Brisbane, Australia

Our journey to England started with catching the train – not just one train, but FIVE trains! And every time we changed trains, we had to hump our luggage upstairs/downstairs! Appingedam to Groningen, Groningen to Schipol, Schipol to Brussels Midi, Brussels Midi to London (St Pancras), London (Euston) to Hemel Hempstead. By the time we were picked up at the train station, our arms were sore and we were tired, but we had made it!

We spend a fun couple of days with some friends (Robin & Linda), who are fellow-addicts of senseless countryside walking (aka Vierdaagse) – actually, Robin is the addict, he’s done it 37 times! But, by staying with Rob & Linda, we got to sleep-in, sit and chill (in English), catch-up on television, and we did some sightseeing.

We decided to go back up to London for a night so that we could do a show – “Spamalot”, which is a musical based on the Monty Python film “The Holy Grail”. MJ had seen this show on a previous trip to UK and once at Schonel Theatre at University of Queensland, but it was Nick’s first opportunity to see the show. We both laughed heaps and had a great night! Though we are starting to get a bit of a complex – it had been suggested that we go to a pre-show dinner at Browns Restaurant, which is convenient to the theatre area, but we discovered that the restaurant was closed for THAT week for some decorating work! After the show, we walked along the river to Westminster Tube Station (Enbankment being closed for 2014 due to replacement of escalators) – some great photo opportunities and London landmarks at night.

We also took the chance to get some exposure to some Kulcha (yes, that’s with a “K”) whilst we were up in the big smoke by visiting the Museum of London and the British Museum. In fact, I would have to say that MJ was super-thrilled by a particular display at the Museum of London – she got to see the real Flowerpot Men, “Bill & Ben” as well as “Andy Pandy”!

Then it was back to Hemel to recover from all our jaunting around before it was time to repack our bags and head back to London. This time, we were picking up our son Tyson from Heathrow and then we were staying in London for a couple of nights before we were boarding our plane for Oz. It was great to see Tyson after 10 months away from home. He was coming over to the UK to try living there for a while. He was planning on settling in Manchester and had to find somewhere to live, a job, as well as all the necessary paperwork to settle in the UK.

We had found a serviced flat at a place called Catford – more like Little Jamaica! I think that we were almost the only white people we saw the whole time we were there! But it was only about 30 minutes from Central London, and it was a new part of London to explore.

We had a whole day with Tyson, after he had been out to catch up with old friends, so we travelled up and down the Thames. We went down to Greenwich and explored the town. We had been to the Observatory and Maritime Museum on a previous trip, so this time, we walked around the town and discovered the Greenwich Markets. We had a fabulous time exploring the stalls and looking at all the amazing things to buy, but we didn’t get anything – our bags were absolutely full and we couldn’t cram in another piece of paper! We took Duggy with us on this day, so he was quite happy that he got to explore a bit, but he did complain about how cold it was! We also visited the Docklands branch of the Museum of London – again, a great afternoon seeing the maritime history from a trade point of view.

So now we come to our last day in UK – we were catching the train from Catford into Victoria, which required a change from the train to the Tube at Cannon Street, but when we got there, it was to discover that the Tube station was closed and we had to walk up the street, with all our luggage, to Mansion House station. Finally we got to Victoria, but not before we had said a tearful farewell to Tyson, who got off the Tube before us to head over to the Generator, where he would stay for a couple of nights before heading up to Manchester.

FINALLY, we made it onto the National Express Coach to Heathrow and managed to book all of our luggage through, did a little bit of last-minute shopping before sitting down and going “Phew”! We were flying to Sydney with QANTAS with a brief stopover in Dubai and we were very impressed with the service on the QANTAS flight. But, OMG! that’s a long flight!

Finally, at about 7am (only 1 hour late), on Tuesday, 21 January, we landed at Kingsford Smith Airport in Sydney! After 10 months, 4 days we were back in Australia.

And then we spent 4 days in Sydney, some would say that was too long, catching up with friends and family there. Saturday arrived and we were back on a plane again, but now we’re heading to Brisbane. Finally, we’re home!

After 10 months on the road, and visiting 20 countries (some more than once), we want to say a huge thank you to the many people who have made this trip so much fun. To our many friends and family all over the world, as well as our family at home who were always there for us – we would like to say Thank You. We have made some great new friends and seen some amazing things. But most of all, this trip wouldn’t have been as successful without the support of each other.

So, from Nick to MJ and from MJ to Nick – Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

OK, so the mushy stuff is over! It’s time to unpack, unwind and start planning Stage Two of this adventure. We have kept it all pretty fluid with planning and this will continue in the next Stage. At the moment, our original plan of driving from Cairo to Cape Town won’t be happening due to political strife in various countries, so you will have to stay tuned to find out what we will be planning on the next part. Thanks to everyone for your support. We hope that you have enjoyed reading this blog and living vicariously through us – that’s for Connie!