Christmas and NY in Scotland 21 Dec 05 - 1 Jan 06

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Hi Everyone,

So finally some news from me! I thought I would kick off the new year with a different (and hopefully more effective) approach to keeping in touch with you all, so I decided to start a travelblog site. This way you can keep up with me at your leisure and I can post photos and not clog up your inboxes! Also, given it's a blog site, I feel I can write as much as I want, more like a diary entry rather than an e-mail, and not feel guilty about boring you all to tears!! So anyway, I hope you enjoy...

I hope this finds you all well and happy at the beginning of 2006. My year is off to a great start, largely the result of my wonderful holiday in Scotland! What did I get up to? Well, take 27 young friends (or soon-to-be friends) aged 23-30, put them in a luxury house in northern Scotland, add copious quantities of quality wines, beer and food and mix thoroughly, and there you have it! An absolute abundance of great fun! Oh, you want details? Okay, here goes.

Back in October, I was chatting with my excellent friend Kate Sumpter, who lives nearby in Chelsea and with whom I lived for a short period of time at the end of Uni in Wollongong, about my lack of plans for Christmas and New Year. She suggested I join the trip to Scotland she had planned with some friends she also knew from her days at Wollongong Uni, all of whom were here in London as well. What was the deal? A week at Glenlivet House ( ) which sits in the heart of whiskey and castle country in northern Scotland about an hour west from Aberdeen, followed by four days in Edinburgh for Hogmanay, the big New Year's festival held throughout Scotland. It was just too good to pass up, and the time between signing up for the trip and the day I left couldn't go quick enough...

21 December - the beginning of the adventure!! Myself and 7 others (Sam, Brad, Walt, Natalie, Carly, Jase, "Big" and I - the "Nuclear Eight" we christened ourselves) started our holiday first, about a day or two ahead of the rest of the group. We flew up to Aberdeen enjoying some fantastic views of Scotland (the Highlands lightly, patchily covered in snow, the dramatic craggy cliffs on the coast) and upon arrival collected our hire cars and very happily headed off to Glenlivet House. After a very scenic drive through farmlands (lots of green fields, bales of hay, quaint stone farmhouses, woolly sheep and hairy cows to be seen) we arrived at Glenlivet House to be greeted by its lovely owners and find a beautiful, huge house all festively decorated. After oggling the rooms, the magnificent Christmas tree and the huge kitchen and the bar with pool table, taking our pick of the lovely bedrooms and exploring the gorgeous surrounds, we quickly settled into an evening of drinking, eating, stoking the fire and plotting fun things to gently torture the rest of the group with (19 others) upon their arrival. The House and it's awesome Bar proved our inspiration, as it was filled with all manner of strange and unique decorative touches and nic-nacs, paintings and ornaments from all corners of the planet. So we devised a treasure hunt! Teams of two - a male and female - had to find the answers to a series of questions about the House and its contents, and the couple that completed the task first, with the most accurate answers, were to be crowned King and Queen of the House, and could compell the other houseguests to do their bidding for the rest of the holiday (within the boundaries of reason and common decency, of course!). The last team to finish (known as the "losers") got to wear a blonde mullet wig. The questions we devised were quite clever and a lot of fun to plot, though of course we planners couldn't participate in the activity other than to surpervise and accept the odd bribe from the hunters...! Sam and Jase had procured crowns for the King and Queen, and the mullet wig was quite a sight to behold itself. We decided to hold this hunt on the 24th. Back to it in a little bit..

22 and 23 Dec - over these two days the rest of the group arrived. They were Greg and Jacqui, Bass, Tim and Amanda, Rick, Rachel and Adele, Kate, Mel, Naomi, Jules and Robbie, Duncan, Edwina and Graydon, Anita, Jane, and Stuey. Once all in the house, the fun really kicked off and just didn't stop. The trip organisers (Kate, Anita and Jacqui) had done a fantastic job of arranging things, including ordering copious quantities of local fresh produce (meat and dairy) to be delivered to the House and arranging a cooking and cleaning roster, so that everything ran extremely smoothly and we all pulled together to get the work done and maximise our fun time together. Unfortunately the whiskey distilleries and castles were closed over the festive season (including the Glenlivet distillery just down the road - even the promise of 27 thirsty Antipodeans couldn't bribe them to open their doors), but that didn't mean we didn't have plenty to do. On those first couple of days I went for big long walks around Glenlivet for exercise and fresh air, and to explore the countryside which was very pretty if not especially exciting. Others made grocery runs into town and others hit the bar at the first opportunity! To be fair, it had a pool table and a chess set and a piano as well, but who were we kidding? Holidays are all about indulgence and relaxation, and consumption of alcohol was fairly integral to that process for us. And we had plenty to get through - Mel works for Fosters (who own Southcorp, who's stable of wineries includes Wolf Blass) and had very generously obtained for us dozens of very nice Wolf Blass wines at very cheap prices, and had them delivered to the house, along with an extra special treat - her family winery's own sparkling merlot (Hollick - if you can find it, buy it as it's absolutely delicious). There is a photo attached of me just after opening one of the boxes. If I look very happy to have just discovered a few dozen bottles of Gold Label Shiraz inside, it's because I was. In the evenings, we had designated cooks prepare dinner for the group, and we all sat around the huge, beautifully decorated dining table. It was a great way to get to know everyone - although most of the group was more or less well acquainted to begin with, some of us (incloding me) were new but by the end of those first few days it was clear we were all going to be firm friends. In the evenings after dinner, we returned to the Bar to play pool and dance around like goofballs and chat by the fireplace, or to the second dining room to play cards or board games, or just watch movies in the living room into the early hours. I also tried haggis for the first time - not sure what I think, it kind of tasted like pate, really. I didn't go back for seconds...

