Old Farts and Young Tarts do UK 2023, Auckland (2024)

27/08/2023

And just like that … we are home!

24/08/2023

Legendary!!!!!

We headed into the city of London last night and stayed in a cheap hotel as we had a tour booked for just past a sparrows fart in the morning about a 10 minute walk rather than getting up before the sparrows fart and fighting our way through bustling crowds of people actually going to work on the trains to get to the tour on time.

Anyhoo we had a bit of an adventure on our way to the hotel yesterday (as you know we don’t do things by Halves here) so we jumped on a bus from our current hotel out by the airport and got to the train station. Jumped on a train and headed to the Victoria station where we had to jump on another line to get near to where we wanted to go and then another train to get there so so far we have had 1 bus and three trains. And then walked for
What felt like a gazillion hours (probs more like 10-15 minutes) Anyhoo our first stop was at the Hendon Cemetary so that Toby could visit his grandmother. He found her left some lovely flowers for her. onto the next venture. We got a bus back to the train station because it was like 1000 degrees (well more like 26/27) and s**t did we feel it! Then a train ride and we ended up at Camden.

Now I tell you what Camden was interesting … so many people it is a real hotspot there are markets there (Ness bought a new handbag (Mish rolled his eyes)).

So we are walking along and There were these guys … 4 of them all together of varying punkness. One had a Mohawk one looked like Iggy pop and then there was this dude all pierced and tattooed and he is holding this sign that read … and I quote “Help a Punk get Drunk …£2 for a photo”. Well I thought to myself here’s a dude who’s actually using some entrepreneurial skills to make some dosh. So I paid that man and I got my photo and so did Louise! (They are attached!) What a bit of humour that was!

After a quick £12 taxi ride later we were on Abbey Road. For those who don’t know this is where Abbey Road studios is and the famous Beatles cover where they are walking across the pedestrian crossing. After a few failed attempts to recreate this album cover … along with the other 150 people that were there, we jumped on a bus and headed back to baker street and then a quick and then a train back to closer to our accommodation.

We had booked this accommodation and only needed something cheap for The night to be close to our tour. We got there and only 1 room was ready and the other room was going to be a couple of hours. They then offered an alternative and a Louise and Toby ended staying in what was aptly named … The dungeon of death!

After watching a couple of homeless men almost have a punch up whilst we ate dinner at the pub Down the road, we crashed for the night and had an early morning walk to jump on a vintage open top double decker bus tour. Now I booked this tour almost before I bought our flights to come over here and have been so excited about this … only to wake up this morning after a couple of really sunny hot days to rain!! This is going to be fun on the open top bus hahaha.

Luckily the weather gods were with us … that and we got up the front of the top of the bus which actually was covered. We went on this amazing tour all around the city and the first stop was Buckingham palace for photo opportunities.

We then ended up on a boat cruise down the Thames and ended up by Big Ben and then had a couple of hours free which we went to Picadilly for a spot of lunch. I even got a bit of cake as it’s my Birthday and even the waiter sang!

We then made our way to Buckingham palace for the stateroom tour and wow wow wow we walked through a park to get there and we saw these squirrels. I then bent down and this squirre came running to me … I wasn’t sure if it was going to jump up and take One of my eyes out but no it came Over to me checked my hand out and realised I didn’t have food and went to Misha and then Louise and this continued our whole way through the park with various or should I say numerous squirrels it was AMAZING!!!

We got to Buckingham Palace and had the most amazing tour through the “state rooms” we were not allowed to take photos so “we” didn’t but “we” may have acquired a couple of sly photos …

Back around to the bus and back at the hotel and finish packing.

We are on our last night of Our holiday and head home tomorrow. After 42 days, and having travelled 2347 miles (in the car) and goodness knows how many more between London and France then Netherlands. We have had some amazing experiences we have laughed, kissed random stones, got old and seen so much!

Thanks for following our Journey and hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have!!

21/08/2023

Last night in Brighton!

Brighton … you definitely did NOT disappoint!

Yet another amazing day in Brighton! Up for breakfast at the beach and then down for the hop on hop off open top, double decker bus which takes you on a round trip through the streets of Brighton including an audio guide which was fabulous.

