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Created by KeefH Web Designs, December 3rd, 2022, 07.13 AM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Genealogy Trip No 2 & Not the Motorhome trip No 21: August-September, 1969 INTRODUCTION This is a very retrospective blog, during the winter months of November and December 2022 I decided to translate most of the handwritten diaries we hold in our Family Tree data to supplement our Genealogy info featured here under the Family tab, good website design, backing up audiobooks, videos and slideshow with text. Enjoy! MENU Diary Audiobook Videos with audiobook overlay showing relevant and irrelevant areas of Australia, cars, and images from places visited, created via Clipchamp by KeefH Web Designs Trailer DIARY Jones family holiday to Queensland, Sydney to Rockhampton, written by Wilfrid Masters Jones, this is an account of the Jones family’s winter holiday, taken at the end of August 1969, in Australia. There were five of us, myself, my wife Jean, and twin daughters Anne & Margaret (aged 15) and my son Brian (aged 13). We headed north from Sydney, crossed the border into Queensland and travelled up the road known as Highway 1 with the intention of reaching Proserpine. Australia has often been described as a country of strange contrasts and we found this, even on our short tour of 2,000 miles. We passed from floods to drought conditions in a distance of 200 miles and changed from a bitter cold wind coming off the sea at Port Macquarie to the heat of a tropical sun at Rockhampton. We passed through Buderim, a land flowing with milk and honey to a drought-stricken area of dead trees, scorched grass and dried up creeks, where the cattle were being moved south in an effort to save them from starvation. We found a contrast in accommodation too. One night we slept in a beautiful glass fibre caravan and on another occasion in a single decker bus, about 30 years old, which had been converted by a very amateur carpenter. Knowing that we would find bad roads I had new rear springs fitted to the Rover and carried quite a few spares. We had two tents on the roof and carried complete cooking equipment. I removed the windscreen washer bottle from the side of the engine and made a wire basket to carry a kettle, three saucepans, a meths stove and five enamel plates, which all fitted between the exhaust manifold and the wing. It looked odd, but it made quite a talking point whenever I lifted the bonnet to take on oil at a garage. I also removed the arm rest from the front seat to make space for a first aid kit and my wife’s handbag. The car alone weighted 30 cwt (hundredweight) and when fully loaded it must have been well in the region of two tons. I think some of our Aussie friends thought that they would never see us again, because we had warnings about staying with the car if we broke down and not trying to get help. I know there are some regions in the north where the police refuse permission to proceed any further unless one has a Land Rover. There must be thousands of these go anywhere vehicles in Australia, giving good service in rough country. Well, we started our safari at 6 am on a Saturday morning. Rain was falling, but we hoped that as we proceeded north up the Pacific Highway the weather would improve and so it did, after two days of torrential rain which at times slowed us down to 15 m.p.h. Some roads were flooded but fortunately not enough to hold us up. At O’Sullivan’s Gap we passed through our first rain forest, and it was so heavily wooded that we had to put our headlights on. We slept in motels or caravans, as camping was out of the question and spent our first night at Port Macquarie. We found a motel on top of the cliffs and took a family suite. I thought any port in a storm. The rain was coming off the sea and just running from the car to our quarters got us wet through. We left Port Macquarie the next morning after the proprietor had given us a large sheet of plastic to put over all our belongings on the roof rack. Our canvas sheet was no match for tropical downpours. On the second day we came to a place called the banana bowl, acres of banana plantations growing on steep slopes. This area is supposed to have the most equable climate in Australia. Average winter temperature 67°F and in the summer 80°F. Each banana plant produces a bunch of about 300 fruits every 18 months. The plant is then cut down and a new one grows out from the base. A good bunch can weigh from 70-100 pounds. Growers use coloured plastic bags to help ripen the fruit and this makes a strange sight when seen from a distance. The bags are a light blue colour, and it appears to every traveler passing by that they are growing balloons on the trees. On approaching Grafton, we had a drive through floods six inches deep and progressed very slowly in bottom gear. I called at the NRMA office to find out if there were floods ahead, we wanted to turn back after 400 miles. Whilst waiting for them to phone I bought a canvas tarpaulin and some rope at a government surplus store and we lashed everything down on the roof, guessing that wind would be our next hazard. We were too early in the season to see the famous Jacaranda avenues in bloom, so we bought a picture postcard instead. We crossed the Clarence River which was in flood and looked like the Mississippi. At Tweed Heads we had just erected our 2 tents when a hurricane arrived, blowing off the sea bringing most of the sea with it. We found under these conditions the tents were not waterproof and so it was necessary to pack up in double quick time and bundle everything in the car. Jean tried to find accommodation for us in the town, but everybody had gone to earth, and so we had to sleep in the car, all 5 of us. The third day brought us to a stretch of beach known as the Gold Coast, and Surfer’s Paradise, a brash holiday resort very much akin to the French Riviera with concrete hotels, neon signs and various devices for extracting the visitor’s money – we passed on. The following day we came to Glasshouse Mountains but could only see the base of two of them, because of the low rain clouds. We had no idea how spectacular they were until we saw them on the return journey. On the fifth day the weather improved, and we found ourselves in sugarcane and had never seen pineapples growing before. They are cultivated on slopes facing the sun where there is good drainage. A detour then brought us to Buderim, a place we had read about in England and wanted to see because of its amazing fertility. The soil is unbelievably red, and produces strawberries, pineapples, and ginger of very fine quality. We spent an hour touring round a ginger factory, the only one in the southern hemisphere we were told. By the way Buderim is the aboriginal word for honeysuckle. We thought the place was rather aptly named. On our return to England, we found Merry bud Ginger could be bought in most of the better-quality shops. On the sixth day we passed through more sugarcane plantations and noticed they were usually on flood plains alongside wide rivers. The cane factories run their own railways called trams and the lines cross the roads with no gates or barriers of any sort. We came to a town called Gympie, where 170 dollars’ worth of gold had been mined about 100 years ago. The few remaining homes were built up on stilts to get a flow of air underneath during the hot weather, at least that’s what we were told, but I think it probably has something to do with snakes. It was about here that we were climbing a steep hill and came up behind a heavy lorry struggling up in bottom gear. The road was narrow, and I was wondering if there might be an opportunity to pass when I suddenly noticed the letters TNT painted on the back. Now in England it is the law that any vehicle carrying explosives must have the fact painted on the lorry and TNT to me meant trinitrotoluene. If that lorry was loaded, I thought, there was enough explosives to flatten the whole of Paramatta and if it was likely to go up, I preferred to be in a different part of Australia when it happened. So, I pulled off the road and let the mobile bomb get ahead for a few miles. It was sometime afterwards that I discovered what TNT meant in Aussieland and we all had a jolly good laugh. We were now a thousand miles north of Sydney and the temperature was rising. The next town on Highway 1 was Childers, in the midst of sugarcane country and we stopped for petrol and a picnic lunch. I got talking to a cane harvest contractor and was complaining about the heavy rain we came through earlier that week. He said, “pity you haven’t bought some with you, the last time it rained here was on Christmas Day”. That was nine months ago, so we had passed from floods to drought country within 200 miles. As someone said, it was so dry you had to be primed before you could spit! My children were very amused by our visit to Childers. It was exactly like one of those Texas ranch towns one sees in westerns, with swinging doors to the pubs, verandas over the shops and a main street which was just about shooting distance wide. One could imagine 2 stockmen coming out of opposite pubs and whipping out their six-shooters. The men wore wide brimmed hats and at midday the place was quiet as Tombstone in the film High Noon. The weather seemed to be set fair, so we decided to camp alongside a dried-up creek, on a space set aside for travellers called a rest area. This was provided with a fireplace, kindling wood and toilets, by the department of main roads. There was a gas station near the only sign of habitation we had seen for many miles. We pulled in at 4p.m and everybody had a job to do, as we had two tents to pitch, get a meal and wash up before 6pm when darkness falls suddenly. We were running low on water and offered to buy some from a petrol station. They were using bore water, running a Lister engine to pump it up and gave us two gallons. We carried a folding table with four seats, all combined, which was a great asset. I always think a meal on the ground is more of a picnic for the ants than the humans. I unloaded the roof rack while others prepared a meal and pumped up the beds. In less than an hour we were having our tea and supper combined. There were several brilliantly coloured parakeets flying about in the tops of trees and bullfrogs were complaining to each other concerning the shocking shortage of water. We turned in at 6pm, pretty tired, as we had done 260 miles that day, some of it on really rough roads. As it turned out it was fortunate that we were tired for we discovered that we had chosen a campsite within 50 yards of a creek bridge. There was no harm in this if it hadn’t been for the fact that most of the planks on the bridge were loose and as soon as it got dark all the heavy lorries in Australia decided to make for Cairns, crossing the bridge like a herd of elephants stampeding in a drum factory. The next day we rose at 5am but couldn’t strike camp until 8.30am because the tents were wet with dew. When we did get going, we found ourselves in real outback country and saw something we had been looking for – an aboriginal stockman sitting well back on the rump of his horse watching over 500 head of Hereford cattle. Because of the drought they were being moved