Most of you may associate The Healey Cider Farm with the wonderful drop that is Rattler, voted as “Best bottled cider” by ciderfestivals.co.uk  2008!  The Cider is cyder is sparkling and is 6% ABV.  It can be found in most pubs around Cornwall either in a  bottle or on top.

“It’s Cloudy, It’s Cider and it bites!!”

Recently new to the long list of products produced by the Healey Cider Farm that already includes bottled cider, draught cider, country wines, brandy, fruit juices and jame are the increasingly popular Pear and Berry Rattler!

The new Rattler varieties are sweeter in taste, and only 4%, but are guaranteed to tingle your taste buds with bursting refreshment.

All visitors to the farm are welcome to take a self guided tour of the press house, bottlery and jam kitchen at The Cornish Cyder Farm free of charge.

However, for a complete experience and to allow access to the fascinating museum, distillery and underground cellars,  a full guided tour by one of the knowledgeable members of staff at the farm is reccommended. They will explain all the processes involved as you walk through the different areas. Even the children can get involved by taking part in the fun quiz on the tour. There is also a video to watch, which takes you through a complete working year at The Cornish Cyder Farm. The tour includes a tractor and trailer ride through the orchards in the valley below, which is really popular with the children.

Finally, finish off with a comprehensive sampling of the many products made on the farm. It really is a great trip and well worth a visit, especially for all you Cider lovers!!!

For more information on the Healey Cider Farm, please click Here!

WHERE TO FIND THE FARM

The Farm is centrally located in Cornwall, just a couple of miles off the main A30. They are also open until 8pm from mid July and August so pop in on your way to or from another place. 

They are easy to find, and are situated on the A3075 Redruth/Newquay road at the tiny hamlet of Penhallow.

Look out for the brown tourist signs.

Enjoy!!

The small town is a mere 75 kilometers from the Capital City but fear not.  If you have your heart set on trying this delicacy than you can purchase them in Phnom Penh.  It is told, that the tradition of eating these spiders spawns from the food shortages during the Khmer Rouge rule.  However, it has remained and on tasting them you can see why.  They’re not all that bad!!  The taste resembles a pork scratching.  I suggest giving it a whirl, you never know, you may be taking them back with you as a little airport snack on your return.

Check out this video of us eating Spiders!!

Over a beer we bonded as a team in the classy central London Wetherspoons establishment and were then handed a list of 20 challenges and a deadline of 6pm to meet in a pub in Angel.  The challenges were as follows:

1.  Photo in fornt of the largest monument in London

2.  Join a protest

3. Boat race with strangers and win

4. Street performance

5. Heckle at Poet’s corner

6. Pull a stranger

7. Kick a pigeon (I can confirm no animals were in fact harmed in the fun and games of the day)

8. Enjoy a pint in the oldest pub in London

9. Eat jellied eals

10. Photo in fornt of 10 downing street

11. Photo with tourist group

12. Eat Oysters

13. Re-create the Titanic photo

14. Wheelbarrow across Millenium Bridge

15. Photo in front of the William Wallace memorial

16. Buy a piece of tourist TAT

17. Photo with a person in uniform

18. Spin around in a revolving doors screaming – “I’m in a glass cage of emotion!!”

19. Strawpedo 5 bottles of Reef in a minute!

20. Photocopies of team members faces!

Agreed is the fact that some of these challenges can be viewed as somewhat juvenile, but with beers being enjoyed at every opportunity, every challenge was a source of great laughter!

The day was spent running frantically around London and in the end we completed 18 of the 20 challenges.  it turns out, that pigeons are deceptively fast!  we were pipped to the winning post by team C who completed all but one of the challenges, but we still maintain that they arrived at the pub 3 minutes after the deadline.

I highly suggest giving the day a try for your next birthday or free weekend, regardless of the city you are in.  Have fun!!!

We were in Hanoi at the time of a friend’s birthday and so dressed in some traditional clothing and decided to parade around the various bars serving Bia Hoy.  Essentially, these are tiny street corner shops with kegs serving the home brewed beer!  The Bia Hoy itself is surprisingly tasty and with a mere $10 dollars in your back pocket, you can buy in the region of 100 beers, so there is no excuse for not drinking too much!

