Friends from afar

On Thursday, Brad, Lisa and Callum arrived.  We stayed with them in Brisbane last year and they are having a 6 month trip around the world.  They have a 3 month house swap in Norfolk right now and then a cruise in the Med, followed by some travel in Europe, then across to USA and Canada including Hawaii ending up in Fiji before heading home.  Not bad hey?

They are making the best of their time and have been all over the place - not at all phased by the fact they are stuck out in Norfolk.  They arrived on a lovely Thursday afternoon and then were plagued by bad weather for the whole time we were up here.  Oh well they were stoic and not nearly as whiney as most Aussies would be about the cold and rain.

Meeting with the locals

Thursday was a little manic - Tom has just started dance classes at school.  However they are 4.30 to 5.30.  One of his friends - Finn is also doing them.  He lives out in the middle of no-where so it makes more sense for him to spend the hour here and then go back to school.  The Rolls arrived literally as I went to pick Tom up so it was all a little confused and poor Callum didn't get a look in whilst Finn was around.  Then we went out for the dance lesson - was really good.   Then back for dinner and then Matt had to go out for Governor's training so I was on hosting duties.  Never mind, they are pretty easy to talk to so it wasn't a hassle AND red wine was flowing which is always good for chat.

On Friday poor Tom had to go to school whilst we had a day out (first time we've had a day out without him - felt really guilty!)  Although it wasn't a great day weather wise, we decided to head into the Dales.  As Callum is only 2 we had to choose somewhere paved to go for a walk so that Callum could jump into his stroller if required, so we chose Malham which has a paved track to Malham Cove which is one of the iconic views of the Dales.  We headed to Settle and then up onto the Dales.  The mist came down so the views weren't great. Then out of the mist came some beasts.  Took me a while to realise what they were - they were Highland Cows, but cold, went, straggly, mean looking ones with huge horns that were taking up the road and not looking very happy with us for taking up space on their road.  I was in a car with Brad who used to be a farmer in Australia and even he was a little concerned about how they were behaving!  Finally a monster of a beast came by with a ring in his nose - the bull - he was very grumpy and snorted as he went by, but he left us alone and carried on his way.

Brad, Callum & Lisa

Once past the cows the mist lifted and we arrived into a dry Malham.  We parked up and walked to the Cove.  Once there we had a monster game of throwing stones and sticks in the river before heading back.  Callum was having a huge amount of fun jumping in puddles and walked all the way back which was pretty impressive.  He did end up with sopping wet trousers and tights though as a result!  We then headed to a pub boasting outrageously good coffee for lunch - The Bucks Head which was fab, a little pricey but very very good food (and Matt said the coffee was good too).  We then went the scenic route to Ribblehead, where I left the Rolls and Matt and returned home to pick up Tom from school.  The others went on to Dent and Barbon before returning home.

The evening saw us at The Game Cock in Austwick with Rachael and Isabella.  We wanted to show The Rolls good food - it didn't disappoint.  Brad tried the steak and was very happy with it - the first steak he has enjoyed in the country - so phew for that!  He also really enjoyed the local beer we had at home and he had sampled in the pubs.  Tom, Callum and Isabella played really nicely with each other - in fact they had a ball so that was great.  Apparently Callum hasn't had much opportunity for play with peers since they got here, so he was doing really well.  As seems usual after a dinner at The Game Cock, we got home late.  It had been a good day.

A crocodile and a Marmoset at the Aquarium

Saturday didn't dawn particularly nice - in fact it was raining and windy!  We thought if it was a bad weather day we would take them on the steamers in Windermere, but it was windy so even that was out.  Instead we went to the Lakes Aquarium.  We had a good time there, the otters played nicely for us and there were plenty of fish to keep us and the boys occupied.  Once we were out we headed for lunch and ended up at the Motor Museum for lunch.

Once finished there, we decided to head up Windermere to Tarn Hows - so the Rolls could see something of the Lake District.  The weather wasn't the best - grey, misty and spitting with rain, but they got to see something and Tarn Hows still looked impressive in the rain.

All of us braving the cold

When we got to Tarn Hows, both boys were fast asleep (Callum was sick on the roadside on the way to Tarn Hows poor thing - we think due to the bendy roads).  I stayed in the car park whilst Matt and Lisa and Brad went to see the view.

As I was waiting the occupants of the car next to us turned up - it was only
Dave Myers of Hairy Bikers fame.  I was too star struck to say anything to him and he was obviously having a family day out which I didn't want to disturb.  Was funny though as Matt and co walked straight past him and didn't recognise / notice him - ha ha - Matt was annoyed with himself for that.  Also strange is that Jude bumped into him in Booths only a week or so ago and managed to converse with him - he started the conversation!

Tom woke up just as the gang returned, poor Callum slept all the way home - he was out for the count for 3 hours!  Another good day, especially as we returned to lamb henry roasting away slowly in the oven.  Yes we cooked lamb for Lisa (originally from New Zealand) and got complemented on it - not bad hey?!

'HI BOYS AND GIRLS'

Sunday, Callum wasn't feeling at all well.  He was very white and shaky and sick again (although that might be something to do with eating 8 chocolates from the box of chocolates in the lounge on Saturday night - naughty boy!)

He managed some bread and butter and milk and perked up - zooming around with Tom being silly which was good.

The two boys - best of friends

We were going to show the Rolls around Ingleton in the morning, but because of Callum being ill they just wanted to leave and get him home.  However, the boys were playing really nicely with each other, that it was hard to break them up.  It was strange for us to see Tom being a leader rather than a follower, and he had to learn some lessons about what not to do as Callum copied him all the time.

As you can see Callum is very tall for his age - we gave him some clothing that Tom is just growing out of and it fitted him immediately - you would never know that there is 2 years difference between them to look at them, although of course Tom speaks better and understands more.

Anyway we were sad to see them go, it was lovely to have them and we all enjoyed entertaining them.  It's now our turn to see them in Brisbane - hummmm, I wonder when that will be....