FlashbackFriday – TRAVEL WORDS

Flashback Friday #45

Getting towards the end of the year now and my final post from the past. I couldn’t not show one from this lovely country, visited in December 2014 for the first and only time, I so hoped that I would have been back, but life has conspired against me. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t, but at least I have very fond and happy memories of this beautiful land.

New Zealand Wrap-up #1

A new week, a new country and a totally new destination for me. For 10 days I will be in the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’, and several smaller rounder ones. Staying near my son’s ~~partner’s parents~~ in-laws in the Waikato (they got married there in February 2018) home to some of New Zealand’s most stunning landscapes. I may get to explore a little further, but I’m actually quite content to soak in the views from where we are staying and chill out with my new grandson.

Home Sweet Home

We are staying high above Ngarunui (Ocean) Beach. Located 5km west of town this wide expanse of black sand beach lends itself to lazy beach walks and picnics in the sand. It’s also a popular spot for surfing, bodyboarding and swimming.

Aqua

What transfixes me the most is the colour of the water – a cloudy, milky turquoise, possibly because of the black sand, which is the finest powder sand I have come across and glitters in the sun.

Surfing

Raglan is a small surfer town on the coast and boasts the world-famous surf break Manu Bay. The long, peeling left-hand break, said to offer one of the longest rides in the world, featured in the 1966 surfing film Endless Summer. Situated on the West Coast of New Zealand’s North Island, just a 45-minute drive west of Hamilton or a two-hour drive south of Auckland, Raglan offers stunning scenery, beautiful beaches, inspiring arts or simply a good old cup of coffee.

Surf Shop

Typical weatherboard house

Te Kopua Beach

Raglan Roast Coffee

Shops

Aqua Water in the Harbour

Golden

You may have eaten Kiwi fruit, but these are golden kiwi fruit and taste SO much better. Sweeter and without that odd chemical reaction that I and many others have when eating the green fruit. I am becoming addicted!

Christmas Trees

The pohutukawa tree (Metrosideros excelsa) with its crimson flower has become an established part of the New Zealand Christmas tradition. This iconic Kiwi Christmas tree, which often features on greeting cards and in poems and songs, has become an important symbol for New Zealanders at home and abroad. It is just about to flower so I hope to capture some good shots of trees in full bloom before I leave.

Happy Days…!

This post is a contribution to Fandango’s Flashback Friday. Have you got a post you wrote in the past on this particular day? The world might be glad to see it – either for the first time – or again if they’re long-time loyal readers.

Flashback Friday #44

This post takes me back to my last visit to Australia in November 2014 when I went over to meet my newest grandson (at that time) who was already 7 months old. Now he is 7 years old! Still an amazing little lad. The compilation was for a WordPress 101 challenge at the time which I really enjoyed as it was all about focusing on different photographic techniques.

PhotoGRAPHy 101: Week 1

As I have been travelling for two days during this week I haven’t had the time to register for this challenge so I am putting together a post to meet the five themes introduced this week and at the same time introduce you to my new neighbourhood (albeit temporary).

Home

Sydney, NSW, Australia is home to 4.576 million people and is the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. It is also home to my eldest son and family.

Street

The Corso in Manly is one of Sydney’s more famous streets and runs from the harbour side at Manly Wharf to the ocean side at Manly Beach. In my image the focus is on the Victorian building on the left of the street with the palm trees and the people forming the background.

Water

Sydneysiders are lucky to have many beautiful beaches on their doorstep. This is the surf at Dee Why, one of the northern beaches. Finding this odd iron piling along the beach I couldn’t decide whether a vertical or horizontal composition suits it best. Which version do you prefer?

Bliss

This theme asks you to consider what the word bliss means. To me, today, bliss means that first cuddle with a new grandchild. Bliss to him was wearing his shades to block out the glare of that Australian sunshine.

Solitude

The Manly Scenic Walkway at Shelly Beach. Today we are asked to consider placement of the subject in a photograph. My focus was on the bench, but I waited until a solitary figure appeared on the bend of the track and lined up the horizon with the metal railings to frame the sea from the sky. I was also rather pleased that the bench colour matched the sea and the lines were at a nice angle to the lines of the railings. Often a photo can look to be accidental, but I moved around quite a bit to get this deliberate shot.

Flashback Friday #43

If anyone is wondering where this week’s flashback is then you need to pop over to my flower blog as I am returning to a Lens Artists post about gardening and mental health written in October 2018, long before we’d heard of Covid-19.

Please leave any comments on that post. Thank you.

Flashback Friday #42

Back in the old days the OH and I used to try and take a short UK break around our birthdays, which worked very well as we then had a holiday in late spring (May) and one in early autumn (October). This one was my choice for celebrating my birthday in 2014.

