The Phillips Family in NZ

Liverpool, Ormskirk, Southport & Blackpool

It was a short-ish drive up the M5 then M6 to our base for the next couple of days - Southport. The motorways travel really well and we are usually cruising at around 130kph in the mddle lane with cars still going past us on the outside at a greater rate of knots! Traffic is really well behaved with slow cars and trucks keeping well left, leaving faster traffic free reign on the outside resulting in large volumes of traffic moving really well. Pretty incident free run north apart fromone speeding Audi A4 which overtook us on the inside well in excess of 160kph, with a Police Car in hot pursuit. It took us another 10 minutes before we caught up with it with all its tyres shredded! Diesel is definitely the favoured fuel, with about 2/3rds of cars diesel. Fuel is GBP1.29 litre for super petrol, and GBP1.23 litre for diesel (no road user additional charges). We are getting around 1000kms range out of a tank of diesel (GBP60.00 per fill)

Before arriving in Southport, we diverted off to see Ian's old home at 16 Westhaven Cres, Aughton

Followed by a short visit to Ormskirk - here is the Ormskirk Church. You have to pay for parking everywhere in this country - we parked in a supermarket carpark and it cost GBP2.00 for 90 mins.

Here is Ian's old Grammer School, now converted to luxury apartments

Here is the main street of Ormskirk, now a pedestrian mall

On to Southport - yes the tide was out and even walking to the end of the pier, we still could not see the sea!

But there was a cool penny arcade at the end of the pier with lots of old penny machines

Next day we were off to Liverpool, starting with a visit to Anfield - home to the greatest football club in the World!

Statue of Bill Shankley - legendary manager of Liverpool

On the tour, and here we are in Liverpool's changing rooms

A quick pat of the "This is Anfield" sign in the players tunnel

Then out into the stadium itself - magnificent experience

The European Cup - won for the 5th time at Istanbul. One of the greatest football comebacks in history, down 3-0 at half time, Gerrard inspires his team to draw level after extra time, to finally win on penalties. Arsenal and Man U supporters can scroll down if you wish...!

Dad may recognise this street adjacent to Anfield

Into the city proper and here is the Liver Buildings down at Pier Head

A lot of run down buildings around Liverpool, but there is also a lot of refurbishment and development going on. Here is the old Albert Docks, now full of trendy restaurants, museums, attractions hotels and apartments

Here is the original entrance to the Cavern Club where the Beatles first started

The next day saw some great weather for our move to Blackpool. Here is a shot from the South Pier looking north to Blackpool Tower

We spent most of the day at Pleasure Beach - a theme park at the south end of Blackpool with its origins dating back to the late 1800's. With over 125 rides to choose from there was plenty to keep us busy for over 6 hours! One favourie was the Grand National where two rollercoasters run side by side in a race to the finish - all on wooden tracks. This was one of many white knuckle rides...

..including The Big One - Europe's tallest rollercoaster, pulling 3.5g's and reaching speeds of 85mph. Even Connor braved it

After dinner it was back to the Promenade to enjoy the Blackpool Illuminations - the whole waterfront is lit up with these lights, even some special trams run with different theme lights.

We walked from South to Central piers, before catching a horse and trap back

INDEX Next....

Before arriving in Southport, we diverted off to see Ian's old home at 16 Westhaven Cres, Aughton
Followed by a short visit to Ormskirk - here is the Ormskirk Church. You have to pay for parking everywhere in this country - we parked in a supermarket carpark and it cost GBP2.00 for 90 mins.
Here is Ian's old Grammer School, now converted to luxury apartments
Here is the main street of Ormskirk, now a pedestrian mall
On to Southport - yes the tide was out and even walking to the end of the pier, we still could not see the sea!
But there was a cool penny arcade at the end of the pier with lots of old penny machines
Next day we were off to Liverpool, starting with a visit to Anfield - home to the greatest football club in the World!
Statue of Bill Shankley - legendary manager of Liverpool
On the tour, and here we are in Liverpool's changing rooms
A quick pat of the "This is Anfield" sign in the players tunnel
Then out into the stadium itself - magnificent experience
The European Cup - won for the 5th time at Istanbul. One of the greatest football comebacks in history, down 3-0 at half time, Gerrard inspires his team to draw level after extra time, to finally win on penalties. Arsenal and Man U supporters can scroll down if you wish...!
Dad may recognise this street adjacent to Anfield
Into the city proper and here is the Liver Buildings down at Pier Head
A lot of run down buildings around Liverpool, but there is also a lot of refurbishment and development going on. Here is the old Albert Docks, now full of trendy restaurants, museums, attractions hotels and apartments
Here is the original entrance to the Cavern Club where the Beatles first started
The next day saw some great weather for our move to Blackpool. Here is a shot from the South Pier looking north to Blackpool Tower
We spent most of the day at Pleasure Beach - a theme park at the south end of Blackpool with its origins dating back to the late 1800's. With over 125 rides to choose from there was plenty to keep us busy for over 6 hours! One favourie was the Grand National where two rollercoasters run side by side in a race to the finish - all on wooden tracks. This was one of many white knuckle rides...
..including The Big One - Europe's tallest rollercoaster, pulling 3.5g's and reaching speeds of 85mph. Even Connor braved it
After dinner it was back to the Promenade to enjoy the Blackpool Illuminations - the whole waterfront is lit up with these lights, even some special trams run with different theme lights.
We walked from South to Central piers, before catching a horse and trap back