"A Kiwi Abroad" fishandchips's Profile

For the latest view of Christchurch see the Red Zone Tour which has a running commentary from a local engineer.

Back in 1999 my wife, Angie, called my bluff and before we knew it we were travelling the roads of Europe. Some wet, some dry but all very interesting. We had made several trips across the ditch between New Zealand and Australia (esp. Melbourne) from 1989 but our first european adventure gave us the travel bug quite badly. I'd also been to Australia back in 1977 in a school boys cricket team touring Victoria so had an idea of what was to come.

We spent 4 weeks in Europe and 3 weeks in the UK seeing the likes of Paris, Venice, Rome and London with a few days in Singapore on the way there and several days on Waikiki beach on the way back. The Kiwi dollar wasn't so strong then so it cost quite a bit - worth every cent (or penny as the case is in GB). Two glorious months.

The world as a Gondola sees it

In 2003 I agreed to take my Mother to England and through Europe as she was extremely keen to see some of the world. It came about during a conversation we'd had just prior to her Hip replacement surgery in 2002 and I made sure she followed through on her plan. Turning 70 while overseas she never missed a beat putting many of the younger tourists on our bus trip to shame. We did a 15 day bus trip through Europe and drove around England for 10 days. Highlights were Venice, Prague and London.

One major change I noted was the new currency being used in many countries. In 1999 it was lots of fun (and a bit of a hassle) sorting out which coins and notes could be used. In 2003 the Euro made our trip much easier to plan for and we had a few Euro notes in our pocket before leaving.

This gave Mum the travel bug which has resulted in our planning a further trip in July of 2005.

Mum and her boys - Tower Bridge, London

Mum decided that she just had to see Southern England. She was all set to go by herself and almost piked out before coming up with the solution of me escorting (carrying her bags) again. Angie gave the all clear and we were off - this time for almost 4 weeks. We spent most of our time in London & I had 5 days in Paris plus a day in Singapore there and back.

It was another great trip with my time in Paris allowing me to see all of the places that I had missed on my previous two visits. Doing it solo gave me a different perspective and I didn't have to compromise on what I did or saw!!

Mum has advised that this has finished off her travel desires - who knows what will happen in the fullness of time? Since this trip, Dad had a quadruple heart bypass so maybe I'll be taking him to see the things he wants to see but never got around to it.

Camp Fire - Ngorongoro Crater

Several years ago I put together a list of all the travel items I wanted to achieve in my life time (late night, drinks, blah blah blah). One of those was climbing Mt Kilimanjaro and in 2009 I was able to tick this item off my list. After saving for a couple of years my trip to Tanzania was completed in September 2009. I got a really sharp fare with Air Qatar and flew Auckland to Nairobi via KL and back through Hong Kong.

I spent a couple of nights in KL, 1 week on Safari, 1 week on Kilimanjaro (summiting at 8:15am on 10 September) then flew home via Hong Kong where I spent one night. Flying Qatar Air I also had a bit of time at Doha airport in both directions - a most interesting place due to a small airport terminus but really big tarmac requiring bus travel to get passengers out to their plane.

The trip was really emotional at stages, especially so when I got to the top of Kili. Great to achieve my big goal after 3 years of saving and planning.

All places on this trip were new to me so lots of fun exploring the new sights and experiences. I travelled by myself which added a new dimension to my travel. I never had a problem which was also down to having a good travel agent assisting me.

Petronas Towers, KL

All of the photos within my pages (apart from a couple of maps) have been taken by either myself or Angie (1999 photos) with most European photos coming from my Pentax Optio S5i digital camera. I love it as it hides in my front pocket and is always ready to grab and take a snap.

Only hassle is the rechargeable battery system which means you have to have different plugs to ensure you can recharge the camera no matter where you are. I took a Uniden digital camera to Africa for this very reason as it took 2 x AA batteries. Not as nice to use but good enough for the conditions lol.

Prior to this I had a Canon Elph APS camera which is responsible for most of my 1999 and 2003 photo series. Angie used a Canon EOS30 SLR which takes nice shots but is a bit of a pain to carry. More hassle scanning in photos but as I have approx 1000 shots from overseas travel worth the effort when trying to paint a full picture for a tip.

Easter 2006 - All in the same place for once!!

It's funny how you can take your own wonderful city for granted. I was in a shop in Oxford, England and the assistant asked me what I thought of the buildings and architecture. I answered that they were fantastic - nothing older than 150 years in my home town. He told me that to him they were all just buildings. He then asked me where I was from & when he found out that I was from Christchurch, New Zealand he described the wonderful Hagley Park with its Botanic Gardens. I told him that was just the place we run around at lunchtime............ One doesn't realise what gems they have in their home patch until one travels!!

I am blessed to come from a place that has so much to offer from the mountains to the sea. Several nice lakes, rivers, picnic spots etc etc. You often don't realise how good you have it until you travel!!

I am slowly building my New Zealand page with its cities such as Christchurch, Kaikoura and Picton. I have also recorded my travels to Europe and have had much fun building my Paris, Venice, Rome and London pages.

I have most recently been to Melbourne where Angie & I celebrated our Silver Wedding anniversary. We had a great time sampling the coffee and wandering through the wee streets and archades.

"There

I have aspirations to travel all over the world and see & do lots of interesting things. My shortlist of places I am planning to go to are;

Mexico - wander about the Aztec ruins of the Yucatan . Maybe a drink or two at Cancun?

Israel - visit the Temple Mount (Mount Moriah) and see what all the fuss is about. Was Jesus really buried here?

Himalayas - Trek to Everest Base Camp via Kathmandu. Can I cope with the Altitude again? Maybe the Anapurna circuit instead?

Egypt - visit a tomb or two, dip my toes in the water at Dahab.

Iraq - visit the birthplace of the modern world (if there's anything left)

Though these are my desired places to visit, Angie has instructed me that it's Greece and Turkey next on the list! Should be good with the very rich history of both nations.

I am an avid reader and listen to lots of music.
To see the sort of books I read you can see my BookCrossing site although it's not that up to date.