Snow falling and settling in a lane way

This is the first significant snow fall we have seen since arriving in Europe and it is exciting. Megan in particular was delighted to be able to walk out into the town and experience freshly falling snow; growing up in Australia limits your exposure to snow.

Snow settling on building masonry

Snow starting to settle on the rooftops

The weather forecast suggests the snow will not last. Sleet is on the way and the snow is likely to be washed away. Until then the world outside has a magical feel to it.

A snow covered street this evening

The town is pretty but was not particularly photogenic. The central market building was surrounded by roads ferrying cars here and there. Fewer cars would have been welcome.

Tetbury market building

One of Tetbury’s claims to fame is a shop operated by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall called Highgrove.

Many of Tetbury’s buildings were adorned with the English or United Kingdom flag. I am noticing this trend more and more since returning to the UK. There seem to be more flags flying than I remember almost a decade ago.

A street in Tetbury

The Snooty Fox public house in Tetbury

Frost sitting on a plant

Frost on a fence in Westonbirt Arboretum

Frost covered leaves

Close up of frost on a wooden fence

These photos come from our recent walks in Malvern Hills and Westonbirt Arboretum.

Our kind hosts put up with my enthusiasm to see, and photograph, their coffee making process in full. The entire roasting process took about fifteen minutes and required surprisingly simple house hold tools to complete.

The green beans are placed in a container ready to be roasted with a hot air gun.

Green coffee beans

These beans took about twelve to fifteen minutes to cook with constant stirring. As they roasted the coffee beans’ husks came off and drifted out of the bowl.

The beans were roasted outside as the husks can settle in the garden without harm and the smoke created does not trigger fire alarms.

Roasting the green beans

The beans are stirred as they roast

Once the beans are roasted, they are cooled. In this case the beans were tumbled from one metal bowl to another.

Cooling the roasted coffee beans

Tumbling the coffee beans to speed up the cooling

The once green coffee beans have now turned brown.

Roasted coffee beans

The cooled roasted beans are ground to a powder using an electric grinder. Previously the grinding had been done with a hand grinder, but unsurprisingly the process was not endearing and an electric replacement was brought in.

The traditional espresso coffee machine

Coffee ready for the espresso machine

After being ground the coffee is put through a coffee machine and into the waiting the cups. The end result tasted fantastic.

The final beautiful cups of coffee

Snow on the Malvern Hills

Given our onward travel plans, I am grateful to see no more snow is predicted for the next few days.

Malvern Hills viewed from Malvern Link

Road looking up at the Malvern Hills

Paddington Station's vaulted ceiling

We had a few hours to wait at Paddington before our train for Malvern arrived. During that time we wandered around, enjoyed a coffee, visited Paddington Bear, and enjoyed the feeling of walking on solid ground again.

Detail of the vaulted ceiling at Paddington Station

Beautiful iron facade at Paddington Station, London

Thanks to extensive searching for specific routes and a healthy block of Frequent Flyer points we were able to secure our latest flights on the new Airbus A380 plane along with Qantas Skybed seats.

Qantas A380

This was the first flight I have been able to recline fully on. The seats certainly helped. It will be difficult to return to traditional airline seats.

Qantas Skybeds inside the A380

Inside Business Class of the A380

View across the A380 inside

Qantas Skybed seat controls

Tail mounted camera on the A380

Australian Kangaroo Paw

Kangaroo Paw is a plant included in the emblem of Western Australia.

We were in Bathurst to visit friends. The town has an attractive and family friendly feel. We happily strolled around with our friends’ two little boys running and playing ahead.

Park and two foozles

It was wonderful to catch up in person with old friends.

View of Bathurst and surrounding countryside

Bathurst courthouse

Bathurst war memorial in the town centre

Bathurst war memorial

A visit to Bathurst would not be complete without a circuit of the race track.

View from Bathurst race track

Fireworks on New Years Eve in Melbourne

As in previous years, we ventured into the city to see the fireworks. I took my camera and filmed the complete New Years Eve 2012 fireworks show from the Docklands, Melbourne. Watch the show in High Definition on YouTube.