Jul 9 2015

The Importance of Planning

Day eight – Still in Seasalter

Whoops!

Note to self – when in a foreign country, look up a map before going on a forty minute run!

Today I headed out thinking for my run that I’ll just keep the sea to the right for twenty minutes and then keep it to my left for the next twenty minutes. So I started off running along the sea wall. I don’t like looking at my phone all the time so I decided to judge the time by counting the number of songs that had played. I estimated that each song was roughly three minutes long so I decided to run for seven songs along the wall. It was a bit slow going along the wall and so I thought I should go a bit longer than half way and when it came time to turn back, run along the road a bit faster.

After seven songs, I came a long a gravel track heading back to the road so I took it. It didn’t lead back to the road. I went up a hill, down a hill, along a bit, around a corner and two kilometres later, finally hit the road and the way back to Seasalter. I had only run along the road for a few minutes when my phone told me my forty minutes was up. I thought about keeping on going but I was really tired. I had walked into Whitstable and back earlier in the day.

I checked the route on my phone and I was about five kilometres away from my starting point! I began walking along the narrow road and I decided to hitch a ride back. I stuck my thumb out but car after car passed me by. I’ve hitchhiked in New Zealand, the US and even Botswana before and I never had trouble getting a lift in those places. Did I look particularly threatening in my running gear? Lots of bikes passed me by too but they were the flimsy racing type and there was no way I was scoring a dink on those!

In the end I had to resort to putting on a limp to get a lift and finally a nice lady stopped to pick me up. She drove me back to Smuggler’s Cove. As I alighted from her car, some of the cyclists that had overtaken me earlier went passed. They yelled out at me that I had cheated. I agreed with them!

At least I had time to snap a few selfies!

Image Credits

Photos taken by me and shared on Flickr.

Jul 7 2015

Packing for English Summers

Day six – Seasalter

It is hot in my old country of Australia during summer. It is hot in my new country of Japan too. I had forgotten that it isn’t hot in England during summer.

Just before I left to come to London, the BBC headlines were all about the heatwave in the UK. I only noticed the headlines and didn’t read the articles. If I had, I would have noticed the the sweltering temperatures they were talking about were low 30’s and sometimes just high 20’s. Unfortunately, it was on the headlines and not the articles themselves that I based my packing. I generally pack light anyway, but I may have gone a bit far this time considering I’m here for a month. This is my packing list:

One Aussie’s comment on the UK heatwave published on the BBC!

3 x t-shirts
shorts
jeans
green hoodie
dress/shoes for wedding
5 x knickers
2 x bras
2 x sports outfits
hat
sunnies
thongs
sneakers
3 x socks
pj’s
toiletries
a large variety of electronics and associated paraphernalia including selfie stick

So far, I’ve had two problems. Firstly, since I didn’t specify the toiletries to take, I forgot deodorant. This meant I arrived at Kim and Vicky’s very, very smelly. Secondly, I believed the headlines and indeed, the day of my arrival, it did feel a bit hot. I was definitely hot on the train to New Eltham and this combined with my no deodorant problem, meant myself and the passengers surrounding me were particularly uncomfortable.

The heatwave ended the day after I arrived as it rained. It hasn’t been hot since. I have been wearing my one pair of jeans and my one hoodie ever since. I went shopping to get some more clothes on Friday but all they are selling are ridiculously short shorts (the type you bottom falls out of) and skinny jeans. I can’t wear skinny jeans because I’m not skinny. So the shopping trip was a total failure and I’m now stuck wearing the same pair of jeans and the same hoodie until the 17th.

Why the 17th you ask? Because that is the day of Ruth’s wedding and I’ll be wearing a summer dress, freezing my arse off and popping my jeans in the wash so they are ready for wear again the next ten days of my holiday!

Jul 3 2015

Meeting My Masters Mates

Day two – London

Santi, Heather and me discussing the issues!

Yesterday I met with two people from my masters course that I have known for about six months but who have only ever seen me from the waist up and in my pyjamas with my early morning snottiness on the go. Thanks to London’s heatwave cooling off momentarily, they’ve now seen me in jeans without my face being partially obscured with tissues.

