We didn't actually fly directly to London first as the blog title would have you think. First we shared the journey from Mallorca, Spain to Gatwick Airport with Milly and Tim and crashed at the Milly's family home in Kent again.

It was soothing again to crash into the Dewing's home as they are the most doting hosts you could wish for. Sharon again cooked us incredible delights that momentarily helped Em and I to forget our longings for Australian cuisine. Sharon is such a fabulous cook. And Clive we can't thank the hard working father of the family for never once blinking or sighing whence after a long days work he opened the front door of his family home to agian find the Kelly's invading his space. Thanks again to all the Dewings.

Em, Milly and Sharon had a short shopping spree in Maidstone to fill one day, but other than this time the only memory journal worthy was our day trip down to the South East coastal town of Hastings. In Hastings we did all things English, we laughed and joked about the Chavs, ate fish and chips and perused an excellent little bookshop.

On the Friday (19/10) Em and I said our final goodbyes the Dewings. Milly and Sharon kindly chaufferred us to the train station and we boarded the train to London to spend the weekend with Toad and Hoppy in London. We had briefly caught up with them after our arrival from South America, but the opportunity to catch up with Toad and Hoppy had seldom come for Em and I over the last 3 years or so, and thus Em and I happily delayed our flights to Singapore to say hello again.

The Friday night Em and I went to Les Miserables, a first for both of us and a the fulfillment of a dream of mine for some time. After the excellent performance at Queens Theatre we could the tube to Toad and Hoppy's new little abode in/near Sheperd's Bush. Its a pokey little place, but again they provided ample services for a comfy home stay.

Toad and Hop to Em and I to the Camden Markets which was entertaining and delicious. The Saturday morning was the preliminary final of Hoppy's (and now Toad's) beloved Hawks and we watched as the Hawks ate the Saints for breakfast, Em and I enjoyed our one and only AFL match for the season. In the evening Hop and Toad cooked a feast and we watched a movie after our fill.

We awoke the Sunday morning, the day of our flight, and packed our bags only to realise that we had lost our camera! Shock horror, we thought maybe we had left it at the theatre, but as they were closed we had now way of finding whether the ushers had found it . So basically, instead of spending the Sunday seeing some of Central London at leisure, we saw it as we hurried from Metro Police to the Transport Police to get the appropriate documentation of a travel insurance claim. (As it turned out the theatre did have the camera, but we were already out of the country by them. Thanks again to Toad and Hop who are ferrying it home for us).

After running around all Sunday, we ended our stay in the UK with an excellent ice cream from Holland Park (around the corner from Toad and Hop's), which I think may have been the best ice cream I have ever had, Italy gelati included! We said our goodbyes and thanks to our dislocated Aussie friends and caught the tube to Heathrow and successfully boarded our flight to Singapore.

It occured to Em and I that it was the first time that we were heading closer to home, a pang of longing for Australia soil welled inside us both. We supressed the surge though as we still had six weeks or so to enjoy in Indonesia and surrounds.