Children's Day

We may have Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, in the states as well as in Japan, but the Japanese also celebrate “Children’s Day”. (I know, we say that it’s always children’s day but….) It’s a day to “respect the character of children” as well as to promote both their health and happiness. It’s also a very Japanese day for it is the day that children express their gratitude for the “tender love and care” from their parents.

May 5th is also the day for “Boys’ Festival” - celebrating, of course, the growth and development of the young boys. The coolest thing about this festival is the beautiful “Koi-Nobori” (carp) streamers that are made from paper or cloth (often nylon type stuff now). These things are hung on TALL poles (complete with wind (usually golden) pinwheels on the top). Now, at one time, traditional ones were bamboo poles, mounted on the house. Now they’re in the yards, on sides of apartments, ropes like clotheslines and more likely to be on a metal pole than bamboo. They always have one carp for each son…with the largest one for the eldest (sorry, if you’re the youngest, you get the small one). It’s always a carp because it symbolized strength and determination to overcome all obstacles.
There seems to be some disagreement as to where this holiday came from so they don’t settle on just the carp for strength. They also display warrior decorations, miniature helmets, suits of armor (Japanese, of course), a sword, silk banners with the family crest, and warrior dolls representing Momotaro (the Japanese “David”) or other important warriors from old Japan.

Bangkok

Bangkok is truly a city of contrasts, juggling the old and the new: fabulous old, golden temples sit amidst the towering skyscrapers and cars speed (well, perhaps crawl) past the three-wheeled tuk-tuks. It is aptly called “The city where anything goes but the traffic”. Outside modern malls you’ll find street sellers parked out front, selling everything from flowers to clothing to jewelry. You weave through the stalls to move to the next building, battling the heat, the noise and the traffic. (The traffic doesn’t move UNTIL you’re ready to cross the street.)

More on Hotels

We stayed at the Metropolitan Hotel the first few days. It’s tucked back off the main street, nice for making it a bit quieter. It is just so elegant. The entrance is wide, spacious, simple but elegant. The room we had was actually huge (even bigger than the one at the Shangri-la). We had a sitting area, fresh fruit daily, and a bathroom that is honestly as large as our front room/kitchen here in Japan – simply enormous. They also had a wonderful gym, yoga and pilates classes and ORGANIC VEGETARIAN restaurants!!! I felt like I didn’t need to go anywhere else.

We had an elegant dinner, seated at the edge of the pool, watching the lights play upon the water, the gentle, tropical breeze just cooling you off the tiniest bit. The dinner was fresh and exotic and delicious, though I must admit the 7 grain bread was absolutely the best. (Japan sells a lot of wonder bread and I really miss good bread.) Fortunately, they had the same bread at breakfast.

Wat Phra Chetuphon

This truly is “The city where anything goes but the traffic”. There were a number of times that, had we known where we were going, walking would have been MUCH faster. Fortunately, the metro/subway is pretty easy to figure out so we used it whenever it was possible – even took it to the end of the various lines and THEN caught a taxi. That way we didn’t have as long to sit in the things – though the air conditioning was kinda nice.
We spent one day out visiting some famous temples. At Wat Phra Chetuphon or “Wat Pho” as the gaijin tend to say, we saw the famous "Reclining Buddha" a 150 foot long, gold-leafed Buddha who has just reached nirvana. I have seen pictures of it but never realized how truly HUGE it is. The feet of the Buddha (15 feet tall) are covered with mother-of-pearl designs, portraying “108 auspicious scenes”. Please, don't ask me what "auspicious scenes" are. I can't figure it out.

Wat Pho

Our guide was delightful. He was truly a walking encyclopedia of Thai and Buddhist history. The number 9 is considered to be very good luck here (so is the number 13) and signifies many positive benefits. Without his guidance, we would have never counted the 99 ornate chedis (of every size, shape, color and motif). We would also have walked right by the “9” of most things (the layers in the umbrella, the lotus flowers going up the stuppa, the demons or men or Buddhas in a row and who knows what else). We also learned that though the primary disciples of Buddha were men, there were also some women.

Chao Praya River

After our tour of Wat Pho, we headed for the river for a cruise up the Chao Praya River. The river taxis are long boats with an extremely long shaft to the propeller. They really have a lot of maneuverability with the boats and they cruise around some pretty tight corners. I’m amazed at how much traffic there is on the river – big taxis, small ones, shuttle boats, barges, cruise ships (usually dining) and some I have no idea what they were for. They did a constant dance, weaving in and out in a never, ending song. The trip took us past the King’s Palace, many golden temples (and they are golden) and small hovels clinging to the banks.