24 Dec - the entire day was a highlight of the holiday! As our nights got later and later and the bottles continued to drain, it was taking a while for the group to get up in the mornings and breakfast started to turn into brunch! At about 11am, the treasure hunt kicked off and it was so much fun! I took several bribes of chocolate in exchange for hints on the questions, and by 1pm we finished up, all awaiting news of the King and Queen of the House. Naomi (head chef) and I (sous chef) had agreed to prepare a Moroccan feast for dinner that evening, which took hours of preparation very ably assisted by Tim, Amanda, Big and Jane. It turned out fabulously and everyone really enjoyed it. At dinner we crowned the King and Queen - a surprise result, Bass and Jacqui, who were among the last to finish but were the only ones to write down all their answers. Then we retired to the bar (where else?) to crown our Santa for Christmas Day. For the past three months, Brad, Jase, Bass and Big had been growing beards in preparation for the competition to be Santa on Christmas Day. Their diligence was admirable, as they ended up looking more like Norwegian fisherman rather than a Santa but we subjected them to rigorous testing (length, texture, colour, general "santa disposition") and by anonymous ballot voted Brad our Santa for the day. And then we went back to the drinking.

25 Dec - Christmas!! That morning, 27 tired and sore heads roused themselves to get dressed all nicely and convene in the main living room by the fire, eagerly awaiting Santa's arrival. Once Santa took his place by the tree, and Santa's Little Helper (Bass) was ready we began handing out the Kris Kringle presents. The organisers in all their genius had arranged two Kris Kringles amongst the group - we had to buy two gifts, a fun 5 quid pressie and a proper 20 quid pressie. My Kris Kringles looked very happy with their gifts and I was extremely pleased with my pressies, which included Jamie Oliver's latest book on Italy and a lovely Body Shop set. Some of the gifts were truly bizarre though! About five of the girls received Robbie Williams calendars and a few of the guys received 'Page 3 girl' calendars, all of which took pride of place around the bar area. Walt received a really bizarre game which involved four people trying to avoid receiving a surprisingly vicious electric shock. There's some really fun photos around of people playing (and losing) that game... There were numerous poker sets received, all put to frequent use. All in all, everyone looked very happy! Again, to the credit of the organisers, a chef had been hired for Christmas Day and the smells coming from the kitchen from mid-morning onwards were incredible. At 1.30pm we sat down to a feast of smoke salmon and crayfish parcels, homemade soup, traditional roast turkey with trimmings, and flaming brandy pudding, mince pies and other assorted desserts. It was wonderful lunch, almost too decadent, and by mid-afternoon most of us were labouring under the stress of so much food and wine. I, and numerous others, demonstrated the benefits of the power nap however, and by early evening were back in the bar to kick on for the rest of the night. I don't really remember much, but apparently I took at least six power naps that day (Jules was counting). And consumed approximately half my body weight in food, I reckon...

26 Dec - With the distilleries and castles all closed, we settled on clay pigeon shooting for our Boxing Day activity (Naturally! you're all thinking). It was the coldest morning we'd had (maybe -5 degrees) and standing still outside for a few hours wasn't perhaps the smartest idea, but were all too excited to care. Most of us that participated had not shot a gun before, myself included. After a rough start I finished the fifth and final round hitting four of five 'birds', with a total score of 6 from 25. It's surprising where the shooting talents amongst the group lay! (It's always the quiet ones, they say...) Duncan eventually edged out the competition with 14 of 25, from Big and Stuey and Bass all on 13. God knows how I managed to hit any of the birds at all, given I could barely stand upright I was laughing so hard at the strutting, chest puffing and heckling efforts of the guys as they took their turns. It was all very much fun. I came away with only a small bruise on my shoulder from the gun, but a few of the girls had some challenges with it and there were some badly bruised shoulders and cheeks. Still, all a bit of a laugh!

