We said farewell to the beautiful city of Melbourne with its population of approximately 5.3 million, lots of green spaces, gardens, art, a great public transport system with free trams and trains within inner city boundaries – and heavy fines for speeding and being on your phone while driving (and cameras to catch you).  Although there is a great transport system there is still crawling traffic all day to get around the city and outer suburbs. Sadly, the daily news bulletins are full of the bad news – crime seems to have ramped up here, graffiti is prevalent even on lovely buildings and walls and, as in every city in the world, the homeless are evident.

We had an early departure at 8 am on the Overland train to travel the 820 km to Adelaide.  After settling into very comfortable seats we were served a lovely breakfast to start the day.  The train rolled on past flat, dry pastures towards Wirrebee and Geelong.  Green paddocks are a rare sight and the gum trees dominate the land which is sparsely populated with farm animals – a few sheep and beef to be seen but on this hot 34 degree day maybe some are resting in the shade – of which there seems to be very little!

There are tiny settlements, immense fields of recently harvested grain – barley, wheat, alfalfa, apples, pears, stone fruit, citrus and almonds with wheat and barley being the mainstay crops.  As we roll on we see working  farm tractors throwing up clouds of dust and the sheep are an earthy colour and blend into this parched land.  We see dust whirlwinds dancing across the fields, (smaller than the ones we saw in Arizona), and the odd kangaroo.  Some large shallow lakes have completely dried up and for some reason, the train is sometimes on a lean as we travel on past Ararat, Stawell, Horsham, Dimboola, Nhill and Bordertown where the time goes back by 30 minutes as we make our way further west and through into South Australia.  

This land is vast – we have travelled approximately 600 km of utterly flat plains as far as the eye can see.  It makes our NZ seem so small but gives us an appreciation of our beautiful landscape at home.  Suddenly, out of nowhere, we pass a group of camels – can you belieeeeve it?  Then some dry salt flats, wind and solar farms and, from about Murray Bridge onwards, the landscape gets greener with some vineyards and green trees.  We roll into Adelaide after 11 hours of comfortable, enjoyable and interesting travel being fed along the way on this Overland train and step off the train into 34 degree heat to begin to explore Adelaide.

The one in charge of the B’s is doing a stellar job trundling along in this extreme heat.  The one in charge of the P’s has lost her Tour Leader and it is highly likely she will lose her mind in the predicted almost 40 degree heat! I now have to get my act together if it is at all possible and sort out the paperwork to become the tour leader before the tour companion lays a complaint!  I have planned the days in Adelaide but already some of the plan has gone out the window because we are doing some edits to take into account these hot days.  I am at risk of getting a bad review but I know that if I can find an ice cream shop to get him a treat all will be well!

The week in Melbourne was very successful, especially since we had a tour leader in Nicola who planned each day with precision so much so that she could probably get a job as Formula 1 boss!  We got into the nice new car, onto the correct trams and the correct trains all the while following her like two disciplined pets that were being taken on a walk – and walk we did!  The walks took us to interesting places like the National Gallery of Victoria where we upskilled on aboriginal art, a Japanese art exhibition and the magnificent works of Monet, Cezanne, Gainsborough, Picasso – honestly worth spending time there.  We walked down South Bank admiring the boats on the Yarra River and crossed the river to visit Federation Square and Hosier Lane which is home to the street artists who have a space to paint – in fact they can come along and paint over the top of another artist’s work so it changes daily – interesting.  We also went to see a Street Art Exhibition which demonstrated the amazing talent that many of these street artists possess.

The tour guide suggested I sit in an odd looking chair on the sidewalk in this busy area – I did – ended up making an exhibition of myself as the chair spun around according to your movement so legs in the air and head in a spin I spun – and spun – and spun!  The thing about that is that when you have finished spinning your head hasn’t finished spinning so you have to try and concentrate and act like you do this kind of thing every day, bring yourself to an upright position and wander nonchalantly off (while anyone watching is probably thinking that this old girl has completely lost her mind).

Nicola had booked for us all to go to see Tina – wonderful musical about the life of Tina Turner.  Now I had admired Tina and her singing “Simply the Best” which I have played a thousand times and it gets you dancing every time and this was no exception.  The show ended with that song and the entire audience were on their feet – and clapping and dancing and I worried momentarily that the floor above us would come down and join us such were the vibrations of a full house enjoying the show at that very old Princes Theatre.

