St. Patrick's Day Weekend 16th-19th March, 2006 Let me tell you a little about "Ryanair" and our flight or not flight to Dublin! Bern and I booked flights to Dublin leaving at 8.30pm on Thurday night (the evening before St. Patrick's Day). When we checked in at Luton Airport our flight was already delayed by 3 hours and was not scheduled to depart until 11.30pm. For the next 5 hours we managed to entertain ourselves with some card playing. I was beginning to wonder if this was a frequent occurrance as many other groups of people at the airport also playing [View Full Entry]

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Yeoford in Exeter, Devon 10-12th March, 2006 The story goes like this. Bernadette and Elizabeth's surname is Dornom. When we arrived in England Bern got an email from David Dornom who lives in Devon and has been tracking the Dornom family history for several years now. David was keen to meet the infamous Dornom twins of Aspendale, Melbourne having discovered that they were his cousins. David and his wife Paddy invited us to stay with them at their home in Yeoford which is just out of the town of Exeter in the county of Devon. Being a Fitzgerald and not a [View Full Entry]

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Weekend Escapes (January & February, 2006) On the 3rd of January I commenced work at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead (North London) as a Senior 1 locum on a 28 bed rehab ward. The Royal Free is one of Londons largest teaching hospitals with approximately 1000 beds. Back to the real world somewhat although I've been able to enjoy lots of weekend escapes. Hampstead is a lovely area with the hospital situated close by to Hampstead Heath. Windsor Castle (8/1/06) Visited Windsor Castle with Olivia and Jason. The Queen wasn't in but we enjoyed walking around the grounds and viewing [View Full Entry]

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Edinburgh, Scotland 28th December - 2nd January Hogmany Hogmany is the name of the New Year festivities that occur in Edinburgh, Scotland every year. It is a huge event and we had to book our tickets and accommodation well in advance. Torch Parade A massive procession of torch lights/fire sticks through the streets of Edinburgh and finishing at the top of Carlton Hill. The procession of which we were a part of followed a wooden vikings ship and bag pipe players. When we reached the top of Carlton Hill the vikings ship was set alight creating a very warm fire for [View Full Entry]

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London - 21st - 28th December, 2005 First Impressions: **It's almost 8am and it's still dark! **It gets dark here at 3.30pm, what's going on?! **It's great to be able to drink tap water again after drinking bottled water for the past 3 months in Asia. **All the front yards of houses are just like those on the show "Keeping Up Appearances" **Very typical English houses (I really am in England now!) **Superman phone boxes everywhere! **Red double decker buses everywhere (I have to cross the road with care now as the traffic won't just drive around me like it would [View Full Entry]

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Vietnam (30th November-20th December, 2005) Mekong Delta Trip (3 days) **Bird Flu My mum was very worried about the bird flu and even typed out an article that was in the newspaper about it and emailed it to me. I was keeping an eye on the smartraveller website but it wasn't telling me to leave the country and go home! Not yet anyway. It wasn't until we crossed the border in to Vietnam and on our very first night that we found that we could no longer order chicken or eggs. We were told that this has been the case for [View Full Entry]

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Cambodia (21st-30th Nov. 2005) Bankok to Siem Reap We left Bankok by bus and had a smooth journey to the Cambodian border crossing of Poipet. We walked across the border and got our passports stamped. It's funny how there are these big signs at the border saying that you will receive life imprisonment or execution for bringing drugs in to their country and then you simply walk on through with your bags. No x-rays and no bag checks. We then boarded a mini bus for a 7 hour journey along possibly one of the worst stretches of road in South East [View Full Entry]

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Koh Tao (15th-20th Nov. 2005) After leaving Phuket I flew across to the eastern side of southern Thailand to Ko Samui. Samui airport was just like a little resort next to a single runway. Little open trams on wheels transporting you from the plane and open thatched buildings, a bar and a post office. I then got a catamaran across to Koh Tao island stopping on the way to let a lot of tourists off for the Full Moon Party at Ko Pha-Ngan island on the 16th. Take note - the water was like glass on the way to Koh Tao, [View Full Entry]

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Patong Beach - Phuket 10th-15th Nov. 2005 I didn't think that I would be seeing my brother and his family quite so soon. I already said my goodbyes. Bruce, Cathy and the kids had a trip booked to Bali in November. For the second time now in 3 years they cancelled their trip because of bombings. They are clearly not meant to go to Bali. So they changed their travel destination to Phuket. It just so happened that I also would be in southern Thailand at a similar time. Holiday Inn For 5 days I was a very regular visitor to [View Full Entry]

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Kanchanaburi Thailand-Burma Railway Centre A fantastic museum in Kanchanaburi that explains why the railway was built during WWII for aiding the Japanese troops in transporting supplies and ammunition safely overland to Burma. The museum certainly illustrated quite graphically the suffering and torture that was endured by those POW having to contruct the railway through such mountainous terrain. Kanchanaburi War Cemetary Across the road from the railway centre is the cemetary where hundreds of British, Dutch and Australians are buried following WWII. Hellfire Pass Walked through Hellfire Pass - large cutting through the mountain (approx. 25 metres high) where the POW constructed [View Full Entry]

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