In best place to g to sample the Bia Hoy, and the tasty food snacks that are often sold close by, is at Bia Hoy Junction, where Pho Nha Hoa meets Pho Duong Thanh in the Old Quarter!

I highly recommend indulging in the stuff for a night!  The locals are very friendly and will often come and drink with you – so strap on your lash boots and enjoy!  Expect to hear a few – “Tram Phan Tram” shouts – which is essentially a call to raise your glasses and See It Off!!!

After passing names like Johnny cash, Elvis Presley and a friends personnel favorite, Patrick Schwayze, we made it to Graumant’s Chinese Theater, where we greeted with a plethora of look-alikes who will happily pose for a photo with you, for a small fee of course!

We leisurely walked on either side of the famous strip, we made it down to the pick up point for our Hollywood Tour.  The open top bus was filled with around 16 people and we were all excited about the prospect of seeing some A-List celebrities.

The tour began by touring around the Universal Studios and various other filming sites, where some of the most famous TV shows and Blockbuster movies are made.  We were also told that if you queue around the studios in the morning, you can get free admission to be part of the audience for some of the US’s most popular Chat shows.

The tour then headed up towards one of the World’s most famous landmarks – The Hollywood Sign!  The best view of the famous sign is actually from Mulholland Drive, where you can get a great snap in front of the sign.  The view on the other side of the drive is also potentially the best view of the City of Angels.

Next, you have to just sit back and keep your eyes peeled for those Celebs.  On route to the fabulous houses that are littered all over Beverly hill, you drive up the Sunset Strip where you will see some of the A-List clubs owned by the likes of Puff Daddy and Ashton Kutcher, and many highly expensive shops that the Celebs can often be seen browsing for there next Red carpet outfit.  You then make your way into Beverly Hills and pass by the houses of Julia Roberts,  John Travolta, Tom Cruise, Jack Black, David Beckham, Bill Murray, Elton John and many others.

I did my very best to look in every direction, trying hopelessly to spot one, especially after being told by our tour guide that they will often purchase a good photo of a celebrity form you, more than likely to be sold to the magazines.  However my efforts were in vain, in our entire three-hour tour, we only spotted one celebrity, a rapper named Baby Face.  I had never heard of him and even so, I didn’t get a photo of him!

My personal highlight of the tour was seeing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air house.  The other houses were also incredible and it was fascinating to learn the different celebrities that have lived in the houses.  They have often been lived in by many different celebrities.  50 Cent’s house for instance was staggering, and we learned that he had previously bought it from Mike Tyson.  The tour guide told us many interesting facts about the neighbourhood and the celebrities that lived there, and it has proven to make great ammunition when discussing certain celebrities in the local Pub ever since.

The tour ended with a drive down Rodeo Drive, where every famous designer had a shop from Gucci to Armani.  In total the tour cost us $40, and the average price paid for a photo of a celebrity is $50, so why not give it a whirl, and who knows – you could end up making $10 for the pleasure!

Distance to destination – 6.1 miles

Overall distance - 12.2 miles

Elevation – 3770 feet

OUR EXPERIENCE

We spent the night before our trek outside of the national park and made our way into the Grand Canyon shortly after sunrise.  We paid our park entrance fee, that was surprisingly cheap, and drove up to the main car park.  We were at the south rim of the canyon and our plan was to do a day trek on the Bright Angel Trail to Plateau Point and back, a round trip of 12.2 miles.

The guidebook that we were given on entry into the park was filled with helpful information and advice about trekking through the canyon and we were informed that the average time to complete our desired trek was seven hours.  We had plenty of food and water in our backpacks and made sure that there were several places on route that we could refill our water bottles.  In the early morning with a very cool temperature, we set off to make our way into the canyon.  From our starting point we had a magnificent view of the plateau, where we hoped to be in time for lunch.  It looked so very far away!

We set off making our way down into the canyon and at some points it was pretty alarming with a large fall on one side of the cliff.  As we made our way down, we became aware that there was no shade cover, apart from at the small huts situated every other mile or so.  The heat rose and the trek became increasingly difficult.  Every time we felt like the going was pretty tough, all we had to do is turn around and stare up at where we had come from, it was extremely satisfying and filled us with motivation to persevere.

It took us around two hours to make it down to Plateau Point, with the terrain being pretty smooth and all of the trekking being downhill.  It worried me slightly for I couldn’t help but think about how tough it was going to be when we trek back up to the top!

