Farewell England

Our last day in the UK. Chris and Adam went to another Everton Game in Liverpool, a better result, a win 2-1. The second goal scored right in front of them! Peter, David and I visited the Liverpool Museum. Lots of information, displays and hands on about the history of Liverpool, including the docks, football, The Beatles. Very well set out and some great views of the Liver Building. The Albert Dock area is always nice to wander around. After picking up the men from the soccer we had a nightmare drive to London avoiding a major traffic jam on the M6 putting out time back by over an hour. Just made it to the hotel, dropped the car off then raced to the West End for our final show, 39 Steps, which we had tickets for. Madness but we made it. Had tea at 10.30pm! Back to the hotel to crash ready for a 6am start to catch our Eurostar trip! What a day!

Waddesdon Mannor

Travelled down to Birmingham for one of the biggest toy fairs in the country. Over 600 stalls full of matchbox cars, train sets etc. with loads of men in overcoats drooling over all the old toys. We split up and each managed to come out with a bargain. We then drove to Waddesden Mannor. A beautiful stately home with castle like turrets. We couldn't get into the house as the tours were all booked for over 3 hours so enjoyed a walk around the gorgeous grounds and explored the stables, complete with a santa grotto, and the pump house. An artist had some different modern glass sculptures which were lit up on sunset. Finished off the night with a panto, Snow White, featuring Gok Wan. Lots of laughs...you can't beat a good English panto.

Charming Chester

After heading up to Liverpool to watch Everton, unfortunately they lost 1-0, bit of a bummer but great atmosphere, we stayed in Chester for 3 nights. Had a grade 2 listed 3 story terrace house in town, complete with a roll top bath. Caught up with our dear friends in Manchester and their family. Lots of laughs and catching up. So nice.
Chester..gorgeous as always with loads of black and white tudor buildings, tons of character, the main shopping cobblestone mall is lovely. Walked the walls around the town, took nearly 2 hours, soaking in the mediaeval history. Managed to be set loose alone to shop, dangerous! The boys headed straight for the donuts stand with strawberry dipping sauce under the clock, remembering a past trip when they did exactly the same thing. Happy memories.

Christmas in Cambridge

What a wonderful Christmas we had in Cambridge with the Butterfields. Thanks to Tim and Erin for hosting a yummy Christmas lunch. A good time was had by all. It was also fantastic to Skype family back in oz on Christmas Day...morning for us, evening for everyone else. Modern technology is amazing!!

Memory lane :)

After a wander around the snow covered market chalets in nottingham and a photo shoot at the robin hood statue outside nottingham castle we drove to Old Daulby, my childhood village. Was so nice showing the boys where I started school, where I played and lived until we emigrated when I was 8 and a half. Time stands still in an english village of one pub, school, village hall and church. Enjoyed the playground and walking the lanes, lots of memories. Then on to cambridge. Lovely university town. Had a fabulous punt on the river cam. Super guide, lots of history and facts and figures. So excited it's christmas eve and we are in a fabulous old hotel, university arms and will be enjoying christmas morning breaky in the ballroom. How cool is that. Happy christmas eve everyone xx

Vicar and the Enigma

We left a not so sunny somerset and drove through driving rain to Turville, narrowly missing a collision with a car that aquaplaned across the front of our car on the motorway and slammed into the barrier. A close call. So we didn't see the Vicar of Dibley but did see her house, her church and her village. Very cool. Then on to Bletchley Park to discover the Enigma machine. Lovely stately home on the grounds plus the code breaking huts and a demonstration of the Bombe. Very interesting. 3000 messages were delivered a day during the second world war which increased to 15000 during the peak. Chess masters and mathematicians, together with the WRENS breaking the codes. Fascinating, especially the displays about those brave homing pigeons. We then traveled north to Nottingham for our first panto, Peter Pan, featuring David Hasselhoff. He was so good...very camp...and lots of references to Bay Watch and Knight Rider. So funny. A great night out.

