Off the air for a while

Well, today we enjoyed a quiet Sunday at home. After a relaxing start to the morning we went to 10.30 church with John and Nikki. In the afternoon I planned the accommodation for the next four days/three nights trip up north, Andrew read, Michael & Rachel played and then went to the park to look for conkers, which I think are chestnuts.
The next four days we will be travelling so we will not have any more inputs until at least Friday. Tomorrow we will visit Warwick castle and Stratford upon Avon. Then we will continue north to Windermere in the Lakes District, famous for its scenery as well as the area where Beatrix Potter wrote and illustrated her Peter Rabbit stories. From there we will head into the lower reaches of Scotland visiting Glasgow (where my father's family lived before emigrating to Australia), Loch Lomond, Falkirk and then Edinburgh. Once we have looked through Edinburgh we will head on to York. After exploring York we head home. That should see us back at Marlow late on Thursday evening, our time.
We are all well and healthy and enjoying our time away.
Hope all is well in your worlds.
Love,
Kylie, Andrew, Michael and Rachel

Roman ruins and much more

Stonehenge

Stoney beach on the English Channel over looking the Isle of Wight

Roman baths at Bath

Jane Austin characters

Lacock village houses


Day 7: Bath

As it is Saturday, the two families were able to go to Bath together. It is a very busy town and even more so with a Rugby match being played and the end of the Jane Austin Celebration Week. Maybe there was also a Mini convention nearby as we saw heaps travelling together on the M4 on the way to Bath and on the way home.

Bath has hot springs near the Avon river which have been used since at least 2000BC. The peak times after that were the Roman times, 1200'sAD, and again during the Georgian period. The architecture and archeology of the area reflect all of those periods. Extremely fascinating and enjoyable. We also saw heaps of people dressed up in costume of the Jane Austin era as they were attending a ball tonight.

We left Bath in the afternoon and stopped at the village of Laycock on the way home. The inventor of photography came from Laycock and it was a town and Abbey used in some of the Harry Potter films. It is a World Heritage Site with fantastically old buildings which are still very much in use today.

On the drive home we enjoyed the sunny afternoon and sunset views of the Somerset and Wiltshire country side, which we hadn't been able to see in the morning as there had been heavy fog until midday.

We have been navigating our way about using photocopied maps and John's GPS which we have named "Jenni"*. Jenni has been invaluable in telling us where to go. She travels everywhere with us always chattering away, letting us know how far to the next turn, which exit to take for the multitude of roundabouts etc. She also lets us know where all the many fixed and mobile speed cameras are located. She doesn't seem to mind that we sometimes ignore her chatters. At times she leads us astray as her directions can be misleading, if not entirely wrong, especially with roundabout exits.

* Any similiarity to people living or dead, in Orange or elsewhere is purely coincidental.

photos

Turville Norman church (Vicar of Dibley)

To mates.

Rachel at the Uffington White Horse

Avebury stone circle

Canal boat, not as roomy as the Hawkesbury houseboats nor the Hawkesbury River!

Well, Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!

Abbey Road, London


Michael and Rachel with a Beefeater guard at
Windsor Castle



Feeding the swans on the Thames at Marlow

In the London Eye

King's Cross Station on the way to Hogwarts (Harry Potter)

Now finishing day 6 and we have seen lots and been heaps of places and also had a bit of a rest too.


Day 4: Marlow district

The morning was a quiet start which was great for all concerned. I ventured into the township and did some grocery shopping. There are heaps of lovely clothes shops, but I don't have room in my cupboard at home! (Really, I would want to loose heaps to do them justice.)

After lunch John showed Andrew and I around some of the nearby villages. The children were happy to stay at home and watch TV. Why wouldn't they be when they have what seems to be 100 channels to flick through! We went to Turville which has a Norman church (the village and church featured in the TV show "The Vicar of Dibley" and the windmill on the hill was the one in "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"). It was a quaint village and we sampled the local ale. We then went to Maidenhead and on to Bray, also on the Thames, and has an even older church. We passed the house that Rolf Harris lives in too. We then went onto another township and again sampled the local brew. Very different from the first.


Day 5: Wiltshire & Salisbury & Coast

Today was a big day. We started at 7.20am and arrived home at 8.40pm. Big by English standards, not so much by Australian and Andrew's standards. We saw the White Horse of Uffington which is a carving in the limestone hillside dating back to Neolithic times, approx 3400BC, and the nearby Uffington castle, which was a hillfort built approx 2700 years ago. There is no structure left, just the mound and 3 metre ditch which would have been the perimetre of the fortification.

