Grandpa & Jo’s 25th Anniversary

Nic and Bea treated us to a cooked English breakfast before we got ourselves looking suave. Nic drove us to the chapel Grandpa and Jo attend for a service in honour of their marriage. We arrived in style, in his immaculate JAGUAR. The service was short and sweet, quite ‘high church’ in style, fitting the very old setting of the church.

Back at Grandpa and Jo’s home a garden party and lunch was held to celebrate. We mingled, poured champagne and generally tried to be as charming as possible. We think we looked pretty good and did pretty well. We did get a bit sunburnt though. In the evening Nic and Bea did a delicious barbeque, but with Eliza virtually falling asleep at the table we didn’t have the stamina for much of a late night so we hit the sack pretty early.

David’s Great Country Drive

Our last night with Harriet and Dom passed and we left early after a quick last minute visit with Eliza’s Aunt and Uncle. We had had such a nice time with all of them and Eliza got a bit teary after we got on the road. We really hope they all come out to Australia soon. We headed to Chichester and passed the hospital where I was born. The ancient city walls and huge cathedral were fascinating enough to cheer us up and I was especially looking forward to the next stop – seeing my Dad’s side of the family. My Auntie Di made us a lovely lunch which we had in the garden while enjoying the scorching weather. My cousins, Summer, Matt, Isaac, Harrison and Olivia have all grown so much. Auntie Jo and Nan were also happy to see us and share a glass of Aussie wine while we caught up.

From there we continued our long trip through the southern English countryside. It is so hot and green, with fields of wheat, barley and masses of elderflower. We really enjoyed it until we got caught in traffic just down the road from our next destination, my grandfather’s house. When we finally got there it was a relief to get out of the car and be welcomed with a cold beer. It was great to catch up with Ed, my Uncle Rob and Sandy, Grandpa and Jo and Laurent. After dinner on the terrace and lots more beer and wine we stayed the night with Grandpa’s dear friends, Nic and Bea, who live in an amazing 350 year old thatched cottage and made us feel very welcome.

Mealing Day

Harriet and Dom suggested we start the day with a ‘greasy spoon’ – a British term for a fry up at a little café type shop. There was the usual eggs and bacon, ‘brown sauce’, and David had chips with baked beans for authenticity – I went a step further and had some black pudding and ‘bubble and squeak’! I wasn’t as keen on the black pudding but the bubble and squeak was good – mashed potato with little bits of vegetables, herbs and cabbage in it. We also checked out the very stony seaside.


We went to buy some flowers and then headed off to Bolney for a day with my Great Aunt and second cousins on my Dad’s side. They were absolutely the sweetest people. We were made to feel very welcome and shown around their homes which were oh-so-very English and had incredible gardens just bursting with flowers. We went for a walk through the fields, past a cute little primary school and through the very historical cemetery. I took some photos of Mealing graves for Dad, who is especially keen on family history. Harriet and Dom were especially taken with the church which has had many generations of family members christened and wedded there.
Cousin Linda put on a great spread for lunch and we hung around and chatted a bit afterwards. Aunt Jean is in her 80’s and sharp as a tack with great wit. Val is a very sweet lady who grows every kind of vegetable in her garden and makes sweet elderflower tea.


We took some photos together and then Harriet, Dom, David and I headed off to another brilliant pub called the George and Dragon. The restaurant was just beautiful. We met Harriet’s parents, My Uncle John and Aunt Tina who hadn’t seen me since I was a baby and they treated us to a gorgeous dinner.
I was taken aback by the family resemblance in John and my Dad – they are very, very clearly brothers. He also had a similar sense of humour! I really liked him. Tina and I got on like a house on fire. I thought she was really sweet and funny. After dinner we went for drinks at the b&b where they were staying and had a couple more photos together. It was so nice to get together and meet them. They are now talking about making a trip to Australia and I really hope they do. The next pub meal is on us!

Castles and Pennies

We woke early for our first day in England to high humidity and hot sun. What!?!?! The sky was admittedly overcast for a while, but it was very warm. Our destination for the day was Arundel castle. It is hard to explain how magnificent it was. Seeing a picture of a castle isn’t at all the same as being there. David had been before as a child and I had seen a photo but I expected it to be about the size of a large cathedral and hadn’t anticipated what would be inside either.

Arundel is enormous – it took us hours just to get through the gardens and parish chapel. The gardens were amazing, with gold fixtures and sculptures , an incredible range of flowers that I had never seen before, a rose garden with blooms so sweet they smelled like Turkish delight, and vegetables and fruits growing. We were not alone in pinching a couple of the ripe, yummy strawberries and raspberries – it seemed to be an accepted practice!

We also had a cream tea (scones with jam and cream) in the castle tea rooms where they use produce from the garden in the food they sell. The castle itself took a couple of hours to see. There is part of it that you can’t visit because it is now a stately home – people actually live there! Arundel Castle is extremely old – parts of it are medieval and have been extended upon throughout the ages. There is a dungeon, handmaiden’s quarters, many many winding staircases and lavish rooms with huge fireplaces about the size of our car. We got to see the lion skin rugs that terrified David as a child, suits of armour, priceless silverware, an enormous church within the castle, incredibly creepy portraits, and graffiti that dates back to the civil war. It was really incredible.

