First frost

Yes. Today we had the first frost and it's only getting colder from here......

Weekend in Cornwall Part 2

Did I mention in part 1 how Ella slept in the car from Port Isaac to Plymouth . Well as a result, day 2 started very early in the girls room at 5:30. Ella's reason for this was that she was well rested from the previous day and was ready to get going. Sarah wasn't convinced.

After a good breakfast we went for a walk around Plymouth harbour. As usual some family members were unhappy about walking. Ben also informed me that he needed to visit the aquarium in Plymouth. When I said to him he had already been to the one in Sydney and also in Hong Kong. He replied with his usual foolproof logic that he needed to go to an aquarium in Europe now.

We saw the steps where the pilgrims had left for America. Unfortunately the Mayflower replica is currently in America as well.

Our next stop was the Eden project, which is an Eco project. In a reclaimed quarry a few domes have been constructed to create a rainforest environment and a Mediterranean one as well.

Each dome is triple glazed and gets very warm. In the rainforest dome there was a cool room for people not coping with the heat. Before entering the domes we were all rugged up for the cold and were wearing thermals. The photo of Ben and Ella is from the top of the dome where it is about 30 degrees. We were all quite sweaty.

There were some giant insects outside that amused the kids as well.

After the dome we drove home to get ready for the next busy week at school.

Weekend in Cornwall part 1

A few weeks ago we had our first overnight trip, which was to Cornwall. Once again we went with my work colleague Phil and his family. On Saturday morning we drove to Tintagel via a stop at Exeter ( Some tips: the highway services at Exeter are nowhere near the highway). Along the way we experienced the joys of getting stuck behind first a tractor and then a caravan.

Tintagel is an old castle from the time of King Arthur. It is situated high on a cliff and it was quite wet and windy. We really felt in England. There was a bit of walking involved which resulted in the usual whinging just to make you feel even more in England.

After a quick home-made lunch in a local car park we headed down some very narrow roads to Port Isaac where Doc Martin is filmed. Sarah kept on saying that she thought the road was a one way road because it was so thin. She saw that she was wrong when we saw cars coming the other way. We were lucky that they stopped for us to pass. Our friends were not so lucky and had to do quite a bit of reversing.

It started to rain a bit in Port Isaac so after a quick walk around the town we went into a little cafe for ice cream. Someone (guess who) had a cup of tea instead.

The Doc's house is to the right of the two white houses in the middle row

After the snack we headed to our hotel for the night in Plymouth, which was meant to be about an hours drive away. After the tractor and the caravan, we were stuck behind another evil of the English roads - the horse truck being driven by a learner driver. We made it into Plymouth just before 6pm and had a nice meal in the hotel. Ella had a sleep on the way so it was quite a peaceful drive. We split up in the hotel into a boys and girls room.



Stay tuned for part 2 : "Don't wear your thermals in a rain forest"

Legoland -- one of the key attractions of England

Yes, if you are a young boy Legoland is one of the best places ever!

The kids got to drive little cars around a track and get a  Legoland driver's licence.

There was a huge exhibit of Star Wars Lego with footage from the movie and soundtracks.

There is a little person inside this exhibit!

And there were several cities from around the world all modelled in Lego.

A great day was had by all but the colder northern temperatures of sub 5 degrees were a bit of a shock for us antipodeans!

This is where we live.

As I write this I am looking over to Portland Harbour. It is wet, grey and a fierce wind is blowing. Luckily it was sunny when I took the photos of the house. There have been numerous requests for further details of the house so here are a few photos.

Yes, the house has a name

 

  

This is the front of the house looking North

The house is one of three almost identical houses and is the middle one. Here is the back of the house which faces South so gets all of the sun.

See we already have a trampoline

Now for a bit of the inside - just like an episode of "Escape to the Country". We have three bedrooms on the bottom floor along with the garage. The kid's bedrooms were too messy to be shown on the blog at this time and I didn't get a chance to take photos of the master bedroom (hopefully they will appear in a future entry).

