So the giraffe crane in Bormla is the landmark that brings us back home…

Spotted from the street market in birgu this morning – the Kiwis hit the market first thing.

Laden with cleaning products, fruit and veges, new seasons clothing and bras and undies for Africa! Only purchases today, a hat for Aaron, fresh strawberries, cherries, tomatoes, mushrooms and Maltese bread.

A little rest for Russ while we all caught up with each other before breakky and coffee in Victoria square, Birgu!

Then off to Valletta, Sue, Steph and Jaxon to the passport office, and do the final administration for Jaxon to become a fully fledged maltesa!

Perfect timing, no queues, and back through Valletta.

The guards outsides the presidents palace.

A peek inside the courtyard and Jax and Steph framed in the knights archway

Jax would have rocked the armour, just perfecting the 20’s pose!

Then after the ascent from lower Valletta to the upper barracka garden cafe a nice cool ‘cisk’

10 years after becoming a Maltese citizen – in a few days he will have the passport!

Ferry back to the old side, we collected my car, from yesterday’s street park and headed to Lidl, for a grocery shop, and lucked out with a park, on return, a mere 50 meters from our house!

The day ended with a cool drink, and view of flags flying (not sure what for) from our roof top deck, Mike helped cook dinner and Aaron on dishes.. not even here a week and we are living like locals.

A morning of local town shopping, in Figura and Paola….

The Paola church in the town square. Then back to the house, no parking again and had to leave the rental Car about two kilometres away! Jax and Russ had been out to the airport again and the other four arrived back about 15 minutes later. Russ had a nap and then we all headed for the first excursion to Valletta by ferry.

Jack has found a new profession – would need a good supply of sealegs!

On the roof of the ferry, the Kiwis basking in the sunshine.

Off on the other side we pulled in by one of the two cruise ships in harbour today.

No dinghy, this carries about 3000 passengers, and didn’t bode well for a peaceful time in Valletta….sure enough the Main Street was teeming with lines of walking tours. And very hot.

Steph and Jaxon cooling off under the fountain!

Mike making new friends – note the initiative used to support the flag pole.

A wander though the town and inside the Inquisitors Palace… first time I have seen the doors open.

Internal courtyard behind the walls, colourful gardens and palm trees.

We ended up at the lower barracks gardens, and a cool beer looking back at the grand harbour entrance on a clear blue day! Summer is definitely here today!

Back on the boat to our side, and two for one cocktails to end the day….

Was planning on another couple of hours work….this may not happen.

Aaron, Michael and Jaxon, the boys from Waiwera in Birgu…

Today presented us with a cool wind and orange rain – dust from North Africa has rained down on the decks, cars and streets of Malta.

Up early again, and a stroll to the car boot market in search of coffee mugs and a salad bowl! Mission accomplished off to victory square and the band club for an English breakfast!

Steph in the Main Street. Russ met us for coffee after breakfast and we headed to the supermarket, along with half of the locals. Being a Sunday the supermarkets are only open from 9-12, so a little panic shopping spree.

Out to the airport to collect Mike and the boys rental car….getting mike was easy but the rental car was tedious as processing was extremely slow!

Jaxon is driving! Back to the house for lunch anda catch up.

The downward view from the roof, not for the vertically challenged!

Mike making himself at home, but not allowed to sit on the wall unsupervised!

We are all off to visit our first round of cousins this arvo….can’t wait! A test for Jaxon’s driving from the south to the north and everything in between!

Let the good times roll the boys are all together!

Saturday, being a day off, no work for me today. Washing done and on the deck to dry, Russ and I decided to explore our local area, on foot.

Heading towards Victory Square in Birgu, a mere 500 meters up the road, we mingled with the Saturday morning shopping/socialising locals. On the hunt for a toaster, pegs and a dish brush and had a very successful shopping morning…followed by a cappuccino (or two) at one of our favourite haunts.

However, today is EU Election Day and the Labour Party headquarters were bursting st the seams, and an excessive amount of traffic and chaos on the roads.

What would usually take 15 minutes to drive to the airport, was a very stressful 40 minutes.

