It's Bag Packing Time!

You've got to agree, it's been quite a while since we last went travelling. We've got rather itchy feet, so are about to do something about it.

We're about to head off for our next adventure and to research a new area of our planet for the Friendly Planet Guide. We're taking Eddie with us this time, which might provide a bit of a clue, or it might send you down completely the wrong track.


If you look closely at our picture, the map and brochure we're eagerly studying, might reveal our destination. If it doesn't, we're afraid you're going to have to wait a while to find out more. We plan to take lots of photos though as there should be some stunning sights, so hopefully the wait will be worthwhile.

See you soon, lots of love, George, Yorkie & Eddie xxx

A Mystery Spaceship?

You might think that doing Coast Watch in the winter might be a bit grim, and that it would be more fun to be tucked up at home by the fire, with a good book and a pint of Wherry.

However, there are compensations and in winter, far more than in summer, we never know what we are going to find on the beach, especially after a spell of stormy weather.


How about this for one of our finds on the local beach? We took lots of pictures of us on this yellow flying saucer so we could show them to the rest of the guys and consult them about what it was. It certainly didn't belong on that stretch of beach and had clearly escaped and travelled some distance, probably from a port such as Great Yarmouth.

Of course, the great thing about winter Coast watch is that when we finally get home and come in from the cold, that fire and pint of Wherry are appreciated so much more than usual.

Lots of love, all at the Norfolk Branch xxx

Burns Night 2008

Sorry we're too late with this post to wish you a happy Burns Night, but we hope those of you who partook had a good one.

You may remember from last year, that it is a Bears Unlimited tradition to celebrate Burns Night, as we do have some Scots members. This year, as the great day fell at the start of the weekend, and we didn't have to get up for work in the morning, we were able to make much more of the occasion and have a party.

We invited our bear friendly friends Wade & Birgit round to join us. These are the 2 who gave Chelmer & Rocko such a great holiday last year. It was lovely to see them again.

For those of us who are not Scots and cannnot recite the Address to a Haggis word perfectly, Scottie Dog, Jock, found us an order of the supper on the internet, and printed it out, so we could join in at the appropriate time.


Here you see us listening intently to Jock addressing the haggis. Kanga and Roo, being from Australia, just couldn't work out what was going on and said the printed orders of the supper weren't much use as most of it was in Scots and they needed a translation. Don't worry they did get one and there were soon smiles on their originally bemused faces.


Before we tucked in, Jock proposed a toast to Robbie Burns and to Chef Oakley who had once again done us proud with a wonderful meal.

While the non Scots of us quite like haggis, especially when topped with Oakley's wonderful mushroom sauce, his piece de resistance was the pudding course - raspberry crowdies with whisky ice cream. Simply delicious and they just go to prove that he really should be on Masterchef.

It was well after 1.00 a.m. when we finally rolled into bed, which just goes to show how much we had all enjoyed ourselves.

Lots of love Jock & all at Bears Unlimited xxx

More Toys for Boys

Bart and Russ were particularly lucky on their coast watch a few days ago. As they patrolled along the beach at Weybourne, they came across a fisherman who needed some help and recognised these guys as figures of authority.

The fisherman needed to get his boat into the sea to go fishing and needed someone to drive the tractor for him. Russ and Bart were only too happy to oblige.


In true 'Where's Bear' fashion, the challenge is to find them in our picture. They're not particularly big bears but they are both there. They reported that the tractor wasn't quite as modern as the Bears Unlimited fleet vehicles they're used to driving, but it was very powerful. Russ found he was able to reach all the controls o.k. but needed a few more cushions to be able to see out the cab, so Bart helped out by shouting instructions from a high view point on the boat.

We're pleased to report that they didn't mow down any other beach strollers in the drive to the water. As the fisherman said he'd be out for a few hours they decided not to hang around to wait for a free fish from his catch.

Anyway, in case you failed to find them in our first picture, try this one for a zoomed view.


Easy isn't it?

Lots of love, the Bears Unlimited Coast Watch team xxx

A Fish Out of Water

If you have a good memory you may remember us talking about our coastal watch duties in our post Guardians of the Coast last February.

Our winter duties are quite different to the summer ones. Many of them have to do with stormy weather. We'd like to take you through two of our winter duties today.


We make regular patrols along the tide line to see if any fish are stranded after being thrown out of a stormy sea. Where possible we gather them up and return them to the sea so they live to swim another day. Sometimes when we're taking a close look at the fish for signs of life, as in our photo, we get a bit of a surprise when they give a flip of the tail and bonk us on the nose.


While we're out patrolling, we also keep a look out for any lobster pots which have come ashore in stormy weather, to see if they contain any stranded occupants. The lobster pots are easier to spot than a well camouflaged fish, however, returning the occupants to the sea isn't quite so easy. We have to keep well clear of those big claws. However, once the lobsters realise that we are working for the Lobster Liberation Front (LLF) they usually become quite calm and stop fighting us, realising we are there to help.

It's exciting and vital work and we enjoy doing it.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

Holby City Comes to North Norfolk

We had a great party and ate so much of Oakley's huge '250 posts' cake that we all fell asleep, and it was only when we woke up that we remembered that we hadn't taken any photos. By then the cake was gone, so sorry, you'll just have to imagine it.

Anyway, back to more serious matters. The eagle eyed amongst you, may have noticed that Ungi has changed his appearance slightly in our new Bears Unlimited Board photo. He recently had to have a fur transplant to deal with a rather serious hemorrhage of the stuffing variety.


We are fortunate, that as there are so many bears gathered in one place, many of whom are now middle aged now, we can justify hospital facilities at our Norfolk home.

We are also lucky that one of our minders is quite a skilled bear surgeon, probably because she's had so much practice. Much of the experience has been gained by dealing with repairs to Randolph who appears in the picture with Ungi, about to wake up after his latest surgery. Although still a mere youngster, Randolph has the misfortune to make more visits to the operating theatre than most. We think this is something to do with the fact that he wasn't made in England (but we don't want to say where he came from, as we don't want to be done for slander).

Fortunately, us bears and reindeers stand up to surgery well and recover a lot faster than our human counterparts. We don't even have to have a general anaesthetic either. The combination of a pint of Wherry, a glass of wine and a shot of the Polish cherry vodka we brought back from Poland, knocks us out nicely, just long enough for surgery to be completed.

We think Ungi looks incredibly distinguished with his new fur sideburn, but we haven't persuaded him to have the other side done yet. He says it will only be a matter of time.

Have any of our readers got any surgery tales they'd like to share with us?

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx

The Big 250!

Doesn't time pass quickly when you're having fun blogging. In fact our 250th post has crept up on us so quickly, that we haven't had time to arrange a party and take some photos of the celebrations.

Rest assured though that we will be having a party and it will be soon. Chef Oakley is currently studying his favourite cakes recipe book and the champagne is chilling in the fridge (the Wherry is ready already).

We just love a party as it lifts the spirits no end - especially when it is cold and wet outside as it is now.

It really does seem no time at all since we were having our party to celebrate 100 posts. We've just been checking the Bears Unlimited photographic archives and discovered it was in February 2007 so well short of a year ago.


We enjoyed that occasion so much that we thought we'd remind you of it (especially as we're short of a photo of the party we haven't yet had). We reckon though that as 250 is two and a half times bigger than 100, our cake will need to be two and a half times bigger than the last one. We can't wait!

Here's to the next 250 posts. Hopefully we'll continue to have lots of exciting news and pictures to share with you.

Thanks for reading.

Lots of love, all at Bears Unlimited xxx