Costa Rica

I've just returned from my trip to Costa Rica to visit my sister Lizzie. It was a fabulous trip for heaps of reasons: seeing my sister after a year apart; feeling warm after a long, cold English winter (it was snowing when I departed, and now its 14degrees! I think I'm destined for warmer weather now, thank heavens); Costa Rica is a fabulous country – so beautiful, diverse, friendly and easy to get around.

Miami?

I'll begin at the end, to explain why I'm sitting in Heathrow airport right now a day after I should have been here. I arrived at San Jose airport on Monday and was told that the plane was 2 hours late. Hmmm. Upon reaching the counter the lady says that it means I miss my connecting flight to London, hence I have a 24 hour delay, so would I like to stay in Miami or San Jose for the night at their expense? I would have gone back to my sister but it's a 2hour cab ride away from the airport, so I thought, well I've never been to Miami so I'll go there. I'd just started chatting to a couple of guys in the check-in line and they were in the same situation. So at least I had some people to hang out with.

I got to stay in the Sheraton in Miami, which was so awesome – king sized bed and all that. The two guys were from Chicago and had been to Miami, so we headed out that night to South Beach. We went to the Delano hotel, which is owned by Madonna, and it was by far the most amazing club (or whatever it is) I've ever been to. You walk into the hall of 20m high ceiling which have white flowing drapes hanging from the roof down a long room. There are a few different bars and 2 different DJ sections, a huge pool with beds around its edge you can hire (for $1200!) and it is all opulence. I had a good time dancing there, even met one of the DJ's, and then we headed to another bar which was jam packed with girls in the tightest clothing I'd ever seen. It was certainly and interesting experience, being in Miami for a night. There were loads of people out, even though it was a Monday night! Crazy place…

The next day I hung around the hotel, and the mall attached to it, until I went to the airport to catch my 8pm flight to London. And here I am, still waiting, this time for my plane to Newcastle.

Costa Rica

Now back to Costa Rica…

I got to Costa Rica without any trouble on my 3 flights and 2 hour taxi ride to where Lizzie is living. Wow she is so lucky where she is- living at Los Suenos, a Marriot resort, with 3 luxury pools to choose from, the amazing marina packed with million dollar boats, a few bars, restaurants, a coffee shop and a golf course (if one could afford to play there). All the staff there are so friendly, and so many of them know Lizzie now she has been there so long. She lives with the family she nannies for in an apartment within the resort. Very nice place.

Los Suenos Marriott Resort (Pacific Coast)

For the first few days I helped Lizzie to look after the kids she nannies for – Abby who's almost 3, and Max who's 8 months. Gorgeous kids, but such a handful! Totally wears you out trying to keep up with them.

On the Saturday we got to go out on the boat (Lizzie is working for a family where the Dad is the captain and the mum is the chef). The boat is so amazing. It's a multi-million dollar marlin fishing yacht, 125feet long, with a permanent crew of 5 people and it can sleep 14. What luxury. It was amazing cruising along in the boat.

We headed into Jaco a few times, which is the closest town to the resort. It is a surfing town on the beach, filled with restaurants and souvenir stores, American college students and not much else. It is a fun place though.

Food

The food in Costa Rica was so amazing! Fresh seafood was especially good, and soooooo cheap! Eg. $8 for a whole red snapper, cooked to perfection. Yummmmmm, I miss the food so much already. English food is not very inspiring, I can tell you.

The Caribbean

On Monday Lizzie and I headed on a bit of a trek via taxi and bus to the other side of the country, the Caribbean side. 8 hours later we arrived in Puerto Viejo, and very small coastal town quite close to Panama which is filled with surfers who never leave and people of Jamaican decent (meaning there were lots of Rastas there!). It is very different to the other side of the country where Lizzie lives. The Caribbean coast was even more laid back, the roads were atrocious, and the town had really only one street with some restaurants and bars on it. We stayed in a cabin that looked directly onto a famous surfing break called the Salsa Brava. Wow, what a view. The cabin was, well, lets say basic. We had an encounter with a cockroach and a sea crab that hidden in Lizzie's clothes, and we had to cope with cold showers.

There was one Rasta guy who seemed to always be sitting in a tree by the road. Every time we passed him he called out us. But seriously, he was always in the tree, and was well camouflaged at night with his black skin, so it was a bit disconcerting to hear the tree talking!

On our full day there we hired bicycles, and snorkelling gear, and rode south for 8km to the most beautiful beach, Punta Uva. The rainforest came right down to beach, and we sat under palm trees on the sand. We had a bit of a snorkel, and Lizzie tried out surfing on the small reef break there. It was so beautiful.

San Jose

The next day we caught the local bus to San Jose, the capital city. We'd befriended a Canadian girl who spoke fluent Spanish, and she negotiated with the dodgy taxi drivers to get us to a 5 star hostel called Pangaea. It had a pool, bar, free internet and free phone calls to the USA & Canada (not much help to us, but cool nonetheless).

We woke up early the next morning and walked into the city, where we found the central markets. They were awesome, full off amazing fruits and vegetables that we couldn't identify, meat, seafood and everything else under the sun. We saw a little food counter packed with locals and sat there for some Gallo Pinto, the traditional breakfast of eggs with black bean rice. Very yummy. Breakfast for 2 with coffee came to a huge $3. Very cool. We bought lots of jewellery there and I picked up some $4 sunnies. We caught the local bus back to Lizzie's place (a huge $2 fare!).

Back on the pacific

We went on a canopy tour the next day, a gift from the manager of the Marriott who we were chatting to at the pool one day. It was very fun, - you wear a rock climbing harness and get attached to different cables which fly you through the canopy of the rainforest. Some of the trees were so gigantic. Lots of fun.

After the canopy we headed to Manuel Antonio, which is famous for its national park. We saw monkeys and a type of raccoon, and a sloth. We hung out on the beach swimming cause it was so hot. We had walked through the rainforest but almost fainted from the heat in the. Swimming in sweat. Beautiful place especially when viewing from the water!