At the Rockingham Arms in Elephant and Castle, it’s student friendly prices and the house wine comes out of a tap in three sizes of small, medium and large. They only had to ask my preference once. Thanks Santi and Heather for a terrific evening!

Image Credits
Dev Ed Meeting shared on Flickr by Merilyn Winslade (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Jul 3 2015

Too Loud for the Cheap Seats

Day one – Travelling to London

I’ve been told once or twice, that I’m a bit loud. My sister Terri (who has also been told the same thing) and I, have been chastised by members of the public in various locations when we’ve been together. This has included a movie theatre (whilst the ads were playing – “shut up you stupid bitch!”), the Eurostar (during school holidays – “you girls are worse than the kids!”), every family Christmas event I can remember (“quieten down girls – people think you’re talking about them!” – and we were) and most recently, on my balcony in Yokohama whilst chatting over Facetime (a head pops round the corner and… “neighbour!”).

Yesterday, I wasn’t with my sister. I was instead sitting in cattle class on British Airways flight number 8 from Tokyo on my way to London. It is a 12½ hour flight and I was looking forward to watching at least four movies. As soon as I settled in to my seat, I got out my noise cancelling headphones and plugged in. There was an enormous amount of crackling coming through the headphones and I noticed that using the supplied set didn’t resolve it either. I called over the air steward and explained the situation. He promptly found me a new seat in the emergency row. This was a little upgrade as people normally have to pay about £50 for the privilege. It is the cheapest upgrade you can get!

There were three seats together and I was put in the middle one. I had a Japanese lady to my left and a Brit bloke to my right. I began chatting with the bloke. I was so happy to be able to talk to a stranger! It is something that I miss a lot living in Yokohama – random conversations with people you’ll never meet again. He turned out to be a bit of a ‘Harry-have-a-chat’ so we were talking a lot. After a few minutes, the lady on my left asked if I could swap seats with ‘Harry’ because she couldn’t listen to me for twelve hours!

I was actually very taken aback because I wasn’t laughing which is what usually pushes people over the edge and I didn’t think I was talking any louder than my companion. He was also quite shocked. In the end, I politely refused to move. She said that people normally pay for these seats and I counted that that was for the extra leg room and not for a cone of silence.

Harry and I did continue talking but we both made an effort to be extra quiet. This meant that I had to keep repeating myself a lot because I think he was a bit deaf. And not too much later, the lady discovered her earphones and apologised to me saying that she forgot she had them. If I was sitting next to my sister, I’m sure it wouldn’t have ended so amicably!

Artwork by Zactothefurture age 7!

Image Credits

(245/365) Mwah shhh ponder shared on Flickr by Sarah (CC BY 2.0)

Jun 29 2015

Osaka in Spring with Ice

Sakura season – hard to get a hotel? That depends on how fussy you are!

This is a post from spring that I have only now managed to find the time to publish. Hopefully my summer postings will be more timely!

When Kate arrived, I suddenly remembered that I had promised to book accommodation for us in Osaka months ago. My friends said I would have no chance booking something this late and so close to Sakura (cherry blossom) season. Well I did and I’m sitting now in a nice hotel, taking a break from sight-seeing to write this post.

It hasn’t all been carrots and potatoes though.

We left for Osaka on Monday. The previous day we had activated Kate’s rail pass and booked our tickets. We were leaving on the 10:22 am Shinkansen (bullet train) from Shin-Yokohama.

I had planned a bit of extra time to get from my house to Shin-Yokohama as it isn’t a route I would normally take and I have gotten lost on the way there before. On top of that, Kate had lost a lot of confidence in my ability to lead our travels when Sunday’s trip to Kamakura ended up in Tokyo which is entirely the wrong direction! Kate is still hoping to visit the picturesque village of Kamakura some time in the future.

On this journey, I was determined to regain some of the respect I’d lost. I had planned a route that would involve one bus and then a train to get us to Shin-Yokohama. Unfortunately, we over shot on the bus and missed the stop for the transfer to the train on the blue line. We got off on the next stop and then walked the rest of the way to Yokohama station to transfer there. Thanks to my good planning though (I had included a time buffer), we were still on track to make the train. On arrival at the station, Kate stopped short in her tracks.

