Scotland

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