A bit more

These are going to be a bit out of order but you will know some of things we have been doing.

Wednesday, 6th April we drove to York and stayed the night with Rohan, Sasha, Sully and Otis. It was lovely to see them, especially the boys. Very cute little fellows. Rohan was suffering from the flu so it was a valiant effort to entertain us. I hope he is feeling better. The next day we drove to Scotland via the scenic route to visit the Roman fort along Hadrian's Wall. They are ruins but still pretty impressive considering it they are 1800 years old - and their plumbing was quite amazing - the Romans were very good at building latrines!

The next day, we (being Andy's dad, Drew, Andy, Claire, Solomon, Abigail, dad and I) took the car ferry over to the isle of Bute to visit the town of Rothesay and you wouldn't believe this, but 'the plumbing' was a feature there too! There are some amazing Victorian men's toilets on the pier with a lady in a booth collecting 40p for each visit. There are women's toilets too but not as fancy. The toilets are listed in Lonely Planet as a tourist attraction.

After that, we visited a magnificent house owned by the Stuart Earls of Bute - it was only a bit more than 100 years old for a change. As usual, it was quite amazing in its decoration and size. The special thing about it was that they had just announced the day before we visited that they had discovered a 400 year old copy of a first edition of Shakespeare's plays last September and it had been confirmed as a First Folio. They were on display in glass cases - quite wonderful to see - and very special as it is Shakespeare's 400th birthday this year.

Saturday, Drew took dad and me for a great walk around his town. Great views across the Clyde. Later on, we took a drive to visit to the Glasgow Botanical gardens and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery - both pretty impressive. Andy's sister, Susan, and his brother, Norman came for a visit that night.

Next morning, Dad and I left for our next stopover, Haworth. On the way, we travelled through the Yorkshire Dales - spectacular views again. We were headed for Malham Tarn to do a walk. We turned off the main road into this little road which was quite scary as it was so steep! My heart was in my throat at times. The views were worth it. I am not sure how many of you saw 'The Trip' with Rob Bryden and Alan Partridge - I know that is not his name but I can't remember his real name - well, one of the scenes was on the top of Malham Tarn, a rocky outcrop above a 70 metre cove. We did a 7km walk around the area passing a waterfall and a 100m gorge. We were not alone though as it was a beautiful day and Everyman and his dog was out walking. It was like walking along Swanston Street!

We continued on after that to Haworth in Bronte country, staying in a b&b for 2 nights. Haworth is where the Bronte sisters lived and wrote their fabulous books. A pretty village with steep, cobblestone streets surrounded by moors where the sisters walked. They lived in a parsonage - their father was the vicar. Such a sad life for all the family. The mother died early and over time, the 6 children died, mostly from TB. The father outlived them all. I loved the visit to the Parsonage where you saw some of their clothing, letters, furniture and books they had written as children - it was very poignant. Earlier in the day, I went for a walk on the moors whilst Dad played golf in preparation for his day at Royal Birkdale. Another busy walk as it is such a popular spot with all these lovers of the Bronte Books coming in the bus load.

Our next stop was Chester and I will continue this later....

Love mum xxxx

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Another lovely day!

Hi there

We were in Liverpool today having caught the train from Chester where we are staying for 6 nights. We are in a lovely apartment just outside the city walls overlooking the river Dee. We have breakfast beside the window which is just above the water. It is truly scenic. The apartment is great-it has been renovated so all is very new and the plumbing is terrific, especially the shower. Plumbing is always interesting in european countries. The apartment even has nice fluffy dressing gowns so I am sitting here on the couch in a lovely white gown - no, dad is not wearing his! I will take a photo if he does!

Part of the deal for staying here, apart from Chester being a very interesting city with amazing medieval buildings and an amazing cathedral, was to visit Liverpool and Manchester. So today was Liverpool with its revamped docks area and redeveloped city centre with an amazing shopping centre (although the shops are the same as everywhere else - Zara etc etc ho hum!) there were some fabulous museums. I visited the Tate modern whilst Dad went to the Maritime museum. We wimped out of the Slavery museum as we thought it would be just too confronting as it is, according to Lonely Planet, but apparently very good. We walked around the city for quite a few hours and there were so many old buildings built around 1850 in the heyday of the industrial revolution and as a result of the monopoly England had on trade at the time. Quite fantastic buildings.

