Farewell to Palm Beach

Well, we have been blessed with a few days with Hilary and Mick up in the Northern beaches, Sydney, to adjust to coming home and all that brings. This was this morning's serene view from their balcony -which has helped. Hilary and Mick provided us with a lovely refuge and we got to to see the gorgeous Charlie and Clair too (ha...are you reading this dahling?)...so we've managed to fit a lot into our 4 days here
It was buy two get one free for H&M as they wonderfully put up Sarah too for a couple of days; we had Mastermind champion versus Jobseeker at Scrabble on Saturday....but the result is still pending.Sarah's been for a teaching job interview today and is presently tutoring some Korean students in English, I believe...
Presently sitting in the Qantas lounge eating cake and drinking tea in readiness for the culture change. have just heard that there is a further delay on the flight...aaaghh...which should have gone at 5.20 and is now set to leave at 8 pm. They are citing 'engineering requirements' which as it's an airbus is a tad worrisome...
back in Blighty by 8am ish Tues we hope.....

Sadness

Thanks to those who commented.
Sadly, it looks as though our world trip will now be curtailed. We heard the news -rather late as we haven't had access to Internet- that John Wallace, Davids business partner since 1974, died on Monday.
We 'll be thinking of all his family as we fly home but are not sure yet when that will be.

Can it get any better?

Well.....Tuesday saw us walking to the end of the Fox Glacier - unusual that a glacier remains unmelted so far down into a temperate zone - and then ending up at the sea at Punakaiki.
Suffice it to say...it's going to be hard to beat this place to stay; our own 'bach' (hideaway) with private beach. We just may be here for two nights.......!

Brilliant Blue

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That was the colour of the sky on Monday. And the waters we encountered too...coming in the form of lakes, rivers and sea. We probably drove 250 miles from Tekapo pronounced Tikka-poh) under a cerulean sky, to Aoraki National Park at the foot of the snow covered Mount Cook, where we walked up to look at Tasman Lake, dotted with (rather dirty) icebergs.The temperature rose steadily throughout the day from a crisp 15 to a perfect 26, although in the shade the air reflected our altitude and had a glacial edge.
The roads were straight, empty and scenically so beautiful that we ate up the miles without it feeling like a chore. Stopping in Twizel to buy ourselves some lunch in a supermarket, we also found our bargain of the day- a zip bag for $2.50. It can accommodate what ironically call our 'capsule wardrobes'.....it's no fun lugging around suitcases packed with 3 months worth of gear, so we selected clothes and necessities suitable climatically for this part of the journey and packed them into aforesaid bargain. My capsule wardrobe has the extra protection of a plastic shopping bag, emblazoned with 'Be a Tidy Kiwi'.....read this and weep, Mrs Beckham....
We pushed on, driving past lakes -and rivers of various blues from turquoise to reflected blue-greens and through lush planting; blobby, vertical trees, horizontal canopied tree-ferns - until we realized we needed to find a place for the night. There's plenty around but the exchange rate is not on our side - so prices are quite high. At Lake Moeraki we enquired what a room might cost at the Lodge; $798 she said....but that includes dinner (!) We computed that and moved on fast to Lake Paringa where we found a basic motel with kitchen facilities, right on the Lake shore for $95 which was PERFECT.
We even had a pontoon to bob around on as we watched the sun go down and finished up the rest of a bottle of Marlborough Sauvignon blanc. There were no shops in the vicinity by about 30 miles...so we ate from the manager's emergency supplies; instant noodles with tinned salmon and baked beans never tasted so good!

Anybody out there?

Off, under very very clear and sunny skies (if half the temperature of Samoa!) in a moment. But...I know I have the grand total of 2 followers to this blog; if there are any more of you out there please feel free to comment in the handily supplied boxes! Thanks!

Lake Tekapo, New Zealand

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The Church of the Good Shepherd is just to the right of this photo.


We did make it out of Western Samoa....driving through the pouring rain to the airport..and our landlady texted to say that, so far, the cyclone has skirted the island ; I think we're both going to miss Samoa and listening to tropical rain belting down , although having now reached New Zealand and opened our cases of damp damp clothing and found that they dried out within a few hours, we are not missing the saturated atmosphere. The temperature was a bit of a change too...down from 30'C  to about 15 when we arrived at midday.
We have spent our first half day in NZ (a day we lost because having crossed the date line  we missed out on Saturday entirely!) driving from Christchurch to Lake Tekapo,po about 3 hours south. We turned up, found a hotel with an amazing view and have just watched the sun go down over the lake whilst eating the most delicious fish and chips. Being Sunday, we found that there was a service at  the Church of the Good Shepherd right on the edge of the lake and shared communion and the lake view, through the picture window behind the altar, with a congregation of about 20.  The sun shone as we arrived here but who knows what tomorrow will bring....we really don't mind -it's all good! 

As the cyclone builds, Maria decides it's time to ask for the bill...

This was supper with our landlady just before we left lovely Samoa....