The Dogs Bollocks

City breaks and a 'real' holiday

2009-10-15T21:00:00.013Z

Lisbon, Portugal (3 nights)
Will remember it for: Trams, hills and a bridge like San Fran; blooming jacarandas; retro labels and packaging.
Developed a habit for: a daily cocktail at the terrace bar overlooking the bay
Highlight: stumbling across a mountain bike race winding and jumping its way through the narrow alleys of the old city
Wasn't keen on: the very industrial strip right near the river
Would go back to: do day trips to the mountains and beaches; do the museums and more cocktail-o'clock!

Porto, Portugal (2 nights)
Will remember it for: My first sight of the bridge; learning the difference between all the different types of port; art deco buildings and signs.
Developed a habit for: free port samples
Highlight: The Porto football team had won a game the afternoon that we arrived, which pretty much guaranteed they would win the Championship. That night, everyone was on the streets celebrating with a ticker tape parade. Whole families were out - our Brazilian roommate was scared by the crowds and when he saw police, went back to the hostel!
Wasn't keen on: the food (not sure if it was just our choices, but it was disappointing).
Would go back to: sample/buy more port

Copenhagen, Denmark (2 nights)
Will remember it for: Inspirational design; being a pretty city with a whimsical feel; young mums pushing strollers; street music wherever we went.
Developed a habit for: Cake in the afternoon tea (particularly at the cafe next to Royal Copenhagen)
Highlight: riding around pretending we were locals
Wasn't keen on: having to actually wait for the green man before crossing the road
Would go back to: buy Danish design furniture and antiques; find out the name of an artist whose name I foolishly didn't write down.

Paris, France (3 nights)
Will remember it for: being the trip where we actually started to like the food
Developed a habit for: Coincidences
Highlight: A crazy last night in the Bastille. We went to a bar that a friend recommended in the Bastille and meet a punk rocker from a 70s band called the Tubes. He introduced us to 'the most famous woman in Paris', Charlotte Gainsbourg who just happened to be passing with her son. At the same bar we ran into some fashion designer friends of one of our London friends (had never met them before, just recognised them from facebook photos), then three cool kids that I had photographed on a bridge earlier that day (so I took another photo).
Wasn't keen on: Catching the Eurostar back on Monday morning for work, after 3 hours sleep.
Would go back to: do a day trip to Versailles; actually climb the Effiel tower (three times and we only ever seem to toast it); see what the night brings!

Zurich, Switzerland (2 nights)
Will remember it for: Colourful umbrellas (in London they're mostly black); fresh mountain air, cow-bells and bugs that sound like sprinklers; village church bells in the morning and all things cherry flavoured.
Developed a habit for: meat, cheese and boiled eggs for breakfast
Highlight: We were there for the National Day celebrations so went down to the lakeside and watched all the unofficial and official fireworks being set off - definitely a more spontaneous and jubilant feel than Australia's 'legal', organised, fireworks displays.
Wasn't keen on: tension between the Swiss and German
Would go back to: see it with Trent; spend more time in actual Zurich

New York, USA (5 nights)
Will remember it for: Actually scoring finals and semi-final tickets for the tennis but not getting to see any; seeing more of Brooklyn/Willamsburg; exploring the weekend markets
Developed a habit for: Brunch in a new place every day
Highlight: working our way through about 5 different lists of recommendations, catching up with both Oz and London friends in one amazing city, the new 'Highline' from the Meatpacking district
Wasn't keen on: missing both the tennis and Meredith; the Metro - no signs to tell you how long til the next train and lousy signage when stations/lines are closed. If only NY could have London's Tube at Russian Metro prices...
Would go back to: shop, live, explore all the different areas to my heart's content

Dalmatia Coast, Croatia (8 days, island hopping from Split down to Dubrovinik)
Will remember it for: being our first relaxing holiday since moving away from Australia; pomegranate, fig and olive trees growing everywhere; black squid risotto; completely slowing down and not worrying about we hadn't got to see; super saltly sea water and pebbly beaches which make graceful exits impossible; NOT seeing any Dalmatians.
Developed a habit for: sun and sea; gauging how tanned my arm is against my tummy
Highlight: Courgette flower papardelle that Trent cooked one night, using fresh flowers from the market in Dubrovnik; 'discovering' our own private cove when scootering around Korcula Island.
Wasn't keen on: the spikey black sea urchin that I stepped on, on Hvar Island; house wine most of the times we ordered it.
Would go back to: enjoy the food; remember what it is to really relax; see Zagreb and explore northern Croatia.

Since Russia...

2009-07-27T20:32:00.018Z

Well, its 2009 and we've switched travel strategies. We've already used up a good chunk of precious leave on a well-overdue trip back to Australia. So this year, we've been doing the typical Australians-on-a-work-holiday-visa thing, and cramming in the weekend trips. So far we've hit Lisbon, Porto, Copenhagen and popped back to Paris. But before I get onto that, here's a gap-filler since our last blog:

In October, Mike, my former boss from the Christmas Island project, came over to do the Europe thing. His son had recently left London for a Hong Kong post, which fortunately for us meant we got a longer stint playing tour guides. We elbowed our way through crowded markets (Columbia Rd flower markets on the left), trudged up different lookouts, showed off our favourite hangouts and tried some new ones. For my birthday, we splashed out and did the degustation menu at La Gavroche.

In November, we celebrated a friend's birthday in Barcelona with a group of twenty. We had a great night out at Razzamatazz (a giant warehouse club with live bands and different types of music on each level that even impressed relauctant clubbers like us) and got to fit a bit of sightseeing on either side. In Barcelona I discovered 'Le Cool' guides, a Spanish set of jumbled travel guides that skip the practicalities of a city to fit in more wierd and juicy bits. My favourite find was a bar called La Primitiva - a members club with caged birds along one wall and filled with smoky old men.

In December, we spent our first vegetarian Christmas (tasty!) with Dave and Alex, who were over to do a spot of travel with Dave's sister. It was a brief stop, but at least we knew we were going to catch up again in Adelaide in March.

In January we were up for a real treat with the heaviest snow London had seen in at least 10 years. Transport, including buses, ground to a halt, so many Londoners got to enjoy a day off work to make snowmen and wander the snowy streets. On the visitor front, Brooke and Trevor made the first of a number of stops as they passed through London (bringing snow each time).

In March, we finally got back to Oz for three weeks. We'd missed two births and two weddings (thankfully no funerals) since our last visit so we had four new additions to the family to meet/spend time with.

Our first night was in Adelaide at Dave and Alex's new place. It was great to see that they have settled back into Adelaide life, with a cruisy walk to work each day. We briefly caught up with my Uncle, Auntie, cousins and their tribes in the Adelaide Hills, before driving down to Mt Gambier to see my grandparents. Twenty minutes out of Adelaide and Trent announced that driving was boring and questioned why all cars didn't have cruise control.

We arrived in Mt Gambier well-past Nanna and Gramps' bedtime and spent the next few days chaffeuring doctor, podiatrist and hospital visits. We inspected the vegetable patch, heard about Gramps' rabbit-skinning record, and giggled at Nanna and Mum bickering while smiling for a photo. After two nights it was time to head to Canberra with a quick stop off in Melbourne on the way. We headed straight to Stuart's new place in north Melbourne before meeting up with Kareen at Chantelle's birthday dinner in Fitzroy. We got Stuart to stay out late on a school night (hehe), convinced him to actually apply for a passport by tempting him with plans to catch the tennis in New York, then headed straight back to the airport for our morning flight.

In Canberra, we caught up with old workmates, including one of the last former Finance graduates that have stuck around, shopped for belated birthday presents, and had cheap Australian dollar haircuts. We also got to spend some time with family, meeting our niece Grace before heading onto Parkes to meet our nephew Spencer too. We temporarily left Trent's family, after eating more meat than we had had in the last six months in London, and headed up to Brisbane.

We arrived in time for a deluge, which was a good excuse to revisit GOMA. We met my brother Mike's new wife Carol and hung out with some of their Malaysian friends who were in town (we learnt 'RMIT' is how you say cheers in Malaysian). We stopped at Nick and Heather's for a scrummy weekend brunch and got to hear about their year volunteering in Tanzania. Also popped out for dinner with Anna (who is spending a year back in Brissie on secondment) and later Sarah (got her on board for a trip to New York for the tennis!).

After a few days, it was down to the Gold Coast for a 10-day stretch with both of our families over Easter. Trent and the boys zoomed around on scooters, we sat around peeling prawns and fit in plenty of trips to the beach. It was great to catch up with Crystal, Renee, Candice and the Grays too, but it was all over too soon! Since then we already have another nephew (Welcome Eli!) and another one due in November, so in no time at all we'll need to do it all again.

Russia via Tel Aviv

2008-09-07T22:11:00.008Z

This year, we haven't crammed in as many European breaks. Instead, we've tried to do a few longer trips to longer-haul destinations to take advantage of tax-only fares while we can get 'em. So next plan was to spend about 10 days in Russia, meeting up with Codie (aka Mr Pink) in St Petersberg. We rocked up at the airport for our standby flight, as normal, but got all the way to the gate before being told that the flight was full. Gutted.

The Sunday flight was also full so we faced having to head home for the rest of the weekend (precious leave AND visa days wasted!) and then coming back to try again on Monday or Tuesday. Luckily, Codie was at Heathrow on his way out for a flight and suggested that we join him in Tel Aviv for the weekend before coming back to London to reattempt the Moscow leg. After some frantic calls to try and catch someone at a computer who could find out if we would need visas (thanks Ian!), we agreed. Less than an hour later, Codie had managed to get us upgraded so we sat sipping champagne and contemplating all that we didn't know about Tel Aviv. Quite a turn around from what had started as a crap day!

It turns out that Tel Aviv is quite the party town and some what of a Gay Mecca so on the first night we were introduced to the life of a flight crew on stop over. You guessed it, plenty of drinking and plenty of dancing in gay bars where tops are optional. The night spiralled into a blur and ended with a refreshing dip in the Mediterranean - thankfully there aren't any rips to worry about in Israel so we all made it through ok.

Our one and only day in Israel was started with a delightful Israeli breakfast made up of fried eggs, tomato salsa, cucumber and some kind of tsaziki type thing. After stuffing ourselves with the over sized breakfast and a seriously strong coffee we were off to explore the city. The main highlights were the old port of Jaffa, another dip in the Med and a converted waterfront area kind of similar to Darling Habour where we finished off with a delicious tapas style meal.

All-in-all Israel was a great experience. The people were warm and welcoming, the weather and beach was great and definitely a place we'd be keen to get back to at some stage. At the very least, it would be worthwhile to go back for Jerusalem and potentially Bethlehem.

Then it was back to London, to try and get on the next flight to Moscow and start making up for lost time....

We're Mortgagees!

2008-09-07T21:18:00.006Z

Before we had left for Glastonbury we had put an offer in on an one bedroom apartment near Kings Cross station. The postcode is officially 'Bloomsbury' (impresses literary types) and its in Zone 1, so right in the heart of London. Although we were keen to hear back from the vendor, with all the distractions of the festival we didn't give it much thought over the weekend.

When we arrived back in London, we were told our offer had been rejected. Nevertheless, we went and had another look at the place (it was my first viewing) then put in another offer after the next weekend. Low and behold, it was accepted. The vendor had had the place on the market for over six months and was moving to New Zealand, so was very keen to settle quickly. That was fine by us, and we managed it in about 5 weeks (normally settlement takes about 3 months here). It still seemed to take forever and not knowing the process certainly made things a wee bit frustrating.

We had hoped to have everything sorted before the end of July and the trip we had planned to Russia at the beginning of August. Turns out that at least our mortgage approval came through before we left but with plenty still to sort out, we had some interesting calls from Russia. We exchanged contracts on the Monday that we were supposed to arrive back in London (that's a whole other blog), then picked up the keys on Tuesday (Yippee!).

Rather than do things the normal way, we had also decided to buy an apartment in an old red brick school that is being converted into apartments in Kilburn, just a few streets over from the place we were renting. The school conversion won't be ready until Summer 2009, which gave us time to buy something else in the meantime. We were able to negotiate a 'half now, half in six months' deposit, so are aiming to rent out the Kings Cross place and move back to Kilburn once its completed. A bit of stretch, but we figured if we stretch ourselves in the short term, it'll pay off in the longer term.

Fast forward a few weeks and we're all unpacked, settled and don't know why we hadn't moved much sooner. It feels like we're in another city, and with such a concentration of markets, restaurants, bars etc in our new area we are wondering if we'll wanna move back to Kilburn next year. It's also a novelty having a place to ourselves again! We had reverted to sharing when we first got to London, which definitely helped us save a house deposit but took getting used to after having had a place to ourselves.

At only 32 sq metres, its a shoebox but at least its ours! The last owners had refurbished it and most of the furniture was included so we didn't have to buy much when we moved in. Just a few slicks of colour (left: pic of kitchen red 'trials') and I think we'll be done. Even better, the facade of the building is due for an update in 2008/2009 which should help spruce things up. Our first visitor is set to arrive in two weeks, so Hotel Littlewood will officially be opening its doors - when are you coming?

Back from Glasto

2008-07-08T20:04:00.003Z

This year, thanks to some hip hop-headline controversy and a very wet recent history, the Glastonbury festival did not sell out straight away. In fact the tickets sales were so poor that the overly thorough pre-registration process (including photo IDs, closing months before tickets go on sale) was reopened to try and boost sales, and help Michael Eavis (farm owner/organiser) sleep at night. This is how we came to attend Glastonbury 2008.

We managed to borrow all our camping gear from various friends then headed up to Glastonbury to set up camp on Thursday. Two hours on a train to Bristol, another 2 on a crawling bus then a march across the site and we had arrived. We camped with Caz (one of the friends that we spent Christmas with) and some of her pals, high on a hill and safe from potential washouts. Later we found out that Ian Ross had been camping on the same hill, nearby (how did we manage to miss that?).

It wasn't long after we'd set up our tents, when the rain began. We still trudged around exploring the various entertainment areas for a while, but abandoned a scary Melissa George movie to head back to the campsite, wet and muddy on the first night. We woke up on Friday, with water in our tent, surrounded by wet and muddy clothes that we'd hung up the night before, wondering if we were going to be in for just another rained out Glastonbury (how long would we last?). Trent - "Well, we're not doing this again!" - then the bands began...

I had thought that three days of bands might get a bit overwhelming, but with such a variety of bands and plenty of breaks in between, we had a blast! We probably saw more bands, than we have in the two years that we've been in London. The big names that we set out to see had definitely earned their place on the bigger stages - a surprise appearance by Franz Ferdinand, the Raconteurs, Kings of Leon, Goldfrapp and The Verve. We saw a few duds, but didn't stick around long with so many other alternatives.

Our pick of the festival was Räfven, a band of eight Swedish street performers (http://www.myspace.com/rafven). They were on a smaller stage and we hadn't heard of them so figured we would stay for a few songs, then head on to see something else. It didn't take them long to attract a crowd and get everyone up and dancing, with their humour, vigour, fox mascot, hula hooping saxophonist and high-kicking violinist. We felt lucky to have caught their performance and joined the mob that swarmed afterwards to get a copy of their cd.

Unfortunately we hadn't realised how long it would take to get back from Glastonbury, so hadn't taken leave on Monday. Fortunately one of the guys in our group (apparently Reuters employees' "most fanciable man' for 3 years running), was driving back to London straight after the last band so were able to hitch a ride. Unfortunately this still meant we arrived back in London at 5am. Fortunately we had plenty of time for long overdue showers (funny that we didn't feel that stinky until we were back on the tube in London) before heading back to work for a very long day, but still buzzing. Unfortunately the buzz didn't get us through the Lou Reed concert that we had on that night (Trent napped).

More familar faces in new places

2008-05-26T21:39:00.005Z

So we've already mentioned how much fun it is to meet up with familiar faces in new places (Adventures with Alex and Dave in Summer 07), so I thought I'd run through our most recent travels with Trent's Dad and his friend, Quinny. We decided it was about time we knuckled down and saw the nearby countryside, given that we've been here almost two years and have been totally neglecting the UK outside of London.

The first day we did a whirlwind tour of London. Hearing Trent's Dad and Quinny's first impressions of London reminded me of all the little things you notice about a new city (For them it was the traffic lights changing from green to orange before red, and comparing the price of different cuts of steak). Then we headed to Cambridge for some punting, pints, cycling through the Cambridgeshire countryside, and old buildings (definitely prettier than Oxford). During the week T and I headed back to work while Trent's dad and Quinny spent the time day-tripping from London.

Next we met them in Edinburgh for the weekend. I had heard a lot of good things about Edinburgh but was still impressed. Our first real view of the city was rounding the corner onto Waverly Bridge and seeing a valley of old buildings set against a cliff face ('Arthur's Seat' - gasp!), which we later climbed. We had taken an early flight after a late night out so I spent most of the weekend involuntarily falling asleep every time I was still (eg. city bus tour/karaoke bar surrounded by Hen parties) or in a dark room (eg. Scotch whisky tour). It was our first venture up into Scotland and overall the Scottish seemed friendly with a good sense of humour, easy going, if not a little out-spoken. We will definitely try and go back for the Fringe Festival one year.

The next weekend we took a train up to Manchester then drove up to the Lakes District. There we had plenty of green, green, English countryside and spectacular scenery. We climbed one of the peaks (Skiddaw) and were a little bit disappointed to find that, for the most part, the ruins of the Roman's Hadrian's Wall looked alot like all the other stone walls dividing the fields. It was a novelty driving through the narrow, hedged country roads and I couldn't help but stop to watch everytime I saw a lamb feeding (coming from a tail-less sheep country, how could I know that they can wag their tails?!!!).

It's been interesting travelling with/organising things to do for a 'different age group'. There's been a lot more toilet breaks, a lot more pub stops, and less of the 'must sees' that we are accustomed to (galleries, markets, restaurants etc), but its been great to spend some time with family. We are really looking forward to going home for our first Christmas since we left, not to mention any other family/friend visits to the UK in between/after!

One and a half months of London disillusionment

2008-05-26T20:28:00.010Z

Arriving back from New York at Christmas was the first time we felt a little bit disappointed to be coming back to London. We were starting to wonder whether aiming for the minimum 5 year stay from the start (to get a passport, diligently tracking our each of our entry and exit dates) meant it was inevitable that we would end up feeling like we were just doing our time. But surely we were just spoilt and over-travelled, taking what we had for granted?

On Trent's birthday in January we made a list of all things we still wanted to do (and had to look forward to) in London, to try and boost our right-of-abode-plans morale. This worked to some extent, but it was what we did next that had the most impact.

In February, we decided to take a trip further afield while Mr Pink was still graciously organising standby flights for us through BMI. We decided to fly to Dakar, then travel down to Gambia and back (an expensive flight, even at taxes-only). Our previous experience on the continent was limited to Northern Africa (Morocco and Egypt), but at least we were hassle-hardened and ready for a challenge!

We were off to a good start in French-speaking Dakar (ah, the memories get fonder with time!), taking it in our stride when we found out that our confirmed 3 night booking was only for 2 nights (just dragging our bags round the corner to another hotel we had spotted), and not falling for 'Remember Me?' or 'My wife has just had a baby, please make a contribution' scams from the few English-speaking guys.

We hired a taxi for the day and headed out of Dakar, stopping off at the Keur Moussa Monastery to catch the chanting monks, and 'Lac Rose' to watch the salt miners - a shimmering pink lake (due to minerals in the water) where the Paris to Dakar rally finishes - and spent a good part of the day walking around the lake. We realised that the taxi driver couldn't actually read the road signs so he got directions by stopping to ask passers-by which way to go, every few hundred metres.

We concluded that we're not very big fans of West-African art after checking out a few galleries (although there was a cool mask that I wasn't allowed to take a picture of), and caught the colourful pirogue fishing boats coming in one afternoon along the beach at Soumbedioune. After three nights it was off to the Gambia, a non-stop eight hour drive in a seven person taxi (a gutted Mercedes with no suspension). The roads were so pot-holed in some parts, that all of the traffic chose to drive on the sand and bushtracks alongside the road.

The border crossing into the Gambia was chaotic, with the locals pointing us sore-thumbs in the right direction while they freely crossed back and forth without paperwork. The customs guy ceremoniously checked his list to make sure Australia was actually a Commonwealth country. Then it was onto a packed ferry, nestled amongst upside down chickens to cross the river to the capital, Banjul.

Before we had arrived, we had dismissed the idea of the English 'all inclusive' tour packages which meant you never had to leave your resort. But we quickly realised the attraction. Because everyone can speak English, we couldn't walk down the street without a young guy coming up to introduce themselves, welcome you to the country and ask for your email address....sounds friendly but it didn't take long before we just wanted to be left alone. As long as you didn't have a local with you, you were fair game. They would usually ask for our email address or money for 'showing us around' - strangely enough, the day we arrived in Gambia we started getting those dodgy scam emails from Nigerian government officials saying we had millions owed to us in unpaid contracts which they could transfer if we just provided our bank account and passport details....

We spent one night in Banjul before heading down the Coast to Fajara. The best thing we did in the Gambia was to go to a restaurant called Yok on top of the African Living Arts Centre in Fajara. It was beautifully lit up at night with a outdoor conservatory feel. Ah, the solitude. One of my favourite restaurants in the world.

