A gripping read! Hi hun - Your blog was a delight to read, you did make me smile!You have a fantastic camera of which you took some blinding pictures.Glad to hear you're back safetly mate love Vic x x x
Home at Last!! Who needs to teach when you can write a blog like that - think you can teach Clarkeson a thing or two about engaging the reader's attention!! What a fab holiday you've had - soooooo jealous- a life time experience!! Glad to hear you are back home safe though!! CU 2moz! Claire x
All good things must come to an end. Dear SJ - so glad your trip was 'the best'. Hope rest of your journey is safe and see you Monday! Lots of Love Gayna xx
Welcome back! I can't tell you how pleased I am that you are back safely and in one piece - clever girl! I'm sure you're finding it hard to adjust to life back home after all the wonderful things you've seen and done these past weeks. Thank you so much for sharing it all with us - it's been great! You must start planing your next trip straightaway.
See you soon. all the very best for the new school term! love from Jean X
looking forward to seeing you Well all I can say from reading all your fab journals is one day I am going there too, New Zealand looks fantastic and you certainly seem to have used your time efficiently.
Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday with any luck.
love vic x
Professional Photographs! My son Anthony is home - bank holiday - he thought you were a professional photographer until I put him right - so there you are - when you get tired of teaching!........ Have a safe journey home - what fantastic memories you'll have! Your new class will love your photos! Take care - love from Jean X
Haven't you been a busy bee! Hi SJ - so glad to read your latest adventures and that you are still enjoying yourself. I'd like a pound for every mile you've travelled this trip - you must work out how many by the time you get home!! Can't believe that we'll all be in school this time next week, either. The holidays have just flown by. Matthew and Gemma's wedding was last Saturday and I just can't believe it's all over after so much preparation. It was the perfect day. Beautiful weather, beautiful bride, handsome bridegroom ( I have to say that as I made him! - but he really did look handsome, I was very proud!) The reception was lovely and everyone had a wonderful day from beginning to end. I'll get lots of photos to show you on the computer - don't think I'll have time to get paper prints. Hope your tonsilitis is better - you're right, we didn't expect you to come back home without a little 'illness'!! See you Monday - we'll have lots of strong coffee on tap for you. Lots of Love Gayna xxxx
Greetings from North Wales Hi SJ, it sounds like you are having a 'whale' of a time! Just spent some quality time with your gorgeous nephew - he too enjoys peeping at various creatures resident at Garden Cottage, including toads, frogs, newts, cats, pigeons to name but a few. Thanks for the phone call and postcard. Look forward to hearing tales of your adventures when you return back home. With love Dad and M.
wildlife! Fish, spider, whales, birds, koalas - not a patch on my dog and rabbits here in their natural habitat of a back garden in 'greater Canotn'! It all sounds fabulous. Looking forward to catching up with the great explorer when she returns.
Tales of the unexpected ? Not quite sure if SJ will have the guts to publish this on a public forum, but knowing that she occasionally 'exagerates' the size of minor things, like wasps, hornets or catfish, or was it a dog fish that gave her a nasty suck, I can well imagine her looking under every stone, poking into leaf mould, peering into dark and dusty crevices looking for anything that might be alive, tape measure in one hand and camera in the other, just to say I told you so. One hopes that with the advancing years, she has ready to hand, her first aid kit, tourniquet, anti venom hypodermic etc. Mark you it does seem that she has learnt from her mum that people who persist in vomiiting are to be avoided at all costs, to be stood upwind of, and fresh air is the best antidote. Just think what your poor sister in law is putting up with to give you another nephew/niece, although to be fair I have not seen/heard evidence of her nauseous state - simply listened and empathised! Delighted to have the confimation that this is the trip of your lifetiem, and who knows, maybe more to follow? Cant wait to see you on 31st. I have even forgone the first official away trip to Newbury so I could spend the day with you, how about that for devotion? Pop, Jackie and I are looking forward to our trip to Cardiff to see us try and compete with Newport next weekend. We will try to leave the house as we find it - all empties will be disposed of propely, no traces left of our holiday - I hope!
