tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47471473843362008512024-02-20T20:58:44.339+00:00European AdventureMy time working and travelling (mostly) in EuropeAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-80922568723495473042013-08-19T12:27:00.001+01:002013-08-19T12:34:38.248+01:00Triathlon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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So haven't been here for a while, and technically I have a lot of catching up to do - I haven't even uploaded pics from my final holidays onto Facebook! I have a post titled 'Goodbye England' that I haven't finished, and to be honest probably never will. But here is a video from a triathlon I did sometime after March 16th. I can't remember the exact date, but judging from the length of my hair, not long after!<br />
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I feature in the video quite a lot, at 3, 4, 5, 18 and 26 seconds! To get the video into this blog post I had to play around with html, even changing the height and width. Quite proud of my computer literacy, haha!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-442918155740632012012-06-13T21:29:00.000+01:002012-06-13T21:29:15.481+01:00Butterflies, Birds and Beasts<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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On the 30th April I went to Earnley Butterflies and Gardens. They have a butterfly house, which is VERY warm, an aviary, with quite a few Aussie birds, including diamond doves (I used to have a pair for pets), and beasts! Although I don't know you can really call the likes of rabbits, turtles and guinea pigs beasts! They also have a maze garden with some pretty flowers in bloom. Here's some picture and videos from the day :) (yes I realise there is a lot of video, so pick and choose :) but I do recommend the feret, he looks just like one of those ferret on a ball toys, except no ball :P)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant Rabbit!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hehehe</td></tr>
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Diamon Dove :)</div>
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Here's a giant rabbit</div>
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Here's the ferret :)</div>
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-31982264735418116312012-06-13T08:04:00.000+01:002012-06-13T08:04:14.618+01:00Beautiful Weather<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq-hJxS9z3m6rEmxcSWlERQt7ZF33SYpAM441PXmW1UGhJs92IX_dtzna7UbX3R5Pqz6IecH8UkmwDjNWGS17wSd1yuGDdGwck18-K0gClQO1c6OWtjR4GzE29KDNw9vDBqrFCpuwYHEM/s1600/firewalking+079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq-hJxS9z3m6rEmxcSWlERQt7ZF33SYpAM441PXmW1UGhJs92IX_dtzna7UbX3R5Pqz6IecH8UkmwDjNWGS17wSd1yuGDdGwck18-K0gClQO1c6OWtjR4GzE29KDNw9vDBqrFCpuwYHEM/s320/firewalking+079.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue Sky!</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Every now and again the UK</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><i style="text-align: left;">does</i><span style="text-align: left;"> provide nice weather. We had one of the warmest Marches on record (followed by one of the coldest Aprils - go figure!?) so I took advantage of the sunshine and went to West Wittering - a</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span><i style="text-align: left;">sandy </i><span style="text-align: left;">beach on Wednesday 28 March.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not a cloud in the sky!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some animal was making lots of these sand worm thingies</td></tr>
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On Friday 30 March, M and I went to see the newborn lambs. They are sooo cute. While we were there a ewe was in labour, but somebody got bored (?!), so we (I) missed out on seeing a lamb being born :(<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1HawL-_uv-8n9h3BOuH3KlVPwagjAy_yLZ8BpQM0hcGuQK9a-aQgfgANmXvKNyxSgQqVpoRVVOa_EhqO050e3F_0ub9UPHK-xDp4wbXjVhE9fPQAG7L6YqU-lXZqjKZcMd6uPZYkxuyY/s1600/firewalking+091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1HawL-_uv-8n9h3BOuH3KlVPwagjAy_yLZ8BpQM0hcGuQK9a-aQgfgANmXvKNyxSgQqVpoRVVOa_EhqO050e3F_0ub9UPHK-xDp4wbXjVhE9fPQAG7L6YqU-lXZqjKZcMd6uPZYkxuyY/s320/firewalking+091.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's as much of the newborn lamb I got to see</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few hours old lamb</td></tr>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-83723274691359940932012-06-12T21:19:00.001+01:002012-06-12T21:19:56.627+01:00London Baby - yet again!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice sunset before going to see Legally<br />
Blonde</td></tr>
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Claire and I arrived back in London from Iceland on Thursday 22nd March, where I got some trains and tubes to Colliers wood, where I met up with Vicki. We went to the library to find times for Legally Blonde for Sunday, but it turns out they have a day off on Sunday (how slack!?). So it meant I would have to go by myself. The next day I went to visit J, my previous client, as I had left my scales at her house. then it was off to see the show! It took a little while for me to warm up to it, but in the end I really enjoyed it - it was a lot of fun :)</div>
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On Saturday 24th I had a bit of a girly day - I got a haircut (just a trim) a new outfit (a dress, cos the weather was so nice! and some strappy shoes) and met up with Claire for a bit. After meeting up with Claire I got a 'facial'... at a Chinese herbal place. So first I got acupuncture. This was the first time I had had accupunture. The 'Doctor' put 8 needles in my face - which was alright, I didn't really feel anything. I was given a buzzer to use if I got uncomfortable. I wasn't sure how long the needles were supposed to be sticking out of my face, so after 30 minutes I thought it was long enough. I used the buzzer and the stupid thing didn't even work!! I had to get up off the bed, with the needles still in, and that <i>was</i> a little uncomfortable.</div>
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The acupuncture was followed by a face and full body massage - which was actually quite good :). I then had 'cupping' done, which is a really weird procedure where they used suction to stick cups to your back. I had a cough at the time, and the Dr said it would help clear me out. Vicki had had it done, so I thought why not. She said there was no point in having an actual facial, as my circulation was not great (but to be honest the massage was probably better then a facial anyway). Vicki ended up with great red circle bruises on her back, but mine only had slight bruising!</div>
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Sunday Vicki and I went to Kingston upon Thames (because it is along the Thames, funnily enough) where we did some shopping and went for lunch at a pub. The sun was shining, so I wore my new dress, even though it was probably still under 20C - oh how I've acclimatised! And that was my last day of freedom before going back to work on Monday 26th March...</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-57023827238044496302012-06-12T09:58:00.000+01:002012-06-12T09:58:40.461+01:00Amazing Iceland - Trivia (plus some other musings)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Here's some trivia for you. Iceland has no McDonald's. Yes, that's right, not a single Macca's, or Mickey D's in sight. There used to be 3 McDonald's but it wasn't financially viable. It is very refreshing to go to a place that hasn't been overrun with big American corporations (Although in saying that KFC was still there, as well as Taco Bell!). It also means that you <i>have</i> to be a bit more adventurous with the foods you try.. although apparently Iceland also has Europe's best hotdog, so I suppose you can stick to 'safe' food if you want :P</div>
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Another surprising thing about Iceland is that besides Claire, I didn't see another single <i>Aussie. </i>On all the tours I've been, and all the other countries I've been to, I meet up with at least 50% Australians, sometimes even up to 90%. But not in Iceland. Granted we didn't do a tour, but we did go on day trips, and none of our room mates where Australian. We did meet lots of Germans over there, and quite a few Americans too, so it was nice to see a more multicultural spread of people.<br />
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As an Australian I get asked quite a lot by non-Australians why there as so many Aussies travelling around. My answer to which is because Australia is so friggen far away that when we come over here we do it right! We appreciate that Europe (and I suppose any where in the world really) is a long way to come. So we aren't just going to go away for a weekend. In fact most of the Aussie's I've met are travelling for a minimum of 2 months, with a lot working in London/around the UK. People also ask me why England? The answer to that is simple... They speak English, and it's close to Europe.<br />
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That is one of the disadvantages of living in Australia - we don't have the availability to just <i>go to another country</i> for the day or weekend. I suppose you could go somewhere in New Zealand, but it's expensive. Flights are so cheap around Europe, especially if you buy them far in advance or get them while they are sale. For example, one of the longest flights you will do between European destination is from London to Istanbul (4hrs). I found RETURN flights for £59 just now.. that's less than $95 (AUD). You fly from Brisbane to Perth (which apparently takes an hour less flying west to east), cheapest flights are £176, almost 3 times the price! We take advantage of those cheap flights!!<br />
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Another disadvantage of living in Aus, is that we don't have are large range of cultures... you can't drive for a few hours and end up in a country with a completely different culture or language to the one you just left. And that's what I like about Europe, there is so much to see, so much <i>different</i> stuff to see, and I want to see it all. You can't get that in Australia. Of course it is also possible to see <i>too</i> many cathedrals and castles...<br />
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So, this turned into slightly more then an Iceland post, but I've wanted to write about the influx of Australians in Europe... and the <i>lack </i>of Aussies in Iceland provided the perfect intro to that, so it fits - sort of.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-88253330751680506872012-06-12T08:02:00.000+01:002012-06-12T08:02:56.952+01:00Amazing Iceland - the Food Tour<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Iceland is another place that needs it's own post for the food we ate... and we tried a lot of different and strange food. One thing I need to say first up though is that Iceland is NOT for vegetarians. We ate mostly meat, with a little bit of potato the whole time we were there!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dark meat is whale, the one with<br />
the pale sauce is lamb</td></tr>
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Our first meal on the food tour was after we visited the Blue Lagoon. We went looking for a place and came across 'Paris Bistro'. I think the theme is Icelandic with a French twist, rather then a French restaurant... after all, I don't think you will come across <i>whale</i> (yes, you read that right) in Paris! We shared a portion of Minke whale, and the Icelandic version of surf n' turf - Icelandic lamb and lobster tail. I must say I quite enjoyed the whale. It is a very dark meat, and reminded me of kangaroo (however less... earthy). The lobster tails and lamb were yummy too, however I did think that the lamb was a bit too rare - the bits that would more well done were much more tender and nicer. </div>
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Now before you say how horrible it is that I ate whale, here is a comment that Sjon from Iceland wrote on the topic of whaling on another blog site:<br />
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I don’t know how i came to this site but I am glad I did. I am Icelandic and want to say something about Icelandic whaling.<br />
I eat whale and love minke whale stake like almost everyone I know. Many things you read about whaling is so far from the truth and just for example we are 320.000 in whole Iceland and Sea Shepherd has 380.000 fans on facebook so go figure were almost everyone get the information from.</div>
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In the Icelandic EEZ (200miles) we have over 500.0000 whales and we hunt 52 a year and its local commercial whaling we do not sell minke whale out of the country. All of it ends up in Iceland.</div>
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We have been eating whale since we came to the island in 874 and an old saying is Hvalreki that means a whale that swim to the beach as a free food so Hvalreki means to get lucky. The oldest law we get on whaling is since 1261.</div>
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Whale meat is one of the healthiest meat you can put in your body. Low on fat and a lot of protein as seen here<a href="http://luna.pos.to/whale/jwa_v8_suzu.html" rel="nofollow" style="border: 0px; color: black; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">http://luna.pos.to/whale/jwa_v8_suzu.html</a></div>
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I will not tell a tourist to eat whale meat as I dont know were they stand on whaling. I dont want to be unrespecful and offer them something they dont want to eat. But if they do then fine. There is nothing wrong eating whale and dont get me wrong I love whale and think they are nice to have around and I will not eat the last whale. They are cute and they are big but for me they are food source like chicken, pigs, sheeps and cows and they are factory making them. Good to see so many comments from people with open mind and go with their gut feeling on the matter not what is forced up on them by others. </div>
