I still call Australia home...

And so that is it my friends.... I got back in August and it is now December....

Since then I've been on Ski Trip, been in Carli's wedding, and therefore had several trips to Adelaide, Eddy's turned 18 and my Nan came to stay, I've moved house onto five acres to live with my horses and Rob's gone to London.....

Hmmm.... Quite a lot in a few short months.... But with technology the way it is... the blog has become the way of the past, and facebook the present, and already Ali was telling me about some new thing which may or may not be the future.

I'm putting my pics up on face book for now... so if you are not on face book let me know as i think i can still send you a link to the photos (apparently!!)

So for now, for this blog, the end is near... but perhaps, just like the 80's... it'll make a fashionable come back!!

Signing off...

Bibby Blogger

xoxo

If you're blue, and you don't know where to go to...

.... Go to Legoland!! (unless you are a small child... or a mother of a small child.... as there was plenty of these trawling round suitable unimpressed with each other!!) But we had a blast!!

There was mini land....


Elvis Giraffes....
London....

Lou and Andy.....
Yellow people...

Zebras...
Real Giraffes....

Hippos....

And scary wolves.... (don't ask emma for the story!!!)...

My personal fave was the sign for the toilets...

And to think, we could have gone to Windsor Castle instead....

We still managed to fit in pushing over the crooked house....

And all in a days work.... it was really great going round mini land as it gave us a chance to reminisce of all the places we had been. It really was one of my favourite places in London... and would come a close tie to Sweeps collar!!

To top the day off, we got to catch the train home with a real life viki pollard (sorry to all you non little britain fans!!) And she entertained us by trying to sell off her cheap fags (don't ask how she came by them) and showing us the fantastic job she did at dying her own hair!! I tell you Little Britain is ALL real!!

And so it was before me.... my last full day in London, of course there was one thing i desperately needed to do... some last minute... SHOPPING!! Two handbags, and yep, some shoes later... we headed down to Canary Wharf for one last Pimms o'clock. Before treating ourselves to afternoon tea at the Ritz.

Sandwiches, sandwiches, sandwiches.... who knew they could taste SO good!!

Of course we started with Londons best invention (well maybe London didn't invent it... but i've never seen them here..) The champagne cocktail....

Before having tea in pure luxury... ahhh... what were the poor people doing???

I bid the Ritz "adieu" and we headed home (via Marks & Spencers of course) for packing and some last minute cramming of UK TV......ahhhhhh......

The minute you walked in the joint....

The only trouble with a hire car is that you have to give it back somehow... and with petrol .... unfortunately after getting lost and finding three petrol stations... all of which were closed...I found myself car-less and in Ldodgy old Lewisham.... what else could i do but......(altogether now).... shop!!

Exhausting as this was i took i break before we dolled ourselves up and headed out ot my favourite meal of my life... dinner at Gordon Ramsay's restuarant... Claridges!! Dinner for two was more than a weeks worth of wages, and although i justified it with the "this is a once in a lifetime experience" I must confess... all i want to do is go again. To say the food was magnificent is an understatement.... it was a meal i will never forget and would recommend to all foodies!!



Me outside Claridges.... Full as!!!!!

Wednesday found me let loose in London as i tried to knock off all the "London must sees" that were still undone.

Starting with changing of the guard.... although my sleep in was costly, and i discovered a few people had the same idea bout how to spend their day.....


I soon discovered the sneaky trick to it all though as the gates were kept clear by "the old bill" who were ushering people to "move along" as they passed the gates. So camera at the ready.... I did the shuffle past the gates....

Appropriately the band was playing big spender at this point, and i reminisced about dinner the night before. Ater changing of the guards I headed round to the Royal Mews, and although most of the Royal ponies were on their Royal holiday, an unlucky couple had been left behind to entertain the tourists..... poor ponies.....
Although with stables like these.... I'm not sure my ponies would have much sympathy for them...


I headed off for a walk towards Trafalgar Square... past the arches...


And found the mad pidgeons.... I decided tuppence a bag wasn't worth the horror....
I further discovered that Maccas tasted like Rubbish, and promptly threw out my lunch!! Before winding up lost in the xxx area of Soho.... a little scared and all alone... i headed towards a policeman and followed him out of the area, before finally finding my way back to Leicester Square to pick up cheap tickets for a show that night. We saw "wicked" the story of the wizard of Oz but told from the perspective of the witches.... absolutely awesome, and would highly recommend to any Oz fans.... the better you know the original the more you will get out of it.
Once again... jump on a packed tube and crawl into bed....

Floating in the summer sky...

We surfaced the next morning not too shabby after all and had an English cook up for breakfast in our B&B.... yum (although the service left a little to be desired after we were practically yelled at for sitting atthe wrong table....and the buffet was filled with cranky guests stralking the forever empty coffee pot!)