27 Dec - Today we made a group trip to Loch Ness. Most of you know that Loch Ness is near Inverness on the west coast of northern Scotland, which meant we had to drive across the country to get there. This was another lovely scenic journey through farmlands and hills, past distilleries and castles and all the places we wanted to visit but couldn't because they were closed. It took us maybe two hours to get there, with assorted rests for scenic photo taking and ciggie breaks for the smokers. After living in such big countries as Australia, the US and Canada, it took some mental adjustment for me to realise I could cross the country in less time than it takes to drive from Canberra to Sydney. I got some lovely photos, as did everyone - I think it would be hard to take a bad photo of scenery like the mist rising off the Loch and the gorgeous shades of purple and grey in the sky. No sighting of the monster, unless you count the goofy green thing at the "Loch Ness Monster Tourist and Information Centre" which was, frankly, crap. But we did enjoy the drive, and it was just nice to get out and explore the area a bit...

28 Dec - Time to leave Glenlivet House, And it was so hard to go...! After farewelling those of the group (Jase and Carly, Jacqi and Greg, Adele, Rick and Rachel) not carrying on to Edinburgh, we set off again in convoy, stopping to look at Blair Castle, which was closed (unsurprisingly), but it looked magnificent from afar. The scenery on the drive was exceptionally gorgeous, I know I'm getting rather tedious but it really was - we'd had a light snowfall overnight and all the fir trees were dusted and the sunset (at, like, 3.30pm) was beautifully coloured red and pink and orange. We stayed in Edinburgh at Mortonhall caravan park, in little cabins which required a massive spatial adjustment from Glenlivet House. It was a relatively quiet night, spent watching footage taken on Brad's video camera of the various antics at the House (hilarous, embarrassing, and full of surprises for most people who didn't remember half of what they got up to, including me). I ended up staying with Naomi at her brother's place in downtown Edinburgh - far more convenient for exploring the city! Nomes has become one of my very best mates over here, she's a kindred spirit.

29 Dec - The beginning of Scotland's Hogmanay Festival. I spent the afternoon exploring Edinburgh Castle with Duncan and Graydon. Among the many things to see there's a chapel in which monuments are displayed and books listing all the names of Scottish people that had died in various wars and battles through history. A couple of these monuments referred to groups of warrirors called the Camerons and the Cameronians, and so forth. It seems a lot of Camerons died in battle for Scotland - I presume they were about as good a shot with a gun as I turned out to be... Afterwards, as you do in Scotland, I enjoyed a few scotches on rocks in a nearby pub before the group all convened on the Royal Mile in the Old City part of Edinburgh for the Torchlight Procession. I am not sure what the history is behind it, but there was about 60,000 people with 2 ft long wax torches, all set ablaze and carried for about 2kms through the city up to the top of a hill, where we all stood and watched straw effigies of a giant bull and a viking ship set ablaze while fireworks were set off. It was extremely cool, and a little surreal. I couldn't believe that they hold a street procession of thousands of people, residents and foreigners, wearing winter coats of nylon and polyester and drinking vast quantities of booze, carrying torches with big naked flames. It seems a little risky when you think about it, but indeed I saw no people with their hair or clothing on fire so I guess somehow it all works! At dinner that evening, you could see the energy levels amongst the group flagging and the past eight days of non-stop partying were starting to show. A good night's sleep was definitely needed to get through the remaining two days, which were expected to be the biggest of the holiday (and we weren't let down...!)

30 Dec - Hogmanay street party. Most of the day was spent by other members of the group trawling the post-Christmas sales. Edinburgh, it has to be said, is a bit of a retail mecca (or hell, depending on your perspective). I was very well behaved though, and spent the day instead shopping for all sorts of 'Clan Cameron' souvenirs, in which I ended up buying nothing as they were all more or less junk, and I didn't know which was the right tartan as there was a few Cameron tartans. I should have done my research....! That night, we met in a weird and wonderful pub called the Jeckyll and Hyde, which was appropriately fitted out in all manner of goulish images and horror, for a few drinks before we joined the massive Hogmanay street party. Now you gotta love the Scots - they absolutely know how to throw a party. Far from being forbidden from drinking, the official line was to please bring your own alcohol as there wouldn't be any on sale on the street. And indeed, to make sure this was true I stopped a couple of very lovely and obliging policeman who happily posed for a photo with me, while I downed a can of Stella. So there. So after stocking up at a nearby supermarket, off we headed to spin ourselves into a daze at the World's Longest Strip The Willow, dancing to an Australian bagpipes band, the Mark Saul Band, which was very cool. And then! Apparently there is this town in Spain where the townsfolk specialise in building the world's tallest human pyramids. They had sent a troup to perform at the street party, and by some stroke of luck they set up their mat right in front of where we were all dancing (or attempting to, more just spinning around and dosey-doe-ing as that's all we knew how to do). Somehow, Tim, Sam and I got pulled into the Spanish Group to help them form the base of the pyramid! It was an incredible rush, holding my hands up to help these people stack themselves 8-9 people high. The top of the pyramid was formed by young kids who scaled the backs of people on the lower levels much as someone climbs a coconut tree trunk. I was really thrilled to be a part of it... After that, we just revelled in the festivities, which included a bunch of Brazilian musicians on stilts, and three guys dressed in these incredible costumes as huge Raptors probably 20 ft tall, which walked amongst the crowd and were really a bit freaky, but very cool. The whole street party was a total blast, and everyone was in a very happy, festive mood.

