Chrismas Update

Since we last posted so much has happened, but we still have so much to do and so little time. In the run up to Christmas we had to try and get prepared a little earlier. Although we had only been home for 10 weeks or so, another trip back to South Africa for Auntie Carol's wedding was required. Sending Christmas cards early, buying presents early and having the house tidied and decorated.... it didn't all happen but we did try.

Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria. Chris, Jude Matthew and Ethan

We stayed in Johannesburg with my cousin Lee as a start to our holiday. Seeing as his kids Matthew and Ethan were off, we dragged them around with us to Gold Reef city, the shopping mall and in the photo, the Voortrekker Monument. Commemorating the trek of the original settlers into the African interior in the 1800's it was and interesting day of history with a few zebra, buck and Wildebeest thrown in.

Lake in the Drakensberg

To break up the drive to Durban, Lee and Mona had arranged a stop in the Drakensberg (the big mountain range in South africa). Feeling fit and energetic we tagged along to laze by the pool and on one day spent most of our time by the large open fire due to the rain. It was a great few days and what a holiday should be about - food & sun.

The view from our Hotel room. It's a touch life

Next stop, the wedding of the year. Auntie Carol moved to Durban, South Africa many years ago and it is not that often we get to meet up. Twice in one year was a suprise but any excuse to flee the cold of Northern Ireland had to be taken. The wedding was a bit different to the usual Northern Ireland affair, it started at 10:30 in the morning for one thing but a great day was had by all the it was rally nice to see Auntie Carol and now Uncle Jayson (that's going to scare him !) tie the knot. Good luck to them for the future.

Auntie Carol, Uncle Jayson, Emma and Eric

Durban is a coastal city. It has a replica of the Belfast city hall (not quite true but can't remember the whole story...), the beaches are very nice, the weather is very humid and if you leave your SatNav, DVD player and radio in your car overnight, it probably won't be there in the morning (Dad won't do that again !). One of the bigghest draws is Ushaka water park and aquarium. You simply can't come to South Africa and not take in some of the wildlife. Jude and I decided to hide from the children (big sisters and cousins) and watch some of the fish floating about. It is strange to see all the different varieties of creatures out there, I'm still suprised when i see some of it. Durban has a lot of Sharks and if you are ever in the area, either the Aquarium or the sharks board are a must see.

A Sea Turtle, Durban.... Big !

So we are back home. bags still not unpacked, not Christmas tree up, cards in a pile rather than the mantelpiece but at least we have a turkey.... must get bread for sandwiches on boxing day.... We arrived back a day late due to snow in Amsterdam closing the airport and missing our connecting flight. One night curled up on airport benches wasn't too bad but after a 13 hour flight (extended because of a need for fuel in Paris), we managed to survive OK. Jude and I are both looking forward to the time we have off over the next 2 weeks. It isn't much but we still have bags to unpack, a house to sort out and reality to get back to, 2009 has been a great year, lets hope 2010 will be just as good.

When the hammer falls....

While Chris was looking through the local paper during the week he spotted an advert for an auction... so we decided to go along and see if there were any good deals.

They had 32, 37, 40 and 46 inch tv's, Persian rugs, limited edition paintings and also lots of little bits and pieces. Let's just say that we didn't break the bank with any of our purchases... we limited it to some pieces for Christmas presents. We certainly didn't spend as much as a couple of girls in front of us whose bill reached just under £3000 or a guy who seemed to buy so many of the items, in pairs!! (I lost count at £15,000)!!!  The bidders who wanted either the tv's of bags etc.. didn't seem to realise that as there were quite a few of the same lot number, they didn't need to outbid each other as they would all get the option to buy something at a decent price. Others just didn't know when they were paying too much for an item they could buy for less in the high street stores.

