Monday, December 22, 2008

Start spreadin the news...

We’re leaving today…. Well, tonight – but its sounded good anyways. In a few hours we’ll be at Heathrow checking into our New York (New York) bound flight which is part one of our adventure home. Boy, are we excited!!!! But first, lets catch you up on our last few days in ol’ blimey.

Hansel & Gretel
We recently bought tickets to what we thought would be a good panto for Christmas. Turns out we were wrong (horribly wrong). There was no “Booo! Hisss…. WATCH OUT!! He’s behind you!” to be called out. Instead we were ushered around the woods chasing two obnoxious kids in beanies. But in all fairness it was an interesting concept, which was done well – basically you are part of the show and instead of the scenery moving on and off stage you move from one scene to the next by walking around a large studio. But, in the end we were left feeling a little gutted for the above mentioned reason and the price.

Orphan’s Christmas
The following Saturday we had organised for a group of friends without family here in London, to get together to celebrate Christmas before we all took off in different directions. But London’s weather really turned it on for us! Having been nice all week (that’s London speak for overcast but not rain), a downpour Saturday morning meant our first planned activity of Ice Staking, left us staking around in a swimming pool. No Joke! But I’m proud to say (yet again) no falls occurred and we all left the rink relatively dry. After a sneaky pint (or two) in the festive bar at the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland we dashed across the park to Lancaster Gate. We arrived at the pub shortly after 2pm and didn’t leave until midnight which meant we had to make a mad dash for the last tubes. At the pub we exchanged gifts, had Christmas lunch and played a few simple math games. All in all, we had a great day which ended drinking away the early hours of the morning with two good friends.

The Nutcracker
Last night we attended our first ballet production, the Nutcracker, which we thoroughly enjoyed. Although Jarratt was a BIT annoyed that the main performers got less of an applause at the end than the Prima Ballerina, who with her partner performed the grand pas de dux – the most impressive performance of the play, however significantly shorter than the main characters parts. Regardless, all of them got far too many claps in our opinion as they returned to stage time and time again leaving J saying “Get off already!”

Well,… that’s it, I guess we’ll see you all soon, xoxo


Swoosh, swoosh... at the swimming pool at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland.

Orphans Christmas Dinner.


Simple Math Game... :)


At a fancy scmancy dinner before the Nutcracker.

Inside the Royal Opera House for the Ballet.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

In Brugge

Well its been a wonderfully festive weekend just gone. J and I made the mad dash across the channel and up into Belgium to live the good life of chocolate, sweet beer and waffles, as well as some beautiful Christmas markets. We left ye old London town at around 7am and arrived in Brussels (our first destination) a little after lunch. In Brussels we were treated to some pretty good chocolate, Frittes wrapped in paper (that's hot chips to those playing at home) and a rather cheeky little boy pissing in a fountain. We spent a few hours wandering around the Christmas markets and came away with some pretty ornaments and a major headache! It didn't take us long to deduct that the reason Belgium's created good beer and chocolate was too soothe themselves after a day shopping at their ridiculously stressful and crowded Christmas markets. We boarded our bus shortly after 7pm and headed for Brugge.

Brugge (in short) is AMAZING! We arrived in quite late but quickly dumped bags and made our way into town with 2 fellow couples. No sooner had we arrived in the main market square had J handed me my first (of many) Leffe beers - a traditional Belgium wheat beer. The late night quickly turned into early morning and we fell into bed at around 5am only to be awoken 4 hours later. Sunday was spent roaming the markets for more souvenirs and chocolate, hehe. We passed on the tranquil looking boat ride around Brugge's canals as (quite frankly) my stomach probably wouldn't have handled it well. We ended our day sharing a quiet hot chocolate and waffle before boarding the bus and ferry home.

Other than living it up in Brugge we have also been playing happy tourists here in London. We have done yet another ice-skating extravaganza, this time at the Tower of London. J is finding his feet and all this preparation seems to be paying off. By the time we hit Central Parks ice-rink in New York he should be able to land a triple axle.
We have also visited a number of museums, The London Transport Museum and The Imperial War Museum - both Jarratt's picks! As riveting as it was to find out about the omnibuses and creation of the underground *enter eye roll here* the saving grace was watching J reprimand a 9 year old for pushing in front of me when it was our turn for one of the interactive games.

Finally, London has truly turned on the festive spirit for us. Not only have we been lucky enough to wake to snow falling in the park opposite us one Sunday morning. We have also seen the Christmas lights of the most amazing tree (for 4 obvious reasons) be turned on by the Lord Mayor of Oslo and good old Borris.

