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Earlier in the year I was fortunate enough to attend a great conference  in Slovakia. It was fantastic (work wise) as well as socially. Firstly, I was excited by the location (about an hour our of Bratislava).

The conference was held in a Castle!

Me returning to the Castle after a walk

The rooms were excellent, the halls castle-like, it was just a wonderful location to relax, take in some information and enjoy the company of others in the field.

One of the organisers (Miro) reminded me of my father. He was older, bald and hard of hearing. He had a great sense of humour too!

Miro

Miro also organised a walk where we went out into the forest behind the castle for a lovely stroll. He also took us to some neolithic ruins which were hidden from most people who don’t know the area. I was also fortunate to pick up my first tick, which I proceeded to bring back to the UK before I noticed him.

Slovakia was wonderful. I can see there is a lot of economic problems in the country, but I assume they are on the right track having joined the EU.

You can check out many more castle and conference photos here

Kate and I went to Malta for a one week holiday. Kate had organised to meet up with her relatives from both Malta and Brisbane. I was excited because I knew a little bit about the history of the island of Malta, so I knew there would be old buildings involved!

A short history on Malta.

It’s thought that the Maltese islands were first settled in 5200 BC. There’s a few Neolithic sites to suggest the island’s importance to many early civilisations. But let’s get to the juicy stuff. Knights!

Being part of the Roman empire until its demise, Malta was shuffled between rulers depending on the emperor at the time. At the end it was passed to the Byzantine Empire but fell under the rule of the Vandals and the Goths for periods (no, not the modern Goths, the older ones, almost Visi…)

Passing to the Arab rule of the Fatimids, the Christians were still allowed to keep their faith – even if they had to pay for the right. Luckily for them, the Normans, as part of the conquests, took Malta in 1091 and Roger I was most welcomed, giving them their country and faith back by re-instating the Catholic Church as the state religion.  This was a good time. Prosperous and productive. The result included a heap of Norman architecture (which I enjoyed!).

After shuffling between whoever thought they should be ruling Malta (rebellion, rebellion, arguing, rebellion) and some rulers not being favoured for their high taxes, the Spanish eventually got hold of the islands and tried a few different sorts of ruling classes. Some worked for a while, but others weren’t too popular with the locals (ie more rebellions).

Eventually, in 1530 Charles I, the King of Spain, handed Malta over the Order of the Knights of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem on a loooong lease. These knights were a military religious order, fighting monks if you will. They did a pretty good job and keeping the islands safe. Eventually, the Ottoman Empire (who was quite keen to grab up the islands for trade purposes) laid siege to Malta in 1565. The knights, along with the locals (who quite liked the military guys being around) fought side-by-side to beat the Turks in what was to become known as the “Great Siege of Malta”. Yes the Knights and Maltese won with far fewer numbers (about 8000 locals and 500 knights versus about 30,000 Turks). This is when things got interesting (for me) because the knights and Maltese agreed that increasing fortifications couldn’t be a bad thing. The Turks were likely to want to have another stab…

All was reasonably well until the little short French bloke came along on his way to Northern Africa in 1798.  Napoleon captured Malta after tricking the Knights into giving him a safe place to stop and resupply. The locals weren’t too happy with their new rulers, so they brought about a rebellion like they hadn’t tried for years. After a quick word with the English and Italians, the Maltese got help to kick the French off their islands for good.

Being quite happy with the English (they must have brought fresh tea bags with them) the Maltese handed their country over to England.

Everyone was reasonably happy until WWII came along. Malta was still a really neat spot between Europe and Africa and everyone knew it. There was another siege of Malta, this time the Germans tried bombing the utter ding-dong out of the country (Malta was the most bombed area in the entire war!). The Maltese resisted with amazing vigour resulting in then King George VI of Britain awarding the entire country the George Cross for their people’s heroism and devotion to the allied cause.

In 1964 Malta gained its independence and became a republic. This said, there are still remnants of British rule everywhere. The mail boxes are British, with the British marking ground off and some telephone boxes are still the standard British Red telephone boxes. Personally, I noted that the mail system is still as backward as that of Royal Mail, so there are many things that still run (or don’t run) like British things do!

Our trip

Ok, that said, we were there for a holiday, not a history lesson. But as you can guess, I was also interested in the history!

We arrived into the airport and caught a taxi to our accommodation. We made it there too. Surprising as it was. We learnt very early on that the driving in Malta is “different” to the rest of Europe. Normally, when there is a road and it is divided in two by a line that means one set of traffic in each direction right? In Malta, this also means that if you can fit up the middle between the two standard lanes of traffic you do. And our Taxi driver did. Further lesions included the golden rule : “approach a roundabout with enough speed to head straight through the gaps between the traffic in the roundabout”.

Taxi, not ours, but one none-the-less

We were amazed that the entire time we were in Malta we didn’t see a single accident… maybe their rules work?

Another point of interest is the Maltese public transport system comprises a heap of old Bedford buses left over by the English. They are all painted up and look spanking even though some buses must date from the 1940’s! They were truly wonderful to travel on. Unlike British buses, they run frequently and are *way* cheaper than any form of transport I’ve seen in many years. Most trips cost a mere 47 cents!

After spending some time wandering around Valletta and other outlying villages, we met up with Kate’s relatives, mainly the family of Kate’s Grandmother’s sister. They are a wonderful bunch of people with fantastic stories to tell. We enjoyed their hospitality and offers of local knowledge.

We also did a couple of touristy things. We saw the Knights of Malta’s cathedral, St John’s Co-cathedral. We were actually staying opposite this cathedral. It was an amazing building lined with gold and more artefacts than I could photograph. While I did try to photograph them all, I’ve only included a small sample here as not to bore the eyes off you. This cathedral was divided up into 8 chapels which served each arm of the Knights. The Knights were divided up into their 8 orders based on the languages spoken by the knights.

St John’s Co-cathedral

Our second tourist attraction was the State Rooms and armoury. The state rooms were an amazing set of palace like rooms with the appropriate furnishings and sets of knight armour spread throughout.

View in one of the state rooms

The armoury was full of everything that you could think of from the Knight’s reign. My highlights were the array of decorative (yet functional) armour and the firearms, cannons and swords.

Decorative armour

Funny looking things (and helmets)

While in Malta I also got sidetracked from sightseeing long enough to ask Kate to marry me. I had been carrying around a ring for about 8 months waiting for the right moment. I really thought I was going to ask her when we were skiing in the French alps in February, but she decided to try tackling a pole and we had a week-long stay in a little village while she lay down in a hospital bed instead. Anyway, Malta proved to be an excellent venue for the question.  As Kate was not expecting the proposal, we’re yet to sort out any sort of plan for the wedding… lots of internet research to be done yet!

Us from our balcony

Another nice thing to do while in Malta is swim in the Mediterranean. Given that we’ve not been back to Australia for ages, we thought the temperature was excellent for swimming. There are many pools cut out of the rock along the coast which give you a less wave beaten area to swim, so we did loads of swimming and relaxing by the water. A real summer holiday. While I thought it was really hot (figuring it was in the mid-30’s) I was happy to swim. I was shocked to find out the temperatures were only around the high 20’s. Maybe I shouldn’t ever return to Australia…!

Kate swimming about in a cut out pool

Anyway, Malta was a great place for a holiday. Easy to get to, easy to get around as well as great for food, swimming and touristy stuff. We will return!

Many more photos can be found here

Today was that day.

While filling my fountain pen, I spilt registrars ink on my leg, all over my hands and on the floor.

Registrars ink starts out blue.  When it “sets” it turns black to indicate that it has become permanent.

I got the ink off the floor (with the help of some nasty non-skin friendly solvents) but my jeans will probably remain a different shade of blue/black.  Even with a quick trip to the toilets with a bottle of 70% ethanol and a wad of paper towel!

As for my hand. I don’t know how long that will remain blue/black…

I asked Kate to marry me and she said yes. Strange things happen in Malta…

Wet concrete. There is a lot of building going on outside the old parts of the cities. I think I’ve found the smallest toilet cubicle in the world too…

Photos to come

You look at the bottom right hand corner of the picture you are drawing to see if you have any new e-mail.

Anyone else suffer from these problems?

Cornwall with Suzi Q

Yes we went to Cornwall. Yes, with Suzi Q. But Suzi Q is not who you think…

We’ve always wanted to visit Cornwall. We’d heard so many great things about that area of the UK. The only real thing stopping us was the distance.  I know this country isn’t that big, but some places are harder to get to than others.  Cornwall is one of them.  The motorways stop at about Exeter, so the rest of the drive (some 80 miles to Newquay) would take about 2 hours.

Friday

So… we took the train to Newquay on the northern Cornish coast. This spot is quite famous as a surf destination. We must have been there on an off weekend…

At the Newquay train station we were met by Dave and James from Cornish campers along with Suzi Q.

SUZI Q

The guys proceeded to take us to our camp site at Porth Beach Tourist Park where we set up Suzi Q and got the run down on her equipment. She’s an original 1970 VW camper. The rear seat folds down to make a double bed, there’s also a bunk in the roof when her lid is up! She has also been fitted with the mod cons of a two burner gas stove and a little fridge. There was plenty of storage space under seats and in compartments around her. She’s got a power board which you can connect up to mains supply to run a heater, lights and charge your phone or other gadgets (important for those of us who never leave home without the internet).