The photos below are from the upstairs living area. The door in the first photo leads to the guest bedroom, which has an en suite (email Sarah for rates and availability)

TV World, we have had sky hooked up

 

Parent's world with a views of Portland

The final photo is the view from the balcony, looking out across Portland Harbour.

View of Portland Harbour

Stay tuned for future posts with pictures of some of the other rooms.

One of our local castles

Just down the road from us, on the Rodwell trail is our local castle: Sandsfoot Castle. One Sunday morning Ben, Ella and I walked down to have a look. We are quite lucky because the castle was closed for a long time and was just reopened this year. I was lucky because the cafe was not open but I still had to outlay for an ice cream at a local shop on the way back.

It wasn't the largest castle to start off with when it was built and quite a lot of it has fallen into the sea due to erosion and some of the stone was taken for other buildings.

Not to worry though, we have been managing to visit a castle every few weeks, so we should be able find a bigger one.

English Schoolgirl

 

I know that certain people have been waiting for these photos.

English Schoolboys

Ben loves his blazer and cap. Unfortunately Simon is not so enamoured.....

Soon to come -- English schoolgirl.

Swanage and Corfe Castle by Steam Train

Along with Michael's colleague, Phil,  and his family, we took a day trip to Swanage and Corfe Castle and rode a steam train.

Swanage is a typical English seaside resort with little English beach huts.

Corfe Castle is famous as the inspiration for Enid Blyton's castle on Kirrin Island. There is even an Enid Blyton shop. Unfortunately Sarah didn't get to browse in there but maybe she can go back without the kids......

Short Blogging Break

We have moved into our long term rental house. We are going to be without internet access until November 7. So blogging will be very sparse until.then.

The weekend before last we went to Swanage and Corfe Castle and last weekend we visited Legoland on a very cold Saturday.
Photos and full summaries will be posted when we have internet access. Stay tuned

Supermarkets galore

My mother-in-law asked if I had been to any of the supermarkets here in England. Have I ever?

There seems to be supermarkets everywhere. I am aiming to try an average of one different chain a day. So far I have been to Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tescos, Wilkinsons, ASDA, Aldi, and the food Cooperative. And they all have particular foods that the kids like. The only problem is remembering where I bought the 'special' item from.

To top off my week, today I ventured to an Ikea superstore in Southampton - just near the docks where mum and dad recently berthed on their cruise ship. The Queen Victoria was in dock today.

New school

We haven't posted an entry about the kid's new school uniform yet because we don't have the uniform. The school has changed uniform suppliers and  we need to order the uniforms instead of getting them from a local shop. For the last week they have been going in jeans and t-shirts.

On Wednesday we went to school to check the sizes. Because it was lunch time, the kids were in a rush to get back and it was a real struggle to get them to try on stuff.

However there is one member of the family who is always trying to go back to school.

hello from Ben

Things Ben likes about being in Weymouth:

• meeting new friends
• seeing different things like animals -- squirrels, swans, cormorants so far 
• different toys -- newer really cool lego  and megablock sets
• sailing during school time at the National Sailing Academy
• cooking during school time
• free play every day (just joking Mrs Langford!) -- actually none at all!
• seeing the motocross show on Weymouth beach

Things Ben misses about Sydney:

• his friends
• his teacher
• his school
• his grandparents and cousins
• Weiss Sorbet -- mango, passion, strawberry
• sushi from RocknRoll

Over the side

Simon and Ben have both started their sailing lessons after being fully equipped with the latest musto gear including gloves booties and beanies. They needed it all as they both capsized twice! It was very cold and windy picking them up at the National sailing academy but I imagine it will get colder as they sail through to mid-december.

Looking for a pot of gold.

This was the view from our window when the rain cleared on Saturday

First weekend in Weymouth

We have just had our first weekend in Weymouth. Including the Friday on which we arrived we had three sunny days, with a brief shower. Most of the time has been spent buying supplies and exploring the town. The town centre is just a short walk from our short term accommodation.