If you know Misha you will know that he doesn’t sit all that still for long and he takes himself on on little ventures everywhere we go. Yesterday was no different and he came back to the hotel beaming and showing me photos. Wow that’s a nice building ohh and interesting a motorbike rode past you … then he says oh and I saw this … low and behold did he not find an original Banksy which I had seen about this one when I was goggling Banksys back in Bristol. We re-googled this one to make sure and sure enough!

So we made our way there this morning in the hop on hop off and found it again. It is also on a wall which has had other work done to it of artists who have passed and is fabulous. We all stood there staring at it for such a long time. (I am confident you will recognise which one is the Banksy in the photo).

We then went on a mission to try and find the original Chocky Wocky Doo Dah shop. Now that was a mission. After asking I think 3 different people and of course a stop off at one Louise and Mine fav shops (I mean it was actually on the way) we ended up down these little twisty lanes and there it stood in all her glory. Unfortunately no longer in business it was more about us wanting to see it and Louise and I were satisfied with that. We then realised that we were in the middle of these little lanes that were absolutely full of another of our favourite things … Jewellery Stores! I mean come on they wrote a song about diamonds and best friends lol.

The boys came across some gun shop and disappeared in there which gave us more time for
Drooling over the beautiful things in the window and then the excitement hit me (I may have even peed myself a little bit) I saw it … the ring of my dreams I had to go in and enquire oh my goodness if we ever win lotto I swear to god I’m going to buy myself this! It was so spectacular I tried it on and took a photo. It was £12,500 (or a mere $26,908.38 nzd (see what mean about winning lotto) oh it was beautiful. After a teary goodbye we carried on back to our original bus ride starting point and jumped back on.

This time we did the full circuit and then walked down to the i360 which Misha was keen on doing.

this thing looks like a flying saucer/donught which goes up and down a pole/shaft. (Instead of imaging that maybe look at the photos hahahaha. I don’t even know how to describe it. Anyhoo it goes really high like 450 feet which is equivalent to 136 metres or 69.25 Toby’s standing head to foot.

Honestly what spectacular views I was really getting into it until I spotted something that I don’t think should have been there and started to get a little nervous. There was a sodding great big crack in the glass wall! Made it back down safely thank god.

Lovely dinner at the pub and now settling for the night. We are dropping our rental car off tomorrow … talk about “you know you at the end of your holiday when …”

Xx

20/08/2023

Brighton! Brighton! Brighton!

We left our digs this morning after an absolutely delightful catch up last night with Toby’s cousin Ann-Marie and her husband Chris! Ann made us a delicious home cooked shepherds pie which was so welcomed by us all and we lapped that up like a bunch of stoned teenagers at McDonalds!

Amazing catch up with Ann and Chris and to fill her in on all of our travels.

We got up this morning and drove a couple of hours towards the coast and then suddenly it was there … the beach at none other than Brighton!

We walked down the beach had lunch and continued down to the pier which we walked to the end. There were SOOOOOO many people but what an amazing place To be … the buzz, the energy, the excitement. We couldn’t leave the pier without doing a couple of things 1) go on a ride and 2) eat an ice cream and so we did both. While we considered the roller coaster (NOT) we went with the much safer Haunted House ghost train lol.

What a marvellous spot to be. The beach whilst pebbly and a little difficult to manoeuvre over was gorgeous and Ness even got to dip her toes in (well ankles when the rouge wave jumped up and lapped them)

It was so hot today but such a beautiful stunning day to be at the beach. We have one more day here so going to take advantage of a hop on hop Off tour bus tomorrow to see some more sights of this beautiful seaside town.

Xx

19/08/2023

Trying to fit it all in!

Here we are 6 more sleeps till we get back on a plane to go home 😞

We started off the day with Breakfast at the hotel. And then jumped in The car to head to Beaulieu (Not Burley Ness) and the boys dropped the girls in town while they went off to The Beaulieu National Motor Museum.

Pulling into Beaulieu we saw cows, horses and even Donkeys just cruising around eating grass on the side of the road. When the girls got into town it was noted there was piles of poo on the footpaths and road and on speaking with the locals we were told that “the commoners” who live there have entitlement to own stock that graze all over town. These stock are looked after and will get veg checked yearly etc. we did miss this but were told that there was a family of donkey who had been in town earlier that day and a baby donkey had taken it on him/herself to sleep in the middle of the road.