Say Cheese!

Had a lazy morning catching up with ourselves..a much needed sleep in. You could say a mandatory rest period on the Gambell Amazing Race! Ventured out for a late lunch in Chedder Gorge. Sheer rock cliffs jutting into the road complete with one lonely goat. Climbed Jacob’s Ladder which has every step symbolising 1 million years. 270 odd  steps. Various story boards depicting life in England, interesting.  A herd of goats greeting us at the top and a tower…more climbing! Fabulous views of the Somerset countryside. lWorth the climb. We must be getting fitter with all the walking and climbing but I fear not with all the eating and drinking!! Checked out the Chedder Cheese making, really enjoyed tasting the various award winning cheeses, port, cave cured and cider, just to name a few...Now enjoying the cheese we bought and about to watch the gorgeous “ The Snowman”, an English classic in front of a log fire. Feeling warm and cozy and loving our cold Christmas time.

Castle and Coast!

Yesterday we ventured south to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall. After driving through a torrent of rain the sun came out and we had perfect weather for exploring the castle. Lots of walking down a steep hill to the entrance then lots of steps up to the castle. Stunning coastal scenery once you get to the top.  Said to be the birth place of King Arthur. You can imagine medieval knights arriving over the grassy plains to the cliffside fortress. The ruins are full of character and made of slate pieces all slotted together, very neat. Did lots of climbing in the fine weather then the hard climb back up the hill…just made it!! Drove to Port Isaac, a charming small fishing village. The location for Doc Martin and other series. The laneways and streets are so tiny. Very, very quaint. Lots of white washed houses with pretty name plates. Hell for cars!! Thoroughly enjoyed exploring this unique village. Headed on to Padstow, home of Rick Stein. Another larger fishing village with lots of boats in the harbour loaded with empty lobster pots. Enjoyed wandering the streets eating a traditional Cornish pasty..delicious. Fish and chips for tea, fresh from the sea.

Sunny Somerset!

Our first day in Somerset brought glorious sunshine. We spent a lovely morning exploring the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. King Arthur and Guinevere were apparently buried there. Wondered the streets of Glastonbury, which are full of mystical shops with funny names. Drove over to Wells to see the famous Wells Cathedral. Magnificent inside with unique scissor columns and beautiful medieval stained glass windows…best example in the world. The astronomical clock was fun watching the jousting knights knocking their heads off.  Explored every inch, undercroft, chapter house, cloisters and the flying buttresses.  Lovely green common in front of the twin tower frontage. Wells is another quaint old town with streets lined with 2 story buildings sporting small real Christmas trees jutting out from the walls half way up. Looks very pretty all lit up.  The radios over here play Christmas music all the time, certainly puts you in the Christmas spirit. Ho, ho, ho.

Beautiful Bodium Castle!

The most romantic medieval castle in England. Everyone’s idea of a perfect castle complete with a mote. It is mostly a ruin inside but you can climb 2 towers for magnificent views. We were lucky it was a lovely clear crisp winter’s day. Perfect. The castle was built by a knight with permission from the king. Really enjoyed our time there. A magical place. Drove over to Brighton for a visit to Choccywoccydoodah’s main store. Their cakes are amazing. Moulded chocolate flowers, animals and all manor of objects. Picked up my signed photo they organised for me (I wrote to them from oz) and bought some chocolate..of course. Had a stroll along the Brighton Pier, your typical Victorian ‘jetty’ with fun fair and penny arcade. Boys going down memory lane, then headed over to our holiday house in Cannington. A beautiful restored carthouse. Full of character, exposed beams, antique furniture and all the mod cons, 3 bathrooms..bonus! Had a gorgeous basket of goodies waiting for us and a lovely chat to the owner. A super welcome to somerset!

Lovely Leeds Castle!

