The quiet(?) after the storm

 Hi there

Well...  The wild gusty winds certainly hit Wellington last night.  My kowhai tree blew completely out from the ground. My neighbour lost her fence. Electricity went down in many areas.

I was so stressed out because I didn't know how on earth I was going to get rid of the tree from slap-bang in the middle of my front lawn.  I couldn't get around it or over it, I couldn't open my bedroom window, I had a little garden lopper that could only cut twiggy branches. Many branches were as thick as my thighs and if you've ever seen my thighs you would be horrified at their thicky-ness.  The kowhai tree's trunk was even thicker.  How on earth was I going to chop it up and cart it away.

This morning I lopped off as much as I could from the tree, but truly it wasn't much.  But then - miracle of miracles! - a neighbour arrived with a chainsaw.  Whoopee, my lawn was soon tree-free, with blocks of branches safely tucked away for me to gradually feed into my wheelibin.

Wow, thank you, neighbour....

above: a stock photo of a New Zealand tui bird in a kowhai tree.  I will so miss watching the tui sipping from the kowhai flower, and my listening to its beautiful singing voice.

WINDY Wellington

 Hi there

Wow, it's  been windy in Wellington today.  For the last hour, I'd been hearing bangs and noises.  A couple of pieces of my garden furniture blew around.  

 It's about 8 pm Sunday (NZ time) as I type this. 

About fifteen minutes ago, I went to close the bedroom blinds and I thought, "Hey, I don't remember the rose bush outside my bedroom blocking the window...  Oh, wait a minute, that's not my rose bush -  I see yellow kowhai flowers..."

My kowhai tree had blown down.  The bushy branches were actually brushing against the window, the tree trunk about a metre from the front of my house.  Thank goodness it's not a huge tree.  It broke off at ground level and is lying not-so-flat on the front lawn.

Border Security

 Hi there

When I left home for Sydney,  it was 4 am in the morning.  I wasn't concentrating too well as I went through Border Security at Wellington Airport,

My little plastic bag of liquids - foundation, toothpaste, eye drops - was siphoned into a lane away from my carry-on bag which was my only luggage. 

"Oi, that's my plastic bag."  I waved at the security guy.  "What's wrong with it?"

"You have toothpaste," he said with a tut-tut.  

"It's allowed," I said.  "The tube's only quarter-full."

"But the weight on the tube says 110 grams.  You're only allowed 100 grams."

"But it's quarter-full."  the tube Was even folded over.  Was the guy thick or something?

It didn't matter.  I had to relinquish my toothpaste.  When I arrived in Sydney, I forgot to buy toothpaste on that first day so had to get out of bed at 7 am the following morning and find  some .  Hey, but the toothpaste was only $2, what a bargain.  It was a shame I couldn't take loads of the stuff back home with me and sell it on the black market, but by now I was probably on every country's Border Security Blacklist. Toothpaste, you are not going to be my downfall...

On the way home, I got caught at Sydney Airport by Border Security.  Thank goodness they weren't filming that day for "Border Security Australia", I would never have been able to live down such an episode - 

And before you, my four readers, start to chastise me, no I didn't get stopped because I was a toothpaste smuggler -

The Border Security guy reached into my shoulder bag and pulled out a bottle of water.

"What's this?"

"Um.  Water?". I was mortified.

"You're not allowed it on the plane."

Yes, I knew that.   I'd been so  stressed on my last day in Sydney and no matter how often I'd told myself not to take the water bottle into the airport, I'd ...  gone and done it (thanks Shania Twain, nifty song line).

"I'm so sorry," I said.  "Sorry, sorry, sorry.  I forgot.  I'm sorry."  I sorry-ed about ten more times. 

 He thrust the bottle at me.  The guy didn't speak english that well and in my stressed state, I couldn't understand him. 

He mimed drinking from the bottle.

Oh.  How kind.  He was asking if I wanted to take a final gulp before the bottle was confiscated.

