Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Happy Anniversary!
Well - we celebrated our 8th anniversary on Monday. Had fab day on the beach (yep, another one!) and then off shopping to spend all of 8 euro on presents! Its the most shopping Ainsley has let me do all holiday! Check out our great matching tattoos - how romantic. Cocktails (on the beachfront of course) to follow... yay for us.
Hello mainland
Back on the mainland after the past three and a bit weeks on the islands we are bound for Istanbul on 2/11. The islands were G R E A T!!
It's not too hard to see why this has been Ange's favourite beach!
There are more photos up on flickr which you can view from this link. I will be back to write some more later...
It's not too hard to see why this has been Ange's favourite beach!
There are more photos up on flickr which you can view from this link. I will be back to write some more later...
Sunday, 28 October 2007
Antiparos Caves
After hanging in Naxos for a week or so we headed off to the neighbouring island Paros.
The weather wasn't quite so good here unfortunately and because it was getting later in the season we had to stay in the main town (port town) rather than at the beach as we had done in Paros.
Paros Town
Still nice though, we rented a moto and adventured around the island.
It seemed to be sunny every day until around 3pm and we managed to find beaches shared with noone else most days.
The snorkelling was great. Just like looking into an aquirium!! Probably 25m visibilty I guess. I saw some interesting creatures, some corals and tried to wrestle a big octopus but had to leave him be.
We also went accross from Paros to the tiny Antiparos island and visited an ancient cave which you decend 100m into the mountain to see. Some amazing stalectites and stalecmites which were truly impressive!
View from Antipartos restaurant (Taverna)
The weather wasn't quite so good here unfortunately and because it was getting later in the season we had to stay in the main town (port town) rather than at the beach as we had done in Paros.
Paros Town
Still nice though, we rented a moto and adventured around the island.
It seemed to be sunny every day until around 3pm and we managed to find beaches shared with noone else most days.
The snorkelling was great. Just like looking into an aquirium!! Probably 25m visibilty I guess. I saw some interesting creatures, some corals and tried to wrestle a big octopus but had to leave him be.
We also went accross from Paros to the tiny Antiparos island and visited an ancient cave which you decend 100m into the mountain to see. Some amazing stalectites and stalecmites which were truly impressive!
View from Antipartos restaurant (Taverna)
Wednesday, 24 October 2007
Windsurfing in the storm
Had a couple of really fun sessions windsurfing whilst on Naxos.
One evening a storm blew in bringing with it some of the craziest lightening and thunder and howling winds. I woke up the next morning knowing that it was a windsurfing day.
Possibly not the brightest idea given not having done it for about 10 years but it all went well and despite falling off loads I managed to blast around and have an ace time!
I would highly recommend this place as a windsurfing destination with a constant northerly blowing about 6-10 knots most days. Naxos, Cyclades, Greece!
(the pic above is the day after the storm left)
One evening a storm blew in bringing with it some of the craziest lightening and thunder and howling winds. I woke up the next morning knowing that it was a windsurfing day.
Possibly not the brightest idea given not having done it for about 10 years but it all went well and despite falling off loads I managed to blast around and have an ace time!
I would highly recommend this place as a windsurfing destination with a constant northerly blowing about 6-10 knots most days. Naxos, Cyclades, Greece!
(the pic above is the day after the storm left)
Sunday, 14 October 2007
Crete and onwards
So far the islands have been A M A Z I N G!
For a place that i've been dreaming of for so long it's still surprising how stunned i am to be here and by how idyllic this place is. just incredible.
We spend a few days in Malia, Crete (think Malaga) which is a English package tourist destination - as our old friend the kid was working there.
Here is us with some cats we met out there. Good times out at the bars in Malia :)
Nice as it was we headed east to Vai beach which is a stunner. Hanging all day on our own little cove, the diving was incredible with practically unlimited visibility!
It has been eash to get around with local public transport (buses) and we ventured to Sitia and also to Agios Nikolos both on the East/NE side of Crete.
Food is great and still easy to find cheap, traditional cuisine. I love the meze snacks, tzaziki (spelling?) and the squid is as tender as you could dream of.
Vai beach was a stunner! It's the beach used in the bounty bar advert... Great snorkeling...
Even the port towns are beautiful and the water relatively clear. Lovely colourful fishing boats...
Fast ferry to Crete. We shouldn've taken the slow boat to have time to soak up the beauty of the place :)
We then left Crete for Santorini where we now are chilling out in a lovely oceanside apartment complete with pool.
We've rented a moped to buzz our way around as needed. Yesterday we did a big trip around snapping photos of all the beautiful church buildings set with the perfect blue sky backdrop.
Here are some of our favourite pics so far from Santorini!
Tomorrow we head out on a boat trip to visit the volcano and the hot pools in the island caldera...
For a place that i've been dreaming of for so long it's still surprising how stunned i am to be here and by how idyllic this place is. just incredible.
We spend a few days in Malia, Crete (think Malaga) which is a English package tourist destination - as our old friend the kid was working there.
Here is us with some cats we met out there. Good times out at the bars in Malia :)
Nice as it was we headed east to Vai beach which is a stunner. Hanging all day on our own little cove, the diving was incredible with practically unlimited visibility!
It has been eash to get around with local public transport (buses) and we ventured to Sitia and also to Agios Nikolos both on the East/NE side of Crete.
Food is great and still easy to find cheap, traditional cuisine. I love the meze snacks, tzaziki (spelling?) and the squid is as tender as you could dream of.