Next up we have the Orphan's Christmas kindly organised by yours truly, a Christmas Panto (Hansel and Gretel) at the Barbician, The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House and of course the long awaited trip home!!!! 13 sleeps and counting.... love and kisses, Us.
Bec and her Frittes with Mayo - Did you know Belgium's claim they invented this lovely food?
One of the many window displays advertising their chocolate goods in Brussels.
Us at the Christmas Markets in Brussels.

"This one goes out to all my homies in Brugge"

J driving the train contently after giving a 9 year old a tellin' off...

Angel. ;)

Snow!!!!!!!!!!!!

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, November 23, 2008

A Winter's Tale

Hi all, here's a quick catch up on our recent activities here in ye ol' London town.

Jamie Oliver
After arriving back from our 9 day drive around the UK, we celebrated our anniversary in style at Jamie Oliver's restaurant 15. There we were treated to an amazing 7 course meal which included the likes of sweet potato ravioli, Snowdonia lamb ragu and the most amazing duck/meal we've ever had.... SERIOUSLY! Sorry A'sy your Gloucester efforts were beaten.... only slightly ;). It was all capped off with a chocolate cake, coffees and more chocolate!

Lord Mayors Parade
We also braved the cold, rainy weather to get a peak at the new bossman himself, the Honorable Lord Mayor. Planting ourselves just outside the Bank of England we watched as he rolled by in his fancy coach and greeted the military men of various outfits, complete with feathered hats. We ended up calling it quits halfway through the rain drenched parade and in true Aussie style made our way to the closest Walkie for a pint and feed. There we waited until 5:30pm to watch the "most amazing fireworks London had to offer".... not!

Liverpool vs Tottenham
After work one Wednesday, J and a few fellas headed out to Tottenham to watch a Carling cup match between Tottenham (obviously) and Liverpool. Bec opted out since her last trip to a Soccer match had been oh so successful, so Big Blue escorted young JJ to the game. Tottenham won 4-2 with some of Liverpool's biggest players missing.

Wallabies vs England
Late one Thursday I received a message from a friend informing me of 2 tickets to the Wallabies vs England in the rubgy, going cheap. Keen as I quickly snatched them up and the following Saturday J and I found ourselves ringside at Twickenham Stadium cheering on the green and gold. The stadium was chockers (with mainly English supporters) and although we felt slightly out numbered we still came out on top winning 24-12!

Portobello Rd Markets
The following Sunday we headed into Portobello Markets for a bit of a sticky beak. But the slight rain had kept some vendor's away. With a brief look around the stores that were open Bec still managed to come home with a knit dress, pair of boots, ballet slippers and a belt and J came away with a roast lunch (probably the worst ever) to compensate for Bec's impulse buying!

Ice-staking at Somerset House and Canary Wharf.
Well we have officially welcomed the festive season with a spot of ice-staking... so far we have visited Somerset House Ice Rink on opening night and Canary Wharf today, with a few more left to tick off. A little rusty at first and no stacks to report as yet, we can both now spin on demand... well sometimes at least ;).

We will let you know how our adventures continue.

Jamie Oliver 15 logo - so cool! I bought a hemp bag for 4 quid with it on it!

Bossman himself!


Liverpool vs Tottenham.


J, me and Pipes at the rugby.


I have no idea where this photo is taken - but i like it! :P

Us looking happy and wet on Portobello Road.

On the ice at Somerset House.

Watch him go!!!!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Road Trippin...

Alright, so we're slowly and consistently becoming late with our updating of the blog. But life in ye old London town has been busy busy week in week out! I know we're constantly using that as an excuse but shockingly enough its true! So without further a due here is the update from our last trip, a 9 day drive around the better part of the UK.

We started off Saturday morning by heading to Windsor Castle, where we made it by the skin of our teeth to watch the changing of the guards. We then entered the Castle at an extortion price but were relieved to find that the tour guide walkie talkies that we are oh-so-fond of were free! YAY! We buzzed around the castle taking in the inner keep, the royal apartments, St Georges chapel (where King Henry the 8th is buried) and the most amazing dolls house you have ever seen! Afterward we took a very romantic stroll across the river into Eton to have a look at the college only to find that it was exam period and therefore shut to the public! We decided to push on towards Plymouth (our destination) passing through Salisbury, Berkshire and into Devon, whilst listening to our new favourite radio station BBCBerks! Weary from the 5 hour drive we fell into bed after a quick dinner.

