Border monastery, ionnina, metsovo and reservoir overnight

Having gone through the most rigorous customs check at the Albanian border since setting off on our travels (which included an X-ray of Vinnie) it was early evening so we decided to overnight in the small town of Kalpaki approx an hour from the border. Before leaving the next morning we took a pleasant walk to a local monastery and then visited the war memorial overlooking the town erected in remembrance of the resistance of the local people against the Italian forces in October/November 1940.

Our next stop took us to Ionnina with its old fortified city containing a number of museums, a mosque and the grave of Ali Pasha who had ruled from Ionnina which in his time had included an area that covered the entire north western part of Greece, southern Albania, Thessaly and the northern parts of the Peloponnese for forty years. His court influenced many leaders of the time including the major figures of the revolution which bought about Greek independence. Arriving late in the day we were unable to visit all the museums but did get to go around the Silver museum which historically had been a school for silversmiths. What made this visit interesting is the museum through it’s exhibits explained the historical development of the methods and tools used in the process of the Silversmiths work alongside some interesting and intricate pieces.

Whilst searching for a stopover we had read a recommendation about a wild camping site high up in the Pindos mountains overlooking a reservoir so decided to investigate and make it our next stop. Our planned route took us via the town of Metsovo which was known for its local cheeses, wine and woodworking and is also a popular winter sports destination. The local population have their own language called Aromanian or Vlach originating from the southern Balkans.

After purchasing a variety of cheeses,wine made in the local monastery and sitting down in the local square for coffee and cake we started the climb upwards to the reservoir. Twisting and winding our way up some very steep mountain roads with spectacular views (which was terrifying for myself as I do not like heights) we suddenly found ourselves on this amazing plateau which contained not only the reservoir, shepherds and their flocks of goats but also acres of market gardening poly tunnels. It was an amazing wild camping night with pitch black dark skies but incredibly cold. My interest was aroused by what looked like large clumps of cotton wool on the tips of some of the surrounding conifers, on investigation it turned out to be massive webs of either some giant spider or an insect of unknown origin. On our way back across the plateau we stopped to say hello to a local shepherd who spoke a little English and who’s main thread of conversation was Boris Johnson! Whom he appeared to find exceedingly amusing.

Montenegro greeted us with a severe weather warning and boy did we have a thunder and lightning spectacular throughout the night followed by a day of rain,.Greeted the next day by bright sunshine we hoped to enjoy a day birdwatching around lake Shkoder National park area sadly driving around the lake we could see no obvious footpaths. The border with Albania runs through the lake so being that close to the border we decided to cross and see if we would fair better on the Albanian side, however it soon became clear that we would need to hire a boat if we wanted to see any wildlife and being out of season that was not going to be easy so gave it up as a bad idea.

On a personal note we found driving through Albania very frustrating, the main road networks are in poor condition and local side roads are nothing but potholed dirt tracks. The lack of road sense by both drivers and pedestrians adds to the difficulty of a safe journey. The places of interest and historical sites seemed to have been consumed by the sprawl of locations getting bigger resulting in chaos around markets and shops with poor street parking making access in a motorhome difficult at best and otherwise impossible

Albania as a country has so much to offer. The potential activities range from the miles of beach front and clear turquoise waters on the Adriatic coast, large areas of wilderness in the form of lakes, forests and coastal wetlands teaming with wildlife from bears, wolves, large wild cats pelicans and migratory flocks of birds, mountain ranges running the length of the country soaring skywards, not quite as tall or dramatic as the Alps but daunting and a challenge for any climber or hiker and wide rivers in the south with clear mountain water flowing deep after rains and full of trout that the fly fishing community would adopt immediately.

We appreciate their entry into the modern world is as recent as the late 1990s and adjustment takes time hopefully they can learn from the development mistakes of others where locations have been spoilt like Budva in Montenegro and Split in Croatia. Our final comment is that Albania is worth experiencing but is for travellers not holidaymakers at present.

Hello New Zealand and so began the third leg of our vacation. What would we experience, would it live up to all the positive comments we had received, well it’s early days so let’s wait and see.

We had booked an AirBnB in Auckland and arrived with the country awaiting landfall of a small cyclone! Fortunately for us it hit land near Christchurch on the South Island although the north island got some heavy rain making our first 36 hours as if we had never left Moorea or Tahiti. It seems the storm was part of what we had on our last night in Polynesia and had followed us across the Pacific.

