On the road again

7:00am: a horrid hour of the morning. Waaaay too early for any normal human being to be awake. Frankly I'm surprised the sun was up at that time. 

Jess and I lugged our bags upstairs and  checked out of the Hostel. We will miss Castle Rock! 

Got to the train station intime to board our train and start the two and a half hour journey toward Darlington, a smaller coastal town just out of York. 

"We'll take the lot!" We said as the snack trolley lady came to our seat. 

Didn't quite have enough for the lot..

We were greeted at the train station by Mavis and Lance, the parents of Kay, a good friend of Jess from work. We had never met them before so to make sure we recognised them, Lance was wearing a t-shirt with a kangaroo on it haha!

When we arrived at their beautiful home, in the small sea-side town of Marske, Mavis and Lance took Jess and I for a walk along the beach, all the way up to Saltburn. It was about an hour's amble up the beach. Sooo lovely.

Meet the beautiful Mavis and Lance! Lance is giving us a sneak peek of his kangaroo shirt here.

One very majestic cliff! 

We walked along the pier and had drinks and scones in a cafe over looking the ocean. 

We also found some knitting attached to the pier railing for the soccer World Cup. Here is the Austrailian soccer player. 

After walking for a while it got pretty hot, so it only made sense to go for a quick dip. According to my toe-mometers, the water was probably a very warm -34 degrees. Roasty toasty.

Disaster struck on our way home, as I realised I no longer had my iPod and had left it in the toilet (cubicle not bowl).. Nooooo!! Lance walked back to the pier with me and luckily we found it with the life guard who told us a lovely woman had saved the day and handed it in. PHEW!! All of my photos were not lost forever haha. Phew phew phew! Lance and I walked back home and met Jess and Mavis there. We were spoiled rotten, with chicken fajitas for dinner and chocolate cake for desert. We could hardly move we were that full. Thanks Mavis!

This morning we all got in the car and made our way to Whitby. Whitby is a fishing village about an hour's drive from Marske. It is famous for a few things, one of the most popular things being that it provided inspiration for the setting of Bram Stoker's, Dracula. No surprise either, it was so eerie. But very cool!

We climbed the 199 steps to get to the spooky looking Whitby Abbey and took in the spectacular view. Woah! 

View from the hill opposite the abbey. 

Step one hundred and something..

Graveyard behind St. Mary's Church (the church situated just in front of the abbey).

Outside Whitby Abbey.

We only had a little bit of time up there so couldn't actually go through the abbey. 

Instead we decided to look at it from the outside, except there was a huge wall surrounding it, making it difficult to see. Poop. Climbed this smaller wall to look over it the other wall.. Close enough... 

Jess looking super happy infront of St. Mary's church. 

Whitby also used to be a whaling village. These are the jawbones of a whale. They used to be real but these ones are now just replicas. 

Here is a statue of good old Cpt. Cook, looking very regal with that seagull aiming to let one loose on his shoulder.. Haha! Poor Jimbo. Whitby is the town in which he began his training as a seaman.

Hehe..

After stopping in at a small country pub for lunch, Mavis and Lance dropped us off at the coach stop. It was sad to say goodbye. Even though we have only just met them, they made us feel at home and were just so lovely! A big thank you to them for letting us stay in there home, for spoiling us rotten, and for taking us to some awesome places! 

After saying goodbye Jess and I hopped on the bus and began our 7 hour bus ride down to London.

You know how it is really difficult to write neatly in the car? It is a pretty similar experience when using the toilet on a moving bus. Except instead of writing a wobbly looking a, you get thrown sideways off the seat...

Also just because we are spontaneous, we went on a Ferris wheel today. 

Haha we found one near the bus stop so thought why not!? 

Just because we are very lazy we caught a cab to carry us, and our 50 bags of luggage to our hostel. Ahhh it's so crazy, feels like only a couple of weeks since we were last here. How time flies!! 

We have a day in London tomorrow, where we hope to find a pub that will be airing the state of origin! Wish us luck! 

Love you all xoxoxoxooxox

Ps: GO QUEENSLAND!!!