Cheryl & Neil Our Story

Ship Wrecker

Posted on November 8, 2025 by Cheryl & Neil

October brings the start of winter which for us means travel time…….yay!

Our first trip of the season was to Portugal. Starting with a few days in Lisbon before taking a train to Porto to then board a Douro River cruise.

Lisbon was a port stop on the cruise last year and we decided that it was worth an extra few days to see the attractions that we missed. Our accommodation was interesting. Neil booked it well in advance as it was a short walk from the metro & train station which we would use on arrival from the airport and departure by train to Porto. A few weeks before we were to travel, we began to have doubts, so Neil had another look at our options. It turned out that we had booked an absolute bargain with many of the other options 50% more expensive and not in such a good location. ‘How bad can it be?’ we asked, and of course, Neil said ‘It’ll be fine’.

It was indeed a short walk from the station, but no one mentioned it was an incredibly steep climb up a very narrow cobbled street. Our accommodation was in an apartment on the third floor which had been split up into several rooms and a communal kitchen where breakfast was served and guests could make tea & coffee 24/7. The entrance to the building was sketchy to say the least, and the room needed some TLC, like the entire set up, but it was clean, and the enormous bed was comfortable. The room came with a Juliet balcony and the fabulous views across the river made up for any shortcomings. It was a 20 minute walk to Tram 28, less than 10 minutes to the station and a 15 minute walk to our day two sightseeing, Sao Jorge Castle. Fine indeed!

The famous Tram 28 winds its way through the streets of Lisbon allowing us to take in some of the sights. It runs from Martim Moniz to Campo Ourique covering around 7kms. It takes anything from 40 minutes to over an hour depending on traffic and vehicles blocking the lines whilst making deliveries. Queues to get on Tram 28 can be huge so we got there first thing in the morning.

At the end, Campo Ourique, we discovered a huge cemetery housing hundreds of family tombs housing coffins. There were amazing views down to the river from 3 sides of the cemetery. You could see into many of them and there were up to 8 coffins stacked on shelves and most of them over 100 years old. However, there was a recent one which was dedicated to a very beautiful young lady who clearly died way before her time. It might sound morbid, but we wandered around for close to an hour just enjoying the quiet and the trees plus discussing the many unanswered questions that each tomb raised. We spent the rest of the day utilising our 7 Euro ticket that allowed us to travel on buses and trams for the entire day. It was great value as we were able to see so many things.

The hill on which São Jorge Castle stands has been occupied since at least the 8^th Century BC, with the earliest fortifications dating back to the 2nd century BC. Highly strategic, the location was used by Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans and Moors. It was a great day, the weather perfect and we spent a lot of time trying to be creative with our photos.

Lisbon, like all capital cities, has zillions of places to eat. On our first night we chose not to go too far away from our accommodation, and we discovered a really nice place with outside seating, cold beer, okay wine and good Portuguese food. It also had the most unusual happy hour with a cut price cocktail served up with a couple of free cod fishcakes. We ate there 3 nights and got to know the guys well and it had an added bonus – entertainment!

The city has many roads that have restricted access with a bollard in the middle of the road. Authorised users have an electronic pass which lowers the bollard, however we came to the conclusion that google maps didn’t know this based on the number of cars who arrived and had to reverse back. It was also unreliable and the first 2 nights we watched as workmen tried to carry out repairs while stopping every couple of minutes to let cars & buses through. Day 3 it was fixed – hurrah! But not for long. We didn’t see it happen but a BMW passed over it, possibly tailgating an authorised bus and then it must have popped up and damaged the underside. There was a significant amount of oil on the road and a very unhappy driver. It proved very slippery and dangerous on the cobbles to pedestrians and vehicles alike so eventually the fire brigade arrived to clean it up. Our last night in Lisbon was very entertaining watching the chaos unfold.

Our 3hr train journey to Porto was good and we are glad that we bought tickets in advance the day we arrived as it was absolutely packed. When we arrived in Porto we got into a taxi with a driver who didn’t speak English. Neil showed him the address of where we were to pick up the cruise, and he smiled, shrugged and generally looked perplexed. Anyway, we made it in time for a beer and a glass of wine with lunch…….yum!

We were cruising with Emerald. The ship was small with just over a hundred passengers which made it easy to get to know most of our fellow passengers. The cruise along The Douro was stunning with the scenery constantly changing. As usual we were subject to constant pressure to eat and drink! We had quizzes, we won one, went kayaking, a first for Cheryl, good shipmates mostly from the USA, along with a hint of healthy friction between certain Brit and American factions, not us!

On our first day of boarding we had free time to explore Porto. It has so many bridges including Ponte Luiz 1. It has two tiers, the lower tier for cars and pedestrians and an upper tier for trams and pedestrians – it is quite stunning. At the end of the cruise, on return to Porto, we had a guided tour of the city and free time which Cheryl used to go shopping – Neil went back to the boat for a beer!

On our first cruising day we travelled upstream and passed through the deepest lock in western Europe at 35m deep. We stood on the top deck and watched the Captain standing outside of the Bridge at a steering wheel at the edge of the deck so that he could peer over the side while he controlled the power. It was the same way that we would take a canal boat into a lock watching the gap albeit on a much, much bigger scale. All the cruise boats on the Douro are exactly the same size so that they fit perfectly into the locks with barely about 100mm of space on each side of the boat. It was quite a difficult task but the cruise line made it fun by playing the theme music from Mission Impossible as we slowly made it into the lock. He deservedly got a round of applause and from then on, we called him Ethan Hunt.

The day was spent enjoying the endless scenery of vineyards and olive groves until we reached Pinhao where we moored and had a stroll around the picturesque town.

Next day Cheryl took her first kayaking adventure. We did very well, didn’t capsize unlike some who went swimming, and enjoyed the exercise!

We had a guided tour and free time in the very pretty UNESCO town of Salamanca in Spain. The Tour included the usual visit to a market and into the Cathedral which was stunning. The most interesting aspect was on the outside. It was recently renovatied and at the entrance the stone carvings now include a modern day reference – see if you can spot it.

Before heading back to the boat, we all met at the Cathedral and were treated to a show from a Tuna Band. This is a Spanish thing that we had never heard of, but basically, they are students that perform like buskers to pay for their university course. It started in the 13th Century and the students still wear traditional dress of that time. Ours were medical students and even Neil, who doesn’t do culture, enjoyed it – they were excellent.

Of course, this is an inland cruise, so culture was heavy on the agenda and Pocinho brought us Castelo Rodrigo. Again, enjoyable culture in the picturesque village which also gave us port tasting, and bonus, more exercise!

Back on board for the afternoon we also had a demonstration by the bar staff, who incidentally were excellent, on cocktail making (and drinking), we then got to have a go plus port cocktail making.

In Regua, we were taken to the hometown of one our guides, Lamego, which has a fabulous church accessed by a huge flight of steps. The bus dropped us at the top by the church but being exercise freaks we walked down the 686 steps, back up and back down again – people thought we were quite mad.

It was worth it to build up an appetite for the splendid lunch that we were to have Quinta da Pancheca, a vineyard where we were given plenty of port to drink with lunch.

This was our first European River Cruise and it was different to ocean cruising. We never cruised overnight but moored up late evening ready for excursions (all included) the following morning before returning to the boat for scenic cruising and activities in the afternoon. Food & drink were excellent as usual and these were served with different Portuguese wines each evening. We were offered local dishes alongside the usual international fare. Neil tried the octopus which he enjoyed but Cheryl did not like the texture of the little suckers. Staff were excellent and as it was a small boat we got to know them well.

There was an interesting incident. After dinner there was usually some low key entertainment laid on in the bar. One night it was a music quiz with extra points on offer for those teams who got up and danced appropriately. It was the usual stuff, Macarena, YMCA etc. Regular readers will know that we can get quite competitive and that night was no exception. It was all going well until they played ‘Let’s Twist Again’ We leapt up while fellow team members wrote down the tune plus artist and started twisting. Unfortunately as Cheryl was challenging Neil to twist lower and lower he over balanced backwards and his razor sharp glutes crashed into the glass sides of the bar – and let’s just say the bar came off worst – oops!

It was a great trip, enjoying some fine food and wine, great scenery and surprisingly interesting culture.

Cheryl spent a few days in London celebrating Alex’s 40^th birthday while Neil stayed home to run the bar for the band, The Dub Pistols at The Gateway. We had never heard of them but listened to them on Spotify. They sounded good on the radio and even better live. It was a great show with the singer even crowd surfing – absolutely mad! There were masses of people dancing on the stage with the band and for the first time ever we emptied 2 kegs of lager, and on top, all the cans of lager got drunk as well. We’ll be having them back next year!

This post has been brought to you by the following sponsors (and yes, we are still not getting the hang of monetising the site as we didn’t get anything from these cheapskates!!)

In The Summertime

Posted on October 5, 2025 by Cheryl & Neil

It’s been one of the hottest, driest and sunniest summers but all good things must come to an end. As we post this entry normal service has been resumed as it’s grey, raining and storm Amy has just blown through.

Breaking up is hard to do

Relax, it’s not us! The old stone on the front terrace was starting to break up, something we all do with age, and it was becoming a danger. So we had to have it taken up and replaced. Alistair arrived at the beginning of August to tackle the very hard work involved. It took him two weeks, and it wasn’t cheap, but it is now safe and a big improvement.

Eagle eyed readers will spot the obvious but we don’t need this pointing out and have been told it will eventually fade in……….

Don’t you want me?

After having so many reasons why we ‘couldn’t’, they changed the rules so that we ‘could’ – give blood that is. Neil is O negative, which is uncommon and is a valuable blood type as that makes him the universal donor as it can be given to anybody. There’s been a national shortage but things such as our travelling to malarial countries and just getting old have stood in the way. Well, as desperation set in, they finally relented on age and he’s now back in the fold to give his very precious blood. Sadly, Cheryl was rejected after being assessed as low iron. There is an upside, she’s now on a diet of dark chocolate, red wine and steak – she’s very pleased.

That’s what friends are for

Whilst Alistair was slaving away on the house, we went up to Shropshire to have a week with old friends Brenda and Tony. When we cancelled our membership of The Canalboat Club we swopped our week on a boat for a week in an apartment in the marina at Ellesmere. We had a great time, visiting a couple of local towns by bus plus taking in a trip to the legendary Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. We had taken a boat over it a few times, but B&T had never seen it before – they were not disappointed.

Neil’s birthday coincided with Ellesmere Carnival, and we were treated to a lovely day, a perfectly located beer tent in the garden and Neil got on the stage with the local Burlesque Girls as they strutted their stuff. We had a great day and a fabulous week with them – thanks guys, as always we really enjoyed your company.

Shortly after we got home Chris and Viv came to stay for a couple of nights. It’s their annual visit from Sydney to Brecon to see Viv’s mum and visit friends. It was great to see them; we always have a laugh and this time we included a visit to Beer Quarry Caves. Of course, there was the inevitable buckets of wine and beer.

Homeward bound

In our last entry we mentioned that Alex and Freddy were considering a move out of London to Exeter, sometime in 2026 or 2027. We both concluded that they had gone so far down the line with the idea of moving that it was imminent. Sure enough, they went to see houses, we all went to see one house in particular, and before we knew it, the house was bought and their own house in London sold! Wow, I thought that sometimes we made quick decisions but this was immense. All things being equal, they should be in their new home by Christmas.

Hole in The Ground

Bank Holiday Monday and Neil noticed a very large damp area where our driveway meets the lane. It was more than just damp as water started to ooze up in a couple of places. The water to the house was quickly turned off and fingers crossed it wasn’t on our side of the water supply. Phew! Not us. It was reported, but got worse, day by day, by day, by day. Water was bubbling up in new places, lifting the tarmac and running down the lane.

South West Water eventually sent a man – who assessed, said we weren’t category 1 and left. Weeks went by and eventually 2 men turned up and started digging leaving just enough room for us to access the drive. They dug, they fixed – with what looked like a dirty rag, but it seemed to hold, then they left. A week later another crew arrived to fill it in, but no attempt was made to patch the small pot holes in the lane. It was quite farcical, the waste of water and time taken for South West Water to repair the leak and the state the lane is now in.