The Grand Palace

Next stop, the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) are two of the holiest sites in all of Thailand. They are fabulous examples of artistically superb architecture. Everywhere you look there are golden winged eaves and birds, terracotta roofs, guardian spirits in porcelain mosaics or ringed with gold.

The Emerald Buddha

The lavish ornamentation of the main hall (Wat Phra Kaew) where the Emerald Buddha is housed, defies description (and, photos are simply not allowed). All are invited in to silently contemplate this tiny (roughly 2 feet tall) jade statue (yes, I know, it’s called the Emerald Buddha although it’s truly made of jade. The first monk who found it didn’t realize what it was because it was encased in plaster and he only saw a small tip of it that showed through a hole), situated on the top of a mythical altar. There was something very calming, very humbling about sitting in the room, amidst people of every religion, all paying their respect to this tiny shrine.

Grand Palace Ramakian story mural

The story of the Ramakian is an epic Indian story about Rama and his bride Sita. Here’s the very short version.The couple has all the bad luck possible; they’re banished to the forest, Sita is kidnapped, the white monkey king rescues her, great demons attack the good guys, Sita appears to die (but doesn’t), there’s a fire test, magic bow and arrow and finally they all live happily every after. Fortunately, the story wall does a much better job with the story and the details that go into it. They have been restoring it, mending the cracks and loss of plaster and have teams of artists repainting (with gold leaf in the appropriate places) the varied scenes. They are spectacular. You've got to imagine this...the story is portrayed on numerous walls around the entire temple grounds.

Vimanmek Teak Palace

They have some tourist taxi services too. For one extremely cheap price, you can buy an all day pass on a slightly larger version of the river boat taxi. While we had theorized that we’d go to the end and work our way back, it didn’t work that way…temples and grounds close and 4:00 and we plain ran out of time. We did make it to Dusit Park, home of the Dusit Throne Hall, Dusit Zoo and the Vimanmek Teak Palace, the world’s largest golden teak mansion. We took the tour through the palace/mansion. The whole palace was built without nails (we’re talking 4 stories in places. The king had a three-storey octagonal apartment just for himself. The women had their own wing where the only males allowed were the king himself, the doctor and the young boys. It has become a museum displaying many of Rama V’s antiques and gifts given to the many kings; grand pianos, Ching dynasty pieces, crystal, silver, bronze pieces, jewels and many other gorgeous gifts.

Dusit Zoo

Took in the zoo too (naturally). Actually, we went because it used to be the royal botanical gardens and the landscaping was supposed to be spectacular (and it was). The huge water feature dominated the gardens and animals were interspersed between various features, flowers and landscapes. The giraffe/African area was really cool. These extremely tall 'huts' not only provided shade for the various animals in the enclosure, they also provided a place to put browse up high for the giraffes.

Living High

I truly could become addicted to staying in 5 star hotels. The service, the space the views, the added benefits...truly is nice to be pampered once in a while. The nice thing about Asia is that, right now, they're cheap enough we can even afford to enjoy them. Check out the pictures I've posted that show even more views of the hotels. The picture here is a view of the pool at the Metropolitan in Bangkok. Just to the left are dining tables - we had a poolside meal one night, basking in the wondrous, warm, tropical evening.

Bonsai Tree

This tree was enthroned at the flower show. It is 150 years old (no, it's not a typo). The interplay of dead wood and living wood was remarkable. There was a reverence paid to this little tree - everyone stopped and silently beheld it. It truly has an awesome presence.

Nagoya Dome Flower Show

Every year Nagoya hosts a spectacular flower show at Nagoya Dome. Exhibitors, decorators, individuals, organizations all work to present the most spectacular displays of floral arrangement - some quite elaborate - with every kind of flower imaginable. This year there were a number of spectacular orchid displays - they were HUGE - both the individual orchids as well as the displays. I never knew there was such an array available.

