Saturday 27 August 2016

Nothe Fort Weymouth




Entrance to Nothe Fort 
Monday the 26th of August was a busy day but for some reason this beautifully restored Fort was not busy. The heat outside was hot and sticky and yet walking around this place it seemed like a cool summers day.


When you enter the Fort it doesn't look like much but a large tunnel and lots of rooms leading off the central area.



View from the top of the Fort 
We first started looking around the top floor of the Victorian built labyrinth. With three floors and fantastic views of the surrounding coastal area we were stunned at the sights that could be seen from the viewing deck room.    


 

Each of the displays on every floor had numbers to help find where you are on the map. This came in handy when we reached the basement floor. In the basement there was a dark corridor where it's said to have a lot of paranormal activity the main one being an eerie whistler that can heard around the Fort.  


Each floor has various room with descriptions of what the rooms roll was back in each of the wars.

Feeling very lucky whilst looking around we stumbled across a room that had man made matchstick  aircraft carriers and planes. Each of the models were hand painted down to the smallest detail

Matchstick airplanes





Matchstick aircraft carriers 







Thursday 25 August 2016

Thunderbirds are go, go, go!

I am in love with this new RC Thunderbirds 2.


Unboxing the T2 didn't take much effort there were 2 pieces of string wrapped around the T2, a small piece of cable tie around the charging cables which was slotted inside a cardboard slit. The controller was held in with 2 small plastic pieces that were easily twisted to release from the packaging. This has by far been the best and easiest packaged toy I have opened in a very long time.


Packaging 

Once out of the packaging the controller needed 4 x AA batteries, I was prepared to get the mini screwdriver, but it was not needed. There is a neat little button that you need something similar to the size of  a biro pen nib to push in and slide out. Again this was so easy to do even a small child could do it.

Flying competition

From the minute I charged the aircraft my 35 year old brother and myself have been trying to out manoeuvre each other.
The controls are easy to use with the left thumb stick controlling height with the right thumb stick controlling the turning.
 Its light weight with a polystyrene shell in the shape of T2. This covers the power core and the stabilization gyro making the T2 harder to crash and break. The shell helps protect all the walls and furniture from being chipped at by the rotating blades.

(sorry about the mess) T2 at a steady height.

Due to the rotating blades that spin round the bottom of the Thunderbird 2 I would recommend using with hair up ( longer hair ) as it causes a draft when flying overhead causing hair to go everywhere. 

The T2 flies in various directions, but because of the lightweight design is easily blown of course when there is a draft which makes the craft a little harder to control. 
Charging time is very quick and the charge for the Thunderbird 2 we found have lasted about 25 - 30 minutes with each charge.







Sunday 21 August 2016

One Day Holiday Challenge

Over the Summer holiday I was set the challenge by a Ocean Finance to stick to a strict budget of £100 for a day out or days out. This was named the 'One Day Holiday.' The reason the challenge has been set is to help show that its not needed to spend a fortune to have a great day out.

With the money I originally intended to go to Bristol International Balloon Fiesta. I filled my car up with fuel, brought snacks and hit the road. By the time we got to the balloon fiesta the hot air balloons had already taken off and landed so that scuffled our plans for the day.

The view from the road.
After taking a few moments and a google search for what points of interests were nearby we ended up heading to Bristol Zoo.

Bristol Zoo

Once at Bristol Zoo it felt like we were the only people there. We weren't, but it was very quiet till about lunchtime and then the crowds were flocking in. 


TJ and I started looking at the lion area, to begin with we didn't see the lions until we got to the second half of the enclosure. Once at the glass the lion was at the front of the enclosure observing all the people passing by and watching them closely.

So close to this one amazing animal.
 The next animal we went through the enclosure and looked at the flamingo's. 
Tj commented on the color of their wings and body as they were such a brilliant pink.

On to the Gorilla enclosure. Again it was amazing to be so close to these beautiful and powerful primates. When we arrived at the enclosure they had just been let back into the house for their breakfast. It was amazing to see the 32st Silverback Gorilla picking at bugs and what looked like large nuts off of the floor.
The Gorilla house has recently had £1 million over haul and the fantastic 180 degree views.



The penguin enclosure was beautiful, its been a long time since I've been up close to one but this little one definitely stole the thunder from all the rest. I named him Dudley although that's not his official zoo name. 
He was such a lovely character and even poked his beak through the cage allowing me to stroke his head and bill. I don't recommend doing this to anyone as they can have a nasty nip.


The above animals were just a select few in the zoo. Every enclosure was well kept and well looked after. 
The shots below are a select few of some animals within the zoo that I found interesting and one which I've not seen before.



This seal was yelling and posed for a photo!

A very rare TJ turtle 

Another rare human Joey

Thursday 11 August 2016

An order from Bonusprint

Over the last few weeks I have compiled holiday photo's into a photograph album online from when I went to Las Vegas last year.
My parcel arrived 4 days later.
I ordered 3 different products polaroid style prints, large photo album which has writing on the front cover (extra cost) and a small photo album.
The 24 paged book that I have chosen is a small landscape album which measures 20 x 15cm with a spiral binding.
Each page can hold up to 7 pictures and a small amount of text on the page. I chose not to include text or a background as I wanted the pictures to look as natural as I could. 
The cover page is a transparent and shows the first picture in the photograph album.

