Day 11: Ballygally - Belfast
What joy to be wakened by sunshine streaming in the Castle windows. Dawn breaks at about 4.30 am in this midsummer season and darkness falls about 11.00. So I really enjoyed the photo opportunities prior to our departure along the Antrim Coast to the amazing city of Belfast. It is a Victorian City which the architecture reflects. We enjoyed a coach tour of the city prior to our afternoon's walking tour in this superb sunshine.
The coach then picked us up to drive us to the newly developing dockside which was preparing for the arrival of all the tall ships. Flags are flying every where and all the flower baskets are breathtaking.
Undeniably the feature is the new state of the art Titanic Belfast Building built on the shipyard where the Titanic was built. Our 3 hours there just flashed by.
Many of our wonderful group members have already left and the rest of us will be travelling to Dublin at 6.00 am tomorrow.

Day 10: Derry - Ballygully Bay
By now all of the men are infected with Peter's bug & one admitted to hospital in Derry. A couple of the women have a lesser version. Peter is certainly sitting on the bus each day but extremely unwell despite 5 days of antibiotics. He is sleeping most of the time he's not coughing so actually not seeing much of Ireland.
We boarded the coach early this morning and were educated on the bloody history of Northern Ireland by a highly qualified Buddhist tour guide who was delightfully objective about the years of pointless conflict. There was no personal bias on the commentary despite his Irish heritage. See FB photos for a couple of outstanding new architectural features of the rebuild.
The next tourist stop was to explore the Giant's Causeway. Many warnings to take care in the soft (wet) Irish weather that typifies our tour. There is a magnificent new tourist centre erected now so that provided a comfortable refuge.
The drive down the scenic Antrim Coast would have revealed breath-taking beauty I'm sure if we could have seen it.
Our accommodation tonight is in the Bally gully Castle which dates from 1625, complete with the resident ghost of the wife of Lord Shaw who threw her from the top turret once she had produced his heir. I'll report on that in the morning. I am hoping to put some photos of the castle on FB if the weather clears in the morning.

Day 9: Galway - Derry
Our Saint Dylan (tour guide) has a wonderful system of treats and this morning's treat was a scone and coffee at the enchanting village of Cong. This has an identity thanks to the movie of yesteryear "The Quiet Man" (See FB photos). Lovely to see some sunshine.
Our journey took us through County Sligo, stopping to look at the final resting place of WB Yeats. This was cut short by the bitterly cold winds.
We drove several more hours to stop for an exceedingly late lunch in Beleek where we settled in to the famous pottery factory. We were expecting to have a full tour of the artisans at work, but on a Sunday afternoon, they weren't at work at all. Oh dear, we just had to fill in time in the showroom. I had a strong urge to buy the piece photographed on FB. It's nice. It's £75,000. It 's still there.
Seeing we now had spare time, we detoured to Mullaghmore Head in Donegal Bay where Lord Mountbatten was assassinated. Very relevant so soon after Prince Charles'visit.
On we journeyed through the Blue Stack Mountains to reach our hotel in the ancient walled city of Derry.
A quick dinner and then round the corner to another evening of song and dance - Peter's first. He seems to have a relapse, but is not prepared to miss out for a 3rd time. About half our group now have his bug so not a happy lot.