At Plateau point we had the most incredible view of the Colorado River.  It must have been another 1,000 metres down to the river, and at the plateau we got a true respect for how big the canyon was, earning its status in our minds as a natural wonder of the world!

We spent about an hour enjoying our lunch at the plateau and staring at the incredible view that we had been rewarded with by endeavouring on the difficult trek.  After replenishing our depleted energy levels, we set off back on the 1,000 metre elevation back to the top.  It took us just under double the time to get back up to the top as it took us to get to the bottom.  It was tough on our legs, but now the temperature had risen to be nye on unbearable and with no shade on the route, it was extremely difficult.  To make matters worse, my friend Liam was struggling thanks to a recent knee operation that he had following a nasty rugby injury.

We stopped at every small hut on the route that were thankfully at regular intervals, and took short breaks at each.  The final kilometre of trekking was especially hard for Liam and he really had to dig deep.  Reaching the top again was a real achievement and we were all filled with joy, and massive amounts of relief.  We took a picture at the top of the canyon and as you can see it isn’t pretty.  We were totally exhausted and covered in sweat, but we were so happy, it didn’t matter!!  Definitely something to be experienced if you have the chance!!

Click here for information on the Grand Canyon and some of the various trails that have been developed for trekking!

Next it was on further north to Byron Bay and Surfer’s paradise, where we sampled the East Coast’s famous nightlife and the Goon!!  We then battled through a hurricane to make it north to the Whitsunday Islands where we spent three days cruising around the 74 islands.  We then headed south back down to Rainbow Beach to tour the largest sand island in the world, Fraser Island!  We then headed further south to Brisbane, where we had just enough time to explore the city and go Zorbing, before heading home!!

In total, we drove approximately 4200 kilometres and our Spaceship Roxy held up wonderfully.  The entire service we received was first class and made the experience all that more memorable.  I can easily give them a rating of 9 out of 10!

The Spaceship Blogs

Spaceship Blog One - The Trip Begins

Spaceship Blog Two - Fun In And Around Melbourne

Spaceship Blog Three - The Great Ocean Road

Spaceship Blog Four - More Fun and Sight Seeing on The Great Ocean Road

Spaceship Blog Five - Our Return To Melbourne

Spaceship Blog Six - Fun Times In Sydney

Spaceship Blog Seven – Byron Bay, Surfer’s Paradise and driving through a Hurricane!

Spaceship Blog Eight - The Whitsunday and Fraser Islands tours to complete our Spaceship Adventure!!

 Check out the video of our Spaceship Adventure!

For more information on renting a Spaceship camper van, please click HERE!

We had a great night at the Magnums Backpackers in Airlie Beach and with much excitement boarded the Habibi boat for our tour of The Whitsunday Islands.  The tour was fantastic fun, playing beach cricket on a beach rated as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, snorkeling the great barrier reef and getting drunk with some new friends and some friendly crew members on the boat.

Click here to read about our tour of the Whitsunday Islands!!

Our maiden voyage as sailors was a great experience, one which we enjoyed very much.  On our return to Airlie beach, we had no time to waste, we had to get down to Rainbow Beach, for our safety briefing for our Fraser Island Trip.  On our long drive down the East coast, we made our very last meals in our Spaceship Roxy.  We first stopped for a light breakfast, some cereal and a cup of coffee and then we stopped a little later to prepare a tuna pasta.  Cooking food using our camp stoves has saved us so much money, but it has also been pretty cool, finding idyllic spots on the east coast and eating where we wish!

We arrived at Rainbow Beach in the afternoon, just about in time for our safety briefing on the Fraser Island tour that we were set to go on the following day.  We met our group and went to the near-by shops to buy some supplies to keep us going for the three days on the largest sand island in the world.  The following day we were given our 4×4 and I drove us to the ferry.  The three days was filled with fun at the amazing lakes, great fun driving the jeep off road on the beach and through forests, and drinking and eating around campfires in our group.  My personal highlight of the trip was at Lake Wabby where we ran down the tall sand dunes into the clear lake below!

Click here to read more about our 4×4 adventure on Fraser Island!!

On our return to Rainbow Beach, we spent the night in a near-by pub watching the opening game of the NRL season, The Cowboys were taking on the Brisbane Broncos.  It was a great game and was an eye opener on just how big the sport is in Australia.  

