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.

update from Munich

Oh my gosh, I didn't realize I'd left it this long to post. This post will be a lot about the people we've met lately on our trip, as it I have loved every second of meeting new friends and catching up with other travellers.

At the moment I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Munich, about to have our last night here. We've been up to heaps over the last week or so and I was just trying to give a bit of room for the postcards to arrive before detailing too much else here...well that's my excuse anyway!

When we left Berlin, we said goodbye to Erica (Canadian), who we had spent a fair bit of time with in Amsterdam - but met with Sophie, Katie and Donna who were also going on to Prague. We made a stop at Terazin first, and saw one of the camps where they held people during the wars. Ugly places, and very moving to see - but kind of feel bad visiting as a tourist in a place like that. I suppose that's how people feel visiting the concentration camps. I really do regret not spending more time in Berlin, our stay was very brief and not time at all to see any memorials or war sites.

We met Kim (who is from NSW) at Terazin, and then when we arrived at Prague met Afton and Brendan (Canadians) who'd also been travelling on the bus through to Prague.
Prague was brilliant. Mostly because we had so much fun hanging out there with so many great people. Rodrigo (Brazil/Sydney) who we met on our first trip from Paris to Amsterdam was also there. We last saw him on the Pub crawl in Amsterdam and it was just luck that we saw him again as he'd stopped travelling on the buses. We will likely also meet up with him in a few days in Rome and then our flights from Athens to London also coincide.
Funny how many people we keep meeting again and again, even when our routes change. It's really great fun and makes the whole travelling experience around Europe so much richer. In Prague, we also met Sam (America) and Andrew who were in our dorm. Andrew is travelling around with his sister, Mel, (Australians) also on the busabout loops with us and they are also here in Munich.
Sam, however, is travelling on his own and left Prague the day before we did. As Sam had already been wandering around Prague for a bit, he was gracious enough to hang with us for a while and show us around. This was a good thing, as at one stage Donna and I vagued out a little and headed in the complete wrong direction and were able to contact him for help!

We did a walking tour around the main city area which was very informative. It has such an incredible style of architecture, different than so much else that we've seen around so far. Very beautiful, but still the streets somewhat grimy. The only really bad thing about Prague was all the tourists - and of course we were contributing to that. We ventured out the next day to do a bike tour, but it wasn't as different to the walking tour as it had promised to be plus it poured with rain which added a complete other dimension to our tour. Ever tried bike riding (when you're already saddle sore from previous rides) in the rain on cobblestones? They should announce it as a new extreme sport. Poor Afton came a cropper more than once.
Still, one of my favourite memories of prague will be coming out from under a bridge (where we sheltered for a while) in the rain with the sounds of a french band playing the theme from Amelie. It was such a perfect space in time.

While we were there, Sam introduced us to a locally distilled liquor that tastes like Christmas! Otherwise known in Prague and the rest of the world as Bercherovka. Cloves, cinnamon and similar herbs stand out - I fell in love with the flavour at first taste, definitely my new favourite (Move over Mojito!). I even went so far as to purchase a bottle to bring home, only to leave it in our next stop, Vienna. I was so disappointed! I swear the cleaner found it and kept it for herself. Grrr. (bought the bottle in Prague for only about 5.70 pounds for a 750ml!! Will have to go back some time soon ;)

After Prague, we moved on to Vienna, saying a sad goodbye to Donna who we won't see again and a few others that we might see at various points. I did get to catch up with Kim briefly on our last night in Vienna, so that was really great.

When we arrived in Vienna, we met up with Bisade (aka 'B', from Nigeria/Texas) who we've seen on about 3 stages of our trip so far. Afton, Brendon and Tash went shopping around Vienna (shops were all very high street/label around us, so they had a ball) and I hung out with B and Andrew (Newcastle) and we did our own night tour of the city! Unfortunately I did the bike tour the next morning and found out that our approximations of the sites weren't exactly accurate...but I have a few crazy photos anyway. We did find a secret tunnel to the Greek islands that not many people know about. Oh, and ancient Rome, but I think that one's pretty much in the open. :)

moving on (sorry about such a long post this time!)...well, Tash and I opted to do the Grape Grazing tour on the last day - such a blast! We took about 2 hours to get out to the countryside where our tour began. We met some great people there as well, Sarah, Erika and Derek - 3 more Canadians(seem to pop up everywhere! Almost as much as Aussies, and that's saying something!) who we went out to dinner with afterwards and will also catch up with in Venice as we happen to be staying in the same accommodation. The tour was great, and I did purchase a desert wine and some Apricot Chilli Chutney during the trip. It was amazing just to get out of the city area and enjoy the countryside of Austria. We sampled many wines, stopped for a bbq lunch, tried some heartattack sausages (filled with cheese, wrapped in bacon! Would you believe I'm normally a vegetarian? Good thing I relented before starting this trip. Kind of, ahem.) and checked out the tower where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned for a year. Ok, well the ruins of it. And we worked all that wine off on the hike up there and consequent bike rides. It was a really great day weather wise as well which was great considering our whole trip so far has been oscillating between sunny and pouring with rain.

