Hiya all

 

Just to let you know that this site continues on www.mooose.multiply.com

 

Cheers

Moose

Since I have been in london close to 8 months... I thought it was about time that I saw some of the sights as I had only seen some on the Second day that I got here and well I did not take all of it in...

Well I had a reason to this time... It was may birthday!!!!

So Saturday started at the flat... Then we were heading into town when we decided to go to Surrey Quay to Fourie's (one of our old flatmates boyfriends) place. After that we decided to go to the Slug and Lettuce in Canary Whar. When then left there and were about to head into town when at the tube station one of Fouries mate was acting the fool (as you do when you are drunk) and fell off a 3m high wall and fell on his face... we decided to call it a night so I go on the tube and as the doors closed wondered why everyone was outside laughing at me.... I soon realised I was heading the wrong direction.... ooops.... So i met the rest of the flatmates at West Ham Station... and headed Home.

Sunday 12th... My Birthday...

Well We got up at 9am headed to the Kitchen and what do I find.... My flatmates had organised a birthday cake for me .... They had also bought me a bottle of single malt whiskey.... THEY ROCK.....

Whe then got the Beer of the dog down us whilst getting ready and headed toward the Sacred ground of The Church Bar ofter stopping at the offie for rereshment on the way.

We met up with Rebekah and Ben at Kentish Town Tube and entered the church.... and all the stories and rumours that you may have heard about the place... they are all TRUE....

Once the Church had closed its doors Rebekah, Ben and Myslef went and watched France thrash England in the 6 Nations ....

Well what a weekend... well really what a Saturday!!!!!!!

After feally a little homesick ready the reports of the NZ Sevens competition.... I found a good substitute (some would say it actually found me)....

Saturday 4th was the annual pilgramage for Kiwis (a little like Anzac Day) to Celebrate Waitangi Day (for non NZers.... it like Australia Day... just for New Zealanders). And like all go0od kiwis would.... we celebrate it with a big PUB CRAWL!!!!!!.... brilliant.....

For all those that have not experienced the OE.... it is similar to the NZ sevens only over one day.... It starts early (11am) similar to the seven..... you dress up similar to the sevens (only over here it is anything to do with NZ!!!)..... It also involves going to every stop on the circle line (that is if the cirlce line is not disrupted by engineering works)... and is designed to get you to Westminster by 4pm to do a mass Haka... then you continue round the line....

You start at Paddington and head anticlockwise around to each specific pub on the stops which are renamed cities in NZ. There are not many rules but the ones they have are impotant.... Buffalo rules apply..... no using the district line.... and when on the tube if you are standing.... no holding on (which really is not that hard as the circle line tue is packed....So I met up with Rebekah and Ben at the first pub the Pride of Paddington (Auckland).... and while outside I met a guy that I used to work with in Wellington.... when then headed to the third bar.... luckily going the other way waas a lone Aussie... in the rugby top (obviously he did not read the TNTmagazine as it was all about the pub crawl. Be he was a good sport about it.

The best thing about it was that the poor police and tube workers that had to put up with us were fantastic even getting into the swing of things by announcing over the speakers do not get on the next train as it was not a circle line... plus also stopping the ill informed....

Unfortunately the only gripe I had was headin to Westminster we were stuck underground for 20 minutes therefor only catching the end of the Haka and not being able to participate in it... which makes me more determined to do it again next year if I am around London!!!

Well Christmas was pretty much uneventful for me as I was at work and I had to stay at work for a couple of days as the transport system completely shuts down over Christmas... one of the biggest cities on the world... GO FIGURE!!!

News Years was very very interesting and won't be forgotten (well the parts that i remember.. lol) we were gearing up for a good night with free transport sponsored by the lovely peopel at Natwest... However that was thrown out the window when the tube workers decided to strike because a few of them were getting shifted to different stations.... So the faltmates an Iheaded towards the party at Upton park... which was cool as it was only a 5 minute bus ride away... however as we got on the bus the place that the party had changed and was now in Forest gate which was in the opposite direction so it took us 2 hours to get there.... but once we were there it was good... when then decided to work home as it was easier and it only took 40 minutes....

