Well off we go on the next stage of the adventure. Me and the Warden left our home on Friday morning, it is locked away safely in a very large compound near Gatwick airport. The Warden does not like to be late so we arrived at Heathrow some 5 hours before take off, but the time was well spent as we walked around terminal 5 until we could check in our bags, no chance for DVT with us, i do have a few blisters though but i was told they didn't count and i should not have worn new shoes.
The first leg of the journey was to Hong-Kong and the flight was all right especially as we had booked our seats during the summer. I am always surprised at the food we eat on such journeys and even looked forward to breakfast ( how sad is that) The Warden didn't go a bundle on his so i helped him out. Breakfast is a recurring theme of our travels. The Warden is especially pleased when our hotel includes breakfast in our package, this enables him to make enough filled rolls to last us the rest of the day and saves his hard earned dosh, except at our hotel in Hong Kong i was given the job and according to him failed miserably as i didn't make enough, then failed to seek them out of the hotel properly and forgot to include bananas and then to top it off i dropped two of the rolls out in the street.....not good. Anyway at our hotel in Auckland we were back on cereal for breakfast so my training has had to wait.
We embarked on a city tour in Hong-Kong which was very good,except it rained all day and we were unable to see any of the views when they stopped the coach at various places. We did get to go on a boat around the harbour which was interesting to look at all the fishing communities who live on their boats.
We flew out of Hong Kong for another overnight flight to Sydney and then a connecting flight to Auckland which took up the night and much of the following day, so when we arrived in Auckland we were very very tired. After a good nights sleep and good old fashion cereal for breakfast we made a packed lunch, picked up the hire car and took to the open road towards Russell in the 'Bay of Islands'.......to be continued
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Sunday, 18 November 2012
Christmas week-end
Me and the Warden have been staying with Amanda and Richard for a early Christmas week-end. We had the very best time. Rich cooked Christmas lunch with all the trimmings with special cheese-cake for pudding. Our Mand cooked all the Sharpe traditional fare including very special sausage rolls which even the Warden had to agree knocked his into a cocked hat. Anyway we had a fab time, we were very good and ate everything that was put in front of us..... and came away with presents we are not allowed to open until Christmas morning which will be at the barrier reef in northern Australia for us!!!!
Well we are on the final count-down to the off. So we leave this camp site we are on (Milestone near Newark) which i have to say is one of the nicest sites we have stayed at for a long time and we start our journey towards London stopping on the way to say good-by to the parents and of course my Sister who i shall miss terribly while we are away.Oh and the Warden has another day of work to do......!!
Well we are on the final count-down to the off. So we leave this camp site we are on (Milestone near Newark) which i have to say is one of the nicest sites we have stayed at for a long time and we start our journey towards London stopping on the way to say good-by to the parents and of course my Sister who i shall miss terribly while we are away.Oh and the Warden has another day of work to do......!!
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| Guess who? |
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| My family out on our Boxing day walk |
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| Them two |
Sunday, 11 November 2012
Best bib and tucker
The Warden has been seen back in his suit and clutching a lap top and note pad and heading off to work. I laughed, only to be told that this week i will be mainly stuffing envelopes with invitations for organisations to view the new product he is helping to launch onto the market. This is not what i had in mind at all as it is our last week before our grand trip and i planned to scour the shops in an attempt to find stuff to take with me or at the very least fit after finding i have put on so much weight i can no longer get my leg in any of my shorts.!!!
So if any of you would like an exciting new machine that tests leaks in all sorts of items, please look on the DynaScan website and place an order, we then can sell up and make a fortune and the Warden can get back to what he loves best driving the tractor around site, cutting grass and emptying the rubbish bins.
We have had just the very best time while we have been back in the shire. People have been so kind, we have been invited out for meals,coffee, week-ends away (which is why i cannot get into my shorts i suppose). However a minor blip is that i did loose money this week end, playing dominoes so i am very focused on practising before we meet our dear friends Ray and Barbara again in Florida in January and play again, especially the new card game they taught us this week-end.