31 Dec - NYE. After a midday run to de-tox in preparation for the big night, I got ready and joined the group for pre-dinner drinks. I don't remember much from 4pm-10pm, but let's just say a quick 2 hour power nap had me back in action and joining the group at the Hogmanay NYE Party, where I managed to find everyone amongst 500,000 or so partyers just in time to see in the new year. The group did get separated a few times - Kate, Mel and Edwina were off on a mission getting photographic evidence of what the men wore under their kilts, for example. But we all managed to get back together for the Hed Kandi party at City nightclub, which was basically a big dance-fest that kicked on til 5.00am. I had to be dragged off the dancefloor at closing, so am quite proud of my efforts after an initially shakey start...! My train back to London was at 10am on New Year's Day, so I didn't bother with sleep until I got on the train. I caught a bit of the scenery but really it was just more green fields and sheep, so I slept.

Prologue: Five hours later, back in London, it felt good to be home. But I'm writing this almost two weeks since I got back and I still can't get the grin off my face when I think about it all. It really was the holiday of a lifetime, except I fully expect to be having many more fun times with this group over the coming year. Kate has declared 2006 to be The Year Of Fun, and to that end we have several trips planned over the next six months! Not sure where I'll find the time or the money but will keep you updated (perhaps a bit more concisely, and with less detail and more observation, impressions etc...)

A few last bits - the weather was great!! A few drizzly days, a dusting of snow, cool single temps but it was certainly hospitable and not the frigid hell I had been warned about. And Scottish people are among the friendliest, most helpful I have ever met. And Scottish water is a real treat after drinking and bathing in Thames water. I will definitely be going back to visit there again....

Okay, that's it (all of it!) for now. Next trip will be to Porto, Portugal for a weekend at the end of the month with Kate. Not sure how much mischief Kate and I can get up to in two days but we'll do our best, no doubt...

if you ever get the chance to visit Scotland for Hogmanay, do so. You'll have a blast :-)

Cass xxxx

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Photos

Glenlivet House - the bar
If these walls could talk...! The bar, where much fun was had by all.

Mmmm, haggis...
I really, really don't want to know what's in this stuff....

Time to eat
27 hungry people crowded around the dining table...

Oh happy day!!
Dear Mel and people at Wolf Blass wines: I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you...

The King and Queen
King Bass and Queen Jacqui knight Sir Stuey for services to the Monarchy (namely thwarting the mutiny of Kate and Mel, whole stole the crowns and then demanded to be made princesses. Typical...!)

Our Santa!
Santa Claus (Brad) was good to everyone!

Boxing Day shooting trip
Take that, stupid clay pidgeon!

The girls - and King Bass
Bass and his harem (Ha! He wishes...)

Loch Ness
No sign of the Monster....

Urquart Castle at Loch Ness
Still no sign of Nessie...

A white Christmas! Well, sort of...
A dusting of snow on our last day...

Hogmanay in Edinburgh!
Time to party (again...!)

Edinburgh Castle
With me standing in front of it. In the carpark. For some reason, my eyes look like I'd just smoked crack (though I hadn't).

Comments

[Jill]

Great Stuff!!!!!!
Sounds absolutely fantastic and so glad to hear you're having some fun. Told you Scotland was beautiful - hope you do go back. Great idea - this site I mean and lovely to see so many photos. Looking forward to the next journal.

[MAMA]

Marvelous. I am longing for Episode 2 of these wonderfully inspiringly written days of youth. Bless you My courageous Darling. Your little heart came out of the blue, loud and clear. What a wonderful one you are. The photographs were inspiring, espe

[Anthony (Winnipeg)]

very high tech!
Cass Great to read so much about your journeys, I do hope you can keep up with it! I'll send you an email with my story, but suffice to say I am now a speechwriter! - who'd-a-thunk all those months ago at the AHC! Anyway glad you are having a great time. Hope o visit UK late summer, so may get a chance to call, Regards A.