CAMPSITE # 117 - World 360

There are a handful of our close friends / family members out there who are absolutely devoted to our blog, who wake up each morning and switch on their computers just to check if there’s a new post. One of those people is Tom’s Grandma all of the way from the little old town of Market Drayton, England.

When all of the sudden our blog posting numbers dramatically dropped and Gran had waited over a week for a new update, she began to wonder where on earth her precious Grandson could possibly be. When Tom’s mum called to confirm that Gran would be attending her dinner party at her place on Saturday night, Gran even expressed to Chrissie her concern for our whereabouts, just to ensure everything was ok.

As she prepared her famous meringue dessert for the dinner party at her daughters’ house, she wondered why on earth Chrissie was holding a ‘do’ just one week out from the huge black tie 40^th Birthday Bash of her other daughter Katie..

As she approached the front door of Chrissie’s house in Market Drayton, England, at a fashionable Gran traditionally early time of 7:25pm, Gran never stopped to consider who could possibly be on the other side of the door, eagerly waiting to answer her knock.  The four bags of goods she was holding were instantly dropped to the floor and an enormous shriek must have been heard from miles around. Tears automatically poured down Grans face as she hugged Tom and I and took a moment to pinch us both, just to ensure she wasn’t losing her mind.  

We were in England!

Even Tom's brothers Will & James were kept in the dark. The three boys didn't stop smiling the whole drive home....

Why did we fly so many thousands of kilometres just to spend ten days in Tom’s home country when we were supposed to be travelling around Australia in our Troopcarrier? Well, surely that’s an easy one... because we can! And, because we hated the thought of missing a big party. Katie’s 40^th would be one of those parties that the whole family would be raving about for decades to come, we couldn’t possibly miss the opportunity to attend.

On our first night in England, the night of Chrissie’s “Just Because” party, the entire house would have been shaking as we had all erupted in laughter. We caught them all by surprise, the only two people who had known were Chrissie and her partner Ashley. As you can imagine, Chrissie copped a whole lot of friendly banter from the family for deviously hiding such a big secret but all in all, they all seemed pleasantly surprised.  

As always, our time in “The Motherland” flew by far too quickly. We wined & dined, went for long walks amongst the English countryside, drank hearty ales in English pubs, played boules on the grass under the English sun and then ran inside as soon as the English sun decided to turn into English hail,

... we redecorated and sailed in the little mirror called ‘Thistledown’ ...

... Partied until the sun came up at Katie’s 40th...

The birthday girl & hubby...

...and then again the next day with our friends at a BBQ at Chrissie’s house...

Tommy tickling the ivory...

Chocolate chip scones the next morning courtesy of Jen...

We've somehow managed to convince Toms 13 year old brother, James, to come to Australia during his school holidays! That’s right, for a whole month this little duo is upgrading itself to a trio during the entire month of August when James flies into Darwin and out of Cairns.

 

Goodbyes are always tough. Particularly when the car is full of loving family members willing to take the 6 hour round trip to drive us both to Heathrow airport. You can never get used to saying goodbye. You try to make the farewells quick because you know the longer you drag it out, the harder it becomes. You wave your final farewell at the airport from the gates of security, all of the way until both parties are completely out of sight and then you walk around the corner. A waft of sadness overcomes you as you realise that it’s all over, your exciting little holidaying adventure has come to an end and now you’re stuck in the stupid line at security ready to begin the whole process of the journey home.

As time wears off, the sadness that you feel migrates into a humble feeling where you recollect how much fun you just had and how glad you were that you went. For us though, it wasn’t that bad because, unlike last time, this time we know when we’ll see them all again. After our big trip around Australia, Tom and I have officially decided to move to England. We’ve both agreed that after you have such a huge adventure like ours, with so many learning curves, we couldn’t possibly return to our old lives back in Brisbane. We now have another adventure to look forward to after all of this, as one door closes... another one opens.

Every year, Tom and his two brothers take a "Brothers photo"... except it takes a little more than just one photo to get the perfect shot...