This is a back-dated blog telling of two recent trips we made in search of a beach this winter. Our first ‘beach trip’ occurred in November when we took off to Brighton. Yes Brighton. Brighton was featured in the1979 classic ‘Quadrophenia’ and the place where the ‘Mods and Rockers’ threw a few chairs around back in the 1960’s. Like everyone else who visits Brighton for the first time, we (Noogs, Sam, Anna W, Chris and I) made headlines for the pier…. Hmmmm…. The pier - an ‘interesting’ place. An ensemble of rides, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Our first Christmas away from home. No point sitting around feeling rejected, so we packed our bags and headed off to Austria. The lovely city of Salzburg has two claims to fame: 1. ‘The Sound of Music’ was filmed there 2. It is the birthplace of Mozart We decided to avoid both these things and see what else the region had to offer (okay - so we were too stingy to shell out the 36 euros for the ‘Sound of Music’ tour and the Mozart concerts were a tad pricey too) We stayed in an excellent hostel called St Sebastian - [View Full Entry]

---

---

Off to Berlin! We were all set with the most heavy-duty cold weather gear. Hats, gloves, scarves and thermals were the order of the day - until we arrived to find the warmest December yet! We had been warned to expect low temperatures, so when we arrived to find pleasant 8-10c degrees we nicely surprised! Thanks global warming… Berlin was a great city to visit. Our only complaint was the fact that we didn’t have time to do all that we wanted - you need more than a few days to do this fascinating city justice. We joined in on one [View Full Entry]

---

---

Yep another day trip out of London. This time to see an area of … well… rocks really. Okay, it sounds like I’m being a little sarcastic but we had a great day. Avebury is actually a really beautiful and interesting place to visit. Basically it is an amazing part of the English countryside that is a World Heritage Site. There are huge rocks there that were put into huge circular formations in about 2600BC. No one is exactly sure why. As far as prehistoric stone circles go, these are some of the biggest in Europe and they were great to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Big Scary Customs Officer: “Did you pack this bag yourself?” Me: (squeek) “yes sir” Big Scary Customs Officer: “Has anyone else been near your bag this morning?” Me: “um no sir” Big Scary Customs Officer: “Come with me please” I don’t know why my inconspicuous little black backpack raised concerns at London security but my camera was closely examined and subjected to a drug and explosive test. All clear of course but hell, that makes you suddenly nervous for no good reason! After hearing so many conflicting stories a [View Full Entry]

---

---

With the new purchase of our little Ford Focus, we had a ‘London break’ for half-term holidays. Our first stop, only a few hours from London, was the fantastic town of Bath. This place was just lovely - everything you could want in an English town. Great size - classy shops, amazing Roman architecture, fascinating history, good restaurants, heaps of stalls selling nice little ‘foodie’ things and nice markets. We met up with (Chris’s) cousin John and spent the day sampling the cafes, checking out the real estate and the other sights in town. That afternoon, [View Full Entry]

---

---

After spending quite a few weeks exploring London, we decided to head for greener pastures for a long weekend. We hired a small black car and headed out early Friday morning, leaving London (surprisingly) quickly behind us. Not much traffic at all - I guess everyone was still in bed at 6am. Before too long, we were cruising through the little English villages that everybody loves. Little markets, walking tracks, churches, cafes, rivers and parks aplenty. Not many people out and about in the early morning which was lovely. We made a stop-off at the Rollright stones and checked out &ls [View Full Entry]

---

---

Still looking like tourists in London as we do all the must-see sights. Over the past few weekends we have checked out the lovely St Pauls Cathedral and Hampton Court Palace. Also wandered over to Kew Gardens again as tourists are once again allowed to climb up the top of the Chinese Pagoda for views covering a suprising amount of London. All amazing - so much history at every turn. It's hard to believe that you are walking the same halls that Kings and Queens have for centuries. All must-do attractions we reckon. The heat wave is continuing, was meant to [View Full Entry]

---

---

We have finally settled into our flat in Kew and this weekend we don’t have to shop desperately for new ‘house’ things. We decided to do the ‘tourist’ bit this weekend and start exploring a little around our new home: London. There is enough to do in London alone to keep us busy for a long time yet, which is just as well because we need to work and save for our next overseas trip. On Friday we took another walk along the Thames from Richmond towards Kingston. The place has a rural feeling! Acres and acres of public farm and [View Full Entry]

---

---

What are friends for eh? Was great to get a txt from the lovely Michelle Eyles on Thursday, asking us if we would like free tickets to the 02 Wireless Festival in Hyde Park on Saturday. Would we like free tickets? WOULD WE LIKE FREE TICKETS?!? Of course we were in like a shot -Michelle even managed to get a few more tickets so Naomi, Sam, Anna (from Wellington) and the Scottish guy all met up in Hyde Park to enjoy the fantastically hot weather and entertainment. We took a picnic and secured a spot on the grass. The main performer [View Full Entry]

---

---