A cruisy beach holiday destination where every thing is easy and all within a short walking distance from each other. This town is very touristy as lots of the English holiday here during the summer break. There are lots of beaches to choose from, the section we visited was the Gold Coast which is made up of lots of small beaches divided by cliffs. We didn´t get to al lof them but we tried our best! The water there was quite clear but not like it was on the Greek islands.
On one of our days in Lagos we decided to go sea kayaking. Liz has been wanting to do it for ages and I am so glad we finally got to do it. It was so much FUN! We joined in a 3 hours tour, with Liz and I being an unbeatable team in a double kayak. We got to go farther along the Gold Coast then we could walk and got to see and go through all the grottos along the way. The were so lovely and in some of them the water shone a bright green due to the sunlight filtering in through the cliffs and cracks. Was really pretty. Liz and I were also the only female couple kayaking and we totally kicked everyones butts back to shore!!
The town gets quite lively at night so one evening we went in and ordered some cocktails and enjoyed it all. Nearly bought some souviners during this time but luckily we saw sense and decided to go back during the day (the memory of our Oktoberfest spree was still fresh in our minds!). And thank goodness we did. What I wanted to buy in my semi drunken haze did not look at all good in the light of day. Phew, a close call!
I managed to get a bit burnt here and so now I am feeling sorry for myself. It is however our last beach stop until Valencia so my skil will have time to recover. And yes, we have been applying sunscreen everyday. Lucille we´ve already managed to finish both of the tubes you sent over with Timothy! Don´t stress though everyone, we have another bottle to lather ourselves up with!!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Lisbon
What a lovely city! So clean and friendly with lots and lots of monuments all around which seems a little strange but I´m sure there is a good reason! OUr hostel was in a prime location right in the middle of a mian square with a 10 minute stroll to the water. In Lisbon there are lots of buildings which still have thier fronts covered in tiles which looks really cool. Some of the patterns are quite busy but others are quite beautiful and it makes them really stand out.
The city is split up into neighbourhoods so we just walked from one to the next. Except for on, Belem, which we had to catch the tram for. Our missions here was to find the best custard tart bakery in Lisbon. Liz had read an article ina London paper ages ago and we had saved it so that we could find these delicious delacies. At first we thought we had failed in our mission but after asking a local we were pointed in the right direction. Now, I don´t really like custard and all things related but these were amazing!! So scrumptious! The recipe is so secret that only 3 bakers know it and when 1 reitres it is passed to a new baker. The even mix the ingredients in a secret room each morning and iwth both locals and tourists buying these, they sell 13 000 on a weekday and 20 000 on weekends...holy! So good. It is safe to say we had a few each before getting the tram back to the centre!
The city is split up into neighbourhoods so we just walked from one to the next. Except for on, Belem, which we had to catch the tram for. Our missions here was to find the best custard tart bakery in Lisbon. Liz had read an article ina London paper ages ago and we had saved it so that we could find these delicious delacies. At first we thought we had failed in our mission but after asking a local we were pointed in the right direction. Now, I don´t really like custard and all things related but these were amazing!! So scrumptious! The recipe is so secret that only 3 bakers know it and when 1 reitres it is passed to a new baker. The even mix the ingredients in a secret room each morning and iwth both locals and tourists buying these, they sell 13 000 on a weekday and 20 000 on weekends...holy! So good. It is safe to say we had a few each before getting the tram back to the centre!
Athens
Here we only stayed 2 nights which was plenty. There is not alot to do in Athens especially if you are not interested in Ancient Greece. We are in the not interested category. However, we figured we would at least go and see the Acropolis because it was there and we felt we should.
Our morning started off with the watching of the Changing of the Guards outside Parliament House. This was really interesting as it is very traditional and not at all like the one outside Buckingham Palace. It happens every hour so it´s not as regal as Englands. We then headed into the Plaka where all the shops and tourist places are. There were so many sandles I wanted to buy but I held back and didn´t even buy one pair! We then headed to the Acropolis. €12 to gein in. Highway robbery! So we walked around the fence and got snaps of it from far away. We did however notice on our walk around the fence a lovely, brand new museum dedicated to the Acropolis and it only cost €1 entry. €1!! So we actually got to learn about the Acropolis, look at artefacts, enjoy alovely view from the top floor and most importantly, did it all in the comfort of air conditioning! That pretty much sums up our day in Athens - it was too hot to attempt anything more that that.
That evening we packed up our bags again in preparation for a day of flights - first a 3 hour flight to Milan, then a 4 hour layover in what was to be the smalles and most boring airport layover EVER! Then another 3 hour flight to our destination- Lisbon.
Our morning started off with the watching of the Changing of the Guards outside Parliament House. This was really interesting as it is very traditional and not at all like the one outside Buckingham Palace. It happens every hour so it´s not as regal as Englands. We then headed into the Plaka where all the shops and tourist places are. There were so many sandles I wanted to buy but I held back and didn´t even buy one pair! We then headed to the Acropolis. €12 to gein in. Highway robbery! So we walked around the fence and got snaps of it from far away. We did however notice on our walk around the fence a lovely, brand new museum dedicated to the Acropolis and it only cost €1 entry. €1!! So we actually got to learn about the Acropolis, look at artefacts, enjoy alovely view from the top floor and most importantly, did it all in the comfort of air conditioning! That pretty much sums up our day in Athens - it was too hot to attempt anything more that that.
That evening we packed up our bags again in preparation for a day of flights - first a 3 hour flight to Milan, then a 4 hour layover in what was to be the smalles and most boring airport layover EVER! Then another 3 hour flight to our destination- Lisbon.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Eat, Swim, Sleep
This was to be my motto for the next 10 days of our journey. Our first night in Athens had us showering, eating some Gyros, then sleeping as we had a very early start (5:30am!) the next day!
Our Greek Islands tour started with a very slow ferry ride to Mykonos (5 hours), this was not so bad as we spoke to some people on our tour and got our itinerary from our leader Dax (idiot!). We thought this tour was fairly independent but it turns out that every day and night there was a dinner or activity organised, Eeek! This was not what we wanted. Luckily they were all optional so Liz and I opted out of most of them, main reason being the organised dinners would cost €10-15 each where as we could go and eat in a restaurant for €20 combined AND get actual Greek food. Most nights the food was of other nationalities. As if I paid to go all the way to Greece to eat pizza and Thai!! Crazy bastards.
Anyway, as I was saying in the beginning, we mostly slept, ate and swam. The sleeping happened at all times of the day whether on the beach, in our mini tent huts or by the pool. The eating also occurred throughout the day, dinners were my favourite. We ate in quite a few Greek Taverna's and I think we only had sub par food once (thanks to our leader who took us to this place). On Mykonos I had my first Moussaka. Delish. Here I also had what would be the tastiest Greek Salad of the whole trip. On Paros, we stumbled across a Taverna near our beach, which had a fantastic view of the whole bag and here we had tatziki and iced coffees. Our campsite had a family run restaurant attached to it and I had stewed meatballs (Mum I think it's almost the same as your sausages/meatballs in tomato sauce from the cookbook). They were amazing! Santorini had us tasting fried cheese, stuffed tomatoes and of course more tatziki! Santorini is also where our tour leader took us to the sub par restaurant which also smelt like a toilet - not pleasant at all! Our last island, Ios, had us eating mostly Gyros (we were a little over them by now!) and again another restaurant where we decided to be brave and try the calamari, but it came out on the dish with all of the tenticles and it's head. All fried. I had a little trouble eating it and had to cover up the remaining body parts with napkins!
