haul travel has very much diminished over the years. My overall impressions were the colours of green and blue, rounded hills in the Waikato region, wonderful trees often bent out of shape by the winds, black sand, tree ferns, the long white clouds and excellent coffee. No words this time, just pictures.

New Zealand Part 2

Fabulous trees
And more sea views from our accommodation
Sheep. Of course
Black sand beaches and surfers. This is Ruapuke Beach about 10.5 km from Raglan
The winding gravel track to Ruapuke Beach

 

Metrosideros excelsa, commonly known as the pōhutukawa, or New Zealand Christmas tree, produces a brilliant display of red flowers around Christmas time.
Distorted tree by the prevailing winds.

This is my last postcard for now. I hope you have enjoyed my catch up with places I have visited but not had time to blog about. And if you want to see more then please look under the destinations or road trips on the menu.

Postcards from around the world

For my final postcards I am going to revisit New Zealand. An all too brief visit almost 10 years ago and one which I had hoped to repeat, but my enthusiasm for long haul travel has very much diminished over the years. My overall impressions were the colours of green and blue, rounded hills in the Waikato region, wonderful trees often bent out of shape by the winds, black sand, tree ferns, the long white clouds and excellent coffee. No words this time, just pictures.

New Zealand Part 1

Ngarunui (sometimes called Ocean Beach, Main Beach or Wainui Beach) is the main sandy swimming beach in Raglan. A magnificent black sand surfing beach. We were staying at the far south-western end of the beach about 6km out of Raglan.
The wonderful rounded hills of the region. This is on the way to Raglan where we stayed.
Mount ⁩⁦Karioi⁩⁦ is an ancient volcano about 8km SW of Raglan
Psoralea pinnata, called fountain bush is an erect shrub or small tree, which grows up to 4 m high, with blue, lilac and white, pea-shaped flowers which bloom in early summer. A south African plant which smells of Kool-Aid!
Taken near the Te Toto Gorge Lookout. A beautiful view from a platform, hanging high on the air at the top of sheer cliff – it’s reached by a narrow winding gravel track so take care.
View from Te Toto Gorge Lookout up the coast towards Auckland. It is a very long way down!
Wonderful greenery provided by the tree ferns
The views from where we were staying situated on a hilltop above Ngarunui Beach
Lots of pretty wild flowers and grasses along the roadside

Postcards from Around the World

Leaf Peeping in New England (8)

[Leaf peeping is an informal term in the United States and Canada for the activity in which people travel to view and photograph the fall foliage in areas where leaves change colours in autumn, particularly in northern New England]

When I was teaching it meant holidays could only be taken during the school holidays when it was more expensive and busy. And I couldn’t tag on to the OH’s conferences either. Which is why during one October half term we decided to do a fly drive holiday to the eastern side of the USA and do a spot of leaf peeping.

Provincetown

is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. When we arrived there the weather had improved and we stopped to take a walk around what is quite a quirky little town, with a lovely harbour. Often called “P-town” or “Ptown”, the locale is known as a vacation destination for its beaches, harbour, artists and tourist industry.

Interestingly there was a strong Portuguese heritage (mainly immigrants from the Azores) whose families fished the waters off Cape Cod for over 200 years, built a major fish packing and distribution industry and made an important contribution to the history and culture of Provincetown. There was an art installation on one of the wharfs when we were there, but I imagine that has long gone due to the weather.

They also faced the sea

Unfortunately we didn’t visit the Pilgrim Monument and Museum which allows you to walk up the tower for spectacular views. I guess we were just all walked out by then.

Long Point Lighthouse

We ate fish and chips in a café on Fisherman’s Wharf before setting off back along Route 6¹ to our hotel in Sandwich. It was getting dark as we approached the more urban areas and I couldn’t understand why oncoming cars kept flashing their lights at me, until I finally realised that my car was on full beam! The joys of a hire car.

¹U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, a name that honours an American Civil War veterans association, runs east-northeast from Bishop, California to PROVINCETOWN, Massachusetts.  From 1936 to 1964, it had its western terminus at Long Beach, California. During this time, US 6 was the longest highway in the country!

This is the last of the leaf peeping trip. I hope you enjoyed the scenery as much as I did.