November 2024 (Hunter Valley, home, Oxford, Norway)

^Polar me!!

I write this from the Havila MS Pollux on the Southbound voyage en route to Tromsø, Norway. A little queasy but more on that later.

Andrew and I drove to the Hunter Valley. We could easily have flown (Newcastle airport is the closest airport) but Andrew wanted to go fishing and play golf so it worked better to drive. He bought himself a fishing kayak and we towed that too!

I attended a Pre-famil (meaning a Press Trip) before the Convention. This was organised by the Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association and was a genius move by me, even though I hadn’t realised it at the time! Rather than attending the Convention where I would know one other person (the PR who convened the Azamara Croatia Press Trip), I was able to meet seven other people. It made attending the Convention much less intimidating.

The Pre-famil was a whirlwind (mainly of wine tasting!) and we had the red carpet laid out. It was a great learning experience and I already have one accepted travel story in the works!

The Convention was an enjoyable and interesting two days with a Cocktail Party and a Gala Dinner.

All in all, a tiring few days!! I’ll definitely go again.

We spent the Cup Weekend at Rye then had daughter L’s 24th birthday and flew to London the next day. We hired a car and drove from Heathrow to Oxford, arriving exhausted on a Friday night.

Saturday morning, we drove to where M & A are living – a lovely little townhouse backing onto the Thames. They are loving their Oxford adventure! We visited Blenheim Palace that day and then had a wander around Oxford.

Blenheim Palace is where Winston Churchill was born. He spent a lot of time there during his life. Naturally, there is a lot of Churchill information there but, aside from that, the house is truly magnificent and there are acres of gardens. They had started decorating the house for Christmas. Seeing Christmas decorations in the shops at home in early November irritates me but seeing Christmas decorations in a cold place with short days seems fitting!

It was dark when we returned to Oxford but M played Tour Guide until we (me especially) called it. We crashed early.

The next day M had booked us in for lunch at Ye Olde Swan, an old pub on the Thames in Twickenham (London). My Dad had worked there for 4 years in the late 1950s/early 1960s and, over the last year, he had talked fondly of it. We had a lovely Sunday roast there and I tried to picture Dad as a young man pulling beers and serving food. It was bittersweet given that I couldn’t share the experience with Dad nor even tell him about it but I’m glad we went.

Around the corner from Ye Olde Swan is Hampton Court Palace so we toured there in the morning. When we were ready to explore the Gardens, it was raining a bit. M&A had not worn parkas (Andrew and I had!) so that was the end of that.

We attended Evensong back in Oxford at Queen’s (M’s College). It was beautiful but jetlagged me did struggle to stay awake!

We had two days in Oxford on foot. It is a great walking town and the architecture is stunning. The weekend had been very overcast but we had sunny days that week which was lucky.

We started Monday morning with a walking tour then lunch at The Turf Tavern (where exPM, Bob Hawke, drank a Yard of beer in some record time!) We had dinner in the Dining Hall at Queen’s, feeling like we were starring in a “Harry Potter” movie.

Tuesday we paid for an Audioguide and toured the magnificent Christ Church (College). M & A met us for lunch at Queen’s and then M played Tour Guide again, letting us into various Colleges. We had Cream Tea (we call it Devonshire Tea in Australia – scones with jam and cream plus tea), attended Evensong again (this time at Christ Church) and crashed early again.

Wednesday, we drove an hour or so to Stowe House and Gardens to meet some old business colleagues who had a new baby girl in September. I had a long hold of the baby which was delicious!

Stowe Gardens on a sunny, Autumn day were beautiful beyond words (a week later and a dump of snow made them look altogether different). We took a guided tour of the House too – a Palace really. Once owned by a family richer and more powerful than the King, it has been a boarding school since 1922 so you share the tour with students in the library and walking to class. It was a novel experience!

We met up with M & A for a final dinner. We ate at newly-opened Dishoom, a chain that is a London favourite of all of us.

Next day and we were on the road to Gatwick, stopping at the lovely Cotswold towns of Burford and Bourton-on-the-Water. Picture postcard towns and flashbacks to 1999 when we rented a cottage in Bourton-on-the-Water for a week with our then 1 and 3 year old sons. The then 3 year old is now studying for an MBA at Oxford University. How the world changes!!