Nicola celebrated her birthday with us here and was TL for the day – they say the apples don’t fall far from the tree and I can see that my many years of being TL are now maybe over – at least in Melbourne – because we are just happy following the orders for the day which took us to an MCG Tour and Museum visit with a fabulous guide and just the three of us.  We could just picture dear “Warnie” out on that pitch getting a hat trick and seeing behind the scenes including a 10-minute hologram presentation by Shane Warne made for a very enjoyable three hours.  Our weary legs then took us to Docklands to see where Brendan and Victoria spent six months while he was doing his Fellowship here in Melbourne 18 years ago and then to dinner at the local pub in Brighton to celebrate Nicci’s birthday.  Magical day indeed – and – I just need to say to those who have followed us for years – the bathroom!  Well, the thing is that the bathroom in this apartment is very nice indeed but I did not not notice that it had a dinner plate showerhead and three taps and, although not nearly as complicated or severe a reaction as Europe, I did manage to turn the wrong tap and got hit in the face with cold water which brought me to my senses big time, swung me around at a rate of knots which caused me to bang my head at the other end of the shower so then the back got a blast of cold water! 

We took a drive with our TL to the Mornington Peninsula.  Our 80 km journey took us past dry farm pastures on a 30 degree day out to the lovely Portsea where we enjoyed lunch looking over the bay with the busy car ferries going back and forth constantly. Made our way back to Aidan and Jenny’s with pancakes for afternoon tea on Shrove Tuesday.   We then spent a day at Williamstown with four of us looking after our little 9 month old great niece – four of us trying to offer her all kinds of different food and haggling over who was going to take charge of the push chair at the park – Vern won!

Our final day in Melbourne was interesting.  Jenny had won a “book a bathing hut” in a raffle and so she diligently packed up a lovely morning tea of hot cross buns, thermos flask etc etc for our visit on a windy morning to the said beach hut at Brighton.  Now, if you know Brighton beach you will know that this line of about 90 little colorful beach huts is a tourist attraction and they are almost always closed – you seldom see one that is occupied.  We arrived with all the gear for our morning stay in this little hut but dear Jenny had forgotten the key so the boys took the gear to the hut and we waited for the key to arrive.  We opened the hut, set out the chairs, the buns, the flasks, etc etc but we had forgotten the mugs!  Not to worry – there was bound to be mugs hiding somewhere in this tiny hut but NO – wine glasses to satisfy an army of friends but no mugs.  Having said that, there is no power in these little huts.  Not to worry – Kiwis make do with what there is so I found three acrylic glasses – Jenny was not ‘appy – worried they might melt for goodness sakes!  After much hilarity the tea and coffee was poured and we sat ourselves down to enjoy being in this little hut on a windy day.  All was fine for about five minutes until the Chinese tour bus arrived – now we were the main tourist attraction with faces at the door constantly, some wanting to engage, all wanting to take photos and at one point we vacated the hut so that two ladies from Singapore could have their photo taken in it!  Heaven forbid – this carry on went on for the entire time we were there.  We decided to stay and order fish and chips from the cafe along the beach for lunch so we did and we then wondered if we were going to be visited by the mass of seagulls down in front.  It was a fun day I can tell you and we finished our lovely visit to Melbourne with a very nice dinner at an Italian restaurant where we toasted family and the end of our visit.

Well here we go again! Because we failed the first test, we decided to take the test again and, since what seems like half the population has flown across the ditch, we thought we need to go and see why! With our first trip ending so quickly we are NOT planning on a repeat of that performance. Last year, between poor Vern feeling so unwell, me trying to change air tickets and throwing things into the bag to catch the next flight, Vern putting on my Lulu Lemon pants instead of his track pants for the flight home and saying a disappointing farewell to Georgia and Hannah we want to pass this test with flying colours. By the way – he did change the pants – he wouldn’t have been able to breathe if he hadn’t! We have even managed to pack the bags without falling out which is a good start and so we are heading off with he in charge of the “B’s” (bags) and me in charge of the “P’s (paperwork – and pills of which we have enough for almost every and any medical event) we are almost ready for the airport. The clothing covers everything from a heatwave to a cyclone and it never ceases to amaze me that as we have gotten older, we have almost as much room taken up in the cases for meds as we do for clothes! Heaven forbid – I am wondering if Border Security are going to empty the bags to check. I am just hoping that they take one look at us oldies and wave us on through. Perhaps if I get my Nitrolingual spray out of the bag just as we hit the checkout that might hurry them up! Anyway, we will keep you posted on how we get on. I am just praying that we do get on because I have done the planning for this little adventure and the travelling companion might not give me a good review.

We had been pretty excited to fly to Sydney to spend time with Georgia, Hannah and Matt.  Georgia and Matt relocated to Sydney last July because Matt works as a commodity trader at StoneX and Georgia works as a paediatric emergency nurse at Sydney Children’s Hospital.  Just two weeks ago Hannah moved to Sydney keeping her Auckland marketing job for an agency here, so we were looking forward to seeing their respective apartments which are both in Randwick near the beaches, the train lines and the hospital.  The girls were waiting at the airport and very excited to see us.  Sydney’s weather system deteriorated from the promised 25 degree days to rain, rain and more rain which was the first problem as we didn’t pack much warm gear but did have ze raincoats which proved useful in these frequent showers.

