Home again

Well it's been a few days now, but we thought we should conclude the blog about our trip by letting people know we arrived home safely. It's good to be home, even though the weather is cold and wet.

Back to work and reality. Might have to start planning our next holiday!


;-) Ann-a-Gram

Hong Kong 2

We saw Hong Kong by night against a backdrop of a cloudy sky. As with most tours, a photographer took pictures at the first couple of stops, then rushed away and printed them...


... onto a plate as well as ordinary photos! We had no intentions of buying any, but, well, you know how it is. When we didn't buy any on the next tour the guy was very disappointed, it seems that almost everyone buys something as the price goes down.


Next day we went further up the hill for a view that looked like a photo even before you took it! We also went on an exploration of the fishermens' houseboats, and to a market, having decided the rest of the tourists had a point - air conditioned buses are good!

Tomorrow it's homeward bound, and we are looking forward to that. It has been an incredible journey as you said, Dad. We've had a wonderful time but it is indeed true that there's no place like home. Or should we provide an update on that view in a couple of weeks?
;-) Ann-a-Gram

Hong Kong

After a few drinks and a lovely meal onboard our flight, we flipped our comfy chairs over to make a flat bed, unwrapped our duvets and had a great sleep. We awoke to a yummy breakfast, and disembarked in Hong Kong feeling refreshed and ready (almost) for the draining humid mid-thirty degree temperatures outside.

Our hotel is on Nathan Road, the world famous shopping street.


A busy street with locals and tourists mingling, and the two official languages sharing the neon. In fact when we went walking the next day we saw very few non-Asian faces. The tourists were probably (wisely) cool on the air conditioned tour buses! We walked around for several hours and found some good bargains.


Later, sporting some of our new purchases, we went on a Splendid tour. We did a harbour cruise, followed by a meal at the Jumbo (world's largest floating) restaurant. It holds 2,400 people and is a typhoon shelter point.


The sunset was impressive, and the unlimited free drinks helped too! We met some Australians who were determined to finish the boat's supply of spirits and all in all it was a great night out.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Tour of London

Our flight was not till 21.05, so even though checkout time was a very civilized 12 noon, we still had a few hours to kill. We bought another day travelcard and headed via bus and underground back into London. We emerged at Hyde Park Corner and headed to Buckingham Palace, thinking we would take a tour. As we arrived at the main gates, some big event, we still have no idea what, had just finished and we had to fight our way through hundreds of people, very few of whom spoke English. (Sad to say Ann's starting to think of home - that sentence would never get past a peer reviewer!)

With the crowds of people around and the queue for the tours we realized we didn't have a hope of getting on one in time, so we hopped on the hop-on, hop-off bus. It took us around a lot of places we had walked before, but out in the open on top of a double-decker bus and with a live commentary we saw and heard things we hadn't before.


We drove over Tower Bridge, which is the one many people think is London Bridge. We drove over it too, but the current version is very boring.

And we also found that when we thought we were in London we were actually in Westminster. As many of you no doubt already know what is known as London is actually two cities.


Not the best of pics, but this arch spans the two cities. The ticket for the bus also included a cruise down the Thames. The weather was better than when we were in London 3 months ago, but there was still a downpour in the afternoon, fortunately while we were having lunch and, although outside, under cover.

We made it back to the hotel and onto a bus to Heathrow in good time. Unlike our experience of leaving Venice, where we found ourselves on a ferry heading off into parts unknown when we had limited time to catch a train! So we are shortly bound for Hong Kong, and although it looks like rain will be replaced by thunderstorms, the weather will certainly be warmer!


;-) Ann-a-Gram

Last days in England

After leaving Fiona's, we checked into a hotel near Heathrow. Unfortunately our room was on the street side so we didn't get to watch the big planes floating by towards the runways, except from the car park!

We spent a day returning the car to Calais. This meant leaving the hotel at 7am, driving on the M25 ring road around London, in ever increasing traffic, then on to Dover. We caught the ferry across, drove the car back to the terminal building after an unintentional detour down a few km of the road to Paris, and handed over the documentation, only just in time to catch the next ferry back to Dover. Then it was a bus from the port to the railway station, a train to Waterloo, and another out to Twickenham, where we had a lovely evening with Laurie, a friend of Ann's from way back, and her partner Lyn.



