Well today we were planning on taking the Metro into Paris to see the Eiffel Tower etc - but we had a really late night last night and so slept in. We decided then it would be better to do disney land today, and Paris another day.
So we got the shuttle in and arrived at Disney Land around Lunch time - we went into the studios first as these had a lightning macqueen cars ride which Cam was buzzing out about and busting to go on! So we headed pretty much straight for that - there were big life size lighting Macqueen, Mater, Luigi and Guido (or whatever the tyre guys called) which were awesome - Col and Cam lined up for the ride and hadheaps of fun!!
After that we headed around the park - wandering around and taking in all the sites. The next thing of significant interest that we did there was went to a stunt car show - it was awesome! All the cars and motorbikes were dong wheelies and jumps etc - as you can imagine Cam Loved it!!
We went on a couple more rides on that side before heading over the the Disney Land Park side. The whole place looked really beautiful all lit up for christmas - huge christmas trees and lights were everywhere you looked! The Disney Land Castle looked beautiful all lit up.
We got home at about 9:30 or so and were all worn out!!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Sunday 21st December
Today we were heading for a place called Vignoles – which was nearly 400kms from where we were in Avignon. We set off on our journey – not particularly early as we had to wait until 9 to pay for the camping ground. So somewhere between 9:30 and 1 we headed off for what we knew would be a long trip. We drove through Lyon – which looked like a nice city from what we could see! And carried on along the motorway to where we wanted to be. I think it was about 3 when we arrived – it seems to take us ages to travel, even though most of it is along the motorway. It was pretty windy initially but that quickly died down which was good.
When we arrived at the camping ground, my conversation went something like this:
Me: “vous parlez anglais?” (do you speak English)
Him: “Non, no Anglais”
Me (thinking ahh crap! Lol, this had hardly ever happened – usually they have been able to speak a little): “ahhh, un soir….um…” hoping I was saying one night, pointing to the campervan”
Him: “wee” then rattled off what I think was asking about how many people
Me: “deux um…adults?” indicating with my hand that I meant a tall person… a person much taller than me HAHAHA, but trying to get my point across! “un….” Showing again with my hand child.
Him: “wee”
Again conversing away in French that I had no hope in hell of understanding – I thought we was asking how old cam was to which I responded “quatre” , then it became clear that he thought I meant I had 4 children with me. He kept talking, I kept looking confused trying to get the point across that there was just one child “J’ai un fils…un” (I have a son…1) LOL, desperately looking in my phase book for anything that could be useful!
In the end he got out a piece paper and drew a little picture LOL, of two big stick men and one child and pointed to them saying “mama, papa, enfant”, “wee!” I exclaimed, moments before I had been thinking I was going to have to go out and drag Col and Cam from the Campervan to get my point across! Under the child he wrote the number 4 “wee!” I exclaimed again – thinking that surely he was talking about his age, not the number of children or there would be 4 little stick children in his picture LOL.
So finally we got everything sorted out and we had somewhere to stay for the night!
When we arrived at the camping ground, my conversation went something like this:
Me: “vous parlez anglais?” (do you speak English)
Him: “Non, no Anglais”
Me (thinking ahh crap! Lol, this had hardly ever happened – usually they have been able to speak a little): “ahhh, un soir….um…” hoping I was saying one night, pointing to the campervan”
Him: “wee” then rattled off what I think was asking about how many people
Me: “deux um…adults?” indicating with my hand that I meant a tall person… a person much taller than me HAHAHA, but trying to get my point across! “un….” Showing again with my hand child.
Him: “wee”
Again conversing away in French that I had no hope in hell of understanding – I thought we was asking how old cam was to which I responded “quatre” , then it became clear that he thought I meant I had 4 children with me. He kept talking, I kept looking confused trying to get the point across that there was just one child “J’ai un fils…un” (I have a son…1) LOL, desperately looking in my phase book for anything that could be useful!
In the end he got out a piece paper and drew a little picture LOL, of two big stick men and one child and pointed to them saying “mama, papa, enfant”, “wee!” I exclaimed, moments before I had been thinking I was going to have to go out and drag Col and Cam from the Campervan to get my point across! Under the child he wrote the number 4 “wee!” I exclaimed again – thinking that surely he was talking about his age, not the number of children or there would be 4 little stick children in his picture LOL.
So finally we got everything sorted out and we had somewhere to stay for the night!
Saturday 20th December
Today was mainly spent milling around the camping ground – we caught up on washing etc and mucked around, chilling out - knowing that over the next couple of days we are planning some pretty intense driving time. In the evening we wandered back over inside the castle walls to the village to have a Kebab for dinner – we sat next to the Christmas markets and soaked up the atmosphere of Avignon for one last time. It is a really endearing little town – bustling with people in it’s narrow streets!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Friday 19th December
We went for a walk into the village again today and had a look at the bit castle walls and in an amazingly beautiful church. It had terrific artwork all through it – on the ceilings and walls. And in every little alcove there were awesome statues and candles etc.
We kept wandering around the area and before long it was getting late (well not really – about 4:30, but it starts to get dark so it’s usually when we head back LOL) so we came home, feeding the ducks on the Rhone river on the way!
We kept wandering around the area and before long it was getting late (well not really – about 4:30, but it starts to get dark so it’s usually when we head back LOL) so we came home, feeding the ducks on the Rhone river on the way!
Thursday 18th December
Today we are in a place called Avignon – it’s south of Lyon. We were planning o going further west and up through Cassosone (sp) and Toulouesse – mainly because I wanted to see Cassasone. But upon investigation there were no camping grounds open in the area so we decided to shoot up the middle of France and save a bit of travel time and petrol costs (this thing is a gas Guzzler which isn’t cool when you’re going thousands of KMs!). So we headed to place with an open camping ground – Avignon. We arrived here, and found an awesome town inside castle walls – exactly what I wanted to see in Cassasone so it was a nice surprise!
We chilled out in the campervan then went for a walk over the bridge and into the village. There was the most beautiful Christmas market with awesome fairy lights and Christmas carols etc. We stopped for dinner then carried on back to on campervan for the night.
We chilled out in the campervan then went for a walk over the bridge and into the village. There was the most beautiful Christmas market with awesome fairy lights and Christmas carols etc. We stopped for dinner then carried on back to on campervan for the night.
Tuesday 16th December
Well we’re in France! We didn’t mean to be LOL but we couldn’t find our first camping ground and shot straight passed the motorway exit for the next one! So next stop….France!!
We are in a small place about 10kms out of Nice – we arrived here at about 2pm or so after leaving at about 7am – we were so relieved to find a camping ground that we would have stayed just about anywhere! But it’s a nice camping ground – and there are other people! Something that we haven’t seen much of for awhile! So this afternoon was mainly spent playing outside and just chilling out.
We are in a small place about 10kms out of Nice – we arrived here at about 2pm or so after leaving at about 7am – we were so relieved to find a camping ground that we would have stayed just about anywhere! But it’s a nice camping ground – and there are other people! Something that we haven’t seen much of for awhile! So this afternoon was mainly spent playing outside and just chilling out.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sunday December 14th
Today Cam and I just mucked round in the campervan, Col went back over to Venice to pick us up some supplies…when we got over there he found it totally flooded! I will let him explain!
Well what a adventure, I trotted off to the ferry and noticed that the mooring point was up quite high and being the expert sailor I am I realized the tide must be in (or to that effect) as we were getting closer to the city Venice I was saying to myself ‘huh the water from this angle looks as if it is lapping at the door steps of the shops’ I didn’t pay any more attention to it until we hoped of the boat and had to get off the mooring onto the foot path, and to my surprise and disbelief the foot path was covered with water - there is a café about 15 meters from the waters edge, the locals were sitting down on the outside furniture sipping away on their coffees with their gumboots on completely unfazed by the water lapping at their feet.
Now I had a problem, I had to get off the mooring so others could get on, I did the best jump I could but still landed in ankle deep water, luckily with my flash new shoes I brought they repelled the water, as I looked around I discovered the path to the supermarket ( the only shop that I knew the way to)was 95% emerged with water, there were a few parts that had only about an inch or so of water so I made my way down, as I was trying to look casual about but must have looked like a rite moron hoping and jumping, as other boats went by they caused little ripples of waves in my direction.
I got to about 20 meters from the supermarket when I couldn’t go any further, I watched as people in their gumboots waded through the mid calf depth water, I then decided to abort the mission and try a different location, half an hour later I reached the other dairy type shop ,and being my luck they didn’t have any of the essential items in needed to make my banana pancakes, so then I headed back to the ferry terminal to get the boat back and try something else.
I reached the terminal and then a thought struck my mind “surly the tide must go out at some stage, it was just after 12 so I thought I would wait around and see. Three quarters of an hour later I headed back down the path to the supermarket to have another attempt, the water was still lapping at the buildings but it had noticeably gone down. I got to within five meters of the supermarket and the water was still deep, just over the ankle, well screw this I thought there is no other option so I walked through it hoping like hell that my shoes would hold out, the left foot soaked but the right was dry, so a little bit of a victory for me I guess. 45 minutes later I have finished the shopping and step outside to discover all is normal, apart from the wet looking cobbles you would have never known. That’s about it I walked back to the ferry and went back to the campervan, my shopping expedition that I thought would take me an hour at the most ended up taking 4, but all’s well that ends well.
Well what a adventure, I trotted off to the ferry and noticed that the mooring point was up quite high and being the expert sailor I am I realized the tide must be in (or to that effect) as we were getting closer to the city Venice I was saying to myself ‘huh the water from this angle looks as if it is lapping at the door steps of the shops’ I didn’t pay any more attention to it until we hoped of the boat and had to get off the mooring onto the foot path, and to my surprise and disbelief the foot path was covered with water - there is a café about 15 meters from the waters edge, the locals were sitting down on the outside furniture sipping away on their coffees with their gumboots on completely unfazed by the water lapping at their feet.
Now I had a problem, I had to get off the mooring so others could get on, I did the best jump I could but still landed in ankle deep water, luckily with my flash new shoes I brought they repelled the water, as I looked around I discovered the path to the supermarket ( the only shop that I knew the way to)was 95% emerged with water, there were a few parts that had only about an inch or so of water so I made my way down, as I was trying to look casual about but must have looked like a rite moron hoping and jumping, as other boats went by they caused little ripples of waves in my direction.
I got to about 20 meters from the supermarket when I couldn’t go any further, I watched as people in their gumboots waded through the mid calf depth water, I then decided to abort the mission and try a different location, half an hour later I reached the other dairy type shop ,and being my luck they didn’t have any of the essential items in needed to make my banana pancakes, so then I headed back to the ferry terminal to get the boat back and try something else.
I reached the terminal and then a thought struck my mind “surly the tide must go out at some stage, it was just after 12 so I thought I would wait around and see. Three quarters of an hour later I headed back down the path to the supermarket to have another attempt, the water was still lapping at the buildings but it had noticeably gone down. I got to within five meters of the supermarket and the water was still deep, just over the ankle, well screw this I thought there is no other option so I walked through it hoping like hell that my shoes would hold out, the left foot soaked but the right was dry, so a little bit of a victory for me I guess. 45 minutes later I have finished the shopping and step outside to discover all is normal, apart from the wet looking cobbles you would have never known. That’s about it I walked back to the ferry and went back to the campervan, my shopping expedition that I thought would take me an hour at the most ended up taking 4, but all’s well that ends well.
Saturday 13th December
Today we headed back on the boat into Venice, thinking that we might have a Gondola ride and that we wanted to find the net and eat pizza and a couple of other things. We missed the 1pm boat so headed in at 2pm – it’s about a half an hour ride over. We had pizza for lunch and wandered the same way we did the other day – we found out about the gondola but the ride is 2 hours long and we had left it too late!
Venice looked different when it wasn’t raining! The streets seemed less narrow without umbrellas coming from every direction and we found we were looking up instead of looking down for puddles! Ws nice to go back and see it through different eyes so to speak!
Venice looked different when it wasn’t raining! The streets seemed less narrow without umbrellas coming from every direction and we found we were looking up instead of looking down for puddles! Ws nice to go back and see it through different eyes so to speak!
Friday 12th December
Well today really did suck a whoppa HAHAHA. We left Venice at about 9:30 heading for a place about 150kms away – we got there and searched high and low for our camping ground (unsuccessfully) which was no mean feat amongst crazy Italian drivers! We then headed back to the motorway and decided to try for Florence – another 150 or so kms away. We got there and searched again for a camping ground – only to find the one we were looking for (which according to the book was meant to be open)was closed! SO we headed off looking for the next one in the book which was open….it was closed too!! Again we drove for the next “open” one to find it closed. By this time it was getting dark and we were wondering what the fark to do!!
