Week 1 in NZ – Dunedin and Mount Cook

After leaving Christchurch, we planned to split our first week in NZ on the east coast, starting in Dunedin and then moving inland to the Mount Cook Area.

It was to be a brilliant week of good views, great views and breathtaking views.

On our first day, we stopped off at the Rekaia Gorge for a 3-hour trek, quite amazing blue-coloured river, surrounded by stunning mountains.  It was a scene that was to become more familiar over the coming weeks, but our first exposure was certainly a ‘wow’ moment.

We stopped for the night at Temuka, finally finding a great motel at 10pm, then the following morning took the coast road down to Dunedin.  The 3-hour drive took us 8 hours as we stopped off at various points to look for penguins, seals and sea lions, the most impressive being at Shag Point.  The Penguins eluded us, but we saw plenty of seals and sea lions, the kids were so excited, it was like they were living in a real-life Disney movie. Some beautiful scenery, the rugged coastline and beaches set against rolling hills.

We arrived in Dunedin in late afternoon and headed to where we were staying – at the home of Hazel, a lovely lady who offers free accommodation to traveling Israelis.  She has converted the whole upper floor of her house into a guesthouse, hosting up to 10 people at any time.(ובכל בוקר ממלא את הקופסא במטבח בעוגיות שוקולד צ'יפס טעימות שהיא מכינה במיוחד לאורחים שלה)  We spent 3 days there, sharing with a number of younger Israeli travelers, it really felt like being at home with a kitchen, living room and dining table, made a real change from 5 months of going to restaurants.

We had a great 3 days in Dunedin.  It’s a beautiful town on the coast, set between green hills and the blue ocean, a real Scottish influence and just a really relaxed feeling.  We climbed Mt Cargill for some great views of the town and the Otega Peninsula, we walked up Baldwin Street, the world’s steepest residential street and were lucky enough to see sea lions and more seals at Sandfly Bay.  In our quest to see the famous NZ penguins, we spent a cold and wet night on Allan’s Beach, we were the only people brave (stupid) enough to stand in the gale force winds and driving rain for a couple of hours.  Suffice to say, the penguins were probably all safely tucked up in bed with hot water bottles and a good book, they certainly were nowhere to be seen for us.

Our next stop was the tiny village of Otematata, 1 hour from the Mt Cook area, where we took a great AirBnB, brilliant new apartment, we were the first people to stay there so it was to a real show-home standard.

The following morning, we drove to Mount Cook village and had an absolutely brilliant day.  The drive itself was fantastic, winding past Lake Pukaki, breathtaking blue water surrounded by alpine mountains. Once at Mt Cook village, we walked the Hooker Valley Track, with stunning views of Mt Cook, then trekked up to see the Tasmin Glacier and Lake.  Truly breathtaking scenery, Mt Cook is the highest peak in NZ at over 3700m, the rugged alpine scenery, snow-covered peaks and turquoise coloured lakes were just incredible. We walked over 17km and around each corner seemed to be another ‘wow’ moment.

The kids slept well after that so the next day we decided to take it easier.  We took the short drive to walk the Benmore Peninsula Track, a short 3-4 hour loop trek which we read offered great views over Lake Benmore.  ‘Great views’ must be the understatement of the century, the views at the top were some of the best Shoshi and I had ever seen.  (As I write this blog post, I realise that I am using the words, ‘wow’, ‘stunning’ and ‘breathtaking’ over and over again – just to warn you all, this is likely to be a common theme on our New Zealand travels, things just keep getting better and better!)

The following day, we headed back to Christchurch to swap our hire car for our campervan which was to be our home for the next 2 weeks. We dropped the kids off at Bet Chabad to make some ‘Homentashen’ for Purim while we headed to the supermarket to stock up on supplies.  

As we finally drove off in the camper, the kids were overly excited, Shoshi was a little concerned about us all squeezing in and I was looking forward to reliving some childhood memories of green, open spaces, caravans and watching my dad empty the portable toilet.

רק לא ביבי

Fortunately, we've been out of Israel during the election season.  We've missed all the mud-slinging, name-calling and general unpleasantness.

Unfortunately, it means we won't get to make our voices heard at the ballot box.  We won't get to part of 'democracy' in action.

It will be the first time I have not voted since I moved to Israel around 15 years ago.

At that time, I was moving to the 'only democracy in the Middle East'.  It was the frequent claim of those people defending Israel and pointing fingers at its neighbours.

But 15 years later, I'm not sure if Israel really is a true democracy.

Politicians jump parties at the drop of a hat.  New parties are formed and disbanded with such frequency that it is hard to follow who is in and who is out.

The real power is determined in coalition deals that take place far from any public scrutiny.

And crucially, we have a Leader who is more Dictator than Prime Minister.

The fact is, he is not just Prime Minister.

He is also Foreign Minister (or was until he was forced by the courts to give it up in February)

He is also Defence Minister.

He is also Health Minister.

He was Communications Minister, only recently handing it over.

That is not democracy, that is dictatorship.

Authority without accountability.

Control without checks and balances.

Bibi is the best poker player in town.  Staring down his opponents, bluffing when it suits him, using mind-games to intimidate and manipulate.  All good character traits if you are trying to win a game of cards but not what is required to run a country.

On the surface, Israel is in pretty good shape.  Strong economy, 'relative' quiet on our borders and apparently strengthening ties with previously hostile countries.

But that doesn't reflect the true picture.

There is a malaise at the heart of the country.  A lack of concern for one another.  An attitude that one should just do as one wants.

This stems from our leaders.  They set the tone whilst also being a mirror of the society they represent.

Israel is a country that prides itself on being one big family, a country of the kibbutz, the moshav and the Jewish family.  But it has long since left those values behind.  It is now a country of division, of sectors that view each other with suspicion and mistrust.

