Place Royale in Lower Town, Quebec City (2001)©
Travel
Some good sources of travel information and ideas are:
When I travel I like to visit museums, zoos, aquariums and gardens. The 'Net allows you to go back and read about some of those exhibits you had to rush past. Some of the more notable ones I have visited and would recommend include:
Art and History
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Science and Technology
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Rhinos at the Singapore Zoo (2004)©
Military
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Stalinist-Gothic architecture in Moscow (2006)©
I enjoy travelling on my holidays, particularly to Australia, North America and Europe.
In May 1980 I visited Fiji, Western Samoa and Tonga - the latter was my favourite. A good source of information in the region is south-pacific.travel NEW from the SPTO.
I have relatives in London, England, and have spent some time there on two visits. On the first trip in 1986 I had five months (July to December) away from New Zealand travelling over via Hawaii, San Francisco, Alberta and British Columbia in Western Canada, and the North East of the USA, down as far as Williamsburg and up as far as Boston. I got up to Scotland a couple of times and did a tour around Western Europe. I really loved Switzerland (I had a fun time travelling around the country using a rail pass) so the SBB site brings back great memories of a very effective transport system (not only the railway but also the lake steamers). Other highlights included the King's College Chapel in Cambridge, England, and the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in Rome. My return was via Hong Kong and Japan, where I got down from Tokyo to Kyoto.
Trevi Fountain in Rome (2000)©
On my second holiday in Europe in 1992/93 (December to February) I covered a considerable part of England and flew over to Paris in France for few days. Dartmouth was one of the highlights for me and I also got into the centres of Liverpool and Manchester.
In 1988 (May) we mounted a family expedition to the Western USA and Canada in a rental station wagon. Starting in Denver we circled down through Taos and Santa Fe and across to Grand Canyon National Park, then down to Phoenix and across to San Diego. We headed up to Anaheim (Disneyland) and then Mammoth Lakes and Yosemite National Park before reaching Sacramento, Seattle and Vancouver. After visiting the Whistler Resort and Victoria, we then headed across via Lake Okanagan and Banff National Park to Calgary. From there it was down through Helena, Yellowstone National Park (not long before the devastating fires) and Grand Teton National Park to Salt Lake City and Aspen before returning to Denver.
In 1996 I got back on holiday to the USA again, this time to make second visits to San Francisco, Washington DC and New York.
I subsequently made long weekend trips to Ayers Rock (Uluru) and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia, and to the Blue Mountains (the weather was terrible!), Central Coast and Port Stephens in New South Wales.
My holiday to Australia in 1997 was to Port Douglas, staying at Treetops, and Cairns, staying at the Holiday Inn. I had a boat trip on the Daintree River, went out to the Great Barrier Reef (Agincourt Reef to be precise on a Quicksilver catamaran) and drove up to the Atherton Tableland.
My 1998 New Zealand holiday was to Wanaka and the Cardrona skifield. In 2001 on a return visit I went to Puzzling World just out of Wanaka. The AA New Zealand Travel Guide provides is a useful reference source for local destinations.
The steamer Earnslaw at Queenstown (2001)©
My 1999 holiday was a trip to England via Los Angeles (staying at The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica). The following links are useful in planning a trip to the UK:
We got to Hamleys and Harrods, took a cruise on the Thames from Greenwich to Westminister and visited the South Kensington Museums in London. In Wells we stayed at the Market Place Hotel and from there we visited Longleat and The Glastonbury Area. We drove down to Cornwall over Dartmoor and stayed at the Cliff Head Hotel near St. Austel. We then drove over Exmoor on our way to North Devon where we stayed at the Woolacombe Bay Hotel. On the way back to London we stayed in Faringdon. From there we visited the Cotswolds and Oxford. We also visited Legoland Windsor. I did not get to the Shuttleworth Collection. Maybe next time!
I have usually booked my personal travel through Thomas Cook (now taken over in New Zealand by Harvey World Travel) while our business travel is booked through Atlantic Pacific RADIUS.
Two New Zealand travel agency sites provide comprehensive information on air fares and travel packages:
Travelocity.com is a good US-based site with similar information.
The General Post Office Building, Dublin, Ireland, centre of the 1916 Easter Rising (1998)©
Over the years my work with the Ministry of Transport has taken me to Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Suva, Papeete, Singapore, Honolulu, Kona, Washington DC, Chicago, London, Brussels, Rome, Dublin, Geneva, Madrid, Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, Seoul, Montreal, Neiafu, Nuku'alofa, Noumea, Ha Noi, Pusan, Port Vila, Moscow, Manila, Apia and Ankara.
Ch'angdokkung Royal Palace in Seoul, Korea (2001)©
Wellington
Wellington, where I work, is the capital of New Zealand. The Wellington City Council site has a wealth of information.
The Museum of New Zealand is located in a massive building on the waterfront.
Maps
The New Zealand Topographical Database online is available in a Beta version.
Multimap.com provides coverage of the UK and Europe.
Motoring and Rail
My car is a Honda and so the company's New Zealand and USA sites are of interest. We have recently purchased a Mitsubishi NEW for a second car, replacing a Toyota.
We enjoy watching the UK motoring programme Top Gear (it has a second site on the BBC homepages).
I regularly commute into work by train on Tranz Metro.
Last modified 11 November 2008