Follow Don & Kristin

In Granada we passed by Alhambra and we stopped for a walk and a very good icecream in Albaycin.

My favourite square in albaycin.

Sara got whiny so Anita put her int he fontaine.

View from Albaycin.

We took a round in Alpujarras on the way up to Granada. Great nature and very charming small cities. Las Alpujarras is one of my favourite areas of Spain.

Don, Kristin and Sara by  springwater close to Lanjaron. 

Anita, Sara and Don at the restaurant were we got great spanish food for lunch.

A house in Lanjaron.

We left for a 2 day road trip to Almunecar, Las Alpujarras and Granada on Thursday. Casablanca, the 2 star hotel, is really great and its by the beach in Almunecar.

We had trouble finding the way up to the old city and the castle San Miguel, but after driving around the town 3 times we found out it worked if u took the blind street close to our hotel. More pics int he album.

A beach seen from the old road between Nerja and Almunecar.

Castle San Miguel. Sara and Anita took a look inside when we had breakfast at the Hotel.

View from the old town in Almunecar.

Hotel Casablanca

We enjoy our stay in Anita and Sackes charming house in Torreblanca. The pool is big enough for 4 people and we have a sea view. The House also got air condition since wednesday.

Sara by the pool.

The view.

Anita and the house.

 We went for a djungletrekking day trip. It took us about 2 hours drive witha minin bus to Phang Na and we stopped at a place called the monkey cave. We saw no cave but many monkeys.

After we arrived we first went rafting. It was a great rafting and i just wish it lasted much longer. Then we went elephant trekking in the jungle and met Mike. After lunch we saw a baby elephant show and it was fun to see how excited the young elephants were to perform. They were so close that we had to watch our toes.

Then we  drove ATV in the jungle. Don was driving and i was passenger. Finally we tried extreme sports, but then it was raining so much that i turned around and went back on the rope bridge.

More pics in the album.

 Mike, Don and I in the jungle.

 Don is getting Thai Massage at the baby elephant show

 After the ATV. We had helmets and protection when driving.

The Beach is very beautiful. What I did not like was that the water was too hot and not cooling at all. Don enjoyed to play in the waves, but I thought they were too strong I could hardly keep my bikini on. There was also lots of trash in the water so the beach was not as great as we expected. At least we spent an afternoon there.

I guess it wont be fun to follow us this time. We havent done much, and I also forgot the camera wire, so i cannot put our pics up until we get home.

We have a very relaxing time and we love the hotel. Dons best swinglish phrase so far: Ska vi gå och svimma i poolen? (Want to go and faint in the pool?)

Our room looks exactly like this, except we have green pillows in our comfy bed. The bathtube is family size.

The pool is the biggest (longest) i have ever seen and its surrounded by the most beautiful threes and flowers.

Swimming from one end to the other and back is like 800 m and we love to swim in the spotlights at nights. I wish its was slightly cooler tho it must be warmer than 30 degrees celsius.

We spent a whole day in Antalya with much to see and to do. I could be without the sponsor stops at the jewelry and the leather shop tho. Visiting the basar was fun and Don got 2 new hoodies. Lots of pics are added to the album as well.

View from the old town in Antalya.

Street pic from the old town in Antalya.

The waterfalls outside Antalya.

We wnet the long way back to Antalya on Tuesday with a stop at a carpentery and a lunch by a nice lake. Don slept most of the way. How much that young man can eat and sleep is a mystery to me.

Girl making a carpet.

There is snow on the high moutains.

People from our Swedish group by the lake after lunch.

We came down to sunny Antalya on Saturday and went for a 2 days trip to Pamukkale and Hieropolis to see the famous old ruins and the salt pools on Monday. We had great weather and Don slept all the way up (330 kms).

Salt pools in Hierapolis.

More salt pools.

Hot water rinning down to the salty walls.

The antique theatre in Hierapolis.

Home  again on Sunday 27th. Lots of snow and cold as hell here too. Driving went well even if much snow and traffic.

Don by the car by a winterroad in Odalen on our way home.

Home with snow.

We celebrated xmas with my family in Lillehammer this year and had some great days in the winter city. Don tried skiing for the first time and showed alot of talent.

Xmas dinner at Galterud. My brother and his family are on this pic with Don who was into his first Norwegian Xmas dinner and would not even look up for the pic.

Don and dad skiing at the olympic stadium.

We spent one day going from the east coast up in the mountains and down to the west coast. Espesially the way down was very exciting. I have never seen such a long way with narrow and with dangerous curves all the way before.

We had a great late lunch at a road restaurant called las canadas right before Mogan. We also stopped in Mogan for a walk before we went back to our hotel.

