Coober Pedy: 23rd April 2012

This is a very rare video. It’s about the only tour I can remember where we didn’t stop at a souvenir shop at some stage. But, we’d already done our shopping … you just can’t leave Coober Pedy without buying opals.

Kiel: 2nd December 2012

I always visualised Kiel as a rather cheerless port, where ships waited to enter the Kiel Canal. I was happy to be proved wrong! The light wasn’t the greatest … but what do you expect in December? We were told there’s a Winter Market in Kiel, only a few hundred yards from where the ship was berthed, which would open at 10 o’ clock.

We found a huddle of little Christmas Market-type wooden huts clustered in a little square by the church, but all were firmly locked up.

So, we wandered a little further, and found a marquee pitched in front of the Town Hall, advertising an Eisfestival. Could this be it? No, it housed a temporary skating rink.

We took a gentle stroll round a peaceful, placid lake, which is a typically German way to spend a Sunday. Then, we set off to return to the ship, and found what we’d thought to be the Winter Market open and trading. But, they only seemed to be selling food and drink … for ‘consumption on the premises’. We spotted a coffee bar nearby, which had also opened, so we went in to enjoy a sumptuous hot chocolate with cream before returning to the ship.

 

It was a month or so later that I read that hot chocolate looks more tempting if it’s served in an orange mug. The mug was transparent, but the saucer was orange. Is it true, or was this just good chocolate?

We found out later that there was indeed a Winter Market, which we’d have found if we’d walked a little further. But, we weren’t too disappointed; the Christmas market at Rostock was a hard act to follow.

We managed to enter the Kiel Canal by daylight. Everyone clustered on deck to watch the ship going through the lock, steered from the bridge wing by the Captain himself. I can’t say I blame him. In his place, in such a confined space, I don’t think I’d have entrusted such a fine ship to anyone else, either.

Ever since my teens, I’ve been coming across the letters ATC in one form or another. First, it was the Air Training Corps, then Air Traffic Control. Then, it was Amesbury Town Council and now … the Ancient Technology Centre.

You can find out about the Ancient Technology Centre at their website; http://ancienttechnologycentre.co.uk/ . In a nutshell, it started off as a school project, which was intended to show children how houses were built, and give them some idea of life in historical times.

From there, it grew, and they have been awarded the contract by English Heritage to construct neolithic dwellings for the new visitor centre at Stonehenge. But first, using volunteer labour, they did a trial run at Old Sarum, based upon archaeological finds at Durrington. The objective was to see if the theory worked … it seems authentic enough to me.

In fact, I think I could live here … but, for a short period in Summer only!

19th March 2013: Sunnmøre

For our tour in the afternoon, a coach took us to Sunnmøre, a little way out of town, to visit the Open Air Museum. The guide said that many of the exhibits were closed for the winter, but enough remained open to show Norwegian life in the olden days.

As far as I could make out, the site was on either an island or a peninsula, for none of it seemed far away from the waters of the fjord. The days was still bright, the waters calm and the snow-covered mountains in the distance stood out clearly. So, if nothing else, it made for an extremely photogenic visit.

I was particularly interested in the ‘church houses’; these weren’t for living in, but to enable those who had come a long distance to worship to change out of their travelling clothes into their church-going gear. I was particularly drawn by the method of roofing them … first, a layer of birch bark, topped by turf.

I remembered wrestling with tar paper and particularly foul and nasty sticky stuff when I re-covered the roof of my shed recently, and thought this was a far better idea. And, when the grass got too long, you simply hauled a goat or a sheep up onto the roof.

There are other traditional houses as well … even a shop. They don’t sell their wares here, just show them … but, of course, there is a souvenir shop, where you can buy stuff. There were boats, too, but most of the ones on display were out of the water.

Overlooking the museum site is the white painted Borgund Church, where we made a brief stop to take some photos, not only of the church, but of its beautiful surroundings, too.

 

 

Coober Pedy: 24th April 2012

If you like quirky and off-beat, you’ll love Coober Pedy. It’s famous, of course, for the opals mined here, and everywhere, there’s evidence of the mining … including warnings to take care, lest you fall down a pit. There’s lots of machinery still hanging about, as well as lots of cars and trucks from a bygone generation, all so dilapidated, it’s hard to tell what’s still in use and what’s abandoned

There’s more above ground than I expected, although what we see is actually the frontage of a home, a shop, a restaurant, a mine … or even a hotel or a church, tunnelled into the hillside. The ’underground town’ I was expecting was, actually, many ‘dugouts’; houses tunnelled into the side of the hill, rather like some of the houses on Santorini. Most of what the restaurants and shops have to offer is boldly advertised with bright, garish signs verging on the primitive, which might, originally, have been hand painted.

Everywhere, they sell opals, and it’s probably illegal to leave town without buying any.

A must to visit, even if you don’t play golf, is the Coober Pedy Golf Club, with its oiled-sand ‘browns’, and notices sternly exhorting visitors to ‘Keep Off The Grass’ … even though there isn’t a single blade for miles around.

In the afternoon, we went on a short tour. We saw one of the many underground churches, and had a short ‘noodle’ around a mullock heap. We found a few small, valueless opals, and wondered if the site had been previously ‘salted’?

Then, an inspection of ‘Crocodile Harry’s’ mine and underground house. It’s said this bygone, larger than life character was the model for ‘Crocodile Dundee’. The dwelling is left largely as it was in Harry’s day … except that, for a small contribution, you can add to his original ‘artwork’ on the walls … if you can find room!

 

 

Rostock: 1st December 2012

Rostock is claimed as having ‘ … the greatest Christmas market in the North’. They didn’t specify in the North of what, but I can quite believe it.

