Trouble with web mail

Can't seem to send messages at the moment - apologies to Emily - have tried several times - won't send and won't save message.

Farewell to Bonnie Scotland and off to The Fatherland

Photos taken in Scotland - the bridge at Duffus Castle, Gordonstoun House and other views near the Moray Firth. (except for the photograph of Lake Windemere in the Lakes District - that's the one with the water and the little jetty)


North of the border.
Having explored Nottingham reasonably thoroughly it was time to collect the hire car, install the GPS and head off. Our little voice told us to take our first turn – sadly the signposting said NO!..........and that was the first of many corners that didn’t turn out quite right! It was however much much easier negotiating the cities and roadworks etc without having to rely on the map.

We visited St Alkmund’s Church in Derby in search of family history (Grandparents x4?) were married here and then nearby Quarndon. I don’t mind coming from this part of England – it is rather pleasant. Our plan was to stay overnight in the Lakes District but there were far too many people and it seemed that everything was full so we headed instead to the wonderful area around Hadrian’s Wall and found a pretty little B & B on top of the hill and quite close to the wall itself. I was really pleased to see a woodpecker feeding in the garden while I was having breakfast. It was hard to get a decent photo and sadly my breakfast got cold while I was trying – I had a lovely time however. Later we climbed to the top of the hill and to the wall near Walltown Crags before heading across the border over the Cairngorms and to the Moray Firth.

Varie and Richard Parker live in a little cottage (Kirktoun via Duffus) on the driveway to Gordonstoun School. I am sitting in the lounge room looking over the fields where cows are grazing. There are lots of little finches at the bird feeder and earlier I saw a male chaffinch. The mist has lifted and the travellers are content!

We have had a most enjoyable day walking along the beach at Moray Firth. It probably would have been better if I hadn’t been attacked by the waves – but then Tony and Varie would have had nothing to laugh at! The paths are lined with gorse, rosehips, harebells, apples, thistles and dandelions.

Our explorations continued to see many wonderful old ruins, graveyards, and villages – Kilross Cathedral, Spynie Castle, Elgin Cathedral, Duffus Castle and the villages of Hopeman, Lossiemouth, Findhorn, Florres and the school at Gordonstoun have been part of our grand tour. We have been to the butchers, the Co-op, tasted the haggis and the black pudding, watched the airforce at play (or practice), consumed the Australian and NZ wine and been entertained by the birds at the feeder.

This is our last day in Scotland (Sunday) – tomorrow we head for Edinburgh and then we fly to Frankfurt.







It was rainy on the way to Edinburgh and our photos were not so good. Our flight to Frankfurt was smooth - finding the shuttle bus to the hotel was not - but all eventually was right. It was an easy transfer to the railway next day and a speedy train trip to Cologne – a truly wonderful city on the banks of the Rhine. It seems that Germans eat a lot – they must do to fill up all the restaurants and beer halls. We have done our bit!

Cologne Cathedral was as good as I had hoped – so large and so overpowering – impossible to do it justice with our cameras. We have walked many kilometres and seen a good slice of the city. It certainly makes you wonder how a city overcomes its past. Photos of Cologne in 1945 show a city that is largely flattened and yet, so much survived and so much has been rebuilt. The mood of most of the people seems very positive and cheerful. Tony is making a good attempt at his German (perhaps that is why people around us seem to laugh a lot), though it is clear tghat many people involved in hospitality have excellent English There do not seem to be many Australians around.

Wonderful Cologne - on the aerial phtograph Tony is pointing to our hotel - we are amazingly close to the Cathedral and the river.





The high roof and some of the wonderful stained glass



Our next exciting event is to travel to Staudernheim and the pre wedding festivities.

Pews and chairs

Pews and chairs.
We have been to Mass in Nottingham Cathedral. It is not an ancient church and it is extremely well kept. The decoration is Tudor in parts and there is a most beautiful side chapel painted in the very strong colours of that era. The singing and the music were wonderful! Following mass we walked up the hill which takes you to the old cemetery. Interesting shops were all along the road – all closed for Sunday but containing the most eclectic collection of things – furniture, flowers, clothes, bric-a-brac and costume shops. Prices were all over the place and there seemed neither rhyme nor reason for the value attached to the articles on display. From there we walked down to the canal and watched the long boats going through the locks and travelling along the waterway. Our final tourist activity for the day was The Museum of Nottingham life – full of toys, models, clothes and really good information about the past peoples of Notts.

Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Riding through the glen...

Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

On our last day in London the plan was to tour the Houses of Parliament and “do’ that part of the city plus whatever took our fancy. After breakfast we set off on quite a lengthy walk from our hotel down to the Thames at Westminster. But….it was only 10:15 and the Houses tour was not until 1:15. So we decided a little trip on the river would do. There is a lesson here – plan ahead - (not that it actually mattered) but our little trip set sail at 10:30 and we didn’t get back until after 7. Excellent value at 30 pound for the two of us but not actually what we had in mind. Still - lunch in Hampton Court is always a good thing!

Then, the next day it was a reasonably early start to St Pancras to catch our train to Nottingham. A smooth voyage and then we used the GPS to find our hotel. It was quite a walk up the hill but not too far. We lunched at The Olde Trip to Jerusalem (supposedly the oldest inn in the country) and had a good wander around. We also had tea at the same pub. We must go back tomorrow as we have discovered that they have a haunted model of a ship. It is now enclosed in glass as people die when they touch it!

Nottingham is considerably cheaper than London and it seems that bars etc have free WiFi and if you buy 2 large glasses of wine you get the rest of the bottle for free. Not bad merchandising. Today (Saturday) we wandered the city and visited Nottingham Castle. We also wandered up to The Lace Market area (now totally devoid of lace) and explored many old streets, alleyways, churches and gates. In the middle of the old Market Square is a carnival / beach / entertainment area set up for summer. There is a beach and all of the traditional English rides from our past readings of English school and adventure stories. I have never seen such a good helter skelter and was sorely tempted to have a go!





We are approaching the end of week 1 – we have been busy and my feet are tired tonight. The cold hasn’t gone yet! Tonight we ate in our room –“ noice” new blue plastic plates and cups from Tesco’s and we had smoked Scottish salmon, English ham, French brie, snow peas, tomatoes, mushrooms and a bottle of Jacob’s Creek Shiraz Cabernet 2007 vintage. We have lots of strawberries and blueberries for tomorrow as we couldn’t eat any tonight.

In the next 2 days the plan is to visit the caves underneath the city, Sherwood Forest the Justice Museum and the Museum of Nottingham Life. With any luck on Monday we will meet up with our friend Marilyn for a coffee. Tuesday is the day we pick up the car and head north. I hope to upload all blog entries here as we have quite good connection speed and it is impossible to know what will happen after that.

The eagles have landed

Our grand voyage was off to an early and smooth start on the morning of Sunday 29th August. Out of bed at 6, a taxi at 8, a train from Wentworth Falls just after coffee and a croissant on the station, a pick up by Claire at Blacktown due to track works and a take off at 3:30. 11 pm saw us walking around Changi Airport in Singapore before we reboarded and headed for London. We arrived at 5:30 am, caught the tube from Heathrow and headed into the city. Off at Gloucester Road Station: then a walk to the Kensington Forum and it was still only 7:30. The hotel offered an early bird check in and it was great to have a shower, get fresh clothes, have a hot coffee and hit the streets.

Day 1 in London saw us make full use of our train ticket and our feet. First target for this trip was the Monument area to search for the church where the grandparents x3 were married and where they lived prior to their migration to Australia in 1848. By the time of the wedding they had a great string of children born “au natural” in Calais but they were not allowed to travel to Australia while unwed. We located 2 Cheap Street where they lived at the time of the wedding according to the marriage certificate. I was really excited – it was on the corner at Pudding Lane! Wow!!!!!!! Then off to the church of St Dunstan’s in the East which survived the Great Fire but not Hitler’s bombs and now is in ruins. It is strange to walk in the past of long dead ancestors and to stand where they took their vows. St Dunstan’s has been converted into a garden, basically located between the east and west walls of the church. I took lots of photos so hopefully one of them will be OK.

Then we hopped on the Docklands Light Rail and headed off to Greenwich – a great market and an excellent lunch. As we rode along we spotted the Docklands Museum so decided a visit would be in order. It was wonderful – all sorts of very old history including Romans, Saxons and Vikings (even a Viking axe) and a history of the maritime and military significance of the area. Old barges in the dock, a floating church, and lots of restaurants made it a very pleasant place to wander around. After we came back to the hotel and had a coffee we headed off to St Pancras International to collect our tickets for Nottingham and wear ourselves out totally.

There are dozens of restaurants around Kensington and we went for a wander to suss them out, checked out the Waitrose and Tesco supermarkets and had dinner at a pizza/pasta/etc spot not far from the hotel.

By the time we returned to our hotel we were exhausted and I think we were asleep by the time our heads hit the pillows.

