Thursday 7th June 2007

Well, we're now well on our way. Phase One of our great European tour has involved a lot of staying at friends' houses in Scotland and England. A big thanks to everyone who has put us up for a few nights along the way. It's been great to catch up with you all and we appreciate your facilities. We've spent a couple of nights under canvas too and all has gone well on that front so far with fairly decent weather, if a little chilly overnight at times.

We're slowly making our way south through Britain. Our ferry crossing is booked for the 19th June, which will be the beginning of Phase Two. We've had a really nice couple of days in the Lake District. The weather was glorious and we were able to admire plenty of mountains and lakes along some truly hair raising stretches of roads. We visited Jennings Brewery in Cockermouth and had the tour to ourselves, which was great. Beer was excellent too, so if you are ever in that area, please pay it a visit.

We also paid a short visit to the Sellafield Visitors' Centre. It was hard not to be impressed by the dazzling larger-than-life interactive displays that they had there although there was very little information about what goes on inside the plant which is now facing retirement.

Right now we're staying with a friend near Blackburn. We had a long leisurely walk along the Leed-Liverpool Canal yesterday, stopping at a pub for lunch before returning. Again, the weather was fantastic and there was a certain Wind in the Willows Englishness to the place with brightly painted riverboats chugging past at regular intervals.

The other big news is that we've booked our flights to New Zealand and will be back in Palmerston North, via 2 nights in Hong Kong, on the 15th of October. It's great to finally be on the road and we're looking forward to many adventures along the way. Don't forget to keep checking this site for updates and we'll see you all someday, somewhere.