Travel

Mt Eden in Auckland. Dormant now, and though it’s a active field (with an eruption due next week - or maybe 200 years away) a new eruption is likely to be at a new site. Maybe out to sea, or maybe in the centre of Auckland…

This pretty much applies to all the roads round here. But it’s good to know there’s a special Kiwi road above all the other Kiwi roads.   I didn’t go down it. I’m not from round here.

  One way to get an overview of a city is to get to the highest point - and have a good look round. Luckily Auckland has provided the Sky Tower http://www.skycityauckland.co.nz/Attractions/Skytower.html to provide you with that very opportunity. So my brother and I went up, and had a good look at stuff. Being 328 meters tall makes stuff look very small.   Then I had a Chicken Caesar Salad and a Piña Colada.

More like the late summer, but the allure of a triple alliterative title was too much to resist. A nice flight over with Air New Zealand and a glass of sparkling wine. It’s a bit rainy in NZ, we’re promised nicer weather later. But I don’t really care, it’s just nice to see family down under…

I guess most people associate Hong Kong with Blade Runner-esque cityscape of neon, skyscrapers and people - although there’s far more to it than that - no wait. that’s not the point here…   Why am I doing this? Why am I writing these posts? Is it to connect, to stay in touch with friends and family and show them what I’m up to?

It’s a bit strange I went almost half way round the world, only to end up on another boat - or maybe not strange at all. Anyway, the majority of my stay in Hong Kong was aboard the good ship Bobo.

As you might gather, I am not the one to do the usual holiday things. So when the opportunity presents itself to board the abandoned wreck of a racing yacht for a bit of an explore (and just because we happened to be passing) I’ll only pause to check I have my camera. Fan of abandoned rubbish that I am.

There are three cats on the boat. Can you find them all? For every cat you find, make a mark on your worksheet. If you have time at the end of the lesson, you can draw a picture of the cats. Meanwhile, I’ve been spending my Monday evening learning more Filipino street fighting moves on some Hong Kong backstreet near Aberdeen docks. I like a nice, quiet, safe time me.

Not quite, but alongside luxury apartments and hi-rises of Hong Kong, there are plently of semi-abandoned fishing villages dotting the coastline. This one, on the east side of Tai Tam bay seems to have been used as a military defence point during WW2.

As weather is taking a turn for worse, we are moving from Deep Water Bay over to Tai Tam Bay, which has more shelter - it did mean crossing some pretty rough seas. I enjoyed it hugely, but the ships cats (three of them) didn’t take it so well - so there’s a bit of a mess downstairs. Poor cats.