Col & Ang's Adventures

Molly!

2008-01-20T13:45:00.001-08:00

Belated Japan Blog

2007-08-09T18:38:00.001-07:00

Croatia Pics!!

2007-05-23T00:47:00.000-07:00

Paris, Venice and Slovenia

2007-05-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

PARIS

From Madrid we flew to Paris and spent three days exploring the city. On the first day, Col directed us on a grand walking tour of many of the sights such as the Grande Ville Hotel, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Pantheon, the Latin Quarter, Luxemborge Park (where it was challenging to dodge the pigeon poo from the trees above!), St Sulpice, the Louvre, the Champse Elysee, and the Arche de Triumphe.

On the second day we took a long walk along the Seine and then visited the top of the Eiffel Tower to enjoy the amazing view over Paris. After coming down from the Eiffel we sat in a lovely little park beneath the tower and had a romantic dinner of a tin of lentils messily combined with a tin of spinach! Oh well, we thought it was close enough to strawberries and champagne! As we walked across the bridge away from the tower and looked back at it, we were pleasantly surprised to see the tower all lit up with twinking lights. It was really magical.

Overall Paris was a really beautiful city with amazing historical monuments and sights and we enjoyed our time there although we found it to be very expensive, even after living in London!

VENICE

We arrived late at night in Venice, Italy, and headed for our accommodation which was a cabin in a camping villiage, a short boat ride away from Venice itself. In the morning we took the ferry to town and began exploring the city. What can we say? It was so so so beautiful!! Narrow, winding, cobbled streets lined with small shops mostly selling handmade Venetian Glass or masks weaved their way over canal bridges and through the city. The Saint Marco Basilica is a prominent feature in the main square and is just gorgeous with its stunning architecture and ornate decoration.

We made sure to fit in a yummy pizza and wine meal and sampled some magnificent gelati! Verdict: Highly recommended, very beautiful and romantic, even moreso than Paris.

SLOVENIA

We caught a train from Venice to Ljubljana, arriving in the evening. We found our accommodation then set out searching for some dinner and stumbled upon one of the most beautiful cities we had ever seen, where things were actually affordable and people were very friendly. The city lies beneath a towering hill with a medieval castle on it and is centred around a flowing green river which is crossed by several cobbled stone bridges. We were very pleasantly surprised to find a great pub where we could have dinner and drinks for barely over 5 euro or 9 dollars AU. The next day was a public holiday so everything was closed and we just mosied around town and walked up to the castle as well as planned our travel for the next few days.

Bright and early the next morning we hopped on a bus to lake Bled in the Julian Alps. The mountains surrounding the lake are all snowcapped, there is a fairytale castle perched high on a cliff overlooking the lake, and an island in the middle of the lake with an old church on it. We spent the first day walking around the lake and also doing some really nice bushy walks up some of the surrounding hills overlooking the lake.

The next day we took a bus to Lake Bohinj which was as if not more beautiful and far less touristy. We did a 16km walk to a lovely waterfall along a gorge with turquoise rockpools. The setting was unbeatable.

In all we really really loved Slovenia and would highly recommend it as a great travel destination. It is so small its really quick and easy to get around and had good links for getting to Croatia which is where we headed next.

Will continue with our Croatia trip soon....

Col and Ang, xo.

Croatia so far

2007-05-05T04:50:00.000-07:00

Slovenia

2007-05-05T04:43:00.000-07:00

Venice

2007-05-05T04:39:00.000-07:00

Paris

2007-05-05T04:34:00.000-07:00

Pics: Morocco, Madrid and Gredos mountains

2007-04-21T05:27:00.000-07:00

Pics: Farewell to London friends and start of Morocco

2007-04-21T04:51:00.000-07:00

Morocco and Spain!

2007-04-20T13:40:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

We´re having a ball so far on our travels! Since leaving London on 4th April we headed for Morocco and spent 8 glorious days in the vibrant, bustling, and somewhat chaotic city of Marrakesh and also the charming fishing town on the coast Essouira. Being the seasoned travellers that we now are we had fully prepped ourselves for not getting led astray or ripped off. We did well for about 15 minutes. After having only spent about 30 minutes in Marrakesh we had been seduced into a cup of mint tea in an old man´s shop and had been dressed up as ´Mohammed´and ´Fatima´ in traditional attire and had been attacked and swindled by snake charmers who put cobras all over Col. Oh yes, such wise and seasoned travellers we are! Oh well, we have some quite amusing pics to show for it.

After settling into our ´riad´(family-owned hotel usually built around a central tiled courtyard and with a roof-top terrace) we ventured out to the central market square and the ´souks´(small alley-ways full of stalls selling everything from leather goods to silver, fabric and spices. As in Thailand it was difficult to just look or simply ask the price of something without being pressured into making a purchase. We got some good bargains but on the whole we found that things were not as cheap as we had heard or expected. After a hard day of fighting off snakes and touts we headed to a restaurant for our first taste of real moroccan food. The typical dishes include tagines of many descriptions, cous cous, and pastillas. All the food we tried was gorgeous!

After the third day of being in Marrakesh we felt as though we needed a break from the chaos and decided to head for the seaside town of Essouira. We tried to get tickets for the bus company recommended in all the travel guides but were only able to get tickets for the local (and very dodgy) bus service. For starters we wer coerced into paying an additional fee for our luggage not only once but twice! (And they even attempted a third). The bus looked and sounded like it would probably explode, and well... we had a tyre blow-out on the way. ´Conveniently´it happened outside a carpet warehouse in the middle of the desert! On the bus we met a young mother travelling with her two gorgeous little girls, one 5 and one 8. We fell in love with the girls and got on really well with their mum so we met up on a few occasions once we arrived in Essouira.

