Saturday Safari

Remarkably in a rare moment of clarity and wisdom, our little ginger friend Hamish (A.K.A Prince Harry) suggested we should visit a safari park for a double date day trip. Naturally we were amazed at two things, firstly that such a thing existed, and secondly that Prince Harry had someone to bring (Clearly just kidding around, Hamish is a valued friend whom I have known since Morrinsville days... actually mum took him for ‘special maths’ when he was only wee, very valued).

So on a sunny Saturday morning Kylie and I picked up Harry and Sally (yes like the movie), and we headed out to Longleat Safari Park, loaded with coffee and bacon baps, for a day of awe inspiring adventure. We arrived at around 11am and decided we would head straight to the ‘drive thru’ section (thank you company car). With our audio guide CD for assistance we drove through to the first section which was made up of different deer /ibex type things that I can’t remember, you’ll know why as I get into the highlights. Next up were around 10 of each of zebra and giraffes, just majestically strolling around a huge paddock.

Following this it was strictly windows up and no opening of doors as we were heading into ‘Monkey Island’, now an organised person would have taken off or taped down window wipers etc but we just weren’t that organised despite the large sign saying ‘YOUR CAR WILL BE DAMAGED’. As we rolled in we could see some monkey in the distance and when we finally came around the corner there were monkeys EVERYWHERE! Immediately about three monkeys jumped straight on our car, two of which made short work of my rear window wiper, deciding they would take the whole thing (again why didn’t I think of that before entering). Feigning defeat we decided to roll with it as it was just so much fun and windscreen wipers can be replaced... with a story of local hoodlums or as my mum used to say local monkeys. We eventually moved on when we saw some poor bugger’s roof racks on the ground and one particularly evil eyed chap jumping on the car carrying an aerial.

The next section (still windows up mum) was filled with Ostriches, Rhinos, Camels and some viscous looking cattle. Again so amazing to drive through these animals. There are always rangers patrolling in their Jeeps so you don’t even consider the threat of a charging Rhino. We reluctantly moved to the next section consisting of varieties of deer. We even bought some feed as this was a windows down moment where you could park up and feed. I was thankful to leave this section unharmed as there were some pretty serious antlers rather close to the car (I can feel Dad squirming whilst reading). We drove past the flamingos and an elephant before we came to the serious action.

It was time for the predators! First up was the largest of the felines, the tigers. Casually four of them were roaming around literally metres from the car. This was followed by two sections of lions, one of which was the older and grumpier males and females, followed by a pride of around 15 younger lions. The pictures really tell the story, I feel there are only so many ways to say awesome.

Next up was the cheetahs, the only large cat which can’t retract its claws, followed by a wolf pack. We were just in awe of it all and decided we would definitely do another drive through later in the day.

Arriving back at the main house and grounds, we parked up the car and headed out for more animal adventures. First up we took a boat cruise to look at some hippos and silver back gorillas and watched as people fed the sea lions fish. We then went on some very dated motion master styled rides thanks to the two ladies insistence, a defining low of the day, before venturing into a bat cave where the bats constantly whoosh past your head as you hear their little sonar clicks.

We then went through the butterfly farm and into the handling section, which the girls were excited about, but instead of bunnies we were greeted with a python and a tarantula. Hamish and I both held the snake, and Kylie to her credit touched it with a finger, before Kylie sent Sally running from the room when she tricked her over to the tarantula by saying it was baby bunnies. I held this little chap for a while and could still feel him for a while after that.

To calm everyone down we ate some burgers and chips before the next stop the lemurs, where you could walk through their little sanctuary. One kid beside us nearly grabbed one before Kylie called out to its mum who was oblivious.

We jumped back in the car eager for round two of the safari. We were quickly surrounded by monkeys again but cleverly Hamish and I had taped down the remaining front wipers, just to show how smart we were. Yip you guessed it, that viscous little bastard found the tape quite interesting so he bit it and the wiper clean off. Sigh. Eventually I decided the car couldn’t take much more, well I mean much more that I could explain to a garage.

