Viva Glas Vegas!

Viva Glas Vegas!
Greetings to all from Edinburgh – it’s been a while since our last update, so you’ll have to put up with this novel length blog entry – you might want to schedule a few days in your schedule to read it. Either that or save it to the next long weekend!

I’ll pick up from where Brad left off in Aberdeen (every time I say ‘Aberdeen’ I can’t help but think of that BNZ ad – “wee Hamish did not stop crying from Aberdeen to Auckland”! In fact, I’ve been driving Brad mental by repeating it every two minutes). After a nice night’s rest in comparatively luxurious accommodation, we set off towards Fort Augustus – a wee town right on Loch Ness. Of course we didn’t just drive straight there (what would be the fun in that?) and took a more scenic route through the beautiful Highlands, as well as a couple of hours detour at a beautiful town called Braemar. The Scottish Highlands are stunning and you can see why people refer to them as ‘the real Scotland’.

We eventually arrived at our hostel, set up camp and headed off to explore the town. Dinner was delightful – fish and chips (the fish here is beyond belief) and.... a macaroni and cheese pie – a traditional Scottish dish (definitely enjoying stuffing my face with these delicious national treasures, and don’t even have to feel like a pig as I can fob it off as ‘all part of the travelling experience’). We then popped back to our hostel for a few minutes to grab a jacket as we had decided to head out on a boat tour of the Loch Ness, when we bumped into a friend from back home. Such a small world as she’s from Morrinsville and the last place you’d expect to see someone is in a tiny town in rural Scotland!

The tour of Loch Ness was great and I’m pleased to say that we did in fact spot the infamous Nessie. Although you can only see her in the far distance I’ve attached the photo to this blog as proof, as I know you’ll all no doubt disregard my claims! As you can see the proof is in the pudding! (Speaking of pudding, the dessert here is even more amazing than the macaroni and cheese pies – gooey chocolate fudge cake is on every corner, as well as a myriad of other delicious cakes – including my new fav gooey caramel and apple toffee cake with custard).

When we got back to our hostel we were disappointed to learn that the place had been overrun with a bus tour of Americans. Now I pride myself on being a non-judgemental person and absolutely hate any form of prejudice, but in the short month and a bit we have been travelling I have been disappointed to learn that I am a wee bit racist – in fact, I’d just about go as far to say that I find Americans really quite intolerable. Canadians – brilliant, Americans – rubbish! So to find that the cosy Morag’s lodge on Loch Ness had been infested by Yanks was quite upsetting, especially when one girl, after asking where I was from, replied “Ohhhhh Hamilton – that’s New Zealand’s gumboot capital”. I smiled politely and replied with, “close – but that’s Taihape”. Imagine my shock when she quickly told me that I was wrong, and it was “definitely Hamilton”. I just sat there with my mouth open like a fish as she slinked away smirking at her friends (each one louder and larger than the last)! Now, I’m a little bit nervous about airing this prejudice aloud (especially online), and I’m sure there are lovely Americans out there, but unfortunately they weren’t in Loch Ness.

My sulking did have a brief respite when I overheard/ eavesdropped on a conversation between two Americans on this tour... They were talking about WWII after visiting a military museum in Stirling (been there, done that!), when loud turned to louder and said “my Grandfather was actually killed at Auschwitz”, to which louder replies “I’m sorry to hear that”. Loud then chirps back with: “yeah – he fell of a guard tower!” This is either a great display of dark humour, or a further example of some of the twits that seemed to dominate this tour! I’ll leave you to decide!

Friday we had an early start as we had a huge day of sightseeing, which we decided to start off with a quick dip in the Loch Ness. We tossed this idea to the wind as soon as we realised that it was beyond cold and given I was shivering in jeans and my winter jacket, diving into a lake which is geographically really close to the North Pole, might not be such a good idea! Instead we decided to head off to Glencoe which is a gorgeous part out west and very popular for tramping and skiing – in fact, it’s home to Scotland’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, and was the site of a gory massacre of the MacDonald highland clan back in the day... Very interesting stuff, and after stopping at the massacre monument we decided to head to the base of the mountain where we decided to embark on a wee tramp which had been suggested by our friend Ed at St Andrews... Unfortunately things didn’t go according to plan and rather than hike to a pretty Scottish waterfall we opted for a two hour snooze in the car! The sleep was much needed and we woke up feeling much refreshed – I blame those Americans for a rough night’s sleep!

Next on the list was the recommended Oban, which alongside Stirling, is one of my favourite places in Scotland. It’s a town situated on the West and is Scotland’s seafood capital and gateway to the Isle’s. We spent a lovely few hours exploring this wee gem of a town and eating the most beautiful seafood we have ever tasted in our lives. We both ordered mussels and have never enjoyed a meal so much in our lives. I LOVE Oban and would definitely come back on our way to the Isle’s.

From here our destination was mighty Glasgow, or Glas Vegas, to spend some time with our friend Vicky and her partner Mike. It was a two hour drive from Oban, not including a beautiful stop at Loch Lomond where we again attempted a swim and failed miserably. We arrived at Vicky and Mike’s apartment at around 4pm, and spent a few hours chatting and sipping at cider.

