January 5th-13th Old London Towne

Before we knew it, we were up in the air and off to explore the fine old town of London.  We flew into Heathrow and Clare was waiting patiently for us.  The flight was quite delayed on the ground in Frankfurt due to huge winds that were plaguing Europe at the time.

However, we did finally arrive in England and it was so lovely to see Clare again after so many years.   Clare and I met on the beach in Palm Cove (in Cairns) when Sequoia and Clare's daughter, Becky, were only about 3 years old.

Gorgeous Clare and spunky Pheonix

At about this time of our holiday, I must admit that we were running a little on empty and it was lovely to just take it quite easy for a little and just hang out with our friends.  Clare and the girls own a lovely little house in the town of Yaxley, in Cambridgeshire.  It is a cute little English village out in the mores...

I am quite sad that I didn't take a lot of pics during our London stint, but I will share the ones I did take.  Sequoia had quite a few on her iPad, I believe, but due to an unfortunate break and enter since we have returned to Cairns, we no longer have these photos :-(

Clare kindly gave up her bedroom right at the top of the three story house (it has it's own bathroom)  for Pheonix and I, whilst Sequoia stayed in Becky's room. It is a lovely room, although the howling wind up that high is something to hear!!!

The first day that we were there, we took a drive up to the beach at Huntingdon.  Well, what you might call a beach in the UK!  It was way too windy and cold to go anywhere near the actual sand (read pebbles)...but we did find a little cafe that was open and serving some good old fish and chips (definitely very quiet there for the winter).

We couldn't get over the size of the meal!!!  The cod was delicious but I don't think any of us we able to finish what was on our plate - and the children enjoyed really yummy hot chocolates to warm them up.

Massive!!!! but delicious

 

Where's lunch????

Hot and fresh....

Huntingdon Beach

After our lunch, we headed back home to meet the girls after school via Sandringham, where the Queen has her winter residence.  Unfortunately, we didn't have to accept a private invitation even if one was forthcoming, but we did get to take a look at some of the lovely forests in the area and even got a tiny glimpse of the castle.

Sandringham Gardens

 Friday night was a fun night.  Clare had invited some of her girlfriends over for a few drinkies and we had quite a few laughs.  Silly me didn't think to grab the camera, so you will have to take my word for it.  It was lovely to meet the Kims, Lois, Clare's Mum, Suzanne and the kids.

Saturday, Sequoia and Becky took the bus into Peterborough and the rest of us drove up after them in the car (not enough room for all of us) for a wee spot of shopping.

Clare and I went out for a few hours to the local pub that night.  We had a yummy English pub meal and a few glasses of wine at 'good pub' and then stopped in at the 'dodgy pub' as we made our way back home.  It never ceases to amaze me how young ladies can still skank themselves up (read wear next to nothing), even in sub-zero weather...oh well!

Sunday was another quite mellow day where we walked around to Clare's parent's place for a 'buffet tea'.  Clare's mum is gorgeous and for some reason, Clare's dad took a real shine to Pheonix and took him outside to check out his show fish in the back courtyard.

Monday was meant to be a school day for my two.  Unfortunately, Sequoia was the only one who actually got to spend the day.  Sawtry Community College was more than happy to have Sequoia spend the day with Becky - they treated it like a real cultural exchange and I am sure that Sequoia really enjoyed being the centre of attention.

Unfortunately, Fourfields Primary School, who had originally stated that they would be happy for Pheonix to come and spend the day with Abby, decided at the last minute that they weren't going to 'support that'.  It was a real shame for Pheonix, Abby and all the kids in Abby's class who had been really excited about the visit and had even prepared questions and already had the lesson plan ready to go to support their Aussie guest's visit.  Oh well, this must be some of that warm English hospitality that they talk about - not!

Tuesday, Sequoia, Pheonix and I finally set off on the Train for about an hour and a half away to London town.  First stop, once we had navigated Kings Cross Station, we made our way around the Monopoly Board to Charing Cross and Marylbone Rd to Madam Taussauds Wax Museum.

Poor Robert Pattinson just went like a statue when he met me ... I know, I'd get all shy and nervous too!

Pheonix hanging out with Daniel Radcliffe, aka Harry Potter

Nice couple, huh?

Alfred Hitchcock, you don't scare me!!!!

The Wax Museum also had a pretty awesome little ride (mini London Taxis) through London through the ages.  Unfortunately, photos weren't allowed through this bit.

Next, we took a bit of wander, off in search of the London Dungeons.  Along the way, we found ourselves in Hyde Park and took the fancy to hire some bikes to make our way over the river.  The sign said that you could hire the bikes that were at the automated station for one pound for 24 hours.  This sounded like fun!  After messing around at the machine for quite a while, where a local helped us make the transaction, we finally released our bikes and away we went.  Aside from the sheer terror of having to turn around every 5 seconds to check that my 'little ducks' hadn't been taken out by a rouge double-decker, we really did have fun riding around.  We soon found ourselves outside Buckingham Palace, where although we were too late to see the changing of the guards, we did see quite a bit of action in the front courtyard...