The next day we travelled to Greenwich to see "the line". We all know about Greenwich mean time, but do we all know that this is zero longitude, the Prime Meridian of the World? Or that the reason "the longitude problem" became increasingly necessary to solve was because of all the people dying at sea with no idea where they were? It took us multiple bus and train rides, and then some time to find where the line was as it was not well signposted from the station, but well worth the effort.


And Wellington, with its longitude, was acknowledged there beside the line.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

A secret and still relatively unknown historic spot

We were lucky enough to hear from Stefan about Bletchley Park, the base for up to 9,000 codebreakers during World War 2. The centre, which remained secret for over 30 years, is credited with shortening the war by around two years.

Churchill visited the centre during the war and called the codebreakers "his geese that laid the golden eggs but never cackled". There is a slate statue of Alan Turring, who was the brains behind the Bombe, which cracked the codes produced by the Germans' Enigma machines. There is a working replica of the Bombe.






But the highlight of the day for Ann was the working replica of Collosus, "the world's first semi-programmable computer", using over 2,500 valves. Believe it or not, 40 of the valves are from the original Colossus machines. And apparently it works as fast as a laptop with a Pentium 2 processor. It was rather warm in the room, as all those valves use 7KW of power.

Awesome place! David, Dean, Carly, you would all find it fascinating given your computer/maths interests. Wish you could have been there with us!

More info at www.codesandciphers.org.uk

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Catching up with rellies

We had a great time staying with Graham's niece and family. It was really good to meet Fiona, Stefan, Katarina, Nathan, Tasha, Ian and the twins.





It was very obvious that the twins had devoted nanny, uncle, aunt etc., though we weren't sure who was enjoying the bubbles the most! (Not the alcoholic kind, the pretty, colourful round ones!)

They all made us feel very welcome, and it was really special for Graham to meet up with Fiona after so long.





The two of them shared lots of stories, about Dunedin and their time working at Cadbury's together, and of family memories from way back.

Thanks Fiona, Stefan and co. for a wonderful few days. We'll be in touch!

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Cornwall 3

We visited some lovely seaside towns, rich in history of smugglers and shipwrecks. These included Looe, Mevagissey, Polperro and Porthcurno. Close to Porthcuno is Minack, a "theatre under the stars". A gorgeous place with an open-air theatre carved into the cliff but there was a performance on so we could only look from a distance.

We also visited Bodmin, yes, had to be done! There is a railway there with steam trains.


And guess who was there, Jane, complete with marmalade sandwich! We went for a ride on the steam train, and read in the pamphlet that there were two little steam locomotives called Alfred and Judy, known as the Port of Par twins.


They inspired Rev W Awdry to create Bill and Ben in the original Thomas the Tank engine books. Thought Sam and Theo would like to see them.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Cornwall 2

We visited many lovely places between Land's End and Tintagel, which is towards the northern end of Cornwall.


Unfortunately this photo does not do justice to St Michael's on the mount. We didn't get to the one in France, Jacqueline, but this one was pretty cute anyway.

You can see the outline of the castle on the top of the island. Part of it is open to the public, and part of it is still inhabitted by the grandson of Lord St Levan the third, his wife and two children. Ann is certain that they must have a boat harbour and a lift on the far side of the island. No one could climb up and down those terrible uneven steps every day!

There is a street at the bottom of the hill with a row of terraced houses that are still people's homes.


This is a view of the causeway from the castle. At low tide you can walk across it, but at high tide a boat trip is necessary. As we were preparing to walk across we were offered a boat ride if we didn't want to paddle. We chose to paddle, but were quite surprised by how quickly the tide was coming in. Ann had to roll her jeans up a few times!

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Chopper 2

Just had to do a blog about how well Chopper 2 is doing. Most of you already know that our son/stepson David wrote a very successful game for the iPhone called Chopper. This week he has released Chopper 2. It can be played on any iPod touch, iPhone and the new iPad.