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, Its off to work we go

We gave up the rat race in 2008 and lived the ‘life of Riley’ ever since. However, we both have found ourselves sucked back into the world of work. We’re still working on a voluntary basis but the hours and intensity have shot up. The Trustees of The Gateway Theatre agreed on a new vision, however the existing small team of staff decided it wasn’t for them and resigned. There’s a new Theatre Director in place now, but additional help was required and we stepped up.

We’re still doing the bar, cleaning the pipes and ordering the stock but we’ve gone a step further. Cheryl is a Trustee with the ‘finance’ portfolio and is covering the day to day bookkeeping as well finding cost savings. Neil is recruiting and training new volunteers behind the bar. Of course, with Cheryl in what feels like full time employment Neil has become a househusband, a role which he finds immensely satisfying……not!!

Take a walk on the wild side

We’ve had a great year for fruit, masses of apples, pears and figs. Whilst choosing an apple, Neil heard a scraping noise and looked around to see what was going on. Sure enough, in the corner of the garden he saw a young badger trying to scrape a way through the fence. Neil eventually convinced him it was time to head off down the drive but before he got the end the badger slipped through a hole under the fence into next door. Neil shared a photo with all the neighbours and then Karen from the other adjoining garden said the ‘young Billy’ was in her garden and getting harassed by her two dogs. She manged to get the dogs back in the house, but she did say he looked very confused. Poor little fella, he should have been asleep and instead he was having to fight off two large dogs. Watch this space.

Nothing Compares 2U

Finally, some very sad family news which we won’t elaborate on. Suffice it to say, niece Anna lost her battle with The Big ‘C’. She will be missed so much.

French connections

Posted on July 29, 2025 by Cheryl & Neil

More of the usual ramblings on the good life in a seaside town.

After a long closure our wonderful local Theatre was back open for business, and the best bar team were out in force for the opening fundraiser.

We’ve settled into the usual summer routine of eating, drinking and having fun with family and friends. We celebrated Pat and Don’s 40^th wedding anniversary with drinks and snacks outdoors in their gorgeous garden with the rest of The Social Club. We keep thanking our lucky stars that we have such sociable neighbours that love to laugh at themselves as well as each other. We also have a new venue for our mission to keep the local bars and restaurants in business by frequenting them as much as possible. The Harbour in Axmouth advertised a new ‘wrinklies special carvery’ every Wednesday lunchtime for £12. Not one to miss a bargain Cheryl recruited the social club to give it a try. Well, fabulous sunshine, an amazing lunch with so many vegetables to choose from gave us another superb afternoon. Everybody agreed it was a delicious lunch, and the bonus was it was great value. All booked again for next month!

Next was Neil’s Siblings lunch with June and Bill and spouses Roy and Sue. Another sunny day meant letting Roxy go topless all the way to The Cotswolds and as it was a long drive just for the day we took the opportunity to stay over with June and have a really good catch up.

Alex and Freddy plus children arrived for a short stay and took themselves off to Exmouth on the Friday to ‘take a look’. They are seriously considering leaving London and perhaps moving to Exeter. We had a trip to The Donkey Sanctuary with the grandchildren and then everyone, apart from Neil, set off for Exeter for a few days to further explore the area that they identified as the place they would want to live if they were to move.

Neil’s son and grandson also visited and we had just enough time for a beach walk and lunch. As we left the seafront cafe the rain started which gave grandson the opportunity to visit the Arcade, a place we hadn’t frequented much. It’s a seaside tradition and whilst the old fashioned penny falls machines brought back some childhood memories the rest of the tacky machines did not appeal at all. The rest of the day was spent indoors playing games and for him to demonstrate his newly learned tunes on his mini electric guitar.

How long?

Early June brought us our 7^th wedding anniversary and as it had been at least a week since we had a curry, we took ourselves off to Rajini for some delicious food and a few drinks. When Neil booked he informed them that it was our anniversary. On arrival we found the table had been decorated to wish us a happy birthday but on the bright side they kindly gave us a small chocolate cake for dessert. Not very Indian but very welcome!

June ended on a high with the visit of John and Suz, playmates from Goa. They had spent the last 10 years or so living in France and decided to move back to the UK last November.

They came to stay for a few days and so we started with a curry night, we took them on the tram, had lunch out, they both wanted a spin in the Mustang, and we ended their stay with a BBQ and way, way too much wine.

Bienvenue

The next big event was in mid-July. Our twinning village, Thury Harcourt in Normandy, came to stay and we accommodated Nicolas as our usual playmates, Chantal and Jean-Philippe couldn’t come over as they had agreed to look after their grandchildren. Nicolas was the perfect guest, he just went with the flow as we all enjoyed an afternoon in Seaton and a full day out at Bicton Park & Sidmouth followed by a formal dinner on Saturday.

Sunday was spent en famille so we joined up with Andrea and her guest Verena for a tram ride, lunch in Colyton, a visit to the Wetlands and a quick swim. The day ended with a BBQ for a larger group from the Twinning on the Sunday.

It was all over in a flash as we waved goodbye to them as they boarded the bus on Monday morning.

Rest in Peace

Sadly we experienced an unexpected loss when our good friend Liz suffered a heart attack and died shortly afterwards. Liz and husband Graham run our U3A wine club, are members of the Twinning Association and we’ve had many meals out together. We’ve also had a lot of fun dressing up in ridiculous costumes to promote various performances at The Gateway. We will really miss Liz, and her loss has reminded us how no one knows how much time they have left. We’ve often joked about who was going first and what we would do without each other. We were stunned and now we support Graham whenever he needs us including a few beers and a curry.

On The Road Again

Posted on May 7, 2025 by Cheryl & Neil

After the extended travels we needed a quiet March and April. Well, we wish! Multiple family visits around the country, a surprise not to be missed event in London and a visit to foreign parts meant we were busier than ever.

Family values

Back home for four days for Neil and one night for Cheryl before bags packed again and off to Keynsham to spend time with Neil’s son and family. It was great to see them, and we had an opportunity to watch Sunday morning rugby, see the new school and to listen to the little man’s constant chattering – he never stops!

Next stop June and Roy a few miles outside Gloucester to see how they are getting on and get the latest on niece Anna and her constant fight against the silent assassin. It was just one night as we were on our way to Cheshire to spend some time with Leanne. She showed us her new business where she does her sports massage. A grand day out at Biddulph Grange where we learnt something new – do you know what a stumpery is? Finally a quiz in Macclesfield. It was an excellent quiz, very different in several ways with some local knowledge required and let’s just say it was not our finest moment.

Finally back in Seaton in time to watch the Grizzly in glorious sunshine. It’s an annual event attended by runners from around the country and the town was packed.

Scrummy

Now, the sensational one-off as mentioned in the opening paragraph. June sent us a fairly cryptic WhatsApp message that, on enquiring further, revealed that great nephew Fred would be playing rugby for his school, the under 18’s, in the schools final at the home of English Rugby Union, Twickenham! Well, it had to be done didn’t it.

After a bit of rapid messaging, we had all of Neil’s siblings together and lots of nephews and nieces to give King’s School, Gloucester the support they deserved for getting to the final. What a day and what support from so many people who arrived in coaches and cars.

At half time King’s were 11- 16 down even though our supporters out shouted and out hollered the opposition’s supporters. Having resigned ourselves to the inevitable defeat, and we had heard the opposition were the favourites, the disappointment soon changed as King’s came out all guns blazing in the second half and set about demolishing the opposition scoring and scoring again and again.

Final result, 29-16. At the final whistle a huge cheer rang around the amazing Twickenham Stadium. We booked a nearby hotel and that evening we had dinner with Bill, Sue, Kate, Sarah and children Jack and Evie. An absolutely amazing and unexpected day. Cheryl then headed off for a few more days in London to have more cuddles with Lyra & Luke.

A tale of two quizzes

Having failed miserably with Leanne and Neil in Macclesfield we didn’t rate our chances at the Gateway Fundraising quiz at the football ground. We joined forces with our Gateway bar chums Linda and Dennis plus Liz and Graham from The Twinning and U3A. Dennis came up with the team’s name, The Bar Stewards, and we duly made amends for the previous quiz by winning, hurrah! There was a prize, vouchers to spend at a local beachfront café, The Hideaway. We had a lovely lunch, a couple of drinks, lots of laughs and watched in awe as Graham polished off two cream teas.

Hola amigos

Then we were off again – this time for a short break to Spain to see Neil’s old school mate, Clive and his wife Karen. They’ve been living in the really attractive small town of Alcalali for around 10 years. We had a great time, visiting nearby resorts Calpe, Denia and Javea. Clive cooked us paella one evening, delish, and on another night, we went to a nearby restaurant that served up wild boar – also delish!

They were quite insistent that they took us to a special Sunday lunch in the nearby hills which was located in an old Roman Villa. The host was just amazing, giving everyone a tour of the premises before we sat down for an excellent five course lunch with as much home-made wine as you could possibly drink. What could possibly go wrong?

There were about 70 covers in the restaurant and it was the league of nations. French, Norwegian, Russian, us Brits, Spanish and Lithuanians. After lunch each table had to sing a song which C&K had warned us about. We chose Nellie the Elephant and quite a few people joined in with the chorus. We received a great round of appreciation from the rest of the restaurant when we finished.

Next the professional entertainers sang a mix of Spanish and popular songs. As the wine flowed soon everyone was up singing and dancing.

Then it went a little bit downhill from there, and we did our bit to help. Neil was dancing like his dad and Cheryl performed a heartfelt Karaoke ‘I Will Survive’. It can’t have been all that bad as she did get a well-deserved and raucous round of applause and cheering. It was an amazing afternoon and a great stay with C&K – thanks guys we had a fabulous time with you.

We finished off our trip to Spain with a few nights in Valencia which is has lots of green spaces, excellent walking in parks, a huge indoor market, stunning buildings and fine tapas. The river which previously flowed through the city was diverted in the 1950’s following severe flooding. The riverbed is now an extensive city park with a futuristic science park and entertainment complex as well as sports pitches and themed garden spaces.

Under pressure

Our apartment was perfectly placed for us to reach all the attractions and restaurants on foot and was only a short walk to the metro to get to the airport for the flight to Heathrow However, our careful plans came to an abrupt halt on arrival in the lounge where we got the first text to tell us our flight was delayed by an hour. As regular readers know, ‘lucky’ is Neil’s middle name and the decision to use up Avios and travel business class really paid off as at least we were comfortable in the lounge as the delay became longer and longer.

You would expect everyone on board the plane to be fed up with the delay but there was an air of anticipation over whether we would break the 3 hour late deadline. It was tense and we did circle over Heathrow a few times but the pilot and crew managed to get the plane down, at the gate and the doors open at…………2 hours and 56 minutes, pah!

We finally made it to Alex & Freddy’s house for a couple of nights before finally getting the train home.

Heard it on the grapevine

April ended with some beautiful weather, our first BBQ of the year and our Annual Town Council Meeting where the council reviews its highlights of the past year and public have a question and answer session. Last year was a tad awkward as no members of the public attended at all! The date of the meeting is on the council website but you do have to search to find it so Neil decided to do his bit for community engagement and publicise the meeting on social media. It must have had an effect as we actually had some people there and they did ask some questions – success! So much better than last year.

Enjoy the sunshine.

Road to Nowhere

Posted on April 12, 2025 by Cheryl & Neil

Whilst it was definitely the road less travelled, Western Australia did not disappoint. Wildlife encounters, walking amongst giants, surfing rocks, gawping at huge holes and machinery, listening to some rather saucy stories, and more……..

Having picked up our large luxury 2 berth MoHo, our first job was to load up with food and find a bottle shop for wine and beer. Then the sightseeing began with The Thrombolites at lake Clifton Lake, just down the coast.

They are the oldest living things on earth at about 2000 years old. They are extremely rare and only found in only a few places in the world, including Western Australia and Argentina, so we felt it was worth the short diversion from the route to pay homage to these extraordinary creatures. They don’t do much, don’t move, don’t make a sound and definitely don’t answer back.

