Think Hard about Turkey for 2024

France and Italy tours are both full and although I have had a good interest in Turkey for some reason people have come and gone. I decided it wasn’t a goer for this year and then recently have received more interest.

So… why not come to Turkey this year? It is one of the best tours with Alison and Hasan who live in Cappadocia. It’s a colourful country, very historic, and appeals to anyone who loves beautiful food likes a bit of local shopping and enjoys a chance to immerse yourself in a new culture.

I am putting this tour out here for a few weeks just to make sure.

Contact Me : judith@judith-cullen.com

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I wrote this blog a couple of days ago on the Ferry as we crossed Cook Straight. Heading to the Whangaparoa Peninsula for our extended family Easter. Philip and I were trying to establish when was the last time we had travelled on the Inter-islander Ferry.  We assume it may have been over 15 years ago and for some unknown reason thought they might have improved. Cleanliness is difficult to address, food based on fries and as I sat down to write this blog in my free 3 hours, only to finally find out the interment was down. It took some time to get help since the information desk was closed as was the shop. At last, I found someone in a uniform and he did stop to help only to be told  ‘ Sorry Mam Looks like we don’t have internet

As you can see I am raving mad and embarrassed – this boat is full of tourists and quite frankly this is not good enough.

To get to Picton we first drove 10 hours to Mapua. Departing Tarras at 8.30 am we had the picture-perfect day to travel the West Coast. Not tourist style as stopping was restricted to a coffee in Franz Joseph!! Our day was magical as the landscape changed during the day. Passing through the stunning native bush on the Haast Pass,  the road had created clay walls which are now lined with walls of thick moss and long dense ferns.  Once you emerge from the forest to the rugged west coast the bush becomes sculptured and the trees grow on angles  - proving the gale force winds that must hit the coast frequently. It looked like someone had created all the humps and bumps on the bush with a chainsaw. Sadly no photos since the driver was reluctant to stop. The thick dense native bush is renowned on the West Coast and I was intrigued with the shapes of the many mature Rimu trees – standing tall about the canopy – but also the numerous young immature Rimu trees with their weeping branched dripping down.

But the West Coast is also a strong dairy farming region and we left the coast from Greymouth through historical mining towns which are now quiet and sleepy, with the greener-than-green dairy farming flats lined out in front of us for many miles. I think we had been on this road once before and we definitely couldn’t remember anything about it. We do remember the earthquake of Inangahua on the 24th May 1968. The Buller Gorge was our final impressive glimpse at NZ forests for the day and we were now immersed in my favourite NZ beach trees.

By 6.30 pm we were welcomed to our dear friends Neil and Lee-Anne's gorgeous house at the top of Mapua with a glass of wine which was very quickly in our hand and sitting in a sumptuous chair we felt very relaxed very quickly.

Our day was amazing as we left the dry in Central Otago, spent our day on one of the best roadies (except for the 10 traffic lights for road works) and arrived in the parched and dry Tasman Bay.

It was wonderful to wake up to the Tasman Bay after our travel day.

Travelling by road provides the time and ability to stop at long-time friends, visit old favourite haunts and this time find out about dried flowers – since we have rather a lot in Tarras. My dear friend Christine Boswijck was one of those precious visits. The freshly baked Plum cake and coffee were waiting and we could talk about gardens, plants, family and our lives. She wrote a gorgeous E-Mail after our visit but summed up relationships.

It’s great when we don’t see each other in ages but when we do we just pick up where we left off and the gap closes immediately. I love that.

So… a day after leaving Tarras we are with another one of those precious friends  - Lou and Peter in Blenheim.  Where you just fit in immediately.  The grape monoculture of the Blenheim region is stunning. The dry Whither Hills show the lack of rain here too. Harvest has started here and the picking trucks are everywhere. However, we chose to go to a place called the ‘Gin Shack’ for lunch and enjoyed their tapas menu very much.

Happy Easter everyone. Enjoy your family and take care.

XXX Judith