Day One Hundred and Twenty

We arrived into Sydney bang on time arriving just after 6am on an uneventful flight from Singapore. managed a bit of sleep on the plane.

We were met by Bill and Carol and went to Willoughby for brekkie.

We spent most of morning there catching up and then headed back to Glebe just before lunch. We did some shopping at Broadway and then sorted our stuff out in the afternoon. I also washed a thick layer of red dust off the car from the dust storm 2 weeks ago.

We then headed into Darling Harbour to meet John and Rhian for drinks/dinner. I was pretty knackered before hand but livened up when we met them. Had drinks in Pontoon bar and then dinner in Blackbird cafe.

http://www.pontoonbar.com/

http://www.cocklebaywharf.com.au/venues/26/blackbird-cafe/

We took the tram home and are now off for some well earned kip...

Day One Hundred and Nineteen

Not sure what day this represents, for ease I'm going to say Friday...so on Thursday night we boarded our flight to Sydney. As I write this I'm stood in Singapore Airport using the free t'internet terminals, there are people hoovering around trying to get on the machines, they'll have to wait!

Flight was good, typical BA service and attitude! We slept a good 6to7 hours each on this leg. We are waiting for next leg to Sydney in an hour and half.

Day One Hundred and Eighteen

A day around Basingstoke packing, some emotional goodbyes, the joys of Heathrow T4 and a flight that got away on time!

Missing everyone in Blighty already!

Day One Hundred and Seventeen

A quiet day around Basingstoke, got up and did some shopping in Basingstoke with a Wagagmamas lunch.

In the evening a family dinner at home, with the worlds biggest Chicken Kievs.

Showed the folks the Aussie masterchef DVD to show them what we had been banging on about when we first arrived in Oz.

Hit the sack for some ZZZZZZZZzzzzzs

Day One Hundred and Sixteen

6th Oct 09

Back to London from Basingstoke for the last time. Ah the joys of South West Trains.

We caught up with Kathleen for lunch in The Mudlark, was cool to see her.

Had an excellent evening in the Refinery Bar with

Alastair, Chris, Rick, Kevin, Marianne, Dave, Aaron, Shehla, Kay, Keith, Charlotte, Tim, Pauline, Pru, Paul, Ray, Karo, Beck, Kate (obviously), random apple mac man for a while too. I believe I have name checked everyone in attendance and you have all got your little bit of blog fame as requested.

We drank too much but had a great time catching up with everyone.

And for the Stewards 2010 good food and wine review, here is link to Refinery Bar

http://www.therefinerybar.co.uk/


Kay, Keith & Kate


Kay and Keith

Charlotte and Tim


Us with Pru and Paul


Too much champagne? Kate, Kay & Charlotte

Day One Hundred and Fifteen

We had a lazy morning in Earlsfield and then headed back to Basingstoke briefly to collect some stuff. We then drove back to Yateley and had a nice dinner with folks.

This evening we spent time in the local pub I used to drink in in my earlier years.

http://www.eversleycross.co.uk/wheretogo.htm

Caught up with friends, was good to see dean, laura, craig, kay, rob, jo, jo. Chatted about old times and talked about catching up in the future.

Tomorrow its more drinks in London, lunch with Uni friends.

We'll soon be back on the plane to Oz. I'm not sure I've mentioned it before but I start 4 weeks employment (events mgt yay!) with Oxfam in Melbourne a week today...

Day One Hundred and Fourteen

A quiet day in Basingstoke with a great fry up brekkie for all the family, we then drove up to Earlsfield and had dinner with Pru and Paul at the Leather Bottle. John and Rhian are lucky to have such a good pub within 5 mins walking distance.

http://www.leatherbottlepub.co.uk/

Not much else to report!

Day One Hundred and Thirteen

Saturday

I forgot to mention yesterday, I was asked in the restaurant on Friday by an Australian waitress if I was Australian just from talking to her and not mentioning anything to do with Oz!

