Let’s hope this perfect rainbow is signalling an end to the past few months of health worries for the MOTH. His new knee is fabulous, you can hardly even see the scar and it is doing everything it is supposed to do. The infection he picked up in hospital however has NOT gone away and has really become a huge nuisance. He has lost 15 kgs as nothing is being absorbed properly and he was getting to the stage that he felt he couldn’t go anywhere or do anything and he lost his joie de vivre for the first time since I’ve known him. Luckily one of the local pharmacists recommended a Naturopath in Wollongong who could look a bit more holistically at his situation and hopefully come up with an alternative to regular medicine, which could only seem to prescribe antibiotics which is how the whole thing started! To say the visit was enlightening was an understatement, and he immediately began on some targeted supplements to calm his gut. Together with a stringent diet that restricted all fermented foods and histamine rich foods he feels he is starting to turn a corner but a follow up test in about a week will determine whether or not the CDiff has actually left the building or not. If not, there is a plan B lurking in the shadows so we have everything crossed that one or other of the ‘plans’ will get rid of it once and for all and normal life can resume!
At the very same time that we started our very restricted diet our son started a pie business! We managed to get three of his pies into us before we started the new regime and they were delicious! He has always loved cooking (we all do in this family with the possible exception of Cammo who only does bbq’s!) and in a break in between jobs he has started cooking them to stay busy and make some money. 15 years ago we had a Harry’s Cafe de Wheels pie van in Newcastle and this family are all great lovers of a good pie so we were excited to try his beef ragout, chicken leek bacon and mushroom pie as well as the butter chicken pie – all seriously good! Our Pie Man can be found on instagram as @thepiman1 and on his website the-pie-man.square.site/ if anyone fancies all the enjoyment of a delicious pie with none of the work!
My best friend has had a weekender in Kangaroo Valley for over a decade but with retirement imminent she and her hubby have pressed the button on a big renovation to make it the perfect place to live all year round. Somehow despite being here a lot more than normal to oversee the build we have hardly been able to organise any catchups, but everything came together a couple of weeks ago when we met up at Silos Estate near Berry for a girl’s lunch with our mutual friend Kirsten. It was good to remind ourselves of the reasons we moved down to this beautiful part of the world, to forget about the weeding and the to do list for a couple of hours and just enjoy ourselves! A new chef has made it a great place to visit once more and we had a perfect winters day to sit out overlooking the beautiful view…..
The following day the little boys arrived for the weekend and somehow we got lucky with the weather (which had been very wet) and scored a dry, non windy warmish weekend! We had fun at the skate park and with a stone painting kit before dusk fell and we could light our bonfire! The boys were super excited to sit around the fire and once it had died down enough to find the perfect stick to roast their marshmallows! Some stories around the fire before bed made for a perfect end to the day.
The next day was deemed suitable for fishing! Uncle Tom had bought the kids fishing rods for Xmas so off we drove to Shoalhaven Heads and the pier to drop a line or two and try our luck. They enjoyed it despite no fish being caught and it was lovely to see the three generations of Cameron men together in such a wholesome pursuit!! Patience isn’t their strong suit but they gave it a red hot go!
Our 4 chickens are apparently on strike. They too are opposed to the constant rain and corresponding wetness underfoot. Mud is the name of the game on any well frequented path, doggy footprints (and the odd rabbit ones too) make patterns on our back deck, towels are in high rotation for drying off Bailey when she finally begrudgingly has to go outside for a wee. She sticks her nose tentatively outside and then looks back at me as if to say “you’ve got to be kidding Mum!!” We take turns in squelching across the lawn to let the chooks out and then shut them back up again at night. They are often looking rather bedraggled as they are happy to peck about outside as the upside of the rain is that they have a plethora of worms to feast on, but still there are no eggs! Our gardeners who have lots of chooks saved the day by gifting us a dozen last week and they looked so pretty in the carton with all the different coloured shells – I love how different breeds produce different coloured eggs and I look forward to when eggs on toast are back on the menu for us so we can use them – thank you Ethan and Sage.