Day 8: Galway & Connemara experience.
I must first tell you of our journey from Killarney by taxi yesterday afternoon with driver Dougal O'Donahue who entertained us with his blarney for not only the 3 hour journey but for the additional half hour it took him to find the Connemara Coast. Yes, Insight had told him our destination;  no he hadn't written it down - he didn't have a pen on him; no he didn't have a GPS - he couldn't work them.
We stopped en route at Adar. (I posted a photo of that enchanting tourist town yesterday). It was the first day of sunshine that we've had. There were 2 weddings being celebrated and they totally overtook the town.
Then we did the 2 hour run to Galway at which point our Dougal started asking me where to go. He turned left for awhile, then turned right for a change, then tried a roundabout and chose a random exit from that down a country lane. Why would the Connemara Coast be down a country lane? When we finally came to a halt for a flock of endearing Connemara sheep (those long-haired ones with black faces) he got out and asked another driver where to go. "Oh no, if you want to get there I wouldn't start from here." Well, how do you get out of here with a flock of sheep in front of you and a queue of cars behind you on one of Ireland's little narrow bog roads? With extreme difficulty accompanied by raucous laughter. But get here we did just in time for tea, for sure. And of course we're in this wonderful hotel right on the wild coast (as shown in yesterday's photo)
Now that you've caught up with yesterday, let's share today.
It began with the ghastly news that 3 other men of our group have succumbed to Peter's bug. Why has it taken 8 days, and why all men? So our tour guide did a block booking with the doctor and we have yet to hear the outcome.
So we piled into our coach without those men and their wives, but with Peter who felt well enough to go on his first optional tour. I even took photos to prove it. They're on FB. The day dawned overcast and drizzly - a soft Irish day. Our first stop was at the magnificent Connemara marble factory (see FB photos). The usual shopping frenzy followed a fascinating talk by Ambrose, father of Ambrose who saw us safely across the road to the quaint house (see FB photo of Peter and me warming ourselves by the peat fire). Grandson Ambrose was not on duty today as it is Saturday. This branch of the factory specialised in multi-coloured jewelry. It was grand to be sure, but I didn't like it. A major saving of many euros.
As we moved on for the long scenic drive through the rugged landscape of Connemara with its " wonderland of trout-filled rivers, lakes and silent hills" the weather deteriorated and we missed the lot. The tour guide announced our arrival at our primary destination which was the palatial Kylemore Abbey, billed as one of Ireland's greatest neo-Gothic castles on the shores of a picturesque lake. So we donned our wet weather gear and opened our umbrellas and sloshed off to see it. Well,  blow me, it stopped raining. Peter and I headed off for a lunch-time soup and by the time we had consumed great bowls of steaming soup, slabs of black Irish bread and my daily tonic of Irish coffee,  there was the sun to greet us and illuminate this spectacular piece of architecture. We meandered further around the shores of the lake, looking for the fairies which I'm sure inhabited such enchanting woodlands. All to the accompaniment of joyous songbirds celebrating the sun's appearance. By the time we had to return to the coach, the magic ended and the rain fell. Certainly the highlight of our first Irish week (which needed highlighting)
Peter is now tucked up back in our room sleeping off the day before dinner.

Day 7: Killarney - Galway
Yesterday's goal was to get Peter up and walking which we achieved twice. I must confess I did not waste time in between the two gentle perambulations and now am far more familiar with the stock in each of them.
In the evening I enticed Peter into the hotel dining room to look at some real food -the first he's had in Ireland. Mashed potato was a jolly fine start. Before he'd eaten many spoonsful, I had an urge to check whether the meal that night was included in our trip package (for the insurance claim). I dad up to our room to hear our phone ringing. It was our tour guide with an idea. Why not put Peter in a taxi, drive to Galway, put him back in bed there and party with the group? Tomorrow Peter could stay in bed and I could go out and play on the Cliffs of Moher with the group.  😀 What an outrageous suggestion.
DONE!!!!
I have my usual hair appointment this morning and then the taxi will pick us up at 2.30 and drive us to Galway. 👱

Day 6: Killarney.  As the doctor predicted, Peter is unable to travel further so we have had to withdraw from our tour. This has put me into a whole different world of Insurance and Customer Service Support team of Insight tours. The doctor hoped that the barrow load of drugs Peter is now taking will restore him to mobility so we can rejoin the tour in Galway in 3 days time. Miraculously the Killarney hotel can accommodate us until Saturday.
all my morning was taken up with arrangements for Peter, but in the afternoon I was able to go out and play. Our tour guide (the Welsh Dylan) had organised a team of 5 horses & carts (jarvies) to go out to meet the group returning from their Ring of Kerry tour and bring them back into town. One of these - Tim and his girl Judy - took me out to rendezvous with the group.
Tim has three sister, all nuns, who emigrated to NZ and live at the Holy Cross Seminary in Ponsonby where I go for Speech exams each year. So I know them!! One of life's little miracles, eh. Sure, sure.
Apparently the weather had been dreadful on the Ring of Kerry trip and the group could see nothing nor get out of the bus. For the horse and cart tour the weather was perfect.
at night I went with the group to another spectacular evening of Irish music, song and dance performed by world champion artists.
This morning I waved goodbye to my tour group. Today's goal is to get Peter out of bed, walking.