My last full day in Costa Rica was spent down at the resort pool, called the beach club, with Lizzie and one of the guys off the boat Martin. So relaxing lying by the beautiful pool, swimming up to the pool bar for a cocktail or hamburger, and finding some free wireless to connect to. Lizzie was friends with the pool barman, and he and is his mate invited us to go for a ride on some jet skis. So off we went at sunset around the coast. It was awesome fun, but all my muscles were aching the day afterwards from struggling to stay on the thing!

That night we went to the Marriott bar, very classy, and drank mojitos and ate ceviche (popular Costa Rican dish of marinated raw seafood) and nachos with Martin and the two Costa Rican guys from the pool.

And its over.

So my trip has been awesome, and I really don't want to step outside the airport in Newcastle and be back in the cold again. It was so great just feeling warm all the time! When I was in Costa Rica it felt like England couldn't possibly exist. Costa Rica with its wealth of natural beauty, and great weather, is a completely other world to the UK. It was a great interlude in paradise.

I highly recommend going to Costa Rica if you get a chance. There is loads to do (I barely scraped the surface), people are very friendly, and it is cheap and easy to get around. A four hour bus journey cost only $7!

Update: I've made it back to Newcastle, with a 1 hour delay and my suitcase was left behind. Should be here sometime tonight. Brightside: saves me lugging the thing home. But till then I don't have a phone and all that jazz.

And it's lovely and sunny here, and 10 degrees isn't too bad I guess.

February in the UK

Thought it was time for an update on what I've been up to in this long, cold English winter.

Well, its still cold, and the thought of 4 more months of cold doesn't do wonders to the morale, but I think I'll manage with my interlude in Costa Rica next month to visit my sister. Most excited about that, the thought of sun soon makes me feel very happy!

Chris and I went to a Burn's night celebration, a Scottish night to honor a poet which involves men wearing kilts, saying the Burn's poem "Ode to the Haggis" and then everyone consuming a large slab of the stuff, accompanied by 'neeps and tatties'. Won't be eating much of that again for a while!

We celebrated Australia day with a small party at my place, introducing the English to fairy bread, vegemite, sausage sizzles (unfortunately from a fry pan) and lamingtons (I realised why I'd never tried to make them before, they are so fiddly!). It was good fun, listening to the hottest 100 as well.

Chris departed the UK the week before last. I was conveniently in London for a few days for work to visit the zoo and science museum, so we were able to spend another night together there. We were very touristy and checked out the extravagant and pastiche Harrods, where we purchased some pork pies (they were two for one so we thought we could splash out :), and admired the wares. Then we headed to Piccadilly circus, Leicester square, Soho for a cocktail and Chinatown for dinner. Yummo. Was a really nice night. London has a very exciting feel about it.

Chris left the next day for Japan. He is currently in Hong Kong, and still has to visit China, Thailand and Vietnam before he gets home to Australia in mid-March. As it looks at the moment we wont be seeing each other til I get back to Australia, which I think will be around September at the moment, after I've travelled around Europe in the Summer. Will be hard, but as before I'll keep busy...

While in London I visited the zoo for work, and got to hold an animal called a kinkajou, which is also called a honey bear, and is native to south and central America. It was so cute (see pic)!!

Last weekend I went to visit Tim (circus days) who is living in Alston working at a kids adventure camp. They mainly get school groups in there. It is a very nice part of the country with dry stone walls and green hills and not much else except pubs so we went to a few of those, hung out with his friends and work colleagues, and watched some quality Tom Cruise flicks like Top Gun and Days of Thunder. Hilarious. It was great to get out of the city though and see some of the pretty English countryside, although next time I visit I'll hope for some warmer weather!

This weekend Nita visited from Glasgow. We went to some funky cafes and bars and watched a few films, so it was a nice relaxing weekend.

Work is super busy this week with school half-term next week. The theme is the science of chocolate, so I'm finding it really hard writing and researching chocolate with out eating too much of the stuff! Oh well, it could be worse.... Researching mould would have a much worse effect....

The last pic is of Adrian, me, Chris and Baz down at the local pub the Bluebell having a game of pool on Adrian and Chris's last night in Newcastle. They'd spent so many evenings there....

Things that make me happy

these are things that will always make me happy.

the ocean. The sun on my face when its not that hot. travelling. meeting new people. chatting with friends. a smile from a good looking stranger. connecting with someone. looking at the blue sky on a crisp morning. swimming in the ocean. a hot shower. a spa bath. an excellent book. a good movie. my favourite music. Listening to music as i walk. my family. being in love. walking through trees. looking up to see a starry night. balmy summer evenings. penguins. sharing a good meal and red wine. the rainforest. dancing. singing. chatting with friends about everything and everything. an email that makes me think. feeling beautiful. a clean kitchen. a movie that transports me. dreaming.

Things I like about England

the clouds. Real Ale. The seasons (but not winter). The cosy pubs. The proximity to so many countries. The history. The variety of accents. Flowers in the spring. the music. that there are lots more gingers over here like me. having pale skin is normal. yorkshire puddings in the freezer section. boots. long days in the summer. Turning my face to the sunshine and not worrying about sunburn. The rolling green hills. "Why 'ay man" (the geordie accent). the seaside.

Dublin and Berlin

The past two weekends have been fabulous, flying overseas to vastly different capital cities. The only downside has been feeling super tired on Monday at work. Ah well, it it totally worth it.

Berlin
Last weekend I went to the fascinating Berlin with Gez, Baz (housemates), Alan, Nick, James (Gez's mates) and Nita (friend from home living in Glasgow). It was fun travelling with a group of buddies. We stayed in an almost new hostel that was nice and close to the city centre. Germany knows how to do hostels I've decided, as everyone we spoke to was staying at a hostel they though equally impressive. Must be the German efficiency!