On Saturday, the boys walked down to have a look at the long term rental, along the Rodwell trail, which is a path where the trains used to run between Weymouth and Portland. There was a lot of whinging (the boys are really embracing the local culture). They were eventually pacified with a pack of crisps each. During this time the girls hit the local Aldi to stock up on supplies.

On Sunday we headed into town to check out the local farmer's market and also the beach motor cross races. There were a collection of rides on the esplanade and Ben and Ella had to have a go bungee trampoline. They didn't manage to get enough rides in Hong Kong.

Not all Beer and Skittles

NEGATIVITY WARNING ON THIS POST -- NOT FOR CONSUMPTION BY SMALL CHILDREN

There has been beer so far and there have been skittles (the lolly type).  However, it hasn't all been beer and skittles. This post is just to prevent this blog from being too idealistic as if we are enjoying every minute of every day.

Some negative aspects to the journey so far:

• jetlagged 3:30am wake ups (today)
• a very excited 6 year old who has a loud voice anyway that gets louder when she's excited
• a 10 year old who's grumpy after not enough sleep and too much excitement with his cousins
• an 8 year old who constantly asks questions
• 3 hours in a car with above 3 children sitting  next to each other driving in a strange country somewhere we haven't been before
• disappointment at being too short to go on some of the rides at Ocean Park (Ben and Ella)
• not realising you need to pay cash at Aldi or use a debit card (don't get it till next week)

Still having a great time though overall........

Lost and found

While in Hong Kong Sarah took possession of Michael's work mobile phone to make social arrangements. Then Sarah boarded a Hong Kong double decker bus, travelled to the Peak and returned back to the Creagh house to find that she no longer had the phone. Sarah was in big trouble as this was Michael's work contact.

Fortunately, Sarah's friend Karen agreed to ring the bus company and the place where we had Yum Cha to find out if any phones had been handed in. Thanks Karen! And to our surprise the bus company had the phone.  Michael then journeyed on the MTR one hour each way to pick up the phone. As tiresome as this sounds, Michael seemed to enjoy the solo travel time! This also meant that we did not have to file a police report which was a requirement by the Defence Company Employer. Lucky Sarah.

Harris Family in Hong Kong

We celebrated our first day in Hong Kong by having Yum Cha with Sarah's schoolfriend Karen and her family and our Sydney friends Janet, Simon and Mia. Karen kindly organised it all for us.

On Monday Janet again joined us with Darcy and Vince Creagh for a day's outing to Ocean Park adventure world. We had a great day going on lots of rides and seeing lots of aquatic creatures.Ella's favourite ride was the Arctic Blast.



Tuesday saw us on the winding bus ride to Stanley Markets where we failed to bargain but still spent plenty of money. We enjoyed a leisurely lunch on the waterfront which was the highlight of the day for me. For Ben, it was his new trainers and the others it was their brand new Ipod touch case.



















On Wednesday we participated in a National Lampoon Harris/Creagh Family Disneyland Adventure. Vince Senior was trepidatious to say the least. We were just hoping to make it home in one piece with all children. This was achieved and the kids really enjoyed themselves. Claudia's highlight was meeting Tinkerbell. The boy's highlight was Space Mountain and Grizzly Gulch. Unfortunately I can't comment on these as I was too busy touring a Small World in a boat and going around and around on the Teacups which was Maz's favourite ride.

Our final day in Hong Kong was fittingly spent doing more shopping destination Mong Kok. This is a place with loads and loads of stalls selling loads and loads of the same thing with an emphasis on anything with a brand name. We bought quite a few brand name items. The brands for the day were DC (Simon), Mulberry (Sarah), DC Comics (Ben). Ella got 'heely' shoes which promise to be either a lot of fun or quite irritating depending on your point of view. Fortunately, we had master bargainer, Maz, so we didn't spend as much money as we would have without her.