17th
September - Clifdon, Ireland
Again,
rain and very windy. Tiny roads which make for scary driving as we worry about
our huge mirrors and tyres. Missing all the scenery with this
rain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
18th to 20th September – Kilarney, Ireland
We got up fairly early as it wasn’t
raining and I drove us off the scary “red” roads through to Galway. The scenery
was beautiful, kind of rugged wilderness with reds and oranges of autumn,
greens and lakes. Drove on as the weather was clear, through Galway with a stop
in Ennis for a quick sausage roll and a stop in Adare (known as the prettiest
town in Ireland) for a scone in a thatched roof coffee shop. Not too sure about
the title “prettiest town in Ireland” though, there was one section of the main
road (where we stopped) that was prettier than the rest but that was about it.
We kept on going to Kilarney which
turned out to be a very touristic town. To our delight, we managed to book a
tour for the Ring of Kerry so we can leave BB in the safety of the caravan park
and not tackle the tiny roads again. Took a relaxing day off (from nothing...), slept in, cleaned
a bit, I de-rusted the bikes and we went round for a ride. We found a place to
fix the spokes on my back tyre and headed back to BB
On the ring of Kerry tour the roads were pretty tiny so we were happy we were in the bus and someone else was driving. The tour took us all the way around the ring with a stop off for some baileys coffee... which Nat liked. Its normal black coffee with a shot of baileys and a layer of cream on the top. Apparently you are not meant to stir the cream in, but drink the coffee through it. Anyways, Nat was sold!
Yeah the picture doesn't really do it justice, the dogs were moving and not just napping next to the sheep, you had to be there I think.
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Our Campsite |
Stopped off at some sheep dog show. Three border collies who are trained to round up sheep. The show only had 5 sheep but demonstrated the different commands. They each have different command signals so one guy can control the dogs at the same time. It was pretty cool if you like that kind of thing.
Yeah the picture doesn't really do it justice, the dogs were moving and not just napping next to the sheep, you had to be there I think.
We stopped off for lunch which was amazingly
expensive, 35 euro for lamb stew and boiled ham (both of which tasted better
than they sound), although Nat nearly broke a tooth with some hard rock like
thing in her mash. The tour was ok, but I would have to say that Isle of Skye
was heaps better.
That night we went into town for dinner
and drinks. We ended up seeing a lady from the tour in the pub (michaelagh) and
joined her for a few drinks, turns out it was her 50th although she looked
nothing like it! Finished around 1am when the pubs closed and both felt like
shite the next morning.
21st September – Dungarven, Ireland
I think Nat was feeling the effects
from last night as the drive seemed more difficult than most. We ended up in
Dungarven after passing through Cork where we couldn’t stop because they have
bars across all the car park entrances, even the park and ride system, we think
it’s because of the Irish travellers (gypsies). The sun was out, it was an
amazing day with beautiful beaches.
Unfortunately the caravan park along
the beach was shut so we ended up in another one down the road. Sun was out so
it was time to give BB some loving and clean all the tar off him, I think it
took us about 2-3 hours.
As I was cleaning I heard this almighty thud, at first I thought Nat had broken something again but instead Nat cracked her head into an open window and really twisted her neck. Nat went through her typical 4 stages after something like this: the initial pain, absolute HULK-like anger, sadness and then to Benjy for a cuddle. I have learnt not to go in too early during the HULK- like anger stage……nothing stands in her way and she takes no prisoners…….
As I was cleaning I heard this almighty thud, at first I thought Nat had broken something again but instead Nat cracked her head into an open window and really twisted her neck. Nat went through her typical 4 stages after something like this: the initial pain, absolute HULK-like anger, sadness and then to Benjy for a cuddle. I have learnt not to go in too early during the HULK- like anger stage……nothing stands in her way and she takes no prisoners…….