Nita and I did an 8 hour walking tour on the Saturday. It was a great way to get an introduction to the city, especially its complex history. We were frozen by the end of the tour though, it was so cold it chilled you to the bone. The maximum was 2 degrees and at night it went down to -6. There was ice on the ground when we arrived and it did melt while we were there. We had beautiful sunny days though, which made up a little for the cold. I never thought I would think of Newcastle as warm, but it felt quite balmy in comparison to Berlin when I returned.

On the Saturday night, after some weisswurst (my 3rd sausage of the day) and pretzel, we went on a pub crawl. I enjoyed it, chatted to Aussies, Americans and an Irishman, drank some German beer and had a laugh. The coolest place we went to was a building that squatters had taken over. The government helped to make it structurally sound a few years ago and now it houses a bunch of artists who sell their work there and it also has a few bars. It is totally covered in graffiti too. Very interesting place.

After getting home at 4am I was pretty knackered the next day. After a leisurely European breakfast of salami, cheese and bread we headed to the Pergamon museum, which houses the entire front of an ancient greek altar. Incredible to see such a large ancient building inside another building in Berlin! Also in the museum was the reconstructed surface of the tower of Babylon, Greek and roman sculptures and loads of other amazing ancient works of art. Incredible place.

Neet and I then wandered over to the Reichtag, the German Parliament building, now completely restored with a Sir Norman Foster dome on the top of it. We were up there for sunset and had a magnificent view over the city.

Dublin
The weekend before last Chris and I went to Dublin for 10pounds return including taxes! At that price we had to go somewhere. Dublin was great fun, a very cosmopolitan city that is easy to get around. We met up with my old boss from the science festival in Australia, who has just moved back to her home town of Dublin with her Aussie boyfriend. They are enjoying being back there, and it was great to have their company each night.

On Saturday Chris and I saw the Book of Kells, the art gallery and the Guinness Brewery. The highlight was definitely having a Guinness at the Gravity Bar on top of the brewery, as it had a fabulous view over Dublin. Guinness definately tastes better in Dublin! Totally different taste to anywhere else. Quite tasty actually! That night we met Marty and LIz and went to a yummy carvery and then to Temple Bar where we heard people break out singing to songs they knew as they were played by the band. Great fun.

The next day we headed to the coast on the Dart (train). We went to the cute village of Dun Lourighie, very lovely. That night Liz and Marty took us to the highest pub in Dublin, Jimmy Fox's where we had delicious seafood.

What's next
I need to stay in the country for a while to save some money! I'm visiting my sister Lizzie in the middle of March in Costa Rica for 2 weeks. Can't wait to be in the tropical paradise where she is! Then Mum and Dad visit in May/June, and the plan is to travel Europe with Nita in July and August. And after that I'll head back home to Australia. That's the plan at the moment, of course many things could change.

Hope you enjoy the pictures of Dublin and Berlin. And I hope you are doing well in the new year, which is quite miserable up here in the northern hemisphere, with the prospect of 5 more cold months ahead!

Happy New Year!

Hope you had a fantastic time on New Years. I spent it in Edinburgh with Chris, my friend Nita and her friend from Glasgow Linsey (a real Glaswegian). Can't say I talked to too many Scottish people while in Scotland this time! Edinburgh was filled with foreigners like me!

We had a great time. We stayed in a hostel in Leith, a supposedly dodgy part of Edinburgh but we found it quite nice. It is where the port is and is very pretty. I caught up with Katie and her boyf who are living in London who were up for New Years, and with Anna who I worked with in Canberra, both a the Walkabout pub which was a very Aussie place to be, and fun as by 4pm in the afternoon most people in there had been celebrating since midday for the Aussie new years!

For New Years celebration we went to the street party, which was awesome. We saw a band called Hard-fi, very fun, and a few others. The atmosphere was excellent, everyone was very happy to be there and there were the traditional new years wishes all round at midnight, along with some fun fireworks. After the street party ended at 1pm we went to a random house part (friend's of Linsey's) which seemed just like a night club, with a DJ set up in the lounge room. I danced for a few hours and then we got back to our hostel on a free bus (yey for free buses!).

Christmas was lovely as well. I spent it with Chris's family (Aunties and cousins) in Lancashire, which is right next to the Yorkshire Dales. We had a huge turkey on Christmas day, on top of a large three course Christmas pub meal with had the night before. Chris's little cousins got so many pressies! We also went for a few nice walks in the area. It was nice being out of a big city for a while and in the very pretty English country side.

Between Christmas and New Years is snowed in Newcastle! It was so awesome walking to work in crunching white snow. The layer of white made everything look so beautiful as well. The snow is all gone now, but I'm hoping it will snow again before winter is out.

Wishing you all the best for 2005.

Edinburgh weekend

Well it is all gearing up towards Christmas here. The days are getting shorter, there are Christmas lights up in town and the shops are manic! It is certainly a different Christmas here than in Australia.

Last weekend Chris and I went to Edinburgh. On the Friday night we met up with Nita and her sister Sarah who was visiting, and some Canadian friends of Chris's. We saw the Geordie (Newcastle) comedian Ross Noble. Very funny show. Nita and Sarah caught the bus back to Glasgow at 1am as they were off to Chile the next day. We had a few drinks in a pub called the Conan Doyle and tried to understand some Scottish accents.. They are so hard to understand!

Chris and I stayed at his Canadian friends place quite near the town. Chris met them on his bus about trip.

On Saturday we went to Edinburgh castle. Very impressive. It did cost a bit to get in (10pounds each!) but there was loads in there - some interesting war museums and some national jewels. Pity the weather was quite miserable! To warm ourselves up after the castle we went to an awesome cafe called Plasir du Chocolat. We had some amazing hot chocolates and incredible cake that was layers of meringue and chocolate mousse... Just the thing you need on a wet Scottish day!

We had a quite night in that night with a few bottles of wine and some yummy pasta. Before we left on Sunday we checked out the German Christmas markets. Chris of course sampled some german sausages.

There are some pics attached of Chris and I at the castle with the view of Edinburgh behind us.