Sunday saw us start out by exploring a rainy Plymouth by heading to the Hoe, Barbarican and Mayflower steps. The launch point for the famous ship that left for the Americas, as well as a little less know ship captained by James Cook that went on to discover Australia. We were deeply annoyed by the amount of propaganda in regards to the Mayflower and were even more annoyed to find that had we blinked we would have missed the Endeavour signage altogether! We promptly left Plymouth and made a been line for Lands End (Penzance) via a pub in Falmouth in Cornwell to watch our rival soccer teams play. There we treated ourselves to a Cornish ale and cider respectively. Once in Penzance free from pirates we had one of the most comfortable sleeps ever.

The next morning we made our way to Lands End via St Michael's Mount, to walk along some of the 'most scenic cliff faces in the UK'. Although Bec was more interested in a small Shetland Pony she met along the way and playing silly buggers with numerous photos at the over sized concrete letters that spelt out "LANDS" "END". We then backtracked slightly to visit the Minack theatre, an actual working theatre dating from the 1930s, that is cut into the cliff face and spoilt us with some of the most amazing views we'd seen thus far. We then kicked on in the pursuit of a Cornish pastry for lunch passing some ancient Celtic sights to arrive in Bristol just before dark. We took the opportunity to cross the famous suspension bridge of Bristol that night as it is amazing when lit up with all its fairy lights. We then spent the rest of the night searching out dinner and planning our next move.

Well fed and well rested we head off the next day in pursuit of some artwork by the famous graffiti artist Banksy, as Bristol is his home town. We ended up walking into Banksy Central where we found 4 artworks in 20 minutes, easily satisfied we piled back into the car and had a short drive to Cardiff. In Cardiff our hostel ran along the river bank shared with the Millennium Stadium so after a quick spin around that and a few happy snaps later we wandered up St Marys Street towards Cardiff Castle. At the Castle we were once again spoilt with a walkie talkie guide of the grounds and a real life tour guide for the apartments. From there we headed to the central markets to try some welsh cakes, before pulling into the Prince of Wales pub from some strong Welsh Cider and a steak!


The next morning we headed down to the beautiful Cardiff Bay for a stroll around before chucking a 180 in the car and heading out to Llandaff Cathedral, Castell Coch and Caerphilly. After purchasing some famous cheese at Caerphilly we headed to Liverpool. Once in Liverpool we battled the elements to make our way out to Anfield to watch the red and whites take on Portsmouth. While Liverpool came out on top, Bec did not! Cold and frozen we headed back to the hostel to warm up in a black cab driven by a funny man of which neither of us could fully understand!

Thursday we rose late and headed into town to start our Beatles fiasco! The initial stop was the Beatles story, followed by the Cavern Club and the Grapes for lunch. We then headed out of town to see Penny Lane, John Lennon's childhood home, Strawberry fields (which took) Forever (to find) and Eleanor Rigby's Grave sight. Before a late night dash to Manchester, where upon arrival we were pleasantly shocked at our accommodation we had swindled for the night. Manchester proved to be quite the bore, so we quickly exited (stage right) towards York stopping in at Old Trafford for a sneaky tour.


Once in York we fell in love with it straight away and were happy with our decision to push on despite our weariness instead of heading back to London. Being Halloween we thought we'd make the most of it and join the revellers in a ghost hunt, all 200 of them, with no luck. Our final day we joined a free (however long-winded) tour of York and were sad to discover that the Minster was shut. However, we did manage to stumble across Guy Fawkes birth registry documentation and the most amazingly quintessentially English pub! Happy to call it quits we drove back towards London and upon arriving home fell fast, fast asleep.

And so ends the road trip... but as always a few happy snaps for your perusal.
Us at St Michael's Mount

Playin Silly Buggers.

Minack Theatre.

Cardiff, Millennium Stadium



Cardiff Castle


Caephilly Castle, largest castel in Wales.


J "He'll never walk alone" at Anfield.

....is in my heart

J at Old Trafford.

... and I think that'll do.... otherwise what photos will we inflict on you when we come home?

Friday, October 24, 2008

London's calling...

Hi there campers! How goes the madness that is the big bad world? J and I have been sneezing, spluttering and coughing our way into another dreary, cold and miserable London Autumn. The only highlight is that we will miss Winter almost entirely as we ring in the New Year with all you merrymen and women in Sydney. Yes its true we're coming home for the 'I Do's' of both brothers (and sisters to be) but *sigh* we will return to London promptly after the last glass of champers is downed. But other than booking (rather expensive!!!!!!) flights home we have been busy bees yet again, working at that list of things to do/see in London before we leave. I'm happy to say that with the help of one Emma Hollows we were pretty darn successful this last fortnight.