For those of you that live overseas you probably don’t ever think about Australia being anything other than warm and sunny, but let me assure you we DEFINITELY get a winter here! Not the kind of really low temperatures that the Northern hemisphere gets but it’s all proportionate to what you’re used to right? Also, our houses are not made for the cold weather – they are more about keeping us cool in the long summers – so unless you have reverse cycle air conditioning or preferably a wood burning stove, you are going to feel the chill. I remember when our kids were little and we had a rather cavernous lounge with one tiny gas heater that we would all huddle around, how cold I always felt. We did have a wood fire but it took ages to get going and wood was expensive so it was always more of a treat when we used that. So mostly we tend to heat just one main room and then pop our electric blankets on about half an hour before bedtime so that we can slip into a warm cocoon and fall promptly asleep! The further south people live the harsher the winter and the desire to escape it becomes stronger! Increasingly people in Australia are travelling to escape the cold and whether that is to the northern hemisphere with its promise of European summers languishing on the terraces of Italy amongst potted lemon trees, Aperol spritz in hand, sailing the azure waters of Croatia or heading to Queensland, the perpetually sunny state, to feel the sun on your skin and enjoy an ice cream on the beach, people are attempting to break up the cold weather with a Winter Escape. Nobody feels this more than Tasmanians who endure a decidedly much colder winter than the rest of us (they are the last stop before Antarctica after all) so rather than visiting our Tassie Crew in Hobart we all decided to have a week on the Gold Coast instead!
Its an 11 hour drive from our place to the Gold Coast so we are very lucky that our good friends Wayne and Kathy live in Forster exactly half way up and they very kindly offered to mind Bailey for us while we were up north. They are dog people and miss their lovely old dog Gus, so they were happy to have her and as they live on the beach and walk every day Bailey was also in for a treat – her own little beachside holiday! She was very cosy tucked into her bed on the back seat on the drive up and for once when I waved her off I didn’t feel guilty leaving her behind! We arrived in Coolangatta in time for a beautiful sunset, a glass of wine at the surf club just opposite our apartment and got everything set up for the family just in time for their late evening arrival. There was much excitement when they arrived, exploring all the rooms and checking out our holiday food in the pantry! By the time we woke in the morning watching the little dots of surfers bobbing in the water on the beach opposite we were already feeling relaxed.
Papa is always very sought after when we get together, they just love being with him with his off beat sense of humour (and his many little packets of jelly snakes and smarties!) and it warms my heart when I see them snuggled up with him in bed or on the lounge or hand in hand as they walk along chatting gaily, seemingly without a care in the world. I love seeing the world through the kid’s eyes, their excitement for the simple things and with no idea what sort of world exists outside of their beautiful little bubble. It’s very soothing and we absolutely love being part of their childhood holiday memories.
Loz and Berry have some friends that lived about 15 minutes away rfom our apartment and their little girl was 3 so they quickly became a little girl gang and as her Dad was an avid surfer he lent Loz a surfboard to enjoy for a morning. It was great to see her introducing the girls to the surf and seeing them all hand in hand jumping over the waves. Myla was determined to ride a wave into shore and she gave it a good go! Loz managed to show them how it was done standing up on the waves long enough for the girls to be impressed!!
It wasn’t all about the beach though, we enjoyed some long walks, an afternoon of barefoot bowling and a visit from our Nephew and family who live further up the coast. It was great to see them and for them to reconnect with Loz and the girls and for us to see our great Nephew growing up into such a nice young man. The girls were mesmerised by a bag of Polly Pockets that I had saved of Laurens from when she was a little girl and happily played for ages with them, buying us some nice adult time – win win!!
