Cornwall again

Here we are back in Cornwall, staying in Newquay enjoying a warm pint of real ale. Nuff said. Except we owe you photos and we will when we get a decent Internet connection :o) the weather isn't as good as Devon but hopefully it will improve.....

Cornwall

We have been in Cornwall for a week now and have been staying in a caravan near Bude and have not yet booked for next week in Devon. Hopefully there are some last minute breaks available.

We have looked at many businesses in Bude, Launceston, Falmouth, Mevagissey, Looe, Truro, St Austell, Padstow, Newquay, Polperro, Bodmin, and many more. We have driven constantly and are shattered. There are however a couple of possibilities and we still have next wek in Devon, assuming we find somewhere to stay.

I will upload some pictures soon but Internet use is almost strictly work time.

In case you are interested the weather is warm but rainy.

English Jelly Babies

Saturday 19th September 2009
Carolyns birthday and she had to work, she didn’t have to work until 10am mind and she finished at 1pm, so it wasn’t so hard really.
Fliss and Lukery her lover took the kids to the cinema this morning, they went to see the film UP, we reckon Lukery loves these cartoon films but is a bit too macho to go on his own and Fliss is just a big kid herself, so when a film like this comes along taking the kids is the perfect alibi.
Ian was hoping to finish work early today, but with staff dragging their heels as usual it was 4pm by the time he finished everything he had to do.
After work, Ian went shopping for some English Jelly Babies and rabbit scraps at IGA supermarket, Australian Jelly Babies are disgusting, the person who makes the Australian version has obviously never tasted the far superior English version, or maybe he doesn’t really care what they taste like because if they are only eaten by Australians the chances are they will be covered in tomato sauce anyway, so it doesn’t matter what they taste like because they will all be tomato sauce flavour by the time the get eaten.
When Ian got home, Carolyn opened her cards and presents and seemed to like them all, so that was a result.
We went out for dinner at the Vasse tonight, the boys were determined to have a Pizza each despite the fact that we told them they were big, they managed to finish the equivalent of one whole pizza between them, so guess what they’ve got for dinner tomorrow.
Carolyn had a steak with mushrooms stuffed with snails, we haven’t eaten snails since we were back in the UK, so she was in her element and thoroughly enjoyed the meal, she reckons it was the best meal she had eaten in Busselton and let the chef know it.
After dinner we walked up to the Royal Palms (Ship) for a quick drink before catching a taxi home, the floor in the bar was once again filthy and sticky as they had a crowd in to watch the AFL (aerial ping pong) this afternoon and none of the staff could be arsed to mop the floor afterwards despite it being the main bar for a wedding reception in the evening, the management should be ashamed of themselves.
After we got home, Ian watched the real football, Arsenal v Wigan, a mismatch if ever there was one, while Carolyn played on the computer.
The dogs still haven’t got a name although we did sit up last night firing names at each other, Hinge and Bracket, Smith and Jones, Samson (sammy) and Delilah, Anthony (Antoinette) and Cleopatra, George (Georgia) and Mildred and many more, they are Carolyns babies so she is going to have the final decision at some point, the rest of us will just have to wait in nervous anticipation.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HP !!!!

No not that HP *edited to include a condiment I had previously excluded from my 'not' list*nor this one, the HP printer kind. I have just run out of ink, no poblemo says Mrs Hojo, I shall pop to the shop and purchase one, oh no says Mr Shopkeeper, you have an English Printer you must buy your Ink in England. But, but, that is less than convenient says Mrs Hojo. Tough says Mr Shopkeeper, I care not a jot. I will however refill your fine English Ink cartridge for you by tomorrow, or the next day.....tomorrow or the next day???? says Mrs Hojo, go overnight without ink, are you insane????


I need a red cross parcel from England.

