Last days in the Emerald Isle

Limerick wasn’t up to much and we had a couple more nights before heading back to Dublin in readiness to fly to Scotland. So we decided on a couple of nights in Ennis. Not many people have heard of Ennis let alone stayed there but we were surprised to find that Muhammed Ali has been to Ennis and has stayed (probably not at the same B&B as us). He came back, had a monument erected in his honour, because his roots are in this part of Ireland! Not sure who is doing his genealogy work but they must have worked back a few more generations of ancestors than myself.

However, Ennis was interesting. We drove about 30 minutes north to “The Burren” and went walking in the countryside. We walked through fields (no paddocks here) to see the remnants of old villages and settlements of peoples from years ago. Years ago, as it turns out, are pre pyramids days. I didn’t think there was anything in the World pre pyramids in Giza type stuff but there you go, learn something every day. We carried raincoats in the backpack but are pleased to be able to report that they weren’t required. There is no doubt that you wouldn’t go far from the farm house without your wet weather gear. Sales of SP50 in Ireland are nil….in fact they don’t know what it is. But the people are happy although very concerned of how they will fare with Brexit. There is no confidence in Boris as he has very much put the interests of the Irish on the back burner.

After 2 nights in Ennis we headed east, back to Dublin. We had to tidy up our little Duster and deliver back to Avis and then ready ourselves for another international flight, to Scotland. But this gave us a few hours to fill in Dublin and there could be worse tasks one could be presented with. We took a tour of the Rock and Roll Museum. This was about an hour tour with a guide and one could wonder how they could drag rock and roll in Ireland out that far. We focussed in on U2 of course and dragged out Thin Lizzy for a wee while then pulled in Van Morrison and Sinead O’Connor to keep us entertained. Not big rock’n’rollers but decent musicians all the same.  We were taken into a sound studio set up with drums, guitars and a keyboard which we were allowed to have bash at. Unfortunately there wasn’t a soul in our group that could play a chord so we moved on. If only I hadn’t broken that ukulele over my sisters’ head at the age of 9 I might have developed some musical talent.

We spent the afternoon wandering the Grand Canal and searching for geocaches before heading back to our hotel and readying ourselves for a flight to Edinburgh at 6.00am.

The South East Coast

Travelling south we tried to keep away from the main thoroughfares and drive the back roads towards our destination of Dungarvan. Views of the countryside are patchy as the roads are all sunken into the earth and there are hedgerows either side. Occasionally there is a gap and we see down to the ocean across paddocks edged by stone fences. The sky is grey most days and threatening rain, unless it is already raining! At Dungarvan we hired bikes for the day, electric bikes for the first time. These are the way forward no doubt. The little electric motor flattens out the hills and sends you flying past all the others who are pedalling hard against the wind. No wind on the e-bike, it cuts a path with ease. The bike trail is the longest uninterrupted in Ireland and we had a great day out.

From Dungarvan we headed for the County Kerry, a chunk of land that has fingers poking into the North Atlantic Ocean. Each finger (only 4 of them) (Oliver Cromwell probably chopped off the other one!) has well promoted drives around the coast of each. We started in the south and circled clockwise as instructed around the Beara Peninsula. The coastal road was very narrow in places with little villages dotted along it and seemed a very relaxed place on a good day. “Good days” if referring to the weather are few and far between. While in NZ we can expect 4 seasons in one day sometimes, it occurs here every day from our experience. In saying that, it isn’t cold and we haven’t been caught in a down pour as yet. We walked some short loop tracks, through farmers paddocks and along coastal trails. We saw numerous smashed castles, I think Cromwell is to blame for most of the damage. We came across one church yard with a small building (St. Declans Oratory) that had been renovated in 1716!. It was reroofed at that time and I have a feeling that the long run iron that we will replace on our roof when we get home isn’t going to last quite as long.