Ok, well now that brings me to Munich. We have been here for a couple of days, and leave tomorrow morning. Met up with Katie and Sophie again and Bisade for a night, as well as Troy, Kate, Andrew and Mel that we met while in Vienna. I've been out to the Hofbräuhaus both nights we've been here so far, with other busabout crew and other random people that we've met. Might just have a quieter night at the hostel with some mates tonight as we're getting up early for the next day's ride to Venice.

Now for the news you've been waiting for.
Yesterday we woke early to get ready to go on our tour to Neuschwanstein Castle

It was a really mild day though it did rain for a bit later on. Before that we had the opportunity to go on the Alpine slide which zig zagged down a small hill and looked kind of like a metal luge. We also took a bike ride to Swan Lake (not quite the famous one in Russia, but beautiful none the less) and then...we were given the option to Parasail! Tash and I jumped at the chance, and went along with our roommate Bill. It was extraordinary to say the least. I lead the charge, but when we got to the top...have to admit that I did have slightly shaky legs. One step at a time, a few quick ones over the edge, and then, what can I say - I was floating on air. I'm sorry that I'm not posting any pics, will just have to include them afterwards as it's too akward to get them off my camera. If I was travelling for longer I'd work out a better system, but hey I'm giving enough detail here, yeah?!

Phew. If you read through this, thanks. If not...well, it's not like you can hear me. :P

update from berlin

The last day in Amsterdam was a blast. I wrote the last post from the Bibliotheek (library), which was absolutely incredible. They had seven levels and you could see that they are very much into literacy, aesthetics and investing in their children's future. The food there was great too. Huh, a library with a restaurant.
I wasn't able to upload any pics there, but also cannot here, as the hostel was unable to read my card. Only due to their card reader, nothing to do with the card itself (v thankful!) I'll have to start spending money on proper net cafes soon...

Rained profusely yesterday, and more today. Good day to be travelling.

So, we're in Berlin at present. Enjoyed the time to recoop on the bus today. Stayed up late last night enjoying my last night in Amsterdam (will definitely be going back there!). We've met heaps of great Aussies, Canadians, NZealanders and Americans on busabout as well as a few Aussies who are currently living in London like myself. Will definitely catchup when we get back!
Berlin is great, though I'm sad about how little time we have here. It can't be helped, but we will part ways with a few of our travelling companions thus far. Hope to meet more soon!
For the first time, we know almost everyone in our dorm room. Tash is loving hostels (her first experience) which is great. Wondering if it was a good idea after all to book in the couple of private rooms that are coming up...

European travel is more spectacular than I had imagined. I do try not to have expectations before I travel - just take things as I find them, but I've been so blown away thus far.

Oh, and ahem...my elimination diet is completely blown out the window. Looks like I'll be back on the goats cheese, vegies, berries, legumes and rice for a while when I get back to London.

We are heading to Prague at 8am tomorrow morning. Another full day's bus ride in which I hope to get some reading done. Watched Bourne Supremecy today on the coach as well as dodgeball and some 'will and grace' episodes. The coaches are mostly comfortable. could always do with some more legroom. Our last trip was a smaller load so I had two seats to myself the whole way, but we were overfull today and they even turned a few people away. (They hadn't booked, but were hoping to get in on standby. Makes me glad that we've pre-organised every leg of our trip.) Busabout is hitting the busy season!

update from amsterdam.

hi from holland!

ok, now that first email is over and done with, i can tell you whats been going on in the last week.

tash and i caught up with a friend from devonport who'd been over this side of the world for a while on holiday, chelsea king. we spent a great day walking around hyde park, generally catching up and enjoying such a well known outdoor area in london. we saw the diana memorial fountain and took some pics with some random non-english speaking guys as well as spotting a few squirrels. i missed out on going to "the tower bridge experience" with tash and chels as i realized that i had an errand to run back home. i'm sure they enjoyed the history lesson, crypt of the bridge and scary actors running around trying to scare them! (apparently its better and scarier than the london dungeons!).

