“An amazing holiday – one of our best”, was how Gary and June Stratton described their “triple treat” of travel.
On 14 May they departed from Auckland for 10 weeks, which would include a 12-day North Sea cruise on the liner Norwegian Star, a month self-driving in Scotland and England, and a 15-day European river cruise on the Emerald Destiny.
During the sea cruise, the weather was often cold, despite it being early summer, and Gary’s photos of Norway and Iceland showed snow thick on the hills that surrounded the fiords -where their liner berthed for day visits.
Gary and June’s granddaughter, Summer, travelled with them from Southampton to Iceland. A highlight for June was showing Summer the town of Lerwick (the capital of Shetland). June’s ancestors emigrated to New Zealand from Shetland in the 1800s, with her great grandfather being one of eighteen children who travelled the long voyage. The family was brought to New Zealand by the NZ Government with the task of establishing a school in the Norwegian/Danish speaking area of Mauriceville in the Wairarapa.
At the finish of their cruise, the trio flew to Edinburgh and collected their rental car. With Summer going off to do her own thing, Gary and June headed north, stopping to see the unique Falkirk Wheel, then through Dundee and on to Ullapool in order to catch a ferry to the Outer Hebrides.
It was cold on the islands but they enjoyed the raw scenery, the simple crofting way of life, the stone broches and the ancient Standing Stones (older than Stonehenge). The terrain was rocky and undulating, trees were sparse and shops almost non-existent. The roads were narrow with frequent passing bays and travel between the islands was by causeway or ferry.
An absolute highlight for Gary and June was the day they relived history on the isolated island of St Kilda. After reading books about the fascinating story of the people of St Kilda, and being thwarted from travelling the 48km on a tiny boat owing to the rough weather several years ago, it was a day to remember when they finally got there. The people of St Kilda sustained their way of life for hundreds of years by eating birds, birds’ eggs, mutton from the endemic soay sheep and basic cereals (which struggled to grow in the soil and difficult conditions). The people lived communally but were evacuated in 1930 due to the low population.
Gary and June’s next photos, taken on the mainland of Great Britain, showed family areas of June’s ancestors in Dumfries and Wanlockhead. There were further interesting photos, including those taken at the Captain Cook Museum in Whitby and at Magdalene College in Cambridge – the home to the 300 year old book collection of Samuel Pepys.
Finally, we learned of the thoroughly enjoyable time June and Gary had when cruising on the Danube and Rhine Rivers, as they shared photos of the beautiful European villages the boat stopped at for day excursions.
The photos were interestingly presented and brought back happy memories for many of us.