Also attached is a picture of me and my house mate Gez dressed up at a 60's/70's party. I'm dressed up as Daphne and Gez is Velma from Scooby doo! I won best dressed at the party, hilarious.

Nicole (from the circus) is coming up next weekend and I'm most excited.

Chris is staying with me till the beginning of February. He managed to get his old job back but is getting paid about double what he was being paid before - nice work there. His work is 3 minutes work from my house, and he is helping to develop an online ordering system website for a shop called Ann Summers, which sells lingere. Poor him ;)

It is great to have him back here again, although the next month and a bit will go super quick! Christmas (lancashire) and New Year (Edinburgh) and then I picked up a 10pound return flight to Dublin so Chris and I are going there in early January, then the weekend after that I'm off to Berlin! A real jet setter over the next month. That is the great think about living in England, there are so many awesome places to visit near by, And of course England is a lovely place, but it does have terrible weather.

castles and the cold

I'm getting back into real life and Italy is seeming a long time ago. I'm also got more over my compulsion to jump on the next plane and continue travelling! Well, the idea does pop into my head occasionally, but I am enjoying just being in one place with familiar people and things around me.

It has got really cold here. Tonight it will be below zero and I can't go out of the couse with out about 4 layers of clothing along with a scarf and gloves. Montreal was cold, with snow all the time and everything, but it really does feel colder here, with the strong cold wind and the dampness. Fingers crossed I survive the winter without too much trouble!

There is an ice rink in the square outside my work. Very fun to watch people gliding (well more wobbling) around in circles. I'll have a go soon, with some spare clothes in case I stack it!

On the weekend my old house mate Ken took me, Baz and his girlfriend for a drive in the countryside up the coast to Bamburgh Castle. It is very pretty up there, a castle over looking a white sandy beach and out the the farne islands. We had a pub lunch to prepare us for the cold, checked out the very old chruch where apprently St Aiden died (they have the cross beams that he apprently died on in the church), and looked at the graveyard because Ken is a stone mason and had carved many of the new headstones. Random I know.

We went for a bit of a walk along the beach by the castle. Not for too long though as it was so cold! In the picture you can see the sand being blown along the beach like mist.

On the drive home we stopped in Alnwick to go to Grannies Tea Room. We had visited Grannie's on the first drive we went on with Ken so the picture of him and me with our lovely english tea might look a bit familiar.. This time though that had scones so we had a proper english afternoon tea with scones, very quaint.

Chris arrives back in Newcastle on Friday! Hooray! Will be so good to see him after his travels around Europe. It has been almost 6 months since he left. He's not sure where he'll stay for the next 3 months, but fingers crossed he gets a job in Newcastle so he can stay here with me.

Some questions...

An email quiz...

1. Time of starting this test? 7.59pm, Sunday November 6.

2. Were you named after anyone? No

3. Do you wish on stars? Shooting ones yes

4. When did you last cry? can't remember

5. Do you like your handwriting? Yes

6. What is your favourite meat? Roast pork

7. What is your most embarrassing CD on your shelf? zero CD's on my shelf, most embarrasing album on my iRiver could be... Wham

8. If you were another person, would YOU be friends with you? Most certainly

9. Are you a daredevil? No.

10. Have u ever told a secret you swore not to tell? Yes.

11. How do you release anger? sing, write.

12. Where is your second home? Home at the gold coast.

13. Do you trust others easily? Yes.

14. What was your favourite toy as a child? My doll.

15. What class in school do you think is totally useless? When we had to go to chapel twice a week.

16. Have you ever been in a mosh pit? Yes.

17. Would you bungee jump? No.

18. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? No.

19. What's your favourite ice cream flavour? Most things with chocolate fudge in it.

20. What are your favourite colours? green, purple.

21. What is your least favourite thing? being cold.

22. How many people do u have a crush on right now? Only the one.

23. What do you miss most right now? Chris, good weather, family and friends back in Aust.

24. What colour underwear are you wearing? Black.

25. What are you listening to right now? Gez and Mike chatting, while flicking tv channels.

26. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be? vermillion. I love the name.

27. What is the weather like right now? Cooooolllllldddd and damp underfoot.

28. Last person you talked to on the phone? Chris from Contiki.

29. The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? Smile, eyes.

30. Do you like the person who sent you this? Yes, I like both of them (Neet and Row).

31. How are you today? Feeling a bit out of it after sitting on a train for 7 1/2 hours and eating sugary and salty snacks and drinking tea.

32. Favourite drink? Water.

33. Favourite alcoholic drink? Good red wine.

34. Natural hair colour? Red/strawberry blonde/ginger(if I'm in scotland).

35. Eye colour? green/blue.

36. Wear contacts? Yes.

37. Siblings? one sister.

38. Favourite month? November in the southern hemisphere, September in the northern hemisphere.

39. Favourite food? Roast pork with lots of veges. Okonomiyaki. Chocolate.

40. Last movie you watched? Broken Flowers.

41. Favourite day of the year? A hot summer day (so missing the warm weather here!).

42. Have you ever been too shy to ask someone out? Yes.

43. Scary movies or happy endings? Happy.

44. Summer or winter? Summer.

45. Do you want your friends to write back? YES.

46. Who is most likely to respond? Unsure. Maybe Lizzie?.

47. Who is least likely to respond? Chris, cause he's on the road

48. What book/magazine are you reading? The Morality of Beautiful Girls by Alexander McCall Smith.

49. What's on your mouse pad? It is a piece of newspaper from the travel section.

50. When did you last tell a lie? I don't tell big lies.

Italy!

Arrived home yesterday from an awesome 2 weeks in Italy. I spent 2 days in Rome before joining my Simply Italy Contiki tour around he country.