On Friday 6 Jan my work had its staff party... that is christmas staff party and it was Bod themed and the great thing was that most people got into the theme.... and a lot of alcohol was drunk by everybody....

Now its Detox time

Just after I got back from scotland I went out to Reading and stayed the weeked with Ben and Rebekah.

On Saturday with the weather looking marginal we decided to risk it and headed towards Leeds Castle (which frankily is no where near Leeds... well the city of Leeds)... it is just by a small town of Leeds in Kent... close to London. The weather out there was great when we arrived and got some fantastci photo of the castle in the sunlight and we were also able to enjoy the hedge maze that they have there which leads to a very unusual grotto.

We then went inside and as we did it stated to rain so we wre happy in our decision as we were debating whether we should explore outside or inside first.

We then haded towards Canterbury and along the way using the good pub guide we stopped off  at a nice local pub and had a brilliant lunch..

But the time we got to the Canterbury the Cathedral was all dowsed in sun so again some more great photoes were taken and inside was spectacular however no photos were allowed unless you paid an exhorburant photo fee.

Sunday we went down to Sunderland and I met some of Rebekah family and also has a big sunday "dinner" with them.

Day 9

Day 3 of the Tour.... Port Augustus to Edinburgh.... Also St Andrews Day

Our Day started along the one of the most famous streetches of water.... Loch Ness

We travelled from Fort Augustus to Inverness up the left hand side of the Loch. We stopped off at Urqhart Castle which is were most of the sightings of Nessie are as it is the deepest and also it is the busiest place that can stop and look at the Loch. However Nessie was again being it usual shy self and did grace us with an appearance..

When then got to Inverness but did not stay long as it is apparently the ugliest town in Scotland and if you do see a good looking person there they will be a tourist.

We then Stopped off at  Culloden were Bonnie Prince Charlie got most of his Highland Troops slaughtered in just over an hour in the last major battle between the Scotiish Highlanders and the british Army. He later fled to the Isle of Skye and as a token of his appreciation of them proctecting him he gave them the recipe for Drambuie. We then stopped off at Clava Cairns which are stone like huts that no one really knows why they are there or whot purpose they swerved (similar to Stonehenge) and they say that on a map you can draw a straiht line and it intersects the Clava Cairns, Stonhenge and the Pyramids.

We then headed over the Cairngorm Mountains to Pitlochry where we had lunch.

On our way back to Endinburgh we had a quick look at Dunkeld which has a fascination church and at around 1700 we arrived back in Edinburgh after a fantastic trip... If any wants to do it and you have enough spare time i would recommend the 6 day option as you are not so russhed.

Getting back to Edinburgh i checked back into Brodies 1 for my last night in Scotland.

After dinner I did the City of the Dead Graveyard tour... it is where the Famous McKenzie poltergeist has had "interactions" or has attacked people on the tour (over 189 people have been knocked unconcious and people waking up with strange scratches and bruises... Not only was it damn scary it also gave a great insight to Edinburgh History. I would reccommend it to anyone.

After the Chilling Tour it was off to enjoy the St Andrews day Festivites... Were i caught the end of a band (not sure what they were called but they sang The Caledonian).... that after a short break I fainally saw the faeries I had been searching for... the were a band called the Peabog Faeries and they where from the Isle of Skye and they were Fantastic....

Afterward we then all went to the bank and endured some karaoke then went clubbing.

All good things eventually come to an end and that was an unbelievable time in Scotland...

Day 8...

