Wood WalkAbout

FEBRUARY (UK - France - Italy)

West Sussex – UK (6 to 10 deg. C)

After leaving Canada on the 11th Feb, we travelled back to the UK. We stayed overnight with Melanie & Johnny and their children, (David & Ellie,) back in Guildford. It was lovely to see them all again. After what had become a routine visit to their attic, we swapped the ski gear for our summer bags for use later in the year. Luckilly, our stay was brief. Five people traipsing around the house with jetlag in the early hours of the morning midweek for too long could really push a friendship.

Our next stop was West Sussex to the small village of Cowbeech, in the English countryside. We stayed in what was known as an Oast House, (a rounded brick building used for preparing hops for brewing, and was built in the 16th century.) It was like living in a beautiful dolls house on a farm. The kids loved the wide open spaces for running around (despite the cold,) and the morning visits to the cows and having a ride on the farmer’s tractor. (A far cry from London or the snow of Canada. ) We stayed there for 5 days, trying to shake off our jetlag and ready ourselves for our much anticipated road trip of Europe.

Our Oast House in West Sussex

Cassi & Mitch reenacting the Battle of Hastings on the actual battle ground site

Mitch & David sharing their passion for flags

Whilst we were there we also made day trips to three places of interest. We attended a regular Sunday church service at the Canterbury Cathedral and were saddened by its neglect relative to St Pauls and Westminster Abbey. Within the small quaint town of Battle, we took in the site where the famous Battle of Hastings took place back in 1066. Its small scale was unfathomable relative to its overall historical importance. We also got to catch up with Melanie, David and Ellie again before leaving the UK, at Brighton. We visited the Brighton Pavillion, (a palacial summer palace built by George the third,) and enjoyed a visit to Brighton Pier for some fun park rides which we all loved. Sheri, Ellie and Julie couldn’t get enough of the Roller Coaster, whilst Melanie was a sucker for the haunted house.

Canterbury Cathedral after the regular 3.30pm Sunday service

The High Street in the town of Battle
Sharing traditional Fish n' Chips with Melanie, Ellie and David at Brighton Pier


Verdun (France) (-2 deg. C)

We set out on our road trip leaving bright and early headed for the Channel Tunnel. This was an amazing experience but not one for those susceptible to claustrophobia. We literally drove the car onto the train and stayed in it for the duration of the 30 minute trip over to Callais in France. We had allowed two days to reach Venice in time for Carnevale. Having driven for half the day, we made a short detour to the town of Epernay, the champagne region of France. We stumbled upon the Moet Chandon head office to enjoy a drop of bubbly and a comprehensive tour of the enormous underground cellars. Late afternoon we continued towards Verdun (France,) close to the site of another well known battlefield, from the First World War. Here we stayed overnight so that we could do a brief tour of the main sites with a guide the next morning. Over 600,000 men died here back in 1916. Steve was particularly interested in the history behind it all and learnt a lot from Ingrid, our guide. It was a very sombre morning for us, seeing the mogul like mounds with adjoining crators from fallen shells, still covering the hillsides. These & the remains of forts and trenches were real present day reminders of what had taken place there not so many years ago.

Steve at Verdun - Memorial Cemetery & Ossuaire
Mitch befriended by French Army Officers at a nearby Fort Douaumont

Julie & the kids at Moet Chandon trying the bottles for size

Como - Italy (10 deg. C)

We continued our journey southwards heading for Como in Italy. It is amazing to think you can start off driving in one country one morning, go through another, (Switzerland,) and arrive in yet another, only a few hours later. Needless to say, we spent another whole day in the car filled with numerous games of Eye Spy, What Animal Am I, and Trivia Quizzes to test newly acquired knowledge from our travels so far. Meanwhile, Steve adjusted to the right side of the road, the new speed limits, & the driver etiquette that accompanied them.

After a tortuous 8 hour drive with side trips, we arrived very weary into Como but found solace in a lovely hotel we’d booked earlier that day, across from the lake. It was exciting to wake up and be in Italy, and observe all the new things surrounding us. We were well before the summer crowds so it was pretty quiet. Como boasted a spectacular backdrop from every vantage point. A one night stay didn’t seem worthy of such a beautiful spot, so we were glad to be coming back for a longer stay in six or so. A short stroll down by the waterfront the next morning, then back into the car, and onwards to Venice.

Venice Carnevale, Italy - (6 deg.C)

After leaving our car, (now affectionately known as, "Madge,") in a secure carpark (we hoped,) we had a very frustrating start into our time at Venice. We eventually found our apartment at dusk, having walked Venice’s maze like lanes for the previous two hours, ladden with luggage. It was not a pretty scene I can assure you. The kids were beside themselves having dragged bags most of the way, and we the parents were ready to eat the next local that incorrectly advised us where to go. The streets were named, (well sort of,) problem was, the ordering of no.s seemed to be non-existent.

