Birthday Beach Paddle

This was my birthday paddle I had on the Isle of White. Not quiet sure what I'm saying at the end other than I'm wet! Not the best quality as it was recorded on Peter's phone. Thanks for looking.

Last Day on the Isle

Well it's been exactly a week since this event actually happened, but thought I'd blog about it anyway. On our last day on the Isle of White we started off a little earlier after our finally breakfast at the place we were staying. It was looking like we were going to have good weather for the day as well. We checked out and decided to drive towards Newport to explore some attraction in the middle of the Isle. I had picked up a leaflet about a lavender farm so we headed over to Isle of White Lavender. We got there shortly after it had open, so it was rather quiet. It also wasn't a lot of lavender in season, so a lot of the plants were just green. We had a little walk around and saw the distillery where the extract the oils. Then walked in the garden area and saw many different types of lavender. We then went to the tea room for a drink. There were lots of interesting looking cakes and scones made with lavender, but we were still rather full from breakfast, so we didn't partake. I think we just beat the rush as left the tea room rather full and as we headed back to our car there was several more cars pulling into the car park.

We then headed to Carisbrooke Castle. as English Heritage member we got in free. We only had a couple of hour before our booked place on the ferry back to the main land. So we had a very quick walk around and managed to get lots of photos of different elements of the Castle. Luckily we also bought a guide book, so we can read about what we saw later. We managed to get on the time as at least seven bus tours of which most were school children. We enjoyed a nice walk around and the sun was shining although it was more of a quick run though the place. Will defiantly have to go back another time to have a more detailed look.

We left the castle about 12:30 to make a quick rush up to East Cows to catch the ferry. We made it with about 15 minutes to spare, so decided to stop by the channel (sea) side and grab a quick bite. We found a little outdoor cafe to have a coffee and a nibble and watch all the sail boats, ferries, and seed boats go by. The coffee was so hot though that we didn't really have time to finish it all before we were off and heading for our appointment with the ferry. So we said good-bye to the Isle of White and to the end of our all to short holiday. Hope you've enjoyed my short record of our time there.

Day 3 - Isle of White

Sorry that this post is so late. We didn't get to another internet connection while on the Isle. We are now home safe, but would still like to make a few post about our hoilday. On our third day on the Isle was a very wet one, so we decided to find some indoor activities. So we went to a place called Dinasour Isle. I had seen it advertised on the web before we went and thought it looks good. They had lots of fossiles there which had been found on the Isle and some hands on activites for youngesters. Thorton the bear even had a go at brushing sand off some old bones. In the main area they had quiet a few models of dinasours and a couple of animacronic ones as well.

After Dinasour Isle we were looking for some where to have lunch. We found a leaflet for the Old Thatched Tearoom, so we made our way to a place called Shanklin Old Village. It was a quaint little area with lots of little thatched shops. After lunch and a little shoping we decided to go hunting windmills and found the last standing windmill on the Isle. Unfortunally it was closed, so we didn't get to look inside, but had a nice short walk around as it was still raining.

On the way home we desided to follow the coast road and stop off at the life boat station. It was still raining but we managed to get a few photo of the coast.

Flamingo Park

BabyPenguin, originally uploaded by Bio-hazar.

Today the weather wasn't as nice as yesterday, but thought we'd chance it and go to an out door activity. We decided to go to Seaview Flamingo Park Wildlife Encounter. I had read on their website that they had baby penguins and really wanted to see them. We got to the park at about 11:30 and found out that they were feeding the baby penguins at 12:30. We walked around the park first looking at all the different birds they had, including three different varieties of flamingos. There were Chilean, Caribbean and Lesser flamingos. Also there were all sorts of different varieties of ducks, geese (including Canadian), pelicans, swans, guinea fowl and many other strange and common birds.

At 12:30 we saw them feeding the baby penguins, they are just starting to loose there down feathers and getting their water proof feathers come in. After they finished feeding them, they opened the window that was separating them from us and let the children (of all ages) pet them. After all the younger ones had their chances, I got to have a chance as well and stroked the soft downy chicks. I even stroked the water proof feathers to see what they felt like. They were very soft as well, just not as "fluffy". (See photo above)

After the penguins we went as saw the breeding cages and saw some magnificent peacocks on full display trying to impress the pea hens. Although all the humans walking by were very impressed at the display and shaking of feathers. The peahens didn't seem impressed at all!

Then we went to Wallaby Walk and saw all sorts of wallaby's, some of which were albino and some mother wallaby's with joeys in there pouches! Then it was time for the Meerkats to be fed. There were 5 little kats who were fed on oranges, bananas, grapes and ferret food. Then for a treat after they got meal worms. Their little faces reminded me a lot of my pet hedgehog I use to have back home.

At the end of our stay at the park it was time to see the adult penguins get fed. They knew it was feeding time and were all congregated at one end of the penguin pool. A man came with a bucket of sprat and started to feed them and give a little talk. Then he put some of the fish on the ledge for us to throw to them. As I don't like fish I was very hesitant to pick any up, but got up the courage and threw lots of fish to the very eager penguins.

It was a great day out and really enjoyed I time seeing all the different animals and birds. Would definitely recommend this place to everyone!

Isle of White - Birthday

 

Well after being on the Isle for 2 days, we have finally found free Wi-Fi connections. At McDonald's believe it or not. The only plug they have available is in a children's area, so we are crouched on low kids tables and short chairs and hunched over our laptops. Yes OUR, Peter has his out as well! LOL we must be quiet a site.

We arrived safely yesterday after an hour journey on the ferry. As it was an almost nice day and the sun was trying it's hardest to come out, we decided to go to Alum Bay. Alum Bay is well known for its coloured sand. Not knowing what that actually meant I thought it would be a nice sandy beach. A very rare thing in the UK. So I wore my flip-flops in hopes of taking them off and having a walk on the beach. However when we got there it's was not what I was expecting. First of all you get to the beach by way of a chair lift down to the beach. I did not enjoy the trip at all, because of my fear of heights. Peter was very good and patient with me. Once we got down to the beach I found out that it wasn't sand, but very large stones. The coloured sand are all in the cliffs which are make of chalk and clay. At the end of the cliffs is what they call the "Needles" which is pictured above. We had a long walk on the beach which was a struggle in flip-flops, but had a nice rest at the end on some rocks, which turned our trousers white from all the chalk. I tried to have a little paddle in the sea, but I couldn't get a good footing in all the stones and was worried I'd lose my flip-flops. So we headed back up to the cliff top on the chair lift again. I didn't mind the going up as much as the going down. After we had a game of mini-putt at the Jurassic Putt and after 9 holes we managed to end in a tie! Very diplomatic of Peter!

We then made our way back up to Ryde where we were staying. We were booked into a converted castle and looking forward to a nice place to stay at. However, we were a bit disappointed at the Inn, as it was a bit run down compared to the photos on the web page. Once in our room, which was up two flights of stairs, we found that our pillow cases and bed spread were not clean. We got them changed and then enjoyed a nice dinner in the dinning room. After dinner we decided to go for a nice walk on the beach. How glad I was that it was a sandy beach and I finally got to take off my flip-flops and walk in the sand. I even had a little paddle in the sea, although it was really cold.

All in all it was a great day and a nice way to spend my Birthday! Thanks to everyone who sent me birthday txt, phone calls and cards! From now on I'm forever 39!