Our first overnight was in Bunbury as first thing the following morning we went to watch and paddle with dolphins that come in very close to the shore. It’s a weird experience as they seem so tame and almost want to play.

That was followed by a walk along Bussleton Jetty. It’s almost 2km long and at the end there is an underwater observatory where you can walk down a spiral staircase to see beautiful multi-coloured coral and fish. It was a very hot day but well worth the long walk to see the amazing colours.

We had booked into Margaret River Caravan Site so that we could visit some of the interesting sights nearby including caves, beautiful coastline, a lighthouse and to get back into living on a campsite and using the BBQ’s provided. Of course, you couldn’t come to Margaret River without doing a wine tour or two!!

We had a great tip off from our young guide Max on the first tour – go to Hamelin Bay where you can wade in the water with sting rays.

Land of The Giants

Travelling further along the coast we stopped at Manjimup to see The King Jarra tree. It’s estimated to be somewhere between 300 and 500 years old it is almost 40m tall. Next in line was the Diamond Tree lookout which is a Jarra tree over 50m high.

This tree was pegged in 1940 and a cabin built at the top. The tower person scaled the pegs to the cabin and scanned the surrounding landscape looking for bush fires. You were, until recently, able to climb it, if you had the balls, but it’s now closed due to H&S plus the tree is diseased. There are also 4 Jarra trees in a line, The Four Aces, and nobody knows if they were planted like that by Aboriginals or it just happened that way. Standing at the base and looking up at the 400-year-old giants standing at 75m tall offers quite a remarkable view and memorable experience.

All aboard

We are blessed in Seaton by having a tramway which is a huge draw for tourists to the town. So, when we heard about The Pemberton Tram we couldn’t resist. Maybe not such an impressive set up as Seaton but a good history just the same. The Pemberton Tramway Company was established in 1987 to operate a service on the Pemberton – Northcliffe Railway. It closed in February 2023 with the possibility to never re-open and then a local family stepped in to buy the business and it’s been a tourist attraction since.

Having had our ‘tram fix’ we were now getting tree withdrawal symptoms, so we set off to see The Valley of the Giants. It has a 600m long tree top walk suspended 40m high in the canopy of the ancient tingle tree forest. It was truly spectacular, as was the walk through the bush following a board walk and being able to stand inside a tingle tree.

Windy City

We moved on to Albany which has so much to see and do where we stayed four nights. The site was good and very convenient for the town.

In 1914, more than 40,000 Australians and New Zealanders left Albany, bound for the Great War, – The Anzacs. The National Anzac Centre is set within acres of land with footpaths that explore gunnery points and buildings. There is a road up to the main memorial, The Avenue of Honour, which we chose to walk, and we were glad we did. It’s an avenue of trees that were planted in the 1950’s and each tree has a plaque in memory to a soldier. What was interesting is that many of the soldiers that fell in Normandy were quite young. The Anzacs, however, ranged from a few young men to many in their 30’s and upwards.

The weather in Albany wasn’t great, cool and very windy but, thankfully, dry. This meant that it made it great walking weather so we headed off to Torndirrup National Park. which had loads to see. There were several things to see including blow holes that we could hear but not see as the tide was down and the waves were in the wrong direction.

The Gap, where we stood on a metal vantage point to stare down at a very angry sea hammering against the rocks. For some reason, it was particularly windy and we had to hang onto each other let alone our hats!

We didn’t quite get to Bald Head which we could see in the distance during a cliff top walk as it was too far in the time we had. Torndirrup N P was lovely and on the way back to the campsite we had a first. The police were making random checks and our vehicle was pulled over. Neil had to blow into a breathalyser, something he’s never done before. All clear and we were waved on.

Another natural phenomena are the underground caves around Albany. We chose Jewel Cave, and it was spectacular.

Everybody’s going surfing……

After 4 nights we headed inland to Kalgoorlie stopping first at Wave Rock for a night on the way. Once again, we had a lovely walk, although this time it was very hot and it was the first time we had to wear the head nets because of the annoying flies. There was a clue in the name, Wave Rock, and it was well worth the diversion to see it. The pictures don’t really do it justice but it is an amazing piece of natural geology.

We knew that the further inland we went that the temperature would rise and the forecast for our arrival in Kalgoorlie was 45C, phew. Regular readers know that Lucky is Neil’s middle name and it was fine as the next day the temperature dropped and it settled back to around a near perfect 30C. It’s location in the outback meant that the heat was very dry making our sightseeing and evening BBQ’s a real treat.

The Kalgoorlie mine, also known as the Super Pit, is the largest open-pit gold mine in Australia. It took us a long time to absorb the sheer scale of the place which we observed from a viewing point plus a guided tour. It’s approximately 3.7km long, 1.5km wide, and more than 600m deep. Whilst on our tour the driver, who used to work at the pit, said that they were in the process of enlarging it, by 50%! Most of you will have heard of Tonka Toys, well the trucks are as a big as a house, and they can carry rocks in the back equivalent to 110 large cars. The drivers work 12hr shifts, 7 days a week, three weeks on three weeks off. We could go on and on with the stats, they are mind blowing, but we know you have a life!

The gold rush town of Kalgoorlie has some beautifully preserved buildings, several museums dedicated to the long history of mining that was started in 1893 by Paddy Hannan and his buddies. This guy has had a fascinating life, he’s worth putting into Google.

Of course, being a mining town, the miners had certain needs which need to be met – alcohol and ‘ladies’. Questa Casa is a brothel that was still operating until a few years ago. The Madam now offers tours with some great stories and photo opportunities. The Elders of Kalgoorlie took a unique approach to managing the situation as the growing wealth brought respectable families to the town alongside the rough and ready miners. They moved all the brothels into Hay Street so everyone knew where to go or not to go depending on their preferences. The ladies had to stay on the premises from dusk to dawn and could only go into the town during the day accompanied by The Madam. The girls were regularly medically checked, and as numbers were limited they were able to make a small fortune so it was all very civilised.

Our tour of Western Australia was coming to an end, and we had to return the MoHo within a couple of days. Heading back towards Perth we had a night at Merredin to do a walking tour which came highly recommended – sadly it wasn’t great. That was followed by a night in York. Whilst the campsite was, mmmm, interesting, the town was beautifully preserved, and the motor museum was very quaint and low key – well worth the visit.

You know when you get the feeling someone is staring at you? We spotted him in the tree looking down on us at the campsite.

Australia is vast. Australian Roads are generally in great condition and some stretches go on for mile after mile through huge never ending landscapes where you can see for miles and miles. That makes for some incredibly dull and very long drives. Unless you like looking at vast expanses of nothingness, with a few subtle changes to the trees, dust and rocks (Cheryl) or get excited by roadtrains (Neil).

Finally It was time to say goodbye to the MoHo. Luckily for us we were checked back in with the guy who had a sense of humour rather than Cruella Deville. With the all clear and full deposit returned we had a night at an airport hotel before flying to Melbourne to have a couple of days sightseeing. We had a fabulous afternoon sightseeing with friends Sally & Ken from the Silversea Cruise. They invited us over to their house in the Melbourne suburbs for dinner and several bottles of excellent wine.

Next day we took the train to go and see Cheryl’s cousin Roy and his partner Heather. Always fun and excellent hosts they always manage to fit in a wine tasting! They are coming towards the end of a major renovation and extension project on their house which has been transformed since we last visited about seven years ago. We were able to swap tales of our own reno experiences during lockdown. They kindly drove us back to Melbourne airport for our flight home to the UK via Kuala Lumpur.

That’s the end of our winter trip this year. We’ve done some amazing things, met some wonderful people and caught up with old friends. It had some interesting moments but overall – It was more than Fine!!

This post has been brought to you by the following sponsors – who as usual didn’t give us anything at all for all this valuable publicity………

Congratulations

Posted on April 9, 2025 by Cheryl & Neil

A crazy Australia Day, a new arrival, and meeting an old friend from our travels back in 2011. We crammed a lot into two days!

The East Perth Suites Hotel was a short walk from the train station, and what a result – our apartment proved to be quite superb with a lovely view of the waterways. There was also a self-service washing machine for guest use which was really useful. It was walkable to the centre, close to a well-stocked bottle shop, opposite a IGA minimarket, adjacent the free tramway and surrounded by restaurants – thumbs up!

That night, having wandered around to get our bearings and get fresh milk for morning tea, we settled on a nearby Cambodian Restaurant. It was a little quieter than many of the other venues, had some outdoor seating and it was a BYO – perfect. It also turned out that the food was very good, service excellent and just very low key, the sort of place we like.

You’ll remember that from the previous post that Annmaree and Russell from the train had invited us to The Windsor Hotel in South Perth to meet up with others from the train to celebrate Australia Day. We arrived at 11am and set about getting to know the others and, of course, partake in a beer or two. The hotel, which was more a pub, was busy and lively and as it was Australia Day there was a BBQ in the garden giving out free snags.

A young lady came around touting for people to take part in the Vegemite sandwich eating contest. Whilst tempted, for once Neil chose the right answer, ‘sorry, no thanks’. She eventually found five victims and sat them down ready to take part. The stack of sandwiches was huge, it looked like a whole loaf of doughy white bread, you know, the sort that sits in your stomach for days. The competition started and the noise in the pub got even louder as cheers of encouragement rung around the bar.

It quickly became a race of two speeds which eventually became a one-horse race and a young boy, aged 11 well on the way to finishing his plateful. Suddenly it was obvious he was in trouble, he pulled a funny face and shot off to the toilet. He returned and was awarded a well deserved victory as the other contestants had thrown in the towel, totally beaten. It was great fun for us all to watch and we hope that the flight he was catching that evening went OK!

Isn’t she lovely

Earlier that day Cheryl awoke to a dramatic message from son Alex, ‘News from Canada…..waters have broken’. Another grandchild was on the way, but the due date was end of February, and the dads were on holiday in The Canaries so things weren’t going as planned. As the day progressed Cheryl was discretely checking her phone for updates and apologised to all around the table for having a phone out. Once they understood the situation everyone was engaged in the ongoing drama and demanded regular ten minute checks for an update. Eventually late in the afternoon there was another ping and some excellent news.

Meet Lyra, four and a half weeks premature, fully fit and healthy and totally gorgeous. Congratulations to the proud Dads and immense thanks to the surrogate mum and her family for the greatest gift.

Whilst the Australia Day celebrations were still ramping up, we decided that after 7hrs of eating and drinking, bowing out seemed like the sensible thing to do. We ordered an Uber and headed back to the apartment and a light Cambodian meal of ‘real’ food rather than cheap ‘snags’ and vegemite sandwiches. It had been a great day and we will keep in touch with Annmaree and Russell.

Hello again

In 2011, whilst backpacking in Sri Lanka, we were told about the concept of Couchsurfing from a number of young folk. Travellers are hosted by individuals and families at no cost for a night or two in the way that Pilgrims used to be looked after along their pilgramage routes. The idea is to offer hospitality and to get to know people from around the world. You can look for a bed or offer a bed through the website. We thought it was worth trying and created our own profile.

Shortly afterwards we were accepted for our first Couchsurf with Ian in Kandy. He was working at The British Council teaching English. He proved to be an excellent host, finding us some delicious Sri Lankan food and showing us some of the sights. We have since met up with him several in the UK when he was teaching English to foreign students in Sheffield. Ian holds both UK and Australian citizenship and lives just south of Perth.

We arranged to meet and this time he gave us a tour of Freemantle (Freeo) and Perth. Thanks Ian, you showed us things that we would never have found in a month let alone a day including the highlight of the day for Neil when a massive containership sailed past while we were having lunch in Freeo. (Neil is fascinated by the whole world of containers and how they manage them – did you know that there in excess of 60m containers in the world?……..yawn, yawn).

A short visit but we really liked Perth and would definitely recommend spending a few days there.

On the road again

We’ve done planes, boats and trains. Next in the plan was a road trip around the south of Western Australia in a Motorhome. Early next morning we arrived at the depot near to the airport. We were excited but unfortunately the lady in the office had undergone a personality bypass and couldn’t have been more miserable if she tried. ‘That doesn’t work, you won’t need this, you’ll definitely need to get one of these, that’s useless, blah blah blah’ and so it went on.

