Welcome...

 

This is just for me recording where on earth have I been during my travelling years.

It all started in 1990 when I booked my trip as a nanny to England, thanks to cousin Ally there! She was the one who organised, researched and all the rest, I just hijacked her trip - and I'm sure she disliked me for it. We get on ok now...

Click on the map for my link and then click on the country name as another link to the brilliant CIA website which shows you a map, flag and very good description of the country - including kms of coastline, population figures, etc.
 

New Zealand
Pre -1991, 1996, 1998, 2000
My home for years and years.
My long journey starts when I left on 8 January 1991. I waved goodbye to my family, my friends, my pets...

Hong Kong
1991*
So long ago…

England
1991 – 2007
Didn’t really think I’d be here that long, let alone get married here

France*
1991, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2006
First went here with the group of nannies - I remember Montparnasse Tour and Kate snogging some guy in a lift!
Alison’s birthday with champagne under the Eiffel Tower. Went to Paris with Mike, along with all the booze cruise trips.
Latest trip was with Mum to Paris in December of 2006. Very nice week there.

Scotland
1991, and more
What a place - home…

Wales
1991, and more
Mainly remember driving through on a coach going to Ireland - never again! And going to the rugby.

Ireland
1991 or 1992, 1994, 2005
The B&B I stayed in had the most wonderful breakfast sausages - been looking for them ever since.
Went to Dublin with Mike in October 2005. Stayed in a new hotel in Croke Park. Very nice.

Spain
1991, 1994, 1999
Arrived into Alicante with the Family, drove to Javea and Morira. Basically a nice paid for Spanish holiday just before I turned 21.
Let’s not forget Pamplona and Iruna. This was where I kept meeting people- first off it was the three guys in the combi - Darren, Rob and Craig. The next time it was Deano. The next time I met my husband. Maybe that’s why I kept going there!

Belgium
1991, 1994
Drove thru Belgium when on the way to the Bierfest - I know it doesn't really count, but hey...
Then again in 1994 when travelling around Europe. Went to Bruges for a day or two. I remember chocolate - but being so poor that I couldn't buy any.

Germany
1991, 1994, 1995, more…
Bierfest, bierfest and more bierfest.
Oh, and Berlin - lovely.

Austria
1991, 1994
Went to a wee town, Santa's, for a day when visiting the Bierfest in Munchen in September 1991.
Then again in 1994 when travelling around Europe. I remember seeing the best looking waste disposal unit in the world - and the dancing Austrian horses.

Holland
1994
I remember going to the Floriada with Mum and sitting drinking avocat in a bar…
Walking around ‘Dam Square with Ally both dressed in shorts, being asked by a big man with a beard if we wanted to work for him!… WHAT

Andorra
1994, 1995, 2003
The first time I drove thru Andorra I was just a young thing of 23 and it was spring - so no snow.
The next time my generous brother (and my payment for looking after all the Boz Boyz) provided a skiing trip for me - two weeks on the snow and, luckily on the second to last day, I fell over and sprained a ligament. Off the piste I got rushed on the little stretcher and into the hospital. Just so happened that I had a bruise and scab the size of two 50p's on my but, along with a very warm and long (that's my reasoning for wearing them) pair of leopard print leggings - ATTRACTIVE!
The third time was to Soldeu (favourite is Pas de la Casa) for a week away with Mike.

Gibraltar
1994
Lovely place, full of caves and monkeys! So nice to be in a small English enclave again.

Morocco
1994
Travelled here with some people that we met on the ferry. Great fun, although I will never underestimate the need for water again.
On a train trip we had an old man in a lovely white suit, complete with panama hat, come and sit with us. He wanted to practice his English - we just thought it was dodgy!
The most astounding thing was the street children in Tangier - they asked where I was from so I said New Zealand and they started speaking Maori!!! So I change my mind and said I was from Iceland - that stumped them!

Portugal
1994, 1998, 2006
Lovely lovely Portugal. I love the secret little beach that Don and his gang found when doing their trip in 1992. Can’t remember the name, but I know that you turn down the dirt road by the school!
And Porto, what a place if you like Port, yum yum.
Went for a golfing trip with Mike. Lovely place.

Monaco*
1994
The casino, the racetrack - oops, I mean the road. They bolt road humps into the road so that people don’t try and recreate the race.

Italy
1994
Brindisi and a town called Bra is all I remember about this. Oh, and Venice - lovely.

Switzerland
1994
Very clean, very cold. The first night was spent after we came through the tunnel in the mountain from Italy, and there was no where to stay, so the tent got laid down and we slept under the car.
The Jungfrau was also climbed (well, travelled in a train) as this was the main reason I went to Europe in the first place (thanks Jan). Absoloodle lovely.

Denmark
1994
Flat. I remember climbing a fence to climb up a windmill.

Sweden
1994
Don’t really remember too much of Sweden I hate to say.

Norway
1994
This is the place where I first managed to ‘see’ one of those 3-D pictures. Cool huh.
I also feed some reindeer, although if you look at the photo (will upload one day when I get back to New Zealand) you will see that I am scared shitless. Looks too much like a horse for my liking.