From there we went to Avebury which is a village with heaps of standing stones. The stone circle has been cut by the village and the roads but it covers a large area and is very impressive in size of area, the largest in UK, and its age, built 2600BC.

After Avebury we stopped at The Barge Inn and had some refreshments at lunch time. There was a canal next to our table with at least 6 canal boats moored. They are extremely narrow houseboats.

Our next stop was Stonehenge, built 3000BC. Huge standing stones that remain impressive even though you can't walk amongst them as you can in Avebury. The ancientness of this structure, the Avebury stones and the White Horse has impressed me the most. Michael was impressed that we were driving between militiary training grounds and there were road signs saying beware of tanks crossing.

As we were next to Salisbury we went into the city and then into the former walled city to walk through the Cathedral, built 1200's. We even saw one of only 4 surviving original copies of the Magna Carta!

A day can't be complete when there is the opportunity to visit the beach! So we made a detour on the way home to Milford-on-Sea. This is a southern coastal town near Southhampton. We enjoyed views to the edge of The Isle of White and the kids dipped their toes in the English Channel. Too cold for a swim they said, but they enjoyed playing with and throwing the stones that comprised the beach. We made our way home and enjoyed a good night's sleep.


Day 6: Marlow rest day for Andrew and Kids; London for Kylie

After Andrew and I planned the remainder of our stay in England, I drove myself to Maidenhead, where I caught the train into London to do the Art gallery trips that would be my delight, but the death of the children. Andrew, Michael and Rachel enjoyed a lovely day with John, Nikki, Chloe and Sarah. There was play time, walks, TV etc. I travelled by train, Underground, bus and walked my way through London and home again. The highlight was spending a few hours in the Tate Art Gallery, which houses artwork of Great Britian dating from the 1500's to now. There were heaps of paintings by artists I enjoy such as Constable and Gainsborough and many more, but the real treat was rooms full of Turners' works.

I then went on to enjoy the very sunny and warm day with walks to Westminster, along the Thames to the Tate Modern Art Gallery, across the river to St Paul's Cathedral and then the bus to Regent Street, home of Hamley's toy store among many other things, and the Underground to Paddington to catch the train out to Maidenhead.

Tomorrow the two families are off to Bath.

I hope I have been able to transfer some photos OK.

some photos

Third day in

Dear Friends,

we have been in the UK for three days now and enjoying the fantastic weather. I know those concepts (more than one day of fine weather) shouldn't go together, but they do from our experience! We have had a shower each afternoon for all of two minutes and haven't even got wet from it.

Day 1: Local Marlow

as described in the previous entry.



Day 2: Windsor Castle and some of the surrounding area of the town, no the Queen wasn't there so we didn't have tea, but enjoyed viewing one of her family homes, complete with wonderful art work by Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Reubens, Lawrence, a music clock which played Handel's Water Music (composed for the Royal family who lived by the Thames) and much much more. We even saw a Changing of the Sentry up close and personal. Probably heaps better than the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace as we were only four feet away from the action, and the loaded automatic rifles! The local guide advised us that most of the home guard were young servicemen who had recently completed duties in Iraq, Afghanistan etc and not to feel too sorry that they looked slightly chilly standing in one spot for a few hours.

After enjoying the afternoon at Windsor Castle we drove to Runnymede, and viewed the field by the Thames were the Magna Carta was signed. We then drove on to Henley-on-Thames, famous for the rowing regattas. We enjoyed an early evening stroll by the river and looking at the various canal boats and houses by the river. A very pretty town with a stone bridge and lovely church next to the bridge. We arrived home (as the kids now insist we call John and Nikki's) to again have a lovely family dinner and a relatively early night.



Day 3: London ( we feel like we're in a game of Monopoly)

Today we caught the train from Taplow, near Maidenhead, to Paddington Station in London. From there we used the Underground to get to Oxford Circus. We located Regent Street and walked the length of it past many wonderful shops, stopping at Hamley's Toy Store where the kids, and I, could easily have spent the entire travel budget! It has been operating for over 200 years and has 5 floors of toys and gadgets with several people employed on each level just to show off the products. Imagine being employed to draw or throw boomerangs or do magic tricks!! Eventually,we had a picnic lunch at St James Park with a view along the avenue to Buckingham Palace. We decided not to visit, as the Queen was obviously too busy yesterday to entertain us at Windsor. We then walked on past the buildings containing the powers of British government such as the cabinet rooms and 10 Dowling St, past Big Ben (which was much more beautiful than I had imagined with gold work and delicate carvings), the Houses of Parliament and Westminster, across the river to the London Eye. A huge ferris wheel type construction built for the new millenium. We enjoyed relatively good views over the city of London. London is BIG. From there we walked to Waterloo Station and caught a double decker London Bus to West Hampstead (#139 for those who are interested). We enjoyed seeing many streets and the changes from inner London, past Selfridges etc, to inner city terraces to the residential suburbs of London. We even drove across "The" Abbey Road crossing!
When we reached West Hampstead we caught another train on the Thames link to St Pancras and saw the new International rail station where you can catch the Eurostar to Paris (2.5 hours), and then walked across to King's Cross station and found platform 9 and 3/4, famous from Harry Potter stories. Then another underground train to return to Paddington for the final train home. Just the sort of travel that Andrew loves doing in Sydney and enjoyed in London too.
During the day many monopoly names where spotted, at least 15!!