From a stop by the road on the way up.

The raraely spotted pissy wabbit by a hill.

We saw hundreds of this signs during the day.

The wabbit by a dam on our way down fromt he mountains.

The church in Mogan.

We took the 1 hour bus ride to Las Palmas and enjoyed a great lunch at restaurant Sakura. They had a japanaese tapas buffé on a belt kinda lunch, which was Dons wet dream.

We also took a long walk with a nice rest on a bench in the shadow. I can walk and watch old houses like forever, but Don wanted down to the ocean after a while and back to the modern city.

Don by the japanese tapas belt

We rested in the shadows here

And we looked upon this building

The Cathedral

Our hotel seen fromt he pool area.

The beach seen from our pool area.

Saturday we took the ocean walk from Playa Amadores to Puerto Rico. We played minigolf and shopped food before we took a taxi back.

Don watching the beach from the ocean walk.

Hotel loria Palace is by this nice walk, wich is on the outside of the highway.

Don woulda won first round if it wasnt for the girlfriend handicap. He still lost second round on equal premises. Still was my fault becasue i wasnt supportive  enough tho.

We had a nice little trip to Puerto Mogan. They had a market day and i got a new wallet. We walked around the city and Don got his shotglass. We also had a great lunch at an Irish Taverna in the harbour. Fresh fish, strong Sangria and bailys cheesecake. More pics in the album.

They had low white houses with flowers everywhere, narrow streets and canals.

Don is happy after the lunch. I believe the Sangria caused this good mood and him being silly after.

We are staying at Hotel Serenity at Playa Amadores, Gran Canaria and we really like the apartment and the hotel. Best of all is the big balcony with the ocean view, but we also enjoy a king bed and a huge bathroom and the well equipped kitchen. We also get fresh bread delivered to the door every morning.

 The view from the balcony

Part of the balcony

We also did a day of rafting outside Antalya. It was a lot of travelling and waiting for 2,5 hours of rafting, but the rafting was great there and it was lots of fun and the nature was stunnnig. The trip home went well and we came safe back to Huddinge on the 12 th of July.

Don and I went to stay a week in my dads beautiful apartment in Alanya. We spent 1 day on a boat tour and another on rafting. There are more pics in the album.

I went home from Playa del Carmen on the 16th of April. The day before i was on a riding trek where we were riding through the jungle and down to a beatiful beach.

I had a very nice horse named Aleman

 A break ont he beach

Some pics from the center of Playa del Carmen. I find the town very charming and relaxed even if everything is for the tourists today.

We took a day trip to Tulum, Coba and Playa Paraiso

 Ruins in Tulum. We had a long walk to get there and around and back to the car.

 And there was steep stairs down to the beach, but we had lots of fun in the waves

 Don climbed a small pyramid in Coba

 In Coba we rented bikes to get to all the pyramids and it was 2 kms to the large one.

 And of course we climbed it on the hottest day of our vacation. Afterwards it was kinda tough to cycle back through the jungle.

  Last stop was Playa Paraiso and more playing in the waves. Great beach!

I added more pics from the tour in the album.

 Don on the beach

Playing in the waves

We came to Playa del Camen yesterday and we got a really bad hotelroom. We called the Ving to help us and he fixed a great room in another hotel called Carribian Paradise wich is next to the 5th avenue and 1 block from the beach. We got a room with a great balcony with view over the roof pool, the 5th avenue and the luxury hotels in colonial style going down to the beach. We can even see the ocean behind the roof of these hotels.

 

 The pool seen from our balcony

Front view of our hotel

Our hotel in Miami told us we should leave 3 hours before we had to be at Fort Lauderdale Airport because of the morning trafic.  Since Don needed to check in at 9:30 am we left the Hotel 6:40 and we arrived at the airport 7:20 am.

When Don had left and i waited for my check in at 11 am, I found out that my flight was deleayed by 8 hours. So i got a very long day waiting at the airport before i finally could go home and I got home at 4 pm on Saturday the 10th.

We went back from Key West to Miami. We stopped at a national park for a walk and a swim. I was very happy the road description was correct when we came into Miami as the city is really huge.

The old 7 mile bridge

Beach where we stopped for a swim

Coming in to Miami

We drove over all the Keys to Key West.

View from car

The pool at  our hotel

We went south through Everglade and there were much more to see today. More birds, fish, alligators and a beautiful turtle. We had a walk on a long wooden walk bridge through the wood in Everglade. When we came to Key Largo we had hard to find the hotel as it changed name, colour and was on right side of the road when descrption said turn left.

