Cotswolds with friends

I spent the weekend in the Cotswolds with Matt, El and Clare. Clare and I had some issues getting out of London. And the cottage is in the middle of nowhere. We had a bit of difficulty finding it (including a trip up someones drive). But thankfully Matt had tea ready for when we got there.

Saturday was wet and a bit miserable so we headed to Gloucester for food and some shopping. I didn't take any photos - too busy chatting! 

The weather on Sunday was much better and the sunrise was very pretty. (Best thing about this time of year is you don't need to get up early to see the sunrise!)

Sunrise

We went to Bourton on the Water for some more shopping (Christmas is practically sorted), a walk and some Sunday lunch.

Burton on the water

Clare, El and Matt

The trip home sucked. The M40 was a mess. But it was a great weekend and I hope we can go back (maybe for a bit longer so I don't have to spend 9 hrs driving.) :)

Teide, Masca and Garachico

As there was a bank holiday here on Tuesday and I HAVE to take my vacation days (according to the department who were most insistent as they don't want to pay me for the days), I decided to book the Monday off and spend a long weekend in Puerto de la Cruz. It is in the north part of the island and only about an hour on the bus, but I got a great deal  on an apartment with an ocean view and it saved a lot of traveling (and early mornings). The apartment was very basic but the view was amazing!

Sunrise in Puerto de la Cruz, from my apartment.

The Calima was really bad Thursday to Sunday. This is dust and sand that comes over from the Sahara and descends on the Canary Islands. Everything gets dusty and the sky is really hazy. But it can make for some good photos. And some bad ones.

Snow on Teide and Calima.

I got into Puerto on Friday night and basically just got food and chilled. Especially as my apartment is at the top of a cliff. And the supermarket is of course at the bottom. (I did not do this walk again after this first time. It nearly killed me.)
For Saturday I booked a tour around the North coast of the island and Teide. The tour was full but most of the places we stopped were not so it was well timed. Unfortunately nearly everyone else on the tour was German. And my German is even more limited than my Spanish which says a lot. So I didn't get to chat with people.
It was an early morning :( but a good day.
First stop - overlook for Puerto and Teide. The Calima killed the view of both. But the tour guide  pointed out a tree called a strawberry tree. No idea why as it does not grow strawberries but these little orange fruits which ferment in your stomach when you eat them and get you drunk. There weren't any low hanging ones to try this, and I was not keen enough to climb the tree. Though some did.

Strawberry tree

Next stop was where I went last time to see the sunset. Apparently this is the area where they filmed the "Clash of the Titans", which I haven't seen.

Martian landscape

But not dead.

The rock formations here are called the Roques of Garcia and are famous for appearing, in front to Teide, on the 100 peseta.

One of the roques de Garcia

I took a walk around and headed for the quieter areas. I had been in the busier areas, which include the steps used to film 'the 10 Commandments",  another film I haven't seen.

At some point on the way there, the tour guide pointed out the Finger of God formation. It was on the other side of the bus and everyone on that side seemed very excited. I couldn't figure out what they were looking at. This is the only thing I could see which sort of resembled a finger, but it wasn't very exciting.

"Finger of God"?

I did try to recreate the image on the peseta note. But they must have been able to climb of the rocks to get that shot.

Roques of Garcia and Teide

Love seeing flowers in December

On the way to the next stop, we pulled over at a truck stop. It was in the middle of nowhere. Literally. But very popular, because the food was really good. I can't say what it is because some people (likely reading this) are getting some of them for Christmas. (I managed to get most of the Christmas shopping done this weekend.)

Best food truck around

View from the Truck stop

For lunch we headed to Masca. From here you can do the hike down to the ocean and boat back to Los Gigantes, which I debated last month but wimped out. The road to Masca is interesting. And really not built for buses.

Road to Masca

The bends were a little tight. And for nearly every corner, the driver had to do a 3 or 5 point turn to get round it. And it is very well orchestrated. Only buses can either go up or down. Not at the same time. Thankfully some buses saw us coming and waited. There is no where to pass.

Little tight!

The drop was a little disconcerting at times. Not for those with travel sickness!

And steep

Masca itself is very pretty, though small. It is only about 30 years old and I think mostly built to cater to tourists doing the hike. But we stopped for a nice lunch overlooking the valley. I was put on a table with a very sweet German couple. But the conversion was more like charades!

Poinsettia.

View down Masca valley at lunch

One place I was happily surprised we stopped at (I have been wanting to go here and didn't read the tour info properly) was Garachico. It used to be a bay but during the last eruption of the volcano (1798), it was filled with lava and created a series of natural pools along the coast. They have built walkways so you can wandered around the pools and swim if you are luckily. We didn't have enough time for that sadly.

Garachico pools

Walkway

still 

The water looked very inviting and really clear. There were a few people swimming. The weather is warm but not the ideal swimming weather.

Super clear water

Stormy

And you have to be on the ball as occasionally a large wave will come over the wall and refill the pool. And knock you about a bit if you are in it! But it did look fun. :)

Replenishing the pools

Perfect for a swim

We had a reasonable amount of time at Garachico. A little more than expected I think as the bus had to go and take a girl to the hospital. (But she was ok and we picked her up on the way back). The town is really pretty and I recommend it to anyone on Tenerife. They have preserved all of the old buildings.

