Fine, Japh and Sid were right

...I didn't end up posting much after that last one.

So...what's new with you?

I've been watching Sid's garden change from an overgrown fox harbouring mess into a neat and clean turfed garden. Especially exciting has been planning the plants that we will grow! (Also, I may be slightly obsessed with Plants v Zombies atm, ahem.) It's so frustrating living so far away from him - about an hour and a half on public transport to reach his place. Last weekend we bought Corn, Peppers, Leek, Courgettes and a bunch of herbs. Poor Sid has to keep it going during the week on his own though - I wish I could help! I'll just come down and admire them on weekends.

I've been reading Clare's blog a lot, which has been inspiring me! I have loved reading about Clare and Dan's garden endeavors especially as we've been planning our own veg spot at Sid's.

I am really keen to keep creating especially as my current work keeps me busy with a lot of admin, and not much real designing. The design that I do always feels rushed, so I need to keep up 'making' at home. I've not done much in the last 6 months, as I've been putting so much energy into work and haven't had much energy for other things.  A few crocheted flowers here or there.

In other news, at work I've been asked to brand a huge rubber duck! Funny. I bought the spray paint this eve.
 

Here I go again!

I am in Australia. Soaking up the fresh air of the NSW countryside. I have much to tell about my trip so far, but I must apologise for anyone interested in following my travels that I've not posted since last June.

I have quite a few pics to put up and stories to tell already.

For now I am still getting over jetlag but enjoying my holiday here in NSW & QLD.

I'll post more soon. Really, I will.

Hong kong!

Coming to you live from free wifi in the hong kong airport. Mandatory disembarking. Just testing out the email blogging...

I'm on holidays, woowoo!

So happy for my 3 weeks off. I leave for Australia in about 13 hours (that includes the train journey to Heathrow), and I still have to pack. :) Nothing like cutting it fine. I figure that it'd take me longer to pack if I gave myself the time...plus, I didn't do my washing til quite late and things were still drying even this morn.




So, this is the weather comparison (Launie is the closest I can find to Dport on iGoogle). It appears that like just when I left Australia, it'll be raining when I arrive back. Not much has changed. ;) People keep saying that when you go home, it can be a bit of a shock as living on the other side of the world you feel that life has moved swiftly on, but that things are as they always were in your hometown.

I understand what they're saying, but I beg to differ. I know that even though I may have experienced many different aspects of life over here, living in a Global melting pot, a lot can change in 2 years no matter where you are. I will be able to see definite glimpses in this from my neices who've grown up a lot in the time I've been gone, but also in the spaces left by the people who've passed away since I left.
Plus, a lot of good friends have moved away over the last few years and/or married and started families. I look forward to meeting many new faces, especially be they gurgling bundles of joy. I can hardly count how many - is it 8 or 9 babies of people that I know quite well, that have been born since I left less than 2 years ago? Amazing.

Taraah. See you on the other side.

Yesterday was a brilliant day. Met heaps of lovely people and we pretty much all clicked straight away. There's 6 other aussies (yay!!!!) 3 from the USA (Philly, Virg, Calif) a gal from Manchester, England, England and a Saffa.
We checked out the Rock of Cashel (in Tipperary, where my mum's family is from), Mitchelstown Caves, Blarney Castle and yes, I did KISS THE STONE! Ahem, so did someone else I know...who will show up in my pics when I load them for you :)

We ended up in Killarney last night and went out for dinner (where we met some other Americans who were also staying at our hostel) then to see some traditional Irish storytelling and a bit of whistle music. Ended up heading to a local disco with a band playing lots of 90s songs...think killing in the name of, nothing else matters...my kind of head banging music. EPIC! They were all in their early 30's and looked like they were disappointed there was no moshing :(.

Today we've been to a cool beach, and have been travelling around some gorgeous cliffs as well as just general nonsense on the bus. Looking forward to the cliffs of moher later today!

Dublin, Ireland

So, it's time for another update from somewhere random :) Has been a while.

Sorry to anyone who was looking forward to seeing some Tunisia pics, I've put them up on facebook but nowhere else. If you want to see some, let me know and I'll put a few up here.