We pulled into a petrol station area to have some dinner, we were going to just stay there but weren’t sure what would happen with the motorway ticket that we had (you have to take a ticket when you get onto the motorway, then you hand it over when you get off to pay a massive toll LOL. I think our biggest so far has been about 20 euro!) and we weren’t brave enough to just park up off the motorway incase we got murdered….so about 12 hours and 700kms after we set off this morning we arrived…in surprisingly high spirits…back to where we started from.
We pulled into a petrol station area to have some dinner, we were going to just stay there but weren’t sure what would happen with the motorway ticket that we had (you have to take a ticket when you get onto the motorway, then you hand it over when you get off to pay a massive toll LOL. I think our biggest so far has been about 20 euro!) and we weren’t brave enough to just park up off the motorway incase we got murdered….so about 12 hours and 700kms after we set off this morning we arrived…in surprisingly high spirits…back to where we started from.
Thursday 11th December
Well as I said yesterday, today we got the boat over to Venice – it was absolutely pissing down with rain and we didn’t know where to head when we got off the boat as we forgot our map haha. Anyway we followed the crowd, hoping that we were heading towards something interesting!
We walked for awhile before finding some umbrellas to buy as we were soaked through! Even in the rain Venice was an awesome place to be exploring – the narrow streets (so to speak) and the river roads were captivating – some people were having gondola rides, we decided if we come back in we will have one then. The shops were funny – they were all tiny! You walk in, turn around and you’re done LOL.
Anyway we strolled through the narrow streets and came to the shoreline where we walked down and looked at the shops along the way. I think cam stepped in every puddle that existed (and there were ALOT of puddles!) before we wandered back the way we had come and stopped for some pizza (ya can’t be in Italy and not eat pizza after all!).
Oh, and today Col is officially one step closer to being an old man! His birthday was pretty uneventful, we did manage to find a cake (or sorts!) and some candles though LOL. As he said – usually he’s at work, at least this year he’s in Venice!
We walked for awhile before finding some umbrellas to buy as we were soaked through! Even in the rain Venice was an awesome place to be exploring – the narrow streets (so to speak) and the river roads were captivating – some people were having gondola rides, we decided if we come back in we will have one then. The shops were funny – they were all tiny! You walk in, turn around and you’re done LOL.
Anyway we strolled through the narrow streets and came to the shoreline where we walked down and looked at the shops along the way. I think cam stepped in every puddle that existed (and there were ALOT of puddles!) before we wandered back the way we had come and stopped for some pizza (ya can’t be in Italy and not eat pizza after all!).
Oh, and today Col is officially one step closer to being an old man! His birthday was pretty uneventful, we did manage to find a cake (or sorts!) and some candles though LOL. As he said – usually he’s at work, at least this year he’s in Venice!
Wednesdsy 10th December
Today we drove to Italy! We had to drive through the Swiss Alps (we think?) and it was a trip that we will remember!! It was snowing (pretty hard out at times!) and not the best conditions to be driving in. We approached where we were meant to turn off the motorway to get to our camping ground, but decided to keep going because at that point the snow was falling pretty thick and fast -we thought turning off the motorway into unknown territory probably wasn’t the best idea.
Unfortunately the next camping ground wasn’t till Venice so it meant another 300kms or so on the road! I think we arrived here at about 4ish, just as it was starting to get dark so haven’t had a chance to explore yet – we will catch a boat into Venice tomorrow so that should be good! The camping grounds in Europe so far have been expensive! Most have ranged between €20 and €30 (last night and tonight were both 30 each!) which is probably double what we were paying in the UK most of the time.
Unfortunately the next camping ground wasn’t till Venice so it meant another 300kms or so on the road! I think we arrived here at about 4ish, just as it was starting to get dark so haven’t had a chance to explore yet – we will catch a boat into Venice tomorrow so that should be good! The camping grounds in Europe so far have been expensive! Most have ranged between €20 and €30 (last night and tonight were both 30 each!) which is probably double what we were paying in the UK most of the time.
Tuesday 9th December
Today we drove to a place called Innsbrook – if we thought our last stop was snow covered it was nothing compared to today! We drove to innsbrook this morning and, largely thanks to the GPS had a bit of a crappy time trying to find our camping ground! We ended up stopping at shopping mall (just cos we were passing it) and spending a couple of hours there – looking for a sticker and shot glass (unsuccessfully) before heading off again in search of a place to stay. A few more wrong turns later and we were again surrounded in snow and in an amazing location. This time the snow totally covered the ground – the lake we were next to was frozen over and had snow on top of it. Someone had built a big snow man which cam thought was neat and we went for a walk in the snow down to the lake and to the playground – we attempted to slide down a hill but with only a shopping bag to slide on we weren’t too successful!
Monday 8th December
We are in the very beautiful Austria! Surrounded by snow covered alps we are nestled in next to a lake in a place called Seenof. We arrived here and mucked around in town (well there were a couple of shops, it’s not a city – just a little town) before heading to this camping ground. It is an amazingly beautiful place to be and we are in awe of our surroundings.
After settling in (well, plugging in the power LOL) Cam and I ventured out to make a snowman….we didn’t get very far because he enjoyed stamping on my attempts more than he actually wanted to make one! So we headed off to the playground where Col came out with the camera looking for our snowman HAHAHA. We went for a walk down to the lake where we spent quite awhile throwing snow balls (well hunks) into the lake. Every way we looked we could see the huge alps! By this time it was getting dark and cold so we headed inside where it was warm.
After settling in (well, plugging in the power LOL) Cam and I ventured out to make a snowman….we didn’t get very far because he enjoyed stamping on my attempts more than he actually wanted to make one! So we headed off to the playground where Col came out with the camera looking for our snowman HAHAHA. We went for a walk down to the lake where we spent quite awhile throwing snow balls (well hunks) into the lake. Every way we looked we could see the huge alps! By this time it was getting dark and cold so we headed inside where it was warm.
Sunday 7th December
Another day like yesterday! We’re heading out of Germany (well trying to) as we decided to do Berlin at the other side of the trip (when we take motorhome back) so are heading towards munich (which has no Camping grounds open) then will turn off to Austria. So I think today we drove just over 200kms to another camping ground we found open – when we arrived here began to wonder what on earth we’d gotten ourselves into ‘cos it’s a bit dodgy looking!
Anyway after dealing with a grumpy man at reception we managed to get a spot for the night. Where we are reminds me of when on American movies and stuff they have people who grew up in the trailer park (think “my name is Earl” LOL) – most of the camping ground is taken up with really run down caravans with big awnings etc that have obviously been here for yonks – it’s like a little town of caravans almost. Is quite funny really!
Anyway after dealing with a grumpy man at reception we managed to get a spot for the night. Where we are reminds me of when on American movies and stuff they have people who grew up in the trailer park (think “my name is Earl” LOL) – most of the camping ground is taken up with really run down caravans with big awnings etc that have obviously been here for yonks – it’s like a little town of caravans almost. Is quite funny really!
Friday 5th December
Campervan no 2 day! We got up and got the shuttle to take us back to the airport because we had instructions for how to get to the train station from the airport and it sounded easy LOL. So I asked at the info desk at the airport (also a bonus as they spoke English) and they told us it was about a 5 min walk to the train station so we set off (with all bags in tow of course hehe) and figured out how to get tickets etc to catch the train. Everything went very smoothly…until we got off the train too early and found no phone to call the campervan people and saw no taxis or anything…after about an hour (maybe slightly more) we discovered the mistake and that we needed to get off the train two stops away so we jumped on the next train and got off in two stops – there were taxis lined up at this stop LOL so we just jumped in one and got taken to the campervan place.
When we arrived we realized we were a day early…duh! I had checked everything else 10 times – times of flights, date to take back other campervan, times to pick it up etc but not the date! Lol OOPS. Anyway they let us take it a day early (after much deliberation…seriously it was sitting out there ready to go anyway and of course we paid for an extra night…) We headed out (on the right side of the road eek!) to a supermarket we had passed in the taxi and brought some duvets and blankets and some food….that was a challenge in itself of course as everything was in German! Col is doing really well, popping in bits and pieces of German from our book LOL, I really stink at it! By this time is was getting dark and we really didn’t know where we were heading… but found a camping ground about 70kms away so headed for that. Arrived there at about 5:30 I guess and rung the bell…of course no English and Col gave me the mission of getting us in…I asked if we could camp here, which he replied yes then something else – I thought he said he was coming out so we waited…and waited… but he didn’t so I rung again and he said to go to the restaurant. When there it was a mission to understand ANYTHING lol. I was umming and arring like a dork and then suddenly another guy who was up at the bar piped up in English to help me – which was great and made the rest of the process easier.
When we arrived we realized we were a day early…duh! I had checked everything else 10 times – times of flights, date to take back other campervan, times to pick it up etc but not the date! Lol OOPS. Anyway they let us take it a day early (after much deliberation…seriously it was sitting out there ready to go anyway and of course we paid for an extra night…) We headed out (on the right side of the road eek!) to a supermarket we had passed in the taxi and brought some duvets and blankets and some food….that was a challenge in itself of course as everything was in German! Col is doing really well, popping in bits and pieces of German from our book LOL, I really stink at it! By this time is was getting dark and we really didn’t know where we were heading… but found a camping ground about 70kms away so headed for that. Arrived there at about 5:30 I guess and rung the bell…of course no English and Col gave me the mission of getting us in…I asked if we could camp here, which he replied yes then something else – I thought he said he was coming out so we waited…and waited… but he didn’t so I rung again and he said to go to the restaurant. When there it was a mission to understand ANYTHING lol. I was umming and arring like a dork and then suddenly another guy who was up at the bar piped up in English to help me – which was great and made the rest of the process easier.
Thursday 4th December
Well today marked our last day in the UK, we took our campervan back at about 10am and got dropped off at Luton Airport (yay! No mucking round with trains etc!) Where we had a 6 hour wait till our plane LOL. It wasn’t too bad though – we checked in our bags 2 hours before our flight and headed upstairs to the departures bit for a change of scene – there was a display with a flash Ferrari so Cam was of course captivated by that LOL.
We boarded our plane at 5:40 and arrived in Berlin at about 8ish I think (the flight as just over an hour long but with the time difference etc was about 8) we rang for our airport shuttle and waited for about an hour or so (And it was COLD!!!) for it to arrive before heading for our one campervan free night LOL.
We boarded our plane at 5:40 and arrived in Berlin at about 8ish I think (the flight as just over an hour long but with the time difference etc was about 8) we rang for our airport shuttle and waited for about an hour or so (And it was COLD!!!) for it to arrive before heading for our one campervan free night LOL.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Tuesday, 2nd December
Today we left Bath and drove down to Stonehenge – for me this was an “I can’t believe we’re actually here” moment as you always see pictures of it and stuff and to actually see it for ourselves in the flesh (well stone) was again surreal and beyond belief. (I’m trying to come up with some different descriptive words, but am coming up short!) It was the worlds coldest day (well maybe the worlds coldest hour LOL) and it was raining but we still loved seeing the huge old rocks and hearing a bit of the story behind them. They don’t really seem to know why Stonehenge was built – or even how, but they have discovered some interesting features of the ancient creation which dates back as far as 5000 years ago. One thing I found interesting is that is can be like a calendar – the sun shines in the middle of each column (for want of a different word) in the middle of each month. Well something like that anyway!
After Stonehenge we drove about 150kms I guess to our next campsite – it’s weird to again be so close to London (I think we’re about 30 miles away now) and know that we have come in our full circle and are about to end our time in the UK. From here we are heading over to Hertfordshire for the night then on Thursday dropping the campervan off before beginning our European Campaign.
After Stonehenge we drove about 150kms I guess to our next campsite – it’s weird to again be so close to London (I think we’re about 30 miles away now) and know that we have come in our full circle and are about to end our time in the UK. From here we are heading over to Hertfordshire for the night then on Thursday dropping the campervan off before beginning our European Campaign.
Monday 1st December
Well I can’t believe it’s December already! Seems strange that it’s nearly Christmas time again – even though at times it has seen as though the year was dragging it has gone really fast!
Today we caught the bus into town (Bath), and went to the Roman baths – this has been something I have been really looking forward to that whole time so was excited this morning!
