Our last day away -after 3 months we are back on Qantas and the flight home tonight. We have had a wonderful 3 days in Bristol with my niece Sarah Perrins. Bristol is a really interesting city and like most places in the UK close to other interesting places. We are 15min from Bath would you believe. On Saturday we explored a bit of the city. The waterfront area has been redeveloped and has the absolutely incredible SS Great Britain which was the biggest passenger liner in the world at one time and which carried passengers to Melbourne in the 1850s during the gold rush. The ship was designed by the wonderfully named Isambard Kingdom Brunel and built in Bristol. She was scuttled in the Falkland Islands in the 1930s then in 1970 was salvaged and towed back where she was totally restored. You can see how the passengers lived for the 70 day voyage to Australia and first class was a lot better than steerage! I got to dress up in a mid Victorian dress - incredibly heavy - and we could go under the water to see the bottom of the ship. It is unmissable if you are in this part of the world. We also attended Evensong in Bristol Cathedral and the Duke of Gloucester, the Queens cousin was there. Yesterday Sarah took us to South Wales and we explored the National Mining Museum and the local town of Blaenavon. We went down the mine with Gus, an ex miner who started mining when he was 16 and we experienced a little of what it must have been like to have been a Welsh miner. They still breed the canaries that were used to test for CO and have the underground horse stalls where the pit ponies lived. I cant imagine what it must have been like before mechanisation. We finished with a very decent 3 course lunch for 15pound at the local pub. The town has many reminders of the mining days including the local churches which are now looking a bit unloved. Its been a wonderful trip but we are ready to come home. Next stop Sydney.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 10:30:51 +0000
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