Tonight I'm here in Dublin and it is the night before another tour with Radical Travel. This will be my fourth with the same tour providers,(but under diff banners) oh well. What can I say, they're so great for limited time travel - especially when you're travelling your own.

The tour consists of 3 days in the Republic of Ireland,3 day southern rocker travelling around many well known places. Would have been nice to get to Tipperary, where mum's family are originally from but that's not on the itinerary unfortunately. Maybe it will constitute another trip over here sometime soon. :)

Nice to have a little bit of time off work, has been great having some travel to look forward to. My next trip after this will of course be my trip back home to Australia in June. I have to say that I'm more than a bit excited about that trip. I've been pointing wildly in the sky every time I see an airplane lately, which quite a few people can attest to! My sister sent me pics of my neice, Isabella, after she'd won a couple of running races the other day, gosh she's growing up. And Eva looks so different with really long hair. It sucks to be so far away from them when they're so small.

I'm heading out for taters now, will maybe get to blog again soon...really nothing to write yet!
cheers

new pics up on picasa. you'll have to follow my movements through pictures this month

These pics show you what I've been doing from september through to November.
I'm about to go on a week's holiday to Tunisia with Rose and Steph, look out for more adventures/pic when I get back!

xoxo

autumn in london

what I've been up to lately in London

ooh, eck!

sorry about the weird pics on that last post. Testing out different ways of putting in pics, obviously not going to use that method again.

adventures of the last few months in lundun

The rest of our trip was great - if you haven't seen the pics on facebook or on my picasa/flickr sites, you haven't seen how much fun we had! It's about time I got back to regular blogging...ok, who am I kidding. It's about time I started regularly blogging on this thing!

I've had a great time since being back. In fact, I've done many things and am totally happy that I haven't just sad on my backside since getting back.
One of the things that I realised when returning, is that for the first time in ages I feel really peaceful. Being away for over a year from almost every one and everything I've known and experienced has been really good for me, and I am happy that life has turned this direction.

August 18th was my first anniversary of arrival in England - celebrated with a couple of friends and went to an experimental jazz performance in Kings Cross! Can you believe it's been a year already? Me neither. I've heard friends who've been here 7 years say a very similar thing...

I had a particularly busy week last month meeting up with friends and family. Just so happened that they were all around at the same time. Met up with a friend, Josh, who my sister and I met in Athens. He stayed the night and we trundled off the next morning to the Notting Hill Carnival on Bank Holiday Monday.

From Notting Hill Carnival 08

Check out my picasa album for more pics

From Notting Hill Carnival 08

We then met up with my cousin, Kristin and a friend of hers who is living in London, for dinner which was such a surreal experience. Weird seeing people so out of context! We had brilliant burgers from the Gourmet Burger place, run by New Zealanders - felt very much like a place you'd find back home. Fantastic burgers! So good!

Josh only just made it to his bus up to Scotland - 30 seconds before it left I think he said! I had the next two days off as friends from home, Brett, Hayley plus their two kids and Brett's parents were in London for a few days.

From london with cox family

We spent some fun times just hanging out together but also took the time to go on a tour bus and watched the changing of the guard. Nice to have the opportunity to do these touristy things! I did promise myself I'd do more of it when I got back from my trip.

I was at work again on Wednesday, but that night I caught up with my friend Caroline from Tassie who is now living in England in the south of London. Was fantastic to welcome her to my home, eat dinner together and enjoy each other's company! A real pleasure to have someone from Hobart on my turf. Now, just waiting for Angus to turn up...are you still coming over dude? Then on Friday night Josh was back for his last weekend on his overseas trip. We had a brilliant picnic in Hyde Park with Derryn, Rose and Chloe on Saturday enjoying the last day of full sunshine (I haven't really seen one since, though it was quite nice for parts of today) and then went to Shakespeare's Globe and watched Timon of Athens. Which was really brilliant, by the way! Love the 5 quid tickets! Standing room only for about 3 hrs, but it was totally worth it.

