Home Sweet Home

Spent our last day in Las Vegas with friends of Sharlene's that had just arrived, it is really neat to meet up with fellow Kiwi's to enjoy travel experiences.  After a wonderful lunch at Bellagio's we had to head back to our hotel to pick up our luggage in storage to head to the airport (Tuesday 2.30pm).  Managed to squeeze one last bit of shopping into my bag. Flew to San Francisco, then caught Air New Zealand back to Auckland, arriving 5.15am Thursday morning.  It is weird loosing a day.  Am tired as didn't get much sleep.  Lovely to step off the plane in Christchurch to see the last bit of spring.  Well in summary, this has been an amasing trip, and very special for me given i have been able to share this with my sister.  Thank-you sis for your loving guidance and willingness travel with me, i think we did well, hope you had as much fun as i did.  Thanks too Chester for letting her go. Five weeks is a long time, loved the culture, history, people etc.  Love you long time sis xoxox

The Grand Canyon

Got up early hours this morning to catch a shuttle out to a private airport called Maverick, a company that flew you to the Grand Canyon.  Twas an interesting experience as far as customer service goes, but the Grand Canyon itself is spectaculor, the highlight was the helicopter trip that took you through the canyon stopping off in one of the gully's to take photographs. 

Met some really nice fellow passengers, people from Canada, England and Michigan.  The particular tour we did had us running from pillar to post; we fast treked the skywalk, very rushed with photos, didnt get to explore the indigenious part as there was no time, got to go to Eagle point and Goana point (please excuse the spelling) very rushed, like 5minutes, in the middle of it all rushed in the cafe, scoffed down some food.  Ended up giving feedback to one of the directors at the end of the tour, as none of the employees knew how to handle complaints, (our driver was really rude), as they quickly took the defensive and just didnt want to hear what anyone had to say.  Felt more for the couple that didn't even make it to one of the sights and missed the meal.  

Got back to our Hotel 1.30pm, Sharlene is off to the pool and i am uploading a video on my facebook and just relaxing in our room.  Last night in Las Vegas.   

DIVA SHOW

Morning was nice and slow today, starting to sort out our gear to get home, trying to make space for everything in our bags.  Had a well deserved Nana nap in the afternoon, then off up the strip to our late evening show, Diva's.  This was drag queen show hosted by Frank Marino, he dresses up as Joan Rivers bit of a comedy act and introduces his troup of drag queens imitating the following divas:  Lady Gaga, Liza Minnelly, Cher, Celine Dion, Britney Speirs, Bet Midler, Madonna, Tina Turner,  just gorgeous figures and costumes.  Fab show, one of the only shows in Las Vegas that you are allowed to take photos, as Joan said it took her so long to her makeup on and dressed that it best be framed!  Sharlene is now sound asleep so will get her to upload a pile of pictures tomorrow on flicker.  Goodnight

Our not so relaxing day

Ok so we had a bit of a sleep in, was suppose to have a relaxing day,  but then caught a second wind when we refueled with Bourbon Chicken meal for lunch.  And of course some retail therapy (oops).  We were suppose to of just collected our tickets for the Phantom show at the Venetian Hotel, but then got side tracked, had a small totu on the pokies, and of course we didn't hit the jack pot, only took a few seconds for it to suck what little money we allocated, had to get an official lady to show us what to do first who said we were Vegas Virgins!

Friday night is not an easy night to travel down the strip we were rushing back to our hotel to change and drop off our shopping so we could travel back in time for the Phantom of the Opera.  Made it just in time.  Excellent show, brillant singing, another tick off my bucket list.  Had a bite to eat on the way home, and yes oops a bit more retail therapy, and oops its midnight, feet are sore, ok another day gone, and yes must take it a bit easier tomorrow.

Stopped off a long the way taking photos of billboards, buildings and videoed the water show outside Belagio Hotel. 