We settled into Georgia and Matt’s apartment and by Tuesday Vern was seemingly not himself but we did get to see Hannah’s apartment and had a walk between showers at Coogee Beach.  By Wednesday morning Vern was obviously unwell and confined to the bedroom so the girls decided to take Nanny on a drive to explore more beaches in the wind and rain – this wasn’t their idea of our beach visit which we all thought was going to be on a 26 degree sunny day!  Never mind – you can’t control ze weather!  By Thursday morning we were a bit concerned about Vern and the nurse in the family determined that he needed to see a doctor so we set off to make the appointment and a Covid test had to take place before that visit.  The bad news was that the Covid test had two positive red lines in about 30 seconds!  We were in a bit of shock actually but made a very quick decision to get on a plane and get back home.  He wasn’t well and we did not want to put them all at risk – although probably already had.  I have suppressed immunity and was a sitter to get it too so we quickly got into packing mode.  It was hugely disappointing but it was the right thing to do besides, the three of them have been training for a half marathon which was run on Sunday 5 May and I am delighted to say they all completed it.  

There wasn’t much to laugh about but on Wednesday I had bought Vern a pair of black track pants because he was cold.  He was doing the packing and I was on the phone to Air NZ when, to my utter shock, when I looked at him in these black pants I nearly fainted because it looked like he was standing there in leotards which were too short and too tight!  Heaven forbid – what blimmin size did I buy I am thinking which thoroughly distracted me while talking to the man on the phone!  When I got off the phone I heard Georgia laughing her head off in the lounge before announcing “Pappy – why are you wearing Nanny’s Lulu Lemon trousers??”  Well, blow me down and thank goodness for that because these are definitely not made for him and thankfully that little error was discovered before we boarded the plane or a very uncomfortable flight would be the result and it was uncomfortable enough for him fully masked up and just wishing the flight was over.  We eventually arrived home at 2.30 am discarding the masks and falling into bed.  Next morning I too had a positive test!  So here we are back in our apartment at William Sanders Village and had the groceries and meds delivered by Nicola and Franco, morning tea in a bag at the door from our 92 year old neighbour, calls from other neighbours, kids and grandkids to see what we need and the Herald pushed under the door by another kind neighbour.  We are really blessed to be in this caring environment.  So our holiday ends on a disappointing note but we will be back to Sydney to make up for it before too long.  And……. In three weeks Nicola and Franco relocate to Melbourne and their new apartment so we will be visiting Melbourne too.  Things they are a changing! The girls and Matt went to the AFL game on Saturday (the one that we were supposed to be at so they could educate us on the nuances of the game) and completed their half marathon in the rain on Sunday.  So today, whilst we are isolating with Covid we are onto the next holiday to plan.

Pre wedding meet and greet was an enjoyable event at the Garden Bar up the road from where we were staying and we all passed muster I am pleased to say.  Meeting Becky’s family and friends was very enjoyable and it seems that we are all on the same level for conversation and humor and, of course, nice French Champagne and canapés always helps that!  Saturday was wedding day at Millbrook Vineyard in Jaradale about an hour from Perth so we were taken on a coach – a rip roaring coach with the music pumped up to the max by a lady guest who started the party the minute she boarded the coach!  She was onto it and “louder, louder” she was screaming out from the back of ze bus while we were almost digging into the small handbag for the Paracetamol and the event hadn’t even started!  I might add that into this tiny purse I had prepared for almost any medical event!  After driving on the freeway for some time we turned off toward Jaradale and drove through the rural countryside.  The farmland was sad to see with not a green blade of grass to be seen anywhere and sheep and underweight cattle with their noses to the ground searching for food.  The drought here has been devastating and farmers are needing to cull their cattle.  The abattoirs cannot cope with the numbers and the outcome for these struggling farmers will not be good.  It must be very tough being a farmer right now in these parts where unless they have enough food to feed the stock they will perish and you can clearly see the evidence as you drive through this barren landscape.  Thirty per cent of the water that Perth needs is from desalinated plants but unless farmers are lucky enough to have a bore on their land they cannot irrigate their paddocks.

