Tuesday October 26th
Well it had to all come to an end eventually and today was the day. We got up and cleaned and tidied and did the washing. Hamish had asked for time off to take to us Heathrow and had been granted it. He arrived at 10.30 and loaded up the car with our bags. They were heavy! But we had hand weighing scales and we were pretty sure we were all within our allowance. He signed the key back in at the Guardroom and then drove us to Heathrow. There were no delays and we arrived there shortly after 11am. We asked him to just drop us off and not park as it is a waste of time coming in and costs a fortune.
We did have to stooge around until the flight opened but there are always papers to read. The bags were classed as heavy but well within the allowance of 2 bags each up to a combined total of 46kg . However we were informed that the rules have changed since we booked and in future there is an allowance of 20kg 1 bag each through the States as well now. We were okay becasue was stated at the time of booking held. But that will cramp my shopping next time for sure.
Try as I might I could not get onto the internet at Weatherspoons which was annoying. So no blog got published at the airport as I had intened.
The first leg from Heathrow to LA was really late afternoon and early evening so not much sleeping was done. Of course we had the ridiciulous immigration proceedure in the transit lounge in LA. AS soon as I got back on the plane after the 2 hour transit I just died and don't remember much until having a meal shoved at me. The LA to Auckland leg is a drag and very long. However I practised my old trick of fallihng asleep in front of TV and just dozed while watching movies. It seemed to work but I never really got anything watched properly.
All went well though and we got into Auckland at 6.45am. We took our time, purchased some Duty Free and made our way slowly to domestic for a very long wait. Finally we got the 11am flight to Wanganui and were met by our wonderful house minders and taken home. The place was immaculate and so was the garden. They had really enjoyed living here and taken great care of everything. They had even left the fridge stcoked with the basics so we could get ourselves some lunch.
The trick was to stay up and unpack and not give in the tiredness. We also needed to get at least one of the vehicles up and running. So we took my car for WOF and also relicenced it. Ouch. Tomorrow we will have to do the campervan. Alan's car has packed a real sad and won't start at all.
So it is great to be home but now we have to sort through our vidoes, photos, diaries and books and make sense of it.
The three little kiwis are back on the couch in the hall with all their friends, and Ber Lin has been getting to know the teddies from al the other places they originally came from.
Hemi is parked at Northolt next to Dave the Red Peril of Uxbridge. Hopefully someday soon someone may want to buy him and take him on some more adventures. If not then he may be waiting to take us out again when we go back to visit Hamish in the future.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Oranges And Lemons Take 2
Monday October 25th
Well would you believe it, Hamish manages to throw in one more concert for us to attend on our second to last day here. Today there was a Top Brass concert performed by vaious small groups from the RAF Central band at St Clement Danes Church on the Strand.
We got ourselves into town and got off the tube at Marble Arch and made our way across London getting to the church in plenty of time, although it was quite a hike. I had a bit of last minute shopping to do and things to post. It is not easy trying to find a Post Office in Central London. but my hunch that there may be one in W H Smith was correct.
The concert was of the ususal high standard. The Trombones had formed themselves up into a classy quartet to play a specilaly written piece by Tom Davoren who was present in the audience. There were also a couple of trios performing as well. It was a great ending to our holiday as Hamish had preformed here shortly after are arrival in July.
Alan's cousin Dilys was able to attend and was pleased to see Hamish all smartly attired in his uniform and performing. Louise and her mum Heidi were there as well so he had quite a fan club.
In the evening Hamish, Louise and Heidi came to our place for a farewell dinner. This has been one of the great things about being able to rent the welfare house. You can actually entertain your friends and family there as if it were your home. We made good inroads into the over supply of wine and Hamish and Louise made the sensible decision to leave the car in the drive and walk back to the base. Hamish will shift it when he comes to pick us up in the morning and Louise can walk over and get it later in the day. So it was goodbyes all around and off to be for a reasonably early night in preparation for the long trip starting tomorrow.
