Day 6 - Visiting the Queen.

Well not really, but we went to her house! Today was for visiting the sights in detail from yesterday's us tour. So it was a visit to the memorial in honour of the NZ war dead. This was impressive and lovely to hear it mentioned in the commentary during the bus tour - including a short playing of the national anthem! The memorial is well done and placed in a very high profile place in London, which is a real honour.

Then is was off to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen. Disappointingly the Justice of the Peace (Adrian) and Royal Warrant holder (Alyson) were told the Queen was busy that day. :-). Some American signatory was visiting as the band was playing a few hits - Mission Impossible (?), I Did It My Way, New York, New York, etc etc. took a few good shots. Then it was a split as Adrian went to see Olympic Park only to find it was surrounded by 20ft high fences as they are rebuilding the area to sort the after games phase... Aly went to the Globe Theatre only to find the didn't do afternoon tours. So it was back on the train and out for a delicious dinner at The Horns restaurant (a local pub). Photos of all this to come I promise!

                                                  The NZ Memorial at Hyde Corner

 

                                              Wreaths - Looked Like From ANZAC Day

                                                                 The Queen's Horsemen

                                                        Proof The Queen Was Home

 

 

 

View From The Mall

Day 5 More Rain and lots to see!

A full day today looking around the sights of London. We left early for a tour around Lomdon on a bus. Sharon had already warned us off the Original Lomdon Tour company, so we caught the Big Bus Tour from Piccadilly Circus. It was a full day with a boat ride to Grenwich thrown in. Only problem was (you guessed it) the rain! It varied between torrential and light, but was a constant theme all day. Didn't get back to Sharon's until well after 7pm in the end. I have takn plenty of photos and will upload these soon. 30 Quid each for the tour - well worth it . Have also managed to get a couple of very cheap sims for the iPad and iPhone from O2. iPad - 15 quid fr 2Gb data. iPhone 10 quid of prepay. 25p per minute then 5p for any calls after that first minute per day. 500M of data and 500 texts. So a no brainier really given my Vodafone plan charges. Equivalent to 1pound 30p per minute to make and received calls, data at horrendous prices and 40p per text! A no brainier really. So Weve left a message on Adrian's home vodafone number with the new number on it.

Day 4 - Rain Rain GO AWAY

Yes - the rain has arrived. We decided to head in to London this morning and picked up our Liverpool tickets for Sunday. The transaction went very smoothly, but with only 1 minute to change trains (x2) we may be calling the help desk to see if we can catch an earlier train in to London!

So we caught the train in from Welwyn Garden City this morning and split our ways. Adrian caught the tube to Freemasons Hall in Great Queen Street and Aly went to visit the National Portrait Gallery. The tube is very much as we remember from 10 years ago, but it is just amazing how busy it is. Even off peak!

Freemasons Hall was very much the same as the last visit, but noticably less merchandise shops. Compulsary merchandise and a couple of books bought. Sadly the 2:00pm tour was cancelled and the next one was not until 3:00pm. So it was the compulsary 5 quid brolley and a wander around Picadilly Circus to area before catching the train back to Welwyn. No photos today. Far too wet!

Day 3 - BBQ on the other side of the world!

Saturday and Sunday were both magnificent days and we had a lovely BBQ with some of Sharon friends last night. Interesting as the start time was supposed to be 1:00pm. The first friends arrived at 2:30. So it was a few beers and Adrian and Murray started on the cooking duties. Meat patties, pork, sausages and onions with salmon and heaps of salads and bread rolls. Nice chatting and shooting the breeze with a fair bit of ribbing regarding our inept cricketers. Naturally we tried our best to talk a little more about the rugby world cup - but of course that didn't work as the poms beat the All Blacks the last time they met... Grrr

I very enjoyable day and the first round of golf booked in with the lads on Monday 25th June just before we fly out. 5:30 start, so will probably be just 12 holes. Lucky Adrian remembered to pack some golf balls!  

Day 1&2 - Arrived Safely

So - the adventure begins! Last minute stress to the fore as Adrian lost his work phone somewhere and was stressing with the concern that someone may pick it up and start charging heaps of calls to the taxpayer. Andrew and Aaron arrived just before 8 as arranged. Stopped in at work to leave a message for the cell phone co-ordinator when such co-ordinator was entering the building at the same time! Must have meant to be! So arrangements made to block sim. Adrian to sort finding phone on return. 90% sure it is at home somewhere. Note to oneself - put a lock on the phone!

So adrian had calmed significantly by the time we got the airport. Check in went quite smoothly. We both had 30kg of  allowance and at least 10kg of fist day stamp covers for Sharon in the bags. Alyson's total 29 kilos and Adrian's 34 kilos. The kind AirNZ staff let that pass by without comment. Nice! So then it was off to the Koru Lounge to await the departure of the domestic flight through to Auckland on the A320. We were seated near the back of the plane but no worries as we had heaps of time. Decided to stroll to international on our arrival. Border control wasn't without it's minor dramas. Adrian was pulled aside for a luggage swab/drug check. Swabs were taken and put in to the particulate machine. You know that feeling of confidence when you know nothing is wrong but are awaiting the results! Green light and we were off to Koru again after the compulsary purchase of Jetbplanes and pineapple lumps for some homesick kiwis we re visiting.

We decided to travel business class early in the planning as we thought we only had three weeks for the trip initially. Boarding was done without incident and we departed on time at 1:30pm. Business class was very comfy and service very nice. Arrived in Hong Kong at about 1am NZ time. Wow what a big airport. Hopped off at gate 60 something and our next flight departed for London from Gate 2! The walk made you realise just what a wee airport Auckland is in comparison. A shower then boarding for the 12 hours to the UK about 5am NZ time. Now for the real test. Can Adrian ( for the first time ever) sleep on the lie flat bed during the flight. Answer - No! Aly managed to get about 6 hours though.

Arrived in the UkK right on time at 0620 UK time. Another long walk to customs/immigration. Passports stamped then straight through customs ( as if they weren't there ). Obviously heavy use of profiling and XRay. So arrived safety but where are the family? Apparently the web site they looked at had the plane delayed, so a 5 minute wait while they parked! 

Then off to Welwyn Garden City to the north. Brilliant first day weather wise. 2 hours sleep then off to the Wicked Lady pub for lunch. Then 4 hours sleep for Adrian...

BBQ lunch with Sharon's mates tomorrow.