Nice View
22nd to 23rd September – Wexford, Ireland
Tried to stop in Waterford but again no
parking and it didn’t really look interesting. Camped up in Wexford for two
nights, again with foggy, drizzle weather. Since our internet package didn’t
include Ireland we enjoyed the strong wifi connection and had a family Skype
day. We also extended for an extra day to hopefully see some sun when we left
for Dublin.
The foggy weather was a shame as we
couldn’t really see some of the country side, I think we may have missed a bit
of the scenery.
Our location for the family Skype day
24th to 26th September – Dublin, Ireland
Arrived in a pretty nice caravan park
just outside of Dublin. The sun was kind of out so even though it was 3pm, we
headed into town. After a 45min bus ride we made it. Walked down O'Connell
street which is just like a mall then went back across the river to the other side
of town called the Temple Bar. Cobblestone streets with lots of nice pubs and
restaurants.
We checked out a pub for some drinks
and live music and then onto the Old Stonehouse for dinner and more drinks. I
had my first Irish Bangers and Mash which was awesome and Nat had her favourite
cottage pie. There was an awesome Irish band, one guy on the guitar and another
on a flute and whistle. The flute guy was bloody crazy, so fast with his
fingers. They worked the crowd really well, even had a screen that showed the
lyrics for some of the songs. I was that impressed (and perhaps drunk) that I
bought their CD. We are hoping that it still sounds good when we are sober.
We caught the last bus back around
11.30pm. The caravan park was absolutely swarming with rabbits, they were everywhere!!
We crashed out and had a lazy day the next day, food shopping and clothes
washing.
We were lucky enough to be in Dublin on
Arthurs Day, which was first celebrated about 5 years ago marking the 200 year
anniversary for Guinness , the day was so successful that they have it every
year (named after Sir Arthur Guinness…apparently). It has caused some criticism
by the “drink aware” group but by looking at the Irish people, if it’s not
Arthur’s day it will be something else.
We headed into town just after midday, checked
out the castle and some old buildings around the town, we had lunch at the oldest
pub in Ireland, The Brazen Head which has been getting people drunk since 1198!! We then checked out O’Connell street again and took
some photos of the O’Connell monument for Mum.
We then headed to the temple bar area for Arthurs day, we both got some face painting done and "cheered" to Aurthur at 5:59pm as per the tradition, we met some Irish birds and a Canadian couple who are living in Dubai. We had dinner at an Irish pub where I started to sweat due to the ridiculous burger I was eating, and forgot about my face painting, we continued the pub crawl and also met an Aussie bar owner from Perth here on a three day pub conference.
The atmosphere was really good with
loads of people drinking on the street and live music everywhere, was a good
way to say goodbye to Ireland.
27th September – Chester, England
The ferry ride was better for Nat with the new sea sickness tablets and some sleep.
We arrived in Holyhead and the sun was out! England must have known we were coming back, we drove into Chester, which we both thought was the best town we have visited so far. We walked all the way around the town on the old Roman wall, finally a “walled city” that was true to the name.
The town was like walking back in time,
old style streets and buildings with the surrounding walls and 1000 year old Cathedral.
It almost felt like a movie set.
We found a caravan park nearby which
looked a little dodgy but we stayed anyway. There were many……long term campers.
We may have only thought like this because of the Irish gypsy show we've been
watching but they seemed to match the stereotype. We stayed with BB and kept
him under lock and key all night.
28th to 29th September – Bath, England
The next day we rode our bikes into
Bath which was along the river Avon to the Pultney Bridge. It is a beautiful
bridge with shops along the top. We walked through the Bath Abbey and checked
out the town. Already was on par with Chester for our most favourite city in
the UK.
I checked out the Roman baths while Nat
continued to check out the town. The baths were awesome, the exhibition took
you through all the exposed ruins which included the main larger bath area and the smaller steam rooms and smaller baths. They had heated floors and
all.
We stopped for yet another cream tea,
rode out of town to check The Circus and Royal Crescent, designed by John Wood
back in the late 1700's. All very nice. Rode back to BB, and enjoyed some red
and more Doritos (I can’t help it, only 1 pound for a bag)
30th September – Torque, England
1st October to 2nd October – Brighton, England
We'd been chatting to our neighbour a bit
last night and this morning we were rewarded as he gave us a copy of his book.
