Te Kopahou and Red Rocks

This is an old favourite that I have not done for some time.
The weather for the last weekend in winter has been something of a cracker. Saturday was marvellous – still, sunny and warm. Sunday was more overcast but still pleasant. I did the walk with the young people
from the Brooklyn wind turbine and past the emu farm.
The track is mainly on open hill tops but there is some regenerating bush in the valleys.
It was quite a long walk with a bit of up and down. My legs certainly felt it by the end of the day and here Jenny is resting before another dose of “up”!
The track comes to a cliff from where there are great views out over the sea
and back along the south coast.
At the bottom of the cliff is the seal colony – the males rest here during winter.
This fellow kept an eye on us while we had lunch.
The track then goes along the beach, past Red Rocks
and we saw some of my old friends.
The afternoon was rounded off by steaming bowls of hot chocolate at Sam and Bex’s local café.

Good to be home

We really enjoyed our time away but it was good to get home last Friday. After the steamy humidity and heat of Dubai we arrived back to a clear and sunny but crisp New Zealand on Friday.
The walk on Sunday was through the bush to the south of Tawa. It was good to see local vegetation again.
The recent wintry weather has left a few small patches of snow.

Andy got in some skiing

while I cooled off my feet.

The South Island ranges have received a big dump.

Proving that spring is just around the corner, lambing has begun

and this fern has 4 koru.

In the afternoon we visited Sam and Bex’s for tea and to inspect the new heat pump, carpet and redecoration.

Dubai

Nothing prepares you for Dubai. I have read books, seen pictures and talked to people who had been there. The reality is very difficult to describe. Everything is on such a big scale that it seems smaller than it really is. Apparent distances are shrunk so everything is further away than it appears.
These pictures do not do justice to the place but I’m afraid it’s all I’ve got. Our hotel was the Jemeirah Beach
5 star luxury – the best I have ever stayed in
but it looked out on the even plusher Burj al Arab, reputedly the most luxurious in the world.
Mere mortals are not allowed in. The cheapest option was to book for drinks in the Skyview Bar (Al Muntaha - the “C” shaped appendage to the right of the previous photo – on the 27th floor). This involved a minimum spend of AED150 each (about $NZ50 or £25/€30) with the drinks prices ranging from AED80 for a beer, AED200 for cheap cocktails up to AED9,000 for the top of the range number featuring real gold.
Here we are in a grainy picture from Noreen’s camera – I am hanging on for grim life!

For more photos see the company websites for Jemeirah Beach and Burj al Arab.

There are many amazing buildings in Dubai. It must be an architect’s dream. The normal rules of maximising floor plate utilisation, height restrictions and envelope criteria do not apply. They love empty space and the feeling it generates. At the Burj al Arab the reception atrium is 180 metres tall. In our hotel there was a lightwell extending for the full 25 storey height of the building. This is followed through in the malls.
Each competes with the others, not only in terms of what shops and designer names they house (all seemed to have Marks & Spencers and Debenhams – sometimes more than one)
but also the facilities. The Dubai Mall had a three storey aquarium
and an ice skating rink
while the Emirates Mall has an indoor ski slope.

You will notice there is no photo of perhaps the most amazing building of all, the Burj Kkalifa.
The main reason for this is that the building is so large that to take it all in with my not-very-wide angle lens you have to be a long way away and the mistiness of the air makes for a very murky image.

We did enjoy our time in Dubai. It was hot (mid forties) and very humid with a persistent haze. We swam even though the sea and pool were both about 30, but couldn’t stay out in the open for any length of time. All the buildings and transport are air conditioned. A constant problem was that glasses and camera lens fogged up when you stepped out from the cool air conditioned environment into the outdoors. We had a fun day travelling on the open topped bus (it did have a shade awning) getting good photos from the exposed platform before plunging back into the cooled interior to avoid meltdown. Here is the entrance to Atlantis on the Palm Jemeirah.

This trip also involved a voyage on a motorised dhow
up the creek that provided the initial impetus for Dubai’s development.
This was the only time we saw anything built before 1976 when the first high rise was constructed
and wildlife.
It’s probably true to say that Dubai represents a microcosm of the modern globalised world. There is obscene wealth and abject poverty. The poor are mostly from the Indian sub-continent and probably have a slightly better standard of living than at home. I can’t comment on their quality of life though. Educated westerners with marketable skills can make a good living but can only stay with the goodwill of the government, one mistake or lose your job and you’re out with no right of appeal. It’s always been a trading centre – now the commodities are international finance and services. The government (really the autocratic ruler) is using the country’s oil revenue to build a tourist destination. They have one of the fastest growing airlines and are building Dubailand, a universal theme park that aims to have 200,000 visitors a day.
Lastly (just to prove I can be smart), here we are all decked in our new best clothes (bought at Marks and Spencers!).

Cyprus

First stop on our journey south was in Cyprus, to catch up with my old university friend Costas. We have shared some adventures over the years. In our second year we had adjacent rooms in Archway, North London and always worked closely together while we studied. After completing the degree in 1970 we had a wonderful summer road trip in his Simca down through France, Switzerland, Italy to Greece. After two glorious weeks exploring the antiquities, beaches and cuisine, the return route was through the then Yugoslavia (possibly the world’s only cobbled motorway), northern Italy, Austria, Germany and Belgium. In 1972 I helped him organise shipping the equipment from a mattress making factory in Holland back to Cyprus. This was followed by a quick visit to Denmark.
We kept in touch over the years. He built up the mattress factory started by his father and is now one of the most successful industrialists in Cyprus. His company also makes mattress making machinery which Costas designs. He visited us on trips to England when we were there, and we visited Cyprus in 1985 and 2000.
We stayed at Protaras in a very comfortable hotel, relaxing by day and socialising with Costas, his wife Katia and their two grown up sons, wives and families.
One day we made an excursion to the north of Cyprus. This was invaded by Turkey in 1974. There was fighting with Greek Cypriots resisting the invasion but Turkey has controlled the north since then. All Greek Cypriots fled and until recently the border was closed and the only access from Turkey.
Famagusta is an ancient town with significant Venetian buildings.

The cathedral has been converted into a mosque – a common feature throughout the north where all crosses have been removed from churches and other buildings.
Further north are the ruins of Salamis (not to be confused with the place in Greece where there was a famous battle with Persia in 480BC).

There were many lizards. This one was about 30 cms long.
The castle of St. Hilarion is on the north coast. He was an early Christian from Palestine who led the life of a hermit and fled to Cyprus to escape the attention his fame was bringing him. He established his hermitage at the top of an impressive rocky mountain and over the centuries it was developed as a defensive stronghold by Byzantines and Venetians.


At the top there is a lookout platform
but Costas found a higher rock to perch on.
There are numerous viewpoints looking down to the coastal city of Kyrenia.