south along recognised stock routes and sometimes these routes paralleled the road. Miles and miles of barren country, no grass, all the trees dead and no animals or birds. At least, so we thought, until a two-foot lizard crossed the road in front of us. He froze on seeing us coming and I straddled him with the wheels. This was lonely country, with mountain ranges to our left and the Pacific about 5 miles off to our right and it was here that we had our worst moment of the whole trip. The bitumen road suddenly changed to rough corrugated gravel, and it was on the brow of a hill. I did not see the change in surface in time and we took a series of potholes at speed, which nearly shook our teeth out. When I depressed the pedal to accelerate the engine roared up and I found that I had no drive. Immediately a broken back axle came into my mind as the car was slowing to a stop. How far was help, I wondered and what could I do about it? As there was no grating noise, I thought I would try third gear, in case of a gearbox failure, and to my relief the drive picked up again. I then realised what had happened. The gear lever had jumped from top to neutral with the shocks from the road. When I returned to work and told them what a scare we had had, someone said “that’s not unusual here. Whenever I go into rough country, I get my wife to tie the gear lever to the floor with a piece of string once I’ve got into top!” The further north we got the warmer it became, and we passed cars with canvas water bags hanging from bars in front of the radiator. These bags hold about two gallons of water, and this is apparently the only way to carry it in high temperatures. It would be very hot water if carried in the boot. The evaporation through the canvas lowers the temperature of the water and keeps it cool enough to drink. It is something to do with the kinetic energy of molecules, but you will know all about that anyway. At midday we arrived at the Tropic of Capricorn and stopped to have a look at an aluminum pylon erected to mark the exact latitude of 23.5°. The temperature was 85°F and we had crossed into the tropics. We were approaching Rockhampton and passed a lake with hundreds of herons and pelicans. Rockhampton was our furthest point north. It was a fine city with wide streets and coconut palms down the centre, blazes of colour everywhere with bougainvillea and poinsettias. Average temperature in the winter is 67°F and only exceeds 95°F for 17 days of the year. It has been known to go up to 114°F. We had hoped to go further north than this but the very bad weather we encountered at the start of our tour forced bus to cut back our programme because of time. Rockhampton was the best place we’d found so far, very clean and tidy with an obvious civic pride and very prosperous looking. We spent two nights in Rockhampton in a beautiful fibre glass caravan with a Morphy Richards fridge and electric cooker. A laundry was available with plenty of hot water and all the services the traveler could want. The trams ran down the centre of Rockhampton, the driver ringing a bell to warn absent-minded motorists. We found the people in Queensland very friendly, and they live at a much slower pace than the Sydneysiders. On our second day at Rockhampton, we visited the copper mine at Mount Morgan, having a three-hour conducted tour. An open cut mine, 900 feet deep – the ore contains copper, silver and gold and the whole production goes to Japan. We saw the complete process from mechanical digging to ingot pouring. The ore is ground to a fine powder and separates out by a floatation process leaving slurry of copper, silver, and gold. This is reduced to molten metal and poured into ingots weighting about 2 hundredweight each. When we reached the retorts, they were just about to pour five tons of metal and we saw the most spectacular fireworks display with sparks bouncing on the steel floor in all directions, the intense glare from the molten stream of metal and the showers of sparks made the place look like Dante’s Inferno. I turned away to shield my eyes from the terrific heat and found I was facing one of the foundry workers. He had his name on a metal badge riveted to the front of his steel helmet, Alf Brimstone. I could hardly believe my eyes! When I got home, I looked up the Oxford English Dictionary and there it was Brimstone, the fuel of hell fire. I thought Charles Dickens couldn’t have thought up a more appropriate name if he’d tried. In the afternoon the botanic gardens were visited in Rockhampton were visited and I discovered a new parking hazard. One had to look upwards before parking the car. Many palm trees were carrying coconuts and if one of these dropped on the roof from 35 feet it would have left quite an impression. That evening we were preparing to turn in when my daughter Anne spotted a large spider making for the light in the doorway. The sun had set, and I suppose the light attracted him in the caravan. He was on the side of the van, and I had nothing in my hands at the time, so I whipped out my knife and took a stab at it. This seemed to interfere with his steering mechanism, and he started to go round in circles, so I knocked him on the ground and trod on him. This was the first time we had seen a large spider since we came out to Australia, but of course we were in the tropics. The following day we started the return journey and I drove 355 miles before 6 in the evening. I forgot to mention something we saw on the way to Mount Morgan. The road climbed up over a mountain range and there were some very tight hairpin bends. To stop drivers from taking these bends too fast the council had put posts in the middle of the road. Anyone taking a corner too fast and swerving out across the wrong side of the road might or might not live to regret it. We’ve travelled in several different countries but never seen this done before. I felt much safer when taking the outside of a sharp bend with a drop of 509 feet on my left. On our way back we saw the Glasshouse Mountains again, but this time in fine weather. What a fantastic sight they were rising straight up from the pineapple groves like cones or candle snuffers. It was Captain Cook who gave them their name. At Brisbane we turned inland and left Highway 1 for a district called New England, with many Scottish names such as Glen Innes, Ben Lomond, Aberdeen, Warwick, Ipswich & Puddle dock. We even came across a Welsh name - Llangollen. This was a rich tableland of pasture, citrus plantations, and grain fields. We climbed up through Cunningham Gap to the Darling Downs. When we reached Stanthorpe it was late afternoon and we started looking for a caravan site. We had left it rather late for camping and for hiring a caravan too, for all we could get was a converted bus. When the Queensland border was reached, we went through the tick gate. An inspector examined the contents of our boot, saying he was looking for rocks and plants. I thought that fruit was the forbidden import. We now wished we had brought back some cheap pineapples. We had seen these at Nambour. After the tick gate we pushed on to Tenterfield, the town of willows. You cannot imagine what a lovely sight it was to see the fresh green of waterside willows after the grey green, sun scorched eucalyptuses that we had passed for miles earlier on. Seeing a nice creek which looked a likely place for prospecting the children tried their hand at gold panning and looking for gems. Although it was very rough there was plenty of room for the five of us and what it lacked in amenities it made up for in novelty. My children thought it was just the ticket, so we unloaded all our bags passing everything right down the bus to the sleeping quarters at the back end. After our evening meal was finished and just when everyone was ready for bed, I couldn’t resist the temptation to call out “all change”. Situated next to our bus were two old boys with permanent quarters in a small caravan and a couple of timber shacks in which they did their cooking. Another small shed rather intrigued us because we could see a small red flame through the cracks in the boards and my wife was convinced, they were running an illicit still. I think I rather spoilt the idea by suggesting that it could be a Calor gas refrigerator. However, we were off early the next morning so we will never know. As we were on high ground it was fairly cold at six in the morning, so our idea was to motor on for about 50 miles and then have our breakfast which we did on a clearing between the road and the railway line. The table and chairs were all set up and the kettle was about to boil. We heard a noise like an empty rail truck coming. When it came into view it was a rail trolley. Four men were sitting on a flat truck with four wheels, facing each other in pairs, and working a lever backwards and forwards to propel the wheels. We supposed they were going to work, but it did seem a funny sight to us and no doubt we appeared to be a surprise to them. It was some time before we got over the shock and waved to each other. We gave them some of our tin plates and they panned in the traditional way, scooping up sediment from the bed of the stream and gradually washing it away with a sideways motion. They said it would be nice if they could find enough gold to pay for the petrol we used on the holiday. I said “yes it would’ but they didn’t. Now I suppose everyone does the same as I do when touring a long way from home, one watches the dials on the dashboard and listens for the slightest noise which might spell trouble. I kept an eye on the water temperature gauge, as we weighed over 2 tons. It normally reaches 76°F but suddenly it started to rise, and I wondered if the fan belt had gone, but fortunately it levelled off to 85. I carried a spare belt, but one must be a bit of a contortionist to change it. Then someone shouted from the back of the car, “we’re now over 4700 feet above sea level, we have just passed a sign”. “Well, that accounts for it” I said and relaxed once more, thinking the old car wasn’t doing so bad after all, considering its age. We slept in a hired cabin at Glenn Innes that night and explored Armidale the following morning. We were struck by the tidiness of the camp site at Glenn Innes, but we very quickly found the reason. The owner employed a female person that took the role of warder, park keeper, snooper and tidy-upper, all combined. One of our girls described her as a super pernickety fussy pants! We saw an old gentleman come out of the showers and go over to the clothesline to hang up his wet towel. All the space on the lines was taken up, so he draped his towel on a bush. Like a shot, Irma (that was the name we gave her) appeared from nowhere and ordered him to take it down, which he did pretty smart as if he had been caught robbing the poor box. There was a mat on the step outside our cabin and after all the children had bought in the cases from the car, it must have got displaced slightly. As soon as we were inside and shut the door, Irma came round and straightened it up. I could almost hear her saying under her breath “Barbarians!” Two women went into the laundry, and we saw Irma hovering outside, ready to pounce, if they used too much water, left a tap running or drew rude pictures on the