tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9524598606083291332024-03-13T21:51:38.730+13:00Hayley and Niki's AdventuresHayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.comBlogger161125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-73827354942955426852009-03-05T17:03:00.004+13:002009-03-05T17:10:26.593+13:00EMPLOYED<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#000066;">Just a quick blog to let you know I have a job!!!! and yes, it's actually an admin role and one I am really excited about =) It's at the head office of Jennian Homes so we deal with all the franchises nationwide, sounds like it will be varied and challenging. I start on 16 March so am looking forward to the fortnight ahead, guilt-free relaxing, and finally can look at flat hunting and wedding stuff!</span> </div>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-89508851350585094912009-03-01T11:10:00.006+13:002009-03-05T16:55:29.610+13:00Jan & Feb at a glance<div align="justify"><span style="color:#6600cc;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Niki started his flying course on 9 Jan and has been loving it. His medical certificate took its time issuing so it was a bit frustrating but since coming through 2 weeks ago he has done lots of solo flying including a couple of 3 hour cross country flights. He has done 4 exams since getting back and has passed all of them well. The workload is different every week and often he can just go in whenever he has a flight booked, and other times he is studying morning, noon and night.<br /><br />I have been spending alot of time at home just hanging out, basically trying not to spend money! The first few weeks back were awesome but as friends started to go back to work and I started looking for a job things weren't quite so much fun! I registered with recruitment agents and have spent a lot of time up the road at the Riddingtons using their computer and browsing their Bay of Plenty Times job sections! I have been receiving the unemployment benefit too, I'm entitled to a half share of a married couple allowance, which equals $150 a week, so not enough to live on at all but I totally am just stoked that we can at least buy groceries and petrol and not have to waste all our savings. As you can guess we are still staying with Niki's Mum in Ohauiti, but that is all working out well although we are looking forward to unpacking all our stuff finally when we get a place of our own.<br /><br />Social Life<br />Early Jan we farewelled Donna for her move to Switzerland. In Jan I spent a night in Pukekohe, Auckland with my sister and cute nephew. My first ever Blues Brews and BBQs was a crack-up. Anniversary weekend we went up to Niki's Dad's place in Rawene (Hokianga) and had a fab time there just chilling in the house bus and doing some exploring, on one of our walks we were fortunate enough to see a pod of orcas which was absolutely stunning. Waitangi weekend we went camping at Athenree (Waihi) for two nights with a bunch of pals - Fantastic weather and good times had by all. Lovely Briar's Baby shower. Stefanie (Amercian friend we met in Edinburgh) was over with her boyfriend recently so was wicked to see them. We've been to countless BBQ's and drinking sessions, even trying town 3x (and disappointed all times!), walked around the Mount, copenhagen cones, hotpools...you know the drill, I love this city!<br /></span></div><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307985781881645282" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5B-0JKVBPQS7gVRMGzf9GM3Xz2fu0lP16RNvXNHkf6Id4beI3lBHvt1DlE47tOyFXImcxY1qLYwjXiaUDQ8aLyV81xC0lxL_PzF4EDttzcld4nm0jZrWFtR9yi8qmjTeSw8W90c-2C7oe/s320/n1013623673_30315957_1917.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="justify">Personal achievements, or lack there of:<br />Trying to exercise a couple of times a week and failing miserably even though I am unemployed! Getting my confidence up and learning to drive - I am actually getting quite good, even did a solo drive over the kaimais to Cambridge! So am absolutely stoked, just need to work on tricky parking and reversing lol. Got a temp job for a few days last week at Pinto factory, awful mind numbing work but it was amazing what it did for my morale just getting out of the house and knowing I was earning some money.