A note at Christmas from Liz & Boris - December, 2015
G'day to anyone reading this - also check out the photos from each trip.
This year was another one with travel as the highlight. We were out of the country for 12 weeks over 3 trips.
The first trip since our last letter was to Emerald in Queensland for Xmas with our niece, Kirsty, her husband, Nolan and Hunter (now 8), Ari (3) and the new twin girls, Angel and Mireya who are now 18 months old. It was rather hot in the middle of Queensland but we had a great time playing with all the kids' new toys. We got back home just in time for a quiet new years eve. Liz had another trip to Emerald in July for 3 birthdays - Hunter, Mireya and Angel. Kirsty always enjoys the rest she gets when Liz is there!
Japan was the next destination with 2 weeks in February for our 3rd Sake tour. This time it was to the southern island of Kyushu with 3 nights in Fukuoka and one each in Kurume and the spa town of Yufuin. Again, the tour was much more than a visit to 4 sake breweries. We had grilled oysters and scallops in a pop-up restaurant on the sand, a tea tasting test at a tea plantation in the highlands and a visit to a winery (very sweet wines). We also ate many new things including horsemeat sashimi (better than it sounds) and cod sperm (as bad as it sounds!). After the tour we had a few days each in Kyoto and Tokyo, partly to plan for our quilt tour later in the year and also to see new places.
The highlight of the year was a trip in May/June to 9 countries, 7 of them new for us. We used our Qantas points to do a One World Explorer trip to South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, England and Hong Kong. Initially we were to do a cruise in Russia but it was cancelled so we went to Estonia and Iceland instead. In Africa, we had 2 nights in each of 3 camps in Botswana (to see the wildlife) and one in Livingstone in Zambia (to see Victoria Falls). We flew between camps in small planes, mostly Gippsland Airvans made in Victoria. We had a great time in all camps with everything included. There were 2 long safaris each day and we managed to see more than we expected including a pack of African wild dogs and secretary birds. There were also plenty of lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos, leopards, wildebeests, buffalos, hyenas, jackals, crocodiles and many species of birds. Food and drinks was included and plentiful including "sundowners" of gin & tonics while on safari. The "tents" are the epitome of Glamping with king size beds and en suites.
After our safaris, we had a night in Johannesburg before flying to Helsinki via London. After one night, we caught the ferry to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia where we stayed for 2 nights. Tallinn was a complete surprise for us being a beautiful city with many old buildings, a Tsar's country house, an excellent art museum and some great food. It's also inexpensive compared to similar cities. We had no trouble getting around on the tram and bus system and want to return to see more of Estonia. We returned to Helsinki on the ferry and stayed for 2 nights in the old jail - now a Best Western Hotel with very good rooms. Helsinki is another easy city to get around and has many sights to see. It is somewhat expensive although it did prepare us for the next stop - Iceland. It is a 3 hour plane trip to Reykjavik from Helsinki. We had arranges a self-drive tour through Nordic Adventures and this included transfers, car hire, accommodation, GPS, mobile phone and maps! We had 2 nights in Reykjavik and then picked up our car and drove right around the country in 8 days. It is a great drive with almost no traffic and too much scenery! The hotels varied from ordinary to very good and the food was generally excellent but very expensive. We did a snowmobile trip on a glacier which was great fun - we had one snowmobile for 2 of us. Another extra was a trip in an amphibious vehicle onto a lake full of icebergs. It was cut off from the sea recently and the ice breaking off a glacier collects in the new lake. A third trip was whale watching and fishing in the north of Iceland. We did see a whale but the fishing was the best fun. Liz caught the first (as usual) and we had about 20 on the boat overall. They were filleted on the way in and barbecued while we changed out of the warm gear provided. The fish was excellent. Iceland always seems to be cold - we didn't see over 10 deg C while we were there. The long days were interesting also with sunset abut 10.30 pm and sunrise at 3.00 am and twilight in between. Overall, we can highly recommend Iceland as a great place to visit. We haven't even mentioned the lakes and dozens of waterfalls!
On our way home, we had 6 nights in England with 2 nights in London first to see a few sights and take out niece, Alyce out to dinner. We then had 4 nights in a very good B&B in Belper, Derbyshire. There were some interesting visits to old textile mills in the Derwent valley and a wet day trip to York. We had a very good dinner near Derby with friends who had stayed in Australia for a couple of years. Nicola had worked with Tiger Air here and now works at Rolls Royce in Birmingham. On the last leg, we stopped for our first visit to Hong Kong. We had a couple of days to see some of the sights and try the Michelin starred dumpling restaurant - very good but no better than some in Melbourne.