Despite everything, it was good fun seeing how the auctioneer was working the room and although the items were bargains for some people, it would have been easy to get caught in the whole excitement of the event, bidding for a signed Pele shirt, or signed images of Kurt Douglas etc... but unless it's something you would want, it's not a bargain. And to be fair, I like the signed underpants we have of Matt Lucas and David Walliams which we got in a Children in Need auction, at least that money went to charity.

It would be good to go to another auction at some point, but next time we'll be better prepared, and I'll bring out my knitting!!!

A good old fashioned ramble...

I was walking to get the train into work this morning and managed to leave the house with enough time to actually walk the entire way rather than running like (as Chris says) a constipated donkey! (I've never seen one myself but...) It's amazing that when you take the time to look around, you can notice some lovely pieces of nature and appreciate the nicer mornings when you aren't rushing or in the car. The sun was shining through the golden leaved trees and the weather was really nice and mild. During our travels we missed the various seasons... especially Autumn and it's a fantastic time of the year. The walking through the leaves, the crisp mornings and the fog across the River Lagan. No matter where you travel, there are always pieces of home that can be prettier than anywhere else and Northern Ireland has some beautiful places.

With Grier in the park

Having cuddles while Mummy and Daddy are checking in

Chris and I have been home for just over a month and time has really flown in - yesterday was my first Sunday in the house! I have been over to Scotland to say Bon Voyage to my sister, brother in law and niece as they begin a new life in Australia... down to Roscommon twice - the last time to celebrate the Christening of my niece Ruby and becoming her godmother and in between we have been re-decorating the house!

Chris and I with Ruby at her Christening

It has been strange being home and not really needing to plan where we are going to be staying in the next few weeks or wondering where we are going to be eating dinner - which has been the norm for the past year. I'm not having itchy feet, I think it's more that there is quite a bit to be arranged around the house, getting our belongings out of the attic and generally tidying up our rucksacks etc. and I cannot be bothered!

At least we have Chris' Aunt's wedding to look forward to in Durban this December... some winter sunshine and a great chance for a family get-together.

Hopefully some fairies will enter the house and unpack everything for me so I don't have to come across spiders hidden amongst our belongings. But that's just wishful thinking!

South America - Sao Paulo - the Beginning

As I remember it wasn't that Daunting leaving for a year of travel. Excitement was still in the air and we had made our flights with plenty of time. We did have a bit of trouble with the tickets when we arrived in Heathrow - BA said we didn't have any. 5 hours waiting in terminal 5 with a very clam attitude I have to say finally helped to resolve the situation. Not to mention our great travel agent.
Quiet Time in Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo was a great starting point because is got us into big city life but gave us time to sort ourselves out. With a guidebook to find the highlights of one of the worlds biggest cities we managed to stumble into this virtually empty park and even order a hotdog from a local vendor. It still hadn't sunk in we weren't just on a holiday.

Monumento De Ipiranga

We traveled by local bus to Independence Park. It was a nice place to visit and explained a little about Brazil's independence from the rest of South America. The monument in the picture is rather big and marks the spot where Brazil declared it's independence from Portugal. Brazil is the only South American country that doesn't speak Spanish. It's not even a second language. Our problems ordering a Big Mac proved this. In Spanish a Big mac is Big mac. in Portuguese it is Big Mac.

We walked along independence park to the Paulista Museum. The views of the entire park where stunning but it doesn't explain just how vast the city of Sao Paulo actually is.

Work wasn't quite out of our minds, even with 2 weeks off. The transmitter towers, in the centre of the cities business district constantly changed colour. I wonder what would happen if they did this at Divis (our local transmitter).Before embarking on our trip to Rio, we had to get a phrase book for Portuguese. English, no matter how loud just didn't work. This bookshop just looked fantastic and even had a glass listening room for music recitals and bean bags in the children's area, it was more like a library.

We're Back !