Onto the venue where the grapevines are in good shape and the surroundings are beautiful with the main venue built out over the small lake in front.  The ceremony takes place outside overlooking the lake but no photos allowed of the wedding party who all look amazing – six bridesmaids in different bright pink outfits, four groomsmen and two very tiny shy little flower girls sprinkling white petals in front of the bride as she walks down the grass.  The family photos with this clan are often a circus rounding up the right ones to come forward at the right time and stand in the right place and not act like clowns and today one sister-in-law has wandered off down the path into the venue and gone AWOL!  Not to worry – eventually after getting pinched on our backsides by husbands and bros to make us jump or squeal the ones in charge of the phones to get the photos take about 20 so that we just may get one where all are behaving!  Well that will be a miracle!  Anyway, much fun was had by all with nice food, nice speeches, lovely people and lots of dancing and we all behaved.  Now the dancing was good because it was my hope (and judging by how sore my knees were the next day it worked) that the exercise would help the shrinking clothes which always happen when we travel.  I know this is common – it must be the washing water!  So back on the bus we all climb – a few needed help and one guy boarded holding pink high heel shoes and a pink handbag and I don’t think he was sure if he had been to a wedding or a party or what but let’s just say he needed help to find his seat.  The lady who was in charge of the music on the way lost the job for the return journey (we were not sad about that!) However, she still had enough energy to want ze music turned up louder louder – didn’t happen! We suggested that the new recruit should perhaps play lullabies quietly over the sound system and then perhaps this hour long trip might be somewhat easier to endure now that one or two have sore heads!

Sunday morning was a slowwwww start on account of the fact that we are not used to getting to bed at 1 am and it has already taken us four days to slightly adjust to the four hour time difference from home.  Never mind – we have a post wedding get together at a bar on a Marina in Fremantle so Margaret and I have to endure another journey with Vern and Kerry in charge of getting us there which actually worked out well and just goes to show that practice makes perfect!!  These two have taken themselves off in the car a few times to explore the place and have come back with hilarious stories of how it all went while us girls have occupied ourselves in other ways!  A rowdy bar was probably good to wake us all up!

Dear Jenny then decides we should go and see a few things to keep us awake till dinner as apparently a little tiredness is evident so we 10 are divided into the two vehicles.  It is certainly a lot of fun being with four elderly brothers I can tell you for sure.  Getting into a vehicle driven by Kerry and navigated by Vern is one thing but me (for my sins) being the chosen female to get into a car with the four brothers is quite another.  I do not know why I got selected but perhaps my sisters-in-law thought I could be the one to control this undisciplined lot but that is one impossible task.  Firstly, I sat in the back seat between Vern and Aidan who immediately asked for the air conditioning to be turned up full and the temperature to be turned down.  Next minute I have a full blast of cold air between the legs which was much worse than the blimmin massage chair at the nail bar!!!  Talk about navigation – there were three navigators on this run to the market and the cenotaph turning left, right, twice around roundabouts and so much hilarity in the vehicle that it was like an episode of The Simpsons.  Just doing up the seatbelts with three of us in the back seat was an utter fiasco and I will leave that to your imagination!  I have had more than 60 years with this lot and they didn’t hold back in telling me I should be used to it!  However, I have been utterly blessed to have such amazing bros and sisters-in-law so count myself very fortunate. Onto the cenotaph we go with magnificent views over Fremantle and Rottnest Island – another photo but, as usual, disagreements over where to take it, sit, stand, smile, frown – just blimmin get it over with I am thinking! Then onto the Fremantle Market where all of the population gathers on a Sunday and I can tell you for sure they were there! Now can you imagine four disinterested bros trying to find the passengers from the other car amongst every type of food stall you can imagine, bangles, beads, gypsy outfits, hats, kids, music – you name it – it’s here! Miraculously we bang into each other by the Billtong stand but Jenny can see by the look on the bros faces that they would rather be anywhere but here! Heaven forbid – so we try and navigate back to the car but which way did we come in and which way do we go out and how do we get out and so it goes on!

Righty now we are flying across the Nullibor on our way to Sydney having farewelled the family after a simple and enjoyable dinner at a little Italian restaurant last night.  We now join Georgia, Hannah and Matt for the next week so the bag has the requested recipe folder and I have a feeling I will be donning the apron to get through the requested list which will be fun.  Perth is a beautiful clean and well organized city and we have loved going back there.  It is 16 years since we spent time here when Brendan was doing his surgical fellowship and Oliver was a tiny baby.  We loved it then and we loved it again this time.  The one in charge of the B’s has fallen asleep beside me in his very comfy seat on this Virgin Australia plane after a busy and fun week with his three brothers and the extended nieces and nephews and their kids too.