After breakfast we headed to ANt and Jo's place for a BBQ and although the sun came out it was still freezing (althuogh apparently it was a lovely day... Katie even got her bathers and the slippery slide out while i sat shivering under two jumpers!!)

It was a really lovely wind down from the wedding the day before and a great chance to chat in a more relaxed atmosphere. Sadly all too soon it was time to say goodbye, and with a few tears we were back in the road and headed further North as we drove up to Norwich to meet the other side of the family!!

Eventually we found ourselves two broads in the broads, and after a quick stop in to say hi to Nan (my great grandmother!!) we tucked ourselves in for the night.

In the morning I tackled my first proper English shower.... the spraying handle in a bath tub.... so strange and takes the whole relaxation factor out of the showering proces as you never can really get right under the water... also.... COLD!!

But not to be detered we were late for breakfast at teh hotel and they scrubbed together some toast for us.... with bellies refilled we headed off to wander the streets of Wroxham. It's a holiday village and really quite pretty. And best of all - it had a proper saddlery... and i got to stock up on some English goodies that i always stare longingly at in my imported mags!!





We stopped on the bridge over the broads, but after watching a local get attacked by a swan... we moved on!!

After lunch we got together with Nan and Sharon for some family pics.....

Before heading off on Nan's big adventure!!!! Nan had told Emma how she'd always wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride, butu had never had anyone to go with.... So here we were... ready and waiting!!!

It was amazing to see the balloon being blown up and for a while it was touch and go as to wether we'd actually be able to fly due to the wind.

But before we knew it we were up up and away!!!! And no... they were not standard issue orange polar fleeces, it just so happened ironicaly that we all had the same colour!! Hmmmm... guess it's in the genes!!

The views were spectacular, and we took great endeavour in playing spot the animal and ooohhhh is that a crop circle or do aliens really exist!!

At the end Nan was the proud survivor and I was so proud of her!!

With another long day over we once again said our goodbyes, before heading back into the little hire car.... and making our way all the way back to Greenwich!!

I can see the church, I see the steeple...

This latest delay wasn't my fault.... Bloger hasn't been letting me upload pics!!!

Grr!!

Anyway - Saturday was the big day.... part of the reason for the timing of my trip was so I could go to Ant and Jo's wedding, a great way to meet all the family at the same time!!!

We left home in PLENTY of time to go to the car hire place to pick up our car for the journey up North. Expecting we would get to our hotel with an hour or so to spare and get changed etc etc.

Little did we know that the hire car company planned on keeping us waiting for over an HOUR to pick the car up. As we fidgeted more and more as the minutes ticked by, we realised it was going to be tight for time, but we would still be ok, we kept telling ourselves, it would be ok....

We eventually piled into the car, made a quick stop back at the house to pick up the Woollimi Pine (our cool Australian dinosaur pine tree wedding present) and our bags and set off... thinking we should still have at least half an hour to spare at the other end.

London traffic blows.

we inched along the freeway.... and for no apparent reason....

...there was no crash... just traffic....

... and more traffic...

We screamed into the hotel parking lot, ran (and i mean RAN upstairs chucked our dresses on grabbed our shoes and hand bags and jumped back in the car) It was all ok we were giong to make it.

Just as we got to the massive round about at the bottom of the road that the church was on, we saw some flashing lights, not to be put off we enetered the round about but there was no getting off at our exit.... The police had barricaded it off. We madly did a few loops of the roundabout in a panic, while Emma frantically checked out the road map, and just when i thought i was going to puke with dizziness, Emma yells to Kim (who was driving) "take that exit" as Kim veers off amid beeping horns.... Emma says a lot more quietly "ummm.... no ... the other one"...

Too late... we were on the freeway to somewhere far far away.... like maybe Gibraltar!! And tehre was no getting off. We all looked dismally at the clock, watching the time slip by completely out of our control. Eventually we got off, and somehow managed to get back on going the other way. Soon enough (kinda) we were back at the fateful roundabout, we pleaded for the barricade to be gone, but no such luck. We took a stab at another exit, this time taking us into some back streets, far more promising, but as we wound our way through the wending roads, we started to realise our new fate.... we were lost. Eventually we came to the resolution to try my favourite trick when lost.... follow the majority of cars around you..... whilst doing this we discovered we were following a cra who was also lost.... then to our amazement we saw...... Fascinators!!! They were wearing fascinators!!! And in England that can only mean one thing..... they were off to a wedding!!! Luckily they unlost themselves, found the wedding and we followed them.... even better they were going to the same weddign we were!!!

Hurrah!!! We snuck in the back of the church just in time to see the most important "I do" bits.... Yay!!

The out into the sunniest day for photos in the gardens. It really was a lovely day...

L-R: Auntie Coral (Nan's sister), Ant (my Mum's cousin), Katie (my cousin or something like that!?!?!?), Jo (the new adittion to the family!) and Uncle Peter.