Cell phone and Coke machines

What, you might wonder, do cell phones and coke machines have in common???? Here, in Japan, and maybe only in Japan, you can use your cell phone to purchase coke products from specially marked machines. They're actually so easy that even a monkey can do it. To let you know that this is possible, the video screen you see prominently placed in the center of the machine (eye level of course and bright red to catch your attention)runs a clip showing you how easy it is to make the purchase. This picture has a girl but they also feature cutsie things bouncing around, as well as a chimp coming up with his (or her) cell phone and using it to buy a soda. What will they think of next???!!!

Ueno Park

If you’re looking for a place with lots of variety, Ueno Park is the place to go. It’s located in Tokyo and is the home for hundreds of sakura trees (cherry trees) as well as the homeless. You can find roaming entertainers there, just waiting to delight the crowds. Clowns with balloons entertained the children while a violin playing puppet serenaded visitors with classical music. It’s definitely one of the busiest places in Japan on the weekends – despite the cold, windy, wet weather.

Ueno Zoo

It is also the home of the Ueno Zoo – the first zoo in Japan. It is located in the midst of Ueno Park and houses hundreds of different animals. Like most zoos, it has some wonderful displays, some that are rather old and some under construction. It also includes some unique things… a totem pole, a tea house and a pagoda.

Maruzen in Tokyo

Later I had a chance to visit with Kaz and Kazumi – and we took off to visit the largest Maruzen store in Japan. For the uninitiated, that’s the largest BOOKstore – complete with a full floor of English books. It was great fun!

Yokohama

Yokohama was the next stop. The hotel I stayed in was absolutely fantastic - and the view for them 17th story was fantastic. We took a walk along the beachfront - gorgeous but cold. Landmark Tower is one of the sites to take in...the tallest "habitable" building in Japan. It's another qualified "tallest". Tokyo Tower is actually taller but since it's a radio tower....

Surabaya, Indonesia

Surabaya is Indonesia’s second largest city – and it is huge! In some ways it’s very much like other large cities – lots of traffic, large roads, and huge shopping malls. The traffic is so bad that there are times that people will hire a cab – to go across the street! There’s also a huge contrast between the poor and the rich – and it really doesn’t seem to take much to be counted on the rich side. Every place we visited had guards at the parking entrance as well as at the doors – even the school gave us visitor badges at the gated entrance. The picture is the entrance area to the Somerset Hotel. The hotel entrance is fabulously rich! Do wish there had been more time to explore more of the area!

Surabaya School

Here are a few pictures of the school.

Surabaya International School

The school is huge – a result of all of the industry that is located in the city. You realize how fragile it is because the population is half of what it could be; the result of 10 years of financial and political strife in the country. Nevertheless, the school is an extremely busy place with many programs (including an Olympic size pool and a swim team). The library is humongous! It’s easily three times the size of Chinook. The 2nd picture is the entrance "hall".

MerLion of Surabaya

The school is located in an area of the town called “Singapore of Surabaya”. It’s a very posh section of town with many “mansion” areas (gated, of course) leading up to it. It even sports a replica of the “MerLion” of Singapore in a pond as you arrive.

Surabaya School Housing

The housing connected to the school is HUGE – the front room of the house we saw was almost as big as the footpad of the house we have in Japan. They have white marble floors and balconies that are large enough to sit in – and LOTS of flowers, green plants and tiny gardens. There are also lots of opportunities for employment here - all of the people have maids, drivers and nannies - some even have more than one nanny if they have more children!!!

Pictures on line

I now have a website where I can post lots of pictures. Right now I have a 3 different albums up - use the link to check them out. Clicking on any of the pictures will open up the album for you to view.

Link

New Zealand trip

You know, you never realize how BIG the world is until you’ve sat in a plane for 17 hours to get somewhere! We left Nagoya, landed in Singapore, twiddled our thumbs for a few hours, and then finally flew on to New Zealand. What an ordeal!!! It’s hard to be cramped inside the plane, unable to cross your legs easily, sitting squeezed between 2 people – doesn’t help that one of them was Jeff – and watching mind-numbing movies. Yuck!
Now, the airport in Singapore is really interesting. First of all, they don’t leave you to just twiddle your thumbs; they work on involving you in the place. First, there’s the landscaping, yes, landscaping inside an airport. (It seems that other countries do much more with their airports than we do.) They have koi ponds with pathways around and oh, such exotic flowers! The variety is unbelievable and they have them everywhere. They’ve also included bookstores – not too surprising really but a delightful treat after living in Japan (spent a lot of time in bookstores!) They also have numerous eateries, very international so if you want something, you can probably find it. They are also the only airport where I have seen free computers all over the place. You can walk up and use them almost anywhere in the place. They have numerous quiet areas that include massage chairs - all for free. If you're going to have to sit around for hours, it's at least a pleasant place to do it.