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As you can see they only hunt 52 whales a year, compare that to Japan, where they hunt THOUSANDS a year, and it's not so bad... And now that I've tried whale, to be honest I don't think I would eat it again, even though I did like it, because yes, I do realise they <i>are</i> whales.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clean plates</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Putrified shark</td></tr>
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After the Pearl tour we went to an Icelandic Bar (in fact I think it was called Icelandic Bar) and tried more weird and wonderful food. Here we had something called <b style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Hákarl, </b>puffin, Icelandic lamb shank and reindeer burger. For those of you who don't know, Harkarl is often referred to as putrified shark, and it is ABSOULTELY. COMPLETELY. DISGUSTING. I took a swig of (Icelandic) beer before putting the 1cm cube of grossness in my mouth. The texture is chewy, and as I chewed the taste of beer was replaced by a rotten, fowl taste. Eventually the taste got that bad you had only 2 choices... swallow it whole, or spit it out. Both Claire and I were brave and swallowed it, but I will never again have Harkarl.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheers?! Looking a little worried..</td></tr>
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You're supposed to wash it down with Brennivin, also know as black death, but we didn't have it that night. We had the Brennivin shot after I got back from diving, to help warm me up. I was expecting it to taste horrible, but I actually like it. I even bought a small bottle at the airport on the way home, duty free of course. Why wouldn't you, when the whole bottle was approximately the same price as a single shot in a bar!</div>
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The Puffin was nice, again a very dark meat, like kangaroo. The lamb shank was also nice, when you could actually get to the meat. I don't think it was slow cooked, as it did not fall off the bone like it should. The fat hadn't been rendered, or whatever the term is, and was still tough and chewy. I've had reindeer before, and the burger was yummy.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Survived! </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Puffin</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Much better then the shark</td></tr>
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The next night, after diving the Silfra, we ran into Amanda, who had gone on the Pearl Tour with us. Amanda also has a travel blog, however she makes money from hers! You can see it <a href="http://www.dangerous-business.com/2012/04/amanda-vs-food-the-iceland-edition/" target="_blank">here</a> (that's her Iceland food blog post). We invited her to join us for dinner, where we went to a place called the Sea Baron, which sells mainly seafood (Everything is seafood, except for potatoes and drinks!) We share between the three of us: prawns, scallops, salmon redfish, and some potatoes. It was all so fresh and delicious, espeically the scallops and salmon. The lady who was serving forgot our redfish, but she was busy and very apologetic when she found out. She offered Claire some free potatoes or prawns. The spuds were 200ISK, while the prawns were 12 or 1400ISK, so she opted for the free potatoes, which I would have done too, as the lady felt so bad about forgetting our food, which was easily done.</div>
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While we were waiting for our dinner this little old man, who I think was the own, and spoke very limited English came around offereing some 'Moby Dick'. Now after the fermented shark you would think I could eat anything - but not this! The texture was all wrong, and it was white, so while I think I was eating whale it wasn't like the whale I was eating before. I think it was <i>maybe</i> blubber?! but the fact that I didn't actually know what it was certainly didn't help. So I ended up only taking the tiniest of nibbles, and couldn't stomach the rest!<br />
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Our last night in Iceland we ended up going to a Tapas bar - again Icelandic food, some with a Mexican/Spanish twist. We had a variety of food and I will order them from least favourite to most favourite:<br />
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<li>Salmon Creviche - I love salmon, but not when it is raw. I had raw salmon sushi for the first time at the Blue Lagoon, and it didn't do much for me either. Cooked or smoked please!</li>
<li>Marinated lamb with liquorice sauce</li>
<li>Smoked puffin with blueberry - along with the lamb, they were both nice, but not my favourites</li>
<li>Sweet potato and chorizo - anything with chorizo is bound to taste nice!</li>
<li>Calamari rings</li>
<li>Scallops and dates wrapped in proscuitto - tied with the calamari rings. Both tasty :)</li>
<li>Lobster tails with garlic crumb - O.M.G. these were DELICIOUS!!! They were sooo good, it's a shame we had to share them...</li>
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We also shared a jug of passionfruit sangria which was yummy. Unfortunately no photos of all the yummy food :( But if you have a look at Amanda's blog, she has some pics of the smoked puffin and lobster tails :)</div>
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And that concludes the Iceland food tour. I tried many things, including some things I've never seen alive (I don't if that makes it better or worse :S), and enjoyed most of what I ate.<br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-7450460469635193502012-06-11T19:43:00.000+01:002012-06-11T19:43:32.677+01:00Amazing Iceland - Caving and Reykjavik<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Had to wear hats and headlights</td></tr>
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Our last full day in Iceland, Wednesday 21st March, we went caving in the lava tubes. It was pretty cool - we had to climb through a snow covered entrance, and there were icicles hanging off the roof. Although, they were starting to melt. It would have been amazing to see what the caves would be like in the middle of winter.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Going down!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdFo6NXO3fXivprtYhN0RQqrffs446Dakr9m53ea9XgIG2TKjcQRyoK84uuZxCcyzHi1VoTm_4VTVijL0JA5CwPKfQkSBKcVpHdDpNnorZfUxbXLX6ASSDTWKAQgzPyNap67iyH7zoBLc/s1600/093.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdFo6NXO3fXivprtYhN0RQqrffs446Dakr9m53ea9XgIG2TKjcQRyoK84uuZxCcyzHi1VoTm_4VTVijL0JA5CwPKfQkSBKcVpHdDpNnorZfUxbXLX6ASSDTWKAQgzPyNap67iyH7zoBLc/s320/093.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some poor sheep made it in...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lava turd. hehehe</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Climbing back out</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Friendly kitty - love the bandana!</td></tr>
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That afternoon we had spare, so we spent a bit of time exploring Reykjavik. It's a small town, but very pretty. We met a friendly ginger cat, who decided to follow us for a bit. She even followed us up the stairs to the little cafe where we had lunch - naughty thing!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The church</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_Y05DTIJjujd7vXcD63TfrKLZPDpkHopqdxSSnUzP5yzlF6uAdMLuKrclk_UI2t8P5xxsXskN_aZyQL3iJGMRfP-I53iWA3IxKOOInhmN8kCFuY5G7FJaPX-yWOs4BtDWaIxW0oFDGQ/s1600/firewalking+053.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN_Y05DTIJjujd7vXcD63TfrKLZPDpkHopqdxSSnUzP5yzlF6uAdMLuKrclk_UI2t8P5xxsXskN_aZyQL3iJGMRfP-I53iWA3IxKOOInhmN8kCFuY5G7FJaPX-yWOs4BtDWaIxW0oFDGQ/s320/firewalking+053.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful afternoon in Reykjavik</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Glass panels of the Entertainment Centre</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sun halo :)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant puffin!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This ring is practical... if you've forgotten your cup</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reykjavik Harbour</td></tr>
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After dinner (more about that in the food tour post, coming soon!) we went back to the hotel to get ready for the early pick-up (5.30am) the next morning for our flight back to London. And sadly our time in Iceland was over :( It was one of my favourite holidays though, and I would love to go back and explore more of Iceland - there is lots more to see and do. I'd especially love to see Iceland in the summer, with it's extra long daylight hours, and when the puffins come! If you're ever over Europe way, I would definitely recommend a stop in Iceland, it is well worth it!!<br />
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-31365670418018340102012-06-11T08:52:00.000+01:002012-06-11T08:52:54.485+01:00Amazing Iceland - Silfra diving<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yep, another flattering suit...</td></tr>
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I went diving in the pristine waters of Silfra on Tuesday 20th March. It is one of the top dive sites in the world, in between two continents :). The water is cold - an average 2C all year, so you don't dive in a wet suit, but a dry suit. It is weird going swimming/diving fully clothed and coming out (mostly) still dry! Claire was supposed to come snorkelling, while I dived, but she got tonsillitis just before we came to Iceland, so she stayed in Reykjavik for the day. I got picked up at 9 and it was a fairly short drive to Silfra, but first we had a toilet stop and had to sign our lives away... </div>
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Then it was time to get in the drysuits! First we put a fleecy jumpsuit on over our clothes. This was the easy part. A dry suit is the same as a wet suit, in that it is hard/almost impossible to put on... I had also managed to cut one of my fingers on my razor that morning (only 5 times, once on each blade) and pulling the suit up kept making it bleed. After the suit was on we had to put boots on, and then a hood before we finally got to put on the rest of the scuba gear, fins and goggles. And then it was into the water. Which wasn't too bad with the dry suit on 0 the only part of your body that was directly exposed to the water really was a bit of your cheeks, chin and forehead.</div>
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I had a bit of trouble descending at first, but after adding some more weights I was fine to go. And wow! it was spectacular - the water was sooo clear. We spent about 30 mins swimming along the fissure, with out guide, Val (although that wasn't his 'real' Icelandic name, which is impossible for me to pronounce, thus the nickname :P) taking photos of us. When I got out of the water I wasn't too cold, my hand were but that was about it.</div>
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I did DESPERATELY need to pee though. So I had to struggle out of the suit, and find somewhere to 'go bush'. Now Iceland has a joke - If you are lost in the Icelandic bush, just stand up... suggesting the the bushes aren't that high... It is also a fairly flat country, with mountains popping up from the relatively smooth lava fields. So, in other words, not many places to hide behind! I managed to find a small 'ditch' that was still visible from the road :S and squatted in the most awkward position so as not to pee on my clothes/suit, etc. (imagine a stationary crab walk). Now because I was in view of the road I wanted to be quick - but of course it was the worlds. longest. pee. ever!!! Luckily, no cars drove past, and I was <i>much</i> more comfortable after that!</div>
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After some tea and cake we went and did the fissure again. This time I got down straight away :). I also played around more with putting air into the suit to control warmth and buoyancy, rather than air into the BCD. It was amazing to feel the difference in temperature when you added air to the suit. The only problem was that once I came up a bit, I was <i>too</i> buoyant and just kept rising in the water until I popped uo to the surface :P. I guess I will need to do some specialities - dry suit and peak buoyancy- to get better at staying <i>under</i> the water. You know, cos that's kind of the point of diving!</div>
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After the second dive I was definitely feeling the cold - my hands and feet were frozen. I couldn't even feel my feet! After taking the drysuit off my feet were like nothing I've ever seen - they weren't blue, they were just... colourless. That's the best way to describe it. It didn't help that my right leg had somehow gotten wet!? But I finally got dry and we were back in the <i>warm</i> car :) and it was back to town to have a late lunch (I got about around 2.30/45) with Claire.</div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-13821714430572943362012-06-10T09:41:00.000+01:002012-06-10T10:28:26.331+01:00Amazing Iceland - The Pearl Tour<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Monday 19th March we went on the 'Pearl Tour', which included a superjeep guided tour of the Golden Circle and one hour of snowmobiling. We drove out of Reykjavik and did the snowmobiling first. We were supposed to go on a glacier, but unfortunately the weather was $h1t, so we ended up going in a field, which meant we would save about 2 hours over the length of the tour - a good thing really. First we had to dress up all sexy like in a jumpsuit and helmet.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE568VWehBEHdCdFhTvFHw6c1Cnn_seDEC50RQMrtajlZISLSggijfrdOh_YAne44atQf2ExqOxYV_yD1FR92QIdoWkrp-TWJQXt8-YQfwzqY-VsBWB9IzncD7m6ny_nCmlRD_uukUSHk/s1600/Iceland+012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE568VWehBEHdCdFhTvFHw6c1Cnn_seDEC50RQMrtajlZISLSggijfrdOh_YAne44atQf2ExqOxYV_yD1FR92QIdoWkrp-TWJQXt8-YQfwzqY-VsBWB9IzncD7m6ny_nCmlRD_uukUSHk/s320/Iceland+012.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yep, this jumpsuit is very flattering</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXBhApTrBeIO21wMkpE9l0YYJt0xSAqXRTB7Pc68S_Lmc2f9A75L6yzoU-bnviOjRvENCY7NipNZQQzDBB9jitFBUUMUkvj2dphytzEEvQP_Kzf3kma9N8wzQ7oJAUwLJsd1K96y4yqnI/s1600/Iceland+015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXBhApTrBeIO21wMkpE9l0YYJt0xSAqXRTB7Pc68S_Lmc2f9A75L6yzoU-bnviOjRvENCY7NipNZQQzDBB9jitFBUUMUkvj2dphytzEEvQP_Kzf3kma9N8wzQ7oJAUwLJsd1K96y4yqnI/s320/Iceland+015.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The grey skies while Claire was driving</td></tr>