walls. We drew the blinds of our cabin in case we should unwittingly commit a misdemeanour. I was going to run a line from our cabin to the roof rack of our car in order to air our tent, but I could see Irma rushing up like the queen in Alice in Wonderland and screeching “off with his head!” We escaped from Glenn Innes Caravan Park early the next morning and just before we reached Armidale we passed Thunderbolt Rock, where Fred Ward, the last of the New South Wales bushrangers used to stand and survey the surrounding country looking for victims. We visited this in 2007-8 Later we came to Kentucky Creek where he was shot. On leaving the plateau country we descended into bush and saw our first live kangaroo, which was about 4 feet 6 inches tall. It crossed the road in front of us and jumped a fence. On reaching Singleton the only accommodation we could find was the Agricultural Hotel. We were too tired to camp and the weather looked ominous. The next day we crossed the Macdonald Range and ran into the first rain for nine days, at Windsor. My wife kept a diary every day and also noted some of the more picturesque names of the creeks that we crossed. Cold Tea Creek, Boiling Point Creek, Jacob & Joseph, Christmas Creek, Old Darkey Creek & Emigrant Creek were some of the names she noted. When we at last arrived home after our 2500-mile tour I looked at a map of Australia and found we had only travelled one sixth of Highway 1, which is 7664 miles long. It certainly is a big country. Our tour is something we will remember for the rest of our lives and our only regret was that we failed to reach Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef, but of course one would require more time and it was our first attempt at exploring more than a thousand miles from home. THE END Return to Menu AUDIOBOOK Now follows 3 SoundCloud audiobooks of the trip, the 1st 2 constructed using text to speech with reasonable digital voice attached, from Jean & Wilfrid's diary of the road trip, the 3rd is with Keef's voice reading out Anne & Margaret's diary. Annie will also do the same thing in early 2023 so we have both our voices for prosperity reading something that really happened. Return to Menu VIDEO I have also included a video of associated places etc. with Keef's voice over as an audiobook reading Anne & Margaret's supporting diary for this trip. Annie will do one as well in 2023 so we have a record with our voices for prosperity later on, a transcript is not available to post here but there is an equivalent PDF on the family tree. Return to Menu

By keef and annie hellinger, Dec 1 2021 07.30 am As Moonfruit died on 7th December 2021 my previous HOLIDAY2007-8 site which contained our 1st trip down under in 1995 was migrated by Yell to WIX. I have decided to incorporate it here into my motorhometravelsblog site as an insurance against Yell increasing site charges quite substantially once a year is up, it will then be easy to remove the migrated site. Note this is intrinsically linked to Blog 81, see the 3 associated blogs at end of post, thanks That's what you call thinking ahead... anyhow for your enjoyment here is 1995! UPDATE Jan 2022 put a lot of effort into resurrecting HOLIDAY 2007-8 so if you wish to look at the reworked original as well feel free click HERE MENU Read the Full Diary Listen to the Audiobook of the Diary if you prefer See the Calendar and Route Map See the Full slideshow with audiobook intro See the Slideshows Listen to the Talkies Video OUR HOLIDAY "DOWN UNDER" - 1995 Including Family in Sydney, New South Wales, Victoria & Queensland Summary: AUSTRALIA 5 weeks between 6/8/1995 - 2/9/1995 On the old website photos were arranged in batches of 50 via the gallery to make it quicker to load them and easier to navigate through them. In 2020 you can now use the filmstrip bar at the bottom to run across them. All You Tube videos from that trip are available via the Playlist button below. Enjoy! This is a visual summary of out family trip to Australia in 1995. What lovely memories! We were supposed to have 2 stops on route, Kuwait City & Jakarta but in the end stopped at those and Changi airport, Singapore & Denpasar, Indonesia as well. 48 hours travel to save the cost of one child's flight. We would not do that again, far too tiring. Whilst in Oz we visited Sydney, Hunter Valley wine area, Great Ocean Road, Canberra, Melbourne and Queensland especially Cairns, Green Island and the Atherton Tableland. By 2020 including living there as a child / teenager respectively we have been 5 times and still have rellies / friends living there, love the place! By 2017 we had in essence travelled from Caernarvon high up on the west coast all the way around up to Cooktown high on the east coast plus thru the red centre from Darwin to Adelaide including Alice Springs, plus Broome & Kunannarra both high up in Western Australia, oh and all the way around the island of Tasmania, would have lived there way back in the late 80s if my company had given me the job in the rocks area Sydney but in the end they decided it was cheaper to give the job to an aussie rather than pay for a whole Brit family to be shipped out there, shame, but travel & life is still fun. Besides seeing kapukai the aboriginal dance band we travelled on the fabulous Kuranda Railway in far north Queensland, we also sadly saw the oppression of aboriginals in Mossman, when we returned in 2007-8 (Blog 162) they had even been banished to the outskirts of the town and in Alice springs Kevin Rudd the then Prime Minister of Australia issued a formal apology for the way they had been treated, to this day I personally don't believe this issue is yet resolved #sosad #scary Calendars #vanswelove HISTORY Have a look at the diaries and the travel map above, below is what the old website looked like, it had various revisions since its inception in 2008 but was the earliest site I ever created starting created via Coppermine with Craigs then Moonfruit V6, HTML5, responsive code and now on WIX (what a journey of discovery and I've loved every moment) #nerd #majorholidaytrip With Audiobook Slideshows The Talkies This is what the original slideshow page looked like Diary 1995 Diary 5 weeks in Australia with the Family Initially staying with family in Sydney but then other parts of New South Wales, Canberra the capital in Australian Capital Territory, Victoria before flying up to Queensland and hiring our mega 6 berth motorhome with antiquated double declutch gears and no power steering, our first experience in a motorhome and yet we continue to this day despite the battle to drive her, tee-hee. By way of a Summary, we spent 5 weeks in Australia and were away between 3/8/1995 - 5/9/1995, have a look at our calendar why don’t you, thanks for looking. Bit of nostalgia for you website browsers, on the old website photos were arranged in batches of 50 via the gallery to make it quicker to load them and easier to navigate through them. In 2020 we updated this so you can now use the slider feature under the 1995 images menu to run across them or click one and then just tab thru, up to you. All You Tube videos from that trip are available via the Playlist buttons above. Enjoy! This is a visual summary of our family trip to Australia in 1995. What lovely memories! We were supposed to have 2 stops on route, Kuwait City & Jakarta but in the end stopped at those and Changi airport, Singapore (where in fairness since 1995 we have been often as our family now live in Singapore, but that’s a different story) plus Denpasar airport, Bali, Indonesia, where we saw a lovely lady doing Batik and Keef filmed her for prosperity, just a fabulous skill and creation, note is also a mecca for Aussie surfers which would have given us and issue on the return journey if we hadn't arrived at Kingsford Smith early as unbeknown to us apparently they always overbook flights, we would worst case scenario have to get the next one and miss our connections, which is not fair plane by the airlines in our humble opinion #badnews. 48 hours travel to save the cost of one child's flight. We would not do that again, far too tiring. Whilst in Oz we visited Sydney, Hunter Valley wine area, travelled the Pacific highway to Hawkesbury River , French's Forest and Annie's old haunts, Hard Rock Café Sydney (defunct for a bit but now reopened at Circular Quay), Used the now defunct Sydney Monorail, visited Waratah Zoo, Botany Bay, Etamogah pubs so unique, ate at Doyle's Watson Bay (why wouldn't you?), Great Ocean Road , Loch Ard Gorge and the 12 Apostles, this was in the days when you could just park opposite them, no longer, now a huge tourist site, think it was better back then, Canberra, Lake Burley Griffin and Parliament house, Melbourne, Mornington peninsular, Keef's old haunts, Philip Island and Japanese tourist who just did not understand "no flash" please!, Ballarat gold panning at Sovereign Hill, Ned Kelly's at Beechworth, Glenrowan, Hopkins Falls near Warrnambool, Melba Gully Glowworms, Cascade Falls, South Gippsland's Earthworm experience and zoo, and Queensland especially Cairns, Fishery Falls campsite, Mossman Gorge, Gordonvale, Gillies Range, Green Island, the fab Kuranda Railway, Tapuki Aboriginal dance troop, Port Douglas, 7 mile beach, stinger stations, Daintree River croc and snake boat trip, Doug spotted a huge crocodile, Hartley's Crocodile Farm (now closed) and the Atherton Tableland. By 2020 including living there as a child / teenager respectively we have been 5 times and still have rellies / friends living there, love the place! By 2017 we had in essence travelled from Caernarvon high up on the west coast all the way around up to Cooktown high on the east coast plus thru the red centre from Darwin to Adelaide including Alice Springs, plus Broome & Kunannarra both high up in Western Australia, oh and all the way around the island of Tasmania, and travelled on 2 of the great world railway experiences, The Ghan from Darwin to Alice Springs, and the Indian Pacific from Perth to Adelaide across the Nullarbor plain which we have also done in a motorhome in 2013. We would have lived in Sydney as a family way back in the late 80s if my company (Boots UK) had given me the job in the rocks area but in the end, they decided it was cheaper to give the job to an Aussie rather than pay for a whole British family to be shipped out there, shame, but travel & life is still fun. Indeed, my pal Peter and his family did do the job in the Rocks, he so loved it when Boots dragged him back to the UK he resigned and returned to Brisbane , where just outside in warner he and his family now live, we have visited them, snakes in the pool and all, ha-ha. Anyway, to the Diary detail. Thursday 3rd August 1995 Finish work, travel to London, stay overnight at Mum & Dad’s. We had booked all our flights via the Ilkeston Co-op and planned to snooze either at airports or on the plane, big mistake, we soon learnt that kipping on a plane is not easy with all the distractions around you. Friday 4th August 1995 Linda drives us to Heathrow, leave Mum & Dad’s at 8 a.m. Linda is having our car for the duration of our time away, I put her on the insurance. Got to Heathrow about 9.30 a.m., heavy traffic understandably. Our first flight was at 11.30 a.m. to Kuwait City in Kuwait. We got