Max and Paul's Excellent Adventure

We had a few days off between sits which gave us the opportunity to see Ellen and Daniel once again. We are very grateful that they let us stay. The weather is improving and I used that opportunity to go to the centre of London to see the iconic Big Ben.  Midday is a good time.  These people were not lining up to use the phone.  They wanted selfie pics with these iconic booths still active in the UK. A close up A quick visit to the Tate museum. I discovered that David Bowie was born and grew up not far from where Daniel and Ellen live. As a fan of his music, I could not leave London again without seeing the place and after a quick walk, I found it! Sunset over Clapham A quick drink while watching a jazz combo in a cafe next door to Casa Spunns. We ran into Adam Gillett, son of Lesley, a friend from the Maleny area. Adam is in the middle of moving house and was staying at the flat while Daniel and Ellen went to Amsterdam for a few days. Interesting conversations were had o...

 We left Folkstone by train and travelled west back to London where we caught another train and headed north to Cambridge. It's a bonus having a dog-sit in a nice city. Being a university town, like Oxford, the demographic was a varied mix of locals, students and people of races far and wide.  We also noticed a heap of op (charity) shops too which to us, indicates that a section of the community is in need. In fact, there were 10 shops in one street that stretched only half a kilometre. We made our way to the dog sit which was an 8-minute bus ride just out of the city and we took over from another sitter. It's common in this dog-sitting business to not meet the owner.  We fell in love with 'Hamilton' which we soon abbreviated to 'Hammy'.  Hammy was so chilled. He was quiet, loved his walks, and slept soundly with a little snoring! We had Daniel and Ellen come up from London for a surprise visit to celebrate Max's birthday. Hammy was so well behaved, we were ...

We took a double-decker bus from Folkstone to Canterbury and were lucky to get the front seat on the upper deck. This gives you a full view of the road and countryside. You're literally sitting over the driver. The views on the way were stunning. Here is a little video putting together some of the highlights of Canterbury. Note how close some of the buildings are to the road!  On the banks of one of the canals    The pubs are iconic in themselves. Max and a local great dane. Don't fancy housesitting this one! These turreted entrances are very common here. We had lunch here. Apparently, it was a Weaving house. We had great meals here at 'The Foundry'. Daniel had been here before and recommended this place. They brew their own beers and spirits on the premises. We had some tasters and could have easily spent the afternoon there!  It's a little way off the main area so wouldn't have been easy to stumble upon. The Canterbury Cathedral There was so much to see, we ca...

FOLKSTONE Folkstone was ok but we wouldn't return.  It's a bit eclectic in its makeup with some beautiful Victorian-style housing mixed with ghastly more modern architecture. (See picture below). There seems to be a lot of money being spent on the beachfront, but for us, there was something missing. Maybe we have been spoilt with the natural south-eastern beaches in Queensland as so far, nothing else compares.  The Folkstone beach is getting a facelift with the dumping of the coarsest sand ever seen. They have built modern apartments that, again in our opinion, don't suit the area at all.           The older places still standing have heaps more character.                                       Full moon over the water looking south towards France. The beautiful Folkstone church And the stunning church organ inside An open day at the church was put o...