Our route for the day started by heading out of Pitigliano down the now familiar Via Cave di Poggio Cane, but when we reached the highway we turned in a new direction and followed a couple of roads until we reached the beginning of the Via Cave di San Guiseppe.
Continue reading Sovana
Tag: cave
Pitigliano
Today’s walk was mercifully quite short, as we are spending a second night in Pitigliano. The town has a population of about 4000 people, and although it was once another Etruscan settlement its name dates back to Roman times.
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Vitozza
Vitozza was one of the largest cave settlements in central Italy, and has over 200 dwellings excavated from the volcanic tuff stone. It was inhabited from Etruscan times (around 800 BC) until the end of the 18th century.
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Orvieto
Our instructions for getting from Orvieto train station to our accommodation were to take a taxi, because the town is over a hundred meters up on top of a steep cliff. When we asked a taxi driver to take us however, he told us that the road was closed for the day because of a “celebrazione”. Fortunately, there is a funicular railway as an alternative. Continue reading Orvieto
Jacks Bay and Nugget Point
A little way south of the Catlins River is a place named Jacks Bay, which has a spectacular blowhole. We set off to visit it straight after breakfast while the tide was high. Continue reading Jacks Bay and Nugget Point
Catlins Coast to Owaka
Because the weather was forecast to be wet, we planned to head out for a day trip and return to Curio Bay, but we changed our minds about mid-afternoon and ended up at Pounawea instead. The motor camp is on the edge of the Catlins River surrounded by mature bush, and there is more bird song than we have heard anywhere on our trip so far. Continue reading Catlins Coast to Owaka
New Chum Beach and Kirita Bay
It was Auckland Anniversary Weekend, and the weather looked good, so on Friday morning we headed down to Coromandel with our kayaks on the racks. We had hoped to stay on the edge of Whangapoua Harbour, but we weren’t the only ones to have this idea and all the freedom camping spots were taken. In the late afternoon, and desperate to get in the water for a swim, we called in at the Kuaotunu Motor Camp and found they had a site vacant.
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A visit to the doctors in Coromandel
Part of Felicity’s job is to recruit and encourage doctors to help train medical students by giving them real world experience. We’ve spent the last week touring around Coromandel in the motorhome visiting many of the region’s general practitioners. Continue reading A visit to the doctors in Coromandel
Petřín Hill and Divoká Šárka Nature Reserve
After spending the last couple of days sitting in a conference, Felicity was keen on some exercise, so we have spent the day walking, mostly in a couple of Prague’s many parks. Continue reading Petřín Hill and Divoká Šárka Nature Reserve
Kopuawhara Stream and Mangaone Caves
When we first woke this morning, the sky was quite clear with an pink-orange glow. I was still drinking my bed tea when out to sea the sun popped over the horizon and shone straight in our bedroom window. It was obvious to both of us that it was going to be a kayaking day.
Continue reading Kopuawhara Stream and Mangaone Caves
Easter at Rotoiti
A friend of ours rented a holiday house located right on the shore of Lake Rotoiti over Easter, and invited a dozen of us to celebrate her forthcoming 75th birthday. We loaded our kayaks on the roof of the campervan and left early on Good Friday morning to beat the traffic. As we had hoped, the motorway was clear, so exactly an hour after leaving home we were stopped on the bank of the Waikato at Mercer eating breakfast.
Continue reading Easter at Rotoiti
Trotter’s Gorge
It started raining again as we left Central Otago and drove out towards the coast. We parked up for a while in Ranfurly where there was internet available, but we weren’t tempted to stray far from the van.
Continue reading Trotter’s Gorge
Fox River Caves
Bullock Creek didn’t flood and wash us away during the night, so we woke to another fine day in paradise. After breakfast we drove back down to the highway, then even further north to the carpark at the mouth of Fox River, where the Inland Pack Track begins.
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Charleston
At 8.30 am on the first of January we turned up at the base of Underworld Adventures Ltd to join their morning cave rafting tour. This takes place through part of the Nile River Cave system in Paparoa National Park.
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Takaka
With our stowaway rat on board we drove over the hill from Nelson to Golden Bay. Ms Rat was obviously rather hostile about us killing her babies, because she had destroyed a brand new packet of coffee overnight.
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Kaniwhaniwha and Pukemokemoke
We were sorry to have missed the last Indian Ink Theatre Company production, so we decided to attend the opening night of their new play, The Elephant Thief. This meant an overnight trip to the Waikato, because the Meteor Theater is in Hamilton.
Continue reading Kaniwhaniwha and Pukemokemoke
Loch Eriboll
Today we have been exploring the Scottish district of Sutherland, in the far north-west corner of the country. It is so named not because the Scots are geographically challenged, but because this area was once part of a Norse empire.
Continue reading Loch Eriboll
Lake Okareka
With conferencing over, we spent Friday night at a DOC camp ground on the shore of Lake Okareka, off the road out to Tarawera,
Continue reading Lake Okareka
Karamea and Oparara Basin
After completing our tramp over the Old Ghost Rd, we stayed in a rented house in Karamea for three nights and explored the local sights.
Ko Wua Talap
On Monday, the van taking us to the ferry picked us up at 7.30AM, before the hotel restaurant opened. We assumed we would be able to buy food at the pier, but we were driven directly to the boat and herded straight on board along with about 60 other tourists.