Coraleen and Vicki with Molly
Coraleen, Aunty Jenny and Vicki with Molly
Coraleen at Buck HouseNow London was an experience in itself.
We had booked a 'cheap' hotel which was NZ$200 a night just '3 minutes walk from Paddingotn Station' which sounded great as the Heathrow Express is direct into Paddington. But.. isn't there always a but? Being close to Paddington Underground meant while we were in our basement room (with a view of four dirty walls) beneath the road it shook everytime a train went passed.. and for those of you don't know that is every 4 minutes from 5.30 am through until midnight. Fun!! And the coffee is nowhere near as nice as NZ (in my opinion) and about NZ$12 a cup at Paddington Station. We soon learnt not to buy anything in the Stations.
We spent most of our time on the underground going from West London to East London and then to Docklands - South London looking at vans. Believe me I think we went through or stopped at every bloody underground station in London. We even managed to get on one train going the opposite direction and wasted another hour as there was work being done on the tracks but we soon learned how to change trains and tracks and lines.. an experience all on it's own.
We did spend a short time walking around the Mall, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park but that was the only sightseeing we did manage.
I did get a fright when I bought a packet of cigarettes.. NZ$18 a packet in London but they were relatively cheap in Norwich at NZ$16 a packet!! Watch this space I could be giving up :-) yeah right.. and pigs might fly!!
And finally bought Molly - our VW Transporter which will take us about 5,000 miles over the next five months. As we had to buy it relatively quickly to enable us to escape the 'fun' of London we made a decision far too hastily and had to have it serviced in Norwich - new brakes, cam belt, steering, water pump and battery. An expensive lesson but at least we now know it's safe and ready for our 'adventure'.
On the bright side we still haven't seen rain! We had a picnic in the park outside our hotel. Seriously.. I kid you not. The temperatures were up in the high 20's - as high as it is over in NZ and were wearing summer clothes.. not too dissimilar to Dubai.. well maybe not quite but almost. And our picnic in the park was fish and chips..with lots of Vinegar.. and we didn't even have to ask for Vinegar .. mind you tomato sauce lovers would have had a considerable amount of difficulty sourcing that!!
The tosser who sold us Molly (at that stage a potential death trap - thank goodness unknown to us at the time) sold it to us on Empty. And there were no Petrol Stations or 'Services' as they are known to locals. We got off the A11 to buy Diesel only to be told you couldn't get back on from that exit. We thanked our lucky stars that a very kind man got us to follow him all the way back through Epping Forest and directed us back to the Motorway going in the right direction. Another problem averted!
We drove straight through to Norwich from there arriving in the dark at 9.30pm on Saturday.. never before did that wine look to inviting :-)
We spent most of our time on the underground going from West London to East London and then to Docklands - South London looking at vans. Believe me I think we went through or stopped at every bloody underground station in London. We even managed to get on one train going the opposite direction and wasted another hour as there was work being done on the tracks but we soon learned how to change trains and tracks and lines.. an experience all on it's own.
We did spend a short time walking around the Mall, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park but that was the only sightseeing we did manage.
I did get a fright when I bought a packet of cigarettes.. NZ$18 a packet in London but they were relatively cheap in Norwich at NZ$16 a packet!! Watch this space I could be giving up :-) yeah right.. and pigs might fly!!
And finally bought Molly - our VW Transporter which will take us about 5,000 miles over the next five months. As we had to buy it relatively quickly to enable us to escape the 'fun' of London we made a decision far too hastily and had to have it serviced in Norwich - new brakes, cam belt, steering, water pump and battery. An expensive lesson but at least we now know it's safe and ready for our 'adventure'.
On the bright side we still haven't seen rain! We had a picnic in the park outside our hotel. Seriously.. I kid you not. The temperatures were up in the high 20's - as high as it is over in NZ and were wearing summer clothes.. not too dissimilar to Dubai.. well maybe not quite but almost. And our picnic in the park was fish and chips..with lots of Vinegar.. and we didn't even have to ask for Vinegar .. mind you tomato sauce lovers would have had a considerable amount of difficulty sourcing that!!
The tosser who sold us Molly (at that stage a potential death trap - thank goodness unknown to us at the time) sold it to us on Empty. And there were no Petrol Stations or 'Services' as they are known to locals. We got off the A11 to buy Diesel only to be told you couldn't get back on from that exit. We thanked our lucky stars that a very kind man got us to follow him all the way back through Epping Forest and directed us back to the Motorway going in the right direction. Another problem averted!
We drove straight through to Norwich from there arriving in the dark at 9.30pm on Saturday.. never before did that wine look to inviting :-)
2 comments:
hi - this is great - took me ages to sign on though -
Hey Girls,
I forgot to keep updated with reading your blog as I recieve the emails and forget you have this site. Fabulous tales, and wonderful journey's! Enjoy the atmosphere when we bring home the Cup!
Love Michaela
xx
Post a Comment