One of the advantages of living in a volcanic zone is the existence of high green spaces for walking and enjoying views of the city. Despite having lived in Auckland off and on for over 20 years, I have never climbed Maungarei (Mount Wellington). That changed yesterday and it was glorious – late summer sunshine, bright blue sky and 360º views. There is a path around the perimeter of the crater and views from every point along the way. It is an extremely pleasant walk and I highly recommend it.
This is what orangutan means in Malaysia and Indonesia, two countries that have territory in Borneo, which is the habitat for this endangered species. In the photo above, the orangutan is a female – young woman of the forest! Before we left South East Asia, we were lucky enough to take a trip to Sepilok where we saw quite a few orangutans in the rehabilitation centre, which covers 10 acres of rain forest. Here orphaned baby orangutans that have been rescued from logging sites, plantations, illegal hunters or being kept as pets are trained to survive in the wild and then released. They are mesmerising to watch as they feed from platforms piled with fruit because they are so acrobatic. It’s as if they’re putting on a show – swinging from branches and ropes to pick up a banana or two, which they peel using their hands or feet. They are so appealing that it’s easy to forget that they are wild animals. Sadly their numbers are dwindling rapidly due to habitat loss – they are hunted by farmers who see them as a threat to their crops, particularly those who grow palms for oil.
We spent some time in Palmerston North last week. This is the first time I’ve explored this much maligned town and I was agreeably surprised. The town centre surrounds The Square, which has pleasant gardens and plenty of benches. There are interesting shops and cafes fragrant with coffee. There is a fantastic bookshop (https://bmbooks.co.nz/) and I had a long, interesting conversation with the proprietors of Pork Chop Hill clothing (https://www.porkchophill.nz/) about the origin of the name of their business. The art gallery and museum (https://www.temanawa.co.nz/) are well worth a visit. Best of all are the gardens and walking/cycling paths along the Manawatu River (see pic above). There is a paved path all the way along the river and it is well-used, judging by the number of cyclists I saw. There are also walking paths through the bush between the gardens of Victoria Esplanade and the river. These are a delight because of the dense foliage and the cacophony of birdsong. Go to Palmy – you may be as surprised as I was.
We’re back! A brilliant Sunday morning in Raglan: into the surf at Manu Bay (see pic above) for Jim, up the hill into the Bryant reserve for Jane, tūī, pīwakawaka and kererū sighted on the way, coffee and brunch at the Shack. We couldn’t have asked for a better home-coming.
I have just walked the new cycle/walkway between Te Awamutu and Kihikihi. It is pretty flat (indeed the road you walk along as you get to Kihikihi is called Flat Road!), which makes it a cruisy walk or bicycle ride, and at 4.5 km each way, it is the perfect distance for a morning’s outing. The flatness of the path is redeemed by the green beauty of the countryside and the glimpses you get of mounts Maungatautari, Kakepuku and Pirongia. The little village of Kihikihi (Maori for cicada) revealed a delightful cafe (see pic of its courtyard below) called the Hummingbird (https://www.facebook.com/thehummingbirdltd/) and an ice cream parlour which also sells doughnuts (https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=hoops%20and%20scoops%20kihikihi). They are both on the main road through Kihikihi, so next time you’re travelling on SH3 south from Hamilton, stop for a coffee or a cone. You won’t regret it!
We arrived home a week ago. This week we’ve moved back to the Waikato where we lived before transferring to Malaysia. It is beyond wonderful to be here. But it also feels somewhat strange … to be in such familiar surroundings and yet to be newcomers. Most things are the same but, of course, there have been some changes and the town we’re living in at the moment has certainly developed in the four and a half years we’ve been away. What hasn’t changed is the landscape – the rivers, the mountains (like Kakepuku in the pic above) and the wide, green vistas. I’ve been enjoying walking around the area in bright summer sunshine while poor Jim has been getting to grips with the job!
The sunrise this morning over a hazy KL taken from our hotel room in Bangsar. The temperature was already 25ºC and is forecast to rise to 33º. The highest temperature in Auckland today was 23º and this time next week we’ll be there! We are returning home after four years in Malaysia. Our stay here was the reason for starting this blog as a means of keeping our family and friends up to date with our news. While we are thrilled to be going home, inevitably we’ll miss things about our life in Ipoh, not least the people we’ve met and the friendships we’ve formed. But we will not miss the heat or the haze! I’ll have to rename my website – From Ohaupo to Ipoh to ?? We’re not sure yet where we’ll be living but it will be somewhere in the middle of the North Island. It may even be back in Ohaupo! Watch this space.
This huge statue of Ho Chi Minh dominates its surroundings in the city that was renamed for him after the reunification of Vietnam in 1975. It is a spectacular setting with the People’s Committee Building as a backdrop. This beautiful building was originally the Hôtel de Ville de Saïgon and was built between 1902 and 1908. We found it interesting that the city is almost universally called Saigon despite the numerous memorials to Ho Chi Minh and the red flags (both the gold star and hammer and sickle versions) flying from every building. Indeed the bustling commercialism of Saigon is in stark contrast to the rhetoric of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. We thoroughly enjoyed our four days in Saigon amidst the heat, noise and manic traffic consisting mostly of small motorcycles whose riders take scant notice of red lights! It is a charming mix of beautiful colonial buildings, peaceful tree-lined courtyards, overcrowded sidewalks, food stalls and markets, temples and pagodas. And we ate the most delicious food.
As we prepare to leave Ipoh for good and return home to New Zealand we’ve been trying to see things here that we’ve not yet got around to. One of these was a visit to the Chinese mosque or Masjid Muhammadiah. This beautiful building is unique in Malaysia – a mosque of 100 per cent Chinese design. The roof, which was imported from Longyan, is the most striking feature and is complemented by the pink and red of the walls and pillars. The mosque is surrounded by lovely gardens and plenty of shade. We’ve become accustomed to taking various scarves and sarongs around with us so we could cover up and enter the mosque precinct. There was a group of women and girls having a social function in the women’s part of the mosque and a group of men scrubbing the tiled ablution area to the side. They are clearly used to tourists and as long as you are suitably dressed, this is not a problem. It is definitely worth a visit.
Since we returned to Ipoh from Auckland after Christmas, we’ve experienced the rainy season. Most days it has been heavily overcast with torrential downpours that never last very long. This means that the temperature is a little lower and lack of sunshine gives the impression that it is a lot cooler. The rain of course makes it even more humid than it is normally, so it’s swings and roundabouts. Most mornings we get up when we hear the first call to prayer. One of the mosques nearby has a particularly devout muezzin, who starts hailing the faithful (and everybody else!) through his powerful loudspeakers at 5 am. He continues till 6 am, takes a short break and then joins the other three mosques within earshot in the actual first call. By that time we are wide awake and ready to go for a walk in the rain. We skirt the golf course and walk up the steep hill on the far side. Our route takes us past the fantastical houses (see my previous post https://janeburnett.com/2016/04/25/cloud-cuckoo-land/) on the jungle side of the golf course. We are usually early enough to walk back along the course itself and as we near the club, we see lines of golfers waiting to tee off as soon as it is light enough. There is always a delicate balance between going out too early so that our whole walk is in the dark or too late so that, if the sun does make an appearance, we are dripping with perspiration by the time we get home. It is much cooler to be dripping as a result of precipitation.
Travels from New Zealand 