so, last saturday we re-packed (and yes that does mean that tash and i both ended up with only 15kg in our main packs after tossing out all our annoyingly heavy extra stuff - very glad for the trial run to cornwall!) and headed over to gare du nord (in paris) on the eurostar.
such a quick trip, especially as we forgot to take into account the 1 hr time change, so we arrived an hour before we expected! Our hostel accommodation was right on one of the canals, and is a new "st. christopher's" so we were really happy with our 10 bed, female dorm room. even provided us with towels.

we planned to do a river siene cruise the first night, after taking a look around, doing our best to order food with our limited french words, but we misread the starting point and by the time we arrived the boat had been gone for 10 mins. so we made the most of it and watched the beginning of a small independant film on the side of the canal til it got dark then headed to the eiffel tower to get a good glimpse at night. we got used to the metro system (similar to the london underground) very quickly and were so confident that we even split up a few times in the next 2 days.
the next day we went on a walking tour of paris. it took us (and a few others from our hostel plus random tourists on the street near 'st. michel') past many museums, interest points like notre dame, the bassilique sacre-couer, the new bridge (ironically the oldest bridge in paris) arc-de-triumphe, the eiffel tower, seine river, the louvre, the obelisk...you name it, we saw it. our guide was brilliant and went at an easy pace, stopping to make jokes, tell us some history and to grab some lunch.

after this, tash, myself and another tassie girl from launie (yes, have met more than one tasmanian already!) went to the sacre-couer again, for some photo posing...and to go up to the dome. heard it was the best view over paris, and i don't think that's far wrong! it was brilliant.

after this, tash went back to the hostel and i grabbed some food and headed for another tour with the same tour company. this one focussed on the Monmarte region and took us through much of the history of the bohemian region. i found out much more about van gogh and picasso than i had previously known, and saw some of their haunts, as well as those of hemmingway and amelie poulain! am keen to put some pics up as soon as i can, but won't be in this post.

we left the next day and had our first bus-a-bout experience. stopping at bruge (yes, i gave in and found some belgium chocolate there!) for a quick pickup of other bus-a-bout-ers, we eventually found ourselves in amsterdam, the netherlands. if i loved paris, i surely love amsterdam just as much, maybe more. so intrigued by the history, just spending 2-3 days in each place is almost killing me! i long to come back and explore so much more. never thought that i would be so inspired by the van gogh museum as i was, but i now have oodles of postcards of his work that will adorn my wall on my return.

the night we arrived, we went on a pub crawl, but were very contained (in bed by 1am) as the next day we planned to go on a bike ride/boat tour. it ended up raining so we postponed it and that's when we went to the van gogh museum, walked through a 1km long every day market and ate dinner at a great little tapas bar not too far from our hostel.

today we went on the bike tour, and had a great time. yes, i'm a little saddle sore, but happy for the experience. i miss riding a bike, its really been such a long time since I did it! we leave from here tomorrow (which I'm sad about, but am promising myself a return) and head to berlin for our quick over night stay before we head on to prague for a few days. these will be our longest days on the bus, but to be honest i'm not as frustrated by the journeys as i thought i might be, as we were bound to be tired but because of the forced travel, we don't feel guilty having to stop every few days. we'll definitely have the rest we need to keep going in each new place.

well, that's it for now! take care and keep in touch.

a note from cornwall

Well, what a trip we've had so far! After 10 months, it was such a great thing to finally see Tash in person. Yesterday was such a great experience, (if a very early one! I met a couple of friendly Aussie girls at the Archway station who were also going to pick up a sibling from the same terminal. How random!)

We had a really long day, as I was up at 4am to catch pick up Tash who had been travelling for around 24 hrs and we hardly stopped all day! After leaving the Airport at Heathrow, poor Tash had to shoulder her backpack for the first time (I won't tell you what it weighs!) fixed up a few things at home and then caught the train down to Cornwall.

At the beginning of the trip, I made friends with a lovely lady who'd been living in Turkey for about 5 years. She told me all sorts of stories of her life over there, and threw in a few recipes which I certaily appreciated! We had heaps of fun chatting away, Tash just mellowing to the sounds of her mp3 player - insistant on staying away until night time so that she would get over her jetlag quickly.
Pat said that if I made my way to Turkey before next april (she's moving back to the UK) I should call her and stay with her. Definitely thinking of taking her up on it.

Today we took our hire car up past St Austel and to the Eden Project. Such an awesome site! Zip wire for tash, photography galore for myself...and lots of walking around. Heading down to St. Ives tomorrow before catching the train back to London.

Hopefully will post more soon. That's all for now!