We collected the weary travellers, Jaxon, Steph and Aaron, who were very pleased to be grounded after 30 odd hours of travel.

Their hearts lifted after climbing the four flight to the rooftop deck!

I can now share with you our wonderful view of the grand harbour looking across to Valletta….

Three tired but happy kiwi travellers.

Hunger pangs started to kick in , it was now around 1pm, so we all walked around to the kiosk in Senglea, where they had their first taste of Cisk Excel, the local beer of choice.

Hamburgers and chips and three beers later, the eyelids were starting to droop, But not before a 30 minute walk back through the township of Senglea.

And past Russ’s local haunt from last year, which was buzzing with Election Day activity. I think a visit back there is in order when Election mania settles down.

Russ fell straight onto the bed and is lifting the roof off, say no more…. and it is very quiet in the upstairs apartment!

All are overwelmed with tiredness and excitement…Russ just needs his afternoon nap!

First day in Malta and Spring is in the air!

Awake at 4am after a very early night, four hours work under my belt and off to sort out banking issues before meeting Russell’s friends from Nelson, who just happen to be in Malta today!

Sue in Birgu, framed by the spring greenery, while waiting for our visitors to arrive on the ferry.

Heading north, Medina the destination, we decided to take a side tour to the presidents gardens in Attard! The winter here has been kind to the green fingered gardeners.

It’s blooming in full colour, we have never seen these gardens looking so lush.

Turtles basking in the sunshine, the mornings cool breeze dissipating and providing us with a perfect summers day.

White swan posing on the lake. This place used to be the Maltese zoo and the best wildlife stay on, why wouldn’t they?

More colour, spring flowers putting my planter boxes to shame!

Russ and the monument of King George who reigned during the Maltese English reign of our beautiful island. One day there will be another King George, but maybe not in our lifetime.

Moving right along to the Medina (city on the hill in the middle of Malta) I spied this beautiful old classic Bedford van! This ones for my dear friend Don, a lover of classics!

Across the Island to Gnejna Bay for lunch at the food truck….baguettes for 3euros! And a free public toilet!

Cross country driving to the Dingli Cliffs!

Not for the faint hearted or those with vertigo, Russ and his friends on the edge!

A panorama of the deep blue sea and farmland at the base of the cliffs. A bluebird sky and views of an untouched world, a far cry from the populated east coast of Valletta and north and south of the capital.

The tour continued with a drive around the south of Malta, through the refugee camps, the container transfer port and Marsaxlokk, the colourful fishing village of the south.. and I might add, always expect the unexpected….

A gin palace roadblock, in the process of launching for the summer, note the ignorance of OSH – man hanging off the top side, while holding up traffic both ways….

A quick stop for liquid supplies at Lidl, dropped John and Chris back to the ferry and now home on the rooftop deck enjoying a cool “Cisk” our favourite local beer.

Life is good!

A six and half our flight from Doha to Rome, another wheelchair, train, bus,waiting room and another bus to final fight to Malta…business class Air Italia! Don’t bother, a grubby old curtain separating the front six rows from the rest of the plane, no Screen, and a very tepid processed perfectly cylindrical lump of egg omelette and a Luke warm coffee…good thing I felt like I didn’t need to eat for two days!

On a brighter note Malta greeted us with warmth and sunshine and after making a phone call to NZ, good old ANZ bank to allow payment to process, we left left with our rental car and headed towards Birgu – our home for the next five weeks.

We will get fit, four flights of steps to our rooftop deck! Luckily Kevin and Rols had met us and could assist with bags as parking already at a premium and it’s only May!

House fabulous and view from the deck just breathtaking…. I won’t share this with you all as I want my son and his fiancé to gasp as we did the first time they see it when they arrive on Saturday! EU Election Day, we only realised this as the streets are littered with no parking after 4pm signs! A political rally we are told! Needless to say it’s a park and walk in Birgu today!

Russ and I unpacked and headed to the supermarket for a few essentials, beer and salad!

First stop the fruit and vege truck parked on the roundabout! The strawberries to die for…. these guys have had lots of sunshine!