</span></span></p>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-4821243172641829552009-03-01T10:45:00.006+13:002009-03-05T16:52:28.916+13:00Homecoming King & Queen<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#3333ff;">Arriving into Auckland airport was obviously very exciting, we were buzzing about every kiwi we thing we heard or saw. Niki's Mum and Brother were there to meet us and drove us back to Tauranga where we saw Kayley, Niki's gorgeous wee niece who was born in July. We spent the next few days catching up on sleep and seeing all of our grandparents and friends and doing some christmas shopping, Niki even glazed a ham. We had a lovely, relaxed Christmas day at Jared and Shelley's.</span></div><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#3333ff;">For New Years I went down to Wellington with Debra and Justine for a 5 day stay. Needless to say we had lots of fun, so so great to see those gals. New Years Eve we had a party in the penthouse suite of a flash hotel. It was absolutely brilliant. The other days were filled with sangria, watching dvds, shopping, visiting Te Papa, eating, drinking and being merry! </span></p><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#3333ff;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5307985000322843474" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkV6G_HMsLyYvUkfIoF_8gfkjT-VRUVkqutFfZ68UEvwT6vr6QmmQiWt3O6OrKjR0YM4fxPZSD6zz_qutA_-aTd7ynN5f7gCyVOvtKE8cGo0alF1DPICevPSCL1zMpEVJuYjRfnoJKC9lR/s320/n682351457_1884476_1259.jpg" border="0" /></span><span style="font-family:arial;color:#3333ff;">Niki went camping with a group of his friends and enjoyed some water sports and copius amounts of beer drinking.</span></div>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-24162300546703083342009-02-20T12:20:00.000+13:002009-02-20T12:31:31.576+13:00Last Chance BKK<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#6600cc;">From Krabi we caught the “VIP” overnight bus to Bangkok. Now this bus wasn’t so much VIP but the seats did recline a little and they provided a wee blanket and luckily we were able to sit together and because it was really cheap it was all worth it. After a long night of little or no sleep we arrived into Bangkok at 6am and were in a familiar area a 5 min walk from Koh San Road. Some of the restaurants were already open so we sat in them buying a drink, using the lavs, and reading for a bit and moving on to the next for something to eat and hanging for another hour there. Once the shops started opening around 10am Niki went for a thai massage while I got a manicure done with amazing hand-painted wee flowers on each nail. You can’t leave Thialand without buying a bunch of dvds and t-shirts so we did that and then grabbed a taxi to HBK so I could do some last minute shopping. I got a few cool things but totally wish I’d gotten more handbags, damn luggage allowance. There were shops laden with handbags for 199B each (£4, NZ$10) Hayley’s paradise! By this stage we hadn’t slept for 30 hours so we were soon over shopping and lugging our gear around (Niki ended up just babysitting gear whilst I shopped!). We spent a bit of time trying to find the airport bus but in the end just grabbed a taxi and got out to the airport by 5pm, well in time for our 8pm flight. Pleased to report our luggage left in storage was all there and we didn’t even go over our luggage limits.</span></div>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-51615131156112989002009-02-20T11:51:00.009+13:002009-02-20T12:19:02.845+13:00Phuket – Ko Phi Phi<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#330099;">Thursday we flew from Chiang Mai to Phuket, arriving at 2pm. We had pre-booked a hotel in Patong Beach but stupidly took the mini bus which ended up taking hours. We were rather frustrated and eager to get on the beach by the time we had checked in. Patong beach is <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggNxGyA09kXzHLc7mgxzdmMhVwW9YUis7BVO2KYofJx_vZK98c1hyDbJhID9MOS5cIXfOr8MInfpCgv8B37ScR1icHhZqf116z8NCZgZpCy57gd0Tvv7FpI2MRF6AS8oqpnn4EEliQ3AhU/s1600-h/s549201101_1875070_9929.