5 August - Exploring London

5 August - Exploring London

Today we caught the train into the Victoria Station and then walked to Buckingham Palace. We stood opposite the Palace and watched the womens olympic marathon as they did 4 laps around the Palace. That was great to watch and it was amazing how fast they were going considering they were running 42 kilometres.

Then we walked around the park and took some pics including of little squirrels running around.

Then we walked around the city and checked out the famous streets and the West End. We booked tickets to go and see Wicked in a couple days time. We checked out Downing Street where the British Prime Minister lives. We walked to the Queens Guards quarters and saw some of the queens guards. We then saw some guards parading through the city on their horses.

We went to the M&M shop which is over 4 levels and had all different M&M stuff. We bought some M&Ms. We met some Russian olympians and took a photo with them. Dad said he liked their tracksuits.

We had lunch in Leicester Square and then walked to Trafalgar Square and Nelsons Column then along the Thames River and checked out the London Eye. Then we went to the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and the Westminster Abbey. That was great.

Then we went back and checked out Buckingham Palace.

We got the train home and had dinner and watched the olympics (Usain Bolt in the 100m) on TV.

We go to olympics Volleyball and Football tomorrow.

The Creber Girls xxx

4 August - Hyde Park and Olympic Triathlon

4 August - Hyde Park and Olympic Triathlon

Today we got up at 5.30am and got dressed and had a quick bite to eat and walked across Brockwell Park to Herne Hill Station to catch the train into London. The train took about 10 minutes and we got off at Victoria station. We came out of the station and we were excited with our first view of the city. The first things we saw were the double decker buses, london taxis, red telephone boxes and a theatre where the show Wicked was playing.

We walked for about half an hour to Hyde Park where we got a really good spot on the edge of the triathlon course near the Serpentine River, where we watched the Ladies Olympic Triathlon race. We were excited because we met big sis Alana and her partner Ben there. They have been travelling the world. We also met their London friends Dan and Lizzie.

We watched the race. The triathletes raced past us 8 times on the bike and then 4 (x2) times running. We cheered loudly for Emma Moffat, Emma Jackson and Erin Densham. Erin comes from Camden/Campbelltown.

They were going well until Emma Moffat crashed on the bike and she had to withdraw. We were sad because she has long been a favourite of ours. We found out later froma team manager that she was in top shape and the team were expecting a podium from her. But Erin and Emma J kept going strong and with a lap or so to go were in the top 6 or 7, Erin at the front. Then a group of 5 broke away including Erin. We cheered louder and louder and the noise from all the spectators was deafening each time they came past. One Japanese lady was particuarly noisy and she didn't even have a Japanese triathlete in the top 20. We think she was barracking for all of the competitors but she just loved yelling into her plastic loud haler.

Erin ended up coming 3rd and won a bronze medal. Emma J came 8th. We were really excited. It was almost a dead heat for the gold but Nicola Spirig from Switzerland just beat Lisa Norden from Norway. That was great watching the triathlon, we love triathlon so much.

We had a picnic in Hyde Park near Princess Diana's memorial water feature with Alana, Ben, Dan and Lizzie. That was great. We kicked a soccer ball around until the Park Attendant told us no ball games in the fenced memorial area. Huh, those aussies again!

Then we left and waited for Erin to come out of the finish area. We had just seen Emma J ride past and Nicola Spirig walked right past us with her gold medal around her neck. We waited for a fair while for Erin. We met the Aussie olympic triathlon team "High Performance Manager" and his assistant who gave us some info on the triathletes and the race. He said Erin was going through routine drug testing and might be out soon.

We watched the men triathletes training on the bike course and we cheered the aussie men every time they passed us. We later read a tweet from Aussie triathlete Courtney Atkinson who said it was unbelievable that there were aussies watching them and cheering them as they trained. He said in his tweet that he couldn't wipe the smile off his face. It was very inspirational he said. We were excited to read that.