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Claire had a go at driving first - it was snowing and it was windy. In about 2 seconds my face was frozen! Painful!! I had to keep wiping the visa on my helmet to get rid of the snow that was collecting on it, so I could see. After half an hour we had a break and then swapped divers. Of course during the break the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day. That meant I only had to contend with a bit of wind - much easier to see :) Snowmobiling was a bit like jetskiing. When we got back to the superjeep, the guides all took as one at a time of a short FAST ride. Now that was FUN, and even more like jetskiing.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sky when I was driving...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii4iMO944RTdGBZvBM5NIvRYZwzJJzxQSkQ419XmYpopfVsx6hOycVA5fX1ao7as2Mc23hPgDXU7ZJFKWiViTAyDCiDIrSZ3RWvzJmmlCHFmlc2b46grUnaII5EeT1-GjHZGJHLziN6Ao/s1600/020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii4iMO944RTdGBZvBM5NIvRYZwzJJzxQSkQ419XmYpopfVsx6hOycVA5fX1ao7as2Mc23hPgDXU7ZJFKWiViTAyDCiDIrSZ3RWvzJmmlCHFmlc2b46grUnaII5EeT1-GjHZGJHLziN6Ao/s320/020.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thingvalavatn</td></tr>
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We got out of our jumpsuits, and found out my food had gotten wet, and was very cold :(. We continued on and stopped at Thingvalavatn (<em style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: 13px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Þingvallavatn </em>in Icelandic), the largest natural lake in Iceland, and the first stop we visited in Thingvellir National Park. In 930 the national parliament of Iceland was founded on the northern shore at Thingvellir.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrH6L6_idvFsidtcl0niqqFjXqQY1oYOAJ5AMKRjEHL-6NMLQ8ZWFIyut6GQRYdQ8H2174Fk92_0H6fAJwjAuECEjnG4sCNj9rLetrB3V_rB8EmxNHdaaYdnjU77N_0qGLcEpc1srePFg/s1600/024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrH6L6_idvFsidtcl0niqqFjXqQY1oYOAJ5AMKRjEHL-6NMLQ8ZWFIyut6GQRYdQ8H2174Fk92_0H6fAJwjAuECEjnG4sCNj9rLetrB3V_rB8EmxNHdaaYdnjU77N_0qGLcEpc1srePFg/s320/024.JPG" width="320" /></a>Around the lake you can really see the fissures and gullies that are caused by the junction of the American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Silfra Fissure is filled with glacial water that has been filtered through the lava fields and is 50-100 years old by the time it reaches the fissure. Because of this it is absolutely clear, with visibility up to and over 100m. The water is also very pure and it is one of the top 10 dive sites in the world, providing diving between 2 continents (But more on that later).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silfra Fissure</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gulfoss, not looking so Golden at the moment</td></tr>
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After stopping to have a look at the crystal clear water of Silfra Fissure we continued on to Gulfoss, which means 'Golden Waterfall'. At this stage the weather had turned bad again, and it was <i>pelting</i> down with snow... Now I know you don't usually describe snow as pelting, but the wind was blowing so hard that the snow was actually 'falling' horizontally, and it HURT. Soo much so that we didn't spend that much time admiring the waterfall. We sought shelter in the tourist shop, where we had lunch. Of course as soon as we got in it stopped snowing! Lunch was a yummy Iceland lamb soup, which was delicious and went down a treat after being so cold. As soon as we started to get back in the jeep it started snowing again :S</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRemPXjl3fMyEiNNt9-hDUMRYtUpycYvsDvOBx1aY58J33-rC9JgT1kIWJs_PFINfwESdpvVHA7poFHUFLW4jJ7mHzRSMzw7MBYsMZ1G58kfdEJUNOFlUEaLUC04zZexmljpihICcz-xw/s1600/058.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRemPXjl3fMyEiNNt9-hDUMRYtUpycYvsDvOBx1aY58J33-rC9JgT1kIWJs_PFINfwESdpvVHA7poFHUFLW4jJ7mHzRSMzw7MBYsMZ1G58kfdEJUNOFlUEaLUC04zZexmljpihICcz-xw/s320/058.JPG" width="320" /></a>Next we went to see the Geysir geothermal area. Here you will find the original Geysir, one of only a few Icelandic words borrowed by English. Every now and again the Geysir will have a double, or even triple eruption. I caught the first of a double eruption on video, but stopped filming too soon :( We watched the Geysir blow a few times and then continued on to a volcanic crater that is now filled with water. We also stopped to feed the Iceland horses. They are a very hardy breed, and are unique in that they have 5 instead of 3 gaits. We fed them breadrolls, which according to Sven, our guide, they are like lollies to the horses, but because they were young Sven had to do a bit of coaxing to them to come over to the fence so we could actually feed them. We then headed back to our hostel and went off to find some food...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The crater.. apparently Bjork has preformed a concert<br />
on a boat in there</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Coaxing the horses over</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here they come</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuuSYGyku8POHquU0AlDjy9_X6yE528LhFHiVCcR0mht5Dg5AI3HTqqJyivFu21wh6y-f57yTJ1lN1Bj1MBvnLfbbXs6sZhiYJ1OghJEtGaZB6zWXdpFR461LXgxsXz_Sfgn9LLkYea3g/s1600/Iceland+034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuuSYGyku8POHquU0AlDjy9_X6yE528LhFHiVCcR0mht5Dg5AI3HTqqJyivFu21wh6y-f57yTJ1lN1Bj1MBvnLfbbXs6sZhiYJ1OghJEtGaZB6zWXdpFR461LXgxsXz_Sfgn9LLkYea3g/s320/Iceland+034.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ok, I admit, they are kinda cute</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfjkLc67RnptIx9jPmV3xLMq3oVsH6fnH9k-J9SFeYb74ysDxMow53qpcUR6nNouhgHgU7Rk2QuDHUZjq1KcpP82JS0z1iQEvG0ECD8uZQq80M5KF8Jp27TTk_eVPPlgjT07o5_JzGJ0/s1600/Iceland+035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwfjkLc67RnptIx9jPmV3xLMq3oVsH6fnH9k-J9SFeYb74ysDxMow53qpcUR6nNouhgHgU7Rk2QuDHUZjq1KcpP82JS0z1iQEvG0ECD8uZQq80M5KF8Jp27TTk_eVPPlgjT07o5_JzGJ0/s320/Iceland+035.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back in Reykjavik... the women have weird<br />
fashion over here?!</td></tr>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-88143973687558521322012-06-09T13:47:00.001+01:002012-06-09T13:47:36.727+01:00Amazing Iceland - The Relaxing Part<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-O-abhmKMlXeAYbisa_SyYqlBy9kf5P3COG95A9opnTDBMGiTJAD-DT7KrabTKLG1vkSdkkLqf33AyP_p1Dc9et65HeMHX0az7Z7dSr9BQ3quYdvHHYPve64stlxj6Uq19LL4l8ZiH18/s1600/Claires+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-O-abhmKMlXeAYbisa_SyYqlBy9kf5P3COG95A9opnTDBMGiTJAD-DT7KrabTKLG1vkSdkkLqf33AyP_p1Dc9et65HeMHX0az7Z7dSr9BQ3quYdvHHYPve64stlxj6Uq19LL4l8ZiH18/s320/Claires+006.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was slightly cold</td></tr>
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After the late night we had had the day before, we slept in and had a relaxing day. After breakfast at the hostel we caught the bus to the Blue Lagoon. Once we arrived there we had to walk along a 200m path to the ticket office, and it was freezing (again). In the line we met a South African couple living in London. Before we headed into the milky blue waters we took some photos while we were still dressed and dry and then had lunch.</div>
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Before entering the lagoon you have to have a shower, <i>without </i>togs/bathers/swimmers/whatever-you-want-to-call-them. There were <i>lots</i> of women (of all ages :S) baring all in the open showers. I however, am not that European, and do not particularly like baring all for the world to see. Luckily though there were shower cubicles also available, so I took that option.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgha6umgPz4scUG7XlIuXRK6AUl7quySk3Ywii4lvr-2pw0CJL35j-GE8j-7mSh2jLdBkq7jE5MMV3rze7NYp0Nj8odC2-MrpoRV21door_qJeYc2H8ggzHktwnH3yI12A6GMXaBKpR4wo/s1600/Iceland+003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgha6umgPz4scUG7XlIuXRK6AUl7quySk3Ywii4lvr-2pw0CJL35j-GE8j-7mSh2jLdBkq7jE5MMV3rze7NYp0Nj8odC2-MrpoRV21door_qJeYc2H8ggzHktwnH3yI12A6GMXaBKpR4wo/s320/Iceland+003.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The path we had to walk along</td></tr>
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Eventually we entered the Blue Lagoon. There were two options for entering - the smart way, and the why-would-you-even-bother?! way. We took the smart way, where you entered the water from inside the building, and then went through a door to the outside. Other people who took the why-would-you-even-bother?! way had to run through the cold, wind, and snow to get into the water. Imagine how much worse this would be coming back in, when you are already wet!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7VqKiTIE3XKUiYuFq1uerjOvsgUKfxQht_dye5tjuiuSKQZ0iDSoGmQrh8FjA74Q0SzNRFyWWwrbAUmY9K_HGtqZfUMpj_sPxdDgh0s7BCDhMfl4zOz6cnuczgChsGTKIa6Jp9HJQO0/s1600/Iceland+004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY7VqKiTIE3XKUiYuFq1uerjOvsgUKfxQht_dye5tjuiuSKQZ0iDSoGmQrh8FjA74Q0SzNRFyWWwrbAUmY9K_HGtqZfUMpj_sPxdDgh0s7BCDhMfl4zOz6cnuczgChsGTKIa6Jp9HJQO0/s320/Iceland+004.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ticket office/tourist shop</td></tr>
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We met up with the South African couple again, as they had found a really hot spot, which was sooo nice! There was another South African family there, who were moving to Brisbane (good place if you ask me :P). The parents had brought some whiskey in a flask, which they kindly shared - it was very warming! After a bit, Claire and I went to put on a silica mud mask on our faces. The white mud, along with the murky waters are what the Blue Lagoon is famous for - its supposed to be really good for your face (but not your hair or jewellery). I caked on some mud, and pretty soon my face was numb from the cold, but not before being extremely painful :( I'm not sure if the mud did anything for my skin after all that, maybe you have to use it more then once!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizjFOHvicQfy1uvaplWNiq4j85haatrjTFbQ2iUp8Xuc0bEaRpon5wH8vt0EvUayK0u41rSWBZbv5-6b8yUMkUqvM5HjV8Xh9-drZ7zLQzYjExtiPxJHFC1IkJigsSIcfI-V2hUZOSPbw/s1600/Iceland+005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizjFOHvicQfy1uvaplWNiq4j85haatrjTFbQ2iUp8Xuc0bEaRpon5wH8vt0EvUayK0u41rSWBZbv5-6b8yUMkUqvM5HjV8Xh9-drZ7zLQzYjExtiPxJHFC1IkJigsSIcfI-V2hUZOSPbw/s320/Iceland+005.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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After a snack I decided to spend a little time in the steam room/sauna, and became part of the why-would-you-even-bother crowd.. although to get to the sauna you <i>had</i> to run through the cold, so it definitely wasn't by choice...I came back into the lagoon and Claire and I went under the massaging waterfall, which was so warm and relaxing. It felt like some was pounding you. You can pay extra for massage treatments, but I reckon this was just as good, and it was included in the entry price :)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzmupnwrCeNxfvXx5CiRx5wrvdsOsv7o7Qkauz1sUmXmCmnXd3tEsrRg2tDqckHDWaWD1mB2TtZwXhZdve4cPakKyluSTsP-C_YBB8dLagI4EVnrXSigyhMlHAKga4xKBMn9ywnSncT4/s1600/Iceland+007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbzmupnwrCeNxfvXx5CiRx5wrvdsOsv7o7Qkauz1sUmXmCmnXd3tEsrRg2tDqckHDWaWD1mB2TtZwXhZdve4cPakKyluSTsP-C_YBB8dLagI4EVnrXSigyhMlHAKga4xKBMn9ywnSncT4/s320/Iceland+007.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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We left the lagoon after spending a bit more time in the 'hot spot', and then caught the bus back to town. The ride took over two hours! I think the bus driver forgot about dropping us off to be honest :S We then went to find somewhere to eat, but I will leave what we had to food tour post, because my Iceland holiday included a HUGE food tour!</div>
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-17781686563156637972012-06-01T20:40:00.000+01:002012-06-01T20:40:06.339+01:00Amazing Iceland – In Search of the Northern Lights<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After being back at work just over 6 weeks I was going off on holiday again – this time to Iceland, with the hopes of seeing the Northern Lights!! I finished work on Friday 16th March, and stayed overnight in a London Hostel, ready to catch a train to the airport the next morning. I remember lying in bed thinking <em>I should probably get up now…</em> when the fire alarm went off. Yep, that got me up. Though it is amazing how many people DON’T respond to a fire alarm – This time it was false alarm, but I would hate to see what would happen if it was real. Anyway I met Claire at the train station and we were off on our adventurous trip to Iceland :D</div>