While in Fajara, we both got tummy bugs so things kinda went downhill from there. We had already lost patience with being hassled but being sick wore down our resistance even more. On Valentine's Day, although we were pretty weak we headed to the beach to watch the sunset over the ocean. We sat high up in the sand dunes, as we were wary of the young guys exercising along the beach. Sure enough, as soon as they spotted us, they would start making a wide arch up our way to stop, take a seat and expect a chat. We concluded that maybe a trip to the Gambia should be included as part of a British citizenship test - the ultimate challenge of politeness endurance.

The only part of leaving the Gambia that we weren't looking forward to, was the squishy non-stop sept-taxi back to Dakar. We were still sick so not at a point where we could imagine eight hours without frequent bathroom breaks! We tried not to eat or drink much the night before and amazingly made it, notwithstanding all the jostling to our queasy tummies. A group of laughing mammas that we picked up along the way cheered me up a bit.

Back to Dakar and determined to still get out and about, we caught a ferry out to Ile de Gorree, a tiny colourful island with a Mediterranean feel that was the last stop for many of the slaves that were shipped out of Africa. This was definitely one of our favourite stops, despite being called racist for not hiring a guide. We almost kissed the ground when we touched down back at Heathrow. If we were ever to go back, I would like to spend some time in the Casamance region (although DFAT currently warns against travel there) and would have to persuade Trent to do some wildlife-watching trips up river.

New York City the second time round

2008-01-05T23:51:00.002Z

We headed back to New York for Christmas, renting an apartment in the Upper West side with a group of friends. It was great to get a second bite, since I had spent a good portion of our last visit checking out the bins and gutters. And with most of the touristy sites already ticked off, we were free to wander the city.

To start with, we were scurrying around preparing for Christmas with alot of laughs along the way - we had food and Secret Santa pressies to buy, and a competition for the cheapest and/or tackiest Christmas decoration to win (the Kmart boy just looked at me blankly when I mentioned 'tacky' - is it even a word Americans use, or was it just my accent?). It was strange to be able to delineate which Christmas traditions belong to the US vs the UK, given I'd previously always lumped them all in the cold weather box. Eggnog and pumpkin pie belong to the US. Pudding, mince pies, mulled wine are UK. And we couldn't find christmas crackers in US stores, but weren't sure if this was because we were shopping on Christmas Eve...

Then there was the Kenny Rogers Christmas Special. We left Mahattan and ventured beyond a town called 'Hicksville' for the ocassion. With a revolving stage, and a mix of Kenny's greatest hits and Christmas carols/cheers, there was just the right amount of American cheese to get us in the Christmas spirit. Strangely, they handed out sachets of hand sanitising on the way in (so Kenny could feel comfortable shaking people's hands?). The biggest surprise on the night (there were several) was to find out that 69 year old Kenny had three and a half year old twins who made an appearance - one even sang The Gambler.

To top off the merriment on Christmas day, we went ice-skating in Central Park. Even saw some racoons on the way (I initially thought that this would mean that squirrels would no longer impress me, but then today we saw one leap/fly from a tree branch to rooftop!).

On Boxing Day we headed to Brooklyn to stay with Meredith, a friend that we met in Morocco. It was a great finish to the trip to get a New Yorker's view of the City. She took us to see Spring Awakening on Broadway (which Trent has declared the best show he's seen), as well as a few of her favourite spots around town. Our last few days were a bit of a blur as we tried to fit as much shopping (its was all two-for-one on account of the dollar dive) as possible, as well as managing a catch up with one of my work colleagues. Once again we left wanting more - always the right time to leave, I say!

Quite a waffle

2008-01-05T22:36:00.000Z

So our trip to Belgium got off to a shakey start - apparently the fact that we were travelling on the Eurostar made us forget that you can still need a passport on a train. Temporary setback, although I am now convinced that we have had almost every sort of travel-hiccup possible. Sometimes we share our stories with others just to make them feel generally more organised and lucky.....

Anyway, our first stop was Bruges and it was just dandy. We had correctly anticipated touristy (possibly the world's largest-per-capita number of alternating lace and chocolate shops), but still really enjoyed ourselves. Although we stayed in a hostel, our steady consumption of beer, mussels, beer, waffles, chocolate and beer was enough to remind us that we were no longer backpacking (God save the pound).

Naturally my favourite day was my birthday, when we hired bikes and cycled to the nearby village of Damme. After a bite to eat and a 'browse' around the village, we asked for directions to the beach and spent the next few hours vainly attempting to find it. We only managed to find an industrial area (complete with docked ship playing house music very loudly?) with canals that no doubt would have led to sea, but by that stage we were ready to turn back. Still a lovely ride through the very flat countryside.

We also sought out a pub down a very narrow alley off of one of the main squares that was the home of 'Garre' beer. There we met a Belgian/Hungarian couple (both teachers), courtesy of the shared tables, who were only too happy to educate us about all things Belgian. Among other things, we learnt that apparently Belgians are born with a brick in their stomachs (they love to build houses), many pubs have a three drink limit 'for health' (Belgians frown upon drunkedness), and that cheese and mustard go very well with Belgian beer.

Next stop was Brussels, which didn't go down quite as easy as Bruges. A meal at a dodgy Asian restaurant (Brussels is actually supposed to have really good Vietnamese restaurants) didn't get us off to a good start. After we stumbled across a view over the city, I decided that Brussels doesn't seemed to have combined old with new as well as London has. We did enjoy scrounging through a local bric 'n brac market and there were some nice 'house' shops, but overall it was still disappointing after Bruges. Nevertheless we loaded our suitcase up with beer from the supermarket (they don't sell cartons) and headed back to London with the unlimited baggage of the Eurostar.

Little things I am getting used to in Londontown

2007-11-21T20:53:00.000Z

1. An orange glow to the night sky - seemed a little eerie to start with, but it makes for an interesting backdrop. Who says London is always grey and wet?

2. Instant public transport - very easy to get used to. Any more than a three minute wait for the tube and you can assume there are probably 'severe delays'. Not that its always works, but you have to admire the organisation of a system that can deliver a steady stream of people at one or two minute intervals all over the city.

3. Hardly any insects and the spiders are small and few - what, not even the occassional ant trail? I don't miss Queensland's coachroaches though.

4. Are you alright? This is London's equivalent to 'How are you?', which I found quite disturbing to start with, thinking that I must look really sick, tired or upset to be getting this question. I am getting used to it now, and even manage to respond with an awkward, 'Yeah, are you?' every now and then.

5. A long trip home - My door-to-door comute is about hour, which is not that bad compared to some of my workmates and I don't mind the tube, but its no 10 minute Canberran drive. The other week I got up early to go to gym before work. I'm not really a morning person so after going for a jog and jumping in the shower, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. That is, until I remembered I had left my work clothes hanging on the back of a door in NW Zone 2! I sheepishly scuttled back home, making it back to work by about 10.30am. That was a long day!

6. The Queen's English - its called that because only the Queen speaks it. Although maybe I'm just not hanging out in the right circles. I do enjoy the 'brillant' adjectives though, and lots of double ffs - 'Stop faffing about!... I was chuffed!'

7. Effervescence - When we were travelling through Central Europe, sparkling water was the bane of our bottled water existence with us always having to remember to ask for 'no gas' or still. But then, one day I woke up and just liked it. Not sure what happened there. These days I notice effervescence everywhere - just name a supplement and its likely to come in an effervescent form. Right now I am sipping effervescent glucosamine - how novel.

A post from Trent

2007-10-07T20:31:00.000Z

Well after Amanda's good work on the blog I thought I should take her lead and write a blog of my own. Besides, it seems there are still a few of you out there that are actually still reading this thing (yes I'm talking about you Nick and of course my big Sis Tracy).

Well, what has been going on in the world of Trent? I think Amanda has done a good job at getting you up to date, but the biggest question for me at the moment is whether or not to go permanent at work. There is an internal push to make contractors permanent and my boss is keen to keep me. However, they have totally left it up to me to make an offer and at the end of the day I know the cash in the pocket won’t be as good as being a contractor. I know its not all about money, it definitely helps! But on the other hand, having Visa on the CV is a big bonus and it really is a great place to work.......mmmmm so many factors to consider. What a conundrum! Oh well I am sure it will work itself out.

The other big news is that we are off to the Big Apple for Christmas for nine nights. It'll be great to spend a decent stint there after the spew-interrupted and over-rushed venture that New York was last time. We haven't made too many plans yet, other than going to see the ultimate in American cheese, Kenny Rogers - "you've gotta know when to hold'em.....etc" and of course the post Christmas sales.

Our new-found friends in Maida Vale have sorted an apartment in the upper West Side for the first six nights. Then we are going to bunk in a hostel for the other three. We'll also be catching up with a friend from our tour in Morocco and one of Amanda's old work colleagues. So it should be all go and besides, what can beat a snow covered Central Park?

We're also off to Belgium this weekend for Amanda's birthday (for those that don’t know, its 13 October) for some beer, beer and more beer. Oh and apparently they do mussels, chocolates and waffles over there, but I think I'll concentrate on the beer side of things to begin with. I can’t wait!!!!!

Well catch y'all later.........

P.S.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.6739463267.18571.674113267&l=e6c187295e&type=1

Kilburn propaganda

2007-09-24T20:38:00.000Z

Lately, we have got into the habit of good-talking Kilburn Park to some of Rachel Davies' school pals that we adopted post-engagement party. They live in the neighbouring suburb of Maida Vale so we are also developing a tennis/brunch habit. Anyways, I thought I might quickly share two of the latest interesting facts I have recently learnt about Kilburn (even they haven't heard these ones yet!):

1. H.G. Wells taught Science at a local school here. This was around the time he wrote 'The Invisible Man' - sometimes reading the Introduction is actually worth it.

2. PJ Harvey spent five months here last winter, recording her new album in a friend's studio.

That's all for now!

This Blog is not dead yet

2007-09-17T20:37:00.000Z

OK so we may have been neglecting the blog lately, partly because we've been distracted by the two-way interaction of facebook, but this blog is not dead yet. Naturally lots of things have changed/happened since I wrote 'Change Ahoy': Trent is now contracting for Visa (where Lucas worked while he was in London); our new Kiwi housemates have well and truly settled in (complete with extra sports channels); I did my 100km walk with Ian Ross and two strangers called Janet that we teamed up with at the last minute (not strangers after 30 hours!); we've survived a London tube strike and lived to tell the tale; we've met up with Dave and Alex in three different cities on their current travel stint; Donnah Kosman (uni friend/Canberra housemate) and her mum dropped by for a while; and we squeezed in a catch up with Mary and Frank on their 'one night only' in London, a couple we met in Thailand three years ago.

Trent seems to have found a job that he enjoys (lots of forecasting in Excel spreadsheets) so we are both pretty happy on the job front at the moment (my work has just announced free gym!). Only worry for Trent is they have already offered him a permanent position and he's not sure if he wants to take the inevitable drop in pay (deduced after lots of forecasting in Excel spreadsheets).

Our Trailwalkers team finished in 27 hours and 28 minutes, so with two and half hours to spare. We definitely couldn't have done it without our support team Georgia and Trent who were waiting at each checkpoint with all the essentials (encouragement, extra bandaids, bandages, 'liquid skin', feet cooling sprays and creams, fresh socks, water and food). The first 60km was a cinch (well kind of - after 40kms the shoes that you think you've worn in start giving you blisters). One of the highlights for us all was turning around to see an amazing sunset on the relatively flat walk to the sixth checkpoint, (around the 60km mark) already on a high after passing the half way mark with no major injuries. The night stretch was harder as we got tired and the track demanded more concentration, but eventually your feet go numb, you don't feel new blisters and it becomes all about putting one foot in front of the other.

We got on well with the two Janets, although not having done much training together certainly made a difference and we all spent quite a lot of the walk walking separately at our own paces, probably to our detriment (and not the wisest strategy if one of us had of been injured or lost). I really noticed a difference in my mood and energy levels if I hadn't eaten or drunk enough at the previous checkpoint. I got pretty emotional before daybreak - I never thought I couldn't finish, but I just wanted the walk to be over already! The addition of ipods and daybreak certainly helped to boost my mood though. Another incredible memory was watching a storm come in over the Brighton coast as we walked in over the hills just after the sun came up. Unfortunately this meant we ended up walking through the storm with about 15km to go. The rest of the path quickly became a stream and later trampled mud, with our walking poles becoming very handy.

By the time we made it to the finish line at the Brighton racecourse, I was more than ready for it all to be over. I had thought I would have felt some sense of achievement or happy for it to be finished, but I was just tired and impatient to get home and tucked warm, dry and mudless into bed. Now, that the blisters have healed, the swelling has subsided and the memories have faded a bit, it still seems unbelievable that I actually did it - although its definitely a confidence booster and gives me a bit of perspective when I approach other things (If I can walk 100km, I can certainly...[insert comparatively trivial task or goal here]). Oh, and along with the Janets we've raised about £4,500 for Oxfam/the Gurkas (and we still have until the end of September to raise some more....). Epilogue - We had a team reunion dinner a few weeks after (appropriately at a Nepalese curry house) and one of the Janets will be joining us for a horseriding trek in Wales next weekend.

Dave and Alex have been travelling through Europe and the States and we've managed to catch up with them in Bath (its about time we saw a bit more of the UK), had them over for dinner in London and flew to Nice to meet them this weekend. Its been great to spend some time with them again and kind of a novelty seeing them in some random cities - not something any of us would have envisaged when we first started hanging out together in Canberra. And its nice to know that they are the sort of friends we can pick up where we left off, whenever or wherever we see them next. Awwwww. Unfortunately and frustratingly, our camera has died (actually it was murdered) so no good time pics - who would have known that a $5/1GB memory card from China could cost us so much.

In between us chasing Alex and Dave around, Donnah and her mum came to stay for a while - our first official London visitors (what are the rest of you waiting for?). It was satisfying to realise, after a few weeknight travel/transportation consultations, that we now know a thing or two about London. Luckily, we had saved some London sights to see on the weekend - we managed to fit Portobello and Borough markets, Tower of London, the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and Abbey Road studios into one Saturday afternoon. We also introduced them to Marks and Spencer's 'Percy Pigs' (best UK lollies) and one of our faves local restaurants, Little Bay. We waved them off as they headed to Paris, although I suspect Donnah will be back - despite her extensive shopping schedule, she never got round to seeing the Selfridges on Oxford Street!

Change ahoy

2007-06-17T21:58:00.001Z

For those of you who haven't heard, I finally have a job. I am back at the same company, on the same team but in a permanent role doing the more interesting side of things. I came back to mostly familiar faces but a few new ones. Although by August, the team I will be working with will be entirely different to the group that I started with last July. Coincidentally, on my way home from my first day on the job, I bumped into the guy whose position I was taking over! Always good to get a bit of 'informal insight' into your job...

It was only once I knew I had a job that I felt I could enjoy being unemployed and certainly got into the swing of things* in the last few weeks - lunching and high teaing with friends and general gallivanting - so by the time it came to starting work again I decided that having a job really just gets in the way of your social life**. In my first week I had to forfeit the first few hours of the O2 Wireless festival in Hyde Park, dashing there after work to catch the last two headlining acts (Queens of the Stone Age and White Stripes). After the White Stripes, I overheard someone say, "That was just...wonderful!" Funny bunch of people. Don't feel too sorry for me though, I managed to wrangle a day of leave at the end of my second week so we could head to Rachel and Jake's engagement 'weekend' in Paris.

Another big change coming up - our housemates have announced that they are moving out at the end of the month which has got us wondering whether perhaps we should move too. We both enjoy living in Kilburn Park and are still discovering new bits of the neighbourhood, but now that I have a permanent job in Canary Wharf, it is tempting to move closer to work to reduce my commute as well as possibly experience London from a different angle. At the same time we don't want to develop a habit of having to move every year or so just to keep things fresh.

We have decided to stay put for now, which means getting used to new housemates (two Kiwi guys will be taking over the girl's room), but will start trying to get an idea of different areas we might move to. Angel Islington is at an early lead right now (don't let your Monopoly prejudices put you off), thanks to a tour of DJ's new place there followed by dinner amongst the bountiful bevy of restaurants within a boulder's throw of his place.

We do have some grim news too though. When Georgia had to pull out of our Trailwalkers team, DJ had agreed to take over her place but unfortunately he too has had to pull out. Not only that, but Trent's knee decided to give way while he was innocently walking along (to a bar....but sober!) and we are two weeks out from the actual walk. While London seems to be full of marathon runners and other fitness enthusiasts in training, we have yet to muster anyone to take over DJ's, and probably Trent's place. Only one solution comes to mind - Nick and Lucas, how bout an 'emergency' trip to London to walk 100km?

*swing funded by Trent
** when that social life can be funded by Trent

Four Arabian Nights

2007-05-11T16:00:00.004Z

We made it to Cairo despite almost missing our connecting flight in Bangkok (sleeping right next to the gate does not necessarily ensure that you will wake up when the final boarding call is made in Thai!). On the flight we were sitting next to a talkative German with a secret stash of cheap scotch (Egypt Air = dry flight) and plenty of pics of his time spent trekking in Nepal. His trekking training 'secret' was to eat and drink plenty then just get fit as you trek - not sure we will be relying on that programme to train for Trailwalkers!

We initially stayed out near the Giza pyramids and Sphinx. They were incredible. Going down into the pyramids made me want to go back to Disneyland and do the Indiana Jones ride again. Might have had something to do with Trent humming the theme song as we made our way down. The inside of the bigger Giza pyramids were pretty basic with not much to see inside, but we also went to see the smaller pyramids a bit further outside Cairo. One had a ceiling covered in stars and although none had hieroglyphics inside, there were some ruins nearby that did. There were lots of stray dogs about and I guess this is something that we coming to associate with ruins - Colosseum = stray cats, Pyramids = stray dogs.

We had hired a taxi for the day to take us to the pyramids just outside of Cairo. I guess from Morocco we understood the routine - the driver took us to the main sights before 'guiding' us to see some other cultural 'attractions' such as seeing how rugs/papyrus are made (there is a reason Egypt is not known for its rugs!), his friend's stores and ultimately his own store, with the expectation that we would turn it into a commission-loaded shopping trip. We actually ended up feeling bad that we hadn't bought anything so bought some essences from the driver's shop - what a coincidence that we just happened to pick the driver whose very own great-great-grandfather had been assisting on an archaeological dig at the pyramids when the instructions for the ancient methods for making papyrus and essence were discovered.

The next night we moved closer into the City, staying at the Marriott on the River Nile. I think Cairo's numerous minuets made the Cairo skyline more interesting than any we had seen in Morocco. Our taxi driver on the way into the City was a public servant who drove a taxi on his day off. He pointed out what he considered the 'only dangerous part of Cairo' - the Israeli embassy. He also said he was disappointed that many Egyptians don't appreciate Egypt's history and just consider it as a way to make money out of tourists. We agreed, then headed straight across the Nile to the Egyptian museum...

The Egyptian museum was huge and completely overwhelming. We had copied down a list of rooms to see so that at least helped us prioritise things a bit. I guess the highlights for us were the Tutankhamen room, the animal mummies section and the Roman-Greco mummies (Egyptian mummies but with Roman-Greco faces painted on them) to see the overlap of empire culture. The museum was packed to the brim with artefacts and the numbered rooms were not very clearly marked which made it difficult to get around. There was an additional charge to see some of the rooms within the museum which we found quite annoying but by the time we reached them we had pretty much reached saturation point so decided to give them a miss.

The next day we hopped on the Metro and made our way to Coptic Cairo and the museum there. We ended up enjoying it much more than the Egyptian museum. I think part of it is that the different aspects of ancient Egyptian history are so well known that it was the relics that showed the influences of other cultures (Byzantine, etc) on Egyptian culture that were the most interesting.

We then just wandered around the nearby suburb and graveyards. The graveyards reminded me more of New Orleans than anything I would normally associate with Egypt, with 'streets' of house-like tombs. The people living nearby were very friendly although obviously quite used of seeing tourists as they kept trying to point us in the way they thought we should be going. And the kids were well practiced at asking for 'bics'. We ended up making a slow circle back around to where we started just in time for tourist bus peak hour. So glad we had a bit of time to ourselves first and headed off the track at little!

We did try and get to an old bazaar but ended up just wandering around the crowded local markets, coincidentally starting in the very kitsch wedding area. We felt very conspicuous and were very aware that at any one time at least three different Egyptian men were following/circling us in front/behind us. Trent stopped for a street snack - roasted sweet potato (just like in China) served on pages torn from a medical journal. The more open roads dissecting the markets were really windy and dusty, and occasionally we would come across someone walking the alleys with holey plastic bags leaking water to try and suppress the dust. Eventually the dust and crowds got to us so we headed back to the metro and hotel.

Of all the places we've been to, I would never have guessed that Egypt would be where Trent's chilli bravado would get the better of him. After sitting down to a very filling meal, Trent asked if I would dare him to eat the long curly green chilli that garnished his dish. Naturally I agreed, not that he needed much encouragement and he gulped it down, only to immediately break into very loud head-turning hiccups! The two little French girls on the next table kept an eye on him for the rest of the night.