So we are on the final count down, we have Christmas day with Mand and Rich this coming week-end (no chance i can get my money back playing dominoes with them they flatly refuse), and then we have to take the motor home for some minor repairs before returning back to Cambridgeshire for Dentist and Doctors before heading off to London to place the motor home in storage. Getting very excited now
So if any of you would like an exciting new machine that tests leaks in all sorts of items, please look on the DynaScan website and place an order, we then can sell up and make a fortune and the Warden can get back to what he loves best driving the tractor around site, cutting grass and emptying the rubbish bins.
We have had just the very best time while we have been back in the shire. People have been so kind, we have been invited out for meals,coffee, week-ends away (which is why i cannot get into my shorts i suppose). However a minor blip is that i did loose money this week end, playing dominoes so i am very focused on practising before we meet our dear friends Ray and Barbara again in Florida in January and play again, especially the new card game they taught us this week-end.
So we are on the final count down, we have Christmas day with Mand and Rich this coming week-end (no chance i can get my money back playing dominoes with them they flatly refuse), and then we have to take the motor home for some minor repairs before returning back to Cambridgeshire for Dentist and Doctors before heading off to London to place the motor home in storage. Getting very excited now
Thursday, 25 October 2012
Maintainence
This week has really flown by and me and the Warden are having to set our alarm clock and get up at the most un godly hour of 7.30am just to cram everything into the day. I had not appreciated the amount of maintainence i require just to keep looking as stunning as i do (imagine dear reader what i would look like if i did'nt), also we are straight back in the middle of daily living. Sorting out issues of non payment of rent in one of our houses grrrrr. Catching 80 year old parents in the act of complete furniture removals grrr, funny how things change, you know when they have been up to no good, when you walk through the front door and they are both grinning and the house looks completely different, or there is a tell tale throw away line 'Dad has just been preparing for the loft insulation'!!!!! the mind boggles.
One of the lovely things though is catching up with all friends and the diary is filling up with lunch dates and evenings out. Lovely less cooking for us. Well when i say us i really mean the Warden
We have also stumbled on a good cause in the village which we feel would be a lasting memory to James, the village is embarking on a tree planting scheme so we are going to support this venture in memory of our boy, and if i can get my self organised i may look for sponsorship for this when we climb Sidney harbour bridge, which is something i am doing as part of my personal journey as James Sharpes mum.The Warden is doing it because i booked it and told him (he hates heights!!!).Hey Ho.
One of the lovely things though is catching up with all friends and the diary is filling up with lunch dates and evenings out. Lovely less cooking for us. Well when i say us i really mean the Warden
We have also stumbled on a good cause in the village which we feel would be a lasting memory to James, the village is embarking on a tree planting scheme so we are going to support this venture in memory of our boy, and if i can get my self organised i may look for sponsorship for this when we climb Sidney harbour bridge, which is something i am doing as part of my personal journey as James Sharpes mum.The Warden is doing it because i booked it and told him (he hates heights!!!).Hey Ho.
Sunday, 21 October 2012
The Sharpes have landed
What a week we have had, we spent two days at the motor-home show. One day with Sister and John, and one day with our friends Sharon and Mike. We haven't seen them since they left their site so it was smashing to catch up before they head off to complete a winter contract 'up north' somewhere. Forgot where Sharon said now, but i do know their next summer contract is in Wales so i was paying attention at some point.
We didn't find anything we liked better than the tour bus at the show which is just as well being we are broke now, but had lots of fun looking.