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After arriving in Reykjavik, we got a bus to our accom, where we quickly checked in, had a shower and got the hostel to makes as a toasted sandwich, so we could get on our tour bus for the Northern Lights Mystery Tour. We had about a 2 hour drive to get where we needed to get to. And who knows where that place actually was (thus the ‘mystery’). At about 8.30pm the drivers spotted some activity! We stopped and could see a faint green hue in the sky! It was hard to actually see whether it was from the lights or just the last bit of light from the setting sun – we could still see a bright orange glow on the horizon. It was actually one of the most unusual sunsets I’ve seen…</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFa7ryl65L3QFPxlrKFOKc0sMW2e1F_oi4Sx2uOaTKafxM4LdiO_SS2MNeCw0MuE3oTJmBgOcZVRPAjjXRbZXQ594Z5i2pJSlI9LlVIfTJ7H3PcV2taoMjmAQm7CAWL8mrjqDBcKwKYQs/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFa7ryl65L3QFPxlrKFOKc0sMW2e1F_oi4Sx2uOaTKafxM4LdiO_SS2MNeCw0MuE3oTJmBgOcZVRPAjjXRbZXQ594Z5i2pJSlI9LlVIfTJ7H3PcV2taoMjmAQm7CAWL8mrjqDBcKwKYQs/s320/006.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hot Springs... definitely different to the air temperature</td></tr>
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After some more driving we arrived at a hot spring, which was very steamy. The sky was overcast, and there was no signs of any more activity :(. I suppose at least I could say I <em>have</em> seen them, even if it was very faint. It was also very cold waiting in the dark, so after about an hour it was thankfully time to head back. As we were driving back, though, the drivers suddenly spotted a green glow in the sky! We had found some :D. However, they were only green, but I’m not complaining. We were quite lucky to find the lights, and were smart to decide to go on the day we arrived in Iceland – other people we talked to didn’t get a chance to see them after that day.</div>
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Some of the lights were the typical ‘curtain’ of light that you see in photos, particularly where the sky was clear. Other just looked like the glow of lights you see on the horizon over cities. But as you watch them, they slowly fade in and out and move about. We were pulled over on the side of the road for about 45 minutes, hopping on and off the bus every now and again when the lights were particularly bright. It was FREEZING, the forecast for Reykjavik was –7C, and we were outside the city, plus the windchill would have made it even colder. I used a 13 second exposure on my camera, after which I could really feel my hands anymore! We finally got home at 2am and went straight to bed. That’s another reason I was glad to spot the lights on the first night. The tour company we went with offered a guarantee – they would take you out every night until you saw the lights or money back if you didn’t see them before leaving. I definitely would not have like staying out til 2am <em>every</em> night, especially as we had such a hectic schedule…</div>
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Here's some photos of the lights. They aren't the best, would have been better with a tripod, and longer exposure time. I 'enhanced' all of them except the first one, where you can really see the 'curtain' effect :) I've added the originals so you can compare.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJrG8-WBPIrd82Gm2ClOd1AQ_NM4NLyrJSCqf420ugpEJrc-SIou2IQsN6aLDD1U1IEKBN8egKwpS6cfC5d81ybidXzJXomk-9CTY51tr4ag3sJAV6CamtnkzbvtnFFh0AtwC5PEkrTs/s1600/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvJrG8-WBPIrd82Gm2ClOd1AQ_NM4NLyrJSCqf420ugpEJrc-SIou2IQsN6aLDD1U1IEKBN8egKwpS6cfC5d81ybidXzJXomk-9CTY51tr4ag3sJAV6CamtnkzbvtnFFh0AtwC5PEkrTs/s320/010.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A green glow in the clouds</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3aVAfQ3vQPZGOPR1bU8zkJ_ES0zFhusoPprM8rAUHZub0TNvX1OWZVNNzilYak3NknYHnBgSZo487poCKCe5epvAmZZYismko4TO-xFkxm_P7G4mhwAGlWV30Yl0Abej8TJmDW2oiw6k/s1600/012+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3aVAfQ3vQPZGOPR1bU8zkJ_ES0zFhusoPprM8rAUHZub0TNvX1OWZVNNzilYak3NknYHnBgSZo487poCKCe5epvAmZZYismko4TO-xFkxm_P7G4mhwAGlWV30Yl0Abej8TJmDW2oiw6k/s320/012+-+Copy.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9hD9SM9AXlMNM0K6Q9JlB2xrK1RgvBno9yzomCdj55-7pQvbEc6Vr7WcBrK9CWW1_3eVccMpu0YwHaYIQ15Yzpv18CPv2Hiw1OIkbOQyCngsTcDiAUwFO6K91EVIUwkLoERZHxGTMkBY/s1600/012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9hD9SM9AXlMNM0K6Q9JlB2xrK1RgvBno9yzomCdj55-7pQvbEc6Vr7WcBrK9CWW1_3eVccMpu0YwHaYIQ15Yzpv18CPv2Hiw1OIkbOQyCngsTcDiAUwFO6K91EVIUwkLoERZHxGTMkBY/s320/012.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-tV78XR0XiI0IBQKBCVDsieJS-x4XNI-nxequQnPnhYU87Td0yzN5mfiZm-sV6bh6-yllrNWe9T9Wap73RQaxP_3TAddxDl_J63AoxhgNn4inkMSqI47dUIoL0zgPWulXQ5W-hHwU6k8/s1600/013+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-tV78XR0XiI0IBQKBCVDsieJS-x4XNI-nxequQnPnhYU87Td0yzN5mfiZm-sV6bh6-yllrNWe9T9Wap73RQaxP_3TAddxDl_J63AoxhgNn4inkMSqI47dUIoL0zgPWulXQ5W-hHwU6k8/s320/013+-+Copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7NK5Q0KxWi1mvhrg8hzUNcS_xX77FOT13OJx8L7dq7_jl7laBe7xzrUcE6QFJVEHVB2kZf2918C3LahCfbwTo7TJlnqNISoSatUMtEymEla_DdwjdKg-K6CnDJ0tV9awB9LXmwffZ8oM/s1600/013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7NK5Q0KxWi1mvhrg8hzUNcS_xX77FOT13OJx8L7dq7_jl7laBe7xzrUcE6QFJVEHVB2kZf2918C3LahCfbwTo7TJlnqNISoSatUMtEymEla_DdwjdKg-K6CnDJ0tV9awB9LXmwffZ8oM/s320/013.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjluzG_IBvvOUESsSAcLspDgb4GRUfKg1LCk3_sGzJ4oAtXyqOstseKTVkK6rEpDrE4DXXrzu0VL_PWo-DmmkTUm9RYdSeIQJt3Q2R80eZXhvSVkmvV7VGIoKN6TBaRkun1lIlQ7ndzwEI/s1600/014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjluzG_IBvvOUESsSAcLspDgb4GRUfKg1LCk3_sGzJ4oAtXyqOstseKTVkK6rEpDrE4DXXrzu0VL_PWo-DmmkTUm9RYdSeIQJt3Q2R80eZXhvSVkmvV7VGIoKN6TBaRkun1lIlQ7ndzwEI/s320/014.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Before</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaG6Ako3ciQojKHnOnUNYNtA1Ft_l7G9ujz_KoBHdZI0hRqBEgm7MmCLFR5t1AV-xl2GcEj7kRs5DWwTUsm_dxnCHcmJrTnxTayVvPetOoeQbZXfa1Xm7jddT8kFErktWqkTZE_WA85q0/s1600/014+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaG6Ako3ciQojKHnOnUNYNtA1Ft_l7G9ujz_KoBHdZI0hRqBEgm7MmCLFR5t1AV-xl2GcEj7kRs5DWwTUsm_dxnCHcmJrTnxTayVvPetOoeQbZXfa1Xm7jddT8kFErktWqkTZE_WA85q0/s320/014+%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After</td></tr>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-85637633271146261462012-05-29T07:58:00.000+01:002012-05-29T07:58:58.856+01:00Lazy Cat on My Bed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMUHb9RjKeYre0jLzhng6pTo0zNGbrW06BhiwK9WrCkx2XNqTgeNs9RES1vNinQ_ucvd80wK-MY1nbFRQT67scI9mQy_Pzawoccpn77nzGC92YCw-StHkW3-3Ih-PZI4OJqEIcIfyN7rc/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMUHb9RjKeYre0jLzhng6pTo0zNGbrW06BhiwK9WrCkx2XNqTgeNs9RES1vNinQ_ucvd80wK-MY1nbFRQT67scI9mQy_Pzawoccpn77nzGC92YCw-StHkW3-3Ih-PZI4OJqEIcIfyN7rc/s320/006.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Most of you know that I have 2 cats, Abby and Cleo, who I miss sooo much. I really miss having them sleep on the bed with me, particularly in winter. Cleo used to sleep on my stomach, or back, or side, depending on what way I was sleeping. I miss having little 'hot-water bottle' and constant companions :( My client and her family have 2 cats as well, but they are a lot more independent then mine, as they are 'outside' cats. Plus they aren't allowed to sleep on the beds at night - they are locked in the kitchen... But with the colder weather, Sanker (nicknames the Tank) had been sleeping on my bed and keeping me company quite a lot during the day. Here are some pics of him, so cute! Since we've had warmer weather the last few days though I have hardly seen him.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-QxQAvbL6H_cgHXzqR5Tw13zRH_0CLCvf97FKpjtaTRliwW2537WBsxGBRKBhI3oMNSOM_SLqnkYfA3iDWft9mqzaAwew15fg7XBnSgBcKfECCmAZkVDpReSDcoxScnPMXVfkaPYlKRQ/s1600/007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-QxQAvbL6H_cgHXzqR5Tw13zRH_0CLCvf97FKpjtaTRliwW2537WBsxGBRKBhI3oMNSOM_SLqnkYfA3iDWft9mqzaAwew15fg7XBnSgBcKfECCmAZkVDpReSDcoxScnPMXVfkaPYlKRQ/s320/007.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhihKktIFBJHziksCOoZZIJItpjqvooMd1rV9_TWsCTE-LgD6Qba8nLzeT3QxYtns-XPPKL_YaJyEvOzASKnB6Jp16yPLz92eAlRWwDFkEnkm7QMm93oBRmT01n9MpNuU8mMe4Pq2e6HVw/s1600/009.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhihKktIFBJHziksCOoZZIJItpjqvooMd1rV9_TWsCTE-LgD6Qba8nLzeT3QxYtns-XPPKL_YaJyEvOzASKnB6Jp16yPLz92eAlRWwDFkEnkm7QMm93oBRmT01n9MpNuU8mMe4Pq2e6HVw/s320/009.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNTJH6WvohcRbWXMGjVNFJUxV-aEJg5Q8Idoytva1NyyRWKGmT6nLX0BHMqJCfkkUJj0Ian1MU-4ArjbZOugOjvF5LzLGxncYIHaS7YCYKelyMevTsdid2GP_LabQ6SLl3ssG1jq6zx6c/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNTJH6WvohcRbWXMGjVNFJUxV-aEJg5Q8Idoytva1NyyRWKGmT6nLX0BHMqJCfkkUJj0Ian1MU-4ArjbZOugOjvF5LzLGxncYIHaS7YCYKelyMevTsdid2GP_LabQ6SLl3ssG1jq6zx6c/s320/011.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjss6NEtWXDwwxC0Z271x7BjRQDu7wAXL0fQBxoC16Rwd65fh3pW-V_6wr7uvz4fJdoCm5NmzVBcmO4oD4k0ZI0Qken8r_bp9JONtLNIsEBp97ZNsFJOR1lhXlZd9HcjFopcwMzNJBvV5E/s1600/039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjss6NEtWXDwwxC0Z271x7BjRQDu7wAXL0fQBxoC16Rwd65fh3pW-V_6wr7uvz4fJdoCm5NmzVBcmO4oD4k0ZI0Qken8r_bp9JONtLNIsEBp97ZNsFJOR1lhXlZd9HcjFopcwMzNJBvV5E/s320/039.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu1VQiIAyQuandLZsyiueULbaJEqWtsrKVctvAXv0K52ISZDdt6-BrPcpGXPKp7Az6kDL3hoEuJMcdcvvP1LdzZEVk8sPFnAtoOu-p5UnRCkO-AAFUxqpEed-NlqPoW3OtRsDpKwr5ZFc/s1600/040.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu1VQiIAyQuandLZsyiueULbaJEqWtsrKVctvAXv0K52ISZDdt6-BrPcpGXPKp7Az6kDL3hoEuJMcdcvvP1LdzZEVk8sPFnAtoOu-p5UnRCkO-AAFUxqpEed-NlqPoW3OtRsDpKwr5ZFc/s320/040.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsW5r_TukAw0obbi3-1V1RFkglqPHUC93z1wFewQgMuE86wv99QmWoThC4fi2JvwL2VGtaA6EUIN0BFvaooy6ZyoMS88tp3_JLcs2E-mNRhxRi-l4V9qkFU4ZBdEL8RwQU4CxpJrC2F0/s1600/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYsW5r_TukAw0obbi3-1V1RFkglqPHUC93z1wFewQgMuE86wv99QmWoThC4fi2JvwL2VGtaA6EUIN0BFvaooy6ZyoMS88tp3_JLcs2E-mNRhxRi-l4V9qkFU4ZBdEL8RwQU4CxpJrC2F0/s320/015.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He also likes to sleep on my lap</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTierJlVmQrYnieyrjDIc-ejDLQuNO3_1szQTiS171nK1qni6hqUna1JrZoau0WrY3_TwzZOXkaFL7oWjqX1ZpT6_oeaBhDzCDA0alEINkQHPKz55fL-IxOYda83h4MUr-vjrd8jzqgBA/s1600/firewalking+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTierJlVmQrYnieyrjDIc-ejDLQuNO3_1szQTiS171nK1qni6hqUna1JrZoau0WrY3_TwzZOXkaFL7oWjqX1ZpT6_oeaBhDzCDA0alEINkQHPKz55fL-IxOYda83h4MUr-vjrd8jzqgBA/s320/firewalking+001.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and my computer</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvit_KwIBPoh_QXwwfwKWfgC9x7CcunrADtehsdPXsyQTcEb4Nxm21SvmcvtBgMEulSqA9CLQGMFAHLNnUL8h3VHP4hAuCsr_dmZllRhLc4tiywBytsCVzQtXNn4z5UwUcgHn3xqXbaN4/s1600/Snapshot_20120225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvit_KwIBPoh_QXwwfwKWfgC9x7CcunrADtehsdPXsyQTcEb4Nxm21SvmcvtBgMEulSqA9CLQGMFAHLNnUL8h3VHP4hAuCsr_dmZllRhLc4tiywBytsCVzQtXNn4z5UwUcgHn3xqXbaN4/s320/Snapshot_20120225.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and in between my legs...</td></tr>
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-87103001858489918012012-05-28T11:56:00.000+01:002012-06-02T00:03:59.671+01:00Snow and Seasons in Storrington<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK2PPQba_RevnmwBMvDQtUf1G0ZX3B9kxtuq6tY4MQ7dN4mhBb7UFvkkciB_ywUCdRhq5AeQQVGsQjDb8VPjpEVvI3UkwRNBrnTCfdQHcoPDtn1bZiA-TNWz2YAN9Ia4ylUHIFXc6ueVg/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK2PPQba_RevnmwBMvDQtUf1G0ZX3B9kxtuq6tY4MQ7dN4mhBb7UFvkkciB_ywUCdRhq5AeQQVGsQjDb8VPjpEVvI3UkwRNBrnTCfdQHcoPDtn1bZiA-TNWz2YAN9Ia4ylUHIFXc6ueVg/s320/001.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cheeky fox at the train station</td></tr>
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After 54 days of ‘being on holiday’ it was finally time to go back to work, on Monday 30th January. I returned to a pervious client, M, who I had started working with pretty much exactly a year ago. Things in Storrington looked pretty much the same as they did a year ago, except this time I got to see at least the backyard with a covering of snow and, as I have stayed a month and a half longer then I did last time, the place is certainly more green and leafy then I have ever seen it. On the 5th and 10th of February there was finally some snow for winter – Although it was only a light covering, which pretty much melted by the time we left the house at 9am..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzybJRqDu5Xb-L90kx7cg2z9SLWWJnLTaXTaVshoncX3BUKMXHTDKYU8ExkJ1M9YtDkLHAefpmdLvih7gGQrGtfmh1g1vpNgRp6xJ19JW4Wd0aeYOzFHIU0-CT_wO_MkuCZvCOA9ckpbM/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzybJRqDu5Xb-L90kx7cg2z9SLWWJnLTaXTaVshoncX3BUKMXHTDKYU8ExkJ1M9YtDkLHAefpmdLvih7gGQrGtfmh1g1vpNgRp6xJ19JW4Wd0aeYOzFHIU0-CT_wO_MkuCZvCOA9ckpbM/s320/003.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ9JukPjfLBMNovYT_WtSmEE1SbeI9V5qNvIGOntFrQImeol4VuZsnnc0IkmmMtyrkF1dsRB1n_4j4PuJ6X54kdhGW7EtdS0qri01rVBBP-H7FZVJkDzP_q4-kxbEASsJdoRm6422OhZg/s1600/022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ9JukPjfLBMNovYT_WtSmEE1SbeI9V5qNvIGOntFrQImeol4VuZsnnc0IkmmMtyrkF1dsRB1n_4j4PuJ6X54kdhGW7EtdS0qri01rVBBP-H7FZVJkDzP_q4-kxbEASsJdoRm6422OhZg/s320/022.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Compare to the 'summer' pic at the end :)</td></tr>
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After the snow in February, March turned out to be one of the warmest on record! In fact, even the last week of Feb was warm – at 18C. Then it was back to cold for April – complete with snow in some parts of the UK. I have definitely aclimatised to the cooler weather. In Australia, as soon as the temperature got below 20C I would put on a jumper and be freezing. Here, the temp reaches 13C, and I start taking layers <em>off</em>. 18C is shorts and singlet weather now! How on earth am I going to survive summer when I get back home?!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikFaE9xqiaoX5wzM28sH6DQF4qKPE0bmirZuSa5cKheaUvvzJyREiMe02byWK03X69vKxwICv4GPwqzY9GAEv1YVryjYoHeLBrxMoOJ8h2oXPBVQHGs_btl1dOnAlSPQ60KSh6XfdwJeg/s1600/035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikFaE9xqiaoX5wzM28sH6DQF4qKPE0bmirZuSa5cKheaUvvzJyREiMe02byWK03X69vKxwICv4GPwqzY9GAEv1YVryjYoHeLBrxMoOJ8h2oXPBVQHGs_btl1dOnAlSPQ60KSh6XfdwJeg/s320/035.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Although, still fairly cool at Brighton</td></tr>