The Honeymoon continues

2007-05-11T16:00:00.001Z

Shanghai was our final and favourite stop. Our hotel was just off Nanjing Road, a Vegas style strip that is one of the main shopping areas. Our tour guide told us this was an example of 'present' Shanghai, before leading us down along the river ('Bund') to see 'past' Shanghai in the form of the old European buildings from the City's Colonial past. But it was 'futuristic' Shanghai that was most impressive: The Pearl Tower is one of the few buildings I have seen that definitely has a wow factor. Otherwise, we decided Shanghai's architecture could mostly be described as 'cherry on the top' with plenty of highrises with pagodas or some other feature on top to distinguish them from all the other highrises.

That night we headed up what is currently the fourth tallest building in the world, the Jinmao Tower, to the Cloud Nine bar to enjoy the view across the Bund. We literally had a cloud float past our window. But most surprising was the fact that the city lights started turning off just before 10.30pm, shortly followed by the Pearl Tower (The next night we would discover more than one construction site that was still working past this time though!). Thankfully we had already finished our 'minimum spend for view' cocktails at that stage so were happy to head off.

We also did a very rainy day trip to Zhouzhuang or 'Chinese Venice', an Imperial City built around canals that was evacuated to become a tourist attraction. We had a very dodgy banquet at one of the restaurants there, that had us all relieved to see the plain rice arrive. Zhouzhuang was pretty and there were plenty of examples of typical houses and temples etc to explore, but we probably had too much time and were eager to get back to Shanghai so convinced Marcia (our tour guide) to take us back early.

We headed out with most of the group on our last night in Shanghai to enjoy some overpriced beverages. The last place we went to was definitely the most lively, with plenty of white business men types in the shadows, watching an attractive Phillipino band do covers of the Pussycats Dolls, accompanied by scantily clad pole dancers. Several somber guards patrolled the bar. Despite their serious faces, one of them agreed to pose for photos with us. He did, however, draw the line at letting Trent wear his hat.

Having a Chinese guide had both its advantages and disadvantages. It was good to have someone to ask about Chinese customs and culture. Obviously this meant there was some glaring omissions in what we were told about China's recent history, but in some ways that didn't matter so much because it made us more eager to find out the real story for ourselves.

Marcia described Beijing people as loving to talk about politics (never got to ask her what kind of political topics they like to discuss!), Xian people as lazy (she was from a town near Xian) and Shanghai people as always busy and rushing. Marcia liked Beijing people the most. Interestingly, Marcia came from a family of three children. She explained that despite China's one child policy, her grandmothers had told her parents that they must have more children so they had. As a result, they both lost their government jobs and were forced to become farmers.

Chinese people were very curious. Often if we were standing with our tour guide in public, one or two locals would come and just stand on the edge of our group and watch us. While being stared at always takes some getting used to, it made a refreshing change not to be leered at, like in Morocco and later Egypt.

On our last morning in Shanghai, as I picked up some dumplings and bubble tea and weaved my way back along Nanjing Road to the hotel, I decided that I could definitely do a stint in Asia. Hopefully its just a question of where and when...

We waved goodbye to Shanghai (not really, but it rhymes) and headed to the airport on the superfast tilt train. It felt good to be knowing that we were heading back to Australia. I even got a bit teary when I heard the Qantas flight attendants' accents, not that we don't hear Aussie accents in London.

Our first flight was to Parkes to spend time with Trent's family. I guess I'd forgotten about the flies and the heat. The heat was a bit annoying at first but by the time we flew out of Brisbane, we had reacclimatised and were loving it. Trent went to a fundraising golf day with his dad and brother-in-laws where the guest speaker was one of the guys who was stuck in a mine. Then we headed back down to Canberra with Trent's sister Tracy.

Trent's family met us back up on the Gold Coast for a combined family holiday. Getting the Littlewoods and Wilsons together always makes for some fun nights. I was pleased to see that the Gold Coast had got itself a Belgium Beer Bar. Although as a compromise, it still had a pre-mixed cocktail machine on one counter.

Overall it was great to spend time with family and friends, and sad to leave again, but the trip confirmed for us that we weren't done with London yet. I guess we felt like we were just getting into the swing of things and if we had of been moving home for good, we would perhaps have been a bit disappointed.

The end of the (Silk) road

2007-05-01T21:19:00.000Z

We arrived in Xian at 6am after catching an overnight train from Beijing. Xian seemed really lively in comparison to Beijing and we really enjoyed our time there.

One of the best things we did was hire a tandem bike and cycle along the top of the wall of the old city. Both tourists and locals seemed to make the mistake of thinking that this is a nice leisurely or romantic couple activity, when in actual fact (with Trent) its a competitive race. We sped up and down ramps, making it back to the start well before our allocated time was up. Only one man attempted to challenge us - just after we had effortlessly overtaken two Chinese couples, a Chinese guy started running alongside us yelling 'Ahhhhhh' so Trent also yelled 'Ahhhhh', but with a bit of extra pedal power we still managed to break away.

The Terracotta Warriors are a short drive from Xian and are housed in a group of aeroplane hanger style buildings. It was amazing to see the quantity of warriors uncovered. Apparently only one warrior was found completely intact and it took archaeologists months to piece each warrior together. Conveniently the man who first unearthed the burial spot back in the 70s is available to sign books in the gift shop, although unfortunately he happened to be in the toilet when we went through.

The sight is surrounded by a huge complex of tourist shops that were mostly empty when we visited. We were told that they have been built in preparation for the swell of visitors expected for the Beijing Olympics. The warriors were definitely worth seeing but you probably don't need to spend more than an hour or so at the complex (our tour group spent 3 hours there!). And we were warned that the touts at the gates selling boxed sets of mini Terracotta warriors for 1 yuan, will just take your yuan!

I love a good market and there were plenty of markets in Xian to keep me happy. There were seafood/live food markets that sold all sorts of innards and live meat including toads and turtles. One guy on our tour watched a turtle being sold to a local - the shopkeeper sliced the turtle's shell open in front of him to prove that it was good before the sale was made. The 'culture markets' sold everything touristy from jade and artworks to calligraphy brushes and your name in Chinese. We bought some dried fruit from the markets near the Muslim area. Xian is one of the few areas in China that has a Muslim community as it was historically the end of the Silk road trading route through the Middle East.

We were sure to stock up on two minute noodles (yes, very popular in China) and "looks sweet/savoury but is actually savoury/sweet" bakery goods for our next overnight train to Shanghai...

Here's the thing about Beijing....

2007-05-01T20:29:00.000Z

Beijing was a wide, grey, dusty city. Plenty of skyscrapers spread about but surprisingly short on people - I had expected Bangkok-style streets packed with cars, bikes and people so was a little underwhelmed. We saw the official China - the Forbidden City, government buildings, Tiaanamen Square (our Chinese tour guide advised us that the square is used for formal parades and gatherings, ____, ____, ......?) - but left feeling we hadn't found the soul of the city.

A few quick highlights/memorable moments:

* The Great Wall of China - Truly breathtaking. We knew we would enjoy climbing it, but hadn't realised you could tobagan back down (Trent indulged). The part that we climbed is well maintained for tourists and even seemed to have mobile reception. We only spent a few hours on the actual wall so would love to go back and do a proper stint climbing some of the not-so-well maintained bits. We'll add it to our do-again list.

* Finding out that there was a Starbucks INSIDE the Forbidden City. At one stage even plant life was forbidden within the walls of the City and then they go and let Starbucks in???!! I'm sure more than one emperor turned in their grave when that was approved. While we were all horrified, it was -5 degrees outside so we still huddled inside and ordered our double decaf soy whatevers and thawed out. Damn those convenient hot drinks!

* Going to a food court in one of the main shopping areas. We were pleasantly surprised at the variety and freshness of the food on offer - no sweet and sour pork in sight. There were stands where you could select skewers of different meats/vegies and have them stirfried for you on the spot. Trent was estatic to see quite a few locals digging into giant bowls that looked like they contained more dried red chillies than anything, so of course we tried one. In spite of the bowls looking like they could feed a small family for a week, there didn't seem to be any overweight people around with most people leaving plenty of food in the bottom of their bowls.
We sat beside a young couple and their grandmother. The young couple seemed to think it was hilarious to try and feed the grandmother as much food as possible. Despite her scowls, refusals and rebukes, they spent a good half hour slipping different things into her bowl or even onto her spoon as she was about to put in her mouth, then giggling. Strange but funny to watch!

Next it was all aboard an overnight train to Xian.

The beginning of happily ever after....

2007-05-01T16:12:00.000Z

I thought I'd start by elaborating on the 'for worse, for poorer and in sickness' mishaps that Trent alluded to as we started our honeymoon.

We left Florence on a high and suitably relaxed after the wedding and time spent with family. Upon checking in for our flight back to London, we were told that our 30kg bag was overweight because, although we were permitted 15kg each, this had to be packed in a separate bag for each person. We ended up having to buy another bag from a shop in the airport to distribute our luggage, knowing that this would mean we would have to pay extra to check another bag. We made our way back to the line, only to be told that the boxes of Italian wine that we had been planning to take on board would need to be packed in our already overweight luggage due to the new restrictions on bringing liquids on flights.

At this point we were a little exasperated, to say the least. We left the line a second time, repacked the bags with the wine, went and paid the excess baggage charge and extra bag charge (it was a long line of equally disgruntled Ryan Air customers) and finally checked the bags in. We were about to head to the security gates when we realised we had three more bottles of wine in our on-flight bags and unfortunately our suitcase was already on its way to the plane. Since they were gifts we decided to go back and pay to check another bag and even more excess baggage, rather than donating them to the stash of dumped wine the airline staff seemed to be accumulating. So about 120 Euros later, we were finally on our way.

After one night back in London we set off to Heathrow again to catch our next flight to Beijing. Somehow on the very short walk between the Kilburn High Road fruit man and the tube station , I lost my purse. After an unsuccessful attempt to find it by retracing my steps, we decided that there wasn't much we could do (or much time to do it in) so we would just have to head on to the airport. I hadn't been carrying much cash so would just have to replace the multitude of cards I had managed to accumulate.

We arrived at the airport only to quickly realise that we had forgotten our paper tickets. The Lufthansa man advised that they could not be reissued without a copy of the originals, which we did not have. Naturally the next flight was not until the same time the next day so we had no choice but to trudge dejectedly back to Kilburn, knowing that we would also be losing a very pricey night at the five star Peninsula in Beijing.

The short flight from Heathrow to Frankfurt the next day was uneventful and we were glad to just put the last few days behind us and get on with the trip. The next flight wasn't so cruisy - we were a few rows behind a very unhappy baby and the leg room seemed to have shrunk compared to the last flight. Unfortunately I had a bad reaction to the over-the-counter sleeping tablets we packed and spent most of the flight groggliy stumbling between the toilet, my seat, and the hostess station to sneak water.

We blearily made our way through the airport customs after touching down in Beijing, and headed for baggage collection. You can guess what happened next, right? No baggage. At any other time this would have been annoying but after the last few days we had had, it was just funny. We filed our claim with the baggage desk who assured us the luggage would be delivered to our hotel the next day.

Thankfully, it actually came the next day. Trent was sure to rub his entire body on the lucky knobs on the doors of the Forbidden City in Beijing just to make sure the run of bad luck was over. Unfortunately he then left one of his Australian bankcards in a hotel when we left Shanghai. Nevertheless, after a tumultuous start we did actually manage to enjoy ourselves.....

Backpedal

2007-05-01T15:35:00.000Z

Clearly I have some catching up to do. I guess I haven't been thinking in bloggable thoughts for a while.

We've settled back into London life, cramming our weeks with as much as they can hold. In the last week or so, we've got up early to catch the night bus to the ANZAC Day dawn service, scored tickets to two free plays in the West End and have started hearing woodpeckers while wandering London's surprising plentiful green corridors on weekends, as we gear up for Trailwalkers in July. We've had some very exciting moments - seeing 'foetal evidence' that Trent's oldest sister Tracy is officially pregnant and hearing news that my two younger brothers have just bought a duplex together - and some sad ones - saying farewell to the last of our first two London friends, Kareen.

All in all, its good to be back but its about time I got around to recap-ing our travels since March. Most of our photos from the wedding, China, Egypt and Spain are up now and I've even managed to email a few wedding pics around.

You've seen the pics, now prepare yourself for the travel tales....

The Honeymoon is over

2007-04-01T22:45:00.002Z

Just a quick one to let you know that we arrived back in London today. We have had a fantastic month. Its been great spending some time with family and friends even if it did go by a little bit too quickly. I'll try and get some travel pics up over the next few days - no excuses now that I am unemployed (officially a housewife). Trent is back to work tomorrow for a half week before we head to the North coast of Spain for the Easter long weekend so even more posting to catch up on next week! Bye for now,
Amanda

Well, well, we are now Mr and Mrs

2007-03-11T03:10:00.000Z

Ok I am typing on a keyboard in China with all of the keys rubbed off so you'll have to forgive me for the lack of detail - still don't know why I haven't learned to touch type. Hopefully in Shanghai I can find something a little more user friendly.

Where to start? Well the actual wedding day went off without a hitch and is definitely something I won't forget any time soon. Amanda looked amazing (of course!!!), the Sala Rossa (or Red Room) in the town hall was brilliant, the Italian celebrant was really charismatic, the wedding planners were super helpful and it was so good to see some family again. The winery tour was also great and we bought a bunch of wine to take back to the UK. For the dinner we did a taster/ degustation menu and it was by far the best meal I have ever had, but instead of babbling on about the food for the rest of the post I'll cut it short there.
We are now in China after a bunch of travel disasters far worse than anything we have experienced so far - may go into detail later, but for now I am happy to put them behind me. It was as if we were immediately being tested on the 'for better or worse part' of our vows. I am happy to say that we have come out the other side and are loving China and in particular I am loving the food. Thankfully for me they actually have the food a lot spicier than they make it in the West. We had a stirfry/soup thing the other day and I'd say there would have been at least 20 dried chillis in there - needless to say, I am in heaven!!!

Anyways that's all for now. Hear from and see some of you soon. Oh and sorry no photos at this stage - I do have one photo from our photographer, but need clearance from the wifey or should I say misses (huh thats funny!!!), who is sleeping off our overnight train from Beijing.

Just T and no A

The Story So Far

2007-02-22T15:56:00.000Z

It is now only a week and a bit until we tie the knot in Tuscany and there are a lot of things rattling around in my head and I am sure in Amanda’s too. All of them are good of course, some of them are nerves and some are just pure excitement.

As cliché as it sounds, it seems like only yesterday that Amanda and I first meet and now four years and a couple of months later we’re getting married.

As many of you would know Amanda and I meet on the Finance graduate programme. While it wasn’t quite love at first sight (if there is such a thing) it certainly was interest at first site. On the night we first meet I made certain that I got a seat next to her for dinner at a Thai restaurant in Green Square. I was keen to find out more about this 6 foot 1 beauty (yes Amanda you are that tall!) and we clicked straight away. I really appreciated her relaxed, kind and caring nature and of course her intelligence.

I’m not sure if it was just fate or me trying to be close to her, but we ended up living on the same street (after two months of me looking during the height of a housing shortage caused by the Canberra Bush fires). And the closeness didn’t stop there – we worked across the corridor from each other and were a part of the same Departmental Group – it certainly was meant to be.

After a few months of flirting and false starts on both sides, we finally got together. I knew pretty early on that this was the girl for me. Not only did she challenge me as a person she had all of the qualities in a life partner that I could ever hope for. In all honesty she is the best darn gal I have ever meet and I know that she will continue to inspire and surprise me until the day I die.

So as you can imagine it wasn’t difficult for me to pluck up the courage and ask her to marry me. It all happened on a secret trip away for her 25th birthday. I had arranged a surprise three-night stay at a Private Hotel just outside of Berry, on the New South Wales South Coast. Her birthday started with a lovely breakfast of smoked salmon for me and fruit for her (at least I think that’s what it was). After breakfast it was back to the room for Amanda to have a relaxation massage, whilst I read in the sun drenched courtyard.

For lunch we headed down the road, ring in pocket, to an old converted silo that now served as the restaurant of the Silo Estate. The lunch was fabulous and the picturesque valley overlooking the vineyard couldn’t have been better. After the vineyard we had a bit of a poke around in Berry and then headed off for a walk along Seven-Mile beach.

It wasn’t the perfect conditions for a beach proposal, but after walking through sandstorms for most of the way, the wind finally died down enough for me to get down on one knee and make my proposal.

The proposal went really well and Amanda said yes before I had even finished. The other bonus was that she actually liked the ring I’d specially designed and had made in the months leading up to the wedding. This was a big risk on my part and one that I am glad paid off – I think it made the day all that more special. From the beach we headed back to the Hotel for some Moet on ice in the gardens and proceeded to advise everyone in earnest.

So now you know the story so far and it is on to the next phase……

Things are Good!

2007-02-08T15:21:00.000Z

As I sit here in the office, with snow falling outside I have a strong feeling of contentment. I am really happy with my life at the moment and I am really excited to be marrying someone as beautiful and strong as my Amanda. She is such a great person and I am so lucky to have met her and snared her all to myself. I know it is a bit cliché but I really feel like we could achieve or do anything together. While I will always have my insecurities I think Amanda helps bring out the best in me.

Our life plans are so full of opportunity and I can't wait to see where they take us. For the medium term they are London based (we want that EU passport) but what the future holds we don’t know. We would love to have a go at living in Paris or perhaps New York – although living in a real European city is so appealing. I would love to test myself and be forced to have a serious go at learning another language.

On the wedding front the preparations have hit fever pitch. We had an initial ring fitting earlier in the week, Amanda had her initial wedding dress fitting, we have confirmed all of the plans in Italy, kicked off the bureaucratic process, I should be buying my suit tonight (that’s if London doesn’t freeze over first) and we’ll be tasting wedding cakes next Wednesday. It really is all systems go – this thing is actually going to happen!

The guys at work are organising a Bucks night for me on the weekend before I leave and I am a little dubious to see what they have in store – particularly after one of the co-conspirators said to me last night that it "would open my eyes". Now I’m not too sure what that is supposed to mean, but it looks like it will be another classic English night out. Sorry Amanda I promise I will behave myself.

I had my first go at indoor football in England last night in a little inter-office rivalry. It was Vertex v the Client (Westminster City Council). Needless to say we were dominant with a 13 to 3 score line, but the big news out of the match was my boss snapping his leg in two places. It is one of the most horrific things I have ever seen and the scream of pain will be etched in my mind for a while to come. With my boss out of action for a while I’m not too sure whether I’ll get a chance to have contract negotiations before I leave, but if it doesn’t work out I am confident that I will get a job quickly once we get back. Besides a change could be a good thing.

The snow has been falling really heavily today and there is a chance of a total freeze over tonight, which will apparently mean total mayhem for the transport network. The only upside is that it will be a good excuse to leave work early today and perhaps not make it into the office tomorrow. But being a contractor that’s not too good for the bank balance and unfortunately weddings/round the world trips don’t come for free.

Well – things are good over here and I will be seeing a lot of you very soon (Tracy, Danny and Dad – its only just a little over three weeks now).

Mr TJL

P.S. Sorry Nick, Lucas and co for not writing about the impending end of the earth, but at the moment I am caught up in life. Although I do agree with much of what you have said, it is difficult not to be selfish – it is human nature after all.

The Baby Blues

2007-01-10T21:01:00.000Z

I thought I was coping well with what the pitiful English winter had thrown at me so far but this week I seem to have hit the wall. I think it is largely to do with the come down after christmas/new year and a bit of pressure at work, but I am really struggling at the moment.

Instead of turning this into a rant, which is all too tempting at the moment I'll talk about some positive things coming up. The biggest one of them all is our wedding in March - we booked the time at the town hall today (12:30pm on Saturday, 3 March) and have started to firm up the plans for the day. It really is going to be an incredible day and is on my thoughts all the time - I cant wait!!!

The other big thing that is getting me through at the moment is the excitment of seeing some of my family in Italy in only seven weeks time. We will have been away for almost a year by then and it will be really great to have them there at the wedding. I miss them a lot.

Anways I am off to heat my little buddy wheatie.

T

The year ahead???

2007-01-01T17:44:00.000Z

Well 2006 is now behind us and we have a whole new year of life to look forward to.

2007 is going to be a big year for the Littlewood and Wilson connection. For starters we are going to get married and it doesn't get much bigger than that. Secondly, we will be re-entering the carefree travelling lifestyle for another month, and perhaps third and most life changing, we are seriously considering setting up a longer term life here in London. It is scary to think but Amanda and I could now see ourselves staying in the UK for the long term. We are both really enjoying ourselves and life in London seems to be full of opportunities and we figure we might as well see where they take us. Besides, in the meantime we can pile on the pounds.

With the new year I have had some time to reflect - and one of the interesting things that has only just hit me is that I have now been out of school for eight years (only two years til a ten year reunion). I really feel like I should have achieved/done a lot more. I guess time does fly by, but if you had of asked me at the end of high school what I would have done in eight years time, I thought I would have achieved so much more. I don't know if I put too much pressure on myself (or even if that is a generational thing) but I just don't feel like I have done enough in the time that I have had. I own next to nothing and as soon as I/we (as there is two of us now) get some cash together we blow it on trips around the world. But as they say, theres no time for regrets in life - and if I had my time over again I am glad to say that I would do it all over again.