Two Saturdays ago, with the sun shining brightly London was definitately calling us, so we decided to head down to Big Ben and treat ourselves to a lovely cruise along the river. For the AMAZING price of 7 quid we got a 3 hour round trip from Big Ben to Greenwich, with commentry and all! We learnt some odd and quirky facts such as the meaning behind the word WHARF and that London Bridge has been replaced 5 times!!! That night we wrapped up our relaxing Saturday with a nice evening of thai and a few tiddly winks.... cockney for drinks ;) The following Sunday we met a few fellow Australians for London's answer to Oktoberfest. By the end of the afternoon we were all merry from the singalongs (or the steins - you decide), had had far too many pretzels and Bec had managed to land her face not once, but twice in this weeks TNT.

This week saw the arrival of Miss Ejay the Dejay and also the crossing off of not one, not two, but THREE items from our list. We started off with Camden Market where I purchased ear warmers in preparation for New York and J tried on some questionable hats. We then made a mad dash across town to watch Tower Bridge rise and fall for the Dixie Queen before continuing on down the Thames visiting the Tate Modern briefly. That night we found ourselves on a Jack the Ripper tour which saw us relive the hellish nightmare that was Autumn 1888. We visited the still preserved murder site of Catherine Eddowes (his 4 victim) which J was lucky enough to be standing on top of! As well as visiting the now carpark multiplex that was 13 Millers Street and Mary Jane Kelly's murder site before moving on to a narrow lane in the area of Whitechapel for more atmospheric effect. There we were lucky enough to stumble across a Banksy and managed a quick happy snap. The tour ended in Spittlefields market right by the ten bells pub, the local prostitute hang out of the time, we then boarded a train and wearily headed back to Stockwell for a cuppa tea and some amazing biscuits.

This weekend we are road trippin for 9 days through various regions of the UK we have been hanging out to see. But will update you all soonish as to that adventure.

Missing you all lots,
Bec and J.

The Eye from our river cruise.
Yours truly in a magazine!!!! YAY!!!!

Jay Jay with Ejay at Camden Markets


Just after watching the Tower Bridge Lift! We're such happy tourists! :)

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Bavarian Blowout!

+++THIS BLOG COMES WITH A PARENTAL ADVISORY STICKER+++
please do not judge your children based on the events of this entry!



Well the weekend kicked off with a different kind of sausage fest to what we were expecting when our 8am flight left London for Munich with the whole of two female passengers, yours truly and the fabulous Bec Weber! Before we had even taken off the flight attendant had been publicly harassed, two bloody Marys had been split (not by us) and a variety of songs sung, needless to say it was the rowdiest flight we had ever been on and we knew the weekend was just going to be plain messy!!!! After an hour and a half of sing-a-longs, we arrived in Munich. A short but interesting bus ride to the terminal saw one of the fairer sex debate if fly spray could really kill rats and a short train ride from there got us to our hostel.

Unable to check in we dumped bags and made a beerline (get it, BEERline!) for the Oktoberfest grounds. The first day saw as arrive promptly at the Hofbrauhaus at around 1ish to have lunch and our first stein. Upon arrival I devised a wonderful game where we all adopted German names and if you failed to call another by their CORRECT name you were forced to drink and the one who caught you created a new rule.... and so, Leslie, Anya, Lord Ludwig and Fritz were born. By the end of the afternoon we were rising for Lord Ludwig, using elbows or heads to point and giving the double guns anytime we asked for another round! As well as one rule that involved a slightly interesting discussion with some men in kilts as to whether they were 'true Scotsmen!' A good introductory day was had, of which we can slightly remember. We piled into bed at a reasonable hour to prepare to the next days onslaught!

Day 2 saw two fake Frauleins play dress up and head once more into the abyss of drinking and debauchery. After a quick side step past the crowds we easily entered the Paulander tent, avoiding the Italian stallion wannabes from the previous days line up, only to be seated beside a group of 65 who could only speak broken English and constantly cried out "çiao bella!!!" at every opportunity! After a few *cough*million*cough* beers we called it a day. So drunk and disorderly we unfortunately lost our way on the 10 minute walk back to the hostel. Instead of bickering as to whose fault it was we decided to board a cheap tube ride to central Munich. When we finally arrived at the hostel we had a quick disco nap, changed and headed into town for an amazing pork knuckle with a side of JW beer, little to say Mr J Wyatt was very excited!


