The Honeymoon is over...

Will & I had a fabulous week in The Gambia, we got back in the wee small hours yesterday. The hotel was fantastic, & we spent our days eating, drinking, swimming, & lounging by the pool. I wasn't even tempted to go into the internet cafe once, which is quite a big achievement for me! We also had a telly in our room which didn't get any use at all. Our room was very nice, we ended up getting a free upgrade to a 'superior deluxe'. Ours is the upstairs one in the picture below, & we had nice views over the swimming pool & ocean. Note the monkeys in the background on the bottom right!

The funny thing was, because I had booked the hotel under my name, & because I had told them it was our honeymoon, they not surprisingly assumed that we were already married. This meant we spent the whole week as 'Mr & Mrs Baumberg' which was very amusing! Will took it in his stride, to the point of signing for the pool towels as Will Baumberg! It was lovely having a proper relaxing beach holiday, as so much of my travelling is full-on & quite hard work, staying at dingy cheap little hostels. You could say we were both VERY chilled...

A short walk from the hotel was a forest reserve full of monkeys. We took a big bag of peanuts, & they would eat them from our hands. Their touch was incredibly gentle.Monkeys also roamed freely around the extensive hotel grounds, & the bird life was something else. Loads of exotic, brightly coloured species, as well as several peacocks which aren't native to Gambia, but seemed quite happy with their new home. All in all it was a magical week. If I ever feel the need for another week of total rest & relaxation, it isn't a bad option. After all the sunshine however, I did spend most of yesterday freezing!

Last night we had a lovely dinner at Steve & Kate's, then went into town to meet up with others to celebrate Ben's birthday. It was a good night, but with arriving back from Gambia that morning, plus losing an hour due to daylight savings, I did wake up this morning pretty shattered!

Today was a glorious day, very mild with loads of sunshine. In the morning cousin Renee & Jeremy arrived to pick up some of their stuff they had been storing here. It was nice to catch up & hear about Renee's trip to NZ & her sisters wedding. I had rugby in the afternoon & we bet Portsmouth 19-15. I didn't feel too bad during the match, considering I hadn't done any training for 2 weeks...

The next 2 weeks before the wedding is pretty manic. Tomorrow evening we are going into London to see 'Spamalot' which is the stage version of Monty Python's Holy Grail. I bought the tickets ages ago as a birthday present for Will. On Friday Rik & I have to go to York for a 2-day overnight conference for world challenge school leaders. We get back Saturday evening, then on Sunday I have rugby against Richmond away. That same day my mum & dad & nana fly in, so Will is in charge of looking after them! Next Wednesday I leave for our world challenge practice expedition in Buxton, getting back on Friday evening, just in time to get married on Saturday!

I'll finish below with a couple more happy holiday pics...