It was surreal and amazing to be walking around and seeing things that the Romans built about 2000 years ago – not only were the baths themselves beautiful, but they also had a museum type thing where you could see where and how different parts of the building were created, and showed off heaps of different aspects of the original building that they had uncovered – bronze heads, mosaics and stone carvings, to name a few.
I just wished I’d taken more in during Classical Studies in sixth form LOL. Seems weird to me now how much I hated that class…I’d love to go back and take it again!
Col’s View:
There is something about wandering around a place that was once filled with people thousands of years ago and just to stand there and look at it is truly mind blowing, there was this one feature that they had uncovered that was (to me) really amazing, it was the steps to the main bath house, as they were in their day. Hidden then uncovered like no one had ever touched them(I have a photo to prove it). Describing the bath house will never do it justice I’m sorry but this one has to be seen to be truly appreciated.
Today we caught the bus into town (Bath), and went to the Roman baths – this has been something I have been really looking forward to that whole time so was excited this morning!
It was surreal and amazing to be walking around and seeing things that the Romans built about 2000 years ago – not only were the baths themselves beautiful, but they also had a museum type thing where you could see where and how different parts of the building were created, and showed off heaps of different aspects of the original building that they had uncovered – bronze heads, mosaics and stone carvings, to name a few.
I just wished I’d taken more in during Classical Studies in sixth form LOL. Seems weird to me now how much I hated that class…I’d love to go back and take it again!
Col’s View:
There is something about wandering around a place that was once filled with people thousands of years ago and just to stand there and look at it is truly mind blowing, there was this one feature that they had uncovered that was (to me) really amazing, it was the steps to the main bath house, as they were in their day. Hidden then uncovered like no one had ever touched them(I have a photo to prove it). Describing the bath house will never do it justice I’m sorry but this one has to be seen to be truly appreciated.
Sunday November 30th
Today we drove from Bristol to Bath, which was a short 25km drive. After we found our camping ground (no internet again, damn it!) we went for a walk into a suburb nearby. It was kind of the Bronx LOL, had heaps of estates etc in it – but we found a small shop and a place to get takeaways for dinner hehe. Cam had a play on a bigish playground that we found along the way. We had a bit of a giggle as we past different things and would say “oh, when we first arrived we would have taken about 10 photos of that!” We came back and snuggled in to watch ice age (we don’t have TV, but do have a computer screen thing with an xbox so can watch movies – kind of a strange set up but anyway!) before driving back to the takeaway place we found and brought some dinner. So a fairly low key and relaxing day today!
27th - 30th December
We spent these three days in Bristol – which I thought was a beautiful place! Our camping ground was right on the river Avon, which was very pretty. After we arrived we went for a big walk along the river to explore – we walked along the riverbank and up past the SS Great Britten – you can’t seemuch of the ship as it’s kind of hidden in the port (I guess so you pay to get into it!) but from what we could see it was very impressive! We carried on until we came to a bridge where we crossed the river and walked through into part of the town and came across some big steps with water flowing down them – much to Campbell’s excitement! We then headed back down this side of the river. I’m not sure how far we walked but it was getting dark when we got back to the campervan!
The next day we walked along the same way we did yesterday and crossed to the other side of the river again – this time heading into the main part of town. We went for a look at the Christmas markets which had a great big Ferris wheel which cam thought looked like fun (but we had no cash) before heading into one of the malls. We saw another Santa land (cam hasn’t asked why he’s seen about 5 different places where Santa lives LOL, I thought he might this time ‘cos he seemed a bit puzzled by seeing another one!) and then back down the main street, before turning around and heading back for the market and the Ferris wheel! I though cam would change his mind about going on it at the last minute ‘cos it was really high – but he didn’t and him and I went on for a ride – I think I may have been more nervous than him LOL. It wasn’t scary though and the views were very cool! I couldn’t get any awesome pics like I was hoping to though ‘cos it was hard to with the Ferris wheel itself in the way! We then headed back for the campervan!
The next day, other that walking back along the river to feed the ducks we more or less just chilled out in the campervan! I went for a walk to the supermarket (and got a bit lost!) but that was about it!
The next day we walked along the same way we did yesterday and crossed to the other side of the river again – this time heading into the main part of town. We went for a look at the Christmas markets which had a great big Ferris wheel which cam thought looked like fun (but we had no cash) before heading into one of the malls. We saw another Santa land (cam hasn’t asked why he’s seen about 5 different places where Santa lives LOL, I thought he might this time ‘cos he seemed a bit puzzled by seeing another one!) and then back down the main street, before turning around and heading back for the market and the Ferris wheel! I though cam would change his mind about going on it at the last minute ‘cos it was really high – but he didn’t and him and I went on for a ride – I think I may have been more nervous than him LOL. It wasn’t scary though and the views were very cool! I couldn’t get any awesome pics like I was hoping to though ‘cos it was hard to with the Ferris wheel itself in the way! We then headed back for the campervan!
The next day, other that walking back along the river to feed the ducks we more or less just chilled out in the campervan! I went for a walk to the supermarket (and got a bit lost!) but that was about it!
24th - 26th December
Ok, well I haven’t written my blog in about a week! Oops! So I’m going to do my best to remember the days and what we did.
Monday 24th – Wednesday 26th December
We stayed in a camping ground about 9 miles out of Cardiff in Wales – we were right in a massive park (sorry I can’t remember it’s name!)in a place called Newton, which was pretty cool! On the day we arrived we went for a walk through the park and to the supermarket – which was close by (always a bonus!) and just chilled out (I think! I can’t remember doing anything else anyway!)
On day two we went for a drive out to Caterphily Castle – another breathtaking ruined castle. We had to drive down the worlds narrowest roads to get there ‘cos we took a wrong turn or two which was kind of stressful! (although I think I possibly get more stressed out about it that Col does….) The castle itself was beautiful (of course) – Cam loved all the different weapon type things that were outside it (there was a big crossbow thing and a couple of big catapults). One of the big watchtowers were broken and he took great joy out of telling us all about how the catapult from outside had done it! (Which apparently one could have, either that or it just may have happened naturally with the sinking ground –they aren’t sure!) Anyway, it was impressive to see it with a big crack through the middle and the rest of it was beautiful too! There were a few men fishing in the Moat which looked funny! The drive back was much more pleasant as we were on the motorway lol. We had to fill up our gas bottle so were relieved to find somewhere to do that (after trying about 4 petrol stations we found a camping type shop that did it…with a petrol station right next door that also did!) it was bad timing because most of the campsites do the bottle swaps too but not the one we were at! It’s much too cold to go a night without it though (like we had to the night b4 LOL) not to mention not being able to cook dinner or have a cuppa so was great to find somewhere.
On our last day here we caught the bus into town (Cardiff) - we walked through the park )a shortcut to the bus stop col hoped) only to find there was no other way out! We found a spot to jump the brick wall Col and Cam went fist, then I wasn’t so sure I could do it after all LOL (after insisting I’d be able to in the first place…) Anyway, I managed – much to the amusement of Col and Cam and no doubt the passing traffic! Cardiff was a nice city – we wandered up one of the main streets heading towards the castle (we didn’t go into this one though), and then back down and into a mall or two and the Cardiff Markets – which kind of reminded me of the Freemantle markets in a way.
Monday 24th – Wednesday 26th December
We stayed in a camping ground about 9 miles out of Cardiff in Wales – we were right in a massive park (sorry I can’t remember it’s name!)in a place called Newton, which was pretty cool! On the day we arrived we went for a walk through the park and to the supermarket – which was close by (always a bonus!) and just chilled out (I think! I can’t remember doing anything else anyway!)
On day two we went for a drive out to Caterphily Castle – another breathtaking ruined castle. We had to drive down the worlds narrowest roads to get there ‘cos we took a wrong turn or two which was kind of stressful! (although I think I possibly get more stressed out about it that Col does….) The castle itself was beautiful (of course) – Cam loved all the different weapon type things that were outside it (there was a big crossbow thing and a couple of big catapults). One of the big watchtowers were broken and he took great joy out of telling us all about how the catapult from outside had done it! (Which apparently one could have, either that or it just may have happened naturally with the sinking ground –they aren’t sure!) Anyway, it was impressive to see it with a big crack through the middle and the rest of it was beautiful too! There were a few men fishing in the Moat which looked funny! The drive back was much more pleasant as we were on the motorway lol. We had to fill up our gas bottle so were relieved to find somewhere to do that (after trying about 4 petrol stations we found a camping type shop that did it…with a petrol station right next door that also did!) it was bad timing because most of the campsites do the bottle swaps too but not the one we were at! It’s much too cold to go a night without it though (like we had to the night b4 LOL) not to mention not being able to cook dinner or have a cuppa so was great to find somewhere.
On our last day here we caught the bus into town (Cardiff) - we walked through the park )a shortcut to the bus stop col hoped) only to find there was no other way out! We found a spot to jump the brick wall Col and Cam went fist, then I wasn’t so sure I could do it after all LOL (after insisting I’d be able to in the first place…) Anyway, I managed – much to the amusement of Col and Cam and no doubt the passing traffic! Cardiff was a nice city – we wandered up one of the main streets heading towards the castle (we didn’t go into this one though), and then back down and into a mall or two and the Cardiff Markets – which kind of reminded me of the Freemantle markets in a way.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Sunday November 23rd
BRRRR it's cold here today LOL. It's been raining and hailing hard out al day (I thought it was snowing at one point and got a little excited hehe) which has seen us hauled up inside for the day.
Saturday, November 22nd
We left our campsite early, and headed to a place in Wales called Brecon (right next to the Brecon Beacons). We arrive here at about 12:30 and found a campsite easily. It's a nice little site (with flat pitches hehe) and free internet...wohoo, score! LOL.
Anyway, we mucked round here for a little while before heading into town for a look. It's a lovely little town - really cute! It has a really nice cathederal, but I didn't take any photos - hopefully we will go into town again before we leave so that I can take some pics! We went and got a few things from the supermarket and looked in a few shops before coming back to our site and settling in for the night!
Anyway, we mucked round here for a little while before heading into town for a look. It's a lovely little town - really cute! It has a really nice cathederal, but I didn't take any photos - hopefully we will go into town again before we leave so that I can take some pics! We went and got a few things from the supermarket and looked in a few shops before coming back to our site and settling in for the night!
Friday, November 21st
Today we caught the ferry back from Dublin - Holyhead. I wasn't feeling great about the whole thing as it left at 3pm, meaning that we'd get into holyhead at about 6 (gets dark at like 4:30) and there were no camping grounds for quite awhile on the other side (they were all closed for winter). Anyway we nade it to the ferry (had to drve through town which isn't cool!) and everything was going according to plan timewise. It was really windy, making the trip a bumpy one and all 3 off us felt pretty dodgy! Poor little cam was pretty sick, but handled it like a trooper and went to sleep after a little while.
We arrived in the port at about 6:30, and so headed to the gate to get down to the campervan...and waited...and waited LOL. A little bit later it came over the speaker that we couldn't dock becuse of the high inds and could everyone go back to their seats. So we did (lots of people stayed standing up) but had lost our sweet couch position in front of the tv LOL. A little bit later it came back over the speaker that we would try to dock again in about an hour so we pretty much just mucked round (drinking free hot chocolate LOL) for that time. We were anchored out of port a little bit, but because it was still windy we were still moving around wuite alot! Anyway we finally got in and into our motorhome at about 8:30. Our mood was fairy chirpy as we headed off down skinny windy roads trying to find a camping ground we had found was open. I think we arrived at about 10:30 - it was a pretty dung camping ground where all the pithces were really crooked, and we ended up getting stuck in some mud! Luckily thre was a nice man across from us who helped to push us out and we stayed there the night. It was pouring down with rain and I had the crappies sleep thinking that we were going to get stuck here at this crappy campsite 'cos it was going to turn to a muddy mess! (actually I'm being unfair, the camsite would have been beautiful had e arrived during the day and could see what we were doing. it was in amongst the trees and stuff and was pretty nice I guess. But as e arrived so late and immediately got stuck, I just wanted to get out of there ASAP LOL)
We arrived in the port at about 6:30, and so headed to the gate to get down to the campervan...and waited...and waited LOL. A little bit later it came over the speaker that we couldn't dock becuse of the high inds and could everyone go back to their seats. So we did (lots of people stayed standing up) but had lost our sweet couch position in front of the tv LOL. A little bit later it came back over the speaker that we would try to dock again in about an hour so we pretty much just mucked round (drinking free hot chocolate LOL) for that time. We were anchored out of port a little bit, but because it was still windy we were still moving around wuite alot! Anyway we finally got in and into our motorhome at about 8:30. Our mood was fairy chirpy as we headed off down skinny windy roads trying to find a camping ground we had found was open. I think we arrived at about 10:30 - it was a pretty dung camping ground where all the pithces were really crooked, and we ended up getting stuck in some mud! Luckily thre was a nice man across from us who helped to push us out and we stayed there the night. It was pouring down with rain and I had the crappies sleep thinking that we were going to get stuck here at this crappy campsite 'cos it was going to turn to a muddy mess! (actually I'm being unfair, the camsite would have been beautiful had e arrived during the day and could see what we were doing. it was in amongst the trees and stuff and was pretty nice I guess. But as e arrived so late and immediately got stuck, I just wanted to get out of there ASAP LOL)
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Wednesday 19th November
Today we caught the bus into Dublin - it took about an hour, even though our camping ground is in one of the suburbs!
