Holiday Withdrawal Symptoms......Tell me where you're going?

Ballard

I did promise to do a quick report of my holiday...

Singapore was lovely but I was a bit too jet lagged to do too much exploring. It didn't help that I went for a meal on my first night and had a couple of beers before ordering only to find out that they only had one dish left (which I didn't fancy). I then spotted that the Kingfisher that I'd been knocking back was 8%. I bought a sandwich from a 7-11 and went to my hotel to attempt to sleep.

The botanic garden was a delight. I'm not into horticulture in the slightest but it's such a lovely place that I could have spent much longer than my 2 hours there.

I had a long flight to Auckland via Sydney with a 4 hour stopover. NZ immigration was lengthy and followed by another very long queue to check that I didn't have any food or muddy boots on me.

Auckland is a lovely city and I spent the first day exploring and the next day a flight to Wellington.

It's pretty darned obvious why the capital is known as Windy Welly but it's lovely. Te papa museum is one of the finest I've ever visited and the tour of parliament made for a very interesting hour. Coincidentally I'd taken a tour of the one in Westminster earlier this year and it's more or less the same principle (although they've done away with the upper house).

Another highlight was a walk along the cliffs to the south on a blisteringly hot day. I did take my swimming gear but the water was incredibly cold so a brief paddle was all that I could manage.

I then took a bus to Napier. This is a charming art deco city and I took a bike along the coast to a lovely winery. This was also my first Airbnb experience and I'm so glad that I took the option. I stayed with a British couple who were absolutely wonderful and took me to a quiz night in the evening.

Next was Lake Taupo. I only had one full day there and decided to risk the weather and cycle along a river. This turned out to be a mistake as the rain came about 90 minutes in so I turned around and got soaked and frozen.

My next stop was one night in Rotorua. Looking back I could probably have stayed two nights but I did fit in a lot of walking and saw plenty of hot springs bubbling away.

Back to Auckland for a couple of days where I spent one day on Waiheke Island. Boy this is a beautiful place and in case that wasn't enough there are plenty of wineries.

I arrived in Sydney in the evening and the next day was a windy 38c. This did sap my energy (particularly the hot wind) and travelling around by slightly air conditioned buses was the best way. I found a beach for a couple of hours and did little else. Around 4pm the wind changed direction (a southern buster I think) and the temperature dropped to around 22c in minutes.

My friend arrived the following day and we took in some of the sights. The following day we took the train to The Blue Mountains for a couple of days. If you enjoy walking in the hills then this would be right up your street. I have to admit that I was exhausted by the time we went back to Sydney.

Next was a flight to Hobart in Tasmania. Another wonderful little city. We had a very interesting tour of Port Arthur on one day and cycled down Mount Wellington another (the tour company take you to the top). Our final morning was taken up visiting the immensely interesting Mona museum.

A bus then took us to St Helens which is apparently the largest town on the West coast. Really? There was only one restaurant open and it wasn't exactly busy. That's not to say that it's not a lovely place though. We cycled a bit too far for my liking as it was very hot again and hillier that a very hilly place. It took it out of me as I'm not as fit as I was.

Next was Launceston (lawn-cest-on) which is another decent small city and a side overnight trip to Cradle Mountains. This place is another for any walkers. My friend is far fitter than I so we did our own thing during our time there.

Back to Launceston for our flight to Melbourne where we met another friend. Melbourne is another interesting place with lots of little restaurants and bars. We took in a gig at the forum (someone I hadn't heard of - Father John Misty who completely wowed me). I had a little too much to drink so the next days tour of the Yarra Valley and its wineries wasn't timed beautifully but my hangover subsided around lunchtime and I had another great day.

Back to Sydney for a couple of days but I'd picked up a heavy cold (still here!) and stayed in the room for a day and a half.

Next on the list was Hong Kong. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and everything was going swimmingly until about 90 minutes before departure when a huge storm hit and everything ground to a halt. The sky darkened to the extent that the city (about 15KM away) disappeared. The rain fell and staff were evacuated from the tarmac. I understand that tornadoes were in the area too. This lead to a 2 1/2 hour delay which scuppered our plans to go horse racing once we'd arrived in HK.