I definitely believe travel is as much an investment as the good old Australian dream of bricks and mortar - I just think it pays off in different ways. As a result of our travels I am confident that I now have a much broader perspective on life and a greater appreciation of how fortunate and lucky we are in Australia and the west more broadly. We have wealth and opportunity that is beyond the wildest dreams of the majority of the world. We can largely do what we want when we want and with that knowledge I feel like I am now better placed contribute as a citizen this planet. I really want to give something back in thanks for all the opportunities that I have been given and I hope the charity walk in June will be a strong start to that phase of my life. I want to learn more about the injustices of the world - what I will do with this knowledge or how in any way I will stop them from occuring I am unsure. But I feel its important to at least be aware of them and hopefully making other people along the way aware too.

Anyways, no matter where you'll be or what you will be doing - I hope this year brings happiness and good fortune to all of the lovely people that I have had the pleasure of knowing over this past year.

Happy New Year!!!

TJ Littlewood

Back from Paree

2006-12-30T11:33:00.000Z

After our five day break in Paris, courtesy of Rachel and Jake, we are back in the big bad world of London. The weather is pretty good at the moment and the sun is even making regular appearances, so not too much to complain about on that front. Paris was definitely the coldest I have been since coming over here - it was absolutely freezing! I'm not too sure if it was actually colder than London, or whether it was because we were walking around in it for extended periods, but the four layers I had on just never seemed enough. So I guess it must have been much colder.

What to say about Paris? It was difficult to get a real feel for the city because there wasn't many people around and a lot of the shops were shut due the Christmas break. But that being said we really enjoyed the fromageries, boulangeries, patisseries and all of the other eries. There was a great deal of gourmet food to be had, which was great since Christmas is the time of year for stuffing your face with that sort of thing. The French really do fresh produce well - which is a nice change from the Sainsburys and Tescos of London.

We had an enormous French feast for Christmas with some friends and the two girls that were staying in Rachel and Jake's place before us. The menu was our version of a traditional Parisian Chirstmas meal - for the starter there was a Country Style vegie soup, followed by vegetable salad with goats cheese and almond, then Roasted Salmon with Roast Vegetables and a red wine jus. Then to top it all off, we finished the feast with the finest of French desserts, the Yule log. And of course in between there was copious amounts of French wine, cheese and various other nibbles. Needless to say we were suitably full at the end of the day.

While in Paris we did all of the traditional touristy things - champagne by the Eiffel Tower (wanted to
climb the tower, but got there too late), museums (Musee d'Orsay, Musee National Picasso and the Musee Rodin), we walked into the foyer of the Louvre but didn't have time to look around (which was overhelming enough), walked along the River Seine and had a mini picnic on a bridge, walked along the Champs d'Elysees, checked out the Arc d'Triumph and caught midnight mass at Notre Dame. But more generally we just wandered around and enjoyed the city in the freezing cold.

What else has been happening - well the christmas cheer doesn't seem to have dried up in London - everyone is still pumped and we had a half-day drinking session at work yesterday. I can really understand how the need for a New Year's health kick is so popular. I feel terrible and am in definite need of some fresh fruit and vegetables and a heap of excercise.

On the intellectual front - I am reading 'Putin's Russia' by Anna Politkovskaya. She was the Russian Journalist who was recently murdered hitman style after some strong criticism of Putin's administration. There is definitely some scary stuff going on in Russia and in some ways it is in a worse state now than what it was under communist rule. Corruption and graft are the norm, law and order are applied selectively and the leader of the country, a former KGB man, has kept the old boys club alive and well.

There really isn't much positive news for a country that could have so much to offer. And like China there isn't enough focus from the West on the abuses that are occuring on a daily basis. Its a shame that governments' vested interest in trade and natural resources get in the way of exposing the horrible situation in Russia. The only government that seems to have any guts to criticise Russia is the German government, which seem ironic given the tumultous history of the two countries' relationship. But at least there is some hope there and we can only hope that some day the vicious cycle of corruption and the Russian Mafia can be broken.

Oh well I am off to have some delicious pizza made totally from scratch...its the first use of our all new stone pizza base and I can't wait.

Snapshot catch-up

2006-12-21T21:37:00.001Z

With London looking like its settling in for a quasi-white Christmas (does a lot of fog count?), we're heading off to Paris tomorrow for a four and a half day Christmas weekend! Oh Joy!

Here's what we've been up to the past few weeks...

New favourite passtime:
Long walks around London. Now that we've officially registered for Trailwalkers, we've got some training to do!
Current Tube read:
Trent - The World's Greatest Crooks & Conmen (including the guy who got away with selling the Effiel Tower...twice)
Amanda - The Bell by Iris Murdoch (borrowed from local library/murder scene)
Most recent gig:
Gomez
There's always a first time for...
Trent - going to the gym!
Amanda - trying persimmon (new favourite fruit)
Recent highlight:
Trent - Finding out his Dad will be flying over for our wedding
Amanda - Christmas dinner hosted by Kirsty and Michelle
What's been bugging us:
Trent - Well, you know all of Trent's!
Amanda - Undeclared mayonnaise - the English sneak mayonnaise into everything! This would be paradise for my cousin Hayley (she used to tell people that she wanted to work in a mayonnaise factory when she grew up).
Dreading:
Trent - finding out how much our wedding trip will cost
Amanda - looking for another job
Looking forward to:
Trent - tomorrow
Amanda - Christmas in Paris of course!
Little things we miss about Australia:
Trent - watching sport on TV (not much sport on free to air here)
Amanda - mangoes in warm weather (they're in the stores now, but it just seems wrong when its cold out).
Something new we learned:
The origins of Yorkshire pudding (Trent just can't wait to 'use' this one)

Some Christmas Cheer

2006-12-19T12:31:00.000Z

OK it is time for a good old rant on my annoyances and general grievances with this country and its people.

People in this country place far too much importance on celebrity

They seem to have celebrities that go all the way to Z list. Whether it be the friend of a dead rock star's daughter or the latest idiot from a reality TV show, they get way too much time in the media and people actually pay attention to them. I mean who the hell cares what some muppet from a band called "Baby Shambles" has to say and since when should people give a crap what Noel Gallagher says about how stopping global warming is waste of time. I mean the most draining thing these people do during the day is get out of bed, stroll down to an expensive shop in Knightsbridge and perhaps finish up at a ‘hip party’ to snort their lives away. If this isn’t a waste of space I don’t know what is. We should be listening to the people that actually know what they are talking about, not some brain dead celebrity.

England is too much of a Nanny State

Why can’t people take responsibility for their own actions? The attitude over here seems to be that is somebody else’s responsibility, not mine. It makes me wonder what is keeping this economy running – it would seem to be a house of cards just waiting to fall down. Its just a bunch of people looking at someone else saying, "I thought he was doing it." How this is one of the strongest economies in the world is beyond me!

The English don’t have an outgoing bone in their body

I like to think of myself as an optimist that always approaches things with a positive frame of mind. But here it seems to be the other way around – people seem to approach things by thinking, why should I bother doing this - what’s in it for me? They don’t have an enquiring approach to meeting people – they are generally not interested in what you have to say, where you’ve come from or where your going. As a result I seem to be falling into the oh-so-familiar trap of hanging out with expats. But I don’t think it is a bad thing. At least we have common goals and aspirations and are keen to at least give things a go – that’s a lot more than can be said for a lot of English people. Perhaps it is because we have made the effort to travel and see the world that we take this approach to life, but I would like to think as a general rule Australians have are more outgoing and willing to try new things.

Why do people write themselves off at every opportunity

I mean fair enough you have that stage in your life when you go out partying and you write yourself off, but for some reason the English don’t seem to ever pass up an opportunity to get ridiculously drunk. It seems to me that people over here are all trying to escape their lives in some way or another. It can’t be healthy for their relationships, or their health for that matter – it really does seem pointless and an absolute waste of time and money.

The food that people eat over here is a disgrace

I know Australia is up there on the obesity tables, but the frozen food that this country consumes is a travesty. I mean they actually have a supermarket chain called "Iceland" that sells moatly frozen food. Food isn’t about chucking something in a microwave and waiting for it to be nuked through. Food should be fresh, it should be something to enjoy with friends and family, not a necessity that comes in a box. But when buying something pre packaged is cheaper than buying all of the fresh ingredients needed to make a dish, what are people going to chose?

Why the hell do they say Happy Christmas?

Well this one is self-explanatory – its Merry not Happy. You drink and be merry at Christmas – you don’t drink and be happy. Santa isn’t happy he is Merry – you fools……..

That’s not a mince pie…

A mince pie doesn’t have dried fruit in it – it has a juicy gravy meat like mixture. They are an insult to meat pies the world over – these mince pies are for sissies.

Anyways - now that I have got that out of my system, I hope everyone is well and that you have the promise of a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Oh and don’t take this as me not having a great time over here. I am having an absolute ball – there is just a lot of things wrong with the way this country operates.

Talk to or hear from you soon???

I stand corrected....

2006-12-05T09:08:00.000Z

After seeing the results this morning I have no reservations in saying that it will be a 5-0 drubbing.......

England dont stand a chance!!!

Another catch up.......

2006-12-04T21:10:00.000Z

Well its been a couple of weeks since our last post and a lot has been happening.

Two weekends ago we had an awesome Asian themed dinner party which turned into an all night drinking session / sleep over. The night went off without a hitch and between six of us we polished of 9 bottles of wine, 1 bottle of vodka, 1 bottle of a lemon spirit from Italy (absolutely crazy - its like 80 or 90 standard drinks) and seven courses (including the midnight rosemary infused potato chips and the gourmet breakfast at 1:00pm the next day). Needless to say, particularly when you think about the time that we all ate breakfast, there were a few people a little worse for wear the next morning - Amanda included (3 of the 6 chucked). It was definitely great being less hung over than Amanda for a change.

Oh and one of the better stories from the night was one of our friends (who for the sake of their reputation will remain nameless) doing a runner when they went to get alcohol and then passing out in someone's front garden, only to wake up six hours later soaking wet from the nights rain. Very funny indeed and the second time that he has had an alcohol related incident at our place - I am sensing a pattern. We may have to consider watering down his drinks in the future.

Thanks to Rachel we are now looking forward to spending five days over Christmas in her apartment in Paris absolutely free. It should be great to spend christmas in the city of love and it would be perfect if it turned out to be a white christmas. Although that isn't looking very likely, as apparently November in London was the hottest on record (they started keeping record in the 16 hundreds). We really are screwing with the planet. I'll be surprised if the whole of Australia hasn't turned into desert by the time I get back.

We are just making the finishing touches to our Christmas shopping for all of our family back home and expect to send it across this week. According to British Post if we send it before 8 December it is guranteed to arrive prior to Christmas. So fingers crossed that will work out, but after seeing how much it cost Dad to send all of our presents over (Don't worry, we haven't opened them yet!!) I'm not looking forward to finding out how much they'll cost to send.

During the week Amanda found out about an Oxfam charity walk that is 100km in 30 hours along the coast near Brighton. You have to raise £1,500 between a team of four to enter and all four team members have to complete the 100km course. We are both really keen to have a go, one because it would be a great physical challenge, and two we really haven't been doing enough for charity lately. So conveniently it kills two birds with one stone really. We just need to track down two more team members. Does anybody out there want to join our team???

Oh and I may have made the mistake of talking up Australia's chances in the Ashes just a little too much. I figured anything less than a 5-0 whitewash would be an insult (as I have been sprouting around the office). But by the way the second test is going its not looking very likely. I may have to be a little more cautious with my big talk in the future. The English are going to be unbearable if they win the ashes. So come on the Aussies..............you have 500,000 Australians in London relying on you.

Anyway talk to you later and sorry for the slackness with writting.

The London Life

2006-11-21T22:08:00.000Z

Well as the title suggests we are well into the swing of the London Life and are attempting to sample as much as we can whilst saving feverishly for our wedding in March next year. I'll give you the quick run down of what we've been up to.

We went and saw The Datsuns a couple of weeks ago in the Electric Ballroom in Camden (with Kareen and Mr Pink). They surpassed all of our expectations and must be one of the best rock bands going around in Australia/NZ at the moment. The support band, the aptly named Sound Explosion, were an absolute bunch of pretenders that backed their stage presence a little too much. I guess the rock spirit doesn’t come naturally to everyone. Although if they spent a little more time practising and less time pretending they might have a chance.

We had our first experience of the Borough food markets on the weekend and while I am not generally a huge market fan (due to Amanda going so slow and looking at absolutely everything) - this market was incredible. It was like having a gourmet deli times 100 million. We stuffed our faces with a gigantic truffle, some ostrich burgers (chicken/beef taste), every free sample we could get our hands on and then filled up our back packs with organic vegetables. So a very rewarding day out and one that we will definitely repeat in the future.

That night it was off to a Moroccan restaurant for our flat mate’s birthday. We hadn't had Moroccan food since leaving Morocco and we were keen to re-ignite the memories. The food was great and the restaurant had an authentic Moroccan feel to it - we could have been in Fez or Marrakech and not the middle of Shepherds Bush. Although the behaviour of some at dinner certainly reminded us that we were still in London. There was a group of South African guys at the dinner that had been at the Rugby (which South Africa lost) who turned up to dinner fairly out of it. We found out later that some were a little more out of it then others. The high point was one guy head-butting the corner of a mirror and cutting his forehead open and then preceding to run around the restaurant like a lunatic reassuring the owners that he wasn’t going to sue. Then another guy deciding to climb over the table, naturally resulting in smashed plates and cups. We weren't too sure if this was how South Africans at dinner normally behaved but decided to hot foot it out of there pretty soon after.

On the intellectual front – we have been to another LSE lecture. This time it was a former adviser to Mikhail Gorbachev - Andrei Grachev. The lecture wasn't as good as I had hoped and focused more on the history of the collapse of the Soviet Union rather than insight into what it was like working closely with Gorbachev. One of the more interesting stories was the actual resignation process. Apparently Gorbachev was unsure whether he should sign his resignation before or after the Press conference and was consulting with Grachev and another adviser – neither of which could agree on the right approach. Gorbachev suddenly grabbed the piece of paper and decided to sign the resignation then and there. After some fumbling around with his own pen, Gorbachev grabed a pen from the nearby media and quickly signed the piece of paper. At that moment a couple of KGB agents emerged from the shadows grabbed the piece of paper from Gorbachev’s hands and quickly left the room in search of their new boss. The boss that had now had the authority to press the button ……

After securing some tickets for less than face value we are off to see Gomez tonight. While I detest the over-the-top scalping behaviour over here (it seems like there is scalpers outside of everything in London) you can almost always find a genuine seller of tickets on Gumtree for either face value or below face value. It gives me comfort that there is some hope yet and we are definitely pumped about seeing Gomez live – they come strongly recommended by Dave and Alex (BTW - if they aren’t the best band ever we are coming after you).

Anyways, I am mentally and physically tired (you wouldn't believe it I have actually started going to the gym) so I am off to do some work (I’m posting at work). Talk to you later.

A night out in Kilburn

2006-10-30T22:30:00.000Z

Anyone who knew us in Canberra can attest that there's nothing we love more than a night out that we can walk home from, so we figured it was about time we gave Kilburn a chance to live up to the high standard that Kingston had set for us.

We strolled round the corner to the Luminaire (voted best live music venue by TimeOut mag and its on our very own high road) and saw the Red Kites with Georgia and her red rattles. Both the Red Kites (a cool and confident 3 piece) and preceding Broken Dolls (5 piece with a lead with a Robbie Willams attitude; the bassist channelled rhythm through one leg like the leg that can't help but join in when you scratch that certain spot on a dog's belly) were worth a look. We even learnt something new when one band introduced a song as being about a girl the bassist slept with to pay his council tax (equivalent of rates but paid by tenants instead landlords)??? I don't remember seeing that under 'payment options'.

Then we dashed home, got dolled/mo-ed up as Sonny and Cher and headed downstairs for our neighbours' Halloween party. We quickly discovered that word of Trent's electric blue pants had preceded us (they were actually women's pants that we picked up at a local op-shop to match my blue dress). And Trent was even asked (several times) if his moustache was real. Clearly there were a few trippers present. When all was said and done (at least on our part), we climbed the stairs and fell into bed. The music kept thumping til the birds could take over.

The Sound of Kilburn Park

2006-10-25T22:50:00.000Z

The bells of Saint something church are drowned out by passing sirens. As dusk settles, the fireworks begin. Every weekend. But with special fervour this last weekend with the end of Ramadan. Nicole sleuthed out the source of this weekly occurence on an afternoon run. The cheap shops on the High Road (£Stretcher, Pound Land, Pound City) have a special on fireworks each Saturday. Figures.

This weekend we were in for a special treat. The fireworks were drowned out by a pretty impressive thunderstorm.

There is definitely a distinction between the reactions you get when you tell people you live in 'Kilburn Park' (South end of the High Road), as opposed to 'Kilburn' (North end of the High Road). Kilburn has 'gastropubs' and proximity to the young and brunching suburb of West Hampstead. Meanwhile Kilburn Park is gritty and synonomous with high rise government housing and a spectrum of bargain shops (as above, also including women's clothing shops that make Australia's 'Supre' look classy, but with names like Risky, Classy Chicks, Krisp and Expoze). A lone 'Cafe Nero' franchise points to things to come, although their demographics forecaster must be wondering if they were perhaps a tad early in marking Kilburn Park as an 'emerging' suburb. Trent and I quite enjoy the 'Oh' that you get from 'confessing' to live in Kilburn Park, while the girls have taken to just rounding it out to 'Queen's Park' (another more-cosmopolitan-than-thou suburb to the south).

The other day they were filming on our street and the High Road. Our money is on our street appearing in a crime investigation show.

Thank God.... for birthdays.

2006-10-25T21:17:00.000Z

A quick catch-up for the last few weeks.

Our last minute Thanksgiving dinner was a success. Other than a small pumpkin pie crisis, remedied by a quick dash to Tescos, the food went off without a hitch. Everyone seemed to get along well, although there was a bit of competition between Mr Pink and Jay (neighbour from downstairs) for the 'campiest and funniest' spotlight, that is, until Jay had to leave to do a friend's make-up. Six hours and several wine runs later, we finished the evening at a High Road pub. It was well worth all the effort.

I managed to squeeze a good two weeks worth of celebrations out of my birthday this year. I quite enjoyed the trickle of birthday wishes and packages (I love packages!) that comes with being in another country and timezone. It started with an early pressie from Sam (Aussie we met in Morocco) when she got back from Italy, on her way to Dubai. At the last minute I convinced Sam and Kareen that we should go to see Kevin Spacey's play 'A Moon for the Misbegotten' at the Old Vic theatre, while I still qualified for the under 25s cheap seats. Despite a partially obstructed view (they ain't cheap seats for nothin!), and the play being a bit longer than expected, we all enjoyed it. Obviously Kevin Spacey was fantastic and his female lead certainly put in a heart-wrenching effort. This was the second production Trent and I have seen this year that was 'set' in poverty (the other being 'The Colour Purple on Broadway'), which made me wonder if destitution is a particularly popular subject among middle to upper class audiences, or if this was just a coincidence. I will have to ask the next playwright I meet...

We jammed as much Milan as we could into my three day birthday weekend to make the most of our first venture out of the UK since our arrival in London. Initially, I wasn't sure what to think of Milan - we came in through an industrial district and the city itself was really smoggy - but the longer we stayed the more we enjoyed it. The sights/buildings were beautiful, the people were open and friendly, the shopping wasn't as expensive as I had expected (likely to be due to the 'pound' factor and a relaxation in our backpacker mentality), and I don't even need to describe the food! Trent definitely looked after me. There are still a few things we could make a return trip for (Lake Como, a football game at their famous stadium, opera at La Scala), but we left satisfied with our first attempt!

It was quickly back to reality when we got back to London to find the hot water in our shower wasn't working. We called the stand-in landlord who organised for a plumber to come mid-week. The plumber was actually a Polish family. Four of them came to diagnose the problem (need new taps), returned the next night to install them (our new stainless steel cold tap is now elegantly engraved with a 'H' and vice versa for the hot tap), then turned off the water for the whole apartment (I'm still unclear why THAT was necessary). This shocking news reached us via text message on our way home from seeing the Raconteurs (known as the 'Saboteurs' in Australia. They were, for the record, spectacular. That Jack White sure knows how to play a guitar.), so we went to bed smoky and thirsty.

By the end of the week I was feeling pretty grotty and was almost out of clothes (Did I mention that the door of our washing machine has broken too and this is apparently outside of the landlord-fixing domain? While we wait for a part to arrive in our theft-prone mail, the only relief our washing basket gets is via the dodgy Trent-devised arrangement of using the corner of the fridge to hold the door of the washing machine on. This has to be closely monitored during the washing machine's more violent stages so we have grown accustomed to the sound of a rocket being launched closely followed by a housemate dashing to the kitchen. Obviously that arrangement only works when the water is on.) Thankfully the plumber returned on Friday night to turn the water back on and all was once again well, or at least manageable in the case of the washing machine, with our apartment.

As a finale to my birthday celebrations, Nicole, Jen and Trent took me out to dinner. We ventured south to a restaurant in trendy Lavender Hill called 'The Drawing Room.' Nothing beats good food, good wine and good company.

Milan pics are up

2006-10-17T23:11:00.000Z

Hi all, well we're back from Milan - what a very full weekend and super birthday that was. I'm about to go to bed so no meaningful post from me, I'm afraid. You will have to be content browsing our Milan pics for now. I've also added some London ones too. Ciao!

Getting colder....

2006-10-05T22:20:00.000Z

Well its about time I got around to doing another post and gave Trent a break.

