There's No Place Like Home

There it is.... after a grueling flight - Dublin to London [1.5 hours], 4 hours at Heathrow, then London to Singapore [13hours] 4 hours at Changi Airport, the Changi to Brisbane [7 hours] then Brisbane to Esk [1.5hours], we made it home... the flights were pretty good, although there was a bit of rugged weather on the London to Singapore leg - turbulance was nasty!

We had such a great time overseas, but it is fabulous to be home - and even though i am suffering the after effects of flying, a small dose of jetlag - it is great to be in our house with a great big comfortable bed, be able to have a light beer and vegemite on toast [not all at the same time] ... I am such a simple person and it really is the simple things that are the best.... I can't wait to get outside tomorrow and have a good look around this place - 7 weeks is a long time in the mind of someone with and incredibly short attention span!

Currently, i am downloading some photos, we managed only 1732 photos in all! So, the shots on this site are just a taste of things to come - i am looking forward to putting together "the ultimate tourist" a little book of our adventure - and even though we didn't see every little thing in each place we visited, we tried our best amongst the gazillions of other tourists who were lining up in front of us, to get the best view of each monument... both Sue and I agree that our Scottish campervan adventure is hard to match - but we loved each place so much and can't thank the Berliners and the Amsterdam girls enough for their hospitality, and we hope one day we will get back to these places again!

Stay tuned for our next adventure!

Melissa and Sue xxoo :)

7 Weeks already!!!!

Well.... hard to believe that this will be our last installment from Dublin - it just seems like yesterday that we were in Berlin.... [Sue got the Trinity Symbol Tattoo here in Dublin]
We ventured over to Kilkenny - which is quite a small town and is only 2 hours bus ride from Dublin. So we wandered the cobbled roads looking at historical buildings, listening to the local lingo ... lovely - we attempted to look up some of my relatives but with no success - as the local library was very small and public transport in kilkenny was non existant.. we managed to catch some info on the local hurling team, who were going to be playing in the Gaelic games semi final on Sunday in Dublin - so when we arrived back in Dublin the first thing we did was book our tickets to the match - and i've got to say that Hurling is one of the most exciting games i have ever seen - it's hard to describe - sort of a cross between hockey, soccer, lacrosse and polo [without the horse] Needless to say we had a great time - as a bonus we also saw a game of Gaelic Football - which is a bit like Aussie Rules and Soccer - but different - again great to see!
Just to top off our efforts to become the ultimate tourist , today, we took the Mary Griffin Bus trip out to Tara and NewGrange to see some fabulous historical sites - amazing history, scenery and sense of spirituality!! A bit of a different sense from the sporting day we had yesterday!
Well, time is getting away - we have had a wonderful time and are really... and i mean really looking forward to getting home - the comforts have been missed! After spending time over here i still reakon Australia is not bad - and believe me, i will never complain about the price of things again - if you look up "Dublin" in the dictionary the meaning is: double the price of everything and then add and extra 10% just to be sure!!!
thanks for watching this space..... see you when we are back home!
Meliss and Sue xxoo :)

Finally

okay.. well.. since the last entry - which was in Ayr - Scotland, where Sue was getting her tatoo... see pics - we have waved goodbye to the campervan, spent a couple of days in York - there's a of Yorkminster pic. up too... then we zipped down to Brighton for a few days! It's all going so quickly now - seems like only yesterday we were in Berlin! Brighton was an absolute hoot - i played at the Brighton Pride festival - there are just soooo many people at these festivals its amazing - and a little scary for two chicks from Esk! We finally saw some sunshine in Brighton which was lovely - although it did manage to rain after the festival. We stayed at the dodgiest place - a backpackers hostel - what can i say - the floor was sloping, the toilet leaking, their hotwater service had broken down - look, it was all just a bit faulty towers - but i've got to say it was in the best location - just across the road from the Brighton Pier - no good complaining... just all part of the experience! We went to this fantastic drag show on the Sunday - i have never seen anything like it - Lucy Lashes was the best and could she sing!!! Again the venue was just chocker block - but it was a blast....
So.. after a full on weekend, we were back on the train Monday morning - back into London then to Heathrow for our flight to Dublin - which is exactly where I am sitting at the mo .. tomorrow we are off on a tour of Wicklow and Glendalough... then we have 2 days in Kilkenny and finish with a couple more days in Dublin where we will probably visit Tara and the like on a couple of little day trips! Again, it is so easy to get around as Ireland is a very small place... and the Irish are great people - only one day here and we have been welcomed like old family friends.. noice!
There you go..... hopefully, I will get a chance to put some more photos up after the next couple of days of us being the ultimate tourists in Ireland!!!

