'Cornwall is lovely but it is a long way away'. Is the response we got over and over again when we told people how we planned to spend our first English Easter. 'Far away', what are they talking about we thought to ourselves, 'we're from Australia, we know about far away!'. However we did heed our friends advice about how bad the traffic would be on Easter weekend and we were up at the crack of dawn ready to hit the road early after an essential hot cross bun or two. We made it through London and everything was going well [View Full Entry]

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One of the great things about living in London is that you can be sitting at your desk on a cold, dreary, grey Thursday afternoon and by late evening have arrived in a lightly snow covered Prague. We left London on our wedding anniversary to spend the weekend in this much-anticipated Eastern European city celebrating three years of marriage. Being the middle of February it was absolutely freezing, but there is definitely something special about looking out over the countless gorgeous vistas as the snow falls lightly through the air and settles in a thin blanket over the top of the [View Full Entry]

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The lead up to Christmas in Australia is usually an endless few months of catching up with friends, shopping, Christmas parties, sun, the beach and the huge build-up to the relaxed weeks in the sun that the proceed the festivities. On the other side of the world with only a small group of friends, no family and the country plunging further and further into the depths of a drab, grey Winter it is no surprise that the lead up to Christmas this year did not really feel much like Christmas. We decided that if we were going to have a northern [View Full Entry]

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As cliched and dull as it may sound Paris definitely lives up to its tag of being one of the gorgeous and magical cities that this world has to offer. Last time I left Paris, newly engaged I left with some sadness, sure that I would probably never see this enchanting city again for many, many years. So you can imagine my excitement when just short of four years later I found myself on the Eurostar on my 29th birthday whizzing through the English countryside en route to gay Paris. We couldn't wait until we got there for pastries and coffee [View Full Entry]

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After four months in London it was lovely to see a friendly face from home when our friend Lin arrived from Adelaide to begin her tour of Europe. The three of us had planned a long weekend in Dublin and we were up early and on our way to Heathrow early on Friday morning to experience a little bit of the Emerald Isle. Flying Aer Lingus we were looking forward to being served by stewards with lilting Irish accents but as it turned out most, if not all of the air stewards were of eastern european background and our ears would [View Full Entry]

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Land of Beatrix Potter and home to William Wordsworth is not usually somewhere that would appeal to us as a holiday destination, but England's Lake District is also known for its magnificent scenery and delicious food ... that sounds more like it! We arrived in Windermere at midday on the Saturday of a bank holiday weekend and set about trying to find somewhere to park our tent. A visit to the tourist office revealed that nearly every one of the at least twenty camping grounds in the area was either booked out or did not allow tents (what sort of campground [View Full Entry]

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As so often happens when you are camping the moment we even thought about setting up our tent it started to teem from the heavens. So much for our sunny weekend in Oxford.... the English forecasters and the English weather had failed us again. Nevermind, we were here now and our friend from Adelaide who was here on business was picking us up to visit the nearby Blenheim Palace soon. It would be great to see him and catch up on all the news from home. Our first impression of Oxford as we walked through the city that morning was that [View Full Entry]

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All the stories you've heard about crazy French drivers, high mountain roads with no crash barriers and lanes so narrow you have to breathe in when you pass another car are true. But more about that later ... The main purpose of our trip to the French Pyrenees was to watch a stage of the incredible Tour de France. We left London early on a Friday morning for the long (and rather boring) trip to Stansted airport for our cut-price airline flight, which despite rumours was not bad at all. We arrived in the early afternoon in Pau, a city at [View Full Entry]

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It was around 9am on 7 July when I made my way to City Hall, near Tower Bridge in the heart of London, where Mayor Ken Livingstone has his office, for a work 'away-day'. I was feeling very proud of myself that I had managed to find my way via public transport and map to a place I had never been, in a city where I had only lived for 6 weeks. I was excited about the day ahead. All the communications staff at my new work place, the London Borough of Lewisham were there and I was looking forward to [View Full Entry]

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When we arrived in London we were astounded by the sheer volume of exciting and fabulous things there were to do in this vibrant city. At home in Adelaide it seems you can go months without anything too interesting coming along, but in London the problem seems to be there are so many things to do that they are often all on at the same time. We were very excited by our tickets to U2 and we could hardly believe when the Live8 concert was announced, with a lineup that included the likes of U2, Madonna, Cold Play, The Who, Robbie [View Full Entry]

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