I can now officially say that I am NOT one of those people that never win anything. Somehow, I managed to win a trip away for 6 people to Norfolk, including accomodation in a Teepee, entrance tickets to the Deepdale Jazz and Ale Festival and a day of Kite Buggy lessons.

After a couple of iterations of people (damn work getting in the way), Lisa, Nick, Corde, Caroline, Aaron and I all arrived at Burnham Deepdale on Thursday night ready for the weekend. We got told off for being too noisy within 10 minutes of arriving, but apart from that the first night was relatively uneventful.

Friday morning we awoke to hear rain falling on the Teepee. Never good when you are supposed to be learning how to Kite Buggy, but by the time we started our lesson in the Lazy Lounge Cafe at 10am with Carl and Trev learning about the 'Wind Window' and 'Power Band', it had stopped raining and by the time we hit the beach, we had near-on perfect conditions for Kite Buggying.

We spent the morning learning how to control the kites without the buggy, and finding out just how much power was in the different sizes, then in the afternoon it was time to get going. We all had a go and came away buzzing. Corde said the speedo was reading 18 miles/hr for him (none of the rest of us got a chance to look down). I think the coolest thing about it is that it probably wasn't something any of us would've done if we hadn't won the competition.

Friday night, windburnt and hungry, we sent the boys to the supermarket and cranked up the barbie. After a few drinks and many sausages, we had made friends with half the campsite and they all joined us in our teepee to toast marshmellows.

Saturday, and we were off to the Deepdale Jazz and Real Ale Festival. Another lucky day with the weather and even though it was bloody cold, the rain did hold off. Some of the music was really great with everyone up dancing and having a great time. The guys started off the day with a plan to get through the 25 ales on offer, but after coming across a couple with 'unique' tastes, that plan was scrapped. Saturday night, another barbie and cards by candlelight in the teepee.

On Sunday morning, after a leisurely breakfast, we said goodbye to Nick and Lisa as they headed off to launch a rocket (yes, seriously) and we headed off for a drive and walk along the Norfolk coast before heading home. Thanks to TNT Magazine and Deepdale Farm for the brilliant prize. Check out the rest of the photos here.

You might think the are an odd combination, but they go together in a bank holiday weekend quite well. Last weekend, we went to the wedding of James and Catherine. James is a mate from work. It was one of those picture perfect weddings, the church service was a good length and looked fantastic. After which we moved onto the reception, which was held at Addington palace. Don't be fooled by the name, it is nothing like the suburb in Christchurch. Lots of people, dancing and more food and booze then you could know what to do with. Congratulations guys.

The next day we drove across to Wales, staying with Steve and Jane (Congratulations on the engagement by the way!!). From here we made our way across to Coopers Hill, Gloucester. This is where the traditional cheese rolling competition is held. Back in the day, farmers used to race down the hill to determine who could use the hill for grazing. Now it is chaotic spectacle for competitors and spectators alike. Over four races, a special guest rolls a large (approx 30cm diameter) locally made cheese down the hill. Then 20-25 competitors tear off down the hill in hot pursuit, crashing, tumbling and basically just falling down the hill. The hill is so steep; people trying to traverse across it afterwards would end up falling down the hill. Over the four races 5 people were carted to hospital for various injuries. Why didn't we go in it? Well we wanted to, but.. we slept in, meaning we arrived just as the first race begun. In true European fashion, it was packed, over 4000 spectators and each run was limited to 20-25 people, so we joined a few hundred at the top, trying to get a go, but alas. Just another cemented lesson/example of having to get to any event in Europe at the crack of dawn in order to get a go/view, simply due to the population. Still, a fantastically amusing event to watch. Download Movie of CheeseRolling (1mb)

There is nothing that beats actually being at a Formula 1 Grand Prix, and you can't describe the feeling to anyone. This in mind, we jumped at the chance to tag along with a gaggle of kiwi's going to the Monaco GP. Jerry and Elly had it all organised and it was simply a matter of going to the websites they'd recommended to book it all in.

To keep costs to a minimum, we flew out of Luton airport (about 1.5 hrs on the train from our house) and into Nimes airport. We then picked up 4 rental cars for the 14 of us and drove the 3 hours to Nice. Monaco is about a 15 minute train journey from Nice, so we were sorted, or so we thought. When we arrived at the hostel, Nat and Shan's booking hadn't come through the internet booking system and they were short of a room for the night. We pulled together and found them bits of floor in various rooms and it was fine.

Went out for a few drinks and a meal on Friday night in Nice. Nothing too eventful, but we did end up getting stuck on a street corner for a couple of hours at 1am waiting for a night bus that had been diverted.

Saturday we headed to Monaco to scope it out and watch qualifying. A stunning day of mid 20's, and Monaco was sparkling. The city is beautiful, and you get the feeling that it would quite a relaxing place to wander round if the buzz of F1 wasn't in town. Some of the boats in the harbour were amazing and we walked past a couple of real estate agents where prices started about €300-400K for a 5×5m studio flat.

Saturday night, everyone was shattered from a day in the sun, so it was a quiet night in at the hostel cooking supermarket pizza's in a frypan (very amusing, especially when Jerry flipped his over).

Up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to head for the train station and off to Monaco to join the swarms of GP fans and secure our spot on the bank (well, cliff) that was the General Admission area. The General Admission area overlooked the pit straight, pit entrance and start of the main straight and the 2 associated corners. As far as the GP, it was a pretty exciting one. Kimi led from start to finish, unchallenged, but all the action happened over the next 7-8 places. I won't give you a blow-by-blow account, there are professionals that will do it better, but highlights were Alonso running wide and losing about 6 places, the stunning dives happening at the chicane, and the most exciting last 20 laps of just about any Monaco GP. Top 3: Raikkonen (McLaren), Heidfeld (Williams), Webber (Williams).

After the race, everyone ran for the train, but we chilled out in the sun for a few hours and had a few beers while we waited for the track to open. Then headed for a walk around the full track and past the Monte Carlo Casino (with some very expensive cars parked out front), which was pretty cool. The track is really tight and narrow, much more so than it looks on TV.

A few drinks in a local bar, and a streak through the Monaco square (not us, others in our group), we headed back down to the track and checked out the boats in the harbour before heading back to the hostel, then home again on Monday.

Aaron is now a F1 fan, as in he knows all the cars and drivers, which is quite impressive considering he was just going along for the ride. Hopefully we can target another GP sometime next year, some of the same group are heading to Turkey for the Turkish GP, which would be great, but not quite in the budget at the mo.