Part of the fun of holidays is eating out and obviously the surf clubs are the easiest option around here but we did get a bit over their rather humdrum menus and found family friendly restaurants a bit slim on the ground too. The girls however just thought dinner time was the best thing – getting dressed up and walking to dinner, having different food from normal and if they were lucky an icecream to enjoy on the walk home. Once they were in bed, drinks and card games were the order of the day for the adults and of course our favourite – the quiz from The Australian newspaper which we always do when we get together! The boys had their sport to watch, the girls had their books to read and it was a lovely restful week. Nothing beats reconnecting in a neutral place where no one feels they have to be on duty, worrying about menus or laundry or entertaining people – a break is ALWAYS a good idea!
So our last day came around rather too quickly for our liking, we were just getting into the groove when it was time to pack up and go. They had time before their plane to visit the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary which finished off their little holiday perfectly and they took off back to Hobart, reality and WINTER! A few more memories in the bank though and we loved it. Apparently the strongest memories of childhood come from the odd week of holidays taken between the ages of 5 and 12 so I’m hoping we will live on in their memories long after we are gone….
Cam and I were lucky though as we got to prolong our holiday feeling by driving back to Forster for a few nights. Baz swims in the ocean every morning with a group of people and it was so lovely to walk Bailey along the beach watching the pods of dolphins swimming oh so close to them and then enjoying a coffee and bacon and egg roll on the beach once they finished. The beach life is certainly appealing. Daily walks, lovely dinners , a couple of catch ups with local friends at the One Mile Surf Club and reading our books in the afternoon sun made for a relaxing few days before we could no longer delay our return to The Meadow. To be honest I wasn’t sure about returning to reality after such a wonderful 6 weeks of various holidays – what a lucky girl am!
After my lovely two weeks with the girls I bid them a fond farewell and headed into West London and Notting Hill to meet up with Tom. He moved to London last September and I was itching to see him and where he lived and to spend a few days with him showing me HIS places and me showing him where I lived and worked over 40 years ago! It was perfect as we both knew a few places that the other would enjoy so our road trip came together easily. Firstly though – Notting Hill! I LOVED it right from the first moment. It was a beautiful sunny day and the famous coloured houses just popped against a bright blue sky. Portobello Road was setting up its stalls for the coming weekend and there was a pleasant buzz of people enjoying the summer weather and eating alfresco in the many eateries that lined the local streets. The rows of high end white elegant Victorian townhouses were pleasing to the eye (many with their EV vehicles charging in the street or front garden – they were literally everywhere!) and the whole suburb was thriving. It became famous after the 1999 film but even when I was a teenager I remember catching a coach up to London to go to the Portobello Road markets to buy a leather coat which was a big fashion statement in 1976 and thinking how cosmopolitan it was even back then. Fast forward 50 years and you can imagine how the mix of cultures, music and food has made it one of the most enjoyable places to live. Needless to say it comes with a price tag but you can live the dream in an (expensive) rental at least! Tom loves it – with its proximity to Kensington Gardens for a bit of green space and a direct tube ride into the City of London where he works. I stayed at The Premier Inn, about a ten minute walk from Tom and I spent the afternoon wandering around exploring, I felt at home there within hours and when we met up at 5pm he took me on a mini pub crawl of all his favourite places. Of course they all knew him by name which I hope is due as much to his friendly nature as his drinking habits! The weather was gorgeous and as it is so temperamental in the UK most of the time, when it IS nice everyone really makes the most of it and we were all vying for a coveted outdoor table! To top off our night we ate at a superb Japanese restaurant and caught up on the last 10 months since he left Sydney. One happy Mummy.
After a rather fraught start to the day when the car rental place didn’t accept Tom’s digital license and I had to do it all instead, we finally set off for our first destination – Bath. I have spent quite a bit of time here over the years and have always loved it. What’s not to love? The Georgian architecture and the town built around the River Avon is very picturesque and on a 32 degree day we were happy to arrive at 3pm and enjoy Aperol’s on the banks of the river in the shade of Pulteney Bridge after a 3 hour drive. Our little hotel room was 300 years old and on the top floor of a pub with the NARROWEST set of stairs I’ve ever seen, we could barely fit on them and had to carry our cases ahead or behind! No lifts of course!
