london

London was fun

we ventured out in the morning to look for the place where ian had his business meeting.

down great portland st long regent street and what did i find - hamleys!! dont go in said ian - why not said i - so in we went - but then ian spent much more than i did - look at the size of the bag!!



and i had to buy a camel didnt i ??



we wentured further and into picadilly street and found ians meeting place and headed back along the other side of regent st - and there was the mac store asking us to come in - this time it was my credit card which came out burning

ian headed off to his meeting and i wandered the streets of london happened upon some one ironing on top of a pillar in trafalgar square - no idea of why but there you are




found the thames and big ben -




found carnaby st - not overly impressed and then found ian again

he had had a wonderful afternoon potentially organising future work - but not yet quite ready to move to london so just as well it can be mainly done from melbourne but he will probably head back here in october after his canadian conference

we located amanda - zoys girlfriend and headed off to the open air performance of hello dolly - the weather gods smiled upon us as it was a lovely night with no rain - no photos tho as not allowed

we had a meal in the park beforehand - poached salmon with salad and a nice bottle of sav blanc






said goodbye to amanda and headed back to the hotel for a night coffee for ian and port for us both



up not bright and early the next morning for the train trip back to chesterfield from st pancras- still dont understand why booking the train at least 24 hours prior to travel saved us about £200 cost us only £50 for both of us quite reasonable for the distance

lunch in chesterfield and banking for simon in the afternoon then off for a thai meal with paul and carol- was very nice but my body didnt appreciate the chilli overnight

the weather is damp today so its a lazy day- about to head off to the nettle for lunch and their wonderful chips then out again tonight to gill and peters place for tea

lunch in sheffied tomorrow with freyja and then we fly out - it has been wonderful month - weddings, family get togethers, travel, exploration and food and potential work opportunities for ian

back in 2 years for me prob 6 weeks for ian - will have to get that british passport so that they will keep letting ian in

salisbury

friday found another 10000 steps for my feet - walked in and out of cambridge again this time had breakfast in a pub - pictures to be posted later

at lunchtime we bundled ourselves into the car and headed to the swan at stoford - a very nice pub accommodation stop over has a lovely beer garden next to a river with swans and ducks - had a restaurant tea before heading off to bed






on saturday we picked up gwen the builders mother and headed to lymington for a view of the sea a walk and yet another meal - we were yet again blessed with good weather and found icecream on our walk new forest icecream - ian had wild ginger wonderful



we dropped gwen off and then headed to matt and jeanettes place for a bbq tea somewhere i managed to acquire another 10000 steps all good when we are eating and drinking lots

back to the swan for the night and then another full english cooked breakfast yesterday morning
.
back into the car so that we could pop into salisbury for a wander.frannie and i found new pedometers which hang from your neck will try them out and compare to my trouser one, off to the builders ex wife barbs new place in warminster for lunch

frannie and jim diverted their trip home via ealing to drop us off at the end of the tube so that we could travel to our hotel the roads behaved themselves and we made good time

another cute hotel wandered around found a local sainsbury to get breakfast stuff as isnt included ate at a nice italian restaurant - had a salad couldnt face anymore carbohydrates

frannie got home and marlo was out and about playing didnt come home til quite late and was surprised to see frannie and jim waiting for time - i'm not surprised as they have only been home about 2 nights in the past 2 weeks think he will forgive them so long as they feed him extra food

up this morning for a period of exploring london and then tonight our open air performance of hello dolly in regents park weather forecast is for drizzle this arvo but hopefully clear tonight - we are taking amanda - austin friends zoys girlfriend - she is living in the uk for a gap year, should be fun and is only a very short walk from our hotel room

back up to chesterfield by train tomorrow for a couple of nights then off to abu dhabi - our UK journey is coming to an end have had a wonderful time - had ians usual good uk weather, seen lots of places, caught up with cousins and second cousins and an aunt and uncle, met new relatives of jim - all good fun. will be back again in 2 years

more cambridge

My feet and i did over 30000 steps yesterday - my record!!!

we walked into town for breakfast/brunch my breakfast pizza shared with frannie then walked back home- 10000 steps

we walked back into town to do some touristy shopping in the arvo - another 10000 steps-didnt manage to find socks which i usually take home for my tai chi group but frannie did at heathrow ! - can now stop looking. collected pubs on the walk home for lindsey to visit the loos - seemed a little stupid to use the loo then fill up again at the pub so that i needed to find the loo again but tabitha said i couldnt use the pub loo without having a drink - so i did.



final 10000 steps was going to the italian restaurant for tea - we felt we had to have a meal to remember il gambero which burnt down on lygon st last night - ant and i used to eat there fairly regularly when he first moved down to melbourne. vale il gambero

had a nice meal excellent staff and service food good but the wine not to our taste only minor problem was that the outside lights were working so we ate in the failing light.

my feet are recovering in bed at present - will need to take me back into cambridge again this morning before we head off to salisbury - think i will wear my asics not my sandals for todays wanderings

freyjas birthday and cambridge

And sunday was a day of rest. we pottered around the house and gardens and ventured out to chatsworth farm shop and then frannie and i went for a walk in the wet lands - a peaceful day. and then frannie made the biggests and bestest yorkshire pudding we all had ever seen for tea - was magnificent!!