As it was getting late in the day all the big nasties were getting much more active, probably waiting for food. At one stage we had around seven lions walk past our car and rub it as cats annoyingly do to you in a hallway, not to mention an awful lot of teeth and claws assessing our tyres. The wolves were far more up for it as well and our car was completely surrounded by the pack, either smelling the lions or the dead squirrel I hit on the way there.

We finally pulled ourselves away and limped back to London. A truly amazing day with some very ‘special’ friends.
xx

Cornish Cruisin'

Bright and early on a sunny summer’s morning I bundled Kylie into the car and drove south to Cornwall, with the intention of making the most of the last days of our British summer, my gardening leave and my company car. Actually it was rather cold and wet... and I bundled Kylie into the car before sunrise so it wasn’t exactly bright and early but I’m just trying to set a nice scene.

Anyway so with Kylie snugly asleep next to me with all manner of pillows and blankets, I cruised my way west along the M4 before turning south on the M5 just before we hit Wales. Okay, maybe the motorway names are irrelevant; I’ll try to keep it more refreshing I’m just a little rusty. So just before lunch we arrived at our first destination Lizard Point A.K.A ‘The Lizard’ which is the UK’s southern most point. With grand ideas of adventure and exploring the old lighthouse and other tourist attractions, we decided a quick walk down to the old coastguard would suffice as it was rather windy and we were getting hungry.

Bundling back into the car we followed the coast until we reached Marizion. There isn’t much to this place except St Michel’s Mont which is an island abbey and one of Cornwall’s iconic sites. For fact enthusiasts there has been a monastery here since the 5th century, and the main chapel was raised in the 12th century by the Benedictine monks of Normandy.

We followed the coast again to the town of Penzance, a nice old brick fishing town, which is said to be rather authentic and not polished... we agreed so only stayed here a short while and decided to travel a few more miles to a smaller fishing village with more charm for some well earned lunch. This lucky little village was Mousehole (pronounced mow-zel), it is a charming village of winding cobbled lanes... so charming and compact that we struggled for parking and Kylie was forced to jump out of the car whilst I put on my hazards and she attempted to get us a couple of famous Cornish Pasties for lunch. Very disappointingly they only had cheese and vegetable left, which we struggled down whilst dreaming of NZ pies! Disappointingly full from our pasties we continued along the way to the famous ‘Minack Theatre’ which is an amphitheatre carved into the cliffs overlooking the sea, a place which would have been great to see a show, if only the UK had some sunshine.

With grey skies above and daylight fading, we started to wonder where we would sleep... we had accommodation booked for the next two nights but thought we would just wing it and sleep in the car somewhere (I know right, we are so rock’n’roll). We followed the coast again knowing we would find something, and came upon a campground in Lands End (England’s most westerly point), we paid the measly sum and went to work setting up Camp Passat with the back seats down and the cargo cover covering the boot, we put a piece of material around the windows and our fort was complete! For dinner we wandered into the local pub and shared far too much delicious food and washed it down with Cornish ale and red wine respectively, before retiring to Camp Passat where I wasted Kylie at hangman and we slept soundly in the storm of a night that ensued.

With slightly wet pillows from the rain seeping into to our clearly flawed curtain system we showered and hit the road for St Ives. For breakfast we stopped at an amazing ‘Escape to the Country’ style house which was serving Cornish cream teas. It was a delicious way to start a day, for those who haven’t tried Cornish cream it is so thick you spread it on like peanut butter and cover it with lashings of jam. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Content, we hit the road again until we reached our Castle overlooking St Ives... yes I said castle... yes from car to castle... I know. After all the driving we simply relaxed in our room and ate dinner at the in-house restaurant, perfect.

