mummy's boy

owen and woz

let's go fly a kite ...

old friends

Our first day at the Island was shared with Brian, Madelene, Owen and Sean Rich who drove down to spend the day with us. Owen bought his kite with him and we all had a go at getting it up. Both the boys are very exciteable and Nate loved watching them running around making loads of noise and giggling. A slight change from what he gets at home with me!

Our holiday house in Phillip Island was just a few houses away from a quiet beach, and a short walk to the town of Cowes. It wasn't warm enough to go swimming (although that didn't stop Nate who went in on two occasions - once fully clothed!) but we still loved having it there. Something we no longer take for granted living in London.

the parker men

nana and pop

phillip island

Having learnt some lessons from our last trip we decided this time to hire a holiday house at Phillip Island to give ourselves a base and a place for people to come and see us. On our first week Nate's Nan and Pop and Auntie Michelle came to stay with us. We really appreciated Michelle flying all the way from Cairns and taking time off work to see us. We all benefitted from being away and much relaxing and sleeping was had by all!

boy's best friend

It wasn't until we got out into the country that we were able to see the Australian landscape through Nate's eyes. This environment, though somewhat of a novelty, is familiar to us, but to Nate it held a stark comparison to anything he had ever seen, particuarly inner city London where he spends most of his time.

Tynong North held endless appeal to Nate as he explored the surrounding bush, machinery and animals. Something he will grow to appreciate even more as the years go on I'm sure.

just four days later ...

We flew into Tullamarine at 7am and were greeted by Ron and Fi who took us back to their new house which is part of a retirement village. It was lovely to see the place we've heard so much about and to see them so at home there with so many new friends made. I think Nate had been the most talked about grandchild in the village leading up to the trip so it was great for Ron and Fi to be able to show him off in the flesh.

On our first day there Woz and I caught up on some sleep while Ron and Fi took Nate for a walk and in the evening we got together with lots of family who were also keen to meet our little boy. We had a lovely relaxing night with everyone, managing to stay up until about 10pm before our heads hit the pillow with a crash.

malaysia, truly asia

Why we haven't opted to stopover for a night in Asia en route to Melbourne/London before is beyond me. Stopping in Kuala Lumpur after a 12 and a half hour flight from London was heaven sent. Giving ourselves a chance to stretch our legs and have a decent night's sleep was such a luxury particuarly in Asia, where our money seemed to go so much further than anywhere in Europe.

In London people often stop to smile at Nate and say hello but in Malaysia, everyone was stopping, smiling at him, cooing and wanting to hold him and give him sweets. His fair skin and hair seemed to be a magnet for the Malaysian people. The children all wanted to know his name and one girl in particular who we met at the park couldn't quite believe that his name was so short. Her name was a four barelled name, the only one I remember being 'Krishna' and so when I responded with 'Nate' she looked at me and paused as if she was waiting for me to finish by listing more names. I added 'Parker' for her but she didn't seemed to be satisfied with that either. She also wanted to know my name, and the name of 'Uncle'.

On our first day in KL, having flown overnight with little sleep, we stopped at our hotel for a short nap and then took a taxi down to Chinatown for lunch where we sampled the local delights. The heat and humidity was incredibly oppressive and after an hour or two of wandering aimlessly around Chinatown and a local park we were absolutely exhausted and headed back to the hotel to laze around in the pool.

The following day we went shopping at the Petronas Towers and then back to the pool until moments before our taxi picked us up to take us back to the airport. Being in Asia, with the extreme heat, foreign smells, sights and sounds we truly felt that we on the other side of the world, but with another 7 and a half hours to go we weren't quite there yet.

up, up and away!

Tomorrow morning we head off to Heathrow to fly to Australia via Kuala Lumpur for a two day stopover. We'll be away for just over a month. It's going to be pretty crazy while we're there so I don't expect to be posting regularly but we may manage the odd post.

This week has been very difficult. Woz has been working crazy hours to prepare for being away for so long which has left him tired and me with no relief from looking after an incredibly active and mischievous 15 mth old little boy with endless energy and little regard for his mother's sanity or the state of her home.