Monday was freyjas birthday and we were off to york to celebrate - we needed the two cars - we picked up freyja from her place in sheffield. we found parking in york - headed off to the cafe el piano for a vegetarian tapas meal. and then off to the dungeons via a shop which had a camel bracelet - what fun



the dungeon was fun but not too spooky. off to the nettle for tea

austin packed his bag as he is leaving from cambridge which we head off to on monday.

A packing of the car occurred. the vixen isnt particularly big and austin has lots of luggage and we needed to put ian and my bag and also frannie and jims bag in the boot and then put 5 of us in the car to launch our expedition to cambridge.

we made good time with the only interuption being a tractor pulling a long trailer for about 10 miles on a narrow windy road. there were lots of irritated drivers and passengers by the time it finally pulled off.

off to the pub for tea - by the river - a most relaxing spot.




walking is the order of the day while in cambridge and it takes about 30 mins to get into town.

yesterday austin had decided that he wanted to build a bear so we walked into town and found the build a bear shop - oscar bearington the 3rd was created and birth certificate delivered. he is heading back to kaori in japan with austin.

we then went and had lunch with peter and joan in their local pub. they seem fit and healthy - peter especially so - kept up with all of ians work doings which i find difficult to deal with as he has so many at present. spent the afternoon showing photos before heading back to gareth and tabithas for a steak and veg tea cooked by
ian.







this morning we walked into town again and had breakfast pizza. unusual concept - bacon and eggs tomato and cheese. austin managed to eat spag bog for his breakfast.
he has been bundled into the vixen with frannie and jim and is currently heading to heathrow for his flight back to japan - ian gareth and i are letting our feet recover before walking back into town - am getting my 10000 steps easily at present. hoping to go punting tomorrow morning before we leave for salisbury to catch up with the builders mother. ian has organised himself and me to go to london on sunday to see an outdoor performance of hello dolly in regents park on monday night - the forecast at present is for no rain but this changes daily so fingers crossed!!

edwinstowe and sherwood forrest

And today I went to Edwinstowe and sherwood forest.

And where do you want to go asked frannie - l had looked on the map coming home yesterday and noted that sherwood forest seemed reasonably close - so i said sherwood forest - easy done said frannie - is about 30 mins aways and we could also go and visit the village of edwinstowe where tony spent a couple of years billeted as a 7 yo during the war.

I think that edwinstowe may have changed a little since the early 1940s but we found a nice pub and had steak pies for lindsey and the builder and lamb mince pie for frannie - not bad they were.




We then headed off to sherwood forest to investigate robin hood and his merry men. The weather improved and there were lots of people and dogs wandering around the forest. It was green and lush - unlike the aussie victorian bush at present even tho it is the middle of winter.




The major oak

We found the major oak in the middle of the forest and then wandered back to the car. we stopped off at a castle on the way home but it had shut early as it was saturday - as you do in the middle of the tourist season - may try and head back there in our last week

Tonight frannie is doing lamb chops and home fresh veggie- we have red wine for ian to reward him for driving the offsprouts to a games theme park - even tho he seems to have thrashed them in the bowling - he attributes this to moderate red wine consumption at lunch and old age.

nothing planned so far for tomorrow - a day of rest will be good.

county durham

Okay and where were we when last spoke- oh yes about to start day 3 of feasting.

The cousins all arrived in dribs and drabs. We had lots to eat and drink.Frannie had yet again turned on good weather and we were able to stay in the garden. we had masses of roast meat and home grown veg and gravy, a huge rice pudding and 3 large frogs in the pond - one being made with vegetarian jelly! I am not sure how 22 adults all claim not to have eaten the 40 odd freddo frogs when not a one remained by the end of the day and i am sure that pennys 2 small children werent the culprits!!





click on the photo tony and you can see everyone easily! see if you can identify all of them


After the festivities we cleaned and polished and tidied the house as we were off to county durham the next day for the week.

We loaded ourselves into the two cars oscar and the vixen with our loyal gps machines jenny and katie and set off for derwent grange farm out of consett county durham - and dont the gpses make life easy for driving!