Oh look!  Big Ben, kids!!!!!

Unfortunately the London Eye was closed for maintenance when we were there :-(

Buckingham Palace

Telephone Booth!!!!

I won't lie and say we didn't get lost...we really do have a bad sense of direction!  Anyway, we finally found ourselves over at Waterloo, where we returned the bikes to the docking station there (being quite certain that all three bikes were returned properly with all the lights flashing the right way and none of the bikes being able to be removed again without a new transaction) and made our way by the underground over to Southwark and the London Dungeons.

All three of us really enjoyed our visit to the Dungeons.  Again, photos weren't permitted.  All I can say is it was quite grusome and included a 5D ride where we were swung around in our seats with sight, sound, touch (yucky bits of strings etc suddenly touching us), smells and I am sure that I got some spray in my mouth when I was screaming (eeewww!) lol

Well, after a little something to eat at Nando's back near King's Cross Station, we made our way back to Cambridgeshire to hang out some more with Clare and the girls...

The next day, we were booked in for another highlight of our trip....The Lion King at the West End!!!!  What can I say?  It was absolutely amazing!  The costumes, the music, the singing, all brilliant. 

Something funny.  When we made our way to our seats, there were two ladies and two young children sitting behind us who leant forward, tapped me on the shoulder and asked if the kids and I could move around in our seats so her daughter (about 3 years old) could see.  We did this, without really thinking about it, but after about 5 minutes, I started to feel quite angry about this as I was really looking forward to the show and wanted to sit between the two kids and share it with the both of them.  I turned around to the lady and said, 'I'm really sorry, but I really want to sit between both my children....you see, we've come all the way from Australia to see this show.'  She promptly stated back, 'Well, we've come from New Zealand'.  Hmm.  So I said, 'Well, it's my birthday.' (Well, it would be tomorrow).  She just scowled at me and said, 'Alright, then'.  The little girl sat on her lap through the entire show anyway....

The next day, of course, was my birthday.  One great thing about international travel, is that technically, you can stretch the time through the time zones, I managed to have an extra 10 hours of birthday frivolity this year. :-)

We ended up enjoying quite a sleep-in for the morning, and when we did get up, after Clare had been out on an early errand, she came racing in and said we needed to hurry up and get around to her mother's house as she had set up a meet and photo with Warwick Davis, the actor who plays Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter movies.

So, with barely a cursory comb through the hair, we found ourselves knocking on his door.  He seems like a friendly man and was more than happy to sign photos and take a picture with us...

Once we had got back home and properly got ready for the day, we headed into London all together (Clare and the girls too).  We decided to have Pizza Hut dine in for lunch, which the kids really enjoyed.

Clare and Abby

Becky

Next we headed over to London Comms, where I had arranged with a contact through Peter Hamilton (QCESA) to meet with Andy and have a quick tour through their Ambulance Communication Centre.  Wow.  It is so huge, they actually have a reception with two male receptionists and I was told once I got into the room that they have about 50 call-takers alone at any one time.  It was great to take a look around and see the similarities and differences with Queensland Ambulance, and I am sure that I could have easily spent half a day in there. However, Clare and the kids were waiting outside for me, so I kept it fairly brief.  Next, we headed off to Harrods to see how the other half live...

Sequoia and a 16000 pound dress!!!!

When we finally got home, Clare and kids surprised me with a cake and some pressies, which was really special.  My boy even treated me to a gorgeous foot massage.

Well, before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye to our good friends and make our way back to Heathrow. 

It was fantastic to see our friends once more and spend some time in their own stomping ground.  However, I must admit that I have come to the realisation that I am not really a huge metropolis kind of girl.  It was really fun to visit London and see all those icons I have grown up wanting to see in real life, when it comes down to it, London really wasn't my favourite.  It was too big and too smelly and every time I turned around I was being gouged of my money.

The trains into London were hideously expensive (about 60 pounds round trip for the three of us), and then I ended up hopping on the wrong train one of the days and had to buy my tickets all over again!  Barclays bike ended up helping themselves to 150 pounds out of my account as one of the bikes did not register properly when we returned it - with them eventually agreeing that it was a faulty docking station.  It took me almost 3 weeks to get my money back, and even then that was after threats of going to the media, the Ombudsman and the Dept of Fair Trade!  I also ended up getting refunded the 16 pounds they took as well - after the false advertising of 1 pound for 24 hrs for each bike...

If we ever find ourselves back in London, we'll pick up a hire car and not stop until we reach Scotland, I think.