South West England

 Day 20

Today, we caught an Uber out to the airport to collect our hire car, ready for our 5 day circuit around SW England. We navigated our way out of the airport and naively thought we'd soon be hitting some less congested roads, but it turned out to be just as busy. 

We planned our destinations around places that we've heard of or of historical interest. Most of mine were historical interest and Nook's from Escape to the Country 🥱.

Our first stop was Portsmouth, approx 90 mins out of London down on the coast. The attraction here was that it was site that the first fleet left for our Great South Land. And while this event changed the course of our land and First Nations peoples, who are still feeling the impact today, nonetheless it was a historically significant time and place. I'm not sure about the statement 'Birth of Australia' and how with our current understanding of our history, this could be rephrased.

We had a bite to eat there at a desolate amusement area on the wharf. If I said 'Coney Island', I'm sure you could visualise what I'm talking about.

We then drove to Southampton to visit the SeaCity Museum which houses a Titanic exhibition, being the port from which the doomed vessel departed England on its maiden voyage. To be honest, it was little disappointing as we envisaged that this would be a significant exhibition with many artefacts.

Our next stop was the beautiful seaside town of Lulworth, along the Jurassic Coast. I don't think we need to explain why this place of significance was on our list! We walked down to Durdle Door which is an amazing natural limestone sea arch.

We spent the night in the beautiful seaside town of Weymouth, and fell in love with it. A picturesque fishing town with pebble beach and great architecture and alleyways full of shops, eateries and pubs. We had a great evening meal at a local pub and walk along the wharf area.

Many of the places along the North East Coast of Tasmania are named after towns along the Dorset and Cornwall coast. We thought of all our friends from Lulworth, Weymouth and Bridport.

Day 21

After a wander through the streets of Weymouth, we headed of to Bridport, which was nowhere near as nice as our Tasmanian namesake. Next was the seaside town of Lyme Regis which was beautiful, other than the large seagulls who swoop unsuspecting tourists who may be eating and walking. Poor Ollie has his cornish pastie stolen here, just as had a panini stolen in Venice. Thankfully, Tassie seagulls are much more respectful.

Our next stop was the fishing village of Polperro, and as we arrived late in the afternoon, everything had closed and it was a bit of a ghost town. The cold wind and overcast sky didn't help us appreciate what I'm sure is a bustling little town during the day.

Our evening accommodation was a countryside Manor which was very comfortable.

Day 22

Today's adventures started with a visit to St Michael’s Mount which is a Medieval castle set atop a rocky island just off the coast. At low tide you can access the island via a Causeway, but our visit today didn't coincidence with the tides, so we caught a small boat out and back. If the walls of these castles could talk, I'm sure they'd tell an interesting version of history!

We continued our coastal drive through Penzance and Mousehole before ending up at Land's End, which is the most westerly point of England. We continued on to the vibrant coastal town of St Ives to enjoy a stroll and gelato, whist avoiding those thieving seagulls.

We ended up at our accomodation just out of the original Launceston - the historical capital of Cornwall. We were pretty tired after a big day of driving and contemplated eating at the hotel restaurant. However, something told me to venture out and find a traditional Cornish pub for a meal. Tripadviser recommended the Eliot Arms, just down the road, which was a great little pub with low ceilings, iconic exposed timber beams and the walls adorned with all sorts of paraphernalia. Ella was thrilled to see the sign at the bar stating U14s were permitted at the bar. The boys - not so thrilled! We were amazed to find that we were in a pub in Launceston UK and the coasters on the table made reference to Tasmania. We got chatting to the waitress who hadn't heard of Tasmania or knew that there is another Launceston in the world. She was genuinely interested in Tassie and all the towns that share names of from Dorset or Cornwall in the UK. 

Day 23

Today saw us head out via the ancient town of Castle Combe and then onto Bath to visit the renowned Roman baths. Nook had done a tour of this year's ago, so she was happy to have a shop, while the kids and I did the self guided tour. Such remarkable infrastructure. We also saw the Pulteney Bridge where which was used in the Les Miserable film. Then onto Sailsbury via the famous chalk horse in the hillside at Westbury. We can certainly see why they named our Tassie towns after these areas in the UK as they countryside is very similar.

Day 24

We checked out of our beautiful accommodation, which had a self service 'check in and out' which made the process so easy. Breakfast wasn't included, yet they still provided us with breakfast for the first morning, which was really appreciated. We walked into Sailsbury and visited the Cathedral which has the largest spire in Britain, and one of the last four surviving copies of the Magna Carta which pretty much states that no-one (including the monarch) is above the law. This opened up a great conversation with the kids about civil rights and that everyone is accountable to someone. They also had the world’s oldest working mechanical clock built in 1386.

Then off to Stonehenge which has always been on my list of places to visit. This mysterious structure is over 4500 years old and still remains at mystery, but nonetheless it is awe-inspiring to think how and why they constructed these monuments.

Our final stop for the day was to visit Windsor Castle. We had tickets for the final session at 3pm, and do you think we could find a car park in this congested town on a busy Saturday afternoon? Eventually we did and we made it, albeit a little late. We started at St George’s Chapel where Queen Elizabeth II is laid to rest. We also had a look through the state apartments. I'm no Royalist, but it was still interesting to have a look at how these people lived and continue to live. Nook finally got her devonshire tea, but we were a bit disappointed in clotted cream!

We then battled the traffic to drop our bags at the airport hotel and return the rental car by 6pm. I made it in by 6.01pm, so pleased with that! Were staying at a hotel near Heathrow Airport as we all fly out tomorrow. The hotel has awesome views of the runway, so we watched planes land at take off from one of the world's busiest airports. We finished with our final dinner together as a family before we part ways in the morning.