Me, Ritchie and Emma!!

I was continuosly amazed by the genetic resemblances flowing through the family lines. Katie reminds me so much of Ali, and Harry (above, being held by Danny and Mel) was like a mini Callum! So strange, to find all these people that I have never met before yet to see so clearly that there is a link there!!

Katie was a stunnig bridesmaid and little Damaris made a debut performance as flower girl. It was a really long day, but they both held up exceptionally well!

Unfortunately.... Lizzie and I didn't hold up quite so well, and by mid afternoon it was time for shoes off and a rest in the sun.

Lizzie, Kim, Em and I all had to have a bit of a break from the dance floor eventually!! And the pink hat was the highlight of the day!

As I mentioned above meeting all the family was a bit surreal. Essentially what by definition would be "strangers" welcomed me as though I had been a part of their lives for always. But I guess that's it... they had always been a part of my lives, I had grown up if not "knowing" these people.... "knowing of them", hearing the stories, seeing the photos, sharing in the news of weddings and children, fortunes and misfortunes. They are my family, and meeting them was one of the best parts of my trip.....

There was a lot of them!!

Eventually it was time to leave, and in true England style the rain began to pour down, we stole a cab, headed back to our hotel and blissfully fell into bed yet again!

I don't feel like dancing....

We didn't feel like doing ANYTHING.... other than slobbing out watching TV!! AFter scraping in nice and late after the Eurostar dumped us back in London.. we had a lazy day in front of the tv.... intermittently mixed with a breif shopping trip to Canary wharf.....ahhh....

And of course... as fast as we emptied our overnight bags from Paris we were refilling them for the next trip up north for the wedding the next day!! Phew.... it was relentless!!

But when we released we were all packed... we put our dancing shoes back on!! And jumped on the ferry down the Thames to the O2 Dome, to see the Scissor sisters concert.

Me... excited by the fact there was alcohol on the ferry...(and yes... i am awake... just!!)


Tower bridge on a typical London day!!
The less impressive London bridge...
The more impressive O2 Dome...

Inside the O2 Dome was HUGE... think night clubs, restuarants, cocktail bars, a proper sit down Nandos restuarant with alcohol(what the?!?!?) and line ups!!!! For everything!! Oh yeah.... and an indoor beach...
... You gotta feel sorry for the English hey!! Imagine having to build an indoor beach!!

Eventually we found the actual concert bit and made our way i. We had awesome seats and the concert was amazing, so many special effects and the lead singers dancing cracked me up the whole way through!!

A massive thanks to Kym for getting us the tickets!!!!

And i even managed to meet one of the "in person"...

I like big buts....

Who knew.... here was I thinking that the French had all the best breakfast foods... croissants, pastries, danishes....HELLO... I didn't know it was at the expense of TOAST!! Seriously ... who doesn't have toast!!

So after we checked out of the hotel on Day-two-Paris after the sneaky sneaky sneaky little frenchman tried to charge us for our toast-free breakfast twice...We contemplated our plan of attack... with a seriously euro free wallet after the day before... and tired feet from the night time, we decided a hop on hop off tour was the way to go.

Yet again the sneaky sneaky sneaky little frenchmen tried to diddle us, by only giving us one ticket when we paid for two... we then had to argue with the bus driver who's only English seemed to be... "you lost". No my wee friend... YOU Lost!! Eventually persistence paid off yet again and he gave us another ticket. We perched ourselves on the somewhat sunny open top section and took in the sights of gay Paris!!

Some of my fave pics below....

We took advantage of the "Hop-Off" bit at Monte Marte.... which was my favourite part of Paris! The view back towards the city was simply stunning and the bustling market place with the paintings and little restuarants just had the loveliest atmosphere. Sadly the toilets left more than a little to be desired and I have seriously never smelled such a stink in my life.... and I've dealt with some pretty serious horse poo in my time!!

Pics from Monte Marte....

We found the cutest little restuarant to have lunch where we had REAL french baguettes and FRENCH fries... so cool... all served by our little french waiter in his little berret... yes it was all so cute!!

We headed back down these steps....

Only to be chased down by these scary black men trying to force these little pices of string onto our wrists.... one in particular was a little too amorous grabbing my arm and yelling after me how enamoured he was with my "Booty"!! Eeeeekkkkk......

We chased down the bus to "Hop-On" and make our way back to central Paris to pick up our bags and get back on the Eurostar to head back to London.... but the sneaky sneaky sneaky little Frenchmen weren't finished with us just yet!!

As we picked up Emma's suitcase, the handle practically disintegrated in her hands.... as she pointed this out to the valet, his ever helpful response was "You Carry". Despite wanting to scream .... "NO...you broke it .... YOU carry" at him, we eventually coerced him into temporarily fixing it with a bus load of Gaffa tape!! With this we said "au reviour" to our little "one night in Paris" holiday...