We went and got our usual bits and bobs (a shotglass and postcard for me and a sticker for col and cam LOL. Oh and this time cam got a little rugby ball), then wandered around the streets. Dublin is a busy place - not really huge, but not small either! It has a nice river running through it (but as usual, I'm unsure of the name!). We saw HEAPS of beggers, which we havn't come across before. Down one street in particular they were at lat every 50m, quietly asking for some change. Not in your fce or anything, just heaps of them!
We pretty much spent the day wandering around town, taking in the new surroundings! it was a nice relaxing day really, which was great as I'm feeling a smidge on the sick side for alot of the day - then feel pretty crappy at night! I'm glad I don't feel as bad all day as I do in the evenings or I'd be a write off LOL.
We went into a mall and cam was happy to see "father christmas's house" LOL. I told him he could wait till closer to xmas to go and see him though hehe.
The bus ride home took a VERY long time, think it was too close to 5 'cos we left at like 4:10, and I think we got home after 6! Although it didn't help that the bus driver didn't stop at our stop (we had puched the button) and the next stop up seemed miles away!
So anyway, that was our day!
We went and got our usual bits and bobs (a shotglass and postcard for me and a sticker for col and cam LOL. Oh and this time cam got a little rugby ball), then wandered around the streets. Dublin is a busy place - not really huge, but not small either! It has a nice river running through it (but as usual, I'm unsure of the name!). We saw HEAPS of beggers, which we havn't come across before. Down one street in particular they were at lat every 50m, quietly asking for some change. Not in your fce or anything, just heaps of them!
We pretty much spent the day wandering around town, taking in the new surroundings! it was a nice relaxing day really, which was great as I'm feeling a smidge on the sick side for alot of the day - then feel pretty crappy at night! I'm glad I don't feel as bad all day as I do in the evenings or I'd be a write off LOL.
We went into a mall and cam was happy to see "father christmas's house" LOL. I told him he could wait till closer to xmas to go and see him though hehe.
The bus ride home took a VERY long time, think it was too close to 5 'cos we left at like 4:10, and I think we got home after 6! Although it didn't help that the bus driver didn't stop at our stop (we had puched the button) and the next stop up seemed miles away!
So anyway, that was our day!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
18/11/08
Well today was fairly uneventful really! We woke up and got organised to et the bus into town - we were going to catcvh it at 10:30, we went and asked at the office here if you needed change for the bus of if you can use a note, they told us you neede change...but he didn't have any so that sucked! We ended up walking into the village nearby and just wandering around for awhile before getting some groceries and catching the bus back to the campsite.
Funny moment of the day was me getting stuck in the gate to get back into the camping ground! It's one of those turning around ones and I had 3 bags of groceries and my camera backpack on my back...anyway I went in (it was like a midget little gap in each little bit) but I couldn't get right through! My bag was getting caught, as well as my bottles of lemonade and water getting stuck LOL. Col had gone ahead (not far ahead) and cam was right in front of me - very concerned!! I started freaking out 'cos I didn't realise I could go backwards to back out (I thought I was totally stuck!). ANyway I finally got out to see col cracking up laughing at me LOL. Luckily I thought it was pretty funny too!! SO we were all giggled he rest of the way back to the campervan!
We spent the rest of the day (was about 1pm I guess) at the playground, on the computer, reading books, playing the xbox!!
Funny moment of the day was me getting stuck in the gate to get back into the camping ground! It's one of those turning around ones and I had 3 bags of groceries and my camera backpack on my back...anyway I went in (it was like a midget little gap in each little bit) but I couldn't get right through! My bag was getting caught, as well as my bottles of lemonade and water getting stuck LOL. Col had gone ahead (not far ahead) and cam was right in front of me - very concerned!! I started freaking out 'cos I didn't realise I could go backwards to back out (I thought I was totally stuck!). ANyway I finally got out to see col cracking up laughing at me LOL. Luckily I thought it was pretty funny too!! SO we were all giggled he rest of the way back to the campervan!
We spent the rest of the day (was about 1pm I guess) at the playground, on the computer, reading books, playing the xbox!!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Monday November 17th
today we got up and organised really late LOL. I think we left our campsite at about lunch time an headed for Dublin. So we havn't done much today! We are booked in here for 4 nights - and it has free internet!! wohoo!! HEHE, I am obviously not one of these people who enjoy getting away from it all...including the net...when I come away!!
It's pretty wet here at the moment and col has gone for a walk to try and find the supermarket, cam and I are just chillin out (me on the net hahaha) waiting for his retern eagerly so that we can eat LOL.
thats about it from today!! I don't think we'll getup to much until tommorrow!
It's pretty wet here at the moment and col has gone for a walk to try and find the supermarket, cam and I are just chillin out (me on the net hahaha) waiting for his retern eagerly so that we can eat LOL.
thats about it from today!! I don't think we'll getup to much until tommorrow!
Sunday, November 16th
Well today is Ireland day! We got up and left where we were bright and early and headed for Strainer where we were catching the ferry from. Our ferry left at 9:50 - I'd never been on one before and was surprised by how big and flash ooking it was!! It was all inside, had an area for cam to play, as well as heaps of cafes and stuff! the trip over was ok - although I was really sick! I think more sea sick that morning sickness though 'cos I was feeling ok before hand! It was mainly on the fast bit that I didn't feel well (the boat has to slow down about half an hour before it gets tot he port 'cos when it used to go in fast it would send huge waves up and onto the shore lol).
We got in and drove to a camping ground that we had found online..only to find it was shut! So we heaing for anouther one about 40kms away, down windy skinny roads...only to not be able to find it...so we drove to another one (another 40ks or so) and finally found one that was open - was in the middle of nowhere lol, and the crappiest one we've probably stayed in (didn't have hot water) but the views were nice and cam enjoyed playing on the playground! We decided that we'g head to Dublin tomorrow (where we had found another campsite that was open) and stay there a few nights while we decide what to do. At this stage we might only stay in Ireland for 5 nights or so, just cos it's too hard when nothing is open!!!
We got in and drove to a camping ground that we had found online..only to find it was shut! So we heaing for anouther one about 40kms away, down windy skinny roads...only to not be able to find it...so we drove to another one (another 40ks or so) and finally found one that was open - was in the middle of nowhere lol, and the crappiest one we've probably stayed in (didn't have hot water) but the views were nice and cam enjoyed playing on the playground! We decided that we'g head to Dublin tomorrow (where we had found another campsite that was open) and stay there a few nights while we decide what to do. At this stage we might only stay in Ireland for 5 nights or so, just cos it's too hard when nothing is open!!!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Friday, November 14th
hmm...I thought about not updating this 'cos I can't remember off hand the name of the castle we went to today... but I will anway....
Today we left inverness and drove literally right on the Loch Ness to a castle...that started with U... Urquhart Castle! it was a really beautiful drive, and the castle was beautiful - it was in ruins because when the people left it (centuries ago) they blew it up! I guess to stop their enemies fro using it! But was still an amazing sight - and right on the Lochnesss, which is wonderful scenery in itself.
We continued our drive down to Fort Williams (which was a windy and long, but lovely drive!) and across, almost back to Glasgow. The drive got a but hairy though 'cos it was very windy and it felt like we were getting blown around a bit! we passed lots of nice waterfalls and went over lots of lovely bridges!
It was dark when we arrived so lucky we found the campsite easily!! (was only 4:30 but thats when it gets dark) We got all set up and then I found out that the mconald across te road had free wireless internet...so guess what cam had for dinner hehe!!
Anyway, on that note, he has been good but is sick of it (there's no playground!) so I'd better go
xox
Today we left inverness and drove literally right on the Loch Ness to a castle...that started with U... Urquhart Castle! it was a really beautiful drive, and the castle was beautiful - it was in ruins because when the people left it (centuries ago) they blew it up! I guess to stop their enemies fro using it! But was still an amazing sight - and right on the Lochnesss, which is wonderful scenery in itself.
We continued our drive down to Fort Williams (which was a windy and long, but lovely drive!) and across, almost back to Glasgow. The drive got a but hairy though 'cos it was very windy and it felt like we were getting blown around a bit! we passed lots of nice waterfalls and went over lots of lovely bridges!
It was dark when we arrived so lucky we found the campsite easily!! (was only 4:30 but thats when it gets dark) We got all set up and then I found out that the mconald across te road had free wireless internet...so guess what cam had for dinner hehe!!
Anyway, on that note, he has been good but is sick of it (there's no playground!) so I'd better go
xox
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
12.11.08
Today we headed off (late!! It took us awhile to get organized today!!) to the Castle – it is an impressive ruined castle on the East Coast of Scotland. We arrived there to a beautiful view – something out of a picture! The castle sits high up on a cliff top, surrounded by the ocean. We walked down a pile of stairs where we found a cool tunnel thing, which just went straight through to the other side of the cliff and had another awesome view!! From there are the stairs leading up to the castle…and we found that it was closed!! (on the way out we saw a sign saying it was only open fri – mon LOL). We still spent ages just wandering around and admiring the view from different angles hehe.
Afterwards (I think it was about 2pm or so by now) we drove around the coastal tourist route and back into Aberdeen where we went to a big shopping centre for a look around before coming back here to park up for the night. Soon we’re going to call a taxi and head over to Col’s friend Jacky’s for dinner.
For all those concerned about how cold we are – our campervan is soooo nice and toasty, (although the heater seems to be hot or not – nothing in between hehe) that as long as we’re in it we’re not cold!! Obviously it’s cold outside but as long as we’re rugged up it hasn’t been bothering us too much!!
Afterwards (I think it was about 2pm or so by now) we drove around the coastal tourist route and back into Aberdeen where we went to a big shopping centre for a look around before coming back here to park up for the night. Soon we’re going to call a taxi and head over to Col’s friend Jacky’s for dinner.
For all those concerned about how cold we are – our campervan is soooo nice and toasty, (although the heater seems to be hot or not – nothing in between hehe) that as long as we’re in it we’re not cold!! Obviously it’s cold outside but as long as we’re rugged up it hasn’t been bothering us too much!!
11.11.08
Today to the untrained eye would have seemed uneventful…however we did go to the supermarket which is exciting LOL. SO our cupboards are once again full!! We then drove to Aberdeen which took us until about 3ish – it’s now 4 and nearly dark….so you see what I mean by uneventful!! But for us a much needed trip to the supermarket (oh and I found a new pair of ten pound pants hehe) made our day worthwhile!! The trip us was nice – about 200kms and the scenery was beautiful. We think there are lots of castles around here so maybe tomorrow I’ll have yet more castle tales to tell LOL. Col has a friend here from school so we plan on catching up with her at some stage too!
Today’s entry will remain short I think because we are planning on staying put now that it is dark and gloomy!! Xox
Today’s entry will remain short I think because we are planning on staying put now that it is dark and gloomy!! Xox
10.11.08
Well I’ve decided to write about yesterday again, because from what I can remember it was a pretty poor effort!!! I was really tired when writing it is really my only excuse – we had a great day LOL, so I decided I’d better give it the entry it deserves!!
We started the day with a drive from Edinburgh to Fawkirk to see the Fawkirk wheel. We met Eleanor there and she got us tickets to get on a boat ride. This was a unique experience!!! The Fawkirk wheel was made in 2000 (I think, don’ quote me on that…I know it was part of the millennium project so that sounds like 2000 to me!) to connect the Scottish lochs to the English sea (hmmm….well I think that’s right anyway) It’s basically a huge big wheel thing (it’s not round so not really a wheel) that the boats go into and either go up or down to each different water bit…hmmm my exclamation wasn’t very good was it?