Onto the actual islands. They are not at all what were expecting. When you see photos of the islands you always see the white houses and the brilliant blue water. This is exactly how they look, except for the brown, barren land that surrounds everthing. As the islands are so windy no vegetation grows there. Also their ground is very rocky so I'm guessing the soil is not very furtile. But it is just an odd contrast. The water is amazing though. On each island it was a different shade of blue or green. Our favourite water was on Mykonos but my favourite beach was on Ios as it was actually sandy! The water was quite cold in comparison to the heat of the day but if you had been sunbaking it was so lovely to dive into. Our skin colour has improved and is no longer pasty white. HOORAY! This was one of the main goals of the islands - plus tasting all the food of course! Mykonos and Ios were the party islands and you'll be happy to know that we did participate in one evening out in the clubs where nothing happens until at least 1-2am. I was so bloody tired! But I did it and with only 3 drinks in my body I managed to get home at 4am. What a feat! The nightlife that we experienced was on Ios and I have to say that I wasn't that impressed with it. When I went into the 3rd bar and heard the same songs for the 3rd time, I knew it was time to go. This nightlife was not for me.
Paros and Santorini were much quieter islands. Paros seemed very chilled out and seemed to be the holiday destination for families. Here we went on a boat cruise around AntiParos (the small island next to Paros) which took a whole day. It was lovely. In true backpacker form the boat was small and packed, but what we got to see made up for it! We jumped off the boat into such clear water - it was like something off The Great Outdoors! On Santorini we went on a half day tour where we got to climb up to the edge of an Active Volcano. It was so cool! There were even spots where you could feel the sulphur coming out of the ground. Santorini used to be a round island but due to the largest volcanic eruption in modern times (the only other larger ones were prehistoric) it split the island up. But don't worry, it's dormant and it's been predicted it won't erupt until 2025 (the last eruption was in 1950). Phew. We were safe. This tour also took us to the hot springs which is caused by the volcano somehow, and the water is muddy brown and about 6 degrees hotter than normal. The mud is supposed to be good for your skin but I chose not to cover myself as it felt gross!
Our accommodation on the island was fairly basic, as we stayed at campsites. We slept in little canvas hut things which locked and meant we didn't have to share with strangers! Yay! But on Paros we actually slept in a tent, on a mat. Let's say it wasn't our most comfortable nights sleep. The only gripe I have is that on the islands you cannot put toilet paper in the toilet. No no no, you have to put it in the bin beside you. That has no lid. That smells like shit. Literally. This very much grossed me out, especially on the 2 party islands as the more drunk people got, the less clean they were. This is not ideal when sharing large shower and toilet blocks. Eeewwwww!
Our Greek Islands tour started with a very slow ferry ride to Mykonos (5 hours), this was not so bad as we spoke to some people on our tour and got our itinerary from our leader Dax (idiot!). We thought this tour was fairly independent but it turns out that every day and night there was a dinner or activity organised, Eeek! This was not what we wanted. Luckily they were all optional so Liz and I opted out of most of them, main reason being the organised dinners would cost €10-15 each where as we could go and eat in a restaurant for €20 combined AND get actual Greek food. Most nights the food was of other nationalities. As if I paid to go all the way to Greece to eat pizza and Thai!! Crazy bastards.
Anyway, as I was saying in the beginning, we mostly slept, ate and swam. The sleeping happened at all times of the day whether on the beach, in our mini tent huts or by the pool. The eating also occurred throughout the day, dinners were my favourite. We ate in quite a few Greek Taverna's and I think we only had sub par food once (thanks to our leader who took us to this place). On Mykonos I had my first Moussaka. Delish. Here I also had what would be the tastiest Greek Salad of the whole trip. On Paros, we stumbled across a Taverna near our beach, which had a fantastic view of the whole bag and here we had tatziki and iced coffees. Our campsite had a family run restaurant attached to it and I had stewed meatballs (Mum I think it's almost the same as your sausages/meatballs in tomato sauce from the cookbook). They were amazing! Santorini had us tasting fried cheese, stuffed tomatoes and of course more tatziki! Santorini is also where our tour leader took us to the sub par restaurant which also smelt like a toilet - not pleasant at all! Our last island, Ios, had us eating mostly Gyros (we were a little over them by now!) and again another restaurant where we decided to be brave and try the calamari, but it came out on the dish with all of the tenticles and it's head. All fried. I had a little trouble eating it and had to cover up the remaining body parts with napkins!
Onto the actual islands. They are not at all what were expecting. When you see photos of the islands you always see the white houses and the brilliant blue water. This is exactly how they look, except for the brown, barren land that surrounds everthing. As the islands are so windy no vegetation grows there. Also their ground is very rocky so I'm guessing the soil is not very furtile. But it is just an odd contrast. The water is amazing though. On each island it was a different shade of blue or green. Our favourite water was on Mykonos but my favourite beach was on Ios as it was actually sandy! The water was quite cold in comparison to the heat of the day but if you had been sunbaking it was so lovely to dive into. Our skin colour has improved and is no longer pasty white. HOORAY! This was one of the main goals of the islands - plus tasting all the food of course! Mykonos and Ios were the party islands and you'll be happy to know that we did participate in one evening out in the clubs where nothing happens until at least 1-2am. I was so bloody tired! But I did it and with only 3 drinks in my body I managed to get home at 4am. What a feat! The nightlife that we experienced was on Ios and I have to say that I wasn't that impressed with it. When I went into the 3rd bar and heard the same songs for the 3rd time, I knew it was time to go. This nightlife was not for me.
Paros and Santorini were much quieter islands. Paros seemed very chilled out and seemed to be the holiday destination for families. Here we went on a boat cruise around AntiParos (the small island next to Paros) which took a whole day. It was lovely. In true backpacker form the boat was small and packed, but what we got to see made up for it! We jumped off the boat into such clear water - it was like something off The Great Outdoors! On Santorini we went on a half day tour where we got to climb up to the edge of an Active Volcano. It was so cool! There were even spots where you could feel the sulphur coming out of the ground. Santorini used to be a round island but due to the largest volcanic eruption in modern times (the only other larger ones were prehistoric) it split the island up. But don't worry, it's dormant and it's been predicted it won't erupt until 2025 (the last eruption was in 1950). Phew. We were safe. This tour also took us to the hot springs which is caused by the volcano somehow, and the water is muddy brown and about 6 degrees hotter than normal. The mud is supposed to be good for your skin but I chose not to cover myself as it felt gross!
Our accommodation on the island was fairly basic, as we stayed at campsites. We slept in little canvas hut things which locked and meant we didn't have to share with strangers! Yay! But on Paros we actually slept in a tent, on a mat. Let's say it wasn't our most comfortable nights sleep. The only gripe I have is that on the islands you cannot put toilet paper in the toilet. No no no, you have to put it in the bin beside you. That has no lid. That smells like shit. Literally. This very much grossed me out, especially on the 2 party islands as the more drunk people got, the less clean they were. This is not ideal when sharing large shower and toilet blocks. Eeewwwww!
Scotland
It was to take us 4 train changes and a whole day of travelling to get to Edinburg. But we were well prepared with snacks, books and blow up pillows for the journey. Edinburgh is a beautiful city. All of the old buildings make it almost seem a little magical especially with the Castle dominating up on the cliff. Our hostels here were so so, these ones were not as clean as the last in Wales but I'm learning to not be so picky and just get on with things. If I think about it too much I'd probably never set foot in another hostel! Our first night here we grabbed some kepbabs and went down to Princes Park and just admired the Castle and then took a look around the city. We had the whole of the next day to explore so we thought that to get some background info on the city that a walking tour would be best. It went for almost 4 hours but we did get alot from it, espeically on how much the Scots dislike the English and few stories about some quirky character in history. I didn't make it into the Castle as I already had an information overload and couldn't handle another 3 hours of reading.
The next day we headed off on our Wild in Scotland tour which was to take us up into the Highlands and to the Isle of Skye. The first day was alot of driving but we did stop at a few palces where battles had taken place; the most important one being Culloden Battlefields where over 700 Sctosmen died in a huge battle. It was quite a sad story acutlaly and the memorial there impacted on us alot. By late evening we had finally made it to Skye. The scenary over the last couple of hours of the drive was breathtaking. The Highlands are just so beautiful. I could never get sick of looking at them if I lived there. Our hostel here was fab! It was almost more like a home stay- it was so clean and friendly and quirky. It was called Skye Walker Hostel but inside there were life size cut outs of Star Wars characters on the walls wearing bits of tartan. Hilarious!!