We have just got back from seeing Kareen in her band's first gig, at a vault under an old church in Brixton. After a few hiccups, they were great and we definitely liked their sound. We both agreed that the lead singer is like (this ones for the moved-to-Canberra-ns who might be reading) a pommy version of Dan Mossop, only musical (Mossop was never musical when playing tennis or processing special claims). Although after watching the band play from the side I am convinced that attempting to look cool while playing electric guitar could be a cause of oestoporosis. Have yet to meet any elderly evidence.

We left in time to catch the tube home, despite the broken 'secret' that Baby Shambles (who is Pete Doherty's band, who is Kate Moss' sometimes boyfriend, who is everywhere, sponsored by coke) would be holding an afterparty there later. Sometimes I marvel at how 'London' London is: Our departure was hardly noticed by three Polish security guards deep in conversation; As we entered the tube station the classical music reached a crescendo, choreographing a couple's passionate kiss (proving that sometimes life moments do have soundtracks). This was much to the amusement of the puckering station attendants; As the tube pulled away, an African litter pickeruppera was singing in his native tongue; and on the tube I watched Trent nod, but still burst awake in front of our station.

This week the cold came. Unlike Canberra where the cold really kicks in on Anzac Day weekend (ie towards the end of the second Autumn month), we are only just starting our second month of Autumn and need to rug up. Although this Autumn we have something new to look forward to - Canadian Thanksgiving!! Our housemates seemed to be a bit homesick so yesterday I suggested we do a Thanksgiving dinner, this was before I realised it was THIS WEEKEND. Earlier tonight we deliberated over our menu from amongst a pile of printed, googled, recipes (they're someone's tradition!) and I even dragged a 4kg frozen turkey home on the tube with me. So now the menu is picked, the friends/neighbours have been invited, all thats left to do is fit four fledgling chefs into our itsy bitsy kitchen to pull it all off! Good thing we're not making broth.

In other news, Nick is briefly back in London enroute to India. He came over last week with his brother's puppy Cooper. We loooved Cooper. He bounded around our little apartment and managed to defy Nick's "He'll fall asleep soon." It was good to catch up on Nick's travel stories, even if there were a few more disappointments than he'd hoped. Heather joined him on the weekend and gave us the Contiki version. Anyway I need to go to bed so that will have to do. Ooo but must just mention another broken secret - Trent has organised a surprise trip to Milan for my birthday next weekend!!! Excellent.

One week down…...how many to go???

2006-09-29T09:31:00.000Z

Well I have made it through my first week of work in six months (well almost its only 10:30 am on Friday) and I am totally stuffed. This working thing is really draining.

In terms of the job I think I have got my head around it and should be able to get my project moving fairly quickly. It is funny that I have only spent a couple of hours talking to my boss about what the company wanted and I have already been left to my own devices (my boss is now of for three weeks for his wedding and honey moon). But being left to my own devices is just the way I like it – so it has worked out well.

The culture of the office is an interesting one – I’m still not sure what the standard hours are but some people work from 9:45 am to 4:00 pm (if they show up at all). Needless to say I have been doing the longest hours out of the team (a meager 8:45am to 5:15pm) – even though it doesn’t matter what hours I work because I am on a daily rate. In some ways the culture over here is a bit embarrassing - I'm not sure if it is a UK wide phenomenon, but I have heard that it is standard over here for Public Service departments to work 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. As a tax payer that infuriates me.

Anyways this is just one week down - there are many more to come. Although we do have a trip away for Amanda’s birthday (on 13 October) to look forward to. It was suppose to be a total surprise but I have accidentally given away almost everything. Oh well it’ll be fun even if it isn’t a surprise.

Write to you later…………

The Weight Has Been Lifted

2006-09-21T14:07:00.000Z

Well I have some great news to pass on – as of Monday I will have joined the ranks of the employed again. It’s almost six months to the day that I left Finance and working is definitely a distant memory for me. In fact I hope I can remember how to do it (I am sure it’s like riding a bicycle).

The job itself is working as a Business Analyst for a company called Vertex. Their primary clients are local councils and my role will be working with Westminster City Council. The location is awesome and there are amazing 16th floor views over the centre of London.

The role sounds like it will be challenging and it should be a great start to my working life in the UK (with some side trips throughout the UK as well). Its also a big bonus that the job is not working for the public service – I definitely wanted to get some private sector experience before I was permanently tarred with that public service brush (even though it is generally unfounded). It’s also great to know that all of our wedding plans are now easily within our grasp.
When I got the call from my recruitment company to tell me that I got the job, I think Amanda was more excited than me. For me it was more of a relief than excitement (ergo the title). I have definitely been feeling the pressure lately and in some ways I felt like I was letting the team down. But thankfully Amanda has been really supportive and always positive about the whole thing and I have a lot to be thankful for in that regard.

But even with all of that support, I still began to question my worth. I know a job doesn’t define a person but it sure does go a long way towards defining the way we live our lives. The toughest thing was staying positive and remembering that I would get a job eventually – I can definitely sympathise with the longer term unemployed and how they get into a downward cycle of low self esteem, which further diminshes their chances of employment.

Anyways for all those out there that have been following my job prospects – I am going to be a worker bee again. At least for the time being anyway.

Until next time………

The Wedding Planner

2006-09-14T10:19:00.001Z

Well plans have been set in motion for what can only be described as the wedding event of the year if not the century. That’s right, the bringing together in holy matrimony until death do us part etc etc………of Mr Trent Jason Littlewood and Miss Amanda Louise Wilson.

Plans have changed slightly since I last posted on this subject. The plans are now a marriage in Tuscany Italy (oh how romantic), then nine days in China (probably on an Intrepid tour), a couple of weeks in Australia to see friends and family (Canberra, Parkes and the Goldie) and then a few days at the Pyramids on the way home (wow I just called London home).

All in all it will be a very full and action packed month (is there any other way to do it). In terms of dates we expect to tie the knot in early March, probably on 3 March (a date that has some made up significance for us). So we should be in Australia from around the 16 March to 28 March - or there abouts.

It is good to have a date and something concrete to look forward to (there could be an Italian Mafia joke here) even though we haven't really firmed things up any further than flights to Italy. But of course all that will come in due course now that the Wedding Planner is on the case (me being the self dubbed wedding planner – not too sure how Amanda feels about this).

I am working on another post at the moment about the Kilburn crazies, but its a bit tough getting covert pictures of the crazies without them noticing (if only I had a spy camera) – so keep your eye out for that one. The crazies definitely make things interesting in Kilburn and London for that matter.

Anyways until next we write, talk or meet...........

And remember the world is full of opportunities.

Some Photos, Darfur and Steve Erwin

2006-09-05T10:54:00.000Z

Hey - just a quick one to say that we have some photos up of London and Brighton. Its just general shots but there are plenty of me (Trent) so it’s definitely worth a look. I particularly like the one were I am excited on the Brighton Peer.

I would also like to draw your attention to the crap that is happening in the Darfur Region. After looking like heading towards a real peace deal early this year, things are once again spiraling out of control. This article from the Australian “Darfur to crumble if troops depart” gives you the gist of what’s going on. Definitely a major humanitarian crisis (still and probably more so now) and something that seems so helplessly out of control. It’s still hard for me to believe that this crap is still going on in the world.

Oh and I must also make mention of the passing of Steve Erwin (even though it is yesterdays news). It’s a tragic loss for Australia and it’s a real shame that he didn’t have a stronger respect at home while he was alive. Perhaps it was ‘tall poppy syndrome’ (which still runs strong in Australia) or maybe it’s because Australians want to be seen as cultured and sophisticated so don't like it, or get embarrassed, when an individual presents a different image of an Australian than how we would like to be perceived (I know I do this all the time). In some ways we're too proud - we can't take a joke when we think it’s about us, but then were not proud enough of successful Australians. It’s quite sad really. Why do we need to portray this fake image to the world - we should just be happy with who we are.

Anyways until next we meet, talk or write.........

Tex is Sex, Tim is Tim and Teenage Dreams do Come True

2006-08-13T08:25:00.000Z

We are feeling very spoilt by London’s abundant live music after having become accustomed to Canberra’s 'big names every now and then, but usually on a school night' scene, interspersed by treks to Sydney. Recently we’ve seen T’N’T (new collaboration between Tim Rogers from You Am I, and Tex Perkins from everything) and The Presets (seen them twice before but they were worth a third outing). And if this sounds all suspiciously Australian, we made up for it by doing the Reading festival on Sunday to get a dose of bands we didn’t know, as well as Pearl Jam (first album Trent bought). Next on the horizon is The Raconteurs…

The only downside to seeing bands in London is, unlike Canberra where it takes about 15 minutes to get home from anywhere, it’s always a mission (think an hour plus) to get home on night buses and what not. But at least band-chasing takes us to bits of London that we usually haven’t seen before. Inconspicuous venues seem to have been a theme so far with a bar inside a shopping centre, one at the back of a kebab shop and a club under a furniture shop.

In a town where you can totally immerse yourself in music, our participation is still passive compared to some friends - Kareen has actually joined a band and Georgia volunteers at a recording studio. Anyway, here’s Trent’s recount of T’N’T (I’m sure he shared some form of camaraderie with them given that he’s also a ‘T’) and the Reading Festival, where his teenage dreams came true:

Well as you can well imagine it’s not all that often that you get to see two gods of Australian Rock n Roll on the same stage. So from the outset the expectations were high, but of what to expect I wasn't sure. I couldn’t quite get my mind around the two of them on the same stage together and whether there would even be enough room for two such big personalities. But I have to say that they pulled it of impeccably and my expectations were well and truly exceeded. I had goose bumps for most of the performance and with each song I immediately felt like I had heard them all a million times before.

The connection between Tex and Tim was genuine and their raw back-to-basics acoustics were incredible. Funnily enough Tim was off his face (or not funnily enough if you’re an alcoholic that alledgedly head butted Missy Higgins), but still managed to hold the show together (with intermittent swigs from a Vodka bottle of course). There were beautiful moments like ‘Trust your memory!’ (Tim Rogers when people persisted with photos), our friend screaming out “Tex is Sex” right at the point that the crowd went quiet and then Tex mimicking it back in a girly voice, them referring to each other simply as ‘T’ (priceless) and a great cover of Rod Stewart’s "Tonight’s the Night".

Once the gig was over I was on a natural buzz and definitely in no mood to head home and there was something about Tim Rogers that made you want to go out and get messy, so that’s what we did and the night ended with a gay friend called Mr Pink tipping a pint of Cider down my lap and a long two hour ride on night buses back to our place. But nothing could put a damper on the night, so if you get a chance to see them and you don’t take it, you are certifiably mad.

Well I guess after such an awesome night of live music you’re thinking that nothing can top that and well in some ways you’re right, but seeing Pearl Jam (that’s right PEARL JAM!!!) at the Reading Festival took things to a whole other level. It has always been a dream of mine to see Pearl Jam live and for some reason or another (particularly an over zealous parent when I was teenager) I had never made it to a live performance. But as fate would have it I picked up a couple of tickets at the last minute for face value (a rarity for an event that sells out almost a year in advance) for the final day with Pearl Jam as the headline act.

Their set was definitely focused on a lot of the hits from the past, which is something I was pleased with (I’m not the biggest fan of their new stuff) and even though Eddie Vedder is now 42 (kind of weird when you think he is only six years younger than my Dad) – I was immediately transported back to those years of teenage angst listening to Pearl Jam cooped up in my room. I am glad that we made the trek to Reading to see them and its good to fulfil one of those lifetime goals.

The set before Pearl Jam was Placebo and although I’m not a big fan I’m not entirely adverse to their music. Although the most amusing part about the set was when one of the amps broke and the band actually had to leave the stage for 10 minutes while the problem was fixed. In the intervening period the cameramen (I suspect they may have been cricket cameramen – Australian cricket fans will know what I mean) took it upon themselves to seek out all of the women in the crowd that were willing to flash for the camera. And even funnier still - explaining later what had happened, the bands frontman Brian Molko told the BBC “My guitar broke and I missed all the breasts!” That he did.

Other than Placebo and Broken Social Scene, the rest of the bands at the festival were relative unknowns for us. There were a lot of North American acts and of course a lot of Brit Rockers as well. There was some good stuff (like Shit Disco, Switches, and Semifinalists) and some average stuff (forgettable music, forgettable names). And I guess that’s the beauty of festivals – you can sample so many bands and decide what you want to seek out later down the track.

Anyways I have prattled on long enough. Until next we meet or next we write…………

Quote from 'The Fixer'

2006-08-12T10:47:00.001Z

Quote from character Bibikov in The Fixer by Bernard Malamud, set in Russia at the start of the 1900s:

"The French have a saying, 'The more it changes, the more it remains the same.' You must admit there may be a certain truth to that, especially with reference to what we call 'society.' In effect it has not changed in its essentials from what it was in the dim past, even though we tend loosely to think of civilisation as progress. I frankly no longer believe in that concept. I respect man for what he has to go through in life, and sometimes for how he does it, but he has changed little since he began to pretend he was civilised, and the same thing may be said about our society. That is how I feel, but having made that confession let me say, as you may have guessed, that I am somewhat of a meliorist. That is to say, I act as an optimist because I find I cannot act at all, as a pessimist. One often feels helpless in the face of the confusion of these times, such a mass of apparently uncontrollable events and experiences to live through, attempt to understand, and if at all possible, give order to; but one must not withdraw from the task if he has some small thing to offer - he does so at the risk of diminishing his humanity."

Where are all the English people?

2006-08-12T08:55:00.000Z

We are finding it trickier than expected to find English friends. 'Weekending' with our few Australian friends (and their friends, and friends of friends) is all too easy. Other than living with the Canadian girls, my only other-culture interaction is at work but is yet to become 'weekending'. Do we just seek out/gravitate to what we know, or are, as Trent suggests, Australians just super friendly?

So where are all the English people? There are certainly plenty of Aussies milling around. Shepherd's Bush, for example, is practically 'Little Oz'. In fact you can tell how many immigrants are in an area by the size of the free international newspaper boxes that wait outside your tube station. At ours, the Australian, South African and New Zealand ones are similar sizes (small but usually empty) and sit beside a giant Polish one. The search continues...

Anyway I'll leave it at that. I figured a few short and snappy blogs were in order after the Moroccan chronicles...

Blast from the past

2006-08-12T08:40:00.000Z

The other week Trent and I planned to meet at the tube station after work, then head to Queen's Park for a picnic. I was waiting on the corner reading a book, when a guy rounds the corner and starts pointing at me. I'm thinking, here we go - could Queen's Park also be full of crazies? He takes off his sunnies and lo and behold, its Karl Stanton, a guy I went to high school with! Crazy. After the initial shock we worked out that given the last time we saw each other was in high school, we hadn't seen each other for almost TEN years (Way to make you feel old! Back then ten years seemed like a long enough time to have achieved something...). Turns out Karl was just about to head off to Barcelona, doing the travel thing. But what a great surprise, and in a place I certainly didn't expect to run into someone I knew!

Closing the chapter on Morocco

2006-08-10T15:17:00.000Z

Well I guess its about time we recounted the second half of our time in Morocco. Be warned though – its another long, long, long one and I apologise in advance.

Well we finished the last post in the hillside village of Chefchaouen and from there it was off to the historic portside city of Tangier. On the bus to Tangier we stopped in what I can only describe as one of the most scummy places on earth. It was as if this bus stop was custom designed to be a den of fumes. We emerged from the den only to find that the city was just as dirty. Luckily we were only there for 15 minutes and were soon back on the road. We had been warned that Tangier was a bit dodgy and if our experience in the bus station (close to Tangier) was anything to go by we were in for a real treat.

Our first day in Tangier was again spent exploring the Medina (with a stop at McDonalds for me). The McDonalds definitely had one of the best views of the port and city, but was priced well out of reach for the average Moroccan. The day probably wasn’t as good as it could be because the majority of the Medina was closed for prayer day (Friday for Muslims).

One of the highlights of Tangier was the incredible views of the coastline (being able to see the Coast line of Spain on the horizon was a novelty), although this was often marred by rubbish. Just when you thought you had found a great part of the medina you’d stumble across copious amounts of rubbish (a perfect site with old cannons looking out across to Spain was ruined by rubbish). After wandering around aimlessly for a few hours a local decided to become our tour guide (against our protests that we wouldn’t be paying) and gave us a tour around the edge of the Medina. It was definitely interesting to see the varying styles of houses from all the different countries that have controlled different pieces of Tangier over the years, but we still didn’t want to pay for it. After much arguing we finally got away with paying him a token amount – even though we told him we didn’t want a guide (arghhhhhh).

Tangier itself wasn’t really enough to hold our attention for the few days that we were there, so we made a day trip to the seaside town of Assillah, which we had been told had one of the best beaches in Morocco (named something like Paradise Beach). There were a few options to get to the beach on arrival to Assillah and after some haggling with the owner of an old mule we decided to go the old fashioned way. However, what we expected to be a quick ride around the corner was actually about a very bumpy 5km out of town. But it was definitely worth it – and it gave you a feel for what life might have been and still is in some ways for Moroccans. And the beach itself was beautiful even by Australian standards. It had an awesome cliff for a backdrop, nice sand, not too much pollution and, most importantly, it was virtually empty. Without being too cheesy we returned with sore butts and big grins.

The next night we caught an overnight train back down to Marrakech and surprisingly it was better than the one that we caught from Krakow to Berlin (admittedly it was only for tourists). The train station in Marrakech was brand new and very impressive. In fact if that had have been our first view of Tangier we would have been severely disappointed by everything outside of the station. It was a part of the current (more modern and progressive) King’s plans to improve the infrastructure in Morocco, which seems like a good plan.

After popping some sleeping tablets on the train I had a great nights sleep and woke up refreshed and ready to tackle the new day. That was until we had to skip breakfast (due to Moroccan time on the arrival of the train – Moroccan time being late) and jump straight into a two hour crazy-taxi to Imlil. The windy roads were of no concern to the driver, whose philosophy was that you can drive on whatever part of the road you feel most comfortable, and as fast as you want around bends, as long as you beep as you approach blind corners. Harrowing.

Imlil itself is set amongst some of Morocco’s highest peaks (apparently that’s where the King does his skiing) so we took the opportunity to do some hiking. The first day we did a short walk that took us through some of the small villages, through lush greenery, and overlooking floodplains. The next day we split up and went on different walks. I went on a hardcore walk and Amanda took a four hour stroll to a ‘holy place’ part way up the highest mountain. As it turns out the holy place was actually a giant rock painted white and a whole swag of shops had sprung up around it to cater for the predominantly Muslim tourists that do the hike (not quite on the same scale as those surrounding Niagara Falls but the same idea I guess).

Given that the hike to the top of the tallest mountain was an overnighter, I settled in for the next longest option and did a 9 hour 25 kilometres walk around a panorama of nearby mountains. Unfortunately my walking shoes (the only shoes I took on the trip) split about half an hour into the walk. It definitely wasn’t your average Australian National Park walking trail either (ie fenced, fairly wide paths…safe), it was a mixture of thin almost vertical goat trails (with 100 metre drops), slippery slimy rocks, palmeries, lovely villages, more goat trails and some truly incredible scenery. At the end of the walk I parted with my shoes (a sad moment for me) and had to wear thongs for the last week and a half of the trip.

The place we stayed in Imlil felt really homely (largely due to our awesome host Alli) and even though we were only there for two days it was a really relaxing break (other than being sore after our hard core walks of course). The village even had a Moroccan donut shop (mmmmmmm delicious). From Imlil it was back into the crazy taxis and off to Marrakech to catch our bus to Essaouira.

Essaouira was an absolute jewel, not to mention photogenic. It was definitely more touristy than some of the places that we stayed (and the prices reflected that) but one of our favourites none the less. We spent four nights there and probably could have spent much more. It had a generally chilled out feel to it and the sea breeze was a refreshing change from the 40 degree plus temperatures in Marrakech.

During its day Essaouira served as a key trading post for Morocco, with a large Jewish merchant population, up until modern ships rendered its harbour too shallow. But fortunately it still lives on as a key fishing village and the port is still a bustling place to be and I guess a great place to eat fresh seafood (if that’s your thing – its too fishy for my liking).

We spent most of our time in Essaouira cruising the Medina (who would have guessed), looking at the fortified walls (with its old Spanish cannons), shopping and copying the photos that were in the postcards in the stores (a good trick if you ask me). Even though the hotel was the worst of the trip (it only had drop toilets, so I was finally forced to experience a toosie on the drop) we definitely felt refreshed after Essaouira and ready to go back to the frenzy of Marrakech for the last two nights of the tour.

The drive into Marrakech is along a beautiful rose lined royal boulevard and either side of the boulevard are modern looking housing developments, which are the product of the money flooding into Morocco as foreigners buy up the Riads within the Medina. This then gives the locals the cash to buy the larger newer places on the outskirts of town – I’m not exactly what to think of this and the move away from their tradition and heritage, but I guess it affords them a better standard of living.

Fortunately for us, the second time round Marrakech wasn’t as overwhelming as the first and by that stage we had picked up enough Arabic phrases to be a bit more street savvy (so not as likely to get ripped off - or by as much!). We explored the Place Djemaa el-Fna again (more cheap orange juice), the Souk and looked through an old palace. On the last day we visited the Marjorelle gardens (owned by Yves Saint Laurent) and the Islamic museum inside its walls.