After an eight hour flight we arrived late afternoon in Perth, the largest city in Western Australia with a population of approximately 2.4 million and the fourth most populous city in Australia. Our trip from the airport to our apartment on the river treated us to the most magnificent sunset lighting up the entire sky with its striking red glow. Darkness appears to happen quickly with a short dusk and suddenly it is dark. After a very good sleep the plan for the morning was for Vern and his brother to go collect the rental car. I had checked the whereabouts of this pickup point and it didn’t seem too far away. I, the one in charge of the P’s (which I had no intention of mentioning to these guys could include “pickup”) decided they could manage this on their own. That was the first mistake of the day because on their return journey to bring the said car back to the apartment they toured the whole of Perth!! My sister-in-law was trying to track them down – she apparently can always find where hubby is by looking at her phone! Heaven forbid – I think the one in charge of the B’s would blow his fooffoo valve if I suggested this would be a good idea for me to do! Anyway, eventually these two grey haired men appeared on the riverside path looking for us two girls after safely parking the blimmin car! It was decided that a trip to the Perth Mint to check out the gold bullion would occupy our minds so six of us – third brother and wife joined a tour. After getting the ferry back across the Swan River, fourth brother and wife thought we could all do with some exercise so a trip to Kings Park would keep us oldies fully occupied. Into the rental car we climbed with Vern and Kerry in the front and sister-in-law and I relegated to the back seat. Now she is busy on Google maps trying to navigate us to Kings Park and Vern and Kerry have already been on their reccie this morning and think they know best so we in the back seat are not so politely told to zip it! After a short visit to the park it was decided by fourth sister-in-law that we needed to go and settle down and have a drink at Subiaco Pub which was just a hop away – actually about 1000 hops but she is onto it – she will come and sit in the front of our car with the Google maps and she will be the navigator! However, unfortunately the other sister-in-law has already put the destination into driver’s phone so suddenly two women in the depths of Google are trying to navigate us to the darned pub! This is doing my head in – Margaret is still trying to locate her daughter’s whereabouts – it seems her phone is tracking the entire family and I am thinking I will put a straw in the wine bottle when we reach this blimmin Subiaco Pub and I might try and drown her phone when I go to the Ladies Room!

Rottnest Island

Yesterday we now ten of us were on the ferry by 7.45 am to get to Fremantle and another ferry to Rottnest Island also known as Wadjemup. However, it appears that today the Freemantle Doctor – the howling wind that occurs here regularly – has decided to make its presence felt to wake us dopey Kiwis up! Some arrive at the wharf having looked at the wrong App to see the temperature and they are ready for ze sun to pop up and scorch us – it doesn’t! The Doctor is fair blowing and I already have three layers on and by mid morning have donned a fourth layer being ze raincoat – no rain though! Rottnest Island is interesting for its history as a military defense embattlement with structures that watch over the sea and bunker in the ground. There is a maze of underground military tunnels and a powerful gun battery. The island was also used as a prison for Aboriginal men and boys and many are buried on the island – the structures they built still stand on the island today. The island sits in the Indian Ocean and the western end is the most western part of Australia. It is a protected sanctuary for the wildlife which are mainly birds and quokkas. The island is made up primarily of sand and it is impossible to grow vegetables or fruit trees in this pumice soil. Samphire, spinifex and saltbush are the plants that cover the island. There are 12 salt lakes and some solar farms and one wind turbine. Our tour takes us on a train ride on the old railroad and then lunch at the embattlement area and then a drive around the lovely bays of the island. Today my dear sister-in-law Jenny heaves a sigh of relief that we have a paid tour guide to reign in this Kiwi oldies bunch which, up till now have had about four self appointed tour guides! I might add it doesn’t necessarily mean they can be reigned in though!

Today is the pre-wedding gathering to meet all the team and I am just hoping we pass muster with the about to be in-laws! I think we all need a short lesson in how to behave appropriately so our invite to the wedding tomorrow is not cancelled and sold to some better behaved troops! Us four girls have just returned from having the nails done and two of us are fair leaping around. The reason for our new found lease on life is that after our nails were completed the lovely attentive nail ladies needed our chairs and suggested to us that we sit very comfortably in the massage chairs while we wait for the other two – good idea – turned out to be great idea! So we sit and the lady comes and turns on the chair and it is set to Auto to get the kneading, flapping, rolling blah blah blah! What we didn’t realize (because I am not sure it happens at home because possibly the Minister of Health has outlawed it) but the the massage continues down underneath where you are sitting and I almost hit my head on the ceiling when the range of options started down there! So it is fair to say that woke us up big time and we literally bounced over to the coffee shop following that little experience! Now we must prepare for ze meeting of the invited guests because tomorrow is wedding day!