The face of despair when Kate remembered she’d forgotten her Japan Rail Pass.

“I’m just having a panic attack that I’ve left my rail pass at home,” she said. It turned out that her panic was well founded. We changed our reservation for the Shinkansen to a later time and went all the way home to pick up her rail pass!

In actual fact, this was helpful for me as I had forgotten to pack my iPhone charger, my camera and my hat. All of these I could have lived without but I had also forgotten a solo traveller’s best friend – my selfie stick! After reloading with all the stuff we’d forgotten, we headed back towards Shin-Yokohama and finally boarded the Shinkansen with just a two hour delay from our original plan.

Once on the train, I settled in to a false sense of confidence that we would be right from here on in. This was shattered when I knocked my drink over and I watched as the movement of the train caused the liquid to run down the aisle. I tried wiping it up with toilet paper from the loo but there was just too much liquid and not enough paper. This also left little bits of toilet paper stuck to the floor all around me so even new passengers arriving could tell I was the culprit!

On arriving in Osaka, we found our hotel and I congratulated myself on a good choice. It is in an excellent location and there is free wifi everywhere. When we got to our room though, we were a bit disappointed. It reeks of cigarette smoke and the one bed for the two of us is snug to say the least! Hence I’m currently sitting in the lobby writing this whilst Kate is upstairs sleeping. We are using the bed in shifts!

Last night, we walked to the river area for dinner and found that it is much colder in Osaka than in Yokohama. I hadn’t brought any warm clothing. I had a jumper on and a pair of light spring pants. Kate was also without any warm layers to put under her fleece. And to add to her problems, she noticed that the only two pairs of pants she had with her had blowouts in the inner thigh area making walking a risky adventure. On the way to dinner, we managed to find a cheap beanie for Kate and a couple of cheap extra layers for me but we knew we were going to be in trouble.

Today we decided to walk around the parks and Osaka Castle but it was bitterly cold. We bought extra gloves and scarves to help but we knew we were defeated when it started to sleet as we made our way to lunch. Actual ice was falling on us. Kate was not happy by the time we finally found the ramen restaurant we were looking for and sat down. She ordered a coke, only for it to arrive in a super-chilled tankard. She had to keep her gloves on to drink it.

Two days pass…

We have now completed our trip and are are back home. We are both snug and cozy in our dressing gowns, relaxing in my warm and comfy apartment. We need this.

The final two days didn’t go much better than the first two. On Wednesday we decided to take a day trip to Nara which is just an hour away from Osaka. At one of the first temples we visited, there was an opportunity to get a paper with your fortune on it. Kate decided it was a bargain to have the rest of her life mapped out for her for just ¥100 so she picked a fortune. It was uncanny! And a really positive fortune too! Based on the test sample of one, I decided that this must really work so I too parted with ¥100 and picked a fortune. Mine was not so positive. There was a message saying that you could improve your fortune by tying it to the tree. When I tried this, the paper ripped in two. At this point, I should have taken the cosmic hint and insisted we went home but instead, we ventured further into the park.

In Nara Park, I was continually terrorised by the ferocious deer that are all around. At first they look harmless. Children are petting them. There are people everywhere selling deer biscuits so you can feed them. The deer aren’t trying to eat the deer biscuits in their neat stacks by the sellers. This fools you into thinking the deer are docile creatures.

I bought a packet of the biscuits and immediately the seller barked at me, “walk”! I hesitated a moment because I didn’t quite understand her but it was already too late. I was surrounded. Deer were coming at me from every direction. I managed to get a couple of biscuits out of the loose binding to feed to individual deers before I was just overwhelmed. I couldn’t get the biscuits out quick enough. In the end I gave up and threw them into the pack and fled!

For the rest of the afternoon, deer would sidle up to me without me knowing and attack me at the last minute. One terrified me when it tried to eat the map I was studying. Another came up behind me and menacingly removed my temple ticket from my back pocket and ate it. I was glad to finally head back to Osaka.

I’m so terrified, I couldn’t keep the selfie stick still!

It wasn’t a simple trip back however. We boarded a train we thought ended at Namba (the station closest to our hotel) but when we reached Osaka central station, we realised we’d completely missed it. We then continued to board the wrong train again and again, until after taking no less than six separate trains, we finally made it back to Namba.