I took a gulp and handed back the bottle.

And I was on my way home to New Zealand, and out of Australia.

It was only when I did get home a friend said to me "That Aussie security guy?  He probably thought you were a terrorist and demanded that you sample the water in case it was full of acid or something...."

..and even more Sydney

 Hi there

There was an exhibition on of Marilyn Monroe artifacts.  Here's the dress she wore to breathlessly sing "Happy Birthday Mr President" to John F Kennedy.

below:  I had an apple sundae at Wahlburgers.  It was deliciously HUGE.

below: view to Sydney from Taronga Park Zoo.  The zoo wasn't much, I think it's so well-known world-wide because it's been around for so long.  My suggestion, after arriving off the ferry:  take the shuttle bus to top and work your way down the hill.  I walked up the hill from bottom.  I feel I missed out on being able to book for animal encounters and I got tired of slogging up the hill.  But I did see and enjoy a seal show and a bird show.

 

below:  The outside of the Theatre Royal in Sydney, prior to my seeing "Tina - the musical", the Tina Turner story.

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In Sydney I stayed at the Megaboom Hotel because I just had to stay at a hotel with such an adorable name but, mainly, because it was right in the middle of the CBD, a couple of minutes walk to several theatres and all the shops and trams

The Hotel was nothing to write home about but "Location, Location, Location" (and free breakfast).  The nearby Hilton was to the side of Queen Victoria Building.

The historic Queen Victoria Building (posh) shopping mall is all but across the road from Megaboom hotel.  If arriving on the airport train for Megaboom, get off at Town Hall Station, follow signs for a few minutes past the underground shops to go up on QVB escalator.  Walk right through to far end of QVB mall, you're almost facing York Street (on left) where the hotel is about two minute walk away.  David Jones, Myers, Tiffany's, etc are just around corner from hotel (I didnt go to Tiffany's though I would have loved to have had breakfast outside of it).

So ... enough of Sydney.  Whoopeee, Melbourne next, and  "Moulin Rouge - the musical", here I come....

More of Sydney

 Hi there

When I was in Sydney two weeks ago, I went on the ferry over to Manly.  It's about a half hour ride. Extremely windy, if you sit outside on a deck.

 Manly is my favourite area.  There is Manly Beach which I far prefer to Bondi.  But the best walking area for me is when I turn left out of the ferry building and follow the footpath.  It twines around the water's edge.  I walked a long-long way along this path once before, then caught a bus (I think) to take me over the bridge to Sydney CBD.

This time I just had a leisurely walk for about an hour or so each way.  I loved it.  The views are great, tranquil, and it was nice looking at the expensive homes lining the footpath.  I passed several lovely swimming coves which had shark nets.  A few people were swimming.  I spoke to one swimmer coming out from the water.  He told me the water was cold.  -

"What would the water temperature be?" I asked.

"Um.. About 18c."

 "It' would be about 11c in Wellington."

We both pondered that, then agreed it was relevant to the two countries having way different winter temperatures in August.  Australia warm, New Zealand cold.  Bodies acclimating.  He was cold in the water at 18, me at 11.  A temperature of 18c would be okay for a Wellington summer...

I couldn't get over how botanic-garden-ish the walk was.  The plants, flowers, and grasses lining the walkway, between the sea and myself, were all perfectly manicured.  The suburb of Fairlight had great views to a marina.

I went back to Manly on another day, a Sunday.  If Manly hadnt been so far from my beloved theatre visits, I would stay in Manly.  

This time I turned right from the ferry building and wandered up the main shopping street (I bought an expensive bathing suit!), and across to Manly Beach.  My left foot had now reached full-blown blister status from the Manly walk I had done to Fairlight days earlier.  Curses, why hadn't I brought trainers with me on this holiday?

I hobbled along the foreshore, then popped in to a grand hotel for a lovely-but-expensive lunch.  There was a regular Sunday market on down the main streets and I bought a (expensive) shoulder bag.

