nature – Hereandthereclaire.com

Monday 7th April – Thursday 10th April 2025

I woke up feeling a little better than yesterday, but not 100% my ribs are also hurting again! 😩 Still, places to be things to do!

The weather is awful, heavy rain. We have been very lucky with the weather it would seem.

Grantley had some breakfast and I had a cup of lemon tea then we made our way downstairs.

We had booked a taxi with the guy on reception, explaining which airport we were heading to. There are 2 airports in opposite directions. Unfortunately, something clearly got lost in translation because our driver was there ready to take us to the wrong airport. For some strange reason he was unable to go to the correct airport, although it is the same journey time. The receptionist tried to get another taxi, but told us no one wanted to do it as it was raining!! WTAF! 😳 He eventually found a driver, but of course this option was more expensive, luckily not by much.

The driver arrived in a fancy people carrier with a fluorescent orange interior and we made our way to the airport.

By the time we got to the airport Grantley had started to feel unwell, nauseous, cold and very out of sorts. 😬

Luckily it was an easy check in and the flight was on time and boarding etc were a breeze.

We arrived at Dalaman Airport in lovely sunshine. Our pre booked taxi was easy to find and we headed to Fethiye, a nice drive through some towns and mountains.

Fethiye, looked amazing, a beautiful big bay, lots of boats, blue sea and blue sky! 💙

Poor Grantley was still feeling poorly, so he went straight to bed when we arrived.

I had a little wander around, dropped off some laundry then sat in a cute coffee shop opposite the hotel and wrote my blog. I then found a shop and bought some water, plain biscuits and a few bananas and went back to our room.

Grantley and I figured the best thing for both of us was an early night, so, after some water and a banana that’s what we did.

My bed was super comfortable and I got a really good nights sleep. We both woke up feeling loads better. My upset stomach felt better and my ribs were less painful. Grantley also felt lots better. The power of sleep!

We had a nice light breakfast, then our first port of call was to check out where the Ferry Port is in relation to the hotel. I also wanted to go to the ticket office and check out things.

After being given various incorrect directions and information, we located the ticket office, randomly under a different name (helpful, Not!) The port is only a 5 minute walk from the hotel, which is fab.

We had a little mooch then Grantley wanted to go and visit some tombs up on the hill, so I opted to look around the old town and we’d meet up later.

Just as I was walking across a road the strap on my handbag broke! The clip that attaches the strap had snapped. I’ve had this bag for a few years and it has served we remarkably well, so I was a little sad. I knew I should be able to get another strap, but no idea where. I asked in a little bag shop, they just said no. I asked in a boutique shop, they were a little more helpful and suggested the shoe repair guy by the fish market.

On the way to the fish market I passed a women’s fashion shop, I thought they might sell straps. I popped in and spoke to the manager, a very nice older guy. He looked at my bag, removed the strap, then said leave it with me, come back in an hour. I asked the price and he just waved his hands at me. I left my strap with him and found somewhere to grab a little lunch. I found a cute little local place down by the water I had some food the and met up with Grantley.

After an hour I went back to the shop, the man had an assistant run off to fetch my strap with new clips! Unfortunately the clips were too small to be able to attach. 😬 The gentleman got on the phone and had an animated conversation with someone, he hands the broken strap to another guy, who leaves the shop. He tells me to give him 15 mins. I went and sat on a bench outside with Grantley, 5 mins later he’s back with another older guy, more clips, they try then out on my back, chat nod, chat some more. The older guy wanders off. 10 mins later they are both back with my strap, which has larger, metal clips. They fit the strap on my bag It works! 😍 Everyone is happy, and nobody wants to take any money from me! This lovely man has spent a good portion of his morning getting my bag fixed out of the goodness of his heart. How bloody wonderful is that!! 😍❤️❤️ My bag is restored along with my faith in humanity!

Grantley and I had walked around the fabulous fish market in Fethiye during the day and decided to go back there for dinner.

The fish stalls are in the centre surrounded by lots of restaurants. You buy your fresh fish from the stalls then choose a restaurant who cooks your fish. Perfect set up!

By the evening it was raining, so the market wasn’t as busy as it would normally be. But it was fun. We chose a decent sized Sea Bass. The fish guys, clean and fillet it then pass it to the restaurant to cook.

We’d chosen the restaurant that we’d chatted to earlier.

We got a plate of mixed meze, we went for a medium sized plate as the guy said this was good for sharing.