Essouira was lovely. It had a really long and nice beach (ok, not quite queensland standard but close!) and a quaint town within ancient city walls with narrow winding paved streets. It was a lot more relaxed than Marrakesh and was a great spot to relax. After spending a few days there we headed back to Marrakesh to get our flight to Madrid. Although we had an amazing time in Morocco we must admit we did breathe a sigh of relief when the plane took off.

We arrived in Madrid late at night and headed straight to our backpackers hostel which was quite centrally located. The next morning we headed to the Reina Sofia gallery which was amazing. We focused on the permanent collection which features Salvadore Dali and Picasso (including his most famous work, ´Guernica´). In the afternoon we met up with our good friend Nats (Natalie) who was able to come and visit us for the weekend from London. We had a great couple of days with Nats, enjoying tapas and drinks, several historical sights, and especially the amazing music and nightlife of Madrid.

On Sunday we embarked on the trip out to the Gredos mountains to take part in the program where we helped Spaniards to improve their conversational English. In exchange for our time we received our accomodation and food in an absolutely beautiful hotel in a picturesque part of the countryside. A typical day involved about 6 one to one sessions with different Spaniards as well as group activities and entertainment (provided by group members). It was a really great way to learn a little about Spanish culture and also to meet heaps of people from many different backgrounds. The week flew by and we feel very positive about the experience!

Now we are back in Madrid and will be flying to Paris tomorrow evening! We hope that you are all going well back at home and are keen to hear from you!

Lots and lots of love,
Ang and Col, xoxox.

PS - We will post some pictures soon when we get the time.

So far this year….

2007-02-17T04:10:00.000-08:00

Well, what a start to 2007! On New Years Eve we went out for Italian with some friends and then went back to one of their houses for further festivities and to see
the new year in.

On the 6th of Jan we headed off on our two week ski/snowboard trip to the French Alps. We had great snow conditions and had so much fun. We stayed in a self-catering apartment with our good friends Leigh and Sarah (Sal) which was only 5 mins walk from the main lifts in Val D’Isere. Col took to snowboarding in an instant and just had an absolute ball, and I found that the ski school and Sal’s expert tuition helped me to pick up skiing quicker than I had expected (although I must admit I had set my expectations at a rather, let’s say ‘manageable’ level). So yeah,
I think I’m hooked! We can’t forget to mention the après ski activities which were certainly a highlight and largely involved playing lots of cards (quite passionately at times!) and consuming extraordinary amounts of cheese, wine and pastries.

It was quite chilly when we returned to London and we have had two days of quite heavy snow! I know we just returned from the snowy alps, so you’d think we’d be quite accustomed to the white stuff by now, but somehow we found it very exciting that it was actually snowing where we live and work. The pics below where the sky is grey are all in London around our house and on the way to our local tube station. Obviously all the blue-sky snowy pics were in Val.

On the work front, Col has got a couple of major projects going on at work at present and so has been putting in a lot of extra hours. His boss shouted us a lovely valentines dinner last night as a thank you for all his hard work, which was very nice. Work has been going well for me. After I returned to work after skiing our class went to see Carmen at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden which was a fabulous experience. Recently I have also started a new second job as a play-worker at an after school club for kids with special needs. It is working out well so far.

Oh, if your wondering what the photo is of me looking like a lunatic on the bed, that was the morning of my b’day when I was chatting to family and friends on the phone and road-testing my new spotty PJs that Col gave me (which I adore!)…..and wearing the wrapping on my head…well…just because I could! On the Sat night following my b’day we went out for a really nice dinner with Col, Nats, Kath, Faith and two of Faith’s friends and then went to a party where there was a DJ and we danced til the very wee hours of the morning. Twas a great night.

Now we are counting down the weeks of work before we embark on our big trip and then head home! We’re spending 9 days in Morocco, flying to Madrid then Paris, Venice, ferrying our way to Slovenia and spending 3.5 weeks in Slovenia and Croatia before returning to London for two days to meet our connecting flight to Japan where we will spend 10 days. Our trip is 2 months in total. We arrive at Brisbane International around 7:30am on Sunday 3 June!! Can’t wait to catch up with you all when we get back!!

Anyhow, I’m sure you’re dozing off to sleep by now if you have even made it thus far, so I’d better be off! Be sure to get back to us with your news from home :)

Lots of love,
Ang and Col, xo.

AmsterDAMN and Berlin

2006-12-24T13:44:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

What can we say? We’ve had a very eventful trip to Amsterdam and Berlin. I suppose we should start from the beginning.

We arrived in Amsterdam on Wednesday, and after checking in at our hostel we had a wander around town and found it to be an absolutely beautiful city. Being Christmas time there were fairy lights and decorations everywhere as well as the odd ice rink. The lovely old buildings and many canals created a magical atmosphere. We had to keep our wits about us when walking the streets though because there were three potentially devastating hazards in great abundance: bicycles, trams and dog-poo!

The next day we headed straight for the Van Gogh museum which was pricey but well worth the visit. We then embarked on a three hour walking tour of the city which was really fantastic. The guide was very informative but kept it lively and interesting and we were not bored for a second. The tour covered many of the sights in central Amsterdam including several of the famous buildings, Anne Frank’s house, the red light district, the widest bridge and the teeniest house. We met another Aussie on the tour called Rhys who was from Perth, and we ended up hanging out with him for the evening.

