G'day Mate put a shrimp on the Barbie!

Sunday 7th March 2010

G'day mate....Boomerangs, Kangaroos, Koala Bears....yes thats right we were in Melbourne.....ok, ok, ok perhaps not Melbourne, Australia, but Melbourne, Derbyshire. Though believe it or the two are connected as you will see from the portrait to the left. Though I am sure Mr Lamb might have a few things to say about his portrait being covered in bird muck!!

Team Shiltonpig has all been ill in one form or another this week and today was a gentle drive and walk around some local spots to get away from the cabin fever that had set in.

First up though was a place called Breedon on the Hill....of course there is a church at the top of this hill and you can see it for miles and miles around...but now has the added memory that we found a cache there as well. For avid readers will know by now that Mr and Mrs Shiltonpig have a competition to find the oldest grave stone in a churchyard. This time it was Mr Shiltonpig that had the honour of winning this particular match finding a grave from 1702....., this was around the time Mrs Shiltonpigs mother was born. Weird to think that people have been living on this hill for over 2000 years and there has been a church on the site for a 1000 of those years. The views on this particularly sunny day were great, you can see East Midlands airport nearby and Josh (well ok Mr Shiltonpig as well) enjoyed seeing the planes coming in and landing...just wish we could be on a plane taking off to a hot sunny location!

The cache in question is found in the church wall...not quite sure why but it is...and Mrs Shiltonpig had soon found it after some expert advice from Mr Shiltonpig....nothing exciting...but well worth visiting for the views!

Oh and another thing about Breedon it has it own beacon, which is occasionally lit as part of the nations beacon set...the last time it was lit was 5 years ago to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Trafalgar...the nearby notice says that the next time it will go off is on a day of national importance....like today for example Joshs first curry!

After Breedon we headed to Australia (oh sorry have already done that joke to death) and ready for a couple of caches. Melbourne is the type of place Mr Shiltonpigs mom would like...picturesque village, nice walk, tea rooms and antique shops and craft rooms. Probably the nicest place in the area so far visited (sorry Swad, you are just not posh enough lol)

It was a lovely sunny day...families out enjoying themselves and there was one disaster no ice cream shops were in the nearby walking vacinity!!! Aaarggghhhh.....

Anyway apart from the man that Melbourne took its name from...Melbourne also has another famous man born here...one that we all have heard of....Thomas Cook as in "Don't just book it, Thomas Cook it" I kid you not....for a small tiny village it sure has some important people born here.

The two caches in question were easily found one next to a lions den (well ok a large container with a lions security sticker on it) and one by the lake which was failry straight forward to find although Mr Shiltonpig was on his knees again trying to find it. This last cache will be remembered for something else though, Mr Shiltonpig was off
getting an ice cream when a small rowing boat appeared on the lake. Mrs Shiltonpig was watching them when all of a sudden a large scream from the boat, and suddenly all 4 people in the boat were in the water....the boat had capsized! Everyone was ok so it seems perfectly ok that Mrs Shiltonpig burst out laughing.....Mr Shiltonpig returned ice creamless to say "what did I miss?"

Will definitely be back here again in the summer as it really is a beautiful place...hopefully some more caches will be here next time as well! Toodlepips for now...