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304649929359445202" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 97px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 130px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggNxGyA09kXzHLc7mgxzdmMhVwW9YUis7BVO2KYofJx_vZK98c1hyDbJhID9MOS5cIXfOr8MInfpCgv8B37ScR1icHhZqf116z8NCZgZpCy57gd0Tvv7FpI2MRF6AS8oqpnn4EEliQ3AhU/s200/s549201101_1875070_9929.jpg" border="0" /></a>extremely touristy and it wasn’t very nice at all. You could definitely tell that the tourist season had been affected by the airport closure though as the majority of the deck chairs were empty. That night we went out to explore the nightlife which was very tacky and seedy, think neon lights and drunken people everywhere. You’ll be disappointed to know that we didn’t go to ping pong show…the people on the street try and get you into their bars saying free entry, but your first drink cost you mega bucks. Although that's not what put me off, it’s the list that they show you with all the things you will see in a ping pong show… and I can tell you “ping pong” is very tame compared to what was on that list! </span><br /></div><span style="font-family:arial;color:#330099;"><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHVk0HHSbPakCyLCmdomWZlBK_Gd0V3Y-OT6BVGTAWJnVjC4V2QELDycTMs_fdeOyqhclDqc3qn8S4dOMKRP9oZK1oALQ8kqSr9EQktAE2854c9MAZyztEaFhMbdEk0Uh2InD0a4b0nhjU/s1600-h/s549201101_1875076_1621.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304650110401631730" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHVk0HHSbPakCyLCmdomWZlBK_Gd0V3Y-OT6BVGTAWJnVjC4V2QELDycTMs_fdeOyqhclDqc3qn8S4dOMKRP9oZK1oALQ8kqSr9EQktAE2854c9MAZyztEaFhMbdEk0Uh2InD0a4b0nhjU/s200/s549201101_1875076_1621.jpg" border="0" /></a>Friday morning we took a 1.5 hour ferry ride over to Ko Phi Phi which we’d heard was gorgeous and we weren’t disappointed. There are no cars on the island and to get to the lovely outlying beaches with all your gear you need to pay for a boat ride. We’d been recommended to stay at Viking Resort by some people we’d met on the overnight train so headed there straight away and were lucky to secure accommodation. We stayed in an awesome bamboo hut with ensuite (cold shower) for the first two nights, and then moved to another hut without ensuite and closer to the beach for three nights. The people were really good and gave us a great discount plus let us use snorkelling gear etc for free. </div><br /><div align="justify">We spent the next few days laxing on the small secluded beach right in front of our resort. We ate out for every meal (all resorts have own restaurants), explored the shops on the island, Niki had another massage or two and I got a pedicure. From our beach to the main island bit was about 20 min walk over a steep-ish track but it was generally ok until one of the last nights we came back late </div>in the dark over the rocks and I somehow fell into the water, with our camera in my bag! It’s buggered, we are so gutted, but luckily our memory card is ok.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304651727354927778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFmZ1NoEtTRzBXcD5xGPr9agk1SWWAI5DN0Y9nEPx0dtEDTZwFsxlFXIBuuIB8fqOBs1u3WjsUpV7XKSIp0LK1RXynvyMHGsDNA0lc1Cjy-sEC9m7LCWciAONlo_JAKOpXXzpb_e_8jYP/s320/n549201101_1875077_1956.jpg" border="0" /> <div align="justify">Sunday we had a 7am start (ouch!) to go out on a dive boat for Niki to do two fun dives and I did some snorkeling while the divers were down. Niki found the dives pretty good, much more to see <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWHkYuzKEfzc6t0CFA_fMJdJ-TWaYkm5-dTYPi6rNstT0BnphzwOwzeUvLO9I9GvZbPqM5y5b7RBQODboqW0WhQIQmOuTmdviTtTIWyBpFbXP4_B87dwnHS28fXGfKAd1f40QmfpiqaiIV/s1600-h/n549201101_1875077_1956.jpg"></a>than in Egypt, but he did have some trouble equalizing on the second dive and unfortunately his particular group of four missed out on seeing a tortoise and shark which would’ve been brilliant. The snorkelling was fantastic though, there were so many amazing colours of fish and coral and I really started to relax more even over the very deep water. I didn’t enjoy the sea lice though, you keep feeling pin pricks all over your body, but nothing comes of it. </div><br /><div align="justify">On the Monday we spent most the day just laxing on our wee beach again and did some snorkelling in our bay which was really cool although I did have a jellyfish brush past my face eww! At 5pm, once it was getting slightly cooler, we headed up to Ko Phi Phi viewpoint which is a definite puff factor walk up many many stairs. Once at the top though you are rewarded with the most stunning views. That night we had some western food for dinner (which wasn’t half as good as the thai food) and then headed to Hippies Bar for a “vodka bucket” and some cool live