Isle of Wight

I think we used every possible mode of transport during our long weekend on the Isle of Wight off England's south coast. Weather was a bit bleak but because our B&B was like a bad smelling Fawlty Towers without John Cleese we got out and did a bit of walking along the beaches as well as hiring a car for the day and rallying around the island's perimeter stopping only for vineyards, the garlic farm and the occasional walk along the beach.

Hampton Court Palace

Steph and Fraser accompanied us on the slow boat down the Thames to the beautiful Hampton Court Palace. The boys won the race through the maze by a whopping 7 minutes (we are both accountants so we had to measure) but the pub the river was the winner on the day.

Two hot wheels

Hi all,

I am please to introduce you to my new wheels - faster than a speeding tube he has propelled me around London to discover some new sights:

The NZ War Memorial at Hyde Park corner:

And to City Airport and the Thames Flood barrier:

Easter lambs, daffodils and stone walls

We were very fortunate with both the weather and holiday traffic to enjoy a superb Easter break in England's Peak District, just south of Manchester.

We fuelled up at the start of each day with a delicious cooked breakfast and spent the days rambling through the villages and surrounds of the District. Unlike home, England was well developed before anyone even contemplated the idea of a National Park so a lot of our walking was on "public footpaths" across farm land. Given that the spring lambs are just popping out, it was quite surprising that there seemed to be no limits to public access, and at times the foot traffic seemed like a Friday night on Oxford Street. A few shots of the trip below:

Due to the very hot weather we stayed hydrated at every opportunity:

Views across the valley above Castleton:

Gabrielle at Millwall. Absolutely everything is built from stone in these parts.

I managed to get stuck on top of this cliff on the Dovedale valley walk and took a good half hour to come down on my bum. It was fun though.

"Public footpaths" near Ilam:

No need for such a long face. The grounds of Chatsworth were fantastic fun.

Bermuda

After 8 shuper days being shuperbly hosted by Josh X Boston in spring time Bermuda, I have compiled a brief list of the things I will miss about the skinny little island in the middle of the Atlantic:

1. Hanging out with the boys - playing, watching & breathing cricket.

2. Colour. Our arrival into grey Gatwick airport on an overcast London day was a far cry from the turquoise and gold combo of Elbow beach, the pastel coloured houses and undeniably brilliant Bermudan shorts.

3. Taking at least a million catches a day beside and in the Atlantic.

4. Nipping a Callaway sand wedge at the pin at the Fairmont Southampton Golf Club.

5. Dominating the roads on a 50cc scotter.

6. Drinking Dark & Stormy's, Black & Cokes and Rum Swizzles in the sun.

7. The Sandwich and BBQ factory lines at X's place while watching the cricket world cup.

Things I will not miss are:

1. Dropping one catch a day by the Atlantic.

2. Gutting tee shots into the water hazard at the Fairmont Southampton Golf Club.

3. Chickens.

4. Seeing scooter crashes.

5. Having difficulty remembering where you put your scooter keys.

6. The price of fish.

Hampshire & Sussex

Our little shoebox of a Fiat has successfully blasted its way around the South coast of England. Our journey started in the "New Forest" in Hampshire where there were more horses than the Kingdom of Rohan and they weren't particularly friendly either. Was a good feeling to see the daffodils flowering and a chance to take in some classic English countryside.

A special thanks to the helpful lady at the information centre who recommended the swamp we walked through as being a "good walk". Shall we send you the dry cleaning bill?

We spent the night in Winchester, a rather upbeat and flash town. After dribbling around for an hour we finally found the character filled Wykeham Arms. Established in 1755 (I think some of the patrons could have been there since then) it was a great place for a feed and a bed and our lopsided room had a view to the Winchester Cathedral.

We also managed to take in the chalky cliffs near Eastbourne in Sussex. The February wind was blowing up a bit of a storm but it made for terrific light patterns on the sea and shore.

And well done to Charlton Athletic, who thumped West Ham 4 - 0 in the weekend.

Happy New Year China

And seeing as it's the year of the pig, we pigged out on Chinese food!

Spain won; England bo00od

Old Trafford, Manchester: Field of dreams.

A 6 hour drive from London - if you hit roadworks and traffic delays, and a 4 hour drive back to London - if you speed through roadworks and sit in the fast lane. We manged to drop in on Rugby School, eat copious amounts of junk food and of course, play our trademark brand of urban cricket.

On to the ground: A marvellous sight and sound when full with 58,000 fans. You can check the Spanish fans in the top right hand corner of the photo, flanked by more security than Prince William.

For the record, Spain won the game with a solitary boomer of a goal in the second half.

One thing that really gets on my goat is the crowds in this country. They booed the Spanish team as it was announced, booed the ref as he comes on and by the end of the game they booed the English team as they left the field. As strange as it sounds, to see the English team live makes you realise that they are only human. The press consistently whip up excessive hysteria, photographing these chaps at every corner and the pay packets they receive as a result of TV rights put them on a such an inflated pedestal that the public expects them to perform magic every time they hit the field. Admittedly the Pommy boys didn't play at their best and couldn't create any opportunities up front, but the fact that most of the supporters that moaned and booed had stomachs the size of footballs paints an ugly picture of a lazy blame culture.

So, there's my little man tantrum for the day and it doesn't spoil what was a damn fine outing. It's somewhat ironic that I now find myself whinging about the whingers - but as they say, when in Rome...

Waitangi Day - Circle Line Pub Crawl

Started off our Waitangi Day pub crawl with a champagne breakfast at Sarah's and Lucinda's - there's nothing like getting stuck in early for a full day drinking session!

The pub crawl happens every year on the weekend closest to Waitangi Day, with huge masses of crowds making the journey around the Circle Line. They had 8000 people last year, and I would guess that it was much the same this year.

Here is Sarah getting ready to leave with her taste of Kiwiana: mini bottles of 42 below Vodka mmmmm.......
First stop for us was South Kensington at the Zetland Arms. Had run into Fraser on the platform from Clapham, so he joined in with the 14 girls for this leg. We managed to shut down a few roads in the process....


Next stop was Victoria where we managed to meet up with a whole crowd of people from uni, including Kat and Jeremy:

Sarah getting into the swing of things - the 42 below starting to take effect!

On the platform at Victoria station: Sandy, Lucinda, Sarah and Clare

Fras and Alli:

And the scene at Westminster. We managed to get there early enough, but because of the crowds we didn't get to see any of the haka - but it was still a fantastic day and one that I'm sure I will be repeating! Hamish had originally decided that he didn't want a bar of it, but he must have got lonely, as he downed a wine at home and made it to Westminster to join us in the afternoon :)

With Big Ben in the background: