The Marshalls of Chippenham

One of Dom's oldest friends is his pen-friend acquired in 1979 or 1980, Rachael Marshall nee Martin. It was a risk of sorts for our first face to face meeting to be a three night stay for the whole tribe at the Marshall family home.

Any apprehension about this step into the unknown was briskly swept away by the warmth and generosity of our English hosts {so like the photos after all!}. Paul, Rachael and Max entertained and guided us through big name tourist attractions and charming English cultural traditions, and even slept on the couch to keep us in luxury.



Chippenham is but a stone's throw from Bath, which I would have to say gave a good account of its attractions for visitors. The Roman Bath tour is a genuinely high quality tourist experience, for children and adults alike. The proximity of centuries of human history manifests itself with real potency. Bill Bryson's commentary is entertaining and informative.



Stonehange, also in the neighbourhood, is a less complex attraction, notwithstanding the air of mystery tourist operators have worked hard to imbue it with! Nevertheless, and despite the freezing conditions that greeted us, it too exceeds expectation. The place has grandeur, and has been ably preserved.
Our children enjoyed the open space, and a bit of a run around with their bouncy new friend Max Marshall.



The town of Bath was very charming to walk around. The photo above is taken looking up-river towards the Putney Bridge.

Windsor- home of QE2 and the Aussie Andrew's

After spending a few excellent days in Shakespeare country (Stratford Upon Avon and the Cotswolds..where we played in snow in a picnic spot on the side of the road)and a half day in Oxford we sat stationary on the M40 in peak hour traffic UK style heading to stay with our aussie mates Simon and Lisa Andrews.


The Andrews were gracious hosts and exemplary trip planners, launching us to Windsor Castle, London in all its glory, and a range of local attractions {including a great little italian joint where we caught up with Elle {little sis} and Nick.
All that we saw reinforced the "better to conquer than be conquered" mantra - notwithstanding moral objections to this interpretation of history.




We all agreed Betty Windsor has more stuff than she needs.
Simon's car tour of local attractions is worth the visit.

Holidaying on the Island next door

Mid term break has come our way, giving us an excuse for one more holiday abroad. With Dom being half pommy what better destination than the UK for the Frawley 6 and our Opel Zafira. We caught the Irish ferry from Co. Wexford to Fishguard in Wales on a fairly windy rough day. Three hours later we were driving through the stark countryside of Wales feeling like we were back in Ireland. The highlight of our stay in Wales was a full day play at 'Oakwood' a theme park set in country landscape of Southern Wales. Being cold and slightly wet and end of season time we basically had the park to oursleves and had a ball.



To everyone's delight there was a scary ride to suit all comers. Dom was especially thrilled to find a huge timber roller coaster modelled on the old 'Big Dipper', formerly of Luna Park in Sydney. There was also this thing called "Speed", which instead of the slow creaky uphill to launch your 60 seconds of terror, took you up precisely vertically, then as you flung over the precipice actually went back inwards - beyond vertical, then off to loops and corkscrews before the safety of the terminal. Good photos all round. For South Coast types, Oakwood is kinda like jamberoo off its training wheels.