It was in a great position though with a short walk to just about everything and we enjoyed exploring the town before dinner in a bustling square full of happy weekend people! Bath Rugby had won the Premiership just two weeks before our visit and Tom is thinking of coming again next year with some mates on the train to enjoy the footy as well as the town. It is famous of course for its Roman Baths which are a disturbing shade of green but nowadays you can also enjoy the same warm mineral rich waters up on the roof overlooking the city. It wasn’t what we fancied doing on such a hot day but my sister did it in winter overlooking a city laden with snow and said it was quite magical.
After a morning coffee in the Square we set off for our second night’s destination – Bourton on the Water. We have been watching Jeremy Clarkson’s Farm on TV and as his new pub was en route we thought we’d play tourist and stop off for a look. Apparently several hundred other people had had the same idea (it was a Saturday) so we felt more like we were attending a festival than a country pub as we were directed into an adjoining field with parking attendants complete with orange batons overseeing our parking to squeeze in as many people as possible. I felt like a lemming about to follow the others off a cliff as we wound our way through the field and across the road to the Farmer’s Dog where there were several more queues of various lengths depending on if you had a reservation or not. Blow-ins like Tom and I had no chance of getting into the pub so we made do with the adjoining paddock surrounding the Farm Shop. The queue for the shop itself was insane but the bar serving beer and cider was ok so we enjoyed a couple of those whilst people watching. They had it very well set up with tables, chairs and brollies as well as country games like toss the horseshoe etc and some piped music giving it a nice ambience. Again we were lucky with the weather as if it had been bad we would have had no chance getting into the pub. Nice work Jeremy….
Tom knew about Daylesford Organic because he had visited with his friends when he spent Christmas in The Cotswolds. It was like a beacon of loveliness in the middle of nowhere and well worth the stop. We had a delicious lunch, lusted after homewares and gorgeous food products – tomatoes from the Isle of Wight, local asparagus and flowers, small goods from local providores, amazing cheeses, wines and more to choose from if you had the money and the ability to store it all! Locals must be thankful to have something like this nearby and it was worth negotiating the odd tractor in the narrow roads to visit!
Nothing really prepared us for our arrival in Bourton though. The entire place was teeming with people and our overnight lodgings was bang smack in the middle of it all! Tom dropped me and went off to discover a park on the outskirts of town (thank goodness for overnight parking rates!) and I discovered that the hotel had allocated us a double room instead of a twin! The poor girl on duty nearly had a heart attack when I told her but she was brilliant and unzipped the adjoining beds and remade them in a jiffy despite the heat and the huge queue of people downstairs wanting to eat in their restaurant. The overtourism was so apparent and quite overwhelming for all concerned. It wasn’t until after 8pm that the hordes departed and the little town became what I remembered from the early 80s! Obviously we are tourists too but I am concerned about the huge families that visited but brought their own food and drinks and did little to contribute to the town’s income – just literally swamped it until it was time to take the kids home…very sad ….
Luckily once everyone went home we had a delightful walk around the town and equally the next day really enjoyed it’s true colours until the coaches started to arrive circa 10am….then it was time to move on! En route we swung by what used to be Barnsley House when I lived there, a National Trust House and Garden which I drove past daily but never went in to. Tom had heard it was now owned by the Pig Hotel Group and came highly recommended. As it was Sunday lunchtime we weren’t hopeful of lunch without a reservation but we got lucky! A table for two outside overlooking those beautiful gardens and we timed it perfectly as a light shower started just as we finished our meal. Armed with the hotel’s brollies we explored the gardens and the humungous veggie patch, gleaning ideas for The Meadow as we went! A wonderful few hours indeed….