It is receiving rave reviews and is rapidly climbing in sales charts around the world. Reviewers are very impressed with the sound and graphics, all created by David himself. He has also enabled users with an iPhone and iPad to play it on the iPad using the iPhone as a remote control. And you can hook it up to your TV as well if the iPad isn't big enough for you.

Have no idea how to put links in this (all being done on the iPhone), but if you Google Chopper 2 along with NBR or TouchArcade you'll find a couple of the reviews and get the picture.

Update! Chopper 2 broke into the US top 10 on Saturday night (NZ time) during David and Emma's launch/birthday party.

;-) AnnaGram

Camelot Castle

A part of our holiday we have always looked forward to was our stay in Camelot Castle. It has certainly not disappointed us. That's our room at the end on the left, third storey windows, partly obscured by the ramparts. Because we are on the end we also have a window on the south side, with a view of the moors as well as the Atlantic.



That's the view out our front window, the day the sun shone. The original Tintagel castle was a fortress for the ancient Cornish Kings. Local folk lore links it to King Arthur. Camelot Castle is close to the ruins of the old castle and has aligned itself to the legends of the area. It even has a magnificent round table.


While we were staying there the owners were updating their promo video. Graham managed to get himself interviewed (our Antipodean friends), and we enjoyed watching them release balloons and, later on, an excellent fireworks display.


The owners are scientologists, which explains why Tom Cruise has been to stay. The castle is gorgeous, and the King Arthur's Arms just down the road is a pretty good place for a pint and a pie too!

;-) Ann-a-Gram

Cornwall

We have had a great time driving around Cornwall, but there is so much to see that we will leave knowing we could easily have enjoyed another week here, in spite of the weather!


Of course no visit to Cornwall would be complete without a visit to Land's End. Thanks to some very good advice from a tourist information centre we parked at nearby Sennen and walked around the coastal cliffs. It saved parking fees and congestion on the narrow road and gave us some good exercise as well!


Speaking of narrow roads... we thought we had seen some during our travels, but Cornwall beats them all! When the road is too narrow for two cars, the white lines disappear. Doesn't look too bad when you have it all to yourself does it?


But how about when you have a couple of cars coming towards you? It is just amazing how vehicles seem to move sideways and squeeze themselves against the hedges. It could only work in a country like England where people are actually polite and help each other to get by!

;-) AnnaGram

Travelling south

We continued our journey south, with a slight detour to Southampton where we had lunch with Neil. It was great to catch up over pizza and a beer. Amazing to realise that it's been a year already since he and Kimberley left New Zealand. Good to see that he is settled, with plans for the future and has been continuing to indulge his love of travel.


From there we travelled on to Torquay. Fortunately we had booked via the Internet the day before, as the town was full of "no vacancies" signs, being a seaside town in the middle of school holidays. Not only that, but we were right by the sea, with a lovely view from the bar's terrace. We had a very pleasant evening, and for a change it was mild enough to sit outside wearing shorts and T shirts!


This is the beach just across the road from the hotel. In the distance are multicoloured individual changing sheds.


As on several occasions, we stayed at a Premier Inn. We have found them to be consistently good value, clean and with very helpful friendly staff. They always have a restaurant next door, and wifi, though you do have to pay. If you book a month in advance you can pay as little as £32 a night. So we are paying less for 3 nights in London on our way home than we paid for one night at the start of our trip. The room is also twice the size, but a long way further from the centre of London. But that's OK as it's close to the Metro.
;-) Ann-a-Gram

Henley

On the way south we visited Henley-on-Thames. More specifically, we called in at Henley Business School.


Although till now she had never been there, this is the institution through which Ann did her MBA, consistently ranked in the top ten for the world. We were made to feel very welcome, offered a cup of coffee and were free to explore the grounds.


And what beautiful grounds they are! This is a view of the main building after strolling down towards the Thames.


And this is the view looking the opposite direction. Ann thought that she probably should have done a short residential course as some of her colleagues did, rather than spend $21,000 and years of toil. Still, it was great to finally be there and experience the expensive, tranquil atmosphere.