HK was the only place that I'd previously visited and we went up to The Peak for the view of the city. Other than that I didn't do that much there as I still had my cold but I did manage a couple of beers.

The flight home was around midnight and, as with the other nine flights that I'd taken, it was jam packed. My audio on the entertainment system wasn't at all good which they tried to rectify by rebooting but to no avail. A couple of hours later it packed up completely for my section so we were given a form to claim compensation. I'm not expecting much.

The weather during the holiday was definitely 'changeable'. Singapore was sweltering, NZ and Tassie had at least four seasons in every day and Melbourne & Sydney a couple. HK was warm until the evening.

That's it. It doesn't seem much for 40 days and 18 hotels but it was the best holiday I've ever had (and I've had some wonderful holidays all over the world).

PompeyPete

Thanks for posting. You definitely covered a lot of ground, and visited quality destinations.

The only place we didn't really get on with in NZ was Auckland - far too cosmopolitan . We had 4 weeks in a campervan, covering both Islands starting and finishing in Auckland, and stopped at some very interesting back-of-beyond places, and inhabited by even more interesting local folk!

Enjoyed the Blue Mountains too. We did them on a day trip by train from Sydney, and got a circular bus ticket to get round the main sights.

A bit that 8% Kingfisher in that heat and humidity gave you a good nights kip.:)

Ballard

Being as something like 1 in 3 Kiwis live in Auckland it's always going to be Cosmopolitan. I found it a friendly place with enough to do for a few days.

NZ was an add on to the trip that I was taking with my pals and I'd only given myself 12 days in the country. I'd have liked to have explored the south island too but I couldn't really extend my holiday any more.

I don't expect to go back to either country, as much as I'd like to, because they're just too far.

PompeyPete

Ballard wrote: »

Being as something like 1 in 3 Kiwis live in Auckland it's always going to be Cosmopolitan. I found it a friendly place with enough to do for a few days.

I think I really meant to say multicultural. I thought it was friendly enough, but as a destination we enjoyed everywhere else we visited in NZ a lot more.

Ballard wrote: »

I don't expect to go back to either country, as much as I'd like to, because they're just too far.

If you had long enough you could 'reduce' the travel by topping and tailing for a few days in SE Asia. Bangkok, Bali or Hanoi/Saigon.

Ballard

The point is that having long enough is the issue. I could only get the time for this trip due to redundancy.

I haven't even thought about my next trip yet. I have a reference for going away in November so I've got a while to think about it.

DUKE

O-o-O-o-oooooh I'm desperate to get to NZ but fear the flights will finish me off. Not sure of which route to take

Just back from Malaysia & I really can't spend any more wasted hours at Dubai airport!

Ballard

DUKE wrote: »

O-o-O-o-oooooh I'm desperate to get to NZ but fear the flights will finish me off. Not sure of which route to take

Just back from Malaysia & I really can't spend any more wasted hours at Dubai airport!

I had time to break the journey both ways but my friends flew (to Sydney) without a stopover and both said that it was fine.

dawyldthing

I'm off on my Oz trip on Sunday and keep seeing it's raining, hope it's not a sign to come

Gloomendoom

dawyldthing wrote: »

I'm off on my Oz trip on Sunday and keep seeing it's raining, hope it's not a sign to come

Take my word for it, it isn't raining everywhere...

sandsy

sandsy wrote: »

Nothing exciting planned for Christmas.

Just got back from France 2 weeks ago and thought I'd better get next summer's holiday sorted so have just today booked another gîte holiday for next July.

But we still have SA (October),Dubai (Feb) and Amsterdam (Mar) to enjoy before that. Will soon be turning my attention to next October. I want to do Sharm but will have trouble persuading my OH at this point in time.

Where is your cruise going, Masterpoo?

So South Africa lived up to all our expectations, as it always does. We spent 8 nights driving ourselves around Kruger before travelling through Swaziland to a beach lodge in northern KZN.

The Sharm idea went out of the window, as might be expected, and flights are now booked for next October flying into New York (first ever visit) where we expect to spend around 5 nights. We'll be returning to the UK from Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean! That's 2016's trips sorted!