1 day, 4 hrs and 29 mins left

that's really close, eh!

oh, I hate to think of the agony Tash is about to go through. Good thing she's got me on the other end waiting for her.

4 days, 21 hrs, 54 minutes...

Yesterday was brilliant. (hey, i should blog more!) Thank you so much for all of those gorgeous birthday messages on my fbook page, text, call and in person! I had such a great birthday. Now I'm in my 30th year, I'm looking forward to celebrating every single day this year - culminating with a brilliant bash on 25th June 2009. I want to celebrate the goodness of 30! (plus it'll help me get over what a non-age 29 seems to be).

I should mention that I'm following an elimination diet at present - (and I just want to brag about how hardcore I am right now) to try and work out the cause of my migranes among other things. True enough, I haven't had any over the past month, so it really does look like it might be a food intolerance. I am about to start reintroducing different foods.
Right, well all this means that I couldn't have any birthday cake yesterday, and I had to be very careful going out to dinner last night with my housemates! I've tried to avoid going out for meals this was only my 2nd one in a month!

Nonetheless, we had a brilliant time and WANTED is definitely worth seeing at the cinema, rather than in your living room. Awesome film, and just my style.

Going out tonight for drinks (sparkling mineral water for me, ahem) to say goodbye to a work colleague - but I'm also glad it'll give me a chance to say gbye to my workmates in the other london offices that I won't have any contact with for 6 weeks.

I guess I really should outline just where we're going, for how long etc...maybe in tomorrow's post!)

Spoke to Tash yesterday on the phone for the last time before I see her! Can't believe it's so close! It's been over 10 months - first time I've been away for this long from any of my family. I'm expecting a few tears. From her, anyway. ;)

ciao for now!

6 days, 6 hours, 57 minutes...

I'm getting so excited. Only 3 more days of work left.
Tash, I can't wait to see you.

I spent tonight hanging out with some friends from the church I've been going to over here - we played 'scene it' and it just highlighted the fact that I am dreadful at remembering almost everything from every movie I've ever seen.

Not really sure why that is. I'm just sticking with the plea of 'talents in other areas'!

Turns out that 1 of my friends from that group is leaving and resettling a few hours from here. 2 others are going to spain for a while during the time that I'm in Europe and won't get back til half way through August and 3 others are going to Australia when I get back and won't be back til September...so that was the last night to hang out for a couple of months! Tragic, but hey we'll all be able to have a slide night when we are back together.

I guess that's the way summer goes. I thought it felt bizarre not having summer over the Christmas period, but in the end it wasn't too far from normal as most people still shut down for a significant period. It's way weirder to have summer in the middle of the year! All of a sudden things start to come to a close, new things start...I wonder if it makes it really hard to settle into a year this way, with two significant breaks. I imagine that you have to gather a bit of inertia to get into the second half of the year. It must make years go even faster, no wonder some people come over here to visit for a while and end up staying 10 years!
I don't intention on staying quite that long, however I'll give it a few years!

Ok, it's off to bed for me now as I'm hoping to get up early tomorrow and get ready for work before chatting to my beloved neices, mum and whoever else turns up. Birthday call! I get to open my presents in front of them - which is the way a birthday should be...shared.

Much love to all who are reading. Celebrate every day - but especially the day you were brought to the eyes of the world.

7 days, 21 hrs to go...

this time next week, my much looked for sister will have arrived. she'll likely be very tired...and so will I.;) I have to meet her around 7am (her plane arrives at 5.55, but I figure an hour for customs?)

Only four more days of work to go! Then I can concentrate fully on our trip preps. Still waiting on a few things to come in the mail, new bank account confirmation, cash passport card, European health card etc, etc.

yay! Oh, and it's my birthday tomorrow. Can't wait. I've been happy the whole of June, as per EVERY YEAR! I LOVE BIRTHDAY TIME! A time to reflect on being alive, thanking God for being born and treasuring those around me who take the opportunity to show me how much they love me by making me feel special.

yay for birthdays! yay for celebrations! yay for holidays in Europe!

10 days..

and 21 hours til tash arrives...

holiday time for me!

It's only 11 days until my lil sister arrives and we go travelling together.
So much to do!
I'm really looking forward to having some time off work and going on holidays, but most of all just being able to spend some time with one of my family will be fab.

We're planning on heading down to Cornwall for a few days first where I have a surprise for Tash. Still have to chase a few things up, but should be great! We were originally going to see my Uncle & his family, but my Aunt's having hip surgery fairly soon and it doesn't look like we'll get to catch up. I hate to think of her lying in bed for a solid amount of time, she's always the first one up and about!