The tour was fantastic. there were 48 people on the tour, which did seem like a lot at the start but it as a fine amount of people. There were lots of great people, ranging in age from 20 to 35 from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, USA, Japan, Taiwan and Israel. On the tour we travelled from Rome to Tuscany (San Giminiano), Florence, Pisa, Lake Como, Verona, Venice, Urbino, Assisi, Sorrento, the Island of Capri, Pompei and back to Rome. And the Vatican if you count that as separate to Rome. It was amazing to see so many incredible places, all so different. It was really interesting to see the differences between the different regions of Italy. Each place was quite different in looks, food and people. The tour manager was excellent at giving a background on each of the places we visited and an insight into the small differences in culture and language.

I took loads of photos, so it is tough trying to choose which ones to include on this email!

I had such a great time. I'm sure I could write a massive epic on how everything was and what I did, but I am honestly so tired right now. Still need to catch up on some sleep! I'll write something brief now and will write it all down later (maybe on my way to bristol on thursday for work. 4 hour train ride here I come!).

Highlights from the trip:
Favourite spots: Venice was so incredibly beautiful, just like all the pictures and movies that are from there. The gondola ride was great fun.
Capri- a stunning island, so beautiful, house built on hillsides with white cliffs. Gorgeous day too, 24 degrees, sunny, and I even had a swim!

I have put lots of great phots onto the online photo album for you to have a look at. http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2e0wkff.aebmz38f&x=0&y=r1h24o

If you have troubles looking at these, give me an email and I'll send you my email and password so you can look at them :)

England has just finished summer time so it get dark at 5pm while I'm still at work! It feels so very strange. Not that happy to be back at work. Would rather be travelling still, I has such a brilliant time!

Pictures of the real Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

I have taken some pictures on my walk to work in Newcastle. The idea of it is to give you an idea of what everyday things look like over here in the North of England. The idea was suggested by Bolt, who was interested in what it looked like over here. So this is how I see it, every morning (except this morning, when it was pouring down with rain and I caught the bus with the fogged up windows instead of walking).

Click on this link to view the side show:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2e0wkff.9ida0xtv&x=0&y=-p4t9ei

I'm super busy at the moment with work, trying to do lots of things before I leave on Sunday for Italy. Italy! Hooray! Very excited about my 2 week trip to Italy. I'm going on a contiki tour there called "Simply Italy" which basically takes me around the whole country on a bus with a bunch of people, who will hopefully be a lot of fun. I've got a couple of days extra in Rome. Chris was just there and said it is such a beautiful city, even more beautiful the Paris, which mean it must be amazing!

A Whitby weekend

Had another great weekend, this one in England. Nita came down from Glasgow on Friday. That night we had some very yummy tapas and wine at the Salsa Cafe. I will have to visit there more to practise my spanish! Nita is also learning spanish as her parents have just moved to Italy, so hopefully next time we go there we will be able to say more than Beunas Noches!

On Saturday my old housemate Ken drove us two Aussies to Whitby. Whitby is a gorgeous seaside town - very english, very cute. It is famous for a few reasons:
1. It is where Captain Cook is from, where all his ships were built and the starting point of his voyages of discovery (see pic of Nita and me underneath the Capt Cook statue)
2. It has great Fish and Chips (see pictures, very tasty)
3. It is where St Hilda built her abbey. This is important because Nita and I went to high school at St Hilda's. It was great to go there to see all the history we were taught at school. And the ruins are beautiful. It is no longer the abbey that St Hilda built in the 600's, but amazing medieval ruins.

It was a lovely day, a blue sky, but just a little windy.

That evening we went out on the town to celebrate Gez's birthday. It was a great night, lots of people lots of fun. We ended up dancing at World Headquarters until 3am.

Sunday was a nice quite day. Nita and I went to lunch at the local pub The Carriage for a 3 course Sunday Lunch for 7pounds. Very yummy and very a very good hangover cure!

I'm off to London for a night this week for work, then to Cumbria to visit Tim this weekend, and then the following weekend I head off to Rome for 2 weeks! All very exciting :)

Everything in Newcastle is going well. With Spanish on Tuesdays and Netball on Thursdays I feel quite busy and I'm enjoying everything. Work is improving, with me just managing myself rather than trying to get instruction... Work is interesting and diverse, and I get along really well with Jenny, who has the same job as me. The Science Festival coordinator, who I sit next to, resigned today, citing her problems with the management as her main reason. I can totally understand... Anyway, it is all going well.

Chris is currently drinking too much beer at Oktoberfest in Munich. Wont be seeing him till mid-November... But I've managed to keep myself very busy in the mean time! Miss him heaps though.

Hope you are doing well,

Love Jo

A weekend in Paris

I just spent a fabulous weekend in Paris. After only 80minutes in the air, direct from Newcastle, I arrived in Paris and was immediately confronted with the fact that I don't speak French! Luckily I had company on the flight - Harriet who I play netball with just happened to be catching the exact same flights as me to Paris. I managed to catch the correct train to Gentilly to meet Bolt (science circus) and Tom (her boyf). It was so great to see them both, and they are the best tour guides of Paris! I can't tell you how amazing it was to be shown around Paris by someone fluent in the language, and to be taken to the best parts of the city.

On Friday night after I arrived we jumped on the train and went straight to the Eiffel Tower. It was beautiful, all lit up, as you will see in my pictures. We sat on the grass and ate baguette and cheese and drank French wine, and it was topped off by some devine French chocolates. There were lots of people doing the same as us. I love how people in Paris use the outdoors. We wandered down some side streets and found a place for dinner. We didn't finish eating till 12am!

Saturday was a very full day- It began with going to the local markets and wandering around, buying baguettes and croissants and pain du chocolat for breakfast. Delcious! We then headed to the Louvre. Bolt and I were wandering what was so good about the Mona Lisa... And we decided that although unimpressive at first, she is just so intriguing. The more you look at the painting, the more intrigued and mesmerised you become. It was great. On the opposite wall was a fabulous painting by a venetian artist (whom I have forgotten the name of) and we spent ages looking at that because there was so much to it. It was a scene of the last supper, but so scandalous because it featured drunkards and brawls and animals that it almost got Venice ousted from the Catholic Church back in the 1400's I think.

Bolt and I were also amazed at some bottecelli paintings. The girls in the pictures had similar colourings to us, which we though quite interesting for Italy...