An adventure across the ditch

Well, here we are in packing mode once again.  We thought we were so good at this but apparently we need a revision course (think it’s our age).  We go away regularly – we pack the car with our clothes, groceries, Billie the pup with her food supplies, Ivy the cat with her food supplies and it all usually goes to plan.  So we are now off to Perth and Sydney just for two weeks and only have our clothes to think about – all good – very simple!  But why is it then that the spare bedroom is chocka full with clothing for all weathers, medicines for all conditions, shoes for all terrains and we haven’t even finished yet?  We booked seat and bag and seat – looks like we should have booked a freighter!  I made a list because we recently went away for a week and I forgot my lipstick and that caused a mini crisis! We still have things to add to the mountain on the bed because not everything is ticked off the list!  Not to worry – we have scheduled an “edit” meeting in the bedroom!  Heaven forbid – that will cause all sorts of problems I can already foresee but short of us both sitting on the suitcase to get it closed so we can zip it up I can see that an edit will happen.  I don’t know why I am worried actually because Vern is in charge of the “B’s” – bags, buses, beer. Now that is very simple. I, on the other hand, got the short straw when the travel contracts were drawn up and, in hindsight, when the Government changed I should have had the foresight to get the contract redrawn but now I will never get it past the Select Committee! I have the “P’s” – passports, people, paperwork, payments, pills, photos, plugs, purchases, Pinot Gris and PROBLEMS! We are off to our nephew’s wedding in Perth and then to Sydney to see granddaughters.  It will be fun – it always is – and we will keep you posted if you are remotely interested.

It is time to say Sayonara to this amazing country and its lovely people and we are left wondering how you can get a population of 149 million people to be so courteous, so polite, so helpful, so gracious, so happy to share their culture with travellers and to send them home with special memories. They are welcoming everywhere you go. There are people offering assistance everywhere you go. They thank you for coming, thank you for waiting and thank you for everything. The Japanese people do not like to touch each other as in hand-shaking or hugging so there is much bowing and we are so used to bowing it has become second nature. I might even bow to the one in charge of the bowing!

We remember the dolphins who swam alongside the ship one night as we were having dinner on a low deck with a window beside the water. We enjoyed seeing the highway of ships and fishing boats as we travelled the South China Sea and along the coast of Japan. We could have sat for hours and listened to the wonderful pianist onboard the Viking Orion and we were in awe of the people at every port who welcomed the ship and farewelled us when we sailed out of their city.

We will never forget the delicious and healthy food served up in special little colorful bowls and dishes (even if we didn’t know what we were eating at times!) We admired the cleanliness of everything and were surprised that you very seldom see rubbish bins anywhere so we think that the Japanese people take their rubbish home with them. We looked at the skyscrapers in absolute wonder and lauded the designers of these remarkable buildings who had the foresight to design something worth looking at and who created space around the buildings to provide trees and gardens in these busy cities. We loved seeing the magnificent parks and green spaces for people to enjoy away from the hustle and bustle of traffic noise. We couldn’t believe the number of power poles and power lines stretching right through every city everywhere but when you understand that there are geothermal areas everywhere and that Japan sits on four tectonic plates you understand that this is the way it must be. We enjoyed seeing long tree-lined roads with colorful azaleas decorating the sides of the pavements and we applauded the people who have put thought into making this highly populated country a place of beauty. We felt at home seeing the mountains, the bush, the lakes and the sea surrounding this country of so many islands.

We really have felt like a tourist in this country – we cannot speak the language, we cannot read Japanese but we have got by without the need to go to acting class to mime (but we have had to act a bit at times!) Everything is written in Japanese – signage, labels on food, street signs and maps but we have figured it out – mostly!

However, like every country we have visited there are still homeless people which is a sad sight to see. They are not evident during the day but at night they do line some streets with their cardboard boxes and worldly belongings tidily stored around their little sleeping huts. Come morning – they have packed up and gone.

The cherry blossom turned up for us on the last day and it was magnificent. We would recommend Japan to anyone but we would also recommend you do some guided tours where the lovely Japanese guides are keen to share their culture with you so you can learn more about the places you visit and the history behind them.

We go home now where there will not be a buffet breakfast for us to make healthy (or unhealthy) choices! There will be no entertainment shows every night for us to attend, no one coming into the room to clean the bathroom and change the towels, no schedules to look at or signs to try and translate! No immigration forms to fill in, no more Customs folk checking to see ze apple hasn’t fallen into ze bag! We go back to road cones, Auckland traffic and winter storms and cold toilet seats!

We have really felt the Zen in this country and have a profound feeling of being so grateful and thankful and absolutely thrilled that we have had the opportunity to learn more about the people of Japan, their long cultural history, their magnificent country of many many islands and their much admired courtesy.

Sayonara Japan and arigato to everyone of you who made this such a memorable trip and one we would not have missed for the world. If you have travelled with us by reading Golden Postcards we thank you. We love sharing our experiences – travel seems to enlighten the mind. When you visit a country you haven’t been to before you notice things that are different from what you are used to and you are introduced to new experiences you haven’t had before. You see the world in a different light and it gives you hope for the future.