We have a day in London before heading out on the Eurostar to Paris and then on to our busabout trip. We've bought 6 stop flexistop passes, and are travelling around Europe on a tight time schedule. It means that we can plan in advance where we're staying and know when we need to be places, but I must admit, it leaves me begging to go back sometime in an unscheduled timezone.

More later.

(I've been avoiding blogging for so long now, it only seems fair to give me a few chances to warm up!)

added more pics

Also - I added more pics & a link to the Easter post below, as I'd forgotten to do that. Hmm. Is anyone around to remind me? I'll just pretend you're all lurking.

Snow fell in London!!

The snow last Sunday morning was absolutely phenomenal. It was forecast, but I didn't believe it until my housemate greeted me around 9am with "Have you opened your curtains yet?" !! It was drizzling rain the night before, seemed so unlikely! Snow had all but vanished around 2pm.




My housemates are busy studying for exams at the moment, so I went out on my own to run a few errands and take some piccies of the downfall. Mostly just to discover the world that forms in London's undiscovered places when it snows.



I had so much fun! I think walking through Highgate Wood during the snowfall in such a pristine setting is going to linger in my memory for a long time to come.



Met some really cute kids, didn't catch their names, but they were all to eager to make sure I knew that their snowmen were called Sylvie and Whitey.



Apparently Whitey (remarkable, the Pooh resemblance!) looked like a bear because they were trying to encourage the Polar Bears hiding in the woods to come out. As far as I know, that didn't happen, but we did find a worm at the bottom of the snowman. It was attracting some creatures at least...


People came prepared. This pic features a carrot, and real glace cherries for buttons!


a very odd looking snowman


...facing a fiend/friend/foe...

He had celery hair and radishes for eyes!


I think this was my favourite though. They added in the beer can just as I came along.
They were quite famous in the park - quite a crowd around them!



Look at the spring buds underneath the powder on these branches. It was so beautiful, and yet felt so wrong.


Such weird weather.

the shameful rise of mercury.

Mercury joined me about two months ago, but he was a bit camera shy. He told me right firm that he wasn't going to pose in one of my stupid London photos. He was destined for more exotic exploits. That was, until he saw Fuzlet. Jealous, I think he was. Fuzlet was getting all the attention.


Then, I couldn't keep him out of them!



Even tried to pretend to be a squirrel (though, I suppose he was just hungry. what do you feed a stuffed animal? never did work that out.)




Had to send him away, in the end. Naughty piece of fluff. (Mercury, not the squirrel)

He's now in a postbox somewhere, wimpering away. I have a feeling he'll turn up again soon.

Fun in the capital with friends!

I caught up with Japh and Emi the other day (pictured above at Piccadilly Circus) - so surreal to see friends from Tassie! They're on their honeymoon over here, only in London for a few days - in Italy at present. I felt like there was so much to say, so much time and space we'd had between us. I was able to hear all about the wedding and I'd already been to Dan Cripp's website to see a few pics! We all shared a few tube observations and random impressions of London, and I agreed that I really wasn't using my time in London sightseeing. I do reserve the right to claim that I never did mention seeing Buckingham Palace in my blog header, Japh. :P
What can I say. It just doesn't look that much like I'd imagine a palace to look.


Gates of Green Park/St James? One or the other.


Ah. family. home. Japh and Emi - I felt safe with. Did I mention how good it was to see you both?


Japh was completely obsessed with feeding the squirrels.


I have to admit, I also loved it to bits.



We went to

• Green Park
• Buckingham Palace (much to my chagrin...ick. Too many tourists.)
• Hyde Park, (squirrels)
• Harrods (I did that for you, especially, Leanne)
• Piccadilly Circus
• Trafalgar Square
• Covent Garden
• Hyde Park flower walk (squirrels again)
• Kensington Gardens - Palace
• and then on the tube back to our relative stops.

(see more pics here)

So we covered a bit of ground, and only took one bus in the middle of that trip, and i only met them at lunchtime. That's what I call a full on city tour on a Friday afternoon! My lack of navigational skills around London was a bit of a chore, but I'm like most people I know and still have to use an 'A-Z street directory' to get around...Ok, so I took some of our discussions about me not seeing half of London yet, even though I've lived here almost 8 months, to heart; made a resolution with my housemates when I arrived home - to go out once a month and see something different!
At least that's a start.

I have been to heaps of lovely spots around London - there's just so many to choose from! Always something new every day. I just prefer the non-tourist route! I have a holiday coming up with my sister soon, which is a full-on Europe tour. We'll likely go to lovely touristy spots, but I still hope we find the unnoticed gems.