Our trip to Glasgow coincided with the Westend festival, which is an annual arts and comedy festival. Vicky and Mike had the good sense to book tickets to a comedy festival, as well as dinner beforehand at a great little Scottish restaurant. We really appreciated not having to make a decision, and had an absolute whale of a time. Brad and I had mussels again for dinner (we’ve got quite a taste for them), washed down perfectly with a few glasses of pear cider. The comedy festival was absolutely brilliant and we couldn’t help but think of Dad and Kim, as you would have absolutely loved it. Scottish humour is utterly hilarious and even though I could barely understand the host (he was a “real Glaswegian Mike said”), the parts I did get left me doubled over. Brad managed to catch everything, which was amazing to me as at times I thought he was speaking in another language! During the Edinburgh festival in August (which Mum and Michelle were a part of last year) they have a similar comedic shows, and we’ve already decided to come back in August with Vicky and Mike to catch some of the comedians in action.

After the show we decided to head back to Vicky and Mike’s apartment to rest our feet for a few moments, before heading out again to dance. Lo and behold, next thing you know it’s 6am, the sun is shining, and we’re all locked in die-hard competition on Nintendo Wii. I aced the 100m sprint at Beijing 2008 (if do say so myself), while Brad excelled at the Hammerthrow. It was here that we learnt that Vicky actually is a national curling champion and plays for Britain – this shut me up as I was practically crowing about my virtual running victory! Brad was also well impressed (very British thing to add ‘well’ in front of practically everything, and I’ve become well attached), and told her that he now had “so much more respect for her!”

The next day, after a full Scottish breakfast which included black pudding, white pudding, square sausage and tatty scones, we headed out for a spot of sightseeing. While Edinburgh is renown for its beautiful cityscape and historical points of interest, Glasgow is referred to as the ‘muscle of Scotland’, and we had a great time exploring the cultural side of Glaswegians. After visiting the Kelvingrove museum (the most visited museum in the United Kingdom outside of London) we headed to Vicky and Mike’s local to watch the football. Perhaps the most prolific thing for me this visit, has been the widespread dislike the Scots have for anything or anyone English. Needless to say the entire pub was rotting for England to lose and whenever Germany scored, the crowd literally went wild. It was great fun – especially when the bar muted the television during England’s national anthem, much to the distress of the very few English fans in the pub, with one screaming out “turn it up tossers!” It was fantastic experiencing the Glaswegian way of life first hand, and can definitely imagine living in Glasgow. Apparently someone could knife you one minute, then be your best friend the next – we loved it!

After the rugby, Brad and Mike stayed on for a few drinks with some of his friends, followed by a curry. I headed off with Vicky to her weekly girl’s night with some of her friends from Uni. It was a lovely night and I was enthralled in their conversations. I was particularly interested in talk about their upcoming weddings (one girl had just got married and the other was about to) – they’re so different to NZ nuptials and weddings are very traditional – kilts, hymns and very religious. One girl had a bit of a dilemma as her and her fiancé are different religions, meaning it made their choice of church venue very difficult. They decided to opt for a ‘humanist’ service where the write their own vows – quite unheard of over here! I had a grand old time telling them that a wedding in NZ usually involved someone throwing a CD on and bringing out a pig on a spit! They have five courses and a band playing their first dance (no downloaded copy of some typical love song for the Scottish!). I had a lovely time, as did Brad, and met some really lovely people.

This morning we set off for Edinburgh, after a wee explore of Glasgow’s city centre – very nice and you can see why it was awarded the ‘city of architecture’ title. Little interesting fact for you – Edinburgh has a population of about 450,000 while Glasgow has over one million inhabitants...

