The McKenzies' Blog…

Getting the kids to sleep last night wasn’t quite as easy as it was made out to be in my previous posting. They were up and down like yoyos on speed… Finally got them to sleep at about 10pm…

Morning started early at 7 when Lisa woke up first. She needed the loo… It was chilly but by 8am it was getting hot and drove us out of the tent. We had a bacon and egg breaky, then it was to into the town of Diss for a few bits from Morrison’s. After that it was to the zoo.

It’s quite a large zoo for such an out of the way place. Will have loads of pics when we get back or get wifi connection somewhere. the kids had a ball at the zoo, we stayed about 5 hours…we’re all fully knackered. Could do with a nap but doubt that will happen.

Back at the camp site… Yuki and Lisa slept. I caught up on twitter, email and some facebooking plus watching Emma… She had no interest in sleeping. I hope that will work for us later at bed time…

Dinner is done, bbq hamburgers, boiled carrots and salad. The kids had a heck of an appetite tonight. Between all the walking at the zoo and the running around at the camp site with the other kids. All three of my girls are now in bed and trying to get to sleep. I’ve decided to sit out under the stars and read a magazine and finish off this blog posting.

It’s been another very full day. Sleeping tonight I hope will be easier then it was last night. Not sure what the plan is for tomorrow. I think we are going to head back to Diss and check out the town and the shops. What little we saw today when going to the store it looked like it would be worth another look around.

Well, I think that’s about it for me tonight. Gonna finish my hot chocolate and get inside the tent and snuggle down. The clear skies tonight means it will be colder then it was last night.

Good night from Brickyard Farms.

Posted by Wordmobi

We started out a weeks camping by leaving the house about noon on Sunday. The drive to the camp site, Brickyard Farm Camp site (Banham, Norfolk, NR16 2HQ), was only about an hour or so from home. Even at the reduced speed we had to travel at because of towing the trailer. After a stop at Sainsbury in Thetford for a few last minute supplies and lunch as well, we arrived at the camp site at about 1400hrs, plenty of daylight left so we could take our time getting everything set up.

Lisa and Emma immediately found the horses in the fields to go and see plus a swing set to play on as well. I was a bit worried for a while, there were no other kids around. Then, a family came trooping back into camp. They’d been out to the Banham Zoo. It’s about 1/2 mile down the road. Anyhow, Lisa and Emma quickly became acquainted with Hanna, 7yrs old. They spent the next 3 or so hours playing all sorts of games and running around the farm.

The camp site itself is a small family run business. It’s run the brother of our neighbour, very nice folks. They popped around to check on us and see how we were settling in. Quite layed back, they haven’t asked for money as yet. The site is, as I mentioned, small. Only about 6 or so pitches, most with electric. We didn’t bother with that, I’d brought the 120amp battery with us. More then enough power for the week to run a laptop if needed and charge the phones. I brought a 12v florescent lamp as well but likely won’t need it.

The kids are knackered. They’ve had a busy afternoon that’s for sure. Tomorrow we’ll be walking to the zoo and checking out the animals and whatever else they have there.

Well that’s about it from here tonight I think. the big people are knackered too and ready for bed now as well.

Watch this space for the day 2 report. I won’t be posting pics on the blog, but check on facebook, flickr and mobypictures and of course Twitter.com/m1xzg for updates.

Btw, this is all from my phone, there are likely spelling errors, I will fix them later. Don’t think I have a spell check on here.

Posted by Wordmobi

From the looks of the weather we’ve had it should be a good summer for camping … at least I sure hope so anyhow. Need to get the tent dug out and setup in the garden for to check it for any damage and such .. it’s been put away for 2 years since we last used it .. there was no camping last year.

I’ve been looking at some camp sites and one that has stuck out as looking like a fun place to go (for the kids too) …

River Dart Country Park – http://www.riverdart.co.uk/ Check out the pics of the place on the site.

Also found this place http://www.woodovis.com/cmx/content/view/2/4/ seems all right. Will have to check them out more.

So, while looking for a small and light weight stove for hiking / SOTA whatever I decided to pick up a Hexamine pocket stove and give it a try.  I usually have a Camping Gaz type stove but it’s big, bulky and you need to carry compressed gas cartridges with it.  These themselves are big, bulky and can’t really just be chucked in a bin when they are finished as they are still a risk of exploding.

I’d really like a MSR Whisperlite but they aren’t cheap, however, they are very versatile.. best you read about them on the manufactures website (click the link back there).  At some point I’ll likely get one of these, but not right now. 

For now I’ll have a go with this Hexamine stove.    This the very same one I have picked up for £4.00

To night I decided to do some timing experiments to see how long it takes to boil water in both my crusader cup and a small aluminium kettle.  The Crusader cup took 6m20sec to bring 1L of water to a boil and the Hexamine cube held the boil for 3 minutes.  Might want it to boil longer if you were sterilizing water, but just pop another cube of Hexamine and it would be good for another 9 mins of burn time.  The kettle, which has a lid, only took 4m30sec and the same 9 min burn time on the cube so that means 4m30sec of the water being held at a boil.

A couple of pics and a couple of videos can be seen below.. click to enlarge or see the videos.

Well, now just have to try it out in anger one day in the field

Well, that is to quote a line from 99 Luftballons (99 Red Balloons – English) by Nena.   The fireworks held at Cottenham Primary School this year were great.  The kids had a great time as well.  It sure was cold though, only 9C but with the wind and being mostly exposed to the wind in the school grounds it was quite chilling and everyone was well cold by the end of the show.

You can see all the pics and the videos from the night by CLICKING HERE.