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As much as I am looking forward to coming home (lets face it Aus is awesome :p), one thing I appreciate a lot more over here is the seasons. They are so destinctive – something I think I will miss. Winter is cold, mainly wet (but sometime snowy!), and dark. Then comes spring. This is when colour comes back to the UK. The first flowers to pop up are the bluebells, followed by daffodils, and then tulips (and lots more of course!) Towards the end of spring is when the trees/bushes finally start shooting new growth, and it really gets green, within a few weeks. And the cutest part of spring? All the baby animals :) I have also seen hedgehogs come out for the first time… although it’s a bit sad that they have all been roadkill hedgehogs :(</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieHH5DpVCtnsysqovLBmk6OvTKSjUuOx-dRQlLBjNW5vBHgYQHzjN_uEQPMHAme2szbm1bLdf2eBmArUAtIhp_nkcorQOuFMcUArMQOQjdEIc6ACSKOJu0Cs9mngYWo7YvHFlwNJ_yHb8/s1600/ducklings+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieHH5DpVCtnsysqovLBmk6OvTKSjUuOx-dRQlLBjNW5vBHgYQHzjN_uEQPMHAme2szbm1bLdf2eBmArUAtIhp_nkcorQOuFMcUArMQOQjdEIc6ACSKOJu0Cs9mngYWo7YvHFlwNJ_yHb8/s320/ducklings+006.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taken just the other day: Summer is on it way :D</td></tr>
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Summer <em>can</em> be warm (it can also be cold!), and the UK often has ‘mini heat waves’ with temperatures up to 30C, if only for a few days… In summer the crops start to ripen, and the fields start to take on a golden hue, like they where when I first arrived here). The evenings are also really long – with it not getting completely dark until around 10.30/11pm. I will definitely miss the long evenings of summer, but not the short hours of daylight of winter!</div>
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And that brings us to autumn, when days start to get shorter again (sob), and the trees start to lose their leaves, but not before displaying wonderful colours of reds, oranges, and yellows :)<br />
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Now to leave you with some cute stuff:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSYyJXMrnuIQa2oWp5BF0WYLzb03DeBlMRWgYuKt3u8NiXUeF7L33IBr0sZV5irkFp7rW67qHKpdW6k6c4RWv0HEF5E7NhYhCgvMKGHFDpi3rDRYhAVNxiLTIoHscjw9biXO_nqDViY78/s1600/ducklings+013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSYyJXMrnuIQa2oWp5BF0WYLzb03DeBlMRWgYuKt3u8NiXUeF7L33IBr0sZV5irkFp7rW67qHKpdW6k6c4RWv0HEF5E7NhYhCgvMKGHFDpi3rDRYhAVNxiLTIoHscjw9biXO_nqDViY78/s320/ducklings+013.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhie_GoJ1263fsXVxd7W_5uHkK0PiuLeY0E2rwW8Q7K84lxjzqpizv6YxstRNrnQiAOcXTN8XNxCrfgq6EBuPpGXgdbHABCQxhjwh4_TFM711kI-2B-J5QbLAW0mSIvu3b7LSSXBxCPTkQ/s1600/ducklings+012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhie_GoJ1263fsXVxd7W_5uHkK0PiuLeY0E2rwW8Q7K84lxjzqpizv6YxstRNrnQiAOcXTN8XNxCrfgq6EBuPpGXgdbHABCQxhjwh4_TFM711kI-2B-J5QbLAW0mSIvu3b7LSSXBxCPTkQ/s320/ducklings+012.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmZCiBpafEoAxSIeWvJIA6bDRFPaOlugvrUoBtMyNhgUKbTllfToIUfSradKqtn1erldD6rXxn2xT26DZb2LmoAV7no5syANBXZEWwYM7LDAG9We3k0IQHr_rxtMudOrjf-RQu7K_FJzE/s1600/ducklings+015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmZCiBpafEoAxSIeWvJIA6bDRFPaOlugvrUoBtMyNhgUKbTllfToIUfSradKqtn1erldD6rXxn2xT26DZb2LmoAV7no5syANBXZEWwYM7LDAG9We3k0IQHr_rxtMudOrjf-RQu7K_FJzE/s320/ducklings+015.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See the dark patches in the middle? That's a group of 6 ducklings<br />
sitting in a row :)</td></tr>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-37124564235056869622012-05-27T12:50:00.003+01:002012-05-27T12:50:46.695+01:00Skiing in Austria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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First things first, there are definitely no kangaroos in Austr<strike>al</strike>ia :P</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The church at Hopfgarten</td></tr>
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Adam left England on Tuesday, 17th January. That day I went to the Victoria and Albert museum, which I was quite impressed with. I then had lunch with Claire, who I had met in a hostel while I was doing my photography course. On the 18th I visited my previous client, J, and picked up some of my stuff that I had left there. On the 19th I had lunch with Vicki, who I went to Egypt with. As I still had time before work started again and some left over money, I decided to spend it all (literally, I left £30 in my bank account after buying the train ticket back to work...). Like I said before I <3 skiing, and I really wanted to do more then the 2 slopes I did in Slovakia, so I went on <i>another</i> ski trip. This time I went with Contiki. It was my first Contiki experience, and I was a bit worried, as they have a bit of a reputation for doing more drinking then anything else, but I enjoyed every minute of it :) (Even if there was quite a bit of drinking, mainly by my room mates though...).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snow!!</td></tr>
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Well, I enjoyed <i>almost</i> every minute of the trip. The 22 hour bus drive there was so great :/ We left London at about 7pm on Friday 20th January, arriving in Hopfgarten, Austria the next evening. Due to bad traffic we ended up being on the road too long, so we had to wait for another driver to come from Hopfgarten (only about 30 minutes away) as the current one had ran out of driving hours. As soon as we arrived we collected out ski gear and then it was time for the welcome meeting and dinner. Contiki have their own hostel, called Haus Schoeneck, which is really nice, and ran mostly by Aussies and Kiwis. No surprises there really :P</div>
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The next morning we had breakfast and I found someone to go skiing with. We went up the ski lifts and it was time to go skiing again!! Remember that I felt confident in Slovakia... Well when I go to the top of the slope in Austria, I'm sure it was pretty much vertically straight down :S. You know in cartoons when they look down a cliff to the bottom, and it suddenly gets visibly further away? That's what it felt like on the Austrian slopes. They are long, steep and bumpy... turns out I'm not such a confident skier after all. I had the 'brakes' on the whole time I was going down those slopes. In hindsight I could really have done with ski lessons in Austria and not Slovakia, as I barely used the instructor I paid for there. Lessons in Austria would have helped with my inability to stop without falling over... In fact I fell over more times in the 1st hour of Austrian skiing then I did the whole time I was in Slovakia :S At one stage I managed to spread my skis, poles and self equally over a distance of about 10m in this pattern: ski, pole, ski, pole, me -it was actually quite funny!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That slope just keeps goingggg...</td></tr>
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It didn't help that I was skiing with someone who's skill level was <i>much</i> higher then mind. We were going on blue and red (medium) runs, although to be honest I couldn't tell the difference between the too. As far as I was concerned they were all too steep and bumpy! But I didn't give up until the very end of the day. After a FULL day of skiing with the brakes on my legs were soooo sore, and I was so exhausted I just couldn't ski anymore. I had to ditch the skis (my highly skilled ski-mate carried them for me, while skiing down on hers) and walk/slide on my bum to the bottom of the slope.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The disc</td></tr>
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The next day I went out again, but not for nearly as long - only half the day, and I went skiing with some a snowboarder, who was still faster then me!). In fact I didn't actually do much more skiing at all... I only did half days from then on, if any at all, mainly because I was still sooo sore from the first day. I tell you what though, it did good things to my biceps (who knew you used them so much skiing?!). They are still bigger and more defined then they ever have been! On the second last day I was sick, so didn't go skiing at all. I stayed in bed until the afternoon, but did manage to find the energy to participate in 'snow games'. They were so much fun, especially sliding down the snow on my stomach on a plastic disc - although the bruise I got from whacking into a pole was not so much fun!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So fun!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkjFWxkIRduQ6cQTNaJ9vtTmzYQxfn3vnwKFEqAFojiMrb41SU44Vl8on2J8ahYAFeOwvXOR1AgJ5ucZcUCNsoNKJ5vMvXaUUIAcpwoZHXaWSlTqmhyNIx1VUy5E37HYSCe8nJI64EnbY/s1600-h/055%25255B3%25255D.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="055" border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFYWAwLs7qssd7CS9jS-jXE8L8d1C-_05AuFntZEvLT7rAI08NRpuaXixFFHoLYScAIjtiNv0ZqpQ1lARHIPw8vfmkDPEr-NBWEaMfArPo5O7mh1UbPsqGu_3YKHhyphenhyphenkkYUXeBUxEJK6ts/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; float: left; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left;" title="055" width="244" /></a></div>
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On the Tuesday (I think) night we had the opportunity to go tobogganing. It was a load of fun, but would have been even more fun if there were less people and we didn't keep stopping all the time! The slope was only gentle, but you did manage to build up a little bit of speed, only to have to stop (or crash into the person in front you you) because someone ahead had hit the sides of the slope or run into someone else... The final day I still wasn't felling 100%, so gave up on skiing and went on a day trip to Salzburg. Even thought I had already been to Salzburg, it is a nice city, and it was over EIGHT years since the last time I went. We had lunch in a nice little restaurant where we had Gulash Soup (yum) and we shared a Salzburger Nockerl, which is a dessert I had remembere over all those years. The rest of the group I was with agreed it was yum!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salzburger Nockerl :)</td></tr>
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Other food I had on the Austrian food tour was spaetzel ( a type of small egg noodle with cheese sauce), and PORK KNUCKLE. O.M.G. That right there is the reason I could never be vegetarian... It was divine. The pork was so tender, the crackling crispy, and the gravy thick and flavourful. YUM YUM YUM!! We had that on the last night before we were due to go back to London. You had to order it 24 hrs in advance, and I am soo glad we did :)</div>
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Anyway, so that was my time in Austria. I met some great people and had a great time - even if I didn't do that much skiing. And the fact that Austria provides 'scary skiing' hasn't put me off. I would love to do some more skiing, back in Australia, which is where I learnt all the way back in grade 12! Some good news is that the bus ride back to London didn't take nearly as long as getting there. We left early (4am-ish) in the morning, and arrived back about 7pm that evening. Thank goodness. And some more good news? I have FINALLY finished writing up my Christmas/New years holiday blogs!! YAY. Now onto what's happened between the end of January and now...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the top of a slope</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snowman! Complete with mullet</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the 'Silver Bullet' celebrating Aus Day</td></tr>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-13277398018662532922012-05-08T07:10:00.000+01:002012-05-08T10:58:47.006+01:00Guess Who’s Back – Back again?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Yes, back in London. Every time I have time off and I’m not somewhere exotic, I try to explore a bit more of London. We arrive back from Krakow mid afternoon, so I told Adam it’s probably best to just get a ‘light’ lunch, as it was late, and we were going to G&A’s for dinner (and to use their washing machine!), so we would be getting a large dinner. I ordered the club sandwich, and well, I’ll let the pictures do the talking :P</div>
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The next day (Mon 16/1)we left G&A’s early to get the most into Adam’s last day overseas – he had an early flight out the next morning. First we went Ice-skating. there was a rink at the bottom of the beginner slope in Slovakia, but we never got the chance to go, and Adam wanted to give ice-skating a go as it was another thing he’d never done before. After ice-skating we spoilt ourselves for lunch, spending way too much at a reasonably flashy restaurant called <em>the Mermaid’s Tail</em>. MMM, the food was sooo good though – I had a HUGE rack of ribs, and I think Adam had lamb shank.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">bahaha h.p is short :P</td></tr>
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The next touristy place we visited was Madame Tussaud’s, the wax museum. There were lots of famous figures, and it’s amazing how lifelike they look. I was a bit surprised by how short a lot of them are though! As you go through the building there are different themes – such as ‘A-List Party’, ‘A Royal Appointment’, and ‘Marvel Superheroes’ the superheroes exhibit also included a 4D experience which was fun.</div>