We arrived in Edinburgh at around 11am (it’s only 40 minutes away from Glasgow so the drive isn’t too arduous) and just so happened to drive past the army barracks where Mum and Michelle stayed during their time in Edinburgh last year. It was a real bonus and I was pleased to note that it was exactly how I imagined it! After arriving at our hostel, we set off for the city centre – particularly the Royal Mile where we had decided to embark on another free walking tour, which we have come to love so much. The tour covered Edinburgh’s highlights and has given us a list our arms length of places we’d like to visit tomorrow. As we aim for this blog to be educational, I have included a few facts about Edinburgh and its grisly history for your perusal below...
• Thieves caught stealing in Edinburgh used to get nailed to the town centre’s monument for a toital of 24 hours. There they were subjected to torture by the townspeople, which included people literally throwing their bed pans over them. The easy way out was to rip your ear off, meaning for the rest of your life you’d be known as a thief, wouldn’t be able to get a job and would therefore have to work as a pirate, where your life expectancy was about six months as you’d most likely die from tuberculosis or syphilis.
• J K Rowling lives in Edinburgh and she wrote the Harry Potter books whilst strolling through the Royal Mile, seated in cafes and the Greyfriars kirkyard (a big cemetery where you can see gravesites which she has obviously named characters after).
• Greyfriars kirkyard is home to Edinburgh’s most haunted building – the tomb of Charles Mackenzie (who was a horrible man and persecuted 8000 people for their religion). He died hundreds of years ago, but his peaceful slumber was ‘interrupted’ when s homeless man broke into his tomb, as he needed a place to sleep. He woke when the floor of the tomb caved in and he fell right down next to the bones of Mr Mackenzie. Since then his ghost has said to have attacked over 500 people... I’m sure more than a few of you are feeling a bit sceptical, so I have included another fact for you below...
• A few years ago the BBC came to Greyfriars kirkyard to film an exorcism of Mr Mackenzie’s tomb after an outcry of alleged attacks. The exorcist got 15 minutes into his exorcism before he died of a heart attack right then and there, and the camera man had a really bad car accident that day and was left in a coma... Still sceptical?
• But it’s not all dark and dismal at Greyfriars kirkyard, as there also lies the tomb of Bobby – a wee dog who didn’t leave his dead master’s grave for over 14 years (before the wee lad died himself). To this day people come to the kirkyard to visit Bobby’s grave and a statue erected in his honour is the most photographed statue in Edinburgh!
• A few hundred years ago they hanged anyone for the slightest of sins and Mary Dickson was sentenced to death by hanging after she concealed her pregnancy (it was very illegal to do so for some reason). After being hanged for seven minutes, she was nailed into a coffin and transported to the graveyard. On the way there, the fellow driving the truck heard a few noises. After taking a closer look he was shocked to find Mary Dickson jumping out of her coffin in a rather hysterical state. So of course, he jumps on the coffin and transports her back to the town centre to be hanged. Just as the poor woman was about to be put through the same jazz all over again, someone shouts out that she in fact can no longer be killed. Under Scottish law someone cannot be punished for the same crime twice – in fact it’s illegal. So Mary, who was sentenced to death and was hanged, is now a free woman. She buys a house overlooking the town centre and brought comfort to criminals for the rest of her days as just as they were about to be killed, she’d shout out “don’t worry – it’s not so bad. I survived it!”
After our tour we set off in Fergus for ‘Arthur’s Seat’ – a mountain overlooking the town. Making up for our laziness at Glencoe, we climbed to the top and were rewarded with a stunning view of the city.

All our late nights and lack of good quality sleep has left us shattered, so tonight we’re keeping it pretty quiet. We were originally going to set off on a ghost tour of the city, but it’s now freezing and raining a bucket, so at this stage we’re opting to stay in. Tomorrow we’ll head down the Royal Mile again, explore the castle and pop to the museum, which is supposedly brilliant. I’m also desperate to try a traditional Scottish dish, and while we’ve tried everything else under the sun, I’ve saved the best for last – macaroni cheese and chips. I kid you not – it’s actually a national dish! Another national dish is the deep fried Mars bar – it originated in Scotland can you believe. Will have to sink my teeth into one of them as well! Brad, on the other hand, is focused on the sausages and black pudding (each to their own – although I did make a good attempt at chewing my way through a slab, until all of a sudden I couldn’t forget the fact that I was eating blood and couldn’t stomach another mouthful)!

Our flight leaves tomorrow and we have an action-packed day back in London on Wednesday. I’m meeting with a recruitment agent in the morning, we’re off to see Wicked in the afternoon, and then I’m off to meet with the parents of a few children I’ll be looking after for a week, while their full-time Nanny takes a spot of leave. Phew – will need another holiday to recover from our exhausting few weeks.

Love to everyone back home and thinking of you always!

xxx

Can you show me the way to Aberdeen?