Highlights for today:
Booked our tickets to see the Grand Canyon on Monday
Elivs thinks I'm cute
Water show
Phantom of the Opera
Nestled back into bed ready for some shut eye

...3 more sleeps till we are back home
missing our family and friends
xo

Viva Las Vegas

Bright light city gonna set my soul
Gonna set my soul on fire!!!.......Viva Las Vegas

Well, the lyrics to Viva Las Vegas, certainly reflects what is happening in this city, i.e.  people with a whole lot of money to burn  (whether they have it or not!).    Arrived late Wednesday night a 5hour flight from Washington DC.  It is strange travelling 5 hours on a plane when you look out the window of the plane, there is city after city, what a huge continent this is.   Most terminals in this country are like little islands of which can only be accessed via monorail.  Our first view of Las Vegas was being greeted by Pokey machines as soon as you got off the gangeway!!  We have been so lucky with weather, that we noticed the big temperature dip when we arrived here, evidently it is unusual!  Quickly got on the monorail, picked our luggage up and headed to our hotel, was a bit tired!

Luxor Hotel is an Eygptian themed Hotel, the hotel itself is in the shape of a glass pyramid, with a huge sphinx at the front.  Sharlene said that it looks bigger than the actual sphinx in Eygpt.  As soon as you walked in got hit with promotions, and it turned out to be a timeshare  i.e we will give you free tickets to shows, $150 to spend on anything you want if you listen to their advertising presentation at a new 5star hotel that they just finished building.  Was going to go along to listen as that was all that was asked but decided to flag it when they asked for too much information.  It is certainly prey marketing.

Had a good nights sleep and then after cancelling our timeshare visit, went for a big walk, along the south end of the strip, headed for their outlet shoppig mall, just average.  It was a bit obvious that not many people walk the distance we did.  Whilst in the building there must of been a huge down pour of rain that we didnt hear at all so caught the bus back to the central strip area.  We decided to visit the half price ticket stand to book some shows.  Elvis, Circa su la in the evening, Phantom tonight, and Divas on Saturday night.  Slowly worked our way back to the hotel of which we walked through a big protest in support of the Wall Street protests against the big corporates and government.  People have certainly had enough of the greed, manipulations of the big guns in coporate and government and it is being echoed across the country. It will be interesting to watch what eventuates here. 

If you are into, gambling, alcohol, smoking, entertainment (erotica) well this place will certainly fulfill your dreams.  Sorry guys am a fan of New York and Orlando.  As a people watcher it is quite sad watching people pile their hopes and dreams into a machine,  they sit there for hours, and not surprised days!!   

So we went to the Elivs, Circa su la show last night.  WOW incredibly gifted people.  The whole show was of Elivs life with film of him singing and the dancers, acrobats and back up singings supporting him.  So much to take in, people and props popping out of no where,  the flexibility and balance of these acrobats etc was incredible.  Highly recommend. 

Well that about wraps things up for now, it is early morning, Sharlene is having a bit of a sleep in, the sun is peeping through the clouds, looking to have a relaxing day.
Hope all is well for you all.  Ready to come home now.  

Love Joanne xoxo

Last day in Orlando - Island of Adventures at Universal

Hi all, well it is our last day here in Orlando and we visited the Universal Island of Adventure theme park.

We had a great day and I thought that this was the best theme park we had visited, but there are still more theme parks to visit, but no time left.

I have just uploaded 3 sets of photos which you can view on the right hand side of the screen, just click on the set you want to look at and a slide show will start - the 3 sets include:    Halloween Horror night, my night time mini putt by myself and finally the Island of Adventure theme park (enjoy).

We are off to Las Vegas tomorrow for our last 6 days of our trip.

Orlando has been a great destination, but there is still so much more to see, but that;s a great excuse to come back again.

Enjoy the photos

DAY of REST

Sharlene went for a wander today, headed out to the outlet stores ??over 200 shops, bought a couple of things.  I stayed in my hotel room as am still full of a sinus cold.  Very little to report, nice hotel and good location.  Hope all is well with loved ones and friends. 

HALLOWEEN NIGHT AT UNIVERSAL STUDIOS - ORLANDO

Tonight we went to Universal Studios Halloween Horror night, it was very well put together and we walked through several haunted houses but most of all Joanne handled a really wicked ride call "The Mummy" it was up, down, backwards, forwards, stop and started suddenly - i think she is still processing what the hack just happened, is was a great ride - the affects were brilliant.

It is late, so i better go catch some zzz's.

My cold is getting better, but as Relle always tells me "sharing is caring Aunti", so I decided to share my cold with Jonne and now she has it.