there about 22.30 p.m. It was amazingly hot. There gave us a voucher for a drink and sandwich in the transfer area. A guy told me it had been 52 degrees centigrade at lunch that day, the 45 at almost midnight was more than enough for all of us and the jet lag was already kicking in. We looked out of the big glass windows at the airport it was just sand everywhere, even the roads looked like sand crop circles if that makes sense. We left Kuwait City at about 23.30 p.m. Saturday 5th August 1995 We were on the Indonesian airline Garuda which at the time had the worst safety record in the world, which did play on your mind a bit, and tried to sleep on the plane, it landed at Changi Airport , Singapore for refuelling, I remember they woke me to ask if I wanted yet more food, I shooed them away and tried to sleep. Unsuccessfully I might add. The Garuda airline then touched down at its headquarters at 14.40 p.m. i.e., Denpasar airport, we were there for almost 5 hours at the airport, which meant we could stretch our legs, see all the wonderful palm trees and lady doing Batik, which Keef filmed. You will see that on the way back (2nd September) we finally got let out into Indonesia , what an interesting place, in Jakarta the capital of the island of Java. We finally left Denpasar at 19.30 p.m. local time and flew on to Sydney overnight using the then Australian Ansett Airlines (they folded in September 2001), well and truly jet lagged by now after our epic journey with far more stops than Ilkeston Co-op had booked us, I even remember trying to sleep on a bench at Denpasar airport, it just didn’t work, the kids however seemed quite happy. Sunday 6th August 1995 We arrived at Sydney Kingsford Smith International airport at 8.45 a.m. early morning Australian time, exhausted from travel but happy to be here. We waited for the sweet shop to open and bought a disgusting Australian chocolate honeycomb bar that was supposed to be the equivalent of a crunchy bar, it wasn’t. Anyhow the logic was to get some coins to ring Brian to say we had arrived and could he come at pick us up. After some lovely greeting he drove us back to their abode at x where we were greeted by Anne, Laura, and Leo, so nice to see them all again. Brian’s company (BT) provided both accommodation and a car for the family, they lived at 30/1 New Street, West Balgowlah Heights, Sydney, Australia, NSW 2093 just overlooking Spit Bridge if you went out the front of their house. As a family we tried staying awake to get into Australian time and went out for a meal with B&A down at the harbour’s edge. I remember seeing our 1st Kookaburra and me having fish curry for my meal which on reflection was not a wise move, and it paid me back for at least a couple of days in ways I don’t wish to write about, ha-ha. Monday 7th August 1995 Lazy day recovering from Jet Lag, spent it at B&A’s. Brian was at work in the city centre, a fab journey to work on the sea cat or ferry across to circular quay from the Spit, what more could you ask for? The boys played basketball with L&L and we all took a little stroll along the road outside to have a look at spit bridge and the harbour, nice. Tuesday 8th August 1995 Brian drove us to pick up our hire car, a white holden, which we will keep for 15-16 days and drop off at Melbourne airport before we fly up to Cairns and pick up our motorhome. The car in Sydney gave us the flexibility to go out exploring as a family independent of B&A but we also did stuff with them as well. In the evening we all went to Doyle’s at Watson Bay, our first encounter of many at this fine fish establishment, we also had a bit of a stroll around Manly and the Corso, so remember all those Norfolk pines. As Brian had the day off, we visited Laura and the Blue Mountains, quite an experience with views to die for, we had a snack in a café in Laura to calm our nerves after an eventful go on the funicular railway, the kids loved it. It was called the Katoomba railway. Wednesday 9th August 1995 Sydney and the surrounding area. We took our car into Balgowlah to get used to it and had another look around, on the 1st day we had used the bus from here to get around and Brian picked us up from the bus stop. In the evening we all went to Clontarf, Sandy Bay and Castle Rocks, great fun and oh so warm’ later met the Jones at Waratah Zoo to feast our eyes on all the wonderful Aussie animals and birds, especially the Koala’s a firm favourite forever. We also saw wombats, kangaroos and dingoes. It is worth noting that we used a combination of both open topped bus and our hire car to get around, car parking not being cheap or accessible often. Thursday 10th August 1995 Sydney and the surrounding area, used the Manly ferry today and kept the ticket as a souvenir, in the day we visited the Chinese Gardens, so tranquil, Keef dressed up in traditional costume for photos, boy it was hot in that garb, plus strolled to the Botanic gardens up Macquarie Street (the ex NSW governor way back when it was a colony) where we saw Ibis and a whole lot more, some fascinating tropical plants that were a feast for the eyes, and then we finally went to Bondi beach in the evening and had the obligatory ice cream along the promenade. We also got views of the fab Pittwater and visited the posh houses at Palm Beach, allegedly at the time Russell Crowe owned something there as well as Home & Away / Neighbours being filmed on the beach there, so glad Kylie took up singing instead ha-ha. Friday 11th August 1995 Sydney and the surrounding area, Manly ferry to Circular quay again, love this area, listening to the trad aboriginal playing didge (indeed the same guy was still there in many future years when we returned) and some street theatre under the high-level railway arches. We even used the monorail to get around, quite and experience and great views. It closed in June 2013. We went up the Sydney sky tower and got some great views and photos of the dense panorama, including out over the harbour, we both love Sydney. We also had a look around the harbourside shopping mall but bought nothing bar ice-creams, some of the days Ann came out with us when she was feeling up to it, B&A’s kids were at school during the day, following the “slip-slop” mantra. Saturday 12th August 1995 Brian had hired a large people mover and we set off early north through New South Wales towards the Hawkesbury River which in 2017 when we were staying at Beacon Hill in our lovely apartment with pool, we travelled alongside on the train to visit Annie’s cousin Susan at Newcastle. Sadly, Brian picked up the obligatory speeding fine this time for too fast on the motorway out of Sydney i.e., the Pacific highway Sunday 13th August 1995 We went with Brian, Ann, and family into Sydney centre by ferry, saw the Rocks market, harbour bridge, Opera house and went to the then Hard Rock Café with its huge hanging American car, not surprisingly Keef bought the T-shirt. We also went of the Sydney aquarium and later in the week for a look around, when we went into Manly via Fairlight Ann took our boys into the one there near the wharf. We all had a good look around before returning late in the evening tired and happy to bed. Monday 14th August 1995 Sydney and the surrounding area. Redid some of the things we had already done in the city centre but we so love it, including using the Tourist hop on hop off bus to get around the sites, much easier than driving into a very busy Sydney centre, we are getting to know our way around now and well and truly over jet lag. Tuesday 15th August 1995 Sydney and the surrounding area. Went with Ann to the North Heads area. In the evening had a nice family meal as we are off on our travels from tomorrow. Wednesday 16th August 1995 Said our goodbyes, we will see them later in the month, and left Sydney heading out towards Goulburn on the Hume Highway (M31) through Liverpool, Campbelltown, Mittagong and Marulan (we did see these in more detail in 2017) which we didn’t stop at but saw as we drove through, we stopped after Goulburn at Yass for a rest. We travelled onto the Australian Capital Territory to our hotel in Canberra through Murrumbateman, an interesting place. Thursday 17th August 1995 We spent the whole day in Canberra visiting lake Burley Griffin and taking a boat trip out on the lake which gave us extensive views of the surrounds. Keef did quite a bit of videoing on his old fashioned (but at the time top tech) camcorder. We went up the Canberra sky tower and got some amazing views, most of which however was bush. We then visited the Australian parliament and did the tour which we adults found fascinating, less sure about the kids. Canberra in our humble opinion is quite a weird place, people seem to drive in for work and drive out in the evening, we had an evening meal out in what now seemed like a ghost town before returning to the motel and bed, a hugely interesting day, tick. Friday 18th August 1995 Set off quite early in the morning after breakfast to avoid some of the heat whilst travelling, even though the car had air conditioning. Visited Gundagai whose past inhabitant Horatio Wills is credited with inventing Aussie rules and the 1st aboriginal cricket team. Some fame. We then went thru Wagga Wagga, just because we love the name. Stopped at Albury to see the historic department store and the paddle steamer on the Murray, this being the NSW / Victoria border. The mighty Murray runs into Lake Hume nearby. We then went to Glenrowan and Beechworth to see some history on Ned Kelly. We finally arrived at Melbourne and our hotel quite late in the evening having seen Seymour and its station, we have returned there since in 2017. Saturday 19th August 1995 Today we went on a Keef Nostalgia tour after seeing the city centre cathedral. You must be so careful with trams when driving. You must stop alongside when they stop or get fined, a good safety idea. We parked in a central car park undercover and then caught the free trams around the sights of Melbourne. Flinders Street station, Greek area etc. We then took the car to Lalor to find Keef’s old house and then onto the Mornington peninsular, Elwood and Pine Avenue, another Hellinger haunt, and then onto Philip Island and Nobbies point to see the fairy penguins land on shore and hobble up the cliff side, just magical. We visited San Remo, Ventnor, Ryll and Cowes on Philip Island as well, how original eh? We returned to our motel late evening , a fun packed day. Sunday 20th August 1995 Today we went out through Southern Cross to Ballarat and spent the whole wonderful day at Sovereign Hill both seeing a re-enactment of a gold mining village and doing some gold panning ourselves, in the evening there was a show with lights and sounds, a fab day which I think the boys will remember forever. We stayed in a motel at Ballarat overnight. Monday 21st August 1995 We set off early in the morning for Warnambool passing through Darlington and Ellerslie. Stopping on route at Hopkins Falls and having a gave of footie as well as seeing the falls. Sadly it was renamed as Doug did have a fall and badly grazed himself. We called in at Warnambool hospital to have him patched up. He was in a bit of pain, but we went to see if we could see any southern right whales nearby at Logan’s beech from the viewing platform, we