Long awaited update

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June 18th 2008

Published: June 18th 2008

I will start with an apology...again!

I am very very sorry to all of you that are not in Facebook!! There can’t be many of you though now...surely! 😉

I have been super (read: totally) lazy with the travel blog and have just been posting photos on Facebook thinking most people would see them. But, I was shocked to see that March was the last time I wrote an update on our blog, and that a lot of you who like reading our blogs are not on Facebook! So, sorry!

So, last time I wrote, we were going to Wales for the Easter long weekend. It was a great trip and one of those places that I wasn’t expecting to be as beautiful as it was. Glorious beaches, rugged mountains, and lots and lots of castles!! Jimmy went back to Cardiff the week after for a footy trip...but apparently they just stayed in the Walkabout (an Aussie pub that is everywhere in the UK!) all night, so I don’t think we had to worry about him doubling up on seeing anything important. I think he had a good time...I try not to ask too many questions about footy trips!!

While Jimmy was away, I went to the very traditional Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race on the Thames. It was shitty weather which was annoying, because you can see how much fun it would be had there been sun. But, we still made the most of the day anyway and cheered on someone to victory. Haha, as if I remember now who won!

And then, you wouldn’t believe it! Well, maybe you would. But it snowed!! In April! Crazy stuff. We had had a very big night the night before, and our housemate called me from the next room at 8:30am to tell us that it was snowing! So, of course, we ran down to the Common and had a bit of a run around and some snowball fights before we realised that we really were very hungover and should go back to bed. But, it was very exciting actually running around in falling snow.

We went to visit some friends in Portsmouth which was lovely and we had a great night out at Tiger Tiger which was sooo much better than the London one. Plus I think it could have been the only club in Portsmouth and so it was pumping!

I went to a service at Westminster Abbey for ANZAC Day which was cool just to say I’ve been in the Abbey during a service, but it was also quite moving and I felt quite patriotic. Didn’t shed a tear though (which is good for me) until an old digger started bawling his eyes out when the Australian national anthem was sung at the end. We then did a good ol’ Aussie night at the Walkabout in Temple with all the army boys and gals...and I even scored a true blue soldiers hat from the night. But sadly I had to give it back because he reckons he’d get in trouble or something. Ah, whatever!! 😊

We have been to see a BBC show being screened, been to Silverstone for the FIA GT Championships, and then...mum and dad arrived at the end of April! It sounds like a long time ago, but it feels like just yesterday they were here. And what’s worse is that was over 7 weeks ago, and we leave London in 5 which really puts into perspective how little time we have left!! (Note to self: Better organise suitcases etc. to pack all our stuff to take home within the next couple of weeks!!!)

So we showed mum and dad parts of London that I thought they might not have seen on their Contiki tour 27 years ago. So I took mum to Camden Markets and got a canal boat to Little Venice, we went on a London Old Town walking tour, to Covent Garden, to Spitalfields Market and had a curry on Brick Lane with Ky, Adrian and Eugene, dinner in Chinatown, went to Borough Markets, and even squeezed in two musicals - Hairspray with mum, dad and Jimmy (even Jimmy liked it!!!), and Cabaret with mum, which was fantastic!

We then spent a week driving around Ireland with them (which was so exciting for me, as I took the wheel for the entire trip after not having driven for over a year!!) We covered a lot of Ireland in our week, starting in Dublin and going up to the Giant’s Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge at the top of Ireland, back to Belfast, across to Galway, to the Cliffs of Moher, and the Ring of Kerry, Cork and Kilkenny and finished back in Dublin. It was great having the car and being able to go where we liked when we liked. And even better was that it was a freeby from BMW! Woo! The country is gorgeous, and I think the consensus was that our favourite place was Galway. Such a cute little medieval town by the water, and old cobbled street with heaps of atmosphere. The Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge, Cliffs of Moher and the Ring of Kerry were all absolutely stunning to see and we took lots and lots of lots of photos between us all.

We then got back just before Jimmy’s birthday, and had a BBQ at home - Jimmy’s first attempt at a UK style Barbie with coals which meant our trees in the backyard, toilet paper, serviettes (basically anything they thought would burn) went on the fire to try and get it going. Please note he has now mastered the art and got a good one going the other night. 😊 So his birthday bash was just a few people but ended up being quite a big day/night, and a lot of fun. We also decided to splash out for his birthday and the two of us went out for a steak (probably the first one we’ve had since the US last April!) to the ‘best steak restaurant in London 2007’. The place is called Gauchos in Piccadilly, and it was very fancy with them taking our coats at reception and radioing up to their colleagues upstairs that we had arrived, who then promptly greeted us at the top of the stairs. They then brought each cut of meat out to us raw on a wood board, to explain the difference between each one before we chose, and each piece of meat was about 2 and a half inches thick! Yum!! It was a good night and the food was delicious. We even finished with a short pub crawl around Piccadilly and Westminster trying different ales.