 .... all-in-all, an expensive, footsore, yet lovable day...

above: Manly Beach

above: my Manly Fairlight walk.  Kudos to the gardeners

More of my Manly walk

I've Just Returned from Sydney, Australia

 Hi there

I've just got back from a week in Sydney.  I went over there to see some shows.  I saw "Disney's Beauty and the Beast - the musical", "Elvis, his revolution - the musical" and "Tina - the Tina Turner musical".

B&B had such magnificent special effects.  When it started off, I thought, "Oh, no, they're using a screen background?  I don't particularly like it when shows rely on a static screen background of a village or woods, etc.  But, my goodness, everything soon changed and the show became spectacular!  Even the background of the dark and dreadful woods became super-scary through background screen action.  "Be My Guest" song was the highlight, with the full cast performing their hearts out.

I had seen Disney"s B&B many years ago in Wellington where the props were all constructed by Weta.  But this Sydney production was much more lavish.

"Elvis, the Revolution" (I haven't quite got that title right) was about his story from childhood to his Las Vegas performances. Like "Mama Mia" and "Tina", the "Elvis" songs were fitted in to reflect the stage action.  Not only did I love this show but I loved the audience too.  Everyone had memories of Elvis and chattered away non-stop to each other, perfect strangers.  I met one woman who said she used to be a milliner and had made a hat worn by Nicole Kidman for "Moulin Rouge" when the movie was being filmed in Australia. This lady insisted on taking a picture of me on the stairs of the State Theatre.  The theatre is ostensibly the oldest non-stop operating theatre in the world.

I met a lady the day after seeing the Elvis musical and she said she hated the show -

"We've got better Elvis impersonators in the area where I live," she said contemptuously. "We have Elvis competitions every year.  They sing every note as it should be sung, not like that bloke last night."

"But this show isn't a tribute act.  It's a musical," I tried to explain.  "It has a story, a plotline.  It's  tailored for now, for today's audiences."

"Mmmmm..."  She wasn't convinced.

Then I saw "Tina".  Oh, there were some parts in this musical that were so sad.  And violent.  This show started (like the Elvis musical) from Tina's childhood right up to all her later hits (post-Ike).  The last half-hour was spectacular.  

 The "Tina" audience was full of "Sex and the City" sort of women who arrived in bunches, toting cocktail glasses, wine glasses, and bottles.  They were tipsy when they arrived, tipsy-er when they arrived back in their seats after interval, and at their tipsiest when the show ended. At intermission, theatre staff scooted around gathering up plastic glasses and bottles from under seats.

I went to other places as well as shows.  Much more about this another time.  I did take the expected pictures of Sydney Harbour Bridge and The Sydney Opera House, even though I've been to Sydney quite a few times before.  Somehow it feels obligatory to always take photos of these icons.

above: Sydney Harbour Bridge, taken from a restaurant.  Temp was 20c-25c every day.  I arrived back in Wellington to 9c.

above: side view of Sydney Opera House

me on foyer steps in State Theatre, Sydney

Zoos

 Hi there

 On the one hand, I understand that it's not good to see animals caged up, away from the freedom of their native lands but, on the other hand, I realise that if many animal species are to continue then zoos or wild-life parks are perhaps the only way to go, with inter-zoo breeding programmes, and the like.   

Even on huge 'protected' reserves in Africa, as an example, there are always poachers.  And dry conditions.  And no food to hunt or forage for.  Many animals are so close to extinction.  I read a recent article that said seagulls will be extinct from New Zealand skies in fifty years - hey, I can't truly believe this because there are so many squawking, flapping seagulls hovering around me as I eat my tomato sandwiches whilst sitting on a bench at Oriental Bay???

The nicest zoo experience I've ever had was a few years back at Melbourne Zoo where customers were allowed into the huge reserve holding the lemurs.  The cute little creatures were all a-frolic around me. In full move-it-move-it mode. So adorable, but I couldn't help feeling guilty about their captivity...

Stock photo