After our boat ride we met up with Eleanor again and she told us how to get to her place etc and then we headed off the Stirling Castle for a couple of hours – it was freezing!! But was a beautiful castle and we really enjoyed our afternoon. We love castles in case you can’t tell hehe! It was great to be able to go up and walk around all the different defensive walls (although Col and Cam walked up more than me haha) and the views of Stirling from up there were awesome!
We left at about 4:30 I guess, as it was starting to get dark. We found Jimmy and Eleanor’s place pretty easily and had a nice evening with them. They had 3 of the grandsons over for the evening so Cam had fun playing with them – especially with the six year old Fin (who was about the same size as Cam I think). Fin started off quiet and wary of us, but was soon showing his true colours hehe, which of course Cam loved!! The boys loved our campervan!!
Jimmy and Eleanor both went out for while in the evening which gave us a bit of time to chill out on the net and get a few flights and things we needed to look up sorted which was great. Then Eleanor came home and showed us maps and told us about things to do and see in Scotland!
We started the day with a drive from Edinburgh to Fawkirk to see the Fawkirk wheel. We met Eleanor there and she got us tickets to get on a boat ride. This was a unique experience!!! The Fawkirk wheel was made in 2000 (I think, don’ quote me on that…I know it was part of the millennium project so that sounds like 2000 to me!) to connect the Scottish lochs to the English sea (hmmm….well I think that’s right anyway) It’s basically a huge big wheel thing (it’s not round so not really a wheel) that the boats go into and either go up or down to each different water bit…hmmm my exclamation wasn’t very good was it?
After our boat ride we met up with Eleanor again and she told us how to get to her place etc and then we headed off the Stirling Castle for a couple of hours – it was freezing!! But was a beautiful castle and we really enjoyed our afternoon. We love castles in case you can’t tell hehe! It was great to be able to go up and walk around all the different defensive walls (although Col and Cam walked up more than me haha) and the views of Stirling from up there were awesome!
We left at about 4:30 I guess, as it was starting to get dark. We found Jimmy and Eleanor’s place pretty easily and had a nice evening with them. They had 3 of the grandsons over for the evening so Cam had fun playing with them – especially with the six year old Fin (who was about the same size as Cam I think). Fin started off quiet and wary of us, but was soon showing his true colours hehe, which of course Cam loved!! The boys loved our campervan!!
Jimmy and Eleanor both went out for while in the evening which gave us a bit of time to chill out on the net and get a few flights and things we needed to look up sorted which was great. Then Eleanor came home and showed us maps and told us about things to do and see in Scotland!
Monday, November 10, 2008
Monday, November 10th
Today we got up and left edinburgh heading for stirling. We drove to the Forkirk Wheel where we were meeting Elanor (SP). We met up with her and she got us tickets to go on a boat ride, which was a unique experience!!
Afterwards we drove to the stirling castle - it was another great castle!! We enjoyed looking around, although it was extreamly cold!! (LOL, can you tell I'm tired, can't think of what to write!)
We are now at Jimmy and Elanors place - cam has had fun playing with her 3 grandkids and now Elanor has gone to drop them back home and Jimmy has a meeting so we are just chilling out here before getting ready for bed etc!!
xox
Afterwards we drove to the stirling castle - it was another great castle!! We enjoyed looking around, although it was extreamly cold!! (LOL, can you tell I'm tired, can't think of what to write!)
We are now at Jimmy and Elanors place - cam has had fun playing with her 3 grandkids and now Elanor has gone to drop them back home and Jimmy has a meeting so we are just chilling out here before getting ready for bed etc!!
xox
Sunday, November 8th
Well today began with doing our washing!! LOL something that is done on a daily basis at home is done very rarely because of the cost of it hehe!! It costs 3 pounds a wash, and another 3 to dry – so we’re pretty stingy on the washing – although I don’t think it’s been a week since the last lot…it may have been…I’ve lost track of days!!! I then went to the computer in the camp shop and typed out as much of this as I could before the laptop died…booo…. Hopefully I will find a computer soon that I can just plug in my external hard drive to and so can just copy and paste all the rest of the entries!!! Actually, looking at it I don’t think I did too badly…a few entries off being up to date though!!! It’s a bummer I haven’t been able to post many pics ‘cos we have some doozies hehe.
Anyway, back to our day – we ended up having lunch in the campervan before heading into Tams and going to the castle – it was neat!! It was totally different to Dover Castle – Dover wasn’t built up at all and you could kind of feel the history – Edinburgh is almost more like a museum - still very cool but in a different way. The different buildings and areas were filled with various displays – I loved the crown jewels! I would have loved to have taken a pic of them but you weren’t allowed…and this is one time is would have been very obvious if I had!
After the castle we said out goodbyes to Tam (who did very well as no doubt was tired and hungover after a late night last night) and headed to Tescos then back to our little home. We leave Edinburgh tomorrow – we have really loved the time we’ve been here and has been great spending some time with Mrs Tams.
Anyway, back to our day – we ended up having lunch in the campervan before heading into Tams and going to the castle – it was neat!! It was totally different to Dover Castle – Dover wasn’t built up at all and you could kind of feel the history – Edinburgh is almost more like a museum - still very cool but in a different way. The different buildings and areas were filled with various displays – I loved the crown jewels! I would have loved to have taken a pic of them but you weren’t allowed…and this is one time is would have been very obvious if I had!
After the castle we said out goodbyes to Tam (who did very well as no doubt was tired and hungover after a late night last night) and headed to Tescos then back to our little home. We leave Edinburgh tomorrow – we have really loved the time we’ve been here and has been great spending some time with Mrs Tams.
Saturday, November 7th
We had planned to go to the castle this morning – after Col left for his run at about 8:30 or so Tam text to say we’d aim to leave her place at about 10:30. Cam and I were waiting for col to get back so we could go and have a shower (didn’t want to lock him out!)…we waited….and waited…and waited!!! By about 9:30 I was getting slightly worried but was just thinking he must be having a long run today….by 10 I started to wonder what I should do if he took too much longer, didn’t know which way he went and started thinking the worst LOL. At about quarter past a very puffed Colin arrived back – he had gotten lost!!!! So we decided to leave the castle till tomorrow ‘cos it’s meant to take a few hours to get through and Tam (or Mrs Tams as Cam calls her hehe) had a pre match party this afternoon.
We caught the bus into Tams place again and wandered around the market with her and a couple of her friends before heading into town to have some lunch (or maybe breakfast for them?? I’m not sure hehe) we wandered around but all the pubs and cafes were packed to the max – in the end we went our separate ways and just took cam to McDonalds for lunch and then came back to our campervan for about an hour before the rugby.
Cam was so cute at the rugby – he was majorly into it for the first half – cheering, clapping and yelling (so much that I thought he might lose his voice!) away… he didn’t care which team he was cheering for, just for anyone!!! He had faded a bit by the time the second half rolled around, but still did really well – he loved the Mexican wave and would watch eagerly as it went around the crowd and enthusiastically throw his arms in the air when the time came!! He would notice them before I had!! The walk back to town was amazing – that sounds weird I know, but it was just soooo many people – there was no point getting the bus back to town as the crowd had stopped traffic – as far as we could see ahead of us and as far as we could see behind us was just a sea of people!! It wasn’t a bummer (like it may sound) as the atmosphere was jovial and we were just swept up in the crowd! I guess it took us about an hour or so to get into town, where we stopped for subway before heading home.
We caught the bus into Tams place again and wandered around the market with her and a couple of her friends before heading into town to have some lunch (or maybe breakfast for them?? I’m not sure hehe) we wandered around but all the pubs and cafes were packed to the max – in the end we went our separate ways and just took cam to McDonalds for lunch and then came back to our campervan for about an hour before the rugby.
Cam was so cute at the rugby – he was majorly into it for the first half – cheering, clapping and yelling (so much that I thought he might lose his voice!) away… he didn’t care which team he was cheering for, just for anyone!!! He had faded a bit by the time the second half rolled around, but still did really well – he loved the Mexican wave and would watch eagerly as it went around the crowd and enthusiastically throw his arms in the air when the time came!! He would notice them before I had!! The walk back to town was amazing – that sounds weird I know, but it was just soooo many people – there was no point getting the bus back to town as the crowd had stopped traffic – as far as we could see ahead of us and as far as we could see behind us was just a sea of people!! It wasn’t a bummer (like it may sound) as the atmosphere was jovial and we were just swept up in the crowd! I guess it took us about an hour or so to get into town, where we stopped for subway before heading home.
Friday, November 6th
Today we drove to Edinburgh – it was one of our longer drives so far (about 230kms). I had booked our campsite here earlier, just in case things were full because of the rugby), we found I pretty easily and got set up.
We caught the bus into town and wandered around for awhile – it is a beautiful place, with the castle in the backdrop as well as heaps of other awesome buildings dotted around the city. We met up with Tam at about 5:30 and walked down to her place for dinner. Cam was excited to see her flat mate had a play station LOL. So he played his first play station since we left which kept him nice and quiet hehe.
I guess we were at tams till about 8:30 before caching the bus home – not quite as simple as we had hoped as the bus didn’t turn down our street as we expected!! Col asked the driver and found that we had to get off the bus and wait for another one, so we did that…it seemed to take forever in the cold LOL, but we got home in the end!!
We caught the bus into town and wandered around for awhile – it is a beautiful place, with the castle in the backdrop as well as heaps of other awesome buildings dotted around the city. We met up with Tam at about 5:30 and walked down to her place for dinner. Cam was excited to see her flat mate had a play station LOL. So he played his first play station since we left which kept him nice and quiet hehe.
I guess we were at tams till about 8:30 before caching the bus home – not quite as simple as we had hoped as the bus didn’t turn down our street as we expected!! Col asked the driver and found that we had to get off the bus and wait for another one, so we did that…it seemed to take forever in the cold LOL, but we got home in the end!!
Wednesday, November 5th
Today we woke up late – a first for us this trip, we’ve usually been up before 6! Cam woke in a bit of a grump, but soon seemed to snap out of it which was cool. We went for another walk through the Chatsworth Estate – this time to look at the big old house – before heading off again to York. Our camping ground here is nice and close to town, it was nice to be able to easily walk into town for a look!!
Gee, this entry is very boring! We really didn’t do much again I guess…seems funny writing that because it doesn’t feel like we’re not doing much – but I guess just wandering around doesn’t sound like much when it’s actually written! York has some amazing old buildings and churches which we of course thought were awesome and we just generally pottered around! We went for another walk when it was dark as we heard on the radio that there is a big fireworks display somewhere tonight – we couldn’t find it, and people we asked didn’t know either!! We seem to keep asking people things who are new to the area, or tourists themselves LOL.
Gee, this entry is very boring! We really didn’t do much again I guess…seems funny writing that because it doesn’t feel like we’re not doing much – but I guess just wandering around doesn’t sound like much when it’s actually written! York has some amazing old buildings and churches which we of course thought were awesome and we just generally pottered around! We went for another walk when it was dark as we heard on the radio that there is a big fireworks display somewhere tonight – we couldn’t find it, and people we asked didn’t know either!! We seem to keep asking people things who are new to the area, or tourists themselves LOL.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Tuesday November 4th
Today was another fairly quiet day - we got up and got up and got organised then gheaded for nottingham...or so we thought...Col had put slightly the wrong thing into the GPS which meant we didn't quite end up there LOL. We must have been in the general area because we came across the top of sherwood forrest, which is just at the North of Nottinham (we thing) We went for a look - it was pretty cool, although raining!! We were unsure whether or not Robin hood is a real story or not? After deciding it def must be based on the truth we came across a plaque thing that said that it is unkown whether or not it is, but that stories of him date back as far as 1200 or something like that anyway!
We consulted our trusty caravan club camping ground book and found a site in a little place called Baslow, which was about 50kms from where we were so we headed for that. We found it easy enough (it’s always a relief to see the caravan club sign, especially if it seems like we’re heading to the middle of nowhere!) After settling in we went for a walk through a big estate (which backs onto the camping ground) and into the village. Such a cute little place!!!
We consulted our trusty caravan club camping ground book and found a site in a little place called Baslow, which was about 50kms from where we were so we headed for that. We found it easy enough (it’s always a relief to see the caravan club sign, especially if it seems like we’re heading to the middle of nowhere!) After settling in we went for a walk through a big estate (which backs onto the camping ground) and into the village. Such a cute little place!!!