To the town centre

Church

Inhabitants of a hotel

Everything is getting ready for Christmas. I admit I am still getting used to Christmas lights and palm trees.

ready for Christmas

Town square

On the way back we stopped near Icod to see the Dragon tree. It is in a botanical gardens now so we stopped at a view point. They have no idea how old it is, though at least 500 years. And is apparently part of the lily family. And important around here. Though again I am not sure why.

Dragon tree

The trip was fun but a really long day. Over the weekend I ended up just eating at the apartment every night. I saved money and frankly couldn't face the hill! But sitting with dinner, a glass of wine and the view from my balcony was not a hardship!

home and another move

I had a great time at home, though not long enough. A lot of time was spend chilling out with mom and dad which was brilliant. The weather has not been great (of course!) but that didn't stop us breaking out the Pimms even if we did end up inside instead of in the garden.

Pimms

 I didn't take many photos. Mainly because I was too lazy. Mom managed to get most of the week off work (YAY!!!) so we went to lunch a few times and did some shopping. I also had practical things to do like unpack my boxes and repack. (The flight to Tenerife only allowed me 30 kg and only 5kg in hand luggage which was a serious pain and required a lot of sacrifices.)

I did get some time to play with my new lens as well and moms orchids made great subjects!

The last night we got a Balti in (with a few nice glasses of wine of course). I have seriously missed good Indian food.

Last night feast.

It just wasn't enough time at home. :(

Sunday I flew out to Tenerife. The flight was ok, though everyone was very excited to be going on their holidays. Except me who is still dreaming of a holiday. I got in late-ish last night and thankfully Ismael, my new boss, picked me up from the airport (complete with paper with my new on). :) 

My hotel is very nice (though missing a kettle to make tea - something I intend to rectify later day). It over looks a little square and is close to the centre of town. I haven't had chance to explore yet but I have 2 weeks here so plenty of time. And the weather (in Santa Cruz anyway) is lovely! (Not so much in La Laguna.)

Dawn view from my hotel

park outside the hotel 

Cute!

I have spent today starting the long process of getting things sorted out. There is a ton of paperwork that need to be done before I can actually start work and more importantly get paid! Now to find somewhere to live.

Cairns

On Tuesday morning, I flew to Cairns. (Not a single person checked my ID at the airport which as a bit unnerving though they did select me to be scanned for explosive residue.) The view from the plane of the city was lovely. And I got a free $5 voucher for food on the plane. So I was very happy. :-)

Goodbye Sydney!

I have a nice little studio apartment at The Cascade Gardens in Cairns not far from the city centre. It's quiet and has a full kitchen and the pool looks very nice. (I was going to take some photos but then I dumped my stuff everywhere and it's too messy to show photos of now!)

The rest of the day in Cairns was spent buying food, unpacking and chilling out. And trying to stay awake until the evening! I brought a nice bottle of white wine while shopping. The guy at the shop made sure I knew it cost a whole $12 (apparently surprised I wanted to spend that much). It gave me an idea of the drinking people do here. :-/

I woke up super early on Wednesday morning so went down to the sea front for sunrise. It was very pretty and peaceful, though I ended up chatting to a guy from India before he started his sun prayers which was interesting.

But the sunrise was worn getting up for.

Cairns Bay at sunrise

Cairns beach (at sunrise)

On Wednesday afternoon I took a tour around the city and surrounding areas. It took me to some of the main attractions and good restaurants so I can revisit them later if I want to. There were only 12 of us on the tour and the other people were very batty and friendly. I would highly recommend this tour especially if you don't have very long in Cairns. The tour guide was funny and informative and happy to answer any and all questions, no matter how odd!

After a brief tour around town (where I saw a few places I wanted to go but I'm going to have to map to figure out where they were again), we stopped at St. Monica's Cathedral. It really wasn't very impressive from the outside.

Outside St. Monica's Cathedral

But inside the stain glass windows were amazing!

Australian history

Big Bang

Evolution

 We continued the tour around town, seeing the sugar refineries and port, which were interesting but not very pretty. Though there were lots of warning signs for crocodiles. After that we headed for afternoon tea, though we toured through a graveyard first which was a little weird and morbid. Afternoon tea was very tasty (and I completely forgot to take any photos). I tried my first flat white, an Australian must. It was one of the better coffees I have tasted (and helped keep me awake for the rest of the day) but I am still a tea girl.
From the cafe, our guide, Eric, gave us a tour around the Flecker Gardens which is part of Cairns Botanical gardens.

Our guide Eric, showing an elephant apple

A baby pineapple

Chainsaw flower.

No idea but cool!

We then drove into the hills to get a view across Cairns.

Cairns

We also went along the Barron river, where you can go white water rafting, and down to Surprise Creek Waterfall.

Surprise Creek falls

Barron River valley

 The final stop was up on Palm beach in the north beaches. The main beach in Cairns is very small and a little dismal. But the northern beaches are very pretty and much better for swimming. (Though there were still more crocodile warning signs so I am not sure if I would risk it!) Normally Eric takes people along the pier but unfortunately it was shut as some of the electrical wires were down. It was probably ok but none of us wants to risk electrocution either!

Palm cove

After the beach, we were dropped back at the hotels or in my case Woolworths and the off-license to get a few more bits and another bottle of wine. :-)
On the way back to the apartment, I looked up and the sky was full of hundreds of fruit bats, also called flying foxes. These bats are huge and when flying, silent. (In the day roosting, they are really noisy!) It was an a amazing sight. I am going to go back at dusk and get some photos (my hands were full of shopping). And apparently they really confused the stoned population of Cairns as a couple had to ask me what they were as they were freaked out by the amazing flying creatures. Odd city!