It was a lot of meze! When he said good for sharing I didn’t think he meant with a family of 10! It was also quite rich. Our beautifully grilled fished was delicious, the meze was good, but just to much. Under normal circumstances Grantley would have polished it all off but after being unwell he was being careful.

The meal was good but expensive, especially given we left most of the meze we’d paid for. 😟

I think in the summer when it’s busy the whole place is buzzing and it’s a spectacle watching the fish guys and the restaurants Vying for custom!

Our plan for the following day included a couple of sites we really wanted to visit.

Just outside of Fethiye is an abandoned village called Kayaköy. It’s sits in the hills between Fethiye and Olu Deniz.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, Greek Christians and Turkish Muslims lived in the village together in relative harmony. But the loss of the 1st World War, the end of the Ottoman Empire and the attempted Greek occupation of the Anatolian region all played their part in the decline of Kayaköy. Greek Christians were forced to Fethiye Harbour for deportation and Muslim Turks were expelled from Greece. The village never recovered from these difficult times, when many were killed within the village and those that did remain finally left after an earthquake in 1957. The village has remained abandoned ever since. Turkish settlers have all refused to resettle the village due to its difficult and painful past, which they believe shrouds Kayaköy to this day.

The book I’m currently reading, Birds without Wings is apparently set in or inspired by Kayaköy.

Grantley and I opted to get a taxi to the village after being quoted €150 for a private driver to take us, wait for us then take us into Olu Deniz, wait then return!

Our taxi driver waited for us, at no extra cost. Total for the day €20

The Village is on a hillside and so I was expecting it to be a little steep.

More or less as soon as we entered the village Grantley took a right turn, I obviously followed. We then ended up walking completely off the path, over ever more unstable and steep loose stone trails! My absolute worst nightmare. We ended up at the back of a church, which we couldn’t enter, up and down slippery slopes, I said to Grantley that the reviews I’d read said that the village was surprisingly easy to walk around, clearly not where we were! Grantley eventually led the way back to what was the correct, less slippery, less treacherous path!! I swear to god the boy is trying to finish me off! 😂😂

Once I was on a firmer footing I could begin to enjoy the beauty of the place. It does have a vibe, not ghostly just something.

I think being here in the spring is perfect, the new buds and fresh greens everywhere are breathtaking. There were also poppies dotted around which I found very poignant, given the history of the village.

I absolutely loved exploring this site. It’s in a stunning place and definitely one of my highlights.

I had a fabulous chat to a lady selling trinkets down by the exit, she ended up giving me 5 little bracelets, “for my family” another wonderful interaction.

Grantley and I then spent the rest of the afternoon chilling down by the beach in Olu Deniz. Looking at the startlingly blue Mediterranean Sea, we even had a toe dip, it was blooming freezing. 🥶

Once back in Fethiye, we had a lovely walk by the Marina before deciding we both fancied some pasta for dinner! Luckily I’d spotted a cute little Italian right by our hotel.

The food was very good, and really hit the spot for both of us.

Our last day in Fethiye we spent walking right around the bay, which was really enjoyable, just seeing everyone going about their day, fishing, working, walking, doing Tai Chi, plus the views are pretty bloody fabulous, the marina, the Mediterranean and then a backdrop of snow capped mountains, gorgeous.

I think Fethiye has been the perfect stop after Istanbul. It’s been busy but also restorative.

Tomorrow we are leaving Turkey and making our way to Greece and Rhodes. 💙🩵

Have a fabulous weekend everyone.

Love you all.

😘🩷😘🩷😘🩷

Books Read.

Still reading one!

I’ve been a bit rubbish to be honest!

I did watch The Residence on Netflix which I thought was brilliant and very funny.

Friday 24th January – Monday 27th January 2025

Thankfully the weather cleared up on Saturday and I was able to go for a lovely long walk around the fort.

The fort was originally built in the 1520s by the Portuguese In 1640 the Dutch East India Company captured the fort and built more fortifications and also developed the fort area with hospitals, factories, warehouses etc. In 1796 the Dutch handed it over to the British who set it up as a major administrative centre. (Colonialism at its finest! 🙁)

When the Suez Canal opened in 1869 it led to Galle became renowned internationally and it began to develop as a major tourist destination. In the 1960s the port activity moved over to Colombo Port.

