Wazza's European Adventure!!

Hi, and welcome back!

After being here for a couple of weeks, I still haven't really gotten used to the fact that there are so many roundabouts here. There are hardly any traffic lights anywhere, and if there is, it's because it's to sort out the traffic for a bloody big roundabout!

We live not far from what my cousin's call "The Hamburger" - which is - a roundabout, that has a road (in this case a motorway) that goes right through the centre of it, making it look like a burger. There, is where I saw my first traffic lights besides London. It's weird, strange, but there aren't really any traffic jams around here. I'm actually waiting for a car accident!

What else I can't get over, is that most of the roads are only single carriageway. I mean - the population of Harlow isn't really that big, but Essex is a very big county. And there are a lot of people here. The terraced housing is what I can't get over. People living in a dog box. It's crazy - why don't you all just come to Australia? There's heaps of room here - but please don't make your bloody terraced housing here!

There aren't that many petrol stations either. In Australia (talking about Western Australia - the best bit!) there are station EVERYWHERE, and that's because we really have to drive everywhere. Our metropolitan district is 100kms in all directions (except West of course, where you get the water and the islands of Penguin and Rottnest). I mean, the entirety of Greater London could probably fit in Fremantle lol!

I was helping my cousin help his grandson with his car. We had to pick him up (Oliver) from the car repair place, which does certain checkups that the English motor system has people do with their cars every year or so. We picked him up and then dropped him off. He was going to France to see the European Championships, and he was going to stay in the fan zone for the next couple of nights during the games. 

I'm not that far off my own stay in France. I've booked my trip via the Channel Link, which I'm quite interested in seeing, and experiencing the whole "English Channel Tunnel" thing.

We decided the next day to go see family, which I have already documented. Harlow to Crawley is one hell of a drive. Unless you want to go through the centre of London, you take the Orbital (which is called the M25 Circular Route), go round the outside of Greater London, and continue on a straight route after you get off. 

I've seen some places, but England, I'd have to say is quite pretty. There are acres and acres of farms between towns, villages and hamlets. Turns out we were not far from Gatwick Airport in the end. A day there, turned out wonderfully, as the sun stayed out for most of the day, and it was good to see familiar faces again, even though they had all aged 30+ years! I found out that one of my cousin's husbands actually lived not far from where I live in W.A. Mandurah as a matter of fact. True!

After a weekend of sitting in front of the TV and watching football and English TV, the cousin took me to Audley Ends. 

I'll be telling you about Audley Ends in my next post!

Till then!

Travel and be happy!

Waz

Wazza's European Adventure!

Hi, and thanks for coming back! Especially after a real no - show on my adventures yesterday. I'm so selfish! lol

Okay - today I went to this wicked pub, that my cousin took me to, which was called The Fish & Eels. It is right next to a canal (yes there are canals in England), and the view was lovely, as you saw boats and house boats cruise past a waterfall from the canal itself. A higher estuary of course.

It was a really nice quaint English pub. English fare, English beers, and English hospitality

Most English Pubs have a lot of choice, but this one was exceptional, as it had these crackers! They also had their own beer, which most pubs do! If you were to drink all the different types, it'd take you a couple of years - at least.

This was my first drink (and not my last by far) of the day, and I was pretty impressed with it, but IT WAS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE!!! 

But still... it wasn't bad! 

We order, and I had the tempered chicken. Wow - what a plate! It was the size of the entire plate, with salad and chips. Holy moley. I only, however, lasted about 5 mins. And I was trying to be slow with my eating! I had another beer with my meal, which I think was a...

This was a better ale because it was an ALE and not a BITTER, therefore it was COLD and it went well with the tempered chicken. The herbs and spices went well with this lovely drop.

After a lovely custard dessert, we went outside so I could have a smoke and take a few photos (which I really don't know where they are! I was supposed to put them up here! I may still if I can find them!) After a good burp, and another pint - another Doom Bar would you believe!) we got in the car and drove home.

Got home, put on the laptop and did boring stuff again! HA! Such a great day!

Tomorrow, I don't know what I'm doing, but I will put up a post if I do something! I need a rest! :)

 Ciao!

Wazza's European Adventure!

Well... I have had a bit of a break. I've been concentrating on the other interests that I have. Including a new t-shirt label, that's in the works, but I've done a LOT of market research, and have had a lot of ideas put down, and even printed. But you have to keep up with the times, y'know?

So today I just sat here and made some designs! Lucky you! You get to see some of my designs before they get published! 

My company is called Fresh Stellar Industries, and I've been doing it since March this year. 

Here, have a look, and please put some comments down! I'll number each one, and let me know what you like!

1) Pool Girl

2) Class is Cool

3) Angels are Everywhere

4) for those in the UK

5) And another for those in the UK!

6) I'm into comics, and so are some of my friends. So I used my friend Toni-Ann to send me some photos, and this is what I turned here into: Kitty Lightning

7) The Adventures of Kitty Lightning: The Nemesis of Madam Lash (Also a friend of mine - Jade Skvor!)

So as you can see I've been a bit busy. I'll still be posting up tomorrow.

Cheers

Wazza's European Adventure!

Paradise Wildlife Park - Part 3

Hello again! I'm continuing on!

Well, we just visited the tigers, and as you can tell, we got quite a lot of beaut photos'. Now, we were wondering if there were any fast cats there, and we got to the enclosure of one of the fastest in the world - the cheetah.

This girl was beautiful. She was shy, which is totally understandable if you were in a cage/enclosure, with no mates of any sort, and you had humans around you with cameras at every turn.

She came out for lunch though!

As you can see, she is really beautiful. I can't remember what her name was, but the zoologist had a pretty perfect name for her. 

It was such an obvious name - but I can't remember for the life of me!

