Wales

Nanny, Caroline and I went to Wales today to have a look at where Nanny was evacuated to during WWII and have a look at the Roman Ruins and Tintern Abbey (from the famous Wordsworth poem). We went to Caeleon to have a look at the roman baths and amphitheater ruins, stopped in Usk for a lovely roast lunch and pud, took a scenic drive through the Wye Valley and stopped at Tintern Abby before heading back home. It was a very cold and windy day and of course it was the one day I didn't wear socks so my feet were like ice.

I'm in love with a fairytale

"Even though it hurts". Just finished watching Eurovision 2009. It was a great show this year with heaps of awesome entry's and of course the usual "what the?" songs. Norway's song was nice and catchy and really deserved to win.
Today we went to Bath to have a look around. We went into the Pump room but didn't have tea as it was packed. The Pump room features in a few of Jane Austen's novels. You could really imagine all the ladies in their dresses and the men making conversation, dancing and taking waters. We had a nice lunch, gorgeous hot chocolate, had a look around at the cutest shops and came home to watch Eurovision. A very good day.

My brain needs a break

After spending the last 13 weeks being constantly assessed, my brain really needs a break from thinking, analyzing, planning and worrying if I've got it right or not. Most of the time I haven't but I'm not going into that now.
My next week is going to be hellishly busy with Bath tomorrow, Wales on Sunday, nights working on my portfolio and trying to spend as much time with my family as possible. On Monday I am presenting my case study to the ortho team, Thursday brings my final evaluation and Friday brings my last half day and the I'm free!!!!!!!
Somehow in this time I a meant to pack up all my stuff home, send a parcel to Japan, a parcel home, ensure my suitcase is max 20KG and figure out what I'll need in London and I actually can't be bothered to start organising any of that right now to be honest. Call me lazy. At the moment I'm watching deal or no deal with Nanny. It's actually a lot more fun than the one in Australia. The host is interesting, they have theme days, there are no pointless girls in silver dresses and identical wigs only contestants holding and opening the cases and there are always extra surprises every game.

Planning Japan

I'm heading over to Japan for just over two weeks in July. There are a few reasons for this trip. First and foremost I'm going to see a special someone. Then I'm going cause I've loved Japan since I was about ten years old and had my first Japanese lesson. It felt magical then and it still does now. I can not wait to get there and start exploring.

The idea is to fly out of Cairns to Tokyo, take the train from Tokyo to Osaka. Spend a week or so in Osaka and then head over to Beppu on the night ferry. When I'm due to fly home I'll make my way back to Tokyo (it will be a sad, sad day) and I get back just in time for my 21st birthday (not that I'm celebrating it).

I have so many things I want to do:
- sample the food
- see the sights
- relax in an onsen or a few
- go to the Osaka aquarium (whale sharks!!!)
- go shopping for awesome stuff of course
- kareoke
- stumble over the few bits of Japanese I can still remember
- and much, much more

It's going to be absolutely awesome XD

Sidmouth & Longleat

Yesterday Nanny and I went to Sidmouth for the day. It is a lovely seaside town full of retirees and where families come for holidays. It has your typical English seaside strip complete with deckchairs and pebble beaches and clotted cream ice cream (even on the most freezing of days). We had coffee, browsed the most gorgeous home decorating and accessory shops, had cod, chips and peas for lunch, browsed more shops and visited a garden centre on the way home.

Today I went with Sue and her mother-in-law Joyce to Longleat Safari Park. It was even more awesome than last time I went (ten years ago). We went on a boat ride, a train ride and of course we drove through the safari park. The monkey section was closed though as they were in quarantine for an infection. I took some amazing photos but unfortunately I had forgotten my memory card so I have to wait till I get back to Australia to put them on the computer. I saw tons of animals including: meerkat, mongoose, macaw, tortoise, turtle, snakes, lizards, squirrels, porcupines, otters, rabbits, guinea pigs, sea lions, gorilla, hippopotamus, pelicans, flamingos, vultures, rhinos, giraffes, llamas, warthogs, antelope, various breeds of deer, lions, tigers, wolves, leaf cutter ants and numerous others that I can't think of at the moment.