We took a shuttle taxi service from the airport and arrived at our accommodation address in mid afternoon. The accommodation turned out to be an excellent choice being on the bus routes into the city and was well fitted out as a self contained unit in the garden of the main house. The owner Grant was full of information on things to do and even took us to the supermarket for provisions on our arrival. We couldn’t have asked for a better host- thank you Grant

Thankfully we had long dry spells between the bursts of rain so we were able to explore Auckland.

Our first full day we set off into the city to explore. We had seen a walk described in the guide book highlighting an older part of the city leading down to the waterfront. We had also decided we would try and use the hairdressers, which for me is never a big thing as a) there’s not a lot of hair to cut and b) a number one razor does nicely thank you so a holiday trim in various countries of the world is my norm. But for Steph to brave letting a stranger loose was a big deal so we had agreed to go looking but Steph may opt out if the vibes were not good.

As we headed away from the bus stop we passed an entrance to an arcade with hairdressers signposted so in we went. Two immediately inside the entrance and opposite each other, the vibes were good Steph said. With nobody else in there we got a hairdresser each and 30 minutes later we had both been trimmed, hair washed and scalp massaged. Very good service, madam pleased with the result and all for @£24 for the two of us

Leaving the precinct looking a bit more well presented, we wandered a couple of streets away to a cut through staircase between streets that led to the Art gallery. The staircase landing had been decorated with a tiled mosaic to mark NZ women suffragettes movement securing the right to vote in 1893 It appears New Zealand maybe one of the youngest countries in the world but was ahead of the time in women’s equality.

The Art gallery was fascinating, its displays covered a wide range of subjects and were an interesting mix of styles. The most traditional being portrait paintings of Maori leaders in their ceremonial outfits. The paintings were by a Scottish painter who had settled in New Zealand and lived in a Maori area at the turn of the 20th century the details he had captured were photographic like.

The most contemporary, fun and eccentric was a collaboration the gallery was holding with a Japanese contemporary artist called Yayoi Kusama. Her youth had been shaped by dreams where everything was covered in spots. This led her to surround herself by such imagery and into a world of Art! The collaboration was to create a white room with certain items of furniture and fittings and give all visitors a peel off sheet with various sized dots in many colours, the visitors were then encouraged to put the dots on any surface in the room, so achieving the artists aim of “Obliteration”. It sounds daft and at first when we wandered into the space it felt strange but within seconds the inner child had surfaced and a room full of adults was transforming the space into a riot of colour. Is it Art? The jury’s out on that but the artists ideas had been transferred to Auckland and hundreds of people without realising were becoming her hands to create her style in absence. It may not be Art but it made us smile and for a short period of time made us feel different so maybe that’s Art?

The gallery was not the largest we have been into but the pleasure from the quality of its exhibitions was second to none and is definitely a must do when in Auckland.

Our guide book walk was described as a city centre ramble showcasing hidden nooks and architectural gems so after the gallery we proceed to ramble and took in the Victorian Albert Park and merchants houses, the University clock tower and the original main synagogue. The view from this area was dominated by the city below in the lower town area which gave an outline of high rise tower blocks and new construction tower cranes all creating a jagged skyline like mountain peaks. We walked downhill amongst these giants and arrived at the waterfront and harbour.

The city was busy preparing itself for the arrival the following week of the Volvo Round the World yachts and one area of the waterfront you walked along was a hive of workers creating the hospitality village around the marina.

In fact some big catamarans and mono hulls were already in town and we were amazed by one beast of a sailing boat that went by the name of Skade. We researched online and it was two years old, in private ownership not charter, and 47m in length. A truly amazing piece of design and investment!

On another day we would revisit the harbour to catch the ferry across to the north shore and visit the suburb of Devonport. A very attractive town that has retained a large number of Victorian and Edwardian buildings with a thriving mix of shops, cafes, restaurants, bars, and even a chocolate maker that had to be sampled. The towns spectacular views of the city, des res location and a regular ferry service making it commuter heaven.

Coincidentally as we went to catch our ferry to Devonport on the adjacent wharf was none other than Cunards Queen Elizabeth last seen by us in Mo’orea a few days earlier and obviously followed us over the Pacific.