On our final day at theresienweise we rose early as we wanted to avoid the massive queues to enter tents and make the most of our final drinking hours. Once at the grounds we were surprised to find there were no queues, and even more surprisingly... no free tables. So we saddled up to some friendly English lads and settled in for a day of drinking! Kicking off at 10am we ended up staying to see the tent close at around 11pm but not before we had danced ourselves off tables, were flashed by scots men, had been harassed by locals, been on the oompa stage, lost our table, won back our table, had Bec Weber show us her happy feet and some of us drank some questionable beer! We then headed home via a few of the rides including a roller coaster and the spinning swings and surprisingly neither of us ended up driving the porcelin bus!


Our last day saw us rise to the tune of 'beer, beer, give me another beer' ringing in our ears thanks to Jarratt. We decided to spend our remaining time exploring the town, watching the glock that rocks and having one final pork knuckle lunch at Hitler's old haunt to Hofbrauhuse. Only to close out our time in Munich watching the hours tick by at Munich airport.

Too easy, stein anyone?

Drunk and disorderly


Wenches and their men!!!

Friday, September 26, 2008

bRIGHT ON!

Well tomorrow we're off to Oktoberfest for 4 days and before we go swimming in those massive steins we thought we should update you on the weekend just past.

Saturday saw us head out to some of London's architectural sites as part of London openhouse. We met early at London's busiest building for the week; the Bank of England. We arrived excited to view the vaults, but were quickly informed that the vaults we're not open to the public despite our faithful TNT saying they were. Regardless of this negative spin we powered on and visited the Mr and Mrs Wyatt recommended muesum. We got to lift a 13keg golden nugget and battle it out on the hot air balloon for inflation, turns out J is better at keeping the economy in check despite never having paid bills in London, who would have figured? Afterwards we headed to Llyods of London but the queue was longer than George Street so we opted to head to the Guildhall and the accompanying Arts Muesum where we learnt all about 6's and 7's, off to coventry and saw the oldest window in all of the UK. After a quick spin around the area, bored and hungry Bec exited stage left with J in tow. We crossed the thames and headed to the Tate Modern for a 'Bec's highlight tour' which saw the end of our Saturday.

Sunday we rose bright and early and made a quick (but VERY good) decision to head to Brighton as the weather was lovely. We arrived shortly after 10 despite track works and wandered down to the beach front. We headed along the water making a beeline for the pier and its infamous rides such as crazy mouse and the Beatles renowned slide Helter Skelter. Afterwards we explored the quirky, oriental-style royal pavillion and had a traditional british lunch of fish and chips on the pier. Taking in as much of the beautiful summer sun as possible we decided to stroll once more along the beach before heading home. Bad, bad, news!!! Whilst dipping her feet in the ocean swell, one of Bec's thong was sucked up and quickly dragged away in the water. Paniced she approached the nearest mother and child pair who were lapping in the water and asked if the child could swim out and retrieve her thong.... to which the british (non-australian slang comprehender) replied "he most certainly can NOT!" So the thong sailed slowly awy just out of reach and all hopes of retrieval were dashed. But every cloud has a silver lining and shortly after a nice pair of ballet slippers were purchased.

Finally, on Monday we spent the better part of 2 hours wandering East London in search of the famous graffiti artist Banksy, we scouted 30 but only found 5 originals in addition to Jamie Oliver's fifteen restaurant (which we plan to book into and eat at later). It was a fun afternoon despite being abused by some cockey geezers who tried very hard to inform us that he was a sham as he only used stencils, STENCILS!!!!

And so ends this wrap up, we hope you enjoyed yet another tale from the whirlwind adventures that are J and Bec... XOXO

Apparently these deck chairs and rock candy is not all Brighton is famous for...


Deemed the 'larger person' Jarratt was forced to have me slam into him as we took a spin on one of pier rides!



Us on ... you guessed it, Brighton Pier!

Us at the Royal Pavillion.

Banksy's Ode to Tesco


Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Castles, Cuddles and Clapham.

Our first week back in London from a great 6 week holiday and we moved down to Clapham (Clap’you, Clap me, Clap em all) Junction into our friend’s studio, to start the hunt for our new place. Problem was we both wanted different areas… Bec with her common sense thought it would be better to stay placed in north London where we both worked. However adventurous J wanted to try something different in the south.

