Adventuring with PGL

Now a recap of our adventures at PGL as promised.....

PGL is an organisation like Outward Bound started by an ex army guy who wanted British kids to have the whole adventure experience. I thought the kids would love it and since Michael didn't have enough holidays I went on a 4 day family camp with them. I tried to persuade them to go without me but they preferred me to join them. Fortunately, there is a centre just outside of Weymouth fully equipped with heaps of good adventure equipment. Michael dropped us off on the Monday night and we said goodbye to him until Friday lunchtime. However, we did end up seeing him again the next day when he had to deliver Ella's forgotten ski jacket.

The families were separated into three groups with about 3 families in each group. The overwhelming majority of the camp was kids holidaying without their parents in the great British tradition. We had a great group including a divorced Dad with his girlfriend - an ex-prison officer retraining to be a policewomen. We agreed that we had the best group.

Each day was jammed pack with activities including after-dinner activities from 7:30 - 9:00. Soon after arriving on Monday night we had our dinner and then we had our first activity where we had to run around the whole site finding flags of different countries and answering trivia questions about the country. We then retired to our bunk bed rooms which were sparsely furnished; i.e none. The PGL accomodation did not compare well to Premier Inn where the spoilt little travellers usually stay. However, they survived with a little bit of whinging.

On the first full day our activities were: Trapeze, Raft Building, Aero Ball, Rock Climbing

On the second day our activities were: Archery, Rifle Shooting, Fencing, Jacob's Ladder

On our third day our activities were: Survival, Abseiling, Zip Wire,Tunnels

On the final day we did Problem Solving, Giant Swing.

Highlights/Lowlights included:

• Ella getting soaked in Raft Building
• Simon overcoming his initial fear in abseiling and Giant Swing
• Ella and Ben getting some magic dust to lift them to the top of Jacob's Ladder in the form of a strong parent,
• Simon and Sarah making it to the top of Jacob's Ladder without magic dust
• Failing to start a fire with flint
• Shooting with real guns
• Feeling snow on our faces as we climbed Jacob's Ladder. Yes, unfortunately the spring weather had not yet arrived and the whole four days were bloody cold.
  

 Highlights for Sarah including two evenings off where she had a drink in the bar with the other English parents.

Needless to say both the children and I were exhausted by the end of the week!

London Heatwave

As you can see by the title we are embracing the English obsession with the weather. A few months ago the Sunday papers even came with a 30 page booklet from the Met Office explaining all the weather terms and concepts.

In the last week of the school holidays we went up to London for four days. We caught the train up from Weymouth on the Friday afternoon. The state schools were going back to school on the Monday but our children had an extra week so we thought we could miss some of the crowds associated with the school holidays.

This time we stayed very close to Waterloo station, which is where the train from Weymouth terminates. It was very convenient.

On Saturday we got going early and headed for the Science Museum. Since it was still school holidays there was a queue at 9:30am waiting for it to open at 10AM. We didn't have to wait long. There were lots of interesting things. The kids enjoyed the google web lab, where a computer would take a photo of you and then instruct a robot to draw your face in the sand.

After lunch we went next door to the Natural History Museum. It was also very busy and none of us wanted to wait 45 minutes to check out the dinosaur exhibition.

On Sunday it was 18 degrees in London and we sweltered. We went to National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to check out an Ansel Adams photo exhibition.

 We all had a go driving an RNLI boat in the simulator.

 There was a nice park and everyone enjoyed lying in the sun, My cousin Peter Harris met us for lunch.

After lunch we went to see the Cutty Sark. Ella had been complaining all day of not feeling well. When we were down looking at the bottom decks she said she really wasn't feeling well. After a mad dash through the ship we made it the bathroom just in time.

 Can you spot the boys among the figureheads?

I took Ella back to the hotel after the Cutty Sark, while Sarah took the boys shopping. Ben got another pair of boots. In the evening we had dinner with our friend Angela. Ella was feeling better by then.

Monday was the highlight of the trip for the children -- a visit to the famous toy shop Hamleys. I thought it was overrated but was overruled. Ben bought another teddy bear.

The highlight for me was having lunch at a sushi restaurant where Ella even found something she liked. In the afternoon the boys had a bit culture at the British Museum, while the girls had some retail therapy since Ella was now feeling better.
 