It is a cloudy morning in Tokyo and we are off to Hakone National Park and Mt Fuji. Fortunately for us, our tour departs from Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku where we are staying so we go to the meeting point at the appointed time. This tour company has several buses going to Mt Fuji today and so we stand for Bus 5 where ze guide has told us to stand but there are also signs for the various bus numbers and one American guy who is, I think, a graduate of the Trump Academy of Zero Diplomacy (and is on our blimmin bus) appoints himself the tour leader and yells out to everyone on bus 5 to “come overrr herre bus 5 people”. Heaven forbid – we prefer the lovely Japanese Yuki who we have just met! Anyway, Yuki has done this before and she steps up to the mark and, besides, his seat is in the back of the bus and thank heavens for that!

We leave Shinjuku on what would be a very busy Monday morning but it is Golden Week here in Japan which is the second most important holiday (New Year being the most important). Golden Week is the last few days of April and first few of May where there are four bank holidays. We travel with relatively little traffic through the spiderweb of expressways. Yuki tells us that 14 million people live in Tokyo and that one third of the population of Japan (129m) live in Tokyo and the surrounding areas. We pass many stadiums and Government owned and run horse racing tracks – the Government controls all the horse racing in Japan. We also pass large breweries of Asahi, Santori and Sapporo. Yuki is excited because this is the first time she is revisiting Mt Fuji in three years. She managed to get a job in the Vaccination Call Centre during Covid but is so very happy that life is almost normal again. On we go through a mountainous area of dense bush in vibrant shades of green, through long tunnels and over long viaducts looking down on vast valleys where there are small settlements. We pass Lake Sagami, an artificial lake. There are many paddy fields on arable land – planting is just taking place in some and others are already flooded. There are huge plastic hot houses and many people are tending their gardens as we pass neighborhoods where there are lots of vegetables growing in garden plots.

Yesterday it was snowing on Mt Fuji but today we are in luck because the sun is shining and the bus winds its way up the switchbacks of the mountain road to the fifth station beside the glorious Mt Fuji which is 3,776 meters high or 12,365 feet. Mt Fuji has erupted nine times in 400 years and our ears are popping as we go up the mountain. Amazingly we see many cyclists riding the mountain today and the one in charge of the B’s (including bikes) sits reminiscing about the big mountains of Ventoux, col d’Abesque, col de Madeleine and others he rode in France and in Germany when he went to compete in the ITU Age Group World Champs and when we went to the Tour de France a few times. I think he would like to be riding Mt Fuji but those days are over and he is stuck in the bus with me!

The fifth station where we get off the bus is 2,300 m and it is rather chilly so those who donned sunfrocks today are shivering a tad. Luckily we packed layers so we are fine and enjoy the closeup view of the mountain as the cloud lifts and we are right there to enjoy it. There is also a little shrine we visit, make our offering, bow twice, clap twice and hope our wish comes true. We are all given a little bell at the souvenir shop which comes with a message that says they have been purified at the shrine on the summit of Mt Fuji and “you can also live for more than a hundred years in peace and happiness”. Thank goodness for that.

We all hop back on ze bus and wind our way back down ze mountain and drive on to a hotel where we have lunch in an enormous hall which is set up beautifully with tables ready for the tour groups coming in. Here we enjoy another delicious lunch with some entertainment.

Next stop is Hakone National Park which is a huge area of land with mountains and lakes and is enjoyed by many who come to go fishing, boating, tramping, skiing, playing golf and to enjoy the outdoors.

We get to Lake Ashinoko and we are going on a cable car to the top of Hakone Komagatake which is 1,327 m high. Now the one in charge of the B’s does not really like heights and I wonder about this but he is all good and ready to go. We are loaded into ze cable car which is going to take us to the summit and there is a sign that says the temperature at the top is 10 degrees Celsius. (There is no mention of the wind and cloud which is blowing a tad at this point and thank goodness for the Kathmandu jackets). Now, this is interesting because someone has decided to bring their poodle on this trip in the cable car and someone else arrives with what I thought was a cat in a cat cage but turns out to be a miniature dog in the pink carry-on and I am hoping that the cage is well insulated or this little critter is going to freeze to death! We get to the top and decide to do a loop walk on a nice track overlooking a golf course down the valley and the lake. The day finishes with a boat trip on the Lake Ashi to a stop further down the lake where the bus is waiting and there is even a cherry tree in full bloom waiting beside the bus – our lucky day! This was our final excursion on this amazing trip – a ten-hour day and we loved every minute of it.