We went to all the shops in town (not that that took long) but they were cute boutique shops with some interesting items. Then cup of tea and scone for lunch at a beautiful cafe. Now if up u remember back a bit the trauma Ness suffered at the hands of a certain glower vibrating that worked out to be a bee etc. well the PTSD came back today when we ended up sharing our scone (particularly the jam) with about 30,000 wasps. It ended up being a rather uncomfortable experience as they just would not leave us!

Boys looked at cars and stuff lol

Anyhoo back in the car and a 1.5 hour drive back up towards London to stay for a night and heading down to the coast tomorrow for a couple of days.

18/08/2023

Counting down 😞

1 week to go and so much left to do!

We woke up this morning from our amazing night in Maidenhead and headed off towards none other than one of the most iconic historical sites in England … but before I tell you about that, the weather turned on us today and it started raining as soon as we walked out the door of the hotel … yeah thanks weather powers that be … whoever the hell you are!

We have had the last couple of days just beautiful in the sun so gutted it was dampened by the rain this morning.

We headed towards our destination … with a 1.5 hour journey ahead and as mentioned before, this time frame is NEVER accurate, toilet breaks (we all have varying degrees of a Woolworths bladder) needing to stretch (couple of dodgy knees) or can we stop to get a cup of tea requests! After stopping for breakfast in the cutest little village on the way and just over 2 hours later we pull up and there are people everywhere! It was so busy but what more would you expect from One of Englands most iconic historical sites.

We then checked ourselves in after purchasing our tickets the night before ($211.87 NZ) we walked through the gates and were lead through to a waiting line like a heard of cows getting ready to be milked. We got on a bus and driven about 5 mins away and then suddenly it was like an open the fridge moment in the middle of the night and you could almost hear the ahhhhhhh in the background! There it stood in all its glory right in front of us … STONEHENGE… and we all just stared at it as we got off the bus and slowly made our way closer and closer to it. In all honesty it was pretty cool when you think about it’s age and how they got it there and what it was initially erected for … but on the flip coin of that … Ness and Louise did have a funny conversation about how They thought it would have been bigger.

From Stonehenge back to the car and onto our next destination with a stop off for lunch at a random tearoom at a farm on the side of the road at another village we passed through … we had tea and scones and then went and hung out with a donkey for a bit (lol)

Currently in a small village called Ringwood, we stopped at a pub for a drink before Ness and Louise got pedicures while the boys walked the streets! Had dinner and now settled for the night!

More adventures tomorrow xx

17/08/2023

Another Fabulous Day!!!

We have had a few days in our Air BnB and left this morning to head towards Windsor Castle … this is a bit exciting as you know Ness is a royalist and given this is very much a “working” castle she was a little too excited that one of the royals might turn up to say hi lol but NO of course they were nowhere to be seen! What was seen however … and I honestly am not exaggerating … every side street we wondered down, every corner we walked around there was either a pub named after a Royal . Prince Harry Pub, The Duchess of Cambridge, King Charles Pub, (to name a few) aswell as the huge vast amounts of souvineers shops! Now we (Louise and Ness) are all about the tacky tat and trust me readers most of you are in for a treat of plastic keyrings and fridge magnets that will likely fall off your fridge in 5-10 days lol. But EVERY single store we went into really had the same stuff in it so by the time you head into
Your 4th/5th it gets a bit boring. That said around Windsor castle was Amazing, we stopped to have lunch at a cool pub (The Royal Windsor) which overlooked Windsor Castle. We could have paid to go on a tour (well a few of the staterooms etc) but decided not to spend the $$’s and fight the crowds (it was crazy!!)

We did walk around and found the famous Long Walk.

Back in the car and headed off to the hotel for
The night in this random town (Maidenhead)

So we have checked into this hotel it’s an old pub but it’s pretty cool it’s on the Thames and we head down for a drink and to watch the boats go past.

We are sitting having ordered dinner at this stage when a couple of older English blokes turn up and spark up a convo (as you do) anyhoo to cut a long story short (and this is friggen freaky) works out this person was related to One of us and a huge conversation was had. I will leave that person to fill the family in but needless to say it just goes to show you how small this world is when you can be all the way on the other side of the world and randomly in a pub in a town you had never heard of 2 days ago to bump into someone who knows your family, your relatives, your grandmother! Insane!

