We interrupt this broadcast from Argentina.....

.....to bring you the Christmas 2019 highlights.
We towed the caravan up to Ohiwa on Sunday the 15th of December, as the weather and traffic on the Monday did not look as favourable. We got some showers, but it was the strong winds which  also very gusty that scared us all.

Fortunately our site is quite sheltered from rain in this direction

These two baby tui did not make it, which lead to very distressed parent tui

 We had an early Christmas Day with sisters Heather and Lyn. We began the day with a "high tea" brunch .

(Lyn wants you to know that she is raising a glass of water )

We had a very traditional roast lamb dinner and the proceeded to assemble our Mille Feuille (a thousand sheets) pastry, layered with strawberries, custard and cream and raspberry syrup.

Lyn was the only one of us to successfully eat hers without a spoon.

 The weather on the next two days was OK, but not warm enough for swimming. Also there was a rahui after White Island eruption.

 Lyn has asked me commissioned me to paint a scene from Ohiwa for her spare room for her seventieth birthday. She has a photo, but we had a lot of walking up and down on the estuary only to find that it must have been taken from the balcony of Todd and Nola's house! The norfolk pine and the pohutukawa are now crowded out by the swimming pool!

 On Friday the 20th we hitched up the caravan and headed off to Wren and Margaret's just out of Hamilton, and then around to Barry and Liz's new house, which is much smaller than they are used to, but a sensible move given our advancing years!!

Then we all went out for dinner at the Wayward Pigeon

 Next morning Barry and Duncan went out to play golf and Liz , Margaret and I went to see Dolores, She was very bright and talkative, despite only having 30% of heart function. She was heading to Australia for Christmas. Her next great mission will be to move somewhere smaller, but she still has quite a bit of sorting out to do with Bruce's estate. She very kindly gave us a bottle of red wine from Bruce's wine cellar, which we look forward to drinking soon.
Later in the afternoon we moved up to Clark's Beach. Not a great camping ground, but very close to the Anderson's at Waiau Pa. Next day Duncan played golf with Rob Dyas, an ex-Gisbornite, and some other golfers whom he also knows. I did some housework, and had a relaxing day.
Simon, Jackie, Theo and Claudia had flown in overnight, and we went and picked the kids  and bought them back to the camping ground.

Theo played very considerately on the tramp with his sister

 We went for a walk along the estuary but it was very tidal and not good for swimming.

And so windy it just about blew Claudia's dress off!

Theo was the only one to manage without warm clothing!

 Later in the afternoon we went back to the Andersons and had dinner with them and then we all went to the Glenbrook steamtrain Christmas festival. Jackie's brothers and families turned up too.

Phil and Claudie

Simon and Theo

Arriving at the station and Santa's grotto.

 On the 24th we picked Theo and Claudia up and headed to Butterfly Creek. Unfortunately the one part the kids did not like was the butterfly enclosure as it was very hot and humid, and there was quite a bit of rotting fruit about, as this liquid is all the butterflies take in.

 However there were lots of other displays which the kids enjoyed more. Claudia was a willing model.....

With a pirate skeleton

With a lizard

With a roaring brother

With a couple of old fossils

With a unicorn

With a couple of apes!!

with a white rabbit

fearlessly feeding the goats

with a watermelon fruju.

Theo offering a raptor some fruju. These models had moving parts and made noises.

 Simon came around to the motorcamp on Christmas morning so we could open the presents there and avoid present overload. There was yet another game of mini golf for the boys, then about 11.30 we went around to the Andersons.

I tried to get Claudia to sit forward more!

Water balloons on the lawn. The garden was looking a picture and will be open next month for a garden tour.

Then we all ate too much and sat and talked until about 5pm. I couldn't eat another thing, but Duncan managed some dinner.
We got a good start next morning - it was a bit ambitious to make it back in one day: 8 1/2 hours with the caravan and stops every couple of hours. But we made it by 5pm and at least got the food out of the caravan.

Over the hills and far away - Chile to Argentina

We really enjoyed our short stay in Valparaiso. Our quaint hotel was in the district of Alegre (which means happy) and used to be dotted with brothrels which the sailors at the port frequented. Co-incidentally the next District was called Concepcion and is dotted with churches - should the sailors or the prostitutes feel the need to confess!
It is an early start to the day, and we have breakfast in our room, then taxis take us to the main bus station as we will be using public transport over the Andes from Chile to Argentina.

 Our first stop is at Vina del Mer, a more modern city not far from Valpo, then we pass through dormitory suburbs, and on to scrubby land with large cultivated areas of horticulture.

Entering the Andes

To start with it is all quite scruffy and we both have a short doze, but wake fitfully as there are a huge number  of toll gates to go through.

The sky is brilliantly blue and there is a smattering of snow on the Andes.

In the bottom of the picture you may just be able make out the bends of the dusty road as we start to wind up the pass.

Love this shot - I took it to show the opensided tunnels - yellow, but the motorbike gives it great perspective.

Inside one of the open-sided tunnels.

Now I think this is a glimpse of Aconcagua, the highest mountain out of the Himalayas. It is actually in Argentina, but I think this is a view from Chile.