Oh and can you believe that they have cane toads on display here? Just wait till they break out into the wild :P

Madrid

Well it was certainly a MAD weekend with Vicky in Madrid.
After both of us traveled for what seemed like a lifetime we made it to the Stansted Hilton and spent a really comfortable 4 hours sleeping before we had to catch our early early flight (after a fry-up and a pint of cider at the airport wetherspoons of course).
The first thing I noticed about Madrid was that everyone spoke Spanish and nothing was easy to understand but we still managed to find our way into the heart of the city and to our hostel. It was right in the middle of the main pedestrian street so we just had to stroll in whatever direction and we could find something to do.
We spent the first day getting our bearings and wound up in the Retiro park which is HUGE and absolutely stunning, there is something for everyone there (not kidding even beer). Then we wandered around some more and found our way back at our hostel. That night we went on the MADrid pub crawl which was heaps of fun for the time we were there (another story). The next day we had a late brunch and headed in the direction of all the art galleries only to find them to be closed due to it being a national holiday (just our luck) so we ended up having a pint in the park and went to explore the streets around Plaza Mayor and tried to find a bit of authentic Spain (which we did and it was awesome). That night we had tapas(small savory foods) and cana (small beers) with a few new friends from the hostel proceeded to get lost only to eventually find a metro station and get back to the hostel again. Later that night I went out and sampled some more bars and pubs with people from the hostel. There is such a wide variety of European beers in Madrid and it was great getting to try them all for really cheap.
The next day we had a ride on the Telefrico (cable car) which took us over the country side where we saw the royal palace from afar and snow capped mountains as well as lovely gardens and the Spanish suburbia. Afterward we said goodbye to our new friend Rick from Holland and we found out way onto the open-topped tour buses that went around the city. This was a really great way to see everything we had been walking past and find out what they actually were. We also stopped of at the Museo El Prado (historical art museum). That night we went to try and see flamenco dancing with Lindsey from Canada, we didn't end up seeing any (another story for another time) so we ended up in another bar having tapas and cana.
We got up early on our last day in Madrid and went to check out the famous El Rastro markets where you can buy anything and everything (it's true). I picked up the cutest handbag and a few bracelets as gifts for people. Then we headed to check out the Museo Reina Sofia (modern art museum) where Picaso's Gernica was on display. The line up for that particular painting was way too long so Vicky and I had a look at everything else and stopped off to have some Paella before heading to the airport to catch our cheap cheap Ryanair flight back to London.
It was a great weekend and we were sad to only have such a short time there. There is so much more to do and explore and I will definitely being heading back to Spain many times in the future.
In London we were kidnapped by our bus driver and then left on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and still managed to find our hostel. After a lovely dinner pad Thai for dinner we had an early night before checking out a bit of the Science museum the next day. It was so weird that everyone spoke English. Unfortunately as the tube was so slow and there were tons of delays we didn't get to spend much time there and had to head to paddington to catch our trains back home.

Stay tuned for the next installment titled: last few days in London.

Glastonbury

Sue and I took a turn in Glastonbury two weekends ago. I was really looking forward to this trip as I knew it would be something different and it was.
We turned up expecting it to be pelting with rain (and it did eventually but only for a short while). It was the cutest little town with loads of really alternative shops (Indian, African, Celtic, goth, devil-worshiping, elves, dragons, wizardry, fairies, hemp, funky shoes,organic foods etc. Such a nice mix and it's the first time I've not seen a tesco express in the high street.
After we had had our fill of shops we went and explored the Glastonbury Abbey and the long history that went with it. There is so much to explain about it but it's probably more famous for being the place where King Arthur and Gwenivere were buried then dug up and destroyed when Kind Henry VIII got rid of catholic churches in England.
In the afternoon we finally felt brave enough to tackle the Tor. We took the bus up to the path, I mean the STEEP path and gale force winds (literally). However, the view from the top was really worth it unlike the smell of the cow manure used to help the grass grow. We then ambled our way down the not-so steep path and back into town. Our day finished with a spot of birdwatching at the Ashcott Corner hides.

Why twitter is a load of crap?

The answer is simple. After viewing the "what's it all about" video on the twitter home page, I came to the oh so obvious conclusion that twitter is pretty much the same as only having the status updates on your facebook page and nothing else. Why use twitter when you can use facebook and have so much more things to do instead of pry into the lives of everyone you know? Or don't know and met once at party in such a drunken state that you actually think they were awesome enough to accept their friend request.