 

On to the Ring of Kerry, the main attraction in this corner of Ireland. We toured anticlockwise as instructed and saw great views from some precipitous angles. We drove through little towns where front doors open almost directly onto the carriageway. Interesting too that they have no car sheds, I guess that the houses were built prior to vehicular transport. They are very bold with their house paint as well, seemingly one trying to outdo the other. Far more flamboyant than us kiwis for sure. 

We walked high up a mountain (called a hill in NZ) to find a ring of stones placed here in the olden days. The “olden days” here are anything beyond 2000 years ago. Bit spooky to think humans were wandering about up here then, no merino icebreaker on and no central heating when they got home! Must have been hardy souls. We walked to a very southern point where the Kerry Cliffs fell away 300 metres to the Ocean. We drove past small paddocks fenced with stone fences, no doubt several hundred years old. There are numerous farm houses as many of these farms are under 100 acres and survive through subsidies. There is serious concern that Brexit is going to have a major effect on Irish exports as London is the gateway to the EU for Ireland. Should that gate be closed, and according to Boris it will be, then the Irish are going to face difficulties and taxes, getting their goods to Europe. They are not keen to be at the behest of England nor to have to strike deals or negotiate with them.

Our last day in the south corner we spent on the Dingle Peninsula, another worthwhile circumnavigation of a finger. One attraction on this drive was Cashel Murphy, an iron age settlement consisting of five houses, all adjoined and within a ringed fence (of stone). It looks most striking from the air but we didn’t have a drone to see it from that angle. Murphy is the most common name in Ireland and this could be perhaps one of the first settlements of Murphys in Ireland. Inside the wee settlement there was an underground tunnel and room. Presumably to store food and also to shelter from enemies. I had no need for food nor was I avoiding enemies but decided that I would adventure into the cavity. Easier said than done. While it was dark, damp and very small I was reasonably relaxed. However, being hunched over, developing cramps in a dark damp small space I decided to evacuate. Again, easier said than done. I was a tad anxious as I squeezed my self out the inlet. I won’t look to do that again in a hurry.

After 3 nights in Killarney on the shores of Lake Leane we headed northwards back toward Dublin. Not though before we had visited Muckross House. This is a well maintained Victorian style mansion built for the Herbert family and completed in 1843. In 1861, with the imminent visit by Queen Victoria and her Prince Albert, old man Herbert spent 3 years upgrading, renovating and installing all sorts of lavish furniture and fixings to impress the Queen. Hopeful he was of earning a knighthood, no expense was spared. Unfortunately for him he overspent his budget and his estate began to fall into financial ruin while he had to suck the bitter pill of no knighthood as well. I think old Victoria could smell a social climber before she saw him, poor old Henry Herbert didn’t impress. We drove north with no particular place to go looking for a bed. While it’s a long way to Tipperary we passed within 20 kms but still didn’t get there so it shall remain “…a long way to Tipperary…”. We camped at Limerick, the first place we found that had a bed for us, and planned our last few days in Ireland.

Adventures in the Emerald Isle - Dublin and South to Wicklow

We flew out of Auckland at midnight and landed in Hong Kong at 7.00am. Immediately our senses are bombarded with noises, smells and sights that are so Asian and foreign to us, and we still haven’t left the airport. We booked a nearby hotel on an hourly basis. We booked 10 hours and checked in at 10.00am.  I was a bit apprehensive about booking per hour. Last time we did this was many years ago in Kuala Lumpur. It was great until around 11.00pm, and then banging and bumping noises continued through to daylight. It was only when we checked out that we realised we had booked into a brothel!

