The geordie T. rex!

We have a new T. rex exhibition at work. For Alan Shearer's testimonial today they draped the 11m T. rex in an Alan Shearer shirt. So hilarious!

Puffins!

Puffins taking off in the Farne Islands

On Saturday I went to the Farne Islands with Ken, Baz and Nita. We got a boat tour out to the islands which were teaming with wildlife. Puffins (cute birds, a cross between a penguin and a parrot to look at) flying like little torpedo flying penguins, grey seals lounging on rocky outcrops, and so many birds nesting on rock faces, including shags, guillemots, turns, eider ducks, and cormorants. It was great to see such amazing wildlife all around. I decided that was something that I've missed from my travels so far- lots of wildlife.

So many birds!

We went out dancing with the crew last night. Was so great! And today was spent wandering around town after dropping off Nita. I saw "The White Countess" at the movies, which was a great film, very subtle and beautiful, set in Shanghai before WWII.

Grey seals catching some sun

The Scottish Highlands

Here comes another post to tell you of my travels. This time I stayed in the UK, travelling to Edinburgh to join a Haggis tour of the Scottish highlands. My friend Ken joined me for the trip, which was great. He was the token English person on a bus of Aussies and Kiwis, most of whom are living in London (no surprise there). There were lots of great people on the trip. It was kind of strange for me to be hanging out with so many Aussies! It has been so long. Ken went to Scotland and discovered more about the Aussie culture than anything else. Quite bizarre for him.

So the trip was great. We covered quite a bit of ground.On the first day we travelled to the Falls of Bruar, Aviemoor, Culloden moor, and ending up at Dornoch beach, which was a lovely white sandy beach. Also passed the church where Madonna and Guy Richie were married (I seem to have a Madonna theme on recent trips- her nightclub in Miami and now the church where she was married? Weird).

That night we stayed in Carbisdale Castle, which is apparently haunted (I was having none of that though, much too sceptical for that :). It was a gorgeous night and we saw the full moon rising, and then reflected in a calm lake. We danced to a Ceilidh (pronounced caely, traditional music) band in the castle, which was great fun, and then went to the local pub at Invershin which was decorated with deer antlers and random film memorabilia, like a helmet from braveheart and highlander and a bow from Robin hood prince of thieves. Was a very cute little pub and I sampled some scottish whisky and beer and chatted to lots of Australians, and also a few locals, who were wondering what the hell 50 Aussies were doing invading their local in the middle of no where.

The next day we saw Loch Ness, Urquhart castle, the great glen, the stunning Eilean Donan castle, and ended up on the rugged Isle of Skye. Our tour guides were 2 Scottish lads, very funny guys who kept us very entertained on the whole tour. We stopped at this river on Skye, the Sligachan River, where we were told a faerie story, that basically ended with all of us having to dunk our heads in the ice-cold snow-melt river so we would be beautiful forever. I thought why the hell not, and it was lovely and refreshing, but as to the beauty thing, I'll have to wait and see.

That night it was everyone to Saucy Mary's, the pub next to our hostel for many whiskeys and beers. Had good chats with lots of Aussies.

Some thing very unfortunate happened that night. The house next to Saucy Mary's burnt down in the night, and a person was killed in the fire. A couple of guys off our bus were witnesses, and one was being questioned the next morning when we were supposed to be leaving. The Skye police wouldn't let our bus leave for 2 and a half hours, at which time they let us leave but the guy they were questioning had to stay behind. His mate was saying how they went to the back of the house when it was on fire cause they could hear people screaming, but he couldn't breathe in the smoke so he went away, but his friend was a bit more involved. Very odd.

Well we saw some beautiful sights that day, driving through the spectacular Glen Coe and the Trossachs. We even visited a Hairy Coo! (Cow in a Scottish accent). We got back to Edinburgh to find a police car waiting for the bus to pick up the other guy who had witnessed the fire. Very suspicious.

Ken and I had some yummy Thai for dinner in Edinburgh before catching a train back to Newcastle. I was sooo tired last night. All that whiskey and bus travel caught up on me.

Forgot to mention that the night before we stated the tour we stayed with Chris's Canadian mates from Busabout- Steph and Alex. They are great girls, very easy going and kind to let us crash at their flat in the heart of edinburgh. Went out for a few beers with them too (key to living in scotland and coping with the crap weather = drinking lots of beer it seems :)

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.