Day 2 of the tour.... Isle of Sky then to Fort Augustus

Today we started of search for the faeries around the Isle of Ske and no wonder we were looking for them as the Isle of Skye is a truely Majical place.... On our way to Portree we stopped of at the magical faery river where according to the legend if you dunk you head in it either make you beutiful  or curse an ailment (for most of us it was a headache) and true to its word the headache was gone (but that could have been because the water was so cold that it just numbed the head) we also found the pyramid shaped houses that they lived in along the road but no faeries were seen. Portree had a nice bakery (however the sausage rolls are sill nothing like NZ) and a free cup of Coffee at the crafts place. We then set off for the Magical Faery Waterfall that is overlooked by Old Man of Storr and used to be Old Woman of Storr. We climed to the top of the waterfall and drank the water and had to done the faery paint and also make a wish. Then we had an all out snowball fight (people just never grow up) We also saw Loch Leathan and according to legend was formed from the tears of Old Man of Storr when the Old Woman of Storr collapsed. No Fearies were found on the Isle of Skye... it would happen that i found them back in Endinbugh

We then headed toward our second night stop of Fort Augustus where wer ent to a place called the Clanmans and we were shown and told a bit more of the history of the highland way of life and how they dressed. We then Stayed at Morags Lodge which was fantasti... great food cheap alcohol.... and a very very comfy bed.... Fantatic

Day 7,,,

I nice early start as i was joining  a HAGGiS tour....

Our First day was from Edinburgh to the Isle of Skye.... and w a great scottish guide called Fergus....

Our first stop was Stirling which is were William Wallace rose to glory as was depicited in the factually "Braveheart"... So we visited the bridge (well a replica) where the battle took place and were able to see the Caslte that the battle was about plus also the Wallace Monument on the Hill.

After that we headed towords Callander which is apparently the town wit hthe oldest population in Scotland. Just after Callander we stop for some morning tea and saw Hamish the Hairy Coo, who has been voted sexiest hairy coo 2003, 2004 and 2005 by Sexiest Hairy Coo Magazine.

We then headed toward Rannoch Moor but before we got there we had lunch at a place called the Green Welly which bizzarely had playing while we were there "How Bizzare" by OMC (which ironically was bizzare to hear it being played). Whe then contunued to Rannoch Moor while stopping at Loch Tulla (which is owned by Mr Bond himself Sean Connery) and on to Glen Coe where the famous masacre happended in 1692 (and where if you are a Campbell don't tell them you are one) and as it had been snowing up there the last week we got some beautiful photos..

We then headed to Fort William which thanks to corporatisation has nothing of the for that used to be there and then we headed on to Ben Nevis (Britains highest peak) and the commando memorial as this was where the British Commandos trained and a lot perished.

We then travel along the 3 of the 4 major Loch of Scotland. There were Loch Linnhe, Loch Loch (very original), and Loch Oich then turing of towards the Isle of Skye... We also stopped at Loch Garry which is know af the Scottish lake (see the picture).. Buy this time it was getting faily dark so not much more was to be seen apart from Eilean Doonan Castle which was voted in 2005 as Scotlands sexiest Castle by Scotland sexiest castle magazine.

At 1730 we arrived in the Isle of Skye and stayed in a town of Kyleakin at a quaint Backpackers called Saucy Marys where a good noght was has by us all.

Day 6

Recooring is the best way to put... nothing to physical....

I met Rebekah and Ben in the Afternoon and joined them as they looked for another Scotish rug and passing the time before they had to go back to london...

Day 5

Oh Today was the PRIME reason to go to scoland..... Today was the day that the All Black were playing there last game of the Grand Slam against Scotland.....

The Morning was devoted to getting ready (it takes time to put on 2 pairs of termals, t-shirt, jeans, All Black jersey, Beanie and also getting the face paint on)...

I then walked to Murrayfield to meet up with Rebekah and Ben....

The Game was fairly average but it was great to be their in amongst both  Kiwis and Scots (and also was a priledge to be able to watch Tana's last internationn for NZ). The All blacks completed a well diserved Grand Slam aster beating the Scots 29-10.

After the match Rebekah, Ben and I went to have a drink at the local pub to watch some of the Australia versus Wals (who were playing in Black).... and i can tell you that in England there would not be a chance that you could go and drink with the locals after beating them without the fear of being bottled....

I headed back to the hostel and on my way saw Frank Bunce and Hamish Mckay waitng for a cab (however they were very up themselves) then 50 metres down the raod i saw Lossehead Len (Phil Gifford) and had a good yarn to him... so good that I shared a taxi back into town with him...