It's so incredible to watch movies now that feature London, even random English scenes that I've seen. They're not just clips anymore, but I feel the reality of the places. I've not only seen it with my eyes, but soaked up the (ha!) dirt on the street.

I guess that's the thing about traveling and living in other lands. Identifying with the world in some small way. Feeling your part in it.

Easter in Worton, Wiltshire

I've spent the last 4 days in Wiltshire hanging out with my housemate's family. We've gone on a few fun walks and I've been treated to a few local haunts, including Caen Hill Locks and famous Stonehenge. Fun and games, Easter eggs, a couple of boisterous black labradors, Catholic church services, Terry Pratchett's Hogfather, multiple episodes of 'Angel' and a little bit of snow - a brilliant time. I'll post a few pics when I get back to London.

(here they are, albeit a little late, but as here promised! 10.04.08)







(finally uploaded these - MORE PICS HERE)

I've heard reports that it's been snowing in London, which I'm really disappointed to be missing! Hope that it's still around when I get back.

Japh and Emi are now married, and enjoying their time up in Scotland. Hope to see them after they've travelled down to Wales - they'll be driving over to London in early April.

The train down here was a bit boring, mostly because it was quite late at night, I was really tired and didn't really have the eyes for reading. I have been getting heaps of headaches, more like migranes lately, which I'm getting quite concerned about. I think I'll be heading to an optomistrist as soon as I can to get my eyes checked out, as I haven't had my prescription checked for over 2 years. Also thinking of getting contacts...has been a while since I've not worn glasses and I'm keen to rid myself of them for a bit.
Anyway, Derryn and I will be heading back to Paddington Station this afternoon together so it should be a much more entertaining trip back.

I'm being treated currently to a good ole fashioned singing around the piano. I love to go a wandering along the mountaintrack...valderie valderah...tralalalala...a knapsack on my back!

this newsboys album will always have feelings attached.

whenever I listen to 'step up to the microphone' I think of hanging out with my sister, house sitting together, buying groceries, watching 'the goodies' with stu, aaron and the stealing sign post gang, shaun & steve, gaffa & mel, redbull, wooden floorboards, independence, internet chats and that red sportscar.

oh, and gary. that was one of the most memorable ad campaigns of my teens.

by the way, I had an incredible weekend in Eastbourne with the rest of the 'Life Course' crew. might take a few days to digest the experiences, conversations and prayers.

tonight I ordered groceries for the first time online.

looking forward to dishing a chickpea and spinach gratin.

received a card, coloured in pic and incredible photo of my neices yesterday when I arrived back home. Incredible, just incredible how much they've grown. I miss them and the rest of my family a great deal. somedays I feel that I could just drive over to their place and hang out. They seem really close, despite the distance.

I miss working for Ulv Press, and occasionally when I'm listening to Triple J, I imagine that I'm right back there, about to be made a brilliant cup of tea by Liz - to see Viv bounding in with a smile and some lovely things to say, Trev always poking his head up with a dry joke, Mark chuckling on the phone in the office, Jess waltzing in saying 'Hello...!', the boys out the back hanging out for Friday afternoon, and walking past Linda drinking a decent coffee and eating lunch with any given member of her family.

But reality is that they and so many of my friends are a long way away right now.
These memories are so vivid and fresh, I guess I've only been gone for six months after all. It doesn't really feel that long.

Despite this, and even though I miss them a lot, I'm not really homesick. I don't ache to be back in my comfortable space with the people I love.

I'm enjoying London with the new sights and sounds constantly, new opportunities to meet strangers and friends, time to be on my own and sort through all the things running through my head.

I miss the smell of the ocean, and don't welcome the smell and dirt of London streets. No matter how much it rains, the water doesn't wash away the grit like it does back home.
Tassie is such a special place, but I always knew that.

I miss the park I used to walk through at lunchtimes, (I also miss my black fluffy boots. They were the best, even if they did encourage shin splints) but there are some havens I can find here. Especially now the days are getting lighter and there's a little more sunshine. I feel the refreshment of Vitamin D being enacted through the sun on my skin.

here i am.

I've just moved! Finally. A place I can call my home for a while. This is such a great feeling - to finally be able to rest. I still need a few things to make it feel more like my own room, double bed duvet (get particularly laughed at when I call it a doona!) & cover, sheets, coat hangers, airing horse and laundry hamper.

One of the cool things about this house, is that we have wireless internet and I'm getting almost a full signal on my AirPort. This hopefully means that we get clearer Skype sessions than previously, and I can download/upload items without having to wait hours.