Yesterday we left Osaka for Mirajima Island off Hiroshima. We had both visited the island before but I had thought that it would be nice to stay overnight and experience the island when the day trippers had left. Wrong! We discovered that the reason why people only go for the day is because everything shuts at six. And I mean everything. There was only one restaurant open for dinner and it was under quite a bit of pressure to accommodate the other hapless tourists who were also marooned there for the night.

And of course, there was the deer. These ones aren’t fed but they are still pretty inquisitive towards anything you might be holding that’s made of paper. Kate couldn’t find a bin for the paper bag her snack came in but it didn’t matter because a deer took care of it for her.

We also made one other discovery worth noting. Thanks to Ylvis, we all now know the answer to the question, what does the fox say? And thanks to our careful observations, we are pleased to report that we can now answer the next driving question. What does the deer say?

They really do sound like that. That toy was uncanny and fully worth the ¥500 Kate paid for it!

Today we left Mirajima with plans of walking around the Peace Park before boarding our two o’clock Shinkansen back to Yokohama but we got potteried along the way and ran out of time. When we got home, my apartment was as we left it as my cleaner had called in sick – dirty dishes in the sink, a pumpkin that had liquified in the kitchen bin and the only other clothes Kate had with her, still unlaundered in the basket. So we ended our trip with a few household chores.

Tomorrow, I’m going to take another crack at getting Kate to Kamakura.

Jul 25 2014

Ghana Diary 2014

Tuesday July 1st

After eating dinner at the airport with Lindsay, I went to catch the bus back to the terminal for my flight for which I had already checked in. On arriving at the bus stand, I discovered that the inter-terminal buses were no longer leaving every 5 minutes but every 20 minutes. I had just missed one and my flight was due to take off at 9:20 pm and the next bus wasn’t until 8:40 pm.

I tried not to panic. There was nothing I could do but wait and hope that I would make it. When I finally did make it to the correct terminal, I ran. My sandals were hampering me so I took them off and ran barefoot. A woman with a walky-talky yelled at me and I told her I was late and kept running. I pushed my way to the front of the security check queue and another person on a walky-talky asked me if I was for the Emirates flight. I said yes and kept running.

Our journey from Accra to Nandom and back.

No queue at passport control.

“You’re late”, said the officer.

“I know”, I replied.

I kept running, holding my papers in a plastic folder in one hand and my sandals in the other. My elasticated pants weren’t tight enough so they were falling down a bit as I ran. I didn’t care.

I was running barefoot with my gut hanging out through Narita airport!

People were yelling at me from behind but I didn’t have time to waste so I kept running. The yelling became more insistent and I realised I was being chased. I turned. Two people, both waving boarding passes were trying to catch me. I had dropped them and hadn’t realised it.

I finally made it to the gate and just in the knick of time. I was the last passenger to board. They switched off the lights as I walked, covered in sweat, down the gangway onto the plane. So much for the shower and clean clothes I had put on in preparation for the 20 hour journey I was about to have.

So my trip began, covered in sweat and with a near miss.

Wednesday July 2nd

I reached Accra after a fairly comfortable trip as both flights were half empty so I had space to lie down and sleep easily. In the evening I returned to the airport to pick up Lindsay and Ruth who were both arriving at similar times.

We all showered and changed, ordered meat on a stick for dinner and enjoyed the last night of air-conditioning for the foreseeable future.

Thursday July 3rd

A guiness, a smirnoff and a shandy in Kumasi

We arrived in Kumasi from Accra after the most comfortable bus ride I’ve ever had in my life. Unfortunately, it set a standard for Lindsay that we were not able to repeat for the remainder of the trip! Both Ruth and I were gobsmacked at how much quicker and easier the journey between these two cities had become since our last visit.

In Kumasi we picked out some beautiful material to get sewn in Nandom and visited the cultural centre where neither Lindsay nor Ruth had visited before, to watch local artists make traditional and non-traditional arts and crafts. The highlight for me though, was my first Smirnoff of the trip! Smirnoff is my bottle of choice in Ghana!