We waited for a bit longer then decided to move on. We met some swiss and swedish fans and muscled into their party and had a photo taken with them - that was the countries making up the triathlon podium.

Then we went to The Swan pub at the west end of Hyde Park and had a late lunch with Alana and Ben. Mum and dad had a beer.

Incredibly Erin Densham's family including her parents from Camden were there and dad went and got the goss from them. He congratulated them. There were aunties and uncles there too. They were all so happy. Apparently we had just missed seeing Erin with her medal as she came out just after we left. We got photos with Erin's mum and dad. Our Erin told them that her name was Erin and they thought that was great. Erin said she wants to be a triathlete just like their daughter.

Then we walked back through Hyde Park with Alana and Ben and caught the tube then the train home. We walked the dogs with Suzy and mum and dad went shopping for some food. We had dinner and watched a dvd.

We had a great day.

The Creber Girls xxx

3 August - Stonehenge and Arriving in London

3 August - Stonehenge and Arriving in London

Today we left Aunty Veronica's house in Somerset and drove to London. We went via Dunster Castle quickly for a pic.

It was a long drive through the countryside. We didn't take the motorway but instead we drove along the "A" roads. We went through lots of little towns and past many farms and rolling hills.

We stopped at Stonehenge on the way. There were lots of tourists there.

Stonehenge is a mysterious place made up of a group of large stones positioned in a circular arrangement in a paddock. It is the remains of a stone circle structure. It dates back several thousand years (some parts up to 5000 years ago). The original purpose and constructors are unknown but it is believed that the structure was placed there by the ancient people of Wessex. It is aligned with the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset and thus many people think it may have been a place of worship or an observatory.

Some of the stones are 7 metres high and weigh 45 tonnes. It is believed the stones were positioned by sliding them across logs. It is known that many of the stones came from Wales. The stone circle is surrounded by a ditch and bank which is sometimes called a "henge".

We had a great time walking around and listening to the commentary about the history and interesting facts on our headphones.

We then drove further and entered London and drove around the southern edge of the city to Aunty Susy's house in Brockwell Park just south of London city centre. We met Susy and the pets.

Susy's house is a nice little terrace house on the edge of Brockwell Park. Susie prepared 2 upstairs rooms for us. It was lovely. We put the aussie flag up on the front window.

Dad returned our hire car and was gone a few hours because he took it back to Stansted Airport and got the bus back. We went for a walk in the park.

We went to bed around 10am and had a sound sleep after a long days drive.

The Creber Girls xxx

2 August - Exploring Minehead and Dunster

2 August - Minehead and Dunster

Today we went to Periwinkle Cottage at Selworthy for morning tea. It was a beautiful spot nearby to Minehead. It had old cottages with thatched rooves. There were great views from there. We had scones with jam and cream, cake and tea and hot chocolates.

Then we went to Porlock a little seaside village just west of Minehead. We walked around the waterfront and little harbour area and saw some little touristy specialty shops selling all sorts of stuff. We also saw the Porlock Weir.

Then we went to Minehead and bought fish and chips. That was yum and we scoffed that down pretty quick. Minehead was busy with families on holidays.

Then we went to Dunster Castle, an old medieval castle which is in beautiful green grounds. We walked through all the rooms and around the outside. There is supposed to be a ghost in one of the rooms but we didn't feel or see anything. Elodie played the piano there and it echoed through the castle a little bit.

We then took Flossy for a walk through Dunster village, an old medieval village and went to a park and creek where Flossy went for a swim chasing a tennis ball. We had great fun playing with her.

Then we came home and did some blog prep and played games and played with the animals, then had lovely homemade pizza and vegies and salad for dinner.

We had a great day. Holly's favourite part was playing with Flossy in the creek, Erin's was exploring Dunster Castle and Elodie's was playing the piano in the castle.

Tomorrow we leave for London and Aunty Susie's house. We are very sad to be leaving Aunty Veronica and the animals but we are looking forward to our next experiences.

Seeya

The Creber Girls xxx