The book is called “When was Jesus really born?" He said he'd seen us reading and thought we
might be interested. Nat kindly said it’s not really our thing but then he
mentioned he'd written it. What can you say, have to take it. Maybe we looked
lost and he thought we needed to find god... hmmm.
We left late, weather was grey and
foggy again. The roads turned skinny towards Dorchester
where we stopped for a
walk around and lunch. Nice little town. Have to say the English towns appear
to be more appealing than the ones in Scotland and Ireland. I took over the
driving to give Nat some stress free travelling and we continued on to Brighton
so we could stop over for two nights instead of having to drive again tomorrow.
We walked to the Brighton jetty and
then walked to the marina for lunch. We bought loads of vegemite and some
fosters ready for the Frenchies.
3rd October to 6th October – London, Abbey Wood
Next day we left early on the train
into the city. We bought a day ticket which allowed unlimited trips on the bus,
train or tube. We first visited HSBC who skilfully sent the replacement security
key to Australia instead of the London bridge office as per our request.
We took the tube to the War museum. Some
of the exhibitions were closed but still had some interesting stuff. The Holocaust exhibition was
really good, it really went into detail, very easy to be depressed once you go
through it all. We learnt that the hatred towards the Jews all started from the
hatred by the Christians, they were killing Jews long before this. They blame
the Jews for killing Jesus who was apparently was also a Jew….yet again another
awesome side to religion that makes no sense.
We continued on to Big Ben, the cathedral,
10 downing street (well it’s a gate at the start of downing street) and other
common attractions in Westminster.
Nat’s feet were apparently “killing her”
and started to show signs of a crazy person with unbalanced hormones who didn’t
know what she wanted but whatever I said wasn’t it………so I took her home and put
her to bed. It was a long day after all.
My first tube trip
Steepest and longest escalator I've been on
Another early start the next day
heading for the portabello markets. This place was packed out and mostly with Spanish
or Italians. We walked the full length and treated ourselves to some cake on
our way back into town.
We walked through hyde park, saw Buckingham palace which wasn’t overly interesting. It was almost underwhelming in the end but we can cross it off the list. We continued into town, Trafalgar Square, m&m world which was insanely busy and we still couldn’t find any pretzel m&m's.
Luckily Nat was feeling better today so we had a few beers at a small pub and had some awesome Thai food at the Banana Tree for dinner. A few more pubs and tried to take some night shots of London. We even treated ourselves to a ride on the merry go round. I don’t think I’ve seen Nat laugh that much before, I think you had to be there and to be drunk.
The next day I was finally going to get my Ferris wheel ride, the London Eye. Although very touristy, it was pretty damn good. We had an awesome clear day and could see all of London. Nat and I both enjoyed it. We would even do it again next time we are here but perhaps at dusk as the city lights are coming on.
We caught up with Matt (old school
friend of Nats) and Tommy for lunch at a Mexican place.
Nat really enjoyed catching up with Matt, still
the same nice guy as he was in school apparantly. Seems to be enjoying life in
the UK. Tommy left for errands and we continued to Southbank with Matt for more
drinks. Had a good laugh, reminded Nat of a party she had a her house when they
were younger and he got drunk the first time and feel asleep on the pool fence.
Funny! maybe we'll see them again during the year.
7th October – Le Crotoy
– France
Another early morning to drive and
catch the ferry. Approaching the border control I drove straight past the first
booth to a shouting French man, pretty funny. He stamped the passport with no
questions asked, phew! I don’t know if it’s because of Nats passport but I
wasn’t going to stick around to find out. Then we managed to get on the earlier
ferry cause we were 1 1/2 hours before our departure. Bring on the French
pastries and baguettes!!!!!!!!
