Gunnerton Baar visits Emma at the European Space Agency

Gunnerton Baar seems happy in the Netherlands visiting the European Space Agency, sitting near a satellite antenna.

I can now reveal to you that Gunnerton Baar is visiting my very good and special childhood friend Emma (from Scottish and French origin) who "adopted" Gunnerton Baar.

Emma lives in Leyden now, and works at the European Space Agency.

Gunnerton Baar visits Raphael and his family in Sevres

Here are two photographs of Gunnerton Baar's day out on Saturday the 5th of February.

Baar went with us to Sèvres and saw Mum and Dad and Poussette the cat.

We forgot Baar so she was left all afternoon with Rafael, Mum & Dad, and Poussette (who is harmless!

Rafael is much more frightening, he still thinks Baar is some kind af ball).

Because I went out, I have no idea of her secret adventures this afternoon.

Here are a few photographs of the special place I wanted to bring Gunnerton Baar.

Thanks to Gunnerton Baar, we finally had an excuse to go to "The Jardin des Plantes", near Austerlitz.

I always loved this place, and was lucky to live in Rue Buffon, the street behind. This place is really one of my favorite places in Paris.

Here are some photographs of Gunnerton Baar in the park, walking on ice and climbing up the trees.

These photographs come from my i phone.

Just for fun, I am also sending a photograph of Rafael next to Lucie.

We decided to come back the next sunday, as we couldn't see the museum the first time, but Baar was already back in her box. She will leave France today or tomorrow, to a new secret destination!!

Thanks to Baar, Seb, Rafael and I all had a great time !

Hermie joins the 6th Form fund raisers

At the beginning of March The Hermitage 6^th form invited me to take part in their dry land triathlon at the school.

The idea was for all the 6^th form students to either cycle, row and run the distance from Ch-le-St to Paris in aid of Willowburn Hospice.

You can see me cycling and rowing with a couple of the students, it was good fun but extremely hard and I was far too hot in my woolly coat!

We started at 6.45am and managed to complete the distance by 12.00noon raising £700 for the hospice.

Good effort don’t you think??

On Friday the 6^th form students went overboard for Comic Relief.

As you can see they were dressed in fancy dress costumes, baked loads of goodies for the younger students in the school and collected money throughout the day.

They are very kind hearted and took me along to their morning break time to see all the fun.

Not sure how much they raised but will let you know soon!

Hermie goes abseiling with his World Challenge friends

To finish off this week, today I have been abseiling off the Transporter Bridge in Middlesbrough with my World Challenge friends. You know the ones who are taking me to India in July?

What a nerve wracking experience.

It was very, very windy on top of the bridge and we were 168 feet high up!

Phew! My legs were very wobbly, but we all made it!!

Think I’ll sleep well tonight and won’t need to count sheep, goodnight!!

Oliver of Otterburn eats saltbush

I am still in the state of South Australia and I am learning a few
things about Australia and why it is so different in many ways to things that I am used to.

But firstly I have to report on another fright. You may recall that I was recently confronted by the BIG MERINO and that was quite a shock.
Then, lo and behold, in the little seaside town of Kingston in South Australia I came face to face with the BIG LOBSTER.

Now, I don’t know much about lobsters but it is a scary looking creature, especially when it is THAT big. Anyway I was told that it wouldn’t eat me and it was just there because the good people of Kingston reckon that they have the biggest lobsters in the country.

Then I met Robert and he wasn’t scary at all. But

he is different in a way that may be unique. Robert swims in the Port Pirie River every
morning, summer and winter.
Now that is not unique but Robert is a singing swimmer. As he swims around he happily serenades the nearby residents of the caravan park.

Robert is a big man and he has a big voice so he is easily heard for quite a distance. Robert just does it because he feels like it, and his favourite song is “Oh! What a Beautiful Morning”.

In the town of Port Augusta I saw an interesting road sign that clearly shows the huge distances involved in travelling in Australia.
The road sign gives a choice between the Eyre Highway which heads off west for 2,388 kilometres to Perth in Western Australia, or the Stuart Highway which travels north for 2,723 kilometres to Darwin in the Northern Territory. Both highways pass through areas where few people
live.

Along the road to the steel making town of Whyalla there is parallel pipeline that brings water to the town from the Murray River, and that pipeline is 360 kilometres long. That is the kind

of thing that must be done so that people may live in an arid environment.

Then I soon learnt something about being in a

dry land. I was invited to eat some saltbush which is a prevalent plant in this vicinity. Well, Aussie sheep eat it because they don’t know any better. But I don’t like it much, I really prefer the sweet green grass of Otterburn.

Hermie goes skiing in the French Alps with the Hermitage School

Some days it was warmer to hitch a ride onto the slopes in a bag pack. The views were spectacular and the sun was strong, think I should be wearing sun goggles to combat the glare!

I even had a go at bum boarding one evening as it was an après ski activity. I wasn’t as fast as some of the students as they were stronger than me and travelled tremendous distances. I fell off many times but didn’t hurt myself as I had plenty of padding with my warm coat!

The ‘Roc N Bob’ looked very challenging so I thought I should pass on this incase I ended up in the medical centre in the village.

The week away was almost over, this is my last day in resort and the students have been brilliant, their skiing had improved so much since the first day, just look at them coming down the slopes. It has been weather perfect, blue skies not a cloud to be seen all week.

We have been so very lucky and no one has broken any limbs. Even I have survived my first ski experience, what an exciting time I’m having ….cant wait for my next adventure!!

Hermie goes skiing with the Hermitage School (1)

From the 5^th -13^th March 113 students from Years 8,9 & 10 at The Hermitage School took me on their annual Ski Residential to Les Menuires in the French Alps.

There were 3 coaches and you can see I had a stint at driving one of the coaches down to Dover. It’s a very long way from the North East and even further again to the Alps. It took us 26 hours to get there!

Wow the view from our balcony was amazing, so many snow capped mountains, the students were sooo excited when they got there.

I emailed home to let everyone know we had arrived safely and all was good out in our resort.

I can’t wait to try skiing! Although it’s quite hard to see me in the snow and it’s very cold on my hooves!

Look at me skiing after the third day! Can you believe it, think I must be a natural really.

I can also ride on the skis of students too, they are very kind to me.