I have packed about ten times already. I pack the bags, put things aside and then Nate gets into them pulls things out and drags them around the house. I have a terrible feeling that we'll get there and realise that the crucial thing we just couldn't live without is tucked away at home in the freezer or the wash basket which are two of his current favourite hiding spots. I'm thinking of attaching a bell or flashing light to every object in the boat that isn't nailed down.

So, Australia here we come ay?

For anyone reading this who is thinking of hijacking our boat while we're away, I dare ya. We've got a house/boat sitter staying here who I certainly wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley.

they said it couldn't be done

So, the sceptics out there who implied that we may not be able to finish the task before us obviously didn't reckon on the fact that Woz is actually the Eveready Energiser Bunny. Fact.

True to our word, by Sunday night the roof of the boat was painted from top to bottom. Woz put two very long days in to get it done (and I put in a good two hours) but he did a sterling job, and it looks 100% on what it used to. The dark sky threatened rain on several occasions but fortunately we had two warm (ish), dry and windy days - perfect for drying paint.

And the best bit is we still have five days and 12 hours until we fly out. We could easily paint the rest of the boat. Yep, this is going to be a walk in the park.

how much do you trust the weatherman?

will we or wont we?

Okay, we sooo knew we weren't going to finish painting the entire boat this weekend. We did however aim to finish one coat on the roof section of the boat which curves around the edge of the wall and so far we're on target, although Woz will have to put a huge effort in tomorrow if he's going to finish it. Woz started sanding last night and finished off today at around 3pm. From then he has been 'cutting in' and has almost finished, which is always the long and fiddly bit. Tomorrow he'll finish that off and then roll baby roll!

The paint is light grey in colour and will hopefully be cooler in Summer than the revolting red primer underneath and a damn sight less ugly.

famous last words

It's one week until we fly to Australia for a month so we are savouring our last weekend of Summer and in true 'Woz & Em style', painting the exterior of our boat. We've wanted to do it for so long now but it has seemed like an insurmountable task, until of course, on the cusp of leaving, watching the hours quickly filling up with more 'to do's', then, it seems like a breeze.

'Do you reckon we could paint the boat before we go, that way if the weather turns when we get back we wont miss out on doing it this year.'

'Yeah, I reckon we could. It just needs a quick sand, and we can throw some paint at it. I think we've even got some in the engine room'.

'Brilliant! I can't believe we were thinking of paying someone to do it!'

'I know! We can easily knock it over on the weekend!'

norfolk on my mind

Of the 24 boats on our marina, there are around half who, like us, live on their boats permanently and the other half who come and go, either using their boat as a weekenders or for when they come to London to work. This weekend Woz, Nate and I went to stay with one of our neighbours, Dom, who works in London and lives in Norfolk with his partner Chris.

Dom and Chris live in a small village, in an old cottage with a lovely garden which backs onto a field of barley which had been freshly harvested. At the end of their garden is a veggie patch where we spent some of Saturday afternoon picking the produce, mostly long beans and potatoes.

Almost everything we ate all weekend had been home grown and then made from scratch. From the bread we ate, jam and marmalade, veggies and apple pie. It all tasted so good!

Late Saturday afternoon we drove to a nearby beach and walked along the sand, only daring to dip our toes in the sea before heading up to the shore to have a hot chocolate to warm up.

Sunday was also spent at the beach, but this time a private one, belonging to the Earl of Leicester as part of the Holkham Estate which has been passed down the generations for about 300 years. We drove around the Estate and marvelled at it's size, which would dwarf Buckingham Palace. It's sprawling land whose fields were inhabited by deer seemed to be infinite and as we drove past gatehouses, countless cottages and buildings for servants you were really able to imagine how it might have been hundreds of years ago when we would have been in a horse and cart and the journey from the gate to Holkham Hall would have taken close to an hour (that is, if we had have been invited - I think not!)