Tuesday was Simon's birthday and we took him to the London Dungeons. I can safely say it was not his best birthday as he really didn't like it. He was fine though when we got to to shop at the end. We had sushi for lunch again, rushed through the aquarium and caught the train home back to sleepy Weymouth.

Freezing in Cornwall - Part 2

On Easter Sunday, the sun had disappeared and the wind had returned. The kids got have a rest in the morning as we were going to St Michael's Mount, which is an old castle located on an island. It is a sister castle to Mont Saint Michel in Paris. During low tide you can access the island via a causeway. The causeway for accessing the island only opened at 12:40. It was very cold and windy so everyone had to rug up.

When we got there the wind was really blowing and the waves were lapping on the causeway. The photo above is when we were leaving and the tide was much lower at this point. We went with some other Australians from work: Jim and his wife Chris. They are from Canberra so don't fell the cold. We deftly crossed the causeway without getting our feet wet. There were some very hardy souls who were crossing barefoot.

We had a nice lunch with Chris and Jim on the island. Chris and Jim are grandparents and are missing their grandchildren so we lent them Ella for a bit.

Unfortunately they gave her back. Once we got off the island the kids played in the local park for about 30 minutes while we all froze.
On the Monday we drove back to Weymouth and in the afternoon I dropped Sarah and the children off at an adventure camp in Osmington which is near Weymouth. I'll have to leave it to Sarah to let you know what happened over the next four days....

Freezing in Cornwall - Part 1

For the Easter weekend we went to Cornwall and stayed just outside the village of St Austell. Spring still had not arrived and it was very windy and cold where we were staying. Unfortunately I couldn't talk anyone into accompanying me on at tour of the St Austell Brewery.

We left for Cornwall on Thursday afternoon after school finished at lunch time and had a pleasant drive with no traffic.

On Friday we drove down to Falmouth to the see the National Maritime museum - well we are here because of a naval project. It was a good museum and the kids got to make Easter eggs. Simon and Ben got to demonstrate their sailing skills - with some remote control boats.

We didn't make it to Padstow (also known as Padstein) on this trip but we still managed to have lunch at Ricks. Rick wasn't cooking but we still enjoyed lunch.

Lucky the kids love fish and chips (as long as it is cod).

In the afternoon we went to have a look at Glendurgan, It is a National Trust garden - i.e. free now that we are members. The kids were happy because it had an Easter egg trail and a maze. Unfortunately they all made it out of the maze.

On Saturday, the sun came out and the wind dropped. We went to see the china clay museum, which was quite interesting. It was one of the major industries of the area. There was a good trail to walk. These are photos from a bench on one of the walking trails. I had to take three separate photos, there would have been too much bickering if they all had to sit on the same bench.

In the afternoon we walked down to the local beach and then to the little town of Charlestown, where there are a couple of tall ships.

 The English are always polite, even with their signs. Also, the keen observer amongst you will notice the children enjoying their traditional Cornish calippo ice blocks.

Stay tuned for more freezing Cornwall as the sun disappears and the wind picks up.

Freezing with Lego.

Firstly apologies for the lack of blog entries for the last few weeks. We have been busy travelling and watching TV.
In the middle of March we had two freezing weekends of lego. On the first weekend we drove up to Basingstoke for lego mania, which was an exhibition at a cultural history museum. Simon had entered a photo of one his creations and it was up on the wall. After visiting the exhibition we went to HobbyCraft, which is like the Bunnings of craft shops. Simon has discovered Airfix plastic models and is always keen to check out the selection of models anywhere he can. Anyway we managed to pick up a few presents at the shop. I know we have friends in Sydney who would be spending a lot of time there.
The following weekend we went to the best place in the world - Legoland. The park opened a few weeks before we went. Winter in England seems to have been extended this year into mid April and the forecast for the day was light snow. Sarah wore her eskimo fancy dress outfit in anticipation.

When the photo was taken there were snow flurries. Unfortunately Ella wore shoes more appropriate for a warmer climate and her feet froze. We dashed between rides and avoided any which involved getting wet.

Reg, another Australian from work and his family, were also there and we had lunch with them. Notice how everyone still has their parkas on - we were in the unheated section of the restaurant. There was some Duplo in the restaurant so Simon built himself a helmet and sword.

This was our second visit Legoland and on both occasions it has been freezing. We are looking forward to returning when it is warmer. I think that is forecast for four days in late August according to the latest weather forecasts. As the English say -- bring on global warming!