After the hustle and bustle of London it was lovely to be out in the countryside, but not before a quick walk across that famous zebra crossing…Abbey Road. Bit tricky navigating around the London traffic to get south, even with a GPS, but finally we were in the rolling Kent hills. Visited Leeds Castle..complete with a Christmas market. Lovely grounds, lots of ducks, swans, peacocks and geese plus a huge mote. Tried some venison sausage, tasty. Rooms inside decorated for Christmas looking so pretty. Even Charlie Chaplin has stayed there. The boys checked out the maze…which was a bit of a laugh being only 2 feet high..not a challenge for our 6 foot high men! Took the land train back to the carpark as it gets a wee bit nippy at dusk. Headed over to Canterbury to see the cathedral of course.  Had a lovely meal in the old town in an ancient building. So much character. Love it. A good day out.

London Calling!

After a busy Orlando stint we landed in London with poor Adam full of the flu, Chris recovering from it and me getting it. The Gatwick express train trip was so easy…glad we got the tickets on line beforehand..no queuing. By the time we got to the London guest house we just collapsed in the lounge. After checking in we all rested but managed to get out in the evening for our Phantom of the Opera booking.  Fantastic. The chandelier fell right on top of us! Had a late start to the following day due to everyone full of colds. Visited the British Library. An amazing collection of historical documents. Letters from Churchill, song lyrics written on birthday cards by the Beatles, Mozart music scores and the Magna Carta…just to name a few. Boys were fascinated by the collection. Then headed over to Whitehall, past Australia House, for The Lion King. Excellent show. Staging mechanism very cool, percussionist in the boxes and birds flying up close. We had front row Dress Circle…super seats. In the evening we headed out to Kew Gardens for their illuminated garden walk. Was a bit rainy but luckily cleared as we were going round. Best part was the famous glass house lit up with a sound and light show going off every 15 min.  Warmed ourselves up with hot chocolate at the end. Best bargain..our train tickets were for zone 1 and 2, Kew Gardens is in zone 3 but station master let us go through…tourists!! Must have felt sorry for us in the rain. Adam was very impressed with the calibre of cars in the driveways…Porsche, Ferrari…he needs to save up for his own!!

Our next full day in London: Quick look at Notting Hill and that blue door from the movie plus Big Ben before heading  over to the Tower of London. Plenty to see, lots of armour and bloody stories. Crown Jewels gorgeous.  The best part…real Christmas trees everywhere, all lit up and beautifully decorated. In fact there are real Christmas trees lit up everywhere…. I love England at Christmas. After Tower of London we visited Tower Bridge. Brilliant views of the Thames and the latest tall building, the Shard. Mechanism for lifting the bridge interesting. Then off to another West End show.. We Will Rock You written by Ben Elton. Lots of great songs and amazing staging effects plus an encore of Bohemian Rhapsody.  We were singing and clapping along..a fun night.

Our last day in London marked our 30^th Wedding Anniversary. Where has that time gone!! Picked up a hire car and drove out to the Harry Potter Studio Tour. Amazing sets, costumes and props. Spent hours checking it all out. A real treat for any Harry Potter fan. Grabbed tea at Jamie Oliver’s before our tickets to Les Miserables. Superb performances, fabulous sets and rotating stage floor. Loved it. So glad we booked our tickets in oz we had perfect seats for all the shows, which were sell outs. A wonderful way to spend and evening in London.  Luckily we were not in the theatre where the ceiling collapsed at the start of the show. Having colds is bad enough but that would have been a real bummer. Did manage to check out Choccywoccydoodah in Carnaby Street…loved that, and of course Chris had to check out Hamleys. Well that was it for our London break….lots to do, I am sure we will be back.

Disneyworld...Mickey Mouse Magic!