Carnivale Characters outside San Marco

Kids with Carnivale Characters

Gondola near Rialto Bridge, Grand Canal

That behind us, we were glad to be there as Carnevale had been one of the main highlights of the year’s itinerary we had been looking forward to. Now we knew where all the crowds of Como were hiding - they were waiting in Venice. We were sandwiched against loads of other tourists as we made our way towards St Mark’s Square the next morning. Our biggest achievement was that we made it, and once there, rewarded ourselves with what must have been the most expensive refreshments available in the western world. It was worth it just to soak up the atmosphere and the crowd. Definitely something you had to do at least once...

Carnivale Characters watching on...
The Wood family soaking up St Mark's Square in garb

Cassi, missing Elmo was lucky to hold a cute dressed up Poodle

People everywhere were dressed up in mainly period costumes with most people sporting a mask of some description. Some of the costumes were unbelievable. So inspiring were they, that we quickly found ourselves seeking out the nearest & cheapest place to rent them so we could join in the party. Julie’s ever keenness for a dress up at the best of times, and the kids unrelenting enthusiasm for their parents to partake, meant that Steve needed little convincing. His sportsmanship and bravery were later rewarded when asked by perfect strangers for his photo, many of them even joining him for their own scrapbook. Such a celebrity! Infact, we all appeared in many people’s holiday snaps, being one of only three family groups (with kids,) dressed up that day. It was a real hoot! The kids loved it and marvelled at literally “stopping traffic” as the tourist paparazzi swarmed!

Julie & Steve incognito

Mitch & Cassi - Double Trouble as if butter wouldn't melt in their mouth

Sheri looking demure

Thankfully we’d only rented the costumes for 24 hours, there was no way we had the stamina to keep up with the mascarade any longer. It was time to assume our normal tourist identities and blend back into the crowd. We visited Murano Island (where we were somewhat underwhelmed,) and enjoyed a gondola ride in amongst the limited amounts of school work. Most tourist spots were just too crowded to even contemplate a visit sadly, so we'd have to catch the Guggenheim and the inside of San Marco some other time. After five days of crazy carnevale, it was time to head to Bologna, the home of Bolognase Sauce.

Bologna – Italy (12 deg. C)

Bologna, was not a huge tourist mecca thankfully, giving us much needed recovery time from our adventures in Venice. We rented a basic apartment for 3 nights which was well within walking distance to the centre of town and enjoyed not doing much besides catching up on school work. It served mainly as a base to visit the town of Modena, which you may have seen quoted on your Balsalmic Vinegar bottle. Steve had pre-booked a factory tour of Lamborghini, (surprise- surprise,) and was desperate to visit the Galleria Ferrari as well, seeing it was there of course. He and Mitch were in their element, and the girls weren’t too disinterested either.

"I like the red one," says Cassi at the Ferrari Galleria

Mitch flexing his muscles with a Lamborghini

Staying on the right side of the Italian Police

We were back in the car three days later. We were keen to escape the hard, concrete cities and looked forward to the beautiful coastal and rural scenery of Italy that we had heard so much about. Next months blog includes visits to both Amalfi and Tuscany...........

Wood WalkAbout

WELCOME TO THE WOOD FAMILY'S 2009 TRAVEL BLOG
" WOOD WALK-ABOUT!"


(Scroll down to December first, as we will be adding from the top in future monthly updates.)

JANUARY

LONDON (-2 to 6 deg. C ) CANADA - (-10 TO -2 deg. C)

Sad to leave Melanie and Johnny and their wonderful hospitality, we headed off for central London. Unfortunately, London was experiencing it's coldest winter in 12 years. The fountains at Trafalgar Square were frozen. We were staying for three weeks, so were looking forward to unpacking our bags and cooking for ourselves for the first time since leaving home. Our apartment, whilst fantastically located, took a bit of getting used to. It was a cross between "George and Mildred" and "The Diary of Anne Frank." Despite this we were a 200m walk to Trafalgar Square and loads of attractions, so we quickly made it home. We had two tiny bedrooms, (one with all three kids taking up every inch of flooring,) a bathroom and a small "living" room which consisted of a small kitchenette, a couch, tv, table & chairs. In this room we, cooked, ate, did school work, used the computer and watched TV. It was pretty cosy to say the least giving us an added incentive to get out & sight see, and sight see we did after doing the obligatory school work each morning. We visited: Buckingham Palace, The National Gallery, The British Museum, Madam Tusard's Wax Works Museum, The Museum of National History (including ice-skating out front,) The Tower of London, The Movieum, the Greenwich Meridian, The London Eye, Picaddily Circus, and shopping at Oxford and Regent streets, Hamley's Toys & Harrod's where Julie and the girls came face to face with the owner, Mohammed El Fied, (Dodie's dad.) We also went to a matinee performances for both Joseph's Technicolour Dreamcoat & The Lion King, which was a real treat for us all!