Finland
1994
I remember getting lost in a lake just when the bad weather was starting. Here’s a tip. If you go in a lake (we are talking huge, like with huge waves and islands and stuff) make sure that both of you can row - not just one of you. Hence the blisters.
When we got to Helsinki, I was thinking of my niece, Helen. The names are similar. We sailed to Estonia on a ferry - just after that big ferry disaster happened.

Estonia*
1994
Arrived here on 15 August 1994 - the day I turned 24. The tanks were rolling out and going home to Russia.

Latvia*
1994
Not too much here.

Lithuania*
1994
Here I went into the old KGB building. Yucky. I went downstairs to the ‘holding cells’. There was one particular cell that had padded walls, with the bullet holes and blood spots still on it. I couldn’t walk in the door to the room and it just felt so awful. The whole place was awful actually. It just had an air of despair, loneliness, hopelessness and all that about it.

Poland
1994
Went to Krakow and of course Warsaw.

Czech Republic
1994
Here we went to two lovely places: Prague and Ceske Budejovice. The capital and the Budvar capital.
The castle and actually the town in Praha was lovely.

Hungary*
1994
I remember having the most gorgeous Stroganoff here. It was a little café beside the big lake. It was so good I went back for seconds. It was here that I got hold of Don which brings us onto the next country.

Croatia
1994
Met Don in Zagreb by the good old Post Office. Hadn’t seen him for ages so was a wonderful visit. We saw the Pope drive by in his bullet-proof Pope-Mobile. Then we headed off down to Split where we stayed in the house. I went for a swim in the Adriatic and nearly choked on the saltiness of the water.
Soon we were off down to somewhere starting with M, underneath Mostar, but that was in Bosnia.

Bosnia
1994
Stowed the car here and then went with Don in his UN Landie to Zencia. Had a brilliant time catching up with Ed, Steve, Mel, Jimmy and of course Don. There was a party that night (seemed like it happened all the time). Went to TurkBat to watch the guys play volleyball - and had to ask permission to take photos! But they were nice and gave me Turkish Coffee.
Next on the list of things to do was join a convoy up to Tuzla. A bit exciting, saw landmines on the road and got told off for peeing in a bush.

San Marino
1994
Lovely wee ‘country’ up In the hills in Italy. I remember it fondly.

Liechtenstein*
1994
Must have driven through here - don’t remember much!

Luxembourg
1994
Ditto

America
1997
Went to New York with work, met Ally

India
1996, 1997
I I'll
N never
D do
I it
A again
Well, so some people say - me I'd do it again in a millisecond.
Boy did my inner hippy have fun in India. It took a while to get used to but it really was fantastic, especially the 2 week holiday at the end of the 4 month trip. I remember up in Udaipur the hairy eared painting guy!

Nepal
1997
Nepal, what a fantastic place! I came from Darjeeling in India in a night bus (hmmm, how much was that flight?) - very interesting, into Kathmandu. Found a great place to stay - on the top floor of a hotel/b&b type place with views over Kat.
I then went to Chitwan National Park and staying in the Peacock Hotel and had some organised trips around the park, in a canoe, gliding past croc's, on elephant back finding wild rhinos and the best trip was going to a croc park - not for the croc's, but for the two and four year old half wild rhinos which we stopped and petted - and the sloth bear on the way home in twilight.
Next was a trip in Pokhara which saw me walking around the Annapurna range of mountains for three weeks (no wonder I lost two stone!). That was FANtastic. The month in Nepal was the highlight of my four months in India/Nepal.
It was really hard to leave - and I encourage everyone to go. If you go, don't book your trek from home - wait till you get there - local economy and all that.
Peace, out!

Japan*
1998
A very short stop over when I went home when Dad passed away. I could see over everyone’s heads whilst in the train station. Bizarre – and I was wearing jandals!

Australia*
2000
Been there once. For five days. To Sydney. My excuse: to meet Mike on Valentine's day before he came to NZ. Met up with Ken and got offered a job too.
Nuff said.

South Africa*
2000, 2001, 2005, 2007
Went to stay with Mike for 3 months - a bit too hot for my liking. Came back again when parents went to Dulstrum. Spent time in Knysna and went to Cape Town.
Had a holiday there in 2005 for nearly a month. That was a lot better than the first time. Very relaxing going there.
Going to spend 7 weeks here on my way home. Hopefully have a holiday in January in Mozambique too.

Swaziland*
2000
Visited uncle in Swazi and stayed for the weekend. Stopped in at Swazi Candles which was fascinating watching them make candles.

Greece*
2002
Our honeymoon was spent here (albeit a year late…)

Singapore*
2004
This was another one of those ‘cheats’. We stopped over for about six hours going home from New Zealand, but were too late to do the city tour, so we toured the airport instead. Had a lovely swim on the deck and, of course, had a Singapore Sling!

United Arab Emirates - Dubai*
2005
Stopped off here on the way back from South Africa. We were going to meet up with Maas but he went to the UK instead. We stopped in at a hotel for two nights. The first part of day one was spent walking around the main city centre, and then we went to a lovely water park - The Wild Wadi!

 

Mallorca

2006

Visited Maas & Eva

 

Sweden

2007

Visited Helen & Graeme