Nighty night everyone

NASA and Disney Hollywood Studios

NASA Tour and lunch with an Astronaut:

Visiting NASA was very interesting and we don't really understand the size of these set ups until you are there.  Joanne was keen to see inside one of the large building where the orbitor is assembled, but they have had no onside tours for over 30 years but they are trying to negiotate with NASA to set this up again, so watch this space, well NASA's website.

We also had lunch with an Astronaut (Roger Crunch), only with about 100 other people, but that was ok, as the food was nice and the astronaut was a really good speak, explaining his experience (he was 56years if age before he went to space), where he came from and how long it took for him to become one.

Hollywood Studios
We spent the morning visiting the Hollywood Studios, which is quite different to the other parks (sorry just experiencing some technical issues with the uploading of photos) ... anyways, it was a smaller park and there were lots of acts going on around the streets, but you got to see the production side of sets etc.

We take it for granted of what we see on the big screen, as it is all made up of several screens and then they sew it altogether, for us to then see at the movies or on DVD.

Epcot Park

Today we spent the day at Epcot Theme park ... it is much more for the adults and has a lot of interactive things to do and teaches lots about the land, universe, sea and car safety etc.  Joanne did really well and complete to big rides without feeling unwell, so that was excellent.  The park is huge, but I didn't think it had as many rides as Magical Kingdom, but it had samples of lots of different countries:  eg:  UK, Germany, Italy, Japan, China, France and several more, so they had snack sizes of the food and drinks relating to that county and currently a Food Festival has just started today, but goes on for a week or more. It was a warm day (just lovely) so went swimming this evening, the pool is open until 12am, so that's handy.

I better fly as the internet is about to run out and so I better rap this one up, I mean those who know me, know I can talk, but I do know when to stop - believe it or not - he he he.  Gosh whoever comes up with the ideas and builds these amazing rides are just amazing and good on them, but more so a huge THANKS to Walt Disney himself for starting it all off, he truly was an amazing man. Once you have been here, then most other fun parks back home or in Australia will not be the same, but that's ok they are all slightly different and the USA is a huge country and the population is bigger so the need big theme parks and Orlando has the land space,

We are off to Kennedy Space Centre tomorrow for the whole day, so that will be interesting.

Take care everyone and we hope you are keeping warm

Cheers the 2 winnies

First few days in Orlando ... Florida

We have been in Orlando for two days now and been visited the Disney Animal and Magical Kingdom - "where dreams come true", will that's what they kept saying all day.  When you enter the park, you grab a map and then work out which way around you want to go and it explains what each ride envolves. 

Yesterday in Animal Kingdom, it was a tad hot and after an early flight we managed a few rides including the Everest Rollcoaster ride, OMG it was classic , Joanne screamed her lungs out, that she just about deafen me in my right ear and i was just cracking up laughing with her response to the ride.  It got the old head spinning and this did not mix well with being tired and the heat,  it affected Joanne a bit more than me, so we ended up coming back to our hotel and I went swimming and sunbathing, while Joanne slept for about 3 and half hours, but all good after that wee nana nap. 

DAY 2:  We left at 9am this morning and did not get back until about 9.30pm. These parks are very well set up, the staff are always helpful, nice and the place is spotless.  We managed to do all sorts of rides and see most of the park, though there are some rides that you might want to double check before attempting, as you are not allowed on some if you have any heart or bloody pressure problems, so that's a good warning before getting on board. Joanne cannot believe how parents con their hot, tired,  grumpy kids to do half of these rides!  We've heard all sorts of stories!

WARNING - don't tell the kids about this place, as they would love it here, but it will cost you a small fortunate - he he he.

At the end of the day we took the monorail from Magical Kingdom over to Epcot and had a brief look around and also managed to complete two rides, which were great, very interactive rides ... Joanne loves the NASA space flight asimulator ride, only because she was the Command and I was the engineer and two other young guys were the pilot and the navigator.  We ended the evening watching an amazing fireworks and laser display over the lagoon, called "illuminations", just prior to the start of the show, mother nature decided to kick it off with an electrical storm, just lightening - we could not hear any thunder! 