What a magical time, if but exhausting, we had in our 4 days…9am til about 11pm or later! Exploring all the worlds at Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.  Epcot highlights were the Fast Track race track where David, Adam and I designed a car with loads of power but not very economical therefore Peter and Chris’s car beat us by 1 point. Rats!! Had a special lunch at the Coral Sea Restaurant. Very yummy..had a cocktail with glowing lights in it. One wall was floor to ceiling aquarium with sharks, turtles and fish swimming by…only at Disney (or perhaps Dubai). Tea in Morocco in the replica courtyard was nice too. The evening was topped off by a wonderful narration of the story of Christmas by Sigourney Weaver while a choir and orchestra played. Very moving. While we were waiting in line had a lovely chat to a trio from Texas with the boys sharing our unique colourful money. Such is the joy of travel meeting interesting people. We were sorry to part company, they were so much fun.  The night finished off with spectacular fireworks, light and sound show over the lake.

Hollywood Studios was great fun. The boys tried to be part of a few shows…David had success at Universal gaining a starring role in the Disaster set…befitting for our accident prone son!  Tried all the rides (tower of terror a favourite), took a trip down movie memory lane, shook my tail feather at the fabulous Blues Brothers street performance and loved the light and sound show Fantasmic, featuring Mickey Mouse. Finished the night walking down the streets of New York covered in literally thousands of coloured lights which danced to music. Absolutely brilliant..a real feast for the eyes especially put on for Christmas.

Magic Kingdom always brings out the child in you. Classics like Peter Pan’s Flight and Winnie the Pooh are timeless. Beauty and the Best show brilliant and the new Fantasyland is magical. Treated ourselves to a special lunch in ‘Beasts’ castle…Be Your Guest Restaurant. Very specky inside. Boys favourite coaster..Space Mountain, mine…Rocky Mountain Railroad. Had fun shooting on the Buzz Lightyear ride and Peter got a starring role as ‘that guy’ on the Monsters Inc laughter floor. Very funny. After dark the Electric Light Parade was very pretty, lots of lights. Then a  spectacular light show on the castle façade, images of Disney, Christmas, buildings etc. set to music. To finish off a fireworks show, of course, above the castle. Fireworks of stars and mickey ears…very cool

Animal Kingdom is like a jungle, full of trees, bamboo and animals. Tested the cool coaster first off. Thrilling. The safari was really good. Lots of African animals in a huge area…just like being there.  Finding Nemo theatre performance excellent. The Tree of Life carvings are amazing. Every animal imaginable. The Lion King Show very entertaining…you can’t beat Timon and Pumba!  In the evening we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. More rides after dark, hot chocolate and cookies included, plus an extra special Christmas parade complete with Shetland ponies pulling Cinderella’s carriage…so cute. The fireworks finale were spectacular surrounding us with colour and light. Simply magical!

Super Seaworld

My favourite park. Spent a gorgeous day at Seaworld Orlando. The dolphins always put on a great show leaping and somersaulting together with acrobatic divers and aerialists. A gorgeous show. Next the Killer Whales. Gentle giants who can also do a mean somersault then saturate the crowd who sat in the ‘splash zone’.  Fun to watch. Clyde and Seamore (sealions) gave us lots of laughs at their pirate and countdown to Christmas shows. Hilarious when the gorgeous otter played up. Never work with animals. Plenty of thrill rides including a coaster where you lie flat face down, scary!! The newest attraction, Antartica, was fun and ended up in the penguin enclosure…freezing…but they were so cute. Chris bought us the all day dining package, just his type of food...all you can eat, whenever you want! As the sun went down the huge Christmas trees in the lake lit up and flashed to music..very cool. Then we took our seats in the big stadium for a special Christmas event. First up, a brilliant Ice Skating Show. So talented and graceful with gorgeous Christmas themed costumes, lots of lifts and spins.  Loved it. Finally a fantastic firework and fountain show. Just amazing. A super way to end a super day.

Space..the final frontier!

