UK Trip 2025

During July and August I took my annual trip back to the UK to visit family and friends.   Those that know me well, will know I'm terrible an remembering to take photos at family events, so there are some missing, and others I have borrowed from friends.

As ususal, my first stop was Plymouth, though this year was bitter/sweet as it was my first trip back since we lost Mum.    One of the first things I did was return to the spot on the edge of Dartmoor National Park where we had spread Mum's ashes the previous year.   I took some rose petals and spread them at the same spot.

I did catch up with my brother and his family, but no photos to show for it.    Whilst in Plymouth I also caught up with a couple of friends, Kevin and Andy.  I first met them on the day I moved to Plymouth in 1976, and though keeping in regular contact with Kevin, hadn't seen Andy for 35-40 years.  We caught up over a lovely indian meal and then retired to the pub next door.

From Plymouth I headed up to East Anglia for a couple of airshows (Photos will be in my planespotting blog later), On the way, I stopped off in Topsham, and met up with my great friend Jenny.  We had a lovely breakfast together chatting about mutual friends. (Thanks for the photo Jen!)

After the airshows I headed up to Scotland to see my dear friends Geoff and Sheila (oops where are the photos?).  While I was there Geoff and I took a walk in a local nature reserve that has feeding stations set up for Red Squirrels.  Sadly the reserve was decimated by recent storms and many trees were blown over.  We did see some squirrels, but not as many as in the past.

From Scotland it was accross to North-East England to stay a couple of days with my cousin Felicty, and her husband Ken. (I remembered a photo this time!)  

I then had a long haul South to the South Coast, where I had arranged a "behind the scenes" tour at a local airfield, and had also arranged to catch up with an ex-colleague, Adrian, after over 20 years.  ( Luckily he remembered to take a photo!)

On my way North again, I had dinner with my sister-in-law Janet and some of the family (I know, where are the photos?) before heading to Northampton to stay with my Daughter and family.  Ileana, husband Mark and my grandkids Maggie, Alex and Eliza.   Alex's girlfriend Paula joined us for dinner at the local carvery.

We had a few days out, taking the kids to Wickstead Park at Kettering,  Alex and Eliza had great fun on the rides there.

We also went to a small zoo near Huntingdon, the only animals I took photos of were the Capybaras.  Crazy giant guinea pigs! and an Eagle Owl

On the last full day, we went to the science musuem in London.   It was Eliza's first trip to London, so we also visited Harrod's (Christmas, Chocolate and Toy departments) and took a drive past Buckingham Palace, around Parliament Square, where were lucky to catch Big Ben chiming 4 o'clock, and past Trafalgar Square with Nelson's Column and the four giant Lion statues.   On the way home we saw the BT Tower, which used to have a revolving restaurant at the top.

It was great to catch up with so many friends and family, but also nice to get back home again!

Kensington and Norwood Brass Band Concert

This afternoon I watched the Kensington and Norwood Brass Band perform their "Brassed Off and Beyond" Concert at the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra's Grainger Studio.   

It started off with some movie themes, my favourites were Live and Let Die, and the Imperial March from Star Wars.   Short exerpts are included below.

The second half was a narrated journey through the film "Brassed Off" set in a mining town in Yorkshire in the 1990's when many mines were closing down.  My favourite pieces were Concierto De Aranjuez by Rodrigo, Parry's Jerusalem, The finale from William Tell by Rossini and Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance no 1, which has 2 clips because it was so good! Again short exerpts are included below

A great afternoon's entertainment.

The long drive home

On the drive home I was mainly following the same route, except for the first day when I headed east through Kalgoorlie before re-crossing the Nullarbor Plain so I'll cover it in a single post.

Heading east from Perth I was driving through the wheat belt and came across some more silo art. The first was at Northam.  This was the first set of silos to be painted in Australia.  the two sets were painted simultaneously by two artists and are vert different in style.

The next one was at Merredin.  This was only the third set to be painted.

My main stop on the first day was in Kalgoorlie where I wanted to see the  famous "Super Pit".  It didn't disappoint. This open cast gold mine is about 3.5Km long  by 1.5 Km wide and over 600m deep.  It is huge! as are the machines that work in it.  The shovel bucket holds around 70 tonnes of ore and fills one of the mine haul trucks with 4 loads.   (Watch the video to see the comparison in size with a Ute!)

As I set off from the Nullarbor Roadhouse, there was a beautiful sunrise.

Last stop before Adelaide was Whyalla, a town on the Eyre Peninsula.  The jetty was recently rebuilt in a striking circular form.

I finished up travelling for 5 weeks and covered 8,476 Km in my little Toyota Corolla at an average of around 4.2 L/100Km or just over 67 miles per gallon.  

Last few days in Perth

I had a couple of hours to spare so took a trip to Kings Park and the Western Australian Botanical Garden.

I stopped at one area that had number of striking memorials.   They were the Korean War Memorial, the Prisoners of War memorial, the Tobruk Memorial, the 2/28th Battalion and 24th Anti-tank Company Memorial and the newly commissioned Battle of Crete Memorial.   These are all set in a beautifully quiet glade in the park

Kings Park sits on a hill overlooking the city, and is also home to the Western Australian Botanical Garden.   There is a wonderful old Boab tree here.  

It's always good to catch up with old mates when you are away, and I was very happy to catch up with Bono and Ryder the Golden Retrievers.