The next morning we set off on our final journey in our spaceship, down to Brisbane to drop our van off.  It had been so good to us, encountering no problems whatsoever.  We dropped it off and made our way into the city centre to spend the day at the man made beach.  

So our Spaceship adventure was over.  We had left no stones unturned in Australia, and had experienced everything we wanted to.  Our spaceship had made the experience all that more epic, giving us the freedom to go where we wanted and whenever we wanted to.  I highly recommend that anyone planning on doing a trip to the east coast of Australia, to seriously look into booking a spaceship, you will not regret it!!

Click here fore more information on renting a Spaceship!!

Prior to boarding our home for the next three days, we made a brief, but essential, stop off for alcohol.  The Habibi allows you to bring onboard as much alcohol as you wish and so we were a little scared of making the same mistake as many and going a little overboard.  We purchased four boxes of goon and two crates of beer between three of us and this proved to be more than enough.

The boat had a spacious decked area, providing more than enough room to stretch out and soak up some much needed rays, while coasting peacefully along passed some idyllic beaches and spectacular scenery.  On our first day out there wasn’t enough wind to cast the sail but it was still a pleasure to be out on the water.  As we passed certain islands the crew talked a little about them, pointing out one that was owned by George Harrison from the Beatles and many others that he had given ridiculous nicknames due to their shape and appearance.  It was incredible how one did actually resemble Homer Simpson, not short and fat – but in facial construction.

We boarded the boat at midday so we spent the afternoon sailing to a nice spot, where we anchored up and were cooked a fantastic meal.  Being three strapping young lads, we were challenged to finish off all remaining the food, and I can proudly say after a struggle we managed it.  Needless to say, you do not go hungry on the boat. That night we socialised with the other travellers on the boat.  The nights sleep was not ideal for underneath the boat got extremely hot and by morning I found myself, accompanied by the majority of the people on the boat, sprawled out somewhere on the deck.  I woke up and looked around and kept seeing strange objects poking out of the water.  After several minutes of observation I worked out the they were turtles poking their heads out of the water.

We visited the Whitsunday Islands during Stinger season (jellyfish).  We therefore had to wear stinger suits whenever we entered the water.  Some of the jellyfish in the water can cause serious pain and even death in some cases, though it is very rare, so wearing a stinger suit is compulsory even if its not the most attractive of outfits!  That morning we had a lovely breakfast on the deck of the boat and then caught kitted out in our stinger suits.  We were then taken over to a beach in small groups on a little boat.  The beach we were taken to was voted as the world’s most beautiful beach that year, with sand so fine and pure that you can use it to clean jewelry, wash hair and even exfoliate the skin.

Once on the beach, we soaked up the rays of early morning sunshine and tossed around a rugby ball in the sea.  We then gathered everyone together and began an epic game of beach cricket.  We spent all morning on the beach, before returning to the boat for some lunch.  We then raised the anchor and made way to a popular spot for snorkeling.  The crew were really good fun and encouraged everyone to get involved with sailing, by asking for help to raise sails etc.

We sailed for a few hours after lunch and then came to a spot where there were a few other boats anchored up.  We too anchored our boat and got dressed in our stinger suits again to jump into the water for a spot of snorkeling.  It was this that I was most looking forward to about the trip, snorkeling the world’s largest coral reef system, the Great Barrier Reef.  The snorkeling was fantastic and I saw numerous beautiful tropical fish.  It was an incredible experience and I could have stayed in the water all day.  I took an underwater camera with me and think I used up all the photos within ten minutes.

We snorkeled late into the afternoon and then returned to the boat for dinner and another restless nights sleep under the deck.  It was unbearably hot underneath the deck, and to make matters worse, it rained through the night so that we couldn’t even sleep out on the deck.  We woke up early the next morning to find it still raining and so our final day was spent in raincoats, sailing on choppy waters back to port.  It was still great fun to be out on the boat, but I was pretty relieved to get back onto solid ground.

So that was my first sailing experience and afterwards I can say it certainly will not be my last!  It was great fun throughout, all be it with a few restless nights sleep on the boat.  The only thing I may change would be to sleep on one of the islands as apposed to underneath the deck of the boat.  The highlight had to be the snorkeling of the great barrier reef, truly incredible!!