Another 11 hour flight ensued as we departed Hong Kong at midnight and landed in Dublin at 7.00am, way to early for check in. So on with the walking gear and we headed out for some culture. We bought an all day pass on the tram car and headed to the Kilmainham Gaol, a place where anybody of political note appeared to have inhabited at some time. It seems that over the past 500 years the Irish have been continually bickering amongst each other and with the English with very little profit to anyone. There were so many political activist groups that no one seemed to hold power for any length of time. The IRA would imprison the IRB (nothing to do with International Rugby) Irish Republic Brotherhood. Someone in the IRA would form a splinter group, release the IRB and imprison the IRA. Add into this the potato famine where a 10 year old boy was imprisoned (2 weeks) for stealing a turnip. Then chuck in Oliver Cromwell from across the Irish Sea, and any number of Englishmen claiming Ireland as theirs and the gaols were fill to busting, with filthy hungry men and women…and children. We were pleased to get out of there without getting 10 lashes.

Back to our lodgings, unpack some gear have a shower and head to Temple Bar for some Irish music and a beer. This is a vibrant corner of Dublin, with numerous bars and ales. We had our fill of both and were pleased to get horizontal as the sun set (at 10.00pm in Dublin presently).

A hearty Irish breakfast got us started for another day on the streets of Dublin. First to the EPIC museum. Every Person Is Counted is what that stands for and it was a modern, self guided setup about Irish emigration. The whole show was well presented and interesting but I think I missed something. Why would a country want to bring to the attention of the World the number of its citizens that have left to set up their lives in foreign lands? There are close to 5 million Irish, living in Ireland. There are 10 times that number living overseas and that seems to be grounds for a celebration of sorts??!! What’s that about. It seems that poverty, famine, starvation, unemployment and political unrest are among some of the reasons given for this situation. We met a fellow who seemed embarrassed that we had come so far to visit his country when there was nothing much to see and very little of interest for its inhabitants nor those that travel so far. He did thank us for coming though, chuffed and humbled…..but why did you bother were his parting thoughts. Interesting land this one.

It was time for a beer and that means Guinness if you’re in Ireland. The Brewery was established in 1759 by Arthur Guinness. He was pretty sure he was on to a good thing and got the powers to be to sign him a 9000 year lease. Looks like he will be sticking around for a while yet. They have a really good tour and information boards, along with tasting, sipping and hard out chucking it down. We had a couple of hours there before heading back to our digs, a quick change and off to “Riverdance”. We had a 2 hour show and learned that it only found fame when it ran as an interlude for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994. Michael Flatley had choreographed that exhibition and got it underway as an international act. It was good fun for the evening.

Yesterday we bussed to the airport and picked up a Dacia Duster and got out into the traffic. We wanted to get a wee way south along the coast, take a walk along a sea side climbing track then find a place to stay and watch the rugby. By 10.00pm we had achieved all of those things so were feeling pretty satisfied with our day. We will now spend a couple of nights on the South coast hoping to knock off a cycle trail if it stops raining!

Westralia and beyond

We left Darwin two weeks ago and flew across the outback to Brisbane where we had a one night stopover before driving with Pam and Sandy to their farm near Kingaroy. Kingaroy is 3 hours north west of Brisbane and once home to Joh Bjelke-Petersen. He was a hero to many in Queensland and a long time Premier of the state. I read a book in New Zealand called “Thieves, Rogues and Criminals”  and Joh filled out a chapter in that!

Inspecting peanuts

Back on the farm, 80 acres of rich red earth, we admired the peanut crop (almost ready for harvest), tidied up the green house, checked the water and mowed the lawns. Once done we hitched the boat to the Ute and headed for Rainbow Point which is a small peninsula of land directly south of Fraser Island.