The next morning we awoke and began to leisurely pack our bags when suddenly we discovered that my (Ang’s) shoulder-bag which contained our passports, mobile phone, wallet with all cards, etc., was nowhere to be seen and definitely not where I distinctly remember leaving it when we went to bed (basically right next to our heads). We tried to stay rational and calm but it soon became apparent that it had most certainly been stolen. Another guy staying in the hostel also had his bag nicked. This started a flurry of action, scouring the whole hostel, ringing banks to cancel credit cards etc, making an appointment to see the Dutch Police to file a report, and talking to the Australian Embassy to try to ascertain whether we would be able to travel to Berlin by bus that night (as scheduled) and then fly to London on Christmas Eve (today). We were told that if we obtained copies of our documents and a police report there was a possibility we would be allowed to travel to Berlin but that there was absolutely no chance we would be accepted onto our flight to London and that we’d have to wait for the embassy to re-open on the 28th and then wait a further 2 days for them to issue an emergency passport [and then possibly have to wait several more days until a flight to London had any availabilities at this busy time of year]. This all meant that we could potentially miss our train from London to France to go on our ski trip!!! Arrrggg!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, we decided to chance it and got on our bus to Berlin. At the German border two stern-looking German immigration officials boarded the bus and started checking everyone’s passports. We were sooooooo nervous, but thankfully they accepted our explanation and the copied documentation we had. We arrived in Berlin and had a slow morning recovering from the long bus trip. Expecting to be stranded there for a number of days we felt we could take it easy and have a catch up day. In the evening we headed out for a nice walk and happened upon a lovely Christmas market where we indulged in some warm Gluwein (a warm red spiced wine), bratwursts and other tasty German goodies. We talked and decided that we didn’t have too much to lose by giving it a shot and making the journey to the airport the next morning so at least we would know we tried everything to get home.

So, we woke early and got to the airport and lined up at the check-in queue. We were very nervous and were mentally preparing ourselves to get a flat “No” response. Instead, the lady told us to go downstairs to the Ryan Air office and speak with her manager. As expected, the manager said straight out, “No, you cannot travel without original passports, Ryan Air just does not allow it”. We persisted with pleas that we initially thought futile, but she eventually decided that she would call London immigration and see if anything could be done. By some miracle and a bit of Christmas spirit, they decided to allow us to fly, but warned that if when we got to London the officials thought we didn’t have enough documentation they would deport us back to Berlin. We have never been so pleased to get on a plane! Again, we were nervous lining up at the London airport, but managed to get through without too much hassle. We were so so relieved!

So we got home around 2pm this afternoon and even had time to get to the shops to stock up on Christmas food before they all closed. All in all it was quite an adventure and somehow things turned out much better than they could have. All we have to do now is get emergency passports in time to leave for our ski trip. (And we have vowed and declared to be much more protective of our passports in the future!!).

Thanks to Jen and Dad for all your help scanning and sending documents over and thanks for all the other lovely emails. We wish we could see you all for Chrissy, but hopefully we might get to talk to some of you tomorrow. Make sure you eat lots of Christmas pudding and have a great day!

Lots and lots of love and Christmas cheer,
Ang and Col, xoxoxox.

Thankyoski Krakovski!

2006-11-25T09:05:00.000-08:00

Vell, a couple of veekendski's ago we journeyed to the vonderful Krakov in Poland. Krakov was the capital of Poland through the middle ages, and so has a beautiful old castle on top of a hill overlooking the old town. It also has the largest town square in europe where artists have gathered over the ages.

It was snowing when we landed, vich vas rather exciting for us, although unfortunately by the next day it had turned to icy rain. Everywhere is, however, prepared for such veather and they have the cosiest little restaurants and pubs where they love to shot their cherry wodka. Ve stayed in a really great hostel vhere ve met heaps of other travellers and hilarious polish locals. Our first night there ve vent for one little nightcap drink and somehow found ourselves still at the bar at 6am having wodka shots and cheap Polish beer....it was great fun.

Because of the rainy whether we didn't take too many sightseeing photos...but here's a little taste of Krakov.

Salad Days

2006-11-11T01:36:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

As you may have heard I joined an amateur theatre group called the Harrow Light Opera Company when we first arrived in London. Three weeks ago we performed the 1950s musical 'Salad Days' each night for a week. It was great fun and has defintely left me hooked on "am dram" (amateur drama). I'm thinking I'll look around for a Brissy group to join when we get back.

It was a very twee and very very silly musical which I thought was quite stupid at first, but once I embraced the stupidity I ended up loving it!

Here are some dressing room pics.

Love to you all and will post again soon with our tales of Krakow where we went last weekend.

Ang, xo.

Fairies and Leprechauns

2006-10-14T04:16:00.000-07:00

Well, that's what we were seeing after our trip to the Guinness Factory anyway....

Yes, a few weeks ago now we hopped over to visit the very friendly Dublin. It was a great weekend away. We visited all the famous sites around the city including the Dublin Zoo, the Temple Bar district, the Guinness Factory, and did a lovely trip out of the city to the Irish coast just north of Dublin to a place called Hoath. The highlight, however, was definitely the friendliness of the people - certainly a stark contrast to the average Londoners. The bus drivers would even sing Irish jigs as they drove you around.