The most recent trip in October/November started in New York. We flew there with JAL having a night in Sydney and Tokyo on the way. A 4 night stay was enough to see some sights and get over jetlag. The new world trade centre tower is an amazing sight and has great views of the city. We also walked over the Brooklyn bridge and took a free ride on the Staten Island ferry. The Acela Express train took us to Boston where we rented a car and stayed for 10 nights in several places in New England. The highlight was a B&B at Sugar Hill in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The autumn colours were very good and the place was very quiet. After our shopping and "leaf peeper" tour, we had 3 nights at a B&B in Boston. We had never been there so enjoyed a hop-on hop-off bus tour, visit to the Boston Tea Party and a harbour cruise. It is a very interesting city.
The original purpose for this trip was to take several ladies, who are members of one of Liz's sewing groups, to Japan to visit the Yokohama Quilt Show. We ended up with a group of 8 people, Joy, Sue, Kay and Michelle from the sewing group and Graeme & Marilyn from Geelong. Boris has lunch with Graeme on a Wednesday and Marilyn is a keen quilter. The itinerary was arranged to have a good introduction to Japan over 2 weeks with the quilt show at the end. Unfortunately the show was cancelled as the organiser went broke but we still had a good time. It turned out to be a good time to visit as the weather was mostly good and the autumn leaves were at their peak in several places. We had 5 nights in Kyoto to start and had trips to various local sights plus Himeji Castle and Okayama for the gardens. Kanazawa was next although we had to stay nearby in Toyama due to a major conference filling the hotels. The gardens were excellent and the ladies enjoyed the Kimono Museum. The trip finished with 6 nights in Tokyo and visits to Nikko, Hakone and Kamakura. Of course, between the sightseeing, there was a lot of time spent shopping for fabric, craft items and presents to take home. Everyone was amazed how cheap things are in Japan, including the food.
On the personal side, we have both been fit and well this year with no major ailments. Our Belgian Shepherd, Saffy turned 13 recently and is going along ok with help from regular Cartrophen shots for arthritis. Boris's parents both turned 88 this year and are going well with driving holidays to NSW during the year. They also became great grandparents in October with the birth of Isabel to our niece Jenny and husband Scott. Boris continues to do a lot of woodwork and continues as treasurer for Woodcraft Manningham. He has expanded his interest in Japanese model trains with the purchase of a large layout which has won several awards. He displayed it at the Frankston Japanese Festival. Liz has become an expert at selling things on the Warrandyte Second Hand page on Facebook. We sold a lot of things to make room for the model train and to generally clean up. Lis has continued with 2 sewing groups, book club, scrapbooking and ceramic painting.
That's about all for this year.
All the best for 2016
Liz and Boris
This year was another one with travel as the highlight. We were out of the country for 12 weeks over 3 trips.
The first trip since our last letter was to Emerald in Queensland for Xmas with our niece, Kirsty, her husband, Nolan and Hunter (now 8), Ari (3) and the new twin girls, Angel and Mireya who are now 18 months old. It was rather hot in the middle of Queensland but we had a great time playing with all the kids' new toys. We got back home just in time for a quiet new years eve. Liz had another trip to Emerald in July for 3 birthdays - Hunter, Mireya and Angel. Kirsty always enjoys the rest she gets when Liz is there!
Japan was the next destination with 2 weeks in February for our 3rd Sake tour. This time it was to the southern island of Kyushu with 3 nights in Fukuoka and one each in Kurume and the spa town of Yufuin. Again, the tour was much more than a visit to 4 sake breweries. We had grilled oysters and scallops in a pop-up restaurant on the sand, a tea tasting test at a tea plantation in the highlands and a visit to a winery (very sweet wines). We also ate many new things including horsemeat sashimi (better than it sounds) and cod sperm (as bad as it sounds!). After the tour we had a few days each in Kyoto and Tokyo, partly to plan for our quilt tour later in the year and also to see new places.
The highlight of the year was a trip in May/June to 9 countries, 7 of them new for us. We used our Qantas points to do a One World Explorer trip to South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, England and Hong Kong. Initially we were to do a cruise in Russia but it was cancelled so we went to Estonia and Iceland instead. In Africa, we had 2 nights in each of 3 camps in Botswana (to see the wildlife) and one in Livingstone in Zambia (to see Victoria Falls). We flew between camps in small planes, mostly Gippsland Airvans made in Victoria. We had a great time in all camps with everything included. There were 2 long safaris each day and we managed to see more than we expected including a pack of African wild dogs and secretary birds. There were also plenty of lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos, leopards, wildebeests, buffalos, hyenas, jackals, crocodiles and many species of birds. Food and drinks was included and plentiful including "sundowners" of gin & tonics while on safari. The "tents" are the epitome of Glamping with king size beds and en suites.
