Trip Around the Bay

On mine and Gary's day off, we decided to have a wander around Torbay. We've been meaning to get the ferry over to Brixham all summer, as not only is it cheaper than the bus, it's a lovely little journey across the bay.

I thought it would be nice to go to Totnes though, as we haven't been there for years. So we got the bus from Torquay to Paignton and had a look round the shops until the bus came for Totnes.

We had a lovely lunch in the Dartmouth Inn where they had Morris dancers outside, it sounded like a regular thing and made the pub quite busy.

Most of the shops were closed unfortunately as it was a Sunday, but they had a lovely food market at the top of the hill that had all sorts, such as Thai, paella, falafel, cheese and meat stalls and loads more. I'll take my Mum over one Sunday as she loves things like that.

Gary then suggested we get the bus over to Brixham anyways and get the ferry home. I had joked that morning that it was probably too windy for the ferry to be running as that had stopped it before.

And yes, I was right, it wasn't running. 

In Lanzarote and Majorca the catamarans we went on swayed madly on the huge waves and yet this day the sea looked calm and peaceful.

It was nice to have a walk around the harbour waiting for the next bus though, and to see Sir Francis Drake's boat, the Golden Hind, previously known as the Pelican (something I learned on the Chase).

It's also great to have such nice weather, we wouldn't normally be able to consider a boat trip near the end of September!

Trip to Paignton Zoo

Earlier this week, I went to Paignton Zoo with my sister and my niece.

It's a place that has always been in my life since I can remember. When I was younger I use to be a member of the Gibbon Club. We would meet up one Saturday a month and do loads of activities to do with the animals and learn about the wildlife. I would also go to the Summer School which is now called Wild Weeks. This was an amazing week and was my favourite. I would recommend it to any child that loves animals and loves the zoo. We would go behind the scenes and feed the elephants, giraffes and tortoises, we made paper mache balls full of food for the baboons (they loved those), learnt loads of information about animals all over the world and collected peacock feathers, I use to love taking them home to my Nana. It was an inspiring and enlightening time.

Since then, the zoo has added new exhibits and attractions and is still one of my favourite places to go. I had a great time with my sister and niece, we managed to get round most of the zoo (it's quite big!) and had a little play in the parks which was fun.

The newest exhibit is the 'Investigating Invertebrates' house. It's really interesting, there are spiders, stick insects, scorpions, and cockroaches (which creep me out!). They also have an ant nest which is connected to their food source (leaves) by tubes that run over the room so you can see them work.
There are so many different animals and they all have spacious exhibits, definitely a full day out if you want to visit everything. At the moment there are quite a few baby animals, like baby meerkats, baby orang-utans and baby giraffes. All very cute!
Can't wait to go back again.
Hope you enjoy the photos =)

Meet the Dogs in my Life

I have two dogs in my life, the one on the left is Jax, who is ours, and the one on the right is Frodo, my Uncle's dog.

They get on really well, Jax loves jumping up and biting Frodo's whiskers.

Jax is a miniature Jack Russell, he was five years old in August. 

A lot of Jack Russells have a reputation of being aggressive and snappy. Jax is the complete opposite, he is friendly and excitable and loves sitting on your lap, he does yap a bit though. 

His one fault is his lack of sharing. Once he has his ball, it's his, he loves it being thrown for him, but you have to snatch it off him quick when he finally puts it down. I think that's his favourite game really.

He does love his walks though, he always stays by our side and gets impatient when we're not throwing his ball even though it's him that's not letting us have it! 

He also loves sleeping in our bed, though usually he sleeps horizontally which doesn't leave a lot of room for us!

Frodo is much more casual and dopey, but loveable and very sociable. He wants to see everyone and be in the centre of everything, which is when we have to keep an eye out for his tail which has knocked over more than one glass when he gets excited.

The bed in the photo is actually Jax's, I did mention he was dopey, right?

Frodo is now ten, I had been begging my family for years to get a dog when my Auntie surprised my Uncle with Frodo. I love him so much and pretty much act like he's my own dog. We share the same birthday so I call him my soul-dog.

He always bounds up to see me and gives me a hug when I see him. Unfortunately, I do get allergic to Frodo, he can set my sneezing off and I get a little bit of a rash but it doesn't stop me from seeing him or loving him, an antihistamine always does the trick.

Frodo loves going for walks too, except he'll happily go off and explore, especially if there's water! 

He will also drop the ball and let you throw it. He's a lot faster than Jax so it's always easier when Frodo gets to it first.

 

 It may sound like I give a lot of attention to Frodo, but don't worry, Jax loves my partner a lot more than me so he gets lots of attention from him.

Jax will follow Gary everywhere and even looks for him and ignores me if I come home without him!

This is the walk we went to yesterday at Goodrington Sands beach. 

It's a great place to walk the dogs. 

Even though we can only use half the beach due to it being summer, there's more than enough space. 

They both love the beach, there's loads of space to throw the ball (when we get it!) and for them to run around and explore. 

 

Jax is getting more confident about going in the water but he still doesn't like big waves, he runs away from those. It's all in the video below, bless him. And sorry about the noise, it was very windy!