As we walked along the beach, black stormy clouds hovered overhead so we were so thankful when we got back to the car just as the heavens opened, and then it was home for Bangers & Mash before heading back to the station to go home on the train feeling thoroughly spoilt and refreshed.

sand castles

private beach

dom, chris, woz and nate

nate took a little convincing at first

spectators

Nate's first dip didn't prove to be very successful as he got upset almost immediately so Woz retreated to the shore so he could watch other people going in and get used to the idea.

oh i do like to be beside the seaside ...

The days have been beautifully warm now for a few weeks and today was no exception. I'm not sure exactly how warm it ended up but with a forecast of 26 degrees Woz and I decided to take the train down to Brighton beach.

We had a fantastic day and Nate absolutely loved it. We spent the morning on the pebbled beach chilling out and dipping in the waves then after lunch Nate fell asleep in his buggy so Woz and I were able to wander through the narrow lanes that lead to all sorts of nooks and crannies in the town centre. There was no end of knick knacky shops which I loved browsing through and always do but never actually buy anything as doing so would be slightly incongruent to our minimalistic home. We did however visit a Lego store complete with incredibly detailed displays whereby I squealed with delight on a number of occasions (there was even a model of the Louvre with a painting of the Mona Lisa who had yellow Lego face, enigmatic smile and crossed Lego hands). I later remarked it was a good thing that every time we'd visited Denmark in the past, Legoland was closed as my excitement could possibly have been a little too much for Woz to bear and would almost certainly have resulted me being kicked out.

The beach was absolutely packed with sun revellers and few swimmers, and so walking along the incredibly busy boulevard with a buggy and not hitting people was no easy feat. On one occasion a lady who jumped out of our way, then in turn tripped over her own child. Her husband, seeing his daughter fall shouted at his wife, 'Oh carm on Simone!' That's an Aussie accent we thought. A familiar one too. We looked up and saw it was Shane Warne shouting to his wife/ex-wife. Well, we're not really sure of their current relationship but they may be on shaky ground after that little incident. (Now I really hope someone doesn't accidentally Google search this entry and turn what was intended as a funny little anecdote for family and friends into full scale ammunition for reporters everywhere to announce their imminent re-separation).

Anyway, all in all, a great day was had, although our soft Aussie feet are a little worse for wear having trodden on pebbles all day. That might sound a bit weak, but it was incredibly painful! Sand anyone?

Videos to follow, tried to upload them tonight but 'computer says no ...'

carousel

nate and woz

the english way

dodging the waves

By mid afternoon it was time to head home, on the motorbike along the coast. We stopped off at a bustling Belgian seaside town which owing to it's highrise beachside apartments Woz described as 'Surfers Paradise crawling with Europeans'. We had just enough time to peel off our leathers, go for a walk along the beach, dip our toes in the ocean and then jump back on the bike towards Calais to catch the train home.

the church graveyard

tour of brugge via the canal

The Tour Guide on the boat translated his tour into three different languages, English, French and then Flemish.

tour de sale

When we are in Australia, Woz and I have foolishly signed up for the Slog to Sale which is a 160km charity bike ride. Of course we're a shoe-in to be the first two to complete the ride, given that we haven't ridden a bike for almost three years and are naturally lazy when it comes to exercise for exercise sake.

We thought we'd get some training in while we were in Belgium ... 5 km's oughta do it right?

damme

On Sunday morning we rode our bikes out of Brugge to a small town called Damme. It was a 5km ride bordering
the surrounding farmland and absolutely picture perfect. The town itself wasn't that special. A beautiful quaint little farming villiage but it paled in comparison to the grandeour of it's neighbour, Brugge. It did however have a church tower with a spiraling stone staircase leading up to an incredible view.

Maggie had told us about the ride and also given us directions to ride the extra 13 km to the border where we could cross over into the Netherlands. It was tempting, and had we done it we would have entered four countries in one day, but we decided to enjoy Belgium and ride back to Brugge for a boat ride along the canal.

self portrait

posing

still life

bed and breakfast

We found a B & B in town which was run by a lovely wee Scottish lady named Maggie. She was so helpful and considerate and we felt right at home there - she even offered for Woz to bring his motorbike into her foyer area for the two days we were there rather than leave it on the street!