We then returned at our hotel called "All Stars Music Resort" there are also two other resorts that are similar, called the All Star Movies and Sport".

Tomorrow we are off to Epcot tomorrow another Disney park that is a bit different to most the other parts.

Saturday we have an all day tour at Kennedy Space centre and then on Sunday we move to the Universal Studios for 3 days and then Vegas here we come.

Have a Magical week!

Cheers The 2 Winnies

xoxoxox

PS:  hope you are not missing us too much, but I'm not missing the cold weather, I love this weather here in Orlando, very similar to Hawaii.

A bite of the Big Apple

Oops sorry for the delay in posting an update, have attempted twice and ended up going to sleep!   It certainly has been a full on time in New York, and yes all self inflicted!  Just to catch up on events since the last post. 

Karen and I went out and saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  This was fantastic and that statue is truely a beautiful sight. 

It was a fab day got a bit of a tan, headed back to the hotel straight after this as we left Sharlene behind as she has had a bit of a cold and needed a lie in. 

After picking her up we went walking a block over to find a full on market on 6th ave, that went right through to central park.  Now that is a long way if you know New York.  Great culture around these markets with a lot of both imported goods and local home made produce. Had a look around the Rockerfeller Centre, and Carnigie Hall. 

Once we got to Central park we couldnt resist a carriage ride, this was fab.  Central Park is beautiful, it must be amasing here in the winter.   Karen had to head back to Canada in the evening, am sure she will be popping back given it is just an hours flight for her. 

Next day Sharlene and I decided to sort out our last events using the New York pass and went to book tickets to see another stage show, Rock of Ages, and also to seek out bus tickets to Woodbury Outlet store. From there we headed towards Central Park and hired bicycles for a ride around the park.  It is huge, quite deceiving.  Had to stop in at Strawberry Fields to take a photo of the 'Imagine' mosaic dedicated to John Lennon, heaps of people there including two weddings taking photographs. Madam Tussauds was our next stop.  It was quite funny, Sharlene and I went around taking photos making poses to blend in with the wax model pose.  Had a lot of fun.  In one area you have the option of going through a scream horror walk.  We went through, couldnt stop laughing as these crazy men popped out of nowhere trying to scare us.  The sudden bang of a big drum at the beginng made Sharlene jump, i couldnt stop laughing. Towards the end we found a music booth of which you stuck your head on a board, you select a song and mime it.  Out popps a DVD with a cartoon presentation of two chicks dancing and miming to Lady Marmalade!!That was fun too!!LOL, by the way this is a one off copy write we will not be distributing any copies in near future!!! 

In the evening we went to Rock of Ages stage show, along the way we passed a free public show in the middle of times square of the New York symphoney orchestra (assuming it was them), some of the big screens on the surrounding buildings were showing it.  It was incredible.  The Rock of Ages was an interesting full on show telling a storey of two people wanting to follow their dreams in a 80's setting. The music was of course the rock classics with comedy, dancing, etc, had to crack up the narrator, he had a mullet, wore jeans and a t shirt that said, i love boobies in the first act and in the second act a picture of a camel with the words camel toe.  Fabulous acting and singing. 

 Wow that was one busy day.  Have to mention out side our hotel there must be filming close by, as there are cast and prop trailers, they're huge and dotted all down our street.  One particular bar is blacked out, all top secret.

One day left in New York.    

Let's Hear it for New York!

Wow, what a place.   Now i can understand why people rave about New York.  For a big concrete jungle it has amasing character, people, shopping, etc etc.   I feel safer here than i did in Rome.  It is our 2nd night in NY, we arrived at our hotel later than expected due to busy air traffic.  Once settled into our hotel we hit the streets.  It is hot and humid, heaps of people, went to planet hollywood to pick up our New York pass which allows you to visit 55 sights/activities/some discounts etc.  Certainly proved to be worth while.  Sharlene's friend Karen arrived from Toronto late Friday night they hit the streets as my eyes fell shut as soon as i rested my headed on my pillow.   Next morning we headed via subway to do the Statue of Liberty boat trip.  We had to flag that until this morning as the lines were hirendous.   So instead we went up Empire state building, amasing views; walked half of the Brooklyn bridge;  visited and shopped at a store that has 3 storeys of M&M chocolate (just love that store); walked Wall street, recorded and past a protest, stopped at 911 reconstruction site and visited their 911 visitor's centre.  We managed to do a bit of shopping inbetween all this, had tea, and ran back to our hotel to quickly change so we could get to the Sister Act show we booked on Broadway.  Wow, this was an incredible show, it had everything, props were incredible, singing was incredible, comedy, a definate highly recommend on broadway, hands are sore from clapping so much!  This place doesnt go to sleep, stopped in to get cheesecake for midnight supper then headed home.