I then joined the rest of the Hostel in the Globe Bar to watchs the Kiwis play the Kangaroos in League.... And what a game.... 24-0 to the Kiwis.... absolutely brilliant....

And what is more after that we heard that the Welsh had beaten the Aussies.... WHAT A DAY....

I apparently was also one of the priveledged one to one to people in hostel in his Safari Suit....

Day 4.....

A fairly lazy day after Thanksgiving..... Although it SNOWED overnight so that was cool... So a few of the people decided to to go to Arthurs Seat to look at Edinburgh coveered in Snow... And we found Arthur on his seat so that was cool.... it was not a cruel joke after all...

After that we went and had another fantastic coffee at the Elephant House....

Went to half the museum on Friday Arvo (gives me a reason to go back as I have to see the other half)....

It was pretty impressive.... and the Millennium clock was a work of art (possibly that is why it is there) just the mechanics of if it if phenomenal.... no wonder it only goes off only a few hours every day....

Day 2

Well I woke up... a little later than expected.... damn the Scottish hospitality.... but My first mission was to see Arthur’s Seat (the highest point in Edinburgh).... but on the way I passed the Palace of Holyroodhouse which at times after the 16th century was the official royal residence......

Arthur’s Seat.... well lets say that it is a waste of friggin time.... you walk up this hill for about 45 minutes (251m)... to see Arthur’s seat and there is not even one there ( I swear the Scots are laughing at all the tourists that climb it)... There may be no seat but the views are not bad.... even with a slight linger from the fog)... I then went the wrong way down the hill and had a nice leisurely 25 minute walk from the bottom back towards town.....

I ten Headed towards Calton Hill, which is a much smaller hill that had some ancient ruins on them.... On the way there I bypassed the Burns monument (1st monument of the 3 great Scottish writers)... and it is not as impressive as the second monument .... yet I thought he was the more famous one, St Andrews House and the Old Parliament were also passed...... On Calton Hill there were the City Observatory (ho hum), the monument to Dugald Stewart, the Lord Nelson monument and the National Monument... which was the one that looked liked a Greek ruin...

I headed down from Calton hill and along to Princess Street.... which is Edinburgh version of London’s Oxford Street (they even have a version of Harrods... called Jenners... which has a good Cranberry Sauce)..... Half way down you can find the Scott Monument (which is the 2nd of the 3 Monuments)... Which as Ben quite rightly pointed out looks a lot like Thunderbirds 1.....

I then decided to look for a decent coffee... and low and hold.... the lovely people at lonely planet told me to go to the Elephant House... Which is by far the best coffee I have tasted in Europe (sorry Starbucks... lol).... and an interesting point of note (apart from the fantastic coffee) was itwas where Harry Potter (apparently some fictional wizard) was born there....

At night the majority of the Hostel went to drink at a bar called the Bank... and low and behold the South African Rugby team rock inside on a short break between the Wales and the France games (it did not do them good as they last to the French)... so most of the night I had a good yarn to John (Bakkies) Botha... (So I got a photo) plus also yarned to Percy Montgomery (a wanker).... Breyton Paulse and Bryan Habana (two awesome blokes)

Day 1

Well embarked on my train to Scotland expecting to see some of the English country on 22nd Nov....  but being typical English weather it was foggy..... so i saw jack shite.... but i did talk to a person from Edinburgh who told me and the group siitng me that we were not missing much.... until after Newcastle (which unfortunately was till foggy).... I also had a grat conversation with a Nice South African couple that were touring around Europe and the husband  had justr seen the Saffas play wales in Cardiff and was totalling buzzing  about the experience..... After 4 hours. 25 mins..... which in hindsight is not really much worse than flying (if you count the waiting time before boarding)... Anyways.... got to Edinburgh looking as touristy as can be with Backpack (no suitcase yet) and day pack on.... looking for a backpackers called Brodies.... I left the station with my trustie Lonley Planet Guide (I told you i looked like a tourist)... Well a lovely local saw that i was a tourist as offered to help..... so i told him where i was going and he told me the way.... howver was not to Brodies..... but to place called Deacon Brodies (a nice pub on the Royal Mile if you ever get a chance to go)....  Luckily Brodies was also on the Royal Mile... so did not have to go far.....

