25 September 2005

LAST BLOG FROM EUROPE?

scotland - magnificent! skye was beautiful (i've never seen such an amazing array of waterfalls), and we stayed in a hostel beside a wonderful little pub, right on a loch. met lots of nice people, many Serious Walkers who like to Do Mountains. visited the talkisker distillery, so esther and i could indulge our sudden and alarming whisky fetish!... lismore was great - got to see ross and jen. went on one long walk to coeffin castle - an amazing 13th century ruin standing in a remote part of the island, looking across to the megalithic hills of mull. we thought it might be fun to walk cross-country around the coast back to our cottage... let's just say that 'around the coast' became something of a catchphrase for us! there was plentiful lighting of warm coal fires, flirting with the cute little ferryman, and writing of novels, films, short stories, etc. wonderful... and now we're back in london for a couple of days, packing bags and boxes, saying goodbye to friends and family, enjoying the city life... looking forward to seeing all on the Other Side of the World. also to MELBOURNE FOOD! retro, alasya, small block, lentil as anything, big harvest, crooners, trotters, vina bar, the vic market, thai nee, vegie bar, cafe romantica!, MY2K, thaila thai... i can feel the weight piling on! trying not to think about all the things we'll miss... if we have time today, i'll put pix on the net. love and hugs!

12 September 2005

AGATHA CHRISTIE WEEK...

Hallo, folks. Dan here, with a brief update for you lovely people out there in warmer places. We are currently sitting in The Orkney Library in, er, Orkney. It is Agatha Christie week here, and the staff are all wearing highly amusing wigs and cardigans and skirts and sporting the obligatory detective magnifying glass (tm) - so there are pleny of Miss Marples and Hercule Poirots walking around me as I type.

It is cold here. Rachel has a cold. Dan has a cold. Esther has a hole in her leg and hobbles, from when she fell over in the street. Other than that, Orkney is fab! So fab, in fact, that we have decided to extend our stay here. We are staying in a hostel on an organic farm, with three tiny kittens (Esther is in heaven!).

Since leaving London, we have seen: Edinburgh, which was great; Kingussie, which was great, also; John O'Groats, which was, in the accurate words of Lonely Planet, an 'overdressed car park' (although there were a number of celebrities in town filming something for channel 5 - Brian Blessed, the bloke from Top Gear who isn't Jeremy Clarkson, and many other fabulously famous people whom I recognised but couldn't name).

On our way to the ferry to Orkney, we (I) decided that it would be a wonderful thing to do to drive into a ditch and get stuck. And so I did. Luckily, some people stopped and helped us out, otherwise we'd probably be there still.

However, we made it over to Orkney, and looked at lots of really old things, like The Ring of Brodgar, Scara Brae, the excellent Maes Howe... It has all been too splendid.

Anyway, I promised that this would be brief, so I will let you, dear reader, get back to whatever vitally important task you were in the middle of doing when you took a break to read this. Fare thee well.

Next stop, Skye...

4 September 2005

UPDATE UP YOUR DATE

hello (to be said in the style of lupin to neville in DADA class)... esther is here! sunny days are here!!! tomorrow we won't be here!

off to scotland tomorrow. 3 nights in edinburgh, 2 near the cairngorms (?), 3 in orkney... a couple more somewhere, a couple on skye, then to our cottage for a week of fun with ross and jen. then back here for a few days and then back to australia. can't believe it's so soon!

it is so nice having esther with us. yesterday we picked her up from stansted, then came back, sat in the sunny garden, watched the mighty boosh, went out to sit in golders hill park and watch the sun set (it looked like a pink grapefruit)... today we went to camden market, where esther bought earrings made of bits of circut boards, and dan and i bought food. then to hampstead for (of course) CREPES and iced tea/chocolate/etc. met uly and mike and went up primrose hill for a while... and now we're here, and - as previously stated - tomorrow we will be gone.

no more milk from the milkman, no more 'look left. look right' painted on the roads. no more laptop computer. no more katzes - apart from dan and danny of course...

will try to update a couple of times in scotland. see you round!