Bird and fish in Everglade

The only alligator we saw when not driving

Another wet place in Everglade

Sunset in Key Largo

We left Fort Lauderdale and it was a little difficult to get on the right highway, but finally we got on the Alligator Highway to Naples. We found the hotel there straight away and its a great small and romantic hotel, very suitable for couples. We took a drive, got Dons hair cut and bought some food and spent the evening in bed.

Today we spent the am by the pool after having our continental breakfast outside the lounge.

Driving through Everglade

Trianon Old Naples Hotel

Don by the pool

We arrived Fort Lauder dale on Friday, but had a nap for the most of the afternoon evening and didnt get out until after the dark. Wasnt much to see around the hotel. Just alot of hotels next too the beach and pretty hard to find some place to buy some food.

Coming home on new years eve at 2:am.

Really longing to my bed when waiting for my flight in Frankfurt!

Took a pic as we left Hong Kong

The Auckland visit on my last day included Cornwall Park.

Flower bush in Cornwall Park. We saw these bushes everywhere in NZ. SOmetimes in peoples gardens, but also growing wild along the road.

Auckland skyline from Cornwall Park

View from One Tree Hill. We saw this Phutakawa tree everywhere. They have beautiful red flowers and bloom at christmas, so they are even called cristmas trees.

We walked in forest park and bushes to find Kauri trees. It was kinda hard to find a tree in the bush but we saw one. We had a very rare sight when we spotted te big butted maori woman in the bush. She is rarely seen in any parks and will normally only be seen in front of computers with coffee and a cigarette.

 Forest park walk

Big butted Maori woman

Kauri Tree

New Zealand really are full of trees and birds. We met a few birds in Auckland. They arent rare but they were very nice and social.

Roosters in Cromwell Park

Pidgeons and roosters

Fighting over bread in my hand

Duck in the duckpond outside Tropical garden

Mag bird
 

We spent the night at Mels uncles cabin. We had a very nice walk and i got a swim in the next bay. The bay right outside the cabin got dry with low tide. After dinner the tide was high and and we went to row in the bay. The stream was very strong and Mel got worried I would be too tired to row back. I told her we could always wait for low tide and walk back.

View from the hills close to Mels uncles cabin

We spotted a shag bird on our walk

we had a very nice evening drive around Paihia on the 27th.

Bay of Islands

Haruru waterfalls

Paihia wharf

We had a great swim at Waitangi beach today. Mel refused to pose in her swim wear tho.

Waitangi Beach

Weather wasnt good enough for a X mas on the beach this year so we all got together in Sharleas house in Kawakawa. Xmas was like xmas should  be with lots of good food and a bunch of good friends and family. We had 2 kind of pork, chicken, potatoesalad, 2 salads, potatoes and sweet potatoes made in oven and 3 different xmas cakes.

World famous Hundertwasser toilets in Kawakawa

Old hotel in Kawakawa

View from Sharleas house in Kawakawa

Mel and her daughter Dana

Mels daughter Waimeha with Waanas daughter Waimeha

Mels son Justice and  Waanas daughter Jaelin

Mel got a water leak in her house and we have to wait for her floors to be changed. Sunday night we slept att Sharleas house in Kawakawa and on Monday we went to a campingplace by the ocean. Unfortunately it rains today so we dont really want to swim.

Our cabin

The camping place

The ducks visiting their cappy ;)

The riding trek was worth waiting for. We had a great 5 hour ride along the way, trough woods, green paddocks, along a river bank and on the beach. Mels son Justice was riding for the second time of his life and got the 25 year old big white gelding Phantom who behaved more like he was 5, but was taking good care of Justice. I had picked the 7year old mare Annie. She was a good ride, but stubborn as mares can be. We had a very long discussion about taking the bridle or not and for more than 1 hour she said she woudl rather lay down and die than take it. The woman on her back was more stubborn tho so she gave it up and we got along very well.

We had a lunchstop by the river and grilled sausages and drank tea. Everyone but Malcome had sore butts on the way back, but it was worth it. And I wasnt sore at allt he day after.

More pics form the riding trek in the album.

Malcom was umm kinda leading the trek on his youngster Honey

Justice on Phantom is crossing a small river with Mary behind

The river meets the Ninety Miles Beach

Lunchtime by the river

Me and Annie

We continued to Tui Inn where we thought the riding trek would be on Saturday. There was a misunderstanding tho and the trek wasnt until Sunday so we stayed 2 nights. It was a very simpel but clean place with shower and toilet on the back of it, next to a bunch of cows and bulls. There were too many spiders there for me to be completely happy, but Mel made us a great dinner on the grill and her son Justice had cut up wood for it.

The two cutest animals we seen along the road and we saw sheep, cows and bulls all the time. We hope they made it back in to their friends.