The room was very cheap and had so much character, ours on the top floor with stained glass windows overlooking a garden on the other side of the street.

on the bike

riding the push bikes through town

when in brugge ...

By late afternoon having walked all over the city we decided to do as the locals do (and the thousands of tourists) and ride a bicycle. For just 10 euros each we were able to hire two bikes for 24 hours which opened up so much more of the city to us. We could have taken our motorbike, but it was so hot we couldn't face putting on our leathers and the option of jumping on and off the bicycles on a whim sounded too good to resist.

grote markt

woz's 'blue steel' look

antique market

brugge

On Saturday afternoon around lunchtime we arrived in Brugge and fell in love with it from the moment we reached the outskirts of the city. It's Gothic beauty is unparallelled by any of the European cities we've visited in the past. Brugge has been virtually untouched since the middle ages and is by far the most well preserved city we've seen, with not a single Starbucks or Mc Donald's to be found. The canal carves its way through the city through stone houses, churches and shops. Everywhere we looked was another breathtakingly beautiful building, so many that we forgot to capture them on film.

There are so many languages spoken in Brugge it was almost a little disconcerting. Usually when we travel my brain works overtime reading signs, listening to conversations, scanning for words that are familiar to me, and it is always comforting when I feel that I'm able to understand a little of my environment. Here, French, Flemish, Dutch and English seemed to be spoken so we avoided meltdown and took the easy option, English.

a first for us

Thanks to our very gracious friends Duncan and Rejieli, this weekend Woz and I had our first weekend away baby-free. We dropped Nate off on Friday night and put him to sleep in their flat, then walked home to what felt like a very quiet and empty boat and set our alarm for 5am the next morning so that we could ride our motorbike to Folkstone, catch the train across to France and then ride through to Belgium. We made the most of every minute and it seemed like we packed a week into two days. We came home exhausted but re-energised at the same time ... (and missing our little boy).

would you trust this face?

As we are travelling to Australia in a few months we are in the process of applying for an Australian passport for Nate. (It would be a shame to make him line up by himself with all the foreigners at Customs). We have been taking every opportunity to take a passport photo, a process which is very tedious as the guidelines are incredibly strict; the photo must show the child or baby awake, looking straight at the camera with mouth closed, without any hair across the eyes, without any shadows behind their head or parent's hands visible.

While he can now stand against the wall of his own accord, I have to hold him to stop him from walking away, towards the coveted camera. The hardest part however is to get him to look straight at the camera with mouth closed as the minute he sees it he starts to giggle and reach towards it.

This photo was taken last night while he was in his pajamas. We didn't really think about it at the time but looking at the photo now all he needs is some arrows on his pajamas and some leg irons and he will look like a regular little convict. You never know, it might improve his chances of getting in, because everyone knows Australia is entirely populated by criminals.

candid camera

le tour de france

Today Woz and I walked to Hyde Park to see the Tour de France Prologue.

After close to six weeks of rain and overcast days, today was a welcome change with the sun gracing us for the majority of the day. Londoners far and wide flocked to the city's parks to celebrate and bask in the sun after such a long wait and the added entertainment factor brought the crowds streaming in.

The route began at Whitehall and cut through St. James's Park, Green Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, finishing up at The Mall. We camped at different points along the way, moseying our way around the circut and soaking up the atmosphere.

The European Summer is so different to the Australian one, and to be honest it doesn't even need to be sunny in order to enjoy the long light evenings and early mornings, rich, green trees transforming the landscape and pubs with colourful flower laden baskets hanging from their eaves whose patrons spill out onto the street. When it is sunny, the parks are the place to be, all of which are beautifully green spaces scattered with deck chairs and bikini clad or shirtless sun revellers.

Having said that I'm extremely grateful that we have been given a momentary glimpse of the sun and hope and pray that it wont be long before it pays us a visit again.

the green green grass

hyde park