Lochness to Ayr

We have done quite a bit since the last post. We went to the Lochness Exhibition Centre and guess what - scientists have proven that Nessie doesn't exist!!! What!!! We were lucky enough to stay at a caravan park right on the waters edge of Loch Ness itself - it would have to be one of the best places we have stayed - the sound of the water, the height of the mountains that surround her and the feeling of being somewhere a bit magical - it was more than fabulous! You'll notice above a picture of the Sochness Monster.....

From here we found the little village of Crieff - not much bigger than Gatton - but not far from here we found Drummond Castle - although we weren't able to go into the castle, we were able to walk around the grounds - the gardens are absolutely unique .. Sue picked up many souvenirs. We ended up staying a couple of days in Crieff then we moved on to Dunning again to dig up a few more members of my family- and i had some success in the grave yard at St Serfs church finding David Lawson and Mary Deuchars. We spent quite a bit of time walking around the village - which is very small - and on both occasions that we have been in Dunning it has been freezing cold!

We then moved onto St Finnans and not only did we find the Drummond Arms Hotel, but we stayed there - we had a meal of haggis which to my surprise is quite delicious! It was a fun night, there was an Aussie guy who worked behind the bar so it was nice to hear a familiar accent. We woke the next morning and zipped to a neighbouring village as there were Highland Games happening - they were great - the pipers and drummers marching in was fantastic and the sound of bagpipes and drums always makes me feel quite emotional! We had a great time watching the highland fling, the hammer throw, the throwing of the shieff but unfortunately we had to leave to get to our next destination and missed the caber toss!

We have been busy - yesterday we had a fly by visit to Glasgow - might i say the weather has been horrible for the last couple of days so walking around in the pouring rain sight seeing isn't my idea of fun.... so we've been shopping! We met a Irish girl in an art gallery that we visited - their main exhibition was the most recent of Bob Dylan prints - Sue was after buying the collection but it was a bit out of our price range at £9800!!! Anyway, Lisa the art gallery curator has given us some greats tips for our visit to Ireland..... back to the shopping.... Sue and I are not the proud owners of ridgy-didge scottish kilts - with socks, sock flags, belts and buckles - sue has also got a sporen!

As i sit here typing away, oh, we are in the township of Ayr on the west coast - Sue is off at Monster Ink getting herself a celtic knot tattoo...

Okay, we only have 3 more nights in the campervan - it really has been fabulous - so on Thursday morning we drop it back in York -where we will spend the night and then on Friday we Bus/train it back to St Pancras Station in London and then hop on another train to Brighton! Where we play at the Brighton Festival on Saturday - yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

You take the Highroad.....

We've hit the Scottish Highlands - it is stunning countryside - we have just had two days in a small village called Nairn- believe me when I say there not much there... but we thought we needed a break from the driving.. we did come across a gigantic pig farm, they all have their own little houses in the paddocks! and we did visit the local museum which , according to local guides was a must see - hmmmmm.... The caravan park itself was in the middle of the woods - we were expecting to see some elves and fairies as it is quite mystical... we did see lots of rabbits and a couple of squirrels. We had a trip to St Andrews previous to this and stayed also at a small village called Montrose which was on the East Coast. We had a great trip through the mountains to Nairn where we saw some hairy highland cattle! The roads were also a bit hairy - narrow and steep but the views were nothing short of amazing!