We got up after a great night out and did a quick trip to Chris and Helens to pick up stuff laying around there I had left behind before going to Oz. we then briefly stopped at the shops in Colliers Wood and bumped into Jon.

We came back to Basingstoke and in the evening had a family celebration meal of our engagement at the Four Seasons hotel. Very nice it was too, its very posh! There was even a C list celeb in the restaurant and for all I know lots of what looked like WAGs with footballers.

Here is link

http://www.fourseasons.com/hampshire/

Day One Hundred and Twelve

We spent the day in and around London, Kate caught up with Pru in town for lunch, I hung out in Earslfield and around Colliers Wood.

grapes pub and then went to We then both headed into town to meet Chris & Helen and Kevin and Debbie. We started in theGauco Argentinian restaurant. Had a great food but it was a bit pricey. It did have great view of Tower Bridge.

We headed back to the Grapes and drank a few more. It was great to catch up with them all and see them all looking so well.

Day One Hundred and Eleven

We headed up to London after a morning in Basingstoke. We had a good call with Bill and Carol, was good to catch up with news from down under.

We are staying in Earlsfield in John and Rhians place, its great and ideal base for getting in and out of town.

We met with Stella and Ian on southbank and had quite a few sherbets, we had dinner at Gabriel's Wharf at the riviera restaurant, was very nice. Jon also showed up for a couple which was great. We stumbled home and off to bed.

Day One Hundred and Ten

Update: As my sister is'nt happy with the picture of her i've added below, im obliged to put a link to another blog showing her wonderful shop...

http://www.flowershopstories.blogspot.com/

A family day to the seaside. When we were kids we spent many a happy day on the beach at Swanage in Dorset. We decided to head there today to see how it was.

An earlyish start and we all piled in the car and drove down. We caught the Sandbank's Ferry across and were down there in less than 2 hours.

We parked up and walked into town along the beach, had a nice lunch in an Italian place and then walked along the beach.


On the hills

We stopped inthe arcades and messed about and then carried on walking along the beach. Crystal even got her feet wet in the sea. We walked back by the hotel we used to stay in as kids.

We drove to Corfe castle for afternoon tea and then home.

Hazel, Kate and Crystal then went ofr cocktails at the Four Seasons Hotel nearby.


Crystal & Alvin

In the sea

Family fun

Sibling larking about

Day One Hundred and Nine

Tuesday

Spent most of the day around Basingstoke. We then headed up to London on the train to meet John. We had to catch up with him to exchange keys, he needs our keys for flat in Sydney and we need his for flat in London.

We'll stay in Earlsfield for a few nights over next week. John and Rhian fly to Sydney tomorrow and stay at our. We'll hook up with them when we get back.

We had drinks on Southbank and then dinner in Ping Pong (dim sum place)

There's an interesting cardboard tower near Festival Hall and while we have been away it appears someone has stolen a pod from the London Eye...


Looking up inside cardboard tower


Someone stole our pod

Day One Hundred and Eight

A quiet day in and around Basingstoke. We had lunch at Wagamamas and then did some shopping. Cooked Mexican for dinner and chilled. Really not much to report.

Day One Hundred and Seven

Sunday...

We awoke and went down for breakfast in the hotel, was nice to catch up with Anna and Mike and we wished them well. they fly for their honeymoon to the Maldives on Monday...very nice.

We packed up and headed home. We had a slight detour and I took Kate around where my parents grew up, the lovely Sheerwater doesn't change much!

Had a lovely family BBQ (with usual family 'discussion' about cremating everything on the BBQ) and caught up with Pat and Graham.

Was a very nice day but did get chilly towards the end.

This week we intend to catch up with London folk and others, we are still trying to slot everyone in, so apologies if you have not heard from us yet!

Day One Hundred and Six

Saturday

Today we had a wonderful day attending the weddings of Stu & Cate and Anna & Mike.

We were up and about at a normal hour and got ourselves ready for the weddings. We did run a bit late in Basingstoke due to alack of hot water but made up time by a good run down the M3 towards Winchester.