From hyde park, the globe, & southwark bridge at night

We went for supper at Pizza Express, where I proceeded to lose my wallet and then spend half an hour taking photos of St. Paul's cathedral and the Southward bridge at night

From hyde park, the globe, & southwark bridge at night

(unfortunately I didn't realise I'd lost my wallet until the next morning or I would have gone straight back to the Restaurant, as we were just outside!) Epic fail!

Spent the next morning at the airport with Josh and then after he'd gone I realised I didn't have any cash or my card, my oyster card was slightly overdrawn and I didn't know how to get home! Talked to the station manager who let me go through, then went back to the restaurant...no wallet there...but I scummed 2 pounds off the manager so I could get home! Don't let anyone tell you that people in London are uncaring :) Very easy to sweet talk.

On that note, I should let you know that I finally had a good conversation with someone at Virgin Media. We've had at least 10 mostly bad conversations with them over the last month trying to get the account transferred into my name, upgrade the services slightly and get rid of the net hiccup that occurs every 3 mins. Every time I talk to someone on skype, it cuts out after about 3 mins and I have to wait a few more mins before I can connect to them again. They've done test after test, and today they went through them again but the nice man on the phone didn't even make me talk to the technical team today - he did it all for me and then told me he was going to send us a new modem and router! woohoo! Epic win, for sure.

So if you haven't got my skype name and want it just let me know - I'll be back up on full power in about 10 days :)

Oh yeah, more recent adventures - We were meaning to head to Bath last weekend, but found out we would be subject to inclement weather so a few friends and I went to Madame Tussuads instead and had a blast. Really worth doing if you have the space! The four of us competed in pairs against each other in a 'best of the brits' karaoke competition inside the wax museum As my duet performance was quite woeful (won't kill you by mentioning what we tried to sing) our other friends won two tickets on the London Eye.

From madame tussauds

Since arriving in England, I've seen copious amounts of Jane Austen and similar productions. Well, they've finally taken a modern day girl and tried to see how she'd go in the middle of Pride and Prejudice. Much to my amazement, I really don't like the main character. She gives me much to complain about - I can't believe she's a total Austen reveller before her experience starts, but when it comes to being inside that world she can't sit back let the characters be themselves so she can be included in their world. Just let it be, Miss Price! Her 2008 sense of romance, values and worldview is so different, which I would expect - but doesn't she want the chance to mold into another world just for a while? Why do we always think we have to take our preferences and shove it in the faces of those around us - demand they conform. I do hope she learns a little humility, but with Mr. Darcy around how can she not.
:) I like our Wednesday evenings with friends coming around, dinner and the Austen heated discussions. So much fun, reminds me of our coon and goon nights with the broughs in Hobart. Those times are such a world away from where I am now!


Some not so pleasantness, is that my Great Aunt Beet passed away last week. I am glad that I had the opportunity to meet her last year along with my Uncle Will (her brother, who passed away earlier on this year). She is the last living sibling of my Grandma, who is in Ulverstone, Tasmania. I'm heading down to Exeter, Devon this Tuesday to attend the cremation and meet up with my relatives. There are alot that I haven't met yet, so am hoping that quite a few of them will be able to be there.

Will be an early morning start and late back, haven't done this trip in one day before! Will be a good reading opportunity methinks.


peace out.

We gave "when in rome" a good ear bashing this week!

Epic Win!! When in Rome!! Epic Fail!! Brutal...These are the words that will be etched in my mind and will shadow the time we had in Munich, Venice and Rome.
We had a great time, moving on from Munich and heading in to Venice. Our last night in Munich was heaps of fun, but sad to say goodbye to a few more people. The only thing that makes up for that is meeting NEW people and having just as good time with them. I can recommend Busabout as much for the people you meet as the ease of travelling, easy accommodation booking/transfers and access to all sorts of tours in the local areas.

Venice is amazing. I didn't really know how I'd find it, but the first glimpse of the map and I remembered the game (San Marco) that I used to play with friends back in Tassie (thanks John D!) We met up with Brad and Erin (who we'd hung out with in Munich but first met in Vienna on the bike tour - and then also the grape grazing tour in Vienna) and Rohan, who I also met briefly that Vienna morning though under a different name (heehee). Michelle (otherwise known as Sth. Africa) was also in Venice, though we had only seen her briefly during a couple of stops - we were able to hang out heaps more during this leg of the trip.

