Snowy Mountains

Well the fossil were on the move again. We had to attend a book launch of a book on the life of Browny's great Grandfather, who first settled the Victorian High Country around Walwa & Tintaldra.
This was also a chance to catch up with Shorty's Daughter & family.
As we drove out it was good to see water in the upper reaches of  the Murray River & an increase in the level of the Hume Weir,

The Upper Murray

Foggy road along the Murray

The book launch went well & we were given a real taste of country hoispitality both at the launch & afterwards at a family Barb-e-que.

Sunday we set of to travel back via the snowfields & although late in the ski season there were still runs open & Thredbo was busy with a lot on the slopes, after a meal & coffee it was on to an overnight stop in Cooma.

Ski run at Thredbo

Home via Canberra & on to near Goulburna to call on a  cousin of Brownt's to return a Jumper.

Less than 100 kilometres away from the snowfield & wattle in full bloom.

 

Home Sweet Home

Home again, after a great trip from Hong Kong (we had an upgrade to Premium Economy), What a shock leaving Hong Kong at 34 degrees & arriving at Sydney at 12 degrees was a shock to the System, but settled & madly sorting pics & video, also looking at garden beds full of weeds.
Now for highlights of trip, first, meeting & catching up with family members What a great family I belong to. The way we were treated at Hotel in Newcastle, the staff really went out of their way to look after us. Seeing the Lunt Village &  walking the streets of Hednesford where my Dad lived. The church where my Grandparents were married.
No highlight would be complete without mentioning Durham Cathedral, Browny & I were blown away by this. What a magnificent structure & what history it containes, the sheer size & how it was built with the tools at hand.
Stonhenge & the sheer size of the stones, how were they brought there, how were they lifted into place? .London with its contrasts, Beautiful old buildings side by side with modern buildings, Tower of London & the Tower Bridge, Paliment House, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace & the London Eye.
Paris & the trip on the EuroStar through the Chunnel. Again the mix of Magnificent old buildings & the new, The boulavardes & the narrow streets, the traffic. Lunch at the Eiffel tower with its veiws of Paris.
Hong Kong, The harbour again with the contast between Luxury boats & the fisher folk. Lantau Island with the Big Buddha & its new airport

Tudor Building

Stonehenge

Durham Cathedral

Edinburgh Castle

Arc De Triumph

Eiffle Tower

Paris Street

Veiw from Tower

Lantau Airport

Sampan

Big Buddha

Londin to Hong Kong

Our last day was a disaster, going through customs one bag was taken aside, and Browny had forgotten to remove cough mixture & perfume from the carryon bag. I was taken to another section with the bag & everything taken out, the bag was checked for explosives, after being given the Ok, the offending bottles confiscated we were allowed on our way. Because Brownt was being wheeled in a wheelchair & in the confusion I lost my Memory stick with passport details on it, My wallet( which I discovered before leaving the area & recovered it. Then just before boarding Browny discovered her Camera was gone, with no time left we reported it to Qantas. As luck happens all the pics had been downloaded the night before apart from a couple taken in Princes Square. The flight to Hong Kong was typical Qantas very good.


HONG KONG.

Arriving in Hong Kong we were transported to our Hotel 'The Kimberly” in Kowloon & after a couple of hours sleep & shower it was down to the pier to a new shopping centre to find a replacement camera. Going to a store recommended by the hotel & being served by a nice young boy we left with a later model of the lost camera at half the price of the original!!!!

The building work going on is amazing, as is the amount of High-rise buildings & a great roadway from the airport.

This is a great city for retail therapy, shop 'til you drop' seems to be the tourist thing, people with LOTS OF BAGS rushing from shop to shop. Gucci, Armani etc but also the touts on the street wanting to tailor you any clothes you like.

We did a tour of Hong Kong calling first at Aberdeen Harbour for a sampan ride around; this showed the contrast between rich & poor. Luxury yacht (including Jacky Chan’s) just across from fisher folk who live on their boats. We went past the big floating Restaurant called Jumbo, HUGE.

