Dec 2006

So where did we leave you off......

Yesterday we had to go and drop our car back off in Manchester where we decided to do a bit of shopping. Not such a good idea as every man and his dog was out shopping!! Mikey went off to buy some more records while I was left to explore the shops. It was that packed that I was too scared to leave the shopping mall and there is only so much you can do in one shopping mall for 2 and half hours!!! But all is good and we got some great pressies.

Last night we settled down to a game of cards with the rellies and had a merry old time. We all got pretty hammered but it was all in the name of fun.

Today we made our way back down to London. The train journey was very uneventful but the price of the tickets was a lot more than we expected - around $130 each for a single ticket.

We are now sitting in an internet cafe in Leicester Square with Kylie. It is great catching up with her and she says to say hello to everyone out there in cyber land!

We are off to Covent Garden to have something to eat and then investigate the british interpretation of an Australian bar! Then some serious drinking is in order.

Tomorrow night we are off to a very groovy bar called The View Lounge for New Years - check it out if you can. We will be there to watch all the fireworks and the good stuff going on in London - we even get a free breakfast with the tickets (which cost around $120 each - but well worth it)

Tomorrow we are also going exploring, try and buy some theatre tickets for next week and then more shopping - its a hard life!!

We will see you all in one week's time and looking forward to it. So until then we will love you and leave you and try and hop on one more time before we head home. Have a great new years everyone and see you soon.

Luv Karen & Mikey (and Kylie)

Mikey here, yay i get write one... Ummmm stumped now..
Well i shall start at the beginning.

Yesterday we went to Castleton which is in the english countryside with lotsa rolling hills and green things. There are caves up there where they used to mine semi-precious stones but too cold for that, We had a really nice Pub Lunch at a place called Ye Olde Naggs Head (where do they think this stuff up??) And we went to the Dam where the Dambusters from WWII practiced the Barrel Bombs it was a really cool dam really old and cold & green. We then proceeded to go to Karens Cousins Pub (Diane). She is a darl and the pub was really a "MANS PUB" needless to say we got pretty toasted (well i did anyways ;-)) She can almost talk as much as Karen,(what.. No it is possible trust me) loves a good gossip and a the place really had good freindly atmosphere. We finally got some english rain for the first time yesterday it was not even what we in Qld would call drizzle, (I would call it spittle) not too bad though.

Susan & Nick (Karens Aunt & Uncle) drove us out to Blackpool today, it really is Englands version of Surfers Paradise, but no waves..... or sun for that matter.(would be nice in the summer though) The beach is about 1km from the boardwalk, we took a walk down the boardwalk and every two metres there was shops selling Blackpool Rock (Like thick candy canes but straight).
It was quite an experience and i would definitely like to come back to stay for a nights clubbing, it seems thay have more clubs than anywhere else i've seen, oh another thing all along the seashore they have these amusement houses that have claw mahcines and the like for Kids and Pokie machines for adults kinda weird seeing them together in the same room. If you want a comparision the closest place that it reminds me of is Luna Park in Melbourne but the whole strip is like that for 4Km.

All in all a very interesting two days and tommorrow it's off to drop off the rent-a-skid (car) to Manchester and finally i get to go record shopping WooHoo!!!! Anyways we're leaving to go to a Pub Quiz tonight.

Keep those comments and emails coming and if you want to check out the photos we've posted go to our blog and click on Authors,

Love Mikey & Karen

We have finally arrived in Glossop and it is so good to be back! It brings back so many memories being here and I have bored Mike to tears taking him on a little tour of my life - the schools, the homes, the hangouts....you know the usual!! It is so different to being in Chch where I also kinda grew up - this place is me and I think it has explained a lot to Mike on why I am the way I am. Everything is so small and grey....but I am loving it! Not liking having some old haunts like my local sweet shop being converted into flats etc!!!

It has been great catching up with the relatives and we have been made so welcome. It will be also nice to relax and not have to repack our gear in two days time!!

The drive from Glasgow was pretty uneventful. We left the hotel at about 6.45am and in our usual style got pretty lost leaving the city!! So by the time we left the city of Glasgow it was around 7.30 - it should have really taken us 10 minutes!!! But ah well, we have finally arrived. It is so nice not to need a map anymore and know where I am driving to!!!

Today we went out for lunch at the local pub with my aunt and uncle. When we got back from lunch and the local tour we went to visit my other uncle and aunty who only live 3 doors down. it is really strange not being here and my gran not being here - the first time EVER that she has not been around to see....not sure I am liking it!

Tomorrow is going to be a lazy day - sleeping in and then off to lunch to meet up with cousins, then not sure what we are doing tomorrow night. I think the day after we are going to see my other cousin who owns a pub not far from here then off to a local trivia night at another pub with another uncle and aunty! It is so good to be back here (have I said that already!!!)