On a funny note/stressful note At our Air BnB we were discussing the last few days and fitting everything in and trying not to backtrack if we can help it etc … Toby kept going on about wanting to go to Burnley (but was pronouncing it all posh like) to go to some motor museum. Anyhoo we (Louise and Ness) started looking at booking accom and how we can fit it all in with minimal backtracking etc. then the question between us was how do you spell it … both pronouncing it how he was and how we thought it was spelt and wham found some accommodation.. booked and paid and all good to go … nek minute … aparantly the “Burnley” I was hearing was actually the “Beaulie” that Toby (wasn’t poshly pronouncing but actually pronouncing it correctly) luckily the accom is only 25 mins away (phew) however guess who’s been getting grief Ness about that since lol!

Anyhoo off for some sleep hope your all well!!

15/08/2023

Another fab day in the UK. We stayed at the cutest B&B last night and had an amazing breakfast this morning. Headed off towards our next destination … Coventry but did stop on the way at Warwick Castle. Wow this place did not disappoint … although it is becoming increasingly annoying when you pay an entry fee ( and sometimes a fairly substantial amount) only to walk in and have to pay more entry fees for other exhibitions and today this happened if we wanted to go to the dungeons and after paying £128 (around $280 NZD) for the four of us it just seems ridiculous to pay more so we didn’t. But carried on through what we had already paid for and to be honest it was enough!

So many stories of the people who once walked the halls of this lavish beautiful castle. They had rooms set up with mannequins but they were more like something out of Madam Tussaud’s and the first one I saw I smiled at him and said hello not realising he wasn’t real lol. I Then thought you rude English git when he didn’t respond until I realised I was the stupid foreigner who didn’t realise he wasn’t even a real man hahaha.

The ceilings in this place were so amazing there was the red drawing room the green drawing room chandeliers, lavish bedrooms hallways of amazing paintings of those who once lived there.

Once we left we headed over to this cute cafe and had a sandwich and a wee cake (well maybe not so wee) we all were very bloated when we left. At our next Air BnB for the next two nights. I have some work stuff to deal with tomorrow and Louise and I are going to stay at the house and chill while the boys go off to the Triumph factory up in Hinckley and to a car/bike museum (glad I have work commitments … just saying)

###

14/08/2023

Stratford Upon Avon … Legendary!

We pulled into Stratford Upon Avon and our eyes all just lit up! This town is amazing and believe me we have taken some photos but it will 100% not do it any justice.

We started off going to the house where Anne Hathaway (no not the actress) but the wife of William Shakespeare was bought up and where she Ives when they met. How do you describe this amazing piece of history … the floors were crocked they were lumpy the doors were small and had to duck to get in and out.

The grounds were amazing with stunning gardens vegetables and beautiful flowers.

William Shakespeare met Anne Hathaway and we’re married in 1552 when Anne was 26 and William 18 (some would say that she is a craddle snatcher) She was also 3 months pregnant at the time.

We then went into the birthplace of William and oh my goodness this place was as awesome. This is the house that William and his wife lived in after their nuptials and where they started and raised their family. Anne outlived William for I think it was 8 years and the homes are all now owned by a trust.

The whole town just dripped in William Shakespeare the old buildings were amazing and we ate dinner at a pub in town which was crocked had small hallways and was so old it was awesome.

I have also included a photo … now I’m not a giant (in height) and there is no magical camera illusions here but this is literally how big some of the doors are to the houses here. So tiny!

We are staying at a B&B tonight just out of town and then heading to Coventry for a couple of days but are stopping off at an amazing castle on the way there!

13/08/2023

14,146 (remember that number)

We started the day off driving from Swansea through to Bristol around an hour 45 or so.

We were lucky that our hotel that we have booked tonight has allowed us to store our luggage and park our car in the car park for the day so we were free to get ourselves sorted and explore Bristol. We pulled into the hotel and wow it’s so awesome almost castle like and the rooms have ended up being really big with big massive beds. The hotel itself is 260 years old and was built in around 1760 … how crazy is that!