I'm supposed to be going out tonight, but I still have to go out and get the things for my room. I'm looking forward to sleeping well tonight, so maybe I'll go and make a few of the more important purchases, come home, get ready and go out for an hour or two and then take it easy. I can be home by 9-10pm, surely?!

January, Oh January. Welcome to 2008.

The last month has been quite busy and not a little stressful for me! With a bit more tension than normal at work, insecurity about my job, desperately looking for somewhere else to live, another friend (apart from the friend in my last post) passing away due to cancer back home...all in all I've been exhausted. There have also been some great things going on, which I am thankful for. They bring smiles to my face and remind me that though there are some stressful things to work through at the moment, this is just part of a season, a normal part of my life right now that has it's dark and light times. Here are some cool things that I should be writing about more on this blog! Sorry, you just get them in bullet points right now!

• Caught up with a few good friends a couple of weeks ago and made some more, which have been heaps of fun to hang out with since then. Australia day was celebrated with them yesterday.
• Found a free-cycle yahoo group in my local area and made a trip last week to pick up a free polaroid camera. Something else to play with and to freshen my creative skills.
• Started a course about Christianity at http://www.stmaryslondon.com/ . This is a weekly meeting up with about 130 people (in groups of 10-15) who eat together, listen to a talk, have coffee then conversation in our groups. Pretty free and easy, nice to have the company of other people along the journey in talking about some big issues of the universe!
• I received a postcard from a friend back home who I used to work with just encouraging me and saying he was proud of my journeying, here to England - we used to talk about me going to England over 2 years ago now.
• Went for drinks and then to watch P.S. I Love You with a girlfriend (LOVED IT!)
• Caught up with a friend from Scotland who was visiting for a while and also with my old housemates. (Actually, going there for dinner tonight as well). Always good conversation
• Also, after viewing a gift that my brother had given me for Christmas, Season one of "Avatar - the Last Airbender", meant that I have been searching around and finally viewed season 2 and 3! Good stuff, thanks Jono!
• Found heaps of time to read whilst travelling on buses/tubes and have managed to get through 2 books that I was given for Christmas. Ok, I have a couple more chapters in the last one, but almost done! My reading skills have improved heaps in the last couple of years as I've intentionally poured more time into it. I love devouring books! Especially seeing that I have so much 'otherwise wasted time' on public transport here in London.
• I received a phonecall from my parents the other day letting me know that my Grandma who hadn't been well, was feeling much better after a change in medication. Very very good to hear.
• A friend from the tour I took when I first came to the UK got back in touch. We had heaps of fun touring around together and it's really great to be in contact.
• There has been quite a bit of sunshine this week, which is much needed. Gives things a lighter tint, to be sure.

So even though I've been a little quiet in the virtual world lately and probably seem a little stressed when my parents talk to me on the phone, I'm bearing this month of homesickness quite well. Someone told me just yesterday that months 2 and six (which I'm just about to enter) tend to be the hardest.

Nice to know that other people go through it as well!! Much love to all who are reading this.

News from home

I heard some sad news today about a friend of mine passing away yesterday. I lived in the flat above his house for almost a year before moving over here and value the time I spent with him, his wife and baby girl. He was only young, in his mid twenties and it's such a tragic loss.
I feel like the world has lost something. Not just those that knew him.

I went to school with Mel and Wil - he was a highly creative engineer and we shared an interest in art, photography and films. I'd often hear him, our friend Mark and maybe his brother or brother in law outside taking the remote control car out for a spin up the street. An enlarged photo he'd taken of his little girl, Lola, sitting in the bathtub surrounded by bubbles sat with pride of place on their lounge room wall. Saying "Hi!" as I arrived home from work to see him sitting in the garage diligently working on a model car.

Mel and Wil with their families and friends have been through many tough times over the last year and half since his cancer diagnosis - I pray and ask God that peace and a warmth of heart might come to them as they celebrate his life and mourn his loss.

There are a number of people that are still fighting the cancer cells back home - so many that it frightens me. Please know that you're not far from my heart.

This is my fourtieth post, and first for the new year.

I must apologise for my lack of keeping you up to date with what's going on in my life over here in England.

TO BACK TRACK A LITTLE...Our work Christmas party was held at the house of commons (Westminster). I was pretty excited about going along, despite a bit of fretting over what to wear. I eventually decided not to buy something new, after looking for ages, just primped up something I already had and didn't stress too much. Someone advised me not to wear anything that I would mind being ruined, due to the free flowing alcohol - I also heard many stories from last year's event and decided that I'd leave before things got messy in any event.