Miss Trunchbull was so scary Cheryl took several videos documenting every little bump and scratch on the vehicle in case we were landed with a massive bill for any damage on return. Thankfully, the guy in the workshop was human so we relied on him for information which we needed and we were swiftly on our way.

Trains and Boats and Plains

Posted on April 3, 2025 by Cheryl & Neil

Sometimes our luck runs out and in this instance it definitely wasn’t fine.

The Tasman Sea was having a tantrum which could affect our arrival date in Sydney. We needed to arrive on time as old friends Chris and Viv had arranged to meet us at the port terminal to take us on a ‘magical mystery tour’.

Whilst in Hobart The Captain advised that the weather ahead was looking a tad challenging and this may affect our scheduled itinerary. We contacted C&V and Chris explained that the plan was to drive us to The Hunter Valley to go to a music festival on the Saturday, stay over in a an AB&B and next day to go on a wine tour. The music festival was a one off event so it couldn’t be rearranged.

We kept in touch with them via the ships email with daily updates on whether we would make it but when the final decision was made by the Captain to definitely delay entry to Sydney Harbour to avoid the storm it was clear we weren’t going to make it. Tickets and accommodation had been paid for so C&V went to the festival alone and we decided to try and recover whatever we could.

We worked out that the only way we could join C&V for day 2 and what was left of the wine tour was by booking a very expensive taxi. We rushed off the ship as soon as we were allowed and the taxi was waiting just at the terminal exit – hurrah! We should get there by lunchtime. It was fine that the taxi was there, but it wasn’t fine that the driver had the most terrible BO and we were stuck in a confined space with him for 2 hours. Pah!

We arrived at the lunch venue at exactly the same time as the wine tour – all was not lost! It was great to see C&V and we spent a pleasant afternoon tasting wine, chocolate and cheese. The accommodation was lovely and set in expansive grounds and we were joined by a herd of kangaroos in the evening. We also spotted a joey’s head peeking out of his mum’s pouch, apologies for the quality of the pic.

After leaving the Hunter Valley on Monday we had a couple of days with them at their place in Avalon Beach, north of Sydney. We always have fun with them, and we are looking forward to catching up again when they come over this year to see Viv’s family. Thanks C&V for booking everything, it’s just a pity we couldn’t enjoy the full experience together.

Long train running

As you know we’re getting on with ticking items off the bucket list and decided to take one of the world’s top train journeys. We were going to ride The Indian Pacific Railway all the way from Sydney to Perth in Western Australia. Almost 4 days, 3 nights, on a luxury train with several excursions, gastronomic dining and quality drinks all included. Very expansive, mighty expensive, but we are on a mission and so what the hell, it had to be done. It was also a journey taken by Michael Portillo on his trip to Australia, and looked wonderful.

However, the night before the trip started we received an email advising us to get to the station extra early, as there had been a last minute change of plan. Due to strikes, the train was not going to start at Sydney so we needed to get there early to be bussed out to catch the train elsewhere. Pah! This wasn’t fine – we weren’t going to have the advertised champagne and canapes in the station followed by a gourmet lunch with free flowing drinks on board. Regular readers will recall that UK train strikes have affected many of our journeys so we couldn’t believe it was happening to us in Oz.

Chris kindly agreed to drive us to the station and we set off early through the morning rush hour before we said our goodbyes. After a short wait to check in we headed into the café for simple sandwiches and coffee while we waited for the bus. Inside we met Russell and Annmaree. What a lovely couple, we liked them, we just hit it off immediately. As we were summoned to catch our allotted bus, we realised that the train was segmented and that we were to be on a different bus and a different section to them……..bugger!

The bus took us up through the Blue Mountains which we had been to before, but they are stunningly beautiful, so all was not lost. We stopped for a comfort and sightseeing break and, as you do, made our way to get a beer and a glass of warm bubbly (the place wasn’t great). Who should walk by? Russell and Annmaree…..spooky.

We finally arrived at the station of departure, Littleton, which was totally devoid of facilities and, annoyingly, personnel from the tour company. Anyway, trying to make the most of the boredom, and in the knowledge that we were to have best part of 3 days just eating and drinking, we set about doing laps of the platform to get some exercise. After several false alarms and more delays we eventually boarded the train to realise just how the train was to be segmented. It was a kilometer long and was split into sections of 3 private cabins which were each serviced by a lounge bar cabin and a dining cabin. R&A were in a different area which was a pity but because you met the same few people each morning, lunch and evening it was extremely sociable, and both the food and drink were mighty good. We soon made friends with the lovely barman and after a few drinks and a lovely dinner we settled in.

Our luxury accommodation was a tad on the small side but came with its own very small ensuite. It might have been compact but it was comfortable and was converted from a day sofa to two bunks in the evening by the train staff.

Our first stop the next morning was intended to be at the mining town of Broken Hill, somewhere we intended to visit in the motor home a few years ago but decided against it as it was ‘just too darned hot’! However, as the train was running late, we only had time to stop while the train took on fuel and water. This meant that the excursion we had booked, a walking tour of the town with drag queen Shelita Buffet, was cancelled. However, all was not lost as the train company arranged for her to join the train to provide some entertainment on the way to Adelaide.

We spotted her on the platform and took the opportunity for a quick photo and a chat. We’re not sure if it’s the banter that we had with her on the platform, but she took an instant liking to Neil and used him as a foil for her act. Neil being Neil had a lot of banter with her whilst we’re pretty sure that some people didn’t really know what to make of the lovely Shelita. We played a silly game of bingo, had a quiz, both winning prizes, a fridge magnet for Neil and a baseball cap for Cheryl. She sang and she just strutted her stuff, and she made us laugh. After her performance, she sat down and had a drink with us all and we ended up with an intimate Q&A session where she candidly answered all our questions just chatted about her life, her story – it was excellent.

Adelaide was to be our next stop and we opted for the tour including wine tasting at a vineyard in the McClaren Vale followed by dinner at a restaurant overlooking the sea. Guess who we sat with?

The next day we stopped at Cook, a ghost town. Yup, it was a real ghost town, and one that once had a school and a hospital which was set up in 1917 in the Nullabour Plain to service the railway. It’s around 800km from anywhere and it relied on two trains a week to bring supplies. Sadly, in 1997 with privatisation of the railway and general technological changes it was to die, quickly. It made an eerie visit, old schoolhouse, hospital and sports facilities all just falling foul of the elements which, in the Nullabour Plain, are quite hostile. An interesting fact about the train and the plain, it’s home to the longest piece of straight railway track in the world at 478km or 297 miles.

That evening we stopped at Rawlinna, a remote outpost on the edge of Australia’s largest sheep station, where we enjoyed a fabulous long-table dinner under the stars. It was just an awesome event with some excellent BBQ food, drinks and live music. There was a bonus, somehow amongst the hundreds of people on the train, we managed to meet up with Russell and Annmaree and spend the evening with them. This was beginning to make us think that this was a meeting that was meant to be.

Finally, we arrived in Perth and our train sojourn came to an end. Apart from the rocky start the rest had been just so good. The food and drinks were top notch, the people we met had interesting tales to tell and we had a lot of fun experiences along the way. We had travelled 4352km from the East Coast of Australia to the West. We went through 3 time zones. We spent hours just watching the scenery go through subtle and not so subtle changes, and spotted the occasional Emu or Kangaroo. The most intriguing sight was the endless nothingness of the Nullaboor Plain, Nullaboor means no trees and it was a very good description. We thank our lucky stars that we are fortunate enough to be able to afford it.

Once we had left the train, we set about trying to find Russell and Annmaree to say our goodbyes. Let’s not forget that the train was 1 km long and home to hundreds of people all trying to find a bus, a taxi or loved ones that had come to pick them up. R&A were from Perth, they were home, so it was highly likely that somebody would come and collect them.

We had almost given up when Neil saw Russell who was trying to do the same, say goodbye. We all had hugs and said goodbye until next time, perhaps. Suddenly, Russell announced that tomorrow was Australia Day and that a few of the people from their train segment were getting together at a hotel in South Perth to celebrate and generally say ‘it was a pleasure to meet you’. Would we like to go too? Is the pope a Catholic?

Until next time……

Brief Encounter

Posted on March 23, 2025 by Cheryl & Neil

It’s been a while so please accept our apologies for such a long delay in publishing a blog entry. We won’t bore you with excuses so let’s pick up where we left off in Auckland at New Year with you all wondering what we were about to do next.

Regular readers will know we have changed our travelling style to include sampling more luxurious modes of travel, and just doing the things we’ve always wanted to do. Heck, we’ve worked hard and done enough tea bag sharing to earn the right to splurge! Add to that the fact the present government is itching to grab another slice of tax from us and we have enough incentive to use it or lose it.

We left Auckland on January 5^th aboard The Silver Muse, our latest cruise exploit. This was to be a brief tour of NZ to see if we liked it and might want to revisit for a longer stay. We’ve always said that as so many people rate it so highly, we really should go and give it a try. What’s put us off is the distance but as we now know flying to Auckland isn’t that tortuous, but it is expensive!

We upped the budget considerably as Silversea Cruise Line is one of the best and certainly comes with great reviews. The cabin was lovely but pretty much standard, after all there isn’t much you can do with 15m2, but we did have one very unique extra – a butler called Wayan! Yup, Wayan from Bali had the rather fancy tailcoat and was there to satisfy our every whim. Unfortunately for him, we struggled to find things for him to do, I mean what is one supposed to do with one’s butler? Please feel free to add your comments on this one……….

The lovely Wayan is second from the left

The ship itself was quite small, only 600 passengers, everything included including an excursion in each port, and with excellent facilities. This cruise was promising to be pretty damned good!

Our first port was the town of Napier for two nights. The town was almost completely destroyed by an earthquake in 1931. It was rebuilt in the building design of the day, Art Deco. It is so well preserved, and the streets are full of beautiful buildings and facades. You can hire a tour around town in a 30’s Packard or just stroll around the town, along the seafront and the beautiful Botanic Garden. There is also The Faraday Museum which is more about Tesla, the scientist, not the car, and memorabilia from way back. We had a great visit, playing with pinball machines, sitting in an old dentist’s surgery, generally reliving our childhood. So, Napier got a big thumbs up.

Back on board there was the usual dangers of cruising, great food, new friends and delightful wines and cocktails. Generally, overnight you cruise to the next port and this time it was to Wellington. Our day was to include a ride on a funicular railway in the centre of town and a trip to Zealandia. It’s an Eco Park that was set up 1999 to try and recover and preserve the native wildlife which over hundreds of years has been destroyed due to over cultivation and fishing, importation of invasive species such as rats, cats and dogs and flora and fauna. A huge fence over 5 miles long has been erected to keep out ‘the baddies’ and let the native species thrive and there is ongoing process of removing the invasive plants. It covers over 500 acres it has attracted many native birds, lizards and other wildlife. Zealandia also got a big thumbs up.

Next stop was Lyttleton which is the main port for Christchurch. The town of Christchurch wasn’t very exciting. It was devastated by a huge earthquake in 2011 and has been rebuilt with little or no reference to the buildings that were put up when the islands were first colonised. For Christchurch read concrete. There was a pleasant riverside walk that winded its way around the centre and an excellent botanical garden, but other than that there wasn’t much to interest us.

What we did enjoy was a cruise. Yup, as if we haven’t been on a boat long enough, we took a tour around the vast harbour. The Captain gave us a fascinating talk about the history and the geology of the harbour. The trip took about 2hrs and included a visit to the wreck of the boat The Breeze. There’s not much left of it but the Captain dramatized it’s history beautifully. Whilst it clearly had a chequered history of mishaps and just plain bad luck the Captain did make it all very funny. He also showed us the albatross sanctuary on the top of the cliff. It was beautiful to watch them effortlessly gliding over us with wingspans of around 3m for an adult. They are just mesmerising and it’s just amazing that they spend the first years of their long lives, up to 50 years, at sea without ever touching the ground. Whilst Christchurch itself didn’t get a thumbs up the harbour cruise was outstanding.

