Its a fine, fine life.

So I think I'm alergic to London, since being back these last 3 weeks I don't think my nose has stopped running the whole time. Whereas J was excited to return to routine and the daily slog.... despite living the dream for 8ish weeks, that or he missed the money (hehe). And while the last 3 weeks have been mostly uneventful, there are some minor highlights to update you all on.

Our first weekend was spent celebrating 3 of our close friends birthday parties, Bluey, Bec and Nicole. Being back only 48 hours we started off the weekend with a few brews at Camden head in Angel, before shortly stumbling across to the walkabout on a not so wise empty stomach. We ended up widdling away the hours and making a mad dash to the last tube where a cake fight preceeded to unravel. The next night we backed up for another party and not so cheap cocktails, but some fine entertainment at strawberry moons.

Since being back we also made the most of being in London by spending a free Sunday walking through the Churchill muesum and the cabinet war rooms. This included a look at churchills life and the decisions he made throughout the second world war. It was a hit with Jarratt, not so much with Bec.

For my birthday, the celebrations kicked off on friday and continued way into saturday culminating at Shebu walkie. Friday I shopped til I dropped (my phone) and had an initimate dinner at my fave thai resturant with Jarratt and a nice bottle of wine - thanks Cazzie and A'sy. Saturday we celebrated in style with a bunch of friends, live music and one inflatable hot pink guitar - I had an awesome time! Thanks everyone!

Last night we went to Oliver! a new west end show with Rowan Atkinson playing the part of fagin. Before leavin home, we ate some "food, glorious food" and then headed to the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane. We took our seats and "considered ourselves at home", the tickets were a belated birthday treat for Jarratt as he really wanted to go and as I always tell him, "I'd do anything, for you dear, anything, for you mean everything to me."

Tomorrow we're off to Belfast and will update again soon.
Lots of love, Us.

Us at Shebu.

J and Pipes get down with their bad selves.

Ouch! Bec birthday bumps!

Snakies in style!!!!

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.

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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!!!!

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?

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! :)

Mind the Gap

.... AND pay attention to which direction the train is heading. STEVE!

Well another eventful week has passed and BOY! do we have some tales to tell. Firstly shopping on a Saturday in Oxford Street is RI-DIC-U-LOUS! After already spending over an hour exploring top shop and an additionally 40 minutes in H&M, Bec managed to convince the VERY exhausted Jarratt to stroll down to Primark in the hunt for some ballet slippers. Much to her delight she found a very stunning pair for 4 pound and promptly lost her mind snapping up an additional three pairs in different colours. She then put Jarratt in a line that snaked around the entire second level of the department store for 45 minutes to buy them, while she hunted out some bargain towels and blankets. In the end Bec won some bargain shoes but nearly lost her boyfriend in the process.

Sunday saw the arrival of the lovely Mr and Mrs Wyatt, after a brief mix up in Liverpool Street vs Liverpool Road they arrived. Before heading to the pub for dinner, the Wyatts had two months of holiday snaps forced upon them. But they didnt seem to complain any. The following evenings saw many a restaurant visited, numerous bottles of wine drank and one pretty amazing musical watched. We also had a rather eventful evening with Vander, Deano's Auntie, while the Wyatts were in ol' London town. What a HOOT! All in all a lovely time was had by all and it was very sad to say goodbye late Thursday evening.

We're currently debating over holiday destinations for the October school holidays and Christmas - with the Baltics, Austria and Portugal all being hot faves. But with London a stones throw from most places, the world is really our oyster and we could end up anywhere! We'll let you know in the next entralling entry of Where are they now?

Love to you all, Us!!!

PS - Who should we expect as the next lot of visitors? hehe.

Have hit the motherland!!!

Hey there campers....

Well after an initial rough patch we have finally found our feet in London. The property market in London at the moment is extremely cut-throat and we were having a difficult time securing a place. And the catch 22 here is, you can't get a place without a job, or a job without a place - so it did make for a few headaches. Anyways we have ended up finding a very decent place in Angel; a trendy area in zone 1 that is quite like Paddington in Sydney. We have signed a short term lease of one month and are hoping to stick out a solid 3 months here til the lovely Bluey and Bec arrive. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

We also have both secured good paying jobs which are very close to our place in Angel. Jarratt is working on a construction site as a mechanical electrician, bit different to the work back home. Bec is working full time on a kinder class (well the equivalent age group of kinder to Australia) and is also finding the work a bit different to home. We are feeling incredibly over qualified for our jobs, but its easy money so who are we to complain.

We are also starting to plan our next few trips, we're thinking somewhere in scandinavia for Christmas, like Norwary, Sweden, Finland or so on. But will need to nut it out more in coming weeks. We also have to decide where we want to travel to during the half term break (October 20 - 29). Since it is such a long stretch of time we're thinking maybe Egypt... but its still early days. It is a tough life... hahaha.

The last few days have been a blast with Stevie B in town, next come Mr and Mrs Wyatt, then not too far behind them is the arrival of the Master Chief and Defacto. We are both very much looking forward to the visitors!

And last but not least we must say big thanks to Garcy for putting up with us as long as he did. As well as taking us out day dot and introducing us to all his mates who kept us awake with the encouraging catch phrase "just keep drinking". We do appreciate it.

Til next time, take care of yourself.... (hahaha).... and each other.