The next day was a great day. A lazy breakfast and then a short drive to the base of the Black Cullen Mountains where we waled to the Fairy Pools. They were lovely! We were encouraged to go for a swim in them but seeing as the water was 8 degrees, Liz and I decided to pass! Some were brave and soon had skil as red a a tomato! The mountains were huge but amazing - they were quite rocky and of course were black and just loomed over you as you looked up at them. That afternoon we did another big walk. This time to Old Man of Storr which are these huge rock pillars in odd shapes that look like they have been placed there on their edges. We walked/climbed right up to the base of one of the pillars. Took about an hour but the view form up there was incredible, the mountains and lochs looked like something from a painting. And we lucky on this day to have sunshine all day so everything looked even more beautiful with such a blue sky.
Our dinners and breakfasts were included as we paid a ktity at the beginning and then food was bought form that. We were lucky enough to have 2 chefs on our trip and they cooked dinner for us both nights. It was simple stuff they made but it tasted bloody good! No one minded at all cleaning up afterwards after such a tasty dinner!! On the Saturday night the ownders of the hostel and some of their friends played music all night. Mostly fold but some modern stuff as well. It was fantastic. They were all really good musicians and they even played Bound for South Australia for the Aussies on the tour!
Our last day of the tour was again mainly driving, we stopped in Stirling to hear aobut William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, saw Eileen Dolan Castle and a quick look out at Glen Coe. Ooo I forgot to mention on the first day we stopped at Loch Ness. It was a beautiful loch and no, there was no spotting of Nessy, just a million midgies! We also got to try some whisky, single malt of course. Gosh it was strong! I added some water and found it quite nice, Liz however gave her dram to some of the others. Back in Edinburghwe were worn out so we had dinner and repacked out backpacks ready to leave bight and early the next day for....Greece!!
The next day we headed off on our Wild in Scotland tour which was to take us up into the Highlands and to the Isle of Skye. The first day was alot of driving but we did stop at a few palces where battles had taken place; the most important one being Culloden Battlefields where over 700 Sctosmen died in a huge battle. It was quite a sad story acutlaly and the memorial there impacted on us alot. By late evening we had finally made it to Skye. The scenary over the last couple of hours of the drive was breathtaking. The Highlands are just so beautiful. I could never get sick of looking at them if I lived there. Our hostel here was fab! It was almost more like a home stay- it was so clean and friendly and quirky. It was called Skye Walker Hostel but inside there were life size cut outs of Star Wars characters on the walls wearing bits of tartan. Hilarious!!
The next day was a great day. A lazy breakfast and then a short drive to the base of the Black Cullen Mountains where we waled to the Fairy Pools. They were lovely! We were encouraged to go for a swim in them but seeing as the water was 8 degrees, Liz and I decided to pass! Some were brave and soon had skil as red a a tomato! The mountains were huge but amazing - they were quite rocky and of course were black and just loomed over you as you looked up at them. That afternoon we did another big walk. This time to Old Man of Storr which are these huge rock pillars in odd shapes that look like they have been placed there on their edges. We walked/climbed right up to the base of one of the pillars. Took about an hour but the view form up there was incredible, the mountains and lochs looked like something from a painting. And we lucky on this day to have sunshine all day so everything looked even more beautiful with such a blue sky.
Our dinners and breakfasts were included as we paid a ktity at the beginning and then food was bought form that. We were lucky enough to have 2 chefs on our trip and they cooked dinner for us both nights. It was simple stuff they made but it tasted bloody good! No one minded at all cleaning up afterwards after such a tasty dinner!! On the Saturday night the ownders of the hostel and some of their friends played music all night. Mostly fold but some modern stuff as well. It was fantastic. They were all really good musicians and they even played Bound for South Australia for the Aussies on the tour!
Our last day of the tour was again mainly driving, we stopped in Stirling to hear aobut William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, saw Eileen Dolan Castle and a quick look out at Glen Coe. Ooo I forgot to mention on the first day we stopped at Loch Ness. It was a beautiful loch and no, there was no spotting of Nessy, just a million midgies! We also got to try some whisky, single malt of course. Gosh it was strong! I added some water and found it quite nice, Liz however gave her dram to some of the others. Back in Edinburghwe were worn out so we had dinner and repacked out backpacks ready to leave bight and early the next day for....Greece!!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Wales
Due to the ridiculous amount that people are charging for internet (1 euro for 10 mins of the Greek Islands!) I'm a wee bit behind on the blog. So bear with me and I'll try and fill you all in as best as possible.
Wales was beautiful. It was really the perfect way to start our trip. We headed to a little place called Betws-Y-Coed which is up in the North and is at the edge of Snowdonia National Park. It took us 3 train changes to get there from London but I love the trains so I didn't mind one bit. Our hostel was quite small and quaint and we shared a dorm with 2 English lads who were in the town for field work. Geologists. they were so lovely and considerate. Their mothers should be proud!
The main activity to do in Betws-Y-Coed is to walk. So that is eactly what we did. Armed with our walking shoes and waterproof jackets we picked up a booklet with walks around town from the tourist info centre and headed for a short 4 and a half mile stroll. This walk took us though some woods and along a beautiful clear reiver. It was so quiet in there, eventually we makde to Swallow Falls which were a bit disppointing but a good conversation with some fellow walkers made up for it.
Our mian objective for the trip was to climb Snowdon Mountain. This is the tallest mountain in Wales and England standing at 1085m. The Geologists in our room advised us to head to one particular spot as they knew one of the paths started there. So this is where we headed nice and early on the Sunday monring. Now what you need to know is that there are 6 paths up Snowdon with degrees of difficulty. Being the novis walkers we are we needed the easiest path. The one we went ot was no this. The sign at the start of the path stated "this is the most difficult of the walks, NOVICE WALKERS ARE NOT ADVISED TO CLIMB THIS" Eek! So luckily we had picked up a leaflet of the easiest walk and tour delight it started in the next town over. While waiting fo rhte bus, 2 men n a mini bus offered us a life (it was safe Mums and Dads, they were part of a charity climbing the mountains!) as they were headed that way. So eventually we started the walk. There was a defined, nicely sloping path, views were beautiful and things were great. It was about 2/3 up the mountain that it all started getting harder. The path was getting steeper and we were now up in the fog so it was quite cold. It also didnºt help that the last mountain we had climbed was last summer and we are extremly unfit! Towards the summit I think I was taking 20 steps then stopping, 2o steps then stopping. Just short of 3 hours we finally made it to the summit! HOORAY! And wah a spectacular view - fog and more go. You couldn't even see 2 feet in front of you! By now I was cold and sore so we went into the shelter for what was the best cup of hot chocolate I've ever had! What an achievment! Now we were faced with a tough decision - to walk 3 hours back down or catch the trin. After much umming and ahhing we decided on the train for 2 reasons; #1 we were stuffed and #2 the buses back to our hostel stopped around 4:30pm and I did't want to miss it. We slept very well that night and woke up surprisingly good the next day with no sore muscles!
The rest of our time here was spent doing other small walks around th etown. There are so many beautiful woodlands in this area it was amazing walking through them and their Gorges were lovely as well. The weather actaully held out for us and we only had one day of rain and even that wasn't so bad as it stopped and stared. Even got a couple of walks in!
Wales was beautiful. It was really the perfect way to start our trip. We headed to a little place called Betws-Y-Coed which is up in the North and is at the edge of Snowdonia National Park. It took us 3 train changes to get there from London but I love the trains so I didn't mind one bit. Our hostel was quite small and quaint and we shared a dorm with 2 English lads who were in the town for field work. Geologists. they were so lovely and considerate. Their mothers should be proud!
The main activity to do in Betws-Y-Coed is to walk. So that is eactly what we did. Armed with our walking shoes and waterproof jackets we picked up a booklet with walks around town from the tourist info centre and headed for a short 4 and a half mile stroll. This walk took us though some woods and along a beautiful clear reiver. It was so quiet in there, eventually we makde to Swallow Falls which were a bit disppointing but a good conversation with some fellow walkers made up for it.
