Almost ready to give up and come home!!!!!!!

Wed 29^th Jan  

OMG!!!!!! What a couple of days!!!!!

Not many pictures or much to report that is fun or interesting for anyone to read, as it has been a VERY frustrating and stressful couple of days. We will not go into too much detail as, to be honest, David & I have been!  fed up and really “over it all”!

Woke up Wednesday morning to see that half of the International Money Transfer had gone through - so at that point we were very happy that something had happened! Sent some emails and assumed that ANZ bank in Australia were sending it in 2 payments? Then spent about 3 hours trying to purchase a download of Autoroute 2013 that we need for our trip to find that as 2013 version is only available in the UK - Microsoft will only take payment via a credit card with a UK address! Tried using Val’s and her bank blocked the payment as it looked suspicious! Gave up with frustration!

Val David & I took off for Poole Hospital as David & Sheila from Bridport were at an appointment there. We gave Sheila the flowers we had been given for the Motorhome pictures as we really had no use for them!!!!!! They were really pleased to see us and Val and we really cheered them up. Sheila has to come back to Poole Hospital next week Thursday for another follow up but all sounds positive. Things like this really do put our frustrations in perspective. 

Thus 30^th Jan

Really frustrated again as the full amount of money has still not been transferred! Loads more phone calls were made but would you believe the INTERNATIONAL team of the ANZ bank only work Australia day time hours!!!!! So could not talk to anyone regarding this until 10pm tonight (UK time). In the meantime we finally sorted Autoroute payment (was not easy) then Val dropped us off in town for us to try and find some outdoor furniture and a BBQ for us to buy for the M/Home - would you believe nothing in stock anywhere until the Spring!!!! Val then took us to The Captains Club in Christchurch for a drink to try to cheer us up and help us chill out! We really appreciate Val & Malcolm’s hospitality as what should have been a one night’s stay has now turned into 7!!!! After a lovely meal we waited and made the lengthy phone call at the 10pm (8am Aussie) to sort it all out. Bottom line is THEY had made a mistake and had sent over the amount in $’s instead of £’s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have promised us that this will be dealt with urgently (after I cried and told them we were homeless and without a vehicle!!!). Cannot believe they wouldn’t even refund the transaction fee! Will we see about that later with a complaint email! (Won’t hold our breaths)! Off to bed hoping this is sorted by the time we wake up!

Chilling at The Captains Club

Bournemouth

Tues 28^th Jan

No the Motorhome money has still not gone through! Not much we can do about it other than be patient. Val & Malcolm have been so good considering we were only going to stay one night! Took the bus to Dolphin Motors to have our photos taken with the Motorhome for the MMM (Motorcaravan Motorhome Monthly Magazine) as Clive (Mum’s cousin who is away in France & Spain) is a writer for the magazine and is doing an article about us! So we had our photos taken being presented with the keys/flowers & champagne! Bit cruel as we cannot take possession of it yet!

Got on a bus and went into Bournemouth for the day. Lots of lovely childhood memories were bought back as we walked through the gardens down onto the promenade and out along the pier. In the gardens we were caught up in a big Police chase! They were looking for a 20 year old with blonde hair who had just committed a crime in one of the big hotels, there was even a helicopter. We had lunch in Harry Ramsdens on the sea front known for its world famous fish n chips. After lunch we went to the movies to see 12 Years a Slave. Great movie but emotional. Set off back to Christchurch on the bus in the pouring rain and when we got off to walk to Val & Malcolms it stopped!!! Malcolm had cooked a lovely meal and after we taught them our favourite card game Phase 10 - Malcolm won! During the game about 10pm we had a phone call from our bank in Australia to say that all was ok and the money will be transferred soon! We don’t believe 24-48hrs is soon! In this day and age we can’t believe it has taken so long!

This was the small portion!

On the bus

Beautiful Christchurch

Monday 27^th Jan

Val went off to work (Bournemouth Hospital) and Malcolm has a Lawnmaster franchise and kindly dropped us off in Christchurch for the day. It was very cold but again we were lucky as the sun was shining. What a beautiful town - we walked along the River Avon via The Priory Church (900 years old) and ruins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_Castle & http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_Priory it was fantastic. We then had coffee in The New Forest Perfumery Teahouse followed by a walk around the markets and did some shopping for the motorhome (hope the money goes through tomorrow!) We had lunch in Ye Old George Inn the oldest pub in Christchurch and was well known for smugglers and there are tunnels underneath that they used to use. It is also where they held prisoners before they were transferred to ships and transported to Australia. Got the bus home to Val & Malcolm’s and when they both came home from work we walked around the corner for dinner at a Toby Inn.

