England

It is now the 2nd January and we are sitting at a very crowded internet cafe! We have just bought tickets to go and see Les Miserable for tonight - ooh la la (thats mikey being posh!!)

Where did we leave you last time? Thats right, we just made it to London. Before New Years we made the most of our time exploring and discovered Covent Garden and the Aussie Pub. We have been there a couple of times now and the second time we happened to be in there for your New Years which was very cool!!

New Years here was very cool (and different). We went to this club right in Leicester Square with uninterrupted views of the London Eye and Big Ben, so we got to see the fireworks very clearly - well we would have done if some stupid girl hadn't knocked over both of our drinks completely 10 minutes before midnight and we thought we might have enough time to get more before the clock struck new year - well little did we know!! So unfortunately we were both stuck at the bar when new years hit so by the time we got the drinks we got to see the final bit of the fireworks - mike was actually good enough to let me go back to say happy new years to everyone and see the fireworks, so poor thing didn't get to see them at all!!! But he did get 5 kisses from girls so he was very happy!!

The club was absolutely packed and before midnight we couldn't sit down anywhere because all the seats were reserved, but after midnight Kylie (in true Kylie style)and with Mikey's help, ousted some v.i.p's out of their area and we stayed there all night!!! We left the club at around 2.30 coz we were a bit over it (and a little hammered) and made our way back home but the streets were so busy (and the fact that there was free tube transport home) the police were out in force blocking off a lot of streets. Unfortunately Kylie and I lost Mikey and the two other girls with us - which I hear was a good thing because we have video footage of mikey chatting up everyone around him on the train!!!!

Yesterday was recovery day. We sat on the couches watched the Star Wars Marathon from the time we got up to the time we went to bed!! A good thing really because once again I am sick! Got a stupid head cold and feeling like utter crap. We are off to the chemist after this to get some serious drugs happening because i do not want to be feeling like this tomorrow on the plane. We fly out at 9.15pm tomorrow night and our flight totals around 22 hours!! YUKKY!!! Then we have one night in Auckland and we land back at 1pm on Saturday. By the way Jean, our flight number is NZ 035 (we think) and it definitely comes into Brisbane at 1pm. Make sure you put Mikey's computer in the car as he is missing his baby terribly!!!

As for a bbq, if its okay with Jean, Sunday afternoon is good for us - the day after we get back! We have pressies for everyone!

We are off to Les Miserable tonight and then out for dinner with Kylie on the banks of the Thames right next to Tower Bridge - all on Bartercard. We haven't spent much Bartercard but now we are with Kylie we are trying to spend as much as we can. We went to Planet Hollywood for lunch on trade today so its a start - and we are going to spend up big tonight - plus the fact that i need plenty of alcohol to kill these stupid germs!!

We can't wait to get back home - we have been overseas for long enough now and we are very ready to be back with our things! We are even missing our little car!!!

That is really it for now. I don't think we will be adding anymore before we get back home. We can't wait to see everyone, but we will try and check our messages on here so please keep sending them!!!

Luv you all
Karen & Mikey

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

Well here we are in Salisbury and as the title suggests it is friggin cold. Such a beautiful little town and so old.

We finally got here at about 8pm last night after a LLOOONNNGGG day of travelling. We left Amsterdam at about 8am and, unlike Paris, didn't take us long to navigate out of the city (apart from the cyclist Mikey nearly sent to an early grave)! Amsterdam is a very cool city and we would love to go back there another time. One thing we did forget to mention in the last blog was the quality of the buskers in Amsterdam! We saw one lady who must have been at least 90 years old playing the same two notes (badly at that) on an old recorder - quite sad actually. Then the next day we think we saw her father in the town centre playing the same two notes on a harmonica. The funny thing was he was sitting on a very expensive old people scooter; don't think he was making much money - but good on him sitting out in the cold being 130 years old (he had to have been that at least!!!)

Anyway back to the journey. We thought we would be smart and print off some directions to go back to Calais, but a word of advice for anyone that does that - do not take them at face value. For example it states to take a certain exit for a certain town, but when there are 3 different exits for the same town it can get rather confusing. As a result we got a little lost in Belgium and added a good hour on to our journey. As soon as we made it to Calais, in good French style, we got friggin lost again finding the Ferry Port. What should have been a straight through 10 minute drive must have taken us at least 40 minutes!! But now we are in the land of normal people and have not got lost once (but that was a fluke!!)

When we got into Dover we went straight to hire our car (but first a side point - at customs on both ends Mike must have had his drug baron face on because we kept getting stopped and asked questions!!!) Anyway, back to it, we were hiring our car and didn't even think to check if we had enough on the credit card for the deposit which they need to hold. Needless to say we didn't and frustration and running around ensued. We ended up having to ring Jean (Mike's mum - keep in mind it was about 2am in Australia at this time) to get the funds transferred. It was a test of our nerves and sanity after such a long day so far - and we hadn't even started the long drive to Salisbury!

Anyway we obviously made it on the road and decided to take the coastal road. It was such a sketchy drive because of the fog and the roads are all country lanes. The 200 mile drive took us about 5.5 hours to do. When we finally made it to Salisbury we had no idea where we needed to go, we had no map, it was dark and foggy so we couldn't see any road signs. We were taking wrong turn after wrong turn to try and get into town and after about 15 minutes of doing this, lo and behold we stumbled across the hotel! Such a fluke, and we were thankful as we could have been stuck in a continual motion of being lost!

The hotel (or B&B) is absolutely gorgeous. It is very much like Bungunyah Manor where we had the wedding, but so much older and nicer. Log fires everywhere, a cozy lounge to smoke and read in, the food is out of this world, but it isn't cheap. The dinner we had last night cost us around £50 ($130 Australian) but well worth it, thank god it is all on Bartercard, thats all we can say about that.

This morning, after a scrumptious breakfast, we went to the markets and bought gloves and beanies (not that they are making much of a difference). After we finish here we are off to Stonehenge so Mikey can do his ritual sacrifice! (I think i'll stay in the car!!!)

We are off to Glasgow tomorrow and looking forward to spending a couple of nights in a scottish castle!

We will be back on line in Glasgow hopefully, if not it will be when we get to Glossop in a few days. We are really looking forward to staying with family there and totally kicking back!

We look forward to your messages and if you have sent us one of those comments, we haven't figured out how to reply to it so please don't think that we don't love you!! When we get more time on the net we will figure it out.

Anyway we will sign off now. We love you all. Talk soon.

Have a great Xmas everyone!

Karen & Mikey