The End

A True Story by Disgruntled of Busso

A Year On

Tuesday 2nd June 2009
Today is the first anniversary of day Carolyns Mum died, for Carolyn in particular it is extremely stressful, every anniversary is something new without her Mum, Birthdays, Anniversaries (she was the one who used to let us know when our wedding anniversary was), Christmas, we just didn’t realise how many different things we kept in touch about.
It has been a very traumatic year for Carolyn, the death of her Mum at what is today considered to be a young age within a couple of months of us migrating to the other side of the world, living in a new country, new cultures, new laws, new expectations and no guarantee that we will be allowed to stay in a couple of years time.
Through all this Carolyn has worked her socks off, making sure the kids get the best education possible, helping out at the Café when the going gets tough, doing the Bookwork and keeping house to name but a few things.
Carolyns Mum backed us through our efforts to leave the UK and head for Oz despite the fact that she didn’t want us to leave, it’s just a shame that she never managed to come out here and see what she had helped us achieve, if she is looking down on us now, she would be proud of what we have achieved and how Carolyn has held it together over the last year, a year of pressure and change.
Carolyns Mum is missed by all of us, she will not be forgotten, but in time we will learn to live with the loss, and hope that we and the kids make the most of the help that she gave us, the help that got us from Axbridge to Oz.


Busselton Town Centre was pretty much closed off to traffic today as the Shire do some alterations to the roads, we thought that the road closures combined with the end of a long weekend and the tourists going home would mean a quiet day, wrong.
We started quietly although Ian had cocked up with the rota and didn’t have enough starting early, nobody to do the Monday morning duties which needed to be done today as we were not open yesterday.
We coped, we were helped by the fact that the Gas Fitter had decided not to turn up till after lunchtime, this meant that Carolyn could help out at the Café as we are short staffed with Michelle off on holiday to New Zealand.
We were busy until about 2.30pm when it died off in dramatic style, after that it was dribs and drabs and not really worth staying open, but we have to keep trying.
The Gas Fitter didn’t turn up after lunch as he had said, he is apparently going to turn up tomorrow instead, don’t you just love these tradies.
Fraser and Marisa went to Scouts this evening, they had to get everything organised for the Forrest Quest Camp this coming weekend, apparently they have come up with two Skits to perform while on camp, now when was the last time anyone used the word Skit?
After the kids went to bed we watched the Eiger Sanction with Clint Eastwood, it was a good film in its time but alas, too much naked flesh for the kids to be allowed to watch it.

