Tuesday, July 29, 2008
On our way home...
On our way home, via Sydney. We will be back in Dunedin Friday 1st August. We are all looking forward to getting back!
Monday, July 21, 2008
Frogs for Loopy....
Pamukkale had frogs everywhere. Here are some more pictures, especially for Loopy, who loves them so much.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
the first fox
This fox stayed for most of the night, the other 2 only popped in once or twice. We spent about 3 hours watching the animals.
posted by Libby
the 2 bagers
On Monday we went to a hide to watch badgers - we had to wait until 10pm but it was great. While we waited there were rats, rabbits and dear to watch and three foxes also visited. The badgers were so close that if there was no glass I could have reached out and touched them. There were 3 all together. This is one of the films I made of them.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Have fallen a bit behind with the blog- and only three weeks until we are home so a quick catch up.
Returned from Turkey for a rapid turn round(just time to do the laundry) and off to Switzerland to catch up with Graeme's family - Aunt, Uncle, two cousins, cousin's children and a lovely new Cousin's wife from Slovakia - a very cosmopolitan family with French as their main language (although all great English speakers) which left Libby and Katie very keen to learn French. Had a lovely time admiring the Alps, walking in vineyards, going out on lake Geneva in Uncle Rene's boat and we bought huge quantities of chocolate - hopefully some of it will make it home to NZ!
Back in the UK we have spent a week at Graeme's sister's in North Yorkshire - our Edinburgh friends came down to join us and we had great walks on the moors and a lovely day trip to Whitby where we discovered a statue to Captain Cook. He was born in a village nearby, went to school in Whitby and of course sailed from there on his trips to discover Australia and New Zealand. Whitby is a lovely old fashioned town with the old abbey up on the hill and a beach with brightly coloured bathing huts - Bram Stoker famously wrote Dracula while he was staying there and it has old fishing boats and a replica of the Endeavour that will take you on trips around the bay. Libby and Katie were also introduced to the delights of the penny arcade - spending a happy hour putting 2pence coins into a machine to win them out again! Finished with fish and chips to make a perfect day out at the British seaside. Travelled there and back by train, on the home journey there was a beautiful steam train on the platform looking just like the Harry Potter train.
Summer weather is a bit disappointing - very damp but it's not holding us back too much. have had one trip to London so far and a day out at Woburn Abbey safari park. Have also visited friends in Sheffield and my sister in Birmingham and will see her again next week. Had a night in a youth hostel in the Peak district and a lovely walk in the dales plus a pub lunch - roast beef and yorkshire pud!
Have also done a few jobs for Graeme's mum - a new shed in the garden, new roof and carpet in the conservatory and a clearing out of clutter - the girls have been helpful listing things to sell on E-bay to help supplement their pocket money.
Graeme is out with the girls at an Aqua park just now but has promised to ad a new photo collection next. Best wishes to all our friends in NZ - we have had a great trip but looking forward to home now and the girls are keen to get back to school and see their friends.
The Atkinsons will be back soon!
Returned from Turkey for a rapid turn round(just time to do the laundry) and off to Switzerland to catch up with Graeme's family - Aunt, Uncle, two cousins, cousin's children and a lovely new Cousin's wife from Slovakia - a very cosmopolitan family with French as their main language (although all great English speakers) which left Libby and Katie very keen to learn French. Had a lovely time admiring the Alps, walking in vineyards, going out on lake Geneva in Uncle Rene's boat and we bought huge quantities of chocolate - hopefully some of it will make it home to NZ!
Back in the UK we have spent a week at Graeme's sister's in North Yorkshire - our Edinburgh friends came down to join us and we had great walks on the moors and a lovely day trip to Whitby where we discovered a statue to Captain Cook. He was born in a village nearby, went to school in Whitby and of course sailed from there on his trips to discover Australia and New Zealand. Whitby is a lovely old fashioned town with the old abbey up on the hill and a beach with brightly coloured bathing huts - Bram Stoker famously wrote Dracula while he was staying there and it has old fishing boats and a replica of the Endeavour that will take you on trips around the bay. Libby and Katie were also introduced to the delights of the penny arcade - spending a happy hour putting 2pence coins into a machine to win them out again! Finished with fish and chips to make a perfect day out at the British seaside. Travelled there and back by train, on the home journey there was a beautiful steam train on the platform looking just like the Harry Potter train.
Summer weather is a bit disappointing - very damp but it's not holding us back too much. have had one trip to London so far and a day out at Woburn Abbey safari park. Have also visited friends in Sheffield and my sister in Birmingham and will see her again next week. Had a night in a youth hostel in the Peak district and a lovely walk in the dales plus a pub lunch - roast beef and yorkshire pud!
