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About us...
Your hosts, Linda & Ashley Morley enjoy music, art, photography, the outdoors generally, and love meeting people. We look forward to welcoming you to our peaceful home.
Journal... LATEST NEWS FROM KIA ORA HOMESTAY – NOVEMBER 2008
Once again we have had a very busy year and my update for the journal is nearly a year overdue!
We had a wonderful tourist season, meeting many lovely people from all over the world again! It is a great privilege having these guests who are able to inform us about their own countries and cultures – so very interesting and enriching. In turn we are able to provide them with information about New Zealand (and South Africa where we lived until 6 years ago). We have travelled New Zealand – particularly the South Island – very extensively and love sharing about special places to visit and things to do.
This year, however, we have spent a big chunk of time in the UK, Scotland and Ireland – hence the delay in keeping up regular news items in our journal. Our youngest son, Anthony, married a beautiful Scottish lass in the village of Luss on the shores of Loch Lomond. It was a really vibrant wedding – starting with bagpipes piping the groom and then the bride for 1/2km along the road to the lovely stone church. All the bridal party were dressed in typical Scottish outfits – including the littlest page boy of 18mths (too adorable!!)
It was a very moving service, preacher in his red tartan trews and big silver beard, speaking from the heart about the requirements for a successful marriage. I don’t believe there was a dry eye in the church. An harpist and singer lifted the ambience to a higher level.
After the service we walked along the shore to the Loch Lomond Lodge – in a blistering cold wind, but nobody seemed to notice it. The reception was once again in true Scottish style with a Scottish band and Scottish dancing – very invigorating and quite exhausting. (We were thrilled to have Scottish guests who had stayed at our B&B join us at the wedding!)
We spent 10 days in Luss with our other two sons and their families who had also travelled to be at the wedding. It was a really special time, bonding with them again and all the grandchildren. The cousins had a very busy time getting to know each other through fun and games. After they left Ashley and I went on an extensive tour of Scotland and the Isle of Skye. What a beautiful country it is – very rugged and exciting.
Unfortunately our travels were curtailed and we had to rush to Cambridge to be with Anthony as he underwent major head surgery after a cycling accident. The longest day, I think, in our lives. The surgery lasted for 7 hours and with the pre- and post-op time it was nearly 10 hours before we had word that all was well. He has had a very extensive recovery period – 9 months – with some ups and some downs, but latest (GOOD) news on that is that he is now fully recovered and has been back at work for the last 6 weeks. Ashley stayed on for a week after his surgery to ensure that all was well, and I stayed on for a further 4 weeks to cast a strict motherly eye on the patient while his new wife was out at work. It was a very special time spent with Anthony.
Once he was well enough to be left on his own, I flew to Ireland to spend a week with our middle son Jonathan, his wife and their two beautiful little girls. A real Cook’s tour, I am afraid to say, of Ireland. Another really beautiful country (which I look forward to revisiting), and a very special time with the little family From there I flew to Gatwick and was met by our oldest son Gregory, who drove me to their new home near Lichfield. I spent a very happy week with Greg, Sarah and young Eloise. Greg and I did a massive amount of gardening with Eloise’s help. I left the garden in her capable hands and photographs show that she has done a sterling job of looking after it!
It was sad leaving them all behind after such a close time with them all, but fantastic to see my dear husband anxiously waiting for me in the arrivals lounge in Christchurch. My homecoming was very special – the house spic and span and flowers in every room. (I think he missed me!)
Since then it has been all systems go – Ashley had one month leave in July and we did a massive amount of touring – we have spent time in Cromwell exploring the area, which is rugged and exciting. We spent a wonderful few days exploring the Haast Pass and the surrounding area there. We visited the Blue Pools for the first time – the water is an amazing turquoise and we could see large brown trout drifting on the river bed.
The Haast Pass has the most amazing variety of bird life and we spent hours sitting watching the birds and listening to the bird song. Brown Creepers, Yellow Heads, Wood pigeons, Bell birds and Tuis, plus many, many more. A real feast for the eyes. We also really enjoyed Haast Pass itself - it has so many view sites that are really worth a visit. Previously we have only stopped briefly at one or two view sites whereas this time we stopped and explored them all. We stayed in a quaint chalet at the top of Haast Pass, which enabled us to take our time and enjoy every last minute!
