Rooftree Hotel Sandown

... the infamous round table with all the knights names and apparently a pic of King Henry?? I need to check that one and update this entry.

Pete made it without an issue and it was a lovely day for driving as well. I looked around the shops and had lunch in the Cathedral shop and of course took some pictures and read about some of the history or Wincester!

Booked flight today - Guatemala on Feb 22nd 2010. So to mark the occasion I thought I'd start my travel diary today as well.

Two months to go - and a lot of list-making, planning, shopping, getting vaccinated, freaking out, and bouncing with excitement to do!

Hello all - I'm back! Thank you all for your concern after my last blog. I think I left off just as a had gotten out of hospital.

I am doing much better now. The pain is still niggling around in a couple of spots, but much, much less, and only off and on. Upon arriving in England (where public healthcare is free for Australians), I took myself off to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London, where I managed to see a doctor who did a couple more tests just to be on the safe ...

... to our other blog please let me know or alternatively you can search for shunny81 and this is the name of it. There are a few to read but it will take away the boredom on a Friday afternoon.

Hope your all well and the weather is not to bad. Just think of us when its raining having to take shelter of the 35 degree heat.

All the best

Nigel

Sophia>>>>>
Right it is Wednesday the 11th November we'll be departing in a few days!!!! Realy getting excited and a bit nervous now just thinking this time next week i will be on the other side of the world!!! Busy time now though ahead last jabs tomoz as well as seeing katie and lexie for the last time till i get back!! Then the evening ...

... along the east coast from Brisbane to Melbourne. From there I'll be getting active in Tasmania, with visits to mountains, forests, beaches and cultural sites. Along the way I hope to write and document my experiences, so I hope you'll drop in from time to time and see how I'm getting on?!

... and lots of families.

I did some shopping, always a good pick me up!! And took a long walk along the boardwalk.. all the beaches are quite nice around this area, they actually have sand BUT the water is freezing and no waves!!

The pier was interesting.. its quite an old structure and the pictures from the last century were amazing, everyone walking along in their suits and long ...

... it was a lovely evening, more cider if I remember rightly. I found out about what my brother Phil got up to while he was staying with them back in 1987!!! Apparently spunky is a rude word for something else in England!! And he frightened poor Frank one night by sliding his car across the gravel out the front of one of the pubs!!!
I definitely have to go back to the New Forest.. if not for the great people but the great outdoor life you can live there.

... instead.. lol. I still can't get over that they don't have huge shopping centres, everyone still has to walk between shops in the wet!

While I was there I had to work out how I was going to get from the railway to the catch the bus to the New Forest. My next port of call!

Southampton is also famous, well in the olden days ...

... Stonehenge existed, there was a structure built out of wood. Because it was built out of wood, it does not exist anymore, but there are holes everywhere filled with little concrete pillons. What gets me, is that they say that there once stood a wooden version of Stonehenge. How do they know that? Was a man from that period of time, cryogenically frozen, brought to life, asked him what it was like, then they re ...