By now we were beginning to make friends at the quiz which took place most early evenings. We became ‘quiz tarts’ by joining a few teams before settling with Sally and Ken. We also met them at the dancing that took place every evening after the show in the theatre and somehow, not sure how, we talked about Ford Mustangs. They have a few friends with classic Mustangs and Neil showed Sally our car. We agreed to keep in touch and Sally put her phone number into Neil’s WhatsApp contacts. He labelled her Mustang Sally, and the name stuck! They were a lovely couple, Ken, from the east end of London, and Sally came to NZ as a small child from Taiwan.

Our next visit was to Dunedin where we had originally booked ourselves on another Eco-Park tour. We decided to switch and what a result that was! We started off with a quick tour of the town and the coach driver gave us a great commentary. First to the quite stunning Dunedin Railway Station and the nearby Cadbury Fry’s Chocolate Company.

We then moved on to the steepest street in the world, Baldwin Street. We just had to walk or even run up to the top as we had limited time. It was a challenge, but we rose to it!

The highlight of the tour was to follow. Starting with a scenic drive to Larnach Castle. It’s a mock castle built in 1870 for the Larnach family. William Larnach was an eminent entrepreneur and politician. The history of the family was extremely sad but with lots of interesting scandal. William had 200 labourers build his stately pile over three years for Eliza, his first wife and mother to his six children. With the untimely death of Eliza, two more marriages followed including the much younger ‘live in’ sister of Eliza. She was named in his will which did not impress his children and she was rumoured to have had an affair with Willam’s eldest son.

Due to changes in world economies his business empire began to crumble so the stress of this, the deaths, betrayals and infidelity left him a broken man. He eventually committed suicide in Parliament Buildings. Since his death, the building was used as a nun’s retreat, a billet for soldiers and a lunatic asylum. At one point the ballroom was a sheep pen. Eventually it was left empty and fell into total disrepair until a honeymoon couple came across it in 1967 and fell in love with it and bought it. The Barker’s set about a restoration and now a widow, Margaret, is in her 80’s and is still involved with the property. A tragic story with a happy ending. Dunedin? With the castle and the steepest road in the world it gets a big thumbs up.

It was time to say goodbye to New Zealand as we would be spending almost 2 days crossing the moody Tasman Sea to Australia. What did we think of NZ? From the little we saw we really liked the fact it was well cared for, nature was protected and respected and social equality pretty high. However, the weather wasn’t great for summer and it’s such a long, long way away. We don’t think we will be back but who knows?

After a somewhat bumpy couple of days the crossing turned out fine and we docked in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia and awoke to blue skies and sunshine. We started with a trip to an animal rescue unit. You name it, we saw it, emus, koalas, kangaroos, wombats, echidnas, too many birds to mention. The highlight for us was the Tasmanian devil. They are not whirling dervishes as depicted by Looney Tunes Taz, in fact they are just your average nocturnal animal the size of a small cat that crunches bones like we eat a chocolate digestive – ooooooo, so glad that wasn’t my finger! It was a very friendly park, run on ticket sales, merchandise and donations. Many of the animals are returned to the wild if it’s suitable and those that can’t live out their lives as members of the family. Long stayers have become very accustomed to the people and are allowed to wander free.

Richmond is a well-preserved town outside Hobart that boasts the oldest colonial gaol at over 200 years old. There are many stories of criminals, male, female and children, that were transported to the colonies and used as extremely cheap labour to build and construct the colonies. Many of the tales are tragic and you wonder just how cruel humans can be to send a starving 7-year-old girl halfway around the world for stealing bread. What happened to her on the voyage and when she arrived, we can only imagine. Of course, there are stories about the likes of Isaac “Ikey” Solomon (1785–1850) an English criminal who became an extremely successful receiver of stolen property, is widely regarded as the model for the character Fagin in Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist. After being tried at the Old Bailey 1830, was sent to Richmond Gaol in 1832. This is just a tiny part of his felonious life, look him up on the internet, his life story of deceit, convictions, escapes, crossing continents and becoming a constable himself is sometimes unbelievable……it’ll be 15 minutes well spent.

Day 2 in Hobart included a walking guided tour of the city. Our guide just made the whole journey so much fun and he even provided us all with a view master that contained a reel of photographs taken around 100 years ago. When we reached an iconic building in town, like a bank or newspaper, he told us some tales about the location and said look at the view master and now look at the building today. It was such a simple idea, but it just brought the whole trip into focus.

Poignant reminder of convicts arriving in Hobart

Of course, there were stories and intrigue and scandal highlighted by our final stop on the old quay outside what is now an Irish pub. In the day, it was a bar run by a ‘madame’ and on the top floor, as you might expect from a thriving seaport, were rooms occupied by ‘cooperative ladies’ shall we say. Not very far away is the Parliament Building and there are many rumours and stories that a tunnel was constructed to allow the Parliamentarians to visit ‘the ladies’ without being seen. It also rumoured that the madam had bells in the bar attached on a string to each of the beds upstairs so that she could check on any ‘activity’ that was going on. How true these stories are we don’t care – they are just very funny.

Not far from this pub is Kelly Street with some beautifully preserved housing, some of which had plaques outside explaining who had lived there and what they did for a living. We also managed to get a private peek into the Old Theatre which is so much like our own Gateway Theatre but with a circle which we can only dream of. Hobart gets a massive thumbs up.

After another day at sea we arrived in Eden. By now we were beginning to understand that the Tasman Sea isn’t friendly even on a good day. Our tour included a brief trip around the town, boring, before heading off to another wildlife sanctuary for more cuddly things including curious emus and Millie the blind wombat who was about to be placed on a much needed diet. We make it out to be quite dull which isn’t fair as it was quite charming and very low key.

The highlight of the trip was to visit the Killer Whale Museum which houses the skeleton of ‘Old Tom’ a killer whale that became friends with the whalers of Eden in the late 1800’s. A unique relationship developed between killer whales (orcas) and human whalers where orcas would herd whales into the bay, and in return, whalers would share the prey’s lips and tongues with them, the only bits the orcas wanted, a practice known as the “Law of the Tongue”. Fascinating fact – Orcas are not whales but are part of the dolphin family.

The whaling season was seasonal, and the orcas used to let the whalers know when the first whales of the season were arriving. They even rescued whalers when their boat capsized during a whaling chase. A truly unique and fascinating relationship which goes to show you just how smart some mammals can be. Does Eden get a thumbs up? Probably not but the Orca Museum was superb.

It was now that we fully understood how volatile the Tasman Sea can be. The Captain announced that our 1 night in Eden and 2 nights in Sydney were to be reversed as the sea on the way to Sydney was turning very unfriendly. Whilst the ship could manage the 5-6m waves he didn’t think that us passengers would enjoy the experience. So, the day for sightseeing in Sydney was lost and another night spent in Eden. This was not fine as you will find out later as we had a special plan which relied on us reaching Sydney on schedule.

Everyone made the most of the last night on board it and the crew laid on extra events in the lounge area which fortunately had its own bar – yay – cocktails all round with Sally and Ken et al.

As we were now arriving on the morning of the final day and some passengers had early flights booked, The captain briefed us that he had secured an early entry into the harbour. Guests wanting to observe the sail into Sydney including passing the Opera House and passing under the Harbour Bridge needed to be up on deck around 6am. We woke in plenty of time to have a final room service breakfast only to realise the boat wasn’t moving and we had been ‘stacked’ outside waiting for a berth to become available and a pilot to see us in. The arrival past the Opera House and under the Harbour Bridge was spectacular, which just wish we hadn’t got up a ‘silly-o’clock’ to see it.

What was the verdict on Silversea? It was really expensive but with everything included it made for a very enjoyable experience. We met some lovely and interesting people, the atmosphere on board was fantastic and the service outstanding. Food and drink were incredible with so much attention to detail. Would we use them again – for the right itinerary hell yes!

What’s next? Well, more to come ‘in due course’.

Kia Ora 2025

Posted on January 4, 2025 by cw2611

Christmas done, bags packed, and we were suddenly back at Heathrow.

Our flight with Malaysian Airlines was to take us to Auckland in New Zealand via Kuala Lumpur. The first flight of 12 hrs started with confusion and sadness. A guy in the middle set of seats had a lot of attention from ground staff and, eventually, he and his wife were escorted off the plane. It seems that he had some kind of eye infection, and the captain was unhappy to accept him on the flight – we are guessing that it was in case his condition worsened mid-flight.

The rest of the flight was uneventful. Drinks and food, especially the signature dish of chicken/beef satay, were very good, crew very attentive but the IFE not so good. Our late departure meant a late arrival at KL, which was already tight for our layover time of 1.5 hours for the connecting flight. The crew assured us ‘it’ll be fine’ so, as we scurried first off the plane, (joys of being in Business), we power walked to gate 17 to catch our flight to Auckland. We only had about 30 minutes to get to the gate before it closed. Then another passenger said he had received a text that our onward flight was delayed – phew!

Unfortunately, the second flight of 10hrs was delayed for over 2hrs as we waited for other passengers coming in on connecting flights. This meant that by the time we got to New Zealand and passed through immigration, got bags and a taxi to our apartment we eventually got to our bed at 3am – 32hrs after we got out of our bed in our Heathrow hotel.

We both felt remarkably good considering that neither of us slept a lot on the flights. Malaysian Airlines, overall, came up as ‘slightly better than average’ compared with others like Air India, BA and Iberia.

The apartment we had booked was very good, very close to everything in the CBD (Central Business District) and the perfect place to acclimatise to a 13hr time difference to the UK and to work out where was best to enjoy the New Year fireworks.

Hello 2025

Auckland was the first major city in the world to see in 2025 and the evening did not disappoint with a spectacular show from the top of Auckland Sky Tower with the display beamed all over the world’s news channels. Maybe not as famous as Sydney but we were ‘first’, 2hrs before!

Zip a dee do dah

Cheryl had discovered that on a popular nearby island there was a zip lining facility. 3 long dual zip lines meant we could fly over ancient treetops, vineyards and surrounding countryside side by side. Why wouldn’t we? First, we boarded a ferry to the island where we were picked up by the organisers. We had a wonderful afternoon of zipping and laughing with our fellow zippers. Whilst not as exciting as some of the zips we have done, (Philippines, Mexico, India,) we have added another country, New Zealand, where we have ‘zipped’.

Sky High

The Sky Tower in Auckland is 328m high and has a observation deck at 186m above the city where on a clear day you can see 53 extinct volcanoes and of course spectacular panoramic views of the city and harbour below. It also has a rotating restaurant on the floor above and a cocktail bar on the floor below at 182m. There was a charge of $45 to access the viewing platform, then Cheryl remembered our time in Chicago and the Hancock Tower where you could use the cocktail bar without an admission charge and discovered it was the same here. We booked in for our last night in Auckland and it was more than fine as we got a window table to watch the sunset in style enjoying cocktails and nibbles as the sun slowly sank below the horizon.

Now, you may be asking yourself why did we come all the way to New Zealand? You are going to have to be patient and wait for the next blog post.
Ka Kite Ano

Take a walk on the wild side

Posted on December 27, 2024 by Cheryl & Neil

How do you to mark a major milestone in life? Yes, the old girl was about to hit the onset of her sunset years as she reached the ripe old age of 60. This would have gained her official OAP status in the good old days, however both Tories and Sir Keir have agreed she needs to grow up a bit more before she gets that honoured status. But hell, who needs to grow up? She’s perfectly happy to continue to act her shoe size, and Neil wouldn’t have it any other way.

Mmmmmm, we haven’t been to South America, and I really want to visit Ecuador and Peru. Cheryl’s bucket list ‘ticks’ number one and two The Galapagos Islands followed by Machu Picchu. Regular readers will know that this year’s theme is ‘Just Do It’ and if you are going to do it, then do it in style and that’s exactly what we planned for this special trip.

Trains, planes & automobiles

The Journey logistics weren’t great as there aren’t any direct flights to Quito. We had to go via Madrid or Schipol but each one required setting off at silly o’clock to get the flight done in one go. As we are lucky to have the time we decided to take it slowly with an overnight stay near Heathrow then fly to Madrid for another overnight before the long haul to Quito. We were also aware that we may take time to adjust to the high altitude and we allowed a few days to relax and acclimatise before we joined our tour group.

