Norway

WE are having unbelievable trouble with out blogspot this time. First of all lost many of our photos due to a computer crash and then everytime we go into blog it is in Norwegian or dutch or something else. We are now on our way to the Lofoten Islands on West coast of norway. Things here are unbelievably expensive. They say wages are high but i think ther government has them all brainwashed as the prices don't seem to match up with wages. We have been through hundreds (no exaggeration) of tunnels, some of them 7-8 kilometres long. Also have been on many ferries, which all cost an arm and a leg. Petrol is also like $2.50 a litre. The things in the grocery stores are only of one type such as lemonade, coke etc, no other brands so a huge monopoly on most things. There are no cheap supermarkets allowed in and even a hamburger at McDonalds is over $15. Eating out is just not on. We are so lucky to have the van because free camping helps average it out. Having said all that Norway must have to be the most beautiful in the world. The scenery is something else. We will come down south again through Finland to see different sights and yes to get it a bit cheaper. Finland is in the EU. Van is going well except for two flat tyres in 2 days. The roads are fantastic so can't really blame that. Hope all is well with all at home. God bless

Back to Somerset

Sorry all that these posts are few and far between as we are relying on wifi this time which is not always reliable.We are now back in Wells having the work finished to the car that we started a few weeks ago. Alls going well and on 9th we are off to Amsterdam for the tulips. Hope to go to Norway by 16th but it depends on the weather. It has been nearly 20 degrees for the past few days. We have been on a canoe trip down the canals and it was great. We are off to Windsor Castle on 7th to see the Queen. More photos next time. God bless you all.

Cornwall

Well this blog is a long time coming and guess you are all getting impatient. We arrived London and then went down to Kent to pick up our van. It was in great shape after weeks of snow. We went over to our favourite garage in Wells to have a tune up etc before we took off. We have been up to Wales where we picked up our inflatable canoe and then made our way down through beautiful Wales via Somerset, Devon and are now in Cornwall. We had 3 days where it snowed but have had some nice sunny weather over the last few days. We had to get some oars for our canoe and are now looking for a nice safe spot to try it out. No white rapids (not these white rap;ids anyway).Cornwall has beautiful coastline but is not my favourite spot in UK./ Can't go past Kent where my anscestors come from. They knew what they were doing. Ha ha Went to church this morning at Pentecostal type Church of England. Well sort of Pentecostal. Hope to popst again before we go  to Holland on 9/5. Until then byeand God bless.


Not another Castle!!




Bit of old England





One of our camps





Nice little bridge opn our walk





Guess who??????????



Off again

Just to let you know we fly out next Monday 1/4  on our next trip. We go straight to London and have a little bit of work done on our van ready for 5 months travelling. We are making straight for Wales where we pick up our inflatable canoe and then down to Cornwall where we'll do some walks around the coast  before heading back to Harwick on East coast of England to catch the ferry to Hooke of Holland. There we aim to see the tulips before catching the ferry across to Norway from Denmark. After that you can catch us on the same blogspot as last year

Homeward Bound

Well sadly it is our last post before we leave. We fly out tomorrow via Shanghai and will arrive home 11th. What mixed feelings we have. We have had such a great time but these things can't go on for ever.On the other hand we are so looking forward to seeing everyone, especially the 2 new arrivals, Darcy and Georgia.  Also looking forwad to some lovely Spring weather. It has now decided to give us a few days of lovely sunny weather to remember England by. See you all soon and God bless.

Back in London

Shetland Show in the Shetlands



Drum Castle Home of the Scottish Irvines




Beautiful Beach on Papa Stour Shetlands





Another Castle




Lovely Yorkshire Dales

 We have moved fairly fast down through Scotland and England fairly fast to get back to London in time to clean up the van ready for our flight on Tuesday. Had 3 days with good friends in Glasgow including one day at Edinburgh for the festival. Missed out on the Edinburgh Tatoo this time.Will have to settle for the TV version when we come home.We also spent a couple of days in Stratford Upon Avon and went ot a Shasespeare play." Little to do about nothing" to put it in modern English.  We enjoyed it but it did live up to its name quite well. We are currently at Epsom just out of London spending a couple of days with very good friends, saying our good byes. All in all, we have had a fantastic 4 months. Can't believe it is almost over. Wow! That time went quick. Looking forward to the lovely spring weather and seeing everyone. Just a few of our last photos. Thought we'd lost the lot with a computer breakdown but all is well.





THe Shetland Islands



Some of  many standing stones




Italian Chapel built by prisoners of war 1945




Skara Brae-5000 year old village uncovered by sandstorm



Ecco house with turf roof on Island of Hoy

We were so sorry to leave the Orkneys. We had a great time there and find the Shetlands very different. There are 22000 people here because of the oil and we can travel to all of the surrounding islands for 10 pound return. The scenery here is dramatic compared with the agricultural land in the Orkneys and some of the cliff walks are pretty treacherous especially with the wind we are having today. We went to see the Gannets nesting on the rocks this morning and the rocks are just covered in white birds, thousands of them. The weather is overcast today but we have had a couple of beautiful days, the best since the start of the holidays. The seas on the ferry crossing were rough today. We  have been to the far north of the Shetlands so now we can only go south.  Had a great day at church with the Church of Scotland (only church available) but really pleasant people.  We missed seeing the northern lights called the Aurora Borealis. They say it occurs more often in the cold nights but we did see a magnificent sunrise which did light up the sky. Only 3 weeks today before we fly out to Shanghai on our way home and 4 weeks and we'll be back on Australian soil.. Oh for a decent haircut.