We missed our ferry!!!

naaa...we didnt, BUT, the ferry was cancelled! Not all is lost however. They've put us up in a 55pound per night Bed n Breakfast close to the ferry terminals. Airconditioned, TV, a hot bath, breakfast in the morning and here's the bonus....they gave the kids a hotel room for themselves...!!!! If I was 12 or 7 and had a hotel room all to myself, I would consider that a REAL bonus. Of course we wont let them sleep in it by themselves, but at least we arent all crowded in one room. Our day today has been a little hectic. We started off catching a train from Stockton station which was an interesting start to our BIG ADVENTURE, because it was such a small piddly station, and we were the only people standing on the platform. Marielle kept asking me a MILLION times.....are we on the right station????? ...actually I'll hand the blog over to her now, so I can go shut the little 3yr old up...he's in the bath and making a racket.

Hello, it's me. Yes I did ask him over and over again if we were at the right station because men simply don't ask for directions do they? Anyway then we got off the station at Newcastle, had to walk through the town for about 10 minutes. You have to picture this, Jetan in his car chair, which is perched on the top of his pram and the pram full of stuff as well. Jesse wheeling one of the suitcases, Tanner carrying jackets and his little booster chair (it's law here for kids his age to sit in one) and Dean wheeling 3 suitcases - through lunch time traffic! We had to make our way to Monument Station, where we bought our tickets for the train to Meadow-well and a buddy coke for one pound (ouch!) We finally got to Platform 3 about 5-10 minutes before the train arrived. And yes, I did keep asking Dean if we were in the right place. The signboard showing the railway line showed that the ferry was at North Shields BUT we didn't buy a ticket to go to North Shields did we, we bought to go up to the stop before! We decided to stay on the train, which was a good thing cause that's where we needed to go. We were told by a young girl on the train, that it would be a 10 minute walk along the Fish Quay to where the ferry departs. Well, we walked for about 2 minutes and Angels dressed as black Taxi cabs appeared in front of us. We were exhausted and happily dished out the 5 pounds for the sweet taxi driver to take us to the ferry. It was quite amusing trying to fit all the luggage into his taxi but we managed.

Then we got to the Ferry Terminal and were asked "Are you catching the ferry to Amsterdam, to which I answered an eager "Yes!" and her response was "well not tonight you're not".

As it turns out, the ferry had had technical problems and was only coming into the U.K tomorrow so we will be boarding tomorrow night. So a taxi was summoned for us, which cost us 3 pounds 80 ! but it is really just up the road from the ferry terminal so I guess the Squire family will be making the trek tomorrow on foot back to the terminal rather than dishing out another R60.00 for the trip.

Supper tonight - is what we would have had aboard the ferry. Buttered rolls and cold chicken but now we have to find another meal for tomorrow night - bummer!

Dean and Jetan have just got out the bath, there is water everywhere!!!! I am now going to chase up my 2 older monsters who think they are on their father's yacht in the other room.