We were sad to depart NZ on the 8th of March. We have so many wonderful memories of NZ that it felt as though we were leaving our home! We said goodbye to our 
dear "girl" friends at the Metro Cafe and our pixie Fran! She is the one in the picture with Jon. I think I told you in an earlier blog that she makes all the sauces for the Strawberry Far
e restaurant just around the corner AND she has been our weekly housekeeper for the last 5 weeks during our stay here in ChCh. She popped in on Thursday with 3 large jars of sauces for us to "wedge" into our suitcase! They are her famous basil pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto and sweet chili sauce! She also popped in the next day with 2 more bottles of her basil vinaigrette and her mint vinaigrette. What a dear. Jon wants to fold her up and pack her in our suitcase. She's willing, but her 3 kitty cats would miss her. So we bid her a fond farewell. We stopped in to say goodbye to Dean and Stephanie and the girls too. We so enjoyed getting to know them and they were kind enough to feed us 3 times during our stay. It was nice and funny to be in a home with 4 young girls. We are still giggling about some of their antics!
We loved EVERYTHING about NZ, mostly the people, Alan and Sally, Mary M, Lynn & Andrew, Iona, Yvette, Fran and Dean and Stephanie and the girls. We have made wonderful friends for life. We can't wait to return. We especially love the currency; no pennies, nickels or quarters! Just dimes, twenty cents and 50 cents then 1 and 2 dollar coins and bills. Every published price included the tax, and if your bill was 27.96, it was rounded up to 28.00. Very easy to figure costs, AND no tipping! Sweet. We still received excellent service, and noticeably, shared or team service among the restaurant staff. The motels were clean, neat and kitchen equipped. We didn't have a bad one in the bunch. NZ has relatively little or no bugs. We know there are plenty in the hills and on hiking trails, but no snakes, spiders, and few flys and mossies. I'm sure the drought they are currently experiencing had an influence on them, but it was wonderful for us. We love the green hills (and some brown too) but warm sunny weather. It so reminded us of the Pacific NW. We especially loved daylight savings time for 10 months this year! Yes, we will miss NZ.
dear "girl" friends at the Metro Cafe and our pixie Fran! She is the one in the picture with Jon. I think I told you in an earlier blog that she makes all the sauces for the Strawberry Far
e restaurant just around the corner AND she has been our weekly housekeeper for the last 5 weeks during our stay here in ChCh. She popped in on Thursday with 3 large jars of sauces for us to "wedge" into our suitcase! They are her famous basil pesto, sun-dried tomato pesto and sweet chili sauce! She also popped in the next day with 2 more bottles of her basil vinaigrette and her mint vinaigrette. What a dear. Jon wants to fold her up and pack her in our suitcase. She's willing, but her 3 kitty cats would miss her. So we bid her a fond farewell. We stopped in to say goodbye to Dean and Stephanie and the girls too. We so enjoyed getting to know them and they were kind enough to feed us 3 times during our stay. It was nice and funny to be in a home with 4 young girls. We are still giggling about some of their antics!We loved EVERYTHING about NZ, mostly the people, Alan and Sally, Mary M, Lynn & Andrew, Iona, Yvette, Fran and Dean and Stephanie and the girls. We have made wonderful friends for life. We can't wait to return. We especially love the currency; no pennies, nickels or quarters! Just dimes, twenty cents and 50 cents then 1 and 2 dollar coins and bills. Every published price included the tax, and if your bill was 27.96, it was rounded up to 28.00. Very easy to figure costs, AND no tipping! Sweet. We still received excellent service, and noticeably, shared or team service among the restaurant staff. The motels were clean, neat and kitchen equipped. We didn't have a bad one in the bunch. NZ has relatively little or no bugs. We know there are plenty in the hills and on hiking trails, but no snakes, spiders, and few flys and mossies. I'm sure the drought they are currently experiencing had an influence on them, but it was wonderful for us. We love the green hills (and some brown too) but warm sunny weather. It so reminded us of the Pacific NW. We especially loved daylight savings time for 10 months this year! Yes, we will miss NZ.
Take a look at Sydney! We arrived about 9pm on Saturday evening and the sun was setting on Sydney as we flew in. We approached from the harbour's mouth and enjoyed the aerial view of the harbour and the iconic Opera House, but most notable was the glassy
-flat calm of the sea. Sydney presented us with one of the best B&B's we've ever stayed in and hosts Bet and Keith were so accommodating. They live in Annandale, a short 10 minutes from Sydney. Our studio/apt. was a separate building on their property that used to be a barn that they converted into the apt. Nothing barn-like about this place. Bath, washer/dryer, great shower, duck down comforter and therapeutic foam pillows! 