We did so much that day I am having trouble remembering it all! It was fabulous though, I hope you are enjoying reading this.

We then went to a famous tea house called Angelina's. It was frequented by Coco Chanel amongst others, including prominent politicians and all sort of famous people who went there to discuss politics and other important things. Bolt and I discussed cultural differences, and indulged in the most amazing hot chocolate (almost liquid chocolate I would say) and an amazing desert called a Mount Blanc, which had chocolate, coconut, cream and meringue in it, but I can't describe the most unusual texture it had. All very incredible and we were on a sugar high for the rest of the day from that.

We went to Montmartre then and saw the Moulin Rouge, and as we meandered up the gorgeous windy streets to the top of the only hill in Paris we bought a baguette and cheese and wine. The wine seller thought we were Irish, as he though we certainly didn't look like we were from around there.

We walked through the streets that featured in my favourite movie Amelie and arrived at the Sacre Coeur. It is a stunning view from the top of all of paris. The white city sprawls away into the distance...

Bolt and I sat and ate and drank there. We then met Tom who had been working all day and went to a few very cool bars in Montmartre. We even met some Aussies - fancy that :) One was from Canberra and the other from Logan (near gold coast). Great fun.

Sunday we went to the Notre Dame Catherderal, which was spectacular. There was a service happening there at the time - incredible acoustics. We saw the centre pompedeiu with all its pipes, ate chocolate crepes and watched a street performer. There are things I haven't mentioned, but you can see what I did in the photo album I have made. I couldn't just put a few pics into the email like I normally do, as there were so many I wanted to share!

This is the link the album. I hope you go and view the pics, there are some great ones.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=2e0wkff.7ve8x3wz&x=0&y=-h6ewz7

I made it home and was in bed at 10pm on Sunday. I can't believe I fit all that into a weekend in Paris! Thanks so much Bolt and Tom for having me and showing me around :)

It is amazing how going away for only 2 and a half days can feel like it has taken up a huge part of your life. And that is how I feel. Paris is such a beautiful city, so rich in culture and history. It feels special just to be there and walk down the elegant streets. I can totally understand how people fall in love with it - I was definately under its spell. Not only is it pretty, but the people were very friendly, and it seemed that everyone just enjoyed being there. It is a bit of a contrast to England, where walking along the streets people look quite glum, and not at all like they want to be walking down a grey street in Newcastle for instance. There is also a great contrast between Paris and London- you really know where you are in Paris- you are in Paris- but in London you really could be any big city in the world.

Paris was amazing. And now I'm back in Newcastle it also feels good because I know that Paris is so close, and there is so much more of Europe to see as well. Can't wait!

Love lots,
Jo

London

I was in London for the weekend to visit Katie (friend from uni) and to go to Anna (family friend)'s birthday. I had a great weekend. It only took 3 1/4 hours to get down there on the train from Newcastle- very convenient!

On Friday Katie met me at the station and I stayed at her place in East Acton. She has a really nice apartment there with two other Australians and is enjoying the London life. We went out for a quite drink in Shepards Bush, after fending off the drunk Aussie guy who was insisting we had a drink with him and his mates. But really he looked well dodgy and was very drunk so we thought better of that one.

On Saturday we ventured into the city to St Paul's and across the millennium foot bridge to the Tate modern. We watched "the Budgieman" do a little show beside the river, so very hilarious! He has about 10 budgies trained to basically be really placid while he picks them up on a stick and waves them around in the air. Then he gets a couple of the little things to run up ladders and across ropes. All the while he's singing some tunes that go something along the lines of "I'm the budgieman with the budgies in old London town, been here for 20 years with the little budgies...etc". It was hilarious!

The Tate was very interesting. Saw some great Picasso's and an interesting display of propaganda art from the Stalin era. The moving image art wasn't totally my thing, and neither was the piece of cardboard with holes punched through it with a pencil, but I totally loved Rodin's The Kiss. Fabulous.

Katie and I made our way across town then on the tube to Anna's place in Greenwich. She has a BBQ from the afternoon and afterwards we went into town to a club called Tiger Tiger. It was really nice seeing all of Anna's family at her place. The most hilarious part was getting a group of 20 people from Anna's place via bus and 2 tubes. Good fun night.

On Saturday, after a restless night's sleep on the couch, Katie and I went for a walk to the Greenwich museum and observatory, and ended up chatting outside under the grey sky for a few hours. Was really nice catching up. We will have to go back to Greenwich again to do it properly and see the museum and Cutty Sark. I spent the afternoon chilling out at Anna's with her family, before catching a late train home, arriving into Newcastle at 12.30am.

I enjoyed going down to London for the weekend. It is very different to Newcastle though... London is such a huge city, and so multicultural. It doesn't feel very English though. In London you feel like you could be anywhere in the world with the variety of accents and sprawling suburbs. Newcastle is much easier to handle, and so easy to get around. And it is quite English here. It has made me appreciate how easy and good I have it up here, not having to tackle crowds and the tube everyday. But it is exciting down there. Would be fun to live there I think, but I would have to be earning the big bucks to enjoy it properly- my Newcastle wage wouldn't go too far!

Tomorrow night I start my Spanish class- 3 1/2 hours of it every week. I'm really looking forward to it. And seeing as I think I will visit Lizzie (my sister) in Costa Rica early next year I should be able to put it into practice too! Most exciting. Lizzie has just moved to San Diego by the way to be a nanny for a family whose parents work on a marlin fishing yacht. So she there until December when they go to Costa Rica for 4 months. I am somewhat jealous and hoping that some other position will open up on this luxury yacht :)

Chris is still travelling around Europe- currently in Berlin I believe after a hazy few days in Amsterdam. I am off to Paris this weekend to visit Bolt. Very excited to see her and also to see Paris as I've never been there before. I'm catching a direct flight from Newcastle and taking a half day of work of Friday to go- so very easy!