Just Back From… Dorset

A last minute booking to Bridport in Dorset for a birthday and wedding anniversary celebration was made in lieu of the proposed trip to Seattle. After a gorgeous sunny September, autumn also decided to come along too, so it was a mixed week of sunshine and showers and even a few dramatic thunderstorms with lightning and thundering waves.

Bridport

Bridport is a quaint market town in West Dorset and only a mile from the famous Jurassic coast at West Bay with its lovely harbour and shingle beach. It has an open and airy feel to it because of the wide streets that contain several hundred listed buildings many of them built to accommodate the twisting and dyeing of ropes and nets during the late 12th century. It also has a lively arts and literary scene.

East Street

Town Hall

The Ropemakers

The Olive Tree Café

Georgian Architecture

The Bull

Greengrocers

Although in a self-catering house I don’t consider it a holiday if I do all the cooking so we ate take away fish and chips from Longs in West Street which were excellent – thin batter on the succulent cod and crisp chips. And the best deal was a thin crust pizza, salad and 1/2 pint of local cider from The Stable, behind the Bull hotel on East Street – £10 on a Tuesday. If you like it hot go for the Blaster! Or what about the Bucky Doo?

Burton Bradstock

Good fish and seafood can be found in local pubs and restaurants, but head to the Hive Beach Café, a tarpaulin-sided hut which is a popular place for lunch as it is right on the beach at Burton Bradstock, 4 miles from Bridport along the shingle Chesil Beach. It is very busy at the weekend, even at this time of year, but worth the wait (no bookings) for the fresh lobster, sea bass or grilled sardines. An obvious choice for Saturday’s birthday lunch.

On the Chesil Beach

Golden Cliffs

East to Portland Bill

Dorset Sheep

Continue reading Flashback Friday #42

Flashback Friday #41

Back in 2013 I wrote about a trip to Slovenia and the picturesque town of Bled. A place I actually wouldn’t mind revisiting if only for another wonderful Bled Cake!

A Quiet Corner in Slovenia

Bled and its perfectly formed lake located in the Julian Alps is in the Gorenjska region of Slovenia, not far from the Austrian and Italian borders. A lake just the right size for a comfortable stroll around its shores with spectacular views from all sides. We found ourselves there for a week in June 2012 when my OH attended a conference. Not far from the airport it was a quick transfer to the Hotel Golf, an ugly sugar-cube building above the lakeside, which had pluses and minuses.

The plus was a lakeside room with wonderful panoramic views. The minuses included no air-con, a steep climb back to the hotel from the lakeside, poor breakfasts and a noisy bar close-by where the natural amphitheatre of the lake basin amplified the sound.

Lake Bled

Pletna Boat

A large brood

The 6 km trail around the lake is long enough to take in the views of the island with the Church of the Assumption which demands a climb up the 99 stone-step staircase; visitors should ring the bell for good luck, and a local tradition at weddings is for the groom to carry his bride up these steps. Behind the island the background is of the Karavanke mountains. The castle is perched on the high limestone mass at the north of the lake and you will see the colourful traditional Pletna boats and boatmen who will row you over to the island; swans, ducks and fish swim in glacial waters so clear you can see the bottom. There are convenient benches for you to rest and absorb the beauty surrounding you.

Relax

Silver fishes

Island and Church

Pletna Boats

The Ninety-nine Steps

Sv Martin Church

The lakeside town is charming and popular with lovely cobbled streets in the old town, plentiful lakeside restaurants serving the famous Bled cake (kremna rezina), a delicious custard and cream confection, and the lovely neo-gothic St Martin’s Church below the Castle. The castle can be reached up a steep route from the Castle beach, or slightly less tortuous routes by road from behind the Bledec hostel. The castle offers magnificent views and is an interesting medieval fortress, well worth the effort of getting there.

Bled Castle

Castle details

View east from the castle

When you are tired of the scenery around the lake you can visit Vintgar Gorge, 4 km north-west of Bled. A public bus will get you there and back. The 1.6 km gorge carves its way through vertical rocks and you alternate between paths and boardwalks alongside the River Radovna and its waterfalls, pools and rapids crossing over wooden bridges. It is a lovely cool place to visit on a hot day.

The Triglav National Park covers almost the entire Julian Alps and offers a completely different experience. Majestic mountains, steep gorges, clear mountain streams and traditional farms. Take an exhilarating and spectacular drive up the hairpin bends of the Russian Road to the Vršič Pass which is on the border with Italy.

Not only is it special for the views and scenery, but there is a history behind its existence. It was built by Russian prisoners-of-war in 1915 and because the road had to be kept open all year round, prisoners were kept in camps to shovel off the snow. In 1916 an avalanche buried one of these camps killing around 400 prisoners and 10 guards. There is a small cemetery near hairpin 4 and a beautiful Russian Orthodox Chapel on the site of the camp at hairpin 8.

Hotel on route

Russian Road Info

Restaurant

Vrsic pass

Heading down the pass

Triglav National Park