A geological marvel

Christmas is near – and our work lunches and dinners not to mention birthday’s have seen us eating heaps and enjoying people's company during the week. On Monday after work we ventured into Newport to eat Italian with Anne, Elspeth and Keith and to celebrate Anne getting a year older. Once the waitress found out where we were from she asked the standard question ‘Why are you here?’ with that amazement in her voice that we have found so common over here. I think I have said before that we now realise what a priviledged position we are both in – able to work in a different country (even though only for a few years) yet to have the right to return to another one which is so special or of course Australia which is so much warmer. We are all going back to NZ for short trips, Keith and Elspeth leave just a few days before us in February while Anne in January – just can’t keep away!! Tonight Mike has left to come over to see us for Christmas via Munich and a few days skiing. Becks leaves tomorrow via Thailand and with luck with the weather and british transport we will all be together for Christmas day. We also managed to find ourselves some airfares to Brussels to see Mike and Becks in January. It took a while, firstly we found £200 ones from Bristol, then 1 pence ones from Stansted and then £10,000 from Cardiff (with 2 nights accommodation thrown in). The 1 p ones were quite tempting -but a 3 and a half hour car drive to catch a 6.00 in the morning flight and returning at 11 in the evening and then another drive didn't sound that appealing. We thought there must be something better. So we slept on it and the next day found some £47 ones from Heathrow at a reasonable hour so jumped at them. We got carried away then and we found some cheap flights for two of the bank holidays next year - so have heaps to look forward to. I walked to work one day as my work was having their Christmas lunch was and I didn’t fancy riding my bike half way across town. The morning was frosty, car windows had a sheet of thick ice across them, the footpath was all sparkling and the sun was coming up. A group of allotments on the hillside looked in the morning darkness like a minature shanty town. The lunch was in a restaurant in an area that we walked when we first arrived in Bristol. It feels quite bizarre going back to places, that when we first looked at were amazed by the garden or the architecture or the narrow street, but now is just ‘part of our daily existence’. Harry’s Christmas dinner was the next evening in an area we hadn’t been before – needless to say we got lost but not quite as spectacularly as we used too. We danced the night away (one of the last to leave) and requested songs like Grease lightening so we didn’t have to dance to the latest music. The young ones equally seemed to enjoy the ‘older’ songs. Quite unexpectantly we woke up early on Saturday and since it was a cloudy day with no rain we decided to take off to Quantock Head. What a geological marvel. It is a stretch of coastline sitting between Burnham on Sea and Minehead. Both these places have little to offer unless you are into Hi de hi holidays or living in terraced houses that you can find in the cities - but Quantock is quite different.

Quantock Beach is quite a few miles long and around 200 million years old. The beach is rocky but the layers of stone, slate and dirt have come together over time to create a magical wonder. We were lucky enough to arrive at low tide (no planning there) and could walk on some of the smooth stones and look at the more rugged ones. The pictures speak for themselves really. We sat sharing a cup of tea (we forgot the other cup!!) just enjoying the scenery and the colours. I've decided I really must get another hat!!


The walk took us along the cliffs and then though farmland and down muddy lanes. The farmer had left a notice on the gate to say someone had reported him for including ragwort in his hay - he mentioned that he had explained to 'the authorities' all that he had done to try and eradicate it. Probably felt a bit pipped that he had opened up his property to walkers and then someone had complained. We didn't really know what ragwort was but looking it up on the net tonight, it is a noxious plant and 1kg can kill a horse. It grows biannually and can only grow in unharvested fields - looking at the pictures there was quite alot down the muddy tractor paths where many a horse had trod (Sherlock could tell by hoof prints and other evidence). We also passed other crops (I think probably turnip) and a grass that had a bamboo stalk but a top like a toi toi. We walked into Quantock East a cute little village with thatched cottages, little lake, ducks and a few christmas decorations.

It was getting close to dusk and so we decided to take a quick trip to Minehead before heading home - and we found - Dunster castle. One of those places we must go to once the National Heritage has finished doing their renovating. Wonderful wooden staircase (which showed an intricate hunt scene) and the ceilings (the detail which we have never seen before). While others lined up to see that little fat man in red, or to buy Christmas decorations, we wandered around with our eyes peeled to the ceilings - lucky we didn't trip over any little ones. The elderly gentleman who spoke to us, because we were obviously interested in the building, said that it had been built in the 1600's and that the ceilings and staircase were originals. At one stage someone had painted the staircase but this had been stripped back to the elm and oak. The bannister was so smooth and shaped like a water slide and I was tempted to let Caramello have a slide down but somehow didn't think the little man showing us around would approve.

On the way home, we missed the turning for our place - was it Junction 18 or 19 we discussed as we flew past 20 and 21 which would have been far more direct.

Sunday morning - a truck got stuck in our street - just when I had decided a lie in was in order. I am not sure what the driver was trying to do - but after edging their way between cars (not scratching one I might add) I think the driver wanted to turn left. There was heaps of reverse beeping going on before he decided to give it a miss and slowly continue through the narrow street to the end. About an hour later he came back along our street - maybe he wanted another challenge - or perhaps just wanted to wake up those that hadn't been woken the first time!! This afternoon was cold so all wrapped up (Harry in his woollen jersey from NZ, Tui scarf and balaclava and both of us in polyprops from Kathmandu) we went to Bristol Zoo. It is quite a smallish zoo on the flat and they have done a reasonable job of giving the animals as much space as they need. After we saw the flamingos we came across two keas and all I could think was 'you are a long way from home'. Funny, it just didn't feel right that they were there. It has never occurred to me before when I look at lions, tigers, zebras, bears etc that they are also perhaps shouldn't be there. Anyway the notice said that 'Bristol Zoo owns the european studbook for Keas' and told the story of an innocent tourist leaving his car in the park near a national park down south and coming back to it with the wipers, chrome strips ripped off. The zoo had heaps of reptiles and spiders but most of the animals we had seen before except two Opaki which belong to the giraffe family - their rear end is like a zebra and their children follow their parents by recognising the stripes. (Can you believe we forgot to take a photo of them - so courtesy of the web - which also told us there was an Opaki school in the Wairarapa which I think we have passed).