April Fool

Tuesday 1st April 2008
As we are new to this country we thought that it would probably be unwise to upset the natives this year by running an April fool, plus we do not have a base yet to run it from. Carolyn has suggested that instead, just in case any of you out there reading this, if there are any of you out there reading this do not know what we did last year we should do a reprint. If there isn’t anyone out there reading this then we apologise for wasting your time and suggest you do not read the rest of this page.
For anybody that doesn’t know Axbridge in Somerset, it is a lovely little Town with a population of about 2000, most of whom know each other very well and all of whom use the shop, which as a rule is the place to go if you want to find something out or where you will find something out even if you don’t want to.
At the Crown Inn we used to attract a certain amount of criticism because we would not bow to tradition and be trampled upon by the traditionalists that either did not want change, or only wanted it if it suited them. It would be fair to say that we had upset a few of these people because of our stance on certain issues and insistence on a level playing field for all and now they watched every move that we made in an effort to shoot us down at every opportunity.
At the Crown Inn we used to publish a monthly newsletter which was our way of advertising the business, it had little snippets of news about the teams in the pub and any little gems that may have occurred in the previous month. We used it to advertise what was going on during the next month and used to allow non profit making organisations to advertise their fund raising events free of charge, we would then deliver them ourselves, firstly to make sure that they were actually delivered and secondly because we needed the exercise.
In the build up to April 1st 2007 we had been quite high profile because no business in Axbridge had ever gone out of their way to do this sort of advertising, and as this was going to be only our 3rd edition we felt that we needed to pull the stops out and give people something to talk about.
The idea came about because the road out side the pub was very narrow and people were always driving up it at breakneck speeds, over the years a couple of serious accidents had happened but nothing had been done by the authorities to improve the situation, so we decided to come up with a solution.
In the centre pages of the Newsletter we printed the following article under the heading Pub News, just so that it wouldn’t be too obvious we printed all of our usual little snippets first and made it look like this was an unimportant add-on. It went like this.
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After weeks of discussions with local Counsellors we have come to an agreement in principle on a proposal put forward by us that we feel would benefit both the Crown Inn and the people of Axbridge.
The proposal is that the Council would narrow the road outside the Crown Inn reducing its width down to one lane thereby causing traffic to slow down to negotiate what would effectively become a natural chicane in St Mary’s Street. It is felt that this would make this road a safer place and reduce the risk of accidents for pedestrians and road users alike.
It is proposed that on completion of these works the Crown Inn subject to usual planning consents would be given a 99 year lease on the land outside the pub with permission to build a conservatory on said land providing us and our customers with a larger trading area and improved facilities which it is felt could only be of benefit to the town.
The proposed scheme would initially be funded by the Council with the Crown Inn paying a rent based on the market rate for the space used and liable for the upkeep of said space ensuring that the property and surroundings are maintained to a satisfactory standard.
It is proposed that the building be in keeping with the surrounding area and it is anticipated that we would use local stone and local craftsmen to complete the project ensuring that the scheme will bring maximum benefit to the people of Axbridge.
It is understood that there will be some concern amongst the residents of Axbridge and with this in mind it has been decided that initial drawings will be available to view at the Crown Inn from April 1st in order that residents may be involved in the design of this proposed development prior to final drawings and applications being made.
We hope that you will see the benefits of this scheme for all concerned, with safer roads, improved amenities for the Town and local businesses working with local Counsellors towards a common goal. Whilst also providing the local residents with the opportunity to influence the future of Axbridge and the democratic process that will shape the future of the Town for years to come.
Please come along on April 1st and view the initial drawings where your observations and concerns may be taken on board by a team of counsellors who will be present prior to final drawings and applications being presented to Sedgemoor for consideration.
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The response was amazing, unfortunately April 1st was on a Sunday so we had to deliver the newsletter earlier than we would have liked because we were too busy to be able to deliver it on the Saturday. We had to deliver it on the Thursday and within 10 minutes of us starting our deliveries one of the Town Councillors had screeched to a halt in his car out side the house where Ian had just delivered a copy, and with his wife in the car was demanding to know from Ian which councillors we had been in discussions with over the proposal and was presumably wondering how it got that far without him knowing about it. Which asks the question how many underhand things do go on within a Council? When a Councillor can jump to the conclusion that this had happened you do have to wonder. Ian just told him to come down the pub on Sunday and he could see the drawings for himself.
By lunchtime the local unwashed that used to hang around in the square and had so for many years, had picked up on the plans and was wandering round the square telling everyone that would or wouldn’t listen that we should be run out of town and that it was a disgrace that this could happen in Axbridge.
By the evening probably two thirds of the people we met were unsure about whether it was true or not and most of them would not even mention it just in case they made themselves look stupid. Any that did mention it we told to come in on Sunday and they would be able to see the drawings then. In the meantime, because of the effect this was having on the Town we thought it only fair that should anybody come in on Sunday to see the drawings they shouldn’t be disappointed, so we got the kids to do a load of drawings of what they thought the Street and the Pub would look like if there was a conservatory built onto the front of the pub. The drawings were not quite architect standard but pretty good for young children who had been asked to do it with very little notice.
The local papers had been inundated with calls saying that it was outrageous so they were soon on the doorstep wanting to take photo’s of the plans and when we explained to them what it was they arranged to come in on the Sunday to take them with the children holding them up for all to see. The press also confirmed that Sedgemoor Council Planning Department had also been fielding a lot of calls from anxious Axbridge residents but declined to say how many.
As we said earlier, because the 1st was on a Sunday it lost a lot of its impact on the day because people had time to either work it out or be told by a friend, but we still had a few people turn up in the pub on Sunday, just not as many as we had hoped. We did however have a strong show of support for the idea from a lot of people who were genuinely concerned about road safety in St Mary’s Street, most of whom thought that although it was a bit drastic it was the best idea anyone had come up with so far to solve the problem.
At the end of the day it ensured our place as enemy No1 amongst the great unwashed in the Town Square, embarrassed some that should know better and gave a lot of others a bit of a giggle.

