Summer in England 2016 – part 2 – Hever Castle

We’d been to Hever before, but it was over 6 years ago (see the link at the bottom of the post) and the kids couldn’t remember going. They both wanted to go and play in the maze and the day was looking sunny and it seemed like a good idea!

Summer in England 2016 – part 1

Because of the injuries I picked up in the motorbike accident in November last year, I was unable to get back to England in the spring, so it had been a year since I saw the kids.   I was really looking forward to this trip. Having had bad experiences with Malaysia Airlines the last 2 times I flew with them, I paid a…

Trip to Penguin Island

We’re pretty lucky here in the Southern Hemisphere.  Perth is far away from the world and very beautiful. The downside is that we have all kinds of wildlife that is out to get us here,  but we also have tiny fairy penguins.  And they live on Penguin Island, only a few hundred metres off the coast near Rockingham, conveniently, only a short drive from my place.

Cheeky ride out on the DR650

Rewind a month:  (I know, I’m a bit behind – sue me 😉 ) Was a beautiful day, not much wind, not too warm – perfect for getting out on the bike.  I love the variation between the coast and the hills – there’s not too many places where you can get from one extreme to the other so easily.

Wheatbelt driving

A few weeks after my trip to York, I had the opportunity to drive to Kulin – deep in the Western Australian Wheatbelt. If you’re not familiar with the state of Western Australia – outside of Perth metro area, aside from a few regional towns, there’s basically not very much.  I don’t mean that in any way disrespectfully – WA has 2.2 million people…

A trip to the wheatbelt – Canola fields

Springtime in the wheatbelt means yellow canola fields as far as the eye can see. Well, not quite, but it does seem a bit like it from some vantage points.  it was a lovely day, I had some time so I jumped in the car and headed out to York, which is a couple of hours drive from me to see if I could…

Summer in England 2015 – part 8: Aylesford Priory

Sadly, time always passes by so quickly and our time together was almost done.  We had a few hours to spare on the last day, so I thought we could have a quick trip just down the road to Aylesford. I used to play in a band when I was about 17 and 18 and we used to practice in one of the band members…

Summer in England 2015 – part 7: Fossil hunting at Folkestone

Fossil hunting! This is one of the things that I enjoy most.  It’s pretty much how I got to be where I am today, career wise. Yes, I know I work in IT (and the business end of IT at that) but its because I was taken to a quarry on a primary school field trip and found a fossil that I took the…

Summer in England 2015 – part 6: Camber Sands

Sometimes the summer in England really delivers. The forecast was looking really good, so my sister and made a plan to go to the beach early and make the most of it.  After all, in England, you never know how long the sunshine will actually last for. Once again – off we went complete with a packed lunch, to the old favourite, Camber Sands.

Summer in England 2015 – part 5: A walk around Plaxtol and Fairlawne

Kent is amazingly beautiful and I always considered myself very privileged to grow up there.  I used to cycle and walk all over the place as soon as I was old enough (which in those days was from about twelve – times change!) and I built up an intimate knowledge of every lane and footpath I could get to under my own steam.  So whenever I return,…