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the World and it is one of the most popular tourist attractions on the East Coast of Australia.  During our stay in Sydney we popped into the Tribal Travel shop and booked a combined package to partake in tours of the Whitsunday Islands and Fraser Island that also included a few nights accommodation in a hostel and a surfing lesson.  We drove up to Fraser Island from Brisbane and were a little worried that our tour would not be going ahead, thanks to a hurricane that had recently hit the East Coast of Australia.  Thankfully our tour did go ahead on the date planned, but we were limited as to where we could travel whilst on the Island.  One of the main attractions of the Island is a shipwreck at Indian’s Head and we were unable to visit the wreck for the road leading to it was damaged and debris caused by the hurricane had not been cleared.

We checked into our hostel that was booked by Tribal Travel at Midday, for we had a safety briefing at 3PM.  At the briefing we met our tour party of 8 and discussed the safety elements on the Island.  We were told vast information about the various sights and attractions of the Island, the 4×4 jeep that we would be driving, the camping equipment and all about the Dingos.  The Island is bursting with wildlife and Dingos can be dangerous if provoked, so we were told not to feed them and keep a safe distance from them at all times. 

After the meeting we left the hostel in our group and made our way to the near-by supermarket to purchase food for the three days and two nights, and copious amounts of alcohol, in the form of beer and goon!!  There were 4 vegetarians in our group so we decided not to buy meet at all.  We did buy some tuna to make sandwiches to eat during the day but we decided to cook a vegetarian curry on the first night and then a large pasta on the second night. The cooking arrangements worked out really well, with the boys in charge of cooking and the girls in charge of washing up.

The next morning we rose bright and early and packed up our jeep and set off towards the ferry.  Of our party, only four of us were over the age of 21 and so we were the only ones permitted to drive.  I was handed first responsibility of driving and relished in a relatively easy drive to the port.  The short ferry took us over to the Island and then we were let lose on the sand.  Driving the jeep on the sand was so much fun, and even as a passenger it is a pretty exciting experience being tossed around in the back.

We drove on the beach, avoiding the sea as best we could.  Getting sea water underneath the jeep can cause serious damage so were instructed to avoid going near the sea in the jeep, for we could have lost our deposit.  Our first stop on the Island was at Fraser Island’s deepest lake, Lake Wabby.  We parked our jeep on the beach and set off on the thirty minute trek through the forrest down to the lake.  The lake small footpath was covered in trees on either side and then we came to a large clearing and got our first view of the beautiful lake.  There was a massive sand dune next to the lake and the first thing we did was to walk to the top, where we were rewarded with an incredible view.

At the top of the large sand dune, we stared down at the lake and decided to run as fast as we could towards the clear fresh water.  The gradient was so steep that we couldn’t slow down even if we wanted to.  By the time we reached the water we were running as fast as we possibly could and then we crashed into the refreshing water.  It was great fun!!  People from other groups joined in and at the end of the day, we all ran down in a large group of around 50 people!

That night, we found our allocated place to camp and set about cooking our vegetarian curry, as the girls set up the tents.  We were then joined by some guests from another jeep, who informed us of a little party they were going to throw at the end of the beach.  That night we got pretty drunk raving it up with some fellow travellers and had a great time!

With our heads thumping we rose from our tents early and made our way to Lake Mckenzie.  It was about a two hour drive through some bumpy terrain but that is the whole fun of the 4×4 experience.  By the time we arrived at the lake it was packed but there was more than enough room to find a nice spot to sunbathe, read and run into the fresh water.  We spent the entire day at the lake, for we couldn’t travel further north thanks to the hurricane.

With the sun just about to set, we made our way for our designated campsite and set up the tents.  We then cooked our large pasta and began another night of drinking and frolics.  Be warned that he sea surrounding Fraser Islands is teaming with sharks and jellyfish and all visitors are advised not to go into the sea, so late night swimming is definitely not to be done, no matter how severe your alcohol consumption is.

Our final day included a trip to another lake, for more relaxation and tossing a ball around in the water, before we made our way back to the ferry for midday.  On our return back to the mainland, we cleaned our van and checked everything to ensure that we did not lose our deposit.  It was a fantastic trip and one that I could easily see myself doing again in the future!!

Check out the video of our Fraser Island Trip!