On The Strand

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben & Westminster

The highlights of our stay though were worlds apart - going to church, and dancing! The regular Sunday church services at both St Paul's Cathedral & Westminster Abbey will stay with us for a long time to come. The organ and the choir at each were simply amazing and the individual blessings we received were very humbling. At the advice of our dance teachers back home, we also made a pilgrimage to "Pineapple," the infamous dance school in Covent Garden. It ran all types of dance classes on a casual/drop in basis for anyone and everyone. Julie & the kids did classes flat out for a week following a private tour by family friend, Ernie who plays the piano there for the ballet. All three kids enjoyed the Street Funk class in particular. Cassi couldn't stop dancing that night, and Sheri was on a high for a week! To top things off, Julie's cousin, (Nicole) got married in Chelsea during our stay so seeing her, new hubby, Sam, and her mum, (Julie's Aunty Lois) whilst we were there, was a real bonus.

Life in London was incredibly busy which took some getting used to. Besides the sight seeing, we commenced our school year early at the kids request. We hoped this level of motivation would continue, but weren't counting on it. London's close connection to the rest of the world was noticably evident: all the different accents about the place; the precence of two sizeable Pro-Palestinian Protests (prior to the recent cease fire in Gaza) were quite literally on our front door, as opposed to being something we'd only read about or see on tv; and the sourcing of the food we ate was particularly multi-cultural which was a reminder to how self sufficient Australia had to be. The children thought it was quite exotic to be eating strawberries from Egypt & Spain, blueberries from Chile, bananas from Costa Rica, and grapes from South Africa, not realising how lucky we are to be able to source most things locally at home.

On our last two days in London, Steve departed for Norwich in the north to collect the car which had taken months of negotiations late year whilst back home. A day and a half later he returned rather gingerly (especially for him,) with our 12 year old, left hand drive station wagon, having navigated his way through central London. Without the help of our Tom Tom (now known as "Tim" with the NZ accent, ) all the way into the car lift of the hotel's basement, he'd have been had real troubles. As it was, he needed a stiff drink when he got there it must have been a fun trip - not!

Nicole & Lois

Steve & 007

Just another day at school

Trafalgar Square with frozen fountains

CANADA: (-10 to - 2 deg. C)

With our first round of school work done & safely in the post, & the car stored at the long stay carpark at Heathrow, we left London for the wide open spaces and snow capped mountains of Canada. Steve had long dreamed of taking us all to where he spent three winters after uni. The ski fields of Whistler were not part of our original plan, but visa restrictions governing the amount of time we could spend at comparable European ski fields, meant that Canada had become a viable option. Well at least that's what he told us anyway. We arrived to even colder temp.s than we'd had previously, not thinking it was even possible, hired our remaining ski gear and got ready to tackle the mountains. The snow was good by Australian standards, although the locals were nowhere to be seen, believing the conditions to be poor. Steve and the kids hit the slopes early on, Julie preferring to settle in slowly scooping out the local spa & shops in the village. No need to rush these things. After five weeks on the road with the kids 24/7, self preservation was in

order.

Whistler Peak

Outside our Villa

Canadian Mounties at the Ski Jump

The kids loved their ski school despite the early morning's getting out the door all kitted up to tackle the elements. In her second week, Sheri thought she'd try her hand at snowboarding which she took to instantly! They have all improved so much now threatening to leave their poor mother in their tracks. The contact with other children and the international instructors all added to the experience. ( Mitchell's instructor was from Sweeden, Cassi's from Argentinia, and Sheri's were from Romania, Belgium and Australia.) We were all hit with a nasty brochial flu with the exception of Sheri. Thankfully our accommodation was very comfortable, so spending time tucked up in front of the fire wasn't all bad. Well for most of us anyway. Steve on the other hand was chaffing at the bit to shake it off and get back out there. He'd ski in his sleep if he could.

70% of the Whistler workforce was Australian due in part to the reciprocal working visa situation between Australia and Canada. They were definitely making there presence felt on Australia Day in the village with many sporting flags, boardies and thongs despite the freezing temps. We took advantage of the opportunity with a lovely aussie babysitter, managing to get out a few times for dinner which was really liberating. This opportunity would be much harder to come by in many of the places we were scheduled to visit during the year. It meant we got to meet up with Robbie Craig, a good friend of Steve's also over here on holiday with his dad and friend. He made a great ski partner for Steve for a couple of days offering him a nice change of pace to the blue/green runs that I preferred.

