Gus Is Home!

I'm happy to report that Gus made his way back to Oz safely afew weeks ago! Yay! He was very tired after his journey apparently!

Thank you again for being my Little Visitor, Gus. It was a pleasure!

Gladys Is Baaack!

To my suprise - Gladys arrived back home to me on Friday! It took less than a week to get from Australia to England! Here are the fab goodies she brought with her...

Here's the amazing scrapbook and some of my favourite pages...

Some cute toys and origami!

Shot Glass from the zoo, 3D glasses, Guides Badge, Chop sticks and a really pretty cross stitch

Bookmark, Oz Slang book and leaflet

Sweeties!

Beautiful Aboriginal art work

Also, not pictured, was a fab bag I was told was used as packaging, but I love it! I gave it to my Mum to carry her shopping in!

Once again, Thank you beckashell for all the great goodies and for looking after Gladys so well!! She won't stop talking about her adventures! :D

Return To Oz

It was very emotional, but I said goodbye to Gus on Friday :( He is on his way back to Australia.


I've had such a great summer with him - we've been on tons of adventures and had lots of fun! I sent him back with lots of goodies for Becky and her family that I've been collecting for the past few months - the package cost a fortune to post!!

I'll let you know when Gus is back home safely - hopefully it won't take him too long :)

Take care, Gus!! -x-

Sussex and Mail

I got a 3rd postcard from Gladys today!




Thank you Gladys and Becky! It's gone straight onto my postcard wall!

Last week we went on a road trip to Sussex. I haven't got any pictures to show you as I only got 4, and they're going in the scrapbook :) But I can tell you a bit of what happened :)

We set out in the morning and made our way, yet again, to Kent. We've been there so much lately! We traveled all the way through Kent and into the county of Sussex. I haven't been here since I was a kid.

Our first stop was the seaside town of Hythe. It has a pretty peddle beach and a fab chip shop! Gus shared my chips as we sat in the car :D Next we went onto another seaside town, Camber Sands. My Mum used to go here on holiday when she was little.

We went to the beach, but the tide was so far in that there was hardly any beach there! We did see a MASSIVE seagull there though! We had a walk round and visited some gift shops in the area.

We then went to Rye, which is a little town that's full of antique and craft shops. There was so much stuff there! Gus loved the little needle felted donkey I bought. They got on really well!

Our last stop was yet another seaside town - Hastings. I have to admit - it wasn't my favourite place. It was a bit grubby. But we took a walk down the seafront anyway, and bought some postcards.

We were stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam on the way back to the Dartfort tunnel on the way home. It was sooooo boring. Gus kept us entertained though with tales from all the LV swaps he's been on. He's been a very busy turkey!

This will probably be our last adventure :( I'm in the middle of finishing off his scrapbook, and will then think about sending him home next week. I'm really gonna miss him!

Chislehurst Caves and Tilbury Fort

On Sunday we took the drive down to the county of Kent, to visit Chislehurst Caves. I've wanted to take Gus here ever since I found out I would be taking part in the swap! I couldn't get any pictures of Gus in the actual caves themselves as it was too dark - but here he is with some locals...


Notice the picture is blurry? I took several pictures here at the entrance to the caves and they all came out blurry. They say the caves are haunted! Spoooooky!

Chislehurst Caves are a network of man made caves dating back all the way to the Saxons, Romans and the Druids. The caves are split up into them 3 parts, the Druids part being a maze of walkways and also contains Druid alters where they held human sacrifice. In WWII the caves were opened up to the public to use as a sort of under ground bunker to shelter them from the bombs above. It cost 1p a night to stay! Down there they had churches, shops, a cinema and a hospital. A baby girl was even born down there. Here is Gus looking at old photos from the war.


I've been on the tour before, it's great! We also learned that rock concerts have taken place there too, bands like The Who, Led Zepplin, Jimi Hendrix and lots of others.

After the caves we travelled back up to Essex, and to Tilbury Fort. The fort is from the 16th century, and was built along the Thames Estuary to protect London. It's said that Henry VIII built the first fort, and Queen Elizabeth I rallied her army here to face the Armarda. Here is Gus taking a look at some of the tank/gun things they have on display there.


On the approach to the fort you walk along the side of the Thames, and on a clear day like Sunday you can see Gravesend in Kent on the other side of the water.


After that we headed back down the A13 home. It was a fun day - Gus said he liked the caves best! So did I!

Yesterday we went on a road trip to Sussex. I'll have pictures up soon!

Ikea

Last week we all went on a shopping trip to Ikea, in nearby Thurrock.


We were on the look out for bathroom cabinets, but that didn't stop Gus and I having fun!


He said his favourite department was the beds, because he got to have a rest from all the photo taking!


Today we went to Chislehurst Caves and Tibury Fort - pictures to come! :D

Postcard!

I recieved another postcard from Gladys! Yay!

Sounds like she's having a fab time with Becky in OZ! I wish I was there!

Thank you Gladys and Becky, I've just started collecting postcards so this is great! :D