Hello the UK, welcome to Col(d)chester

"The highest temperature ever recorded in England was 38.5 degrees in Kent in 2003"

Introduction

So here we are, finally in England. After a 13 hour flight through the night, catching maybe 2 hours sleep in economy seats, 1 day of jet lag recovery and a bout of tonsillitis, we have our first blog entry from actually within Europe. We are currently staying in Colchester, at Lisa's aunty's house, 1 hour out of London, where we are being spoilt and are very very grateful for it.

Foodie moment

What do you want your first morning in England? A good old fashioned fry up - and that is what we got courtesy of Barbara!

First night off the plane, totally brain fried, we were taken to a pub in Colchester that had a £10 a head Gurka set menu, and oh boy it was amazing! So much food we didn't even get close to finishing it all. Absolutely great value for money! Curry, now the other traditional dish of England

A nice trip out to Mersea Island, Barbara took us to West Mersea Oyster Bar. So much amazingly fresh sea food, we had oysters, a seafood platter, cod and chips, and lobster. The best fish 'n' chips I've had!

Cultural moment

History and culture is something England definitely isn't short of. Most buildings here are hundreds of years old, something that is hard to comprehend when coming from Australia that is only 200 years old! The Peldon Rose, a pub in Colchester has been serving customers for over 500 years! The building is in original condition, and displays such ancient architecture as the entrance way which is only 5 feet tall, a common design of such times.

Wow moment

Mersea Island, an island on the coast near Colchester, is only an island when it is high tide. When its not, you can get to it by driving over the mud flats. We went on a nice sunny day, even so it was icy cold with the wind off the water. The beach, piers and boats make for a truly picturesque landscape. The below 10 degree temperatures didn't stop the kids from kayaking and fishing for crabs though. The food at the oyster bar was amazing. It was a really awesome day!

What we learnt today

Driving over here is pretty much the same as back home, except for a few differences. The biggest one that we still can't get used to seeing is parking on either side of the road facing any direction you want. You have cars nose to nose, or end to end on the same side of the road. It's perfectly normal to parallel park on the wrong side of the road facing the oncoming traffic. Doing this back home is a quick way to get a ticket, or the attention of the police pretty quickly.