Well hello again followers, its back to Brad again... been a few more than seven since my last update, but I dear not rob you of the linguistic talents of my fair Kylie too often.
Bit of a slow start to the day today as last night took an unexpected turn...
The night started with a nice dinner at a bar just across the road from the old course! Kylie had some Thai beef wraps, as she is trying to eat local food where possible (hehe actually she has had pollock, haddock, Scottish salmon and mackerel on other occasions, just like ‘River Cottage’), I had another burger and my new favourite... hot chips swimming in vinegar with ketchup and mayo! Mmmmmm chips with vinegar! We then ventured home and went to the communal lounge when our local host at the St Andrews Hostel (a Scottish lad named Ed, whom according to Kylie was rather attractive and charming with his accent) brought out a bottle of wine... naturally one thing led to another and before we knew it we were at a local pub with Ed, a Frenchy and two Canadian girls drinking Japanese rice beer and having a grand old time! Unfortunately the local bars close at midnight so we had to head back to the hostel... to bed you ask? Well of course not, young Ed brought out a few small bottles of herbal liqueur from Latvia (tasted of burnt oily coffee/jagermeister/burning), which is supposed to be drunk warm with berry juice, however desperate times meant rounds of shots... Luckily for us 12 Swedish chaps came home and drank some, otherwise we may have been working off a hangover for a few days! We stayed up chatting with the Canadians and Ed, with Ed telling us the four places we must visit whilst we are here, all out west which we have scheduled for the day we drive from Loch Ness to Glasgow. We finally drifted off at around 2.30am for a pretty short but sweet sleep.
Feeling slightly tired this morning we ventured around the local ruins in St Andrews, naturally after a large breakfast of scrambled eggs and Scottish salmon. The old grave yard and ruins of the old chapel were very picturesque situated on the cliffs overlooking the North Sea. Nice way to spend the morning after the night before. We ventured on up towards Aberdeen, after picking up a few St Andrews mementos, and stopping at Dundee (Scotland’s fifth biggest city) where we saw little else but the inside of some clothes shops, well that’s not entirely true, we also saw the neat bags that they give you when you buy a maxi dress! We the continued on to the quaint town of Stonehaven. Not much to see there, just a nice quiet coastal town about 10 miles shy of Aberdeen.
Upon arriving at Aberdeen, a fair trade town did you know, we came straight to our hotel - a bargain last minute deal Kylie found on the internet (sometimes that girl is very useful). It is a lovely apartment with kitchen and lounge and a nice TV which went straight to the football and the epic Wimbledon match that finally finished after 11 hours. It’s all quite cheap when you take into account we will cook our own tea, make lunch for tomorrow and breakfast is a buffet included. Great to have a nice place for a good night sleep to reload for the next part of our trip.
Time to relax now, will probably have a nice bath when ‘Location, location, location’ finishes of course.
Until next time, I hope you are all keeping well; we are keeping safe and loving it all.
xox

Greetings from bonny Scotland!

Otherwise known as my favourite country so far... You hear that Scotland is beautiful, but crikey dicks – no one tells you just how absolutely stunning it is! It’s our favourite country so far, and although we’ve only experienced a few (eight to be precise), this experience will be hard to beat!

Our first official day was amazing and topped off a stunning night’s sightseeing in Edinburgh last night. We arrived at about 8.30pm and spent the evening wandering around the streets, taking photographs of the castle, but avoided setting foot on the royal mile as we wanted to save that for our final few days (which will be spent in Edinburgh). Couldn’t help but think of you Mum and Michelle and really wish you were performing at the festival this year so we could see you.

This morning we set off at headed to Stirling, which is now one of my favourite places. It is absolutely stunning and is essentially a historical old town, set upon a crag (huge cliff-face) and is where William Wallace fought against England for Scotland’s independence. It was said at the time that “he who holds Stirling, holds Scotland”, so it’s a really important historic site with such a rich history – suffice to say we loved it!

Travelling Scotland by car is amazing as you can head off the beaten track at your very whim, which is exactly what we did, ending up in all sorts of tiny Scottish towns where we were greeted with open arms. We had to strain our ears to even understand some people, but as we were sitting in a tiny pub in Auchtenmuchty watching England play against Slovenia sipping a few pints we learned that football really is a universal language!

We also topped in a little place called Crieff today which is home to Scotland’s oldest whiskey distillery – it’s where Famous Grouse is made which you may have heard of. My highlight at the distillery was reading all about the distillery’s cat who lived for 24 years and caught over 29,000 mice in her time!

Tonight we’re in St Andrews which will impress all you golf fans out there, and for those that aren’t too fussed, you might be interested to note that it is one of the world’s oldest golf courses and home to this year’s British Open. It’s also a prestigious university town, which Prince William attended, and we’ve managed to time our visit perfectly with graduation. St Andrews is definitely Brad’s highlight so far (overall highlight even!) and we were lucky enough to be able to wander around the course, even stopping for a quick 18 holes of mini putt on the green, which you actually putt on the British Open course. Brad was beside himself!

It’s a really pretty place (although my personal favourite is still Stirling) and is bordered by huge white, sandy and rocky beaches.

Tomorrow we’re off up to Aberdeen, with plenty of sight-seeing along the way! We’ll also spend the morning exploring the ancient ruins of St Andrews cathedral which dates back to Roman times can you believe).

Love to all and will write again tomorrow!

xxxx

Windsor and Wimbledon... Just a typical London summer really

Well, don’t we have a lot to update everyone on? Despite it being only four days since our last update, we’ve packed our days full of action and are loving London more than ever before. In fact, as I type this I’m sitting at Gatwick airport getting ready to depart for Edinburgh (we’re in a pub and Brad is glued to the football while I wait for my chocolate fudge cake to arrive!), and rather than feel excited about the impending trip, I feel a tad resentful at having to leave London for an entire week. Don’t get me wrong – I’m really looking forward to Scotland and I loved Morocco (aside from the germs!), but I’m so in love with London – what a city! It’s bright, vibrant, so multi-cultured and just gob-smacking beautiful. I can’t wait to have visitors from home, just so I can show you all everything – in fact, even as I’m walking around I think to myself “when XXXXX comes, I’ll take them here, there, etc”.

