Anya: Wow, we have done so much. My top ten most favorite things: 10. Te Ngaere 9. Shakespeare at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre 8. Aegina, Greece 7. Skiing at Mammoth Lakes and hot tub afterwards 6. Snow 5. Friends 4. Arches National Park, Utah 3. Harry Potter World 2. Swimming with Whale sharks 1. Wild animals … Continue reading The Kids Wrap it Up

Hamelin Pool at the bottom of Shark Bay was a curious stopover on the way back down. Organisms 3.5billions years old live there in hot and very salty conditions in the middle of nowhere. And goodness were they boring - microbial mats and stromatolites doing very good impressions of low lying rocks. The campground was … Continue reading The Last Leg

Back to glorious Australia and the remote western coast, in time for Roger's birthday. First stop was funky Fremantle, where we stayed with friends Rachel and Jethro met long ago in a hillside town in northern India - and hadn't seen them since! They and their boys showed us wonderful W.A. hospitality, sharing apple strudel … Continue reading Return to the Life Aquatic

Hands down Big Trip highlight was seeing wild animals in their natural habitat in Pilanesburg, South Africa. It was so addictive, peering into the bush as we bounced past on dusty tracks, never knowing if the next thing you would see was an elephant, a rhino or ...nothing. Luckily we saw everything we hoped for … Continue reading Where the Wild Things Are…..

Cape Town was spectacularly beautiful, and fully deserved it's reputation for being so. Deep blue Atlantic ocean meets white sand beach meets skyscraping mountain range - we all loved it. Admittedly we saw the sanitised version of South Africa which worked well for the three generation travelling circus, there to admire it's epic natural beauty, … Continue reading Cape Town charisma

Some Roger-led nostalgia and sentiment took us to three very different places on our last day in the Motherland. First - Pinner Fair! It's been rocking and rolling queasy kids and their parents for hundreds of years. Things that spin and bounce and shake, as well as fairy floss and toffee apples, it was a … Continue reading So long, til next time, English knnniggets!

It was one of those whistlestop tours of London, grandparents patiently in tow. A Greenwich starting point where we stood East AND West of time, looking up at the Timeball and out across London to the North. On a boat up the Thames, with a surprising number of beaches and a less surprising high proportion … Continue reading Big Days Out in London Town

Many friends have moved on out of London to bring up kids somewhere less frenetic or expensive. So off to Tankerton we went one Friday afternoon to see Steve, Mel, Gus, Tess and Elsa. Gorgeous seaside lifestyle that we enjoyed: fish'n'chips at the beach hut and oysters on the Whitstable waterfront with the generous hearted … Continue reading Going coastal! around SW England

A must do for the Beeden family was Harry Potter World, just up the road from Roger's folks. We all trundled along, some with minimal expectations and it was ACE!!! It helps to have read the books and seen the movies and be a Potterphile but even without the lifelong commitment to all-things-maglic it was … Continue reading Harry Potter magic and a right royal birthday gathering

May was a "Full English" experience. Many moments of bucket list business and friend and family frolics, interspersed with normal days of pottering around the spring green of Bushey, playing tennis, cooking meals, doing lessons, jumping and swinging down granny and grandpa's stairs. The McLernons came to town and we learnt with them how to … Continue reading May Daze