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That night Adam and I went to see the musical version of Billy Elliott. If you’ve been reading along, you will have realised that I have seen quite a few musicals this holiday. I actually saw a three musicals within about 2 months of each other. The good thing about London is you can get pretty cheap tickets, and they are amazing to see… So I figure while I am here, I should try and see as many as possible! I quite enjoyed Billy Elliot, the song about seeing Margaret Thatcher dead was pretty funny! I would like to see the movie (I’ve only really seen little bits and pieces) to see how well they adapted it to the stage. It was then time to go back to the hostel, so Adam could get a good night’s sleep, ready for his journey back home in the morning.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Funniest photo ever?!</td></tr>
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So I just found these pictures from when we went to the London Dungeon... I can't for the life of me remember what day we went there - Adam?! They are actually photos of photos, thus the flash reflection. The picture from the freefall ride was just too hilarious NOT to buy!<br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-90700836088278215492012-05-07T14:08:00.000+01:002012-05-07T14:08:50.459+01:00Skiing in Slovakia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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8-15 January</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at all that space I get TO MYSELF!</td></tr>
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First off: I <3 skiing. It was one of only a few things on my ‘have to do/see’ list when I left. The other two being Egypt (tick) and Turkey for ANZAC Day (tick). Later on I added Iceland and sailing in Croatia (Let’s see how they pan out later…) So I was very happy to be finally setting of a ski holiday :) I went through a company called Mountain Paradise, which offered flights, transfers, half-board hotel accommodation, ski gear rental and ski lift passes for a good price. We had a good flight to Krakow, Poland, and got through passport control/customs easily. That’s one of the good things about Europe – it’s sooo much easier to get through country borders then it is getting into Aus.</div>
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Once arriving in Krakow we were getting a transfer to Jasna ski resort in the Low Tatras. I must admit I was a bit worried when our driver was a bit late! I hoped he hadn’t forgotten us… Turns out we had arrived early, and they had hit bad traffic on the way to the airport, so no, we weren’t forgotten! As we drove further up the mountains it began snowing. Before we left I had been looking at the weather/snow forecast, and it didn’t look overly good. As it was I had nothing to worry about – at the end of our time in Slovakia, our driver said that the last week had been the best bit of snowfall the Tatras had seen in a while :) I was so happy to get good snowfall, particularly after the UK had failed to deliver this year. Mum missed out – she should have come skiing with us!!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A BATH!!</td></tr>
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Anywho, we arrived at our accommodation for the next seven nights, and found out we had been upgraded for the first two nights. Instead of a standard twin room, we were in the two bedroom suite! After over a month in hostels, a room to myself was absolute bliss. AND it had a <em>bath</em> :D. We dropped of our bags and headed back down to get our ski gear and lift pass.
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<span style="text-align: left;">The next morning we met up with our ski instructor, and it was time to hit the slopes! After seven years since the last time I had skied, I thought I picked it back up rather quickly. I was soon racing down the beginner slope very confidently. I love the rush of going fast! Adam, on the other hand was a complete beginner, and quite nervous (which is understandable – those slopes are slippery!). So I went off on my own a bit, while he got one-to-one tuition. See the video for Adam's first day of skiing!</span></div>
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After our first lesson we went searching for some food. We went to of the restaurants on the mountain, where we had a bit of a culture shock. Slovakia probably isn’t one of the 1st places you think of to go skiing in Europe. This shows in that there are very few tourists, and most of the skiers are local families (I swear some of the kids who were skiing couldn’t even walk yet!). As such, English isn’t spoken as much or as well, so trying to figure out what was actually on the menu was a bit tough. And the pictures really didn’t help. So, after 1 failed attempt at eating some more traditional Slovakian food, we stuck to eat at the place that had an English menu, and we knew what we were eating. So, we mainly had pizzas for lunch – but they were <em>really</em> yummy pizzas! Dinner was included, and we had a choice between a pasta or meat based dish. An adventage to being in Slovakia is that food and drinks were CHEAP :)</div>
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On either the first or second day, after our lesson we went for a walk down one of the ski slopes. Well, mostly walked – there was one steeper bit, where we slid down mostly on our bums. That was fun! Turns out that bit was a red/medium part of the run, whereas if we had turned left we would have continued on the blue run. I managed to convince Adam to ski down this longer steeper run – and we both made it down in one piece :). The 1st day we did it, it was quite icy, and as it turned out, part of the bit we slid down on our bums was also part of the blue run. So I went down that VERY slowly, making big zigzags. As the week went on however, we got more lots of snow fall, and the powder makes you go slower, so it was much easier to go down. The downside to that is that on the flat bits you need to work a lot harder! By the end of the week, I was pretty confident at going faster, and I could ski down the run, faster than taking the gondola up :P</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can see quite a few indiviual snow flakes here</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Close up </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Snow Angels</td></tr>
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In the middle of the week we had a ski lesson free day<span style="text-align: left;">, so decided to make it a totally ski free day. We walked another run – well, some of the time I slid down on a plastic bag. That was fun, but could have the potential to be dangerous – it’s hard to steer plastic bags! I would have loved to have skied that run, but wasn’t keen on doing it by myself, and Adam definitely wasn’t keen to do it, so I had to stick to the beginner slope and that one other one I was talking about.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: left;">Check out the view from the top of the mountain - Please ignore my voice... it sounds weird :S</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just lying in the snow, looking up</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful day :)</td></tr>
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Eventually it was time to hand back our ski gear and head back to Krakow to catch our flight back to London. I left Slovakia thinking I was a pretty good skier – I mean I only fell over a maximum of five times in the five days of skiing we did. But I was keen for some more skiing…</div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-50347003084771068412012-05-05T10:46:00.000+01:002012-05-05T10:46:36.371+01:00London... Again<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Firstly, this is my one hundred and first post! Who would have thought that just over a year ago when I started this, that I would continue, and <i>fairly</i> regularly too :) (I actually started writing this before the Breaking News post, when it was the 100th post, but forgot to write about it in that post, so I'm celebrating the 101st post :P).<br />
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Saturday 7th January we had a free day in London before heading to Slovakia for a ski holiday (yay!) We didn't didn't have any set plan, so just walked around London and came across random things. Our first stop was the Clink Prison Museum (dating back 1144), near London Bridge. This is the gaol (English spelling) that 'gave its name to all others' according to its slogan.<br />
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Next we made it to the Jubilee and Borough Markets, also near London Bridge. I hadn't been to any London Markets, and they were pretty good - so much meats and cheeses, as well as seafoods, and colourful fruit and veg :) For lunch we bought an award winning pieminister pie. YUM<br />
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We then walked along Tower Bridge and London Bridge. We mustn't have got up to much in the afternoon... I don't have any pictures, so can't tell you what we did :P That night I initiated Adam in sleeping in airports. We got there fairly early and managed to get a good spot to sleep each :) The next morning we were flying to Krakow, before getting a transfer to the Tatra Mountains in Slovakia, where we were spending the week skiing!!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On London Bridge, with Tower Bridge in the background</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">London Bridge</td></tr>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-28403978080151825772012-05-03T10:03:00.001+01:002012-05-06T13:53:20.772+01:00BREAKING NEWS!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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For those of you who don't know, I have been planning on returning to uni when I come home. Since about the 3rd year of uni I had wanted to do teaching - the young kids, not teenagers :S. By that stage JCU no longer offered the double psych/education degree, which meant that I would have to do a graduate diploma of education. When I finally did finish uni, I wanted a break from study for a while - 17 years of study in a row was enough for the time being! So I came over here for a couple of years as a sort of 'gap year' - and to have a heap of fun!<br />
<br />
Well now I'm ready to return to study, admittedly a little earlier then I had originally planned. I had wanted to start at the beginning of 2013, but at least this way I get to finish 6 months earlier :) I applied through QTAC as a 'non-year 12' applicant - In fact I was only a few weeks off being a 'mature age student' :S Well, the early offer round was released yesterday. AND I GOT IN!! To nursing. Yes, you read that right... nursing. The thing is ever since <i>school</i> I had been debating between education and nursing. You know, when they ask you 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' Well first it was a teacher, then not a teacher, then nursing, then not a nurse... So by the time I was nearly finished school and had to apply for uni I had no idea what I wanted to do, so I chose psychology.<br />
<br />
Which I definitely <i>do not</i> want to do (be a psychologist at least). Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my degree, and it's a great base degree, but it's not what I want to do. Since being over here I have been toing and froing between nursing and teaching - <i>aargh what to do?!?</i> Well I thought, I would just apply for both, and then leave the rest up to fate... I quite easily met the eligibility criteria for nursing, but not so for education. At first I had education as my first preference, followed by nursing. But then I changed my preferences after being assessed by QTAC as ineligible for early childhood education based on the entry requirements.<br />
<br />
I contacted QUT and they stated:<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I have looked through your prior studies to see which areas you are currently eligible. You meet the Studies of Society teaching area quite easily but do not have enough studies contributing to a second area for Early and Primary Years.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">There have been applicants successful in gaining entry into the Grad Dip in Ed based on a completed psychology degree who are generally eligible for Studies in Society and Mathematics. Mathematics is generally fulfilled by statistic type units which are embedded in ‘research method’ subjects and in your case PY3101 Adv Behavioural Research Design and Analysis. However, you require at least 2 more units in the Mathematics area for it to be considered as a second teaching area. There are no other teaching areas covered with your completed studies.</span></div>
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So, according to that email I only completed ONE statistics subject... hahaha <i>I wish</i>. I emailed back with 2 other stats subjects I had completed, and hey presto, I was deemed eligible. After being deemed eligible by QUT I didn't change my preferences back to education though. And after getting that early round offer of nursing I could have changed my preferences back, and see if I would be offered a place in the graduate diploma of early childhood education. I decided not to however.</div>
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The reasons I decided to do nursing over education:</div>
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<ul>
<li>I would be happy doing both - I would love to work with little kiddies, but it's possible to do paediatric nursing, and I love medicine. Nursing seems quite logical :)</li>
<li>More job opportunities - I had a look on seek, there were a lot more job opportunities in nursing then education. </li>
<li>My 'life path' seems to be heading towards nursing - I have tried a few times to do things child/education related. When I was in uni, only doing a few subjects on campus I applied to TAFE do do a certificate in child services, so I could work in child care. Obviously this never eventuated. I also tried to do some volunteer work at my current client's primary school, to get some practical experience in working with kids with disabilities. They weren't looking for volunteers... Then I decided to get a job 'a bit more relevant to my field of study'. I applied for, and got a job with the Spinal Injuries Association as a personal care assistant. Then I came over to the UK to work as a live-in carer. Obviously both of these jobs are more relevant to nursing then education.</li>