Parking in the tourist park, Suzi Q was overwhelmed by the Goliath’s that formed the “Midlands Caravan Club”.  It did strike us as odd how these people had left home to park in a tourist park with all the conveniences of home (Plasma tv’s – with satellite dishes,  microwaves, showers and toilets). We were quite happy to not have those items cramping our holiday. But I suppose since we don’t have a TV anyway, we don’t miss it!

SUZI VERSUS THE GOLIATHS

This tourist park was the winner of  “Toilet block of the year”! and we could understand why… We dined in the local pub, (The Mermaid Inn) which was only a two minute walk from Suzi. It was a great feed and a great sunset to start our holiday. We were a little disturbed by the mermaid painting in the pub which was a dead ringer for Nicole Kidman!

SUN SET AT PORTH BEACH

Saturday

Rising after a sleep that was way more comfortable than you could get from a therm-a-rest on the ground, we packed up and headed for Padstow.

Along the way we stopped at Watergate bay which was the location of a stunning beach and also the location of Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Cornwall. After a walk along the beach surrounded by imposing cliffs we headed onto Padstow.

The route to Padstow was amazing, coastal roads reminiscent of the Great Ocean Road in Victoria. Only difference – these roads are narrower. I managed to have only once “incident” where I failed to change gear from second to first going up a steep hill. All worked out though, a stop, a search and destroy mission for a gear, and a handbrake start and we were off (without too much disruption to local traffic!)  Need I mention, the Kombi camper will never be the fastest vehicle on the road, well, maybe faster than the tractors… BUT you at least get the respect from other drivers who wish they were doing what you are! That is one thing about Suzi Q, she was a looker, and attracted many looks and nods from people who enjoyed seeing her “dak-dak” along (if you don’t know what I mean by “dak-dak” listen to the next WV combi you see and you’ll understand).

Padstow was the lovely port village that we expected. A tourist hub for obvious reasons. Rick Stein the English seafood Chef started his Seafood Restaurant in Padstow 35 years ago. Since then, the restaurant and Rick have gained quite a reputation. He now has a few restaurants and eateries in Padstow (including a fish and chip shop) which dish out excellent food and a variety of other food related things. Since the popularity of Padstow increased, so did the other catering outlets. You must remember, the humble Cornish pasty is a local.  It is not surprising to see this sort of sight then…

CORNISH PASTIE ANYONE?

After some time wandering around Padstow and wandering along the coast, we headed off. Next stop was to see a man heading to St Ives…

Buzzing back along the largest road in Cornwall, we got to St Ives in short time. We booked into a caravan park with the best view we’ve ever seen, The Ayr Holiday park. Lovely views over the beach at St Ives and only about 15 minutes walk into St Ives, a bit expensive though at £25/night (double the price of any other touring park we’ve ever stayed in).

VIEWS FROM ST IVES CARAVAN PARK

We wandered into St Ives and were captivated by this lovely town. It is no surprised that artists flocked here to live and work. There is a Tate Gallery here along with the many many private galleries selling amazing works of art.

Sunday

After spending the best part of the day wandering St Ives, we picked up Suzi Q and headed towards the end of the Earth. Well, the end of Britain- Lands end. We found a touring park just a few miles from Lands End, and settled in with Suzi Q and a lovely home-cooked meal and yet another lovely sunset.

Monday

Packing up Suzi Q, Kate dreamt of what it would be like to cruise along in Suzi… but as she wasn’t able to drive (for many reasons) so it remained only a dream…

KATE TRIES SUZI Q

We drove to Lands End, the furthest westerly point of Britain. Here there was many tacky displays and tourist themed rides. Who’d have guessed… For some reason, Lands End has a special spot on the BBC show ”Dr Who”, but the touristy stuff didn’t stop there…

THE TARDIS AT LANDS END

We just wanted to see the end. We also checked out the little farm near-by. Kate managed to get the geese all riled up, which resulted in a lot of honking (from the geese) and Kate being nibbled on.

KATE AND THE GEESE

Deciding that we should move on before we upset other avian life forms, we got back in Suzi Q, brewed some tea then headed off. Our aim was to make for Penzance for the evening. On our way we found some stones. Standing stones. Photo stop!

STANDING STONES

Cornwall has many ancient sites, so this wasn’t so surprising, but we did enjoy this mini Stonehenge.