We found a caravan park along the coast and
we now realise that we were spoiled by the sites in the UK, this will take some
adjustment. Weather was pretty nice. We walked along the beach and I then
started to teach Nat how to juggle with some balls we bought while in London.
It’s a lot easier than it looks and Nat started to get the hang of it.
Nat's first juggling session
8th October – North of
Euro Disney, France
Stopped of at Amiens for a look around.
Amazing Cathedral in town. Very gothic and different to the ones in UK.
We found a caravan park just north of Disneyland and again we are still getting use to the lower standard. If you wanted to use the toilets you had to bring your own toilet paper, soap, paper towel and in some cases even a bloody toilet seat!
9th October – Disneyland!!!!!
Thanks to a generous gift from the
Frenchies, we had tickets for Disneyland.
We finally found the car park where we could stay overnight after
driving around in circles. We didn’t realise that the camping spot that we
found in our camping book was the actual car park for Disneyland. Nat took her motion sickness tablets (which
seemed to work) and headed in.
We aimed to do all the fast rides that were marked in red on the map and then any other family attractions we could fit into the day. It was an awesome day!!
First ride was space mountain, fast as
anything in the dark with loops and drops and lazers…really cool…well really
cool for those who keep their eyes open. Nat was not looking too bad but was a
little pale on the way out. We did the tea cups, Indiana Jones ride, Peter pan,
buzz light year, Thunder mountain, Aerosmith rocken roll rollecoaster and the
ghost hotel which was the only one that I felt a bit queezy afterwards. In saying
that it was still awesome. It’s based on a haunted hotel, you are seated in a
lift in total darkness, you feel it rise up to the next floor (which is really
about 5 or 6 floors), the doors open and you can see down this long corridor
and ghostly figures at the end, the doors close and you are in darkness again
as it continues upwards, the doors open and another ghostly figure appears, the
doors close…..its black…..and then …….BOOM you free fall and then stop….then
free fall to the bottom, it then takes you all the way to the top and when the
doors open you at the top and see outside and then …BOOM down you go again. So
cool but was very glad when it stopped. Similar to other vertical drop rides but in the darkness with the haunted theme made it the best for me.
We also saw a stunt show which had cars
and motorbikes doing crazy tricks, was pretty good but I was hoping for people
to jump out of windows and stuff.
My feet were soaked through by the end
of the day, it wasn’t cold just a little damp. It was a good day to do it
actually because the crowd was down and we didn’t have to wait more than 5 to
10 minutes for any of the rides, the next few days were freezing too so we were
glad we went.
Thanks Frenchies!!!
Our campsite
Signed Metallica guitar at the Aerosmith Rock n Roll Rollercoaster
I think I look more goofy than goofy
10th to 11th
October – Beauagency, France
Three hour drive south and we entered
Loire valley. Staying at our first proper camper spot along the river which was
absolutely free and somewhat better than the previous ones we paid for,
although there was no toilet. We went
into the small town where we found a hot water bottle for natty, thermometer
and shoes for Nat also, Finally!!!
This is when the true camping starts,
using our water and toilets more frequently and learning how to sit on the
toilet such that you get a hole in one on most occasions!!
Our first real free campsite along the river
It was a popular site
Nat being a scarecrow in the crops....love the expression
12th October – Soinge
des Sologne (Frenchies Party)
On our way to the party we stopped at the Chateau de Chambord which was amazing.
Chateau de Chambord
We arrived at the party location before Aude and somehow we had the right place. We met Aude’s brother Tibo and his partner Anna who live in Zurich Switzerland. Made it sound pretty good so who knows, maybe we can find work there next.
We were starting to be known as the gypsies as during the party we brought some washing in from BB and used the machine in the house, felt a little strange but you gotta take the opportunity where you can.
Party was fun, full of Frenchies most of whom are very French. We hung out with Tibo, Anna and the two Sebastiens or “brick shit house and the builder” in the kitchen most of the time. Was a very entertaining night, especially trying to explain that being built like a brick shit house is a compliment ….he was huge. By the end of the night we were hearing “shit house brick” “shit brick” and some other funny alternatives. I even treated them to some fosters, not sure why I bought it but I think I wanted to bring some “Aussie” beer to the Frenchies, went down well actually, although even they know we don’t drink it at home.
