i'm in edinburgh - scotland at the moment. not much time to write.

sooo tired.
will be back from tour on sunday night and post more then.
just trying to burn full camera of photos (2gb) on to a couple of cds right now. lots of pics, great people on the tour, some of whom i'll keep in touch with after i hope!

still not sure where to live, best choice at the moment is cardiff...

loving the uk more than i could have hoped.
if you haven't got a postcard from me...and are wondering where it is, i probably don't have your address....(that especially means bec swan and emi...email it to me?)

love to you all! stay tuned in the next week for some decent updates.

london from st pauls cathedral

london from st pauls cathedral
Originally uploaded by oselle

a fairly dull day in London, this. in fact the guy advised us to continue up to the top level asap in case lightning appeared. in that case they'd have to get us all down very quickly.
luckily it didn't, and we had heaps of time to take photos and have a good look around up there. would be brilliant on a sunny day.

i've heard that it's as good as or better than the view from the london eye.

update: briefly back in London

Ok, so it's hard to know where to start when there's been so much going on over here! It feels like a blur in one sense, but it's been really wonderful. Don't fret, I'm definitely taking heaps in.
The train ride down to Redruth was incredible. I had some great conversations with people on the way down, enjoyed the view out the windows and took a few pics.

My first view of the 'country' was full of happy thoughts. reminded me so much of Tassie - yet with the old style houses. So many houses, and so close together!

My Aunt and Uncle met me at the train station, and I suprised them from behind - they were looking in the other direction trying to work out who I was. I guess it is a while since we've seen each other! I wasn't able to meet up with them last time they were out in Australia.

I had a great time with them - being chauffered around the countryside, all the time wowing at the small roads and commenting that if I was driving around much, I'd have a mini for sure!
The hedges along the sides of these small roads blew me away. Occasionally you'd get a view through a hedge, or if you were at the top of a hill - incredible to take a look out over the villages and see wind turbines in the distance.

We visited many sites that my father would have seen when he was a kid - so they were special to me as well, from all the stories he used to tell. My cousin, Sarah, was invited to a 21st birthday party which was a 2hr cruise on the 'River Fal' the night I arrived, so I went out with her. Such a great introduction to the place, as it was just on sunset and quite suprisingly light and warm for 8pm at night. I guess it is supposed to be summer over here!
In fact, we had great weather the whole time I was there. It was apparently raining in London until just yesterday, and today was fantastic as well.

I went out every day I was staying with my relatives, and had a few Cornish/English specialties like fish, chips and mushy peas, cornish pasty, fudge and my aunt went out of her way to make me a NICKERBOCKER GLORY!

Some of the places were: Goonhilly, Tregunstas farm, Wendhram school, The Lizard, Cadgwith, Portmouth, Falmouth, Truro, Marazion, St. Ives, Porkellis (that's the village that my relatives live in) Redruth, Helston, ....little fishing villages that I can't remember the names of...

I'm trying to upload some photos to my flickr account - you'll have to check it to see if they made it! Will be so much better when I have my computer/internet/house/job...!! For now, just have to make do with what I can find.

that's all till next update...

i'm here!

(originally tried to publish this on the 20th aug...sorry for the delay!)

and i have to say that i don't like english pc keyboards. the shift key on the left is in the wrong place, and i keep hitting the \ key instead. so tough. you'll have to put up with no caps for a while!

flight over was great. i'm still tired, but it's mostly my eyes that are drowsy - mentally i'm quite alert. won't take too long to get used to the time difference i gather, but the money difference throws me a little. different things are cheap over here. like, beer.especially coz you can buy it from the supermarket. slab is about 11 pounds...but they call them crates here. so, pretty cheap. that's just one example. i never know whether i'm looking at a price that's too expensive or really cheap. i guess that will come in time.

chelle and i are in an internet cafe trying to book a ticket to cornwall for tomorrow. i'll be there until next saturday. england smells a bit.

i have taken a few photos, a couple on the plane, in the thailand airport and today we went to st. pauls cathedral.made me thing alot about the war. so many comemmorations. it just seems like a western temple, not a house of God (found the shift key...)

can't wait til i have my computer and the internet. will write more later.

why aren't there more internet cafes round here??