Otanui Bed and Breakfast

We landed in Auckland and took off to visit our friends, Joe and Mary. They worked at our school in Japan and have just retired to a spectacular 144 acre cattle ranch perched on the top of a hill in the Coromandel Peninsula, the site of the future Otanui Bed and Breakfast. OK…here comes the shameless ad. The views are spectacular and the bed! Oh my gosh! It’s got to be the best bed I’ve ever slept on! (I didn’t want to fall asleep; I just wanted to relish the comfort). There’s a wonderful little garden area that is nestled between the house and the view from the room is outstanding. We had a delightful time hiking through the area, visiting with Joe and Mary, driving around the peninsula and just plain relaxing. If you’re looking for a great little place to go…we’ll fill you in. Jeff has taken some spectacular pictures. I hope to put some of the up soon.

Coromandel Peninsula

The Coromandel Peninsula is a breathtakingly beautiful area with a spectacularly rugged coastline views, nestled between stretches of fabulous coastal forests. Really was a stunning drive. We were plagued with rain, so while the scenery was still gorgeous, the clouds lending some interesting play in the sky, the pictures we took were rather dim and fuzzy.

Joe directed us to some great areas for hiking along the coast and we managed to fit one of the beach walks in. It was a wonderful trip up over a small hill to another secluded beach tucked away from the throngs playing in the waves. It may have been overcast and drizzling but hey, if you’re in the water, you’re all wet anyway!

Rotorua

We made our way down to the town of Rotorua - an extremely geothermal active area, that is, coincidentally, sister city to Klamath Falls!!! The city is also home of many spa resorts, featuring, of course, naturally heated water – complete with a distinct scent of sulphur to assault your senses. The lake there is the oldest lake in New Zealand, formed in the crater of a huge caldera left from a volcanic eruption. (hmmm, sounds familiar) It’s still a pretty active area, the last eruption occurring only a little over 100 years ago

At one time, there was a rather large, Tudor-styled “Bath House” that was the famed center for numerous health treatments that utilized the readily available thermal water and mud for a variety of bathing, mud and massage “cures”. People came from all over the world to 'take the waters' at the Bath House. Some of the treatments were absolutely bizarre, including the introduction of electricity into the ‘bath’ to stimulate healing. Looking at the equipment they had and pictures of what they I had to wonder what future generations will think of our “modern” medical care. It really looked quite barbaric.

Whakarewarewa Village

We had a great tour through the Whakarewarewa Village area of the city. This “living” Maori Village is set in a vast sea of erupting geysers, hot thermal springs and bubbling mud pools. The hot pools are an integral part of their lives, used for cooking, cleaning and ceremonies – and are still used today. While we were given tours of the area, after 5 pm, the gates were closed and the Maori people used their village. Pools were reserved for different things, one to scald feathers off, one for cooking only veggies, ones for bathing people, ones for steaming the food. Every pool was selected on the basis of where it sat in the chain and what the use in the next pool would be. The picture shows one of the steaming boxes on the ground – it is used communally, you just return and pick your stuff up when it’s done.

Te Puia

Te Puia is another thermal area, immediately next to the Whakarewarewa Village. They’ve taken a different approach, featuring lots of things to see – far more park like. We attempted to see the largest geyser go off…standing in the pouring rain, watching the small one go on and on and on, waiting for Pohutu to do its thing….and waited…and waited…and waited…. Finally, after probably an hour, we left. (Actually, they were closing so we really had no choice). We took lots of pictures but it was raining and steamy and really foggy – great shots of steam anyway.

Lake Taupo afternoon

From Rotorua, we continued down the north island until we came to Taupo, another city sitting on the edge of a lake. We had a wonderful walk along the edge of it; in fact our hotel looked out right across the lake! Spent a wonderful afternoon sitting out on the ‘deck’, watching the rain play on the water and the wind stir it up. It did let up in the evening for our walk around.

Talk about hotels…we had some fabulous place with views that were spectacular!!! The top picture shows our view from our room on the lake in Taupo. The second picture was taken on our walk on the same lake.

