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We set off early for Coonor, a drive that would take about 8 hours on driving on some fairly harrowing roads of South India!!
After a few hours and a lunch that will not be remembered for speed or efficiency we started to head up in to the hills. Winding and winding our way up and up, crazy truck and bus drivers overtaking on blind corners with steep ravines on my side!! Often the whole bus would collectively gasp at yet another close call with an oncoming truck or bus!
As we passed through tea plantations and the air became chilly we knew we would soon be at the hill station mansion called Wallwood Garden, which was built 100 years ago by a Scottish Major General.
Coonoor is 1858 meters above sea was a retreat for the British Raj workers during the summer.
Sunday
Everyone except Sabbie and I drove back down the mountain at 4am to catch a steam train back up .. which sounded crazy to us .. and in fact they couldn't get on the train .. while we slept in had a leisurely breakfast overlooking the flower gardens and then went to the station to catch the train the last leg to Ooty another famous Hill Station further up the track.
Ooty or Udhagamandalam is the capital of Nigiris (Blue Mountains) district. Apparently .. for trainspotters this is a pretty cool train to catch. It was lovely to chug past tea plantations and colorful villages.
Once at Ooty we had lunch and headed to the botanical gardens and as the only Westerners in Ooty were an instant photo hit!! Yes we were celebrities for the afternoon ... people flocked to have their photos taken with us .. it was hilarious!!!
It was Justine & Mikes 29th Wedding Anniversary so a few of us bought glamorous Indian outfits to wear for dinner!! It was very grand as we sat at a beautiful dining table, looking amazing drinking gin and lime in our hill station manor!! Jassa organized a cake for them and Rosie out did everyone by producing a silver cake fork from her back pack and declaring "Britts have an imagine to maintain" ... I had tears in my eyes from laughing so much!! Seriously ... who the hell travels with a silver cake fork???!!!
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