Our mian objective for the trip was to climb Snowdon Mountain. This is the tallest mountain in Wales and England standing at 1085m. The Geologists in our room advised us to head to one particular spot as they knew one of the paths started there. So this is where we headed nice and early on the Sunday monring. Now what you need to know is that there are 6 paths up Snowdon with degrees of difficulty. Being the novis walkers we are we needed the easiest path. The one we went ot was no this. The sign at the start of the path stated "this is the most difficult of the walks, NOVICE WALKERS ARE NOT ADVISED TO CLIMB THIS" Eek! So luckily we had picked up a leaflet of the easiest walk and tour delight it started in the next town over. While waiting fo rhte bus, 2 men n a mini bus offered us a life (it was safe Mums and Dads, they were part of a charity climbing the mountains!) as they were headed that way. So eventually we started the walk. There was a defined, nicely sloping path, views were beautiful and things were great. It was about 2/3 up the mountain that it all started getting harder. The path was getting steeper and we were now up in the fog so it was quite cold. It also didnºt help that the last mountain we had climbed was last summer and we are extremly unfit! Towards the summit I think I was taking 20 steps then stopping, 2o steps then stopping. Just short of 3 hours we finally made it to the summit! HOORAY! And wah a spectacular view - fog and more go. You couldn't even see 2 feet in front of you! By now I was cold and sore so we went into the shelter for what was the best cup of hot chocolate I've ever had! What an achievment! Now we were faced with a tough decision - to walk 3 hours back down or catch the trin. After much umming and ahhing we decided on the train for 2 reasons; #1 we were stuffed and #2 the buses back to our hostel stopped around 4:30pm and I did't want to miss it. We slept very well that night and woke up surprisingly good the next day with no sore muscles!
The rest of our time here was spent doing other small walks around th etown. There are so many beautiful woodlands in this area it was amazing walking through them and their Gorges were lovely as well. The weather actaully held out for us and we only had one day of rain and even that wasn't so bad as it stopped and stared. Even got a couple of walks in!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Quick Update
Hi All! We're doing well, we have been to Wales and are now in Scotland. We have been having trouble getting on the net to update but hopefully soon I can write a bit more. We are off to Greece on Monday which we are very excited about as there will be sun!! Love to you all
xoxo
xoxo
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Music! Music! Music!
Last week was an exciting week! On Thursday evening we set off to the Royal Albert Hall to see George Benson (if you have no idea who he is you tube him and you'll soon know at least one of his songs!). Mum and Dad bought us the tickets for our birthdays and although we really had no idea what George Benson sung we wanted to see the Hall and they seemed excited about it so we thought it couldn't be all bad. And it wasn't. The Albert Hall is amazing. It is round and all the seats face the stage and it doesn't really matter where you sit you can still see the stage. It's really quite tall and our seats were right up the back (second to last row!) and although we couldn't see his face properly we could still see everything. We had a horrific comedian come on first to 'warm' us up. He was rubbish! Kept telling jokes that really only appealed to the senior citizens of the audience. Which was most of them. Yes, we were one of the few young people at this concert. Finally he came out and he sung some Nat King Cole songs which were lovely and almost sent us to sleep due to the fact that I had one beer at dinner and also it was the hottest day on record at 32 degrees that day and good old Albert Hall does not have air con so it was quite balmy inside and the perfect temperature and songs to send you off. But, after he sent off his orchestra he started playing his music and that woke us up quick smart! He's such a groover! And Liz and I were both quite surprised in that we ended up know about 4 of his songs!! He had the whole audience up on their feet, including the 70 year old women in the front row! Fantastic!! Thanks Mum and Dad for the tickets!
The following Saturday we had tickets to Wireless which was a concert in Hyde Park. The headlining acts were Dizzie Rascal, Paul Okenfold, Sneaky Sound System and BASEMENT JAXX!! We were so excited to see Basement Jaxx. They're set right at the end just knocked our socks off and we just boogied especially as they played all of our favourite songs. The ticket was worth the money just to see them as they played for over an hour. So good! I didn't like Dizzie Rascal but Paul Okenfold was good and Sneaky just rocked their tent as most of us there were Aussies and Kiwis and everybody danced and jumped around for their whole set. So. Much. Fun.
Timothy, Liz's brother arrived last Friday. He is taking over Liz's job as a Manny and Liz has been showing him the ropes. We've gone out and done some London things with him, most importantly, Hampstead Crepes mmmmmm delicious. This weekend we are off to Platform 9 3/4 in preparation for the new Harry Potter, which we have already booked tickets for. Oh, just such a busy last week!!
The following Saturday we had tickets to Wireless which was a concert in Hyde Park. The headlining acts were Dizzie Rascal, Paul Okenfold, Sneaky Sound System and BASEMENT JAXX!! We were so excited to see Basement Jaxx. They're set right at the end just knocked our socks off and we just boogied especially as they played all of our favourite songs. The ticket was worth the money just to see them as they played for over an hour. So good! I didn't like Dizzie Rascal but Paul Okenfold was good and Sneaky just rocked their tent as most of us there were Aussies and Kiwis and everybody danced and jumped around for their whole set. So. Much. Fun.
Timothy, Liz's brother arrived last Friday. He is taking over Liz's job as a Manny and Liz has been showing him the ropes. We've gone out and done some London things with him, most importantly, Hampstead Crepes mmmmmm delicious. This weekend we are off to Platform 9 3/4 in preparation for the new Harry Potter, which we have already booked tickets for. Oh, just such a busy last week!!
Friday, June 26, 2009
London Days Out!
Last weekend was jam packed with all things to do with London. Saturday was an early start as we were heading into Leicester Square for 'West End Live' (a free event), unfortunately our bus was running a little behind schedule so we didn't make it there until half an hour after the start, which seemed on the bus not such an issue. But upon arriving at the Square we were to find 2 giant lines of people waiting to get in. Bugger. Luckily, Emme and Kit 
were also late, unfortunately thought, Chris and Kat and 2 friends of theirs had been a wee bit smarter and had arrived early and were already in! However our line up (45 mins!) was fine as there were screens all around and we could still see and hear what was going on inside. And I can hear you saying, Nicky what is West End Live? Well my dear friends, it is where some of the musicals in West End get up on stage and sing a few songs from their wonderful productions and us, the public who are too poor to go and see them all, can feel like we're not missing out. Some were a little disappointing due to their lack of costume and song choices (Sister Act) and others were fab (Jersey Boys, Thriller). All the good ones finished by 1pm and so we all left and headed off for lunch where afterwards we hit up the National Portrait Gallery (one of my last things to tick off my London List) and I finally got to see the portraits of the Tudors whom I have been reading up on since being over here, such a scandalous bunch they were! We did head back to the West End Stage to see the London Men's Gay Choir, the biggest in Europe for an entertaining 3omins. We also got to see Stomp which was freakin' awesome...I want to be like them, they're so buff!
This then brings me to the next adventure of the day, catching up with Kimmy and Emme with quite a few pints and £1 burgers. Could you ask for a better end to a day?? Kimmy had been travelling around Europe for the last 6 weeks so we had lots to catch up on. We all left that evening for our night trains before they shut suitable tipsy. Well I was anyway!
Sunday we were up early again to meet Kimmy in the city for a full day of sightseeing! Kimmy had already seen most of it when she had arrived at the beginning of her 6 week tr
ip but the one thing she hadn't done in which I needed a partner in crime for....the London Eye! The line up was huge but it moved quite quickly. Liz left us in the hope that she had 3 hours of freedom but not so! We had lined up, got our tickets, lined up again and went for our flight in just over an hour! I can't say that it was the most exciting thing that I have done in London, it moves quite slowly and there are about 15 other people in your capsule so you don't get a perfect view the whole time. But we had a lovely clear day so we got to see everything and as much as all cities look the same from up high, it was still fantastic to be up there.