But that wasn't all! The highlight - a tour of the homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. We were taken in a minibus - not unlike the white Toyota - so that was lovely - although I didn't like travelling in the back! They run the tours through the National Trust - not that you have to be a member but it helps as it is less than half the price. So we had a bit of a lecture from people called the custodians of the houses who had the story of their lives of how John and Paul grew up and how they started out. It was a bit of fun. So that was our day. I had some photos on my phone but can't seem to send them but I am sure Dad will work it out. As you can tell, we are having quite a cultural experience here!

Love to all mum xxx

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They might need your recipes dad...

Claire

Mark shopping online!

Matt will get the significance of the names.. ??

Carmel

Bits and pieces US style

Hi Y’all

I thought I might piggy back on Dad’s bandwagon and send home some notes from a big country as Bill Bryson would title it. I’ve had a great trip over here, the works has been fun and gone really well

If your ever wondering when watching TV about where they find these people….. I found them!! South Carolina. Actually everyone I’ve met here been nothing but friendly and very hospitable. They all drive trucks and carry guns, the trucks I get the guns I don’t. There are a bunch of Australian guys working over at the mine site who will be there for a couple years all running out to get there social security number so they can get a gun.

The town of Kershaw near the mine, beyond the people I’ve met being very nice, is probably best described as a bit of a dump. I’ve been taken to all best places in town for lunch which depending how your counting would also be the worst places for lunch. The food has always been good but the buildings haven’t been touched since they were built in the forties. One place I went to was pretty great actually – Jo Jo’s Backyard BBQ, good food, interesting old shack. You ordered two meats and two sides. I was confused by what a Brunswick stew as a side was so the lady told me it was a spicy vegetarian stew…. with bacon and chicken – so ribs, pulled pork and stew it was.

I had to walk through a drive through ATM in town in order to get some cash out. No-one seems to walk or ride anywhere. There aren’t many footpaths and the footpaths there are have letterboxes sitting right in the middle of them so you couldn’t ride down them anyway. Outside the obvious drive through takeaway and bottle shop so far I've seen drive through ATMs, chemist, supermarket. Also the chemist sells beer and smokes

There are churches everywhere. Speaking to my landlord for the last week most of them might only have a congregation of only two or three family’s. I’ve been driving around the country side the past week getting to work and back. The countryside is quite pretty, all the pear trees have jumped out in blossom in the last two days. Houses are dotted all along the roads on the 30 min drive to work, the area is quite poor so some of the houses reflect that. What surprises me though is the lack of garden people have or even a deck of patio to encourage you to sit outside. Few houses had a set of swings or something like that but pretty much no landscaping as such. None of the houses have fences so maybe this doesn’t encourage people to garden cause there is no start and stop between your neighbours place.

Dad one of your notes mentioned how sensible the Dutch and other European countries were with the laws regarding bike helmets. Over here they go to the other end on the sensible scale and pick lunacy and no-one wears helmets on motorcycles.

I had a chance to get to Charlotte one night to see an NBA game – Charlotte v Dallas. I picked up a great seat, got to watch Dirk Nowitski do his thing. Good fun night lots of entertainment, probably not a great game though.

So I’ve been to all the sites so far Walmart, Home Depot etc. Walmart are currently running a Lenten special on fish, get your recipes herehttp://learn.walmart.com/Cook/LP/Lent_Recipes/?povid=1199529+%7C+LHN+%7C+2015-11-01%7C+1+%7C+LN-LHN-R-SF-LentRecipes All the supermarkets seem to run this promotion with posters up in the store. You can also buy a ceral from Kelogs called Smores which is wheat pieces with marshmallow, this seemed like the silliest thing to eat I saw. There was also a push on St Patricks day – green donuts, cupcakes, Doritos etc – South Carolina seems about as far away from Ireland culturally as you can get in the US. Starting on the way home now. Just having a day in Colorado Springs with Kevin and his family. Impressions of this place so far beyond The amazing Snow capped mountains is that the entire city must have been built in the last 10 years in single shade of beige. Kev tell me there is an old part of town but from what I've seen to date everything is new.

The town is so spread out it makes Canberra look like Manhattan. All these isolated suburbs and shops connected by freeways. Kev Dan and the kids seem like they have settled in nicely and are enjoying themselves

Matt

Something else

I notice about England that I particularly like are the daffodils everywhere. They are along the streets, the roads, the rivers, in the gardens. It's all rather lovely. We visited another house yesterday with Abigail just outside Romsey and the gardens were beautiful with the daffodils growing in the lawn. There were great swathes of them. It fits In with Easter and new life so much more than it does in the Southern Hemisphere.