Shopping Tip from Sharlene

... if you go shopping with my sister, then be prepared to spend some money ... I spent heaps today - he he he and there were no new shoes, just clothes - bugger


Ciao Sharlene
xoxox

Last Day in Rome

  Caught the underground metro and stopped into Flaminio, an area of great shopping, and again amasing buildings, sculptures and yes literally a church on every corner!  The up keep of all these monuments and churches must be incredible.  Had our last super at a local restaurant, with a bottle of Lambrusca. In summary it has been overall an awesome time in Italy, weather has been like summer despite it being autumn, interesting cultural experience and yes do appreciate our country and what we collectively offer a bit more.  

Arrivederci Italy!

Roaming Rome

Headed to Colosseum area today, the older part of Rome.  Again amasing sights, ruins, and architecture.  Michael Angelo was one busy man when you consider the amount of art he managed to acheive in his life time.  Yesterday we were told by our guide, that his father advised him if he didn't shower he would live longer.  So he followed his advice and never showered, died at the age of 92years!  You would certainly smell him ahead of time!  Incredible art, both painting and sculptures.   Have filled 8G of memory on my camera so far, had to buy another card!!  A few queues today so decided not to go into many sights, it was just as amasing seeing them from the outside.  Walked a few miles in another hot day.  Decided to head home early to relax the rest of the day. Eyelids are heavy, Sharlene is just about asleep so will get her to add more pics tomorrow. One more day in Rome.  Caio

Popped into visit the Pope today, but he was busy!

Today we got the Metro to the Vaticani City and the Sistine Chapel .... we ended up taking a guided tour, which was brilliant, our guide (Luke) was a real hardcase and explained all the history very well and made it lots of fun ... but after 3 hours we were all a bit weary. 

After the tour we decided to walk up the stairs to the top of the dome of the Vaticani ... that was a great work out for our bum and calf muscles and we paid to do that - he he he.

Oops the old interweb is misbehaving, so am suffering some technical problems, I'll get our IT department onto it quick smart to fix ... wait a minute - thats me - all fixed now!

After the Vaticani city it was time for a bit of retail therapy for me - gosh I did pretty well lasting that long listening to all that history WOW (Michelle you would be amazed by my efforts) I also reminded Joanne how lucky she was that I lasted that long, but hey that's what you do for your sisters aye.

Roma is full of beautiful old buildings and churches etc, every street or narrow alley you walk down, there's another or as some tourist say "theres an ABC" which means "Another bloody church" or as a lovely Irish lady from our tour today said to me on a recent trip through another part of europe they would say ABC meant to them "another bloody castle.

Tomorrow we can have a wee sleep in, but i think we are walking down to the Colosseeo area and I might have to Joanne past a few shops. 

It such a great city to go walk about in and loads of main tourists attractions are very close to one another, we would would not recommend taking the Hop-on-Hop off bus.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  Sharlene has only purchased one pair, yes you read that correctly folks, only one pair of new shoes so far ... that's amazing after 2 weeks of travelling ... but I have a feeling that New York might have a few pairs that might just have to come back to NZ with me - he he he

That's all folks!

Ciao Amalfi coast and hello Roma ...

Our last night on the Amalfi coast ended in an amazing thunder and lighting show which started about in the early hours of the morning and got worst about 7am and then started to clear a bit just before we left on the 8.37am but to Sorrento.

Once in Sorrento we had to get on a train to go to Naples and then swap trains to get to Roma.

The Sorrento to Naples train trip was a crack up, the train was so bloody full it was ridicious ... but a real laugh, as we ended up talking to a lovely South Africian couple who live in Melbourne, also an English and Scottish couple ... and yes the englishmen did talk about the Rugby.