Travel Pack

My awesome friend, Jo, put together a travel pack for me...essential items only.

If you want to see more photos, I've got a flickr account here: oselle

It's much easier than uploading photos to blogger, so you should really check that for photos but I'll try and put a few up every now and then!

general update...T minus 1 sleep.

I had to go into work the other day to fix up my resume, drop off a couple of boxes (they're storing some boxes for me whilst I'm away) and just to generally harass them...
I'm pleased to say that I'm DARING Vivian to write me a comment here on my blog. GO ON, YOU CAN DO IT! haha.

We finally said our goodbyes, but Trevor and Viv both said "see you in three months". Ha! What faith they have in me!

The last few days have been spent being so busy that I've just been vague through it all. I've pretty much done everything that I wanted to do before leaving, but you know how you always wonder what you've missed? Mostly I've been running heaps of errands around town, suspending different accounts, chatting to my family, buying last minute things and mucking around taking photos. I managed to take some fun ones of my neices today - I also gave my neice Bella the opportunity to take a few and they came out really well.
Today my neices and I hung out for quite a while. We played 'ballerinas', 'babies', 'duck, duck goose+chasings', sang together and played 'tigers' for a good hour or so. Tigers is one of our favourite games - basically consists of chasing after each other & roaring. Suprising how long that game always lasts with us!

I received an International Drivers Licence today, I still have to have my Aus driving licence with me to use it but I got it - just in case I need to hire a car or need to borrow one. (as most hire places won't let you drive without an International Licence) I'm not intending on buying a car over there, unless I end up somewhere other than London.

Incidentally, my car still hasn't sold and I hate that my Dad will have to sort it out on his own. So, if anyone is interested or knows of someone who might be interested in a 1993 Toyota Corolla, please direct them to me ASAP. oselle [at} gmail {dot] com

I went to my last North West Film Society Committee meeting on Wednesday night, where I regretfully resigned as Vice President. As a good proportion of those attending were either born in the UK or have spent a significant amount of time over there, I was given some tips of places to go/things to experience over in the UK. One of those was to try "Scrumpy", which is basically an alcoholic apple cider. Since then, I've found out that you can buy it from "Mollys" in Devonport (an Irish Pub)! I didn't have a chance to go and try some out, but I've been assured it's pretty similar to what I'd get in the UK. Another drink to try was "black sheep". Hmm. Apparently a boutique beer that's worth stopping in Yorkshire for.

Today with my dad, I visited my Grandma Gray who lives in a Nursing Home in Ulverstone. It wasn't really sad to see her as I was leaving - quite the opposite. She was very lovely and encouraging and excited for me to be going back 'home'. She gave me a couple of things to pass on to my Uncle and his family, and also a photo of herself for my mini photo album I'm taking with me. Of course I'm sad to leave her and my Grandma & Grandpa Atkinson (as Grandpa has been in hospital for a short spell), but I'll be sending quite a few postcards back home, I imagine and we'll be in contact :)

We had a family dinner tonight. Mmmmmmm, Lamb Roast and our family's favourite dessert, Peach Kuchen. It was really great to spend our last night together and have such a fantastic time. Bella started crying before she left, as she didn't want me to go...it almost started us all off. I think tomorrow will be really difficult to say goodbye, but I think we're all ready for it.

Yay. one more sleep. one more day in tassie. one more breakfast. one more day of sunshine.

Trip round Tassie

Tash and I did a last Tassie tour this past weekend. Down to Hobart in the pouring rain on the Friday. It was a beautiful clear morning on Saturday and I woke up early...was excited! So I convinced Tash to go up to Mt Wellington, (this is where the pic here was taken) and then went to Salamanca...meeting up with some good friends incidentally there (I love that about the Market! Finally met Christine!) had then a goodbye dinner with friends in the evening at a Mexican restaurant in North Hobart. Then on Monday we headed towards Strahan (the road had only just opened up that day! yay! We were worried we might have to cancel that part of the trip) and then back up through Burnie and home again.