saw a Mum and cub, wonderful. We stayed overnight in a motel here. Tuesday 22nd August 1995 Today we left Warnambool and started travelling along the absolutely world class Great Ocean Road coming off the Princes Highway where we could travel along the roads edging the Bass Straits and see some of the truly sublime scenery and sandstone rock stacks that edge this coast. We saw amongst others The Grotto, Loch Ard Gorge, where we and the boys descended much of the available staircases to the viewing platforms, great views, London Bridge ,which in fairness over the years we have visited “has fallen down” with a huge chunk eroding away into the sea, however in 1995 it was all in one piece and of course the truly magnificent 12 Apostles. In 1995 it was not so touristy, so we were able to pull the car up right near by and had the whole view to ourselves, truly magnificent. After the 12 apostles we went onto Melba Gully where we chose our guest house. The chap who ran it took us along with torches later in the evening into the rainforest gully nearby to see the glow worms, magical stuff, and something we all remember to this day. Wednesday 23rd August 1995 Packed up early from the guest house and said goodbye to the incredibly kind owner who had taken us down into the Gully last night to see the glow worms. We returned to the Gully and walked up to Anne’s Cascades along Madsen’s track, how appropriately named are those falls. It did feel like we were in a rainforest. It was only about an 8-minute walk, but you seriously thought you were on a different continent, maybe the Brazilian rain forests, not that we have been there. After that we travelled further along the Great Ocean Road through Johanna, Glenaire, the Great Otway National Park (we returned in 2017 to look for koala’s there) and Marengo before stopping at Apollo Bay briefly. Quite a touristy town but with a fab beach. From Otway to Torquay , the eastern end it is called the Surf coast. From Otway back to Warnambool , the western end, it is called the shipwreck coast. We saw Lorne and stopped at Moggs creek to see some of the amazing exclusive residences that were architect designed overlooking the Great Ocean Road and the Surf coast. We then went onto Torquay. In 2008 when we went onto Torquay and were lucky enough to see one of the car rally old vehicles just going under the Eastern wooden arch and Keef managed to snap it. It is also a monument to the soldiers who built the whole of the Great Ocean Road. At Torquay we went down to the beach to watch the surfers doing their thing in the sun. After Torquay we used the Princes Highway to travel on up to Gippsland , going around the outskirts of Melbourne, at South Gippsland we visited the Giant Earthworm Museum and zoo. Fascinating stuff. The boys petted a few kangaroos there as well as learning about Giant earth worms, not sure I would want to come across one of those. After Gippsland we returned to the Melbourne airport area and stayed in a motel there overnight. I think it was Sunbury, but my memory is a little hazy on that. Thursday 24th August 1995 Up latish as no great rush this morning, had breakfast and packed the car up and headed off to the car rental company on the outskirts of Melbourne airport at Tullamarine. We handed back the car and then they transported us to the internal flights’ terminal. We flew Quantas internal which back in 1995 took 4 hours 40 minutes, nowadays (2022) the journey is only 3 hours 30 minutes on average. In Cairns we took a taxi to our motel which was fairly near the airport and had a bit of a look around the area we were in. Friday 25th August 1995 Awoke in Cairns, Queensland on the Coral Coast, just so tropical and humid. A delight for the senses. We really liked Cairns and have returned since. Rumour has it that when my Dad was out in Australia as a single guy in the early 50s he was offered a strip of land on the coast in Queensland which he could easily have afforded but he turned it down not knowing where his future lay, what a shame that sort of real estate would be worth a fortune now, and what a fab coast line it is. Anyhow we got a taxi to the motorhome company in Cairns where we picked up our Country Club Maui 6 berth motorhome, the 1st we had ever hired. We drove out of Cairns learning to master this beast in terms of driving and looking forward to seeing all the sugar cane fields and coast had to offer, well excited. We stayed in our first campsite not far down the coast visiting Gordonvale on route and staying at fishery falls, a fabulous campsite with lovely tropical flowers that we have returned to on future trips. Saturday 26th August 1995 Today we had a look around the Fishery falls area and then drove onto Innisfail. After that we used highway 25 through the amazing Wooroonooran National Park to Millaa Millaa and then on through the Crater lakes National Park to camp at Dunbulla. Sunday 27th August 1995 Up early before it got too hot, we went to see the amazing Cathedral Fig tree nearby, it was truly amazing we used the board walk to get there and took lots of pictures. After this we visited Yungaburra which is about where the Atherton Tablelands start on the Gillies Range Road, the terrain was definitely getting steeper to the point where I had a queue a mile long behind the motorhome and in double-declutched lowest gear I really thought we weren’t going to get up the incline but with patience and time we did thank goodness, the Aussie behind were tooting supportively NOT! Ha-ha. We stopped at Atherton for a good look around the town with interesting trees , monuments, and shops. Bought some provisions and stayed at the campsite there. The campsite was quite modern, and we had wallabies watching us which was fun. Monday 28th August 1995 Left the delightful site at Atherton and used the Bruce Highway, the Australian National Highway 1, to travel through Mareeba, with its lovely Jacaranda trees (and pods which we collected). We passed through Mount Molloy and the Mount Lewis National Park onto Mossman Gorge. We camped here but not before exploring the river , gorge, and rain forest. We went for a bit of a walk across the gorge swing bridge , seeing Boyd Tree frogs and a whole lot more wildlife and fauna, a magical place. The town of Mossman was quite sad with aboriginals drunk already outside the local taverns quite early in the day, in later years when we have returned to Mossman they had moved the whole aboriginal community into buildings on the outskirts of town, still drunk sadly, not sure they have integrated as a culture very well into modern western life, indeed for the most part I can safely say they haven’t , it’s just so sad across Australia and is still a very big issue to sort. The campsite at Mossman we liked a lot, especially the green tree frogs in the flap on the electric hook up posts. Oh and the magnificent tree palms everywhere. Tuesday 29th August 1995 Left the campsite at Mossman early and travelled up to Daintree Village where we did the Daintree River cruise , the river is a UNESCO world heritage site as it is a Wet Tropics example. Doug spotted a huge crocodile and we saw quite a few on the banks. The boat captain told us, we were the only ones in the boat, that sometimes the crocs pull cattle from the banks if they stray too close. Doug also spotted a tree snake sitting up high, what amazing eyesight he has. We then went onto Port Douglas and had a rally good look around, such a nice place, so nice we have returned later when the ferry across the Daintree to Cape tribulation was open. Whilst here went to the Flagstaff hill lighthouse and 7-mile beach where we saw the stations to help eradicate the pain of being stung by one of the stinger jellyfish that frequent that coastline. We had quite a nice walk on 7-mile beach, not the whole 7, however. We stayed at a campsite just outside Port Douglas. Wednesday 30th August 1995 We left our campsite at Port Douglas and used the Captain Cook Highway through the Thala beach nature reserve and the very interesting Macalister Range National Park down to Wangetti on the coast. We turned off there up to Harley’s creek where we spent much of the day at the Hartley’s creek crocodile farm, watching amongst others Bruce and his black snake devouring a live mouse (yuk!), numerous crocodile feeding shows, “he’s behind you”, and learning about exactly how many pounds pressure a crocs jaw can impose, not with this and their roll if you ever get caught by one I don’t envy your chances. Beside crocs and there were lots of them, there were other traditional Aussie animals, notably the very dangerous Cassowary. I remember going through the town of Cassowary on our way from Atherton to Port Douglas. We stayed almost until the park closed and then drove again on the Captain Cook highway along past numerous beaches to Yorkey’s Knob campsite, right on the beach and we got an end slot with fabulous views and were able to watch the sun go down. Thursday 31st August 1995 We left the wonderfully named Yorkey’s knob campsite and drove the short distance to the Freshwater railway station where we parked up the van and bought our tickets for the Kuranda Railway, an almost 2-hour journey with the lovely Simone as our guide and waitress up to the rainforest town of Kuranda. It stops for 10 minutes both ways at Barron falls , a majestic fast flowing and extremely high falls, vaguely reminds me of the Bridal Veil falls in New South Wales Blue Mountains. We had a few hours to both look at the historic station, tropical plants everywhere, stroll around town and see an aboriginal dance show (bit touristy) but with dreamtime stories presented by the troop known as Tapuki. We collected some of their marketing memorabilia which for many a year we displayed on the boy’s playroom wall. They were impressive especially the didge playing which I still haven’t mastered despite owning one. It was a wonderful day, we found a campsite in North Cairns to stay at overnight. Friday 1st September 1995 On the way back to the motorhome hire company near Cairns airport we briefly called in at the AJ Hackett sky park bungee jumping place to see and hear the mad fools jumping, you wouldn’t get me doing that. So, we then cleaned up the van packed our stuff away in our cases and checked the van back in leaving any leftover provisions at the office for other campers, this is a great gratuity we have taken advantage of over the years, it gets you started. We then got the free shuttle to the airport and flew back to Sydney via Brisbane, seeing the Brisbane River out of the window whilst we touched down to let travellers off briefly. The whole flight into Sydney only took 2 hours 50 minutes. We then got a taxi from Sydney airport back to Brian and Ann’s in Balgowlah. Lovely to see them all again. Saturday 2nd September 1995 We were all up early to say our fond farewells and thank them for all their kind hospitality but then it was off to Sydney airport. We got a taxi at 6.30 a.m. and arrived at the airport at 7 a.m. We left on time and flew to Jakarta, Java, Indonesia 1t 14.10 p.m. where we had a few hours checked out in the town. We caught a taxi for our excursion and sightseeing, after Keef had crossed off 3 trailing noughts from the guys Rupiah quote (would have been a years salary for him, tee-hee) we saw a lot, I remember how busy it was, folk having to do press ups by the road side enforced by the police because they had been jay walking, people hanging off the back of very over crowded buses, buying our wooden fruit bowl in a department store, watching people doing wood carving in back streets with the blades shaving towards their bare feet, frightening but it is and was the way. All in all a very interesting visit. We then had to get back on the plane. Sunday 3rd September 1995 At 00.10 a.m. we finally flew out of Jakarta onto Kuwait City which we arrived at 8.15 in the morning local time. This was both a refuelling and leg stretching stop, we were in the transfer lounge for about 3 hours finally flying on to the UK departing from Kuwait City at midday local time. We arrived back at Heathrow at 16.30 p.m. After getting through customs and border control we got a taxi back to Mum & Dads, had a brief catch up and all crashed out exhausted after all the time travel. Monday 4th September 1995 Caught up a little more with Mum & Dad, told them how we had visited all our old Australian homes in the Victoria area, thanked them for putting us up, said our fond farewells and having retrieved our car from Linda who popped round drove back home to Nottingham. We were still all jet lagged so went to bed. Tuesday 5th September 1995 Back to normal life, Keef to work but the boys had an extra day off to further recover, a great family holiday. Audio Diary