Today’s destination was Bibury – a very small village that has become incredibly popular with visitors. However our reason for visiting was that I had lived and worked there in 1978 as a receptionist at The Swan Hotel. I absolutely loved both the place and the job and back then it was a popular destination but pre social media it was just literally a word of mouth thing and apart from having a booked out restaurant for Sunday Lunch each week it had a laid back feel and a gentility that I felt was lacking this time around. Our beautiful restaurant that used to be full of well dressed people laughing and the tinkling of glasses and cutlery on beautiful crockery is now only used for coach tours which made me really sad. The hotel restaurant is now more of a bistro and although we enjoyed a well cooked meal there it wasn’t what I had wanted to show Tom. Times move on unfortunately. Our room was gorgeous and comfortable with a huge bathroom with wall panels and beautiful toiletries, a piece of the past that they have kept thankfully. I’m glad I got to share it with him but I think that maybe that was the last time I will visit. I enjoyed an early morning walk before the tourists arrived and saw Arlington Row, a tiny higgly piggly line of houses built in the 14th century and renovated in the 17th century and still lived in today. Tom was flabbergasted at the amount of people taking photos of what he deemed to be nothing special! Apparently William Morris declared it the most beautiful village in England back in the day and people still come in droves to see it. Again we were lucky to see it outside of the regular coach/tourist hours. I do feel really sorry for those people that live there all year round, parking is a nightmare in such a tiny town and people are very intrusive taking photos of literally everything!
So back to London we went, stopping off in Oxford for a couple of hours to look around. Tom’s flatmate studied at Oxford Uni and Tom was keen to see where Connor had spent his time. It is the oldest university in the English speaking world and the sense of history and knowledge just emanates from these gorgeous buildings as you would imagine. They are beautiful golden stone, built around a quadrangle 9 times out of ten and the town is built around the different colleges with loads of pubs and cafes, and people riding bicycles everywhere – students of all ages enjoying all that this beautiful city has to offer.
Back in London we dropped the car off and separated to pack/organise ourselves after our week away. I finally got to see Tom’s flat and meet Connor and now I can fully imagine him in his everyday life which is comforting. Our last evening was terrific with a pre dinner drink (prink!) at The Pelican before joining the queue at Canteen – a no bookings, flavour driven Italian restaurant run by two ex River Cafe chefs on Portobello Road. The menu changes daily and is full of delicious, well executed dishes. We snagged some stools at the kitchen bar and it was great to see the chefs in action. The hype of this place means queues are often down the road but it’s definitely worth it – one of the nicest Italian meals in recent history for me!
We had a last walk back to my hotel together before we said goodbye and Tom hopped onto a lime bike to get home. Six months before we are reunited at Christmas in The Meadow but a week of memories we wont forget….
My last day in London was a long one as I didn’t fly until 9pm so I literally walked EVERYWHERE! 27000 steps as it turned out! First was Kensington Gardens for a coffee and croissant before exploring the park, then a long walk to Holland Park and millionaires’ row to check out where David and Victoria Beckham live (very nice indeed) and a trip to the ‘supermarket of dreams’ (real name) in the main strip of Holland Park – you can just imagine the delicious produce they sell and the calibre of the locals that buy them! Back to Notting Hill for a lunch on the pavement watching the world go by before winding my way back to the hotel to change for the long journey home. Thankfully Tom had given me a lounge pass so the last few hours were spent in relative comfort with free food and wine at Heathrow which meant I pretty much could go straight to sleep once the plane took off. No horrible delays on the way home and before I knew it I was freezing on a train platform at 6am in Wolli Creek!!!! Back to reality I go folks…..
It is hard to fathom that it has been 10 years since we packed up our little house in Rozelle and headed 2 hours down the coast to our white house in The Meadow. That first day will forever be etched in my mind as I sat on the front steps looking out at my new garden while I waited for the removal truck to arrive. I had no idea what the next decade would bring but it has felt like home ever since that very first day and I have never regretted the move. Sure, there have been times when the wind or the flies or the interminable rain or the constant Kikuyu runners that invade every flower bed have sent us crazy and also the moments when it would have been nice to be a bit closer to our family but all in all we have been SO lucky to call this place home. Our kids and grandkids all feel its special magic too and nothing makes me happier than those times we all get together here for what is generally a noisy and energetic time together and special memories are made for us all including the little cousins who only get to see each other very occasionally due to living in different states. Fate bought us here but love keeps us here….