We had a holiday home as our base for 12 days and fished everyday except one rainy Saturday. The main target was winter whiting, a small fish but plentiful and tasty. We caught over 500 and these were either cooked in batter and frozen fresh or eaten immediately. We ate a lot of fish. Not many other species were hauled in although we did hook up to a large Spanish mackerel and I did get a shovel nose shark, a huge fish over 2 metres long and taking 30 minutes to get to the boat, but neither of those were landed. I did land quite a nice little Sole which made a change. In addition to the line fishing over the side of the boat we regularly set nets for crabs. We caught a few mud crabs about the size of a dinner plate.

poor wee sole

Sandy with a crab sandwiche

On our rainy Saturday we headed south to the Eumundi markets. This I think is one of the largest markets we have been to, and that includes some fairly impressive turn outs in Morocco, Thailand and Istanbul. As usual I hunted for a bargain but the moths stayed safe. Diana spotted something she needed so managed to spend a few dollars. We stopped for lunch at the Ettamogah Pub on the way back to Rainbow Beach. Unfortunately it has changed hands and had a major refurbish resulting in the loss of the rustic Ozzie Pub that was once depicted in cartoons in the Australian Post. 

Lunch at Ettamogah Pub

After our fishing we headed home to the farm once again to freeze fish, get the washing done, check the gardens and mow the lawns. With this all done we are packing again for a 5 night tour of Rockhampton. We will drive up tomorrow morning, about a 6 hour journey and be back again next Saturday to meet Hayden and Sarah when they arrive at the farm in a rental car from Eagle Farm airport.

Note kookaburra top of the clothes line. He perched there the entire time Diana hung out the washing. Happy little chap.

Last Flight to Darwin

Well, probably not the last flight but probably our last visit. We arrived late in the afternoon, pleased to be in cooler climes than Broome. The temperature down a massive 2 degrees to 33! Just on dark we picked up our Skoda rental car and drove into downtown Darwin traffic. Skoda, being a European type car, decided to put the indicator lever on the wrong side of the steering column so our windscreen was well wiped by the time we found our apartment.

Saturday was race day at the local course so travelling with a horse owner/trainer practically guaranteed us a profitable time at the pay out window….didn’t it? There were 6 races on the card, almost all 1200 metres give or take 100 metres and the field generally numbered 6 horses. Picking a winner couldn’t be easier….could it? Yes it could! We never spent much money and although collectively we never came home jubilant I did come home with a little more money than I went with. This was not due to any of the aforementioned advantages that I had perceived but as usual due to a couple of misunderstandings and forgotten pre-researched winners that I had selected being left out due to brain fade at the tote window.

There was plenty to do in Darwin and we gave the Darwin museums a thorough inspection. We visited the Darwin Military Museum and the Aviation Museum. This museum houses a B52 bomber, it’s huge. An F1-11is parked under one wing, they’re pretty darn large up close. Darwin has a dogged war history being bombed by 242 Japanese aircraft 10 weeks after Pearl Harbour. 236 people were killed and 11 ships sunk. There is a lot of history in the town about Darwin in February 1942, they still seem a little aggrieved that the Japanese surprised them 80 odd years ago. In the evening we dined with Pam and Sandy’s friends at the “Ski Club”. We thought that sounded a bit cooler than the 33 degrees that had enveloped us since arriving but there was no snow in sight….water skiing it was. I’m sure Iain Bill would have been impressed.

We headed south to Litchfield National Park for a look, in our trusty Skoda….with the very clean windscreen. Very different to National Parks in our land of wet and green. This seemed to be a cooling off spot for Dawinians on the weekend. We never got our togs wet but there were a few who did.

We made a daylight start in quest of an Esky full of fish on Tuesday morning. Our skipper took us well across the bay but never more than a couple of kms from shore looking for barramundi, or anything unfortunate enough to get hooked. We caught a variety of species although nothing worthy of display over the fire place. We got enough for two meals.  Sandy cooked them to perfection, which he has done again and again. A great day on which we observed a birthday for Diana ……but we didn’t really celebrate.

