Naxos

The last place we visited was Naxos which is another Greek Island. To get there you can fly in a small plane and takes half an hour or take the ferry and that takes six hours. We decided to fly out and get the ferry back. Maggie was very keen to get there to see her friend Ave who lives there. Ave grew up in Runanga and went to Runanga School too. She is also a friend of Mrs Perry.

Naxos is a very pretty place with lots of sandy beaches for swimming and very blue water. Ave lives 20 steps from the beach so we got to swim every day. The water was warm and so were the days even though it is autumn now.

Ave has a dog called Teah. We made very good friends with her.

Ave and Maggie spent a lot of time talking and they had lots of laughs. Stephen and Theopolis had more trouble talking because Stephen can only speak English and Theopolis can only speak Greek. They could still enjoyed meal times together.

Ave's daughter, Sylvia, took us to a special school she works at. We got to visit two classrooms and meet the children. They speak Greek but are learning English. We taught them a song in English.

We went to see the Rock Shark which is on the beach not far away. It was a bit scary so we sat well back to get our photo taken.

It was sad to say goodbye to everyone as we had had such a good time. The trip on the ferry was fun. We played games and watched all that was going on.

 

 

 

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More sailing

We thought we would send you one last message before you go on holiday on Friday. We will be back in NZ by the time school starts again.

As you can see by the photos we are still having a great time on the yacht sailing around he Greek Island. We just love the warm weather, the sunny days and the warm water to swim in. We even got to have a turn at steering the yacht.

After we finish our sailing holiday we will say goodbye to our new friend Flynn, and travel by bus to Athens. Our next trip is then going on the ferry to Naxos. Kermit is getting very excited because he has been before and is looking forward to seeing Averil, and her family. Averil is a friend of Mrs Perry, and she grew up in Runanga. We will send some photos later for you,

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Sailing holiday

This week we have been on a sailing holiday in the Greek Islands. We flew in big jet from London to Athens. Then we had to fly in a smaller plane to Corfu where we got on the yacht called Sirius. We have another new friend called Flynn. He is Irish but comes from a classroom near New Plymouth. Each day we sail to a new place. We moor on the water front right beside the restaurants in the town. During the day we sail on the very blue water. We stop in a small bay for a swim, and some lunch. The weather is fantastic with hot days and warm water for swimming.

 

 

 

 

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Camping and the Green Kermit Car.

We went camping in the Peak District near Manchester. The car we hired was a real Kermit car and we loved it.

 

The camping ground had a playground and we loved playing on it and meeting lots of children. They were having their summer holidays because it is summer over here. It is the opposite of NZ. Soon it will be autumn and you are starting spring.

 

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The Queens Holiday House

This is Sandringham Palace. This is Queen Elizabeth's holiday home. In New Zealand we might call it a bach or a crib. How would you like to have a holiday in this place. There were lots of gardens and parks to play in. We weren't allowed in the house. I bet it would be great for playing hide and seek.

 

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Motor bike museum

 

Today we went to visit a motor bike museum. Wow. There were over 800 motor bikes. Some of them were really old - over 100 years old. Some of them were racing bikes and some of them were bikes that were really special.

 

We were very lucky to be able to sit on some of the bikes to get our photo taken.

We met a new friend 'Norton Bear' and he is very keen to come back to NZ with us for a holiday. We were telling him all about the world's fastest Indian motor bike. It comes from Invercargill and Kermit was telling us all about how they made a film about it. We got some photos with Norton Bear sitting in a motor bike that had a side-car.

 

 

 

 

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Next stop

"Nana comes from Sligo Bay"

Sligo was our next stop. We didn't get to see the bay but the town was lovely. We had tea in the yellow pub.

I love to hear them play the fiddle.

The whistle and the bodhran drum.

And though I love the rock and metal, Irish music is much more fun.

 

 

We wanted to hear some Irish music so we went to pub for tea and after tea we sat and listened to a band play some great Irish music. They used a whistle, bodhran drum, mandolin, banjo and guitar. We bought their CD so you will be able to listen to it when we get home.

 

I love to live in Aoteroa. I love to have my friends at home.

But I'm saving up to go to Cork, To kiss the old Blarney Stone.


 

 

Our last stop was Cork, and the castle at Blarney where you get to kiss the stone. We had to climb up about a 100 steps to the top of the Blarney Castle to get to the stone. Only Maggie would kiss it. It was really hard and scary as you had to lean backwards and out to the edge. A man was there to help you. We just took the photo. I hope you like it.

Also at the Blarney Castle was an amazing garden with witches kitchens and fairy rings. We saw this tree that reminded us of the tree in Crinkum Crankum. We made Maggie climb up in it so we could take her photo.

We had one more night in Ireland at a place called Kilkenny before we had to catch the plane and fly back to England.

 

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Travelling the Song

Maggie taught us how to use the camera so all the photos in Ireland have been taken by us. It is really good fun. We hope to visit all the places in the song.

We had to fly into Dublin airport and we stayed two nights there. Dublin isn't in the song but it is the biggest city in Ireland.

This is Maggie in one of the cute narrow streets in Dublin. Notice the cobbled street.

This is some traditional Irish food - Irish stew. You can see all the potatoes. Irish people love potatoes.

 

"Grandad Murphy comes from Belfast"

That is the first line of the song so Belfast was our next stop. We went to stay with some friends of Maggie and Stephen. They lived close to Belfast in "Downpatrick". While we were there Stphen looked up the place where his Grandma came from and we all went for a drive to Portadown to have a look where she lived. Lots of people in NZ have family that came from Ireland a long time ago. Some of you might have relatives who came from here. It got us thinking that Kermit might too and would you believe it Paddy McKermit was living right in Downpatrick and was a friend of Rosa (the friend we were staying with.)

 

This is Rosa and Paddy McKermit. We had a lot of talking to do catching up on all our long lost relatives.

The next day we all went into Belfast and had a good look around. Did you know this is where they built the Titanic. There is a big display all about it. We went and had a look but didn't go on the tour because it was just too busy. Maybe another time.

 

This is Stephen standing on the place where the Titanic was built. You can see the tourist building in the background.

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A trip to Ireland

When Maggie and Stephen said we were going to Ireland Kermit was really excited as he remembered singing this song at Ascot School. It was always a fun song and he thought it would be great to go to all the places that the song talks about. So before they went Kermit taught Dooby Bear this song. (Mrs Perry could find it and teach you too.)

Irish Music

Grandad Murphy comes from Belfast Nana comes from Sligo Bay And though their hands are old and sore I love to hear them sing and play.

Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I di.

I love to hear them play the fiddle. The whistle and the bodhran drum. And though I love the rock and metal Irish music is much more fun

Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I di.

I love to live in Aoteroa. I love to have my friends at home. But I'm saving up to go to Cork, To kiss the old Blarney Stone.

Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I diddle I di, Di di Diddle I di.

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The Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony for the Olympic games was really fun. There were lots of interesting colours and patterns and music. This photo looks like the Union Jack flag and all the athletes came out and filled up the spaces. It turned into a big party to celebrate.

 

 

This is some of Team NZ coming out into the stadium. We were busy waving our flags and cheering.

 

It was exciting when Batman and Robin came into the stadium and joined the party. We got this good photo for you.

 

At the end there was a big fireworks display and it was all over for another 4 years. It would be really great if we could go to Brazil for the next ones.

 

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