We started the day setting out to explore the castle ruins of Pontefract. We were greeted by a spectacular church that was damaged, but has a new church nested inside. The castle remnants hinted at the previous impressiveness of the castle that was there. It was destroyed by parliamentary decree in the 1600's. The signs and plaques located around the grounds gave a good idea of the layout and structure of the castle. Next, we arrived in the quaint town of Bakewell. After taking in the ambiance of the downtown, we finally sat down to have tea in England. The tea was very fine and the accompanying Bakewell Pudding was absolutely delicious (Bakewell pudding is ONLY available within 15 miles of Bakewell -- Oh well ) On the return journey from Bakewell we stopped in to ... read more

Our journey from Edinburgh started at the train station, where we picked up our rental car. After fitting all of us and our luggage into the car, we had our first experience with standard transmission, right hand side driving. Unlike our experience in Australia, even with narrow streets and round abouts, our voyage to England was mostly uneventful. In fact no other motorists gestured, honked or stared with derision at us. We arrived Alnwick Castle - site of the first broomstick scene in Harry Potter. Although we arrived too late to enter the castle, the grounds and the castle exterior were 'Brilliant!'. There was a Falconry exhibit and archery and broomstick flying training (although we arrived too late in the day to experience them). So far, this was our favourite castle.... read more

We arrived in the lovely city of Glasgow early yesterday morning. The hotel was a little off the beaten trail, but was quite nice in its old fashioned sensibility. The baggage was stored in the hotel lobby and we took to the streets of Rutherglen (the 'burbs). One of the first stops was 'The Pound Store', where we had out first taste of the UK fare. Jaffa Cakes and Derbyshire Toffee. The next stop was a restaurant where Adam had his first fish and chips (on the island). We continued to wander and came across a church that stood out. There was activity there so we headed over to check it out. We were warmly greeted by a group of parishoners who were excited and proud to show us the grounds and inside the church and ... read more

Cameron the tour guide extraordinaire picked us up at the shell station with a super 4 wheel drive bus. The drive to the ferry was not very bumpy. It was a funny way to get on a ferry. Just drive across the beach, though the water and on the ferry. When we arrived on the ferry we headed up to the viewing deck to see if we could spot any marine wildlife. The ride took about 10 minutes. Once we arrived at Fraser Island we took the old mining roads(very bumpy and dusty) to the sand highway. Fraser Island is the worlds largest sand island, 123km long and 15km wide. Our first stop was Central Station. This was one of the old logging sites. We went on a tour of a rain forest. Yes a ... read more

The Dreamtime Aboriginal Cultural Centre is just north of Rockhampton. As soon as we entered the centre, we saw some aboriginal artifacts. A hooked boomerang, a heating stone for heating resin, and a hammer tool. The guide showed us stencil art. It is made it by grinding ochre, mixing it with water and blowing it from their mouths around an item to be stenciled. They used 3 colours: Red, white and yellow. This type of painting was used because it lasts much longer than brush painting on the sandstone rock. One group of Aborigines that were explained at the centre were the Tores Strait Aborigines. They lived on the islands between Australia and Papau New Guinea (PNG). They traded with the mainland tribes of Australia and PNG. One of the things that they traded were shells. ... read more