Before I launch in to where I last left you, I need to get this off my chest. Everywhere you look there are little squirrels – they’re the dandiest wee things! But that’s not all – this morning when I got back from my run, I opened the window to see a FOX in our back yard. How crazy is that!? In central London! It must have got stuck in there as they’re really only ever in relatively rural areas or on the city edge. They’re also quite dangerous and there was a recent case where a mother left the back door to her house slightly ajar one evening while she cooked dinner. A fox came in through the door, went up the stairs and mauled her twin daughters in their cot! This happened just before we left for Morocco and the babies were in critical condition. Freaky! Don’t worry about us – we’re on the third floor and don’t have access to the backyard. Unless the fox uses his key, there’s no way we’ll be mauled anytime soon (fingers crossed anyway)!

Saturday we went to Windsor (outskirts of London) with Shady and Emily, where we spent the day strolling around Windsor castle (where the Queen lives more often than not), checking out Eton college (where Harry and William went to school), and of course sampling the offering at the local pub. Emily had done her research and thought the Queen would be leaving the castle to attend Royal Ascot, and in true Em fashion she was right. We set up camp at the gates of the palace, and who should drive on out – Lizzie and Phillip! She was in her car and was literally only a metre from us - it was so surreal! The funniest thing is Brad completely missed the entire thing! He was playing with his phone, trying to get it ready to take a photo of her and was concentrating so hard that he was completely oblivious to our cries! He didn’t realise until she was well down the road! We’ve never laughed so hard – even the police man who was standing guard had a right old chuckle when Brad finally realises he forgot to actually look up!

It must be so hard being that famous and I was struck by the fact that it must be quite hard for Prince Phillip. A bit like Brad and I really – me being so loved and revered by all, Brad sometimes get lost in the midst of it all!

Sunday we went to National gallery which was possibly one of my most amazing experiences so far. I love art and could have wandered the halls for hours in amazement, but luckily (or not so much depending on your view), I had Brad by my side, reminding me every five minutes that we really should be going given the football was on that afternoon! I’ll be back again very soon, but this time I’ll leave Phillip at home!

We headed to a local Kiwi haunt called the Clapham Junction Walkabout to watch the football and the atmosphere was beyond believe. It was EPIC – especially when New Zealand scored! My ears ached with excited screams as complete strangers hugged and cried tears of joy on others shoulders! We went with our flatmate and a few of his friends, but some of the girls turned up as well which was fun.

Talk about saving the best for last – yesterday we went to Wimbledon! It was AMAZING! After a 5am start, we arrived at Wimbledon Park at 7am ready to line up for the day’s festivities. There were seven of us in total and with the sun shining, excitement in the air and a pack of cards, the time just flew and before we knew it we were in!

It has to be seen to be believed, it really does. It’s an entire village and seems like another world - you can just smell the stress of the players! Obviously we weren’t centre court (had to camp for a couple of days for that!), but we set up on a big hill where we watched the centre court outside on a big screen (although we could hear the cheers and claps), and wandered around watching live games as well. Brad nipped off to the loo when we first got there, and then waltzes back wearing a Wimbledon headband much to our jealousy, so before you know it we’re all wearing one and sipping cider in the sun. Brad also picked up a can of championship balls (actually played that day – we’re hoping Federer played with ours), so we have another little memento. It was such a perfect day that even if you hated tennis, you couldn’t help but be swept away in it all. Marcy and Hank, we thought of you and desperately tried to get on TV by running in front of every TV camera we saw, so if you saw a few lunatics in sweat bands it was all in honour of you!

We took a picnic with us which was much appreciated throughout the day, and at one point I was literally stuffing my face with a piece of cake (I mean stuffing it in my mouth so I could barely chew) when the group went quiet. I thought nothing of it and continued to chomp away, only to be told a few minutes later that there was a TV camera right in my face the entire time! Talk about making a pig of yourself on international television!

We saw Federer play Falla, then Clement play Tipsarevic and could hear Venus sweeping up in her game as well. The live games were hilarious – one idiot Frenchman (Clement) was the rudest most arrogant person I have ever seen! At first I was cheering for him on account of his stylish bandannas (he would change to a new colour and design every set), but soon swapped sides after he started attacking the poor ball girl and screaming at this poor old woman who was the line judge. I turned right off him (as did the other girls who were also cheering for him) and every time he hit the ball he made a sound reminiscent of a walrus. It was very hard not to laugh, but I imagine if I did he would have had me thrown out of the stadium, which he very nearly did to this one poor woman for whispering to her friend! He also told off a woman who was chatting on her cell phone outside of the stadium.

We’re off to Scotland now for eight days which should be great fun. We have hired a car and booked a few places here and there, but the rest is very much left up to fate. Hopefully we’ll have good internet access so we can keep you all updated with our trip, otherwise we’ll post everything when we get back to London on the 29th. So far our itinerary is: Crieff, StAndrews, Aberdeen, Inverness, Loch Ness, Glasgow and Edinburgh. We’ll be travelling through the highlands as well, so will be able to stop wherever we want. Scotland is actually really small and our entire route will only take us about 13 hours. We’ll be dragging this out to eight full days, so will have plenty of time for exploring!

