Kittery to Bar Harbor

The effects of the flight meant we were up pretty early - at 6am.

Too early for a swim in the pool, though the temperature was around 70 degrees. 

So, it was in for breakfast -  a selection of fruit and cereal followed by French toast with a covering of various berries and maple syrup was thoroughly enjoyed. No photo I'm afraid as it had been eaten before the idea dawned on us.  Plus some blueberry muffins for on the road. 

Once packed we set out on the fairly long drive to Bar Harbor.

First stop, the tourist information centre.  Extremely helpful lady loaded us up with maps and directions of things to see and do along the way.  Next came a visit to York. This is the oldest town in the US as it was the first to be incorporated, although we haven't yet checked what that actually means, having forgotten to ask the lady when she told us.

There was a really neat looking church. It was built in the 1700's at about the same time as the local gaol, which was across the road - not too sure what that says about the population at the time! 

The picture doesn't do it justice unfortunately, the day was a bit grey.  That's why real photographers can earn lots of money I guess, they know how to sort out their white balance.

As we drive along a stretch of beach, Eric spots the Nubble lighthouse in the distance.

Not able to see it too clearly on this photo, so we took another when we were a little closer.

There were some cormorants on the rocks, eider (we think) in the water, and an unidentified gull close to the car park. Hopefully photos will aid later identification. 

These look like Red-faced Cormorant - but those are only supposed to be found off the coast of Alaska - so we might be wrong there! 

A little further along the road we call into our first nature reserve, The Wells Reserve at Laudholm. They are setting up for a Craft Fayre on the weekend, pity we will miss that (but good for the wallet).  Setting out towards one of the trails, the heavens open and we have to temporarily take shelter. The rain soon stops though, and we continue on our boardwalk amble through the Maple forest marsh and to a lookout over the saltmarsh.

Where's the water?

Where's the wildlife?!

There was generally a distinct lack of wildlife visible, apart from the mosquitos that is! Although there was a cacophony of sound from crickets or similar during parts of the walk. Only one of us could hear these though!  Just as we were leaving a flock of birds came in and landed on the sand bar - tantalisingly too far away for identification.  Possibly waders (plover?), but flew more like swallows or martins.  Too many bitey mossies to stay for long! Now we know why they had the insect repellent so prominently displayed in the visitor centre.

Next stop - Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge, another trail but not so many mosquitos this time. Some extremely distant views of two different egrets followed by a closer view of what we believe to be a Greater Yellowlegs (still to be confirmed)

Well we haven't covered many miles yet, so a quick dash through the Kennebunks, viewing the 'famous' wedding cake house along the way.

Eric didn't think it looked too much like a wedding cake. 

Onward along US Route 1  - another church, that had a sort of Escher painting look about it.

At Penobscot Narrows Bridge we are too late to tour Fort Knox and the Observatory that is higher than the Statue of Liberty. It's built within one of the towers of the bridge that crosses the river here. You may just about be able to make out the windows at the top!

Bar Harbor at last.  Book in and then into the village for a walk around and along the shore.

An illuminated moose on the roof!

There is a different cruise ship due to call into Bar Harbour every day this week. 

Bar Harbor is a rather pleasant place for an evening wander.

It was getting a little on the dark side on our return though, and the wind-up torch given to us by the B&B was not very efficient to say the least.  Eric did manage to find one of those American fire hydrants to sit on on the way back.

And then he settled down on his bed to watch a bit of TV!

Anyone for a tea party? Off to Boston.

Up early and Eric is checking the weather; dry at least.  Our journey to Heathrow today should only take half an hour (traffic and the M25 permitting). 

Roads are kind to us and arrive for the flight in good time, going straight through security in a prompt and timely manner.  Although heart sinks as one bag is siphoned off for extra security checks on the liquids keeping up what seems to be becoming a regular occurrence, additional screening on the female of the species. 

Next comes a sit down breakfast.  Eric did think it was a bit too early for a G&T though.  Also, does Proscecco count as tonic? 

The flight starts very well, walk twenty minutes to gate, board almost immediately and the pilot advises that we should be in Boston ahead of schedule.  As a bonus, we soon discover that the flight may not be particularly crowded. We both have window seats and Eric occupies the space between us.

Is this the impact of Brexit on tourism to the USA? As you can see we have all 8 seats in row 40 so who needs to pay for extra legroom.

Settle down, watch a couple of films and it's soon time to land.  

Thought the vapour trail from the canard wing tip made an interesting picture.

Pilot assures us we will be landing in about fifteen minutes, but fifteen minutes later we are still at 7000 feet and seem to have done a loop and various turns.  The pilot is either lost or maybe we are in some random holding pattern.  As we eventually come in to land we are informed that the delay was because there was a cruise ship blocking entry to the runway - Reggie Perrin would have been proud of that excuse!  

Taxi towards parking spot but they are not quite ready for us.  Pilot advises we should be ready to disembark quickly and get to customs before the passengers from the Swissair plane that is behind us on the apron.  See the Swissair plane passing us on the inside while we await our spot, so much for that then.   

Whatever next - well, note from pilot, the airbridge is broken and the workman is looking for a spanner to fix it, which they weren't able to do. Not able to leave the plane until they find an alternative set of suitable steps.   These arrive and we have a rather wobbly exit onto the tarmac (the steps are very bouncy). 

