Day 40 Penzance to home (St. Martin's)



ready for take off

We were awake early (our body time adjustment!) 

Past the Longships lighthouse

and had some breakfast in Heather & Alan's flat before walking to the train station for our 0845 Skybus pickup.  The skies were overcast, dry and fog free for which we were thankful.  We were there early and waited .....and waited and still no minibus and so I 

St. Martin's comes in view

found the number and called Lands End Airport because we were due to take off at 0930.  They recognised the booking which seemed to have slipped past the system and so said we would be sent a taxi.  The taxi duly arrived after a few minutes and whisked us to the airport and we barely made the check in time.  We 

then Tresco

had gone round the world and had numerous check ins but it was only with the Steamship Company that we had a problem.  The plane was the bigger Twin Otter and it wasn't full which meant that it could take all our luggage after some weight redistribution.  So we landed at 0950 took the minibus to St. Mary's quay, contacted Tresco Boats so that we could go on a 1115 boat to Lower Town and then phoned Rod Bluff who met us on the quay with his car.  We were home by 1150 to be met by a meow or two from Button our cat.





Pool Green & Higher Town

This confirmed that we were safely home with some really happy memories of a wonderful holiday.

Day 39 March 11th San Francisco to Penzance

I am posting this on the train from London, Paddington to Penzance and so you will realise that our journey went basically to plan.  Really this is a note to confirm that.

Our flight on Virgin Atlantic was good apart from the first hour when there was some turbulence.  We both managed to get some sleep which was good.  We arrived at Heathrow ahead of time but then had quite a wait whilst queueing to get through passport control.  All went smoothly from then on and as First Great Western trains now have wifi, I can post this note.

The final posting hopefully will be tomorrow when we arrive home.

Day 38 March 10th San Francisco

looking out from cable car

very wet cable car

our cable car with Christine

cable car lines crossing

Our last day in San Francisco was very wet.  It rained from the start of the day until we left in the evening.  

cable car controls

 

Unfortunate for us but we cannot begrudge them the rain as they have had drought conditions for four years!  Anyway we had a leisurely breakfast and then packed our luggage before checking out.


The question was: how do we fill our day with such


Chinatown from cable car

a poor forecast?  We decided on another cable car ride followed by a ride on one of their tracked trams.  It was raining all the time and we became wet walking to the cable car start.  There were very few people on the car and we had personal attention and so we went up the full extent of the line and then returned again.




tram "streetcar"

We got out into the rain and went to the tram stop and one soon came along.  We took a ride to the fisherman's wharf where we had a seafood sourdough chowder for lunch which is a local speciality.  After this because we were so wet we went to a shopping wharf but that was still getting us wet so we caught another tram back to the hotel.  We decided to go to the airport early where at least it would be dry.  We got a taxi but the traffic was slow as there was flooding in places.   We are now there and have largely dried out before boarding our flight to Heathrow. 

Day 37 March 9th San Francisco



the murk first thing

When we eventually awoke this morning it was thick

fog at the start

fog outside and didn't look very appetising.  While having breakfast we discussed the day's activities and decided we must get on with it whatever the weather and we hoped things would improve.  We decided to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge and to 

then rain

get 
there and back we would use local transport - preferably trams and the railcars.  We 

Alcatraz barely visible

found out there was a bus stop which took us to the bridge very near our hotel and so we caught that and enjoyed the 

monument to sailors

meandering through the city.  It was still foggy when we arrived but with our coats on we started the journey across.  Soon it 

cargo boat

began to rain as well but we carried on without seeing much and found that with 6 lanes of traffic it was noisy and sometimes fumey as well.  The bridge is about 1.5 miles long and with stops it 

yacht

took about 50 minutes to cross.  We hoped for a coffee shop on the other side but only found some loos and a monument to all the sailors who had left the port for whatever reason.  We decided to head back as it was a little clearer and we watched as a cargo boat and a yacht went under the bridge, a helicopter also went under but I was not able to get a photo.  We made it back to San Francisco and were disappointed with the refreshment facilities at this end too, no café just a place selling cold drinks and packeted snacks.  We stopped for a while and then found 

streetcar

where we could get a bus to near where the streetcars went.  We did this but it was quite a walk at the other end and a queue to get on the streetcars.  We made it and had a good ride and then walked to our hotel.  We had walked quite a

view from room at dusk

distance by this time and so had a rest in the hotel before going out for a good meal.  The view from our room as dusk fell was really good. Tomorrow will be our last day here as we catch a 2105 flight to Heathrow in the evening.

Day 36 March 8th New Zealand and the United States

Part 1 - New Zealand



leaving Bay of Islands

We started another beautiful day in the Bay of 

different scenery

Islands having to sadly pack and leave this wonderful location.  The weather has been marvellous for our stay and we did not want to leave.  We were all ready and left at about 0930.  The satnav said 

a pointed hill!

about a 4 hour journey to Aukland airport and so we had plenty of time 

undulating countryside

before our 1945 flight. We set off but the satnav had us going on a circuitous route and so it is just as well we had the time.  We did however enjoy some different, unexpected 

last view of Aukland

 scenery and it did not cost us too much time.  We stopped a couple of times for refreshment and eventually arrived after heavy Aukland traffic at about 1430.  We returned the car to the hire station and they gave us a lift to the departure terminal.  We checked in, settled there, had a snack and amused ourselves until the flight was called.  It all went to time and we said goodbye to New Zealand at the correct time.

