Trying to Stay Grounded.

This is a pic of SG, small grandson, taken yesterday morning. He decided he would like a photo taken with the cactus, so here is the result. He has a scratch on his right cheek which is the accidental result of boisterous play with his dog, whose claws perhaps need a clip.



After writing yesterday's post about our travels in Thailand, it got me thinking about other holidays & trips we have taken.

When we first moved to Australia to live, I used to take trips back to visit my mother, who lived in Auckland, approximately once a year. I often went alone, leaving GOM to hold the fort, & I loved to travel alone. Sometimes we had trips back to the South Island, to Christchurch to visit GOM's family & our friends who live there.

A couple of times we met up with our son & his partner, who were travelling in NZ at the same time. Our son B, was keen to show his partner where he grew up, & memories of his childhood years. They spent a lovely time in Kaikoura, which has always held a special charm for our son. It can be very cold, & when the snow is on the mountains it is freezing. There is a flourishing Whale Watching business there now, but in our day, it was just a rather bleak seaside town, which could be guaranteed to have Crayfish available almost all year round.

There is a rough rocky beach with very little sand, it is mostly pebbles. There is a seal colony lives on some huge rocky outcrops & we sometimes took walks to view the seals. Well rugged up, usually, because of the cold winds coming from the mountains on one side, & the Antarctic from the sea.

We would often stay there on our trips up to see my stepdaughter, & of course our children remember those trips, - now rather vaguely. But SB has always retained a fondness for Kaikoura, in spite of once having a dreadful asthma attack while we were staying there, & because he hadnt exhibited any symptoms for about a year, we had no relief available, & no Doctor could be found at night in a small seaside town. Our remedy to was to give him a little brandy in warm water with sugar to relax him, & he went off to sleep quite comfortably, & in the morning all signs of asthma had gone. Our GP later told me I had done just the right thing.

And how, you may ask, did we happen to have brandy with us, & not asthma treatments?? Terrible parents! Publicans, though.

We always called in to visit with friends who lived just outside of Kaikoura, & usually took some bottles of alcohol as gifts or to have a drink with our friends.



This next photo is of the Port of Lyttleton, taken from a lookout accessable by Gondola. The Gondola had never been there, when we lived in Christchurch, so it was as real tourists we rode for the view.
I see I took this photo in November 95.
And here is GOM, with son B, & his partner M, taken looking down at Lyttleton Harbour. You can see the harbour is formed by a crater, & there are many bays round this Harbour.

We used to have quite a few visitors from overseas come to visit us when we lived in the city Hotel, in Christchurch, & we used to try to take them to as many places of interest as we could. It seemed strange visiting as tourists, & perhaps seeing things through new eyes. There are so many wonderful places to visit, & interesting historical towns, I would love to go back & do it all again as a tourist.


I do get itchy feet from time to time!

And here is the view looking East last evening. I loved to rolling fluffy clouds highlighted by the setting sun.

And this was the view about 30 minutes later, looking to the West, over the hills.
And there is that lone pine again! Still waiting ...

I had better go & get busy so I dont fret too much about being stationary, with no immediate prospect of travel in sight!!