Travel shows us other worlds.

As a child growing up in dirty old Glasgow our annual holiday in Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae in the Clyde Estuary was a taste of heaven. Clean beaches, farms, wild flowers, fresh air, bicycles and freedom and the realisation that some people lived like that all the time! 

Holidays for me are about seeing different things, new places and how other people live. I always come back re-invigorated. They are not an esccape for me because I love my home and where I live and don't need to escape from it, but I do need to look around and refresh my eyes and my ideas.

What do you look for in a holiday? And do you have happy memories of childhood holidays?

Lots of photographs but there was lots to like....

Visitor friendly, clean, with beautiful parks and river landscaping, stylish shops and cafes, and  great art galleries, but you can't talk about Christchurch without mentioning the devastating earthquake of 2011.

The sounds of the city are cicadas in wonderful old trees, the old fashioned bell of the trams which do city tours and construction site  noises from the extensive work going on to rebuild after the violent  destruction of so much of the city eight years ago on 22nd of February.

A chair to represent each of the 185 people who died in the earthquake. Dining chairs, a rocking chair, armchairs, a wheelchair, a stool, a high chair, an exercise chair, a beanbag, a baby car seat....on a piece of waste ground with a small notice board and a few poems about grief pinned up. The installation is by artist Peter Majendie.

I walked there early one morning and was quite overwhelmed. It was close to the anniversary of my husband Barry's death and as I read the poems tears streamed down my face. You were invited to sit on any of the chairs but no-one did. They seemed sacrosanct and the few people around were very respectful, quietly taking a photgraph, as I did, and walking away silently.

I crossed the road to visit the Cardboard Cathedral which was what I had really come to see. I wanted to just sit and compose myself, but found it busy and noisy and felt people were less respectful here than at the memorial across the road - even taking photographs inside the chapel set aside for private prayer.

It is a lovely simple building (see here) but you enter through the shop (of course they have to raise money to restore the old cathedral) and in the quite small space there are 3 large paintings, 8 sculptures and other objects, 2 banners, 25 large phtographs and 2 flower arrangements, and a guided tour was going on.

I found the Art Gallery much more conducive to quiet contemplation, which seeems odd.

Here is one of the poems from the chairs memorial.

Or a Hibiscus Kiss kombucha at the chocolate shop with the spectacular view, or a Blushing Dragon juice at the Malaysian restaurant. And then there are the vineyards...a glass of chilled wine and a platter of local food to share....

Interestingly tipping is not part of the culture in New Zealand, hopefully because people are paid a living wage.

to Abel Tasman National Park where we heard this.

Many of New Zealand's native birds are ground nesting (and some are flightless), and in this National Park they are increasing the numbers by getting rid of introduced predators like possums, rats and weasels.

There are no roads and you can only reach the eco lodge we stayed in by boat -a gorgeous trip dropping people off at several idyllic beaches, a somewhat rougher trip coming back!  The boat drops you on the sand and you walk along the beach to a board walkway and some steps and as soon as we were among the trees we heard the bell bird and the tui. And the loudest cicadas I have ever heard. There were also eels and glow worms in the wetland below our balcony. We took ourselves out at night using the torches on our phones along little paths, listening to many strange noises in the bush (intrepid adventurers that we are!) to spot the glow worms. - I loved this place.

See more about the conservation projects here.

The road north ends at the small resort of Kaiteriteri and from here it is boat or helicopter or by foot on the huge network of hiking trails.

The wetlands from our balcony.

I liked the architecture

Tree ferns everywhere

..and agave, cordyline, eucalypts, hebes.

The outdoor part of the restaurant..

The kind of place where you dress for dinner by putting the laces back in your sandshoes!

Fantastic.