This was without a doubt the best holiday I have ever had. So good in fact I have decided to emigrate to the UK. Many people made the trip a success however, some do deserve a special mention. Firstly, thanks to Danny Fyne, the "creator" of PPRuNe, it was because of this site that I decided to go to the UK to meet the "PPRuNers". Along with Danny, I should also thank John and Derek. These people gave me shelter and well as a lot of alcohol! I also thank my cousins Mary, Brian and Verity for doing the same. I must also thank Sandy from Qantas who got me the business class upgrade SIN-LHR and Paula who made sure I never ran out of bourbon CS-SIN. I need to also thank Geoff for convincing Sandy that I was "ok". Please note, the gallery has many more pictures.
Day 1. The plane trip.
Well, what can you say about long haul travel... It is a long haul... Sandy was the captain on the 744 from SIN to LHR so I got to have a look "up the front" a couple of times. Needless to say for me flying over Europe was pretty amazing. I had a pretty good view of London when we came into land. Of course it was raining.
Swanned through passport control as I was in Business class. Unfortunately my bag was in cattle class and was the last one off! Bill collected me and we stepped outside. Modesty prevents me from quoting myself but I did comment on the cold!
Days 2-4. London and Hemel Hempstead.
I camped out at my cousin Verity's place for a few days and proceeded to battle jet lag and to see the sights. My cousin Simon I had met in Sydney mysteriously passed away just before I flew over and he had insisted that I see the Tower of London. So I did. I loved it.
So, over the next few days I strolled around London and took in the sights. I had fun on the tube and dodged the pigeons at Trafalgar Square. The net junky in me found some cyber cafes as well.
Then it was off to Hemel Hempstead to visit more cousins. I went for a jog along the river bank and startled the locals by saying "g'day" to them and chatted with a person operating a lock. Better than seeing it all through a coach window I can tell you!.
Days 5-6. Liverpool and warm beer.
Now to brave London traffic and drive to Liverpool. Phew, made it without scaring myself or too many others. A reasonable drive of a few hours finds me pulling into Danny Fyne's carpark. After a quick meet and greet it was off to a pub he'd just discovered.
Err...what? Warm beer? You must be joking? I am Australian.... well, if the truth be told it wasn't too bad. Shhhh! So, we spent a rather pleasant afternoon in the mild English sun (yep, true, it did appear) drinking beer and eating. However, Danny was still under the influence of jet lag so we toddled back to his place......PPRuNe HQ.
Note the remote in his hands and the eyes are closed.....
Danny was a fantastic host and took me all around Liverpool and to more pubs.
Day 7-9. Have car, Lonely Planet and a sense of adventure. Off I go exploring.
Time to leave Liverpool and head out on the highway. I always wanted to see Stonehenge but that was at the other end of the country so I did a little digging and found some stone circles up the road in the Lakes District. Now I discover how beautiful that district is, the joys of B&B's and just how cold it really is along Hadrian's wall.
I can't remember this Lake's name..sorry.....
Stone circles at Castlecrigg, Keswick. The peace and tranquility was enhanced by the funny black faced sheep and shattered by the roar of a fast jet. Yes!
Part of Hadrian's Wall. You can get to it very easily from the A69 and then the Staneway gate road. This is an old roman road built along the Wall. Now the road itself over the years has "consumed" a lot of the Wall. B6318. Believe me, it was very very cold here!
I spent some time scratching around Vindolanda, a Roman fort under restoration. This "museum" also showed the "crofts" as well. A stark contrast to how the romans lived.
All the while I was steadily travelling eastwards and eventually southwards to Whitby. Captain Cook sailed from here to discover Australia. I travelled over the North York Moors to Whitby. One of the many things that amused me was the British reaction to the distances I would drive in a day.... In Australia, I had to drive long distances.....
View of Whitby from the Ashford House B&B. My favourite B&B of the trip.
After Whitby I drove down to Cambridge. This is a very old university town. I used to work at one of Australia's younger uni's, Macquarie.This was to be my last day "by myself". Tomorrow was the beginning of the Ash weekend....
Punts at Cambridge.
Days 10-11. Stansted, more pubs and the Ash Bash.
