14/15/16 August - Sharons and Durham/Newcastle

14/15/16 August - Sharons at Durham near Newcastle

We arrived at Sharons and Daves at about 4pm on the 14 August. They live in Conset in Durham just outside Newcastle Upon Tyne in north England. We had a big couple of hours meeting up after such a long time and catching up on whats been going on and getting to know all the kids. Sharon and mum couldn't stop talking.

We met Isabel (Izzy aged 8), Molly (aged 6) and Archie (aged 1) for the first time. It didn't take us long at all before we felt like we'd known them forever.

Their house is in a lovely area near the countryside. It is really flash inside and has a big backyard with a trampoline, a swing set and a cubby house. They have a black rabbit called Ebony.

Holly noticed that the house "wasn't attached" to any houses next door like a lot of houses we had seen in England. We've got some pics to show it off.

We played outside for a long while, had a big dinner and then off to bed. We are sleeping in Izzy's room. It was lovely, cozy and warm.

Us girls thought it was really exciting to see Sharon, Dave, Izzy, Molly and Archie. They are really nice and their house is really cool!

The next day (15 August) we went to Beamish Museum with Sharon, Dave and the kids and also Jane, Dave, Eleanor and Madeline. Jane is one of mum's best friends too from when she used to live and go to school in Newcastle.

We had a great time at Beamish playing games and looking at all the old historic buildings and riding on the old double decker bus. We went inside some old buildings to see how people lived about a century ago. We had a big picnic lunch. We visited an old school house as well.

We played with a metal hula hoop that you had to control by holding a handle with a ring attached to it. They call them "boolers". It was really tricky.

Later we went to the old village on an old double decker bus and went into a dentists house, a confectionary shop, a drapery, an old hardware shop, a garage, a vintage car shop and other old buildings. We are glad we didn't have to get our teeth out using those old dental instruments. We bought some lollies in the confectionary shop. (Maybe we'll need to go to the dentist soon though). We also looked in an old tailor shop where the lady behind the counter showed us the types of shoes we would have worn depending on how much money you had. She also showed us the corsets that ladies used to wear. In Pirates of the Carribean the girl pirate walked the plank and she couldn't breath her corset was so tight!!!! Ouch, they couldn't breathe with those on.

We went down an old coal mine. We had to wear miner hard hats. That was great. We saw how coalminers mined coal in the late 1800s and early 1900s. This area in north England was a big coal mining area in those times.

We had a few rides on an old fashioned carousel and a few rides on an old fashioned swing "shuggy" boat.

We left in the late afternoon as it started to rain. We went home and had a big dinner and played some more then off to bed for a big sleep.

Elodie's favourite part was going down the mine and the old school classroom! Holly's favourite was the sweet shop and the old house, but she also liked the shuggy boats. Erin loved the carousel.

The next day (16th) we went to Newcastle Upon Tyne with Sharon, Dave and the kids and Jane, Dave and the kids. Mum spent 5 years living and going to high school in Newcastle with Sharon and Jane so she was really excited about going into the city. We drove past the Council offices where mum used to work part time after she left school and where Grandma used to work.

We went to the Discovery Museum which is a bit like Qestacon in Canberra. It was great and we played on heaps of interactive games. Many told stories about the history of things like electricity, engines and telephone. We learnt a lot about science stuff including gravity and light. There was also an exhibit on the history of Newcastle Upon Tyne and coal mining. There was a "water room" where we played for a while with water flowing through channels and different shapes.

Then we went down the road and had a big banquet chinese lunch in the Landmark Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Us kids had a great time and the food was yum. Us girls loved the satay chicken skewer starters.

Then we went down to the Quayside on the river and saw all the new waterfront buildings and activity areas. We saw the Millenium Bridge (a pedestrian bridge that opens for boats to go under) and heaps of other bridges over the river including one like Sydney Harbour Bridge which had the olympic rings on it. We saw the "Sage" (a big glass building for performing arts), and the Baltic Arts Centre (where we had some drinks). We ran around playing for about an hour. It was a beautiful sunny day and nice and warm.

We drove home. We played for about an hour in the backyard when we got home. We had pizza and chips for dinner and then off to bed at about 8.30pm for an early night.

We had a really fun day! The Science Museum was Elodie's favourite part of the day but the Chinese food was really yum and walking on the Millenium Bridge was really cool! Holly loved the science lab in the museum. Erin enjoyed the museum particularly playing with the water exhibit and playing air hockey with Izzy.

The Creber Girls xxx