It’s a very interesting place to visit, the houses and streets are full of interesting architecture and beautiful houses with inner courtyards.

My walk around the Fort resulted in spotting a Peacock in flight, it was escaping from a little dog! I also,saw another fabulous green turtle in the sea. The turtle was swimming just by the fort wall and was pointed out to me by a nice Sri Lankan gentleman, he pointed it out and gestured for me to step forward to the edge, which was then a shear drop, I declined! I gradually worked my way to near the edge just as he came up behind me and spoke to me and nearly scared me to death!!

When I had made my way almost to the end of the fort walls, I was approached by another man, who,asked where I was from and started telling me his daughter was at school and showing me what was supposed Tao be her lunch bag, which appeared to have nothing in except a leaflet about he dangers of Denge Fever in Sri Lanka from mosquito bites. He then told me I could buy ayuvadic red oil from a local market that would stop this, much cheaper than the shops. I assumed the market was by the entrance to the fort, which is where I was walking anyway, he continued to walk with me and to be honest I didn’t get a good vibe, when I got to the place I was heading I asked where this market was and he pointed vaguely off somewhere, at which point I said, thank you but no, I’m going the other way. He wasn’t very happy, but I felt safer and comfortable with my decision. I think sometimes we have to go with our gut feeling, even if it means appearing rude of offending someone.

I really enjoyed my final day in Galle Fort. The weather changed again in the late afternoon and we had more rain, but an umbrella sorts that problem out!

I left Galle early on Sunday morning to head to my next destination, Mirissa, a small place down the coast, this coast is very popular with surfers.

I got a ‘PickMe’ which was a reasonable price and arrived at my new hotel around mid morning.

The hotel seems ok, a little run down and tired looking. The room was big and clean. I asked for a fridge for the room, as Tracey said she was bringing some bubbles! 🍾🍾!

Once I’d dropped my bags I set off to have a look around, as with Hikkaduwa places are set off from one main road. I found a couple of nice places looking over the beach and enjoyed a pot of tea watching the ocean.

Then back to the hotel for a swim, the pool is nice and not many mosquitoes!! 👍 There are a fabulous troupe of Macaque Monkeys that came past and kept me entertained. ❤️❤️

Mirissa is really nice, the beaches look great, it seems less busy than Hikkaduwa and I guess if you love surfing it’s perfect! A couple of places along the coast, Weligama and Midigama were very popular with the younger surfers.

Tracey was due to arrive early Tuesday morning, around 7am, having landed in Colombo and been picked up by Buddi, the chap who had collected me.

I set my alarm for 6am, to be ready for the much anticipated and exciting arrival and reunion! 🎉😍

I didn’t sleep well and was then woken at 5.45 by a call from Tracey saying she was here! 😍

The reunion was therefore fabulous but somewhat bleary eyed on both our parts! Tracey went straight to bed as she hadn’t really slept on the flight. I slept then had breakfast and woke Tracey at 11am, when out proper, awake reunion occurred!

It’s so fabulous to see Tracey, whom I haven’t seen since April 2024, but it also feels so odd to be together in Sri Lanka!

We spent a couple of days just mooching, resting and catching up, which is wonderful.

We also spent a lovely half day back in Galle Fort, wandering, looking at art and exploring the shops, then chilled in a beautiful hotel with a beer! Joy. 🤩

Then on the Thursday we had booked a Whale watching trip. This meant another early start as pick up was at 5.45 am. We made it, with time to spare! We were picked up in a Tuk Tuk and taken to the harbour. Where we joined the others on the trip. We went with a company called Rajah & the Whales, who are very ethical and are also a small family run company.

We boarded our boat and set off by 6.15. The harbour was still busy with fishing boats coming back in and lots of whale watching boats heading out.

I was very hopeful that we would see a whale, a Blue Whale, Sperm Whale, Fin Whale I really don’t mind which, just a whale!

My previous whale watching trips have not been successful. One in Australia in Cairns wasn’t great as I took a sea sickness tablet and it made me feel completely out of it! So apparently we saw a whale but I don’t remember 😟 Then when I was in New Zealand in Kaikora the 2 days I was there the weather was so bad we couldn’t even go out!

So I’ve got everything crossed for today.

We met a lovely lady called Christine, who was traveling with friends, Rebecca & Adrian, who were from Falmouth. She has done a huge amount to traveling to places that are certainly on my bucket list, like an Antarctic Cruise! 💙🩵 She was fabulous company on the boat.