Back to 2008, it looked like winter might be over, the sun was shinning the air was warming up and all was looking bright and beautiful.
We took the kids to school and did a stint of listening to children read, the system is far more laid back than back in the UK and our kids are in a bit of a comfort zone at the moment because in the UK system they start a year earlier, we are going to have to make sure we keep pushing them otherwise they are going to become complacent and start slipping backwards because it is too easy at the moment.
We went to the Café and did the usual email things, we also arranged for a PO Box in the post office over the road from the Café because unlike England the Post gets left at the bottom of the garden in a box rather than being delivered to the door and we don’t like the idea of it out there all day for all to see while we are out.
We have arranged to have our phone line connected at the house on Friday although they sound a bit BT’ish so it probably won’t happen on time, we also set up accounts and arranged meter readings for Gas and Electric who sound far more efficient.
We picked the kids up from school at the usual time, Kristian has been eaten by a mosquito or something similar but is not over bothered by it, Marisa almost completed her first back flip this afternoon and is confident that she is going to achieve it soon, Fraser is just very happy with life at the moment and doing well in school, we think the grounding that they received from Axbridge First School has held them in good stead.
Early nights all round, if Australia does April fools it has gone straight over our heads, hopefully we will notice it next year, we will definitely be putting one together although it will have to be quite tame because we don’t want to get deported just yet.
Winter is possibly coming back again tomorrow 21 degrees on the forecast; we are getting desperate for our belongings to turn up so that we can get out the thermals.

Also, please take a look at Jonny's travel blog www.travelpod.com/members/jonnymatthews
currently in Santiago, Chile. He adds more photos than us so far so it should be good for those of us who have never visited the areas. Good to hear from you Jonny.

The Journey to Australia

From Axbridge to Australia with the HoJo’s

G’Day everyone
Sorry it’s taken so long to get this blog up and running but it has all been a bit frantic since we arrived here in Australia, looking for somewhere to live and a business to buy so that we can start working towards our aim of gaining a residence visa is just so time consuming.
Anyway if I keep on waffling on like this we will never get started, so here goes.