Tash's wonderfully brilliant employers graciously gave her the day off work last Friday as well as the whole of this week!! What dedication to her sister - although now this end is taken up with me still getting my things together and her getting ready to move to Burnie. (Instead of moving into my old flat) She was offered some weekend work and since she works in Burnie anyway...it just made sense.

Angus had a spare room, and there's been much mention of their likeness in tv series/music tastes, so that won't be a problem ;) In fact, I'm looking forward to hearing "tales of the tash" through Angus.

On the weekend I purchased a new camera. I'm pretty impressed, as I've been saving and waiting for just the right one for a long time and on the weekend it prooved to be a trooper. I obviously didn't have that much time to test it out before hand, so I've mainly stuck to the automatic settings on this trip. I'll post some more photos later on today if I get a chance.

finished up at work today

Today was a bit of an odd day. I finished up at work, but it seemed so incredibly surreal.
I worked on jobs, packed up my desk, had drinks and nibbles with the rest of the Ulv. Press family and received a few beautiful gifts. (including the necklace on me in the pic )

My workmates were constantly saying all day that I'll be coming back in a couple of months.
Trying to get it locked into my subconscious. Heh. Nasties.
They're really very sweet, and probably the best lot of people I've ever worked for. It was really hard to leave, but as I said, it still feels kinda surreal. I've been so busy planning and writing lists (that was for you, Jess) that it all just seems part of the process and I don't feel like I'm taking much in, emotionally.

I have to go back in next week to take over a few of my boxes I'm storing (as they've graciously said they're happy to store them for me). So we didn't really say goodbye.

Last week, my sisters and I sang a song during the Sunday morning church service. It was a song that we had all learnt years ago, but such a long time since we'd sung it, and probably the first time all together like that.
Tash was really keen to get the song together, as it would be the last chance for a long while and she did a great job just organising & keeping us together in between so many other things that were going on. My "Two Favourite Voices in the World" AWARD goes to Leanne and Tash. Thanks a bunch, guys!

There were quite a few tears from my family during/after this, and it'll be something etched in my memory for a long while. I love being with my family.

The Farewell party was fun. My sister and mum had baked way too much food, but hey, that worked out well in terms of leftovers :) I am really glad that Angus and Ange came along. I'd forgotten that anytime those two are in a room together there's bound to be karaoke in the midst...If only there were photos. And my Dad, well...(you know I don't have to say any more :D

My mum has been busy the last couple of days helping me out with my tax, checking out the best way for me to get Pounds into my hot little hands, making me a passport holder, plus trying to find certificates and medical information, all for little ole me. Plus, she makes my tea. I can't stress how awesome it is to have my mum making me dinner every night. Yay for Mince Porcupines & Roast Chicken!

Such an incredible thing...my niece, Bella, arrived at the party and said "Happy Birthday Auntie Kate!" and even though, I think she knew it wasn't my birthday - she was looking for some kind of greeting but had no idea what to say. I decided I'd better make sure she knew I was actually going away for a while and to instigate our writing to each other. Leanne said that the next day Bella was asking her if she'd write down what to say to me in a letter for her, so she definitely understood. I know it'll be hard for both of us.
She'll be my first postcard.

ok, ok, so it's been a while.

But aren't I allowed to be busy right now?!

So...Dad and I checked out google earth together the other day. I couldn't believe we hadn't done that together before. Dad didn't even have it downloaded, but I'm sure I told him about it ages ago. It was absolutely astounding. Dad managed to track down an old church he used to go to when he was a kid, (by his old school) and the road he used to walk. To even hear him talking about such memories, brings back my own childhood reminiscence of his bedtime stories.

They hardly ever had a point, or a moral. But they sure were entertaining! Just picturing dad as a boy in his school grounds and to hear the things he remembered.

And just think. In about two weeks, I'll get to be in that same country.

And hopefully skyping to him will still seem like it's in the next room over.