Oct 2006

We have finally finished our Western Europe coach tour and arrived in beautiful Roma. This place is amazing and the people are very friendly but it does help to know some basic Italian! I was practising Italian before I left Adelaide and I have had to use it on a few occasions.

Some highlights of our 11 day tour were climbing the Eiffel tower in Paris and going on a Gondola ride in Venice. The beer has been great everywhere but I have started losing weight since I haven't been drinking Guinness.

Bec has been loving all of the historical sites of Rome especially the Coliseum and Ostia Antica which was an huge old Roman Port.

I haven't much time left on the internet so this is only a short message to say hi and I hope to update this site again soon.

We have finally made it to London the final destination of the Ireland-UK leg of the honeymoon.

We have been in London for a few days already as we arrived last Saturday. I can't believe it hasn't rained during the day-time for the past 5 days ! We have been really lucky. I've heard the average max temp for October is around 14C but it has been about 18C a huge difference.

There is so much to see and do in London so we have been very busy. Some of the things we have seen/done already are the London Eye, London Aquarium, Hop on and off Bus Tour, Buckingham Palace (well we went to the gates), London Tower, Jack the Ripper Walking Night Tour just to name a few.

Today we when on a day tour to Bath and Stonhenge which was fantastic. We took some great photo's.

I'd better go. Just a quick note to let you all know that we are going on a bus tour for the next 12 days or so we probably won't be able to log onto the internet for a couple of weeks. The tour is taking us through France, Switzerland and finishing in Italy.

I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to tell when I update this webpage in Rome !

I have a few spare minutes before dinner so I thought I'd quickly jump on the internet again.

We after spending time in Barrow we travelled across the countryside from East to West to a town that was thought to have inspired Bram Stoker's Dracula, Whitby. It was a beautiful seaside town which was overlooked by a very old Abbey which is now a historic ruin.

As Bec said to me ... if ever there was a port for Ghost Ships Whitby would be it. You could almost see the Black Pearl drifting into the Harbour which was covered by thick blanket of fog.

At night time after having the yummiest battered Fish and Chips (ever) we decided to go for a stroll to the Abbey and Cemetary at the top of the Hill. The cemetery was covered in fog and it was really dark...scarey...I almost jumped when the clock tower rang saying it was 10pm.

I woke up really early to take some dawn photo's of Witby but the fog was so thick I don't think any of them will turn out. Unfortunately, we only had one night in Whitby so next time I go there I'd love to spend atleast a few days to look around and relax.

From Whitby we drove to Lincoln via York. It was raining really hard on the drive to Lincoln so we were lucky to get there without getting lost. We are staying with some family friends in Lincoln and they have been looking after us really well.

I'd better go and as I said before I'll try to login in London.

I can't believe it has been over a week since we've updated the webpage.

The ferry ride from Ireland to England went well and fortunately we crossed one of the roughest passages in the world with out any problems. These ferry's are huge (well they say they are world's largest) they have Burger King, Pokies and a few watering holes inside!

That night we stayed in a Bed and Breakfast a few miles outside of Brampton which is in the north of England. The Bed and Breakfast was built sometime in the 1500's well before Australia was even discovered. The Bed and Breakfast served us the yummiest Jam and Cream filled donuts with Tea on arrivial which has now started our newest craze...where ever we go we look for a Jam and Cream donuts for morning tea. Fortunately, for our waistlines, we haven't found too many places that have them.

The B&B overlooked Hadrian's wall which was built by the Romans in about 100-200A.D. Bec was in her element looking at the archeological site. I enjoyed it as well and what they have uncovered about life in those days.

We travelled from Hadrian's Wall to to the Lake District. We stayed in a place called Keswick it was a beautiful spot. Everyone from Adelaide who had been there had raved about it and I can see why. Unfortunately, it rained both days but I've heard that's not unusual. I guess it has to be wet to keep the lakes filled.... hee hee.

After the Lake District we drove to Michael's birthplace Barrow-in-Furness. Michael (Bec's sister's fiancee) reminisced of growing up in the industrial ship building town. The port docks museam was great and free which was a nice for a change.

Unfortunately, I have to go. Sorry I can't complete this page today. We are going well and having a great time. We'll be in London tomorrow so I'll try to find some time to update the page then.

Today is our second to last day in Ireland. We have had a few long days of driving so we are looking forward to a few days of relaxation.

We followed the coast from Guinness Heaven (Dublin) to Cork. Cork was a big fishing and cargo port which down the south of Ireland. We stayed at a B&B that I'll never forget. This place was amazing..... I have never eaten so much food in the morning for breakfast. Both mornings I had pancakes, scones with jam and cream and their very unusual and yummy porridge with Baileys. They were very generous with the Bailey's !

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of Cork so we'd like to go back but I'll never forget the breakfast. Instead of looking around Cork we drove to a fishing village about 30 minutes away called Linsail. The pictures we took were amazing, it was really picturesque. We also visited an old fort which was built in the 1600's called Charles Fort which was also worth a look.

From Cork we travelled up the western coast of Ireland to Galway which is a fishing town with great sandy beaches that has now been discovered by locals and tourists. It had plenty of modern buildings, pubs and clubs. We only stayed there for a night so unfortunately we didn't get a good look around. We went to a pub for dinner and the seafood was fantastic...the Guinness also tasted great (as usual). In the morning we strolled around the city but we had to leave in the early afternoon to drive to our final nights stay in Ireland at Portadown.

Tomorrow we will catch a ferry from Belfast to Stranraer so fingers crossed it is a calm day.

Overall, we are a bit tired from travelling so much but are having a great time.