<li>I get excited by the subjects I have to do with nursing - There's obviously quite a lot of placements, which is practical experience (something we didn't really get with a psych degree, that comes later in post-grad study). I also have to do subjects such as pharmacology and disease concepts, stuff I find really interesting :) About the only subject I don't look forward to is law and ethics :/ blgh :P</li>
<li>Oh yeah, I forgot to add - the rest of my family works works for Queensland Health, obviously as a nurse I will be able to work for Queensland Health too. So I won't be the 'black sheep' of the family working for a different department (Queensland Education)!</li>
</ul>
<div>
So there you go, I'm going back to uni - studying Bachelor of Nursing (graduate entry) at QUT!!</div>
<div>
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<div>
Oh, and while I'm here, I guess I should tell you that I'VE BOUGHT MY PLANE TICKET HOME!!! I actually bought it a few weeks ago now, and I'm not sure how many of you I've told, but now you should all know :) I leave London Thursday July 5, arriving home on Saturday July 7 at 7am in the morning, 1 week before being away for 2 year...</div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-5549725791449200002012-05-02T07:12:00.000+01:002012-05-02T07:12:36.504+01:00Overnight in Cardiff<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset view from the train to Cardiff</td></tr>
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After saying goodbye to mum on the 5th January, Adam and I caught a train to Cardiff, arriving about 6pm. It was then a short walk to our <span style="color: #0000ee;"><u>accommodation</u></span>, which by the way is probably one of the <i>best</i> hostels I have stayed in. It is basically a converted home, and as such has a very homely feel about it. The breakfast was amazing, and the beds had proper, comfy mattresses... Although my was broken, so it was kind of like sleeping in a ditch, but only the worlds most comfortable ditch! I also left my Kindle on the bed, and the staff were very helpful in returning it to me :) After checking in we went for a short walk into town to find dinner, and to get our bearings.</div>
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The next day (Friday 6 Jan) we went out with the hopes of doing a walking tour... but of course there wasn't any running that day! :( So we had to do our own thing. We went to Cardiff Castle and spent some time there. Then it was time to find some lunch. The local markets were on, but of course I wanted to continue the food tour. We ended up going to a little cafe called Dragon's Kitchen, where we had a Welsh lamb soup, which was delicious, and Welsh rarebit, which is basically cheese on toast... After lunch we went to the National Museum.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The outside of the castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the castle grounds</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of town from the castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View to the south - you can see the stadium. Our accommodation<br />
was on the opposite side of the river to the stadium</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They have owls/birds</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mmm best soup!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The museum</td></tr>
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Unfortunately we didn't have much more time in Cardiff, so it was back to the hostel to collect our luggage, and back to London. It was a bit disappointing that we didn't have longer in Cardiff, from what I saw I really liked :) It would also have been good to do the walking tour, as we would have been able to see more, and learn more about the history of the place. More time would also have meant we could have explored further, like going to Cardiff Bay. But I can now say I have been to all the capital cities in the UK and Ireland!</div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-27598158867386030672012-05-01T13:06:00.000+01:002012-05-01T13:06:16.831+01:00Where was I? Oh yeah, London<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Awesome Lego tree at St. Pancras train<br />station</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4vSNV_x5SZM8uOFKhsKQl2fcD1YHypnb5XE2uV3TMfoK2pBeJ7GCkbdPgFRziR1FEohkiVMO2eAbBMrp3QZ1f7Zl3XSzWfnzHpDRgDt2_QssMbwrUgqlH5vyJZswYdDwyJkduSJ3kTc/s1600/xmas+new+years+2011+2012+209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4vSNV_x5SZM8uOFKhsKQl2fcD1YHypnb5XE2uV3TMfoK2pBeJ7GCkbdPgFRziR1FEohkiVMO2eAbBMrp3QZ1f7Zl3XSzWfnzHpDRgDt2_QssMbwrUgqlH5vyJZswYdDwyJkduSJ3kTc/s320/xmas+new+years+2011+2012+209.JPG" width="320" /></a>Well I have had a bit of a break from Xmas/New year holiday blogging. I like to do things in chronological order, but due to the firewalking having a deadline, I had to interrupt my blogging. I also wanted to have a bit of a break, so that I can get lots of views in May - I like watching my views go up - thus the Happy 2000 Views post :P, since then I have had another 384 views, with over 800 views alone in April!!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tower Bridge and the outer wall of the Tower of London</td></tr>
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So, when I last blogged about my holiday I was telling you all about my French Food Tour.We left Paris on Tuesday 3 Jan, and caught the Eurostar back to London in the
evening. Mum was leaving on the 5th, which meant she didn’t have much time left
to do touristy things. On the 4th, Mum and I did some exploring on our own,
while Adam caught up with a friend of his. Our first stop was the tower of
London, after walking across tower bridge, followed by St Paul’s Cathedral.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were heaps of these chicken wire animals around-<br />The king kept a royal menagerie of exotic creatures<br />to show his wealth and power</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ravens are important to the British monarchy -<br />legends states that if the birds ever leave it<br />will be the downfall of the monarchy.<br />So they keep some ravens in cages, just to<br />make sure...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the ravens getting close and personal</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNMKVV1-sgr2yVM0IPOM8nfOJqcQwvjx6QSnudnd26EYaXTW6EhZZKdWh-FcFHGIv9PJ06JujbX05pIgH5c3XGkU4h0fgITIG0lpF5uIpavkgy_1Zupfc8udmGykklYy3vv58ymTDDafg/s1600/SAM_0109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNMKVV1-sgr2yVM0IPOM8nfOJqcQwvjx6QSnudnd26EYaXTW6EhZZKdWh-FcFHGIv9PJ06JujbX05pIgH5c3XGkU4h0fgITIG0lpF5uIpavkgy_1Zupfc8udmGykklYy3vv58ymTDDafg/s320/SAM_0109.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Does this hat suit me?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCltxalr7XN8NVelYcJmt-597Vxkkhqp98IyZbOEIs0dIzgZFXMkR7Gv04ZIAO-kse3YEVRl2jjf9ES71Q8CC8mR5XSNMQRBFK_NmcPan5miPkWxagQB-u7swWdum73f6XC2Ib4TPSEoc/s1600/SAM_0122.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCltxalr7XN8NVelYcJmt-597Vxkkhqp98IyZbOEIs0dIzgZFXMkR7Gv04ZIAO-kse3YEVRl2jjf9ES71Q8CC8mR5XSNMQRBFK_NmcPan5miPkWxagQB-u7swWdum73f6XC2Ib4TPSEoc/s320/SAM_0122.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Paul's Cathedral</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Q4f6k2nFTq6BXu-fPwHltumEUp8ad2uUVvIyo7LSwFDf__oiRawN6kSG6QSg0OZpXwqnxSUSWpDH3_FIGyQTaGOWi4OBzodLry8jVuf6E5z5sdF7U1JkBIGep_-mpFLHuyY9-muHXNc/s1600/147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0Q4f6k2nFTq6BXu-fPwHltumEUp8ad2uUVvIyo7LSwFDf__oiRawN6kSG6QSg0OZpXwqnxSUSWpDH3_FIGyQTaGOWi4OBzodLry8jVuf6E5z5sdF7U1JkBIGep_-mpFLHuyY9-muHXNc/s320/147.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the top</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the 4D London Eye experience</td></tr>
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Mum then went on the London eye, which I didn’t do, as I had done it a year
earlier. I wanted to go ice-skating but had missed too much of the current
session, so got a snack and waited instead. While I was waiting a guy with his
‘last copy of <em>The Big Issue</em>’ came up to me asking for money, as he was
‘only a couple of quid short of getting money to pay for a hostel bed for the
night’. I told him I would rather buy him something – like food – then just give
money away, and he didn’t take my offer. I think this was a wise move, as he may
have been trying to scam me?! Who knows what he might have wanted to spend my
money on?</div>
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The rest of the time I was waiting for mum I looked around the souvenir shop.
I had forgotten to bring my Kindle with me, so didn’t have anything to read, and
it was too cold, wet and windy sitting outside. When mum came off the Eye we went
on the 4D experience. It is free with your ticket, but they didn’t actually
check tickets, so I snuck in too. We then headed back to the hostel where we met back up with Adam and his
friend.</div>
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After dinner that night we saw Phantom of the Opera – Adam’s all time
favourite. EVER. Remember? I must admit that I think Adam’s enthusiasm for it
set the bar a bit high, and to be honest I was a bit disappointed by it – I just
didn’t see what all the fuss was about (sorry Adam!) </div>
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5th Jan</div>
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Mum's last day. In the morning we went to Westminister Abbey, which after visiting that, along with Rosslyn Chapel and the Louvre, made me feel like reading the Da Vinci Code again. We did a bit more walking through London - seeing some squirrels climbing a lady's leg to get peanuts, Her Majesty's Theatre (where we saw Phantom), and Trafalgar Square, before Adam and I had to catch a train to Cardiff, and it was time to say bye to mum!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS4pe6ggDAPgBDwSWO5m76bSrN9_8rWg-1Nol_qDJaQZcsnV3-M7wDSljB5EVuZvvxvG6tIrmawZVnZPnnXgo4Eak0dfTliSlAJVgLr7IuP29Kc5tzQ-I1VYdb_-6wICecHanjUiA8t2I/s1600/161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS4pe6ggDAPgBDwSWO5m76bSrN9_8rWg-1Nol_qDJaQZcsnV3-M7wDSljB5EVuZvvxvG6tIrmawZVnZPnnXgo4Eak0dfTliSlAJVgLr7IuP29Kc5tzQ-I1VYdb_-6wICecHanjUiA8t2I/s320/161.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just some random London attractions...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Her Majesty's Theatre</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4w8FpEUjTdPuYST1m2gbigSe09S1OHAEVITUK7iZ9kG7YvO5Mtr8LV22couocvk2z6neeq3NrCBAcU4Eh4BDBhIKCOolowWO-lvnYlXC391jlHucR9VnzjDdMWyU_jo210lPdWVDu-YE/s1600/SAM_0178.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4w8FpEUjTdPuYST1m2gbigSe09S1OHAEVITUK7iZ9kG7YvO5Mtr8LV22couocvk2z6neeq3NrCBAcU4Eh4BDBhIKCOolowWO-lvnYlXC391jlHucR9VnzjDdMWyU_jo210lPdWVDu-YE/s320/SAM_0178.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trafalgar Square</td></tr>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-45219931086984651462012-04-27T18:24:00.000+01:002012-04-27T18:24:45.920+01:00Firewalking Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Just a short post to update on the firewalking sponsorship - I gave the money to Scope today. Thanks to all who donated - Mum and Dad, Ashleigh, Nanna and Poppa O, and Nanna S. I made $60 (AUD), so to make it easier, I donated £60. Obviously with the exchange rate £60 is more then $60. It's about £38, so I donated about £22 or $34.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-80116553056277908312012-04-15T22:20:00.000+01:002012-04-15T22:20:38.916+01:00I Survived Firewalking!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Friday 13th April: Unlucky for some, but for me it provided one of the best feelings of accomplishment that I have had in a long time. the day start of ordinarily enough. M and I went to scope as usual. Her partner wasn't there, so we pretty much just spent the day together, walking into town twice to do a bit of shopping. After lunch M and some of the others at Scope did karaoke. At 3.30pm we headed to Bognor Regis to find out where the event was actually taking place.</div>
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After find the Bognor Regis Rugby Club we drove to the beach, and went for a walk. Well, <i>tried</i> to go for a walk M's chair battery was almost flat from walking into town twice already, and her chair was going VERY slow. So, I guess we did have some bad luck that day. We rang M's mum and asked her to bring the manual chair with her when she came to watch the firewalking. We gave up walking along the beach and then headed to McDonald's where we had an early dinner.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwiauQup83oqHckQlAknmxLiqsHieG2-Yj-UYa3E3BYXibII6Nj9qlCIglQe61VBGrN7YGJ2szkqWA1u5gpRbDPa07Xie28IxjOraTg5Z55DOX6_SJOPprW0nzRQIutLv1S_PUjFUGP3U/s1600/firewalking+095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwiauQup83oqHckQlAknmxLiqsHieG2-Yj-UYa3E3BYXibII6Nj9qlCIglQe61VBGrN7YGJ2szkqWA1u5gpRbDPa07Xie28IxjOraTg5Z55DOX6_SJOPprW0nzRQIutLv1S_PUjFUGP3U/s320/firewalking+095.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The fire! And buckets of water to wash our feet<br />in afterwards...</td></tr>
