So its official....i suck at keeping a blog up to date, however i must say its not that i forgot about it, it has definately been one of those things that nags at me just as i am falling into bed, and i promise that i will write on tomorrow.
Anyway...where to start.
Thank goodness that the long cold winter has sort of come to an end. Although its not warm yet, we do have glimpses of gorgeous spring weather, and then it will suddenly switch from being 20, back down to 7. But the nights are getting nice and long. It is light here till 9, which is AWESOME. It really makes you feel like you are getting the most out of your after work hours when there is still light...loving it.
Over Easter we did an awesome roadtrip with Ben and Megan around Ireland. The pics are on my facebook page. We flew into Belfast and then travelled across Nth Ireland to Galway (in the republic) and then to Dublin. We hired a car and it was so nice to be our own bosses, doing what we wanted, when we wanted, and we even had a sat nav to help us navigate.
We loved Galway, its super cute and in Dublin we went to an hilarioius comedy night.....there were like 4 comedians, all of whom were very funny. Definately a great night out. Ben and Megan left us in Dublin and proceeded back to Belfast to return to London.
Caleb and i carried on for another 4 days. We went all around Ireland - Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, Killarney, Kilkenny, Cashel, Cahir, Cork etc. We had a lovely time....some very beautiful scenery.
We were really stoked to meet up with a guy that caleb used to work with in Fletchers in NZ, who has returned to Ireland. He showed us around his part of Ireland and probably a highlight was this wee pub that he took us to. It is in literally a town in the middle of nowhere, and from the outside there is nothing that looks overly inviting. However this pub has been owned by the same family for 400 years, and once you enter it you also see that at the far end of the pub is another local business, also owned by the same family......the undertakers!
What is also so awesome about this pub is that apparently just close by is one of the top horse racing stables in Ireland, and it is here that many celebrities have shares in various horses. When they visit the stables, it is this pub that they come to. On the walls of the pub are many pictures of celebrities hanging out in the pub. These include, George Foreman, the Presley family, Andrew Lloyd Webber and many English sporting stars. It is a very rustic, unpretentious place, with an amazing history!
Other than Ireland we have not done any further travelling....however we are looking forward to returning home in June for a visit. Currently we are meant to be comin home via Thailand, but with all the riots there, we are not sure if that is wise....so we will see what happens.
I think another highlight for us was the ANZAC day sports challenge that was held out here in west london. Ben and i play tag rugby (ripper rugby?) in a social grade over here. Anyway Ben was asked to represent NZ at the ANZAC day tournament which he agreed to (as he's ridiculously good!). Then about a week out from the tournament Ben got an email asking if Caleb and i could play too....ummmmm Caleb has played one game and i am not good....talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel.
Anyway, we agreed and so found ourselves representing for NZ in front of a large NZ/Aussie crowd....no pressure! The mens team played first and they got schooled by the Aussies, but our mixed game was very close.....and in the end we came away the winners! I was sooooo excited, i absoloutely love beating Australians....im not sure if there is a much better feeling! So yeah, i am officially a NZ rep...woop woop.
The day was really good all round though. NZ beat Australia at pretty much every sport.....which was amazing.
Ben and Megan have been planning all their travels over the past few weeks....its making me incrediblly jealous, but i have to keep reminding myself that i will get my own chance! And then it also gives me motivation to save more!
I have 2 new friends arrive over here, 2 of my colleagues from social work in NZ...its cool having them here, they are still looking for jobs, i think i was extremely lucky at how quickly i got mine.
I think that is about all.. cant wait to see everyone!
Luv to all
xoxoxox
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
been a while.....
Im pretty sure that im just gettin way slacker at writing the longer we are here, partly cos im lazy and partly cos i feel like i haven't done anything incredibly exciting...but when i think about it, we have done some cool stuff, and even the really boring stuff you might be interested in. So....
Fun Stuff
Caleb had his first Ireland experience....we managed to time it for the end of the big snows, which was really lucky, cos whole airports were being shut down etc, but we flew out fine and were just arriving in Belfast when the pilot told us we were being diverted to Derry. Thats ok, we thought, especially cos we were told that it would just be a refuel, whilst they cleared the runway after a snow flurry in Belfast. However after about 30min of sitting on the runway in Derry they informed us that we were going to be bussed from Derry to Belfast, about 1hr 30min. Again not too bad, kinda like a free tour of Ireland courtesty of Ryan Air....and it was so pretty and snowy. However the promised coaches took another hour and a half to turn up...apparently they were being de-iced....puhlease!!!! But the trip to Belfast was a much needed time to have a nap, as it had been a 3am start that morning.
We met Julie and Erin and they took us straight downtown to meet their other halves. We went to the oldest pub in Nth Ireland, which is very quaint, and Caleb had his first Guiness....a pretty cool place to have his first taste! He also had a traditional fry up....never one to do things by halves!
It was FREEZING in Ireland, but we had amazing hospitality and we even managed to see the dry dock where the Titanic was built...which is amazing! And tried to walk along a beach, but only lasted about 5 min before actually being frozen.
Got to see and show Caleb some really cute bits of Nthrn Ireland, whetting his appetite for our roadtrip which we have planned with Ben and Megan for the Easter Break. We are going to start in Belfast, drive to Galway, then to Dublin and back up to Belfast....really looking forward to it!
