Of cars, baths and snow

Well last we met we had been on a whirlwind tour of London. Amazingly enough, England's fabulous customer service got in the way of us getting on with our trip, as Europcar chose to ignore our booking and not open on Monday. My cousins were kind enough to let us stay another night (Shamou welcomed us back to the pack most magnanimously) and we were able to use Rotherhithe as a base to haul ourselves out of London and continue our trip. After ringing almost every Europcar in London we managed to find one open at Gatwick airport and rushed to collect the car.

It's cute. It's purple. I likes it.

We then decided that turning up to Salisbury late was better than never and trekked the 3 hour trip west. Our hostel staff were extremely hospitable (like I said, customer service is a rare occurance in this country) and we were very appreciative of the last moment accommodation we received - to a point. Can I just say that single sex dormitories only work if you are single.

Today we drove to Bath (Ah-mazing) --- ooops, Today we drove to Stonehenge (thanks for the reminder Tom). It was both beautiful and underwhelming. Most of the issue was the freezing wind that came across the plain which damn near took my fingers with it in frostbite. And my umbrella. I think we see so many pictures of Stonehenge that it detracts from the real thing. We still appreciated the massive feat it would take to put these giant rocks into place and the sacred-ness (is that a word?) of it all. But I was cold, and the coffee I had grabbed that morning was crap. Stonehenge, I may note, does reasonable replacement coffee.

So! Bath! I loved Bath. Bath is amazing. Even with a migraine, Bath was amazing. Did I mention it was amazing? Apparently it has indeed caused a loss of vocabulary. Dude, amazing.

The Roman Baths are a bigger feature than I expected, right in the middle of town. The museum has sort of been built around the old bath-house. There is so much to take in and the guides they give you are great.

But alas, I had a migraine and so we didn't really get to see the rest of Bath. We headed north in our little purple car to Ashbourne, which is west of Derby (Darcy country, mmmm). It took so long to get to Derby, it was pitch black (at 4:30pm) and we still weren't getting close. We have a UK road atlas which deigns to consider a residential street the same grade as a major freeway. I hate you, little road atlas. The other thing that made us laugh was the end-to-speed-limit zones, coupled with a stern warning that speed cameras operate. In a zone with no speed limit. I am confused... Well done UK.

We finally found our turn off to the most spectular hostel we've seen so far: Ilam House. Basically it's Pemberley. Which to get to you go down a laneway for miles in the dark and SNOW. Did I mention SNOW? SNOW?!?!?!? And we got lost, of course. Very lost, in the snow. But we made it eventually. The snow is set to continue into the night but hopefully we will not be trapped in Derby as we are due to be in Edinburgh tomorrow... which apparently with no stops (or snow) will take 5 hours. hmmm... Go little purple car!!!

Double meals

Bonjour! Nous sommes au Paris. Okay, well we were two days ago. We are now in London, in a gorgeous townhouse by the river Thames.

Our week began with the cattle run from Melbourne to Doha (Qatar) - 14 hours flying time, which I must say is basically hell. The air is dry, you can't relax (or sleep) and every now and then the plane lurches sideways allowing your life to flash before your eyes and occasionally your stomach. The other weird thing was that throughout the journey we managed to have every meal twice. Tom's family very kindly fed us dinner on the eve of our trip and Sean drove us to the airport for our 11:55pm flight. Soon after the plane took off we were served second dinner. In the morning breakfast, before landing in Doha, moving through security just in time to board the second flight - where we were served breakfast again. Then lunch. We were beginning to feel like Tolkien novel escapees.

We finally made it to Paris mid way through the day, funneled through customs and then left to fend for ourselves. We were tired, stinky and wanted to get to the hostel for a shower and a lie down before it occurred to us that we had no idea how to get there and could not speak the language. So we just sat down for a while to take in the fact that we were on the other side of the world in Paris. After a few minutes we pooled resources and discovered that the rail system in Paris is very easy to use. There is a shuttle from the airport which takes you directly to the nearest train and then you can go from there. Our hostel had given us excellent directions and we made it before dark (about 4:30pm).