We had a very slow and leisurely trip home, stopping at places like Ship’s Cove and visiting the Penguin Colony on the beach nearby. This is the most amazing country, having so many interesting and exciting places to visit. We took time out to go North and visit the old Denniston Coal Mining Village – mostly derelict now, but the old workings remain and that was very interesting. We continued up into the top of the mountains and were rewarded with an incredible 360 degree view – looking over one mountain range to another and then over the uninterrupted seaview; incredible!
We continued from there further North to Mohokinui and walked up alongside the river through the forest to the top of the mountain. Once again bird life and views were stunning.
A trip to Akaroa – one of our favourite places – for a few days rounded off a great time of exploring and revisiting some places again. This time in Akaroa we did many of the drives and walks in the volcanic hills around the village and found some great places to stay.
On our way home we stopped – as usual – in Christchurch to visit the Art Gallery and to see a photographic exhibition on the South Pole. Coming back over Arthurs’ Pass we were caught in a beautiful snowstorm, so stopped over in Arthurs Pass which became a Winter Wonderland in no time.
The weather this winter and spring has left quite a lot to be desired, so most of our excursions have been to follow the sun. It has meant travelling through some rain now and again, and also snow falls now and again, which has made for interesting driving!
Last week we headed off to Queen Charlotte Sounds for 4 days (through sun, rain and snow!!) and had a really good time there exploring many of the drives and walks in that region. Our base was Te Mahia – what a beautiful place and lovely garden. On our last day we travelled to Titirangi at Queen Charlotte and then drove on to French Pass, driving all the way down to overlook D’Urville Island. Stunning scenery.
We have taken so many photographs on these trips, but as always, feel we can never capture the full beauty in a photo – the country is so vast and the scenes are so BIG it is impossible to show it to full advantage in a picture. So there is only one thing for it – please come and visit this magnificent country; you will find that being here is very well worth the effort!
Having done all these lovely trips we arrived home after one particularly bad wind and rain storm to find that we had had some wind and rain damage to the house. A few sheets on the roof lifted allowing rain to pour in through the ceiling. So currently we have a team of builders here replacing the roof sheets and ceiling, and replacing one of the inside walls. This has a very positive side to it – we are totally revamping our lounge. Changing the paint and the carpet and giving it a whole new look.
There is always a silver lining to every gloomy cloud!!
Happy holidays wherever you may go and warmest wishes from us both for a beautiful festive season. ASHLEY AND LINDA, PLUS COMMITTEE MEMBERS, ARE PLANNING AND PREPARING FOR : ART IN THE PARK 2009
Just a little update about what time we have had left over from travelling, has been used in planning and preparing for our next large Art in the Park event. It will take place on 7 March 2009 and this time around (and in future years) will be held at Shantytown, just south of Greymouth. The heavy rains of this year have made it necessary to find an all weather venue and Shantytown has given us the use of the historic goldmining village.
This has meant revisiting the whole event and changing it to fit in with the new venue. This has been a tremendously exciting time, as the Historic Village offers so many new opportunities to exhibit a whole new range of art forms, as well as our usual excellent range of West Coast artists. For the next and ALL future events we have decided to invite a number of artists from elsewhere and we have a line-up of some excellent professional artists coming from Christchurch through Wellington attending and exhibiting. All artworks will be for sale.
We also have a very large Art Activity tent which will have heaps of exciting art activities for young and older to enjoy.
We would like to encourage any travelers coming to New Zealand and the West Coast of South Island to make every effort to be at the next event. Shantytown is waiving the usual entrance fee and is asking for a gold coin donation only. This means that apart from being able to visit Shantytown and enjoy all it has to offer, you will also be able to visit Art in the Park at the same time and enjoy a wonderful eclectic range of artworks and performing arts all day.
We also have a number of excellent caterers for the day and these will be serving a wide range of delicious meals and eats in conjunction with Shantytown’s own cafeteria.
A day worth planning in advance for – come and enjoy a really exciting day with us – 7 March 2009 starting at 9a.m. Please visit our website for more details:
Kia Ora Homestay Ashley & Linda Morley 15 Keith Road Paroa Greymouth, West Coast South Island New Zealand
Tel: +64 3 762 6770 Email: stay@kiaora-homestay.co.nz |