After a week of debating and little looking, we got a phone call from Adam, a little old Irish man who runs the tavern at Oval. The rest is history. We moved to Stockwell (south) between Clapham and Oval, so Jarratt won. Our house is a three bedroom place opposite a park, which we share with 2 other boys – Timmy and Pete. Our room is quite large with an ensuite and we are very happy.

After settling into our place on Saturday, Saturday night was spent out on the town with Dave and Bec celebrating. We rose dusty the next morning and headed out to Leeds castle to explore, watch jousting and stone the crows. Later that evening we met up with Jarratt’s parents for their favourite quirky Italian dinner. It was great to catch up!

Over the week spent with the olds, we visited Vertigo 42 – London’s highest bar, with great views over London but pricey Champagne! As well as Hampton Court Palace where we missed the last ferry but had a ball racing each other to the centre of the hedge maze. We also visited Buckingham Palace, saw the Phantom of the Opera and took shifts at entering the Old Bailey. It was a great week, we give five Michelin stars! A big thumbs up!!


Vertigo 42 - definately a room with a view.




Moment of impact - perhaps the best photo I have ever taken! Whatcha think?





Us at Leeds Castle.



Happy at our new home (heading to Hamptom for the day)!

Maze Winner (because J cheated!!!!)


Dinner with the folks at ol' faithful: Taromina!


Sunday, September 21, 2008

Adios Espana!

FINALLY! An update! I hear you all cry, well sorry! It has been rather busy on the western front! What being back to work, moving house, parental visitors and London's open house weekend! But I'll leave all that updating for the next entry... this one is just to wrap up the Spain trip for all you avid readers! Now... where did we leave off?


Ahh... Ibiza! Be still my beating lovehearts, what an amazing place! We had an amazing three nights in San An, where we followed Alice down the rabbit hole to WONDERLAND! An amazing gig featuring Peter Tong and Groove Armada at Eden nightclub - a whole 5 minute walk from our sauna of a hotel! The second night was spent at Es Paradis where we entered as part of the VIP list and experienced our first agua (water) party! The last and most relaxing night was spent watching the last of the sunlight hours disappear at the sunset strip taking in the music of Cafe Del Mar and Savannah! Before we knew it we were back on the disco bus and heading to the airport to fly out to Valencia where tomatoes were waiting for us.


Our first night in Valencia we discovered litre sangria for 75cents and loaded up! This quickly lead to a hasty decision to join the pub crawl, which goes down as the worst on record! The second day we joined a free city tour of the sights, but bailed early in pursuit of the holy grail! That night we headed out to a local village to attend the water/wine festival but not before purchasing our vessels at a 1euro shop. The festival turned out to be one of the most amazing things we ended up doing all trip. Basically you take your vessel and hand it in to venders on the side of the street and they fill it with vino for free!!! We were unable to actually reach this but in broken English we (plus a few friends, popeye, wilma and fred) found a very friendly restaurant owner who sold us a 7 litre jug for 3 euro! The festival finishes with you wandering the maze of streets shortly before dawn where the locals throw water all over you from the balcony! We made a mad dash back to the bus at around 4am, as if you weren't there you were left behind. We arrived back to our hostel around 6am only to catch a few z's before being up and ready and back on the bus for 7:30am to head to La Tomatina.


La Tomatina is incredible, scary, but incredible... picture this, a town street about as wide as 4-5meters and thousands upon thousands squeeze in. Just when you think you can't possible squeeze anymore in, they drive 5 lorries through the street, dividing the people like a river and drop their load of tomatos. So the pictures you see of people frolickin in the puree is not exactly what we experienced. I think the most exciting and fun part was when we managed to escape the shirt ripping locals by following one of the lorries out and throwing tomato paste at the clean people we passed. Followed closely by the kind neighbours who hose you down before you scamper back onto your bus. The last afternoon we spent catchin up on sleep and testing our spainish by ordering from an entirely spainish menu.


The final days of our trip were spent in Madrid where we consolidated all we had learnt by taking in a free (private) tour of Madrid. We also enjoyed our last Tapas crawl where Bec introduced J to the most amazing gambas (prawns) alioli he had ever eaten!


All in all, Spain was remarkable!!! Without selling it short, it was the best holiday we have ever had!!!

"Follow that rabbitt!!!!" Crossing the looking glass into WONDERLAND



Bec and the Holy Grail

At the water/wine festival... vessell in hand!

Us in Madrid, our final day :(