We caught back up with Lizzie and decided our next stop was Harrods where our highlight was the luxury
toilets (that's right, luxury! and not up to Kimmy's standards at all, hehe) and Oxford St. Since it was a nice day, we walked to both places. It was quite a walk as we went past Buckingham Palace and though Hyde Park. 
This was much preferable to the stinky, dirty, old tubes. By the time we finished we were buggered and stopped in at a pub for a roast dinner. Delish! Another great end to a fabulous day. Thanks Kimmy!!
were also late, unfortunately thought, Chris and Kat and 2 friends of theirs had been a wee bit smarter and had arrived early and were already in! However our line up (45 mins!) was fine as there were screens all around and we could still see and hear what was going on inside. And I can hear you saying, Nicky what is West End Live? Well my dear friends, it is where some of the musicals in West End get up on stage and sing a few songs from their wonderful productions and us, the public who are too poor to go and see them all, can feel like we're not missing out. Some were a little disappointing due to their lack of costume and song choices (Sister Act) and others were fab (Jersey Boys, Thriller). All the good ones finished by 1pm and so we all left and headed off for lunch where afterwards we hit up the National Portrait Gallery (one of my last things to tick off my London List) and I finally got to see the portraits of the Tudors whom I have been reading up on since being over here, such a scandalous bunch they were! We did head back to the West End Stage to see the London Men's Gay Choir, the biggest in Europe for an entertaining 3omins. We also got to see Stomp which was freakin' awesome...I want to be like them, they're so buff!
This then brings me to the next adventure of the day, catching up with Kimmy and Emme with quite a few pints and £1 burgers. Could you ask for a better end to a day?? Kimmy had been travelling around Europe for the last 6 weeks so we had lots to catch up on. We all left that evening for our night trains before they shut suitable tipsy. Well I was anyway!
Sunday we were up early again to meet Kimmy in the city for a full day of sightseeing! Kimmy had already seen most of it when she had arrived at the beginning of her 6 week tr
ip but the one thing she hadn't done in which I needed a partner in crime for....the London Eye! The line up was huge but it moved quite quickly. Liz left us in the hope that she had 3 hours of freedom but not so! We had lined up, got our tickets, lined up again and went for our flight in just over an hour! I can't say that it was the most exciting thing that I have done in London, it moves quite slowly and there are about 15 other people in your capsule so you don't get a perfect view the whole time. But we had a lovely clear day so we got to see everything and as much as all cities look the same from up high, it was still fantastic to be up there.We caught back up with Lizzie and decided our next stop was Harrods where our highlight was the luxury
toilets (that's right, luxury! and not up to Kimmy's standards at all, hehe) and Oxford St. Since it was a nice day, we walked to both places. It was quite a walk as we went past Buckingham Palace and though Hyde Park. 
This was much preferable to the stinky, dirty, old tubes. By the time we finished we were buggered and stopped in at a pub for a roast dinner. Delish! Another great end to a fabulous day. Thanks Kimmy!!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Punting in Oxford
One drear
y Sunday morning Em, Kit, Liz and I left London and set off for Oxford. Our first stop (well mine and Liz's) was a freshly brewed coffee before boarding our train and Kit being so lovely and organised had bought the paper to be divided up among us for the short train trip, the sport pages of course being the most sort after! Oxford as most of you know is a University town and is made up of lots of different colleges and we were so lucky as to have our very own personal guide of the town as Kit had gone to Oxford for his studies.
The main event for coming to Oxford though was to go punting. This is a boat which is kind of like a canoe cross gondola and it has a huge long metal pole - the punt - which you use to push and steer you through the canals. This was so much fun! Kit of course took the pole first to give us all a lesson on how to punt then it was Emme's turn, she did a pretty fine job and managed to only run us into a few trees. I had a go and my forte was not running into trees but into the b
anks of the canal, but I have to say with the pole being more than twice my height I think I did a pretty good job. Liz had the crucial job of actually stopping Em and I from crashing more than we did by using the oar in the boat to guide the boat...I dare say, without her help Em and I may of had more run ins or worse, ended up in the canal!! And we actually had beautiful weather there, as I mentioned at the beginning, it was a miserable rainy day in London and the same had been predicted for Oxford but as luck would have it, the clouds were left behind and we actually got quite a fair bit of sun, especially for our punting expedition which was lovely as we were able to relax in the sun while Kit did all the hard work of moving us around the canal :)
We also managed to get a squiz inside one of the colleges as Kit showed us around his. They are so nice.My favour
ite are the lush green lawns that they all have, it made me want to go to sleep on them (unfortunately it had rained that morning and instead of being just soft and inviting they would have been cold and squelchy). And get this, at Oxford you are tutored on a one on one basis or sometimes two on one. No wonder they produce such smart cookies, unlike good ol' QUT and UQ with a twenty five to one ratio!!
The rest of the day was spent wandering around, having lunch and coming across a boost juice which made our day, especially Em's who could finally show Kit what a real smoothie was supposed to taste like!! haha All in all a great day out with great mates and some sunshine.
y Sunday morning Em, Kit, Liz and I left London and set off for Oxford. Our first stop (well mine and Liz's) was a freshly brewed coffee before boarding our train and Kit being so lovely and organised had bought the paper to be divided up among us for the short train trip, the sport pages of course being the most sort after! Oxford as most of you know is a University town and is made up of lots of different colleges and we were so lucky as to have our very own personal guide of the town as Kit had gone to Oxford for his studies.The main event for coming to Oxford though was to go punting. This is a boat which is kind of like a canoe cross gondola and it has a huge long metal pole - the punt - which you use to push and steer you through the canals. This was so much fun! Kit of course took the pole first to give us all a lesson on how to punt then it was Emme's turn, she did a pretty fine job and managed to only run us into a few trees. I had a go and my forte was not running into trees but into the b
anks of the canal, but I have to say with the pole being more than twice my height I think I did a pretty good job. Liz had the crucial job of actually stopping Em and I from crashing more than we did by using the oar in the boat to guide the boat...I dare say, without her help Em and I may of had more run ins or worse, ended up in the canal!! And we actually had beautiful weather there, as I mentioned at the beginning, it was a miserable rainy day in London and the same had been predicted for Oxford but as luck would have it, the clouds were left behind and we actually got quite a fair bit of sun, especially for our punting expedition which was lovely as we were able to relax in the sun while Kit did all the hard work of moving us around the canal :)We also managed to get a squiz inside one of the colleges as Kit showed us around his. They are so nice.My favour
ite are the lush green lawns that they all have, it made me want to go to sleep on them (unfortunately it had rained that morning and instead of being just soft and inviting they would have been cold and squelchy). And get this, at Oxford you are tutored on a one on one basis or sometimes two on one. No wonder they produce such smart cookies, unlike good ol' QUT and UQ with a twenty five to one ratio!!The rest of the day was spent wandering around, having lunch and coming across a boost juice which made our day, especially Em's who could finally show Kit what a real smoothie was supposed to taste like!! haha All in all a great day out with great mates and some sunshine.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
I love the North!!
This little trip has to be one of my favourites since being over here. We only went away for 4 days but it was to the most loveliest places. We first took a long bus ride (5.5hrs) to Liverpool where after a friendly chat with the hostel chick we were off to The Beatles Experience!! I was super excited about this and rightly so, it was a great museum with so much info o
n the band. By the end of it we both had an overload and probably really couldn't tell you what we had just read. So to digest it all we sat down with a coffee while 
I contemplated which Beatles memorabilia I was going to purchase from the shop! I think I have chosen well and only spent a mini fortune instead of an actual fortune...lucky Liz was there to help me see sense.
The next morning we set off to the train station to head to The Lakes District. It was 
a short but scenic trip and I was reminded again how much I love trains in comparison to the evil buses to travel. The Lakes is actually made up of 10 or so lakes with little towns next to them. Our little town was Windermere where the biggest lake of them all lives. It was adorable. We stayed in a backpackers which was nice but with very uncomfortable beds. And as soon as we had dropped our stuff off we went straight to the tourist office to get some directions for some of the many walks in our area. We did a short walk to one of the summits, it was classed as a 'C' grade walk so it was really easy. The views were brilliant but the wind was so strong I felt like I was going to go flying off!