The gardens were impressively manicured (a cacti garden and thriving greenery surrounding royal blue buildings) and the Islamic museum had an interesting collection. But unfortunately our visit and final day in Marrakech was marred by Amanda getting sick again. She uncharacteristically raced through the Islamic museum (to my delight – I find museums to be a drag if you're in there too long) and later added some interesting background activity to all the French tourists’ photos (this not so delightful).

Although we had to check out of the hotel that morning, we were able to use a room (courtesy of a girl who was staying on in Marrakech) until we caught the train back to Casablanca that evening. To much discussion amongst the Moroccan women in our carriage, Amanda continued her spate of vomiting on the train. I’m not too sure what they were thinking to begin with (like is she pregnant), but courtesy of a son who could speak English (as well as Spanish, French and Arabic – which is common in Morocco) we were able to quickly explain the situation and the women were soon giving us sensible advice. And that was how we finished our time in Morocco.

At the risk of rambling on further (I figure if you’ve made it this far you are probably committed to this post by now and have a vested interest in completing it – its always nice to have a sense of achievement) I also wanted to touch on a few general observations about Morocco as well.

Time moves very slowly in Morocco and why shouldn’t it – it’s so damn hot. The people there are incredibly kind to each other and occasionally to tourists. It is far more varied and beautiful than I could ever have imagined.

In our experience Moroccan men were extremely sleazy towards foreigner woman, even though the girls in our group made an effort to dress respectfully. I’m sure the same men would be outraged if someone acted the same way towards a local girl let alone someone they cared about. I can definitely see the attraction for girls to travel in a tour group, rather than going it alone in places like Morocco.

Also, as an outsider, your view is severely skewed towards the male version of Morocco (due to the male domination in Muslim culture). The women are definitely behind the scenes so interaction with them is limited. For the girls, going to a hamum is probably the closest you can get to see the women interacting, unless you are invited into somebody’s home. So I really felt like I was missing out on half of the story, which was a bit of a shame.

In general the tour was a great way to get a varied view of Moroccan life by venturing out into the countryside and mountains as well as the cities. If the whole tour focused on the cities I don’t think I would have enjoyed myself anywhere near as much and we wouldn’t have been able to see how a large part of Moroccans live.

Anyways if you have made it this far, thanks for sticking with me. And if you didn’t, don’t worry I understand – I’m not sure I would have made it either!

Bye for now……….I have some housewife stuff to attend too.

Our camera broke and what was the first thing we thought……….

2006-07-31T12:58:00.000Z

Excellent now we can buy a new one. Now I am not too sure in what kind of bizarro world that would be the first reaction to something very expensive breaking, but apparently it’s the one we live in. Are we that much of a disposable society that as soon as something breaks we say to ourselves great that thing was obsolete we needed a new one anyway? I feel guilty just thinking about it. I mean the camera was only two years old and we had hardly got any use out of it (and it’s not like the pictures weren’t any good). But it was the first reaction for both of us and it was like it was our natural instinct.

Perhaps society is doomed after all or perhaps we will try and get the camera fixed. Only time will tell.

Still bumming around in London

2006-07-27T12:44:00.000Z

I had intended on finishing my post on Morocco, but after reading about Nick’s adventures I think it will only make me more travel sick – so I’ll have to save that one for another time.

Well after a few more false starts on the interview front (they keep getting postponed) it now looks like I should have some interviews next week (notice all the definitive language used in that sentence – I am taking everything with a grain of salt at the moment). One is with Morgan Stanley in an area that reviews the performance of other areas in Morgan Stanley and the other is with Westminster City Council in their strategic procurement area (whatever that means). According to the recruitment agencies I am getting stuffed around because everyone is off on holidays at this time of year so things slow down a bit. But really how hard can it be to give me a bloody job – arghhhhhh!!!!!!

On the social front – we attempted our first day trip out of London last week (a day at the Beach in Brighton), but due to bad weather we called it off and settled for a few beers at the pub instead. Funnily enough the few beers quickly turned into dinner (provided courtesy of our friends that we meet in Morocco – Kareen and Sam) and some more beers at a bar on the Thames.

The weekends in London are incredible at the moment and the atmosphere in any outdoor area makes you realise how much the English appreciate the summer weather while it’s around. But of course you cant help thinking about why they appreciate it so much and that’s because there is something far more sinister on its way (that evil English winter).

Anyways, on a more positive note, with the trip done and dusted and our life beginning to settle down in London (Amanda working and me sleeping in and cooking dinner) my mind has begun to turn to the next big thing on the horizon – and thats the marriage of Littlewood and Wilson.

It was decided a long time ago that we would be eloping on our return flight back to Australia in March next year (via Frankfurt and Beijing), so that makes things a bit simpler. But with so many options on offer (anywhere easy to get to from London, Frankfurt or Beijing – i.e. half the world) the big decision is where would we tie the knot. The general criteria is that it has to be somewhere different and something that’d be a memorable way to start our life together.

After some inspired thinking from Amanda (and me in a less inspired way) we have narrowed it down to the following basic plan. A luxury cruise down the Nile (I like to think that it would be symbolic for our long life together), a three or four day hike along the Great Wall of China (also symbolic for the inevitable challenges that we’ll face) and then a week or so to see family in Australia (not sure if this is symbolic – probably more to do with home sickness). Oh and a wedding ceremony thrown in somewhere along the way.

So that is what my mind has been thinking about for the last week or so (as well as the need for a job of course).

We are alive and well.....

What’s on my mind – the normal life???

2006-07-13T20:49:00.000Z

QUALIFICATION AND DISCLAIMER (BEFORE YOU BEGIN): this is a super long post and reflects the amount of time that I have on my hands (unemployment will do that to you). But I am sure that if you take the time to read it you will enjoy yourself immensely. It is certainly some of my finest work and provides some great insight into my psyche and that of human beings in general.

My current life reminds me a lot of my university days – staying up late, getting up late and not really doing much at all. Now while it may sound like a glamourous lifestyle, if I don’t get some mental stimulation soon I am confident that my brain will turn to mush. So to the question of what normally occupies peoples’ minds for a large part of the week - and no its not what your thinking it's that necessary evil called work.

Well there isn’t exactly a great deal happening on the job front for me at the moment, although ironically I agreed to have my name put forward for a couple of jobs in the construction areas of London Transport. I have no desire to work for local government or any form of government for that matter, but the money on offer was enough of an incentive to put my name in for a six month contract. It would be funny if I ended up doing what Amanda was doing in Australia when in reality I want to be doing what she is doing over here – well not exactly what she is doing but working for someone like Morgan Stanley.

Other than sleeping, eating and catching the tube, the past four weeks have been a whirlwind of friends visiting and friends leaving. In some ways it was a great way to start our time in London but in others it brought home the reality that we really are starting from scratch here and that includes making a new group of friends. But unlike Canberra and Uni we don’t have a ready made network of graduates or a bunch of Uni students looking for friends too, we actually have to go out there and find people with the same interests. How does one do this – I’m not too sure, but one thing I do know is that it’s the people that make a place and not the other way around. So we need to get out there and find us some interesting friends. There is sure to be some out there somewhere.

We have just bought a laptop (so that we can keep in contact with all of our lovely friends from the past – well at least Amanda will) and for some reason I was totally fixated on getting one with a 17 inch widescreen. I just know that if I got something smaller than 17 inches I would always be looking at the screen and wondering what could have been if only we had forked out the extra cash for those extra inches. Do I really need 17 inches of widescreen pleasure? Probably not, but the number of inches sounded so impressive that I just had to go ahead and do it anyway. Besides, all those inches can only improve my posting performance, right?

Other than letting you know what is happening in our lives in London (from my point of view anyway) I wanted to touch on the Moroccan part of the trip. It’s incredible to think that we were only there four weeks ago and I have already begun to forget things (the human brain is so feeble). So I’ll try and pluck a few of those memories out before they are lost in the recesses forever.

Where to begin, where to begin – perhaps at the start, that would make sense. Our Intrepid tour started in Marrakech with great confusion at our first hotel. When I told the guy at reception that we were a part of the Intrepid group and wanted to check in, he promptly sent us to some travel agent who books tours. Now at this point we were thinking what the hell - we are suppose to be meeting here in two hours and now we’ve been effectively told that the tour isn’t starting at Hotel Ali. Thankfully the travel agent knew what was going on and got into contact with our Tour Leader. We quickly returned to Hotel Ali and eventually checked in (after some arguing about who would talk to the receptionist this time – particularly as I was convinced that he had it in for me). That night we had a meal in the famous outdoor food stalls at Place Djemaa el-Fna and a few freshly squeezed orange juices. The mayhem of Marrakech was definitely a great way to start the tour.

From Marrakech we headed down to Ouarzazate (or “what waz that” in 12th man speak) – nothing too interesting occurred in Ouarzazate other than the break down in our ‘chicken bus’ on the way there. Despite the best efforts of about eight guys, including one hitching a ride to a nearby village to buy glue to ‘fix’ the engine, we were still waiting two hours later. We actually ended up catching a ride in an empty minibus that just happened to be driving by. Ouarzazate is close to the UNESCO-listed Kasbah Ait Benhaddou (the oldest and best preserved Kasbah in Morocco), which is where we headed the next morning. This was probably one of the most spectacular and picturesque places of the trip and it truly looked like a set straight out of a Hollywood movie.

From Ait Benhaddou it was off and into the hills of Todra Gorge. Once again the bus ride was one of the more interesting parts - this bus was also one of those so called ‘chicken buses’, but unlike the first it appeared to be broken down right from the get go. After bunny-hoping and spluttering our way out of the bus terminal, the driver decided that stopping the bus would only risk a major break down. As a result anyone who wanted to either get on, or off, the bus had to do a run and jump, or a jump and run (depending on which way they were going - on or off). When the bus driver refused to stop for an old man, he had the whole bus up in arms (and clapping, which is Moroccan for “stop”), until reluctantly he pulled over about two kms down the road. That said, unlike our first ‘chicken bus’ this one actually got us to our destination – which I guess was a plus.

Todra Gorge itself was a beautiful and relaxing place – we went for a hike over the top of the Gorge, stopping for wild mint tea with a Berber Nomad family at the top. One of the afternoons we attempted a swim at a hotel pool in the middle of the Palmerie, but the weather took a turn for the worst (i.e. deckchairs being blown around) so we chickened out (that is, everyone except the only English girl on the tour). The weather ended up becoming an overnight downpour, which then turned into a flood – a rare occurrence for those parts of the world. After a short delay and the negotiation of some flood waters the next morning – we were on our way to ride camels and camp the night out under the stars in the Sahara, or so we thought. Unfortunately the flood had actually flooded the desert as well. It’s hard to believe and kind of ironic that we missed our night in the desert due to flooding.

After a little detour through Midelt (instead of our night in the Sahara) we headed to Fes, through forests full of monkeys and fields full of purple flowers. On the trip to Fes, one of those sudden stomach bugs took hold of Amanda and after some confused clapping to stop the mini van (everyone seemed to forget that since the group was on its own bus we could just stay “stop!”) Amanda was out of the bus decorating the scenery. One upside was that we weren’t on the ‘chicken bus’ that wouldn’t stop.

Fes was definitely the most interesting of the major cities we visited and its Medina was something that had to be experienced. Along with two Australian girls who were also moving to London, we hired a guide to make sure we saw all the best bits, and didn’t get lost! We visited the famous tanneries with the aid of Moroccan gas masks (i.e. mint leaves), a Berber pharmacy (full of natural remedies and cosmetics, including the aphrodisiac 'Spanish flies’), a ceramics guild and last, but not least, a rug co-operative. We definitely got caught up in the moment and ended up buying ceramics, two carpets and a swag of Berber remedies, which we then had to drag around for the rest of the tour! Not the smartest move, but worth it in the end.

From Fes we headed to Chefchaouen, which we are told can best be described as Morocco’s equivalent to Byron Bay. I haven’t actually been to Byron Bay so I can’t vouch for that one, but instead of drugged out hippies there were drugged out Spaniards everywhere (they may have been hippies too – who knows). The town itself is famous for its beautiful blue and white washed walls and was originally settled by Jewish and Muslim refugees fleeing persecution in Spain (around the 1500s). It was very photogenic and certainly a good place to chill out after the hustle and bustle of Fes.

I’m not even half way through and this is the longest post of all time so I’ll save the rest for another time. I’d say goodbye in Arabic, but I can’t remember how to spell it – I think it was something along the lines of “masalama”.

London at last

2006-07-03T11:26:00.000Z

Well, after about three months of travel topped off with seeing Australia's first World Cup match, we have arrived in London. Initially we were staying with Nick and Lucas (fellow ex-Finance grads) while we found ourselves a place/jobs etc. However, when the housemates they had lined up to take over their room at the end of June fell through, we agreed to move in instead - too easy! But kinda bittersweet to watch them preparing to leave as we were just starting to settle in.

So, we are now sharing a 2 brm apartment in Kilburn Park with Jen and Nicole, two Canadian girls. Its close to the tube and, as we have recently discovered, about 15 minutes walk to Lords and just three stops away from Wembley stadium (and IKEA). Kilburn Park is northwest of London in Zone 2 and is definitely an interesting neighbourhood (read full of crazies).

We've had visitors already: I caught the end of Anna's (friend from uni) European holiday so we spent a day sightseeing with her, including Big Ben, Westminister, Downing Street and a stop in Harrod's chocolate bar for a £4.50 hot chocolate (almost AUD$12!!!); Bobby (ex-Finance grad) spent about a week in London so we explored a few London suburbs (particularly the inside of music stores) with him and gave Nick and Lucas a pre-farewell farewell on a Wednesday night; and we are expecting Badham (ex-Finance grad) to be around in the next few days too.

I have just got a six month contract with Morgan Stanley through Fuzz's recruitment agency so I start tomorrow. Trent is still looking for work but that shouldn't take too much longer. Otherwise we are enjoying the London summer, although are kind of amused that they are continually warning of 'heatwaves' for temps in the low 30s! And parks (the English do them well) are crowded like beaches. Nick has given us dire warnings about the London winter so we plan to make the most of summer while we can. Anyway, we're off to buy house stuff and groceries - definitely relishing having some routine back after living out of our backpacks!

Bye for now,
Amanda

We're gonna win the cup!!!!

2006-06-17T12:31:00.000Z

For those that didn't see us on the ABC news (standing behind Peter Wilkins) we were actually at the game and witnessed Australia take down the Japanese. We secured some tickets, courtesy of Bobby, at the last minute and hung around in Germany for an extra night to catch the game. And what a game it was!!!

The atmosphere leading up to the game was unbelievable and the banter between the Australians and Japanese fans (and the Australians and English fans for that matter) was great to watch and even better to be a part of. We bought some token Australian gear before the game so that we could feel like we were a part of the action.

The game itself, as I am sure you would agree, was a little stressful up until Tim Cahill’s equaliser in the 84th minute. After that the goals kept coming and the Australian fans were getting louder and louder (including us) - there wasn't an Australian sitting down in the stadium. I don’t think I have been more patriotic in my life than I was during and after the game - it was difficult to hold back the tears.

We had a few celebrity sightings before and after the game. Before the game we saw Ken Sutcliffe doing live crosses to a current affair and a recorded piece for the news (tried to get in the background but to no avail) and Reg Regan doing a skit for The Footy Show (we also tried to get in this one). After the game we saw Ray Martin, who was being mobbed by extremely happy and patriotic Australian fans (we have photos of Trent with Ray - and just so you know the hair seems natural enough in real life) and of course Peter Wilkins.

Anyways that’s all for now - we would like to put some more up about Morocco and how we are getting on in London, but for some reason we are still working on Moroccan time (that is slowly slowly), but I am sure we’ll get there eventually. Any news from home???

More photos up

2006-06-17T12:25:00.000Z

Hi all, I've put some more Moroccan and World Cup photos up and there's still more to come. We have arrived in London and have started the daunting search for a house/job/life! Will post properly soon...

Moroccan Teaser

2006-05-30T13:01:00.000Z

Right, as you know we are currently in Morocco. While we work on something more substantial, I thought I'd do a quick 'teaser' post on our experience so far.

I am loving the mix of Arabic, French or Spanish, and English and the way people jump between languages in conversation. Arabic is very easy to listen to, and we have picked up a few of the basics (choieya, choieya or swehah, swehah, slowly slowly). It seems everyone is at least bilingual here, if not tri or quad(?)...

Trent is the only guy in our group of 13. This means that the only break that he gets from girl talk (like the group conversation we had over dinner the other night after the tour leader mused that she didn't understand guys) is poo talk. Almost everyone has been sick at some stage so 'regularity' is a regular conversation topic.

Toilet paper is BYO. When it is supplied, its pink, but you can't flush it or it blocks the toilet. You have to put it in a bin, and if there is no bin in the toilet, take it with you. That's right, even if you did a number two.

You pay for all public toilets, even if they are just squat loos. Forget democracy, the US of A (in particular the West Coast, which we both agree has excelled at making public toilets an artform, except for the very dodgy ones on the roadside at Hoover Dam which were in fact worse than any in Morocco, but then that's not really on the West Coast) should just focus on bringing clean toilets to the world if they really wanted to make a difference.

Litter is crazy! And I'm not entirely convinced that throwing rubbish into a bin makes any difference - when the floods started in the Todra Gorge, I saw one of the guys from our hotel throwing bins full of rubbish into the flowing water. Apparently the new king is making an effort to clean up some of the Moroccan cities so hopefully this will get better.

Cats are to Morocco what dogs were to Europe - everywhere. Particularly in Essaouria where we are at the moment. They range from mangy to well fed (where there are lots of tourists) but we avoid patting them (I learnt my lesson in the Solomon Islands when a very cute kitty coughed up a ginorous tape worm during a pat). Apparently Muslims aren't allowed to name animals because that gives them a soul and most of the cats are stray rather than pets.

We were supposed to ride camels in the Sahara but, would you believe, the desert flooded. We settled for eating camel burgers instead. Delicous!

Berlin (a while ago)

2006-05-30T12:49:00.000Z

Our last stop in Europe before we hit Morocco was Berlin and there was a strong contrast to our other German experience in Munich. Munich was super clean with unlocked bikes lying around - there was a general trust and a jovial feel. Berlin on the other hand was dirty and gritty, with graffiti on almost every surface (including mobile ones like trucks). Bikes were chained up but missing all of their parts and there were crazy groups of (drinking) punks everywhere.

Our hostel was near the famous east side gallery which is the longest stretch of the remaining Berlin wall and was handed over to artists. Even though East Berlin has yet to fully recover, it was by far the more interesting side of town.

It didn't feel like we did alot in Berlin (churning out posts takes time you know) but we did check out the Jewish museum and went on the Free Berlin Tour (I know tours are touristy but time is precious and the Free Tour groups are really good). The memorial to the murdered Jews of the Holocaust (one of a number of WW2 memorials in Berlin) was certainly a little more prominent than the one in Munich - it was bang smack in the middle of town and took up nearly a whole city block.

One interestng thing that we learned during the tour (well so the story goes) was that the initial impetous for knocking down the Berlin Wall was largely an accident. It all started with some peaceful student protests in a town near Berlin, which gradually began growing in size over a number of weeks to over 200,000 people. Eventually the East German (or the GDR - I think) Government decided to send troops down to squash the uprising with orders to use all necesary force (which of course, given communist satellites' historical response to uprisings, was likely to result in a massacre of protesters). But this time it was different. It wasn't an outside army of Russians or Ukranians sent to squash the people it was the GDR army and these people were their neigbours, friends and family. When the confrontation finally occurred the army actually layed down their weapons and joined in on the protest.

Of course by this time the Government was freaking out, the Prime Minister stepped down and the new Prime Minister had no idea what to do - the GDR was in turmoil and the USSR for once wasn't going to do anything about it. For some reason senior Ministers were convinced that all the protesters wanted was more freedom to travel abroad (it was clerly a little more complicated than that). So the Government decided to call an international press conference with the intention of announcing that travel restrictions would be lessened, although of course they only ever intended letting the new arrangements apply to a very small proportion of the population.

Now this is where things get a little hard to believe - apparently the Minister chosen to give the press conference (of which there were only a few during the time of the GDR) was afraid of public speaking. So the day before the press conference they had a meeting to flesh out the details of what they would tell the world. The Minister that was supposed to be giving the speech was so nervous that he didn't make the meeting - he was at home drinking to calm his nerves. Now apparently at the meeting some rough notes were taken so that they could be handed on to the Minister for his speech. According to the story these notes were only handed over minutes before the press conference and he didn't get even get a chance to read them before it started.

So the Minister started the press conference by giving a very long update on progress in various uninteresting areas (production of dairy milk yada yada). It was so long and uninteresting that some of the press actually left part way through (what a career mistake that was). The Minister eventually reached the end of his speech notes, and feeling something was missing, pulled out the notes from the previous day's meeting (apparently you can seee him do his on the media footage of the press conference), flicked past the page that said something along the lines of 'not for public release' and announced the first thing on the page, which was that travel restrictions would be lifted (he didn't announce the qualifications). Now this got the media's attention. Someone asked when would this take affect. The Minister obviously had no idea, but rather than referring the question to the Prime Minister, or saying "Can I get back to you on that one?" he looked down and saw that days date, so as any itelligent person would he said "Immediately!".

