September 12 & 13: Woburn to Portsmouth

We drive from Harwich to Woburn but stop along the way to sort a few things to be ready to fly back the NZ this week. Millie comments several times that it seems that we have come home. There is certainly a lovely familiar feeling to being back in the UK. We would love to be back here repeating our previous adventures, spending more time with our lovely friends here or creating new memories. It is bitter sweet to be back however as we only have a few short days back here to sort things before heading home.

It's a brilliant warm day and it is so lovely to see the Newtons one last time on this trip. We share a BBQ dinner in the back yard then sit around the chimnea savouring a magic evening together. The kids are so happy to be together again. More wonderful memories to hold onto.

The next day it is great to phone NZ and speak with mum. We sort a few more things in the van then take a lovely walk up to Woburn Abbey estate, then back through the village before sharing lunch together. It is with heavy hearts that we say our farewells before heading south to see Paul and Carla for the evening.

It's only 2 hours to Portsmouth. More fun as we catch up with friends over a meal. Then it's down to some serious packing as we chip off a bit more of the motorhome pack down. It's a major.

Being here brings back all the memories of arriving back in April ready to start our adventure.

September10 & 11: Denmark Germany Holland England

The parking spot is a winner. We have a quiet peaceful night. We have been gearing toward getting on a ship bound for the UK on the 11th but discover when we head to McDonalds for wifi that actually there is no possibility to change our sailing from this dock at all. We would have to wait until the 25th. Rather annoying to have not been told that sooner.

We end up spending about four hours on the net talking to NZ, sorting things with insurance and trying to work out how to get back. We decide that it is worth the chance to drive to Holland and try to get a new booking to the UK from there.

It is with great relief that along the way we get word that we are booked on a sailing the following day. It ends up being a very big day. The GPS is always so optimistic with trip times. The six and a half hour total is rather extended.

Everyone is pretty tired when we end up parking up in a residential area in the town of Deventer in Holland at around 11pm. Not a fabulous sleep here though. We find in the morning that we are parked under a chestnut tree. Sporadically through the night we have been popped with falling debris. In the middle of the night it is rather easy to imagine some thugs, annoyed local residents, robbers, delinquents and/or bad guys throwing things to annoy, provoke or threaten.

The following day we arrive at Hoek van Holland in time for a quick wander before boarding the ship at 2:30.

Mostly it feels pretty sad to leave the continent after all this time on the road. We've had a fabulous time. It has been such an incredible opportunity for us and it is hard to imagine it ever happening in this way again.

We are delighted to know that we will briefly see some of our friends as we sort ourselves for our trip home over the next few days. That will feel all too short but it is great to see things coming together to get back home - probably this week.

We have an endless list of things to sort before jumping on a plane but we are that much closer to sorting things once we arrive in the UK in Harwich.

September 8 & 9: Odense

A gorgeous morning to start a lovely Autumn day. The girls are happy with a playground at the campground. We decide to drive to Odense today. This means that we have to drive over the famous Odense bridge. It is enormous and quite spectacular. The cost is about $70 NZ to cross in our van.

We haven't been caught out by Monday museum closing much before now as we have not been to that many museums, but our plans to find more out about Hans Christian Anderson are put aside as we discover it is closed on Mondays. At least there is free WiFi in the town centre. We hear from NZ and wander the streets around the museum.

The rain doesn't come to much and we decide to head for a town on the coast which was recommended by the camp manager or Copenhagen. We stay at Sandager just out of Assens. Very quiet here. We are the only ones in the campground for the night. Like the other camp grounds that are closing this week, the facility closes at the end of the week.

We spend the morning a the campground then decide to drive back to Odense. We have been trying to get back to the UK early but confirmed last night that it was not possible to get on the next ferry tomorrow night.

Millie really enjoys finding out about Hans Christian Anderson. Born in 1805 in extreme poverty we found how he ended up writing fairy tales, some of which are very familiar to the girls.

We move from here to a large shopping centre where we take a peek and are again caught gasping when we take the time to do the conversion into New Zealand dollars.

Our parking spot is alongside another camper in a public car park on the outskirts of Middelfart.... True!

September 7: Copenhagen

After a very late night for the girls we hang around the van for the morning. Rain comes and goes and we decide to grab a water-bus and head along the river/canal to the city. Clare's feet are pretty sore after a big walk yesterday so we take it gently when we do get off the boat and wander through the heart of the town.

The architecture is amazing here. There is a real mix of old and new here and it comes together so well. We are out and about in the sleepy town this Sunday til 6 at night. The campsite is closing tonight so we are one of the last vans to drive out of the park for the season. We drive to the west of the Island to Kolsor and stay in a camp ground overnight. This one closes tomorrow for the season. We've timed this well. The manager is a friendly fellow with a genuine viking surname ... Apparently.

September 6: Germany to Copenhagen... Tivoli by night

Today 27 degrees. Wander the village shops and admire the port before driving on to Puttgarden, our last taste of Germany where we jump on a ferry to cross to Rodby Havn in Denmark.

It's a bit of a drive but we pull into Copenhagen after a few stops at 7pm.

There's a cool man at the campground (actually an unused parking lot with container filled with showers and loos). He has a viking surname andives Millie a coin. He instructs us that we must take the kids into the city tonight to go to Tivoli