CreamyGoodness

PippinImage

Redwing

Very cold, very snowy. Minus 7 degrees at night at the moment. The chickens are too scared to come out of their run in the snow, so other birds are stealing their food. Very pretty redwing in the garden this morning. Photo on right.

09/01/10

Day 27

Final day in Hong Kong, final day of holiday. Went to Stanley for the day - much quieter and more spacious than the city, with lots of old colonial stuff and buildings. Ate Paella. In the evening, went to the SoHo area for dinner. Ate lasagne after my stomach requested no more slimy strange Cantonese foods.

02/01/10

Day 26

Spent the day mostly in Kowloon, ticking off things to do from the guide book. Used the Star Ferry and the tube. Ate Peking duck. Ate at Cantonese restaurant. Had Vodka Martini watching sunset over Victoria harbour. Went to Temple Street night market. And watched light display thing on Hong Kong island skyscrapers. Quite pleased we didn't try to go there last night on New Years Eve, as even tonight the crowd on the harbour was three people thick.

A couple of photos on the right. The rest are here.

01/01/10

Day 25

Have now flown from one of the most sparsely populated places in the world to one of the most densely populated. We are in Hong Kong for a few days. Lots of tall buildings and pushing. Went up to the high peak for dinner on New Years Eve with a table over looking the city at night. very impressive view even if it was a bit hazy.

Despite warnings about the source of some seafood, so far we have eaten shrimp dim sum, shark fin soup, scallops with crab roe and lobster. All very tasty and no ill effects yet.

31/12/09

Day 24

Final day in New Zealand. Went for a sauna/pool/massage at the spa this morning in Hanmer Springs. Very relaxing and not as weird as I thought it might be.

Afternoon was driving back to Christchurch to return campervan - a totally painless experience despite us having broken some plates, door locks, curtains etc. All classed as normal wear and tear apparently. Now waiting for plane.

30/12/09

Day 23

This morning did the obligatary whale watching trip. It's at a spot on the pacific east coast where there's a big canyon over 1000m deep about 3 miles out. Was rather good - we saw three sperm whales, and a pod of over 200 dusky dolphins. All three whales very kindly did the big tail raise thing before diviong down to feed. However, on two of these occasions I was throwing up into a bag, so the whale photos you see here were taken by Tessa. It seems I have developed an intolerance to travel on choppy seas as this is the second time this holiday it's happened, but the first time in my life.

All the whale photos can be found here.

This afternoon drove to Hanmer Springs - a town built around some natural hot springs. Quite nice to bathe in, but spoilt a bit by the hundreds of kids around now that it's summer holidays here.

29/12/09

New Zealand Holiday

The rest of the New Zealand diary can be found here.

07/12/09