Our flight was good apart from some minor turbulence and I slept fairly well although Christine was unable to sleep much.

Part 2 United States

 

view from window

We left New Zealand 13 hours ahead of the UK 

from window in other direction

timewise but crossed the dateline and now we are in San Francisco 8 hours behind the UK, which meant that as we landed at 1030 we had most of March 8th to live again.  As you will have gathered we arrived safely and went through customs and 

Golden Gate bridge from walk

Alcatraz from our wharf walk

immigration with no bother and soon found transport to take us to our hotel which is about 20 miles from the airport in the centre of the city.  Apart from time the other noticeable difference was climate - San Francisco was grey and overcast 

part of sea lion colony

with a temperature of 13 (Bay of Islands 22).  We arrived and checked in straight away which was good as we were before normal check-in time.  Our

sea lion pup

room is on the 45th floor overlooking the bay (they upgraded us) and so we are very pleased.  We took some pictures, had a rest, refreshed ourselves and went out for a walk along the wharf front.  We took our coats for the first time of our holiday as it was drizzling at times.  We saw the colony of sea lions with some pups which live on one of the wharfs.  We carried on and chose one of the many fish restaurants for a good meal and wandered back via a different route.

Day 35 March 7th Doubtless Bay and Whangaroa



on the way

Another good day was forecast and we decided to 

roads clear

go up the coast for our last day.  We looked at the map, read the guide book and decided on Doubtless Bay – about an hour’s drive from Paihia.  We arrived without any problems and decided a spot on 

Doubtless Bay - Coopers beach

an almost deserted beach.  There were changing rooms and toilets at

Doubtless Bay - Coopers Beach

 the car park and we took no persuading to go in for a swim.  There were gentle rollers but we were soon in and had a good swim for about half an hour – you can tell it wasn’t Scilly temperatures. 

After lying on the beach to dry off (the temp was pretty high and the sand nearly too hot to walk on) we reckoned we would find a place to have a snack lunch on the way back.  Going along we saw the turn-off signs to the little 

Whangaroa

fishing village of Whangaroa and we thought we would find somewhere there.  We parked opposite a

Whangaroa

 café at the harbour front and we thought this would be ideal.  Unfortunately the café was not up to much but we had food and drink to suffice us.  After some photos of the quay etc., we were back on the road to end up in 

returning to Paihia

Paihia by 330pm.  We had a cup of tea on our balcony and then planned

Returning to Paihia

 some of the things to do for tomorrow when we leave  here, drive to Aukland and drop off the car, catch the 745pm flight to San Francisco and arrive at 1105 the same day after crossing the dateline.  So tomorrow will be a long day!

 



from bedroom balcony

We also took some pictures from the two balconies

from lounge balcony

 of the hotel rooms where we are staying which show the wonderful location.

Day 34 March 6th The Tucker-Thomson

all aboard

the Tucker-Thomson


Again a nice day with plenty of sun and blue sky 
and a very comfortable temperature.  It was ideal because we had booked to go on a sail training vessel (the Tucker-Thomson) for a day long cruise around the Bay of Islands.  We had to get a ferry from Paihia to Russell to join the vessel.  

underway

We were a little early and so had time to have brief look around the town of Russell.  The boat soon arrived and us 15 customers were soon all aboard.  We 

Christine rope hauling

motored a little way clear of the jetty and then started hoisting and unfurling the sails.  The captain, Steve, was keen for all to be involved and soon  we were having a go at steering 

Captain Pugwash

and pulling on ropes to get the sails in action.  The boat handled very well and it was easy steering as we made good progress past the reefs

The Master & Commander

and towards the outer islands.  We did not hit any rocks or any of the many other boats which were milling around as it was the weekend.

Steve the real captain

Our Captain Steve was looking for a sheltered beach (Sunday picnic style) where he could drop us all off for a swim, walk or whatever and after an hour pick us up for an on-board chicken BBQ.  He found the right beach

more rope hauling

the beach where we swam

on an uninhabited island where several other boats had the same idea.  We were ferried ashore in a small inflatable dinghy and the beach was good (but not as good as St. Martin's) and we had a decent swim - the sea was definitely much warmer than St. Martin's.





our beach

After our swim we were picked up again and enjoyed the good BBQ which the crew had prepared while we were enjoying 

the journey home

ourselves.  After this the anchor was weighed and we went by a different route back to Russell.  Some of the younger guests were allowed to climb out onto the front of the bowsprit and climb the rigging up the beginning of the yardarms - not for us though.  It was a good experience and well managed.  We did see some dolphins in the bay as well which was an additional bonus.  Too soon we were leaving the boat and making our way back to the hotel.  The boat is run by a trust which also helps youngsters in the area (including disabled) have a good sea experience.