To our surprise, our visit coincided with the running of many World Cup winter sporting events in the lead up to next year's 2010 Winter Olympics to be held in Whistler/Vancouver. Luckily access and the cost to enter these events was non-prohibitive so we got to see them right up close: the Ski Jumping, which was simply amazing watching them free falling nearly 150 metres for 6 sec's down the hill. The Austrians took out 1st and 2nd so we knew Uncle Hermann would be pleased. The men's 4 man Bobsled was cool & the woman's Skeleton, where they go down head first was CRAZY! It was amazing seeing it all despite losing the feeling in our feet with the bitter cold, and cheering alongside the locals for the Canadian team.

Mitch with Sebastian, his Swedish Ski Instructor

Sheri off to snowboard school

Cassi Bob sledding

Next stop, back to the Uk. Kent / Sussex in the English countryside for a week before heading off on our much anticipated road trip of Europe.

DECEMBER

SYDNEY (30 deg.C) - AUSTRIA (-1 to 2 deg. C) - UK (-2 to 6 deg. C)

After, the flurry of farewells, catchups, school break up parties, packing up our bags and the ENTIRE house, (ready for our friend's The Wensley's to move in,) & meeting the kid's teacher at Sydney Distance Education Primary School, we left SYDNEY somewhat exhausted, but ready for our 12 mth adventure on December 18. After a sad farewell to Julie's mum, we began our 40 hour/4 flight marathon to Austria where we met Steve's brother Nick and his partner, Kirsten for the Christmas week. A well timed rendeavous with Julie's old uni. friend Melanie, at Heathrow airport, meant we only took half our luggage to Austria with the rest remaining with her until our return to the UK. The kids survived the flights, even enjoyed them despite watching Beverley Hills Chihuahua five times between Singapore and London because it was the only kids movie British Airways showed. Up until the final two flights it was great, but then a couple of tight connections later with frantic full security checks and half asleep children not able to remove their boots & jackets, quickly tested our parental patience & stamina. They don't show this on "Border Security do they!"

Leaving Sydney, bags packed finally

Christmas Markets in Salzburg

Carriage rides in Salzburg Old Town

Once in AUSTRIA, Salzburg was beautiful. It rained & was cold in the first few days, so good coats, were procurred early. It was particularly pretty in amongst the old town, with all the Christmas markets and obvious festive focus. Hot chocolates and Gluhwein, and roasted nuts whilst meandering our way thru. the paved streets were special treats. We saw lots of well dressed gentlemen, reminding us of Steve's Uncle Hermann from Austria back home. We did the obligatory touristy things, visiting: Mozart's Museum, the Toy Museum, The Fortress, and of course the infamous, Sound of Music Tour. We enjoyed it so much, that the kids found great joy in watching & performing it over and over alongside the hotel's inhouse continuous tv channel much to our entertainment.

Steve celebrated his birthday glad to have Nick along to indulge in a meal of Pork Shvinehaxer & good Austrian ale. Christmas Day, Steve, Nick and the kids went ice skating at Mozart's Platz, whilst Julie and Kirsten watched on preferring to seek the warm refuge of a nearby tea house. It snowed lightly in the afternoon, giving us a hint of the white Christmas we were hoping for. We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve like the Austrian's did with a visit to the Silent Night Chapel, (the sight where the original christmas carol was composed,) dinner out and the exchange of gifts. On Boxing Day, we enjoyed a horse drawn sleigh ride thru. the snowy mountain plains. It was magical despite the fact Julie forgot she was allergic to horses. A lend of someone's puffer, and a strudel with vanilla sauce later, all was well. Julie has long believed in the healing power of cakes, maybe there was something in it after all....

Silent Night Chapel

Ice-Skating Christmas Day

Horse-Drawn Sleigh Ride- Magic!

We left for the UK after a week saying goodbye to Nick and Kirsten until later in the year. We picked up our rental car and headed for Shere, a small, pretty village in the countryside just outside Guildford (where Melanie and family live.) It played host to movies such as Brigitte Jone's Diary and The Holiday. We recognised many of the scenes, and were told the film crew actually stayed in our room at the B & B. When not walking on the heath, regular highlights included trips to The Lucky Duck Cafe for scones and hot chocolates. Sadly a reoccurring cake theme seems evident here & gives validity to the new found firmness of our clothes.

We then spent a few days with Melanie & Johnny in Guildford around New Year's. Guildford was a lovely city, complete with castle ruins. The children really enjoyed the company of Ellie and David, Melanie and Johnny's children, who are now amazingly, 18 and 16. For New Year's Eve, Melanie had organised a fun Pantomine, (or "Panto' as she puts it,) starring Nigel Havis from the original Chariots of Fire film, and a lovley dinner at a French restaurant (complete with dress ups.) We then returned home to watch Big Ben strike 12 on TV. The kids really enjoyed staying up past midnight for the first time with the grown ups.

Julie & Melanie at New Year

Bedtime stories with Aunty Melanie

Mitch & Johnny on New Year's Eve

Scroll to the top for January .....