A couple of hours work – workspace all set up! – clearing emails from the last 24 hours and The Cherry bag embarking on its international adventures!

A quiet beer on the deck – a walk to the Bormla township, dinner and shower and ready to hit the sack.

Tomorrow is the first day of our 2019 Malta summer – it’s only 8pm and we are showered, fed and ready to sleep

The sun is tying to keep us awake ….. not working….Russ asleep already at 8pm

So everyone, at least once in their life, should fly business class…. a private pod each, a la Carte dinner service, pyjamas provided and lie flat beds!

Sue in pod stretching out! Took a while to work out all the push button controls, but the touch screen tv made it easy to find a plethora of movies.

Dinner time, white table cloths set up ready for the Eye Fillet main course! Took a little convincing that a ‘Lady’ would prefer a beer rather than wine for dinner!

Dessert to follow, another movie and then rolled myself Down for the night! Seven hours sleep and then the meal process for breakfast started all over again!

Now relaxing in the business lounge before the embarking on the final legs Malta via Rome…

It’s 30 degrees Celsius outside ….. not sure it’s appropriate to paddle, albeit tempting….

Sitting in the qantas lounge at Auckland airport, I can’t believe we actually made it!

Last night with the son we are leaving behind, Dan in his new swandri! A must have for every kiwi builder!

This mornings alarm was a call from George on the other side of the world at 5am! Followed by a couple of hours of work, cottage cleaning, last minute packing and finally a shower!

A quick drive by the building site…..if you have to work, not a bad place to be. Winter woolies and the new swandri!!

A quick hello and goodbye to pop as he zoomed off to have an X-ray! Loaded Sandy’s car, a few more work emails and at the terminal laden with bags by 11am!

Qatar was not quite ready to take us – so Russ found a spot to sit and guard the bags!

Then check in…business class! Mmmm…… we scored a young lady, who was very nice, but on trainer wheels! She took so long….and allocated our seat/beds on different sides of the plane, not only for the 17 hour flight but all the way! And….this is what you pay business class for! Ok getting a little cross, I played the husband broken back card, which incidentally almost backfired! More standing around, not good for broken backs, and seats shuffled around, so we can at least chat to each other…if we wish.

Then arriving at the lounge, yes as part of business class we get a feed, there was a message to call “Matt”(from Qatar) who now needed to determine how serious the “broken back” was to fly such a long flight! I assured him that is the reason we have business class so long as he can lie flat he is fine! Dodged a bullet…thought we might be ringing Sandy to come and take us home again!

But here we are, new nails! And snacking in the lounge. Are you all tired….I am! Oh yes and “happy birthday number two son” maybe check in online would have been a smart choice!

Talk to you all of the other side in a day or so.

Another year of mothers day celebrations around the world…..a time to reflect on the unconditional love your mum has given you and a time to appreciate the joy (?) your offspring have given back!

A kiwi mothers day, a visit to my mum in her residence, and appreciate that I am one of the lucky ones, my age, who still has my mum to share this time with.  Circumstances change, but your mum is still your mum…

The love can still be shared from afar, my brother in Malta had sent mum this beautiful bunch of colour….to brighten up a very wet stormy mothers day. I gave her slippers, ever the practical daughter….

As a mum in the middle, I then had the rest of the day to spend with my offspring and be pampered….well, Russ bought me McDonalds, a treat none the less…

The world is a big place and the youngest son in England chatted via Facebook, the middle son and his entourage filled up our cottage for the weekend and gave me a personalised, and very much appreciated present….

I guess this says it all….mums an alcoholic and a reasonably good sort! So not true, but I do enjoy a nice cold Speights at the end of the day.

The oldest son, gave me what all mums wish for….peace…..to watch movies and eat chips and chocolate with the entire couch to myself for the afternoon.

And Hubby cooked his own tea! Having devoured takeaways, chips and chocolate, a nice bland cup of tea and an early night was in order, the weather being most unkind to us mothers in kiwiland, and sending galeforce winds and torrential rain for the afternoon.

On a brighter note…10 days before the next big adventure and Russ and I head for sunny skies…..