Love mum xxxx

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Hello from Romsey"

Wednesday, 15th April and time is running out fast so we are flying around the country now visiting houses and doing walks. We had a lovely literary day today. We drove to the county Dorset to visit 3 houses and go for a walk. The first house was Thomas Hardy's house just outside of Dorchester, then his childhood home the other side of Dorchester and lastly, T. E. Lawrence's house a few miles away. They were all so different. None of them were grand but it is a bit amazing learning about these people, what they did or wrote and their lifestyles. If you know anything about Lawrence (he was Lawrence of Arable) you will understand why his house was the most unusual- with a tin lined room, a cork lined bathroom. Hardy's childhood cottage was a thatched cottage near some woods - a bit like Hansel and Gretel house - it had been extended for a grandmother but still so small for parents and 4 children - very low ceilings and small rooms.

Our walk was very scenic too. It went through woods of rhodendrons, heathland, across fields, over 13 stiles and alongside a river. Of course, we crossed bridges and this sign was on one of them:

I am not sure if they are still transporting people, but the bridge looked pretty intact so the warning must be working.

It was a lovely day. Our only worry was that the properties didn't advertise a cafe at any of the houses - they are all National Trust houses and there is always a cafe/restaurant. But true to form, there was an urn to make tea or coffee and wrapped cake to buy! And at one, they have built a visitor centre so we were able to get a drink. It is something I have noticed that there is some sort of cafe everywhere you go here in the UK.

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Happy birthday dad!

Claire

The tears

Claire

Mum eating trout from her backyard

Claire

Happy birthday!

Claire

Happy 70th

Claire

Greetings from the USA

Hi I've made it to the US safe and sound. I'm staying in this beautiful old BnB just out of Lancaster

And working in the middle of nowhere

Where there are a lot of F250s and apparently you're not allowed to carry a gun

Matt

Welcome baby Ella!

Claire

Tea party

Matt

Pop's having to share his icecream

Claire

Sara passed!!!!

Hi everyone - some wonderful news! Sara passed her entrance exam for Shinagawa Girl's College - her first preference!!!! : )

It is a great school - the headmistress is a mentor of the Founder of ISAK and has created a great program for the kids

Cheers

Paul

Not quite a bbq for Australia Day

Claire

Winter wonderland

Matt

Still from Vienna

Hello everyone

A Bit more on our holiday. We had a week in Vienna so we felt quite at home by the time we left. The accommodation was terrific. Very comfortable with large rooms and cosy and warm. It was pretty cold but we rugged up - Tony is up to 6 layers including his jacket whilst I am at 5 - I have a bit of padding - we look like Michelin men but we are warm! Vienna is a very beautiful city with lots of palaces and large buildings to admire. It is definitely a city for kings.

We had quite a relaxing time there doing lots of walking, stopping off at the coffee houses for cake and coffee. We went for a tour off the Hofburg which is the hugest place in the city - the silver and porcelain collection was just amazing! One day, Dad went off to see the dancing horses at their practice and then went on a tour of Rathaus (town hall). I went for a walking tour through the medieval streets and then went off to hear an organ recital in a magnificent church. I can't say that I thought the recital was magnificent. It was quite noisy. Another day, we walked over the other side of the city to see the markets. On the last day, we caught the Tain and bus out into the Vienna Woods and walked up to this high point where there was a church. It looked down over the Danube - pretty amazing view. We then walked straight downhill for 40 minutes. Very steep. Fortunately, they had rails all the way down. It was a great walk. We finished off with lunch at this fancy restaurant which we didn't realise was fancy till we sat down so we had soup and then left!

I had a guide brook from Rick Steves who gives all these little tips on different things to do and where to eat so we used that a bit such as having lunch at this 100 year old cafe where you could buy open sandwiches made with rye bread. They were delicious. Another place was a trendy wine bar just down the street from us where we could buy a sandwich and a drink and sit on stools with the office workers. The place was packed most nights but we managed to find a seat and Dad was able to have the best beer since he had left Melbourne! I found the best coffee in Vienna at the last coffee house I visited.

In our street was another wine bar we visited for our pre dinner drink. We felt like locals. Most of the time we would buy some food at the very posh supermarkets and eat at home except for the last night when we went to the restaurant we visited on our first night and had Wiener Schnitzel - delicious.

As this trip was mostly about food, the other thing we did was eat sausages from the sausage stand - so when I say we look like Michelin men, you know why!

Now we are in Budapest after a rather boring train journey..

And that is it for now. Love to all

Love mum xxx

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