Day 4: Cork -Killarney
I actually wrote all this up in great detail and sent it to you last night but omitted to push Save first so you missed out on it all. Now I've been locked out of FB so you're not getting that contact either.
I'll do a condensed version of our side trip to Cobh which was the last port of call of the Titanic. There is a superb Heritage Centre including a tribute to the sinking of the Lusitania. I will try to put photos onto FB when/I gain access later in the day.
We then drove into Europe's oldest trading covered food market located in Cork itself. Anything at all edible is to be found there.
And so on to the ruined Blarney Castle before crossing the Derrynasaggart Mountains to Killarney.
Day 5: Ring of Kerry Experience.
Well for us it was the Find A Doctor Experience.  After half an hour with an elderly retired doctor and a pharmacist both of whom were hilariously full of the blarney we left with half the pharmacy and the recommendation to me that if that didn't cure Peter then I was to shoot him. You'll read of the outcome in the Herald. Peter has been advised to rest for a couple of days and then join the tour later on. I'll confirm with our tour guide tonight on their return as to the practicality of that suggestion.will reach anyone trying to follow our saga.
Now I'll save this so that hopefully it

Day 3: Dublin -Cork
I returned from the most spectacular dinner and Irish Cabaret to find Peter in the most woeful state. This manflu thingie is getting out of hand. Do you know how many hours there are until dawn breaks at Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere? Neither of us got so much as 1 hour's sleep. However our bags had to be at our door at 7 am and we had to be on the coach ready to battle Monday morning in Dublin where they are digging up every road to get one train station to connect with the other train station at the opposite ends of town. Nobody thought of connecting them at the time they were being built so they're doing it now, 10 years later.
Our destination was the Irish National Stud and Japanese Gardens. It was a pretty day to look at but the temperature was 6 C. We had the clothing for such weather but securely packed. We spent the most fascinating hour and a half walking around on a guided tour of this stud and blood stock business worth billions of euros. By the time we got back to the restaurant Peter was blue with the cold which has now sunk into his chest.
Back into our luxury coach and on to the medieval city of Kilkenny where we were informed of the craft of making the hurley. Our informer was a national hero of the game of Hurling. He is blessed with 4 sons all of whom share their Dad's sporting passion. Others in our group went on to discover the delights of Kilkenny,  but my job now is to stop Peter from getting any worse. Pneumonia is now on the horizon.
Our coach drove on to Cahir with its 13th century castle. Blow the castle. Just get 2 more spoonsful of chicken broth into Peter.
Then on through these enchanting country lanes to Cork where I could tuck Peter into bed after another 2 tblsp of hot broth.
Will these intrepid travellers get any sleep tonight? You'll have to wait to find out.

Day 2 in Dublin. After a fiendish night with Peter battling manflu, we met the coach which will be our home for the next 11 days + our tour boss. Fortunately today was only a half day tour of Dublin. There was the option of another tour this afternoon but Peter was a basket case so we have returned to our hotel.
We were given given time in the Trinity College library to join the queues of tourists viewing the Book of Kells written over 1000 years ago.
My huge relief was to be able to use my 2 credit cards and the cash passport none of which worked yesterday. What with Peter's cold and no cash access yesterday was indeed a very bad start to this trip.
Tonight I have booked myself into a dinner & Irish cabaret. An "excellent dinner of quality Irish food accompanied by a nonstop show of comedy, dance, song and Ireland's musical history" might be just the tonic.
Hopefully I'll report back tomorrow. I still will have to put any photos on FB due to digital incompetence.

What I didn't tell you is the photo is of just one of the shops of maid services with about 20 maids sitting waiting. Each agency has it's own uniform so there are 20 identical maids sitting all in a row. There's a whole 2 storeyed mall of them!!!! We're not staying in Orchard Rd you understand. Go further along the road and there's another string of them all sitting there eager for employment. So hundreds of maids. Which is why you send your daughter to school and make her study 24/7 . Now you'll understand Peter's euphoria. Ha, he can't even cope with the one maid he's got.
Off in search of the cat cafe today.

Qantas certainly not up to Emirates standard but, never mind, got us here in Singapore on time. Found the airbnbn condominium, settled in and went out to explore.

Look what Peter found!!!!!. Just what he's always wanted.

Wonderful trip to Sydney, thank you Emirates.

one more sleep

Busy packing, taking 1 thing out & repacking

Herewith the intended plan so you know where we may be at any given moment that you think of us:
June     16    Fly to Sydney
            17    Fly to Singapore
            19    Fly to Dublin
            20    Join 12 day Irish bus tour
July        1    Return to Dublin
            10    Fly to Paris
            14    Train to Salzburg
            17    Train to Prague
            18    Join 11 day Danube cruise
            28    Arrive Budapest
            30    Fly to Dubai
August   5    Arrive Auckland 12.45pm

We'll let you what REALLY happens as it unfolds. Peter will post some of his spectacular photos en route.

Just 12 more sleeps and then let the journey commence.
itinerary to follow