We stopped in Kawakawa to see the famous Hundertwasser toilets and to visit Mels friend Sharlea.

Famous toilets

We stopped in Whangarei to visit Mels friend Waana and to buy a pair of ridingpants for me. When we finally found the store horseworld, they had comfy and cheap drag on riding pants that fitted me well. Waana had 2 very cute children a baby, Waimeha and a 5 year old girl Jaelin.

A beach north of Auckland

Waanas daughter Jaelin

We spent the night in Mels cousins Craig and Shannons house outside Auckland in a very nice area.

Top of the hill where Mels cousins live outside Auckland

Of course i help Mel with the driving when we drive a longer way. This is what they say about the driving in NZ:

• We drive on the left hand side of the road
• We have a unique give way rule at intersections
• Hilly, narrow oe winding roads mean that your journey make take longer than you expect

So no big problems really. There was one man that didnt understand that wiping windows mean turn left to me when I very quick decided to turn off the road for a viewpoint and sometimes I have to ask Mel if I am really supposed to turn left into the roundabouts. So no biggies, but Mel thinks i drive a bit too fast tho.

We left Napier on Thursday and stopped to watch a waterfall north of Napier.  The sight was more clear so we could see the white mountain behind Lake Taupo this time. North of Taupo we visited the Moon Crater Park where we had a 45 minutes walk watching moon craters and smoking ground. This time we drove back through Tokoroa where we had lunch at an indian restaurant and visited the grave of Mels dad.

Moon crater in the Moon Crater Park

 Taupoa Lake with the white mountain behind

Waterfall north of Napier

We went for a 1 hour long tour with a Duck that went both on land and in the Hawkes Bay. Very interesting to see Napier from both land and ocean.

Our Duck

 Wooden houses at the ocean front

One of the most famous buildings

The road from Taupo to Napier was very fascinating as it shifted alot. We saw large pine woods, mountains, green hills, flat landscape and even vineyards right before Napier.

More pics are added to the album.

View from the road to Napier

Art Deco building in Napier

We had a long stop in Taupo by Lake Taupo. It was a very big beautiful lake. We had awalk along the Lake, visited Taupo Museum and had a great lunch at Noodles Canteen.

Lake Taupo

Kiwi bird at Taupo museum

Last morning at the X base Hot Rock Rotorua and we are going for an early morning swim at 7:30, half an hour before the pool opens. The pool is thermal heated and very warm. The water is very blue and not so clear so i felt like swimming in a blue drink.

We went to the thermal wonderland Wai-O-Tapu and had a good walk there. We watched the geysers daily eruption and went back to Rotorua for lunch at a Thai restaruant. Great food! Weather is pretty much like the swedish summer, cloudy and not too hot and it was raining all afternoon.

More pics in the album now.

The Devils Bath

Lady of the Knox geyser

We went by car to Rotorua. In the beginning after Auckland it looked exactly like UK, but later we everything from tropical forest to steep hills with needle trees. It doesnt stink too bad here. :)

Arrived ot Auckland yesterday and my friend Melanie met me at the Airport. She gave me a soft toy Kiwi bird and I named it Cutie Bird.

My Maori princess Melanie at the Airport

Flight went well. The airplane was full and i was sqeezed in between a chinese young man and an even younger chinese woman. The plane was old with not much space and no good possibilities to show movies.

The food and service was good and i slept well. :)

The pic is Himalaya from the window of the airplane when i woke up in the morning. Was a dam early morning 2 am my time.

And weeeeeeeeeeee wireless internet is free and good here at Hong Kong Airport.

On my way to NZ. Said goodbye to Scandinavian Xmas in Arlanda with this beautiful xmas tree. Was struggling with bad internetconnection during the wait in Frankfurt and almost missed my flight when i was waiting at 16A and the flight was 16C which was far away.

Went to Gävle 25th to 26th of November to visit the Labour Fair. Lots of fun and many student contacts. Also fun too meet colleagues in SABOs member companies who shared our display case. These member compaines were Bollnäs Bostäder, Gavlegårdarna and Uppsalahem.

Hi,

I am very happy that I am going to visit my friend Melanie in New Zealand in December.  I will leave Stockholm 12:30 to go to Frankfurt with Lufthansa on Friday 12th of December.

Next stop will be in Hong Kong from 11:20 am to to 7:15 pm. I plan to go by bus to Hong Kong and take a walk while waiting for next flight.

I will arrive in Auckland at 11 am on the 14th of December.

Mel and I have a lots of plans about all fun stuff we will do and i have also booked a riding tour for 5 hours on the 20th of Dec.

My friend Melanie