Takes us quite a while to clear US Customs (understatement), one of us had to be fingerprinted and iris scanned twice (you'll never guess which one!). Finally reach accommodation for night to find they were not expecting us until tomorrow! Luckily they had a room for today anyway and won't charge us for cancelling tomorrow's bogus booking. 

Setting off

 Can there be a more exotic place to start a holiday than Bridgend railway station. 

Just Checking the Weather Forecast

At least there's no sign of that that hurricane. Maybe that's the rain for when we land on Tuesday.

Boston to Washington the Long Way Around

Flying Home

After a short drive we spent a few hours at the Auckland botanical garden.

Some interesting statues as well as the plants.

Extreme yoga I think

Then off to the airport after short a detour to fill up the hire car. Good old Avis try to charge us again for overrunning our rental. Their system can't cope either a hire of more than 31 days. Sorted after an hour discussion, then off to catch the plane. 

Eric thinks this is a good way to fly

Honestly it's a plane not a submarine

Don't have time to write much as we only have a short stopover at Brisbane before the long leg of the flight to Dubai - about 14 hours. 

Drive to Te Kauwhata and the Disappearing Wetlands

We have breakfast early today as we have a long drive to reach the last sleep of our holidays. One night on a chestnut farm about an hour south of Auckland. This will mean we don't have to drive through Auckland again, and can visit the Botanic Gardens on our way to the airport. 

We know the drive will be mostly through farmland but have found that there is one of those wetlands of International importance (Ramsar site) close to where we are staying. It is apparently the largest bit of wetland in the North Island, and home to Australasian Bittern, Spotted Crake and Marsh Crake amongst others. The leaflet tells us there is a National Wetland Visitor Centre due to open in 2007. We head for there first and then plan to do the 50km drive loop tour of the highlights outlined on the leaflet.

The drive is fairly uneventful, although initially we find ourselves close to the coast and with views of the sea far more frequently then we were expecting. Hey, who's complaining. 

The road eventually turns inland but the farmland is not flat at the moment.  There are more of those duvet hills, but this time with sharper edges. Some parts also look like The Peak District and Dartmoor. There are buttresses and wind-sculpted rocks.

We go past a sign for Waitomo Caves - I remember someone telling us that these are glow worm caves - apparently you can sit in a rubber ring and float through the caves in the dark - eeaargh - good job we missed those.  Also see the native NZ pampas grass. It is more yellow with drooping fronds. We had been told about it but this was our first sighting this trip. 

Look for somewhere pleasant to sit and finish off the remnants of food we have in the boot. Suddenly we are on a major highway - one with two lanes each side and a barrier in the middle, and it has a very smooth surface. Plus a cycle lane down the inside.  A novelty for us - First road we've seen like this in NZ.  Navigator says take next turn, follow this down small road over brow of hill and magically a picnic table appears alongside the river.  

Interesting snacking - crackers, butter, jam, cheese straws, kiwi fruit (one gold one green), water, a can of sprite and a Mars bar. Well at least the water and Kiwi Fruit are healthy!  

Keeps us going for a while and empties the car of excess rubbish.

Arrive at Rangiriri and stop at information centre to ask where Wetland Visitor Centre is.  Map on leaflet says on shores of Lake Kopuera.  

Although there is an iSite 'i' outside the building, the information centre is a laundry and appears to have no info. Ask some people outside where wetland centre is. They've never heard of it -  the one lady says there are wetland signposts and boards along the road to Te Kauwhata but knows nothing about a centre.  Fetch iPad to show them, it says it's on edge of this lake - lady still says, no, that lake is on private land and no access to it. Mmm-wonder what's going on here. Decide that as marker posts are there we will try following the tour loop. First stop works anyway, scenic viewpoint over Lake Waikere - board explains how it was formed - and then how it has been ruined by human activity - one of the most polluted lakes in NZ.  Tells us that there is another lake (Rotokawau) on the South Western shore, a peat lake, one of the best examples of it's kind - but the board informs us that you can't see it from here! Doesn't tell you if or where you can see it either. 

Manage to see the next point - oh, it's 400ha of land that used to be part of the Whangamarino Wetlands, but was drained and converted to pasture under a government subsidised swamp drainage scheme!  (when that was allowed, it wouldn't be anymore). 

Next we see a big green sign saying Whangamarino Wetlands and lots of bog and wetland just to the side of the road. Nowhere to stop, though can see what look like three or more hides in the middle of the bog (but no paths!)?????

Find the river about 500yards further along the road, a small gravel pull-in and a stile into the bog, but still no path. Without wellies not sure if safe to wander in. No information board here with map or anything else for that matter!

Moving on we look for signs of the 'good example of a restiad bog' here. The bogs in NZ are formed from rushes not Sphagnum moss, and apparently the restive bit refers to the type of rush. A fire burned 2000ha of the bog in 1989 but it recovered and resulted in good populations of the swamp helmet orchid, which is only found here.  Exciting. Apparently they are still here in smaller numbers, but of course we can't see them!  We can see some bog in the distance but much of the closer bit has been taken over by willow.

The next stop is a weir they have built to restore water levels - but we can't see this either! Give up on the tour and find accommodation for the night.  

Our hosts tell us that the intended National Wetland Centre was never in fact built - some local dignitary put a stop to it, allegedly. More long stories to tell here...will have to wait...go for dinner in a local tavern with our hosts.  On return - a NZ Hawk (Kestrel) flies over the garden - first sighting of this bird on the trip!