Vai beach was a stunner! It's the beach used in the bounty bar advert... Great snorkeling...
Even the port towns are beautiful and the water relatively clear. Lovely colourful fishing boats...
Fast ferry to Crete. We shouldn've taken the slow boat to have time to soak up the beauty of the place :)
We then left Crete for Santorini where we now are chilling out in a lovely oceanside apartment complete with pool.
We've rented a moped to buzz our way around as needed. Yesterday we did a big trip around snapping photos of all the beautiful church buildings set with the perfect blue sky backdrop.
Here are some of our favourite pics so far from Santorini!
Tomorrow we head out on a boat trip to visit the volcano and the hot pools in the island caldera...
funny shapeed ball
Just a short note as some of you are wondering well it goes without saying that Ange and are very sad after another disappointing performance from the New Zealand team. So many questions, but at the end of the day only one result and not a good one. Oh well, at least I've got sunshine and a whole lot of time off work :)
Wednesday, 3 October 2007
Athens Sights and the Acropolis
Here are a few pictures from Athens and our adventuring around the Acropolis.
The site is amazing and the beatiful blue sky makes a perfect backdrop for photos!
Athens has loads of hip and stylish bars and restaurants...
This is the temple of zeuss which is the largest of greek ancient temples. The pillars were 17m high! Left to the elements this is all that remains today...
Off to Crete tomorrow...
Tuesday, 2 October 2007
Toulouse to Athens - Photos added!
Toulouse is a great city! We really enjoyed our time in this city in southern France.
Arriving Friday for the NZ v Romania match on Saturday we spent Friday night at the fan village that was set up on the banks of the Garonne River running through the city where we met up with a few fellow supporters who were staying at the same hotel. A few beers and the evenings mathes on a big screen out under the stars.
Saturday was match day and we had great seats near the 5m line in the allblacks half (in the first half). With Toulouse being the capital of French rugby the stadium was packed with lots of French fans but also with thousands of kiwis, some from London and many all the way from NZ especially for the tournament.
NZ played well despite having rested some of the key players and we celebrated all afternoon back at the fan village. Hanging out again with a few dudes we met along the way the drinking games began and sadly I was caught making an error and no sooner up in front of the big screen shamelessly embarrasing my self. Thank goodness for liquid confidence, phew.
Toulouse is also the home of Airbus but unfortunately timings weren't right to take a tour of the factory.
Monday we flew out to Greece which was a long mission as we connected via Brussels, Belgium. We arrived late into Greece and had no trouble getting into central Athens and to our hotel which is walking distance to pretty much everything we wanted to see, including a really cheap retaurant (read kebab shop) :)
Tuesday morning and up early (well early for us :p ...) and off to see the Acropolis which was beautiful and inspiring. The clear blue backdrop provided by the Greek skies were perfect for photographs and it was great to see the other parts that the English hadn't stolen and taken to the British museum in London. Still it was hard to imagine what it must have once looked like, and what it must have been like undercovering the buildings buried and crumbling.
So in Athens for the next couple of days the plan is to head to Crete to stay with the kid on Thursday, taking an overnight ferry, so that we can be in Crete ready for the next big clash when NZ will face France in Cardiff for the quarter finales, and hopefully progress one step closer to the final! Aussie v England will hopefully be an interesting game with the winner of that match continuing to face NZ, hopefully :)
Will get some photos up at some point in next week or so of Athens, and maybe the dancing shenanigans too. maybe.
Arriving Friday for the NZ v Romania match on Saturday we spent Friday night at the fan village that was set up on the banks of the Garonne River running through the city where we met up with a few fellow supporters who were staying at the same hotel. A few beers and the evenings mathes on a big screen out under the stars.
Saturday was match day and we had great seats near the 5m line in the allblacks half (in the first half). With Toulouse being the capital of French rugby the stadium was packed with lots of French fans but also with thousands of kiwis, some from London and many all the way from NZ especially for the tournament.
NZ played well despite having rested some of the key players and we celebrated all afternoon back at the fan village. Hanging out again with a few dudes we met along the way the drinking games began and sadly I was caught making an error and no sooner up in front of the big screen shamelessly embarrasing my self. Thank goodness for liquid confidence, phew.
Toulouse is also the home of Airbus but unfortunately timings weren't right to take a tour of the factory.
Monday we flew out to Greece which was a long mission as we connected via Brussels, Belgium. We arrived late into Greece and had no trouble getting into central Athens and to our hotel which is walking distance to pretty much everything we wanted to see, including a really cheap retaurant (read kebab shop) :)
Tuesday morning and up early (well early for us :p ...) and off to see the Acropolis which was beautiful and inspiring. The clear blue backdrop provided by the Greek skies were perfect for photographs and it was great to see the other parts that the English hadn't stolen and taken to the British museum in London. Still it was hard to imagine what it must have once looked like, and what it must have been like undercovering the buildings buried and crumbling.
So in Athens for the next couple of days the plan is to head to Crete to stay with the kid on Thursday, taking an overnight ferry, so that we can be in Crete ready for the next big clash when NZ will face France in Cardiff for the quarter finales, and hopefully progress one step closer to the final! Aussie v England will hopefully be an interesting game with the winner of that match continuing to face NZ, hopefully :)
Will get some photos up at some point in next week or so of Athens, and maybe the dancing shenanigans too. maybe.
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