Saturday, November 12, 2011

Vintage: Magnificent Monday.

Welcome along to another "Magnificent Monday" where we get to enjoy another great week of posts from around the blogosphere.
This week the theme suggested by Nelieta of Nelieta travellingadventures is "Vintage." 

So what can you come up with? Wine springs to mind!


Vintage Exchange.                                    


 Here on the Kapiti Coast of New Zealand, we're heading into our summer and it's time for getting stuck in and seeing a bit of the country. That's just what a diverse group from UK, USA and Australia are doing right now, with their Kapiti host families, on a "Vintage" exchange with Friendship Force International. Read about Friendship Force here-friendshipforce.org


"The Friendship Force was founded by Wayne Smith and introduced on March 1, 1977, by President Jimmy Carter at a White House gathering of state governors. At that time, President Carter asked the governors to return to their states and identify a volunteer leader who would serve as State Director for the Friendship Force in their state. Rosalyn Carter served as Honorary Chairperson until 2002.
FF originally involved groups ranging from 150 to 400 private citizens, known as friendship ambassadors, traveling via chartered aircraft to the partner city where a group of the same size boarded to return to the original city, hence the terminology “Exchange,” the word we use still to refer to our travel programs. The visiting ambassadors were hosted in the homes of volunteer host families for a week, sharing everyday experiences and getting to know each other on a personal basis. The first FF experience involved 762 Ambassadors in a simultaneous exchange between Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England and Atlanta, Georgia, USA."



A different option of travelling for those who want to travel with friends, and make new friends around the world with a reciprocal visit later. Travellers will often pass by and wonder what life is like inside those quaint rose-covered cottages in the English countryside, or red-tiled dormer-windowed German houses, or even a thatched roof mud hut in Rwanda; and yes, even life in a ger in Mongolia. 


Kay and I had a marvellous experience in 2005 on the first ever exchange hosted by Friendship Force of Mongolia.
Check the 'Posts By Topic' on right side of this blog for Mongolia posts.


It's all a way of reaching  across cultures and breaking down borders by homestaying for 7 days.


Our local FF of Kapiti Club is currently hosting a "Vintage" themed exchange. 


Our Ambassadors have - 


 * Ridden the memory line here-Tramway Nostalgia.


* Were chuffed at seeing the old choo-choo trains here- Steam Incorporated Museum.


* Have been blown away with the over 400 vehicle collection at  Southwards Car Museum.
Photo courtesy Southwards Car Museum.


* Taken a lazy cruise up the Whanganui River on MV Waimarie.
Photo courtesy Wanganui Riverboat Centre.

* And as I write this they're taking a rail ride to Gisborne with Steam Incorporated. Normally the steam train excursions will be pulled by the K945 steam driven locomotive pictured above, but track gradients on the rail line from Napier to Gisborne mean the Museum's diesel unit is mustered. That's still a vintage unit!

Our Vintage Train Excursion approaching Paraparaumu Station.


Away they go! Off for a great ride, with overnight homestays with FF Napier and FF Gisborne clubs.


Next week's theme is "ACTION!"

To join in this week's Magnificent Monday-
1. Paste your name and a link to your 'Vintage' article in the Mr Linky tool below.
2. Leave a comment to show you care.
3. It's good etiquette to edit into your article a reference to this article to let your readers know also.
4. Visit each post, leave a comment and share Stumble, Digg, Tweet and Facebook etc so we can all benefit.

Share/Bookmark

22 comments:

Leah Griffith said...

You never cease to amaze me Jim. I adore these vintage photos of everything moving. My favorite is that steam engine...impressive!
Friendship Force sounds like a great organization. You are leading such a blessed life!
Peace,
Leah

Jim said...

Thanks Leah,I was hoping to get shots of K945 all steamed up and chuffing along but they are using the diesel unit for the long haul from Paekakariki to Gisborne.

Nelieta said...

Thank you for the mention Jim! I love the old cars! I wish I could drive in one with the top down and the wind blowing in my hair :)

Mari Sterling Wilbur said...

Wow! I'm amazed at all you found. Great photos and great to see all this equipment still being used.

NvGtravels said...

Great post! I've been to the Southwards car museum but MUST check out that Steam museum when I'm next in town. I recently had a nosy at the steam trains being restored at the old Newport works in Melbourne and there was one all taken apart: fascinating to have a look into the workings of the mighty machine.

Michael Figueiredo said...

I love that vintage trolly :)

Unknown said...

Love this Jim..I would love to drive one of those cars on a beautiful spring day on a country road!! Really enjoyed this Jim

Easy Hiker said...

What a collection! It's always amusing to see how things were. Always a good reminder of how far and how fast we've gone on forward with technology. Would we want to go back?

Manisha Bhatia said...

O Vow! I loved the vehicle collection! Its treasure!!

N old choo choo s cute :D

Nancie said...

This sounds like a great way to visit new places and have a great adventure. I love the riverboat shot.

Unknown said...

Hi Jim I think I left a comment earlier?? I love the vintage cars.. It would be fun to drive on a country road on a nice spring day in one!! This was a really great theme a lot of fun to read the post so far. By the way when I hit your link it took me to last weeks post!!



http://jpweddingphotograpy.blogspot.com/2011/11/photographing-vintage-for-magnificent.html

Jim said...

Hi Mari, I have always known we have these vintage museum in our area but finally someone put a scheme together where our visitors could visit the whole lot and go off on a vintage train excursion.

Jim said...

Hi Natasha, Steam Incorporated are in Paekakariki, easy to find on SH1. They are rebuilding another locomotive and storing one that was brought across from Zimbabwe of all places.

Jim said...

Yep Michael, she's a beautuful lady that trolley. The link I put up will take you to my last week's post about riding the tramway.

Jim said...

Hi Mani, Southwards Car Museum has one of the largest collections of old cars, a few planes, many bikes, motor bikes etc in the Southern Hemisphere.

Jim said...

Hi Nancie, when you get here we'll go on that old steam riverboat. It's very quiet lazily cruising up the river.

Jim said...

Hiya Jim, good to see you back on deck! Huge collection of vehicles collected and restored by Sir Len Southward.
Yes I linked the earlier Tramway Nostalgia post in as it's part of the Vintage Exchange that has is this weeks theme; when Nelieta suggested it, it seemed to fit in perfectly.

Cathy Sweeney said...

Love all of these forms of vintage transportation. I was inspired by your transportation post last week to take up vintage streetcars for my "Vintage" submission. So great to see these treasures in operation.

photos by jan said...

This is a wonderful post Jim. I love the old cars and as always I love the way you put this together. I apologize for not being around so much lately, I will try to keep on top of things a little better.<3<3<3

Mary Hudak-Collins livingthescripture.com said...

Loved it Jim! Great post. I believe I like the train the best :) I'm sort of partial to that type of transportaton LOL.

Eileen Ludwig said...

Love the vintage trains and cars

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