We ended up with a great crew of people to head around Venice with, and I loved seeing the canals, as well as the housing around the canals, eating pizza and seeing so many markets with trinkets as well as the museums.Tash and I cruised into Venice with this motley crew, and had a blast. We had all had a big night the night before (as we were catching up with some old friends and making some new ones) and got to bed quite late. So most of us were quite tired and as it was very warm, we didn't stay right in the city for the whole day, but came back early and had dinner at the Hostel restaurant (great food!). It was about time for a rest day anyway! We did take a water taxi in to San Marco, and then go up the Bell tower, saving the Guggenheim for last (which we forgot to do, argh!) and also thinking we'd go to the Basillica the next day. Turns out the next day was a bit of a rest day for most, (sunburn by the pool, anyone?!) so I headed in with Rohan and we made our way slowly towards
the Accademia Museum. On the way we had fun visiting a few cool glass jewellery stores and just took our time through the streets of venice. Stopping for pics every 5 minutes, and to listen to a classical/jazz guitarist.
The Accademia museum that we went to was full of old Venitian Frescos taken from old churches and surrounds as well as some gorgeous Venetian depictions. Took us ages to get through the museum though, and I was glad that Rohan had a sore foot (hope it's feeling better now?) and had to stop every now and again, as I take WAY too long checking out individual paintings. What can I say, I love to look at art!

I was disappointed as the Guggenhem was closed on the Tuesday - but we made up for it by spending the rest of the afternoon travelling out to Murano and seeing the glass museum. It was quite extensive and covered many periods, but I admit I was hoping to see some more modern displays or even someone giving demonstrations. Maybe a bit too much to ask, but not knowing anything about the museum from the outset...

We were so tired from all the walking around that we both fell asleep on the water taxi back and missed our stop! We ended up at a point which happened to be closer to where we wanted to go anyway, so a good thing. We also had the fortune to amble around some actual non-tourist areas of Venice, which was more than worth it. My favourite time in Venice, I think. Made our way back without getting lost, which was also a bonus!


There was a toga party that night, and finally had a chance to hang out with our Canadian friends (Derek, Sarah and Erika) who we'd spent some time with on the grape grazing tour in Vienna - we all threw on some sheets and had a great night along with the rest of the crew at the hostel. Toga parties, all the way. When in Rome, ahem, Venice...
Anyone for a toga party when I get back to London??
(msg me on facebook ;)

So we finally made it to Rome, minus a few people who stayed on in Venice for a few days, but we eventually caught up with them on the last night there (last night).
Rome, what can I say. You were hot, dusty and never before have I needed to jump in a pool after just a few hours of sightseeing. We did a walking tour, which took us in to the Vatican museum (many brilliant sculptures and paintings Michalengelo and Bellini as well as their masters and understudies) St. Peter's Basillica and the Sistine Chapel. Great fun, but long, drawn out, grumpy and sweaty...we made sure our trip the next day was short and sweet. Heading out to the Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain (gorgeous, btw) and finally to the Collesium. Had a great day, but jumped into the pool feeling tired and satisfied.

Last night was great, as we had the new busabout load in and caught up with a few people that we'd not see for a while, a few newbies and some random people that were caught in our crossfire! We ended up with a bunch of about 25 people all crowded around one bungalow and played some weird woohoo game...don't ask. We rarely even had a go, thanks to James and Ben who were apparently masters, or so they claimed. Not so, James. ;)

So the frivolities of our last night were fun, and even though we have said goodbye to pretty much all our busabout crew and had our last achingly long busride - we are finally in Athens. It's very hot here and funnily enough one of our tour guides from our last leg of the busabout trip is here as well. (almost got away from busabout!!) We are very much looking forward to a bit of sightseeing here in Athens and then on Monday we head to the port for our 4 day cruise. Yay for some rest, pool time and rambling on Greek islands.

Then it's back to London for a time before Tash heads home. Definitely on the last legs of our trip, it's been so much fun - hope you've enjoyed the postcards...will try and fit in one more post before we head back. Starting to put some pics up on facebook, will not get the rest up on flickr before I head home though.