Even though we are now in the UK I will attempt to catch up on our adventures. After Universal Studios we drove out to the Kennedy Space Centre, about an hour east of Orlando. That place is huge. A bus took us for a tour of the complex past the all the launch pads, including the shuttle pads which have massive blast shields & a huge rain water tank to absorb the noise.  Surrounding the pads are 10 foot chain link fences with barbed wire on top..just like a prison...to keep out the alligators, or gators as the locals say. They all looked pretty sleepy to us. The tractor to take the shuttle to launch pad takes 4 hours and drives over 6 feet of concrete and crushed river pebbles and the shuttle 'garage' is enormous. Mission control was interesting and the mock take off sequence.
In the Space Centre there are plenty of hands on displays. I had a go at landing a shuttle..not very good I'm afraid. Crawled through a spacecraft and most exciting got to experience a real shuttle launch in a realistic simulator designed by astronauts. Incredible...you could really feel the G force. One thing is for sure those space men are made of tough stuff!
A full scale Saturn V rocket is housed at the Space Centre, which is super massive...I mean huge. Amazing. The Space Shuttle Atlantis is suspended in air but you can get close via walkways. Apart from the tiles everyone knows about I was surprised to see it also covered in what looked like quilting...space suit material. You can tell I am not technical. Anyway lots to see, learn and discover. Finished off in the rocket garden....objects taller than our boys! A brilliant day out....and Christmas comes to NASA too!!

Universal Fun

We made it to sunny Florida...and the up-sized USA. Humongous van for the Gambell clan, a gallon of milk in the fridge of our apartment and the biggest bed we have ever seen. Headed straight for Disney Quest on our first night..no rest for this family! 5 floors of fun. Bumper bubble cars shooting balls at other cars, paddling a real raft down a virtual river and our favourite shooting down pirate ships (super fun). We all made a roller coaster via a computer then sat in a simulator to try it out..Pete and mine made us very sick..we were sorry we put in so many loops!! Downtown disney is a buzzing place full of shops, restaurants, street performers and plenty of Christmas music. Feels like the whole of Orlando is there. Tested out a themed restaurant, T-Rex. Bit too noisy but really nice food. Dinosaurs coming to life throughout dinner was a novel experience.

Spent the first couple of days at Universal. Hogsmead and Harry Potter world amazing. The ride in the castle was excellent. Tried the butter beer and pumpkin juice...mmmm! Chris is all kitted out as a wizard teacher now...look out students! Tested every ride and simulation, Transformers, Spiderman, Simpsons...kwels working well. Blues Brothers musical review was so much fun, I certainly shook my tail feather. Beatlejuice live show excellent too. For Christmas there were lots of huge inflatable characters all over the park from the Macey's parade in New York. Looked fantastic. Topping off the evening was a fountain and light show covering 100 years of movie making set on the lake. Lovely.

Minus 4 to Mighty High

Last day in Dubai. Tried dragon fruit at breakfast. No particular taste and full of poppy like seeds. Different! So today we tried out Ski Dubai. Peter and Adam who have never skied had a lesson while David snowboarded and Chris and I skied. It was wonderful skiing again. Took us back to where it all began…meeting on the high school ski trip. Very fitting as we count down to our 30^th wedding anniversary. The ski slope is 400m, long enough and steep enough to get a good run. We certainly hadn’t lost our skills. Lovely chatting to the international visitors on the chair lift. The world is full of interesting people. Was wonderful to watch David snowboard and Peter and David master the art of skiing. Had some fun on the toboggan run and tubing runs. The park mimics an alpine village complete with fir trees, they even have resident penguins which were so cute to watch. A novel place to spend family time in freezing temperatures…at least you get given a parker and pants.