Before Christmas I had the best Mother/Daughter weekend in Melbourne. Lauren had bought us tickets to see Richard Marx and we got some cheap flights so we thought why not? In my 40 plus years in Australia I’ve only been to Melbourne a few times so we stayed right in the centre so we could walk to everything. We had a perfect weekend of music, wine and food, shopping and even snuck in a bit of culture seeing an interactive immersive showcase of the art of Leonardo da Vinci at The Lume before we parted ways to return to our respective states. I have a feeling this may be the beginning of an annual “thing” as we usually always have the kids around when we catch up and it was so nice to be grown up for a change!
It was our ‘quiet’ Xmas this year when the kids all spend the festivities at their other families place so it was that just Sam, the MOTH and I spent a very grown up day together eating and drinking and chatting with the weather perfect for dining outdoors and just enjoying a quiet day together instead of our usual mayhem running around after the kids! Bailey as always was lured by the smell of the glazed ham and was constantly found within ‘hopeful distance’ of it! Tom spent Xmas with Aussie friends in The Cotswolds in the freezing English conditions, eating and drinking their way through gorgeous little pubs – even carolling together on Xmas Eve and getting into the spirit of it all.
The 28th December was our 40th wedding anniversary and in view of our quiet Christmas we decided to celebrate it for once and fly to New Zealand for 10 days. We had the best time, staying in Queenstown for a couple of days before heading to Cardrona and the beautiful property of our friends Nicki and Dean which they share with their 3 Welsh Springer spaniels. They are about 10kms from Wanaka with it’s gorgeous lake and we also ventured to Cromwell and had a fabulous lunch at the Bannockburn Pub. It doesn’t matter where you go on the South Island there is a picture postcard around every turn and that amazing shade of blue that the water is here thanks to the glacial silt is just magic!
We revisited charming Arrowtown and discovered the nearby Ayreburn. I heartily recommend you visit here if you find yourself near Queenstown as it was a luxury hospitality venue encompassing some beautiful 160 year old stone buildings which have been beautifully restored and crammed with so much character yet with every possible design detail thought out. I was like a kid in a candy store as I went from the Woolshed to the Manure Room, the Barrel Room to the Dairy, the Burr Bar to Billys to the Dell. The gardens alone are worth the visit and you can easily spend a day here wandering around and eating your heart out! Located next to Millbrook Resort this little corner of the South Island is certainly visitor worthy.
A day back in Queenstown was spent with some of our oldest friends, one originally at school with the MOTH and then his kids and their kids who we love to bits! They put on a great spread and we chatted long into the night about the pros and cons of life in beautiful QT – tourists and the LONG cold winter are cons and the beautiful pristine environment and the chance for the kids to lead an outside simple life are definite pros. There are so many lives that we can choose to live aren’t there?
Then it was farewell to the South Island and off we went to Lake Taupo in the North Island where my sister-in-law and her partner have a beautiful house right on the lake. We were excited to visit them especially as our nephew and his family were also visiting and we had visions of us getting out onto the lake in their boat and on the jet skis etc as well as enjoy the walking and cycling path into town that runs around the lake. The weather Gods had other ideas however and it blew a gale for the whole 4 days creating monster white caps on the lake and ruining our plans. We were lucky however when the clouds cleared and the sun shone right on cue for a little neighbourhood get together which was fun, live music and lovely food and wine works every time! In the meantime on the gloomy days I was very happy to snuggle up in their glorious lounge room reading and watching the white caps dance outside!
Jo and Ivan took us to the Huka Falls which were spectacular. The Waikato River, New Zealand’s longest river, narrows dramatically at Huka Falls, generating enough power to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool in just 11 seconds. Of course there were people queuing up to do the white water jet boating but we were happy just to watch them from the bridge above!! We also went to some thermal pools which were deliciously warm and you could feel the silica and minerals doing lovely things for your skin. A couple of hours here was VERY relaxing and we were all knackered that afternoon which we think was a direct result of absorbing all the good stuff! A great few days catching up with friends old and new and enjoying another beautiful part of New Zealand. How lucky are we to have friends and family in such gorgeous locations!