We finished around 2am and it was the coldest we have experienced so far. Our new thermometer read 6 degrees inside BB in the morning, I woke up half outside the covers in a state I have not experienced in a while, thank god for the beer. From what we read it was about 1 degree outside.
13th to 14th
October – Blois, France
The next morning we left the house
around midday and headed for Blois. The camper place was right in town and was
only 5 Euros. The sun came out for first time in a while so we managed to hang
out the clothes we had washed at the party and dry them out.
The next day it rained all day again. We
both had our first shower in BB, it takes about 30min to heat the water and
about 6 min to use it all. However the shower is just big enough and at 3 min
each there is plenty of time.
We caught up with Aude in town and went
to her parents place for dinner. Nice cosy two storey house where Audey grew
up. Dinner was really nice, had a laugh with her mum and headed home around
10.30pm. 
15th to 17th
October – Bracieaux, France
With plans to catch
up with Aude at the end of the week, we decided to explore the area a little
bit. The plans didn’t quite work as I woke up with a mean man cold. So we
decided to head to the caravan
park only 20min from Blois so we had power and showers.
An engine light came on when we drove
out which is never a good sign. Luckily we drove past a fiat dealer so we
stopped and booked BB in for a check-up the next day. The garage was opening
from 2pm onwards and we were there at 5 minutes to 2, raining with the door
locked they looked at as and continued on their way. 5 min past they finally
unlocked the door and let us in. When we asked if they spoke English (in
French) they then asked if we spoke French….why the f---ck would we ask in the
first place!! They were a bit rude and started to talk to another customer
without finishing with us.
Despite the attitude the day before we
dropped BB off at hospital around 2 to a much friendler atmosphere, I think
once you cut through the crap they are mostly nice to you. By 3pm he was
finished. Luckily it was only a split air hose. The computer in BB must be pretty
sensitive but just happy that he's ok. We drove back to the camping and Nat
cooked me some chicken soup. Again rain today so not much to do.
18th October – Blois,
France
Left just before midday to check out the
Chevenry castles. It was pretty nice, I think it was the one featured in the
Tin Tin Cartoon. They also had about 100 hunting dogs in an enclosure….very
smelly.
We stopped off at Aude's place for hot drink, goodbyes and to pick up the much anticipated security keys from HSBC. When we got there we realised we'd left the cap to our water tank at the camping site so our water had been splashing out everytime we turned right, so we drove back and thankfully it was still there.
We stopped off at Aude's place for hot drink, goodbyes and to pick up the much anticipated security keys from HSBC. When we got there we realised we'd left the cap to our water tank at the camping site so our water had been splashing out everytime we turned right, so we drove back and thankfully it was still there.
Damn you....but thank you for still being there
Meanwhile Audes mum was kind enough to
dry our clothes as well as yet again the dryer was not working and the clothes
didn’t dry overnight.
So we finally had our cup of tea and
Audes place, said our good byes to her parents and then was invited for dinner
and drinks in town with Audes friends so we stayed in Blois again.
We met some more of Audes friends and
had dinner in town, nice night with mixed French and English conversation. We
said our final goodbye to Aude (I think this is number three now) and headed
home.
19th October – Amboise,
France
Walked into town to check out the music
store. We finally bought my guitar which is a mixed classical and folk guitar.
It was about double what I thought I would spend but was mindful of buying some
cheap rubbish thing….which this thing could still be anyway. Another goal for
the trip in addition to the juggling task.
We walked through the markets on
Saturday and grabbed a baguette, some croissants and a millefeau for desert and
headed back to BB. We drove into Amboise which is a nice small town along the
loire river. We parked BB in the second camper place we found (not the one
tucked away behind some buildings inhabited by a Mohawk skinhead).
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