During the day I received an email telling us that our Norway Havila cruise was being disrupted for weather, that we would be flown to Trondheim and that the cruise would not depart from Bergen but from Trondheim. More details were to come!

Friday saw us fly to Bergen, Norway as scheduled and I called Havila once we checked into our hotel. We had been booked on the first flight to Trondheim – 11am Saturday.

It was dark in Bergen by mid-afternoon and raining on and off (the rain actually got heavier as the evening went on) but we donned our coast and hiking boots and explored the Bryggen (Harbour) area. Bryggen has been on the UNESCO list for World Cultural Heritage sites since 1979 and it did not disappoint.

Neither Andrew nor I had ever been to Norway before so everything was new! The Christmas lights glowed and reflected in the water and, even in the dark, it was beautiful. We found an Italian (?!?) place for dinner which we now know is a chain – Olivia’s. We both had excellent pasta. Just as well because it was about AUD$40 a bowl!

Next day we flew to Trondheim and were then bussed to our ship – the Havila MS Pollux. We were able to check in straight away so we happily unpacked and did a couple of loads of washing in the free, self-service laundry.

We didn’t do much that afternoon other than explore the ship as it was already dark but next day we did a walking tour and ended up walking 20,000 odd steps around Trondheim. Being a Sunday, all the shops were closed but we happily walked around the historic old town. It was noticeably colder than it had been in the UK and it rained on and off but we had a great day.

The next morning we took advantage of a free city tour that Havila was offering. The bus took us back where we had walked on Sunday but we also got a guided tour inside the grand Nidaros Cathedral.

Monday lunchtime and we finally started sailing.

I will hopefully have some stories published about the cruise (or, I should say, voyage) itself so I won’t go into too much detail here – no one wants to publish duplicate content. Suffice to say, the ship is almost brand new (2023) and lovely (there are four, new Havila ships plying the Coastal ferry route). The food is very good, the staff are friendly and the excursions are great. The BUT is that we have experienced some bad weather which disrupted ports and excursions and the daylight hours are short. Neither of those things are anything to do with Havila but it is worth thinking about if you are planning to do this trip. The coastal scenery is beautiful and the ship has heaps of big windows in the lounge and bar areas but, for most of the voyage, you can only see inky blackness.

The rough seas have, at times, caused me to feel unwell. Nothing too dreadful although I have taken motion sickness medication (Kwells) and worn sea bands. Without that help, I would have felt worse I am sure. Andrew (who, frustratingly, never feels seasick) has had dinner solo twice whilst I have lain in bed!

I am keen to do this voyage again but in a different season.

The positives of coming in Winter are the Northern Lights and the snow. HEAPS. OF. IT!

We have seen the Northern Lights three times already and, despite the challenges of a moving ship, we have taken some pretty good photos. We hope to have other opportunities in Tromsø (where we’ll spend a few days post the cruise) and we can use the tripod then which should give us even better photos. Anyway, I shouldn’t be greedy. Seeing the Northern Lights at all was bucket list stuff!

The best excursion we have done so far is driving an ATV in Honningsvåg. The scenery was mind-blowing! And it was super fun!!

Feeding reindeers was also fabulous! As was a night hike (complete with headlamps) in the footsteps of Vikings. Even the staid bus tour we did one day was terrific as the snowy scenery was breathtaking. Part of the bus tour was also a car ferry ride across a fjord. Absolute picture postcard stuff!

I've attached a few photos from the trip. I have hundreds.....😬

In Writing Wins for the month, a bit leaner this month:

One travel story but my first one in the NZ Herald: “How travelling to Europe has changed as we have aged” - https://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/how-travelling-to-europe-has-changed-as-we-have-aged/DIV7TLBTOJCILBFTJCR4ZMR2SQ/ and one flash fiction story in Café Lit, based on attending the Opera in Verona in June - https://www.cafelitmagazine.uk/2024/11/the-arena-by-leonie-jarrett-glass-of.html

I have had a few stories published in Café Lit now and they have kindly created an Author page for me - https://www.cafelit.co.uk/index.php/meet-our-authors?view=article&id=133:leonie-jarrett&catid=2:uncategorised

In very exciting news for me, my children’s book, “When Harry Got Lost” has been proofed and formatted. It is being published by Nightingale Books, an imprint of Pegasus Publishers. I am really looking forward to seeing it in print. #bucketlist #lifegoals