Since Dublin, the last few weeks we have been laying low a bit trying to save a bit. We need to save for our ski trip in Jan, our two month trip we plan to do just before coming home, and also to have some money to bring home with us. Our next trip is planned for early November to Krakow in Poland - it was originally a surprise trip Ang organised for my birthday, but she never was the best at keeping secrets...

Life in London is going well - Ang has her big show coming up for the Theatre Group that she is in - I'm looking forward to seeing it after all the hard work they've put in. They perform for 5 nights next week at a theatre not too far from our place. My work is going well - although very busy at the moment (why does it always seem to be like that?).

Hope everyone is well, we look forward to hearing from you all

Cardiff Trip

2006-09-04T15:07:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

Yeah yeah, I know we're probably sickening you with the frequency of our gallavanting of late, but we promise to settle down very soon (well after we go to Dublin next weekend ... and then ...the West End theatre the weekend after...and then... (no just joking, that's as far as we've got). But last weekend we spent the weekend in Cardiff (the capital of Wales for those of you who are geographically challenged like me). It is a really pretty city with lots of lovely old buildings and houses and a lovely castle right in the centre of it.

On Saturday we did a tour of the castle which was great. The interiors were very extravagent, with ceilings painted with intricate patterns in 18ct leaf gold. The tour guide was quite a comedian which made it all the more enjoyable. When having a wander in town we started to notice that there were quite a few rainbow flags around the place and then found out that the Cardiff Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras was on in one of the big parks nearby!! We went in and got right in to the festive atmosphere immediately. We bought a v camp yellow firefighters helmet for Col to wear (and it was clear that many of the Welsh lads approved from the looks he got!). There were some extremely tacky performers with equally tacky songs which made it even better!! In the evening we caught a local bus to Cardiff bay and sampled the local brew, "Brains Beer" and had a lovely dinner.

On Sunday we checked out the Cardiff museum which had a number of exibitions including an extraordinarily impressive display of Impressionist paintings and sculptures by artists including Monet, Manet, Cezanne, and Renoir. For the rest of the day we took it pretty easy, just wandering about, then headed home in the evening.

It was a fantastic weekend, the only thing we didn't like was their weather! It was raining heaps on Saturday, and it was that really annoying sideways rain that you can't escape from no matter which angle you put your umbrella. So we got quite soggy, which is why I now have a cold I guess!

Anyhoo... best be off! I'm back to school this week and am also starting additional evening work in the charity call centre. To start with I'll be calling on behalf of Oxfam.

Love Ang & Col, xoxo.

Rock n Roll Reading!

2006-09-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

The weekend before last we donned our wellies and ponchos (thanks Grassie!) and headed to the Reading Festival - a 3 day music festival which is one of the biggest in the UK. Tickets were impossible to buy, but I managed to score ours free from work! It's all about who you know.
The line-up was awesome - lots of bands that hardly ever come all the way to Oz. Definatley top of the list for me was seeing Pearl Jam, who topped off the festival on the last night. They were amazing - and were one of those bands that I've wanted to see since I was about 13. Other great bands included Franz Ferdinand, Muse, The Vines, Jet, Wolfmother, Reel Big Fish, Millencolin, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Goldie Lookin Chain, The Kooks, as well as Slayer for those who like their rock a bit more on the heavy side (not Ang apparently!).

We did notice that either the poms are a bit softer at their rock gigs, or maybe the aussies just go a little bit mental. There was still a really good vibe, and everyone seemed to partake in a strange clapping phenomenon the we certainly hadn't seen at home where they all clap in time with the music.

It goes without saying that we experienced all the usual festival highlights such as getting crushed in big crowds and lining up for an hour to visit the overflowing and paperless loos, but a jolly good time was had by all!

Girls' trip to Budapest

2006-08-30T04:45:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Hope you are all keeping well. I hear its warming up back home ...and I suppose that means its not long until the taunting and teasing starts about the perfect weather and how you've been to the beach etc etc. Well, in preparation I'll attempt to make you jealous in the meantime!! Two weekends ago I went to Budapest with my friend Michelle (a social worker from Bunbury near Perth) and three of her friends (all nurses from Melbourne). It is a really beautiful city with two parts, Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube river. The newer buildings and most of the nightlife are on the Pest side and on the hilly Buda side there is an array of picturesque churches, castles and monuments. We were lucky to be in Budapest for one of their biggest national days of celebration, St Stephens Day, which provided a festive atmosphere over the whole weekend.

On the first night, after finding the "Ginkgo hostel" where we were staying (which I would thoroughly recommend if you ever make it to Budapest), Michelle and I wandered the cobbled streets down by the river in search of some authentic Hungarian food. We stopped at a nice little place where a violinist was playing and an old couple were waltzing. Unfortunately the food did not quite match the atmostphere, but it was still pleasant. We then went to a couple of bars, one of which was packed and had some great live music, before heading off to meet the other three girls at the late night Turkish thermal spa (opened from 10pm til 4am). We lounged in the various pools for hours just chatting etc.

On the Saturday we headed to the "Terror House" museum which gave an excellent overview of Hungary's modern history. Hungary was occupied by the Nazis and communist Soviet Union at different periods for years and the persecution of Hungarian Jews was horrific. One statistic that shocked me was that 10% of the Hungarian population perished as a result of war atrocities. We spent a good three hours in the museum before heading to one of the most famous Budapest streets for a beautiful lunch. After this we headed down to the river where there were markets set up and also an air show where planes were doing tricks and flying underneath the bridges! We watched this while enjoying some local brew and then in the evening boarded a boat for a cruise on the Danube to take in the city lights. After the cruise we listened to some opera at the main stage by the river before making our way home.