Today, we are in Inverness - and heading down to Invermoriston, which is at the southern tip of Loch Ness - so, we'll be back on the tourist path in search of Nessie herself! The weather has improved - nothing but blue skies here today - so it should be glorious weather to be on the water!

We are both very well... and are over half way with our trip- the campervan is great fun it makes it very easy to see all the things you need to- all those little out of the way places! So after Loch Ness we plan tohead inland again and do a bit of Drummond research around Perthshire - have i mentioned how incredibly easy it is to get to places - it is so small - so driving is a breeze- made even easier as Sam and Myke loaned us their GPS so we don't even have to think about where we are going!!! We will also drop back into Dunning to find out some more things about my Grandfathers family!

Bonnie Scotland

Okay, I have been able to edit the previous post and put some photos up!!

The shot of Sue in the camper is at a little place on England's coast called Scarborough - when we told the guy in York we were heading here it was as though we told him we were driving to the moon - lets just say, that he and his wife have never been to London!!! so our hour and a half drive to Scarborough was nothing for us Eskites!

Well, we are now in Scotland! Edinburgh in fact, this is our second day here - the weather when we arrived was great but today it is raining.... we took one of the bus tours around town , which really is the best way of seeing a city as historic as this - it really is magical - the sound of bagpipes coming from all corniers of the city is just spooky! Oh... we also picked up the camper van from York - it has been great fun making our way up here - mainly on the east coastline - so we have seen the beach - which is quite similar to our Victorian beaches .. we noticed too, that the English countryside is quite like Gippsland - rolling green hills, masses of trees separating properties ... the Scottish landscape is very hilly, with great historic castles way on top of hills..the paddocks are filled with sheep!

There are a gazillion tourists here and a megazillion tourist shops - so we have managed to buy anything and everything "Drummond" .. along with tartan stubbie coolers, t-shirts... underwear - everything! We have been walking around in the rain, but it just adds to the mystique of Edinburgh - and it won't surprise anyone to hear that we have managed to visit just about every second hand clothes store in the city, there are alot! They don't, however, have fill a bag for $5 like our shop in Esk - which is probably a good thing as our bags are bulging as it is and Sue is thinking of buying a second bag to get our gear home!

Tomorrow we will continue our journey up to Perth and then to St Andrews... we are looking forward to getting also to Inverness and to see Loch Ness , then coming down again to get to Glasgow and everything in between.

Talk again soon

Melissa and Sue

the Ultimate Tourists

What a day - we were up pretty early to get the tour bus from Victoria Station - our destination was Stone Henge and Bath... first stop was the Stone Henge Inn - where we had a tradition English Roast - it was delicious - however, not as good as Mum's !! Onto Stone Henge and as you'll see from the photos it is absolutely HUGE! the day was a bit overcast so the feeling around the stones was quite mysterious - it truly is an amazing site - we joined around 1000 other tourist to stare at these boulders - some weigh up to 7 tonne, which makes it extrordinary to think that they were moved there by humans - without the aid of a crane! There are many theories to why these stones are here - but i'm sure they were place here by giants! hahahaha!

Back on the tour bus and on to Bath - another amazing place... first we went to the Roman Bath museum which is hot... and fabulous, but not as fabulous as the sites around Bath - really you could spend so much time just looking at all of the old buildings - every building is made from sandstone and the roads are all cobbled - its a heritage listed city so any new buildings have to be designed with the same historic style as the buildings from centuries ago! We had a good look around the city- and unlike Amsterdam,Berlin and London city there were hills... first the heart rate has been up for a while [although, those stairs in amsterdam were a bit rough!] Every little bit is spectacular - there are many tourists here at the moment - all of the accents are incredible and add to this the English have just started there 6 week school summer holidays - so we won't be alone on our jaunts.

We have a couple days left here in the centre of London - so hopefully, i'll have a chance to get some more photos up on the site tomorrow!

cheers

Melissa and Sue