Outside, David, Dom, Harriet and I tried to recreate a picture of Dad’s family, taken on a picnic at Arundel in about 1948. What do you think Dad? David is you, eating a sandwich. I am your mum in her horn-rimmed glasses. Dom is your Dad, lounging back. Harriet is your brother, though her bottom is not to the camera. Poor old baby Helen didn’t get a look in! Perhaps we should have borrowed a baby! Anyway, we did it from memory and I think we did quite well.

Walking back along the moat to the car we saw swans and fluffy cygnets (Can we please bring one home?), ducks and ducklings, and the newly endangered water vole in the castle moat. The local equivalent of the RSPCA was leaving out food for them to coax them into view and raise awareness. Apparently releasing mink into the wild after stopping them being farmed for fur has created an almost unstoppable predator for the water vole in some areas. Poor water vole! Nasty mink!
He is quite cute isn’t he, although a bit ratlike.

Then we went to a gorgeous pub – there are so many of those here! Truly, they are so pretty and well kept and are covered in hanging baskets with flowers blossoming all over at this time of year. The Black Rabbit is a popular Arundel pub in the summer, with a view of the castle and lots of tables outside. Harriet introduced me to yummy pear cider and I got to see sparrows and robins. Now if we can just see a squirrel I will be pleased!

In the afternoon we made a quick stop to get some English fish and chips. David was in heaven, and I loved the fish but I’m sorry to say the chips just didn’t grab me. They had no crunch! The fish was particularly good though and had lovely crispy batter.
Our next destination was Brighton. On a Wednesday night it isn’t quite kicking like at the weekends but it was still impressive. Dom took us to his favourite pub, the Evening Star, where all the drinks are homemade. David and Dom had a traditional beer (flat, strong, and not that cold – I have not been joining David in his beer appreciation in this country!) and Harriet and I had a cider that we quickly regretted and couldn’t finish even half a pint. It tasted rather vinegary and would knock your socks off! Harriet then took us to her preferred pub, the Caxton. Another drink down and we started to wander down to the pier. It was a great walk through the lanes. David said it reminded him of Newtown in Sydney, with all it’s funky little shops, cafes and restaurants. My feeling was that it looked far too clean to be like Newtown! Everything was painted white and pastel colours to fit with the seaside. Down at the sea people crunched along the shore. It was all pebbles of course! We went onto the pier and into the arcades to play some penny machines. Of course essentially it is a bit like the pokies but much more cute, very traditional, no flashing nonsense and you are only spending a penny each time you play.

We went in search of rides and fairy floss (a term that Harriet finds hilarious and thought I made up – it’s candy floss!) but sadly we were just there at the wrong time of the week. The view was really amazing though, and a great end to a fantastic day.

Day Svein - Goodbye Frankfurt, Hello Merry Old England!

At this rate we are updating a blog a day, but not getting to post regularly because of internet access. This is not something we will be able to maintain but it is nice while we have the chance, and a good way to fill in time while waiting for flights. After a very early night and a long sleep, we rose early and checked out of the hotel. Breakfast was fresh fruit from a local shop followed by bratwurst and kindswurst at a fantastic little street market. For Samuel and Leesa we made sure to take a photo. Eating frankfurts in Frankfurt!

We wandered through the gorgeous markets and along some of the main streets of Frankfurt again. Then we found ourselves in a district of strip joints and adult stores. Nothing. But. Adult. Stores. Bemused at first, it quickly became apparent that we had stumbled into the wrong side of town. Where are my rose coloured glasses? What is that man smoking in that tiny pipe? Why can I smell wee so strongly? And why are those two men crouching beside a car holding a lighter to a coke can? Oh. Right! Quickening our pace we headed back towards the Hauptbahnhof, a much more legitimate business centre! It was time to head back to the cultural centre of town to resume our more glowy view of the city so we crossed the river and strolled along dreamily again past beautiful old buildings, perfect rows of old oak trees and the shining waters of the Mein. An old Romanian man chatted to us while he played the accordion and our perspective of Frankfurt became idyllic again. We walked through the lovely gardens of several museums but decided to save the Euros for entry to bigger and better exhibitions and galleries later in the trip. Lunch was back in the markets – crumbed camembert with cranberry conserve, bread and lettuce, and feta stuffed green peppers. YUM!

After a quick beer o’clock to use the free wireless internet at the pub and post the two blog entries we had written together it was time to make a move to the Hauptbahnhof and on to the Flughafen. Our advice when flying is to not wear anything metal. What with my chunky bangles and David’s belt, we set off the metal detector and were not allowed to go back through without them as we had in Hong Kong – we were patted down. Very, very thoroughly. It was not a pleasant experience, though it shows that security is good. The flight was quick and very very pretty. Coming in to London we could see everything! Buckingham Palace, the Eye, Hyde Park, the Thames – all sorts of sights. When we finally got our luggage we called my cousin Harriet – it was surreal to speak to her and hear her accent. We got a hire car and met down the A23 at a gorgeous pub called The Wise Old Owl. After a Pimms and a beer we went back to her flat in Goring-by-Sea where she lives with her partner Dom. They were so welcoming and lovely and the weather was WARM! England is feeling very homey.