On Sunday Michelle and I visited a beautiful Synagogue, the second largest one in central Europe, and then made our way up to the Buda hills to visit Matthias church and to take in spectacular views of the city. The highlight was having a glass of wine overlooking the city while being entertained by some charismatic Hungarian musicians. After this we made our way to Margaret Island, a beautiful little island in the middle of the danube, and hired a little pedal-powered car to get around in! At that point we met up with the other girls for some lunch followed by a paddle in a big fountain that was cued to spurt in time with classical music that was being played.

That evening, we headed to the pest side of the river to enjoy the fireworks along with millions of others. I was just saying to the girls what a perfect night it was when out of absolutely nowhere, this incredibly strong wind whipped up (we were later told it was 100km/hr). Suddenly there was dust and rubbish flying everywhere, and people just started running in all directions! Michelle and I grabbed on to each other and ran behind the first row of buildings and ducked into an alcove at the entrance of an apartment block. I pressed all the buzzers and a nice man came down and let us in to the foyer area. We spotted the other girls across the street and they came in also. We managed to get inside before the SLEET started coming down!!! At this point we were all looking rather dishevelled and had dust all over us including in our ears and mouths. (Please refer to "dishevelled" photos). After about 45mins we walked back to the hostel and couldn't believe the destruction! Check out the photos below.

The next morning Michelle and I went to the famous Gallert thermal spas to have a final relax and soak before making our way to the airport. I would certainly recommend Budapest to any of you planning a trip to Europe! We thoroughly enjoyed our time there.

Just to make you a little greener, last weekend Col and I went to the Reading festival! Highlights included seeing Pearl Jam, Franz Ferdinand, The Vines, Jet, Goldy Lookin Chain, and The Kooks, but I'll leave it for Col to tell you all the details in his next post.

Anyhow, I'd better get out of my PJs as its 2pm! Take care and love to you all,
Ang, xoxo.

Budapest pics (in reverse order, just to confuse you)

2006-08-30T04:21:00.000-07:00

2006-08-30T03:33:00.000-07:00

Life in London

2006-08-08T23:45:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

Well... what can I say? We haven't been gallavanting around Europe at all since the last post! I'm on school holidays so have been doing a lot of job-searching - looking for both casual jobs with an immediate start to earn us some pounds over the hols but also for jobs in mental health that would provide me with great experience. I think I'm at a point now where I've overcome the trauma of the Masters degree overload and am ready to take on a bit more responsibility if needed. I saw a fantastic job advertised the other day for a student counsellor at a college in central London (for 18 to 20 year olds) which I will apply for. Fingers crossed! I've been doing a bit of caring work for a young woman with Cerebral Palsy which has been working out well, and I just heard that I got a telsales job that I applied for (oh the shame!). Well at least it is for a good cause as it is raising money for charities.

Col has been really busy with work as per usual but he is still really enjoying it. The job is demanding with loads of important deadlines etc., but Col takes it all in his stride and manages to stay cool calm and collected. (I need to watch and learn!) This Friday his team are all heading off to the dog races in Birmingham.

While we haven't been abroad lately we've been planning a few trips. Next weekend I am off on a girls-only four-day weekend to Budapest with a new friend Michelle and a couple of her friends. Pretty keen for the thermal baths!! As it happens we will be there for Hungary's national day so there will fireworks and plenty of celebrations going on. For those of you feeling sore and sorry for Col, never fear, he is contemplating a kitesurfing trip to Portugal with one of the guys from work. We have also just booked a weekend trip to Dublin in September, and last but CERTAINLY not least, we have now booked our accomodation for a 2-week ski trip with Leigh and Sarah to Val D'Isere in the French Alps in January!!!!! I cannot tell you how excited we are about this one!

We've been doing quite a bit socially lately. A couple of weeks ago we went out for drinks and a great Lebanese meal with T (Col's cousin) and her partner Chris. Also been catching up with a couple of the young teachers from my school. We went to see a band at the Carling Academy whose lead vocalist is the partner of another random friend I have made over here. It was a fun night out. We've also had a couple of catch-ups with the St Peters crew that are over here, and tomorrow night we're off to Kath's murder mystery party (with a medical theme). Col is a dodgy doctor called Mal Practice and I am a pharmacist called Dee Spence. I hope we make it out alive!

Anyway, hope you guys are all doing well back in Brissy. We miss you all lots! (Really truly!) Keep the emails and blog responses coming, we love getting news from home and hearing about what you guys are up to :)

Lots of love,
Ang and Col, xo.

Obrigado Portugal!!