First order 
The second album that I made was TJ's 8th birthday up to the last few weeks. 
In this album I added borders and writing on each page in the book. There are 24 pages in this album and I could've purchased more if I wanted to but did not feel the need to as I only used 13 pages. Which is plenty adequate for me as i can add more pictures to the book over the next month to fill it up. 

Full page photo
Light background 
Bright background 

My next package arrived in a few days, which I expected as I ordered on a Sunday evening.

 
These prints were a little naughty as I used prints from the Internet as I wanted to see how the pictures came out before I ordered lots. 
I received my photographs and the prints were perfect. I honestly thought they would come out all odd shaped or the color in them wouldn't be very bright. I was wrong and so glad that I ordered the select few that I had done as I now know that in 30 days when I travel to California and visit part of Route 66 I know the pictures will come out how I would like them.

Photographs to add to my Route 66 wall.

Monday 1 August 2016

The Army Air Museum - Stockbridge

Tank outside the museum
The Army Air Museum is located just a stones throw away from Middlewallop Army base. 

We were lucky enough to visit the museum on the bases Family Air Day.  
This consisted of helicopter flights landing and departing throughout the day, taking army personnel and their families for a tour of the local area. The flights lasted around 20 minutes each but it was amazing to see the whirlybirds flying so gracefully.

TJ inside the nose of the helicopter 

As we were at the museum before it opened we headed on round to the cafe where we had breakfast, I should say I had breakfast as TJ ate cereal in the car as I was driving. While I ate, I sat watching TJ running around the play area like a lunatic diving from one wooden structure to another. I have to say I found this highly amusing as he was pretending the aircraft's that were coming in to land were communicating with him via the wooden watch tower.



 Once breakfast was eaten and all the helicopters had been  grounded by LT. TJ (or at least as quickly as I coulld get him in to the museum before the next one took off) We raced to the museum entrance.
Once in the staff were helpful beyond my expectations explaining the different quizzes that there were to do. ( there were 4 different quizzes) in the end we choose to go on a teddy bear hunt and to find the stars around the museum.


On our journey through the different areas we came across a area where you can education area. Within the area was a machine that shows how wind affects the flight and how it helps lift the aircraft off the ground.

TJ learning how hard it is to keep a helicopter upright and straight
 Next on the tasks list was visiting all the different aviation machines from the aeroplanes to the small one seated helicopters. 

Fascinated by the man inside the aircraft
TJ found the dressing up area 




Flight simulator last 5 minutes and costs £1.
The hanger in the photographs below had helicopters coming down from the ceilings as well as being on the ground. Displaying in this hanger must've been at least 10 different aviation vehicles.

 Not only on our ticket we paid for entry for that day but we also became members for a year with gift aid so in the next year when we want to return entry will be free each time.

 I have attached a link to the events page of the website so you can see what special days are on whilst you visit.


First time camping since I was 16...

Over the last few months I've been thinking of going camping with TJ and I finally bit the bullet. 
I looked at a few different campsites but ended up choosing one that wasn't to far from home in case our first camping trip went wrong.
I booked via the official camping and caravaning site which was easier then I thought.

When I packed the car I just put in the basics of everything in the car.
  • Blow up mattress
  • Blanket
  • 2 x sleeping bags 
  • Small gas bottles 
  • Cooker
  • Small amount of food
  • Electric cool box ( plugs in to car lighter)
  • Spare change of clothes 
  • Torches 
  • Deck of cards 
  • Tent 
The tent erected.
Once we arrived at the campsite the tent was erected in our pitch which was a lot bigger then I thought it would be. 
With the car parked next to the tent, we went for a walk down a path that took us to Salisbury town. The path ran past a housing estate and near a field where there's a river running around the edges and a play area in which the smaller kids were playing in. 
The walk took a total of 25 minutes and was along flat terrain and paths so it made quite a nice little stroll.

The shops near the play area were Morrisons, sports direct, Smyths toy store and a few other shops. After buying some bread rolls we headed back to the river where children were swimming and playing, so I let TJ paddle in the river to cool down for a few minutes before scooting his way back up to the campsite.

When we arrived back at the campsite there was 3 x color coordinated VW campers. 


Seeing the different tents and camper vans was amazing. and the mini community that is built once you pitch your tent.

There was two different bathroom blocks with one having washing facilities. These blocks were immaculate and with an entry code which was easy to remember to be used after 5pm it helped keep the campers happy. 
There was 4 shower cubicles, 6 toilet cubicles. and 6 sinks in one shower block. 

When we started cooking on the BBQ we were asked to use a few bricks underneath to stop the grass from being burnt which I could understand why as the grass was kept very nice.

The only downside about this campsite was the noise after the sun went down although the other neighbors didn't seem to mind to much. 

When the sun came up we were up and ready packing the tent and heading out before 8am.