Monday, November 3rd
today we got up, got organised and drove to cambridge. It's funny getting ready to leave - it's almost like when you're in an aeroplane and they prepare the cabin for take off!! Everytying had to be secured and away or it goes flying while we drive hehe. So far no major mishaps (although it's only day 3!)
We had a pretty quiet day today - which was nice! We mucked around the campsite this moring doing our washing (phew!) and stuff, then caught the bus into town. I'm still amazed by all the old buildings etc - every single building just has so much history - it's like the oldest of the old buildings at home is what every building is like here!
Time went fast and before we knew it it was gettig dark again so we jumped back on the bu and headed back to our campervan. So far people have been really friendly and helpful which has been great!! They must overhear our confusion and step in to help hehe.
We had a pretty quiet day today - which was nice! We mucked around the campsite this moring doing our washing (phew!) and stuff, then caught the bus into town. I'm still amazed by all the old buildings etc - every single building just has so much history - it's like the oldest of the old buildings at home is what every building is like here!
Time went fast and before we knew it it was gettig dark again so we jumped back on the bu and headed back to our campervan. So far people have been really friendly and helpful which has been great!! They must overhear our confusion and step in to help hehe.
Sunday, November 2nd
Today was aweome! We left our camping ground at about 10 (cam had about 3 bowls of cereal for break...we decided maybe he was stocking up incase he ended up lunchless again!) and we drove the 15 mins or so to the Dover Castle. We thougth dover was a beautiful little place.
I'm not too sure what to say about the cstle except that we were blown away! We enjoyed every minute that we spent exploring the tunnels, the vast grounds and the amazing castle itself.
You can easlily see the history of the castle - which dated from arounf the year 1000 right up to 1982. In 1982 the tunnells were decommissioned, allowing people to look through them. Before this they were one of a number of places which were kept top secret so that the government could go underground and still run the country in a national emergancy!
After that castle (and yes, cam had lunch today) we went to the supermarket (yay!!) before heading to....hmm...I can't remember where we are but it's about 100kims out og dover headin towards cambridge!
I'm not too sure what to say about the cstle except that we were blown away! We enjoyed every minute that we spent exploring the tunnels, the vast grounds and the amazing castle itself.
You can easlily see the history of the castle - which dated from arounf the year 1000 right up to 1982. In 1982 the tunnells were decommissioned, allowing people to look through them. Before this they were one of a number of places which were kept top secret so that the government could go underground and still run the country in a national emergancy!
After that castle (and yes, cam had lunch today) we went to the supermarket (yay!!) before heading to....hmm...I can't remember where we are but it's about 100kims out og dover headin towards cambridge!
Saturday, November 1
Campervan day! We ghad figured out exactly what bus/trains we needed to catch to get to the station that the campervan people were picking us up from - we thought it was going to be horrible with all our bags etc but we got through it pretty painlessly - yay!
We were given a tour of our campervan and unpacked all out gear, then we were ready to roll!! We hadn't had lunch (it was abuot 2:30 I guess) and cam was telling us he was hungry (not surprisingly) so our plan was to stop at the first food place we came across...unfortunitely our GPS had different ideas and took us straight to the motorway...no food places in sight... Because ti was so fast and scarey we didn't veer off track...and so we win the prize for the worlds worst parents today as dfidn't have lunch at all!!
It got dark very early (about 4:30) and was pouring with rain - we approached our destinitaion, very aware that we still had no food, and didn't know where to find any!! We found our camping ground which was a good start (by now cam had fallen asleep) and got all set up. We were cold, hungry and foodles lol. Col went for a look around and came back to report there was a dairy across the road - we could have jumped for joy hehe. So I went over with the £15 cash we had and brought a few essentials - stuff for dinner, breakfast, tea, sugar and milk. Oh and some biscuits ad chips! Cam woke up and was very pleaed to see our haul and ate loads of junk food (yep, right b4 dinner!)
We all crashed out pretty much straight away after that - it was a long day with one thing or another and we were ready for a goods night sleep!
We were given a tour of our campervan and unpacked all out gear, then we were ready to roll!! We hadn't had lunch (it was abuot 2:30 I guess) and cam was telling us he was hungry (not surprisingly) so our plan was to stop at the first food place we came across...unfortunitely our GPS had different ideas and took us straight to the motorway...no food places in sight... Because ti was so fast and scarey we didn't veer off track...and so we win the prize for the worlds worst parents today as dfidn't have lunch at all!!
It got dark very early (about 4:30) and was pouring with rain - we approached our destinitaion, very aware that we still had no food, and didn't know where to find any!! We found our camping ground which was a good start (by now cam had fallen asleep) and got all set up. We were cold, hungry and foodles lol. Col went for a look around and came back to report there was a dairy across the road - we could have jumped for joy hehe. So I went over with the £15 cash we had and brought a few essentials - stuff for dinner, breakfast, tea, sugar and milk. Oh and some biscuits ad chips! Cam woke up and was very pleaed to see our haul and ate loads of junk food (yep, right b4 dinner!)
We all crashed out pretty much straight away after that - it was a long day with one thing or another and we were ready for a goods night sleep!
Friday 31st Ocotober
Tody we got up bright and early to got o Madam Tudauds - suprisingly we were ready and on the bus on time and arrived with about 20 mins to spare. We were stoked to see that there wa no line and we got let in and 9 without too much waiting t all!
The museum was enat! It was cool to see all the different wax people - and to be experiencing it for ourselves after seeing many pictures! We took so many photos hahaha. All in all it was alot of fun and we were glad that we went.
After that we went to oxford street to do a spot of shopping hehe. We went to primemark or whatever it's called, it is one massive shop, and packed full of people!!! We got a cople of things for cam and I got some gloves. I could have prob looked around for hours, but not with husband and son in tow!! We then went to huge toy shop - 5 floors worth of huge!
We went back to Kirstens for a little while before ehading out for dinner - we went to mexican type chicken place - Nandos. it was a nice dinner - although cam didn't get to enjoy it with us because he fll asleep at the tble before dinner hd even arrived!
The museum was enat! It was cool to see all the different wax people - and to be experiencing it for ourselves after seeing many pictures! We took so many photos hahaha. All in all it was alot of fun and we were glad that we went.
After that we went to oxford street to do a spot of shopping hehe. We went to primemark or whatever it's called, it is one massive shop, and packed full of people!!! We got a cople of things for cam and I got some gloves. I could have prob looked around for hours, but not with husband and son in tow!! We then went to huge toy shop - 5 floors worth of huge!
We went back to Kirstens for a little while before ehading out for dinner - we went to mexican type chicken place - Nandos. it was a nice dinner - although cam didn't get to enjoy it with us because he fll asleep at the tble before dinner hd even arrived!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, 30th October
Campbell had a crappy nights sleep last night so I decided that we would only stay out for part of the day then come home and chill out at home when Col and Kirsten went to the war museum. We can’t really expect him to keep up at an adults pace for the duration without having some breaks along the way!! I have been so proud of the way he has been behaving and am happy that he has decided walking isn’t so bad! (In Australia he hated walking anywhere, not that I blame him – it was just too hot!)
Anyway, on with the day, we went to go into Madam Tousards (sp) but when we arrived the line was HUGE – we asked the guy how long the wait was from there (a guy who worked there) and he said 2 hours!! So we flagged that! He said if you go at 8:50 in the morning that you just walk straight in so that’s our plan for the morning!!
We walked from there through regents park – it was a nice walk – saw a few more squirrels and even saw some climb up trees!!! (lol, by the end of our trip I might not be so amazed by them!) we walked past a playground so of course stopped for a play for 10 mins before continuing through to Camden.
What a neat part of town Camden is!! It Is so full of character and is bustling! (Not that any of London so far hasn’t been full of character or bustling!) there were loads of markets and heaps of little cheap shops etc. We wandered around there for awhile before deciding to head back to the Tube. By this stage it was about 3pm so Cam and I took the tube home – it was a freezing walk home for us from the tube station, that for sure! We got hailed on (which cam was sure was snow) but made it without too much drama! When we got here we snuggled up on the couch and watched kids tv for a couple of hours, gave cam a warm bath (he’s been wanting baths instead of showers so that he can play with the bath toys hehe, he’s very taken with the toys here!). Col and Kirsten arrived home at about 6 and not much later Cam went to bed, so hopefully will have a great nights sleep!
Anyway, on with the day, we went to go into Madam Tousards (sp) but when we arrived the line was HUGE – we asked the guy how long the wait was from there (a guy who worked there) and he said 2 hours!! So we flagged that! He said if you go at 8:50 in the morning that you just walk straight in so that’s our plan for the morning!!
We walked from there through regents park – it was a nice walk – saw a few more squirrels and even saw some climb up trees!!! (lol, by the end of our trip I might not be so amazed by them!) we walked past a playground so of course stopped for a play for 10 mins before continuing through to Camden.
What a neat part of town Camden is!! It Is so full of character and is bustling! (Not that any of London so far hasn’t been full of character or bustling!) there were loads of markets and heaps of little cheap shops etc. We wandered around there for awhile before deciding to head back to the Tube. By this stage it was about 3pm so Cam and I took the tube home – it was a freezing walk home for us from the tube station, that for sure! We got hailed on (which cam was sure was snow) but made it without too much drama! When we got here we snuggled up on the couch and watched kids tv for a couple of hours, gave cam a warm bath (he’s been wanting baths instead of showers so that he can play with the bath toys hehe, he’s very taken with the toys here!). Col and Kirsten arrived home at about 6 and not much later Cam went to bed, so hopefully will have a great nights sleep!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29th
Yesterday was a huge day! I was waaay to tired when we got home to post on here so am doing it now, hopefully I get the last few days posted up too – I typed them yesterday morning but didn’t have time to post them in the end.
We caught the tube into town at about 10 I think it was – we managed to find our way to the underground station (took us maybe half an hour to walk there I guess) and managed the train change half way without any bother hehe. We met Kirsten in town and our day began!
First we saw Lester Square, where heaps of film premieres are held – they were getting all organized for one while we were there – James bond I think.
We walked through China town, and headed to Piccadilly Circus. Cam was very taken with the big TV screens! Of course Col and I were with how impressive and old all the buildings were!!! It’s amazing how beautiful every single building is!! We just wanted to take pics of them all LOL, I think Kirsten thought we were a tad bonkers hehe.
We walked through to Trafalgar square – Kirsten was annoyed because her perfect view was obstructed by a big stage thing that was being put up!! From here we could start to see Big Ben really well! We took a few thousand pics of the view before heading past Downing Street and to Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. On the way we saw the changing of the horse guards which was pretty neat – even if Cam decided he didn’t like horses much!!
Big Ben and the Parliament buildings were even more impressive than I had imagined! It was almost unbelievable to be actually standing in front of them as opposed to just seeing them in a picture. Campbell was mesmerized by Big Ben – but then I guess who isn’t!! Our tour guide (Kirsten) that the hands on Big Ben are the length of 3 double Decker buses on top of each other….she’s not sure if she’s making it up though LOL.
We walked down to the London eye, but decided against going up – the lines were incredibly long – Campbell was being great, but thought waiting in the line might be pushing him to his boundaries! I might go on it when we’re back in London before we go home (in Feb) if I get the chance.
We wandered down to Westminster Abby to take in yet another impressive scene! It’s hard to know what to say about all these places, except that they are absolutely beautiful, full of character and history and are everything you can imagine and more!
After stopping for a coffee (to defrost!) we kept walking down to Buckingham palace where we took another gazillion photos (lucky we have the portable hard drive HAHAHA, I think we took 300 photos yesterday!) before walking through Green park to Hyde park corner where the NZ memorial and the Wellington Arch are – Kirsten thinks that when the Wellington Arch was built the queen didn’t like it so she got the arch made smaller – this meant her car couldn’t fit through so they couldn’t use it!! Hehe, again I think she’s unsure wheter she just made it up, or whether it’s an entirely different arch but I thought I’d share the story…maybe true….maybe not…
We walked through to Hyde park where we found loads of squirrels for me to take photos of hehe, and Cam raced around a bit – where his energy came from I don’t know!!!
We caught the Tube to St Pauls cathedral, walked along past the Tate modern and over River Thames on the Millennium bridge – which had an awesome view of the South Wark and London Tower bridges. By now it was getting dark so it was looking really awesome all lit up!