AAAAHHHHH, just what my "homesick pillow head" needed. Bet and Keith helped us sort out the best way for us to see 
Sydney by bus and left us that evening with a plethora of information. Our Sunday started out with a visit to the local Annandale medical clinic, as Jon was suffering from some blood pressure excitement. Bet and Keith just scooped us up and took care of us. We met another wonderful person; Dr. Paul Ling. So kind and patient with the patient! Everything ok, so Keith and Bet drove us around Sydney and surrounds and we stopped at several parks at various sites and then back to the house after a great lunch. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday had us off and on the bus and visiting several sites. We thoroughly enjoyed the Taronga Zoo. The elephants and giraffes have a Sydney harbour view (pictures)! We walked from Circular Quay (Opera House venue) to Darling Harbour (aquarium & shopping) and the CBD in between. Wednesday was beach day, so we hopped onto the Bondi Explorer bus for a full day of beach and harbour enjoyment. This is a bus that you can hop on and off of all day, so we played at Coogee Beach, watched surfers at Bondi beach and positioned ourselves behind a
topless sunbather (Jon was very keen on this-see picture) 
and I snapped a picture of our "speedo" boys (only after I did the creepy-willie shake). Everything goes at the beach! Each day in Sydney was picture perfect, 80-85, slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky!
-flat calm of the sea. Sydney presented us with one of the best B&B's we've ever stayed in and hosts Bet and Keith were so accommodating. They live in Annandale, a short 10 minutes from Sydney. Our studio/apt. was a separate building on their property that used to be a barn that they converted into the apt. Nothing barn-like about this place. Bath, washer/dryer, great shower, duck down comforter and therapeutic foam pillows! 
AAAAHHHHH, just what my "homesick pillow head" needed. Bet and Keith helped us sort out the best way for us to see 
Sydney by bus and left us that evening with a plethora of information. Our Sunday started out with a visit to the local Annandale medical clinic, as Jon was suffering from some blood pressure excitement. Bet and Keith just scooped us up and took care of us. We met another wonderful person; Dr. Paul Ling. So kind and patient with the patient! Everything ok, so Keith and Bet drove us around Sydney and surrounds and we stopped at several parks at various sites and then back to the house after a great lunch. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday had us off and on the bus and visiting several sites. We thoroughly enjoyed the Taronga Zoo. The elephants and giraffes have a Sydney harbour view (pictures)! We walked from Circular Quay (Opera House venue) to Darling Harbour (aquarium & shopping) and the CBD in between. Wednesday was beach day, so we hopped onto the Bondi Explorer bus for a full day of beach and harbour enjoyment. This is a bus that you can hop on and off of all day, so we played at Coogee Beach, watched surfers at Bondi beach and positioned ourselves behind a
topless sunbather (Jon was very keen on this-see picture) 
and I snapped a picture of our "speedo" boys (only after I did the creepy-willie shake). Everything goes at the beach! Each day in Sydney was picture perfect, 80-85, slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky! We said 
goodbye on Thursday afternoon and jumped on the loooooooooong (14 hr) flight to LA. We were seated in front of ill 16 mos. old that squealed, fussed and kicked the seat behind us. Not fun, but the other 14 babies in the section surrounding us were very well behaved! We waited for 3 hrs. in LA for our connecting flight, then arrived in Seattle to a a 2 hr delayed Horizon flight. We touched down 29 hrs after leaving Sydney on the same calendar day! We were greeted by my mom, dad, Vera, Donni, Adam and Jackson. You'd think we'd been gone for 3.5 mos!
goodbye on Thursday afternoon and jumped on the loooooooooong (14 hr) flight to LA. We were seated in front of ill 16 mos. old that squealed, fussed and kicked the seat behind us. Not fun, but the other 14 babies in the section surrounding us were very well behaved! We waited for 3 hrs. in LA for our connecting flight, then arrived in Seattle to a a 2 hr delayed Horizon flight. We touched down 29 hrs after leaving Sydney on the same calendar day! We were greeted by my mom, dad, Vera, Donni, Adam and Jackson. You'd think we'd been gone for 3.5 mos! Now I am facing a MOUNTAIN of laundry and mail, but happy to be home in our own bed and warmed with thoughts of our fantastic trip. I will leave you now and not bother you with any more blogging! Thanks for making it easy to keep in touch with all of you. We feel so blessed to have made so many new friends and we look forward to catching up with our many friends here at home. Ga'day mate!
Blessings,
Jon and Joyce
2 comments:
What a treat to follow along your travels with you Joyce. I loved getting your updates through the dreary winter months. A great pick me up! I'm so glad you had a wonderful time. Welcome home.
Suzanna
It was absolutely wonderful to travel with you... Okay so I traveled with you in my dreams but I still had an absolutely incredible time! Thank you for being so generous with your experiences, photos and stories. Welcome home!
Penny Kellam
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