The McKenzie's Blog…

Day four started out very very very early when one of the sproggs sprung a leaked and attempted to float out on the air mattress. Wasn’t nice to deal with at 4am.

Then it was up about 8am or so to get cleaned up, fed and packed up. Breakfast was some left over sausages and a hamburger and some scrambled eggs that were collected by the owners the day before, YUMMY!! By 1115 we’d cleared the camp site and were on the way back to Diss for the laundrette, thankfully it was open.

We arrived at the new site, the Orchard (IP13 0SJ). I assume at one time it was, there are still a couple apple trees around, not eating apples though. While Yuki and I got busy setting up camp the kids went off to play, they quickly acquired their new victims … Err found a couple of kids to befriend that are both sisters and only 6 months difference from our girls. Turns out they just down from north of Peterborough and arrived an hour or so ahead of us, very nice couple they are.

We didn’t feel much like cooking tonight so headed into a town called Woodbridge. We found a very nice pub called The Seal. The bar keep turns out to have schooled at Queen’s Uni in Kingston so had a bit of a chat about that.

Back to the camp site… We finished setting up the tent and all. Then it was over to visit with the folks we’d met earlier. The girls had gone go to theirs and were “helping” with the fire and roasting of marshmallows. stood around for about 90 mins chatting then it was time for the “glow stick shower”. Every Wed and Sat nights after dark they assemble all the kids/teens near the shop and after a very loud count down from 10 they hurled about 100 of the thin flexible glow sticks into the air from a couple different directions. All that can be said about what happened next is… WOW… The kids had a blast collecting what they could. After that was done they handed out the joiners for the glow sticks.

That brings me to the present… 2230hrs and I’m wiped… Again. Blogging this not from my chair under the stars but from bed. Our neighbours have also just returned, not overly concerned the others could be sleeping but never mind.

Time to post this and sign off for the night… No ideas yet for tomorrow… Likely head to Southwold to the beach or something.

Sorry for taking so long to post this tonight tata from Suffolk!

Posted by Wordmobi

It was a proper cold night last night. Even had to fire up the stove in the tent for a bit about 330am… The girls had to go for pee so figured might as well try and warm things up a bit. The gas bottle was running low so didn’t run it too long, needed to cook breakfast haha

We decided to spend the day back in Diss. Its and old town with narrow streets and loads of little shops. A lot of charity shops too. Yuki had loads of fun looking through the shops and got some great deals on some nice clothes.

Part of the reason for spending the day there was to get to a laundrette. Lucky the town had one… Unluckily it was shut today only for “essential maintenance”, just our luck. The day was another scorcher, reaching 27 according to the car. After some shopping, walking and the best part of an hour at the new park just off The Mere (pronounced “mirror” from what I can work out), that is a lake stocked with fish and ducks, and according the signage, an over abundance of Blue-Green Algae and contact with the water should be avoided. Nice.

We then turned our attention to food… Struck out at the first two places (excessive delay and filth). Finally found food at the Morrison’s, it wasn’t bad at all to fair. Then was to shopping for some supplies including more ice for the cooler. The next time we go camping I will get dry ice, will last a week easily in the cooler. We also needed to find a place to get some gas for the camp stove, found that and headed back to camp.

On return to the camp site we found two new families had arrived with their kids, mostly about Lisa’s and Emma’s ages so that was good. Brings the kid count to about 10 or so I suppose. The girls had a blast with their new friends. 9pm came ever so fast tonight. The girls are all in bed now sound asleep, the quickest so far.

Tomorrow its time to pack up and move on to a new site. We’d like to stay here another couple days rather then move but we’ve already paid a deposit at the new place. Besides, its always nice to other things too.

I’m just sitting outside writing this, enjoying the stars and trying to enjoy the quiet but the voices of other campers are on the wind. Its alright though, its still relaxing.

For the interest of those that care… I have been writing these blog posts in Quickoffice on my Nokia N97, this .lets me edit easily plus has a spell checker in it too, good init? Hehe Then I copy and paste my ramblings into Mobiword and publish to the blog. There is a bit of fiddle with the process but all in all it works well. Quickoffice, I think, is an essential app for the phone. It comes pre-installed on the device but the trial is short and its an old version.

Right enough babbling for the night, there are stars and bats to be watched tonight.

Good night world!

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