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It was then back to the rugby club, arriving at about 6pm. I helped set up the raffle table, and also got there in time to see them lighting the fire that we were about to walk on! I can't admit that I wasn't a little nervous! The fact that the guy lighting the fire was wearing a full on fireproof suit didn't boost the confidence levels... Maybe a sponsored marshmallow toasting would be a better idea? Turns out a flat battery wasn't the only bit of bad luck for the day - my DSLR camera battery was flat! And only that morning I had looked at the spare one, wondering if I should pack it. <i>Nah, she'll be right mate</i>, I thought. LOL, jokes on me. But don't worry, I had my point and shoot camera with me as well :)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just a tad nervous</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-LjHvAsj1pvHEpm0dKBk0JI-Rt6LkXoAl8_KRbjR34oaptKJC1lUjYnVa7rsGgTBYL_zR58WQ2CZ1jjbl8RRcQxkQ5UPErL4IiAAWhQCAI1BdTSzH-j8zKb_uI3yDRKMHzgsW_3zSIvc/s1600/firewalking+100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-LjHvAsj1pvHEpm0dKBk0JI-Rt6LkXoAl8_KRbjR34oaptKJC1lUjYnVa7rsGgTBYL_zR58WQ2CZ1jjbl8RRcQxkQ5UPErL4IiAAWhQCAI1BdTSzH-j8zKb_uI3yDRKMHzgsW_3zSIvc/s320/firewalking+100.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The other side of the fire, you can tell which way the wind<br />is blowing.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFsIe7domjE-KUPeNSCx2VDT7y0iSi2QxHhkc3j9oiWb9hwVoQ628r94DtiyjLKjEsQzyttbM4X8bsorluqTpbMiHm-ON1d-LApr9P7iWdV6_afUkOer9BSB3GF4HEC-rir2InSXeGYKI/s1600/firewalking+102.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFsIe7domjE-KUPeNSCx2VDT7y0iSi2QxHhkc3j9oiWb9hwVoQ628r94DtiyjLKjEsQzyttbM4X8bsorluqTpbMiHm-ON1d-LApr9P7iWdV6_afUkOer9BSB3GF4HEC-rir2InSXeGYKI/s320/firewalking+102.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Around 7pm we had a group photo of all the firewalkers (see above), followed by a pep talk by the guy who ran the firewalk. He was an ex marine, or army man, or something, who used to train guys to survive in harsh environments, such as the Artic, desert, etc. He talked to us about fears and how we are only born with two - the fear of being dropped, and loud noises. The rest are learnt, including the fear of fire/heat. From a young age we are told not to get too close to fire for fear of being burnt, but the <i>science</i> says that we are not going to get burnt if we just walk normally (of course getting burnt is possible, but there are other, cooler things [like the walls of an oven] that WILL burn you, even if you just touch them for a brief time).</div>
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We then did some activities to help relax us and get over our fears, showing that even though things may seem impossible, that may not actually be the case. First we had to teach a partner a crazy dance, and then we had to get really close to each other and play 'verbal pingpong'. Then some people broke a piece of wood with their hand, and others an arrow, by pushing against it with the pointy bits against their throats! After all that we had to sign a declaration saying that firewalking can be dangerous, and removing liability from the company should something go wrong :S</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Feeling hot, hot, hot!</td></tr>
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FINALLY it was time for the big event: FIREWALKING!!! This was it! We walked out of the changing room and to the roped off, firewalkers only area. We got into a line and the firewalking guy measured the temperature (a nice balmy 525 C), and then did the first walk to show us how it's done. Then Peter, the event organiser went first to a big cheer. Somehow I had made it to the end of the line, so I got to watch about 29 other people do the fire walk first - some of who were obviously burning their feet a little...</div>
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And then it was my go. I got a big cheer for being the last one to go (that was pretty cool :P). I took a breath, concentrated on where I was to walk, and then went for it... all four steps. OK, so it wasn't that long a firewalk, but it was a pretty awesome feeling to have completed it. And I didn't burn my feet - bonus! Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of people firewalking, as the person I gave my camera to didn't take any :( In hindsight, I could have kept hold of my camera for a bit longer, seeing as I was the last one to go. There was a professional photographer there, though, and he got me going across :)</div>
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After I had done the walk there was another group photo, which I almost wasn't a part of - I hadn't realised it was happening, so was talking to M and her mum. I think I managed to jump into the final photo that was taken, but I'm not sure if they will use that one or another one in the newspaper - possibly the 3rd bit of bad luck for the day? After the photo all the people who wanted to do it again went through in one big continuous line of firewalkers. That second time was really fun with everyone doing it all together, rather then one at a time.</div>
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We then hung around for a bit for the raffle, but M was getting tired. Luckily M's mum took her home, and I stayed till the end of the raffle. I didn't actually win anything worth writing about, but driving home by myself and coming home to a client who was already in bed made it feel like I had had a night off, but it was a night off doing something completely AWESOME for a good cause, so I went to bed a very happy girl!! :)</div>
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Remember you can still donate if you wish - As I said before the money is going towards Scope Chichester. Due to council funding cuts, instead of the building being rent free they now have to pay something like £12 000 a year. So, the money that used to go towards activities (including bus maintenance) for people with cerebral palsy is just going toward rent. Email me at sarah.odgaard@gmail.com for further information on how you can help. I will be presenting the money to Scope on Friday 27th April, so you have until then to donate :) Thanks!!</div>
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-11782036782069919492012-04-13T08:47:00.002+01:002012-04-13T08:47:45.846+01:00Happy 2000 views!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
So, after over a year of blogging, I have finally hit 2000 views (I'm not sure how many of them are from me :P). It's not that many really... But considering I have had nearly 700 hits in the last month and a half, it's pretty impressive - Yay for increased blog traffic :D You can see from my overall stats just how much more traffic I've had in March and April!<br />
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<a href="http://chart.googleapis.com/chart?chf=bg,s,FFFFFF00&chxl=1:|May+2009|November+2009|May+2011|November+2011|April+2012&chxp=0,250,500|1,0,25,50,75,100&chxr=0,0,500&chxs=0,676767,11.5,0,t,676767|1,6AA9E6,12,0,l,676767&chxt=y,x&chs=416x180&cht=lc&chco=6AA9E6&chd=s:AAAAAAAAAAOVNRFKNaVJEIhz&chls=3&chm=B,6AA9E664,0,0,0|h,E7E7E7,0,0.5,1,-1|h,AAAAAA,0,0,1,1|h,AAAAAA,0,1,1,1|V,E7E7E7,0,0,1,-1|V,E7E7E7,0,6,1,-1|V,E7E7E7,0,12,1,-1|V,E7E7E7,0,18,1,-1|V,E7E7E7,0,24,1,-1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="gwt-Image" src="http://chart.googleapis.com/chart?chf=bg,s,FFFFFF00&chxl=1:|May+2009|November+2009|May+2011|November+2011|April+2012&chxp=0,250,500|1,0,25,50,75,100&chxr=0,0,500&chxs=0,676767,11.5,0,t,676767|1,6AA9E6,12,0,l,676767&chxt=y,x&chs=416x180&cht=lc&chco=6AA9E6&chd=s:AAAAAAAAAAOVNRFKNaVJEIhz&chls=3&chm=B,6AA9E664,0,0,0|h,E7E7E7,0,0.5,1,-1|h,AAAAAA,0,0,1,1|h,AAAAAA,0,1,1,1|V,E7E7E7,0,0,1,-1|V,E7E7E7,0,6,1,-1|V,E7E7E7,0,12,1,-1|V,E7E7E7,0,18,1,-1|V,E7E7E7,0,24,1,-1" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-image: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; height: 180px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 416px;" usemap="#__gwt_chart_map3" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-5767774298590303372012-04-10T15:11:00.002+01:002012-04-10T15:11:36.636+01:00Scope West Sussex Fire Walking Charity Event<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hello all, I am interupting my holiday blog writing to ask a favour of you. This Friday, 13th April I am planning on doing a sponsored fire walk - you know where you walk on hot coals in bare feet!! All monies raised will go toward Scope West Sussex, which is a day centre for people with cerebral palsy, and can be collected up to two weeks after the 13th (given that this is kinda last minute, sorry!). My current client attends the centre once a week. They are raising money to avoid being shut down due to increased rent on the building they occupy. Scope gets people with varying degrees of disability out of the house, giving them and their carers a well deserved break. If you would like to sponsor me, please send me an email at <a href="mailto:sarah.odgaard@gmail.com">sarah.odgaard@gmail.com</a> and I will give you my bank details so that you can transfer money into my account, which I will then present to Scope West Sussex. Depending on where you are you can transfer into my Aussie or UK account :)<br />
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Thanks in Advance!!<br />
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Check out the Scope West Sussex website here: <a href="http://www.scope-west-sussex.org.uk/">http://www.scope-west-sussex.org.uk/</a> </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4747147384336200851.post-16072378244396132952012-04-09T12:09:00.000+01:002012-04-09T12:09:37.500+01:00French Food Tour<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Or should that be Gastronomy – just to be fanciful and use big words :P I thought this one deserved its own post. While we didn’t try too much traditional food (like steak tartar or frogs legs), we did try macaroons, pastries and snails!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pierre Herme's macaroons</td></tr>
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Lets start with the sweets (cos life’s short, you know!). Firstly you can buy macaroons from McCafe – which is an entirely novel thing to us Aussies. The ones from McDonalds were very moist, and very sweet. We bought two boxes and couldn’t actually eat them all. On the way to Palais Garnier, Adam and I stopped by the Pierre Herme pastry shop. OMG, if I could buy this shop I would! The desserts looked A-MA-ZING!! Adam kindly bought some macaroons for us to share. WOW. They were only about a billion times better than the Macca’s Macaroons (see what I did there). </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">*Insert Homer Simpson impersonation here*</td></tr>
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For some reason the two flavours I distinctly remember us getting (there was more then two) was the olive oil with mandarin, and milk chocolate and passionfruits. It’s probably because they were my least and most favourites. I don’t like mandarin, but I love passionfruit. And the thing with these macaroons is that they tasted exactly like what they were supposed to taste like. It’s like Pierre got the essence of fruits and intensified in into a small delicious biscuit (it is offensive calling macaroons biscuits?!) Check out the other amazing flavours by following this <a href="http://www.pierreherme.com/media/catalog/product/DEP_MAC_PE12_V2_UK_PETIT.pdf" target="_blank">link</a>. I’ve just found out that you can buy Pierre Hermes macaroons in London… I might need to take a visit!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mum found Tim Tams!!</td></tr>
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Another standout dessert we had was on our final day in Paris (I <em>think</em> it was after visiting the Pantheon). We found a little food stall that had a meal deal – baguette (also French :P), drink and a dessert, which we ate in a park, in the cold wind. Mum got some pastry thing, I had a lemon tart, and Adam chose a raspberry meringue pie. Oh they were yummy! Though I have to admit that I think Adam made the best dessert decision. That raspberry meringue was to die for!</div>
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Now onto the snails! We got a dozen to share between the three of us, so that meant four each. They came on a special snail plate, in their shells, with a garlic butter. We got some funky tools to eat with. They were okish. Kind of similar to mussels in taste and texture. I suppose I would eat them again if they were there, but wouldn’t go out of my way to order them (kind of like haggis, really).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not too sure about this</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In it goes...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Down the hatch...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All gone, that wasn't so bad now was it!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">we cleaned those snails up</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJKrLq-WLHqEBRePMlLHOM3qhC2GWxRUKaSmV0VDsDKwDg-kl-5AwlWaMTkR3b5l0yjz3xjcpi7qvC-2IRtqd-wothpU1yilkQpgvr3VtiPqFzop711q4YPOAE7cDEgjDJ0i1U3BC-hMo/s1600/SAM_0022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJKrLq-WLHqEBRePMlLHOM3qhC2GWxRUKaSmV0VDsDKwDg-kl-5AwlWaMTkR3b5l0yjz3xjcpi7qvC-2IRtqd-wothpU1yilkQpgvr3VtiPqFzop711q4YPOAE7cDEgjDJ0i1U3BC-hMo/s320/SAM_0022.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mum got mussels for her main - there were sooo many of them</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf3NPujgPypJAlL-pLjxQwAeXrp-Hvf9BU-GNYqN_FUm2-FTxN-TCEG7QQOR3-lbLChC9cyBe2xG3xAj74k31uzHBV_-vrtZ-i99sKTui_qr8E4MK4W7sBfvT-xEN9WJnXcO3EMNgWdNA/s1600/SAM_0023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf3NPujgPypJAlL-pLjxQwAeXrp-Hvf9BU-GNYqN_FUm2-FTxN-TCEG7QQOR3-lbLChC9cyBe2xG3xAj74k31uzHBV_-vrtZ-i99sKTui_qr8E4MK4W7sBfvT-xEN9WJnXcO3EMNgWdNA/s320/SAM_0023.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adam and I had chicken for dinner</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sGXPaAd2P-A2NSELkxQtdf5vOSZz5BQHsI705kqQYQ6p_GtL6owIGxVSh06eA54caAfyKheeE8Y-r1v4r40DM-T1AR2yprwbtC4VgGtGUQU0OJe3S4-3P-2cdgFf7hxjEyz3Crgdxtk/s1600/307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sGXPaAd2P-A2NSELkxQtdf5vOSZz5BQHsI705kqQYQ6p_GtL6owIGxVSh06eA54caAfyKheeE8Y-r1v4r40DM-T1AR2yprwbtC4VgGtGUQU0OJe3S4-3P-2cdgFf7hxjEyz3Crgdxtk/s320/307.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I thought I would end of dessert too :) Creme Caramel</td></tr>
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And that concludes the French Food Tour and our time in Paris. Coming up next: More time in London :)</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08752722989582531783noreply@blogger.com0