I should mention that to get into the house of commons for an event like this, you have to be invited by an MP. It so happens that one of our staff members has a father who is an MP and arranged for our invitations. We each had our invitations that we presented before being allowed entry on a number of occasions. This is my place setting - just to prove I was really there. I went for the vegetarian main, which is why I was given a special blue dot. :P

Before we'd even gone through the first entrance we had to be searched, and tested for freaky substances - then we were allowed to proceed through to the bar where our other staff members were waiting.
It was great to meet most of the staff from our London offices, as a few of them I had heard of but not met. The others, I see at our monthly sales/marketing meetings.
After a while, we were taken on about a 45 minute tour by the MP who invited us. So much better than anything we'd have been able to view if we were outsiders. The history and interiors that decorate that place is incredible - bronze statues, carefully planned and constantly restored tiling, huge wall tapestries depicting french/english atrocities, the places where the parliamentarians work so hard and a gilded gold throne. We saw it all up close and personal.

Our dinner was quite nice, nothing too unusual - it was really great to have some high class waiting staff. I've never seen such attention to detail and poise actually put into action in a serving capacity. (I try to generally stay away from such fancy/expensive establishments!)
It was great to see my work mates behaving themselves and indeed even when we went out afterwards to our pre-booked champagne bar, they waited until after I'd left to get really blind. I had to leave early, as I was waiting to meet up with one of my (prospective at that stage) new housemates.

I came into work the next Monday and Tuesday, and was inundated with gossip of the Friday night. :) So glad that none of it involved me. I finished up on the 18th December, and had a few days off before heading down to Cornwall on the 22nd. I spent Christmas down in Porkellis with my Dad's eldest brother and his family who looked after me extremely well. It was such a joy to share Christmas with them. When I arrived, a box of Christmas presents from my family was waiting for me. It had been sent over from Tasmania as well as an express envelope with Christmas cards and a pressie from my youngest sis. Sorry again, Tash for opening it too soon. You really have to warn me if you aren't going to wrap... :)

One of my gift boxes still hasn't arrived back home - at least they get to extend their Christmas gift joy! I'm sure it'll arrive soon...

On Boxing Day, a few of us travelled down to Gweek, Cynance Cove and to The Lizard - My Uncle David, cousin Sarah, Steve - a friend who had been staying with us over Christmas, Solomon who we met at my uncle's church who is from Ghana and currently studying mining in Falmouth and myself. We had a feast for lunch before gearing up for hours of delight at the natural beauty. Such a great time of the day to go as well, late afternoon. (but of course that's actually bout 3pm here!) The light was just right to get some picturesque shots - check out the Picasa image gallery on the top right.

Solomon, Steve and Sarah below. Such a cheesy shot, but it really makes me smile.

Below: Who says the gulls aren't good for anything?!

Whilst in the south west of the Great Island, I also had the opportunity to meet up with some 'great' relatives, my dad's aunt and uncle. I travelled up to Exeter and surrounds, with my Uncle David and cousin Sarah.

Myself, Great Uncle Wil and Sarah:

We had a great day having lunch with Uncle Wil and catching up on goings on as well as meeting up later on with his sister, Auntie Beet. I'd met Uncle Wil years earlier, but I would have been about 13 then when he came out to Australia with his wife, Grace.

Auntie Beet is pictured below:

Just before I went down to Cornwall, I had my hair styled slightly differently. It's short at the back and layered at the front...fun to do :)

I've been here for four and a half months now. That's a fair bit of time, eh! I'm still looking for a permanent place to live - the day after I arrived home from cornwall I moved out of the place I had been staying in and am now room-sitting for a girl from the church I've been going to, who is going back to NZealand for a holiday.

It's just around the corner (15 mins walk) from where I have been living so that means it won't be much of an adjustment in terms of getting to work, visiting my old housemates and finding my way around. I'm only here for the month of January, so I need to be busy finding somewhere a bit more permanent to live as soon as I can. JJ isn't moving down any more, so that means I'm looking for somewhere on my own...unless some others come my way. I'm keeping a lookout for people/places and have others looking out too which is a great help.

I start work again on the 3rd January. Which means the day after tomorrow. One more day of rest until I start work again. It'll be nice to step back into routine a bit, but I have to admit, it'll be hard work when I return, as our new Business Development Manager will be starting. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be working there for, but I'll just ride it out at this stage.

Happy to be here in London, still taking things in and just treading water.

Hope that you all had a great new years eve (mine was full of watching fireworks!) and please remember to email me, write and just generally keep in touch!

I'll try and do the same. :)