Then the weekend after was another long weekend and so we joined our housemates on a Haggis Tour of the Scottish Highlands. It was a 3 day tour which took us to Glencoe and Loch Ness where we learnt all about the ‘monster’ and we can now say that we are believers that there is ‘something’ down there. It is amazing how huge the lochs are there, and apparently if they emptied out Loch Ness, all the water in the world would only fill it by 1/3. Or was it all the water in the UK? I forget...but still, pretty amazing! And that’s not even the biggest! We also went to the Isle of Skye which was very pretty and rugged Highlands like we expected. After the tour we spent an extra day in Edinburgh, and we just wandered around as we had been to the Castle last time we were there. We met some locals in a pub for breakfast, got a great view from the top of Arthurs Seat, and even visited the Royal Yacht Britannia. We met some great people on the tour and had our second great weekend away in May.

So, what better way to finish off May, than a weekend in Paris?! We got the Eurostar at 6:25am on Saturday morning to meet mum and dad for their last weekend in Europe. It was the first time we have taken the Eurostar, and what a great thing it is. 2hrs and 25mins after the train rolled away from St. Pancras in London, we were in the middle of Paris!! Now, I’m not sure if you remember our first thoughts of Paris, but I wouldn’t say we were its biggest fans. We loved all the sights, but we weren’t staying in a very nice area, and thought it was a smelly and dirty city, and found the Africans selling things at the Sacre Cour etc. very annoying!

Well, this time (I can speak for myself anyway), we loved it. As we had done all the major sights last time, we got a chance to just wander some of the really pretty streets and gardens, sit and chill a bit, and in general, just wandered the city. It was great! The first night we went to the Moulin Rouge which I was very very very very very excited about, and inside, the place is amazing. Such a change from the neon lit street outside. We were seated at a table right at the front and dad was a bit nervous they would pick on us or something. Haha! Well, then they came on, and I can definitely say it wasn’t what I was expecting. Super tacky and reminded me of the Eurovision song contest as they all mimed these really terrible songs! But, I still really enjoyed it and am so glad I went, and absolutely LOVED the famous Can Can. Definitely my favourite and what I came to see! But, it turns out that dad’s suspicions had been correct, and dad was pulled up on stage by the ventriloquist as one of his live dummies. Haha...very amusing, and dad was very convincing! 😊

The next day, James and I went to the French Open and lined up for a ground pass. It was a great day for tennis, nice and sunny and it was great to go to another Grand Slam other than the Australian Open. It was Round 4 though, and so there weren’t any games of note on outside, but we saw some good mens doubles games, and can now tick off 2 of the 4 Grand Slams. We might have to try and get into Wimbledon now in a couple of weeks!

So, since that we haven’t really done any jetsetting, but have still been busy. We went to the Epsom Derby which is like going to one of the Spring Racing Carnival days. We went with the AFL club Jimmy was training with (did I mention Jimmy broke his finger at training and hasn’t actually been able to play a game? It’s better now though) and they had one open top double decker, and another coach. So there was a big group of us and they put on all food and drink all day. Great day, but no, we didn’t win any money. 😞

Last weekend we went to the Wimbledon Dogs...to continue the gambling pattern from the horse races. Was a really fun and random night. It was a funny mix of people, with lots of young people as apparently it’s become quite popular here (hence why we decided to go) and a whole bunch of old men who obviously came every week! Here, we actually won some money! Yay!! £20 on the last race!

And then, Saturday night we had our last ever house party at Sisters Avenue. Was a good night with a DJ, a baby pool full of ice for the drinks (very Aussie we were told), a party next door with people going back and forth, and even a broken wrist!! Not either of us though...poor Rachel! 😞

So the house at Sisters Av is changing yet again, with Alex moving out tomorrow, Ben & Verity leaving on July 5, and us on July 23. I always used to hear people say it, but this year has just gone so fast! We have toyed with the idea of staying here another year after this lot of travel, but are still very undecided. We will most likely be coming home though and it’s just a thought at the back of our minds, but we’ll keep you updated if anything changes.

So, July 23 we leave for our trip. We’re off to (this is just bragging now isn’t it?) Spain & Portugal, Turkey, Athens & the Greek Islands, Croatia, Slovenia and finish up in Munich for Oktoberfest. Then depending on if we stay or if we come back to Oz, we will be flying to Thailand on September 24, and touching down in Melbourne on October 3.

So, until then...love to you all, and let us know what you’ve all been up to!

Loz & Jimmy xx

P.S. I will try and put a selection of pictures up for this post shortly. x

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