We arrived late afternoon and were soon established in the renovated cow shed. It amply accommodated the 8 of us with room for a few small children as well. The farm used to do dairy cows and now did sheep and guests. It still has roaming chooks with a couple of cocks which like to wake up early and make sure that everyone else is up early as well!



frannie jim ian and i woke early the next morning and went out exploring- we headed off to bishops auckland where i had found an hours walk for us - and we discovered a roman bath house and fort - what fun bernard and sleepy hippo went with us to do the exploring.

the fort was cute but up a hill - why do they persist in putting interesting things up the top of hills in the uk??




We wandered around the hills and fields of bishops auckland - getting totally lost in the process until eventually some locals directed us in the right direction and then frannie decided that her iphones gps would also help locate us!

nice cold chocolates coffees and teacakes in a courtyard cafe and then we headed back to the farm to find the younger ones to launch an expedition to durham and the cathedral and castle.

Durham cathedral has a tower , a 325 step tower, the builder ian gareth and i decided to climb said tower - all 325 steps of it.It waas a sunny day when we set off but by the time we reached the top - it was raining - how did that happen??



we came back down the 325 steps to find tabitha had found a castle tour which was about to start so we headed over to the castle.

It is now used as a university hall of residence - not a bad place to live!



The parking meters were about to expire so we bundled ourselves back into the 2 cars and headed back to the farm for tea.

The next day Wednesday i think, we launched an expedition to hadrians wall - first we went to housestead fort and wandered up yet another very steep hill to look at the roman ruins with lots of other brave brits.

We had packed a picnic and so then went to explore vindolanda which had a museum as well and better ruins - if ruins can be better.



Once we had decided we had found enough roman soldiers we once again put ourselves back into the cars and headed back to the farmhouse to organise ourselves for a local pub meal.

It was newly taken over and the 8 of us wandering in caused a bit of a stir in the kitchen who werent yet used to feeding larger groups. the food however wasnt bad.

the Thursday morning ian jim frannie and i left the young ones in bed while we went for a walk - Stanhope this time - we discovered a 250million year fossil tree in the local churchyard - well thats not true we didnt discover it - it had been discovered in a quarry locally and moved piece by piece to the churchyard.



We went for our walk and walked along the stanhope burn where bernard and eventually frank lyon went bungy jumping - i am sure that this will be blogged on bernards blog when he recovers from the shock - he did twitter it and seemed quite excited by it all.



We organised lunch and headed back to the farmhouse. Frannie jim and I continued our walking program, at St Johns Chapel that afternoon while ian stayed back at the farm to organise lamb shanks for tea.



We got up early friday morning to pack and tidy and headed off to Richmond to explore ,however the traffic jam at the outskirts was shocking so we abandoned that and went to ripon to look at the cathedral. We missed the cathedral as the cafe meal although good tasting took ages and ages to appear and the builder got forgotten so it took even longer.

the M1 and the A1 both decided to delay our journey with long queues of traffic so we didnt finally get home til late in the afternoon.

We had a wonderful week. Ian and the kids are going to a games park today near leeds - as you do and so jim frannie and i will play locally and perhaps go and explore sherwood forest.

having a wonderful time - will talk soon

the wedding

And on Friday we all went to a wedding.

up bright and early dressed and ready to go picnic to pack - frannie up earlier to produce ian and austin headed off in a taxi to the nettle pub to pick up the bright red e type jag which he had organised for jim and frannie to get to the wedding in





We organised ourselves to leave just before midday to head to bakewell ian myself austin tabitha and gareth got into our car and freyja jim and frannie piled into the jag

some where along the line my travel phone abandoned me a nice local picked it up and hopefully i will get it back tonight after his weekend away - fingers crossed

the bakewell traffic was busy as usual and we finally found a park and also jims family who had travelled from down south

frannie was starting to panic as she had lost us and was calling the travel phone and was getting no answer but freyja was dispatched to locate us and we all eventually found the registry office paul and carol were also waiting for us





the ceremony was short and lovely evie - jims 2 yo g daughter fell off a chair and so slightly delayed the start with her crying but all was good for the actual event

hopefully once we have worked out the new video camera we will put the video onto facebook -

we picnicked in the park for the reception it was a wonderfully sunny day after a week of drizzle we were very lucky




after a few hours of partying we went home to organise ourselves for a night out at the local pub - the 3 horse shoes

a lovely meal was had and unlike a week ago when ian jim frannie and i went -the weather was lovely and the views were fantastic

eventually we all fell into bed

we woke yesterday to organise for the friends garden party - about 30 were coming the weather once again behaved itself

we had sandwiches - vegemite fairy bread cheese cress - yes people do eat cress sandwhiches chocalate and also cherry cake - homemade by frannie and lots to drink

people came and people went but gill and her husband peter came they stayed for the evening barbque once again we went to bed late and full

we wake today in anticapation of the family roast lunch another 30 or so coming - i am doing my rice pudding and hopefully a frog in the pond - large version

the weather is behaving itself as we intend to eat in the garden

hopefully will get lots of photos of the extended family

up and ready off we go for day 3 of feasting!!

