Where better to start our trip than at zero longitude at the prime meridian at Greenwich? We wanted to try out our new GPS that we had bought to help us find our way across the salt pans in Botswana. From Zoe's parents house we took a trip into London and visited the Greenwich Observatory. The photo is of us straddling the meridian one foot in both east and west hemispheres. By the end of this trip hopefully we will have straddled the equator too with one foot in both the north and south hemispheres!
With zero degrees longitude on our GPS we were 100m west of the Greenwich meridian, it's in the wrong place! The Greenwich Observatory needs to be moved!! We took a photo of our GPS to prove we were at zero degrees, zero minutes and zero seconds (see bottom line of the display)!
While at the Observatory we learnt all about the history of longitude and accurate timepieces not affected by the wave motion, so that seafarers could calculate their longitude and position at sea.
We also visited the maritime museum at Greenwich and walked along the Thames past the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
We are flying to Windhoek, Namibia tonight. Because we'll be in the southern hemisphere tomorrow we'll wake up in winter but the weather network forecasts 20-25C and sunny every day in Windhoek! Just right for travelling! Next stop Africa!
