Chatsworth - a slice of how the "other half" live - or at least how they did in Victorian times. This historic home is reputedly one of the best of those open to visit in England, and after viewing the many treasures inside and walking the grounds, it's not hard to see why. Little Cocky and Alexander enjoyed the hedge maze and animal farmyard the best, while the rest of us soaked up the fine art in the sumptuous house, and the beautiful gardens and grounds. You simply cannot grow gardens the same under Australian conditions. Compared to the gardens at home, everything in England appears to have an aura of softness about it, lush, verdant greenery that simply isn't repeated in Australia in the same way. It's a completely different type of garden atmosphere in ... read more

Our route from Manchester to Sheffield took us via Glossop and Snakes Pass, which travels over the High Peak of the Peak District. The lower parts of the Peaks were a rich, verdant green - so green it almost hurts one's eyes so to speak. Up higher, the greenery gives way to low heathland scrub, typified by bracken, heather and various mosses. The heather was just finishing, leaving the steep and rocky landscape painted with a lovely blend of faded purple and rich brown underscored by the black peat upon which the heather grows. Sadly though, we were just too tired to fully appreciate the visual feast that this landscape presents. Little Cocky and Possy both fell asleep almost straight away upon getting in the car. Goanna lasted until we'd gotten to the high part of ... read more

LITTLE COCKY’S COMMENTS: I was very happy when we left home because we were going overseas to do lots of fun things. On the airplane, we had our own TV to play games and watch movies. We could also watch the maps to see where we were going. The flight took 14 hours and was very hot, long and tiring. It was night time, but we only had a little bit of sleep. FROM GOANNA: "It's just one big awake on the plane" is how Goanna's mum describes the flight between Australia and the United Kingdom. Oh how right about that she is! The first 14 leg from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi was a smooth night flight, departing from Tullamarine airport around 11pm. We were well looked after by the airline with bulkehead seats and a ... read more

This trip was born alongside the arrival of our second child, Alice (aka Princess Possy-Poss), in May 2010. Our thoughts initially were to have an extended trip from Melbourne to Cape York in our campervan while the maternity leave lasts. Always in the back of our mind was a longing to travel to Europe - to visit with our brother and his family, and to finally visit some of the places that we'd only ever heard and dreamed of. Once we started adding and comparing the travel budgets and pros and cons for the two trips, the Euporean option quickly won out. :) This is to be the first time that any of us have travelled out of Australia. So far, the furthest that any of us have gotten to travelling overseas is Tasmania, LOL! Getting ... read more