Over the next 2 days we did 2 more walks one which was a 'B' walk, now I looked at the 'A' walks and deci
ded against them since they encouraged strongly for you to use a compass, since we didn't have one and I don't know how to read one if my life depended on it we thought it best to stick with the lower grades! What I loved about these walks was that you actually went through peoples farms, climbed over rock walls and past about a million sheep. It was fantastic!! We did have to learn new terminology where a 'cairn' means a pile of rocks, a 'stile' is a wooden or rock ladder over a fence and a few others which I won't bore you with!
We also managed to spend a few lazy moments by Lake Windermere which was just lovely and wandered through the both Windermere and Bowness-on-Windermere, which is the town right beside the lake. Had some great food, relaxed and was the perfect
way to finish up o
ur holidays.
The only bad thing to happen the whole trip really was coming back down to London, we had to change change 3 times just to get to Liverpool. At one change we were on a train that went all the way to London and arrived at 5pm. Our bus out of Liverpool only left at 4pm and we were looking at another 5 hours til we hit home. We decided to enquire on how much a ticket would be on this super fast train.....65 quid. Each. You can safely assume that decided that the bus was the best option for us!!
n the band. By the end of it we both had an overload and probably really couldn't tell you what we had just read. So to digest it all we sat down with a coffee while 
I contemplated which Beatles memorabilia I was going to purchase from the shop! I think I have chosen well and only spent a mini fortune instead of an actual fortune...lucky Liz was there to help me see sense. After a look around the city, which is just beautiful, as everything is shiny and new as they were Cultural Capital of Europe last year and had a huge revamp. Albert Dock was really nice and we were quite bummed that we only had 24 hours here. That night we went to a pub and watch Liverpool play Chelsea, was really great as all the locals were there in their Liverpool jerseys yelling and hugging everytime they scored. Unfortunately Liverpool lost by 1 goal. No one was happy then. But I have officially declared Liverpool as my favourite city and I think I will even by a I heart Liverpool mug.
a short but scenic trip and I was reminded again how much I love trains in comparison to the evil buses to travel. The Lakes is actually made up of 10 or so lakes with little towns next to them. Our little town was Windermere where the biggest lake of them all lives. It was adorable. We stayed in a backpackers which was nice but with very uncomfortable beds. And as soon as we had dropped our stuff off we went straight to the tourist office to get some directions for some of the many walks in our area. We did a short walk to one of the summits, it was classed as a 'C' grade walk so it was really easy. The views were brilliant but the wind was so strong I felt like I was going to go flying off!Over the next 2 days we did 2 more walks one which was a 'B' walk, now I looked at the 'A' walks and deci
ded against them since they encouraged strongly for you to use a compass, since we didn't have one and I don't know how to read one if my life depended on it we thought it best to stick with the lower grades! What I loved about these walks was that you actually went through peoples farms, climbed over rock walls and past about a million sheep. It was fantastic!! We did have to learn new terminology where a 'cairn' means a pile of rocks, a 'stile' is a wooden or rock ladder over a fence and a few others which I won't bore you with!We also managed to spend a few lazy moments by Lake Windermere which was just lovely and wandered through the both Windermere and Bowness-on-Windermere, which is the town right beside the lake. Had some great food, relaxed and was the perfect
way to finish up o
ur holidays.The only bad thing to happen the whole trip really was coming back down to London, we had to change change 3 times just to get to Liverpool. At one change we were on a train that went all the way to London and arrived at 5pm. Our bus out of Liverpool only left at 4pm and we were looking at another 5 hours til we hit home. We decided to enquire on how much a ticket would be on this super fast train.....65 quid. Each. You can safely assume that decided that the bus was the best option for us!!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Ireland
With our tiny amount of luggage due to the restrictions of the wonderfully cheap flight by Ryan Air we set off for Dublin on a lovely Sunday. We got there kind of late in the afternoon but had just enough time to dump our stuff and go for a quick look around the city. We managed to see Trinity College, Dublin Castle and the main Cathedral, all very lovely to look at. We also went into the Temple Bar area and decided it would be nice to sit down with a beer/cider and listen to some traditional music. This was going well until I went to buy the drinks...13.20 euros for a pint of light beer and an alcopop. Holy shit!! So it's safe to say we only had one drink each. And yes, the music was good!
Our tour left bright a
nd early on Monday morning, we were to set off on the 6 day all Ireland tour with 49 others and a tour guide....hmmm not too impressed with the 51 seated bus since we were under the impression most tours were only about 30 people, and the fact that half of the bus were rich gap year kids (18 year olds who take a year off after year 12 and become a teachers aide at a school exactly the same as the one they just left...hmm what a new learning experience) but this aside we headed off to our first sight seeing attraction with only 3 hours on a bus to get there.....but onto what we saw. Now I could bore you all with a day by day outline on what we did but instead I'm just going to give you the highlights in dot points as they are practical and easy to read :)
nsive (well the Republic is the North is cheap as chips!
Our tour left bright a
nd early on Monday morning, we were to set off on the 6 day all Ireland tour with 49 others and a tour guide....hmmm not too impressed with the 51 seated bus since we were under the impression most tours were only about 30 people, and the fact that half of the bus were rich gap year kids (18 year olds who take a year off after year 12 and become a teachers aide at a school exactly the same as the one they just left...hmm what a new learning experience) but this aside we headed off to our first sight seeing attraction with only 3 hours on a bus to get there.....but onto what we saw. Now I could bore you all with a day by day outline on what we did but instead I'm just going to give you the highlights in dot points as they are practical and easy to read :)- Blarney Castle - no I didn't kiss the stone...bloody disgusting if you ask me and I definitely don't need the gift of the gab which is apparently what it gives you HA!
- Saw Inch Beach where Coldplays 'Yellow' clip was filmed just for all you music fans out there, it's a beach.
- Stopped in Annascual a small town with not much in it except the explorer Tom Crean's pub for the night
- Followed the coast line to Dingle which is a small but cute fishing village where due to the rain there was not much to do except have lunch and it is here that we had the NICEST fish since being over here
- Drove around the Ring of Kerry - not all of it since it is 192km long but what we saw of it was pretty through all the rain and mist of course
- Stayed the night in Killarney - due to the weather and the lateness of our arrival we didn't see much of it. Due to the shit organisation (lack there of actually) of our tour guide Liz and I were separated for the night, we weren't even on the same level! We only just survived....
- Crossed the Shannon River, the longest on in Ireland and the UK at a whopping 300km...can you believe it?!
- Cliffs of Moher - one of my favourites. These cliffs were amazing and we had such a beautiful day that we had our picnic lunch on the top of them
- Burren Mountains - a bit of an odd thing really, it's just this huge space of land covered in limestone rock but was such a cool thing to see, I think this was one of Liz's favourites.
- Galway was next - super cool town, we were actually really disappointed that we didn't have more time there. Listen to a fantastic local Irish band and had THE best Irish stew ever
- Derry was really cool, again we got in late and didn't get to see much but we had a walking tour in the morning and was shown the areas during the Troubles and found out some really interesting stuff. Got to see some of the murals that had been painted...amazing but strange at the same time
- Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge - we crossed. Not so scary at all really especially when you have a lovely calm day with only a sprinkle of rain! Beautiful walk down to the bridge though
- Giants Causeway - fantastic on our top 5 or Ireland. The Myth that goes with the rocks is so great that there is no way the scientific reason for their formation can be true....it just can't be
- Belfast - this is such a beautiful place, the people were so friendly and it just had a really great feel to it. We went on a black cab tour where you are taken to both the east and west sides and are told stories of all the troubles and taken to all the murals. Amazing, it's hard to believe that such a lovely city had such a horrible past...what is amazing though is that even though they're largely at peace, the wall that separates the 2 communities still exist and the gates are still closed at night times due to not being able to trust each other.