A walk home in Newcastle

Walking up from the station I noticed a large number of teenage girls in mini-skirts and boots. A loud honk of a horn signaled some of these girls walking in front of a bus. A bit worrying.

Then there was a group of young boys on a corner in front of me, and the next thing I know one of them has swung a punch at another and there is the sound of a crunch of a bone, and the hit boy runs off up the street. I walk up the street and look across the road, where I see the hit boy covering his face, and there is blood flooding out from his nose and has made his face red and streaky. He has the look of fear in his eyes.

In a bit of daze I continued up the street, wondering what kind of city this was that young kids punched each other during rush hour. I was snapped out of my deep thoughts by the realisation that there was someone I knew beside me. A girl from netball. I don't see people I know very often in Newcastle, so it was a pleasant surprise, and made me think that perhaps I was settling in here.

I said goodbye to my new acquaintance and dashed into Marks and Sparks, picked up a lovely green looking piece of broccoli, took it to the self check out, paid 42p, and walked out again. So amazingly easy.

I continued my walk home to Dinsdale Road, pressed the doorbell and was greeted by a jumpy Chris, who had drunk too much coffee.

today at work

My favourite article in NewScientist today was about food- The Amazing Food Replicator- a machince which could recreate a meal, say roast pork, using its molecular structure. The article explores the amazing possibilities for food technologies.

Made me think I would love to have a job to do with food. But if I did would food loose its magic? Or would I appreciate it more? I guess that is the problem when you think about spending your working time doing something you love. Do you get sick of it after a while? I'm not sure. I'll just have to wait for the day that I work doing something I love...

And this picture above? Well it is the image on my desktop at work. Home sweet Home.

5/7/05 The Lakes District

Moving house has been weighing on my mind. But now we are all moved down to 141 Dinsdale Rd ( a whole 30 houses down the road) into a town house that is virtually identical to the last place except for minor differences, like there are no leather couches in the lounge, and a banister is missing, and one bathroom is slightly smaller and the other slightly bigger… enough to make the world look a little strange sometimes, like a bad case of dejavu. Gez and Baz have officially moved over here with me.

Chris is still bunking with me and Adrian is staying in Baz's room as Baz is in Teneriffe and India for the next 6 weeks. I don't know what will happen then, they may find somewhere else before going to Europe in September.

The weekend before last Chris and I had a gorgeous weekend in the Lakes District and Lancashire. We hired a car and drove across the country (in 2 hours) to stay with Chris's Aunt Theresa in Lancashire (near Yorkshire and at the bottom of the lakes district) for the Friday night. His two little cousins Emma and Katie (9 and 7) are very cute and it was fun staying in their house in a very small town. Before heading off to Keswick in the Lakes District the next day we visited Chris's grandma who lives nearby. She is originally Polish and was very lovely to us. She did think it was odd that we didn't drink loads of tea… I haven't taken to that famous English past time yet! We stayed in a very cute B&B in Keswick. Keswick was beautiful – the lake with the surrounding mountains and a quaint little town. The weather was just perfect – sunny and up to 25 degrees. I'd had visions of trekking up hills in pouring rain but luckily we had none of that, just me complaining about how high the Catsbells mountains were! Have a look at the pics to see more of us climbing and wandering round the lakes district. On Sunday we drove back to Theresa's via the road through the lakes district. Absolutely gorgeous scenery. Lots of people around too but even that didn't damped how it looked. We stopped at a country pub and shared a Sunday roast. Yummo! I so love the Yorkshire puddings over here. You can buy them frozen and wack them in the over for 4 mins for yummy goodness. One thing that Australia is totally lacking ;) That evening we went to the pub with Theresa and the cousins, and chased a hot air balloon that was frightfully low on our way home. Monday we took Katie for a walk to see another of Ruskin's views by a river in Kirby Lonsdale and then had an ice cream. We then drove back via Barnard Castle, passing by the moors and a few other castles on the way.

13/6/05 Day trip to Tynemouth

I was beginning to think that summer had arrived last week with most days reaching about 17 degrees, and I ditched my coat... But not for long. It turned cold right in time for the weekend. In an attempt to ignore the English weather Chris and I went to Tynemouth (ie (for the non-Englishmen amongst you) mouth of the river Tyne which Newcastle-upon-Tyne is built around). It only took a 1/2 hour on the metro.

There were some cute little markets at the metro station. They were different to Aussie markets, which are usually filled with arts and crafts and food. These markets were filled with old jewelry and books and artefacts like old war uniforms. And there were loads of second hand books which was great, Chris and I picked up a few good ones.

We went along the street and found some ruins. It was a great historical site, with the ruins of a priory (founded in 1090) and a ruined castle which had been attacked by the vikings, medieval Scotland, Napoleon and 20th Century Germany. The site played a part in WWI and WWII as well (hence Chris on the gun :). It was amazing to see so many parts of history in one place.

To get out of the rain and wind we had cake and coffee and a cute pub by the cliff called Gibraltar Rock which was serving up some yummy Sunday lunch too which I'll have to keep in mind.

Chris has a job now working for a small IT development company. He is enjoying working with a small team, and it is located 3 mins walk from my house, which is very handy!

My work is going fine. Quite busy with a new travelling exhibition 'Mars Quest' opening at the end of the week. For the exhibition we've had to create the science content for the supporting material, which has included writing a science show, developing the hands-on activity zone (explozone) and the education workshop, amongst other things. Hopefully it will all go down okay.

Great to hear from some of you. I'm off to the moors for a day trip next weekend, and the weekend after I'm going to the Lakes District with Chris which should be lovely. Hopefully the weather will get a bit warmer!

19/7/05 Latest news from the north

The Hoppings

The Quayside

Only in England

The other day while walking to work I saw something very English. There was a man walking along who had a grey beard, trimmed perfectly. He had a hat, a tweed jacket complete with the leather patches on the elbows, a curvy pipe dripping from his lips while he puffed on it, and he was swinging a very thin, long black umbrella. As he puffed on his pipe as I passed him I realised that this could only happen in England. You so would not get away with that in Australia!