We then went up to our next site which is in Derbyshire and is one of our favourite sites. It is a new site, with lots of hard standings and not much grass. The Warden was very worried before we got there because he was concerned we would not get the 'tour bus' in the compound, so it was with much relief he got out his tape measure and decided we would get the bus in quite easily. The facilities in our compound are going to be fantastic, the Caravan Club employees among you will recognise my excitement at having a bath and shower in the bathroom and above all the sink and cooking facilities in the garage conversion. Dear reader i cannot emphasise too strongly the luxury our new site will offer us. No more running across the car park to reach my bathroom while in my PJ's for me!!!!
The new Wardens are lovely though i may have blotted my copy book when i couldn't operate the barrier card and my new Warden had to come and rescue me, (my old Warden would certainly have a comment to make, i just couldn't put it into words here!!)
We are now back in Willingham, we are in the local caravan park,which is okay but you certainly know the difference between these type of sites and ours.
The downside of this life-style of ours is where to do the washing, hand washing is not an option for me,as it ruins the nails, also the cleanliness of some of the washing machines on sites often leaves much to be desired, so today i sneaked into my Mum and Dad's house with a chicken under my arm with the pre-text of cooking their Sunday dinner while stuffing all mine and the Wardens smalls in their washing machine. Result lovely clean washing dried on the line and a lovely roast dinner all in one day. Smashing.!!!!
Busy week next week......Dentist, Hairdressers, Fitness classes, All body waxing and various treatments for me, and the Warden is going to work!!!!!! Oh and he is playing golf two days so really only going for three days. Plus catching up with all friends and family we haven't seen since March........Oh and i am on a diet.(well when i have eaten all the crisps in the cupboard) Watch this space.
We didn't find anything we liked better than the tour bus at the show which is just as well being we are broke now, but had lots of fun looking.
We then went up to our next site which is in Derbyshire and is one of our favourite sites. It is a new site, with lots of hard standings and not much grass. The Warden was very worried before we got there because he was concerned we would not get the 'tour bus' in the compound, so it was with much relief he got out his tape measure and decided we would get the bus in quite easily. The facilities in our compound are going to be fantastic, the Caravan Club employees among you will recognise my excitement at having a bath and shower in the bathroom and above all the sink and cooking facilities in the garage conversion. Dear reader i cannot emphasise too strongly the luxury our new site will offer us. No more running across the car park to reach my bathroom while in my PJ's for me!!!!
The new Wardens are lovely though i may have blotted my copy book when i couldn't operate the barrier card and my new Warden had to come and rescue me, (my old Warden would certainly have a comment to make, i just couldn't put it into words here!!)
We are now back in Willingham, we are in the local caravan park,which is okay but you certainly know the difference between these type of sites and ours.
The downside of this life-style of ours is where to do the washing, hand washing is not an option for me,as it ruins the nails, also the cleanliness of some of the washing machines on sites often leaves much to be desired, so today i sneaked into my Mum and Dad's house with a chicken under my arm with the pre-text of cooking their Sunday dinner while stuffing all mine and the Wardens smalls in their washing machine. Result lovely clean washing dried on the line and a lovely roast dinner all in one day. Smashing.!!!!
Busy week next week......Dentist, Hairdressers, Fitness classes, All body waxing and various treatments for me, and the Warden is going to work!!!!!! Oh and he is playing golf two days so really only going for three days. Plus catching up with all friends and family we haven't seen since March........Oh and i am on a diet.(well when i have eaten all the crisps in the cupboard) Watch this space.
Monday, 15 October 2012
Oxford or Cambridge
We are on a weeks R&R with Sister and John and we have had some smashing days out. We went to Oxford one day and took the tour bus round. No we didn't take our tour bus but the official Oxford city tour bus. The only problem was it was so cold i made the Warden sit downstairs which hindered the view a little. We all decided that Oxford is not a patch on Cambridge, though there are one or two nice places in Oxford Cambridge wins for us hands down.
We have also visited some lovely Cotswold market towns, the houses in places such as Broadway are just stunning, and the little shops are delightful as you see things you would never see in many of our larger cities. We did get a bit stuck in Broadway as the buses were few and far between, so to keep out of the rain we spent a happy hour in a local pub.