- Well this isn't really a highlight, especially not for Liz but I thought I'd put it in...we visited the Guinness Storehouse. Yeah, beer making is not that interesting but I got my free beer and that was that.
nsive (well the Republic is the North is cheap as chips!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
It's a sauna! It's a sauna! It's a sauna! It's a sauna!
Sorry Merran, I know it's been almost 3 weeks since you left us and there is no good excuse for not writing this earlier, so I hope you like this blog about your stay in London.....
Liz and I had the immense pleasure of having our good friend Merran come and visit us in this fine city they call London. She arrived after a busy trip in California so it was safe to say my first encounter with her was waking her up after school whilst she was napping on our super small comfy sofa bed :) Our first trip out was of course, to a local pub where we had good old English food, pies, mash, peas and a pint.
We had a fun filled packed weekend up ahead. On Friday evening we had a few drinks and headed into Heaven which is one of the bigger gay night clubs in London. Of course we went there early and with vouchers so we didn't have to pay the ri
diculous cover charge. It was an evening of drinking and 80's dancing with Merran being on the prowl but alas like The Beat, the males out numbered the women. But at the end of our evening we had a really fun hour long bus ride all the way home...it was super. NOT although Merran and I did manage to amuse ourselves.
Safe to say Saturday was quite slow and I do believe we only left the house to find food....but that geared us up for sunday. FOOTBALL DAY! We had bought tickets to see a Premier League match between West Ham and Manchester City. Turned out our seats weren't the best but regardless we were able to see all of the game AND the a way supporters area. I found it quite amusing to watch the banter between the two crouds of supporters. It's all so serious! The game itself was ok, n
ot very exciting though with loads of dives, but West Ham did eventually score in the second half to win the game. After that we headed straight to a pub in Camden for some food and more beers. Which ended up with Merran and I quite tipsy. Lucky I had Monday off!!
Monday Merran and I had decided to pack it with loads of touristy stuff, the To
wer of London was first on the list, followed by The British Museum followed by a trip to the theatre to meet Liz and Emme and finally see Wicked! It was a super fantastic day and I was so buggered by the end of it. My favourite of the day was the Tower, it was so surreal to stand in the exact same spots as Kings and Queens from the past...way cool. 
The Royal Jewels were pretty impressive too, as was the travelator that takes you past the jewels, we rode it 3 times just to make sure we got a good look at jewels in all their glory.
We waved off Merran bight an early Tuesday morning as she had to head to Heathrow to catch her plane to take her back to the wonderful land of Oz and begin her festivities at the Sydney Mardi Gras. I contemplated squeezing myself into her suitcase but it all seemed too much effort that early in the morning....
Liz and I had the immense pleasure of having our good friend Merran come and visit us in this fine city they call London. She arrived after a busy trip in California so it was safe to say my first encounter with her was waking her up after school whilst she was napping on our super small comfy sofa bed :) Our first trip out was of course, to a local pub where we had good old English food, pies, mash, peas and a pint.
We had a fun filled packed weekend up ahead. On Friday evening we had a few drinks and headed into Heaven which is one of the bigger gay night clubs in London. Of course we went there early and with vouchers so we didn't have to pay the ri
diculous cover charge. It was an evening of drinking and 80's dancing with Merran being on the prowl but alas like The Beat, the males out numbered the women. But at the end of our evening we had a really fun hour long bus ride all the way home...it was super. NOT although Merran and I did manage to amuse ourselves.Safe to say Saturday was quite slow and I do believe we only left the house to find food....but that geared us up for sunday. FOOTBALL DAY! We had bought tickets to see a Premier League match between West Ham and Manchester City. Turned out our seats weren't the best but regardless we were able to see all of the game AND the a way supporters area. I found it quite amusing to watch the banter between the two crouds of supporters. It's all so serious! The game itself was ok, n
ot very exciting though with loads of dives, but West Ham did eventually score in the second half to win the game. After that we headed straight to a pub in Camden for some food and more beers. Which ended up with Merran and I quite tipsy. Lucky I had Monday off!!Monday Merran and I had decided to pack it with loads of touristy stuff, the To
wer of London was first on the list, followed by The British Museum followed by a trip to the theatre to meet Liz and Emme and finally see Wicked! It was a super fantastic day and I was so buggered by the end of it. My favourite of the day was the Tower, it was so surreal to stand in the exact same spots as Kings and Queens from the past...way cool. 
The Royal Jewels were pretty impressive too, as was the travelator that takes you past the jewels, we rode it 3 times just to make sure we got a good look at jewels in all their glory.We waved off Merran bight an early Tuesday morning as she had to head to Heathrow to catch her plane to take her back to the wonderful land of Oz and begin her festivities at the Sydney Mardi Gras. I contemplated squeezing myself into her suitcase but it all seemed too much effort that early in the morning....
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Leeds and York
With a little bit of time off Liz and I decided to head up north for a few days rather than stick around London. Our choice was Leeds and York. Well actually it was my choice as Liz has seen most of this stuff already. The main reason for choosing these areas are as they
are in Yorkshire, where they film the tv series Heartbeat. It just looks so nice on tv!! But alas, the areas that we were in were not where they film the show but further north in Yorkshire in an area called the Moors...however after that little bit of a disappointment I was still able to have a brilliant time.
Our first stop Leeds was really nice, it reminded me of Brisbane where everyone is nice and the pace is alot slower. There really wasn't much to do in Leeds as it was mostly filled with shops. I swear we sa
w 5 different shopping centres plus the main shopping mall area. Crazy! There were lots of buskers though in the mall which I really liked listening to. One in particular stood out and I'll include a picture as it was just awesome! This guys gets his dog Bess to sing certain parts of the song by either blowing on his harmonica or saying the word love. Awwww :) We also stumbled across these markets towards the edge of the city and they were filled with everything you could imagine, from fresh fruit and meat to gladwrapped teles and VCRs...haha loved it!
We caught a local bus to York on Sunday afternoon and fell in love with York as soon as
I saw it. It is one of the oldest cities in the UK being built in AD71. Holy! What I really liked was the walls which still circle the town. We were able to walk all the way around the city on them and had tea in one of the gates, Walmgate which was just fab. York is also home to the Minster which is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the Northern Europe, it is awesome! We spent most of our time just wandering around all the small streets and 
looking in all the cute shops. York is also apparently one of the most haunted cities and so with this in mind we decided it would be best to go on a Ghost Walk tour at night. Ha! Actually it wasn't at all scary but it was really cool to listen to all the strange happenings that go on in the city. We even went and had lunch at the oldest pub built in 1503 and whilst deciding what you'd like to eat you also can read about about all the ghosts that live in the pub! Cracking. But what would a visit to one of the oldest places in the north be without an afternoon break of scones, jam, fresh cream and a cup of tea.
are in Yorkshire, where they film the tv series Heartbeat. It just looks so nice on tv!! But alas, the areas that we were in were not where they film the show but further north in Yorkshire in an area called the Moors...however after that little bit of a disappointment I was still able to have a brilliant time.Our first stop Leeds was really nice, it reminded me of Brisbane where everyone is nice and the pace is alot slower. There really wasn't much to do in Leeds as it was mostly filled with shops. I swear we sa
w 5 different shopping centres plus the main shopping mall area. Crazy! There were lots of buskers though in the mall which I really liked listening to. One in particular stood out and I'll include a picture as it was just awesome! This guys gets his dog Bess to sing certain parts of the song by either blowing on his harmonica or saying the word love. Awwww :) We also stumbled across these markets towards the edge of the city and they were filled with everything you could imagine, from fresh fruit and meat to gladwrapped teles and VCRs...haha loved it!We caught a local bus to York on Sunday afternoon and fell in love with York as soon as
I saw it. It is one of the oldest cities in the UK being built in AD71. Holy! What I really liked was the walls which still circle the town. We were able to walk all the way around the city on them and had tea in one of the gates, Walmgate which was just fab. York is also home to the Minster which is the largest Gothic Cathedral in the Northern Europe, it is awesome! We spent most of our time just wandering around all the small streets and 
looking in all the cute shops. York is also apparently one of the most haunted cities and so with this in mind we decided it would be best to go on a Ghost Walk tour at night. Ha! Actually it wasn't at all scary but it was really cool to listen to all the strange happenings that go on in the city. We even went and had lunch at the oldest pub built in 1503 and whilst deciding what you'd like to eat you also can read about about all the ghosts that live in the pub! Cracking. But what would a visit to one of the oldest places in the north be without an afternoon break of scones, jam, fresh cream and a cup of tea.
