Olympic grounds

The Olympics are coming! Sooo before it gets too crazy we wanted to have a wander around the area and see how the park was coming along. We could only view the park from the John Lewis department store which had a view of it but here are the pics we could get...



Ash's birthday!

Its my birthday! Unfortunately most of the day was spent at work, but when I came home I was suprised to find some nice flowers on the bedside table along with some lovely presents. And I was taken out to our favourite local Thai restaurant where I opened the rest of my pressies. I had a lovely day :)

 

Lauren and I with my bag of pressies and the little EDF energy mascot - you might see him in more photos on van tour!

Our lovely dinner

My beautiful flowers from Paul

Scrumptious lime cheesecake made lovingly by my big sis



Wales - Queen's Jubilee weekend 2 - 5 June 2012

Another long weekend was upon us and we now had our home away from home (the van) so we thought why not head to Wales for a nosey around! Our first stop was Cardiff where we wandered the streets to see what it had to offer. We walked past the Cardiff castle which looks very impressive however we didnt make it inside. The night we chose to go to Cardiff there was a rugby game on and the streets were pumping, as the stadium is right in town. After a bite to eat we decided it was time to find somewhere to stay so made our way to a campervan park for our first sleep in the van!

Cardiff main centre

Cardiff castle

On our way to the campervan park - unfortunately the weather wasn't the best



In the morning we found a campervan store that sold all the stuff required to set up the little van. We bought the essentials so we could cook breakfast and have a nice cuppa! Off we headed to Swansea to have a look around. After having a look around Swansea, we headed down to the water for a walk along the breakwater. Unfortunately the weather was crap and very windy so we headed back to the van to warm up a bit.

First breakfast in the van!

Swansea

Nice statue down by the water

Me in Swansea - weather wasn't the greatest!

Onwards and upwards, or slightly further around the coast, we made our way to Gower Peninsula. The Gower Peninsula was declared U.K's first area of outstanding natural beauty back in 1956, and I would have to agree with that. The beaches reminded me of the ones back home, in fact a lot of Wales reminded me of N.Z. Thankfully the weather picked up and we could go for a nice walk along the cliffs and look out at the magnificent view!

Beautiful view from our walk
 

At the beginning of our walk

Threecliffs bay
 

After visiting some of the coast, we headed inland where we made our way towards the Breacon Beacon National Park. On the way we stopped in at the Aberdulais tin works to learn a bit about its history. The tin works date back to 1584 and are currently being reconstructed to show how it would have looked when it was in full working order. There is also a waterfall at the site which is now used to produce energy for the community. It has the largest electricity-generating waterwheel in Europe.

The tin works and the reconstruction taking place

Ashlea standing in front of part of the waterfall

The waterwheel

Lovely afternoon tea to celebrate the Queen's jubilee


On the road again towards our final destination, the Breacon Beacons National Park. One of the roads we drove on didn't have any fences to keep the sheep in, so it made for a very stressful drive as you try and miss the sheep. We found a campervan park to spend our last night at and it had a little pub on site which we went to for dinner and a drink. On this particular night there was also some live entertainment which wasn't too bad! We looked into going horse riding and were lucky enough to find one right outside the campervan park, so in the morning we headed off on a nice ride through mountains and captured a nice view of the area. All in all it was a great trip to Wales and we look forward to seeing more of what it has to offer.

Watch out for the sheep!

The pub at the campervan site

Lovely view from the top

All over!

 



WATCH THE THRONE.....

Tonight we headed out to the O2 arena to see Jayz and Kanye West perform their Watch the throne tour. It was really awesome, Paul and I were dancing away and the ending to it was awesome. This was our first concert in London together and it sure was a goodin'

 

 

Paul before it all started

Opening song

Jayz on the big screen



York - May 2012

 

After making the decision to go on a van tour next year, we needed to fulfil the dream by actually getting a van! We found a decent van on ebay and this was the time to go and pick it up. It was up North so after picking up the van we made our way to York to have a look around. After looking around York, we headed to Sherwood Forest where the legend of Robin Hood came about. 

 

The outer walls/towers of York Castle

Views from the top of York Castle

York Castle

Inside whats left of York Castle

 

Little shambles ( Open air meat market, in ancient times )

 

The famous contest between Robin Hood and Little John when first meeting on a bridge over River Leen

Robin Hood statue

Major Oak - Robin hoods main hide out

Pretend to be Robin Hood for a small fee...

The laughing tree - seems to have worked on Paul!

 

Bristol - May 2012

Our last destination was Bristol and our first attraction was the suspension bridge. The bridge was completed in 1864 and is very impressive considering the size of it and the resources they would have had back in the 19th century. We didn't have any accomodation booked in Bristol however we managed to obtain a really good deal at a hotel that had a great view of the bridge and surrounding area. The next day we headed out and tried to find all the banksy graffiti that he is famous for. Unfortunately it wasn't a great day, and that put a bit of a dampener on the sightseeing, so we decided we would have to come back to investigate the place a bit more.

 

Clifton suspension bridge

Views on the bridge

Banksy - Window lowers

Bristol cathedral

Banksy - Mild Mild West...



Gloucester 6 May 2012

On our way, we stopped off at Gloucester to have a look around. We found the Beatrix Potter shop where Beatrix Potter created one of her most loved characters here (The Tailor of Gloucester). The shop and museum, housed the same building that inspired the very story and is used in the illustrations. We made our way around Gloucester and headed past the cathedral and down past the marina. The former docks are a complete example of a Victorian port. We really enjoyed Gloucester and it had more to offer than we expected!

 

 

Beatrix Potter shop

 

Gloucester Cathedral

 

Old style crane

 

Wandering past the marina

 

A bridge on the way up to let the boat through!