2006-07-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

We have arrived back from yet another little jaunt over to "the continent", to Porto (yes! The home of Port wine!) in the north of Portugal. Porto is another ancient city, with it's history going back to Roman times, with a large section of the old part of the city being National Heritage Listed.
We generally had a great, relaxed weekend. We stayed in a beautiful old Hotel, whose lift must have been an original 1925 model, and on the first day explored the city of Porto itself which is based on the steep banks of the Douro River. That evening Portugal played Germany for runners up in the World Cup, so it was great to be there for that. They didn't win, however, so we didn't end up partying late into the night with a jubililant crowd of Portugese....
We did, however, come across a kids carousel which we just couldn't resist despite some bemused glances from onlookers.
On our second day we ventured to Villa de Conde, one of the nearby beaches. The beach was really nice, but we couldn't work out why not so many people were swimming...until we jumped in. Those north atlantic currents coming down from the north sea are a little refreshing, to say the least!
That evening was the world cup final, which we got to see just before we boarded our flight back to london. It did, however, cause mayhem at the airports with pilots refusing to fly until the game was finished, and of course with it going to penalty shootouts it took longer than they expected. We arrived back in stansted (normally about an hour out of london) to huge queues at the passport desks which caused us to miss the last train back to London....three long bus trips and about 5 hours later we finally got home at 4 am.....ready to rise and shine at 6:30 for another week at work...

Bonjour Bergerac!

2006-07-15T10:36:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we made our journey to a lovely wine-growing region in the south of France and visited a quaint historic town called Bergerac on the Dordogne river.

Highlights:

a cruise along the river with a commentry on the history of the area
walking to a picturesque chateau surrounded by vineyards
partaking in several wine-tastings
pain du chocolat!!

Low- (but humourous-)lights:

dragging our suitcases along the side of the highway for about 8 kilometers to get to the airport because found we didn't have enough cash left to pay for a taxi, resulting in delerium and the singing of Ren and Stimpy's 'Log Song' in various musical stylings, languages and accents.

Unfortunately our camera battery ran out on the first day, but here are the pics that we got.

Hens night...

The shots right at the end were taken at the hens night of one of the teachers at school. It was a really fun night out! Dad, just don't look TOO close at the middle picture!

Ang & Col, xoxo.

Aussie Aussie Aussie!!!!!

2006-06-23T01:31:00.000-07:00

In the most intense and nail biting game I think I have watched - The Socceroos managed to draw with Croatia last night - which was enough to secure them a spot in the next round for the first time in history!!!!! We were wearing our Aussie colours and yelling and screaming down at our local pub.

On march the Mighty Socceroos!!!

Hej Danmark!!! (Hello Denmark)

2006-06-13T01:47:00.000-07:00

We went on our first weekend adventure off to the continent last weekend, to Aarhus in Denmark. We had an awesome time!

The scandanavian people generally seem to have a really cool culture - very alternative and down to earth. In Aarhus, everyone rides bicycles instead of driving cars! Instead of a car park at the train station or shopping centre, there's bike parking! We could hire them for free and ride around. There are a few cars of course, but bikes are so much better. Everybody just parks them about the place and doesnt even lock them up. Very near the city were some really lovely woods to go wandering through along the coastline. They are just like something you would imagine an enchanted forest from a fairy tale to be.

The funny looking SHYKOO man was a french street performer, who was seriously the funniest chap we have ever seen. He was great.

There were some interesting museums with Danish and Viking history. The Grauballe Man was a man who died in a bog over 2000 years ago and his body is almost perfectly preserved, seen in the pics below.

We also became just a little fatter over the weekend, with the danish tasty foods, and of course the danish are very big on their beer, so we had to sample the local brews.

On another note, Go Aussies!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have just beaten japan (as of course EVERYBODY already knows) on our way to WORLD DOMINATION!!!!!

Hi Ho! Hi Ho! Its off to work we go!

2006-05-31T10:43:00.000-07:00

It's been an unforgivable long time since we updated our blog, but we have now got ourselves totally set up, and both have found great jobs!

I have found a job which is far better than I expected I would find, especially after a month of looking and not getting any offers. These things always work out in the end somehow. I am now a web developer for a company called Trinity Street. They look after online ticketing for big festivals and bands as well as online stores for their merchandise, so I am building the sites and managing the web servers and that sort of thing. The IT team is only 3 people, but the company is a bit bigger as they manage the whole ticket printing, warehouses for the merchandise, client admin type of things as well. Everyone there is really friendly. The web programming area is exactly what I really wanted to gain more experience in, so am really excited. There are some interesting technical challenges, as 60 000 000 people try and log onto their sites at once to buy their Robbie Williams tickets or whatever when they're released. So far I've been there 2 weeks, and am really enjoying it. Also both weeks I have been offered free tickets to events and music festivals, so thats definitely a little perk of the job!

Ang is working as a teaching assistance in a school for disabled kids. It's a small class of about 6 kids, most of whom suffer severe disabilities. She is definitely enjoying it, but I don't think she is as stoked as I am with my job. After the last few years of juggling an intense uni workload, hospial placements, and 3 jobs all at once, she is very much liking finishing at 3:30, and not having to think about it outside of work at all. And she does get to use her psychology experience working with learning difficulties etc.She has also recently joined a local theatre group who put on musicals and such, called the Harrow Light Opera group. We went and saw one of their shows, and they were of very professional standard! It'll be great for her to be involved in some singing and dancing (which she hasnt been able to do much of lately), and should be a good place to meet new people too.

Having some income, we can now relax a bit money-wise, and can start doing fun things. Next weekend we are off on our first trip to the continent, we're off to Denmark for the weekend. There are really cheap flights around, so it's costing us 1 pound there, and 9 pounds back again each. There are some airport taxes of about 15 pounds each way, but it's still very reasonable!

There are a bunch of people we know from home that we have now caught up with over here. It's nice to have some old friends to hang out with.The photos below are from last weekend when we went down to Brighton for the day with our friends Kath and Rosco. We had a great day, even though it's quite lame compared to any of our beaches at home! You can almost understand why the poms get so excited about their crappy icy beaches, as it was rather nice just to see the sea again.