We are back in The Meadow now, getting everything spruced up after lots of sun and rain which means everything’s growing like wildfire, our veggies have finally taken off and the MOTH is mowing every few days. We are back to enjoying the sublime taste of home grown tomatoes and after my NZ trip where I fell in love yet again with the multi coloured lupins that cover the hillsides, riverbanks and fields I have bought loads of lupin seeds which I hope are going to fill in my extra beds in the veggie patch that we don’t use as they just give us too much produce that we cant possibly eat! Fingers crossed that I can transpose my vision from the South Island to The Meadow successfully! Watch this space…..
A quick flight back to Athens and then out to Kythira saw us in an entirely different environment from the past 10 days as here we were to stay in a friends house in a tiny village with no shops or restaurants. We did however have a rental car and a lovely couple George and Stella to show us around. A long time acquaintance of the MOTH had always said if you go to Greece make sure you come to Kythira and when we told him we were coming he pulled out all the stops to show us a good time in his place of birth. We were treated like royalty and George and Stella came every morning and showed us a different part of the island and then took us to lunch. We met the chefs, had tours of their kitchens and were treated to food that they love to eat themselves. We met so many people and they were all so generous – one guy paid for all the wine we had ordered at lunch just because we had come from Australia! George and Stella had lived in Sydney for 10 years in the 90s and spoke good English and were the best tour guides, taking us anywhere they thought was worthy of interest. They owned and ran a beautiful bakery in a nearby village and seemed to know EVERYONE on the island. The amount of times George would stop in the middle of the road, roll down the window of the car and shout out to someone in the garden or toot the horn to get them to come outside for a chat! Parking was pretty much wherever you wanted to stop and no one seemed to care in the slightest.
We visited two different monasteries that were really beautiful. A remote and peaceful location for both and the amazing interiors you expect from the Greek Orthodox Church. There are simple rooms available for rent where people come to retreat and meditate on life for a week or two – even up to a month. The church here still seems to play a big part in people’s lives and the priest is very much a part of the community. One offered us a Greek coffee, Turkish delight and vodka when we visited his church – a common occurrence apparently. He later joined us for lunch and was a really interesting guy who had spent 14 years in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands doing ministry work.
We had trips to beautiful Kapsali and Avlemenos as well as the main town of Chora which is on a hill dominated by the old Venetian castle built in 1503 offering us a panoramic view of Kapsali down below. A delicious lunch was had there in a taverna adjoining the most azure ocean and the MOTH said he would happily come back and rent a house there for a week or two one day! We saw fishermen patiently mending their nets, goats ran wild – their bells alerting us to their presence, the sun shone and the water lapped. Heaven indeed.
Our friends house had a beautiful view over the countryside and we would start and end the day admiring it from their veranda. A walk from the house takes you through the prickly pears, the wild horta and thyme bushes and through citrus and olive groves. It is much more green and lush than the other islands we had visited and less windy. The beaches were lovely and mostly empty in October. Cam had the entire Melidoni beach to himself as he did his morning laps whereas in summer it is packed with families from morning to night and the winding road full of traffic. We found the whole place very peaceful and meditative and as we had a big lunch every day we didn’t need any dinner – we had some nuts and fruit if we were peckish and used our time there to get organised for our trip to France (where we were staying in hotels with limited laundry facilities) and without TV we read our books and really relaxed.
As we packed our bags to return to Athens we were so grateful to have had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in an authentically Greek island and to have had the company of George and Stella to show us around and of course our friend Peter who made it all possible. Kythira has a special magic that has nothing to do with beach bars and cruise ships and I’m so happy we finally made it there after listening to so many stories about it over the years – it didn’t disappoint!
My Move To The Meadow 