Motorhome trip No 46 : Sept 12th- 17th 2021 NOTTS->Ludlow Touring Park, Ludlow, Shropshire ->NOTTS 382 miles A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog The newly restored Van is running so well at the moment, it’s a joy to drive, 52k+ miles now on the clock. This 5 day trip was part of my 67th birthday fun. Hadn’t realised what a lovely historic town Ludlow is. It is positioned right on the edge really of 3 counties – Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire. History wise Arthur Plantagenet (Henry 8th elder brother) died 1502, married to Catherine of Aragon, aged 15 at Ludlow Castle....Lucien Boneparte (Boneys younger brother was held prisoner in Ludlow) 1810-11 ....King Edward 5th was also there before he was murdered 1483 back in London....this place is steeped in history #fact 86days as King... Edward V, one of the 2 princes murdered in the tower allegedly by Dick3 of Leicester, the battle of Ludford Bridge , Henry VI and Richard Castle after Richard Neville, Lord Protector...😁🤔 oh and there are George 2nd alms houses built 1758, here endeth the history lesson We left home at about 11 and used the truck nav. to take us the quickest route, bit of motorway then outskirts of Kidderminster, past Hagley Hall and then into the nice Worcestershire countryside, thru Little Hereford and onto the site. All very rural and lovely with its yellow brown fields painting the canvas of farms. Settled in nicely on pitch 3, very close to all facilities. Set up my new one man tent (my insomnia cure, well maybe – I used it twice whilst we were away so not too bad!). Set up in a motorhome takes 5 mins, always amazes me how long a caravan takes in comparison. Anyhow after coffee we then went and had a walk around the site, thought we could get across to the River Teme side from the site map but it is fenced off as an area of “scientific interest” oh well nice views anyhow. Found a lovely plant (later identified by friends on faceache as mullein). Collected a load of seed so gonna give that a whirl sometime. Next day after a bit of overnight rain got to use my OAP bus pass (sorry being politically correct senior citizen 😉 ) Caught the 490 into Ludlow which stopped at the the Assembly room near the Castle. What an amazing town Ludlow is, we both loved it. Not so the bus company though, they only ran 3 buses back we waited over 45 mins, it never turned up so we had to walk back, Ludlow is very steep and pained poor Annie’s arthritic knees. I did the gentlemanly thing and rang the bus company my “heartfelt feedback”, they promised to investigate and get back to me, they haven’t. We met a couple who had had the same experience with missing buses on their last trip to this site. Moral of the story…. Don’t use Lugg Valley Travel! See the full images slideshows below, main is 18 mins but with fab music by the Allman Brothers and the one on Ludlow with text ( 109 images, 9 mins) to get a feel of what we experienced, there are 4 in all, one especially for train buffs, thanks for looking. The surrounding areas included had a loose base of family research for Annie’s rellies but afforded us the opportunity to visit quite a lot of villages and some of the bigger towns, not exclusively but some we saw were Richard Castle, Tenbury Wells (lovely, fairport convention on at the regal, lorry on bridge fun not) , Cleobury Mortimer (great church , high road and washing pond), Onibury (wonderful St Michael’s church and old GWR train station, font usedf to christen Annie’s rellies), Neen Savage (st marys church and whatmore gravestones), Bewdley (Severn Valley Railway – also at Bridgnorth), Leominster, Far & Wyre Forest, Bitterley (narrow road and definitely don’t travel at school chuck out time or you will be bitter ) , Flowers everywhere, Craven Arms (not interesting), Much Wenlock (fab priory and old town, victorian dr william penny brookes – refounder of the town Olympics, milburga the nun), Wenlock edge (great views), Bridgnorth (just wonderful especially the high street, annies rellies at 51 high street and 6 high street, it all starts by north gate at no 1 high street and goes up the left hand side, then back down the right hand side, took us a while to find them, St Mary Magdelene church on top of the hill was too steep for Annie so we gave it a miss )…. Managed free parking everywhere but had to run in front of yellow peril in Bridgnorth as only allowed 40 mins. Found out at Much Wenlock priory that the Barclays premier English Heritage arrangements (i.e free entry) ended in Mar 2020 (boo!) – covid driven. Note also history wise re Much Wenlock - Victorian doctor, William Penny Brookes (1809-1895), is known as the founder of the modern Olympic Games. Brookes established the Wenlock Olympian Games in 1861. The Games are still held each year and provided the inspiration for Pierre de Coubertin and the Olympic movement. The Brookes family graves are in the churchyard and are decorated with Olympian wreaths. There are 121 images (approx. 10 mins) to look at with text and Allman Bros music in the “around Ludlow” slideshow, thanks again for looking All in all a fab relaxing 5 days, great site, great food & drinks, great 67th birfday, great exploring… I think we will be back to this area of the country again at some time.

Motorhome trip No 45 : Aug 28th- 31st 2021 NOTTS->New Lodge Farm, Bulwick, Northamptonshire ->NOTTS 135 miles A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Nearly 268 years and 35+ shared camping years under our belts, we decided to revisit the adults only New Lodge Farm campsite for the second time, same bank holiday weekend but this time no midnight rave from the local farm. Clearly Thomasz Schafernaker got the weather forecast wrong, not the promised summer BBQ weekend but on the plus side even though, cold windy and some drizzle we had the great warmth of seeing our dear friends Pete & Joy again after a long pandemic separation. New Lodge farm had certainly had a makeover from our last visit 5 years ago with now both grass and hard standing fully serviced pitches (i.e water, electric and soak away drain (not great!)). On the previous occasion in 2016 it was all grass. If you wish to read our Blog 108 then please click HERE. On the journey there on Saturday morning we travelled via M1, A14 and A43 to the site, somewhat delayed on the M1 by a fairly new car that had caught fire, frightening plume of smoke and 5-foot-high flames, not much of it left by the time the fire engines had arrived but at least all the passengers and driver were clear of it and safe, cars can be replaced, humans can’t. On the way back we took the scenic route via Stamford, Empingham, Oakham, and Melton Mowbray to home, stopping off briefly to buy the fab pork pie from Melton’s famous Old Pie Shoppe, big tick for that. We were on pitches 10 & 12 respectively. Decided to put up P&J’s new wind break to try and control the cross winds, that was fun (maybe) anyhow in the end dedicated teamwork prevailed and it stayed up 😉 We started with tea and cakes and chat. There was even a little bit of sun. Keef did his usual lasagne, garlic bread and salad for the evening meal which we had hoped to have outside but chickened out and went inside. Lovely evening playing games (RPM Trivial Pursuit (hard!) , scrabble (brag time Keef got a 7-letter word down)) and imbibing some fab wines. Plus, lots of chatter, catch up, grand kiddie pix etc, all in all a lovely evening. Retired and slept well. Sunday morning early Keef went off with the camera to walk around the area, once again there was an old car rally gathered in the top field, I took some interesting piccies. Joy did a lovely, scrambled egg and poached salmon brekkie, yum yum! Then we all poodled off for a walk around nearby Bulwick even passing the scene of Annie’s fall in 2016, rather interestingly now opposite a British Red cross station, locals all very friendly and helpful giving us some footpath routes across fields of Dexter cows and posh abodes. Fineshade wood which we have camped at before in the distance. See Blog 65 by clicking HERE. Bulwick is lovely and amazingly quiet. Met lady with 2 lovely spaniels, one very young. We then came back changed for lunch and went to the recently reappointed and extended café / shop for a lovely Sunday dinner. Some of the homemade produce in the shop is fab, chutneys, apple pies, Eccles cakes and a fine selection of wines (some of which we tried at lunch), can highly recommend plus there is a local produce shop outside selling flowers, fruit, and veg. We did cheese bikkies wine and chat for our evening meal. Nice. Monday morning Keef used the gridle to do a cooked brekkie featuring for a change spam as well as the trad bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and beans. Certainly, set us up for the day even though it probably didn’t do much for our collective waistlines 😉 After brekkie Pete and Keef set off for a walk with ordnance map in hand towards Laxton, a lovely quiet village. Followed footpath across fields and alongside the woods, saw lady on horse and after a couple of stiles alerted onto what seemed like an old narrow cart track. This is where we made our first mistake following the footpath arrows rather than the map. It was a lovely walk but turned our to be about 5 ¼ miles rather than our expected 3 ½ but no worries for Keef that was the longest for many a year and my knees (just about) held up. Whilst walking along the side of Ferrel woods Keef found a CD of Queens Hot Space. Gave it to P&J, twas in good nick and I already have a copy so as they say… every single lining…. Back at the café / shop / bar we rang the ladies who had had a relaxing morning in the vans to invite them up for an end of trek celebration 😉 nice local beer called Foals Nook on keg, by Barnwell brewery. Keef then did a tuna mayo on brown for all whilst we either snoozed, chatted , read or generally relaxed before the BBQ tea. Nice evening BBQ meal of marinated lamb steaks, burgers, kebabs, local sausages (all meats kindly bought from the farm by P&J) with salad accompanied by a nice wine or 3. Lovely evening again chatting and catching up. Then it started to rain so we quickly dismantled the windbreak and put away the gas BBQ. As P&J had to leave early the next morning for a funeral back home we all retired early. We were all up early Tuesday, and it was a little drizzly said our goodbyes and hope to meet up again soon. Lovely weekend, nice site and area, we will be back as getting to know Northamptonshire a bit nowadays, maybe bring the car as well next time to explore a bit further afield. #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2021 #campsites #friends #hikes