Home Sweet Home.
To say it's good to be back isn't true in every sense. It is nice to see the family again, it's also nice to have the comfort of the same bed for the foreseeable future. Today there is even a bit of sunshine and we have a full wardrobe of clothes to choose from.... well... some of them are still hidden in bags and boxes. We haven't missed the ear piercing Belfast accent first heard in Heathrow - Wadaya mean like?

Back to work is slow this week (make the most of it while we can) but it is nice answering all the questions, telling the stories and showing the photo's. We just have to remember what stories we have told to who, don't want to bore everyone.

So what now for the Blog. I've decided that seeing as we have good Internet access, time to sit in front of a computer, with a big screen, I'm going to use the blog to remember this time last year. It will help me sort out the photo's a week at a time, recall some of the memories and share some more of our experiences which we didn't have time to write about as we went along. Comments, queries, suggestions and questions, use the comments button below or send us a mail at our usual. I will also get a link to a full photo site as when we get the photo's sorted.

Homeward bound

When you have a Simon and Garfunkel song going through your head for a few days, you know it's time to head home.

Our final day in Manhattan took us downtown and we though we would see how much Ground Zero had changed. We bypassed all the hoarding and made our way to the church near the site. St John's Chapel was not open when Chris and I visited the site in 2002, so we were able to read the work which the Chapel did for those people working at the pit and the memorials left.

Some of the patches from the various emergency services personnel from across the globe

From there we headed to the Strand bookstore - 18 miles of books in the one shop and I could have stayed there all day, but the clock was ticking and we were running late for our train / subway to JFK!

The many books in the Strand Bookstore

With 1 hour to spare, we were checked in and ready for the journey home. The bags were re-weighed and just made their 20kg allowance! I was shocked to say the least.

Some lovely sculptures in the subway

The past year has been a such an adventure and an absolute ball.

We were asked what we have achieved and what our purpose for the career break was, and to be honest, we didn't have a purpose at the beginning  - apart from having the opportunity to travel and have a break from our life at home. But now the year has drawn to an end, I know what the purpose has been for me... through our travels we have met old friends and family and have met so many lovely new people who we will remain in contact with for many years to come. Strangers have touched our lives and for that I am grateful.

I have discovered that there is so much more to life than worrying about the people next door and realised that we don't have to remain indoors even if the rain is falling!

Cheers!

Another year wed!

The Hudson River

Knowing we were going to be in the Big Apple for our 5th Wedding anniversary. The weekend began with our now good friends Matt and Barbara (who we were staying with again) when they treated us to an Anniversary / Bon Voyage brunch! The food was fantastic - which was not uncommon at their home, but we'd a chance to also spend the final few hours on the beach before we left their home and went into the 'Big City'.

Our hotel and had a fantastic view of the Hudson River and we were close enough for the subway and some of the local sights to catch the last of the sunshine.

Chris with the blue whale

On our anniversary, we needed to try to do as much as possible, especially as it was the last full day we would spend in the city. Chris wanted to see the Natural History museum, so we took a number of hours to see around all the exhibits and we certainly enjoyed seeing those exhibits from the countries which we'd visited. It was also my turn to arrange something and I'm sure that Chris did not imagine that we would be going to a baseball match to let me sit and join the local knitters! 

Chris and I at the Baseball

Stitch 'n' Pitch is something which is supposed to incorporate needle crafts and baseball... and a match at the Mets stadium should have been something of a finale for us... but the match wasn't fantastic and there was more atmosphere at the stadium in Vancouver rather than here. But I'd a ball watching all the other knitters nearby and people spinning on drop spindles.

I will not bore you any more about that... needless to say, the Mets got slaughtered by the Altanta Braves 11 - 3.

We rounded the evening off having drinks in the middle of Times square, watching people walking past and realising that in the morning we would be beginning our journey home.

Marching bands

Katie, Christopher, Mama C and us!

Despite being brought up in Northern Ireland, Chris and I haven't acquired the wider knowledge of 'Marching Bands' apart from those annual events during our summer months back home!