We were out at sea for around 6 hours, we saw a large pod of spinner dolphins, which was fantastic, we also saw some turtles and got up close and personal with a huge container 🚢 What we didn’t see were any Whales 🐳. I guess it’s never guaranteed, I was a little disappointed but at the same time we had a fabulous day out so all good in the end. I would definitely recommend Rajah & the Whales if you’re In Mirissa.

We headed back to the hotel, had a lovely swim and were once again entertained by the Monkeys.

Then an aperitif of Bubbles and crisps on the balcony before a meal in a fab little place called ‘La Mer’ we both had the delicious cauliflower curry, yummy. 😋

This was then the end of our time in Mirissa, on Friday we are heading down to Yala National Park, staying in a place called Tissamaharama.

We are doing a Safari!

It’s now Sunday and we are leaving Yala, but it’s going to need its own post. Watch this space.

That’s is for now. It’s been so brilliant being together with Tracey.

Have a great week.

Books Read.

The Bookseller. Tim Sullivan. The latest in the DS Cross series. I enjoyed this. I like the series.

I am still trying to finish my next book, it’s taking a while, too much nattering to Tracey!! 😂❤️

Thursday 12th to Friday 27th December 2024.

As I said in my last blog post we were heading to Esperance for a weeks holiday.

Esperence is nearly 700 kilometres away from Bunbury so we prepared for a long 8 hour drive.

So on Friday 13th, we got up early, loaded up the Ute, packed an Eski full of rolls and snacks and we were on the road by 6.15! Excellent.

The route to Esperence goes through the grain producing area known as the Wheatbelt or Goldbelt, its approx fifteen million hectares of arable land!

There is one road, which is used by everyone, including the huge lorries transporting the grain, these can be up to 60 meters in length and for that reason they are called ‘Road Trains’

We were quite lucky that the grain harvest had already been completed so there weren’t many ‘Road Trains’ to try and overtake! 😳 I did some of the driving and had to negotiate overtaking 2 together, I opted to do them 1 at a time, it’s a a little scary! 😧

There are a few large lakes on route but pretty much all of them were completely dry.

The road trip there was actually really good, we stopped a few times in little towns and arrived in Esperence earlier than we thought, around 1.30pm.

The town itself is quite small but very lovely. We were staying in town in a house, which was large and comfy and a short walk to the foreshore.

We were a little early to check in so we had lunch at a lovely restaurant, The Quarters, down by the beach. Had a little mooch about, grabbed some essentials from the supermarket then chilled back at the house.

Saturday morning our plan was to do a nice nature walk around one of the lakes nearby in a place called Monjingup. The weather was not ideal, a little grey and some drizzle. Unfortunately when we arrived at the lake it was closed for an event, some sort of light show.

We decided to drive and check out the Pink Lake, sadly it wasn’t pink or anything at all as it was dried up! Apparently the lake has been dry for over 11 years. It’s still very pretty as the lake bed is completely white.

We then decided to do the Ocean Drive, which I have to say was nothing short of spectacular!

Esperence is on the Southern Ocean.

Our first stop was 11 mile Beach, wild and gorgeous, it was quite windy and still cloudy but this didn’t detract from how stunning it was.

There are lots of beaches, 10 mile, 9 mile, (I wanted a pic of me at 8 mile, sadly it was called something else! )

Most of the beaches are accessible, with boardwalks and some of them have toilets which are clean and well maintained! 😍

At Observatory Point (or 8 mile!) there was a lookout and a rocky outcrop, Rebecca & Chris climbed up to the lookout and Anita and I stayed down watching the view. The water was a beautiful turquoise colour and then I spotted something in the water, I wasn’t sure at first what I was seeing but then realised it was dolphins!! It ended being a pod of around 15 Dolphins in the shallows! It was so fabulous, I was very excited. I think that the most I’ve seen together. 🐬🐬💙🐬

From here we drove to Twilight Beach, very accessible, a large sandy beach and amazing rocks in the bay. We went down onto the beach and had a paddle, Chris braved it and went in for a swim!

Again, the colour of the ocean is beautiful.

From here we headed back into town, the weather brightened up so we had some time on the beach.

The beach area in town is fantastic, it has Shark netting, always good to see. It had jetty’s for jumping from, swimming lanes and also a shady area on the foreshore with toilets and showers, pretty impressive!