Anyway we are about to sign off as we are just about to upload some photos for you all. "About time" I hear you all say!!! Well, lets see if we can figure it out first!!!

Talk to you all really soon, and miss you heaps!

Luv Karen & Mikey

Merry Xmas everyone! It has been a cold and unusual Xmas day for the two of us. We spent the first part of the morning opening up our presents to each other and relaxing watching TV. At about 11am we decided to go for a drive and went to Stirling, which is about 45 minutes drive from here. We went to the Wallace Monument there and had to trek up this really big hill to see it - needless to say we are extremely unfit despite all the extra exercise we have been doing.

We made the family phone calls last night (early,early morning Australian time) and needless to say we woke everyone up - to their chagrin!! For that we do apologise (actually, no we don't! Can't get away from us that easily!)

At around 1pm on the way back we were starving and try as we might we could not find anything open so we thought we were screwed!! We did ask the hotel the previous night what our chances were of finding something open for lunch and they said we would only find Chinese restaurants open - we actually thought they were kidding! But lo and behold they weren't kidding and after walking around town in search of something the only thing we found open was a Chinese Buffet; so that is what we had! We stuffed ourselves silly and are now feeling like stuffed turkeys ready to burst open! Oh and they gave us a free bottle of champagne!

We have only just got back from lunch and wanted to say a quick g'day before we retired for the afternoon and evening with our bottle of champers and choccies!

Hope you all had a great day and got lots of greedy pressies!

We are off to Glossop first thing in the morning (around 6am) so we can get there before lunch!

Take care and we love you all lots.

Luv Karen & Mikey

Well here we are in Scotland. We had such a long drive today from Salisbury!

But first let us tell you about our adventures in Salisbury. When we left you we were on our way to Stonehenge. A really mystical place BUT so friggin cold. We got a free audio guide to go round the site, but after about 2 minutes of listening to it, decided it was way to freezing and speed walked around the rest of it. We know there is some history to it and something happened to a particular stone in a particular year.....but who cares....it was too *bleep* cold!!!! After the visit we went to for a pub lunch which was not too bad (but not too good) and we had to laugh (and don't think too bad of us for this) but there was this deaf couple sitting next to us, and the poor guy couldn't get a word (or sign) in edgeways...the woman just couldn't stop talking - we have never seen a deaf person talk to friggin much!!

On the way back to the car Mike found a record shop, so we had to spend the obligatory 20 minutes in there while he was selecting his records. He ended up buying 4 of them while I looked and relooked at their crappy cd collection!

The Grassmere Hotel in Salisbury is the most beautiful B&B we have stayed in (second to the Awaroa Lodge) and well worth the money. We recommend anyone stay there. And it is on the outskirts of the town centre. Anyway, we went back to the hotel and read books while sitting next to an open fire drinking wine - absolute heaven!!!

After a great nights sleep and breakfast, we left Salisbury for our long drive to Glasgow. There is nothing really of interest to report from our drive. It took us about 7.5 hours and only in the last stages was there fog (there wasn't even any scenery of note in any of the drive). It made us laugh that while we were driving in the fog there were flashing lights on the road telling us there was fog (as if we couldn't see it for ourselves!) We even took a photo of these signs surrounded by fog to send into 'What The' on Rove Live!!!

Petrol here is (as well as everything else) is so expensive - about 93p a litre (which is about $2.50 a litre) We must have spent about £100 pounds just getting up here with fuel and food (Burger King, aka Hungry Jacks, cost us around $25 for 2 small meals!!!)

We finally made it here without getting lost! The accommodation at the Argylle Hotel is about the same quality as France...so about a 3 star small room with ensuite. As soon as we got here we headed straight for the bar where we met the Bar Manager; a really cool guy who has just come back from a year in Melbourne. He really looked after us and in fact gave us our very first 'honeymoon freebie' - a glass of cognac each!! We have swapped email addresses and we will definitely be keeping in touch with him. He is planning on moving to the Gold Coast in about a year, but in the meantime will be a great person to have as a friend - probably the nicest person we have met on our travels!

Tomorrow is Xmas Day so nothing much will be open, so we are thinking of going for a drive around Scotland, but considering the amount we have drunk tonight I won't be surprised if we stay in bed all day!!

The next day we are travelling down to Glossop which I am so much looking forward to; meeting up with family and taking Mike round everywhere I grew up - you know the obligatory school, home, playground etc!!

Well this is it for now...so we will bid you adieu and hope you all have a great Xmas day and, if we don't hear from you, a great new years. You will be hearing from us in a day or two. Please send us messages, we love to hear from you!

All our love

Karen & Mikey