Trip to Bournemouth

Hello! Just to update you on what we have been doing lately.......

Well we've spent the most of our 1st week here just checking out the local area which is really lovely. We have settled in well and have sussed out the local pubs of which there are many within 200m or so of our house!

Also we went for a walk in the forrest at the end of our street. it is so pretty at the moment with all of the autumn leaves on the ground. i'll attatch a photo. can't wait to see it in the snow hopefully. wellingtons (he, he) are a must though as the ground is quite soggy. yes, as expected it has been raining a fair bit compared to sunny qld. Although the cold is bareable at the moment.

We went and visited sam's aunty Liz and her family on tues and it was really nice to see them. she was very excited which was great...alot like you cathy :) we got the train there and i must say... i'm pretty proud of the way we are getting the hang of the public transport around here, although it is fairly easy.

We have spent the last few days in Bournemouth (which is on the south west coast of england). it took us about 3 hrs to get there by train. it was a pretty funny trip as we accidentally got a train ticket instead of a bus ticket (just as i was saying we were getting the hang of the transport system!). anyway, we were crammed in the end of the carriage as it was full of workers at the time we went and no seats available. we sat on our suitcase in a corner and drank a beer and wine and nibbled some nuts. so it wasn't too bad.

We stayed in a lovely, cute Bed & Breakfast with an owner who gave us exceptional service. it was very reasonalbly priced as well. the reason for our trip to Bournemouth was for me to attend a day at Bournemouth Uni for the overseas nursing program i have to do. luckly it didn't end up being a full day but i got a huge booklet to complete which i think will be quite time consuming. anyway, all this has to be done to get my UK nursing registration.

we really liked Bournemouth. it is a very clean, pretty coastal town which has "award winning beaches" (nothing on australia). we went for a walk along the cliff top and nearly got blown away! it was freezing there on your ears and nose! i'm sure it would be lovely in summer. the town square had some festive christmas lights and really nice gardens running though the town. we enjoyed watching the squirrels there, they are very cute. we spent a long time getting a decent photo! they come very close when they think you've got food. one jumped on sam's arm. they're actually a little scary when they get that close!

we had some other plans for bournemouth but the weather was no good on our last day so we came back to london. we have to travel there for uni again so will postpone our day trip to "monkey world" which is an ape refuge centre. we were looking forward to checking it out but will do it next time.

bye for now guys xoxo