So when we met up with an old friend - Mama C (from my Camp Connri days) we not only enjoyed spending time with the family and friends in their home, but also were entertained for part of an evening at a Marching Band competition.

Christopher and some of the marching band (he's above the sparkly girl!)

Christopher (Mama C's son) is at Edinboro University and is part of the University's marching band. They were the guest band at this High School contest and this enabled us to see what the whole thing was about... wow!

If you take the comical value out of seeing people walking sideways with their instruments and walking at high speed to a specific destination on an American Football field, the entire choreography and precision of memorising the moves and music is certainly something to take your hat off to.

Chris and I stayed with Mama C for a few days and we got to see what good work she was doing at a place called TREC. No matter where she is, there is always 101 things to be done, so Chris and I were pleased to be be able to assist in any way possible - even if it was taxi for Christopher or taking Mama C out to lunch! We also took a drive around the peninsula and saw the Niagara sailing across the lake - what a lovely site

The Niagara

From Erie, Chris and I completed the mammoth car journey from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire. It was a journey of over 10 hours and despite driving through 5 states, stopping three times - once for a State Trouper!!! and getting lost once, we arrived at our final destination (before returning the rental car) just before 10pm.

Our road trip has been fun. We covered an approx total of 3450 miles and have enjoyed every moment of it. The only difference we would make would be that we'd probably decide the next time we do a road trip, we'll remember to bring an up-to-date GPS rather then relying on maps! Just so we don't end up on the wrong freeway for over 41 miles!

The only thing we didn't spot was a Moose, but one town in Vermont (Bennington) certainly made up for that - they had quite a number jotted around the main street. It added a little something to the journey!

Just one of the painted moose

Break for the Border

Jude's family had been on the list of free accommodation for a while so leaving Toronto central and heading for Guelph we met up with Jude's Uncle David and Auntie Brenda.

David and Brenda

Another set of family stories from years gone by accompanied the great hospitality we received. It is nice not only to learn a bit more from Jude's side of the family but also for them to learn a bit about me. We had a great couple of days and when the new deck is finished, we might even return..... unless the measurements for the deck supports I help put up were not quite right....

Jamie, Meredyth, Cole and Finn - this will be the new Fashion

Our last Canadian days where spent in Niagara on the Lake. Such a quaint little town near to the home to Jude's Cousin who we actually met nearly ten years ago when they visited Northern Ireland. Jamie, Meredyth and their two Children, Cole and Finnegan were fantastic company. It was really nice to be able to drop by....We actually stayed with their neighbours next door who had a huge basement for guests. To say it was a little strange is true but we did have such a nice time in both homes. Being in Niagara it was understandable that we headed for the Falls. We'll not mention the problem with getting back home again.

Niagara Falls, Class 10 Waterfall

All in all Canada is a wonderful country full of very nice people. It's size is hard to comprehend and the ability to loose yourself in the wild is very real. It's somewhere we both will definitely go back to, not just to visit family but also to experience a bit more of the outdoors.

In search of family, friends and Anne!

Toronto is a big place. It's not like Belfast where you can get from one end to the other in 20 minutes, Toronto has a 4 lane express way with 4 lane connectors... each direction.... even the GPS got confused. Our Africa trip (not that we ended up driving to Africa!) yielded a few new friends from Canada and it was lovely to be able to meet up with one of them. Anne spent an extra month in Kenya and hearing her stories, not to mention reminiscing about our own trip was great fun. Sorry to those guys who didn't get to meet up with us cause they live a couple of thousand miles somewhere else in Canada... or haven't come home yet.

Catching up with Anne

For various reasons, some of both of our families ended up emigrating to Canada. First stop, Uncle Raymond, Auntie Doreen, Alan and Anne. It has been over 11 years since I spoke to this side of the family so to be welcomed back was a great pleasure. We all sat chatting about family, our trip and everything else under the sun and a couple of hours turned into 6 or 7.