Now for a highlight of our stopover, a ride to the top of the Burg Kahlifa. Insanely tall the lift takes you over 850m up…in about a minute! The view was amazing in every direction. Skyscrapers beneath looking so small and cars just dots.  Stayed for sunset…stunning. Gorgeous oranges and yellows with reflections in the sea. Very interesting seeing how they built it, an amazing feat. The design is based on a native flower. Back on ground level at night it was lit up in the national colours. Very specky. Watched the fountain show at night. Loved it…dancing water jets to Arabic music. We wandered the Dubai Mall exploring parts we hadn’t seen. It is massive, gorgeous and incredible. Adam loved all the posh cars arriving and inside the Mall was the most expensive model car ever made. A solid gold Ferrari!

So Dubai…insane in every way!  You just have to see it to believe it. 

Lets Get Wet - Dubai

Aquadventure on the Palm Islands is full of fun waterslides. Our first taste..a family tube sending us spinning and racing vertically up and down. Super fun.  So many thrills - roller coasters in tubes  - insane speed slides propelling you through tunnels and scary freefall drops – then lovely slow pace creeks you can float down to lower the heart rate! And my favourite,  a tube slide ending up in an aquarium. So cool floating through an oversized fish tank! Fabulous views too from the top of the towers before you plunge into the next adrenaline slide.

The park is set in beautiful surroundings, lush, tropical, surrounded by ocean. We had lunch overlooking the beach and the Dubai skyline. So peaceful with piped music, native birds chirping and friendly locals smiling. After our adventure in the wet we headed back to the hustle and bustle via the monorail. Fantastic views of the communities built on the palm fronds. Hundreds of 3 story sandy coloured houses with flat roofs and ornate arches. Like giant sandcastles.

A taxi took us along the beachfront past the rich gated homes of secret millionaires. We stood on the beach as the sun set and marveled at the 7 star hotel, the Burg Al Arab. A giant sail rising out of the ocean. It’s helipad looking like the Starship Enterprise..even had lights beaming out from underneath. Top security guarded the entrance and TV crews everywhere due to the 42nd celebration day of the United Emirates. We were even lucky enough to see the jet fighters put on a fantastic display with jets of coloured smoke in the national flag colours. Flags everywhere in fact, large and small, a big celebration.

After a spectacular sunset we headed for the Dubai Creek (river). Walked past lots of dinner boats all lit up ready to cruise. Ended up at the Silk Souk. Felt like we were in the Disney movie Aladdin. So many stalls inviting you in. Lots of gorgeous material…too many to choose. Took a traditional boat bus down the river…putting along…just like in the old days. A bargain at 1 dirham. Had tea overlooking the river. A delicious fresh pint of juice with an Arabian name I can’t remember and a traditinoal

shawarma (wrap). Yum! A great day!

Day 1 Dubai

After a smooth Emirates flight, even leaving Adelaide early, we touched down in Dubai for a top today of 28 degrees. Lovely. Was really cool watching the take off and landing with the camera view on your seat back TV, plus the pretty night sky in the aircraft had the promise of sweet dreams!

Straight to the apartment, huge 3 bedroom with kitchen & 3 bathrooms, just what we need, then our little Arab man picked us up in his Toyota 4 wheel drive to head straight for the desert. We knew we were in for some fun with the car kitted out with heavy duty roll bars. The 'dune bashing' was insane..but super fun. Full speed over the huge dunes, very scary angles, thought the car was going to roll. Had some excitement on the quad bikes. Chris and I taking a moderate pace, the boys zooming around. David bogged his and also came off. They had a ball, even managing lift off over the dunes. The sand is so fine and soft. Had a go at sand boarding. Lots of fun too...except the climb back up the dune..very exhausting. Lots of stunning views of the desert..we were about 95km from Dubai. After a quick camel ride (token really and nothing like our ride next to the pyramids in Cairo) it was back to Dubai.

Spent the afternoon enjoying all that Dubai Mall had to offer. Fountain show on the lake, massive waterfall inside the mall, huge aquarium wall complete with sharks, ice rink, a souk (loved the architecture even if it was recreated) and of course the odd shop or 200! Only in Dubai! Resting up now before tea then an early night to catch up with ourselves.