The closer we got to Naples the more room we had on the train ... by the end of the trip I had had so many people stand and roll over my feet and elbows in the chest ... and who says holidaying is not an adventure.

Once we arrived into Roma, we found our hotel very quickly as we are near the main train station which is a great location ... I have been here twice before and it has not changed much at all.

We then went walk about late afternoon and I showed Joanne the Spanish steps (which was swarming with tourist) then along to the Trevi Fountain, where we found a lovely cute wee restaurant to have dinner and glass of vino.

We have had great first day and Joanne can't believe how walkable half the sites are around this city.

We just off to bed, but have lots of noisey teenagers on holiday (without their parents, just their credit cards) running up and down the stairs, giggling and talking heaps.

Buonasera

CAPRI

Last day on the Amalfi Coast so decided to do a trip around Capri, caught a local boat tour with 3 other couples from around the world, small boat, but a lot of fun.   

Capri is a beautiful island, went and did the Blue Grotto, of which an Italian man took 2 - 4 persons from their tour boat into a dingy.  How you enter the Grotto is like going down Alice of Wonderlands rabbit hole, you lay literally flat on the bottom of the boat, squashing each one of you if their are 4 with the Italian guide laying down too, pulling on a chain to maneuvour the boat to get into the grotto.  First of all it is of course pitch black then you can hear others and the Italian guides start to sing, "It's now or never" in Italian (amasing echo).   Wow they could sing, but also desparate to get tips.   The water is aqua blue as a result of the sunlight reflecting into the cave entrance. 

Capri is such a busy place on land, lots of crowds.  Went up the cable car to the centre of Capri.  Went into the local church as others did, to my surprise their was a funeral! So that offically makes 4 weddings and a funeral we have seen so far on our trip! 

Sharlene enjoyed swimming through the green grotto, which was a hole in the rock! 

Headed back to Positano then Priano our home base, then strolled down 356 steps to get to our local beach for a swim.  Well worth the trek. 

This evening it is a Catholic celebration and sing song at the local church and community centre, the area is well decorated with lights, and all the locals have turned up. So far we have heard an ABBA song "The winner takes it all" in English, the rest all Italian. Night, night off to Roma tomorrow. 

Ciao Amalfi

Photos of Pompei and Praiano

 

 

Priano

A long day of travelling from Florence to Naples via train then picked up by a private shuttle company.  Great to be in a car with air conditioning as it was 40'C when we arrived in Napels.  We were asked if we were Americano!! but said no New Zealand, where the rugby world cup is presently on.  Anthony our driver did not know rugby, and said he is the romatica type!!!! perfers the wine!  Sharlene had to cortle as she recalled the ricotta cheese advertisment on NZ tv, I said you should of asked him if he weeps when he cooks!!!   


Stopped in at Pompeii, sweltering our way around the Pompeii ruins.  Took lots of pictures.  Anthony introduced us to an elderly gentleman that carved cameos, i didnt know that they orginated from Italy, Pompeii in particular and were carved shell!  Just beautiful! 

Didn't realise just how big Napels is and how close to Mt Vesuveuis, no wonder the very large village was distroyed!  The Coast of Amalfie is incredibly steep with buildings hanging off them.  Very narrow roads, and crazy driver's.  Sorento was again larger than expected.   Took us about 1hr from Pompeii to Priano, probably because of the narrow and winding roads.

Our hotel is very nice, our room looks over the bay and a gorgeous church.  Sitting outside having a drink while i write this and it feels like 30'C.   Thats about all for now, looking forward to discovering more of the Amalfie coast tomorrow....... Ciao

day 2 in Firenze (aka Florence)

We went walk about for our last day in Florence. Joanne spent 2 hours walking around the hills through Piazzale Michaelangiolo and then up to Saint Miniato al Monte.

While I went walk about in the streets of Florence, i think some tourist thought I was a local, as they kept asking me directions and i played up to the part well ... see my photo - with my broken italian accent and sign language, i managed to convince them, they kept saying Grazie and i would say prego.

Joanne loves the natural fruit ice blocks, so we know what she will be making this summer.

We have ana ear start in the morning, as taking the trains to make our way to Amalfi coast, via Pompeii. I can't wait to have a swim in the sea, as not had one as yet.