Word of this spread very quickly and people started approaching the Berlin Wall eager to cross to the other side. Obviously the guards did what they had done in the past - this was the Berlin Wall you didn't just go through because you felt like it. Eventually the numbers began to swell and the guards were having trouble controlling the crowd. They called in for orders and the orders (in light of the recent annoucement) was to let only the rowdy ones through. Of course the whole crowd was rowdy so everybody was let through. One thing lead to another and you ended up with the Hoff singing on the wall and the reunification of West and East Germany. It is amazing to think that this one person played such an important role in recent history and it was all by accident.

We will put up a post on Morocco soon - we promise. Amanda has put some photos up of Ouarzazate, Todra Gorge and Midelt and the drive to Fes in the meantime.

Krakow - the title of 'new Prague' doesn't begin to describe it

2006-05-18T18:16:00.000Z

After Prague we zigzagged across to Krakow in Poland. Both Amanda and I really enjoyed Krakow and as with many other places wished we had time (and of course money) to stay longer. I think it's alternative feel and partially untouched state (at least for Europe) were big attractions. We have heard people call it the 'new Prague', but in many ways I don't think that does it justice. While it wasn't as big and the architechture wasn't as impressive the place had a great lively feel to it and a strong history.

We finally got around to going on a bike tour in Krakow - every European city seems to have one and riding around on bikes seems to be such a European passtime. So we figured that we should give it a go. The tour focused on the Jewish history of the city that began with the Jews migrating across to Krakow (at the invitation of the King of the time) to avoid persecution in Spain (around the 14 or 15 hundreds). It seems that things weren't all that great for the Jews in Krakow as early on as the 16 hundreds, when they were forced to live in a ghetto and had their rights restricted (ownership of property and the work they could do).

Of course this was nothing compared to what happened during WWII when practically the whole Krakow population of 240,000 Jews was murdered by the Nazis - only 1 or 2% survived. The tour took us past Oskar Schindler's apartment and his factory, which were amazingly still standing in much the same condition as they were during the war. While you could argue either way about Oskar Schindler (he did go to Krakow purely to profit from the war), without him it is unlikely that any of those 2% would have survived.

Before the bike tour Amanda finally got her museum fix (the first in Europe) and we made an extremely quick stop to see a Leonardo Da Vinci painting. It was a bit strange to find a Da Vinci in a tiny museum in Krakow (and a Rembrandt), but I guess even little places had rich overtaxing Monarchs that could afford to collect that type of art.

A large reason for our visit to Krakow was to make a day trip to the Nazi death camps at Auschwitz and Auschwitz-Berkenau. The sheer size of the place and some of the exhibits were difficult to comprehend (particularly one room that contained two tonnes of women's hair). Even being there it was hard to imagine that something like that could have been allowed to happen (in modern history) and you walk away promising yourself that this can't be allowed to happen again. But unfortunately all this means very little when genocide is happening right now in places like Sudhan.

On a much much lighter note - we had an Amazing Race style moment on our return to Krakow. Our bus from Aushwitz was running late and we only had half an hour in Krakow to get a taxi back to our hostel, pick up our packs, search for our clothes in the hostel's communal washing pile and then rush back to the train station to catch an overnight train to Berlin. Our taxi driver was awesome and was pulling all sorts of crazy moves. He got us there with over 10 minutes to spare, which I thought was an extrodinary effort given the confusing streets in Krakow and the even crazier drivers.

Czech Republic (See photos now!)

2006-05-18T18:08:00.001Z

Our start in Prague was a little scary. We arrived in Prague at about midnight after a full day of train travel from Budapest. We avoided the line of notoriously dodgy taxis and set out for our hostel on foot. We were disturbed to find the number of the hostel above the entrance to an apartment building's stairwell, lacking any obvious signs that a hostel was inside. Nevertheless we started the climb up the flight of stairs inside, deciding that following the noise coming from above us would be our best bet.

Unfortunately the source of the noise was a guy trying to kick down someone's door despite loud protests from the other side. A little bewildered, we continued up the stairs only to be greeted by a little man speaking very fast in Czech, with his wife standing behind him. When we responded with 'hostel?' 'reservations?', he beckoned for us to follow him back downstairs, briefly berated the guy in the stairwell still kicking down the door and then led us through a door into what looked like a floor of a hotel. We were a little bit confused. This guy didn't seem to be from the hostel, yet had access to its floors but only one without a reception(??!!). When we asked for 'reception' he led us back out into the stairwell and down the street around the corner to where the very brightly lit entrance to the hostel was! After a frenzied speel to the guy behind the desk, he said goodbye and left.

We later pieced together that he and his wife must have been woken by the kicking guy, decided to check it out, only to find two bewildered backpackers wandering the stairwell. From his conversation with the guy on reception, it was clear that he thought that we were causing the noise (he was threatening to call the police) and had decided to lead us away from his floor and building! Personally I can't see how two people weighed down with huge backpacks would be very threatening - maybe if they took their backpacks off.... In the end the hostel was actually really nice - a 'boutique' hostel - and we were only slightly worried that a stranger might wander in from the stairwell for the next four nights.

Prague was as pretty and as touristy as we'd been told. We were surprised to find very cheap beer (about $1.50AUD for half a litre) and very tall women. Back in Australia, whenever Trent or I would spot a tall girl, I would try and sidle up beside her so Trent could judge who was taller. I normally won. In Prague, half the time there was no need to even sidle because the game was over before it even started.

We met heaps of Americans from Austin, Texas ("We're not like the rest of Texas"), most of whom had been flown to Prague for a Deloitte company soccer competition (where do I apply??). We ended up sampling some "Svaty Norbert" beer at a monastery (reknown to be one of the oldest beers brewed in Europe) with a doctor from Austin, fresh from a 'medicinal' stint in Amsterdam.

We did a day trip to a little village called Cesky Krumlov, about 3 hours by bus from Prague (Good recommendation Courtney!). It was less touristy and had a medieval charm about it. It was quite small but fit in all the 'C's of the most impressive European cities (cobblestones, castle, churches). It even had two bears in what used to be the moat, although that was kind of sad.

Common themes in Central Europe

2006-05-18T17:51:00.000Z

There have definitely been some common themes in the countries we've visited in Central Europe (Germany/Austria/Hungary/Czech Republic/Poland):

Meat - Most countries are thoroughly carnivorous and seem to have variations on sausage/meat stews with their own national flavour (ie paprika in Hungary). Can't imagine vegetarians would be very impressed, unless they looooved potato salad and cabbage.

Dosh for a dunny - Shocking I know, but I guess at least you know they'll be clean and as long as you actually have cash on you, there is no reason to burst. We did meet a couple from Perth who refused to pay for a loo 'on principle' but I doubt it would be worth the extra agony.

The struggle for 'No Gas' - We joined the ranks of the many naive tourists before us that have accidently purchased soda water. By now we are almost getting used to the taste but still just don't see the point of the bubbles. On the other hand, we were also caught out by asking for "water, no gas" at a restaurant and being brought bottled still water.

Boozing in the boulevards - seeing alcohol (and subsequently drunk people) in almost every public space is a bit of a shock, coming from a country where alcohol consumption is so much more controlled. I find myself a little bit more apprehensive when we pass a group of people in a train station, if I can see them drinking alcohol although I'm sure we'll get used to it.

Bikes - They are everywhere but I guess most prolific in Germany. In Munich people even left them leaning against their house (not locked up). There were sections of the footpath dedicated to bikes and naturally cyclists were not very happy if you jaywalked or crossed onto their path (but they weren't very happy in German so we didn't mind). No helmets necessary and apparently 'drink riding' is OK.

Man's best friend - Europe is certainly well set up for dog lovers. We were surprised to see dogs (and their owners) riding the subways. In Munich there was actually signs marking designated doggy parking spots outside some shops. In Berlin, it also seems that your dog can be an extension of your personal style - so far the punks and skinheads (hard to tell the difference between the two) we have seen have only ever owned black dogs (not sure if this to create a more menancing persona, or is just an outfit coordination issue).

Chestnut trees - love em! Germans used to bury kegs of beer under the shade of chestnut trees to cool it, then decided that they might as well drink the beer under the shade too and so started the first beergardens.

Budapest - a little rough around the edges but definitely a gem

2006-05-18T17:33:00.000Z

After Austria we went behind the remnants of the iron curtain and into Hungary. The difference between Vienna (very Western) and Budapest was immediately apparent (a generally dirtier feel with hawkers hitting you up as soon as you hop off the train). While both had been under the reign of the Hapsburg empire for a good four hundred years or so (up until the end of WWI) - the 50 years of communist rule in Hungary has left the city in a state of disrepair. Like all other good European cities Budapest had a lovely castle, churches and fort. The buildings were all of the same architectural quality as that in Vienna, but just not as well looked after. I think this is part of what made the city so interesting - dignified but its tumultous history has given it a bit of an edge.

Even though the loin clothes and corpulent naked men were at times disturbing, the thermal baths were a highlight. Although it doesn't sound like my experience was anywhere near as interesting as Amanda's. In describing it Amanda recalled a stubby cooler she had seen in Australia that 'defined' the various types of womens' breasts (i.e. the sweet potatoes, pancakes etc). According to Amanda she has now seen all of the varieties on that stubby cooler (even though Amanda admitted that at the time of seeing the stubby cooler she thought it impossible). While the unashamed nakedness of it all was a little weird to begin with - I soon got into the swing of things and felt relaxed for many days to come (a few backpacking aches were cured). A trip to Budapest for the baths alone would be well worth it.

We learnt a little bit about what it was like living as a satelite under the communist regime. The tour guide of our 'hammer and sickle tour' was 16 when the iron curtain fell and life certainly wasn't about equality for her and her family - it was about fear and control and never knowing when you were being spied on. Information was power and those close to the power were extremely corrupt. While I believe in limiting the downside for society, the limits that communism puts on people's upside is a ridiculous notion regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum.

Anyway enough with the political rant - we only spent three nights in Budapest and I left wanting for more. In a nutshell it was relatively cheap, safe and interesting....what more could you want?

Stay in touch.

Cheers,

Trent

Austria (about 2 weeks ago)

2006-05-18T05:59:00.000Z

After Munich we made our way down to Austria, where we spent a night in Salzburg and two in Vienna. Salzburg was beautiful (although having the Alps as a backdrop would make any view spectacular!) and we briefly considered doing a two week stint working on an organic farm outside Salzberg. We did the very popular Sound of Music tour, which Trent described as the slowest four hours of his life (he hasn't seen the movie). As part of the tour we visited two small towns outside of Salzburg where the opening mountain scenes were filmed, which was probably my favourite part. The fact that Trent couldn't get "How do you solve a problem like Maria?" out of his head after the tour was just a bonus (in the end, the only solution was for him to sing "A spoon full of sugar" from Mary Poppins - the Julie Andrews force is strong in this one!)

In Vienna our visit coincided with the city's marathon. In fact we seem to be following marathons around the world - we missed Boston's by a day and later caught Prague's (where Trent got involved by hi-fiving runners). We visited some of the royal apartments at the Hofburg - Trent was enthralled by the royal silverware collection - and did the requisite classical musical concert. Vienna was celebrating the 250th anniversary of something to do with Mozart but strangely all the pictures of Mozart (and Sigmend Freud) looked like they were rolling their eyes.

Anyway that's all I have time for today but we'll try to publish posts on our other Central European stops before we leave for Morocco this Saturday...
Bye for now,
Amanda

Munchen on a Kebap in Munich

2006-05-07T08:57:00.001Z

Well as you may well know by now (particularly if you saw Amanda's post below) we have left North America and are now in sunny Europe. I am actually finishing this post in Prague, but felt Munich deserved its very own post.

We arrived in Germany on 2 May on no sleep (our overnight flight just mean we lost a night!) with absolutely no plans, no accomodation and nothing organised. So as you can imagine we weren't exactly starting out on the right foot, but as things often do, we quickly sorted ourselves out and were on a train to Munich (or Munchen, which ever ticklesyour fancy) only a hour and a half after we landed. It was not long before we were enjoying great company over steins and wine...

I don't know whether it was because Munich was the first European city that we saw or whether it really is a great place (or whether it was the beer), but I think Amanda and I will have a soft spot for Munich for a long time to come. It had a great vibe, was clean, had a good blend of old and new buildings, and cheap beer (and kebab sandwiches - kebab shops seem to be the Starbucks of Central Europe)! We also met a great Australian couple, Amy and Mick, from Geelong and hung out with them for a lot of the time, which was good fun (I am sure Amanda appreciated a break from just me). The history of the place was amazing and has sparked my interest to learn more, particularly the history relating to WWII (Munich was were Hitler took hold of power and spent a lot of his time).

While I could ramble on about the Nazi history of Munich for ages what you really want to here about is our (my) drunken escapades. Well it all started with some 1 litre stiens, as a drinking session in Bavaria often does, at a famous drinking hall in town (something like the Hofbrahouse). After that we headed out to what is dubbed 'the sister festival to Octoberfest' and had another 1 ltr stien (I actually asked for a small but apparently a litre was the only size they come in). Anyways with a nice 2 ltr head start under my belt we headed off on a pub crawl where this was quickly added to. Obviously with all of that beer slushing around, toilet breaks were becoming critically important. And to make matters worse I had my doubts about our tour guide's sense of direction, so the time in between venues seemed to be lasting an eternity.

After holding out for as long as possible I had to take matters into my own hands and decided to head down the next decent lane that we passed. After passing a few lanes that were a little too public for my liking I found the perfect one. Well at least I thought it was the perfect one.......that was until I returned from my little adventure to discover that the lane had magically turned into a garage. The door had sneakily come out of the ground. After a quick examination of the perimeter I decided there was definitely no way out (two storey walls on every side and no exits other than the roller door and no apparent way of making it work). Just as I was beginning to think all hope was lost, the door began to open. The guide had tracked down the building manager and convinced him to come down and open the door (watch out for the photo of me walking across the retreating roller door,courtesy of Amy and Mick). One of the most amazing things about the whole thing was that the building manager didn't ask any questions.

While we will be putting some posts up about the other places we have been, I will quickly touch on where we have been so far in Europe. After three nights in Munich we spent 1 night in Salzburg, 2 nights in Vienna, 3 nights in Budapest and are now on our 2nd night in Prague. After Prague we head off to Krakow and then across to Berlin.

Oh and we have photos up for the rest of North American part of the trip (No captions yet, but stay tuned...).

Don't be jealous - travel is work too. Talk to you soon.

Trent

Farewell North America

2006-05-06T18:36:00.000Z

Well we have said goodbye to North America on the first of May and have started making our way around Central Europe. Before Trent starts on our European adventures I thought I get in and do some last comments on our time in the US and Canada.

If America had a flavour, it would be cinnamon and we both left with a well developed sweet tooth. And even though, after doing a buffet in Las Vegas, Trent declared that "Overeating should be illegal", (Ah, those paternalistic Aussies: wearing helmets when they ride bikes; banning cigarette advertising; wearing seatbelts on long distance buses; and not talking on mobiles while driving!) we went on to do a Chinese one on the border of Canada, then an Indian one in Toronto. Hopefully its just a backpacker thing and doesn't become a habit! Americans also seem to wear a lot more orange than Australians too, although this theory of mine has yet to be confirmed by Dionne...?

We found Canadians really friendly and laid back. In Quebec the people were really helpful and made an effort to understand our English/poor attempts at French. Americans were friendly too (when I was vomiting on the streets of New York, some people would stop to ask Trent if I was OK - one even offered us a sealed bottle of water), but not always as patient when it came to understanding our Australian accents.

One obvious difference was that Canadians celebrate their ties to Europe, whereas the US emphasises its independence and how the aspects that became known as the 'American Dream' differientiated it from Europe. I guess I had always equated the American Dream with a capitalist dream, so at the Smithsonian History Museum in Washington it was really interesting to read how immigrants were attracted by both freedom from religious discrimination (they had an exhibit on Jews fleeing anti-semitism in Europe, particularly Bavaria, in the 1800s) and freedom from more rigid class structures that limited their potential (Seeing Seinfeld's puffy/pirate shirt in the pop culture section was also a highlight).

We both enjoyed Niagara Falls from the Canadian side, which definitely seemed to have better views than the American side. Given the volume and power of the water, it was amazing to find out that one year back in the 1800s, the river bed and waterfall dried up when a big chunk of snow in the mountains blocked the entry into the river. People, who obviously hadn't heard of flash flooding, actually walked out onto the river bed. With slower communication lines, some people assumed it was the end of the world (a repeating theme - they also jumped to this conclusion after the San Fran earthquake/fires and Chicago fires).

Both sides of Niagara Flalls have Vegas style development peering over the edge of the waterfall. It was a shame when compared to the level of protection that other sites like Yosemite and the Grand Canyon have been given but I guess since the highrises would have grown from the two Niagara Falls towns, the conservators just didn't get in there quick enough.

Now that we are in Europe it feels like we are going so much faster (one or two cities per country compared to eight in the US) so I'll let Trent get his two bits worth in....

Bye for now,

Amanda

Bonjour Canada.....

2006-04-24T21:59:00.000Z

Well we are about to finish our very brief tour of French Canada.

Despite the miserable rainy weather and the hole in the side of my shoe (that was letting in way too much water) Montreal was a really great city. I guess Amanda was right on that one - before we left she was hasselling me about getting a new pair of shoes telling me that the soles were too worn etc (In reality I think it was mostly to justify her shoe purchases). But me being the good tight ass that I am decided that the money would be better saved for the trip. Anyways I should have listened to her because in the end I had to resort to wearing thongs (instead of soggy socks in soggy shoes) in the rain in temperatures of around 5 to 10 degrees. My poor little toes are still recovering.

In large part I think the good time we had in Montreal was due to the great vibe of the Hostel that we stayed in. I recall talking to a German guy in Washington DC about the HI Hostel that we were staying in at the time. The place had a big time business focus with rules everywhere - the dorms were expensive, breakfast was 'rationed' to a bagel and 128ml of juice, everything cost extra and there were signs everywhere telling you what you couldn't do. Anyways the German guy put it best 'the vibe in this place sucks' (obviously with a German accent) and decided to move on. I am begining to believe that he had the right idea - the vibe of a place makes a huge difference whether it is where you are living, sleeping, eating or working. If the vibe's not right you should get out of there or work out how to make the vibe better.

We celebrated Anzac day with some other Australians and a Kiwi (as I am sure is a time honoured tradition when one is on the road). The guy that organised the whole thing (the master of ceremonies if you will) actually had the last post and the national anthem on his Ipod. He even printed an official serivce off the net and read the ode and other traditional things. It was a surreal/weird experience, but still moving all at the same time. After what I supposed you would call the "official service" (the only thing missing was an ex-serviceman) we hooked in to some excellent steaks, sausages and of course with Amanda there we had some salad as well. The closest thing we could find to an Australian dessert was carrot cake - unfortunately there were no Pavlovas around. The indoor BBQ soon turned into an all out drinking/card session with some Poms (or geezers as we were calling them) and Germans thrown into the mix - the poms were soon calling us 'convicts', everyone was calling the one Kiwi 'Kiwi' and nobody knew what to call the Germans. We later learnt that in response to being called 'Frogs', the French call Brits 'Roast Beefs'. I would have to say it was one of the best nights of the trip so far. Although getting up to catch a lift to Quebec City after only four and a bit hours of sleep was a bit of a struggle.

From Monteal to Quebec City we did a ride share called "Allo Stop" which was much cheaper than catching the bus and in the end was a much better experience. The lady that drove us from Montreal to Quebec City was named 'France' (the parents obviously really wanted to hit home on the French ties) and wasn't gonna let a small thing like language stifle her exuberant personality! Her English was rusty but strong enough so that we could converse and was a lot better than our attempts at French. At the end of the trip she gave us and the English guy that we shared the car with a CD of her daughters band - at least we think so we haven't listened to it yet.

It was interesting because before we got to the Quebec (and in particular Qubeec City) I had been told about how strongly French it would be - but for some reason I kind of dismissed it in my head. But boy are they French - there was not a single sign in English in Quebec City and there was no one walking around speaking English - even at the hostel there would probably have been two or three English speaking people out of about 30. That said it was an incredible contrast to the US and one that we enjoyed immensely. The City itself is the most picturesque of all the citys that we have visited and it definitely felt like it wouldn't be out of place in France. Although it was funny to hear a French guy at the hostel say that he often has trouble being understood/understanding the Canadian French, which I guess is similar to the difficulty Americans seem to have understanding any other countries' English. He explained it that since the French speaking part of Canada was settled a few centuries ago, they have kept phrases and expressions that are now no longer used in France. Kind of like if Australians went around saying 'ye olde shoppe' while Britain had moved onto 'shops'.

As another little aside I find it interesting that France (and Quebec for that matter), who consider themselves relatively liberal and free thinking, have to impose so many rules and laws to maintain their culture. It seems kind of contradictory that to preserve a free thinking culture, you have to give up some of the very things that make that culture free thinking. Anyways, I may just be ignorant, but it is kind of like the whole terrorist thing as well - everytime something bad happens we are told that we have to increase security to preserve our freedom, but all we seem to be doing is giving up our freedom. I'm not trying to get all theoretical or political here but it just doesn't make sense. If anything the terrorists have succeeded by bringing terror into our everyday lives with the amount of bloody security we now have to put up with, particulalry in US airports.

We head to Toronto tomorrow for three nights and after that we are off to Europe - cant wait although we haven't really read anything about Europe so we will probably have to make it up on the run (which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't). Anyways it looks like today is putting on some beautiful weather for us so I best be off - there is a funicular to ride!!!

