Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I'm the king of the castle

This is our room from the outside.


We have been driving around England and staying at various old places for the last few days. It's really hard to imagine that most of the castles we have visited are older than New Zealand. One place we stayed at is called Staint Briavels. The castle is about 700 years old.
It was very big and a little creepy.
The room we stayed in was directly above where the Oubliette used to be.
For those of you who are not aware (myself included up until we stayed here) an Oubliette is a place where you put people you want to forget about.... nice!

The room was supposed to be haunted but I cannot say for sure as as soon as my head hit the pillow I was fast asleep. (Not a big surprise).

In our travels we went to a small town called Hay en Wye. There is not much there except for about 40 second hand book shops. It was great, I would like to go back there again some time.

I had forgotten what summer feels like until we came here. It was very hot and humid in Thailand but nothing like N.Z so I couldn't really compare. The last few days here though has left me feeling like I am going to melt. We are off to Scottland soon, hopefully it will be cooler there.

We still haven't quite made it into London but I think we are going to catch a train in tomorrow if all goes well. Amber has promised to take me to the Globe! I can't wait.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Lelephants, Babaphants and Tigubs

For those of you who don't understand Amber speak thats Elephants, baby elephants and tiger cubs. All of which we got to meet and pat on our adventure in Thailand!

This was our elephant for our tour thru part of the Thailand rain forest. (Amber wants to go back there and live in the forest and learn how to become a Mahout).

This "little" baby elephant was Pin Phee She is five years old. And she loves to give kisses!!!!


We don't have any photos on our computer to show you, but we also got to pat and hold and feed a one month old tiger cub. (did you know their fur is very soft, just like a kittens?) We were very closely watched so Amber didn't have a chance to slip it under her top and steal it.

Thailand was an awsome start to our holiday, The hotel we were staying in was amazing there were flowers growing on everyfloor and so it smelled so pretty everywhere. The pool was our favourite place to escape the heat. Amber is very pleased to anounce that she has now sipped a cocktail from a coconut while stitting at a bar in a pool! (this was on the list of things that we had to do while in Thailand)



We are now safely in England and will write more of our adventures soon.

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Goodbye Hamiltron. . . .

So, we are now in New Plymouth (NP) after a couple of whirlwind days saying good-bye to our Friends and loved ones in Hamilton. . .
Fairy Janine couldn't bear to say good bye to us just yet but that still left (big breath), Natalie and the fluffy but Shy Samantha and Tabitha; Robbie, Mel and their gorgeously happy Ivirangi; Scott and the bubbly C.J; our darling little Scarlet girl; Paul and Viv; Glenys and her babies Chocolate and Brindle, our beautiful Amanda and Madi Monster; and, last but MOST DEFINITELY not least, the cutest, fluffiest, snuffliest wee guinea pig, Monkey. With his snuffly little nose, his waddly little bottom, his leathery, elephant looking ears, his cute bald spot (which is just so warm and lovely to kiss) and his punk rock star style hairdo. . .

Saying goodbye to our gorgeous son was possibly the hardest of all. (I wanted to smuggle him in the hood of my hoodie to NP and keep him for another week or so, but Shelley put her foot down).
Thankfully Guinea Pigs live an average of 6-8 years and as he is only 3 and a half now and is under STRICT instructions that he has to live to a VERY VERY old age, he will still be around and ready to snuffle us and burrow into our hair when we get back, but it was still hard to leave him behind. . .
However, we kissed his bald spot, helped his new mummy to clean his hutch and left him burrowing away in his fresh hay and bid our last farewell to Hamiltron for the next two years. . .
Good bye Hamilton, we will not miss your foggy, rainy, frosty winters (but we will miss the beauty of looking across at Deanwell park in the mornings and seeing the fog winding through the trees and along the river); we will not miss the five o'clock traffic that is getting more and more like Auckland every day (but we will miss ducking to a friends for a coffee to avoid the traffic); we will not miss the hole and lack of scenery that you are set in (but we will miss the fact that you are an hour or two away from all our family and every coast in NZ); and we will most certainly not miss the Damp that seems to pervade EVERYTHING (but we will Definitely miss the people that we love and care about, the people that have taken us in to their lives and made us family, the people who have been there for us through highs, lows and middles, the people who have made our lives what they are today).
Goodbye Hamiltron, city of the future where it's "happening". . .we will see you again in two years time. During which time we will have adventures and see wonders!

Sunday, July 06, 2008

We haven't dropped off the earth. . .

Ok, so we know we haven't blogged in a while, but we promise we haven't fallen off the face of the Earth.
So Shelley's Visa for England FINALLY came through after like FOREVER (ok, nine weeks, but it felt like forever). And after a whirlwind couple of weeks where we quit our jobs, moved out of home and visited as many people as possible, we are now homeless bums!!! Yay for homeless bums!!!!!
We are off to New Plymouth tomorrow where Shelley's parents live and we get to stay with them and THREE puppies for the next week and a bit and then flying from NP to Auckland and from Auckland to Bangkok and finally to Phuket on the 16th of July, we are staying in Phuket for a bit of a break. (and riding on LELEPHANTS!!! (which is Elephants for normal people)) Then on the 20th we head back to Bangkok and off to LONDON!! Where on the 21st we get to see the Dresden Dolls live in concert!! Yay for good music! And from there we will see where the wind blows us. . .No real set plans except for seeing as much of the world as possible!! :)
So we will be starting to update our blog a lot more (for those of you that have actually been keeping track) as a way of keeping people updated on where we are and what we are up to :)
So keep watching (reading?) this space!!!