We’re going to see Wicked the day we get back (such a hard life!), then we’ll be planning our next adventure in Basel, Switzerland with Slops! Coincidentally Basel is Federer’s hometown and after yesterday’s performance I’ve got quite a crush, so might have to stop in and say hi....!

Love to all!

Xxx

P.S No more chocolate cake so have had to settle for a crumble instead. Rubbish compromise as it’s literally a plate of jam with a few pieces of crumble on top!

P.P.S Happy birthday to Conny-flower who is 18 in just two days. We sent a little something to you today, but imagine it will take at least a week to get there so hold tight! Love you heaps! xx

Home sweet home

Well it’s been a long time in between drinks and I’m sorry to all our dedicated blog readers out there! The main reason for our lack of contact is that I have been too sick to move so have had nothing at all to right about... And would you believe I spent three of the sunniest days in London inside curled up on the couch – what a waste!

Bit of a bugger really as Emily had tickets to Royal Ascot which we were obviously unable to attend. She was just a metre away from the Queen at one point, so I’m very disappointed as I’m sure she would have spotted me and appointed me as her new royal BFF. Just you wait for 2011 - prepare yourself Lizzie!

The trip back from Morocco was a bit of a nightmare really and I started to get sick on the plane – shivering, cramping and just feeling ice-cold. To top it off by the time we made it to the train station we had just missed the last train by five minutes, meaning we had to wait an entire hour before the next one arrived in. By the time we got home it was 5.30am, bright as a button and I was praying for death! (Not at all a drama queen Dad).

The next morning Brad headed off to watch the All Whites stunning performance, while I felt sorry for myself on the couch. I did head out late afternoon to the bank and to try and find a doctor, but ended up keeling over in the bank. In true London fashion not an eyebrow was raised, as people looked onwards muttering to themselves “bloody druggies – they’re everywhere!” Sensibly I decided to stumble home and spent the rest of the day on the couch.

We had an early start the next morning as we got up to head to an interview I had with a recruitment agent. I managed to get dressed but that was all – it was back to bed for me, and given Brad had been sick during the night there were no protests from him! Brad settled down for a day of bad quality Thailand DVDs, while I snoozed beside him.

Thursday rolled around and this time I was forced to get out of bed as it was moving day (yah!). We walked around to our new place (at a snail’s pace which as you can imagine didn’t go down well with the locals, especially seeing as we had to stop frequently) and set up house. It was a little piece of heaven to be able to hang up clothes in a wardrobe, or spread our things in front of us. Utter bliss! We then nipped out to pick up a few things, but then realised we’d be much quicker if Brad dropped me off at a cafe while he did the running around! So while Brad picked out our linens, towels and bedspread, I lay like a sloth on a couch in Wimpy (cheap diner) playing with my Knickerbocker Glory (BIG and delicious ice-cream). Although I barely touched it, I now know I’m on the mend as just typing the name is making me salivate! Needless to say Brad did a great job and managed to pick up everything we needed and carry it all home – no mean feat!
Today I’m feeling better and think I’ll be well on the mend by Monday, so given this sudden change we decided to head into Brixton to pick up a few things for the flat, and then popped into the city centre to run a few errands. We had lunch in Trafalgar Square (one of my favourite places) and then I was well enough to do a spot of shopping! Very exciting stuff and picked up two cute dresses – one for work and one for play.

Tonight we’re going to watch England play against Algeria, then will head to Brighton tomorrow with Shady and Emily. I’m very excited about this little excursion as Brighton is apparently amazing – gay capital of England, pebbled beaches, roller coaster on the pier and delicious food. If the belly ache ceases you can beat your ass that I’ll have one again before the day is out, as if I’m up for it I’m heading straight to Chocky Wocky Doo Da’s for that metre high cake!

We love our flat and flatmates seem great. Brad’s very happy as Ryan is ‘on the same page’ and they’ve already arranged for Sky (with a sports upgrade of course) to be installed ASAP. The other flatmate is moving out so we’re meeting a few options on Sunday morning and will probably head to the pub with Ryan and his friends to watch New Zealand’s match against Italy. It’s nice to be back in London and it’s starting to feel like home.

Apologies for this dull-as-dishwater update, but next week’s news will be a bit more action-packed as we’re heading on an eight day driving excursion around Scotland – just the two of us. We’re looking forward to it and have planned a rough itinerary, but will just go where the wind takes us.

Have attached a few pics of our place so you’re familiar with it when you come to stay!

Love you all and hope you have lovely, warm, toasty weekends ahead of you. Missing you heaps!

xxx

Haere Ra Morocco

Well today was our last day in Morocco and as we type this, we’re waiting for our shuttle to pick us up and take us back to England, where we won’t be experiencing weather as beautiful as this anytime soon.

We’ve had a great time in Morocco and definitely recommend it for a sun-filled holiday that is a little bit different. While Thailand is cheaper with better food, Morocco is an experience all on its own. We’ve had to pinch ourselves on so many different occasions, particularly when climbing up Saharan sand dunes on Saturday. We’ve never heard such silence ever before and it’s definitely an experience that will stay with us for a lifetime.