;-) Ann-a-Gram

York 2

York is a fascinating place. It is "the capital of the north, and the second city of the realm". It dates back to AD71 when it was built as a fortress by the Romans. In AD306 Constantine the Great was made Roman Emperor here.

The narrated tour on the hop-on, hop-off bus took about an hour, and with several hops, we completed the circuit three times during the day. We were still hearing new things on the third circuit!


The old city is full of narrow cobbled streets with lots of history. We saw where Dick Turpin was buried, but apparently he is not there any more! One of the more interesting stories was the reason for the number of bricked-up windows we saw. There was a tax based on the number of windows a dwelling had. This is where the saying " daylight robbery" came from.


This York minster is the fourth to be built on the site. It was built between the 12th and 14th centuries and is a very impressive piece of architecture.

York is also the home of Britain's national railway museum, the largest railway museum in the world. It has a huge collection of royal carriages. Over the years 28 trains have been built exclusively for the royal family. The museum also has a Shinkantsen carriage, recently donated by the Japanese. It looked just like the one Ann travelled on in the early 90s.


The museum is also one of the few places in the world where you can see the underside of a train and live to tell the tale!

;-) Ann-a-Gram

York

From the Lakes District we drove through beautiful rolling countryside that looked like it came straight out of "A Country Practice", or that vet TV programme, whatever it was called. The hedges in the south were replaced by stone fences in the north, and most of the houses were stone too. It was easy to see why when we looked at cross sections of the land!


York wasn't a whole lot different, as it is a walled city so there were plenty of cobblestones, stone houses and a very impressive 3 miles of wall around the perimeter of the old city.

We found accommodation just outside the wall - after a couple of attempts, as we discovered the annual races were on! Our big mission for the day was to find a laundrette as we were seriously running out of clothes. We did eventually, and then walked along part of the wall back to the hotel.

Next day, when we took the hop- on, hop-off bus, we found we had walked past several important historical buildings.


One of these was Clifford's Tower, one of the few remains of the original York Castle.

Being in York for race day was fun. We have never seen so many people all dressed up! Men in suits, and women in hats, posh frocks and high heels that looked impossible to walk around in all day. We saw them around lunchtime catching buses to the racecourse, and, in varying degrees of drunkeness, in the pubs later on. Many of the pubs do not serve food, so there were dozens of very well dressed people standing in the streets eating fish and chips and KFC!

Lakes District 2

Next day was a bit cloudy, but after a hearty full English breakfast we set off to do the cruise and walk tour. The first leg was a half hour boat trip to the Ambleside Pier. We had been warned that there was nowhere to get food or drink on the walk so fortified ourselves with a beer at one if the lakeshore pubs before the next leg.

It was on a boat built more than a hundred years ago, which deposited us at the boatshed of a castle. The jetty was well and truly under water so the staff used brute force to hold the boat against a bank while we disembarked.


The walk was advertised as "a gentle two hour stroll"! But part of the track was under water and much of the 8km walk was up and down hills, and the track was rough with rocks and tree roots. We felt sorry for the two couples who passed us with a toddler carrying a pushchair! Still, it was a good walk, mostly very pretty, and the third boat trip took us back to the pier next to our b&b.



Here's a pic of Graham with our (his?) new toy, wearing his lovely new shirt from Venice.

We had our first flat white in ages at a place that supposedly had free wifi but we couldn't get online, so maybe tomorrow. We also had a drink at "Hole in t' Wall" the oldest pub in Bowness, having been there since 1612 and frequented by Charles Dickens in the 1800s. Beatrix Potter lived just up the road too, and we could have done a trip to Hilltop if we had time. The Lakes District has been the home to many authors, poets and artists it seems.


That night we found a chippy that did the very meal that Graham had been threatening to find for a while. Steak and kidney pudding with chips, mushy peas and gravy, yum!
;-) Ann-a-Gram

The Lakes District

The weather forecast was better in the south than the north, but we decided to head up to the Lakes district anyway. We were rewarded with blue sky and sunshine! Found a lovely B&B with a four poster bed and a view of Lake Windermere in a gorgeous little town called Bowness.