by keef & annie hellinger 7th November 2021, 9.59 am Motorhome trip No 47 : 3rd – 6th November 2021 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Wagtail Country Park, Marston, Lincolnshire ->NOTTS 266 miles A lovely 4 days, 3 nights away in the van as an autumn break, the last of 2021 before winterising Wendy house. We were incredibly lucky with the weather after how awful it has been but cold and sunny, I would take any day. The site is a Caravan and Motorhome club affiliated site and so with club discount was only £23 a night, bargain and hardly busy at all. I guess as it has a fishing lake at its centre you would call it a fisherman’s paradise borne out by the number of “permie” caravans on site but as mid-week in November there were only one or 2 anglers in residence. Anyhow we set off about 11 from home knowing the journey was only about 40 miles and we couldn’t get in until after 1 pm we thought we would go and have a mooch around some local Lincolnshire villages. My preconception was that Lincolnshire is flat, how wrong was I. We visited the lovely Dry Doddington, named such by the Romans who were there until the river dried up and then decamped to a new Doddington near Lincoln City where there is more water, now known as the Whisby Nature reserve. It’s on something called Lincoln hill. We had a lovely walk around here and if not for Covid would probably have popped into the Wheatsheaf Inn opposite the church, famed for having a leaning spire that claims to be on a bigger gradient than its more famous Pisa, who knows 😉 We also visited Long Bennington, Foston, Hougham, Hough on the Hill, Claypole, Brandon, Carlton Scroop (what a name!) before heading to Marston and the campsite. One of the things we learnt for this campsite is that crossing the A1 into the Marston turn off is nigh on impossible with traffic so as a tip go up a mile and a bit to Long Bennington , turn off there and cross the bridge and come back down to the turn off, you will be safe! Anyhow got to the campsite after 1, via Cliff Lane its approach is very narrow with few passing places and the road surface is diabolical. The idea of 1pm arrival and 11 am departure is to ensure no issues coming along Cliff lane, however just as we were going out on the 2nd day 2 huge motorhomes decided to buck the system and come early… Fools! So, first day had a good look around after set up, the country park had some very muddy exit pathways and you could walk for quite a bit out across the farmers’ fields, allegedly there is an inn on site (not that we would have used it) but we never found it. The little shop on site had a few provisions should you need them, but hey skittles are not top of my wants 😉 Day 2 we were determined to use our OAP bus passes, my bucket list to do John O’Groats to Lands’ End on one has sadly dropped down that list 😉 took us a while to find Nettleham Fields Waitrose for the Park & Ride into Lincoln city but we did visit inadvertently the lovely village of Nettleham and Scothern and Welton on our exploration. We went to the bus station and then back to the lovely Northgate area , just beautiful and so full of history. Magna carta, Annie’s rellie who eventually married John of Gaunt having started life as servant to his first wife the duchess of Lancaster. She is immortalised in Anne O’Brien’s historical novel “the Scandalous Duchess” which we both intend to read. Keef hunted down another hero, Mr Boolean Logic himself, whilst the Cathedral and castle and surrounding architecture etc were a complete joy. Some of the wood carvings in the Cathedral are exquisite. The city being the Roman Lindum Colonia is steeped in some fabulous history. It was probably founded as a legionary fortress during the reign of the Emperor Nero and apart from the main roman road we found the old garrison walls quite close to our bus stop. We just about got back to the site at dusk a fab day out! The next day we visited the village of Belton and walked from there into Belton house, which currently isn’t open but the grounds , buildings, and garden esp. the orangery were wonderful and well worth a visit. It’s a National Trust house which we have visited in the past but many moons ago with my parents and the kids when they were young. Autumn is a lovely “gardening” time, much to see and still in colour. From here we briefly visited Grantham not the most inspiring of places but for Keef a chance to hero worship Sir Isaac but not the counter opposite Maggie 😉 We then went and had a look around a whole stack of villages (Newton obviously included) indeed on the way home we called in at Woolsthorpe manor near Colsterworth, Isaac’s birth place, his father was a Yeoman so not insignificant in the area. The villages we saw were Great Gonerby (although its hardly a village), Old Somerby, Ropesley (nice), Sapperton, Pickworth (nice), Hanby, Braceby and Walcot. Then it was back to Marston, this time well before the witching hour for a hot toddy and some German biscuits and cake (naughty I know). Fireworks that night not that noisy and not allowed on site for obvious reasons… scare the fish and residents 😉 Our trip home was much more interesting that the way there as avoided main roads so back via A607 etc to Melton Mowbray so Keef could visit his fave Pork Pie Shoppe. All in all a lovely Autumn break, thanks Lincolnshire we will be back! #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2021 #campsites #holidays #wendyhouse

by keef & annie hellinger 30 July 2021, 15.28 Travel again, Yippee Motorhome trip No44, Blog 155 : July 27th-30th 2021 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Victoria Farm, Claybrooke Magna, Leicestershire ->NOTTS 161 miles Hooray although costly our lovely “Wendy House” has been repaired, the whole top half of her engine has been “redone”… to include valves, pistons, gaskets, cambelt / timing chain, fuel pump belt etc etc… basically a whole stack of stuff that I don’t understand which Don Amott’s (our yearly motorhome service providers for the last 9 years) tell us is MY RESPONSIBILITY to have known about. Since I foolishly entrusted the health of our lovely motorhome to these “alleged” experts and they totally let us down we will not be using them again. Slim at Borrowash service garage is now our entrusted hero and he has done a great job! Anyhow, rant over were ……….. Some Leicestershire village definitions for you, Magna and Parva simply mean big and small in Latin, while the Sheepy part comes from the Anglian words for Sheep, “scep” and island, “eg”. Eg didn't necessarily mean island in the middle of a lake or ocean, it could also refer to dry land in a marshy area. So we decided to have 3 days away locally to check out everything was tickerty boo before any larger and longer trips. We don’t know Leicestershire, the rural heart of England, very well even though it has been on our doorstep now for almost 30 years now. Booked a Caravan and Motorhome Club Certified Location site because as a CL it seemed to have fairly good facilities, unusual for CL sites in our experience. We were not disappointed. They have 3 fields accommodating 5 CL vans in each, loos with showers (£1 a pop via meter), Elson point , dish washing stations , electric hook up , gas bottle purchase (should you need it) and a lovely friendly reception. There are a few “permies” on site but all very quiet and friendly. Indeed the owners are avid motorhomers themselves so understand what is needed. Although the weather wasn’t great (thunder and lightening and lots of rain) we enjoyed ourselves. The Leicestershire round leading into the fosseway runs along the back of the site and I did quite a bit of this on my lonesome (sadly Annie’s knee isn’t great at the mo) until the heavens opened and I had to make a quick scarper back after about an hour. Luckily I had a brolly with me and discovered a short cut thru back to the bottom field of the site. #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2021 #campsites

By keef and annie hellinger, Nov 1 2020 09:39AM Motorhome trip No 42 : Oct 23rd- 31st 2020 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Waterloo Farm , Great Oxendon, Northants & Surrounds ->NOTTS 271 miles This was our second trip to Waterloo Farm, partly to self isolate and partly to give Craig & family the house to themselves for a bit. It being only our 1st trip away in the van this year, certainly gave it a bit of a run out, being autumn the weather was very mixed but we were able to get out and about every second day. Packing up the motorhome for touring is a doddle these days, we are experts Packed the van Thursday and then it was onto the campsite at Great Oxendon village. We had been there before in November 2018, see Blog 132 with our dear friends Pete & Joy, a very nice site site indeed, views and 3 services , water, leccie and sewage. It is definitely a fisherman’s paradise with 3 lakes. Spent a bit of time chatting to the guy next to us who caught a huge fish, 17lbs allegedly oh and it was this big ;) We walked both ways along the old disused railway track by the site as far in the Great Oxondon direction as the old lengthy tunnel but as we didn’t have a torch decided to stop at that point. Keef legged it up one of the slippery banks to an old bridge which was totally overgrown and surprisingly had a badger’s set in it with soil very deep probably built up since Beeching in the early 60s. There is also a huge badger set along this track nearer the site. For the first time we also discovered the village of Great Oxondon and Waterloo Cottage Farm shop, amazing cheeses, chutneys, chocolates and pork pies. Cheese wise Godminster (expensive) and Shropshire blue our faves. Apricot and ginger chutney is a must. So on the days when it wasn’t lashing down we visited amongst others Market Harborough Wharf, Grand Union Canal, Foxton locks, Pitsford water, Husbands Bosworth, Rockingham Castle, Kirby Hall (again), those two not being open to us as had to purchase tickets in advance. Deene Country park, Great Bowden, East Carlton country park (sadly minor damage to bumper grrr!), Cottesbrooke, Clipston, Kelmarsh, Hasselbach, Holdenby House, Althorp (only in passing), The Bringtons (lovely), Welford and the Kilworths, Lamport, Willougby Waveley,Both Peatland Parva&Magna, big names in Leicestershire, Naseby, Roundheads and Cavaliers, New Model Army, Ruperts views, Fairfax's view and we saw churches, farms, Halloween tributes etc etc All in all a very relaxing 9 days away in our lovely Wendy house. Looking forward to making and drinking the sloe gin, hic! #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2020 #campsites #timeline