We now go on to a jewellery manufacturing outlet owned by the tour operators, where after an informative talk on jewellery we were taken into the showroom where sales people showed you all the stock beautifully displayed. Great marketing. Every conceivable stone in every type of setting. The women loved it while the males cringed as Visa's where handed over.

Then on to Stanley Markets, typical market, lots of novelty stuffed toys, jewellery etc, but I must admit some beautiful silks & cashmere. Then up to Victoria Peak for fantastic views of Hong Kong. To see where they have built high-rise buildings makes the mind boggle as to how it was done. The cost, the effort & the ingenuity to imagine let alone design them was amazing.

Another day & another tour, this time to Lantau Island & “The Big Budda”. This proved to be good with only 4 people on the tour it could be done at a leisurely pace. After being picked up & driven from our hotel in Kowloon through the harbour tunnel to Hong Kong we boarded a ferry to Lantau, crossing the harbour past the working ports, it rained but it cleared before we landed & boarded our coach to tour the Island.

Lantau is a large Island, very mountainous & covered with lush vegetation. It is also the site of the new Airport & Hong Kong Disneyland. After driving for about 20 minutes we arrived at a very pleasant beach for a pit stop, there was nobody swimming but there was at least 3 lifesavers on duty plus 2 women sweeping the sand , another20 minutes took us to a fishing village. Here we boarded a boat to cruise the village where the houses were on stilts which is the traditional way. We then alighted & took a stroll through the shops to the temple. The village was a clutter of stalls selling dried portions of seafood & a good selection & the smell verified it.

Now up to the Big Budda, what an engineering feat this was to build it. We were treated to a vegetarian lunch, I was a bit apprehensive but what came to the table was delicious. After a walk around to take pictures, we were driven to the Cable car Station for our trip to the bottom of the mountain. This Cable car ride takes 25 minutes to cross the valley before descending to the bottom where it took a 90% bend to the station. The ride gave fantastic views of the airport & the Roadway.

The weather here has been hot & muggy which is quite a shock to the system after England, no wonder the locals say they can't live without Air Conditioning

Aberdeen Harbour

Beach Cleaners

Big Buddha

High-rise

Jumbo Floating Restaurant

Tai O Temple

Tai O Lane

More London

                                                     These are views from the Eye.

Well we travelled to more sights around London Town, first another trip down the river or is that up. London is such a jumbled city I have lost all sense of direction, buses that seem to be going around in circles or doubling back on themselves. Anyway back to the job at hand, we saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, the big band leading an airforce guard, mounted police & the Queens cavalry with their gold trappings.Then to a ride on the London Eye giving panaramic views of London from135 metres. This is something that we reccomend although be prepared to que for a long time unless you pay extra to get fast tracked.

Then we thought that we would go to Harrods for a look & lunch, Harrods where a  doorman ushers you in, then once inside even the floorwalkers look expensive, We went to the food court where mains start  at35 pound so over the road to an Italian restaurant where we had a great meal at a lot less cost.

We only have 2more days to finish our London Holiday then on to Hong Kong

Things that we saw in London

On the Underground

Anyone for Pizza

Police Box

 Pol

More Paris

We were somewhat amazed at the Eifel Tower to see soldiers with machine guns patrolling. This is a sad reflection on today's society.

Paris is indeed a beautiful City, but what a contrast with above.

London &Paris

Eifel Tower

Seine Traffic

Marble Arch

London Street

London Parking

Well the fossils did the BIG BUS tour which took in the major tourist spots of London. Places that I had only seen on TV or postcards. Parliament House,Big Ben, Cleopatra's Needle, Nelsons Column, Tower of London & London Bridge. Included also was a cruise on the Thames, where The HMS Belfast is moored. Other places we saw & will require us to return were Buckinghan Palace &Marble Arch, seeing all these places & the history involved makes you realise how young our country is. One thing we have noticed about London is how rude pedestrians are, not so much the English but foreign speaking people. The most friendly are the dark people who are the first to offer a seat to Elderly (for elderly read fossils ) on trains & buses. Always with a smile. What a change from the friendliness we found as we travelled the country