Have also done a few jobs for Graeme's mum - a new shed in the garden, new roof and carpet in the conservatory and a clearing out of clutter - the girls have been helpful listing things to sell on E-bay to help supplement their pocket money.
Graeme is out with the girls at an Aqua park just now but has promised to ad a new photo collection next. Best wishes to all our friends in NZ - we have had a great trip but looking forward to home now and the girls are keen to get back to school and see their friends.
The Atkinsons will be back soon!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Pamukkale
Pamukkale - Libby's birthday and the girls had been shopping and enjoyed wearing their new pashminas.
The nice people at the hotel organised a birthday cake and alovely birthday tea by the pool.
It looks like snow but with temperatures in the high 20s to 30s it wasn't. The Travertines are white limestone rock formations washed out of a limestone plateau by hot mineral water - the romans were the first to discover it and built hierioplis there as a thermal resort. The white terraces are like cups holding pure blue water and while they are not as extensive as they once were and totally overun with tourists at lunchtime- if you go early in the morning they are still magical - and as you can see practically deserted. You can still paddle in some of them too.
At te bottom of the hill is alarge park with pond and marsh which is alive with frogs - the noise at night is incredible.
Konya
Between Pamukkale and Goreme we stopped for a night in Konya - this not really a tourist town so the shops and markets were much more geared up to locals.
Girls on a bus - again
Konya is famous for being the home of the order of whirling Dervishes - hence the shiny statue and the spice and veggie market was very impresive - not so sure about the old bikes 'tho. Konya also stands out as the place with the hardest bed the in the world (the girls ones were OK) and the loudest Mosque with the 5am call to prayer rocking us out of our bed!
Ephesus
While at Selcuk we visited the Ancient Roman ruins of Ephesus - once the capital of the Asian part of the Roman Empire it has amazing buildings still remaining.
The amphitheatre was huge and as well as plays would have housed the gladiator fights - the museum had a collection of the gruesome weapon used and detailed drawings of the injuries inflicted! Yuk
The two story library was very impressive - no shelves but lots of niches for the vellum scrolls.
Communal toilets - all very friendly, slaves provided fresh sponges for cleanliness and the urine ran down channels to be collected - it contained natural ammonia which was very useful for boiling togas in to keep them nice and white - hope the rinsing was thorough!
The view down the main street - complete with marble paving, statues and a little ancient graffiti complaining about certain gentlemen weeing up the walls instead of in the toilets.
The amphitheatre was huge and as well as plays would have housed the gladiator fights - the museum had a collection of the gruesome weapon used and detailed drawings of the injuries inflicted! Yuk
The two story library was very impressive - no shelves but lots of niches for the vellum scrolls.
Communal toilets - all very friendly, slaves provided fresh sponges for cleanliness and the urine ran down channels to be collected - it contained natural ammonia which was very useful for boiling togas in to keep them nice and white - hope the rinsing was thorough!
The view down the main street - complete with marble paving, statues and a little ancient graffiti complaining about certain gentlemen weeing up the walls instead of in the toilets.
Selcuk
After Galipolli we headed south, with a brief overnight
stay at Bergama We picked up a ride on a local bus (pictured) and then a longer ride to Selcuk. Delighted to find that accomodation had a lovely pool and, to the girls delight, three gorgeous puppies.
One of the most unexpected things about Turkey was the proffusion of wildlife - from the poppies of Galipolli to the masses of wild flowers along the roadside, wild tortoises and storks nesting on ancient viaducts, ant-lions, beetles and bugs - we were amazed by the variety and abundance.Graeme and the girls were in their element taking photos
.
Libby gets close up to photograph a wild tortoise
Big beetle
nesting stork
baby tortoise - we found the big guys too
Katie dropping ants into ant-lion trap
Old aqueduct with building wedged in - see stork nest top left
stay at Bergama We picked up a ride on a local bus (pictured) and then a longer ride to Selcuk. Delighted to find that accomodation had a lovely pool and, to the girls delight, three gorgeous puppies.
One of the most unexpected things about Turkey was the proffusion of wildlife - from the poppies of Galipolli to the masses of wild flowers along the roadside, wild tortoises and storks nesting on ancient viaducts, ant-lions, beetles and bugs - we were amazed by the variety and abundance.Graeme and the girls were in their element taking photos
.Libby gets close up to photograph a wild tortoise
Big beetle
nesting stork
baby tortoise - we found the big guys too
Katie dropping ants into ant-lion trap
Old aqueduct with building wedged in - see stork nest top left
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