After our beach time we went to visit the local Gin Distillery, did a very pleasant tasting for $5

From there we headed to the pub for some much needed Holiday Cocktails!! The pub was great, nice views, great drinks, fab staff. It’s called 33 degrees, if you’re ever in Esperence and fancy a drink!

We had a really lovely first full day.

Sunday saw us going to visit the local market. We had decided to go there earlyish and grab breakfast from some of the food stalls.

The market was lovely, smallish but lots of locals selling their wares.

It was held down amongst some little old buildings that had craft shops and galleries in.

It was fairly busy, but I do need to clarify at this point, what I mean by Busy, I mean Busy by Western Australian standards, this bears no resemblance to Busy by UK standards! There were a few people around, and you may have to queue behind one other person to get a coffee! 😂

I opted for some Sri Lankan veggie roties! Yummy 😋 Rebecca, Chris & Anita got full breakfast wraps. We then found a little stall selling freshly made doughnuts in cinnamon sugar. I don’t really like doughnuts, but these were delicious.

Interestingly, a lady at the stall next door, who was from Devon heard me talking and said she recognised my accent as being either Devon or Cornwall! I didn’t think I had an accent at all! 😂

We had a lovely walk along the foreshore up to the Jetty, grabbed a coffee from a really cute little Coffee Caravan. Then Rebecca had a brilliant idea for us to drive out to a place called Wharton Beach, located in the Duke of Orleans Bay, around a 40 minute drive out of town.

Well, I don’t know what to say, if I thought the beaches we had seen yesterday were beautiful, this was on another level.

Absolutely stunning. It’s a beach that you can drive on, so lots of Australians take their 4 x 4 vehicles down onto the sand and set up camp. We opted to walk down.

I’m wasn’t far from the car to the beach with our stuff, chairs, awning, Eski.

We were tucked away towards the end of the beach and it was simply glorious.

White sandy beach, turquoise crystal clear water, sunshine and a breeze! 🏖️🤍🩵💙 although there were people on the beach it wasn’t crowded or noisy, not a scrap of littler in site.

We all went into the Ocean, it was cold but gorgeous.

We spent all afternoon chilling on the beach watching the dogs and kids playing in the water, reading and relaxing.

We had decided to stop in the nearby pub on the way home, called Condingup Tavern, Mmm, well we stopped, walked in, got weird vibes, a little bit odd, not many people, apart from a wall of locals propping up the bar, no one spoke to us, there was no staff around. We opted to find another pub!!

We drove back to Esperence and went to the local Brewery, Lucky Bay Brewery, who just happened to be celebrating their 9th anniversary! So it was a big old party going on, Live Music, dancing, water slide, pizzas! It was a perfect way to end a beautiful day. 🎉❤️

On Monday, Rebecca & Chris went to do a coastal hike. Anita I I stayed in Esperence and went on a walk to find a cafe with WiFi.

The reason we needed to do this is because WiFi is a little tricky to get in Australia. The house we were renting didn’t have internet, very strange. 😳 Very few cafes, restaurants or bars have WiFi and with Rebecca and Chris off on their walk we couldn’t Hot Spot, which isn’t always possible anyway.

So with this in mind we went into town, had a little look around then drove to The Quarters for a coffee, it was closed.

We walked to the pub, 33 degrees, they had WiFi but no coffee.

We went back into town, to a little Cafe near where the Market had been, that was closed.

We asked someone, they said that a place called Cloud 11 was good. That was also closed. 🥺

We eventually found somewhere with coffee & WiFi on our 4th attempt!! 😂

The positive outcome of this was we stumbled on a fantastic Deli, called Deli King, that does the most amazing sandwiches and coffee!

Rebecca and Chris got back from their walk and we all chilled out for the day. 😎

On Tuesday morning Rebecca and Chris went back to Monjingup Lake for a walk, Anita and I walked into town to get some bits and bobs, books, gifts etc. we managed to get a coffee in Cloud 11, and admire their wonderful Christening tree made of succulents! 💚🎄

We grabbed delicious lunch sandwiches from Deli King and all of us spent the afternoon at Twighlight beach. It was beautiful but very windy, so we ended up doing that very British thing of sitting on the beach wrapped up in jumpers!! 😂

Despite the cold we still had an ice cream in the way home.

We saw a very pretty sunset at West Beach.

Due to the number of photos I want to post, I’m going to split this blog into 2!

This is part 1.