Well we are inside the final two weeks till we take off. I can't believe how quickly the time has passed, especially since we came back from Sydney. I have only 6 days in the office so I have been frantically trying to organise everything before I go.
As well as trying to organise things to go away there is still the everyday things to cope with and Sheri has been busy with playing and training etc so we often don't get evenings at home. She found out yesterday that she has been pick in a team to play a friendly game against the entire Olympic Softball team on May 22 at Redlands. She is so excited as it is a great opportunity to play against a team that is ranked 2nd in the world. It should be a great night and if anyone wants to come out and watch just contact me for further details and I will get them to you as soon as we have them ourselves. I would imagine the game will be scheduled for around 6 pm on 22 May but will keep you all posted.
We are still planning trips within the UK and doing most of our research on the internet to find out what will fit in best timewise. There are lots of people hoping to catch up with us but they will really have to travel to either Edinburgh or London as we won't have time to go anywhere else. For overseas supporters of the Australian Koala Foundation I am planning to be at Edinburgh Zoo on a specified day (date not set yet) to meet anyone who wants to come. Edinburgh Zoo has the only koalas in the United Kingdom.
We are planning a trip to Loch Ness, Ben Nevis etc just to let Sheri see a little bit of Scotland and I have a good friend in Fife, which is only an hour from Edinburgh, and it has some lovely little fishing villages on the coastline as well as the world famous St Andrews golf course.
We have 8 nights in London, 3 at the start and 5 at the end of our trip so we will have a lot of time to see the sights of London. We have booked a day tour of Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath already and we are hoping to get tickets to Wimbledon on Tuesday 24 June. We also want to go to the West End and see The Lion King stage show but will get tickets when we arrive. I want to visit the British Museum to see the Egyptian mummies and of course there are all the usual places like Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey and Harrods that we want to see again. Sheri was only 10 when we were there the last time so she only remembers vaguely what we saw and she would like to do it all again.
Of course before we get to the UK we are having a three day stop in Hong Kong. We will be visiting Ocean Park, to see the giant pandas, the big Buddha and Hong Kong Disneyland. I think a bit of shopping will be on Sheri's agenda there too.
So there it is - let's hope that we get to do all that we have planned and maybe a bit more. Of course the main reason for the visit is to catch up with Mum and Dad and of course Toby who has been over there for just over 12 months. He has just started a new job in Edinburgh and is working more normal hours so we should get to spend weekends with him.
I have a feeling that we are going to be coming home for a bit of a rest!
Barbara