And so we were into the spirit of the holiday. We have now completed an active day 2 on foot which involved
• the Natural History Museum – what a building!!!!! – and what treasures it contains.
• The Victoria and Albert (where amongst a million treasures they had Tudor swaddling clothes – I had never seen such a thing – oh, it is a wonderful place indeed). We also explored the new Ceramics Display which has only been open for a year. The place has had much money spent on it and it is bright and fresh in so many areas – we will need another trip to explore the things we have not seen after 2 visits!!!
• A visit to a geomorphology exhibition at the Royal Geographic Society
• a photography exhibition in the gallery in Kensington Gardens (I did not like the works at all except for the most amazing photo of the USA/Mexican border)
• swan (we saw goslings which still had their juvenile colouring but were almost as big as the parents) and duck observation in the Serpentine, a long walk around Kensington Gardens (the Albert memorial, squirrels, Peter Pan, the elf tree and a wonderful carousel)
• the most amazing renovations beside the gardens with crazy giant pencils and trompe d’oeille
• then a shopping expedition to buy food for dinner in our room. Waitrose have good food – we had lemon flavoured BBQ chicken and salad (not an English premade but a Barbara masterpiece) served on bits of paper and eaten with fingers and plastic utensils. Lettuce roll ups make for easy eating. Heaps cheaper than restaurants!!!!!

I like our hotel – we have a view (not the best I have ever seen but I can sit at the desk and see trees, spires, rooftops and way in the distance something that resembles the Eiffel Tower…mmmmmmm…..) and the windows open. That is special. It is very quiet and we are on the end of the wing so we have easy access to the fire hose and the fire escape. TV reception is good – we have no internet access unless we pay (and we won’t at the hotel) and the breakfast coffee is hot and has good flavour. We have bought our Sim cards for the phones and are set for the next 2 days. There is not much traffic in the mornings and we are not wakened by the sound of thousands of cars heading for the work place.

It is an easy walk up to Kensington Gardens and the bus stop for Windsor and that was our next destination. Wandering along we found someone had laid claim to being the spot where Diana bought her pizzas.

Windsor Castle was wonderful and we did the extra tour of The Great Kitchen. Not a bad facility for preparing a banquet. The renovations after the devastating fire have opened up several areas and now reveal the original structure that had been hidden behind modifications. They also mean that all is clean, bright and sparkly. “The firm” certainly has a great many treasures. I loved Queen Mary’s Doll House and France and Mariett - the dolls given to Elizabeth and Margaret by the children of France in 1938.

The Hall of the Garter was something I had never imagined seeing. Even more so, I was awed to see inside St George’s Chapel. Many Royals are buried here including Queen Mary and George V, George VI. and Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. I found her absolutely simple tombstone to be very moving. The streets of Windsor are full of shops, bars, restaurants and cafes – a good place for a wander.

We are on countdown!

Passports are in the pile.
Empty suitcases are on the bed.

Electronic gadgetry piles up!!!!!!

Do you remember the days when you went on holidays with a camera and an unattached flash, when the phone was left behind because it was attached to the wall, when there were no computers to consider and you didn't own any sort of an ereader? Like me, you must be on the wrong side of 40. I am not mentioning 50 or 60!!!!!! Sometimes I think it may have been better if I had stayed in those days.
As we prepare to set forth on another epic jaunt the electronic wizardry and its necessary bits and pieces seem to be occupying more and more space. This time we are taking -


2 sets of binoculars
4 cameras
An assortment of lenses
1 tripod (?)
1 remote flash
2 ereaders
2 mobile phones
1 computer
1 GPS
4 lots of spare camera batteries ( 1 for each camera)
A collection of chargers.

and I think I need it all.
The good thing is that I don't have to worry about film and something to read!!!!

I am waiting for a technological breakthrough. I love the little computer and don't want anything bigger to carry - but the screen is too small to scrapbbok. I want a rollup high quality computer screen that I can attach to the keyboard. Come on you inventors - please build one. I need to pursue my habit.

Not all of our bookings are completed yet but we are reasonably well organised. At least these days you can do them as you travel along provided that you can get free internet. A word of advice to the unwary - NEVER go away and use Telstra roaming!

4 more sleeps and we are off.

Fast trip home - goodbye Aussie Swag

That holiday came rapidly to a halt as we received a phone call from an interested buyer - we headed for home asap and now we are without our little home on wheels. Very happy with the transaction. Let us hope that the KK becomes as much loved and used!