After our safaris, we had a night in Johannesburg before flying to Helsinki via London. After one night, we caught the ferry to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia where we stayed for 2 nights. Tallinn was a complete surprise for us being a beautiful city with many old buildings, a Tsar's country house, an excellent art museum and some great food. It's also inexpensive compared to similar cities. We had no trouble getting around on the tram and bus system and want to return to see more of Estonia. We returned to Helsinki on the ferry and stayed for 2 nights in the old jail - now a Best Western Hotel with very good rooms. Helsinki is another easy city to get around and has many sights to see. It is somewhat expensive although it did prepare us for the next stop - Iceland. It is a 3 hour plane trip to Reykjavik from Helsinki. We had arranges a self-drive tour through Nordic Adventures and this included transfers, car hire, accommodation, GPS, mobile phone and maps! We had 2 nights in Reykjavik and then picked up our car and drove right around the country in 8 days. It is a great drive with almost no traffic and too much scenery! The hotels varied from ordinary to very good and the food was generally excellent but very expensive. We did a snowmobile trip on a glacier which was great fun - we had one snowmobile for 2 of us. Another extra was a trip in an amphibious vehicle onto a lake full of icebergs. It was cut off from the sea recently and the ice breaking off a glacier collects in the new lake. A third trip was whale watching and fishing in the north of Iceland. We did see a whale but the fishing was the best fun. Liz caught the first (as usual) and we had about 20 on the boat overall. They were filleted on the way in and barbecued while we changed out of the warm gear provided. The fish was excellent. Iceland always seems to be cold - we didn't see over 10 deg C while we were there. The long days were interesting also with sunset abut 10.30 pm and sunrise at 3.00 am and twilight in between. Overall, we can highly recommend Iceland as a great place to visit. We haven't even mentioned the lakes and dozens of waterfalls!
On our way home, we had 6 nights in England with 2 nights in London first to see a few sights and take out niece, Alyce out to dinner. We then had 4 nights in a very good B&B in Belper, Derbyshire. There were some interesting visits to old textile mills in the Derwent valley and a wet day trip to York. We had a very good dinner near Derby with friends who had stayed in Australia for a couple of years. Nicola had worked with Tiger Air here and now works at Rolls Royce in Birmingham. On the last leg, we stopped for our first visit to Hong Kong. We had a couple of days to see some of the sights and try the Michelin starred dumpling restaurant - very good but no better than some in Melbourne.
The most recent trip in October/November started in New York. We flew there with JAL having a night in Sydney and Tokyo on the way. A 4 night stay was enough to see some sights and get over jetlag. The new world trade centre tower is an amazing sight and has great views of the city. We also walked over the Brooklyn bridge and took a free ride on the Staten Island ferry. The Acela Express train took us to Boston where we rented a car and stayed for 10 nights in several places in New England. The highlight was a B&B at Sugar Hill in the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The autumn colours were very good and the place was very quiet. After our shopping and "leaf peeper" tour, we had 3 nights at a B&B in Boston. We had never been there so enjoyed a hop-on hop-off bus tour, visit to the Boston Tea Party and a harbour cruise. It is a very interesting city.
The original purpose for this trip was to take several ladies, who are members of one of Liz's sewing groups, to Japan to visit the Yokohama Quilt Show. We ended up with a group of 8 people, Joy, Sue, Kay and Michelle from the sewing group and Graeme & Marilyn from Geelong. Boris has lunch with Graeme on a Wednesday and Marilyn is a keen quilter. The itinerary was arranged to have a good introduction to Japan over 2 weeks with the quilt show at the end. Unfortunately the show was cancelled as the organiser went broke but we still had a good time. It turned out to be a good time to visit as the weather was mostly good and the autumn leaves were at their peak in several places. We had 5 nights in Kyoto to start and had trips to various local sights plus Himeji Castle and Okayama for the gardens. Kanazawa was next although we had to stay nearby in Toyama due to a major conference filling the hotels. The gardens were excellent and the ladies enjoyed the Kimono Museum. The trip finished with 6 nights in Tokyo and visits to Nikko, Hakone and Kamakura. Of course, between the sightseeing, there was a lot of time spent shopping for fabric, craft items and presents to take home. Everyone was amazed how cheap things are in Japan, including the food.
On the personal side, we have both been fit and well this year with no major ailments. Our Belgian Shepherd, Saffy turned 13 recently and is going along ok with help from regular Cartrophen shots for arthritis. Boris's parents both turned 88 this year and are going well with driving holidays to NSW during the year. They also became great grandparents in October with the birth of Isabel to our niece Jenny and husband Scott. Boris continues to do a lot of woodwork and continues as treasurer for Woodcraft Manningham. He has expanded his interest in Japanese model trains with the purchase of a large layout which has won several awards. He displayed it at the Frankston Japanese Festival. Liz has become an expert at selling things on the Warrandyte Second Hand page on Facebook. We sold a lot of things to make room for the model train and to generally clean up. Lis has continued with 2 sewing groups, book club, scrapbooking and ceramic painting.
That's about all for this year.
All the best for 2016
Liz and Boris