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.

Prestigious 'Talking Sheep' tour for Maairy of Corridge

Maairy may not have claimed many 'Air Miles' in the last couple of weeks but she has been very busying studying for her Thesis and doing a lot of Veterinary networking.

She has attended 2 of her sponsors (Sheep Veterinary Society)'s 'Talking Sheep' meetings - at Nottingham University's Veterinary College and back home at Northumberland's Agricultural College, Kirkley Hall. There has also been a trip to London to meet (no not the Queen) the President of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons President, Peter Jinman and a visit to the Lake District, taking in a Liverpool University Veterinary re-union and an energetic hill climb during which she had a very interesting discussion with some Beef Shorthorns.

While in Nottingham Maairy enjoyed a bite of grass and a pint of Black Sheep at the historic Trip To Jerusalem Inn, the oldest in Britain, serving weary travellers since 1189. Rooms here are carved from the rock below Nottingham Castle and were the gathering place for Richard III's Crusades. This venue has so stimulating Maairy's wander lust that she has immediately packed her bags and is now on her way to the Falkland Islands!

Precious reporting from South Korea… Demilitarized Zone trip

Precious reporting…DMZ trip

This weekend I have been up to the DMZ (demilitarized zone), which was an amazing experience but one I'm not in a rush to repeat. This area is 4km wide and 240km long across the peninsula, separating North and South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

6 million casualties were recorded in the 3 years at war. The DMZ is a joint security area, 55km north of Seoul. According to Lonely Planet “there is nowhere else in South Korea where you can get so close to North Korea and North Korean soldiers without being shot or arrested.” Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly this is probably the number one tourist attraction from Seoul. Taking photos in this area was difficult due to security but I was able to get a few snaps!

Picture 1- this is me at one of the DMZ signs. right behind me was a sign that said "don't come any closer and don't take any pictures" I was that close to the boarder of the DMZ! Along the barbed wire there are armed soldiers, its a scary sight.

I rang the Peace Bell and walked across the Freedom Bridge; both mark the hopes for the 21st century to see reunification of the two nations. I took a steep walk into one of the tunnels that North Korea had prepared in preparation for an invasion on South Korea. It was very steep (up to 70m below ground level), cold and damp, inside the walls are black, the theory behind this was that North Korea would claim that the tunnel was a coal mine if ever found.

Picture 2 and 3- This is me at the last train station in South Korea 'Dorasan'. This station is connected to the North but at the moment only one cargo train per week runs this line with supplies to a small city just over the DMZ line. In the future, if it were to run people would be able to travel by train from Korea all the way to Europe. The signs around rightly says "not the last train from the South, but the first train to the North." I'm on the train track that, so far, has never been used. The station stands as a symbol of hope for the two Koreas to be reunited one day.

Within the DMZ there are lots of rare species of wildlife. When the days comes for reunification the hope is that the DMZ will become a National Park for all of Korea to enjoy. Lets hope peace can be reached soon.