Ciao

Day one in Florence -

Wow such a beautiful place, amazing buidings, history, and of course shopping.  Seeing and experiencing these amazing sights is a must, photos, tv just doesnt compare!  Another day of walking miles, went to Giardino Di Boboli, amazing panaramic view of Florence.  The Dunomo is incredible, sorry can't post any pics as we are currently in an internet cafe, may try later this evening from our hotel.  Lots of markets selling lots of leather goods etc, good prices.  Amasing sculptures.  Have just filled my 4G SD card from my camera and have only been away 6 days!  Must go rest my weary feet, hope all our family and friends are well,  chow for now xo

Day 2 in Venezia

Another busy day in Venice, over heard people saying that they are presenty having a heat wave. It is very humid and hot. 

Went out to Murano and Burano islands to see where they make and sell Venican glass and lace.  Gorgeous displays with lots of shops selling their items.  Went into a couple of Churches, no photos nor short skirts, nor strapless or sleeve less tops allowed allowed, unfortunately that meant Sharlene was unable to enter. Fantastic artwork and sculptures of Mary, Jesus, last supper etc.

Taken lots of photos of buildings and canals. 

This evening we were asked to leave a restaurant because we would not order enough food. Italians are into eating lots of courses.  In the end we tried a restaurant right by our hotel and they were fab, delicious seafood dishes and the service fantastico. Eating out is expensive.

One last look around the streets of Venice and up early tomorrow morning to catch a train to Florence.

Hope all our family and friends are well. 

Ciao

Arrh Venice

Joanne was going to typing this one, but she crashed about 3 hours ago, so i thought i would type something ... also sorry sis but your not on security watch tonight, as i have made heaps of noise, left the room and came back again and you have not moved ... he he.

We had a 12.5 hour flight from Hong Kong to Munich and then transferred to Venice, so got here about 9am after a short bus ride from the Airport to Venice island.

There are heaps of tourist around here and it most probably does not help that there are 2 or 3 large Cruise ships in town at the same time.

We grabbed a boat taxis (like a subway system, but just on a boat on the water) and we got to see around the outskirts of Venice's island.

It was interesting to see in the famous San Marco Square (you know where all the pigeons hang out for a free feed) will when I was here last - about 5 or so years ago we did not see any water coming up through the tiles and yet today right outside one of the most famous building water was coming through the cobblestones at the front of the entrance and i noticed different canals we walked over the water level has risen and a lot of the buildings are sitting well down in the water line, at least 20 to 30 cm's.

I am currently unable to upload any of Joanne's awesome photos as the interweb is not letting me do this due to technical problems, sorry folks.

Our feet are sore from our walk about and long flight, so we had a lovely meals near our hostel, had some lovely Italian kai ... but i ate too much - he he he.

I went for a walk tonight by myself to get some water,  it was just lovely, less people around and the temperature was nice.

We have out train tickets sort for Florence and the Naples for later in the week.

I better go and get some sleep myself

Ciao from Winnie 2 (Shazza)

Day 2 in Hong Kong

 Another full on day being right tourist on the wonderful Hong Kong hop on hop off bus. We took the Green line out to south part of Hong Kong Island, first stop: Aberdeen and took the Sampan boat ride around the famous Jumbo Floating Restaurant, then back on the bus pasting through the beautiful Ocean Park Bay area (Chester you would love this beach, saw lots of Surf Skis and OC1's), then stopped off at Stanley and had a look around the Stanley Street market and had lunch on the waterfront.

 Since it was Saturday, everyone was out and about, so the bus trip back was slow due to traffic, but was ok as it was great to see the different suburbs of Hong Kong Island. We then took the Tram up to the peak look out as it was reasonably clear today ... man that is one steep hill, makes the Wellington Cable Car trip seem rather mild.

We also past a bar in Sheung Wan where we saw a big screen TV showing the first All Black game  ... fingers crossed the AB's won!

We then took the night tour of the hop on hop off bus over to Kowloon, which is slightly different to Hong Kong Island ... lots of bright lights, heaps more people and lots of traffic.

We then ended up back on the waterfront in time to watch the wonderful Symphony of Lights show ... wow!