Sunday 3rd February 2008
We went out for an early farewell meal with some of Carolyn’s family last night and managed to get the kids to bed nice and early and despite all the excitement they went to sleep straight away (for the first time since we left the pub on 28th November), somebody must be smiling on us. So we get the kids up at some ungodly hour (4.30-5am) and they are all full of energy, happy, excited and raring to go.
So while the kids had a light breakfast we loaded the cars and made ready for the trip to Heathrow, we needed 2 cars to fit us all in and Carolyn’s parents had volunteered to drive us from their home in Essex.
The journey to the airport was pretty uneventful and we arrived at about 8am. we sent the kids off to find 2 baggage trolleys which was quite amusing, after a couple of minutes Fraser (the eldest) is seen in the distance walking towards us pushing one of those great big Skycap trolleys, you know the ones that are supposed to be manned by somebody in a red jacket who is quite happy to charge you about £10 for the pleasure of pushing your luggage 200 yards into the terminal. Well obviously the person in charge of this particular trolley had turned his back on it for a second and Fraser, who recognised that we would need a big trolley to carry all of our things, was in like Flynn and was weaving his way towards us. We don’t know how many people he injured along the way, but he was just getting used to the handling when we had to tell him that he had got the wrong type of trolley and although we praised him for his ingenuity he needed to look for a regular size trolley, which he found a few minutes later. He did look a bit disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to ram raid the terminal with the big trolley, so we let him push one of the smaller ones and by the time he had run over a couple of old ladies, clipped a few ankles and had just perfected the art of crashing into everything, he was starting to enjoy it when we got to the check-in desk and we were able to breathe a sigh of relief, dumping the trolley before anyone could take any DNA samples and charge us with malicious wounding.
Fortunately we had checked-in 48 hours earlier so all we had to do was check our bags in, which was done within about 15 minutes and left Carolyn kicking herself because she had been so diligent about not overloading the cases and the guy checking them in was obviously not particularly bothered about it. Still, it will keep Carolyn’s parents fit when they come over to visit us, bringing over all the stuff we left out.
Anyway, time to find a nice big healthy breakfast. Not a chance, Heathrow is a pit, Terminal 3 used to be the best terminal out of the lot, light and airy, room to move, now it is just as bad as 1, 2 and 4, so many people in there that if you do find a seat that’s vacant you leap into it whether you want it or not just in case you can’t find one later. We were lucky, hidden in a dark corner of an Irish style Pub hidden under a mountain of dirty Plates, Cups, Glasses and cutlery was a table and 4 chairs, shame there was 5 of us but not to be put off we clung to those seats like our lives depended on it and when Ian was sure that the seats were secure he piled up all the rubbish from our table carefully on top another large pile of rubbish that somebody else had already dumped in another corner.
So with table clear it was time to sort out what we wanted for breakfast. We picked ours out straight away, Big Irish Breakfast, but the kids who had already had one breakfast wanted everything that they wouldn’t be able to get at home, there was no chance of an early solution so Ian got the hump and the children got their act together. I would like to say that the food was delicious but I would be lying, it was warm, well most of it was, Kristian had a small box of Cereal served with about a pint of boiling hot milk (he obviously had our allocation of hot), we sent our Big Irish Breakfast Back to be reheated, whereupon the Big Irish Breakfast Chef nuked it for a couple of minutes in the microwave and sent it back out.
So, breakfast done (so were we) and time to make our way to the gate ready to board the plane. Wrong, you have to have a loo stop because you don’t know how long you are going to have to sit on the plane before you will be allowed to go again. Two adults 3 kids and a load of hand luggage, it was going to have to be done in shifts and needless to say there was a queue to get into the Ladies. So Carolyn and the Kids head off to the loos and just as Ian was about to send out a search party when they started to come back, now it was Ian’s turn, the place was obviously being used as an overflow sewage works because it was overflowing everywhere. I think that the guy that normally looks after that block had gone off sick with dysentery some weeks beforehand but because none of his fellow workers spoke English they were unable to let anybody know. I bet some of the planes must have been pretty ripe when they landed after all those passengers had waded through that lot. It got Ian wondering why he ever wanted to leave this wonderful country.
Anyway, safely on our way to the Gate, check the Tickets for the umpteenth time, same with the Passports and the Kids, now where have they gone, while Ian was trying to navigate the rapids in the overflow sewage works Fraser and Marisa had decided that the time was right to practice using their new wheelies and Fraser hadn’t knocked anybody over for at least an hour. Fortunately there were only about one and a half million people in the terminal at the time so we weren’t too worried. Five minutes later they came back, and after we had explained to them what wonderful children they were we realised we were now going to be late reaching the Gate, Carolyn grabbed Marisa and Kristian’s hands and started running through the terminal at a rate of knots whilst Ian and Fraser determined to maintain their cool athletic demeanour ambled along behind before jumping on the back of one of those little Golf Buggy things that fly around the airport and got a lift all the way to the Gate arriving fresh and unperturbed.
