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#alisholiday

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Home sweet home - there’s no place like it! The house and cats have been well looked after by the Austrian house sitters 😊

Thanks everyone who followed my 2-week #NoFly #SlowTravel holiday. You will have seen that I had a wonderful time! Saw lots of interesting places, caught up with lovely old friends and celebrated my sister’s birthday.

I was nervous about my 1st trip of more than 2 or 3 days in over 5 years, but all the travel went smoothly & I managed my fatigue okay.

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My location for the next few hours - the Intercity bus home to Ōtepoti. Happy to see we have the same driver as my trip up 2 weeks ago, because that was a very smooth journey.

It’s wet here in Ōtautahi - my good holiday weather luck finally ran out on Friday, day 11 of my holiday, so I can’t complain about that! Still had some warm sunny periods over the weekend too.

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I’m now resting up, though I may venture out for food later, as long as the promised thunderstorms don’t arrive! I’m also contemplating going to the urgent doctors, as I have a sore foot which has been developing over a few days - perhaps an infected splinter or prickle 🫤Maybe it can wait until I get home - tomorrow!

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I wandered around Lyttelton a bit before catching a return bus to the city. Such a cool place of old buildings, cafes, shops and public art.

Aotearoa people will recognise the Covid tracer app sign - I haven’t seen one in ages. I guess it’s been kept as a memorial to the days when people actually tried to avoid spreading/catching it 🫤

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The ferry from Lyttelton to Diamond Harbour is fun and you can take a bike along at no extra cost. I wandered along one of the walkways and the village, and had a pot of tea and snack at a cafe. The pier is a popular spot for swimming and some young’uns were dive bombing off in good manu style!

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Today I’ve been using Ōtautahi’s public transport system. Happily my Metrocard, not used in over 5 years, still works! For the princely sum of $12 I did a return trip to Diamond Harbour by bus and ferry, a great wee outing.

The bus interchange is good and puts Ōtepoti’s to shame. You can actually wait for a bus indoors! It’s especially spacious before 9am on a Sunday 😆

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This sign had me very confused. Because it was partially obscured when I first walked by I thought it said “fated” something. When I saw the rest I read “fated dies” 🥺 It is of course Fat Eddie’s, a jazz club/bar! Is this a deliberate choice, I wonder 🤔

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Today I joined the hordes exploring central Ōtautahi - the river, the market, the fabulous street art. There were plenty of tourists, plus people attending the World Busking Festival!

In the afternoon I wandered around the lovely Botanical Gardens catching Pokémon - IYKYK 😆 Met a couple of people I know online IRL 😊

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We’ve now moved inland from the wild Pacific coast, which really was the highlight of this train journey. I didn’t get any good photos, sorry - I was too busy spotting wildlife! I saw lots of seals, a pod of dolphins, a great variety of seabirds, and a whale 😍

We’re due into Ōtautahi in a couple of hours - I’m spending the weekend there.

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Once again I have a window seat on the coast side of the train 🎉No seat mate yet but I will have later. The train is quite full already with some loud Americans nearby sharing their life stories. Once again I’m grateful for my headphones! Also the free wifi and phone charging (I’ve acquired the right sort of charging cord since my trip up) 😆

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I’m in Picton where it’s a cool grey day. The crossing was much smoother than I was expecting from the forecast.

Last time I stopped here it was hot and there was a long queue at the real fruit icecream truck - not this time, yay!

I’m about to board my favourite form of transport - the Coastal Pacific Train 🥰

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It’s all action here in the ferry quiet area, which is now full. Someone left their bag on their seat and wandered off somewhere - their phone rang loudly for ages and keeps pinging very loud notifications. And I don’t know if the woman making a long phone call noticed my glare through my mask! May have to deploy my noise-cancelling headphones 😆

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I’m now aboard the Kaitaki, all set to sail back to Te Wai Pounamu. Sorry Wellington friends - now that I’m leaving your fair city my charm over the weather has ended!

I’ve got a great seat on the ferry - next to the window in the quiet area. After almost 10 days with family and friends and talking a lot I’m pretty peopled out, and happy to have some chilled out time travelling on my own 😆

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We had another warm sunny day in Carterton. Wandered around the op shops & ate at Aunt Ginger’s Kitchen - yum! I was inspired by the cover on my friends’ daybed, made from tea towels. I plan to make one myself. There’s good quality linen in tea towels, available cheaply at op shops.

My Carterton friend is disabled & gets around on this very stylish e-tricycle 😍

Later we drove back over the hill to Te Whanganui a Tara.

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I’m now on a side-trip! Drove with my friend in her electric car over the Remutaka hills to the Wairarapa and we’re staying a night with friends in Carterton.

Accompanied my friend on his daily walk around the outskirts of the town, which was lovely. Weather is a bit hotter than I’m used to walking in though - my run of good holiday weather continues 🤞🏼

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My 9th day on holiday and my weather luck continues. Such a gorgeous day in Te Whanganui a Tara today - you can’t beat it on a good day, as the saying goes 😆

Continuing the transport theme with a cable car pic - I went on it to do a quick errand in town.