Friday July 4th

After the most comfortable ride ever, our next leg of our journey was more of what Ruth and I expect for travel in Ghana. After making several inquiries about best possible way of continuing north to Wa and getting a variety of responses, we ended up taking a taxi to what we thought would be our best bet for a bus that day.

At the bus station, we inquired about transport to Wa and Nandom. It turned out that the bus went all the way to Nandom and left at 4 pm to arrive in Nandom at around 6 am the next morning. Immediately Ruth and I were suspicious. I asked if that was Ghana time or Obruni (white person) time. He smiled.

I had a bit of a skirmish with the taxi driver on the way back to the station that afternoon. He had a different concept of customer service to my own. Before entering the taxi, he had assured us he knew the place we were going and we agreed on a price. We hadn’t driven more than a few hundred meters when he paused to ask another driver for directions. He ended up taking us to the wrong station. Eventually we got to the place we wanted to go but then we had a bit of a dispute over the price as he wanted us to pay more than what we agreed on. I stuck to my guns though and eventually he gave up and left us in peace. It did leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth however as in the end I was quibbling over the equivalent of no more than a US$1. If I could do it again, I would give him the extra money. I forgot where I was.

We knew the bus wouldn’t leave at 4 pm but we were back waiting at the station about this time. It gave us a chance to look around for some food and buy water and supplies for the trip. Between the three of us we took bets on what time the bus would actually leave. We finally left Kumasi at 7 pm that night. Lindsay, the new-comer to Africa, won the bet.

Saturday July 5th

We arrived in Nandom about mid-morning. We settled in to our comfortable accommodation at Nandom Senior High School where we were given a huge bungalow with water and ceiling fans! And then the greeting began! We took a turn on campus to greet all our old neighbours and then headed down below to see the Viiru family. I got to drink my first pito for the trip and I was in heaven!

Ruth (the white one) with the Viiru family.

Sunday July 6th

Ruth, Luticia, Me and Lindsay with Luticia’s daughter Christabel and her nephew Macarens

Every Sunday is like Christmas in Nandom! First we got all dolled up in our up-and-downs and headed into church for more greeting and a sing and a dance. We were lucky to score the angry priest as I call him for the service. At the end of his sermon, he made sure everyone was aware by stating “I’m finished”. After communion, he berated the choir master on his choice of song. All of this was done over a failing address system which made it incredibly difficult to understand the speakers.

This wasn’t a problem for me though. The choir chose lots of songs that I knew and as I had my trusty hymnal with me, I could sing along merrily. I also got right in the mood for dancing and enjoyed doing my version of the Ghanaian chicken dance twice as I went up for collection.

You may notice that my up-and-down is not as beautiful as the other womens’. I chose to wear the one I had made out of the Nandom SHS school cloth, so that everyone would know who I was. Lindsay is sporting one of my favourite numbers that I can no longer fit in to and Ruth has found herself a Ghanaian seamstress in Ireland where she had her lovely outfit sewn.

Basil, Eunice, Merilyn (white) and Merilyn (black)

Under the mango trees with the usual gang. My favourite part of Sundays!

Monday to Thursday 7th – 10th July

This was all about the greeting, the eating and the gift giving – my favourite part of the trip! We ate with the brothers on Mt Zion at the school for breakfast each day which was a great start to our busy days. We had dzo-dzo and TZ at the Viiru’s and with Basil and Eunice. We had ground nut soup and fufu again with the Viirus and light soup and dzo-dzo with TZ made by Alice with the help of Charles at Uplands. We watched the Netherlands v Argentina game at the Yeltule Annex Down Below with Georgie-bear and Basil’s family. Lindsay and I had our last night in Nandom on Thursday where we enjoyed a delicious roasted guinea fowl with Georgie-bear and Thomas Walier.

Present time for Merilyn!

Lindsay, Alice, Merilyn and Charles at Uplands

Georgie-bear, Thomas and Lindsay at Forestry

Lindsay did well to cope with all the food and she tried everything. Perhaps she tried one thing too many though as the kule-kule I bought her from the market to snack on did not seem to agree with her all that well. These are simply small balls of hard-baked and grounded goundnut. The next day, she was sick. She was wiped out for the entire day and I had to run in to town for supplies on more than one occasion. However, as many people pointed out to her, she survived her initiation into Africa! And she was up and eating again the next day like a trooper!

