| Well hello there, these pages are where you can find out all about what I've been doing with myself around this side of the world. The first couple of "bulletins" were sent out as group emails, and I've just edited them to fit onto a web page, this page is the initial email I sent from Edinburgh. If you just want to see the photos, you'd be better off looking at the photo gallery. | |
|
My
first stop after leaving New Zealand was Honolulu (for all of about an
hour), which was an opportunity to catch up with Greg, a fellow Melvillian
who just happened to be on the same flight as me. After that it was off
to Toronto, where I was met by Deanne and Blair,
friends from my job in Auckland. Stayed with them one night, and had a
quick look at Toronto (lovely city), and then
it was off to Hamilton to stay with Faruggias - friends of my parents from
their time spent in Canada.
I was treated like royalty whilst staying with them, had a fantastic time there, and was sorry to have to push on so quickly. |
|
I
met Kara (a friend from NZ, as well as the girlfriend
of one of my best friends, who lives near Rochester NY) in Niagara Falls,
and she drove me back down to her Father's place in Rochester. America
greatly exceeded my expectations - I hadn't expected it to be so beautiful
(or so bloody big!).
I discovered that I was allergic to prawns that night (embarrassing), but made a quick recovery, and really enjoyed the couple of days there - which included a trip to Kara's university town - Geneseo (home of the Knights), and to Letchworth Forest Park. Back to Toronto then, and onto the (packed) flight to London. It was Thursday when I arrived there, I spent a couple of days staying with a friend from high school. It was nice to have a look around, and particularly to catch up with Brian and Daphna (his fiance), but in general London failed to make a huge impression on me, I'm sure I'll be returning, but not with the same enthusiasm as to Scotland ..... Scotland Scotland Scotland, WOW! I've been looking forward to it for so long, but it still exceeded my expectations. I arrived in Edinburgh on a Saturday night, so didn't see much of the place then. Stayed the night with friends of a friend - Maria and Geoff, who gave me my first taste of Scottish hospitality. Took me along to the local pub, where we had haggis, ale, whisky, talked and then walked back to their place for the night. A great intro to Scotland. |
|
The
next morning the Haggis tour began, 19 people in total (15 girls, 4 guys....
damn....) from Australia, NZ, Spain, Ireland, South Africa, Scotland, France,
Germany. Mostly a fantastic group, although a few of the Aussies did their
best to complain about everything, and piss the rest of us off - never
mind (actually two of the Aussie girls were great, it was only 3 people
who didn't fit in with the group - not a big deal really).
We were on a bus with a Scottish girl, Vanessa (Nessy), who drove/ told stories/ entertained/ organised/ looked after us, basically did everything. She was really nice, and did a great job of it. The first day we headed off for the William Wallace monument, heard all about the history of it (not quite the same as Braveheart, but close), and then drove up into the highlands. |
|
We stopped in Glencoe for lunch - eery, beautiful place, and like so many places in Scotland with a really interesting history behind it. The weather that day (and for most of the trip) was great, sunny, warm, still and clear, Vanessa couldn't believe it was so nice, apparently the summer hasn't been too good. |
 |
That night was spent beside loch Linhe, under the shadow of Ben Nevis, we watched Braveheart (and recognised some of the scenery!), and took it fairly easy. |
 |
The next day we headed for Isle of Skye, another beautiful drive through the highlands, stopped at a beach on the way for coffee and a game of soccer on the sand, and then onto the ferry. Skye was just amazing, beautiful, barren, and with the feeling that the "wee people" were hiding behind every stone or bush. I had to buy some shorts in Portree - jeans were just too hot - as well as a tartan hat (complete with a mop of red hair). Over the course of the trip we did lots of walks, usually 40 minutes to a couple of hours long, which included "The Old Man of Storr" on Skye, and various other places. This photo was taken near the Old Man of Storr, from left myself, Pierre, Richard and Tini (bottom), Nicky, Rebecca and Lily (on top of rock), Juan, Vanessa, Karen, Ciara, Sharyn, Fiona, Veronica, Charlene, Carolynne, and Helen. |
|
We
stayed that night at the best hostel of the trip, Dun Flodigarry, which
was next to a hotel/pub (haggis for dinner again - delicious, then some
local whiskies and ales). A slight headache in the morning, but not enough
to deter me from a run and quick splash in the water (a balmy 10 degrees!).
The hostel was a beautiful old building, and in a remote corner of Skye.
I ran with Tini (the German girl) for 1/2 an hour in the morning, found
a track off the road and made an awesome discovery - a lake surrounded
by hills and cliffs, which was so totally still that the reflections looked
like solid land, everything turned golden from the sunrise - nearly ran
straight into the water!
|
|
Another stop on the Isle of Skye was Duntulm Castle, which is in ruins, but very picturesque. The second photo is the view from the dungeon "window". |
 |
We
stopped for a while on the coral beaches on Skye, and had a game of "rounders",
softball basically. The Aussies and Kiwis (9 of us) took on the rest, and
cleaned up! We also went for a bit of a wander around the area, a few people
walked out to a island just off the shore, and forgot to check for the
tide coming in!
Then it was back to the mainland for the night, another pub dinner, pool, whisky, home, good fun. |
 |
The first stop of day 4 was Eilean Donan castle (from the opening scenes of "highlander" if you've seen it). a beautiful castle, and really interesting to look around. had a couple more stops for walks, and stayed the night in Ullapool. the two Spaniards (Veronica and Juan) cooked dinner for us all (with help from the rest of us), which was a meal I'll never forget - absolutely fantastic. |
 |
Next day we headed for Loch Ness, had a very quick dip in the water (6 degrees was a little nippy), and then on to the hostel. Yet another pub meal (Scotch pie, beans and chips - yum), and then walked down to Urquhart castle at night. It's a ruined castle, but still much of it in good condition, and is floodlit at night - just beautiful. We stayed there a few hours, singing, dancing (Irish jigs) and having a "craic" which was really good fun. |
|
Then the last day, we had a coffee stop at Loch an Eilean, another fantastic spot. The Loch has a crannog (at least that's what they call it in Ireland) - an island (often built) with a castle on it. |
 |
We
drove past Culloden Moor, and stopped at the Clava Cairns nearby, which
are prehistoric burial mounds. Most of the day was spent on the road back
to Edinburgh. we all caught up again that night at the pub (The Last Drop
- refers to the hangings that took place outside, nothing to do with drink),
and had another good night. The next day I looked around the city, organised
myself to get to Belfast on monday, and went to Rebecca's (the Scottish
girl) for dinner. The final day in Edinburgh I was pretty much on my own
- had dinner at the Southern Cross Cafe, where I got talking to to a few
American people - we all ended up at the same table. One of them (maureen)
has since ended up being one of my "most frequent emailers" - loads of
jokes - funny how things happen like that.
And that was it for Scotland, the next day I was on the ferry to Belfast, ready to try some Irish whiskey! |
