Farewell England - the Mother Country

As we say goodbye to the UK in a few days time, I reflect on the time that we have spent here and even though it's been cut short, we all have had a really awesome time.  The sights we've seen, the places we have been through (some new ones: Upper & Lower Slaughter, Swap, Silloth, Redcar, Much Wenlock - ok, I could go on), the tourist places, the transport, the banking procedures which drives us to the point of in-saneness, the simple task of getting a SIM card for our phones and discovering that we have to wait 3 months for a 2nd sim card, the yummy groceries at Sainsburys - it's all been an experience that I (along with Jeff & Chloe) have thoroughly enjoyed and would have been totally disappointed if we had not have come altogether.  Yes, we have only been here for 2 months, but we have visited so many places in Southern England, we have tasted the life in England, we have tried our best to get jobs and have failed, but we haven't failed at all because we have been here - our dream of coming here has come true.
We don't go home as loosers, we come home with moshi monsters,

see what I mean - 50 million moshi monsters to get back (add a few more in since that photo)

postcards, booklets, stacks of photo's, a head full of fun memories, stamps in our passports, straw hats from the wild west show at Disneyland - if we had not of tried, we wouldn't have anything.

Anyway, enough of reflecting.  Chloe finished school on Tuesday, today (Wed 29th), we had a surprise for her in London that she had absolutely no idea about.  She's into this TV program called "Horrible Histories", is totally fascinated in the books and I got tickets for a show at the Garrick Theatre which was absolutely hilarious.  The smile on her face when she finally realised we were seeing Horrible Histories was priceless. 

Last minute shopping for the cousins at Covent Gardens, last minute shoe shopping at Lillywhites at Picadilly Circus because the shoes are cheap, and we were back on the train to Basingstoke.

CJ at the magic tricks stand at Covent Gardens

Hopefully the next blog will be from New York, depending on internet connection.

Disneyland Paris

Awesome, fantastical, magical, sensational, groovy - Jeff & I are so glad that we took Chloe to Disneyland and I would go back in a flash!  Not enough days spent there, but it was worth 685 pounds in the end.  Eurostar was great - takes you straight to Disneyland's front gates and buses leave for various Disney hotels every 15 mins....  Fantastic - I would recommend it to anyone of any age.  Like all theme parks, there is a waiting time for rides (45 - 65 mins), so we did the ones that we could and I gave up my last day for Chloe to get more autographs from the characters which she was so pumped about.

Instead of writing about it, I will just put some pictures in to see how much fun we had...

Buzz leading into Toy Story Playland

Walt Disney & Mickey

I was reading in the Disneyland brochure about how Disneyland all started - Walt was watching his girls play in the playground while he was eating peanuts and he felt left out, so he came up with the idea of building a park with rides that both parents & kids could go on together and no matter how old you are, you could still have lots of fun. 

Our hotel - Newport Bay Hotel

M-I-C-K-E-Y MOUSE (Poppa's favourite song to the grandies)

Sleeping Beauty Castle

Big Thunder Mountain ride

Peter Pan play

Casey Jnr ride - the one ride that Chloe really loved

Space Mountain 2 ride - over an hour wait for this ride..

Orbitron - a "nice and safe" ride for kids in Discoveryland

"It's a Small World"

Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride - the 2nd favourite ride for Chloe

The hotel indoor pool

Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show with Mickey & Friends
Absolutely fantastic!  Brilliant - worth the 170.00 euro...

New York is our next destination next Saturday...

Portsmouth and the rest

Good evening/good morning/good afternoon to our blog friends & family:

Happy Valentine's Day for the 14th!  Happy birthday Jackson Smith!!  "-)

Gosport was the touring of a submarine that was de-commissioned in 1973 and now serves as a tourist attraction that you go aboard and see what it was like for the sailors to serve in World War 2.  It was cramped conditions, smelly with lots of buttons, knobs, valves, gauges, pipes and I take my hat off for those who served in the war on a submarine.  Our tour guide is an ex-seaman who sailed on this particular submarine and told us stories of his time on the sub and you can only imagine the sheer terror as they were fired upon.

HMS Alliance

As well as seeing the inside of the sub, our tour guide had also given us an idea what it must have been like on the sub with the engines going.  2 diesel engines running the sub, and he had a recording of just 1 engine running - I couldn't imagine what it must have sounded like with 2 because just 1 was loud enough.  The other recording was to your "dive stations", 2 blows on the horn and you were running.  Hands had to be out of your pockets as if you were bumped by something and you put your hands out mistakingly on a valve that let air out - your fellow crew members would be in danger.  So to stop the hands in the pockets, all crew wore shorts with sewn up pockets to stop any "man made danger".

65 crew on board - with not enough beds for even half the crew, if you wern't on duty you just found a place to curl up and sleep the best you could.  There was no "this is my bed" as the change over of crew just bunked into a bed that was available.  You slept in your gear 24/7 - eventually you would be covered in lice, worms etc....  No showers, everyone smelt of sweat, diesel and wot-not's....  Only when you got home on leave, were you able to have a shower and everyone knew you were home because you stunk like diesel. 