This says Curve 26 but there were at least 29 signs that I saw - not to mention many more "curves". We'd call them hairpin bends.

Suddenly the road starts to straighten out as we reach the top of the pass

Small buildings flying the Argentinian flag start to appear. If you look closely you can see a condor in the sky.

Going through immigration takes some time, and it is very cold. I think Duncan is glad he borrowed my polyprop, while I have layered up with merinos.

The layers of strata start facing a different way! Walls hold back the shingle rock slides.

The geology is transformed in the space of a few kilometers!

The weather becomes cloudier, and long straight roads lead us to Mendoza - soon we start to see extensive vineyards.

Tonight is a group dinner as we have been travelling about 7 hours. We choose our dinner, and the idea is that you go upstairs to choose your wine from the temperature and humidity controlled room which is called the cellar. We decide the first wine we are offered ( a Cab Sav) is too young and then get offered a bottle of Sapere Malbec blended from vintages of 2013, 2014, 2015. It is superb - we are highly impressed. The rest of the group just have house wine.

We don't offer to share!!

The open kitchen. I have a cheesy pasta and Duncan has a risotto with chunks of beef through it which is indicative that 60% of the population have Italian ancestry.

We ask for salad or green vegetables but they are not available. The land is too dry to grow them.

There are original artworks everywhere

Valpo - Thursday17th Oct 2019

Valparaiso used to be an extremely important port before the Panama Canal was put in but that hasn't stopped Valpo from spreading up the hills that surrounded the small port and fishing village. The steps are a true  test for the hamstrings, but fortunately 9 of the sixteen cable cars are working, while others are being repaired. Lots of pictures today. It is fine, but still quite cool.

Cable Car Station

Making it work.

Our local guide was Alvaro. He had a group of about five dogs which followed him around - as well as 9 tourists! We'd go up in the cable car and the dogs would race up the stairs to greet us. They could probably taken us on the whole tour if only they could talk.

Duncan took the slide - I took the stairs! More street art.

This advertises the cuisine of an indigenous race, the Mapuche. Their history can be traced back to BC, but the invasion of the Spanish initially lead to a withdrawal to areas of Patagonia, but from the 1860's on there were land wars.

Any Non- Roman Catholic church was not allowed to be ornate, no crosses, no door facing the front. This is an Anglican one.

Street Art at the entrance to a restaurant. Artists must ask the owner first before Art is applied. There is one house - called the White House where there is no street art.

Jazz singers as street art - this one is quite famous.

Beethoven's Piano Stairs. The graffiti on the side will soon be covered over by the locals who take pride in their street art.

The great art  often has to  compete with the terrible tangle of power lines which often looked quite unsafe.

From our position about half way up the hill we finally see the Port. There is a floating port in the harbour too. I don't know why more ports in NZ don't investigate this.

We go to the Museum of Lukas - a cartoonist who was caught up in the press corruption during the Military Junta years. This is particularly interesting to Duncan and me who went to the Museum of Memories in Santiago.

This cartoon says "I don't know what to buy by niece for her birthday"'. "Why don't you buy her a skirt?" " Somehow it doesn't seem quite enough:"

Freedom of the press during the Military Junta

1. International Airport
2. International Airport with extension.

This is a drawing of Valpo, and we wouldn't think it was so amazing - but it is almost like it is taken from a drone picture, high up and out to sea.

Steps to Nowhere gave us all a wry smile.

Floating dock and Lukas's Charactature .

Its about midday, but we are stopping for Morning tea.

Metalwork Studio

The first laundry - women would fight over who got the top step to do their washing from. The water flowed down, getting progressively dirtier as it went down the water race.

More street art - a mythical bird - probably related to the condor.

Lorraine has an Alfajores - two plain biscuits with Dulce de Leche in the middle coated in chocolate. The Argentinian ones were better as the biscuits were made from a softer flour and more melt in your mouth. Mmmmm.

The city sprawling around the hills

Down to the waterside in the next cable car.

Yes, the dogs were waiting for us at the bottom.

The court with its Greek Goddess of Justice (Not the Roman one with the scales and the blindfold.)

Very like Wellington - past waterlines are recorded in the footpaths

The Navel office is a very smart building - the colours of a Wedgewood dish.

This handsome monument celebrates the War of the Pacific against ships from Peru and Bolivia.

Alvaro relates how one of the Chilean ships attacks the enemy, and despite overwhelming odds manages to board the ship, and take control, but the Chilean Captain is killed. He is treated as a hero.

The other ship forces the enemy ships onto the rocks where it founders and breaks up. The captain is obviously a more strategic thinker - but did not get the recognition

Part of the fishing fleet.

 It is now mid afternoon, but we get the cablecar back to our neighbourhood and have a late lunch before a nap.

Robert (Barossa Valley) is often late - but not for the Pisco demonstration!

Luma and one of the hotel lads take us through the essentials of making a Pisco. It involves  a highly alcoholic spirit distilled from grape juice. Lemon, sugar syrup, eggwhite (and some kind of softdrink for a less alcoholic version) are whizzed up Angostura Bitters is used to decorate it.. Its quite palatable.

 Lorraine and Judith from Rotorua enjoy their Pisco and nibbles.

Its been a long active day, and we have a light meal before turning in.