Entschuldigen sie, Sprechen sie Englisch?

Our first day honeymooning has been a very long one. After navigating our way through the Flughafen (airport) to the Regional Bahnhof (train station) we managed to embarrass ourselves trying to buy tickets to the Hauptbahnhof (Central station). Of course everything was in Deutsch (German) and although the main station is known as Hauptbahnhof, has a massive sign on the front saying Hauptbahnhof and is listed on the map as Hauptbahnhof, the ticket machine had no listing for that! After we had been fretting about this for some time a man offered to help us and suggested we simply buy tickets for Frankfurt am Mein. We finally got on the train which took us through beautiful woodlands, past tiny little houses that almost looked like models, and into the city. Did we have the right tickets? Who knows. This clean, efficient city has no ticket gates and only a small fine threat for those without tickets. It basically works on an honour system. There is virtually no graffiti or public drunkenness despite the fact that beer is sold in every general store for a couple of dollars a litre next to all the soft drinks and you can sit and drink it anywhere. Bicycles nearly outnumber cars, the tram system goes everywhere, and bikes are left in random locations around the city with a phone number attached so that you can call, rent the bike for a number of hours, get the combination to unchain the wheel and then put it back when you are done. None of these bikes were the least bit damaged or stripped either. I had been told the Germans were polite. Frankfurt is downright civilized! We could definitely take some tips from them back home! Electric cars sit charging at the station, the air is clear, and despite the fact that you can pretty much light up a cigarette anywhere we never stepped into smoke – if you walk past people are very careful to move their cigarette away and blow away from any other people. Our room is at the Ibis Centrum – obviously a cheap and cheerful choice, but well located, very clean and newly renovated. We even got a room with a view of the beautiful Mein River! Determined not to allow jetlag to set in we explored the city for several hours. We probably walked for five hours in all, resulting in blistered feet but a lot of sight seeing and a good feel for the city. Lunch was a shared selection of white sausages, sauerkraut, mash, schnitzel and an interesting salad with German cream cheeses and meats. They were absolutely delicious and so were the beers we enjoyed with them! It was pretty amazing – we ate at a traditional Bavarian café directly opposite the Dom Cathedral. Our thanks go to Raini and Tom for this special meal which was a wedding gift to us. The Dom is magnificent, with the largest organ we have ever seen and incredible intricate wood carvings, statues and stained glass windows. The ceilings are incredibly tall and the walls are red stone. We also went to the Romer, the old town square which looks so unreal it is almost like a movie set. We had intended to check out some museums but were just so content exploring the city together and taking in the atmosphere that we decided to leave the museums for less perfect, beautiful, sunshiny days. Other sights were the nightlife area – all fantastic old fashioned pubs on a network of cobblestoned streets and alleyways; the traditional bakeries which we experienced through taste as well as sight; various fountains and statues; and many shops, old churches and beautiful buildings along the way. Our highlight of all these sights however, was walking across the bridge over the River Mein. The sun was shining, rowboats passed beneath us, an old man was playing an accordion, we were holding hands and it felt like our holiday had truly begun.

High Flyers

Prepared with books, magazines and an ipod we boarded our flight to Frankfurt via Hong Kong almost two days ago. We then ignored all the carefully chosen provisions we had brought with us and instead spent our time watching movies and playing Bejewelled. It is pretty cool to be able to play video games in the air! The first flight was fun despite the cramped conditions of economy – there really is a reason it is referred to as cattle class! Being paraded past the nicer, roomier business class section before being seated felt a bit like a punishment. However we chatted, enjoyed the very forthcoming supply of drinks (by the way, don’t let curiosity get you, Campari tastes like baboon butt!) and after 9 hours we were in Hong Kong. Good grief! Leaving chilly Sydney winter and stepping out into a humid, 30 degree night was a heavy, sweaty shock to the system. The air conditioning in the building was virtually non existent and we had no Hong Kong dollars. Finally we found a shop that accepted British Pounds and bought overpriced cold drinks to wait out the two hours to our next flight. The 12 hour flight from Hong Kong to Frankfurt was gratefully shorter than expected thanks to a good tail wind. The air conditioning was malfunctioning in the plane and it was a big metal sweatbox hurtling us through the sky! By this time the novelty was truly wearing off and we were overjoyed to see the twinkling lights of Frankfurt below us in the early hours of the morning. It was absolutely surreal to see all the hopes and saving and planning come to fruition. We are here, on the other side of the world, on our honeymoon! There were even a few tears shed out of exhausted happiness (no prizes for guessing who!) and a feeling like we have really achieved something.