Megan and I had the most amazing night on Monday....we went to see Grease!!!! It was truly amazing. We booked online, and somehow scored seats in the second row right in the middle...we enjoyed commenting on how we could see the spit from the actors! Totally incredible, pumping, enthusiastic, fun packed night....i truly didn't want it to end....and i soooo wanted to be Sandy!
I would be quite happy to go again, but now my appetite is whet again for more amazing west end musicals!
We are enjoying having our home, and space, and have had Jess and Carl stay over a wee bit which is fun. We are expecting to have more lovely lodgers over the next few months.....Urs and Mel!!! Can't wait to show you our lil bit of London.
The weather is quite freezing....getting down to -4 overnight and highs of 2 during the day, but its all bearable if there is no wind, which seems pretty common. There are also some beautiful clear winter days, which are really nice. It doesnt seem to rain much too, so im loving that.
Work
GRRRRR.....probably not the best time for me to be writing about work when i have had such a crappy two days....but......yeah! Pretty busy, annoying clients, annoying everything really.....not so much fun at the moment...but handing over some cases soon which i am looking forward to! Anyway, enough from me Miss Grumpy!
Caleb is probably not the best person to talk to about work to either......he had to leave Build Burro as they were running out of work, and he landed another job, but is working the most insane hours....he is out of the house at 5am, not returning till 8pm at the earliest, but normally between 9-12am. I am a work widow! However, gotta do what you gotta do. His job is in Surrey, south of London and his company is contracted to build and expand Sainsbury's (a grocery chain). But he is hanging in there, and as long as he can stomach the hours, which include working sat and some sundays, including his birthday this sunday, he will stay.
So anyway, that is a little catchup for you....just uploaded some photos of our home and the canal by us...its pretty gorgeous! Hope you can see them!
Luv lots
xoxoxxo
Fun Stuff
Caleb had his first Ireland experience....we managed to time it for the end of the big snows, which was really lucky, cos whole airports were being shut down etc, but we flew out fine and were just arriving in Belfast when the pilot told us we were being diverted to Derry. Thats ok, we thought, especially cos we were told that it would just be a refuel, whilst they cleared the runway after a snow flurry in Belfast. However after about 30min of sitting on the runway in Derry they informed us that we were going to be bussed from Derry to Belfast, about 1hr 30min. Again not too bad, kinda like a free tour of Ireland courtesty of Ryan Air....and it was so pretty and snowy. However the promised coaches took another hour and a half to turn up...apparently they were being de-iced....puhlease!!!! But the trip to Belfast was a much needed time to have a nap, as it had been a 3am start that morning.
We met Julie and Erin and they took us straight downtown to meet their other halves. We went to the oldest pub in Nth Ireland, which is very quaint, and Caleb had his first Guiness....a pretty cool place to have his first taste! He also had a traditional fry up....never one to do things by halves!
It was FREEZING in Ireland, but we had amazing hospitality and we even managed to see the dry dock where the Titanic was built...which is amazing! And tried to walk along a beach, but only lasted about 5 min before actually being frozen.
Got to see and show Caleb some really cute bits of Nthrn Ireland, whetting his appetite for our roadtrip which we have planned with Ben and Megan for the Easter Break. We are going to start in Belfast, drive to Galway, then to Dublin and back up to Belfast....really looking forward to it!
Megan and I had the most amazing night on Monday....we went to see Grease!!!! It was truly amazing. We booked online, and somehow scored seats in the second row right in the middle...we enjoyed commenting on how we could see the spit from the actors! Totally incredible, pumping, enthusiastic, fun packed night....i truly didn't want it to end....and i soooo wanted to be Sandy!
I would be quite happy to go again, but now my appetite is whet again for more amazing west end musicals!
We are enjoying having our home, and space, and have had Jess and Carl stay over a wee bit which is fun. We are expecting to have more lovely lodgers over the next few months.....Urs and Mel!!! Can't wait to show you our lil bit of London.
The weather is quite freezing....getting down to -4 overnight and highs of 2 during the day, but its all bearable if there is no wind, which seems pretty common. There are also some beautiful clear winter days, which are really nice. It doesnt seem to rain much too, so im loving that.
Work
GRRRRR.....probably not the best time for me to be writing about work when i have had such a crappy two days....but......yeah! Pretty busy, annoying clients, annoying everything really.....not so much fun at the moment...but handing over some cases soon which i am looking forward to! Anyway, enough from me Miss Grumpy!
Caleb is probably not the best person to talk to about work to either......he had to leave Build Burro as they were running out of work, and he landed another job, but is working the most insane hours....he is out of the house at 5am, not returning till 8pm at the earliest, but normally between 9-12am. I am a work widow! However, gotta do what you gotta do. His job is in Surrey, south of London and his company is contracted to build and expand Sainsbury's (a grocery chain). But he is hanging in there, and as long as he can stomach the hours, which include working sat and some sundays, including his birthday this sunday, he will stay.
So anyway, that is a little catchup for you....just uploaded some photos of our home and the canal by us...its pretty gorgeous! Hope you can see them!
Luv lots
xoxoxxo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)