Thanks to a tip from the travel guide, we stopped into Mousehole, a lovely historic fishing village.  We stopped into “2 Fore Street” restaurant for lunch and were very pleasantly surprised. Being a fishing village, we ate seafood – of course! After a wander around this the village, we decided to move on. We headed off taking in the amazing coastal views.

The aim to stop in Penzance was vetoed by a need to find a tourist park to rest Suzi’s tired wheels but ended up in a tourist park in Marazoin, which happened to be the access point to St Michael’s Mount. This was a little dejavu like, as we had previously visited Mont St Michel in France, and the two seemed to be based on the same idea. Build a castle and a Benedictine monastery on an island off the coast that is only accessible by either foot at low tide, or boat at other times.

We settled Suzi Q into Dove Meadows tourist park which was run by a welcoming Cornish family. They gave us some great information on local things to do. We wandered into the village to see what sort of supplies we could get for dinner but found Ben’s Cornish Kitchen and decided that another sea food meal was called for. Ben’s is a recently opened restaurant, but I’m sure they will succeed, the food was amazing, excellent combinations of fresh local ingredients. A great find and a great last supper in Cornwall.

Tuesday

Today was our last day. We packed up Suzi Q and left her in the care of the lovely folk at the tourist park while we made our trip out to St Michael’s Mount. It was high tide, so we paid the reasonable sum of £2 each to be ferried to the island. Originally a monastery, the mount was captured by the parliamentarians during the civil war. Purchased Colonel John St Aubyn after he served there as the Governor, the castle is still owned and lived in by the St Aubyn family. Most of the island (which the family don’t live in) is managed by the National Trust who manage the day-to-day visitors. Climbing the hill to the castle was amazing, as was the entire site. After our wander around, we stopped for a traditional Cornish cream tea with clotted cream. It was a meal in itself. Needing to walk off that cream, we were able to take the footpath back to the mainland. This was a lovely stroll across a formed stone path.

FOOTPATH TO THE MOUNT

Having spent the most of the day at the Mount, we grabbed Suzi Q and headed for our train home departing from Newquay. Dave and James came to meet us and pick up Suzi Q. It was sad to see her go, we both agree, ’tis an amazing way to see a lovely part of the country. Especially if you are blessed with the 4 days of sunshine we got! This is a holiday that is a must do English experience. I’m sure we’ll head back to Cornwall, we only touched the surface.

The train ride home was lovely and relaxing, it sure beat having to drive that distance! It also gave me a chance to sit back and have a couple of beers…

More photos…

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Look out!

A recent experience made me think about those “ridiculous” units of measurement that are sometimes used.

What am I talking about? For example, on a brewery tour the guide might say “here at this brewery we brew enough beer every week to fill three Olympic swimming pools”.  A quick search tells me that an Olympic swimming pool is about 2,500,000 litres, so what the guide is trying to say is that the brewery brews 7,500,000 litres of beer a week.  But for some reason there is a whole world of ridiculous measurements out there.

This is where my thoughts on ridiculous measurements and my experience collide.

Kate is still experiencing a period of reduced mobility. She is rigid through the back thanks to her extension corset that was fitted after her ski accident.  What this means is she can’t bend. So things that land or are on the floor become my domain. It is not uncommon for me to come home from work to find a plethora of things on the floor that she can’t pick up. She has taken to using the long BBQ tongs to do her bidding though, so most things are within the reach of her tongs.

Friday I came home to this.

Usually I would think that the spider was in the clothes bin, but I was told it was under the bin.

We live in the UK. We come from Australia. Many spiders in Australia contain enough poison to kill 11 football teams. Or 96 sheep. Personally I have never heard of the experiment where they tested these ridiculous units of measurement… Anyway, now that we live in the UK, the most poisonous spider has enough poison to slightly inebriate an infant mosquito.  We therefore tend to run a “catch and release” program, hoping to have the spiders we find rid this island of all the mosquito’s. They have an uphill battle given their poison content eh?

So what had happened was, while in the bathroom, Kate spotted this spider. Unable to do the “catch and release” thing herself, it was added to my list of things to do at ground level.

Let’s hope that my good deed reduces the mosquito population here in the UK.  Summer is coming, or so I’m told…

Happy Easter!

I love doing home reno’s.  As we don’t own a home here,  this Easter weekend we headed up to York where Roger and Danielle had a new kitchen to install.  So we packed up every tool we own and headed north to help them out for the weekend. This is my idea of a great way to spend a long weekend!!

Kate has been helping out as much as her bbq tongs can reach (she still can’t bend down) she just wishes she had “go-go Gadget” arms…

We’ve just about finished, but we had to stop for a roast dinner.  It might be slow going tomorrow!

“Old” and “New” photos to come.