First, though, a quick bus tour of the gates and what’s left of the city walls, and a visit to St. Mary’s church, to view one of the only four astronomical/astrological clocks in the world.

Then, a serving of glühwein, a custom I could get quite used to, before being released into the market for a generous allowance of ‘free time’

Well, how can I describe the markets? Thankfully, I had my cameras, and don’t have to rely on words alone to describe the bustle and the vibrant, excited buzz.

There were food stalls selling bratwurst, hot chocolate and glühwein … all things you can get at Lidl, at home, but with far more atmosphere. Mixed with these were stalls offering all kinds of crafts and sweets associated with Christmas. And, there’s no tat; strict regulations sternly bar these from German Christmas markets.

Gingerbread! That’s a smell I always associate with these markets. And, towering above all, there’s a Great Big Wheel … and if you (or the children) want more rides, the fairground, in another location, is an almost indispensable part of the market.

(There is video, but I’ll save that for next Christmas!)

Last weekend, they re-enacted the Siege of Old Sarum during the Wars of the Roses. Now, my knowledge of this particular war is rather sketchy … at school, we were given a mnemonic, which went something like ‘A boy must know all the battles until Bosworth’ to help us remember the main battles … but this boy certainly didn’t know them.

I’m pretty sure, though, that there wasn’t a battle of Old Sarum … but why spoil a good re-enactment with facts?

Anyway, I wasn’t really there for the armour and the weapons … although the trebuchet was interesting.

What I really wanted was pictures of the ordinary people, the craftsmen, the wives … in fact, anyone who wasn’t a knight or a man at arms. And, as you can see from my pictures, I got a pretty fair cross-section of the society of the time.

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19th March 2013: Ålesund

The morning turned out bright and clear, although a little cold. Our tour didn’t start till 1 p.m, so we devoted the morning to a short exploration of this delightful little town, which is spread over several islands near the mouth of a fjord.

We later found that Ålesund is sometimes called the ‘Venice of Norway’. Maybe that’s a little clichéd, but the pastel-coloured art nouveau buildings of the town centre are rather reminiscent of the island of Burano.

In 1904, a disastrous fire broke out, which completely destroyed the city centre, leaving 10,000 people homeless … although, remarkably, only resulting in one death. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, who often spent holidays in the area, immediately sent four warships laden with materials to build temporary shelters. Meanwhile a team of architects and master builders drew up plans to rebuild the city in stone and brick in the art nouveau style of architecture popular in Europe at the time.

Since the high price of stuff in Norway is legendary, we naturally had to check some of them out. Just one example; a street stall was offering fish and chips at NKr 99 a portion … that’s nearly £13 in English money! And, this in a town where one of the main industries is fishing!

‘That’s about what you’d pay for fish and chips in a restaurant at home’
‘Yes, but twice what you’s pay at a take-away chippy!’

We passed several moored fishing boats where the fishermen were displaying their catches for sale; mainly cod at this time of year, most of which is caught in the fjord itself. Different fish are caught at other times of the year; the name of the town itself, in fact, means ‘Eel Creek’.

 

Coober Pedy: 23rd April 2012.

If you can remember that far back, our original plan was the ride the ‘Ghan’ train from Darwin to Adelaide, breaking the journey in Alice Springs to tour the Red Centre. But, a change to the train time-tables caused us to alter our plans. We could still ride the train down from Darwin, and do the tour, but we’d have to wait for four days in Alice Springs for the next train, which we didn’t want to do.

We could have flown from Alice to Adelaide, but that seemed a bit ordinary. Or, we could take a bus. There’s a daily Greyhound Australia service to Adelaide … and it’s as good as the train for seeing the country, especially if there are no tracks where you’re going. In fact, I wonder if a trip on a long-distance bus (not a tourist coach) … may be counted as a ‘road trip’, regardless of the fact you’re not driving.

When we found that it stops at Coober Pedy, the ladies’ eyes lit up. Coober Pedy equals opals, and it’s probably illegal to leave town without buying any. So, the plot was hatched. We would ride the bus to Coober Pedy, have a 24 hour stopover, then catch the next bus to Adelaide.

The ‘Skinny Dog’, as it’s sometimes called, is rather like the National Express, at home in the UK, apart from the distances involved. Every so often, the bus stopped at the turn-off to a remote station or homestead, where the driver left a sack of mail, usually in an old oil drum on a post at the side of the road. And, the coach was towing a trailer, for Greyhound Australia’s business is not only carrying passengers, but also freight.

We stopped for lunch at Kulgera, which advertises itself as ‘The First and Last Pub in the Northern Territory’. It’s a picture of studied dilapidation, consisting of whacky signs, old cars and tractors and things, trying, with some success to capture the atmosphere of an outback pub.

We only had thirty minutes here, so we just had time for a pie and a quick coffee in a restaurant decorated with effigies of Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn, I can understand … one of her best-known movies was ‘Bus Stop’, but I’m still trying to work out the Elvis connection.

Towards the end of the afternoon, the setting sun came out, and lit up the red desert sand and the yellow grass. And, as we approached Coober Pedy, its pinky-white mullock heaps from the opal diggings glowed ghost-white in the gathering darkness.

If you want to see video of this trip, there’s some at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=311649288952819&set=vb.100003232515261&type=3&theater

 

Warnemünde: 1st December 2012

Later in the afternoon, we got on the bus to Rostock, to see the Christmas market. I’ll be posting about this presently but I wanted to say that, although I took some video there, I feel the moment has passed for this. So, I’ll save it for around Christmas.

Meanwhile, here’s my video of Warnemünde.