Misha had found us a cool self lead walking tour of the street art and in particular Banksy which was awesome! We started at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery which had the first Banksy named the Paint Pot Angel. Look at the picture it really doesn’t need much more explanation than that lol.

We then took the opportunity to have a look through the museum.

We moved from there to Banksy number two and this proved a little trickier to find but man it did not disappoint. We were gutted to find however that some punks had shot at it with a paint ball gun and splattered blue paint on it. But it was still really awesome. This is called Well Hung Lover and funnily enough it is painted on the side of a sexual health clinic.

We then went in hunt for number three which was named the Grime Reeper now this one has a cool story. It was originally painted on the side of a boat (the Thelka) the harbourmaster got pi**ed about that and painted over it and the club got up in arms threatening to Sue so Banksy actually went back and redid it. It has since been cut off the side of the boat and is now in a museum at the mariner on display.

Banksy number four and the last one was The girl with the burst eardrum (I swear I didn’t make these names up) it was huge!

We stopped for a coffee and to rest our feet as that that stage we had walked a fair amount of kms them of course Ness wanted to go to a mall (by taxi) but was instead volunforced to walk and man were we all shattered by the time we got
There but a wee spot of shopping and then back to the hotel to properly check in and settle for the night!

Off to Stratford upon Avon tomorrow …

Oooo by the way 14,146 were the amount of steps we did today!

12/08/2023

Wales … oh how we love you!

We are very conscious that unfortunately our LONG awaited trip is slowly coming to an end 😞 and whilst we don’t want to have that as a focus on our last few weeks we still have SO much we want to do and try and fit in before we leave …
That said we have had to sadly shave a little time off wales to fit it back into England.

I did forget to add on my post yesterday that we had seen this amazing little house Down near knockadoon at our last accommodation that had been getting It’s thatched roof re-thatched and we stopped to take a photo … how cool is that!

After we had delays in leaving Ireland (Ferry delays) we didn’t get in till later than expected to the hotel for the night and by the time we settled in and wound down for the night it was close to 1.30 am. Up and at breakfast at 8.30 quick showers and we were packed in the car and off to make the 281 km journey down as much of the coastal route of wales as we could.

Now if you been in the car with us for the past four weeks you would realise that the planned 281 km, predicted 3hr 51m drive was never actually going to take just 3 hours and 51 minutes and as predicted I think we were on the road for about 5 and a half hours I think we can blame google for a part of that but … even though we turned down the wrong road we came across the most amazing little villages with the cutest little houses. We did also have fog and rain which always slows things down … have to say Toby and Ness did duet Nothing Compares to You and are considering possibly recording this in the near future! Look out for it … trust me it will be worth it!

We started our Journey in none other than Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (yes that is a name of an actual town) and trying to pronounce it mmm it does end in go go goch. We have learnt that this stands for The Church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near a rapid whirlpool and the church of St. Tysolio of the red cave. I’ll leave you to your thoughts on that!

Anyhoo that stop was just the beginning of our delays when we found the gift shop lol.

We then ended up doing an oops turn that lead us through these really horrid one lane roads but the most amazing village at the end!

We finally did make it down to Swansea have had dinner and are chilling at the hotel. Off to Bristol tomorrow so keep posted for some adventures coming up!

12/08/2023

It’s been a few days since we posted but we needed to stop and take a breather on our trip as we have been full on for the past few weeks so needed to reset the batteries.
That said we found the most amazing Air BnB in a remote beach area and on a small farm in a place called (this cracks me up every time) knockadoon.

We spent the last 2 days doing pretty much nothing! Although did go for a walk down to the beach. We had sea views when it wasn’t
Foggy (and it was foggy alot) from the room upstairs.

We then left our hidden sanctuary (photos attached) and made our way back to Dublin to catch the Ferry back over to Wales.

We stopped at THE most amazing little town on the way and both Ness and Louise had to find a dr which we were so lucky we came across thanks to the lovely chemist lady. It was €50 each (around $90) which was not bad given we are not registered patients we do not live in the uk etc. anyhoo got sorted with antibiotics etc.

We stopped in at where Sinead O’Connor was buried to pay our respects while we are over this way. However … google maps in the car lead us not to a cemetery even though it said it was and then google Maps on the phone lead us to another part about 30 mins away so we gave up the ghost at that stage.