We kept walking along the river bank to get a better view of the tower bridge and to see the HSM Belfast, before catching the tube home! So we saw loads and were all pretty knackered by the time we got back home!!!
We caught the tube into town at about 10 I think it was – we managed to find our way to the underground station (took us maybe half an hour to walk there I guess) and managed the train change half way without any bother hehe. We met Kirsten in town and our day began!
First we saw Lester Square, where heaps of film premieres are held – they were getting all organized for one while we were there – James bond I think.
We walked through China town, and headed to Piccadilly Circus. Cam was very taken with the big TV screens! Of course Col and I were with how impressive and old all the buildings were!!! It’s amazing how beautiful every single building is!! We just wanted to take pics of them all LOL, I think Kirsten thought we were a tad bonkers hehe.
We walked through to Trafalgar square – Kirsten was annoyed because her perfect view was obstructed by a big stage thing that was being put up!! From here we could start to see Big Ben really well! We took a few thousand pics of the view before heading past Downing Street and to Big Ben and the Parliament buildings. On the way we saw the changing of the horse guards which was pretty neat – even if Cam decided he didn’t like horses much!!
Big Ben and the Parliament buildings were even more impressive than I had imagined! It was almost unbelievable to be actually standing in front of them as opposed to just seeing them in a picture. Campbell was mesmerized by Big Ben – but then I guess who isn’t!! Our tour guide (Kirsten) that the hands on Big Ben are the length of 3 double Decker buses on top of each other….she’s not sure if she’s making it up though LOL.
We walked down to the London eye, but decided against going up – the lines were incredibly long – Campbell was being great, but thought waiting in the line might be pushing him to his boundaries! I might go on it when we’re back in London before we go home (in Feb) if I get the chance.
We wandered down to Westminster Abby to take in yet another impressive scene! It’s hard to know what to say about all these places, except that they are absolutely beautiful, full of character and history and are everything you can imagine and more!
After stopping for a coffee (to defrost!) we kept walking down to Buckingham palace where we took another gazillion photos (lucky we have the portable hard drive HAHAHA, I think we took 300 photos yesterday!) before walking through Green park to Hyde park corner where the NZ memorial and the Wellington Arch are – Kirsten thinks that when the Wellington Arch was built the queen didn’t like it so she got the arch made smaller – this meant her car couldn’t fit through so they couldn’t use it!! Hehe, again I think she’s unsure wheter she just made it up, or whether it’s an entirely different arch but I thought I’d share the story…maybe true….maybe not…
We walked through to Hyde park where we found loads of squirrels for me to take photos of hehe, and Cam raced around a bit – where his energy came from I don’t know!!!
We caught the Tube to St Pauls cathedral, walked along past the Tate modern and over River Thames on the Millennium bridge – which had an awesome view of the South Wark and London Tower bridges. By now it was getting dark so it was looking really awesome all lit up!
We kept walking along the river bank to get a better view of the tower bridge and to see the HSM Belfast, before catching the tube home! So we saw loads and were all pretty knackered by the time we got back home!!!
Tuesday, October 28th
The 15 hour flight to London went well – Campbell was perfect which was great! He was alseep before the plane even took off (and wasn’t even drugged up! Just bribed by a surprise if he had a sleep hehe) and slept right up until I had to pick him up to put his seatbelt on upon landing in Brunei. We got to get out of the plane for about an hour I guess before reboarding. After about 3 hours he went back to sleep and again only woke up when I moved him to put his seatbelt on! So out of 15 hours he slept 12!!!
We arrived in London at 6:30 am and proceeded though Heathrow airport pretty easily – we were both expecting a mega busy and stressfull time but it was relitively quiet and we got through pretty speedily – faster than we get through at NZ and AUS!
We waited for 5-10 mins for Kirsten who arrived with Oyster cards all loaded up and ready to go for us – we were so stoked just to be able to jump on the train and not have to get sorted! The trip was just over an hour – the train packed out and cam slightly hyper after the trip LOL. But probably about half way cam and I nabbed a seat which made life easier (well for me anyway hehe). We got out and walked the 10 mins to Kirstens place, admiring the cool joint houses along the way!!
After a cuppa and a shower we went for a walk in Green Wood where Kirsten lives, stopped for lunch in a nice pub and wandered around here little (well I say little, but by all standards it was pretty big!) suburb. We walked up to Alexandras palace which was a very impressive building, with an awesome view!! Oh and saw some squirrells!!!
We got back to her place at about 3 and I rung Alisons brother about getting let into her place – he didn’t have her keys with him so would have to go home after work to get them so could only get to her place at like 8pm! Felt stink that he had to take so much time after work just to let us in, but very grateful that he didn’t seem to mind!!! Cam col and I all crashed out after that!!! With all out bags and us crashed out there probably wasn’t much room for kirsten to sit in her little room hehe! Kirsten phoned for a car to pick us up at 6:30 which arrived a bit late but still got us to Alisons by 8. We drove over the tower bridge which was awesome!! Cam didn’t wake up when we put him in the car and slept the whole way – so probably from 4 – 8 hehe! We googled delivery takeaways to find something to have for dinner and ended up with pizza hut, then straight to bed for us all!!! Thankfully Kirsten had gone for a walk while we were asleep and picked us up some cornflakes, milk and tea so we had something for breakfast! Cam woke up at 4:30 saying he was hungry and he probably was as he had only eaten a banana and some fries since we got on the plane about 36 hours earlier! (his own fault mind you – only ate the fries with his lunch at the pub, and didn’t eat any pizza or wedges at dinner time….was just too tired) so we got up and he ate some cornflakes then went straight back to sleep hehe, has only just woken up now at 8:30 am!
We arrived in London at 6:30 am and proceeded though Heathrow airport pretty easily – we were both expecting a mega busy and stressfull time but it was relitively quiet and we got through pretty speedily – faster than we get through at NZ and AUS!
We waited for 5-10 mins for Kirsten who arrived with Oyster cards all loaded up and ready to go for us – we were so stoked just to be able to jump on the train and not have to get sorted! The trip was just over an hour – the train packed out and cam slightly hyper after the trip LOL. But probably about half way cam and I nabbed a seat which made life easier (well for me anyway hehe). We got out and walked the 10 mins to Kirstens place, admiring the cool joint houses along the way!!
After a cuppa and a shower we went for a walk in Green Wood where Kirsten lives, stopped for lunch in a nice pub and wandered around here little (well I say little, but by all standards it was pretty big!) suburb. We walked up to Alexandras palace which was a very impressive building, with an awesome view!! Oh and saw some squirrells!!!
We got back to her place at about 3 and I rung Alisons brother about getting let into her place – he didn’t have her keys with him so would have to go home after work to get them so could only get to her place at like 8pm! Felt stink that he had to take so much time after work just to let us in, but very grateful that he didn’t seem to mind!!! Cam col and I all crashed out after that!!! With all out bags and us crashed out there probably wasn’t much room for kirsten to sit in her little room hehe! Kirsten phoned for a car to pick us up at 6:30 which arrived a bit late but still got us to Alisons by 8. We drove over the tower bridge which was awesome!! Cam didn’t wake up when we put him in the car and slept the whole way – so probably from 4 – 8 hehe! We googled delivery takeaways to find something to have for dinner and ended up with pizza hut, then straight to bed for us all!!! Thankfully Kirsten had gone for a walk while we were asleep and picked us up some cornflakes, milk and tea so we had something for breakfast! Cam woke up at 4:30 saying he was hungry and he probably was as he had only eaten a banana and some fries since we got on the plane about 36 hours earlier! (his own fault mind you – only ate the fries with his lunch at the pub, and didn’t eat any pizza or wedges at dinner time….was just too tired) so we got up and he ate some cornflakes then went straight back to sleep hehe, has only just woken up now at 8:30 am!
Monday, October 28th
Well today was our last day in Brunei – we were hoping to go on a water taxi, but we didn’t end up getting organised enough to catch the 9am shuttle into town! So we caught the 11am one instead, just into the mall part with in the hope of going to see the other big mosque. We arrived at the mall and our driver said that he would come back at pick us up at about 1:30, which was good for us as we wanted to be back in plenty of time to pack our bags, get some cash out for airport taxes etc before heading to the airport at 5.
We went into the mall and got a couple of things we’d seen the other day, then went up to the top to the food court ‘cos I wanted to try some taditional food – I got what looked like (in the picture lol) chicken kebab kind of things, (not very adventurous I know, but it was just so hard to tell what anything was! And of course no one spoke english so was just kinda pointing at things like a dumb tourist! ) they ended up being prawn kebab things, which hot kind of spices on it. They were pretty yum, but had to be peeled which made them tricky to eat! (well I presumed they had to be peeled LOL, not much of an expert on such things!) I tried hard to remember what they were called but alas my memory has failed me hehe.
After lunch we attempted to walk to the mosque, but we came to a big highway thing so couldn’t cross the road!! So I took what photos I could from the otherside of the motorway, we went for a wander around then met our man at 1:30.
We got to the airport at 5pm and checked in our bags before finding somewhere to eat dinner. There was a nice restaurant at the airport and since we had quite a bit of spare brunei $ we decided to go there - it was so delicious!! I had Mussels in cream sauce and col had tandori chicken wraps. Cam Had fish and chips and in his usual style only ate the chips!! One day we will learn and only order him a side of chips hehe.
And so ends our time in Brunai!
Interesting facts:
It’s illegal to drink in Brunei – however tourists are allowed to take some alcohol in to drink during their stay!
A lot of the people speak enlish, and most of the sinage etc is in english and Malay
They love the Sultan!!! They don’t have a king, he runs the country and makes all the decisions. The taxi driver said that everyone is happy as long as there is a good king – which the current one is!! Aparently he is expected to retire soon – maybe next year
Not many tourists were roaming the streets – well not many european ones anyway! We saw a handful but that’s it – they all stared at us hehe and were extreamly taken with Campbell! Aparently he looks about 6 or 7 by there standards and like Harry potter!! Hahaha.
Our hotel staff were so amazingly helpful and always polite! If anyone ever goes to Brunei we totally rated our stay at the traders inn - the sink thing about it was that is wasn’t in town, but they run a free shuttle so it didn’t matter too much!
We went into the mall and got a couple of things we’d seen the other day, then went up to the top to the food court ‘cos I wanted to try some taditional food – I got what looked like (in the picture lol) chicken kebab kind of things, (not very adventurous I know, but it was just so hard to tell what anything was! And of course no one spoke english so was just kinda pointing at things like a dumb tourist! ) they ended up being prawn kebab things, which hot kind of spices on it. They were pretty yum, but had to be peeled which made them tricky to eat! (well I presumed they had to be peeled LOL, not much of an expert on such things!) I tried hard to remember what they were called but alas my memory has failed me hehe.
After lunch we attempted to walk to the mosque, but we came to a big highway thing so couldn’t cross the road!! So I took what photos I could from the otherside of the motorway, we went for a wander around then met our man at 1:30.
We got to the airport at 5pm and checked in our bags before finding somewhere to eat dinner. There was a nice restaurant at the airport and since we had quite a bit of spare brunei $ we decided to go there - it was so delicious!! I had Mussels in cream sauce and col had tandori chicken wraps. Cam Had fish and chips and in his usual style only ate the chips!! One day we will learn and only order him a side of chips hehe.
And so ends our time in Brunai!
Interesting facts:
It’s illegal to drink in Brunei – however tourists are allowed to take some alcohol in to drink during their stay!
A lot of the people speak enlish, and most of the sinage etc is in english and Malay
They love the Sultan!!! They don’t have a king, he runs the country and makes all the decisions. The taxi driver said that everyone is happy as long as there is a good king – which the current one is!! Aparently he is expected to retire soon – maybe next year
Not many tourists were roaming the streets – well not many european ones anyway! We saw a handful but that’s it – they all stared at us hehe and were extreamly taken with Campbell! Aparently he looks about 6 or 7 by there standards and like Harry potter!! Hahaha.
Our hotel staff were so amazingly helpful and always polite! If anyone ever goes to Brunei we totally rated our stay at the traders inn - the sink thing about it was that is wasn’t in town, but they run a free shuttle so it didn’t matter too much!
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Day 2
Today begain early for cam and I - I think I was up at about 4:30, and Cam 5! we quietly played on the playstation/laptop until col woke and then went downstairs for breakfast. It was absolutely pissing down so we decided to book the 11am shuttle as opposed to the 9am one to hopefully give it time to dry up a bit!