We have just returmed from Paris after a trip on the Euro Star, leaving the new station of St Pancras we enjoyed a 2 hour trip through the channel before alighting at Care Du Norde. The Euro Star is a nice train although the seats are cramped.
What a beautiful City, wide boulevards,needed for the traffic, which is a bit erratic, especially down the other narrow roads. Impressive old buildings Le Opera, The Lourve, Notra Dame etc do make a pleasant change from the harsh modern architecture. We were escorted by a charming French guide on our bus tour of Paree, she kept us well informed of what we were seeing with her soft French accent. After seeing Paris by road we had a leisurely cruise down the Seine, passing under 22 of the 36 bridges over the Seine. The girl doing the commentry spoke 4 & a half laguages (her own words) fluently. Her ability to switch languages was amazing.

Then possibly the Highlight of the tour a trip up the Eifel Tower for a geat meal, true French cooking, a chicken dish to die for, mashed potato that made you want MORE followed by a chocolate dessert, all washed down by a great wine.

Countryside near Stowe

English street

Hednesford Church

English Countryside

STAFFORDSHIRE, CANNOCK & HEDNESFORD

After our stay in West Derby it was down to Staffordshire & the Lunt area around Cannock & Hednesford. Again we were amazed at the way people were prepared to help. The staff at Cannock Chase museum went out of their way to ring people up & they were able to help me catch up with the lady who gave me so much help when I first started my search for George Lunt. They have given me information on early Cannock & Hednesford including a post card showing Henry Lunt's shop in Cannock. I walked the streets of Hednesford, drove up Church Hill where they lived & visited “ Our Lady Of Lourdes” Church where Grandma & Grandfather Lunt were married. Prior to coming here I didn't think that the Lunts had strong accents but on hearing the locals speak it came back. THEY DID!!!!!!! I don't know why but I seem to have been affected more by my Durham relatives than here, maybe because I have living relatives up North??????????? But with new information the search continues.
After leaving Cannock we travelled to Northhamptonshire to stay with Friends of Browny,where we have again been treated so well, driven around through some typical English Villages. These villages, although similar have their own individuality & charm. We also have visited Stowe with its magnificent landscaped Garden. At night it was a sight to see the Geese & chickens put in the barn away from marauding foxes, the geese going in in a stately manner while the chickens milled around & had to be funnelled in.
Browny & Pennie reminiscing about school days in Italy, while Bill & I listened to the exploits of 2 “ladies” at finishing school.
Leaving there we travelled on to Browny's cousin in Berkshire, where again we have been treated royally. This has given Browny a chance to catch up with her family. Here we also caught up with another of Shorty's family, Keith & Moira's son & family. Paul & Sally again proved how nice the English family are.
We now travel to Wisbech to spend our last week with Karen & Dave, the trip up was good although roadworks on The A25 held us up for about an hour, but the rest was fine and the route took us through some more quaint villages, These still amaze us with cars parked on both sides of the road facing either direction.

We have had a great time here & went to a village fair complete with Old time cars, tractors & stem rollers. also the usual rides for kids & stalls selling the usual array of clothing tools & plants
We will soon be back in London for the last part of our English trip & do the tourust thing

Liverpool

Derby Houses

Lunt Village Road

TG at Cavern Club

English Pub

Liverpool & Lunt Village.

Well we left Newcastle with heavy heart, friends we made & relatives we found, plus relatives that I have met again had treated us so well,

After a quick run down the A1 we arrived at West Derby Premier Inn our home for 3 days. The first day we went around Liverpool poor, Browny hasn't walked so far for ages, We took a tour on the Duck round the streets of Liverpool & splashed down near the docks. This was great until it run out of power exitting the water leaving us half in the water, eventually the driver got it out but then blocked the road, much to the anger of motorists.

Then we went to a street where the Cavern Club was, this is now a memorial to the Beatles. The pubs, the signs are all Beatles memorabilia.

The next day was a trip out to Lunt Village where we checked the Church & Pub. It is a quaint little village near Formby.There is a place in there with a not so nice name, we didn't find it & didn't want to ask!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We believe the sign keeps going missing.