Wessex Roady

This week I have been on Mid Term break so with a week off work Nath and I hired a car and took it on a Roady.  We covered most of the towns in Wessex - south west England.  What we are proud of is how budget we were when plannig our trip.  We found a web page called laterooms.com so we booked all our accom through here - B&Bs with english breakfast.  The main factor in booking a night was that it had to provide breaky - which also saved us money on lunches as with a big breakfast we found we didn't have a big lunch - usually a scone or muffin.  We also have a taste card which gives us 2 4 1 or 50% off at restaurants that have signed up so we made sure we ate only at these restaurants. 
We started off in Winchester looking at the old castle and the cathedral.  We also walked past the house where Jane Austen died.  Our first night was in Portsmouth.  Nath had loads of fun looking round the historic dockyard where the HMS Victory and HMS Warrior are moored.  They also have on display the last remaining sail from HMS Vicotry that was used in the Battle of Trafalgar - full of holes where cannons ripped through it. 
Then we visited the seaside town of Weymouth.  Enroute we explored the ruins of Corfe castle and drove to the seaside town of Swanage. Weymouth is hosting the sailing events of the 2012 Olympics. We left our details with our B&B so that they can let us know if they have any vaccancies over the Olympics as Nath and I would be keen to return to watch some sailing, especially as Kiwis would be competing.
We saw the light house on Porltand Point and the bizzarre round Portland Castle.  Then we headed for Lulworth Cove on the Jurassic coast - a UNESCO world heritage site for its fossils. We had a night in Bournemouth which was not that exciting.  Walking down the main street reminded me of Hamilton! On return to London we stopped at Salisbury and looked through the amazing Cathedral.  The cathedral hold one of four orignal copies of the Magna Carta - we counldn't read it though because its written in Latin!
Nath's text books have arrvied for him to start his accounting papers.  How fun I can be a teacher at home and at work.
Today is definitely a relax at home day.  We have been invited to a birthday dinner for Scott who we met on our trip around Ireland.  Will be cool to catch up.    
Our niece Lena is having her 1st birthday party tomorrow, cant believe she's one already! She was born when we were in Cusco.
Hope all you NZ teachers have settled into the school year and have nice classes.
Adios amigos.

 Winchester

 Corfe Castle Ruins

 Corfe Town

 Portland Castle - a bit budget, makes Larnach Castle look good

Cerne Giant

Waitangi Day and Chinese New Year

Nath and I had a cultural weekend partaking in Waitangi and Chinese NY festivities. Waitangi celebrations consisted of dressing up in NZ themed clothing and buying beers at the off license and walking the streets of London to converge on Parliament for a Haka at 4pm.  It is meant to be a pub crawl but with so many people the pubs packed out so most drank outside.  There was a shortage of toilet facilities so at one point I went into and Indian restaurant, booked a table for 8, told the man my friends were across the road and I had to go get them, and as he went to set our table I knicked off upstairs to use the toilet!  Caught up with my cousin, brother, uni friend and some peeps I went to school with.  In the end Nath and I had a reasonably quiet one, I think about 4 beers each over the space of 5hrs.  After the Haka we went home and cooked up pasta for dinner. 
Today we headed to Trafalgar Square to watch celebrations for Chinese New Year.  We saw the fireworks display and the dancing dragon and lions.  We also walked through China Town which was obviously packed and going off.
My job is going really well and Im enjoying it.  I think the students have taken to me and we get on well.  I was runner up teacher of the week last week for the yr 11s.  One of the yr 11 form classes votes on a teacher of the week and a student of the week.  I was pretty stoked with that result.  So far it is as cruisy as it first seemed, half of my teaching time is spent traveling to venues, I am starting to get frustrated with the 'dead/wated' time but we have no other options. I have started playing squash with some of the staff.  On my 1st week I bet two maths teachers 9-0 and 9-0 so that was pretty awesome as it was not their first time. 
Still no plans for half term break coming up in two weeks. Would love to go to Paris - so much to do especially Disneyland! That would be cool.
This date last year we were in Quito and on day two of our South America trip.  How fast time has flown, would love to be back there doing it all again.  Have noticed there has been no flloods and mudslides in Peru this year!! 
The weather is getting warmer, the mornings are much lighter and the evenings aren't so dark.  Spring clothing is starting to appear in the shops so summer must be on the way :)

La paz a cabo.