The plane had already started loading and needless to say our section had been the first to load, so it was that the 5 of us fought our way through the ranks of other passengers who were trying to put bags in the overhead lockers before finally reaching our seats somewhere near the back.
Singapore Airlines, what can we say, the Check-in was a piece of cake and the staff on board this 747 on the first leg of our trip to OZ were positively delightful, we were only in the economy section but they smiled, they acknowledged the children and generally just made us feel welcome. Hot towels to start, just to get the feeling that we are going to be pampered, that was about as much as it got, but they were efficient, and if you wanted a drink you got one, if you wanted a snack you got one, it was like being in a good restaurant, where you only see the waiter when you want something and yet they are always there at the right time.
Take Off time, no dramas, and the kids can’t wait for the little TV screens to come to life so that the can spend the next 12 hours watching the same film 5 times over (Fraser), shooting aliens and crashing things (Marisa), telling the other two what they are doing wrong (Kristian). Ian did try to point out to them that they were about to fly over Grannies house but they got the hump and told him to get out of the way of the screen.
The rest off the flight was pretty uneventful, we ate a couple of times, we drank a couple of times, we watched a lot of telly but could not get to sleep, and so it was that we landed in Singapore at 7am their time on Monday 4th February 2008.
Talk about contrasts, after Heathrow this was like walking into your poshest friends living room, you almost felt like you should take your shoes off for fear of making a mess of the carpets, the place was light and airy, uncluttered, friendly, welcoming and efficient, just like terminal 3 used to be, you could have 2 seats if you wanted and you didn’t have to endure a twice nuked Big Irish Breakfast.
Less than 2 hours and we were on the move again, only this time the X-ray machine has picked up something in the hand luggage, and we had checked the list so many times to make sure that this wouldn’t happen. Carolyn had picked up a pair of scissors just as we left home, they were the Left Handed scissors for Fraser that had taken weeks to find and Carolyn was adamant that they were not going to be left behind, she would simply put them in a case when we got to the airport. Wrong, with all the stress of trying to get 3 kids 2 trolleys, one of which is being driven by a madman and half a ton of luggage through the airport the were totally forgotten about, fortunately the people operating the security equipment was being operated by the same people who normally stop illegal immigrants from coming into the country so they missed them totally. Anyway, the Singapore authorities had found the offensive weapon and there was no way we were going to be allowed to get on board with them in our possession, Carolyn however had other ideas and having smuggled them out of England and into Singapore without being detected, and not at any time on the way out having the inclination to hijack the plane, she was determined to get them into Australia, fortunately the Singapore authorities had obviously seen this scenario a few times before and before Carolyn could get on her high horse, had asked her to sign a form allowing the staff to take them on board and allowing us to claim them back at Perth Airport. Happy families again!
So onto the final leg of the journey, Singapore Airlines again, same friendly service, staff acknowledged the kids; the kids couldn’t wait for the telly to come on. Not much sleep again but only a 5 hour flight this time, I would say it flew by but that would be stating the obvious.
Landed at Perth on time Monday afternoon and joined the worlds biggest migration queue, I hope there are still some people left in England able to read this otherwise I am wasting my time and we’ll have to tell you about it over a Barbie instead.
Needless to say we are the last people to come through Immigration and we must say they were very nice, helpful people, totally unlike what we are led to believe when you are trying to get permission to come here in the first place. So, we are just putting the last cases through the X ray machine having already done the immigration bit and Carolyn remembers the Scissors, we were supposed to have picked them up airside and declared them as we came through Customs, again someone must have been smiling on us because the very nice lady in Customs said don’t worry I can take you through to pick them up and proceeded to lead Carolyn through to the collection point. Fraser will probably become right handed now.
We have taken so long coming through that Ian’s sister Sharon is starting to wonder whether we have missed the plane, but eventually we’re through and the great adventure is about to begin, the weather is hot and Sharon’s other half Malcolm is on his way to help pick us up as we needed 2 cars to fit us all in. It took us about an hour to get to their house in Clarkson, north of Perth and by the time we had eaten an evening meal, Snags (sausages) cooked by Malcolm on the Barbie and drunk a can of the Amber Nectar (fizzy crap) we were hanging and ready for bed.