Day one – taxi to Axminster station, train to Feltham, overnight at The Travelodge in Feltham with beers and food in the nearby Spoons. OK, the start of the trip didn’t qualify as doing it in style, but it did come with the added entertainment of observing the clientele around us. Day two – Full English Breakfast in the Spoons (surprisingly good) then bus to Heathrow T5 for our cattle class flight to Madrid. Shuttle bus to a simple hotel near the airport, a brisk walk around the area and a really pleasant night in Lola Gastro Tapas Bar. Day three – Shuttle back to airport before breakfast in the Iberia business lounge next morning.

We didn’t pay the extra to book seats in advance as it’s usually easy to sit together in business. On boarding we worked our usual charm to snag two seats side by side and were intrigued by strange goings on in the nearby pod. The staff were clambering all over and under the seat and spent ages fishing underneath to retrieve an object that looked like a tin of Spam which had managed somehow to get wedged in. The owner of said tin, now known as Mr Spam, looked like the kind of guy you wouldn’t mess with and spent most of the flight sending messages on his phone. With an overactive mind and knowing that Ecuador has something of a reputation as a moderately lawless drug riddled country, Neil was convinced he was a Mr Big and was ordering a few executions and it was almost definitely something more interesting in that tin than the contents of a tasty fried fritter. Intrigued, Cheryl couldn’t contain herself and as we were disembarking, plucked up the courage to ask what was in the tin. Not spam but a tin of very good pate! …..well that’s what we thought he said and Neil wasn’t going to ask twice.

Regular readers know that our usual travel style is to make all our own arrangements and travel independently. However, we’ve been changing the mix and trying a few cruises and this time we also opted for an organised land tour especially as access to Machu Picchu has been limited since Covid times. This would also give us the opportunity to experience staying in some places we wouldn’t normally book, very swanky! We were a little concerned that we may not appreciate the regimentation involved and would we get along with our fellow travellers?

Despite arriving well before the tour started we did get the included transfer from the airport and were met in arrivals by the Celebrity Rep, Carla. On the journey from the airport to the hotel she gave us a brief modern history of the 1999 financial woes of the country plus the eruption that took place. Quito is surrounded by over a dozen active volcanoes which, thankfully, chose to behave while we were there. From the airport to the city centre you climb over 400m via very steep and winding streets. To avoid the rush hour traffic the small mini bus that we were in was weaving it’s way along narrow streets through hairpin bend after hairpin bend until something went ‘bang’ and we stopped half way round a corner. Something had broken with a loud thud, possibly the prop shaft, which meant we weren’t going anywhere. Just then a taxi just happened to pass by. A local guy directed traffic around us and Carla whisked us into the cab and we left the unfortunate mini-bus driver to get a tow. Everyone involved was incredibly polite and helpful so it was a great introduction to Ecuador.

We checked into a quirky B&B and it was only after taking our bags up the stairs did we feel the first effects of the altitude.………wow………how difficult was that? We quickly discovered how thin the air was at 2850m so decided to take our time over things. After a couple of days resting and exploring the local area we wheeled our bags to The Marriott for the official start of the tour. By the way, we even impressed ourselves by returning to our old travelling packing skills and had around 12kg each in the cases plus about 5KGs in carry on packs. We got an early check in and had a huge room with a fabulous view of the volcano that erupted in 1999, Guagua Pichincha.

The following day we met our guides and were being divided into small groups and set off for sightseeing beginning with a viewpoint with a statue of The Virgin of Quito followed by a walking tour of the Old Quarter before lunch.

The afternoon was spent at the Equator park. We couldn’t resist the cheesy photo opportunity to stand with a foot either side of the equator. Our local guide gave us a simple science lesson how the earth’s forces operate at the widest part of the planet. This included a demonstration on which way the sink drains in each hemisphere, standing an egg on end and lots of other silly stuff. It was great!

Dinner was at a lovely local restaurant with great food and getting to know our group.

Galapagos Customs are very strict as the ecology of the Islands is paramount so we had been told to have our cases packed but unlocked and taken to a store room where they would be searched overnight for any organic matter before being loaded for our flight.

Next morning we traveled to the airport for the 2hr flight to The Galapagos Islands. Excitement doesn’t really describe how we felt as we walked from the plane to the terminal – the wildlife frenzy began with land iguanas everywhere!

The one hiccup in the logistics was the long wait for the local buses to deliver us to the very small dock where we then boarded the fleet of tenders from the boat which to us to the ship. Wow, what a ship. Celebrity Flora was specifically designed to be a luxury expedition vessel and she did not disappoint.

Our cabin was spacious and had a quirky design they called an infinite verandah. That meant that instead of a separate balcony, the whole window opened up to make the entire room feel open to the outside. It’s a small vessel, 100 passengers max and just 92 on our cruise, so doesn’t have the multiple restaurants, nightclubs, pools etc of the mega ships but what it has is top notch and beautifully designed.

The upper deck was like an exclusive beach club with a small restaurant and bar where you could dine under the stars, a huge hot tub and a couple of glamping pods alongside designer loungers and sofas.

The food was excellent, drinks were all included, the entertainment largely self-made and the bar well stocked. We had a silent disco, karaoke, yes we did very bad karaoke, and generally made friends with the mostly American passengers. We soon bonded with Catherine and Amy from Arizona, Monica from California and Dennis and Michael from New Jersey.

In Darwin’s Footsteps

Since studying evolution at school Cheryl has wanted to visit The Galapagos to see the wildlife and the islands did not disappoint. The ship had it’s own team of naturalists who were incredibly knowledgeable and professional and really added to our understanding and enjoyment of the excursions. The wildlife was incredible.

Land and sea iguanas everywhere. More sea lions than you could possibly count.

Flamingos were enjoying the brackish lagoons just behind the beaches. There were birds everywhere including the very dramatic frigate birds. Penguins stood and stared from rocks. They were only there because they were brought by the Humboldt Current and evolved to become one of the smallest penguin species.

The geology was equally amazing with the islands all very different. The beaches were different colours, red, black and white, and we walked across a black lava flow.

We climbed dormant volcanoes, and we snorkeled with beautiful fish, sharks and at one point a sea lion glided underneath Cheryl as she gained her confidence in the shallows. We planted native trees and waited patiently for giant tortoises to cross roads. We had 7 days of stunning sightseeing, informative well qualified guides, never a dull moment, in fact, full on fun.

Stop it

Right, there is something we need to get off our chests and out of our systems. Boobies! Yes BOOBIES lots and lots of Boobies tee hee hee. Stop sniggering and get serious – these are not just any boobies, these are your Blue Footed Boobies and their feet are an incredible shade of blue. Of course there are a whole load of boobie spin offs, more on those later – because, well, you would wouldn’t you? There are also red footed Boobies but we didn’t get to see any of those.

Each day on the boat was full on as they wanted us to get as much out of the visit as possible so most days involved excursions morning and afternoon plus options for experienced snorkelers and kayakers with all equipment provided. On our first day we had wetsuits fitted, given snorkel equipment, fins and storage bags and a special place to put these on the loading deck. We had to use the ships tenders to access the islands and this meant a combination of wet landings onto beaches and dry landings onto rocks/steps and small dock areas. It was an incredible mix of walks, hikes, climbs, wades, swims and snorkeling from both beaches and the tenders.

Now that’s an unexpected sight

Between the trips we loved just gazing at the glorious views which were of endless ocean or remote islands in the distance. It was so calm and peaceful with not a soul in sight. One morning we had just returned from a wet landing excursion which included beach snorkeling. We completed the strict return to ship routine. Wash off beach shoes in a tub, hiking shoes soles scrubbed, wetsuit off and rinsed in another tub, quick shower down, hang up wetsuits, hang up snorkel bag, wash hands, check in and back to the cabin for a hot shower, wash out swim wear and dry off beach/scuba shoes. It was a hot sunny day so we set to stacking our damp gear in front of the huge sun drenched window with the endless view of the empty ocean.

Suddenly there was a huge roar coming from below and we saw one of the ships tenders loaded with around a dozen snorkelers returning to the ship passing right below our window. Ooops – Cheryl was in her undies but Neil wasn’t – so what would you do in this situation? No prizes for guessing the correct answer – Cheryl fled and Neil posed in the window for them. How embarrassing, Cheryl asked Neil if he recognised anyone in the tender and he seemed to think we were OK and that they couldn’t possibly have seen that much detail from that distance. ‘It’ll be fine’ he said confidently.

That evening, as usual we headed to the bar before dinner for cocktail of the day and the briefing on the next day’s excursions. We were beckoned over by our usual group of friends. Michael was excited and couldn’t contain himself as he was bursting to give us his news, ‘You two just won’t believe what happened to us as we came back from snorkeling, It was hilarious, there were these naked people on the top deck of the cabins standing right next to the window! We could see straight in! Our guide was very quick to reassure us that it wasn’t that type of cruise ha ha ha …………….’ Oh no, thought Cheryl, he must have seen us and is just teasing now, so might as well admit it. ‘Ummmmmm, that was us’ we said solemnly looking very sheepish.

That’s when he had an even bigger laugh as it turned out he had absolutely no idea it was us and couldn’t believe we had just given the game away. He nearly exploded when Neil adopted the same pose, this time thankfully fully clothed, as total proof. Both he and husband Dennis dined out on that story for the rest of the week, and he’s probably telling it now. We did get kudos for admitting it was us and we learned the valuable lesson that the huge picture windows are not coated in privacy glass and just because it’s normally miles and miles of ocean out there don’t assume a boat load of people won’t come flying past at any moment!

I’m sixty and I know it

Whilst on board we celebrated Cheryl’s big birthday with a table full of friends with the staff singing Happy Birthday, and playing the guitar, followed by Cielito Lindo a Mexican folk song, with the catchy chorus of Ay Ay Ay Ay whilst everyone joined in and waved their napkins around their heads. What a way to celebrate being 60, sailing around The Galapagos eating delicious food and drinking fine wines! Inevitably, there were a lot of birthdays on board so this became a nightly ritual, sometime multiple time a night but it was still great fun.

Friends in high places

Turned out our new best mates Michael & Dennis were in the Penthouse Suite and they invited us along to a pre-dinner cocktail party towards the end of the cruise. It was beautiful and Cheryl was very tempted to pretend these photos were our cabin! They were such fun to be with and included us when they had an invitation to visit the Bridge for a tour. Cheryl was also gifted a massage in the Spa to celebrate her birthday present which was wonderful and very indulgent.

Friends Catherine, Amy, Michael, Dennis & Monica

In Paddington’s footsteps.

We had attached a follow on trip to the end of our cruise which took us to Peru. Of the 92 passengers on the cruise 20 people continued on the tour to Peru including the lovely Dennis and Michael. It was sad to say goodbye to our other friends who were returning home. It was an extremely long day as we had to disembark Flora early, fly back to Quito, transfer to day hotel near airport before a long wait at Quito airport before the international flight to Lima in Peru.

On route to the airport one of the guides told us to empty the refillable water bottles we had been given as you couldn’t take water on an international flight. ‘Empty your bottle’s he said several times. The trouble was he had a heavy accent which made it sound like ‘empty your bowels’ and everyone just burst out laughing.

The tour was for 7 nights staying in some very, very expensive hotels whilst taking in guided tours of Lima, Machu Pichu, Cusco and lots of other Inca sightseeing. Arriving very late in Lima meant we missed the worst of the crazy traffic. Next day we had a short tour and lunch in a beautiful restaurant. Lima has a very quirky climate, it’s apparently always overcast skies through the whole of winter although it’s not cold. We were transitioning into summer so managed some blue sky in the afternoon.

Sacred Valley

Next morning another early start and we flew into Cuzco which at 3400m is even higher than Quito, so we were glad to be heading straight to The Sacred Valley, a mere 2800m where we stayed for a two nights at The Tambo del Inka hotel. The hotel had it’s own baby alpacas as well as a Spa with indoor/outdoor pool – and best of all we got some free time to enjoy it!