Jeff's birthday was celebrated in style in Portsmouth.  We were actually going to the science museum not far from here, but when we saw inside, we changed our minds and drove on to Portsmouth - we all agreed that Scienceworks in Williamstown was much better for hands on and price.

Had no idea what this building was, but looked amazing anyway



Fountain dedicated to Queen Elizabeth for her silver jubilee



HMS Victory at the port of Portsmouth

This ship was amazing to see in person.  We walked around this wharf area without a ticket and went into different boatsheds to see various museum pieces so it was a nice "free" day of viewing.  There were a couple of navy ships in dock as well, and was funny to see what some of the sailors get up to while docked in.  We saw two of them re-painting the ship!  In the only fashionable colour of GREY..

After we finished here, we went to see a Model Village along the foreshore which looked and felt like St Kilda where Luna Park is.  It felt just like home.  The model village was quite quaint - chloe enjoyed it but was nothing like Babbacombe Model Village Jeff & I went to in 1999, but still something cheap to see.

Model village - church & graveyard

Town centre

We had a play in the park, a lovely soft serve ice-cream, a walk on the pebble beach, visited an amusement park and by the time we had done that, it was 430pm. 

The lake across from the park - must be amazing in summer!

Jeff said that he had a wonderful day with his family, but Chloe wasn't convinced that it was his birthday as his "proper" family wern't here, but he did turn 39!

Friday the 17th was a day in London - a very expensive one just on travel alone, but I left early to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace and this is all I saw:

It was absolutely packed!  There were about 10 people in front of me to the gates all around, I couldn't stand on anything to get higher, I couldn't move anywhere else, I stood on my tip-toes and still couldn't see jack...  So, I might buy the DVD to be able to watch it.

Jeff went on a Royal Albert Hall tour and said it was fantastic.  The tour guide had so many stories about the making of it, to the story of Queen Victoria changing the name from the Central Hall of Arts & Science to the Royal Albert Hall, that when Queen Victoria went to performances at the RAH, King Richard's face was covered as she was so upset about his death - things like that he said were great.

While Jeff was on the tour, Chloe & I walked around to the Princess Diana memorial and was really disappointed.  It showed nothing of her life really, really disappointed.

King Richard's however - totally amazing as it should be for a King who died.

On our way back to the tube, we saw a guy sitting on an old radio playing a tuba with fire coming out of the top and I said to Jeff, what the?  it was totally fascinating - he had a lead connecting somewhere to a valve and everytime he pressed it, it was letting out a ball of fire...  so cool!

Well, that's it so far - tune into the next blog as it will be from Disneyland Paris....

Love you all,

Lis, Chl & Jeff xx

snow at the 'Stoke

The golf course 2min walk from our flat

The aussie slang has arrived in England - Basingstoke has now become 'Stoke and Beggarwood has become the 'Wood...  Jeff laughed when I first started using the slang and he explained to me that I can't use the slang cause I'm not English - but now that he has started using the 'Stoke and the 'Wood - he must be English too!

Our view from the kitchen window with our backyard too

Late last week we had our 2nd day of snow since being in the 'wood - and it was awesome to just look outside through the window and watch the snow fall in all directions (even up) and to cover absolutely everything.  Unfortunately the snow is not thick enough to make a snowman, but just as fun to make a ball and throw at each other.  But once you let go of the snow, it discintergrates straight away, so by the time it reaches the receiver, it's just powder and not really funny at all, but still fun.....
We have come across some funny towns through our driving: Jack's town, Red Rice, Nether Wallop, Wallop, Thrupp of course is my all time favourite at the moment, but Nether Wallop is almost topping it.

We have good news today - the landlord has agreed to let us out of our lease to come home - we have to pay for re-advertising and check out costs which is fair, but we also get 4 months plus bond paid back to us - so that is one huge relief for us.

Swinging with fun at Beggarwood Park

my teapot beanie as jeff would say

Just in case you have forgotten what Jeff looks like

Good night, Good morning and God bless xxxxx

The latest news from afar

Hi everyone,

Ever since we have decided to come back home to Australia, I didn't really give a hoots about the blog anymore cause I didn't think it was necessary to write anymore about our travels, and I'm still not sure if anyone is still reading our blog.  But then I thought that even though we are coming home shortly, it's still worthwhile writing about what we have seen.
We have moved into our flat in Beggarwood just on the outskirts of Basingstoke, it's a nice unit and much smaller than our 5 bed house in Croydon.  Chloe is at St Marks Church of England Primary School in yr 3 and has made new friends and enjoying it very much.  She is on mid term break next week and will hardly be there when they go back as we are in Paris the 1st week, then at the end of the following week, we fly back to Melbourne via New York.
Just to put you all at ease, we are ALL ok, so please don't stress.  It's not because of the freezy cold that we are coming back, but lets just say that it just hasn't worked out.  It's pretty hard to get a job here in the UK at the moment - not even the Brits can get a job let alone a couple of Aussie people.  But I am looking forward to going to New York!  We all are.  Even though Chloe has made some friends here both at school and at Basingstoke Salvation Army, she is excited to come home and go back to Sacred Heart.  Maybe her cold that she's had for weeks will also go!
But, in the meantime, we have been on a few travels..
We went to the end of England last weekend (Southampton), and it's where the Titanic left from to go to New York on that fateful night when it hit an iceberg..  The QE2 ports there in the warmer months, along with other many big ships, but as it was cold, nothing was there except the ferry that goes across to the Isle of Wight.