cornwall

Moving Freyja wasnt as simple as it seemed. the person moving out of her share house had failed to do so and then person moving out of her room into the moving out persons room , consequently also didnt move so freyja couldnt move into her room - all very complicated but the upshot was that frannie and i found ourselves heading to sheffield to move freyja when we didnt have to. We did have to find austin to bring him back to tupton and go to waitrose so we continued our journey.

Frannie did a nice roast lamb and i managed a rice pudding for tea.

Monday morning saw ian and i packed again for our trip down to cornwall. Frannie had lent us the vixon and insurance was paid up - the weather was reasonable and so we headed off down a variety of motorways.


The weather deteriorated as we travelled south and by the time we arrived at Bodmin where we were staying with and ex work collegue of ians we were in mist. We travelled across the bodmin moors in mist- could imagine being a smuggler.



We had a nice meal with the Littles and then they drove us around bodmin showing us the old gaol and assylum. Scary places.

Off we set the next morning. we found headed to port isaac to look at where doc martin is filmed and then headed to tintagel to go king arthur hunting. english seaside seems to be set on very steep hills! tintagel was again in mist and we got a little damp but it made the adventure even more appealing.


port isaac


Tintagel

We rewarded our walking and climbing with cornish icecream and headed off to padstow to investigate rick steins fish and chips which we had been recommended. Padstow is also on the side of steep hill which took away the guilt of very nice fish and chips.
We found ourselves a padstow camel.

we had booked accommodation at the fowey - pronounced foe hotel. Stewart greeted us and led us into the hotel. Limited parking is available and we had missed out but stewart on hearing we had come all the way from oz found us a spot - otherwise you have to park in the local pay and display.


fowey hotel


more wandering and more food and a good night was had.

off to the lost gardens of heligan the next morning and cornwall also found some sunshine. the gardens were wonderful and we spent a little more time than we had anticipated. we left late and headed back to new tupton via the motorways once again. an accident on the m5 delayed us and so jenny the sat nav took us exploring while we tried to find an alternative route home.



Yesterday was a pottering day organizing food for the wedding feast and saturday party.
the sat nav makes life so much easier to navigate foreign parts. Ian and i explored chesterfield and ian found himself a wedding shirt. but no freddo frogs for the frog in the ponds for the saturday party could be found. fancy living in a country with no chocolate frogs.i cooked shepherds pie for tea - and we awaited the arrival of tabitha and gareth from cambridge. Their bus decided to break down so we didnt eat til about 9pm - we were all very hungry. freyja and austin had arrived at a slightly more civilized hour earlier in the evening.

well today is why we are all here. the wedding. it is drizzling at present but the forcast is slightly better for the time of the wedding.

will put in photos later when i have downloaded them

good luck frannie and jim

0ff on our trip

We left melbourne after being picked up by an Etihad organised limo - got to the airport in plenty of time. wandered up to the qantas lounge and had a drink and supper before boarding.

The flight to abu dhabi was 14 hours long - uneventful - the food was excellent and i managed to get some sleep - this was very unusual for me as i dont usually sleep on planes at all - business class does help.

got into abu dhabi about 30 mins early. had a shower and found ourselves a video camera to buy so that we can record the wedding. oh and some duty free vodka and gin for frannie and jim.

Landed at manchester - also about 30 mins early after another 7 hour uneventful flight.
I love manchester airport - customs relaxed and no having to get your bags checked for food stuffs and wood - out of the airport in about 30 mins.

caught up with fiona -ias niece and gave her her wedding shoes and diamond that we had been asked to bring over and then found our next limo.

headed through the peak district and arrived at new tupton slightly before frannie and jim - found the well hidden key and let ourselves in to be greeted my marlo.

yesterday was spend wandering around the shops of chesterfield getting supplies and then we went to the nettle for lunch - wonderful chips!




frannie had a work collegue around for tea last night we dined on a slow cooked sausage casserole with freshly picked broad beans and pea new potatoes and carrots - all wonderfully sweet have been blacked banned from the allotment - i eat too many of the broad beans and peas when picking them

we had a meal at the three horseshoes to check out the wedding night feast venue - misty and haunting but nice food



off exploring today - just pottering then helping freyja move tomorrow to a shared house

then off to cornwall for a couple of days on monday - hopefully the weather will improve a little although it managed not to rain yesterday until the evening - has been a very wet summer so far apparently