The Hoppings

The week after Chris and I went to the gorgeous lakes district there was a huge carnival in Newcastle called The Hoppings. It has been happening for over 100 years, and is the largest gathering of gypsies in Europe. They converge on the Town Moor, where they set up the spinning rides, fortune telling caravans, 2pence skill machines, and then all the games where you can win huge stuffed animals. The highlight of all the flashing lights was the huge ferris wheel. You can see the great view from the attached piccies. Chris, Adrian and I ate dubious roast pork rolls, and I ate the greasiest donuts ever. Chris and I also went on the lamest ghost ride. Unlikely name for something that rates glow in the dark paint as scary!

Interesting fact: if you have a cow, you can graze it on the town moor totally free! I want a cow.

Work

I’ve been working away at the Life Science Centre. The Mars Quest exhibition is now installed and I’m producing material to extend what is there, so activity sheets, trails, hands on activities, powerpoint slides to rotate around, and info on all the latest space missions. I can’t say I’ve been much into space before, but it is interesting and exciting stuff so I don’t mind suddenly becoming in the know about all the latest space missions. Man there are some space-nerds out there though!

I had my 3 month review with my boss Linda today. She said I’ve been doing great work- much more hands-on than they’ve ever had before. Probably a result of the science circus I think… And the fact that ideas from Australia are deemed ‘original’ when you bring them to this country! (I haven’t stolen too many of the circus tricks ;) The only thing she was concerned about was that I sometimes look very sad when she sees me apparently, and she was wondering how I’m settling in. I think that’s just how I look when I’m concentrating! I guess it has been a bit tough adjusting to the work environment over here, but things are going fine now. I’m going to take up a few hobbies soon which should keep me more busy.

This week there is a science communication conference at my science centre – the British Interactive Group conference. I’m really looking forward to meeting science communicators from all over the country and going to some interesting sessions. The networking should be fun too.

The no-trip to Whitby weekend

The other weekend Nita came down from Glasgow and the aim was for us to meet up with out old Modern History teacher Mrs Pride from high school and take a pilgrimage type trip to Whitby, the home of St Hilda and the name of my old school (St Hilda’s). The morning we were to set off Mrs Pride stepped outside to no car. Walking down the street she discovered some crafty (drunk) young un’s had kindly pushed it down the street. After having the police come etc there wasn’t enough time to go to Whitby. We’ll have to go some other time. Nita and I went to Whitely bay instead where we had a proper English roast beef lunch with 5 veges at the “Down Under” café (themed aussie style) which was perched right next to the beach. Went down to the beach and my toes touched the water and that was enough cold for me!

That afternoon we has afternoon tea with Mrs Pride and the people she was staying with at their house in Jesmond (the next suburb from me). She was staying with an old student of hers Penny who is now a Professor in English Literature at the University of Northumbria. Penny is also an author and Mrs Pride gave me a copy of her book ‘Tree of Angels’ which was a great read and I now have to pass on to Nita.

That week Mrs Pride came to the Science Centre and I showed her around which was good fun.

Also that weekend Nita, Chris and I went to the theatre to see the Reduced Shakespeare Company perform all of Shakespeare’s 96 plays in 2 hours. It was great fun, a hilarious performance. We treated ourselves to some Thai food after that. Thai restaurants are few and far between in this country. Quite tasty.

The weather (can’t live in England without discussing it extensitvely!)

We have had lovely weather here the past few weeks. Makes me feel much more at home when the sun is shining and the sun has some warmth! It has been around 24 degrees in the day time and mild at night. Quite summer-y. Although everyone says it wont last, which puts a bit of a downer on it all.

The parks

One Sunday Chris and I went for a walk/run through the parks around here- Heaton Park and Jesmond Vale. It is really beautiful in the parks, with their giant trees and overgrown greenery. In Jesmond Vale we randomly came across a petting zoo which had quite a good aviary. We said an aussie g’day to the lorikeets and rosellas. We had giant English breakfasts on our way home at Belle’n’Herb, well deserved at 2.30pm!

Tim and coffee

This past weekend Tim from the science circus came to visit. Was great to see a good friend in my new stomping ground. We sampled a few bars, went down to the quayside, checked out some art galleries and drank a few cups of coffee of course. Had great weather too. He’ll be passing through again soon and will be working in Cumbria, which is only around 2 hours drive from here. Another mate near by!

My Plans

I’ve booked a contiki trip around Italy for 12 days at the end of September. Very excited! Will be great to see some of Europe, and I’m sure it will be fun touring with a bunch of 18 to 35 year olds. I fly direct to Rome from Newcastle, only ₤96 ($250) return which I think is quite good, considering you pay that to fly within Australia. It is highly likely that the trip will give me a bad case of the travel bug, but with Europe so close I’m sure I’ll plan loads more trips soon.

Through some tourism initiative and as my work is a tourist destination I’m taking up Spanish classes. It is an intensive course for a year through Northumbria University that will give me a language certificate at the end of it. There are 4 hours a week of classes after work, and I will be a student again (ie. Student discounts)! I’m really looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into something like this. I walk through the Uni on my way to and from work everyday so the location is super handy too.

I was a bit hesitant at first about it cause it is a year long, but I figure I can always just leave if I feel the need to get out of Newcastle before September next year. I think I’ll stick it out till September next year, but I’ll see how I go. The only thing that I’m missing here is some good friends. I’ve found it difficult to meet people here, and although my housemates are great and friendly, a good group of friends is missing. So I think I’ll take up Pilates or yoga as well, to give me some more avenues for meeting people.

Chris and Adrian begin their 2 months around Europe at the end of September, so I’ll have my room back to myself then, and much more time on my hands too! They return in November but they’re not sure what they’re doing then.

The Beginning

Okay, a blog, and what to do with it. Will figure something entertaining out for it hopefully. Enjoy!

my pic (some reason need to publish it online before I can add it to my profile. Don't ask me why... a computer geek will be able to fill you :)