When I was about 15, I read a book called Exodus, by a man named Leon Uris.  It was a book that would have more impact on my life than any other I would read.  I didn't know much about the holocaust at the time and reading through the tales of horror that occurred really took me by unpleasant surprise.  To this day I, along with millions of others, still can't quite comeprehend what went through the minds of so many to be able to do what they did to the Jewish population of Europe.

With these thoughts still in my mind, I finally made what I suppose you would call a pilgrimage to Auschwitz and Auschwitz Birkenau in southern Poland.  Snow fell overnight prior to my arrival and the bleak cold and brilliant white made the experience all the more memorable.  I was freezing in fully insulated clothing, how did people survive in a set of denim pyjamas? 

Courage beyond anything I could possibly imagine.  Horror beyond my worst nightmares. I still can't grasp the absolute reality of what occurred during that time, but I feel I have moved a little closer.

However, we made up for it by having some beautiful steak sandwiches complete with beetroot.  Don't worry, we still call Australia home!!

Thank you so much for your wonderful hospitality!

Just after Christmas we decided on having a few days down in the south west of the UK and what a great few days they were.  We headed off into Dartmoor, hoping that we would see at least one of the few thousand Dartmoor Ponies left in existence.  Well, we certainly did...and more than one!!  I can tell you, their insulation was far better than mine, because once I was out of the car for more than three minutes, my interest in Dartmoor Ponies was about as much as my interest in death by hanging.  It was bloody freezing up there!!!

The next day we trooped through extremely small country roads trying to locate a stone age monument that Kathy claimed was massive and should have been able to be seen from the moon!!!  (Maybe she was thinking of Stonehenge or the Great Wall of China!!)  Anyway, after 1 1/2 hours of trekking, we came across this massive monument, but only by turning our heads sideways and blinking at exactly the right time.  It was supposed to be well signposted.  However, like in Hitch Hikers Guides to the Galaxy, it was somewhere behind a sign that said Beware of the Tiger!!!

We also managed to meet a man on the way to St Ives but he wouldn't let us know abourt his marital relationships so we couldn't confirm or deny the story any further!

We then head off to Plymouth where we saw the area that both Captain Cook and the intrepid travellers who sailed the Mayflower to America set off from.  Quite an awesome experience really.

Finally, we saw Penzance and Land's End.

The next day, Eden was an absolute bubble of excitement as we ventured to three massive bubbles full of plant life.  Do you know where we were going?  Come on, think about it.  Eden excited, lots of plants inside big clear bubbles???  Of course...THE EDEN PROJECT.  Eden was so proud to take us there, and CJ was so polite and kind in letting her believe it was hers (again).  When you name your kids, make sure that there are equal monuments and places with their names on them.  Unfortunately, we made a serious error in judgement when choosing our names, and CJ only has a little bakery chain in Australia and some abstract shop we saw in Amsterdam!!

A great little trip and I would certainly love to go down there again!

Okay, I know, I've been slack again...but, as you may have guessed, I've been slack again!!!

We had a fantastic Christmas - not that we had the snow that we really wished for, but we had Stewart and Jack up and that more than compensated for it!!  Kathy cooked up a fantastic bird again (turkey of course), but was a little upset that she couldn't rival the 10 bird roast that we had seen on TV a few nights before.  Can you imagine stuff nine birds into a tenth one?  Quite a phenomenal achievement!!

The kids had visited Santa with their respective mates and had asked for a Nintendo Wii.  Santa must not have been watching them too closely this year, because they didn't receive the coal that I thought they genuinely deserved!!

We all had a wonderful day, ate too much, drank a few ciders and then fell off into that uncomfortable sleep where your belly bulges over the side of the bed.  We're looking forward to next year!!

Last year, after just moving over here, Kathy and I promised ourselves that this year we would head to Kenilworth Castle for the fireworks and we were so pleased we did.  Never mind the fact that is started pelting down with rain the moment the fireworks began - it didn't get any better than this: a massive display of fireworks over an old ruined medieval castle with a Queen soundtrack rocking the audience. Are you jealous yet???