Uncle Raymond, Auntie Doreen, Anne and Alan

As Jude's parents know a few people in the Toronto area, they asked us to stop by. Visiting a couple of 80 year olds is a bit like volunteering for care in the community but it turned out to be a really lovely day with Gert and Annie. Gert moved from Holland many years ago and we where surprised to learn that Annie wrote a poem that hangs in loads of Government buildings in Canada. It was written as a thank you for Canada saving the Netherlands during WW2.

With Annie and Gert

Another Annie was on our list for Toronto. Although Anne of Green Cables was set in PEI, most of the filming was carried out in Ontario, especially Toronto. Good husband that I am and armed with various maps, google directions and Tim Horton's coffee we hit the trail. One of us was thoroughly excited to see all the different landscapes, houses, bridges and such like used in the film...... one of us had to drive.

The Green Gables used in the TV dramatisation

My cousin John and his son Shayne met us at Canada's Wonderland. What better way to catch up with your cousin than upside down on a roller coaster. Another great catch up and I got to meet Dora the Explorer. Bonus. Jude and I spent nearly 12 hours in the park. Absolutely shattered by the end of the day it was all fun. Unfortunately we didn't get to meet up with John's wife Kelly and youngest son, Ryan. It's just an excuse to go back.

With Chris' other cousin John and son Shayne in Canada's wonderland

We did like Toronto but it is a big city with huge highways. Well worth another visit though.

Moose hunting and friends

PEI was a nice place and we could have stayed longer but with things to do and people to see we left the island for a little drive towards Toronto. (about 1000 miles) Moose are supposed to be on the highways and after the winter they can be seen licking the salt rich puddles in the ditches along the highways (salt from the salt spreaders) We took the back roads towards Quebec in the hope of seeing one out of season. Long bumpy roads, some crystal clear lakes, lots of trees but alas no moose.

It was a nice day for a drive

Around Quebec we decided to stop for the night. It was very surprising to see only French signs on the roads, it was even more surprising that the hotel we booked into not only had a french name but everyone spoke French (some people spoke ONLY French). For an English speaking country to have such a large part of their country speak a different language was a bit weird until you looked at the relative size.

Northern Ireland -5463 square miles
Quebec - 595391 square miles
Canada - 4500 000 Square miles

A Gap in the trees made for some great views

A bit more driving past a few more trees got us down to Montreal to stop over with some family friends of Jude's. Liz and Billy Baxter moved out to Montreal in the 80's and we stopped off to see them. Most Northern Irish people never loose their accents even after many years abroad. Liz and Billy where very kind to allow us to stay and they even fed us a fantastic meal. It was a lovely way to share information and stories about friends and family back home despite being so far away.

The Baxters - a wealth of Norn Iron knowledge

Another five hours of our epic road trip got us to Toronto and my friends Karen and Cory. Karen had agreed to let us stay with her last time she was home. We had been drinking at the time but I held her to her word. Chatting about old times, old friends and old haunts over several home cooked meals has been great. We've rocked out on the Wii, seen a busker festival downtown and had a fantastic base for exploring various parts of Toronto. With several more days left, at Chez Karen and Cory's it is this sort of generosity once again that has helped this trip become so interesting and pleasurable.

Free beer at Steam Whistle Brewery - Toronto

Finally a Moose - they are this big in real life !

Pizza Egg Iguana

The lighthouse used in the TV series of Anne of Green Gables, Sea cow head lighthouse

A childhood dream of mine was fulfilled in the past week... I got to visit PEI and both Chris and I had a wonderful time.
We arrived to fantastic weather which continued until the weekend when we got the tail end of the hurricane. But despite what the locals thought - us from 'away' found that the weather was similar to the summers we usually get at home, so you still go to places and have ice-cream even if it's raining outside.