Apart from food poisoning, Lindsay also got to enjoy another quintessential Ghanian experience. The Ghanaian party.

It was a send-off for Brother Nicholas from the administration team at the school. Ghanaian parties are very odd. First of all, there is an agenda. Secondly, there is the speeches. The agenda is printed and distributed to all participants and followed to the letter. The chairman of the event makes sure it is so. The agenda generally goes as follows:

Opening prayer
Introduction of chairman
Chairman’s welcome address
Service of bottle
Presentation of gift followed by reply from recipient
Service of food and bottle
Optional speeches
Closing prayer

Lindsay of course was new to this and new to Ghana in general and didn’t know what a chore these ‘parties’ can become. Ruth and I were very much relieved when we got through the bulk of the agenda fairly quickly with the speeches being nice and brief. The food was delicious and I had one of my old favourites – bean stew with boiled yam. Everything was casual and going along nicely until we got to point number 7 on the agenda.

Ruth and I were looking nervously at the Ghanaians at the table, but they all had their heads down and it looked like we were going to get away with no further speeches. Then Lindsay spoke.

“Why doesn’t each person share one memory they have of Brother Nicholas.”

My heart sank. Every member of the party proceeded to speak for at least ten to fifteen minutes about their experience working with Brother Nicholas. It went on and on and on.

Finally, exhausted, after a mammoth sitting, the closing prayer was said and we all made our ways home. On our way back to the bungalow, Lindsay simply said, “I’m sorry.” It wasn’t her fault. She wasn’t to know how these things can turn out. And I was glad that she got to learn something unique about Ghanaian party culture!

Friday 11th July

My birthday! Lindsay and I left Nandom and Ruth behind to head to Wa. We stayed at Ruby’s place. Ruby was also a VSO volunteer when I was there however she has stayed on beyond her contract to continue her great work there. She has since started her own NGO and works primarily with women to empower and train them to increase their own capacities to sustain a secure livelihood for themselves. She’s a legend!

I had high hopes for my birthday dinner. I thought it would be nice to have a western style (or at least as close as you can get to this in rural Ghana) dinner at a hotel in Wa with Lindsay and Ruby. Unfortunately, Ruby’s program in a neighbouring town meant she couldn’t get back until too late so it was just Lindsay and I. Then the real disaster struck. No smirnoff at the hotel! That’s right people, I spent my 40th birthday entirely sober. So sober that I tipped the fresh pineapple that I ordered for dessert all down my top and on to the floor!

Saturday 12th July

Our safari guide and an elephant he had shot earlier in the ear!

Me and Lindsay on safari!

Brother Nicholas had kindly offered to drive Lindsay and I to Mole National Park. This is the only park with wildlife in Ghana. West Africa as a whole is fairly devoid of animals as they’ve all been chopped (eaten) many years ago. The park is small and doesn’t have a huge array of animals but it is famous for its elephants. We were lucky to see a one and lots of baboons, warthogs, antelopes and a single, solitary monkey.

Sunday 13th July

After spending the night at the brothers’ house in Domango near Mole, Brother Nicholas continued as out tour guide. He took us to Katampo Falls and a great monkey sanctuary where the villages taboo monkey meat and so these animals have managed to survive. Neither place or even Mole, had I visited before, so I was glad of the chance to see a little bit more of the country I love.

Br Nicholas and I at stage one of the falls.

Br Nicholas feeding a monkey at the sanctuary.

Me, Albert and Ruth. I’m back on the smirnoff!

After having lunch with Br Nicholas’ family and me finally getting to eat my favourite (palm nut soup with fufu), we entered a tro-tro (local transport) and headed for Kumasi. Here I got to catch up at last with my dear friend Albert and we reunited with Ruth! He had big news to tell us. His wife has won the green card lottery and will be off to the USA next year!

This is a huge deal as apparently they have been entering the lottery for years and there are hundreds of thousands of entries for just a hand-full of places. We are looking forward to finding out to which part of the States she will be going to and if we can help out with any contacts.

