30/7 on the way to Edinburgh

Lovely explore today... Visited Gleneagles and St. Andrews golf courses. Found an amazing farm shop and toured around Edinburgh on a hop on hop off bus. Staying in the old south quarter. Full of history and neat buildings.

This is Robertson tartan...

Edinburgh Castle

Bonnie Scotland

A couple of lovely days staying in Dunblane. Yesterday we explored Glenturret and the Famous Grouse Distillery with John Sinclair. Today we've been at Stirling Castle with John's family- Anne Marie, Donald and Heather.  Thoroughly spoilt! Exploring Dunblane now before meeting for another adventure this evening. :-)

25/7 near Abergele..

Staying with John & Caroline Evans near Abergele. Lovely views of the countryside from their sunny home. Will and Dan have been on cooking duties so we've been well fed. Walked above the coast for panoramic views of the countryside and off shore wind farms. There are hundreds of wind turbines just off the coast.

Smallest church in Wales:

Walking in the hills above Conwy. 

Zwarbles sheep - very friendly. Great show sheep. Keep the horse company here. :-)

23/7 Northern Wales

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Interesting places and people. Loved the castles, small villages and history.

Tatton Park Flower Show near Manchester today was a profusion of colour and SO many people. Lovely!

17/7 Longleat House & Portsmouth

We visited Longleat House near Frome. Well worth the visit. The estate has a beautiful house and gardens as well as a safari park and all you need to keep kids really entertained. We visited the house and grounds. Loved the story so bought the book. :-)

They did have the scaffolding down by lunchtime. Not sure what they were doing?

The River Exe in Exeter proved to be an interesting stop. A cathedral up on the hill saw us  climbing up for a look before a punt ride back across the river to our car. On to Plymouth for the night:-)

Frome & Bath

Stayed in a neat wee pub in Frome. Navigated our way here from the airport relatively easily. Stopped in Windsor for a wander around and a glimpse from the our site of the castle. Eaton is quite close. Drove past Ascot also. Windsor is close to London in the big picture so near enough for the Royal family to use it frequently. All so old! Passed Stonehenge on the way to Frome. Lovely village here. Staying a couple of nights in The Old Bath Arms - the Highland Roôm. Lovely!

Whistler

Whistler transforms itself in the summer into a mountain bikers paradise. Amazing views as we drove up the valley. 

Lots of very happy muddy people! There was a children's festival so heaps of kids about too. 

Day 1

 Snow Planet in Auckland:

Good flight to Auckland with superb views. Our luggage was checked all the way to Vancouver so no need to chase it up. Mike met us at the airport in ak. Off we were whisked to lunch with Shona. Grand tour of Mike's work and around about. Snow planet is amazing. No problems with sunburn there. Beautiful day with amazing views.