After some not so great recommendations of what Plymouth had to offer our low expectations were pleasantly suprised and probably aided by the appearance of the elusive English sun!
The Eden project had been highly recommended by many people we have met along the way and it defintley lived up to its reputation. Although a little pricey to get in to it was a really fascinating afternoon. There are 2 main Biome's (the large bubble like objects) that create a microclimate for the plants inside. One being a tropical micro-climate which had us sweating and the other more of a Mediterranean climate which was defintley more of a drier heat. The photo below shows what the pit (an old china clay pit) looked like before the Eden project began.
Photos are better than words at describing all the beautiful things we saw...
But here are some facts just in case your interested...
*Biome facts: 240 m long, 110m wide, 50m high. Over 1,154 speices and culitvars of plants. Temp range from 18-35 degrees celsius. The project took 2½ years to construct and opened to the public on 17 March 2001.
*The Tropical Biome, covers 1.56 hectares (3.9 acres) and measures 55 metres high, 100 metres wide and 200 metres long. It has plants such as fruiting banana trees, coffee, rubber and giant bamboo and is kept at a tropical temperature and moisture level.
*The Mediterranean Biome covers 0.654 hectares (1.6 acres) and measures 35 metres high, 65 metres wide and 135 metres long. It houses familiar warm temperate and arid plants such as olives and grapevines and various sculptures.
*The Outdoor Biome (which is not covered) represents the temperate regions of the world with plants such as tea, lavender, hops, hemp and sunflowers.
*The tractors used for the land train to take people up and down into the pit were the first tractors to be produced to run completely on waste vegetable oil.
The next morning we joined 5 other people at a pub down the road for breakfast to watch the All Blacks play the Wallabies then set off to see what Plymouth had to offer for the day.
As it was raining by the time we walked into town we headed indoors to the aquarium which boasts to have the deepest shark tank in Europe and spent a few hours checking out the sea life it had to offer right from brightly coloured Nemo fish through to some nasty looking sharks.
The aquarium also offered a 4-D movie which we thought would be for the kids but when Kath overheard the assistant telling a concerned mother that it might be abit scary for her young one's, we had to find out just how scary it could be. We were screaming within the first few minutes of the film...not because it was scary, scary but because the chairs we were sitting in lurched around as we mimicked the characters movements in the film, other effects inlcuded bits of string flicking around your ankles as the main character of the movie (a turtle) went swimming through some anenome's! But the worst bit was when the whale puffed out his blow hole and we got soaked - it wasn't just a sprinkle of water but a good solid squirt at your chest which lead to Whitey and Abby reaching for their jackets to remain dry for the rest of the film! 3-D movies are very clever with one part causing some members of the pack to try and sink as far as possible into the back of their seats as the snake came out of the screen closer and closer towards them hissing - eek!
We again bargained a good deal getting on a 1 hour cruise around the Plymouth coastline for half price! As we hadn't even really asked what we would see on the trip just the man calling out on the street had enticed us with the thought of cruising on a boat in the sunshine for an hour, we were plesantly suprised with an interesting trip around the coastline including going around the port of Devonport where we saw some Friggates with impressive artillery that can fire a very long way...how convient for a warship and we learnt that submarines are in fact not necessarily yellow. (see below, only the top of the submarine is visible its the long dull black shape in the photo, kind of hard to see)
There were several nuclear powered submarines in dock the day we were going past, including 5 that have been decomissioned and must remain where they are for 100 years before they can be disposed of. An impressive fact about submarines is they have torpedo's on them that they can fire up to a 100 mile radius. We cruised along with Devon on one side and Cornwall on the other and crossed the path of the 3 chain operated barges that go back and forth between the 2 county's.
For lunch we finally came across the best feed of fish and chips on the trip so far and they had no excuse not to be good when the sea was less than 100m away! The chips were crunchy and soft on the inside, not pale and limp like our Inverness 'chipball' experience and they even had a few interesting delicaies to try including Pea fritter (mushy peas formed into a fritter then deep fried in oily goodness) and of course the infamous Cornish pasty. Our second food highlight for the stay followed immediatley after with the discovery of the best fudge shop in the county and its oh so smooth Lemon meringue flavour - mmm, mmm!
The Hoe (meaning high point) is where the lighthouse sits and was the site for an amusement fair while we were staying in Plymouth.
The cliff area leading down to the water is currently undergoing development with the refurbishment of their Art Deco open air salt water pool, a new cafe and small changing sheds which people could buy/rent for the day to store their beach gear in and sunbathe outside not far from the water's edge.
Walking back through the amusement fair Kath spotted a ride similar to one she had been keen to try when we were in Prater park in Vienna.
Pretty much the photo speaks for itself you go around and around and the seat swings back and forth. Other than looking slightly pale, there was no sound as Kath said she would feel a little silly squealing when she was the only one on the ride! We headed back to the hostel as Kath needed a little lie down when the dizziness hit!
No comments:
Post a Comment