Stu and Cate got married here

http://www.avingtonpark.co.uk/weddings.htm

It was great to catch up with friends from Yateley, nice to meet new people and partners too. The weather was superb and after a nice ceremony and photos we sat down to great food, speeches and conversation.

Alas as weddings do, the day flew by and before we knew it we had to make a quick exit so we could head to Anna & mikes wedding.

After a drive towards London and navigating some very dark country lanes we found their venue. It was here

http://www.devere.co.uk/our-locations/hartsfield-manor.html

We arrived at about 8.40 and it seemed the day was behind a little. The speeches started at about 8.50 which was great as we could catch all of that part. We saw the first dance and cake cutting too.

We had a few drinkies and finally crashed out at 1.30ish.

I have to say both couples looked amazing and had wonderful days and we are grateful for the invites. It also gave us some ideas for our wedding too! Was great to catch up with everyone.

Day One Hundred and Five

Damn... woke up at 4.45 am, and Kate woke up soon after...we did talk for half hour and then both fell asleep again. Woke up at 8.15 which was cool. Think we may have cracked jet lag almost!

Went for lunch with Rob in Odiham and then came back to hazels via Yateley to pick up suits for wedding. Chilled out rest of day and will go to bed soon.

tomorrow is Stu & Cates and Anna & Mikes weddings. There will be no update tomorrow night as we are away.

Day One Hundred and Four

We went to bed at 10 o clock and woke up today at 6.15, quite a result on the jet lag front!.

We sorted ourselves out and then went shopping for the engagement ring! I took Kate to the 'family jeweller' well i say that, its here my sister got her rings form and the folks give him a lot of business. If you ever need decent jewellery I recommend Richard Herold in Farnham.

We spent about 2 hours looking at various rings, I have to say I have quite a bit of knowledge now of diamonds, shapes, fluorescence etc!

2 hours went by in a flash, and I'm happy to report we have a ring. it needs a minor re-size next week but I'm happy to say Kate is very happy and always smiling when she looks at it.

We went to Basingstoke shopping in the afternoon, and then had a great dinner at sisters in evening. We crashed at about 9 o'clock at Hazels.

Day One Hundred and Three

Wednesday

A day of planes and delays...

We left Sydney late and then had a fairly uneventful flight back to Dubai. We landed OK and effectively walked from one plane to the other. We were all ready for a smooth departure and sat there patiently and then we were informed of a technical problem with the plane. After sitting there for best part of two hours we were off loaded back into departures.

To cut a long story short we had crap customer service and left about 4-5 hours late.

The flight to London was again uneventful, we got a bit of kip and then were met by my mum and sister at terminal 3 Heathrow which was chaos, thousands of people.

As I write this jet lag is kicking in and after a call to Sydney andshower we'll be off to bed.

Thankfully we managed to avoid the dust storms in Sydney today...

Day One Hundred and Two

A day spent packing and cleaning the house. We then got picked up by Bill and carol and went to the airport. It was pretty quiet there strangely.

we checked in OK, had a drink with them before they left and went through to departures. Alas we were late leaving due to strong winds, our plane was coming from NZ and made it thankfully, others had been diverted to Brisbane.

Left Sydney about an hour late...for the start of 14 hours of fun on the plane...

Day One Hundred and One

Woke up stupidly early today, a week of getting up before 7am has trained me to wake up early. Kate was even awake at 7.30 and up by 8.00am.

Did four loads of washing today in preparation for our return to blighty tomorrow. Unbelievable we fly back to UK already.

Had many messages of congratulations on our marriage plans, thank you all, it means a lot.

Spent day sorting out house and then we went out for dinner with Caroline in Newtown.

We went here (in tradition of Ades good food guide to Sydney this blog has a theme for)

http://www.eatability.com.au/au/sydney/botany_view_hotel/

Tomorrow we pack before we fly back to blighty in the evening.