All in all the scenery and the buildings in this area of the Cotswold is worth every penny. Broughton on the Water was another day out, and again a pleasure to wander up and down the streets along side the river/streams which runs through the town. What amazed me the most was how clean the stream was, with not a bit of litter or a shopping trolley to be seen any way near the water let alone in it.
Today we went to Warwick which again had some fantastic medieval houses and we made our way up to the castle, which dear reader was as far as we got, because the price to get into the castle was very very expensive and quite out of reach of a couple of Caravan Club Wardens. Needless to say we spent a merry hour grumbling between us on the cost of a day out for any family and threatened to write to all and sundry to complain, then the man who drove us home on the water taxi told us it was owned by a company in Dubai so there will be no joy with that campaign i fear.
Anyway off to the Motor-home show tomorrow..........i know we have just brought a new one but we need a flat hose
We have also visited some lovely Cotswold market towns, the houses in places such as Broadway are just stunning, and the little shops are delightful as you see things you would never see in many of our larger cities. We did get a bit stuck in Broadway as the buses were few and far between, so to keep out of the rain we spent a happy hour in a local pub.
All in all the scenery and the buildings in this area of the Cotswold is worth every penny. Broughton on the Water was another day out, and again a pleasure to wander up and down the streets along side the river/streams which runs through the town. What amazed me the most was how clean the stream was, with not a bit of litter or a shopping trolley to be seen any way near the water let alone in it.
Today we went to Warwick which again had some fantastic medieval houses and we made our way up to the castle, which dear reader was as far as we got, because the price to get into the castle was very very expensive and quite out of reach of a couple of Caravan Club Wardens. Needless to say we spent a merry hour grumbling between us on the cost of a day out for any family and threatened to write to all and sundry to complain, then the man who drove us home on the water taxi told us it was owned by a company in Dubai so there will be no joy with that campaign i fear.
Anyway off to the Motor-home show tomorrow..........i know we have just brought a new one but we need a flat hose
Wednesday, 10 October 2012
Elvis's Tour Bus
Well we went and did it. The Warden and me have updated the mobile accommodation and we now have a tour bus, (this is in keeping with the names we have for our motor-homes as our first one was known as Elvis, so this one is Elvis's Tour Bus)
The first photo is the posh side of the tour bus and the second photo is its less glamorous side with the Wardens washing and collection of beers both on full view. This is not as bad as it could be because just out of camera shot is John's satellite dish which really does make it look like a 'traveller encampment'.
Getting the new motor was not free from stress, as the day started out with us having our first booking at Bladen Chains Caravan Club site cancelled. (being Wardens was no help there then) and when we took our old van in for its part exchange the salesman found damp and requested more money.......Now at this point the Warden carefully explained leaning over the desk that he was paying no more money. Me, Manda and Richard slid away at this point.......however he got his message across and not a further sheckle was given in the exchange.We then spent a happy hour with all our worldly goods in the car park as we transferred from one van to the other. You will understand why me and the Warden took to strong drink in the evening.
The first photo is the posh side of the tour bus and the second photo is its less glamorous side with the Wardens washing and collection of beers both on full view. This is not as bad as it could be because just out of camera shot is John's satellite dish which really does make it look like a 'traveller encampment'.
Getting the new motor was not free from stress, as the day started out with us having our first booking at Bladen Chains Caravan Club site cancelled. (being Wardens was no help there then) and when we took our old van in for its part exchange the salesman found damp and requested more money.......Now at this point the Warden carefully explained leaning over the desk that he was paying no more money. Me, Manda and Richard slid away at this point.......however he got his message across and not a further sheckle was given in the exchange.We then spent a happy hour with all our worldly goods in the car park as we transferred from one van to the other. You will understand why me and the Warden took to strong drink in the evening.
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| The posh side of the Tour Bus |
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| The not so posh side |
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