The Big One

Next day we set off early and took the incredibly scenic vistadome train towards Machu Picchu. Arriving at Aguas Calientes we took a short walk and finally a bus to the historic site entrance. The weather that day was damp but looked as if it was improving and the rain stopped as we finished lunch and headed in. It was truly awesome, and it’s the whole panorama which makes it so special. The clouds swirled round and around the peaks which tower above as Machu Picchu is at 2430m.

Unfortunately we were part way round when the rain bucketed down before we could get the rain jackets on and we were soaked. However without rain you don’t get a rainbow. The return to The Sacred Valley was an absolute treat. We had champagne and canapes in the Sanctuary Hotel at the site then boarded the luxury Hiram Bingham train and had a gourmet dinner on the way back.

The guide we had, Diego, was fantastic, full of useful information without being too intense and he had a great sense of humour. We thought that The Galapagos was full on, but this was so intense getting on the minibus at 8am, morning tour, big lunches, afternoon tour, drinks and dinner. Talking of dinner, there was so much food on this tour, served up in so many interesting places including on a ranch with an accompanying horse riding display. We tried llama – not great, but didn’t get to try ‘Cuy’ aka Guinea Pig, which is a local delicacy.

The Incas abandoned Machu Picchu in the mid 1500s when the Spanish began to conquer the Inca Empire. The Incas built other settlements in The Sacred Valley and we visited a couple. Ollayantambo – with a perfectly placed temple to view the rising sun in the cleft on one side of a mountain on the Spring equinox and watch the sunset travel across until it hit another cleft on the Winter equinox. It’s the Southern hemisphere and the biggest Inca celebration was held on 24th June, when it was clear to see by the sunset that the days were getting longer and summer was on it’s way.

The building skills of the Incas could clearly be seen at Saqsaywaman. The Incas built stone roads at an 8 degree slope which enabled men to use ropes to drag huge boulders to the site. They then cut and stacked them with extreme precision.

We stayed in some amazing hotels, including a restored monastery in Cuzco. This place was stunning with cloistered courtyards, and incredible public areas crammed with amazing architectural features and artifacts. There were old and somewhat creepy religious paintings above the beds in the rooms. Dinner here was extra special in atmospheric cloisters with silver service from white gloved waiters and Opera singers serenading us from the old pulpit whilst we ate.

On our return to Lima we had another fun trip to finish – a mixology class in a very trendy bar.

The trip was exhausting but absolutely amazing. We have new friends and we have more stories to tell including about ‘whisky galore’. On the Iberia flight out Neil couldn’t sleep so he just watched films and decided to have a whisky. The steward said ‘is blue label Johnny Walker, OK? ‘Fine’ said Neil having only heard of J W red and black label. It wasn’t till he looked it up on’t t’internet that he realised it’s £160/bottle from Amazon. Needless to say, we filled our boots on the flight home!

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our readers

Back home and just enough time to put up the tree before a visit from Alex, Freddy and Luke and we all took a ride on The Polar Express. They also visited the new Jurassic Discovery Centre where the dinosaurs were also in festive mood.

Just before Christmas we drove to Bristol for some time with the family there. Another great pre Christmas get together for Marlpit Lane Social Club, this year hosted by Maureen & Paul, and our silly secret Santa was a lot of fun. After such a full-on trip to South America, Cheryl having quite a bit of dental work and lots of other lunches and dinners we decided to have a nice quiet Christmas Day ‘home alone’ with a walk along the beach.

This post has been brought to you by the following sponsors and BTW, they are all cheapskates as we received nothing for all this valuable publicity!

Take a chance on me

Posted on November 13, 2024 by Cheryl & Neil

Here’s the latest roundup of what we’ve been up to, and guess what? Yet another trip, which this time wasn’t one we had planned, but was an offer we couldn’t refuse.

Andy, our cruise guru, messaged out to all his customers to say that he had booked a cruise for himself which he now couldn’t make due to a training course that his wife wanted to go on. We saw the WhatsApp message and Neil said ‘that’s good value – is that for 1 or 2 people?’ It was for 2 so Neil said ‘just grab it’ as he rubbed his hands together. It was never in the schedule but the opportunity to get some Autumn sun and visit Lisbon & Valencia amongst other places we had never been was just too big an opportunity to miss.

There were just a couple of negatives but we went for it anyway. It was P&O, which we had previously decided not to use again, and it was a huge ship, The Iona, which holds 5200 people. On the plus side it was from Southampton and it was a new ship. It was also October so probably wouldn’t be full, and at two weeks long, unlikely to be packed with kids. We cruised at the same time last year and it really felt like the summer had been extended so with the disappointing weather this summer who wouldn’t want some last minute sunshine?

Boarding was swift and our cabin décor was fresh and modern and we were on Deck 15 so certain to get plenty of exercise using the stairs! We explored the ship and really liked the enclosed dome area on the upper decks where some circus style entertainment would take place over the pool area on some evenings, and the large and airy atrium and generally the fact that everything looked shiny and new.

The weather was a little grey as set sail later that afternoon. There was an announcement from El Capitano to say that storm Kirk was on it’s way and that he intended to miss our first port of call, La Coruna, and just head south at great speed to avoid the storm. That meant an extra sea day but at least it was smooth sailing. It wasn’t the weather for the sun worshippers to toast themselves so the public areas were packed – and that’s when we realised there were a lot of school age kids on board as well. Scotland have different school hols, they had two weeks and the ship was at full capacity – ugh. Another surprise was that on such a huge ship you had to use an app to book into the big shows in the theatre, the special shows in a really tiny venue, the main dining room and any speciality dining – and some people had done this before they boarded so most things were full up – more ugh.

Hey ho – as you know, regular readers, we are resourceful and soon discovered that we could rock up to the main restaurants (choice of 4) without a booking, agree to sharing a table and we were straight in. Same with shows – hover outside and ten minutes before the start if there were seats, and there always were, we could get in. We found some quieter spots, got chatty with the bar staff enjoyed the excellent wines in The Glasshouse and generally settled in despite the chaos and noise all around.

Our first port of call was Vigo in Spain – not a hugely exciting place but we enjoyed a stroll around the town.

Another sea day – with not a lot to do and then to Lisbon in Portugal where the ship stayed two days. We really enjoyed Lisbon, and have decided to go back there, probably next year.

We tried to get on the historical tram 28 but the queue was huge so wandered around and eventually stumbled upon a strange doorway with a small queue inside – a near vertical tram and we took a ride.

We arrived in the early hours so didn’t realise what a scenic ride the sail away from Lisbon was going to be. It was really picturesque as we left the cruise dock and headed towards the sea taking in the amazing views of the town. We got to an enormous bridge but as we got closer it was apparent there wasn’t going to be much room left as we passed

Hola Amigos

The weather wasn’t kind as we left which was a pity but as we sailed into the Mediterranean it warmed up. Our next port of call was Valencia. We had previously arranged to meet old friends Clive and Karen who live about 2hrs away. We had an excellent lunch, a drink or two, and lots of laughs. Clive reminded Neil that they have been friends now for over sixty years, and they are still as daft as the day they met! Great to see them and now we’re looking forward to visiting them again in 2025. Valencia, by the way, was lovely and we’ll be back there next year as we fly there for a few nights before meeting up with C&K.

Next stop was Barcelona where we last visited more than 20 years ago. The Gaudi Cathedral is still ongoing and probably will still be ongoing in another 20 years. It is one of the weirdest things we have seen and we were keen to find so were some of the other Gaudi buildings. Cheryl plotted a route back to the ship via a number of buildings that were Gaudi inspired. Whatever he was smoking we’d like some!

There was one major surprise that we didn’t know about until we got on board. Gary Barlow has been working with P&O cruises, particularly with creative input into some of the entertainment venues on the newer ships. He was going to join the ship in Lisbon to put on a couple of shows, but entry was by ticket only and to get a ticket you needed to donate £10 to his two favourite children’s charities and you would be in a raffle. Lucky is Neil’s middle name so of course we won tickets, and the charities got a huge £27,000. Cheryl really enjoyed the music and the show but Neil, who is not a big fan of his music, had to admit that the show was superb. How about that, Gary Barlow for a tenner a ticket!

Last stop was Cadiz which we visited last year. A really pleasant town and we enjoyed a long walk following the old city walls and then exploring the charming old town.

A couple more sea days – again with miserable weather, and we were back in Southampton. There were quite a few things we didn’t enjoy about the holiday, but there were many positives – Lisbon, Valencia with C&K, Barcelona, Gary Barlow, the excellent wines and Ryan North the pianist in The Crow’s Nest who played some perfect late night cocktail music whilst we sipped all sorts! Another bonus was we decided to take the upgrade on the travel insurance to cover missed ports as it only cost £13 and got £300 back in our bank account on our return- woo hoo!

Mundane stuff took over on our return, flu/covid jab for Neil plus typhoid and Hep A for both of us, dentist, garden, chimneys taking shape and so it goes on. We did front of house at The Gateway, Bar work for the Riviera Dogs gig night, and we had the first Comedy Club night which was a great success. The next one in 3 months is already nearly sold out.

Spot the difference? There’s definitely at least six for the eagle eyed, not including seasonal differences as the first picture was taken during the viewing in April 2019 and the second in November 2024

Celebrations

Cheryl spent a few days in London to celebrate Son Alex’s birthday and spend time with the boys. Great day out at Kew Gardens, fabulous lunch on the Thames followed by using the really fast River Bus for the first time. Cheryl and Alex also had an evening learning the basics of Thai cooking at Borough Kitchen – it was delicious.

While she was away, Neil decided to tackle the redecorating in the big bedrooms to cover up the water damage from the leaking chimneys.

Our regular lunch with Neil’s siblings and spouses, June, Roy, Bill and Sue took place at a new venue, The Village Inn at Liddington near Swindon. It’s a pleasant enough venue, food was OK but the company was great. Due to holiday schedules, and Christmas, it’s looking likely that April will be the next date.

You may remember that Neil managed to spin out his 70^th birthday celebration for several months so he could fit in all his friends and family? Not to be outdone, and as she has a special birthday coming up, Cheryl decided to start hers during her visit to London then continued with a special dinner with Marlpit Lane Social Club. Chef Dariusz arrived to work his magic and produced a spectacular 3 course meal. He left and we continued with a cheese course and more wine and chat with the party finally ending after midnight.

The big day is actually at the end of November and there is something really special planned. You will have to wait for the next update to find out what it is!

Status Quo

Posted on March 16, 2024 by Cheryl & Neil

Being back in Benaulim is like putting on a comfy pair of slippers………bliss. Not much had changed but then it rarely does. We had lots of our favourite travel chums for playmates, and a warm welcome from the staff in all our favourite venues who we’ve known so long and have been so kind to us that we consider them friends. It was so good to be back. The partying started almost immediately after we landed, and it went on pretty much throughout our time there. We had some new experiences, a minor mishap for Neil which continues to annoy the hell out of him, and a lucky escape one evening all due to Neil being a miserable git.

It’s been a long time since we flew Air India with some good and some not so good experiences over the years. However, the new direct flight into Goa instead of the usual painful hop via Mumbai or Delhi was too good to resist. There have been several posts on the TripAdvisor Goa forum moaning about a few things, but we hoped that by turning left when we got on the plane rather than going right, we had half a chance of getting a good flight.

Well, the lounge at Gatwick was simple but the drinks flowed, and the food was fine including a huge plate of very good blue cheese which didn’t get finished so it found its way to Benaulim. The flight was smooth, the food and drink really good and we both flattened our beds and slept soundly. Talking of sleeping soundly, a lot has to do with being issued PJ’s and slippers, yes, very stylish PJ’s and made by TUMI, very posh. There were only 18 seats in Business and once we were all dressed for bed it looked like a scene out of Con Air!

As we were in posh class we were first off the plane and sailed through immigration only to stutter to a halt as our ‘priority baggage’ had obviously been loaded onto the plane first so was very slow in coming off – ‘so not quite priority then?’.