Spiders - Uggggghhh!!!!! You are so brave SJ! I would have run a mile with so many spiders. I'm the person who puts a large glass over them and wait for someone to remove it for me! Sydney sounds lovely - will you be doing the walk over the Sydney Bridge? I'll wait for your next blog with interest. Glad you were able to visit the Daveys, hope they were all well. We are now only eight days away from 'the wedding'. I keep getting nightmares about what could go wrong! and am also hoping for a dry day. The forecast looks promising. Today, Sat 18th is positively soaking. Rain all day, so glad they didn't pick this day for the wedding. We'd have been turning up in boats!! Love to Mike. Enjoy the rest of your trip. Where are you off to next or is Sydney your last port of call? Keep safe - lots of love Gayna xxxxxx
Oz You're obviously having such a brilliant time - it's great that all your friends are able to share all the exciting bits - not sure about invertebrates, but the whales are awesome and the koala's SO cute! Take care - enjoy the rest of your stay - love to mike - safe journey home - love from Jean X
Time Hi SJ, all sounds fab. Can't believe you're managing to do so much. Glad you're have such a great time. Good for you. You will of course have to do some sort of public lecture when you get back! Take care, lots of love xxx
New Zealand done - Oz next! Hello Sarah Jane - NZ sounded great fun (except for those seagulls)! Hope you enjoy Oz as much. Say hello to Mike from me when you see him. Look forward to the next instalment of adventures. Keep safe! Can't wait to see all the photos of 'the lands down under' when you get back. Lots of love Gaynax xx
Don't sing!!! Fantastic journey - very jealous! Please remember that however excited you get at the scenery, please don't pick up a guitar and run over the hills singing!
Good luck for Oz
Hiya Looks like you're having an amazing time. My sister says teachers can get jobs easily in NZ - tempting thought!!! Don't leave us though!! Hope the rest of your time is as fab as the first 3 weeks.
Hi there Globe Trotter! Hi Sarah-Jane,
I always look forward to receiving your Blog alerts in my inbox and reading about what you've been getting up to and the places you've been. Keep them coming!
Sounds like you had a bit of a hairy moment with the seagulls there, (not to mention the sandflies!)
Next stop Australia eh? I've always wanted to go there! Enjoy the next leg of your trip and as always, take care and keep yourself safe!
We're off to Exmouth for a week tomorrow (not as exotic and adventurous as your holiday destinations) so I'm hoping that the weather will be good for us.
Ciao Ciao e Buon Viaggio!
Liz X
what a journey you've had in New Zealand. We've seen some amazing rock formations and beaches around Albany, also spotted 3 whales. We'll have to compare pictures when we get back. 6 more days to go before we make our way back to Wales. Enjoy Sydney, are you going to climb the Harbour Bridge? Watch out for the Aussie wildlife!!!!
Moccachino? Moccachino? They made that up. Anyway, looks more like a cow pat. Good to hear the wildlife is excellent and I look forward to hearing about the wonderfully poisonous Australian wildlife. Less geography terminology next time please...
wonderful Wildlife It's great to read about all your adventures. You'll have to write a book when you get back - put in all your fantastic photos!So glad to hear you're being sensible with the wildlife - especially bad-tempered seagulls. G'day! Catch up with you in Oz!
Only you Mistaking a Rolling Stones song for an earthquake and claiming Welsh when you are not, par for the course I'm thinking-I mean this is in the nicest way possible when I say you are one of a kind.. who knows what mischief you will get up to when you get to Sydney but just try and keep me out of it! See you soon :-) x
Hello surrogate child! from Gayna Dear SJ - so glad to read your blog. Travelblog was down for a few days so wasn't sure what you were up to!! You're still sounding as if you're having great fun. So glad you survived the rapids! and held your breath!! Sorry your earthquake wasn't quite what it should have been. Amazing what the Rolling Stones can do to you!! We've actually got some better weather in Creigiau these last few days. Starting to panic a bit now as Matthew and Gemma's wedding is only 18 days away!! Still lots to do and praying for sunshine (or at least no rain! on the day). Hope you find some more nice friends to keep you company in South Island. Keep Safe lovely girl. Lots of Love Gayna xxxxx
names! Wow - what a brilliant time you're having (I need to work on my adjectives too!) how about a photo of Catwalk one day! Take care - kep enjoying yourself. XXX
what a yomp! A long wander - more of a yomp I'd say! it must have been incredibly hard work in the rainforest but what amazing photos. Well done! Please DON'T poke any spiders, possums or anything that's breathing! love Jean X
The day to day thrills of a classroom just aren't enough for me anymore so i'm off for some excitement and adventure.
(OK so it's only 6 weeks but it's long enough for now!)... full info
Vicky Andrews
non-member comment
A gripping read!
Hi hun - Your blog was a delight to read, you did make me smile!You have a fantastic camera of which you took some blinding pictures.Glad to hear you're back safetly mate love Vic x x x