One more museum type visit beckoned on our last afternoon. Two nurses among us convinced the entire party that a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Bombing of Darwin Tourist Facility, would be time well spent even though it was near closing. It seemed interesting enough on entering but we were quickly fitted with a skull cap and goggles, a bit like snorkel goggles with head phones. “Take a seat” the man said which we did. We were then chucked in the hold of a ship, the Japanese started bombing the wharf and before we knew it we were on the wing of Curtiss P-40 Warhawk flying with an American hellbent on taking out 100 Japanese Zero aircraft (made by Mitsubishi). We got shot down almost immediately and then I was gasping for breath at the bottom of Darwin Harbour. Eventually exited my skull cap sweating profusely pleased that the bombing had stopped and back on dry ground, exhausted.

On our last day we had a couple of hours to spare before flying out to Brisbane so went back to the RFDS and climbed into another skull cap. Same result, sweating and exhausted…these virtual experiences are virtually fair dinkum. Off to Brisbane.

Western Australia

Another adventure begins on the flat West Island. Our start at 5.00am on Saturday morning had us in Perth by 2.00pm so a fairly long day by the time we positioned ourselves in the prostrate position. We were fortunate to be picked up by Colleen, an elderly friends daughter who now lives in Perth. We spent a lovely evening in her home rather than commercial accommodation.

Sunday we met up with our Australian friends, Pam and Sandy Lennox in the Perth Airport and flew 2 hours north to Broome. Once the cabin doors were open we began to believe the 35 degrees and realise that the winter Olympics weren’t going to be held here any time soon. We hired a car and drove to our Air BnB and broke open some refreshments to ward off the temperature.

We have done some exploring about the town of Broome, a smallish rural town with a population of 4500 but thousands more tourists in the peak season between May and September.

We watched the sunset set on one beach then jumped in the car and drove 5 kms to watch the moon come up on the other coast and view the “Stairway to the Moon” effect which was quite spectacular but unphotographable with our limited knowledge of how to operate the DSLR. You can’t put things on hold like this while you read the manual. We wandered through a night market but couldn’t be tempted into buying anything. At some stage in your life you find you have everything you need and even a delightful imitation porcelain koala in a tree is not really necessary. Still delightful though.

We have checked out the local museum, an art gallery, some shops, Matso’s brewery, a lighthouse and the port. We went to the beach a second time to watch the sunset and photograph a camel train. Many tourists ride the camels at sunset and while this was enticing we didn’t fancy standing in line at the local chiropractor to get ourselves back into walking condition.

Our major reason for the Broome visit was to experience the “Horizontal Falls” an attraction some 200kms north on the Dampier Peninsular. We were picked up before the sparrows had passed wind and headed north in a 4x4 bus, a crew of 12 of us and “Cob” the driver. We visited a little old church on the way built in 1917 by French Trappist Monks, (you’ll have to Google them), in a Germanic style with Aboriginal influences using the mother of pearl shells that were harvested for years in the area for buttons. During the drive we passed several active roadside vegetation fires and I was feeling compelled to get out and give them a hand. It wasn’t until we got to the 3^rd fire that I realised that “Them” weren’t in attendance. These fires were just another of natures’ deliverances, like a shower of rain but probably more common. 

We stopped at Cygnet Bay pearl farm. While we were shown how to culture the pearls and even though a small one costs $500 it didn’t look like easy money to me. They take 2 years to form and involve a lot of maintenance. No purchases were made in our group but it was interesting.

We were then flown from Cygnet Bay to land on the water by the Horizontal Falls Hotel, a floating establishment. We were quickly ushered into a 3 engined juice guzzling (100 litres per hour per engine) speed boat for a trip through the horizontal falls. This is a tidal phenomenon where the water rushes through 2 small gaps, filling then emptying Talbot Bay. We dropped about 2 metres into the swirling boiling type water in the bay then rushed back through, several times. Great fun. A lunch of fresh cooked BBQ barramundi and then a boat ride amongst interesting upthrust rock formations that make up the Kimberleys.

We flew home in a Cessna Caravan, an hour back to Broome. It was a long day but although they describe themselves as the “Best Horizontal Falls Seaplane Adventure” I thought they sold themselves short. It was expensive but it was a great day out…..35 degrees all the way.