Well would you believe it, Hamish manages to throw in one more concert for us to attend on our second to last day here. Today there was a Top Brass concert performed by vaious small groups from the RAF Central band at St Clement Danes Church on the Strand.
We got ourselves into town and got off the tube at Marble Arch and made our way across London getting to the church in plenty of time, although it was quite a hike. I had a bit of last minute shopping to do and things to post. It is not easy trying to find a Post Office in Central London. but my hunch that there may be one in W H Smith was correct.
The concert was of the ususal high standard. The Trombones had formed themselves up into a classy quartet to play a specilaly written piece by Tom Davoren who was present in the audience. There were also a couple of trios performing as well. It was a great ending to our holiday as Hamish had preformed here shortly after are arrival in July.
Alan's cousin Dilys was able to attend and was pleased to see Hamish all smartly attired in his uniform and performing. Louise and her mum Heidi were there as well so he had quite a fan club.
In the evening Hamish, Louise and Heidi came to our place for a farewell dinner. This has been one of the great things about being able to rent the welfare house. You can actually entertain your friends and family there as if it were your home. We made good inroads into the over supply of wine and Hamish and Louise made the sensible decision to leave the car in the drive and walk back to the base. Hamish will shift it when he comes to pick us up in the morning and Louise can walk over and get it later in the day. So it was goodbyes all around and off to be for a reasonably early night in preparation for the long trip starting tomorrow.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday Lunch in the Pub
Sunday October 24th
Today was another lovely sunny day although once you got outside it was decidedly chilly. Hamish walked over to collect his car that he had left with us yesterday and then took us over to the base complete with Hemi. He signed on us and we drove Hemi back to his old spot in the car park.
We picked up Louise and her mum Heidi and all went out to lunch together to The Beefeater in Ruislip. It was our last Sunday here so we had a traditional Sunday Pub Roast.
Back at Hamish’s room I got online to update the blog and post an advert on Gumtree to sell Hemi. It is not really the right time of the year to be selling a camper but it is worth having a try. Hamish would like it all sorted ASAP and hopefully before he and Lou come to NZ for Christmas.
Family Reunion in London
Saturday October 23
Today dawned sunny and whole lot warmer that yesterday so we braved it outside with mops and buckets and gave Hemi the spruce up inside that he really needed. It was surprising the things we found hidden away that we nearly left behind. So now he is all clean and tidy and ready to sell.
We walked to Sainbury’s for a few things for lunch and a paper. Hamish came over for lunch and then we took the tube to London. We were keen to revisit the Victoria and Albert Art And Love exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace as we ahd had our tickets converted to a 12 month pass in case we had time to go again. So we took Hamish to see it and he agreed that it was well worth seeing.
At 5.30 we met Dilys and John parker who are cousins of Alan’s. We had a meal in a pub and a good chat and catch up before returning back to base for not too late a night.
The Day We Did Nothing
Friday October 22nd
Today we took our time getting up and had the quietest day ever. We had planned to go out and clean the van out ready for taking it over to the base to be parked up for selling. However it was bleak outside and we just couldn’t face leaving a warm house and going outside with buckets of water. So we indulged ourselves in DVDs and TV and generally wound down. The highlight was watching the old movie in black and white of The Dam Busters.
We are eating up the camping food from the van and there is a lot of wine bought in France that we had intended to give away to our friends but it got left behind when Hemi had his holiday at the mechanics.
Today we took our time getting up and had the quietest day ever. We had planned to go out and clean the van out ready for taking it over to the base to be parked up for selling. However it was bleak outside and we just couldn’t face leaving a warm house and going outside with buckets of water. So we indulged ourselves in DVDs and TV and generally wound down. The highlight was watching the old movie in black and white of The Dam Busters.
We are eating up the camping food from the van and there is a lot of wine bought in France that we had intended to give away to our friends but it got left behind when Hemi had his holiday at the mechanics.