It felt like a bit of a dream being in Paris. Apart from the romantic architecture, it really is hard to imagine as a Australian that there is a whole country that speaks French. Speaking French felt like a bit of a game, not something real people actually do. We found on the whole however, that our efforts were rewarded with smiles and encouragement. Our hostel staff were particularly pleased to teach us new phrases. One pitfall we found (as my father had predicted) was while we could ask a question in French the response was also in French. We became very good at perfecting our rabbit-in-the-headlights look as a stream of French sped past waving gleefully. It then was a matter of mime until we got back onto familiar ground - usually "Thank you"

What do you do in Paris when you really only have two full days? See the outside of stuff. We stumbled on Le Louvre in a morning walk, then Notre Dame. We managed to get to Versailles intentionally, though not from the correct train station. Versailles is incredible. I would recommend everyone to see the decadent excesses of the French royalty. Every room is spectactular in its own way and the palace goes on forever. There appear to have been no private rooms and we were astounded to discover that French queens give birth in public so that legitimacy of the succession could not be questioned.

On the way home we saw the Tour Eiffel at night, all lit up. Gypsies sell souvenirs when they are not being chased by armed police officers on bicycles.

On our last day we had a bit of a walk around before catching the Eurostar under the channel to London.

British security seems somewhat stricter than French and were actually reluctant to let us into the country, but after some cajoling with arguments of visiting relatives they let us through.

The train ride was uneventful except for a strange apology message that came over the speakers at the beginning of the journey which we ignored.

Upon meeting my cousins in London the meaning of the apology became apparent - yes folks we were completely unaware that no less than 5 Eurostar trains had gotten stuck in the tunnel for up to 18 hours! It seems that the English snow was too much for the trains to push out the way on the way back up to England from the channel. While every train before ours had been delayed or cancelled ours was fine. I'm rather glad we missed all the fuss, instead of worrying about the trains for 3 days.

Yesterday was Christmas with Turkey and all the Trimmings. An exellent meal for cold weather. We sat and ate, then sat, ate, sat and finally ate. A very sensible Chrstmas Day celebration. We took Shamou, the rather aged Malamute, for a long slow stroll along the river before collapsing in bed, dead to the world.

Today we have completed the Monopoly board tour of London - After going to the ATM in order to Pass GO we went to goal (The Tower of London) as well as The Strand, Trafalgar Square, Fenchurch Station, Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus, Regent, Bond and Oxford Streets. On our way into London we had already been through Kings Cross and passed Angel on the train. We also saw Tower bridge, Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace (from a distance; to be honest we were more interested in squirrels).

Tomorrow we pick up a hire care and will travel to wherever the roads are clearest: Stay Tuned.

Leaving Australia in the nick of time

That's right folks: The parrots are out and they have tasted flesh.

The setting was Dandenong Ranges National Park, a BBQ fit for kings. We ate, drank and played with giant yellow smiley faced beach balls.




It was great to farewell some of the people we will miss dearly while trekking through wind hail and snow in mid-winter Europe.

But what of the flesh eating parrots? Well for decades tourists have been naively feeding these birds bread, chips and cake. Over time they have become accustomed to human interaction and fattened themselves on the generosity of thousands. It goes something like this:
"Ooh look! How sweet! A Rosella!"

Maybe we can feed it?


Awww, it holds food with its claws!


And from there it is a slippery slope to cannibalism:

This rosella is in fact eating a chicken shaslick. It will only be a matter of time before it heads for human flesh. So we bid you adieu as we hastily back away from the parrot on your shoulder. It has always been said Australia has some of the most dangerous animals in the world. Enjoy the summer folks!

2 Days to D-Day

Midnight on Sunday is looming fast! I suppose we're ready to go. We have our gear, our packs, booked most of the hard stuff, organised the budget/banking and cleaning the house for the impending cat sitter. Why do I feel so unprepared?

Our first stop is Paris, the infamous Charles De Gaulle airport. We stay for three days, before catching the fast train through the tunnel to London for Christmas with my cousins, Fiona and Clare.

Three days is not nearly enough, but for a first round effort we were lucky to squeeze it in!