Finally we took the ferry back to Hong Kong island and made our way back to one of AJ's favourite restaurant, the Chilli Club ... great tip AJ the food was awesome, but we ate too much!

Hong Kong is a pretty clean city for the number of people who live here, it is also very safe and the MTR or subway system is just brilliant ... but gosh they love their designer labels.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is our last day in Hong Kong and our check out time is not until 12 noon, we have a few things to see tomorrow, but will pace ourselves as we have a 12.5 hour flight overnight to Munich and then another 1 hour 10 minute flight to Venice ... arrh Italy, here we come!

We hope all is well with you all back in NZ and that it is warming up.

Day 1 - Hong Kong ... end of summer!

What a day ... we had an awesome farewell from the extended whanau, thanks again to cousin Cherrell for organising Mum, Aunties,Uncle and Kerry.

We had a long trip about 11.5 hours flight from Auckland to Hong Kong, only having about 3 hours sleep if that. 

It is rather hot and humid ... so had to change into our summer clothing at the airport, before heading into the city via the wonderful Airport Express System.

We then changed lines on the MTR - these guys have got it sorted ... with the ability to transport 7 million people around this city so easily and even in the crowds of people transferring between MTR stations, it just all flows beautifully.
Joanne loves the travelators.

We found our cute wee hotel so just dropped our luggage and then headed back to Tung Chung to take the cable car trip up to see the Big Buddha ... wow that was amazing.  We decided to take a 2 hour tour which included seeing: Tai O Fishing Village, Po Lin Monastery and finally walk up 260 steps to the top, so you are right in front of the big buddha. 

Did a spot of shopping at the Citygate Outlet stores, our selections back home are great.

We are off to bed soon, as our feet are sore from all the walking and lack of sleep over the last 24 hours.

Travel check list ...

Passport - check

Air tickets - check

Travel buddy - hmmm i can't remember! arrh that's right i'm going with Joanne - he he he

Only 2 more sleeps and then we are off ... can't wait to see Joanne's excitment of experiencing her first big trip away to other end of the world!

So that means I only have 2 days left of work and so much to do and so little time.

Cheers Sharlene

20 days to go and who's counting - from Joanne

Yes me (Joanne)!!  Well this morning I truly became aware that this big overseas trip is starting to register, up until now it has been a lot of planning for something that doesn’t feel real!

I awoke this morning dreaming of my sister and I having to sing “Pa mai” to the local Italians before we entered their country, while having a picnic at their boarder entrance.  Lucky I know the words as I just phoned my sister who said “OMG I only know some of the words!” LOLOLOL.  I was also trying to find my passport and luggage, which I suppose is the normal anxiety starting to show with the lead up to this trip.     

So here you are Winnie 1, here are the words and translation.   

(All) Pä mai tö reo aroha Ki te pä o Ngatokowaru E ngä iwi o Aotearoa Haere mai, haere mai. Titiro ki nga hoia kua wehi nei Aue! te aroha me te mamae (Women) E nga iwi o Aotearoa... (Men) Tahi miti toru e Tae te marumaru Whare tapu teitei Te ao korowhiti (All) ...Kia kaha! kia manawanui!

(All) Your voice of love reaches our Marae Ngatokowaru (All you) tribes of new Zealand Come hither, come hither. Look at the soldiers departing from us Alas! the love and the pain. (Women) To the people of New Zealand... (Men) First one then later three weapons as a protection for the lofty sacred house known throughout the world (All) ...Be strong! be patient!

Sounds a bit grim really, given that this was a song about encouragement to all tirbes to enlist the services of their sons for war :-((

So here is a happier one!

1.  Ha-ere Mai!                                   Ev'ry-thing is ka pai!  You're here at last,  You're really here at last.  Bridge. You're welcome as the sunshine,      You're welcome as a king!  Pai kare! This is one time  We'll really have a fling!  Coda. Ha-ere Mai!  We're proud of you, that's why.  Ha-ere Mai!  Ha-ere Mai!

2. He-ere Mai! Not a cloud in the sky, To coin a phrase, This is the “days of days”. 3. Ha-ere Mai! Ev’rything is ka pai!    Throughout the land, We want to shake your hand,

So sis get practicing those “doodly-doo, doodly-doo," LOLOL   

Love from Winnie 2