We then jumped on the ferry after a bit of waiting around and caught the 3.5 hour journey back to Wales and have pulled into a hotel for a night. Heading down through wales to all the way to the other end at Swansea for the night tonight!

Rest assured we are all well!

09/08/2023

Well Well Well!

We left Killarney after a slow start today and headed 1 hour 18 minutes towards Cork and went to Blarney Castle.

Now I’m not sure if you know much about this place but it was built in the early 1200’s and then repaired and reconstructed in mid 1400’s. There is pretty much a shell of this castle left but it is on the most beautiful grounds with the most amazing gardens.

On the top level is the famous Blarney Stone which legend says that if you kiss the Blarney Stone you are given the gift of eloquence. Determined to fix our potty mouths we were somewhat determined to head up and give that stone a great big smooch.

Needless to say when you walk in there are signs informing that the stairs are arduous and given the age of the castle they are also very uneven. Well that put Ness off straight away (dodgy knee) but thought would give it a go. So we waited in line and slowly started making Our way through the castle and up the first flight of stairs … not bad
They were wooden and not uneven so we’re all good with those. Then up on the next level well that’s when it all turned nasty! If you remember back to one of the earlier posts about the Tower of London and the stairs well that was NOTHING compared to this (tribute to Sinead O’Connor) these stairs were so tight and spiralled around so tightly you could really only see about 4 stairs in front of you before they disappeared around a corner. They just kept going and going and going and didn’t seem to end at all … then there it was … the light at the end of the tunnel (or stairwell) 127 twisted tiny uneven concrete stairs were over (until we had to start our descent but that’s a story for later.

So we got up there huffing and puffing (or maybe that was just Ness) and we got to the front of the line lay back swung our heads back and kissed that bad boy like we were teenagers in high school.

Then it dawned on me … just how many people have kissed that thing today but then I figured Louise went first, then me, then Misha. Toby wasn’t keen then Ness figured technically I’ve just kissed Louise and whilst I’m not that way inclined I feel better having done that than the stranger before her who Louise has now technically kissed and has a higher chance of getting herpies (talk about over thinking it)

In any rate the walk down the stairs was in someway as gruelling as the walk up and trust me with the amount of swearing and carrying on when we got to the bottom it’s unlikely that any of us has picked up any eloquence from it!!

We are now sitting at the most amazing air BnB in the middle of But f**k nowhere on a farm and just chilling here for the next few days xx

08/08/2023

The Ring of Kerry

What a fabulous tour we had today with Paddywagon Tours. We jumped on at 11am with our driver Bryan who was very informative. We started the tour at a roundabout which Bryan advised was the Ring of Kerry and took us around the roundabout a couple of times … 2 tours for the price of one!!! Lol

First stop was at the Village of Killorglin where they have something called the Puck Fair to celebrate the goat and they have a statue of a goat when you enter the village by the name of Kingpuck.

We stopped at the Red Fox Inn, Ness had a Baileys and we all walked through the Kerry Bog Village.

Back in the bus and we stopped at a number of locations on the other side of Di**le Bay,

We then headed off to the very picturesque village of Waterville which is very interesting. Charlie Chaplin used to visit Waterville every summer and stay at a hotel. He eventually bought his own property and continued to visit every year. In September there is a festival held in honour of Charlie Chaplin where everyone dresses up like him!

We then stopped at Sneem, one of Ireland's most colorful villages where all the houses buildings shops are painted in bright cockpits (didn’t bloody take a photo did I).

We then went up the mountain and that was amazing and stood at Ladies view.

And then to finish off we stopped at Torc Waterfall in the woods of Friers Glenn.

Such a fabulous Tour (sorry about all the scenery photos) oh my god it was so bloody amazing).

Off to Cork tomorrow for a couple days before we leave the lovely Ireland!

Old Farts and Young Tarts do UK 2023

27/08/2023

24/08/2023

21/08/2023

20/08/2023

19/08/2023

18/08/2023

17/08/2023

15/08/2023

14/08/2023

13/08/2023

12/08/2023

12/08/2023

09/08/2023

08/08/2023

Address

Website

Alerts

Contact The Business

Shortcuts

Share