This translates into a fragmented political system whereby most people vote within their sector, for self-interest.

People get they leaders they deserve and in the case of Israel, that has created a very depressing situation indeed.

And at the top is King Bibi.

Bibi, Israel is not your country and you are not its king, despite what your myopic supporters may sing.

It is not yours to do with as you see fit. And it is certainly not your wife's.

I want my children to grow up in a forward-looking, democratic Israel,  not a fear-mongering dictatorship under the control of the Netanyahus.

Bibi, resign so my children can come back and grow up in Israel.

But failing that (and I don't expect you to do the decent thing), hopefully the people will speak.

רק לא ביבי

Coming home

We were all so excited about coming to New Zealand.

The kids because they got 13 hours on a plane, each with their own TV.

Shoshi, because it was a dream of hers to get here.

Me, because I'd always wanted to see for myself if the water really went down the plughole in the opposite direction in the Southern Hemisphere.

The kids got their wish.

Shoshi has been on Cloud 9 since we arrived on 10th March.

Me - well, it's true, it does.

But I found the first couple of days in NZ to be pretty tough.  Not because it isn't stunningly beautiful, not because it is tough to travel here.  Quite the opposite.  It feels pretty much like being back in Scotland.  The language, how the people look, the food, place names, supermarkets, driving on the left hand side, tree covered mountains, salt & vinegar crisps, sheep and cattle everywhere.

It feels like home.

And after 4 months in Asia, I wasn't ready for such a 'culture shock'.

I don't want the familiar.  I have become used to the unfamiliar, not understanding, having to explain things using sign language, trying to decipher the menu, Google Translate, chopsticks, motorbikes and noise.

There is something very enjoyable about not understanding, it allows you to live in a bubble as much of what is going on around is just filtered out. As they say, ignorance is bliss.

Arriving in New Zealand, I lost that privilege.

I understand everything.

It feels a little like coming home.

Just on the other side of the world.

Hong Kong Phewy

We got out of Vietnam, all of our limbs just about intact and flew to Hong Kong on 4th March for five days.

We had planned to explore the city and also some trekking for the best views of the legendary skyline.

We hadn't planned on the weather.

Grey skies, fog and rain.

We could have been in Glasgow (although it seemed like there were less Chinese restaurants in HK than there are in Glasgow).

So we did our best and managed to soak up the atmosphere of this incredible place. We stayed on Hong Kong Island, in the Wan Chai district, a bustling area of high rise apartment blocks, shopping and restaurants.  Noisy but relaxing at the same time.  This was actually something we felt throughout our stay in HK - despite the incredible energy and crazy population density (in the top 5 in the world) - the place has a strange serenity which we really liked.

Everything works so well and is unbelievably clean.  So much so, than one day we were eating sandwiches in the main railway station and we actually cleaned up our crumbs off the floor as we didn't feel right making a mess! Hong Kong, a city so clean that you can literally eat your food of the floor.

So our our first morning, we caught the Star Ferry over to Kowloon Island.

11am, this was the view.  Dark and moody and rapidly disappearing.  David Copperfield would have been impressed.

But by the evening, the weather had improved and we were lucky enough to see the iconic skyline and Light Show.  Amazing experience.

The following day, we spent on Hong Kong Island, first on the HK equivalent of the London Eye, then going up to the HK Central Bank Museum which has amazing views from its 46th Floor.  The rest of the day was spent on the Central–Mid-Levels escalator and walkway system which is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The system covers over 800 metres  in distance with an elevation of over 135 metres from bottom to top.  It's quite amazing, it is a commuter system for the city and helps hundreds of thousands of people get to and from the Financial district each day.

The weather on the 3rd day was supposed to be slightly better so we got up early and started hiking to the top of Victoria Peak, the famous viewpoint which gives stunning views of the bay and skyline.

This is what it usually looks like:

This is what we saw.

A 4 hour hike with a damp ending, but at least we saw some views on the great walk up...

We consoled ourselves with some great DimSum for dinner and a walk the city.

When the rain got too heavy, we also  hit a couple of great museums, The Science Museum and The Space Museum, both of which the kids really enjoyed and are definitely recommended for rainy HK days.

To summarise Hong Kong, we certainly didn't see the best of it, it was a real shame about the weather but as we have learnt on our travels, there really isn't anything that we can do when nature conspires against us.  It's impossible to be in the right place at the right time, all of the time, and sometimes we just have to make the best of things.  We still had a great time but left with the feeling that it could have been a whole lot better.

Hong Kong marked the end of our the South-East Asia leg of our travels.  We spent over 4.5 months which had taken us to Thailand, Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam and finally Hong Kong.  So many amazing experiences, some tough moments and countless memories.

On 9th March, we boarded a Qantas plane bound for New Zealand, pretty much as far away as we could get, excited about what the next 2 months are going to bring.

Vietnam - We Love You Long Time

Stanley Kubrick might have been referring to a different kind of love but the phrase still perfectly captures our feelings after 1.5 months in Vietnam.

We love this place.

Despite two pretty significant hospital dramas for Guy

We couldn't get enough of the...

Bustling, vibrant cities.

Lovely, friendly people.

Great homestays.

Brilliant tour guides

Stunning Lunar New Year celebrations

A dark and difficult past but a bright and optimistic future

Fansipan - the highest mountain in Indo-China and a quite breathtaking cable car ride

Lushes rice fields and tasty fried rice

Motorbikes and motorbikes and more motorbikes

1st Class paediatric surgeons

Israeli travelling families to hang out with

Breathtaking scenery

The best sleeper buses in the world.

The loudest Karaoke clubs in the world

Wonderful food.

And much much more.


Vietnam, we'll be back.