This is the view out the window. There are heaps of quaint little pubs and cafes. It is school holidays now so there are lots of people around, though still plenty of accommodation with vacancies.


We went on a jazz buffet dinner cruise. Most people sat "in steerage" as the leader of the band said, because that was where the buffet was, but we sat on the top deck and thoroughly enjoyed the music. And the food was pretty good too! It took two and a half hours to do a circuit of the lake, it's long but not very wide.


The sunset was rather lovely, and have you ever seen a New Zealand lake as calm as that?

We bought ourselves an iPad while we were in Manchester and downloaded Chopper, so Graham has been flying helicopters on rescue missions any spare second ever since! We showed Chopper to the manager of the Apple shop and he was suitably impressed and immediately downloaded it. He said he was going to write a review, so hopefully some more good publicity David. We thought we were the first in the family to get a 3G iPad, but we were pipped at the post by Dad who got one for his 80th birthday! Of course David and Emma have had wifi ones for ages. Not bad considering none have been released in NZ yet.
;-) Ann-a-Gram

Liverpool

Being so close to Liverpool, we had to go and visit The Beatles Story. We drove down on a grey day with passing showers, and parked close to the entrance to the exhibition. In just a few years, the Beatles achieved so much! We watched and listened until we were exhausted, and still hadn't seen it all.


A special place was the replica of the Cavern, where the Beatles performed many times before making their first record.

Another amazing thing that we were reminded of was that they were turned down by virtually every recording company before they finally recorded their first song. There must have been quite a few people kicking themselves later on!



When we were finished and ventured outside again the rain was even heavier. Hooray for our ponchos, which saved us from being totally drenched!
;-) Ann-a-Gram

Manchester

One of the "must do" parts of our trip was always Graham's home town, and we have spent a couple of days having a good look around places that meant a lot to Graham in his early years.


We could see one of the stands at Old Trafford from our hotel room so it didn't take us long to walk over and have a closer look. We were lucky enough to get on a tour almost straight away. There were about 35 of us and we think we were the only ones who spoke English!


It was great to catch up with friends and family over a drink or two at their locals.
;-) Ann-a-Gram

Blackpool

This is the view of Blackpool Tower from Central Pier. Each day we hoped the weather would improve, but each day it grew steadily worse! Jeans and jackets became the standard dress.

Still, we explored the Promenade from top to bottom, and tried our luck in every arcade. Although the machines here do their best to prevent anyone from winning, Graham still managed to grab a watch - and amazingly enough it is still going! He was a little disappointed with the state of the town, you can certainly see the effects of the recession here. Many hotels on the front have closed down, and many more are in need of a great deal of work. However, we read about and saw evidence of multi-million dollar projects to improve the trams, and access for pedestrians. But at the moment all of that is just adding to the tired, grubby appearance of the town. And of course the weather hasn't helped!


But... we thoroughly enjoyed the Legends show, being entertained by Rod, Robbie, Tom and Elvis, 4 dancing girls and three members of the band. We had a great afternoon at Pleasure Beach (kind of like a small Disney/fair ground), and competed against each other in the Derby.


The sun came out briefly, and Graham beat the odds again to win the best prize in the arcade!

;-). Ann-a-Gram

Southport

We stopped at Southport on our way to Blackpool. The hotel was right on the Esplanade, so we did the walk down the pier. Graham did not remember being able to find the sea at Southport, but the tide was in and there was plenty of water.

Next morning as we were heading out for a walk we heard a band playing. We followed the noise and found not one, but more than a dozen marching bands from Liverpool.


It was orange day, and 22 buses of Irish had descended on Southport to celebrate! Needless to say the pubs were all full, the beer was flowing, and there was a great carnival atmosphere.


There was good sing-a-long live music all afternoon and we had a great day.

On the pier we found an old fashioned penny arcade. It was great fun, without any of the electronic noises of today's arcades.


Graham found his favourite clock game. All of the games used old pennies, purchased at the rate of ten for a pound. Kept us amused for ages!

;-) Ann-a-Gram