The day has finally arrived. A quick scoot down a motorway found me at Stansted. I got rid of the car and once again braved the rail system. We were supposed to meet some fellow PPRuNers at a Brewery, Derek had decided to celebrate his birthday there, however we got lost and didn't make it in time to do the tour.
I have no clear recollection of the events after the 5th pint. There is some scurrilous rumour that I made some rather interesting observations and exclamations while we were waiting for a train.
The Ash Bash was a huge event. Well done to the organisers. Since most of what went on there has already been covered in PPRuNe I won't bore every one to tears by repeating it here.
Days 12-14. Recovery and stuck in Essex.
As you can imagine, the morning after was a reasonably delicate affair. Fortunately I wasn't too bad. I took up John's very generous offer of use of his flat. Little did I know that there was a catch...Top tips folks, always check if John hands you a key and says "this opens the front door". Any way, hunger forced me out of the flat and I strolled into the village. I swear the pie shop staff were straight out of a Monty Python sketch. Yep, cracked up laughing (although not in their view). John returned a day or so later to find me with the doona wrapped around me as I was a tad cold. I had no idea as to how to turn on the central heating.
A view of the river and a houseboat near Stansted.
Days 15-16. Italy.
Big thanks to John for arranging tickets for me to fly to Bologna, Italy. Why there I hear you ask? Simple, Ducati. I had a fantastic flight on Go to Italy. Italy is warmer than England that's for sure. I had a very enjoyable time wandering around the streets and checking out the scenery. I even ate at McDonald's! No, I didn't eat any "Spag Bog" either.
In the city square.
Sign says it all.
The incredible Evoluzione. You can only buy this motorcycle from the factory via the Internet. The photo doesn't do it any justice.
The tour of the factory was fantastic. If you are a Ducati fan then it it well worth it. Especially since it is free. The museum is brilliant with an engine and or a bike from their earliest days to the Superbike championship winning 996. The other people on tour with me were amazed that I flew to Bologna just to do the tour...After scamming another bus ride I caught a Go flight back to Stansted.
Naturally John took me to the another pub. John had words to the innkeeper at the Ash. Since the Ash did us wrong, I won't mention their name again. We now drink elsewhere.
Days 17-19. Scotland.
Once again John produced the goods and shoved me on a Go flight to Edinburgh. This time I was a guest of Derek's. I nearly didn't recognise him. He was wearing a suit. The last time I saw him he was wearing a kilt. He's a part time ATC player and full time beer tester. We hit it off fine. He showed me all around Shanwick which was interesting and I saw what the ATCO's do. I had enough ATC excitement and it was off to the pub.
A view of Edinburgh.
The next day was the EDI "bash". We drove to Edinburgh and Derek left me at an internet cafe in town. I was happy, one pound for 4 hours!
A great night was had by all and we all went home fairly early, ie around midnight. However, I had just recieved some good news from Australia and I wanted to celebrate. Naturally, Derek offered to assist me in my celebrations. Finally it was time to come home and what do I find? I am locked out of my hotel! It was now very cold. Derek being the true gentleman he is, stayed and kept me company.
Eventually we found the night door bell at 06.30 in the morning by watching the bread man use it.. Ahhhh..so that's where it was..... I stagger up to my room and lapsed into unconsciousness for about 2 hours. I caught the Go flight back home.
John and I spent the rest of the day comparing hangovers and then we went to the pub.
Day 20. Last day in the UK. Home time.
Well, didn't do a great deal on the last day. Just some shopping and finally it was time to go. Caught a bus to London, Heathrow and then a Qantas 744 flight to Singapore. I had very friendly and helpful cabin crew on all the sectors I flew with Qantas so I was happy.
I tried to meet a friend in Singapore but he mixed up which gate I was at... Oh well. Soon it was time to stagger onto the 767 and off to Darwin and finally Cairns. I ended up sitting next to another pilot on the final sector so that passed the time.
My view for a few hours.
Landed in Cairns and when I got off the aeroplane I thought "gee, it's cool?" Yes, amazingly Cairns was having a cold snap of temperatures around the 22C mark. Cold for Cairns. It's good to have friends in the right places too. There is nothing better than approaching the customs desk and you recognise a mate you used to fly around in Broome. Sometimes, you just get lucky.
That's it. Trip over and then I caught a cold. Packed every thing up and rode down to Sydney. However, that's another story.