Poor Chris has to endure so many 'Anne' things and he did so without much grumbling! Ok, he only grumbled when I got the directions wrong! The highlight of the trip was in the Avonlea village with Chris dressing up as Anne, but I won't put that image up unless people really want to see it! Here we are dressed as Matthew and Anne - that was bad enough!!!

At the weekend, Chris and I went to the theatre and saw the production of Anne & Gilbert which was really good. Some good 'laugh out loud' lines and lots of songs to keep singing in your head! We had the 'cheap seats' so the two seats, on their own were at the back in front of the sound booth and ended up being beside where some of the actors had to perform! That was fun.

So anyway, back to the catch-up. Our couch surfing hosts from Long Beach used to live on PEI, so they gave us lots of contacts of people to meet and places to see, so we got to meet a number of their friends - and were taken out for some really lovely meals. The Christmas card list is getting longer and longer every place we stay!

Despite the rain, we got to see where LM Montgomery was born, the sign of where she lived (it's supposedly a hole in the ground) and here grave! We also had an extremely rushed trip to Green Gables and some of the locations which inspired her writings.

At the 'Green Gables' house used for location shots in the TV series

We had some great couch surfing hosts on the island - one couple were in their first year venturing into Organic farming, so we were able to help them prepare their produce for market and the other lady we stayed with had returned to the Island and had a great home just 7 miles from all the Anne things.

Chris and I with our host Ruth

So... finally to the title of the blog... Pizza Egg Iguana. One of the entertainers at the Avonlea Village was saying to the children about when they are asked by their friends or teacher as to where they went on holiday, say it was a secret or use a code... so PEI isn't Prince Edward Island as we know it to have been...!!! It was very entertaining, but I suppose you had to be there!

Being entertained at the Children's show!

We have been very fortunate whilst on the island to meet some of the lovely locals - even if some of them weren't born they have offered us an insight into island life and we have seen places we would have otherwise not had the opportunity to see . The island is what I hoped it would be... even though many of the images I relate to from the TV series of Anne of Green Gables etc are still to be seen - they're all in Toronto direction, the beauty of PEI is striking. Somewhere I will certainly be returning to one day.

New Hampshire and Belfast

Nancy, Eric and Liz

After staying with Matt and Barbara is Long Beach, Matt put us in touch with his sister Nancy in New Hampshire. We stayed here for a few days enjoying the sunshine, the local area which Nancy showed us around, Eric took us on a lovely drive to some of the surrounding areas and Liz kept us company when we enjoyed their home - and it was a beautiful home.
Chris assisted Eric and some of the local people on covering up the roof of the local Marconi Museum and arrived home thoroughly sun soaked!

Chris on the roof!

This part of our journey began our road trip! We hired a car in Massachusetts (a lot less expensive than New Hampshire, New York and Maine!) and we left the kindness of Nancy and her family and drove to Belfast! Ok Belfast Maine!

This is a lovely little town - probably bigger than Holywood (Co. Down) but roughly the same layout and some really beautiful shops. We arrived when there was the 1st Belfast Street Party, and we'd some fun! The streets were busy with families, people dancing and live bands. Such a great atmosphere.

Our host in Maine, a lovely lady called Donna opened her home to us and what a home she had! Donna lives in what was going to be the garage and she has put a large trailer into the space and made a lovely home around it. Such an interesting set-up and it works really well and we loved it! Whilst staying with Donna, we got the meet her twin sister and 91 year old sprightly mother who wanted to be able to swim in their pond again! In the photo you can only see their Mum's head by the tyre, but everyone was enjoying the cool down (ok, I only went in up to my shorts but...)

Donna and Judy in the Pond

That evening, Chris and I went into the town for a nosey and we saw lots of lovely things. Chris would have loved to have stayed in this chair, but the shop was offering free apple pies and coffee so he was quickly enticed in!!!!

I just love the quote

Chris painting at the street party

With the temperatures hitting 35 degrees, we headed into the car and away from Maine across into Canada to continue on the road. Next stop - Prince Edward Island!