Jo Herrings Adventures

Home. Its such a simple concept but to feel it as soon as you walk off a plane is something else. I was greeted by no less than a holagram of a rugby pass on green carpet on the threshold to customs and welcomed by my big bro in his NZ Rugby World Cup kit with a car decked in All Black Flags. Rugby World Cup MAGIC! Over the next couple of days I soaked up the North Shore hospitality seeing Birkenhead support Argentina and the French welcomed in Takapuna. It really is such a great atmosphere to be a part of. Opening Day rolled around and after a bit of a hiccup finding a person to sit next too (who in Auckland would not want to see the opening match of the Rugby World Cup in NZ honestly!) the day lifted off. With the gathering crowd at Tom and Vicky's coming from Wellington and Timaru we set off for the ferry from Birkenhead Point. Tom and I sprinted for the ferry meant to leave at 1.55 and did not secure a birth until 2.45 due to overcrowding. This is were I met the eventual...

I called in to see my good friend from school days Gemma-Jube and to meet her husband Sandy on my stop over in Sydney. It was a great break in the city to get over jet lag and spend some time with Jube after many years living in different continents. I also got in a night out in Manly with one of my London friends & Manly local Leigh getting to see the lay of the land for the princess of local architecture. Here are some of the highlights. Visiting Leigh in Manly Sydney Opera House by night Sydney Harbour Bridge  An Oxygen Bar in Darling Harbour - you know the Ozzies and their love of hot air

Farewelling London for a year was not a hard thing to do today. And this surprised me no end. I spent my week in London with my beloved friends. I went to the Tracy Emin Exhibition at the Haywood entitled ‘Love is what you want’ - seeing her used Tampons was probably a little too much for me but the rest was quirky and intimate. I watched my All Blacks at the Temple Walkabout (yes that’s right on my last weekend in London I slummed it with plastic cups and cheap wine to see a rugby game and fortuitously  I met a Kiwi mountaineer who assured me my dates for trekking to base camp of Everest next year in June-July is a brilliant time of year to see the mountain), I cooked pancakes for my Tuscany crew on their way to SW4 and caught the end of Notting Hill Carnival for Family day, I had lunch with Liz and Pete at Peter Gordons delicious kiwi restaurant Providores and cruised around Notting Hill Carnival with my good mate Fancino running into 3 lots of friends on the day – reminding me...

We arrived in Mostar in stiffling heat. Instead of pushing onto Dubrovnik that night we chose instead to stay in Hostel Miran which had been recommended by our Sarajevo hostel. I can also highly recommend this spot. If just to spend an evening with Miran the host to get some perspective. Mostar is another of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) devestated cities. This time destroyed by their southern neighbours Croatia. The city bares the marks of a bloody 18 month siege in the 1990's.  We called in for some more tasty pie on our way to the old town. Taking in a national monument on the way - following some road signs to uninspiring Model Mostar house from the 1900's. We enjoyed going into the kitchen at this Pie shop to see how they made the pies...this was 40'c day and the kitchen was probably the hottest place I have ever been...and yet they worked happily baking their pies over open fires. We reached the "best spot" to see the famous Old Bridge found in...

Over a pretty hectic three days we took in the Croatian cities of Dubrovnik and Split and made our way to the island Hvar and travelled the picturesque northern coastal route to Zadar before returning to London. Croatia offered the Medeteranian sea element to my big adventure but I was not as overwhelmed as I had anticipated. I had heard such rave reports about Croatia and despite it being beautiful I kept on comparing it to a blonde beauty of popular culture...its obvious but somehow it just didn't win me over. Or perhaps it just verified my revelation I am a lake girl! Dubrovnik With René already having been to Dubrovnik our fast shuffle into town was rather straight forward. He was able to guide us through the old city along with the hoards of tourists to the Old Town walls which we climbed dutifully in the searing summer heat. We were able to see the Old town from a the highest vantage points admiring the terracotta tiled UNESCO World Heritage site and the workers trying to...

After a pleasant bus journey through the southern Serbian states and leafy (almost American like picket fence areas) northern Bosnia and Herzegovnia (B&H) I returned to Sarajevo at 11.30pm and despite knowingly getting ripped off on a taxi made for the central city and the Travellers Home Hostel where we had an entire floor to ourselves. After dropping our bags we headed straight to the Turkish quarter to have a refreshment bumping into my Montenegro-Sarajevo bus crew which made for a fun night. The following morning after a slow start we made our way to the National Museum which set to close at 1pm, we negotiated 1/2 price entry (at 12.45pm!) and whipped around the exhibits in record time. I had mistakenly thought this was the home of the siege exhibition so had a sad feeling that we had missed the one museum I wanted to see. Alas we rounded the corner and in an overgrown modernist bullet riddled cube we found the Bosnian Historical Museum. This museum offers a fas...

Peacocks next to Burberry - Belgrade is fast changing  Having met a Cuban cigar selling Serb in Israel over Easter it had me wondering what I would  find in Serbia's capital Belgrade. Heavens above he couldn't leave his country previously without invitation from another government until 2005 - can you imagine! He escaped to London using his job as a Tree Doctor to gain entry with an invitation to speak to the Environmental ministry!  Finding a new prison in the UK with no papers to travel. Stories like this made me anxious and very intrigued about a newly "open" country. They have a Wimbeldon champion - it can't be that bad right? I had what I can only refer to as another of my epic journeys. This time by train from Sarajevo to Belgrade. All in aid of collecting a  friend and seeing a new city. Honestly I wouldn't have gone to Serbia if he hadn't flown in there but it was a good excuse none the less. So I arrived in Belgrade the city of another ...

I arrived in Sarajevo's East or Christian quarter at around 4pm after a 8 hour bus ride. The road from Montenegro was like nothing I had ever experienced and crossing into Bosnia (like all Balkans crossings was very easy handing your passport to your bus assistant and them getting it stamped for you) saw us on the narrowest and poorest maintained road in Europe...A Bosnian welcome road...what an impression. About 10 minutes out of the checkpoints gorge we hit palatial highways. Prayers during Ramadan  at Bey's Mosque Taking a cab from the East Station is my best advice it is about 7km into town and in 35'c heat not really what you want to welcome you to the city...despite thinking of all my hard core backpacking friends who would have done it, I figured the Israeli I had befriended on the bus would get me the best price! €9 each later and we were deposited in the central backpacking district also the posh old town! Bey's Mosque  I was helped to a new hostel...