Au revoir for now.

Trent

US Sports Recap

2006-04-22T20:21:00.000Z

Here's a rundown on the different sports we got to see in the States:

Basketball - LA Clippers play Washington at Staples Centre in LA.
We arrived 40 minutes early expecting to face some big queues but we were surprised to find hardly any lines for either tickets, or to get into the stadium. In fact the entire stadium seemed fairly empty until we rounded a corner and come across the line of people waiting for the Macas to open!
The game was fairly one-sided but one thing that was interesting was that every time there was even the shortest break in court-play, some kind of cheer-leading team or other entertainment filed on court. At one stage, they announced that two people in the cheap seats (near us) would be upgraded to court side tickets. There was a drumroll, a spotlight and then the announcement was made, with the two winners surrounded by a bevy of cheerleaders.
Oh and the only white guy that seemed to get court time for the Clippers had a mullet and looked like the 'I want dat one' guy off Little Britain.

Hockey - New York Rangers play Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden in NY.
Definitely the most fast paced of the three games and the crowd was the most vocal. The NY fans were definitely specatator-umpires/coaches and seemed fairly fairweather - encouraging only until Ottawa scored the first goal then it was all "Find the puck morons!", "You couldn't hit the side of a barn" and variations of "You suck" (This seems to be the ultimate in sports insults over here). Even a ten year old girl in our row was getting in on the trash talk while her mum sat silently beside her. One of the more vocal guys near us tried reverse psychology at one stage with "Fine, do what you want. This game doesn't mean anything to anyone, right?" But in the end, not even the best of NY's insults could save the Rangers, who lost with 1 goal to Ottawa's 5.

Baseball - Red Sox play Tampa Bay at Fenway Park in Boston (spiritual home of baseball).
Baseball seems to be on every night here. There wasn't much individual cheering from the crowd here, but plenty of collective 'woo'ing, which we initially thought was booing! Given the baseball was our first experience in Boston, we were surprised to later find that there were as many Red Sox caps and shirts on the streets of Boston as there was at the game. The highlight was the third innings when the Sox scored 7 runs, which secured the game for them pretty early on. Oh and the guy who ran onto the field in the eighth innings (apparently Boston's weather is not conducive to streaking).

Filling in the gaps (Denver, Chicago and Washington DC)

2006-04-21T16:28:00.000Z

Well I am finally fit enough to make a post - I think that New York was the first time that I have spewed totally unrelated to excess alcohol consumption since I was a little kid.

I thought I might fill you in on some of the gaps of the trip that we haven't talked about so far.

Our short stops across the middle of the US turned out to be two of the more interesting cities so far (particularly Chicago), partly because we didn't know much about either Denver or Chicago and so were not sure what to expect. Despite a sprinkling of skyscapers, Denver had a small town feel and was a great city to walk around. After the flight delays in Vegas, we slept in, caught up on washing, downloaded photos and generally treated it as a chance to recover. Instead of visiting the usual tourist traps we had a late brunch and went to the movies etc (saw V for Vendetta, which was very good. Amanda said it was kind of like the book 1984, but with hope). I'm not too sure that I would bother going back to Denver though - perhaps to go to the Rocky Mountains (which we ditched due to the delays with flights) and check out Boulder, which is supposed to be a nice University town (although there are plenty of those over here).

After Denver we spent a couple of nights in Chicago in an area called Lincoln Park - the whole time I was there I couldn't get an annoying Lincoln Park song out of my head (I tried so hard blah blah blah.....). Chicago turned out to be a really touristy town for us - we went on an architecture boat cruise, rode in a horse drawn carriage, had drinks on the 96th floor of the John Hancock tower and took a gansgter tour. All of which were quite expensive. The only saving grace for the budget was the free admission to the Chicago Art Institute and the Museum of Contempory Art (my kind of city!). Amanda said that if Chicago is the 'most American' city, then she likes America, at least at the 'two day level'.

I was hoping that the gangster tour would take us to the mobs' barber so that I could get my hair cut where Al Capone and his mob buddies had been trimmed - but unfortunately the tour wasn't that detailed. Instead I didn't get it cut until we were in a Latino part of Boston where I faced a serious language barrier (the guy spoke Spanish and had no idea where Australia was - he thought it was in Boston and then when I told him it was another contry he was confident that it was near Spain). The results of the hair cut were amusing to say the least - I don't think he knew what to do with caucasian hair. After he had cut it he slicked it down so it was plastered against my head, then brushed it forward - kind of like some nerd from a Star Trek Convention. I could see Amanda in the mirror ready to burst out laughing - I think she found it even more amusing that all I said was "That's fine" (with a straight face) and then walked out looking like that. As soon as I was out of there I messed it up - the actual cut wasn't so bad, it was just the styling at the end that was alarming. Surely they don't think white guys do their hair like that!

After Chicago we spent three nights in Washington DC and it actually ended up being a really interesting place. Almost everything there is free and it is all world class (particularly the Art Museums) - so it was definitely worth the time we spent there.

I think Amanda touched on the highlights of New York - so I won't go into much detail - but the New York Rangers Ice Hockey game was awesome to watch - fast passed and a great atmosphere. Well at least the atmosphere was good to begin with -unfortunately when the Rangers started losing badly, their fans quickly turned on them in a bad way. It was a little disappointing that they would act like that and put a bit of a dampener on the night.

Boston has been another recovery city. We have slept in until 11am the last three mornings in Boston so I think we now have the strength to well and truly move on from our mystery illness. Our pace seems to be slowing a bit as we get the hang of this (we were definitely a bit too frenzied in some cities). So we'll probably spend a little bit longer, but in fewer cities for the rest of the trip. We head into Canada tomrrow and will be spending two nights in Montreal, three nights in Quebec City and three nights in Toronto (including a day trip to Niagra Falls). After that we are off to Central Europe.

Anyways I hope you're all in good health and peace out!!

Trent

NYC Bug

2006-04-18T16:51:00.000Z

Well we caught it. Literally. Within an hour of arriving in New York, we were headed for the Staten Island ferry for views of the Statue of Liberty when I started feeling queasy in the subway. I couldn't keep anything down for the next twenty-four hours and only caught glimpses of sleep the first night. I can definitely say that NY's benches and bins are regularly placed. Trent got the bug last night after we went to see Sia sing at the Bowery (Amaaaazing - another great South Australian export! A little like Sarah Blasco, but blonde and more melancholy).

I guess the upside is that bungey jumping from the verge of dehydration has kept us well within our food budget! And we've still managed to see quite a bit, just at a slower pace than we've become used to, so more flower smelling time along the way. New York is definitely grand, if not a little grimy, but everything you come to expect. We've done all the essentials: Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Ground Zero, Central Park, Empire State Building, Guggeniheim Museum, a Broadway show; and will just have to save the extras for another time. Our roomates were students from the UK who had got a cheap flight over for the long weekend, which definitely gives us hope of making a return visit in the not too distant future.

Anyway, today we're taking it easy so hopefully Trent will be feeling well enough to go to the hockey tonight (at Madison Square Gardens - can't wait!).

Bye for now!

We have photos.........

2006-04-11T01:11:00.000Z

Hello to our legion of devoted fans,

We now have photos! We are in Chicago at the moment - the home of the modern city. I am not that into architecture, but I am finding it interesting. We are going on a mob walking tour tomorrow morning - so I am looking forward to that.

Anyways this was just a quick post to let you know that our photos were now out there on the world wide web - so go check them out.

Cheers,

Trent

Fear and Loathing (leaving) Las Vegas

2006-04-09T01:57:00.000Z

I haven't read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but at this stage I can only assume its about trying to get out of Las Vegas' airport. I guess, with as much travel as we have planned, its envitable that we'd have an airport drama sooner or later so hopefully this is the only one!

We were scheduled to fly to Denver on an 8.03pm United flight on Friday night and, given some of the stories we'd heard about getting through security on domestic flights, we arrived at the airport an hour and a half before. As soon as we arrived, it was clear that something was wrong. The line for check-in was backed up well past United's counters and just wasn't moving. Nevertheless, we headed for the e-ticket self check-in and then made our way to the 'easy bag check line' and began the wait.

Naturally, as 8.03pm drew closer, we became nervous about missing our flight. There were several other people around us in the same predicament (on different flights too). When one person asked a wandering United employee if there was anything they could do to avoid missing their flight, they were told that they could only return to the line and ask to be rebooked to a different flight. We had gone from the spectacular natural beauty of the Grand Canyon to spectacular man-made choas in just a matter of hours.

Concern about missing our flights, soon turned to loathing how United was handling the situation, which eventually became resignation that all we could do was wait and see if we could get put on another flight. Our only distraction was watching how other queue members were dealing with the situation. It either caused people to share their frustration (Plenty of "Well no wonder United had to file for Chapter 11 (bankruptcy)"/sharing other airport horror stories), or turn on each other (One guy and his wife who were about to miss their flight, jumped queue and went to a recently emptied counter. One guy yelled out from the line to the girl behind the counter, asking her not to serve queue-jumpers as "we are all in the same situation." It worked and the couple sullenly rejoined the queue.)

To cut a long wait short, after two hours in the express queue, we were told that we could not rebook flights from the eticketing counters and would have to rejoin the normal check-in queue (a 3 hour wait!!). The couple next to us had missed the same flight and had demanded to see a supervisor so we joined them instead. When no supervisor materialised we decided to join the first class line to try and get our flights rebooked. After another hour, we reached the front of that counter. There we were told that all direct and indirect flights to Denver were booked out until the 8.03pm flight the next night (Saturday). Furthermore, all the hotels on United's Las Vegas accommodation directory were booked out so we would have to arrange our own accommodation and would be reimbursed with a United travel voucher(!!!). As a United travel voucher was useless to us (not to mention extremely unattractive), we opted for the more risky option of being put on another airline's standby list for an 11.50pm flight (20th on the waiting list). This meant that even if we didn't make it on the flight, our bags would go ahead to Denver.

So about 10pm, we joined the line for Northwest's check-in. It was clear that they were having check-in problems too but by that stage it was all becoming deliriously amusing. When someone told us that Northwest had the worst luggage claim record of all the airlines, it was hilarious. In the end, we made it on the flight (only a short 50 minute wait - funny how everything becomes relative), which naturally was delayed so we finally jetted off at about 12.15am. Security was a breeze compared to check-in. I guess the craziest part was that our six hour airport wait paled in comparison to what some other people around us had been through.

Anyway, we made it to our Denver hostel (creaky but with character) about 4am and were greeted by an cheery old man. In our deliriously tired and sick state it was kind of surreal. He was connected to oxygen, his apartment was tidy but full of piles of health books/magazines and he had a 'Macauley' plane propeller above his desk. He proceeded to give us a detailed outline of attractions/supermarkets etc in Denver as if we had arrived at 4.30pm rather than 4.30am. We thanked him, stumbled to our room and hit the pillow.

Its 9pm here so I'd best be off to bed. Bye for now.

Amanda

Las Vegas wasn't built on winners

2006-04-08T22:22:00.000Z

While "Vegas wasn't built on winners" is a common saying amongst the gamblers in Las Vegas, I can thankfully say that I left Sin City with some $500 USD of their cash in my pocket. It started with a big win at the Luxor - I walked out of there with $600 USD more than I went in - then I won $300 USD at the Bellagio - I was truely on a roll.

Unfortunately at this point I thought I was invincible and, as with all rolls, mine quickly came to an end and I lost $200 USD in quick succession at both Paris and Ceasar's Palace. Luckily I (well Amanda) got me out of there before I blew the lot trying to win the mother load. Anyways, getting away from Vegas with $500 USD plus the money I had commited to losing (another $500 USD) will definitely come in handy.

I would definitely say that Australia is better for gambling - what is with having to tip the dealer? Apparently you're supposed to tip the dealer the amount of your average bet every hour. Now if your losing that's just adding insult to injury - it just doesn't seem fair at all.

Oh we also got out to the Grand Canyon - we have been to three National Parks on this trip (Yosemite, Death Valley and Grand Canyon), but I would have to say that the Grand Canyon is the one I would love to come back to. Standing at the top just wasn't enough - the Canyon was definitely calling me in. I think a trip down to the bottom would be well worth it - while it is massive from the top I thinking down at the bottom would really give you some perspective.

We had another horrific experience with United (actually horrific is understating it subtantially), but that is a whole other post. I'll just say that it took close to 11 hours to make the direct 1 and 1/2 hour flight from Las Vegas to Denver. United must definitely be the most useless airline in the world. I couldn't wish bankruptcy on a nicer company (heres to hoping).

We are in Denver now and after getting here at 4:30am this morning we treated ourselves to an awesome and expensive brunch. We are thinking about heading out to Boulder tomorrow, but not too sure at this stage.

Anyways - that's all for now. We may finally be able to get some photos up here as we have found a library with free internet.

Cheers,

Trent

California so far

2006-04-05T05:53:00.000Z

Hello all,

Thought it was about time I put something on here - we've only been away for one and half weeks so far but it feels like ages and we haven't even left California! We could definitely have spent a heap more time in all the places we've been so far, but there are still so many amazing places to look forward to. Anyway, here are some of the highlights and lowlights of California so far...

Highlights:

Catching up with Dionne in LA and meeting her boyfriend Sean - it was sooo good to see a familar face, even if its a face that I don't see all that often. You guys are a great match!
Three celeb sightings in LA!!! Four, if we include the blinged up black guy we saw jump the line at a Holywood nightclub and get frisked on entry (based on the frisking, we would like to think it was P.Diddy, but it was dark and we were on the other side of the street so who knows). [1. Some guy from teen flicks whose name I don't know at Santa Monica Pier - stay tuned for the photo, then please somebody tell me his name, cos it'll make my story better!. 2. Adam Sandler at an LA Clippers game - this proves that the Clippers do actually have a fan. 3. Lawrence Fishbourne at Rodeo Drive (Morpheous from the Matrix) - we have Dionne to thank for that one, even if she did initially think he was Samuel L Jackson!!]
Disneyland! Even though rain meant the parade was only actually a 'cavalcade' (ie characters do a driveby packed into a bus) and the fireworks were cancelled, we still managed to spend 11 hours there. Oh, we gave three girls from the hostel a lift too so we had cheaper petrol and more company to gush with on the way home.
Burritos in Mission District of San Fran - I'm sure if we had discovered these earlier, we would definitely been back for more. One of many San Fran highlights (so little internet time...)
Sleeping in a tent cabin near Yosemite Valley NP. It was sooo cold, but incredible to go to sleep to the sound of a nearby waterfall. Tent cabins are definitely roughing it the easy way (Normal and pretty comfy bed inside a permanent tent).

Lowlights:

Stinky parts of California (so far) - Merced (on the way to Yosemite) and South of Fresno.
Seeing the lone pine (emblem of California), which is meant to be a symbol of survival/endurance against the elements. In reality, it is now roped up and the base of the cliff it is on has been secured with bricks to lengthen its life. Kind of ruined it for me really. Definitely wasn't worth the $8.75 entry fee to the see it.
Being woken up by the sound of our bunkmate in San Francisco having a coughing/harrumphing fit in the middle of the night. He was in and out of bed, and then meandered into the hallway and took a leak. The sound of pee hitting the carpet will be hard to forget. Oh, and he is moving to Perth soon so, Eleanor, beware a Welsh carpenter called Tony, particularly in hallways. He is really friendly when awake and sober.
No room at the motel at Death Valley. So we slept in the car. Amazingly, Trent thinks this was a highlight (maybe it has something to do with the money we saved).

Anyway, time to hit the Vegas strip again.

Til next time!

Amanda

A few observations (from Trent)

2006-04-01T07:03:00.000Z

Just a couple of quick observations about myself and the trip before Amanda gets the chance to make a post - she is currently getting ready for our next assault on Vegas, so I should have a while.

First I have begun sporadic and unprovoked singing again. According to Amanda when we first met I would sing all the time - she even thinks that she saw me singing whilst talking on my mobile phone and photo copying. Not too sure if this is true (I didn't think men were supposed to be able to multi-task) but I know I used to sing a lot and I am sure that it is a sign that I am happy. So now that I am singing again it would seem that travelling agrees with me on some level (even though I am crazy tired).

Another thing I am actually beginning to talk to strangers - something I most certainly never bothered doing back home in Australia. So I hope this trip shakes some of that introversion out of me that I fostered so strongly in Canberra.

A question that has only started occuring to me after leaving Australia - is it crazy to be moving to a foreign country without ever setting foot on its shores? I am sure this question should have come to me a while a go, but it is only something that I have just begun thinking about and now that we have thrown ourselves in head first I guess its much too late now. Hey at least we know Australia will always be there waiting for us - well I hope so anyway.

A lot of Americans cannot understand a word I say - is my Australian accent that thick? Not too sure. but I no longer pronounce Mocha the same way. Instead of the way your supposed to say it, Americans say it like Moecha - kind of weird hey.

There is a lot of free stuff over here if you seek it out - particularly in Vegas. Like yesterday we did a timeshare tour for a couple of hours in the morning and ended up with a free two course dinner, tickets to Madam Tusades wax museum and a free Gondala ride each. Although for a while there I was almost convinced that a time share in Vegas would be a good idea (and they said it wasn't a hard sell - the guy's wife had only recently died). Luckily my finance training way back there in the back of my brain kicked in and we got out of there with our cash in hand.

Oh and Americans are always willing to make up for mistakes/inconvenience with free stuff. Like the other day we were eating in a Microbrewery in Haight in San Fran and our food took about 35 minutes to come out. We were sitting there thinking that it was taking a while but we weren't overly concerned (other than the fact that we were supposed to be meeting Danny and Tracy and we would now be late again) - but due to the wait she gave us free drinks so we had four beers on the house (a good $20 in worth).

The American tax and gratuity system (as they call it) totally sucks - you never really know exactly what you will be paying. I tell you it would be so much more expensive to run a Vegas somewhere else where you had to pay people proper wages. The Australian system is definitely better - you always know what you're paying up front (probably only one of the good things about the thousands of pages of tax law).

Anyways I best be off - Amanda is sure to be on her way down by now.

Cheers,

Trent

LA and San Francisco

2006-03-31T02:28:00.000Z

Well I was going to wait for Amanda to put a post on but that's not looking like happening any time soon - so it looks like its up to me to let everyone know that we are alive and well.

The flight over definitely could have turned out to be a nightmare - the sleeping tablets were a bit of a saviour. In our section none of the TVs were working - it would seem that what we'd heard about United was about right. United are going to be sending us a voucher or something so it will be interesting to see how that turns out.

LA was a little overwhelming to begin with, particularly the level of concentration needed to stop myself from driving on the wrong side of the road. But once we got into the swing of things it wasn't so bad. The hostel we stayed at, just of Hollywood Blvd, was fairly good - although I think it will take me a little while to get used to the hostel way of life - why is everyone so noisy and why are all of the beds so damn uncomfortable? Also I am convinced that the hostel in San Fran has given me lice (or some form of creature that makes you itch) - Amanda seems to think its just my paranoia, which it may well be, but I won't be admitting that any time soon.

As predicted, San Fran is cold and rainy but definitely a great city with a spirit all of its own. We have done a lot of walking since getting here and I am sure that our calfs are now twice the size they were before we got here. A lot of hills and way too many districts to look at in the two and a bit days that we are - particularly when Amanda keeps on insisting into ducking into every shop she sees.

In general everything is a lot more expensive over here than we had thought and the budget has been thrown right out the window (I am attempting to cling onto it though - London with no money may be challenging). We are yet to resort to two minute noddles, but that can't be far away. It looks like it will be corned cream on toast tonight........yummy!!

Anyways best be going as there is a queue for the net - we will endeavour to get photos onto the website soon and who knows Amanda may even treat you to a post.

Cheers,

Trent

So it begins...........

2006-03-23T05:49:00.000Z

After many months of planning and many more of anticipation, we are finally off on the trip of a lifetime (or one of many at least). While travel and a stint working in the UK may not be all that new for our generation (that’s the generation of instant gratification), it is still the great unknown for us and we can’t wait to take on the world and what it has to offer. We may end up doing the same thing on the other side of the planet (in somewhat crappier weather), but as long as we can say we have had fun doing it – I am sure we will be all the better for the experience.

I remember when I first started as a bright-eyed graduate in 2003, listening to everyone say “I’ll do two years at the most and then I am off to travel.” I always counted myself in that group, but Canberra somehow sucked me in and got a solid 3 years and 3 months out of me. I guess one of the reasons that I chose to stick around that little bit longer was the people (as well as the need to save money – around the world trips aren’t cheap you know). We have met some truly amazing and inspiring friends in Canberra and I am sure that without you our experience in Canberra wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good.

And for those that haven’t heard the plan a million times already (can't be many) – we will be travelling through North America (USA and Canada) for five weeks; Eastern Europe (Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany) for three weeks; three weeks on an Intrepid tour through Morocco; and then potentially a short stint in either Germany for the world cup, or the Croatian Coast, before we head to the UK.

We hope that this site will be a link back to our friends and family in Australia. We miss all of you already and we will definitely keep in touch.

Anyways, enough with the mushy stuff – we have three continents to conquer and some last minute packing to do before we fly out tomorrow.

Cheers,

Trent

P.S. I am not to sure how two people making entries onto the same blog will work, but if it doesn’t make sense just assume that its Amanda.