Snow!
Well, I know it was 2 weeks ago but I thought it best to write a bit about our snow experience here in London. It was so much fun!! What was even better was that we had been at the pub with Emme Sunday afternoon (£3 pound cocktails...how could we leave?!) and both Liz and I were not looking
forward to the prospect of work on the Monday but it was our lucky day as there was no work due to the amount of snow fallen. Nice!! hahaWe made snow angels and a wee little snowman. I feel ashamed of ours after I saw Emme's efforts with her gianormous snowman but in my defence, my boots were completely wet and my socks were soaked through so a small one was all I could manage. What a sook!!! But I did enjoy playing in it...it is just so pretty.
School that week was awesome...Monday and Tuesday off, Wednesday was a play in the snow day, Thursday I actually had to teach and Friday it snowed again quite heavily. So even though I made it to school
before the snow fell, I still only had half a class where we went and played in the snow and then most of my class left at lunch leaving me with 4 children all afternoon. Sweet!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Blasts from the Pasts - January 2009
We had a lovely catch up with 2 old friends of mine from good Ol' Wello Point. Sally and Beth came to London after travelling around for a short stop over and I was lucky enough to have them squeeze me in!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Ice-skating at Sommerset House
We have ended our weekend on a high note. By heading to the open air ice-skating rink at Sommerset House. It was beautiful. Now I know ice-skating itself is not so beautiful...well not when your watching Liz and I attempt to skate gracefully around and around. But the rink is in the middle of the courtyard at Sommerset House and there is these lovely blue and green lights that made the ice glow and was therefore beautiful. What wasn't beautiful was the 150 other people we had to share the rink with...luckily we escaped without any collisions and we came off the ice after the hour without being knocked down OR falling down ourselves. HOORAY! Happy New Year!!
I hope everyone has had a great start to 2009! We saw in the New Year quite quietly. We went into Camden for dinner and then went to Primrose Hill, which was a short walk away, to watch the fireworks which were happening on the London Eye. We couldn't hear the fireworks but the we could definatley see them. So beautiful!
Liz and I are both doing well. School has gone back already and I have gotten a few set contract days at a couple of schools which is great and Liz is continuing with her nanny duties. We are still enjoying being here but are beginning to miss home especially with this cold cold weather, although, I'm sure once we're home we'll be complaining about the heat! Which brings me to when are we heading back down under....well first of all we'd like to say.....
CONGRATULATIONS!!! To Liz's brother Jeremy and his partner Allie who have become engaged!! We are sad we'll miss your engagement party but are looking forward to seeing you at your wedding!!
So.....this means we will be home for their wedding which we believe they are thinking early September so we will be home around then! We have a fair bit of travelling we'd still like to do so the plan is to do all that before we fly back.
Well that is the general news for now. Ciao :)
Liz and I are both doing well. School has gone back already and I have gotten a few set contract days at a couple of schools which is great and Liz is continuing with her nanny duties. We are still enjoying being here but are beginning to miss home especially with this cold cold weather, although, I'm sure once we're home we'll be complaining about the heat! Which brings me to when are we heading back down under....well first of all we'd like to say.....
CONGRATULATIONS!!! To Liz's brother Jeremy and his partner Allie who have become engaged!! We are sad we'll miss your engagement party but are looking forward to seeing you at your wedding!!
So.....this means we will be home for their wedding which we believe they are thinking early September so we will be home around then! We have a fair bit of travelling we'd still like to do so the plan is to do all that before we fly back.
Well that is the general news for now. Ciao :)
Mini Christmas in our apartment :)
Here is Liz and I celebrating our own Christmas before heading off to Belgium. We had so many gifts to open we thought it best to open them instead of taking them all on the bus! Thanks to everyone who sent them over, they were lovely, we had so much fun opening them!! And thank you to the people who sent us cards too!Monday, January 5, 2009
Christmas in Antwerp
For our 2008 Christmas we headed off to Antwerp as we were invited by Ingrid a
nd Tom to join them for the celebrations as they also had Emme and Lyn (Ingrid and Emme's mum) visiting as well!! What a full little apartment they had!
Boxing day we headed into Antwerp to watch 'Australia' at the cinemas...completely disappointed by the movie but we evened that out by treating ourselves to waffles..mmmm
nd Tom to join them for the celebrations as they also had Emme and Lyn (Ingrid and Emme's mum) visiting as well!! What a full little apartment they had!Our chosen style of traveling was by bus which when we planned it seemed like a good idea. We booked a night bus which left London in the evening to arrive in Antwerp early in the morning thinking that we would just sleep the whole way feeling nice and rested and r
eady to celebrate. Ha I hear you all say. Yep, I think we got THE worst bus in the world. We had a 4 year kicking our chair and pulling our hair on regular intervals as well as a teenager who continually stared at us (and no we gave her no cause to stare!). We also didn't think about getting on the ferry at Dover where we had to vacate the bus to go up on deck...then when we got to Calais, France we had to go through Border Control....this all happened between 1.30am to 3.30am. So I guess you figured that we didn't really sleep much at all!! But in saying that I was wide awake when Em and Tom came to get us, a friendly hug! It was just what I needed!
eady to celebrate. Ha I hear you all say. Yep, I think we got THE worst bus in the world. We had a 4 year kicking our chair and pulling our hair on regular intervals as well as a teenager who continually stared at us (and no we gave her no cause to stare!). We also didn't think about getting on the ferry at Dover where we had to vacate the bus to go up on deck...then when we got to Calais, France we had to go through Border Control....this all happened between 1.30am to 3.30am. So I guess you figured that we didn't really sleep much at all!! But in saying that I was wide awake when Em and Tom came to get us, a friendly hug! It was just what I needed! Our next three days were mainly a blur of talking, talking and more talking where in between we ate and drank and played games. In Belgium the main celebration/dinner happens 
on Christmas Eve, however we did not have a tradition Belgian meal but an Aussie one!! Ingrid cooked up a delicious Turkey with all the trimmings including real, that's right, REAL cranberry sauce! We conc
luded the evening with desserts made by Lyn which are Christiansen traditions...and no wonder they were delicious! We ended our evening with calls back home to Aus. Our Christmas day started off slow with presents and breakfast made by Emme - I tell you these Christiansen woman are welcome in my kitchen any day!! :) For Christm
as dinner we were invited to Tom's parents place to have leftovers, of stew which is what they traditionally eat this time of year. The stew we had was deer stew with chocolate and wine I think...it was sooo good! And wine....all our meals were of course accompanied by alcoholic beverages :)
on Christmas Eve, however we did not have a tradition Belgian meal but an Aussie one!! Ingrid cooked up a delicious Turkey with all the trimmings including real, that's right, REAL cranberry sauce! We conc
luded the evening with desserts made by Lyn which are Christiansen traditions...and no wonder they were delicious! We ended our evening with calls back home to Aus. Our Christmas day started off slow with presents and breakfast made by Emme - I tell you these Christiansen woman are welcome in my kitchen any day!! :) For Christm
as dinner we were invited to Tom's parents place to have leftovers, of stew which is what they traditionally eat this time of year. The stew we had was deer stew with chocolate and wine I think...it was sooo good! And wine....all our meals were of course accompanied by alcoholic beverages :) Boxing day we headed into Antwerp to watch 'Australia' at the cinemas...completely disappointed by the movie but we evened that out by treating ourselves to waffles..mmmm
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