Funnily enough, on the plane journey home, I was sitting next to a young man who was travelling to the US from Ghana to be with a sister who was already there. It was his first time on a plane. He had no idea what to do so I helped him as the stewards had difficulty understanding his Ghanaian english. One of them said to him that he should feel free to speak French! Even the most basic things were difficult for him. When the drink trolley came around, he wanted a malt. This is a very popular non-alcoholic drink in Ghana which I’ve never seen anywhere else. I explained to him that he would have to give up on a lot of things he was used to in terms of food and drink. I think this surprised him a lot. I wonder how much Albert and his wife realise they will have to give up on their adventure to the US.

Monday to Thursday 14th -17th July

Our last few days were in Cape Coast. We stayed at the Elmina Bay Resort which I can’t recommend highly enough. It was beautiful. We took Lindsay to the tree top walk and two slave castles – Cape Coast and Elmina. Lindsay and I stocked up on malaria meds just in case and we enjoyed hot showers and a picturesque swimming pool to end our trip in style.

Ruth, me and Lindsay at the tree top walk.

Elmina Bay Resort

Epilogue

So that was our trip in a nutshell. We had it all, good food, great friends and just enough of a runny bottom to know that we were in Africa, without getting in the way of a great time!

Jul 20 2013

Skiing in Summer

View from my Hotel in Methven

Day One

Arrived in Methven after taking the red eye to Christchurch from Perth. Eyes definitely red. Stood in rain, waiting for bus. Arrived Methven at 4pm. Went to bed at 6pm!

Day Two

Beautiful day for skiing – blue skies, lots of snow. First day of NZ school hols. Bummer. Met Nigel, Andrew and Mark at the bus. Nigel, Andrew and Mark are all married and in their late 50’s. Interesting characters.

When I went to pick up my ski gear, I had to firstly go to a computer terminal and enter in my shoe size, age, weight, ski preference and ability etc and all this information was transferred to my ski pass card. I thought to myself that this is going to save a lot of mucking around. Wrong! I then had to go and pick up my boots where the girl scanned my card and then asked me all those questions again. I asked her why she needed that information as I had just entered it in the card and she told me that it doesn’t come up on her screen. I had to be asked all the questions again at the second counter to pick up my skis. It is much easier to enter your weight into a computer than to say it out loud to a good-looking, 25 year old ski bum.

Met Nigel again on the slopes and skied with him for most of the morning. Ran into him again just before I left for the bus back to the hotel.

After a hot shower, went to the bar and saw Andrew and Nigel. At least I thought it was Andrew and Nigel. Got drink and boldly sat beside the two men, asking them how their day went. After a few minutes of conversation, realised I didn’t know either of them. Damn those skiing goggles!

Falls = 2.

View from the summit of Mt Hutt

Day Three

Magic day again. Had first ski lesson. Was second best skier in group. Two other people in group and one was useless.

Discovered Mark is only 41. Now wondering about Andrew and Nigel.

Falls = 0

Day Four

Good weather in morning but windy and cold in afternoon. Have developed head cold. Soldiering on with drugs and trying to kill the bug with mulled wine. Not successful yet but will keep trying.

Today’s ski instructor was also the bus driver. Should stick to buses.

Falls = 2 (second fall whilst standing still in lesson but managed to keep number two ranking regardless – third guy still useless.)

Cloudy in town but magic on the mountain

Day Five

Another beautiful day on the slopes!

New people in lesson. Group of three again and I’m still the second best in the group. Made a capital expenditure and invested in my own boots. No discount for cash.

Head cold still persisting. Have increased dosage of mulled wine to kill bug.

Falls = 1 ( whilst in line for the lift.)

Day Six

Last day skiing and yet another cloudless, beautiful day. New boots caused my ankles to burn so have to get used to them. No lesson today as it was really busy on the slopes.

Head cold is almost gone. Will knock it on the head tonight at the sake bar in town with Sarah and Tim.

Falls = 0 (must be the new boots.)

Day Seven

Spent the day reading Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy before getting the shuttle back to Christchurch. My next book to read will be of a slightly different nature – World War Z by Max Brooks and yes, Z stands for zombie!

Bye New Zealand!