Anyway. She came out to eat. The keepers put this large plump carcass on a stick, on top of a little landing strutting out of a bunch of grass and wood. 

The cheetah slowly, looking all ways, went up to her lunch, took it between her teeth and ran away with it.

We tried to get some other shots of her whilst she was eating, but couldn't manage any decent and clear shots. So... sorry!

After walking about 10 or so metres, we thought... "where are the lions?" So we went for a small walk around near the cheetah enclosure. And there they were. Just lounging around...

I mean, like, really REALLY lounging it..

Look at the size of the males paws! They were huge!

Just lying around doing nothing at all

 We figured that we weren't going to get any action out of the lions, so we decided to walk back to whence we came, and got a great surprise. 

We saw our cheetah feeding, and was able to get some great shots.

She was really going for it. She seemed very hungry, but throughout her feeding, she was keeping an eye out for threats. 

 Such a beautiful cat...

 I love the big cats, but what are smaller and slightly cuter?

OTTERS! These little guys were out of their enclosure and put into one where they were able to be seen a little bit better, and they were just adorable. They stood up, scuffled the floor, doing all these cute movements, And they all seemed to be very comfortable with the attention.

In the reptile enclosure, we saw these two getting up close and personal

and a few snakes here and there... especially this one below

 

 

They are somewhat more famous than others, but the meerkat was on hand, and in its own outdoor enclosure. It was such a well made one, with heaters for them (above) and plenty of places to check out things, like logs and bases of chopped trees (above right). They seemed very occupied.

And the final animal we saw, were the zebras. I love zebras. One, because they start with the last letter of the alphabet, and two, because they have amazing markings. 

All the other exhibits were under construction or deconstruction, so that was the end of our day at the zoo...

On the way back to Harlow, we stopped in at the Sun Inn. I experienced a couple of pints that I had not had before, which was good, and made it home in time to watch some well needed football!!

Thanks for coming back, and for having a read

I'll be back again to continue my adventures soon...

Until then

Cheers!

Waz

Wazza's European Adventures

Paradise Wildlife Park - part 2

Hi - and thanks for coming back!

Continuing on my merry adventures at Paradise Wildlife Park in Broxbourne, UK.

Below are some of the little creatures that I was truly amazed with. Their tactility was amazing. Their hair styles were even better. These guys were everywhere in their shelters (you know the ones - the shelters are in a more darker, secluded area of the park, usually close to the reptile sanctuaries) and they didn't make much noise (unlike the monkeys and gibbons!) They are extremely cute and very tactile. 

 I absolutely loved this little guy (below). He and his mate were going from branch to branch, keeping a good eye on me, and Brian. We got some amazing photos, just like this one where he was looking directly into my phone, and then into Brian's camera.

These two guys below, took the cake. They weren't doing a thing at first - just moseying around, looking for things in the dirt. Then they saw us, and jumped up to the nearest tree closest to the window, and started preening each other for our enjoyment. I was quite amazing.

So after a good walking around, to see where we really wanted to go - we wanted to find the big cats! - we strolled past the gibbons... oh boy! What a racket! 

 This big guy was probably the boss of the structure, going from one tree to another, going inside and outside, yelling at the others.

As you can see, this guy (below) was in and out of their sleeping structure. He gave us the ol' up and down, checking us out as much as we checked him out! These guys were amazing. The strength, flexibility and dexterity was too cool!

These below... were the noise makers. You could hear them all the way from the other end of the zoo! They swung back and forth, and did some amazing somersaults and flips just for fun. And they knew they were being watched, so they kept up the noise...

If one stopped the noises, the next one would start!

"WOOO WOOO WOOOP WOOOP WOOOOO!"

Freaking cool! I almost couldn't get their sounds out of my head for the rest of the day.

We decided that we had enough of the primates, and we went looking for the big cats. They are probably my favourite animals, and I heard there were some Bengal Tigers, Lions and Panthers in here, so we went for a search. We didn't have to walk far, as immediately after the gibbons were these majestic creatures.

 These are Siberian Snow Leopards... And they are so amazing. They were really hard to find, because their shelter was made for them, and it really does represent and look like Siberia in the cage. The only parts that aren't are these "sleeping platforms" on which they just sit there and snore away. They have agility too, walking around on nearly nothing to get to these platforms.

Look at this guy! He looked huggable! But I dare not! lol

I just loved the way they were so casual. Let's face it - they were bored! But they came right up to my face on the second floor balcony, and then just dropped on the platform with a "thunk!!" and stayed there. I didn't manage to get any more photos of them, but they were beautiful creatures.

Next were the other big cats...

This leopard was just bored shitless! He was not moving, and sleeping in the glorious sunlight. We tried to wake him (I think everybody did!) but to no avail. He was having some serious zzzz's!

 Sleeping away...

 Now this is what I was waiting for. I was here to see these guys. The Tigers. I'm a Tiger in Chinese Astrology, and I like that I'm a Tiger! :)

This one (left) was on the ground, pacing around. He was just exercising apparently (this is what the zoo keeper was saying)

He went up on the walkways, and then plonked himself down, to watch US! I just loved the attitude these guys had. Chilled!

When I managed to get a good shot, it was from this angle - these two were bored. I mean, what else is there to do when you are a tiger in the zoo? Sit back, relax, get fed, sleep and watch all the humans go by!

This guy (above) was pacing madly, after this shot. There is a protected area where you can take photos without the wire, and he would come right up to you, stare you in the eyes and walk off... I got a few of them... 

This one was just so regal, so majestic. I'm going to put him on a t-shirt!

 This photo (below) - it was roughly 30 cms away from my camera phone. Almost looked directly into his eyes.

Okay - I've gotta do some work!

Part 3 coming soon!

Cheers!

Waz