 

Brodies is exactley like the Lonely Planet descripe it..... "Small, friendly and a good choice with a smallish grungy livin groom" and after getting past the first day nerves after a new place everyone was wicked.... So i settled in for my 5 night stay.

Well Over the Weekend the flat had a Haloween Party.... and although I Had to wrk it i got home at mignoght so there was still plenty of time to enjoy the night (especially since day light savings ended)

A Few People were dressed up along with the flatmates so that was cool.... and a LOT of alcohol was consumed by all....  so a lot were feeling it the next day...

 

Well in the Weekend Rob and I went to Sweden.... more specifically Malmo... which is in the south coast....

It started off really early in the morning as we had to be at the airport at 5am for a 7am departure ... but hey that is what you expect when you are paying 5 pounds excluding taxes for a ticket....

A first impression of Sweden was that apart from driving on the right (wrong) side of the road was that the countryside was very similar to New Zealand. .... Well we arrived at the hotel a little after 11am and got settled into the rooms... which were basic but nothing like the Ibis back home.

We then made our way into the centre of the Town being that Ibis was about 3 km out of town to have a look at the shops and grab a bit to eat.... luckily for us 99% of the people spoke perfect English.... We had a look around and decided on a nice coffee shop for lunch..... Which served good bagels and the first decent coffee that have had since coming over to Europe ..... But the funny thing was as we were eating we noticed a New Zealand accent sitting next to us (very Ironic)....

After Lunch we went to the wharf and saw an old Viking ship... then headed to look for the beach..... The great thing was to be able to smell fresh air... sea air.... and also the slight hint of mud..... sounds strange that I might like it... but it is one the smells that you miss..... and the city was unbelievably clean no litter anywhere (apart from Sunday)

On the way to the beach we saw a wicked building (see photos) that was spiral shaped and gave the impression that the windows were angled but were not..... We got to the beach and let me say that there was no way that we were going to be swimming as it was cold in Malmo (but did we think it was going to be warm)... the water was also freezing so even if it was hot I still don't think that we were going to swim....

On the way back we went to see and old castle (not as impressive as the one in England)... that had been converted to a museum... that was interesting... we thought at first it was a waste of money but then we saw a huge dining room... one of my old girlfriends (see photos) and some gun turrets with cannons (however we were not sure whether we were meant to go there as there did not seem to be anybody else down there apart from some prisoners... ...

After we decided to leave we went to do some shopping... but a fat load of good that was as it was generally more expensive than London and London has a better choice... However Rob picked up the find of the trip... We were at a corner store... yes at a corner store getting some Coca-Cola for the Bourbon (which is very hard to get in England)... when he saw these very cool Fubu shoes.... picked them up for about 20 quid.... I managed to pick myself up a nice scarf at a place similar to Rod and Gunn but no where near as good a deal as Rob....

We then decided to head back to the Hotel... and start to drink... A Very nice bottle of Verve Cliquot that was a very good price (you have to love duty free!!!!) then once we finished that we then went to the Bourbon.... We then went to head into town about 2000 thinking that like NZ people will go out after work.... but boy were we wrong.... They did not come out till later... Although we did meet a local called Chris and had a few very in-depth conversations... about the EU and Welfare..... Anyways after having waaaayyyyy too much to drink and feeling very worse for wear... I headed home leaving Rob with Chris (in hindsight was probably not the greatest thing to do)... but Rob seemed to have an okay night (see his post)...

 

Saturday we went to BK to get a greasy feed.... better than UK but still not as good as NZ....

