Oliver’s travels #1

It was a Friday night. I was sad, because I had to say ‘bye’ to Chinky, my cat. I also had to say good bye to my aunty’s cats, Possum and Tuffy.
We drove to the airport. When we arrived, I saw my cousin, Adam, who was there to say bye-bye to us. I had a whole suitcase full of cats, and Poppy, the pukeko.
Our plane took off late because we were waiting for some poor people coming from Christchurch, where there had been two big earthquakes that day.

On the plane, I played ‘Boxing 2’ on the game console, I was the Indian guy. He breathes fire!
We got a ‘Skycouch’ which means you get an extra seat, it meant I could lie down to sleep.
There was a joke competition on the plane. They told the joke of the man who was the runner up, and nobody laughed. Then they told the winning joke, and it was my joke! The joke was:
¿What do you call a crate of ducks with red hats?
¡ A box of Christmas Quackers !
Lots of people laughed at my joke. The air hostess gave me a plane, which was a model of the one we were flying on. I was excited.
We had to stop in Los Angeles in the U.S.A for a while, then we got back on the plane.

Then we flew to London.
At the airport I think we walked 1000 steps to get our luggage. Daddy met us then at the airport. He had come from Spain.
We caught a London taxi, and went to the silly Blue Bells hotel. We were in room G1. It was silly because:
a) It stunk!
b) The toilets didn’t flush!
c) It was dirty!
d) There was five beds but only two cups!
e) The TV remote didn’t work!
f) There was five beds but only two chairs!
g) It was noisy!
It scored an F for Failed!
That night we tried to walk to Oxford St, but it was too far, so we caught a taxi. When we got there, we went to………..(drum roll)…. ¡Hamley’s Toy Store!
It was six storeys high, and full of toys! I got a toy UFO that flies. We got a Santa stocking too, because we had left mine at home.
The next morning it was Christmas morning! And Santa had found my stocking, even though I wasn’t in my home country.
We didn’t get to go many places on the next two days because the trains were on strike.
Then we hired a car, and left London. Then we stayed at Milton Hill Manor, it was my favourite hotel. There was a swimming pool, and a spa pool, and a bar, and a breakfast room, and a dining room, and a lunch room. We were on the top floor. The building was very old. In the fields, they had big trees, which had lots of fat squirrels running around. There was a library with a Wii game. We went looking for secret passages, like Famous Five.

I had a camp bed that was on the floor. In the middle of the night, Mummy told me to look out the window, because there were hundreds of fat bunnies hopping around the garden area. We also saw lots of holes, that had been made by moles.

While we were staying at Milton Hill Manor, we went to see some friends from New Zealand, who are now living in England, Joshua and Ella and their mum and dad, Lucy and Dave. They gave me a Red Arrows jet plane, that we have to build and paint ourselves. They live in a big old fancy place that’s called The Old Vicarage, in a tiny old village called South Stoke.
Joshua had some cool Lego, and two hex bugs. They have got lots of Lego because there is a Legoland quite near their house. I played at their house with them the next day, while Mummy and Daddy went looking around some other places, including a pub called The Trout, and a huge palace, called Blenheim palace, where a Prime Minister of England grew up.

After we had stayed two nights at the manor, we went to a place called Avebury, where there are big stones all around the village. It got dark very early, because it was winter, so we didn’t get to see much.
That night we stayed in a place called Rollestone Manor. It is over 1000 years old, the doorways are very low, and the floors and the doors are all crooked because it is so old. Famous people lived there. One was Jane Seymour who became Queen of England when she married King Henry VIII, and one was the man who painted the famous picture of Captain Cook.
I had a good bed that pulled out of a chair.

The next morning we went to Stonehenge.

It was rainy, and windy and freezing cold. I think we broke the record of going fast around Stonehenge, because we practically ran, to get back to the warm shop. We want to go again in the better weather. At the shop, I got a toy crow, and a tiny model of Stonehenge. I already have tiny models of Big Ben, Buckingham Palace (where the queen of England lives), a London taxi, a double decker bus, Tower Bridge, and the London eye. We have decided to collect little models of all the places we go, so I can still see them when we get back to NZ.
Then we went back to London, to stay one more night in Gatwick, because we were catching a plane to Spain early the next morning.
The place we were staying in was called Chequers Hotel, it was a really old pub from the days when they used horses and carriages. We had dinner at the pub that night, I had sausage and chips.
Next morning we were off to Spain!

To be continued…………………….