Allowed out on my own today, the weather was nice enough to drop the roof down and drive to one of my favourite secluded spots, in the heart of the Cambrian Mountains in West Wales. Avoiding motorways and main roads where possible, I drove via Hay-on-Wye and Builth Wells to Beulah, from where I followed the pass via Abergwesyn that crosses the mountains to Tregaron. Halfway along I stopped off for a light picnic lunch before exploring a small part of the are...

Today's adventures with my Godson were not of the historical nature, but scientific as we visited the Science Festival in Cheltenham. After a cooked breakfast at The Bankhouse, we attended a fascinating talk entitled Spectacular Sea Dragons, which looked at the creatures that were swimming in our oceans at the same time as the dinosaurs. We were then free to explore the rest of the festival, including a dinosaur zone, a Delorean car as featured in the Ba...

Today, my Godson and I explored a couple of Roman Villas. We started at Chedworth. One of the largest villas found in Britain, it was built from the second to fourth centuries. It consisted of an elegant set of buildings around three sides of a courtyard. Discovered by a GameKeeper in 1864, today the remains of the West Wing are on display under the cover of a building to protect the fine examples of mosaic floors. The hypocaust heating system can be clearl...

Today, my Godson (GS) and I followed the trail taken by King Charles II as he fled the Battle of Worcester into exile. The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 and was the final battle of the English Civil War. The Royalist forces, fighting for King Charles II, were defeated by the Parliamentarian New Model Army, led by Oliver Cromwell. Keen to avoid the fate of his father, King Charles I, who literally lost his head, Charles II escaped with...

Now that I've been back in the UK for a few days and have had time to reflect, I thought it worthwhile to jot down my musings on what has undoubtedly been the best trip I've ever embarked upon. The focus will be on New Zealand, but let's not forget that I started in Australia. Melbourne. A lovely city and host of the Australian Open. Can watching sport be much more satisfying than sitting in a stadium full of passionate Aussies witnessing their guy being compre...