In the afternoon we decided to go to Copenhagen... BECAUSE WE COULD.... no other reason.... we did not see to much of it because the weather was so shite... absolutely persisting down... we did see however he Hard Rock Cafe.... and had a shitty coffee there.... and saw a square.... went also to find out about the little mermaid statue and it was a bus trip or a 40 minute walk.... so we decided against that...Copenhagen felt a lot like London... but that maybe because of the size.... The best part was the train trip over the see bridge... and coming back in the First class carriages.......

Saturday Night we started drinking later and went out later... after channel surfing between Police Academy and Crocodile Dundee... We then headed into town about 2300 as that is when Chris told us that the locals head out then... Our first stop was an Irish bar however that was okay... not very Irish so we only stayed for one...  then we headed to a place called Murray’s... and that was good... spent a lot of time there drinking and dancing.... and also got talking to an Aussie Barman... who seemed to miss the Antipodean accent as he came up to us and chatted about things... After we went to the biggest club in Scandinavia... ominously called the Slaughterhouse (devrieved because that is what it used to be)... and man it was HUGE... could fit up up to 6000 people.... We called it a night round bout 0400 have spent far too much money....

Sunday was a bit of a right off and the weekend had taken its toll... and was similar in the town as town was eerily empty at lunch.... similar to the old days in NZ when the shops did not open on Sundays... So we spent the day reading and playing last cards waiting for the flight home

 

P.S.... If you made it this far... I am sorry for the essay....

Heya....

Yeah its been a while... but not really to much has happened over here..... I have been trying to follow as much of the elections as possible..... we get to vote this Saturday....... and will technically be in NZ for probably about half hour (depending how long it takes at the embassy)....

Everybody is gripped in Ashes fever over here.... GO THE AUSSIES....  I just could not stand the gloating that would go on over here......

Well a few weeks ago Rob and I went to see Donnie Darko in Kensington Gardens and that was a fantastic Night..... Drinking in the park..... hearing the Score before the movie.... and then watching the movie with thousands of other people....

Last week we went to the Notting Hill Carnival and it started off okay.... but then we decided that it was not quite our seen but was still interesting to have a gander at it and the amount of people there was insane.....

At the end of the month Rob and I are off to Malmo... It is the third largest city in Sweden  and it is on the coast... this also gives us the opportunity to take a 15-minute ride to Copenhagen.....

Well on Saturday I went to Reading to visit Rebekah and Ben.....

I took caught the fast train out there and that took 25 minutres which is normal...

We then went down to the New Forest (the name is strange because it is the only forest in england that has not been cut down and replanted)... Took a while to get there by car as everyone seemed to have the same idea.....

We then had a look around there and saw Some deer which was cool......

On the way back we stoped at Rufus's Stone..... which as it states is a stone..... but why it was there was because one of the kings was hunting there and on of his aides went and shot an arrow at a deer and it glanced of the deer and ricocheted into the Kings chest and killed him.... (all you can really say is bummer)

After having dinner out in Reading I went to catch the Fast train back to Paddington station at 2230 giving me plenty of time before the last tube out o East Ham (or so I thought)..... The train was meant to be non stop from Reading to Paddington..... as both the signs, the announcer and the people directing us on the trains.... However we actually made two stops one in Maidenvale (I think that is what is was called) and in Slough (and yes that is THE Slough from the great show THE OFFICE).... Well a trip that was meant to take 25 minutes took 2 hours!!!!! as they normally have 4 lines in and out of London... but due to engineering works that none of the people at reading new also the website said nothing (although according to the ticket person when we arrived in London... the website clearly stated that there were engingering works going on... he however quickly rephrased that when some pulled out a laptop and accessed the website)..... However one the train journey home our carriage discovered that Slough girls make Sussex and Essex girls look like they come from the royal family...

With all the great organisation of the National Rail Service trying to sort out the debacle they eventually relented and paid for taxis for everyone.... I eventually got home at 0230 but as i but my head on the pillow i had to feel sorry for the lady that was going to Cambridge (another 2 hours by car out of London)

I Was going to enjoy the 4 (and what was going to be the final day) of the ashes but its raining..... which is a same.... oh well..... there wil be another time...