A more local day out we went to a place called Motat which was a museum of technology and transport. Fascinating day that introduced you in interactive displays to science, working examples of engines, pumps and other equipment, a mock up with actual exhibits from Edmund Hillary’s journey to the South Pole and amazing examples of aircraft. The site was adjacent Western Springs Park which at one time was Auckland’s water supply and today was a pleasure park. Amazing that 1.5 million gallons of water a day still bubbles up from below and feeds streams and ponds en route to the sea.

So thank you Auckland interesting but a city that lacked charisma.

Our final day we collected our camper van and struck North. The intention was to go to a place called Whangerai on the lower edge of the Bay of Islands and spend a couple of days. The journey up was estimated to be about a 3 hour drive and with plans to stop for shopping and explore coastlines we anticipated 5 hours.

We looked for some wild camping spots along the coast south of Whangerai whilst we did enjoy an hour at a place called Marsden Cove with houses built onto the water with direct access to the highly regarded marlin fishing grounds

we had no luck with camp sites so headed into Whangerai and found a free Freedom parking set up that was perfect for walking into town.

So farewell Chiloé. Gracias por los recuerdos

Our recent blog titled “Chiloé” shares how we found Castro the main town on the island was full of energy and character whilst being surrounded by broken coastline and cute villages. But to explore the north of the island from Castro involved long journeys so we decided to 2 centre our stay and we relocated to the islands second town of Ancud for our final few days. We were lucky to have found ourselves a nice hotel set on a promitory which gave us a great view of the coastline and from our room a fabulous sea view.

Basing the end of our stay here gave us an easy connection to the mainland and airport when the time came to say our Chiloé goodbyes.

Historically Ancud is a part of so many Chiloé events over the years and yet it has become a quiet corner of the tourism boom.

The Spanish suffered the final defeat of their Chilean empire in 1826 in heavily fortified Ancud, in 1843 the schooner Ancud full of Chiloé islanders sailed for 4 months south towards the Magellan strait at the bottom of Sth America and laid claim to the Magellanes lands known today as Chilean Patagonia and built vast wool and ranching booms across the south

the above photos show a full size model of the Ancud schooner located in The small but interesting Museo Chilote. This also had some interesting photos of the earthquake after effects as well as some interesting historical local crafts

The earthquake was one of the largest ever recorded in excess of 9.0 on the Richter scale and hit Ancud in 1960 and decimated the town.

But the Northwest corner of Chiloé has spectacular coastline and is a key habitat for the Magellanic and near extinct Humboldt penguins and is a haven and birthing ground for the blue whale. One of our reasons for visiting this part of the island was to hopefully go out on a whale tour but alas we were unsuccessful as they were not running during our time on the island. The trips are subject to weather and wildlife body Conafs assessment. So not this time I’m afraid. We did get to the Penguin reserve as it is on 2 islands within 50 metres of the main beach so thanks to our zoom lens we got a few shots.

we had a lunch on the beach and walked the length of the bay with opportunities to capture some interesting photos

for our final outing in the north of the island we took a local bus to a small port village called Quemchi which is located on the north east side of the island and faces the expanse of water between Chiloé and the Chilean mainland. This has the effect of creating large tides and at times the harbour can experience 7m tides leaving boats stranded on the sea bed at low tide.

The area is one of the countries major shellfish and salmon farming centres with the bay being populated with farm beds and a number of processing factories.Along with the usual discreetly coloured church.

And so we come to the end of our Chiloé experience. You were different to the mainland as only island communities can be and we have memories and photos galore.

Adios

So this weekend and our departure is almost upon us and i have been attempting to learn spanish or “Aprender Espanol’ as my teacher and classmates would say.

But after 10 weeks of lessons i am a raw beginner, yes i have learnt some phrases and words (probably more than i appreciate) but i still think my most used phrase is likely to be “perdonome habla poco espanol)

Do i try and communicate in Espanol or do i chicken out and play the englishman abroad? Well i am going for making a fool of myself (and hopefully new friends who correct my mistakes) and it will be using as much spanish as possible – hopefully no wars are started or jails visited!!!

My Learning for Fun teacher – Louise – very kindly treated me to an end of term present to send me on my way into Latin America and i am sure it will be well thumbed during our time in Chile.

Hasta la vista