Not bums anymore!!

2006-05-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

HEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEE!!

We can finally announce that we are both now employed!!! Only have 5 mins left on the internet now so will post details next time. We've going out for dinner tonight to celebrate :)

Love Ang & Col.

House Pics!!

2006-05-03T03:52:00.000-07:00

Easter Pics

2006-05-02T04:24:00.001-07:00

Helloooo! Well, finally I have got around to posting our pics from our easter weekend in the countyside. We hired bicycles to explore the rolling hills on, and so all these pics are from our cycling adventures. We didnt seem to end up with any pics of where we were actually staying, or of our little group who invited us along on their weekend away. Thanks T and Chris for a GREAT weekend!!
We dont have huge amounts of other news - we've basically postponed doing much until we have jobs and some money coming in. Our poor savings are dwindling! The good news is that Ang has her first day of work today, so we might actually soon be able to eat again! She has some teachers assistant work - so she can use her skills to assist children with special needs in the classroom etc. Its not full time yet - but may become full time down the track.
I still dont have any lucrative job offers - but things are looking hopeful.
Hope everyone is doing well, chat to you all soon!
Col and Ang.

Good news re THESIS

2006-04-24T10:33:00.000-07:00

I know I know... I promised I would stop blog-hogging but I just can't help myself on this one occasion. I just received notification that my thesis has been passed by both markers with no changes requested!! YAY!! Once I have submitted hard-bound copies (thanks in advance dad) I will be eligible to graduate. Anyways, best be off to crack the champagne :)

Ang.

Settling in

2006-04-22T03:35:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

The move to our new abode went well. We're really happy with the apartment and also with the area. It is a really pretty suburb and has loads of facilities. Everything we could possibly need (well nearly everything) is within walking distance from our house.

We've still been on the prowl for jobs. Col went for another interview yesterday which he felt went well. He hadn't realised though how far away it was though and had to travel for two hours to get there! So unless they offer him a really good incentive, he's thinking he won't pursue that job. He has an interview for a different job on Tuesday. I have an interview this coming week with an agency that appoints teaching assistants and special needs assistants. I'm hopeful that something will come of it. I think it would be a good medium for me in that it would provide an opportunity to use my psychology skills (well, more than in a call centre!!) and would allow me to build up my skills in working with kids, but would not involve nearly as much responsibility as going for a psych position (which I think is a good thing for me at this point in time).

Sorry I've been hogging the blog-writing... I'll make sure Col writes the next entry! And we know we've been saying this for ages.. but we WILL post some more photos soon.

Love to everyone,
Ang and Col xo.

Easter update

2006-04-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

Hope you all had a great easter. We went away to a little cottage in Norfolk for a few days with Col's cousin, her partner and two of their friends. It was an excellent few days. On Saturday we went for a lovely long cycle through the countryside. On the way explored some ruins and a cemetry with graves dating back to the 1600s and several gorgeous old churches, and then stopped at a traditional old English pub for an ale. Yesterday T (Col's cousin) cooked the most amazing lamb roast for lunch, then last night we stayed up late playing Articulate (quite an amusing board game, particularly when penaltly shots of whisky were involved!!). Dad - yes I have received your emails, thank you :)
Will write again soon and will post some more photos.

Take care,
Love Ang and Col xxxooo.

HELLO HARROW!!

2006-04-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

We moved into a sharehouse in Acton on Monday which we had organised over the internet from Thailand (a big no no!). Yes... well the area is not really very desireable, located somewhere between a prison, an industrial estate and a railway interchange. The ad did not mention that we would be sharing this house with seven others (and with only one bathroom!). Fortunately though the lease was very flexible and we were only required to give one weeks notice (which we did promptly).

We have been looking around at other areas to see where we would like to live for the next few months. We found a studio apartment in a cute little suburb called Harrow on the north west outskirts of London. It's a tiny little apartment, but its modern and clean and in a great location. We put a deposit down and plan to move in next Thursday!

Col had another job interview today for an IT position with the Royal Horticultural Society and felt it went really well. He should hear back next week. I have found a few interesting positions which I have applied for but haven't got any interviews lined up as yet. When we move to our new place I will probably look locally for a temporary job.

Today checked out Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. Didn't spot queenie but saw the changing of the guards. In the National Gallery we looked mostly at collections from the 1400's and 1500's which were absolutely amazing to see. Also walked through St James Park which was gorgeous.

We are going away to the 'countryside' for the easter weekend with Col's cousin and her partner. Hope you guys at home all have a happy easter!

Will be in touch again soon :)

Alright....perhaps we spoke too soon.

2006-04-10T05:15:00.000-07:00

Ok Ok. It has now rained a little, and it is rather miserable when it does. Perhaps they're not that whingy after all.
We caught up with cousin T (my cousin from South Africa who lives here) and chris (her partner) last night - they cooked us a lovely roast at their apartment in Fullham. It was great to catch up, and to get some tips from some locals. We'll be catching up again soon I'm sure.
We also moved into our new room this morning - the house and the area are not as nice as we'd hoped, but we can now relax and look for something better and get a better idea of the different areas around London.
Anyway, gotta run. Hope everyone is well.
Col and Ang.

Whinging Poms!

