Tag Archives: travel

Waking Up in New Zealand

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Tui-1 This is Tui, our daughter and grandson’s cat. She is named for the black and white tui bird, indigenous to New Zealand, and  she’s the first one to greet me every morning. I still wake early here in New Zealand, just as I do at home in California. I’m at the computer, enjoying my morning coffee, just like home. It’s interesting how we have our habits no matter where we travel.

Large pink flower I’ve been here almost a week and have settled into the routine nicely. I’m in the Mount Maunganui area on the North Island. We are a block from the beach and I feel like I’m in San Clemente, California. The other day we saw two people riding a can-am Spyder like mine. Watching surfers cross the road, surfboards tucked under their arms, makes me feel as if I never left Southern California. I do not drive here, because vehicles and people walk and drive on the opposite side of the road. I am not brave enough to try. This area has few traffic lights, but many round-abouts, and that too is a challenge for me.  Thanks to my I-phone I can instantly be in touch with family at home. I do have to remember that we are currently 19 hours ahead of California — but I find it easier to think of it as five hours behind, and one day ahead.

I highly recommend Air New Zealand, the airline that brought me here. Los Angeles to Auckland flights usually leave in the evening. Air NZ serves a wonderful dinner, and every passenger has their own movie screen for watching the latest movies. I usually get several hours of sleep before Air NZ serves a tasty breakfast. We arrive very early NZ time, 5:30 a.m, and if I stay awake until local bed time, I find I’ve adjusted nicely. It really is a very easy trip. Honestly! The flight is 12 hours, but not a difficult one.

The people here are wonderful, and very friendly, but I will leave that for another posting.  I have not posted in several days, and would like to get this one out. Today we are going to tour Comvita, a  company that produces and exports honey. I’ll take photos and report on it tomorrow. Bye for now, from New Zealand.

A Day Trip to La Jolla Cove, California

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100_4328Yesterday, we spent the afternoon exploring the town of La Jolla, California, ending at La Jolla Cove. It couldn’t have been better. The weather was perfect and the Pacific Ocean sparkled. This is the time of year to see sea lions and their pups at La Jolla Cove. We didn’t know this as we headed off to explore. Early last year, my photography class had traveled to San Diego for a field trip that included La Jolla.  If you want to see more of that trip, please take a look at my previous post  Field trip To San Diego. On that trip I’d first seen the beauty of La Jolla. Up until then, it had been just a town on the way to San Diego, a sign on the freeway heading south. Ever since then I’d wanted to share its beauty with my husband, so we went exploring.

We took our dog Annika with us on the drive, but dogs weren’t allowed anywhere near the mother sea lions or pups. Easy to understand why. I stayed up above the beach with Annika, while Martin went down to take a few photos. He took the one below of three sea lions snoozing and soaking up the sun.

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I took this next photo from up above while Martin was down on the beach. I thought I was taking a long distance photo of several cormarrands, but later while editing my picture I realized there were several sea lions basking in the sun along with the birds … such a wonderful surprise.

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If you live in (or plan on visiting) Southern California, be sure to take time to stop in La Jolla. You won’t be disappointed.

Motor Scooter Ride to Laguna Niguel

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Yesterday the weather was perfect for a motor scooter ride, and that’s what we did. Martin rode his Kymco Downtown 300, and I was on the Piaggio three-wheeler.

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Here you can see our sturdy mounts as we took a break for a quick snack and drink of water in Laguna Niguel. It was a ride full of curves, especially as we traveled through rustic Santiago Canyon, and then steep climbs in beautiful Laguna Niguel, where we were always rewarded with spectacular views at the top.

Martin in Laguna Niquel November 29-14 10-29-2014 2-51-26 PM

We stopped to put gas in my scooter, and at 70 miles to the gallon we don’t do that very often. The total cost was only $7.84, one reason why motor scooters are becoming ever more popular. We rode a little over 50 miles, and I felt as if I could ride forever. When we finished I was already looking forward to our next scooter adventure. These are the two ways I judge if a scooter outing has been a success. This one definitely earned two thumbs up!

Maine Snow Scene

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Beautiful Snow Scene

It’s snowing in Maine. Our daughter Ruth lives there, and yesterday she sent me the above photo. She’s been encouraging me to come visit, and had promised they were not going to have snow this year. Guess that isn’t so!  I usually travel to Maine in summer, but maybe this winter I’ll get brave and try a snow visit. I lived in Ontario, Canada until I was fourteen, and the first snow was always exciting, but now, having lived most of my life in California, I’m out of practice. We do get snow here, but only at higher elevations.Farm house

Ruth’s farm house in Maine (above) is beautiful and cozy. Lots of trees and open space.

HorsesLiving where they do allows Ruth and our son-in-law and grandson the joy of keeping horses. Ruth and I share a love for horses, and we love to ride when I visit.

In August I wrote about our younger daughter Nicole, who lives in New Zealand, in my post New Zealand, a Wonderful Place to Visit. I wrote that we have wonderful places to travel and visit our children. Now you know where two of our three children live, and in a future post I’ll share the wonderful city where our son and daughter-in-law live. If we schedule visits to our three children right, we can live an endless summer. As we head into winter here, New Zealand is starting spring, its seasons being opposite to ours. But for now, I’ll think hard about a winter visit to Maine: It would mean snow boots and winter coat, but Ruth’s farm sure does look beautiful in winter.