We set out to explore St Ives on foot after a gorging at the buffet breakfast. Again we were faced with another picturesque fishing village with cliffs, golden beaches and cobbled streets. We took our time and soaked it all in, enjoying what would likely be the last sunshine for the year. We watched a local sea lion chilling out and strolled through the quaint stores and the harbour before retiring for another relaxing afternoon at the castle including a swim, a spa and a sauna... lush.

We meandered our way home on the Tuesday, stopping by Glastonbury Tor and an outlet fashion village (Kylie getting another handbag) and made it home safe and sound.
Talk soon with our next entry to be our English safari, before we hit the south of France for 9 days.

Much love.
Xx

Moor of Devon

In a desperate attempt at capturing some last minute English sun, we made off to Plymouth, Devon for the weekend at the end of August, in search of a tan, as well as a few extra kgs thanks to the fine host of restaurants renowned in the area. Because of the lengthy drive, we set off at 6am on Saturday morning, with myself snuggled up in the front seat snoozing away under a duvet, and Brad minding the wheel to ensure safe passage – bless him! Thanks to him, I awoke suitable refreshed 3.5 hours later in the midst of the beautiful Dartmoor National Park in time for breakfast!

Dartmoor National Park is absolutely amazing and even in summer (eye roll) the place is chilling, misty, mysterious, yet at the same time just magical. It’s like nowhere we’ve seen. With miles of open road amongst wildlife, wilderness and even an old prison, it’s easy to see how people fall in love with the place. In fact, Sherlock Holmes made it the setting of several books. We drove for hours, stopping every few minutes to take photos, which went down well with the locals… By locals I mean the cute Dartmoor ponies, one of whom came trotting over the car to see what we were up to, nek minute his head is in the car and he’s chewing at the lights and indicator!

Eventually we made it to Plymouth and after dropping off our bags, we set off to explore the mighty city. In true English form, it started absolutely bucketing it down, but despite our hopes of getting a tan utterly dashed, we were happy to get saturated as we explored the waterfront, before nipping into a café on a cliff top, named ‘Café on a Cliptop’ would you believe, for a traditional Devonshire Cream Tea – divine!

Thinking I had a bit of time up my sleeves to check out the shops, Brad had another thing on his mind – checking out the world-famous Plymouth gin distillery which is widely considered to be the home of the best gin in the world. So with a sad look over my shoulder at the department store, I was frog marched to the distillery where we spent an enjoyable hour learning about gin, the history of the place (which housed the Mayflower pilgrims the night before the set off to discover America), as well as more importantly – tasting!

Afterwards, saturated and a little cold, we made our way back to the hotel for a quick lie down before setting off for our reservation at the new River Cottage restaurant – our main reason for heading away for the weekend. We all know Brad is more than a fan of the show, and having experienced their restaurant in Axminster, we were only too keen to try out their new Plymouth haunt. It certainly didn’t disappoint and we had a delicious evening, eating as much as we could, whilst washing it all down with a delicious bottle of red. Tres bien!

We set off the next day with a plan which Brad had pulled together, with our first stop being a return to the beautiful Dartmoor National Park. It is so beautiful that we really needed to see it twice, out of fear we had imagined it. This time it was sunny, which gave us an altogether different perspective and the place was humming with keen explorers, cyclists and even the brave adventurer getting up close and personal to the beautiful Highland Cattle. These little beauties certainly make farming more appealing to a city girl like myself. I wouldn’t mind a few of these gems larking about the garden!

Of course, no weekend trip is complete without a Car Boot sale and much to Brad’s delight, we chanced upon one as we were heading out of the park.

We then set off to the Dorset region, which is home to the famous Jurassic Coastline and in turn, thousands of fossils which can easily be found along the beach. Brad had done his research and decided Lyme Regis was our spot, so we spent the afternoon at a gorgeous town and beach, with me sketching while Brad hunted for fossils. Credit to him, he found quite a fair few. I joined in towards the end and managed to drop a rock on my feet making me nice and grumpy!

We then meandered our way back to London, already making plans for our next visit.
Love to all.

x