Val off to work

$2m apartments

Jo - where she belongs!

River flowing fast & high-so much rain

Ye Olde George Inn

David had a pint of Piddle!

A trip around The New Forest

Sun 26^th Jan 2014

Val cooked us a full English breakfast before we had a great Skype with home as it was Australia Day there. It was great to see Mum, Jess, Tracy, Roger and all the dogs and Val didn’t think they had changed at all. Had a lovely chat and good old reminisce then Val & Malcolm took us out for a drive. It was terrible weather - raining and very windy! We drove through Highcliffe, New Milton & Beaulieu before arriving in Bucklers Hard and as soon as we stepped out of the car the sun came out! (The sun always shines on the righteous - as Sheila Briggs always says) http://www.bucklershard.co.uk/ lovely place- since 1698 they built ships there and the wood from The New Forest (oak) was pulled down the middle of the street to the harbour. We had a good walk around and had a drink in The Yachtsman’s Bar. We drove back through The New Forest to Brockenhurst and stopped to have a look at ”The Pig”  http://www.thepighotel.com/hotel-in-the-new-forest/explore.aspx  a big country house with a restaurant and accommodation - very swish and trendy. We drove back through Bashley to Mudeford Quay to check on Malcolm’s boat/dinghy as it had been bad weather - it was fine. Picked up the dogs from Val’s Mum & Dad’s (they haven’t changed a bit Mum and when I showed them a picture of you they said the same). Had a couple of drinks in The Nelson Tavern then home to cook dinner. Another great day.

Val cooking breakfast

Happy Australia Day

Lovely weather!

Bucklers Hard

The Pig

Malcolm's dinghy

Val's Mum & Dad

Gone with The Wind!

Sat 25th Jan 2014

Val & Malcolm went out while we waited for Mike & Liz to arrive from Harpenden with all luggage. We then took Mike & Liz to see the Motorhome and they were very impressed. Off to show them Mudeford Quay (where David proposed) and we had a lovely pub meal while listening to the wild weather that had started outside. Yes Tracy I can hear you saying “I’ve never been to Mudeford Quay in decent weather.” It was soooo windy and we saw a life boat go out! Later we saw it come back in and they had rescued some paddle boarders who were very tired in gale force winds. We went for a short walk (or tried to!) then Mike & Liz dropped us off at Val’s and we said our goodbyes to them and we will meet up somewhere in Europe down the track. Val had prepared a lovely meal so unfortunately we had to eat again!!! Great evening relaxing/drinking and watching the English TV show The Voice.

Mike & Liz inspecting the Motorhome

Windy Mudeford Quay

Up all night!

Fri 24th Jan 2014

What a night! We were up for most of it as Australian day time is English night time so we were emailing the bank all night trying to sort out our International Money Transfer for the Motorhome purchase to go through (as we are were due to pick it up in a few hours!) As it is a large sum of money it could NOT have been done over the internet and had to be done manually! So ten days ago we completed all the forms and had to mail them to our bank in Australia! Well! They only got them today! (Middle of the night in the UK)! Now they asked for copies of our passports! Which they hadn’t asked for originally!!!! Luckily I had them all scanned and saved on our computer so 3am this morning was emailing back to them! Then they told us they had to verify our signatures before they could pass on to their International section! AND! It’s a public holiday (Australia Day) on Monday so nothing can be transferred until MAYBE Tuesday! So we tried to grab a few hours’ sleep before catching our train from Harpenden at 7am. So we took the train early from Harpenden to Blackfriars London then walked to Waterloo to get on the next train to Christchurch. Great trip down and Rob from Dolphin Motors picked us up from the station and said we could still do the handover procedure as planned but would not be able to take the Motorhome until the money arrives in their bank! Having seen our Motorhome again we have now got excited as it was better than we remembered and all the workings not as daunting to use as we were expecting. Val & Malcolm our good friends in Christchurch picked us up and very kindly offered to put us up until it’s all sorted. It was lovely to relax and have a few wines after a very stressful day, over a Haggis dinner (it is Burns Night) and Val even addressed The Haggis by reciting the poem!

We're off again

Waterloo Station

Learning how it works

Val & I when we were young!

Val & Malcom's lovely home

Addressing of The Hagis