The first month of living as Poms

Following the wedding which was very special, we went a little north and brought a van we found on Gumtree and it went a treat. Although a little small at first, we did the classic trick, we lived in the van - FOR ALMOST TWO MONTHS! We decided to build a raised bed and plant an air-matress on it; nice. The Renault beast cost us 1200 squid.

We built it in a place called Higher Onga, where Fran was ill for a couple of days, we stayed in a small camping ground which was lovely. Then we hit the road for Cornwall. The M25 was mad, "the worlds largest carpark" is right. Once off the main roads, they become rediculously narrow and hedges twice the size of your vehicle are not uncommon.

We made Paignton in one day and stayed in a camping ground above the small town, yay - running water and a real toilet. Learning the brands of supermarkets took sometime but we soon learned that ASDA is the cheapest. The next stop was Brixham, then Torquay. Finally we went to Dartmouth Cstle in Dartmouth, Check out the fake tanks...

We came to a lovely town (almost village actually) called Okehampton; Fran had a fetish for castles so we had to go there. We ended up staying there for 4-5 days. It boarders the famous national park of the Dartmoor. We walked through the national park which I must admit is a bit of a joke compared to NZ national parks.

Between towns, we hired push bikes and ventured through on completely dedicated tracks, away from the road, yet usually fully seiled.

Falmouth Castle with Fran

We moved on, Torpoint was interesting, Falmouth was especially so, it's fortress was massive definately a must see. The point began to to come to an end with Lizard point and Lands End. The cliffs were incredible.

This is the view from Lizard point

Land's End with Fran

After arriving at Heathrow terminal we were immediately confronted with the congestion, pollution and people-madness that is London. Amazingly there is little or no compulsory declaration of materials that you bring in - no screening, no nothing! you just present your passport and your in.

We cruised through the two (yes 2!) duty free stores at Heathrow that sold alcohol and moved on through, (and it wasn't even cheap!). Of course we added a couple of bottles of Southern comfort and some champers to our already bolging luggage. Remarkale we somehow managed to check through from Thailand a whopping 57kg of luggage (excluding our carry-on, which would have been i excess of 18kg). Woohoo!

The tubes were literally beneath Heathrow airport and so it was easy to jump on the train and head for Brentwood. Although, I WOULD NOT recommend taking huge amounts of luggage through the trains if you have exchanges to make, as it is an undescribable nightmare! (too many stairs and overpasses to walk through)

But we made it and the wedding was awesome! My little sister married a POM!; if he was such a cool dude, i'd have to say "poor girl!" The wedding took place at Highlands House in Brentwood, Essex and it was lovely; the reception was awesome. This was held at their place of work - "The Leather Bottle".

On the 6th the BBQ was at Val and Garry's and it was memorable. Lovely family and good times.

I love Thailand! Cheap, beautiful and so long as you can get past the issue of open sewers that really smell in the heat of the day, the place is amazing to walk around in. It was great to see Fran as I hadn't seen her in a couple of weeks. Finally I feel like I am finally on holiday!

BTW, if you're going to buy stuff duty-free - Australia is the place to do it. Duty free doesn't really exist in Thailand and definately not Pomy land! - which is the Next stop!

Thailand is an ingredable destination, the people are VERY patriotic towards their king, so much so that at least half the population wear yellow T-shirts to indicate their love for him, the logo of royalty stands proud in the form on an emblem sewn into the right side. They are a colourful people and work hard in the heat to provide street food at an absolute bargin price. for a Pud Thai dish from a street stall (you hae to look for the well maintained ones), is 20 Baht which is less than $1 NZ and it is a descently sized meal.

The typical temporature was over 30 degrees and the beaches are amazing. Definately a must see, we will definately go back there (we have agreed that we could even live there for a spell).

Well, Fran left on 12 June for Thailand after spending some quality time with family in Gisborne. About three 2.5 weeks later, I arrived in Thailand sporting a massive grin from the Guns n' Roses conert in Auckland (Vector Arena). I went with longtime firends Matt and Anita, whom I hadn't seen in ages. Thanks guys, it rocked!

What a morning after though! After calmly walking towards the check-in at Auckland Airport at about 11am, I was soon to discover that my plane had in fact already left! (at 5:30 that morning!). I nearly fell-over when she told me; but I was soon comforted, as she politely said that the plane had been grounded anyways and I was in for a complementary 4 star hotel and breakfast! Woohoo!