Next, we had to get a taxi and for the first time we used the Goa Miles App (similar to Uber) to share a taxi with a couple going to another complex just down the road from our apartment. It worked well and we saved ourselves quite a bit of money by sharing which was just as well as the new airport at Mopa is a lot further North than Dabolim. We arrived in Benaulim and lovely landlord Tony was waiting with the keys and had stocked the fridge with milk to make tea in the morning. Time for a bit of unpacking before heading off to Savio’s for dinner. A truly warm welcome from Gopal, Rueben, Roy and Lal and the usual quality nosh and a few Kingfisher Strong (8%) and Gin like substance with Tonic for Cheryl.

Saturday was a quiet day on the beach and saying hello to people including shack owner Rex and Vittal his long serving ‘shack boy’ (hardly a boy when he has 2 children!) plus new ‘shack boy’ Jimmy from north India. Sky Rooftop restaurant for dinner to make sure we kept in Bishnu’s good books before an early night and once again the kitchen delivered superb food.

Sunday was the start of the partying with Brunch at The Fairfield. Whilst we weren’t feeling starved of good wine, well not at this point, it was good to meet more friends over some excellent food and wine and very pleasant surroundings. After plenty of drinks, and with jet lag still a factor, we got back to the apartment and had a very good sleep although Neil did manage to get out around 8pm for a couple of KF strongs and a cheese, garlic nan whilst Cheryl just slept.

The following week we had a trip on Betty’s Boats with John and Suz and this set the scene for the rest of our stay in Goa. Sunday brunches interspersed with the odd boat trip broken up by lazy days on the beach laying in the shade either swimming, reading, doing puzzles or crosswords. Thanks to Connie and Paul we even had a themed Sounds of the Seventies Boat Trip. It was fabulous fun as everyone managed a costume and there was a lot of dad dancing going on.

Then, shock horror, it rained! Not much but at this time of year rain is unheard of.

We couldn’t come to Goa without going to see Rahul the dentist to get our teeth checked out and we also did something we’ve never done before. We then went to Victor Hospital for a full health check, something friends had done, we had talked about doing over the years but had never got around to. The check included 5 blood samples for liver, diabetes, PSA, cholesterol, kidneys etc, a Health Questionnaire, blood pressure, urine and stool samples, chest X-Ray, ultrasound scan of all vital organs, an echo/stress test for the heart, an ECG, consultation with the eye specialist and dentist plus lots more. Finally, a chat with a Senior Consultant about the results. She said she had rarely seen one as good from a 70 year old, well done Neil. All this for less than £24.

Food doesn’t get blander than a hospital breakfast

That night we went to Greg’s birthday party at his favourite shack on the beach. DJ Paul did the music so it was full of Greg’s favourites, 80’s, ska, northern soul and reggae. We danced around like Tasmanian Devils only for Neil to wake up next morning hardly able to walk. He had had problems in the past with this left foot but was now told by many previous sufferers that he probably had plantar fasciitis. We had never heard of it before but quickly found out that its quite common. It didn’t get much better for a day or two so Rex gave us the number of a doctor in Margao who specialised in problems just like this. He confirmed the amateur diagnosis was correct and gave Neil exercises to do as that’s about all you can do. He is getting better but then for no reason he has another bad day. So, having had a body check that said he had a great ‘bod’ for a 70 year old he was now hobbling around like 100 year old! That’ll teach him to be so bloody smug.

Of course, mustn’t forget Wednesday quiz nights which we won the first week and having peaked early there really is only one way to go. It doesn’t matter, all the money goes to the girl’s orphanage in nearby Colva. It’s a fun night, it keeps the brain in gear and the current donation is close to £1000 and climbing which, for India, is a serious amount of money.

The seven blunders of the world celebrating the one and only victory

Having had Sunday Brunch at the nearby Fairfield by Marriott we decided to upgrade and go to The Alila Diwa in nearby Majorda. The A. D. is now part of Hyatt Hotels, and they allow people to use the pool before Brunch. The pool is outstanding, an infinity pool overlooking the paddies and the palms and somewhere between 40-50m long. The food is excellent and came with additional entertainment – very upmarket and expensive Indian Weddings. They are huge, cost eye watering amounts of money and yet we were always welcome to join in on the dancing.

We had settled into a rut but what a rut!! Beach in the day, dinner in the village in the evening, occasional boat trip to enjoy dolphin spotting and the stunning River Sal plus Sunday Brunch alternatively between The Fairfield and The Alila Diwa. It’s tough but someone had to do it otherwise all those businesses wouldn’t exist.

Trouble in Paradise

Our friends Anette and Keld from Denmark were due to leave Benaulim at midnight by taxi to go to the airport to fly home. They like a restaurant called Valonia’s Wheels which on a Tuesday has live music. They planned to say farewell to everyone with singing and dancing the evening away before walking back to their guest house to pick up the taxi. We were invited but as Neil is a miserable git and, Cheryl kind of agrees on this one, the music by ‘Two to Tango’ is worse than ‘The Birdie Song’ – we didn’t go.

We got a message the next morning from Brenda explaining what happened that night. Colin and Jan left a little early as Colin wasn’t feeling great which left Anette and Keld, Roger and Ann plus Tony and Brenda to walk home. They left shortly after 11 for the walk back to the village and then disaster happened. The road was quiet, Benaulim is generally a sleepy place, but there was an idiot on a motor bike on his way back from the beach and he ploughed into Roger and Keld who were bringing up the rear of the party. Both ended up seriously injured, Roger with a huge gash in his right calf and Keld with a smashed up left leg with the bone sticking out of his leg.

The ambulance took 45 minutes to arrive and they were eventually whisked off to the private hospital where they received treatment. Both of them were complaining of pain in the opposite leg that was obviously injured but the staff were busy treating the legs that were bleeding. After a couple of days the doctors began to take notice as the pain for both of them was getting worse. After further scans it was apparent that Roger had major ligament damage to his left leg and Keld had a minor fracture to his right leg. To cut a very long story short, neither the UK or Danish insurance companies came out smelling of something nice, they were both patched up well in Victory Hospital and many of us formed a rota to go and see them regularly in hospital. Keld was eventually airlifted home to Odense and Rogar chose to stay in Goa and have his ligaments fixed there rather than wait months for the NHS to get around to fixing him up. At the time we type this Keld is home and healing well and Roger is still in Goa having daily physio after his operation. It could all have been so much worse, but it does make you realise that none of us know what’s around the corner. Lives can be changed, permanently, in a split second and it could have been us if we had been there.

There was one positive that came out of the accident. Keld likes a cigarette, not many, but a puff a few times a day. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to smoke in hospital he had his last cigarette whilst laying in the road waiting for the ambulance and, as we type, he has still given it up. He’ll dine out on the story of the last cigarette for some time to come.

We loved our stay in Goa and finished off with sundowners, food and the most exquisite sunset that we have seen in years – absolutely fabulous. Colin and Jan, Tony and Brenda and Ann minus Roger had a lovely evening and after walking Ann home to nurse Roger we finished off in Savio’s for a few night caps and to say our goodbyes.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

The next day we flew north with John and Suz to visit a place we’ve put off visiting ever since we first traveled India in the early 2000’s. Varanasi, one of the most spiritual places on the planet. Certainly, if you are Hindu and want to get good karma it’s the place to go to and dip in The Ganges and it’s the place to have your remains cremated on the banks of the river. We pushed the boat out, literally, and paid a lot of money for a simple guesthouse that sits overlooking one of the bathing ghats. The location was perfect, with a rooftop where we enjoyed watching the activity on the river and had breakfast and dinner.

During the day we walked along the river footpath past the various ghats taking in the atmosphere and observing all the different activities taking place. On one of our walks, we watched a beautifully wrapped body unloaded from the roof of a tuk-tuk before it was taken to the riverside for cremation on one of the many funeral pyres at the two burning ghats. There was smoke everywhere from the many family celebrations/cremations that were taking place. At dawn and dusk the Ganga Aarti is performed. Its a devotional ritual which uses fire as an offering and we were fortunate to observe both as part of the river cruises we took. Whilst neither of us are religious it was fascinating to see such passion from the devotees for their faith.

We thought it would be quite a sombre experience but the atmosphere was uplifting and full of joy. The pilgrim groups taking their holy dips were having a great time laughing together and the people on the many boats on the water were waving and taking pictures of each other and that included taking pictures of us.

Next stop was Amritsar, home of the famous Golden Temple and a return to one of our favourite places. This is another very spiritual place but this time for Sikhs. It is a stunning temple that sits in the middle of a lake within a huge temple complex. We had to remove our shoes and wear a head covering. It was a first for John and Suz who loved it. We wandered around the temple complex by day and at dusk as the atmosphere is different. We also took tea with the pilgrims in the Langar. It’s a communal kitchen and dining area which serves meals to all free of charge regardless of religion, caste, gender or economic status. People sit on the floor and eat together and the kitchen is manned by volunteers. We got chatting with several people including the lovely gentlemen pictured below and we had many requests to be in family selfies.

Early in the morning we queued for an hour to get inside the golden temple itself and see, yet again, the passion from the pilgrims. Again the atmosphere was wonderfully uplifting. It was a lot of fun, chatting to Sikh families who were visiting from all over the world including Canada and Australia. On the way out of the temple Neil was handed a red rose by one of the Temple’s Elders, ‘this is for you’ he said. We are now trying to dry it in the hope that we can preserve it and it can go into our display cabinet at the top of the stairs which contains our travel memorabilia.

Amritsar is also very close to the border with Pakistan. We took a taxi to nearby Wagah where every night there is a special ceremony as the flags of India and Pakistan are lowered as the border is officially closed for the night. Although it is performed by Border Force Guards it has evolved over the years into an over the top theatrical performance full of pomp, pride and swagger. There is a purpose built stadium on both sides to allow the public to view and it’s all free to attend. The Indian side is about ten times the size of the Pakistan stadium and the atmosphere was electric with lots of good humoured flag waving and singing beforehand as the audiences are whipped into a patriotic frenzy by the warm up performers who were superb. On the Pakistan side there was a one legged flag bearer who spun round and round like a whirling dervish to the delight and awe of all onlookers. It was truly astounding but sadly we weren’t able to get a good picture to share with you.

Homeward Bound

The time had come to fly home but our trip was to have one final twist – Neil woke up at 4am with Delhi Belly, well, The Amritsar Runs to be precise. Not a good day to be constantly looking for a toilet with a 9hr flight home. Fortunately, he wasn’t out of control, and we did have a nice flatbed to lie in once we had taken off. Hoping, somewhat wishfully, he thought that several G&T’s would kill the bug. It didn’t work but it did help him sleep most of the journey home with the regular visits to the loo. With only 18 seats in Business Class it meant that he didn’t, thankfully, have to queue!

We arrived back in Blighty and it was time to say our goodbyes To John & Suz – thanks for being great travel buddies. We caught the train from Gatwick to stay with Alex and Freddy and baby Luke and Neil went straight to bed. Thanks to Freddy for booking a ride on the Mail Rail. Located near the Postal Museum this is a tiny train which runs underground and carried mail beneath the busy streets of London. It was in use from 1927 until 2003 and is now used for tours into the subterranean world where the mail was sorted and ran from Paddington in the West to Whitechapel in the East, a distance of 6.5 miles. Lovely few days catching up with the boys although after endless repeats of reading Hairy McClary it’s no longer Cheryl’s favourite book!

We’ve been back in Seaton a while now and have got back into our normal routine. It is good to be home even though it’s raining again as we type. The grass is cut, the birds are singing as Spring erupts, bacon sandwiches, real ale, homemade Scotch eggs from the butcher, working the bar at The Gateway, Ringo is still making our garden look beautiful and, generally, life is good, very good. Ah, and not to mention several more trips to look forward to but you’ll have to wait a while to hear about them.

Before we go let’s have a stalker update! At the time we were ‘outed’ by our stalker(s) we did see some unusual activity on the site stats. We had a high number of hits and reads from a brand new location, and one which we couldn’t connect with any of you, our dear readers. We were at a loss until recently we struck gold and heard a comment about this place which could be the missing link we have been looking for.

This post has been brought to you by the following sponsors – absolutely no payments were taken by us for promoting these products!!