Hamilton Park

We were in Taupo on Christmas Eve, and spent Christmas Day driving back up to Auckland to catch a late plane to Christchurch. We stopped for a while in the town of Hamilton because they had a rather large park, appropriately named Hamilton Park that was open. Now, you’ve got to picture that this is summer. Christmas traditions in New Zealand include barbecues on the beach or in the park and the rain wasn’t going to stop any of them from their plans so…the place was packed with picnickers hiding out in small areas that afforded some shielding from the insistent rain. The park is a honeycomb of gardens created in numerous different styles. We wandered through the themed section; old English, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, and others. It was wonderful to meander through the paths to encounter a total change in presentation and vegetation. We didn’t even remotely get a chance to stroll through the entire garden (it’s huge).

Christchurch

From there we headed back to Auckland to catch the LATE flight (picture red eyes here). We had reservations for a small B&B here – turns out this one is located right next to English Park. This particular place was definitely eco-friendly and caters to vegetarians. It was really great to find a place like that – though I must admit I felt quite guilty coming in so late on Christmas Day.
Boxing Day (news flash…it used to be St. Stephen’s Day in Britain. Long ago there was a practice of giving cash or durable goods to the ‘lower classes”, the day after Christmas) we had a chance to catch up with Peter, a friend of Tim’s – and another bicycle enthusiast. He took us on a tour out to Lyttleton – a cute little village nestled on the coast overlooking one of the many bays. Had a great time visiting, talking and touring!
From there we headed down to Ian and Rosie’s. Oh my gosh, their home is absolutely fabulous. We arrived in the early afternoon and had a spectacular time visiting. Their home is situated on a triple lot and it's gorgeous! There are olive trees interspersed between the lavender lending a heavenly smell. The middle lot is where their home is, nestled in an English Garden - a riot of color cascading through the grass. In the evening we even go to see a hedgehog trundling through the flowers, though he did the freeze thing the minute he saw us around. I got to "pet" him, if that's what you call attempting to stroke a bunch of prickly things. The back section of the lot has a wonderful vegetable garden that is producing everything they need and more. They also have 2 beautiful alpacas in the back. We had a wonderful time talking and visiting and enjoying the fresh air – laced, of course, with rain and lots of wind.

Lake Tekapo

Leaving in the morning, we headed off to Lake Tekapo to visit the Church of the Good Shepherd, probably the most photographed church you’ve ever seen. Its setting is stunning. The view behind the altar is an impossibly turquoise colored lake, with the New Zealand Alps towering behind. I can just imagine what it would have looked like on a sunny day. The fields surrounding the church were awash with the colors of lupines – another popular photo-op for all of us camera carrying tourists tramping around

Queenstown

We drove for the day through lupine covered valleys, forested foothills, towering alps in the background, dark clouds skittering across the sky, eventually enveloping the alps as well the sky. We traveled through rain and wind and….actually, no snow or sleet or gloom of night, thank goodness. The scenery was spectacular and breathtaking in places. We arrived in Queenstown late in the afternoon. Ah…Queenstown, the southern island’s tourist haven, the jumping off point for many excursions, and the home of hundred’s of touristy shops just waiting for the camera-toting tourist’s wallet. We did find a great Mexican restaurant there – they had just about everything there to satisfy a tourist from any part of the world.

We stayed in a great B&B called “Little Paradise”. It was quite a ways outside of Queenstown, nestled off a quiet, peaceful lake. The man who ran this place definitely has too much time on his hands…or else he loves his hobby. The woodwork in the place was stunning. Large wooden carved ferns and other plants were placed about the walls in the bathroom and hallways. Moss and small plants were artfully placed about the branches of trees and various carvings. The floor, rather than being made of stones or rocks or whatever, was actually made of polished wood blocks, creatively inlaid throughout the place. The yard was the picture of an English garden with flowers erupting everywhere. We were also right on the 45th parallel – complete with a sign to let us know (now, Jeff had to check and his GPS said that it was actually marked at 45.00005 S)

Land of Rain

This is the land of rain and rain and did I mention rain? Either it always rains here or we are the bringers of rain - haven't quite decided which it is. We have seen the sun a total of 2.5 days, and that's a generous estimate.