At 11 we got our ride into the city centre, we looked at Kampung Ayer from the other side of the river - it looked really cool. We would have loved to have gone on a water taxi but at this stage it was to wet so we declined the guys who were all desperate for our money!
We then walked up to the markets which were interesting, lots of stalls crammed into a small space, an lots of ppl selling dried up little fish! I wonder what they use them for? like stock or somthing?? The would like put handfuls into plastic bags when people would buy it - looked funny!
From here we walked to the mosque - it had stopped raining which was great!! We passed though a neat sports field - the taxi driver later told us it was only used on very special occasions, eg the sultans bday etc. The mosque was huge and beautiful - we couldn't go inside which was stink - might do so if we get a chance tomorrow.
we went across a big bridge which took us to part of Kampung Ayer - it was a much cruddier part that the part you can see from the city!! We decided to go for a walk over into the village - this meant walking along the somewhat thin, rickety looking bridges, which had me absoutly freaking out!! I can honestly say I don't think I have ever been that scared before in my life! No way did I expect it but I ended up walking as slow as a turtle, and was shaking and nervous as hell!! Col reckoned he needed the video camera cos I looked so funny LOL, something I only found amusing when I was back on solid ground! Campbell (bless him) was calling back to me "watch out for this hole in the wood mummy" whenever he would go past one. It was very cute that he was trying to look out for his very scared mummy!
After that we walked back around to the water taxis, but the rain had started up again! So we wandered round a little more before catching a taxi home. Back to the same place for dinner as is nice and close!
The bridges that scared the living crap outa me!
Seeine how small and rotten the wood gets under the water was why I was so freaked!
At 11 we got our ride into the city centre, we looked at Kampung Ayer from the other side of the river - it looked really cool. We would have loved to have gone on a water taxi but at this stage it was to wet so we declined the guys who were all desperate for our money!
We then walked up to the markets which were interesting, lots of stalls crammed into a small space, an lots of ppl selling dried up little fish! I wonder what they use them for? like stock or somthing?? The would like put handfuls into plastic bags when people would buy it - looked funny!
From here we walked to the mosque - it had stopped raining which was great!! We passed though a neat sports field - the taxi driver later told us it was only used on very special occasions, eg the sultans bday etc. The mosque was huge and beautiful - we couldn't go inside which was stink - might do so if we get a chance tomorrow.
we went across a big bridge which took us to part of Kampung Ayer - it was a much cruddier part that the part you can see from the city!! We decided to go for a walk over into the village - this meant walking along the somewhat thin, rickety looking bridges, which had me absoutly freaking out!! I can honestly say I don't think I have ever been that scared before in my life! No way did I expect it but I ended up walking as slow as a turtle, and was shaking and nervous as hell!! Col reckoned he needed the video camera cos I looked so funny LOL, something I only found amusing when I was back on solid ground! Campbell (bless him) was calling back to me "watch out for this hole in the wood mummy" whenever he would go past one. It was very cute that he was trying to look out for his very scared mummy!
After that we walked back around to the water taxis, but the rain had started up again! So we wandered round a little more before catching a taxi home. Back to the same place for dinner as is nice and close!
The bridges that scared the living crap outa me!
Seeine how small and rotten the wood gets under the water was why I was so freaked!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Day 1
As I write this ai am so close to falling asleep! My eyes keep drifing shut, so beware it will prob be full of typos and won't make much sence!
today bagan early - well late, depending on which was you look at it!! After spending the night in Auckland with mum, dawn, gary, lisa and pete, and having literally no sleep we went to the airport at 1:30 am to catch our 10 hour flight to Brunei!
After about an hour cam fell asleep - and stayed that way for about 6 hours!! yay! Only stink think was he fell asleep with his head on my legs and it didn't take long for my leg to fall asleep and for me to need to go too the toilet! But moving may have woken him up so I sufferered through hehe... royal brunai didn't match the standards of our beloved Emirates, but flight went well and when cam was awake he was awesome, couldn't have asked for much more from him!!
sm goingto hve ti finish this off tomorrow as my eyes are not staying open!
Haha, ok I'm back!! We arrived in Brunai at about 8am and it was raining! I couldn't believe it - I was expecting nice weather LOL. But it was still really hot, a different kind of hot to Aus though, more muggy.
We caught a taxi to our hotel, which we thought was in the city centre but it wasn't LOL. It's a nice hotel with a decent sized room which is good - and a bed for Cam which I wasn't sure it had so that was great! People jump up to open the front door for you and help you to carry your bags etc. I felt stink yesterday 'cos the man was waiting to shut the car door for me and campbell was farting around taking ages to get in - it was pouring with rain so the poor guy must have been getting really wet!!
After we arrived Col lay down and promptly fell asleep LOL. Cam and I decided to walk over to the shops across the road and found a little bakery where campbell got a couple of things to eat, then walked a little further and came acroos a supermarket so went in there too - I always love supermarkets at different places - I find them really interesting hehe. Here they have an awesome bakery section with heaps of different breads and doughnuts - you go around with a tray and choose what you want, then take it to the bakery counter where they price it and give it back for you to take to the check out. Alot of it looks (and the ones we brought tasted) really yummy!
After that and after col woke up we caught the shuttle into the shopping part of town and had a walk around there - it was interesting to see all the shops for womans clothes - heaps of different patterned burkers (is that what they're called?? the head things!) and robe things. And funny to see all the woman in their looking through trying to pick them! I was going to take a photo, but decided to do it on my way back, then on the way back had realised you weren't meant to take photos in the mall (?dunno why!) so I decided not to hehe. The buildings are neat - heaps of cool archetectual features, and mosaic patterns on them. We have decided that the theme for our holiday might be me falling over as I have fallen over twice already! LOL that reminds me I need to rinse the mud of my pants!!
We got picked up at 5pm (the hotels gives you free rides into town, but to get home charge you $10, you can catch a bus which is only $1 but we decided just to get them to come and collect us!) and went back across the road (by the supermarket) to a burger place for dinner. Is really the only eating place nearby and was really yummy! Came home where cam played the playstation and then we all fell to sleep at about 8pm (hehe, me while in the middle of posting the above!!)
Sunday, October 5, 2008
hi!
hmmm, well obviously I didn't take those photos of the town...there's not much to see anyway!!! And I've been neglecting the blog a wee bit, but in all honesty there has been nothing much to say!
Since we've been here life has pretty much been about working, saving and sleeping hehe. Have had two trips to Townsville - the first was with Dad to get cam his new Glasses, the second was last weekend 'cos Col was on R & R. We got pretty much everything we still needed for our trip, and now with just 17 sleeps, 15 work days for col and 8 work and kindy days for cam and I to go, we are pretty much all organised. (other than having to seriously sort through our stuff to figure out what to chuck and what to leave for dad to take home!)
Other than that, life's just been ticking by over the last little while.
Since we've been here life has pretty much been about working, saving and sleeping hehe. Have had two trips to Townsville - the first was with Dad to get cam his new Glasses, the second was last weekend 'cos Col was on R & R. We got pretty much everything we still needed for our trip, and now with just 17 sleeps, 15 work days for col and 8 work and kindy days for cam and I to go, we are pretty much all organised. (other than having to seriously sort through our stuff to figure out what to chuck and what to leave for dad to take home!)
Other than that, life's just been ticking by over the last little while.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Collinsville!!
Well, we're now in Collinsville at our new home for the next 11 weeks before we go on our next BIG adventure! It's a really small town! We came here so that I could work and so that Col could get away from him supervisor in Cairns hehe. So far so good - Cols enjoying work more now that he has Jake there to talk to! As far as work for me goes it's not quite so simple! It's made complicaed by there being no daycare here, and by me not having a vehicle here because the yard is a fair bit away from the house. So not really sure how thats going to work out really.
Cam started at a new kindy last week - it's 3 days a week, 5 hours a day and he seems to be enjoying it so far. Will add a few pics of the house anyway (will have to go and take some now, so will be a tad messy....), and then try to get some of the town when we go for a walk after lunch. (haha, I'm writing this like people are reading it, even though Mum, you are the only person who has the link haha! It's mainly for our own benifit so we have a record of the things we did and places we went!)
Cam in Lounge, Kitchen behind him
Cams room
Our room
Picture of our back yard and house
Cairns
The foreshore
The Foreshore again!
The lagoon
The playgroundWell Cam and I only ended up spending a week in Cairns, but I'm glad we did! It is such a nice place. We spent our week enjoying the lovely foreshore, the great swimming lagoon and awesome kids playground!! Oh, as well as having a couple of swims a day in the pool at our flat!!
Our block of flats
Cam at the pool at our flatP.S
We won the chicken sausage war!! The Smiths thought they got the better of us by hanging them on our clothes line the night they were leaving (must have been after dark, cos I was there till about 8:30), but Col happened to see them when he went out to lock the car....so in one last ditch attempt to win the battle Col scootered them round to their doorstep in the middle of the night, hehe a nice surprise for them when they got up early to catch their flight!!!
July 20th, 2008
Well our time in Rarotonga has drawn to a close, and we had a great time! I have millions more photos and stuff, far too many to put on here hehe!!
Our last few days were spent chilling out at the beach across the road from our place, chilling out at home and chilling out at the Smiths! Oh and staying up late watching DVDs!
Col went snorkling again and saw a big clam which he thought was really neat!
See ya later Raro!!
July 17th, 2008
The last few days have rained off and on but we have still enjoyed just mooching round and chilling! I've done a fair bit of reading, while col plays the guitar and cam plays around outside.
Cam has had a few (cold) swims at the Smiths, and ended up totally freezing his butt off, shivering away like crazy while insisting he's not cold!
We have been having a chicken sausage war which has seen a packet of sausages get sneaked back and foreward between ours and smiths place! We are determined to win so will see how that pans out...
Our time here is nearly finished which is a bit sad! We'll be back to reality very soon BOO HOO!!!!
July 15th, 2008
Today we went for a drive around the island, making the most of our ne wheels and I took a few pics along the way! One of the things I find really interesing about Raro is how people seem to have gravestones in their front yard! I guess since they're not allowed to sell their land they're safe in the knowledge the graves will be on family property forever, but still is so strange!
(this is a pic of a grave in front of a house, but you can't really tell I don't think!)
July 15th, 2008
Mum and I scootered around the island today! Was a nice way to spend mums last day on the island! Had lunch at Muri at a place called sails and went into town for a little while. We had dinner at the edgewater, and chilled out with everyone on their last day on the island.
July 13th, 2008
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANNY!!
We had waffles and drinks at the Edgewater this afternoon for Nanny’s birthday. Campbell had great fun playing on the rocks with Jordan and made a new little buddy. He’s been having lots of fun with Jordan and is always asking if “his friend Jordan” will be there when we go places!
We had waffles and drinks at the Edgewater this afternoon for Nanny’s birthday. Campbell had great fun playing on the rocks with Jordan and made a new little buddy. He’s been having lots of fun with Jordan and is always asking if “his friend Jordan” will be there when we go places!
July 11th, 2008
We went out for dinner tonight and I choked!! Col had to give me the hymlick maneuver!! So that was pretty scary, and afterwards kind of funny! It was such a strange feeling having no control over what was happenning, but I knre that Col would know what to do hehe. The funniest thing was that there were heaps of us out for dinner and no one even noticed my near death experience! So Col was my hero and I’m still here to tell the tale hehe.
After dinner Dan, Col, Andrew, Callum and I (and a few others but they piked early hehe) went to the pub and watched the All Blacks loose. We drank a fair amount of Beer between us! Aunty Helen had no need to worry about Callum coming with us…I think he was probably more responsible than the rest of us! I was thankful not to be nursing a hangover on Saturday!
After dinner Dan, Col, Andrew, Callum and I (and a few others but they piked early hehe) went to the pub and watched the All Blacks loose. We drank a fair amount of Beer between us! Aunty Helen had no need to worry about Callum coming with us…I think he was probably more responsible than the rest of us! I was thankful not to be nursing a hangover on Saturday!
July 10th, 2008
Tonight there were crab races at the Edgewater, which were a bit of fun! Cam cleaned up, winning $88 on crab 11, which he reckoned he was going to spend buying 100 cars!
After his big win, all the boys had to get up to be obstacles for the crabs in the final race. The man went around getting them all to introduce themselves, saying their names and where they were from into the microphone. When it came to Cams turn there was a slight pause before he said in a big loud voice “I’m speed racer...from the airport!”!
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