Back To Base
Thursday October 21st
There was a frost this morning and ice on the cars. By the time we were ready to leave the ice had melted and Hemi started perfectly. It was a beautiful sunny autumn day and the drive through the forest was delightful with the leaves drifting off the trees and the autumn colours highlighted by the sunlight filtering through the gaps caused by the leaf fall. We stopped for a nostalgic look at Swan Green and took a photo. The trip on the motorway was smooth and uneventful and we arrived safely at RAF Northolt at about 12.15. Hamish was free briefly to get the key for us to get into the house. He gave us our extra suitcase and we spent the rest of the afternoon sorting through our stuff. The culmination of 4 months travelling was stored in the van and the reality of trying to get it all into our bags is proving daunting. There has been a lot of chucking out. It is so easy to just pop another thing into the van.
The washing machine and drier are going flat out here as there was a lot of stuff in the van taht needed a freshen up.
The lounge here looks like a giant boot sale. The scales bought at the Felixstowe market are proving to be very useful. Thank goodness for the 2 bag 46kg each allowance going home through LA.
It is very wintery feeling here now so we cranked up the central heating and watched TV in between the sorting.
The Big Coach Trip
Wednesday October 20th
Today we needed an early start to catch the national Express from Felixstowe are 7.55am. We were there in plenty of time and the coach left right on time. There were several stops to pick up people along the way but it all went very smoothly. When we were on the outskirts of London the driver was able to ring up and get the road reports for all the main roads in to London and then adjust his route accordingly. We could all here this in the coach. The drive through the outskirts of London took right past the Olympic park development which is huge. There are cranes and workers everywhere.
As it turned out we got to the bus station on time. With 2 ½ hours to fill in before catching the next coach we went to Victoria Station and found Wetherspoons so we could use the WiFi while having lunch.
We were all sitting on the coach ready to leave at 2pm but the coach wouldn’t start. It seemed strange as it had driven in there perfectly okay. The driver had to call the service truck to get a jump start and we were 20 mins late leaving. It was a lovely day for travelling and the sun was shining brightly and London always looks lovely on a sunny day. It was also lovely and warm inside on a day that was decidedly chilly. The driver almost made up the time lost at the start and Liz was waiting for us at Ringwood at 4.15. This part of the trip had cost us 1 pound each! Liz took us straight to the garage to pick up Hemi. The news was all good there. They had managed to get us a new MOT and do the necessary work to get him safely back on the road. So we paid the bill which wasn’t quite as bad as we had been bracing ourselves for and drove back to Liz and Andy’s for the night.
Today we needed an early start to catch the national Express from Felixstowe are 7.55am. We were there in plenty of time and the coach left right on time. There were several stops to pick up people along the way but it all went very smoothly. When we were on the outskirts of London the driver was able to ring up and get the road reports for all the main roads in to London and then adjust his route accordingly. We could all here this in the coach. The drive through the outskirts of London took right past the Olympic park development which is huge. There are cranes and workers everywhere.
As it turned out we got to the bus station on time. With 2 ½ hours to fill in before catching the next coach we went to Victoria Station and found Wetherspoons so we could use the WiFi while having lunch.
We were all sitting on the coach ready to leave at 2pm but the coach wouldn’t start. It seemed strange as it had driven in there perfectly okay. The driver had to call the service truck to get a jump start and we were 20 mins late leaving. It was a lovely day for travelling and the sun was shining brightly and London always looks lovely on a sunny day. It was also lovely and warm inside on a day that was decidedly chilly. The driver almost made up the time lost at the start and Liz was waiting for us at Ringwood at 4.15. This part of the trip had cost us 1 pound each! Liz took us straight to the garage to pick up Hemi. The news was all good there. They had managed to get us a new MOT and do the necessary work to get him safely back on the road. So we paid the bill which wasn’t quite as bad as we had been bracing ourselves for and drove back to Liz and Andy’s for the night.
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