We journeyed to TeAnau, the jumping off point to visit the famous Milford Sound as well as the gorgeous but less famous Doubtful Sound (so named, according to the story, when Captain Cook saw the opening to the sound and wrote that he was "doubtful" that the winds would be right to sail back out of the sound). The B&B we stayed at there was called Keiko’s and sure enough, the young woman who ran it was Japanese. Her husband was a kiwi so while we took our shoes off before entering any building and she had slippers available for all, the yard was again a gorgeous English garden. I think the gardens and the proliferate blooming of flowers was the only clue that it really was summer.

Fiordlands

We spent the next few days exploring the Fiordland National Park, a designated World Heritage area. This area is fairly remote and imposing. Our trip to Doubtful Sound was taken totally in overcast/rainy weather – a fact that had both positives and negatives (gee…heard that before). Because it was raining, we saw, quite literally, hundreds of waterfalls cascading through the forests, ferns and down impressive cliff sides. On the other hand, because it was raining, our pictures leave much to be desired. Oh well…it is one of the world’s wettest regions but nevertheless…some sunshine would have been nice.

Our trip to Doubtful Sound required quite a bit of coordination – fortunately on the part of the tour company, not us. All we had to do was show up on time. We started off with a bus ride from Te Anau up to the small village of Manapouri, situated on, well, Lake Manapouri. The driver was interesting and funny, sharing historical information and anecdotes all along the way. We boarded a boat that took us across the lake, past numerous islands and bays to the other side. Here, in the mid 20th century, they had undertaken a huge project to create an underground power station. It has a very low profile on the lake itself, unlike the huge, massive things we have. From here we got to travel down the access tunnel to check out the power station (looks just like Bonneville only a bit smaller and underground). When we came out, we traveled across a connection of land (the general direction the water travels after the dam), over the Wilmot Pass and down to Deep Cove where we boarded the boat that actually took us through the sound. Apparently there’s an ongoing battle with the name of these sounds…this is the Fiordland National Park and since these ‘sounds’ were created by glaciers, they’re actually fiord, however, way back when, someone named them ‘sounds’ so it has stuck. So…we took a trip through the fiord named Doubtful Sound. (sounds are made by rivers). End of lesson.

The scenery was spectacular - despite the clouds and rain. The falls are absolutely everywhere, traveling over cliffs, through cracks in the walls, meandering through the foliage and finally cascading into the sound, fiord, whatever. The guide on the boat gave us an opportunity to experience the awesome silence of the fiord. They stopped the boat in one of the small arms and turned off everything; motor, air conditioners, microphones, and asked everyone to go outside, get comfortable and just stand still. It was amazing – the birds you could hear (New Zealand has no indigenous mammals except for one bat – the original wildlife was all birds). It really was one of those exotic, shivery, calming moments.

Milford Sound

The following day we traveled to Milford Sound; definitely the more touristy and popular trip. While the day before had been rejuvenating and interesting, this day was a pure tourist trap trip. We stopped, en mass, at all of the designated places (I think so picked because there was room for 50 tour buses to park) on the bus from Te Anau up to Pearl Harbor. The driver on this trip, however, while sharing some historical information, was also a sales person for the many different air trips you could purchase from Milford Sound. It really got old after a while – I think he must have gotten a commission from all of the fly companies. We did run into a LOT of sheep on the road. The farmers were moving them after sheering and they completely blocked the road at one point forcing all of the tour buses to slowly work their way around the milling sheep. Our recommendation would be to drive yourself out to Milford Sound and catch the boat.
The boat trip itself was great. While it’s very similar to Doubtful Sound, we had a bit of a sunny day so the waterfalls were not quite as plentiful. They do have a spectacular waterfall called Bowen Waterfall that was well worth seeing.

Goodbye Auckland

The return trip to Christchurch took us back through the Alps. There’s a northern route that weaves around the highest mountains, through the valleys and over the only pass, Arthur’s Pass. It’s a small community, nestled on the side of the last of the mountains.

Upon returning to Auckland, we spent the in Devonport, a charming seaside village on the northern shore of Auckland. We took a ferry over in the wonderful, delightful sunshine. There are more of those wonderful touristy places to walk around through (including a used book store) and some pretty unique restaurants. There are 2 hills, North Head and Mount Victoria that give you a great view of both the city and the gulf area. They’re also filled with children with cardboard boxes – they throw themselves on the pieces of cardboard and soar down the hill, laughing and giggling. There are also a lot of cool looking colonial style houses there with more of the wonderful English gardens – a delightful day in the sunshine and breezes.
The ogre was an interesting statue, located up on the top of North Head.