Today we might take it a bit easier and stick closer to home. The jet lag has been manageable. We are getting tired early in the evening and waking early in the morning. Our feet and legs are sore but our excitement is high.

Are we there yet? Sure are:-)

Thanks for your prayers and well wishes for the children. They were both well enough to travel. Michael still has a cough but it sounds manageable.

Well, after a flight that was delayed by 3.5 hours we finally left Sydney. All due to people error, unfortunately. Someone had dropped something into the Business Class toilet on the previous flight and maintanance crews had tried all day to get it back into some semblance of working order. For once we were glad we were in Economy as all our toilets were working! The next delay was due to missing passengers. I presumed that due to the delay they had fallen asleep in some corner of the airport, but no, they had flown on another flight and weren't taken off the system. The pilot was livid when he had to advise the passengers firstly of the delay and then secondly for the reason! I felt sympathetic towards him rather than mutinous. The flight was uneventful and we made up some time to arrive in Bangkok 2.30am local time, only 2.5 hours late. Heathrow was next, 12 hours later (9.30am local time/6.30pm Sydney time). We all dozed prior to Bangkok and then tried to sleep before landing at Heathrow. Customs was very uneventful, only a passport check and then we picked up the luggage immediately and then through an unmanned customs hall to the exit. Not what I was expecting at all. The courtesy bus to Avis was ready and waiting, the car checked and the seat and mirrors adjusted for Andrew's height, then we were off to find our way to Marlow. I feel greater sympathy for obvious newcomers to Sydney roads. Reading street signs, looking at the arrows on the road, reading street maps, looking for speed signs, remembering that it is miles not kilometers while in a different country and getting used to a different car was hectic and an experience, but we'll improve.

John and Nikki, Sarah (4) and Chloe (2) were waiting at home to great us with a local beer and a wonderful baked lunch. We later walked the local streets to the High Street and then to the Thames to feed the white swans and watch the boaters on the river. There is a lock at the township, so we watched the mechanics of that for a while. Marlow is a pretty town and lovely to walk through. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm. Much better than the summer they have just had, we were told. On a wonderful Sunday afternoon, many people were out and about, walking, playing, boating and generally enjoying the sunshine.

Michael's dream to see heaps of you beaut European top of the range cars has already come true as Marlow is up market and there are heaps of Porshes, Jaguar's, Audi's, MG's, Lotus and more. Rachel really enjoyed the local park and swans. Both Michael and Rachel are enjoying getting to know Sarah and Chloe and playing big brother and sister. So much so that Michael helped Chloe with her breakfast this morning and Rachel helped Sarah get ready for school. After a good night's sleep we are today off to Windsor castle to see if the Queen is there and if she wants to have a cuppa with us.

Photos later when I work out how to use John's computer better.

Talk again soon. Love to you all.

Prayers gratefully accepted

Well, two children home from school today! Croup for one and, hopefully, just a nervous tummy for the other. Croup is usually manageble after 24 hours with small doses of steroid treatment. We really don't want to envisage flying with a child pumped full of adrenalin and extra high doses of Prednisone that, if necessary, a hospital would administer. So, we are praying that the home treatment holds and health improves quickly. Trust in God, He is mighty to save and heal.
Bags are packed, apart from the last minute odds and ends.
So, here we go.

Almost there

Well, only 4 more sleeps and we'll be on our way. How excitiing!!

The bags are packed and the documents are all obtained.

Lists have been made and checked.

Now it's just about time to finish cleaning up the house for our lovely house and dog sitter.

The next posting will be after we arrive at Johnny and Nikki's... Woo Hoo

Where are we going?

Can you guess our destinations?

The first stop is obvious, the second may not be so well known.

Wuppertal, in the north west of Germany, is famous for it's upside down monorail, the Schwebebahn.

We are staying mainly with friends in both countries with lots of site seeing planned.
Now that the children are old enough to appreciate and remember what they see and before they start high school, it should be good timing for us to enjoy a once in a lifetime family odyssey.