Amazingly we got through this trip without too much trouble adjusting to the plumbing systems of this country which is just as well because we didn’t pack the “Bathrooms for Dummies” manual. Only two things happened – I tried to use the shower at ze hotel in Tokyo but had water coming out of every spout except the one I wanted so ze boss was called and eventually ze water came out of ze spout I needed so all good. And then today I went to use a bathroom but nowhere to put ze bag so I wiped the basin and popped ze bag in it. But everything in these bathrooms works automatically and to my horror ze tapped turned on and filled the side pocket of my bag with water! All minor compared to what has happened on other trips I can tell you for sure!

We are almost ready to come home but have some memories still to write – one last post will probably be written while we are waiting to board ze plane!

Viking Orion berths at Yokohama Port which is the last stop of our cruise and we are on an excursion to Tokyo which is 45 km away. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan with a population of 3.6 million. It was once a fishing village but with the introduction of the port it grew enormously. We cross Yokohama Bay Bridge which is a long suspension bridge and see thousands and thousands of new cars and trucks waiting to be shipped offshore. Our guide tells us that in order to buy a car in Japan you need to prove you have off-street parking for the car. If you haven’t you would need to rent it so we have seen these “car shelves” where you drive onto a pad and your car is moved up into a space and parked. We pass through several tunnels (one was 18 km long) on our way to Tokyo and are in awe of the masses of skyscrapers of interesting designs that are across the skyline. Apparently one tunnel here is 55 km long – another reason I need to email Wayne and I am also going to let him know that you do not see the road cones lining up like red and white stick figures all over the place.

Tokyo is the birthplace of sushi which, here in Japan, is typically sticky rice mixed with a vinegar and a little piece of raw fish on top. Our guide, Sato, tells us about the traditional Japanese breakfast and the one in charge of the B’s and I are pleased we have had ours. Typically the Japanese have raw fish, a raw egg which is mixed with soy sauce, and fermented soybeans called Natto. This is all very good for your digestion which we have no hesitation in agreeing with – but not trying!

We arrive in Tokyo (once called Edo) and there is a large area of reclaimed land along the Tokyo waterfront which is beautifully designed with parks, attractive gardens, walkways, hotels, stadiums, apartments and corporations. 12.9 million live in this city which is just 2000 square kilometers in size and stretches just 50 km from east to west. We are off to the Meiji Shrine and pass Meiji Park which was the stadium for the Tokyo Olympics. This shrine is dedicated to the great great grandfather of the present emperor and is spread over 170 acres. We wander down a lovely wide walkway with lush trees on either side passing men sweeping the falling leaves. We pass under the torii gate and walk towards the shrine and are thrilled to see there is a bridal couple there having photos taken. This is interesting because we do not see any guests – the couple seem to be here by themselves – well not entirely because there are hundreds of people here who would love to go to the wedding actually and they are all here clicking their photos! We have been told quite a lot about the weddings and we know they are happy occasions so take place at Shinto Shrines but a large number of Japanese have a desire to have a Christian wedding in a church. Now this all sounds fine until you hear that a lot of these couples are married by men who just dress up to look like a pastor or priest – they are not religious ministers at all but the couple are happy because the bride is dressed as a traditional bride in white with a veil and the wedding took place in a church.

We are also told about the present Emperor Naruhito and his wife Masako. Masako was a Harvard graduate and married the present emperor in 1993 – they have one daughter 20 years old. Masako has been ill for some years and it is believed that she suffers from depression. The current law says that only a male can be emperor. Presently there is a debate taking place to determine if this law may change and many Japanese apparently would be happy with a female to be in the role. Conservatists, however, are against it. Our next stop is the Imperial Palace Plaza which has an attractive plaza and garden.

As I have mentioned before, everything is very clean and very tidy everywhere we go. Every park, sidewalk, road etc is spotlessly clean. There are hand sanitizers about every 50 m and on this trip our hands have honestly consumed more alcohol than our mouths! There are also vending machines everywhere – in fact one for every 30 people! There are so many drinks available you can almost die of thirst while you are trying to make the decision about what to choose! We haven’t used because we have no idea what they are. We have been here two weeks but still can’t read Japanese. In France I purchased sour milk thinking it was milk and kitchen paper when I thought it was toilet paper so I am forbidden to choose ze drink in case ze one in charge of ze beers blames me for ze bad choice!

After lunch on the top floor of the Asahi beer building our final stop for the day is to the Senso-ji temple built in 645 AD. The description of this was that it had a “lively temple precinct”. It should have read “expect to mingle with half the population of Tokyo while you squeeze past them to take ze photo and admire the magnificent grounds and meet hundreds of lovely young ladies who have rented kimonos from nearby rental shops to have photos taken at ze temple”. But it is still a lovely place to visit so we breathe in and squeeze past and get ze photos we want!

Tomorrow we get off this lovely ship and stay on another few days to go to Hakone National Park and Mt Fuji.