Titanic memorial in Southampton to those who perished

I ventured into London by myself and went on a tour of the Tower of London - very fascinating.  All the different towers within one wall was very thought provoking - especially when you hear of young queens of 18 being be-headed for adultery etc.. 

A groosome way to die if I say so myself

SALISBURY
While Chloe was at school yesterday, Jeff & I went for a drive to Salisbury in Wiltshire.  Again, like all the towns/suburbs we have been to, it's quite quaint and lovely.  Stone paths everywhere, but the reason we went there was to see Salisbury Cathedral.  Spectacular (like all the other cathedral's in this country).

While we were walking around, Jeff found something of interest relating to his family.  The McMillin's are part of the Fry family from England, who had a part to play in setting up the Salvo's here in England (I don't understand the whole story!), but it was Jeff's grandma's grandparents who have a connection with this Cathedral.

We have booked a few days at Disneyland Paris, so watch out for more photo's...
Bye to you all,

Lis, Jeff & Chloe x

Madame Tussauds

Greetings on this fine day..  There are some really great things that this beautiful country has, and that's it's public transport.  Chloe & I took the national rail to see Madame Tussauds today and the train from Basingstoke was awesome.  Straight into Waterloo in the heart of London, then a two minute walk to the underground and we were there at Baker St for Tussauds.  Talking to Chloe about what Tussauds was at dinner the night before and she thought the exhibition was all made out of ear wax!!
It was unbelievable - I'd never seen anything like it in my life and Chloe was just so excited. 

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter)

Nelson Mandela, Prince Charles, Harry & William, Princess Diana, Freddie Mercury, The Beatles, Brad Pitt, Whoopi Goldberg, Tom Hanks, David Beckham, Michael Jackson just to name a few. 

This is as close as I will be with the Queen, so how could we not get a photo?  I kind of thought that you wouldnt be able to take photo's with the statues, but quite amazingly, they were out in the open and you were quite welcome to take photo's..

Lady Gaga

Our car is fixed and now just waiting for Wednesday to come so we can finally move to our flat.  Jeff is starting work on Monday, Chloe starting school on Monday and I'm chilling until I get a job.
All going well though...

New house, finally settling to stability!

The update:
We will be settling down here in Basingstoke as Jeff has now got some work. After waiting 4 weeks from the recruitment company stuffing him around, his aus police check has finally arrived and is now able to work..
 It's been a nightmare with our phones. 3 say they have good coverage in the UK, but since moving out of London, it's been crap.. We usually have to go outside to make calls and mostly always have the "No service" sign. I think we may be changing over to Vodafone soon.
 Because the recruitment company has been stuffing Jeff around until now, it's been frustrating to find a spot to settle down, but after Jeff ringing another office of Synabor the contact there was so happy that he called and they have heaps of work for him. Now, why couldn't she have called since she knew we were in the country??
 In the last few days, we have been from hotel to hotel as we have been looking around Basingstoke for a place to rent. Confirmation came today that we now have one in a place called Beggarwood which is on the outskirts of Basingstoke and will be moving there next Wednesday.

Our address will be:

9 Oceana Crescent, Beggarwood,    Hampshire RG22 4FF

The other "not happy jan" situation that we have had is our bank.. It looked like we may have gone into London to organise a bank cheque for the estate agent because they only have 4 branches in the whole country (we didn't know this at the time).... They didn't understand the whole Bank Cheque business, but after locking Jeff out of internet banking, they have graciously done our transfer of the first 6 months rent that we have to pay.
Did I say the first 6 months??  YES - the company that handles the employment references have decided that our rental income from our home in Croydon doesn't count & that Jeff's long service leave payment is semi-ok but still doesn't count.  The way they see it is that I'm unemployed and Jeff hasn't been offered a contract, so to make everyone happy,  we have had to pay 6 months in advance. 
After having the accident yesterday, more crap today over the phone with banks and again mobile phone coverage, I think we need a holiday!  Jeff said he's never been this stressed before, but this time next week we will be having our first night at our new house.  That in mind, we can rest our minds that we now have a place.
We keep saying to each other that if things dont keep going our way we will come home, but then we thought "oh, we just paid 6 months rent in advance - even if we wanted to, we couldn't even afford the airfare home".  so, looks like we are staying!  It will get better.  Jeff will have work next week, Chloe will be starting school and hopefully I will have employment too...
We will look back at the first 4 weeks here later and hopefully have a good laugh..  Better that than crying!!
Does England have an England Day?  Must look that up and let you know..
Bye from the bears, the mamma, dadda & the kid xxxx