We spent our last day making the most of the weather (by far the hottest day since we’ve been here) by swimming and playing Yahtzee in the sun, followed by a beachfront stroll to the Marina.

We also decided to head beachfront again for our dinner, which also provided an experience we’ll never be able to forget – no matter how hard we try! Even as I type this my stomach is gurgling away making all kinds of ominous noises and I suspect it might be a long journey to London! After ordering what we thought were fairly safe dishes – a Cheeseburger and a mixed fish dish – we were left speechless at what arrived... My Cheeseburger was literally purple (much like the breakfast porj), and Brad’s plate consisted of deep fried fish parts – including tails, solid chunks of belly (guts included) and skeletons. All we could do was laugh – especially when I tried to cut into a ‘mystery’ piece of fish, only to find what looked exactly like a row of fish teeth! But hey – at least the toilets were free at this place, but after using them I left with the sneaky suspicion that the meat used in my burger pattie may very well have been something else entirely. Judging by the state of the toilets, if I were a gambling woman I would hedge my bets on the fact that I was actually served an after-birth burger! I know you’re probably all dry-reeching right now and I thought long and hard about whether or not I was going to include this comparison, but at the end of the day I wouldn’t be true to myself if I didn’t inform you of the utter horridness of our last meal!

After our repugnant dinner, we headed to our ice-cream store (anything to get the taste of umbilical cord and fish anus out of our mouths) for a wee double-scoop treat. Like most places, Morocco certainly has it’s beggars and poverty and after witnessing a young boy eating an old ice-cream cone he found in the trash, only to be pounced on by some other boys who wanted the old cone for themselves, we were left feeling speechless. We decided to buy them all an ice-cream cone and when presenting them with them they were so grateful it was hard not to cry. One boy was so speechless he just grabbed it and ran, only to turn around and run back, hit my leg and wave before running off again. It was a very humbling moment and we were reminded of just how lucky we are in New Zealand.

Tomorrow we’ll head to a local pub to watch New Zealand’s first match in the World Cup. We’ll also spend a fair chunk of our day at the bank I suspect, setting up internet banking and transferring funds into our new landlord’s account. Back to reality, but not to worry as I imagine we’ll soon escape it (I can already feel my feet starting to itch!).

Arohanui

xx

Morocco day six: McDelightful!

Picking up from where we left off, last night we went out for dinner and a few drinks with our new English friends, whom we first met on the transfer to our hotels upon arrival. Coincidentally we had also booked the same excursions, travelling with them to Marrakech and on yesterday’s 4x4 adventure.

Given yesterday was quite a big day, we decided to take it easy today, sleeping in and skipping our daily breakfast (it was an absolute delight to avoid the porc this morning I tell you!). While I updated our blog and spent some valuable time on Facebook, Brad caught up on some sleep and woke up feeling a lot better with his testy stomach a thing of the past.

After our usual relaxation in the sun/ Yahtzee session, we headed off to grab some breakfast (at 3pm) followed by the souk, despite knowing that today it was going to be very busy as Moroccans have Sunday off. This means that they all head to the souk to pick up their supplies for the week. It didn’t worry us though as it took the pressure off as sellers didn’t hassle us quite as much, leaving us to browse in peace (well as much peace as can be expected in Morocco).

At last – success! After shopping aimlessly for days I finally found the pendant I’d been waiting for, and oh how it was worth the wait! As soon as I saw it I fell in love, but tried to play it cool... After bartering with the owner on three different occasions I finally got to take it away and am very much looking forward to popping it on a chain back in England.

Both Brad and I also picked up a pair of sunnies each which was fun, and for the remainder of the day we strutted around Agadir feeling like the best thing since sliced bread!

Lunch was another great cultural experience with us heading to McDonald’s for a Moroccan feast. While I opted for the McArabia, Brad decided to go for the Big and Tasty goat burger and surprisingly both proved to be quite delicious. Especially when washed down with a bag of peanut M & Ms!

We also took a little walk through the Valle de Oiseaux (Valley of the Birds), which is a free zoo in the middle of the street. Nothing much to report here another than an aggressive monkey (that was its name!) and some llamas which looked remarkably like polar bears!

After our day’s excursion, I then spent another hour in the sun (at 7pm can you believe), before we went out for dessert. We needn’t have bothered though as this was possibly one of the most disappointing experiences of my life. After anxiously waiting for our fruit salad and ice-cream a few crumby pieces of apple floating in juice arrived, alongside a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. I could have cried! Particularly as we’d made the decision to pay a bit extra and go to a restaurant where we could sit down and eat, as opposed to our usual delicious and cheap ice-cream shop which sells every flavour you could imagine (three different bubblegum options for goodness sakes!). I sat there while my dull-as-dishwater ice-cream melted in front of me (which I had paid three times the price for), while kids ran around just a few metres in front of me, laughing joyously as they slurped back their triple scoop bubblegum ice-cream delights. It was just like the donut incident all over again!