One last day today in Broome and we are off to Darwin tomorrow.

The end is nigh

Our flights from Con Dao Island through HCM City and then to Da Nang went without incident even though there was some claggy sort of weather to fly through. Hoi An is an old city and is rated a UNESCO World Heritage site. There were old buildings in the old town centre showing history of Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, and local Vietnamese. Most of the buildings are now used for selling stuff to tourists. They seem to have 100 shops all selling little trinkets and cloth bags and the like but they also have suit making and shoe making services. Both boys lined up for suits to be tailor made. Hayden had second thoughts so bought two. Blair had a pair of shoes made. Measurements are made and first test sizing is 24 hours later. Within 48 hours suits and shoes are made and packed for travel back home.

While in Hoi An we also did a cooking class. Firstly we walked to a village garden area and looked at different plants and herbs - all very interesting. We had an excellent English-speaking guide and she got us underway making some “creations” out of vegetables. We made a variety of things and mostly looked quite good to us. We manufactured spring rolls and then cooked them. Everything turned out perfect. At Blairs insistence we have eaten spring rolls on every day we have been traveling. Surprisingly rarely have there been two the same. It seems that they are always made with different ingredients, from raw fish to deep fried beef and veges….I trended away from the raw stuff. We also spent most of a day cycling in Hoi An, picking up a few geocaches and dodging rain showers. In the evening there was a lantern Festival in the old town so we had a wander for a while. It gets a bit hectic after a short time with motorbikes going in all directions, people running interference on every street and not less than half a dozen peddlers doing their utmost to sell you something that you need or want. It is unbelievable how determined a sun glass seller can be when he sees that you are wearing tinted prescription glasses but still seems to give himself a reasonable chance of making a sale.

Away from Hoi An we drove to Hue, about 4 hours north. We had another 2 nights in this city where the children took a full day tour of sites and Diana and I did a bit of wandering and cache hunting. Just happened to be a geocache at a temple that we hadn’t seen so we took a boat ride down the Perfume River for a look. “Perfume” is hardly the right word for the body of water that carries anything and everything along with it. I must say that the Vietnamese are at least aware of littering but they are light years away from getting on top of the rubbish problem.

Another flight out of Hue had us in Hanoi the capital city and the stronghold of the Vietnamese during the American war. We took an afternoon guided tour of Ho Chi Minh museum  which gave us a good insight to the struggles that HCM the man went through, to obtain power, enforce communism, try to get his people out of perpetual confrontation with foreign countries and out of poverty. Seems they aren’t under attack these days as they have been over the past 200 years but the poverty is still prevalent. In saying that we see no beggars and no one hassling us just for money. They will try and sell you something you don’t want and even just asking the price is a sale as far as they are concerned.

We had an overnight excursion to Halong Bay where we boarded a junk with 12 others and were treated royally while floating among the kharsts in the bay. This is quite a big tourism business and I found it most enjoyable.  We had an excellent English speaking guide who insisted we call him 007 or James Bond for reasons that I missed when he convincingly explained them. James was able to answer all our questions, some before we even asked them and in the evening played us songs on a 2 string banjo come ukulele/guitar type of instrument. He was very good I thought but not the strongest in the family to make statements on the performance of any said musician.

Our junk with the sails

Back to Hanoi we have had a couple of days with shopping, massages and packing our bags. We squeezed in a water puppet show of traditional Vietnamese ways of life. None of it was in English but we got the gist. Some of the family thought it was entertaining but not all. We agreed, as it is with any experience, even the bad experiences are worth having and all add to the quality of the travel.

Have pots will travel!

We’ve had a great trip so far and are beginning our goodbyes this evening as Blair and Meghan leave us for Vancouver in the morning while Hayden, Sarah, Diana and I will be out of our hotel with the sparrows and on our way to Auckland via Hong Kong and home on Wednesday.