By keef and annie hellinger, Oct 18 2019 03:44AM Motorhome trip No41 : Oct 14th- 17th 2019 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Greetham, Rutland and Surrounds ->NOTTS 247 miles This was our second trip to Greetham after a failed attempt with Craig and Edie in August because of too much rain. Having packed last minute stuff we headed off initially to Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire where we did the Treasure Trail quiz similar to that which we did in Whitstable. Sadly it was raining so a brolly for our walk around the town and parks was essential. The trail quizzes are a great way to get to know a town better and although we had been through Melton on many occasions it is not a place we really knew. It is a lovely place with many blue plaques celebrating the famous, especially Thomas Cromwell, Anne of Cleves and Henry VIII amongst others. Ye old Pork Pie Shoppe for which Melton is famed allowed us to buy at a reduced price a huge chicken, ham and pork pie, just so yummy! By the time we got back to the van after our 2 hour quiz it was very dark and what can only be called a dramatic storm, which sadly was to continue for the rest of the day and night causing some rural flooding. Back at the van we had pre made sandwiches and some of our lovely pie. Then it was onto the campsite at Greetham. Although we have been there before in November 2017, see Blog 120 we had forgotten how to get to the site as the SatNav coordinates don’t work. Luckily whilst pulled up opposite the Plough Inn Terry from the Camping and Caravan site rang as they wished to close early because of the weather and gave me great directions. It was almost 5pm. We will not forget if and when there is a next time. We were on pitch 25 for 3 nights,in the adult only area. All pitches have all 3 services i.e electrics, drinking water and drain for your grey waste, there is a mixture of grass and hard standing pitches We went out each day, the weather being slightly better on the Tuesday and much better, indeed some sunshine on the Wednesday and typically full sunshine on the way home on Thursday. We visited amongst others Apethorpe Palace, Northamptonshire – closed after English Heritage sold it to a French Aristocrat for a snip, Peterborough Cathedral, Cambridgeshire, Rutland Water, Eyebrook resevoir, the River Eye (very swollen), Lyddington Bede house, Lyddington, Rutland plus lunch at the Old White Hart , yummy and most of the villages in south east Leicestershire, the best of which in our humble opinion are Great Easton, Tur Langham and Carlton Curlieu. All in all a very relaxing 3 days away in our lovely Wendy house. As a grand memory we so remember that chicken, ham and pork pie, I have been calling in on almost every trip from 2020 onwards and even requested 2 for Xmas 2021 but they may not do them again, sadly... now owned by Morris and Dickinson #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2019 #campsites

By keef and annie hellinger, Oct 11 2019 05:55AM Not the Motorhome trip No 12 : Oct 4th- 10th 2019 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS->Dorking, London:- Centre, Raynes Park, Clapham, Tooting, Wimbledon and Kent :- Chestfield, Margate, Sandwich, Whitstable, Meopham->NOTTS 397 miles Left early on the Friday morning for London, M1 closed so used M42 amd M40 to get down to Surrey to visit Mum in her care home, she was bright and cheery and I fed her lunch. Annie packed away all her winter clothing we had delivered. After that we called back in at Mums house to pick up post, eat lunch, and update neighbours. Then it was off to the Travelodge at Raynes Park for our 2 night stay. Friday evening I went up to meet Chris in London for his 65th birthday. We went to a blues bar in Kingly Street just off Oxford Circus and then after to a Lebanese restaurant. Saturday was the 3rd White Horse Bent (WHB) reunion (near Scales Cumbria in the shadow of Blencathra) at initially the Windmill on Clapham Common, then the Spice Village Indian restaurant in Tooting and finally the pub at Tooting Bec with Chris, Allyson and Kev, the rest having to get away to various things. Lovely to see David and Cathy over from Canada. Annie got to finally use her new bus pass as we rediscovered the delights of London travel, over ground, underground wombling free bus pass 😉 Sunday morning after our mega breakfast for the 2nd day at the Travelodge we went to see Mum again via Wimbledon where Keef took family residents pictures, then onto Kent to stay with Brian and Gina. Had a lovely time with them visiting initially Margate, Turner contemporary and seeing entrants for Turner prize 2019, weird and wonderful! Plus a Earl of Sandwich sandwich in Sandwich. Nice circular walk around Sandwich, a very interesting place. We had a quick walk around Chestfield the next day and finally a quiz walk around Whitstable, all great fun. Loved Gina's home cooking plus a fab Thai meal in Whitstable. The odd laugh thrown in *smile* On the way back home we called in at Meopham for Keef to sell some old concert programmes and to see Craig and Leanne, all in all a lovely week away. #friends #family

By keef and annie hellinger, Jul 15 2019 05:11PM Motorhome trip No39 : 12th-14th July 2019 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS (home)->Sherwood Forest Holiday Park, Nottinghamshire ->NOTTS (home) 59 miles A fab time with all the family at the campsite, in a lovely setting with many amenity blocks and playgrounds for the grand daughters. Also a lovely raised stream walk around the edge of the park backing onto Sherwood Forest. Outside the far end gate is a fishing lake and inside a duck pond and stream for kids to paddle in. Nearby is Sherwood Pines and the Sherwood Forest steam railway and associated playpark both of which we visited. We camped on pitch 1 and 2 at the far end of the park, lovely large grass pitches but the place was heaving , not a slot left so well done to Craig for booking. It was the first time they had put up their 8 person tent with awning so that was a fun family experience with all chipping in. Mostly good weather except overnight Saturday. We had lasagne and garlic bread for Friday eve, BBQ Saturday and lunch old at the nearby fab Dog & Duck Inn in Kings Clipstone. We did the Gruffalo orienteering course thru the Sherwood Pines woods with varying degrees of success… the girls loved the assorted wooded play parks, and minus granny and granddad they all did the Green route cycle track. It was so nice having Doug and family over from Singapore to be able to do this. I have included all our slideshows here and they are repeated again under the FAMILY page, Sherwood camping first then the rest Doug Phoenix & Charlies visit 2019 (sadly because of Covid the last time, more later I'm sure) SINGAPORE HELLINGERS VISIT 7-19 July 2019 Just before they left for Singapore we visited Mum (Supernan) in her Nursing home , Charlie said hi to her great grand mother saying hi to supernan #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2019 #campsites #family

By keef and annie hellinger, May 2 2019 03:51PM Motorhome trip No37 : Apr 30th – May 1st 2019 A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog NOTTS (home)->Clumber Park, C&MC site, Nottinghamshire ->NOTTS (home) 98 miles Almost exactly 7 years on from our first trip in the Wendy House we returned to the Caravan and Motorhome clubs site at Clumber Park, an area of preserved special interest. How nice to see the wild life, trees everywhere especially Lime trees and listen to the endless bird sounds of Cuckoos, Woodpeckers, Chaffinches, Robins and a whole host more. Beyond relaxing! This time we were on pitch 9, last time Blog 60 retrospective we were on pitch 7. We can thoroughly recommend the site, it is peaceful and extremely well serviced with new facilities and at least 3 motorhome service points. Whilst there we were principally trying out the van for the season after its engine and hab services. All tickerty boo thank heavens! We decided to walk into Hardwick Village on the understanding it was 10 mins away and less than a mile, 2 ⅔ hours and 5 miles later we returned but it was a fun walk. Stopping for coffee and a mars bar / kitkat at Beryl the land rover café on the edge of Lake Clumber by the weir. It was so so sunny and the views spectacular. Even the village owned by the Dukes of Newcastle was spectacular. We will return! #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2019 #campsites

By keef and annie hellinger, Nov 19 2018 09:53AM A KeefH Web Designs Travel Blog Motorhome trip No36 : Nov 16th- 18th 2018 NOTTS->Waterloo Farm Leisure, Great Oxendon, Northamptonshire ->NOTTS 127 miles 258 years and counting and 30+ camping years under our belts collectively 😉 We returned again in 2020, see blog 142 We visited Waterloo Farm with our dear pals Pete and Joy. One of the few adult only sites open at this time of year. Although late on in the year we had 2 very sunny (yet crisp) days and one overcast day on arrival. We were on grass pitches 53 & 54 next to one of the 3 fishing lakes on the site. An anglers paradise only none of us fish, only eat it! Lakeside hard standing pitches were only £17.50 per night at this time of year, a bargain esp. when the early morning sun rose over the lake a fantastic breakfast outlook. The facilities were not bad but one would guess in high season inadequate in number. The very large shower /loo/washrooms could be converted into a greater number of separate loos in my humble opinion however we were not complaining. I didn’t even get time to read the National Geographic on offer. Such fun to catch up once we all set up over a few bevies. We had a lovely goulash meal on Friday eve that Pete had prepared earlier and Joy rustled up in the van, fantastic and oh those cheesecakes to die for. Saturday after bacon butties we walked along the old railway track into Market Harborough past all the sloes and rosehip bushes. The farm seemed to grow masses of winter feed type greens. We crossed the border into Leicestershire (smile) At the outskirts of Market Harborough the Millennium Mile starts and we took that past allotments, Bowden recreation park into the town centre. A lovely place with great architecture, the old grammar school / butter cross, indoor market where Keef bought some black bomber cheese. P&J had bought some from their local butcher, a huge slab, I love it! The church , Crimbo Deccies, River Welland, Old town hall and Everest & West shop were most interesting. We then rested and refreshed in the Old Swan pub and finally caught a cab back to the site for more chat over cheese and bikkies. In the eve we had a meal up in the site restaurant and very nice it was too in their conservatory. Sunday after brekkie A&I went back along the old railway line to collect sloes, which were in abundance, for homemade sloe gin. A task to be undertaken with relish! We then all packed up and said our fond farewells. Another fab relaxing weekend with our pals. #motorhome #motorhometravels #travelsin2018 #campsites