2006-04-09T03:23:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!
We have been in london about 5 days now, and still having rather a jolly old time. We have, however come to the conclusion these English are a bunch of whinging Poms. We were told that the food in london was horrible: we have however found a large array of great continental bakeries, patisseries and restaurants with rather good food. We expected this to be horribly expensive: even once you convert to Aussie dollars much of it turns out to be what you might pay at home, or pretty close. A good indian curry is around £5.50, where you might pay $13 at home. We were also told that it was always rainy and miserable: but it hasn't rained once! And even Ang (who feels the cold very easily) hasn't found it cold. So all in all, the Poms are whingers and this place isnt as bad as they make it out to be. (But time may tell??)

We went for our first proper bit of sight seeing around london town yesterday, so below are some pics. On this little journey we visited London Bridge (which I confused with the tower bridge, and is most uninteresting), the tower of london, the tower bridge, the Tate Modern art gallery, St Pauls Cathedral, and Shakespear's Globe theatre. These were all amazing to see. There is still much more to explore.

We have been on the job hunt - I have a few interviews lined up for this week, so we'll see how it goes. Can't expect to get the first job, and there seems to be enough around that we wont starve before we find something. Ang has found some good options too - so we'll see what happens in the next week.

Hope everyone is doing well - sorry our emails are less frequent here until we have our own internet - it adds up a bit using internet cafes here, and our internet budget has been going towards job searching!
Hope to hear from you all soon!
Col and Ang.

HELLO LONDON!

2006-04-05T02:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

We arrived in London yesterday morning and somehow managed to lug all of our many bags on the tube to get to Clapham which is where we are staying for the first five days. Spent our first day just checking out Clapham and also catching a few Zs. Overall impression so far - we LOVE it!! Everything looks so quaint and old. We feel very excited about doing much more exploring. We are quite surprised that things don't seem very expensive as was expected. Col was very excited to find that he could buy a pack of four beers from the supermarket for 88p.

One highlight so far has been enjoying some authentic French baguettes and yummy cheeses. It is pretty cold but not at all unbearable. We bought some really warm jackets in Thailand that seem to be doing the trick. Once you get inside any building its really warm, so layering is really the key.

We are off to explore the centre of London a little today and will also begin the process of job-searching. Funnily enough, from the job adds I have seen so far it looks as though the pay is better for typist / receptionist jobs than assistant psychologist jobs!! Col is going to contact some of the recruitment agencies that he had been emailing from Oz. We've drawn up a bit of a budget though and worked out that we could probably survive here for a month without working if we had to.

We'll post some London photos next time. Thanks for your replies guys - its great to hear from you. We are terribly sorry to be making you all so jealous! Will write again soon :)

Lots of love,
Travelbugs.

White Sand Beach, Koh Chang

2006-03-31T23:00:00.000-08:00

Here we are, still on Koh Chang, at White Sand Beach. This beach seems to have the same effect on everyone who comes - once you're here you can't see any reason whatsoever to leave. We moved to a different bungalow after our first 2 nights, our new place is like some sort of pirate village built on a steep hillside amongst the trees. It has a very relaxed atmosphere, and a everybody gathers on the deck for drinks in the evenings, so we have met a few nice people. (To compare prices this place works out at about $14 australian a night.) We have still been taking it rather easy, keeping our fluids up with plenty of "Beer Chang" and cocktails, and strolling around the beach to find some new and exciting thai food. Hour long massages are a daily chore as well (about $10 aussie). We figure we had better live it up now - as we certainly arent gonna keep up this life style once we hit London!
Yesterday we ventured off our lovely beach (it took days to be able build up the resolve!) and checked out other parts of the island. It was less touristy at other parts, but our beach is definately the nicer spot!

We leave here the day after tomorrow. There is (as some may have heard on world news) some trouble brewing in Bangkok at the moment, as there is a lot of tension over the upcoming elections. Although it may be overly cautious, we decided that it would be safer to miss going back through bangkok at all, and will fly from near where we are straight to Bangkok airport. That way we only have to change terminals and don't risk getting held up if there are demonstations in the streets, or if any violence breaks out and the buses stop running or anything.

Anyway,thanks to all you guys who have posted comments! Keep em coming! Hope to hear from you all soon!
Col and Ang.

2006-03-27T21:53:00.000-08:00

Here we are on beautiful Koh Chang!
It is a bit more developed than last time, but still amazing. We are having an absolute ball. After our two nights in crazy bangkok, then 1 night Trat (where the ferry to Koh Chang goes from) we arrived here yesterday morning. Life is very hard here. It is so hectic snoozing late in our bungalow on the beach, ambling down for breaky at one of the many places on the beach, perhaps having an hour long massage, a swim in the crystal clear water, and then suddenly its lunch time, and we have drag ourselves off to enjoy some amazing thai food. Its terribly hard this lifestyle.
It seems that it is more quiet than usual, which is great for us. A local I was chatting to this morning said that it was because of the upcoming elections, that Thai people arent holidaying as much at the moment. This spot is very popular for Thai holidayers as well.
Here is our first batch of pics! Our new digital camera is great! So easy to just plug in, and upload our photos. The first pic is our first morning waking up in Bangkok. All the rest are Koh Chang.

Bangkok

2006-03-25T17:04:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!
Arrived safely in Bangkok - having a great time. Highlights so far have been shopping at what seemed like the biggest centre in the world and Thai massage!!!

Will write again soon!

Count down!

2006-03-21T13:47:00.000-08:00

Two sleeps to go before we head off!! We'll be spending one week in Thailand before heading to ole London town. Can't wait!! Will keep everyone posted with our latest travel stories.

Bye for now!