We return to London late tomorrow evening so will just spend tomorrow relaxing, wandering and eating before our plane departs at 10.30pm. We arrive into London at 2.10am and have to navigate our way back to Clapham North using night trains and buses... I don’t suppose anyone wants to come pick us up? 

Love to all and wish you were here. If you jumped on a plane now you should be here in 28 hours – what are you waiting for?
xxx

Morocco day five: Saharan sand dunes, camel rides and making friends with a Mongoose

It has to be said, today was our best day in Morocco so far and it’s not over yet as we’re meeting some new friends for dinner and a few drinks tonight down by the beach. Much to Brad’s disappointment, England aren’t playing their match for a few hours so we’ve called off the visit to the English Pub, rather focusing on soaking up a few rays (it’s 6.30pm and I’m still sunbathing!), while Brad naps before we head down to the beach.

As you know today we went on our 4x4 excursion south of Agadir, traipsing through Saharan sand dunes, Berber villages, fishing villages, beaches and a fantastic little city called Tiznit. Our guide was incredibly informative and friendly so we spent the day chewing his ear off with countless questions about the Moroccan people, Berber culture, climate, social welfare system – you name it.

The tour kicked off at 8am and it really was completely out of this world – imagine huge orange desert sand dunes, camels, scorpions, cliff lines that drop away into the Atlantic ocean (at the risk of sounding like Dad, ‘god I love this part of this country!’)... It was STUNNING!

A highlight of the trip was stumbling across a group of Nomads when venturing through the pre-Sahara, who anxious to entertain, whipped out a couple of scorpions, a snake, a chameleon and another lizard all from the same bag! Out they pop and he’s passing them around like it’s a show and tell! I played with the snake and chameleon, but was more than a little nervous, while Brad didn’t show an ounce of fear. Even though I knew the snake wasn’t poisonous I couldn’t shake the fear that it was going to strike so I held it at arm’s length! Given how long my arms were I thought I’d be at an advantage if it went for my jugular! In contrast, Brad wrapped it around his neck and even gave it a little kiss! Neither of us touched the scorpions though.

The other Nomad, not to be outdone, parades over his camel where he commands Brad to get up on it and go for a ride! I closely followed, as did another couple we were with. It was absolutely amazing and so surreal... Definitely a ‘pinch yourself’ moment and even now it’s hard to believe it actually happened!

The pictures just don’t do the landscape justice – everything is so colourful – the bright red earth, the terracotta buildings (which are made from earth), the bright blue ocean, the scarce greenery... It has to be seen to be believed!

Lunch was another adventure and was outside in a huge Arabic tent, served by a waiter whose English vocabulary extended to: welcome, cheers, yum-yum, lovely jubley and.... I feel like chicken tonight! He gave us all names I was ZabaZaba, while Brad was Aziz... Thankfully we fared better than the others on the excursion who were called Fatima and Mustafa among other things! We were treated to a traditional Moroccan dining experience which was once again delicious, although I would kill for a huge slab of chocolate cake. Brad’s promised to make me the biggest cake I’ve ever seen once we get set up in our flat, but otherwise I’m heading straight to a place where dreams are made of – Chocky Wocky Doo Da in Brighton, where (as I’ve been told by a lady on the excursion today) they make chocolate cakes well over a metre tall. I don’t care how much it costs or how impractical it is, as soon as I get to Brighton (we’re going there for Donna’s birthday (Shady and Emily’s flatmate) in July), I’m heading straight to this Chocky Wocky Doo Da, buying this metre tall cake and eating the entire thing. I’m not even going to share one mouthful!

After lunch we headed off-road along the coast stopping at some of the most beautiful beaches, once of which housed fisherman in caves in the cliffs where they live and fish all year round. It’s hard to imagine such a different life – a life where your cave doesn’t even have electricity, toilet or a kitchen!

Along the coast we spotted a few Mongooses, which I mistook for otters, much to the delight of the guide. Brad kindly informed me that a Mongoose fights snakes, and is often found in the Sahara desert – too much Discovery Channel for that one and not enough sunshine!

Speaking of sunshine, Brad and I are very near looking like locals on account of how much sun we’ve had. I try not to feel too guilty when I’m soaking up the rays, reminding myself that we’re unlikely to see sun again for the next two years, so I might as well enjoy it while I can. I’ve never felt so brown, and the best part is for the first time in a long while, I don’t even have orange hands to account for the summer glow! Not to get to ahead of ourselves though as I’m sure a few days in England will return the pasty white pallor we’re accustomed to!

Given we’re in an Arabic nation I’ve been shocked at just how much those European girls bare (everything)! Their bikinis don’t cover much at all, and even then they take the tops off letting it all hang out. Just seconds before I saw a French tetraplegic lying in the sun on a reclined wheelchair with only a small scrap of material around her nether regions! After the scorpions I really thought I’d seen it all, but turns out life can always surprise you!

We’re off now to enjoy the beautiful African sunset down at the beach, but will upload this first thing tomorrow morning (after our cucumber and porc breakfast of course – wouldn’t want to miss out on that!).

Love you all to bits and can’t help but think how perfect it would be if you were all here with us!
xx