entertainment including a crazy fire show. </div><br /><div align="justify">Tuesday we had breakfast on the main island and arrange to go on an afternoon snorkel tour. This departed at 2:30pm and was on quite a large boat but luckily it wasn’t full so there were about 25 of us. We anchored and we swam (or kayaked) to shore at monkey island, which really was monkey island with the little critters running around and grabbing their treats from us tourists…so cute! We sailed past Viking Bay and did some more snorkelling and kayaking but unfortunately the water was quite rough, plus I had a leaky snorkel so it wasn’t the funnest. We m<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoPNt50MKTvIofNzrn9rixDGfZolk2pFy4ZvXQm4PsFiyutZyiylVaFqmypiqgzp7s_hIkC_4v0LZ3t6QAFYHYd2h8K8bEvKDo-167TNoy34uMZT8bztdJoixlTrseSQgmvZSYjf7dU7cx/s1600-h/n549201101_1875081_3796.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5304650850695272098" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoPNt50MKTvIofNzrn9rixDGfZolk2pFy4ZvXQm4PsFiyutZyiylVaFqmypiqgzp7s_hIkC_4v0LZ3t6QAFYHYd2h8K8bEvKDo-167TNoy34uMZT8bztdJoixlTrseSQgmvZSYjf7dU7cx/s320/n549201101_1875081_3796.jpg" border="0" /></a>oved on from that spot pretty quickly and tried some more snorkelling elsewhere, the staff threw handfuls of rice in the water and next thing we were absolutely surrounded and covered in amazing colourful hungry fish. It was freaky! Next stop was Maya Bay which is the island where the movie “The Beach” was filmed. Needless to say there were tourist boats aplenty here. It was amazing though, so so beautiful. The sand was so fine and pure, kind of felt like flour! We then headed back to the big boat and watched the lovely sunset while eating dinner. Was a neat afternoon with great staff. We had brought a disposable camera so have thankfully got a few hard-copy pics of our day. </div><br /><div align="justify">Wednesday was our last day on the island so we sunbathed and swam for a couple of hours before sadly heading to the pier to catch our ferry to Krabi at 1:30pm. </div><br /><div align="justify">We have since heard of much lovelier, more authentic, quieter (and way way cheaper) islands to go to but I think for first timers having a bit of civilisation and party atmosphere was all good. </span></div>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-48377956274278333872009-02-10T12:39:00.003+13:002009-02-10T12:44:19.108+13:00Golden Triangle and Long Neck Tour<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#cc0000;">On Wednesday we were picked up at 7:15am to go on our Golden Triangle and Long-neck Tour. There were only three of us on the tour so we were just in a ute. It was lots of driving but ok for me <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh43pqZQFYgdC8ef_2P4OzFXc7rUjkcw1WOLn9cbYMSEHfrW3DjkaSRvGL7p3oPfO-7f7a3ZS_itN-t23ePVEylHBjZ7_0V5MaThFTQiCB6pfSrWdDYpgMC4HlZ3knaGLpXY57XGRImOrnt/s1600-h/temple.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300947281424373826" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh43pqZQFYgdC8ef_2P4OzFXc7rUjkcw1WOLn9cbYMSEHfrW3DjkaSRvGL7p3oPfO-7f7a3ZS_itN-t23ePVEylHBjZ7_0V5MaThFTQiCB6pfSrWdDYpgMC4HlZ3knaGLpXY57XGRImOrnt/s200/temple.jpg" border="0" /></a>cos I just napped in between stops! We saw a thermal spring (not as impressive as Rotorua!) and people selling eggs boiled in the water…rather novel! Next stop was a stunning temple which was completely white (the only one of it’s kind in Thailand), this was just breathtaking and made the trip worthwhile. We then drove some more and took a boat across to Laos where we got our passport stamped (wahoo) and looked around the markets on the riverbank. This is where the Golden Triangle is, an area known for it’s illicit drug trade (Thailand, Laos and Myanmar). </span></div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#cc0000;">After stopping for a disgusting buffet lunch, we drove further out to some more tribes to look at their wares. It was cool seeing them in traditional costume and seeing families interact. The most “exciting” part of this was seeing the long neck people (originally from Burma). The females have rings around their necks which stretches their necks, kinda freaky looking! It originally started<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHTcp5qR80rvbnsOfi5JS2OaSh021lUxaslWMB0vK_Xkkg5ybZKYJKBd7qo6DO9oTPBBE5ps52Q9qN5rgcfw6nAzc7zZNvgnfUABuJsAHlAN9vVtGifyO6cPANJykGM0gXOpk3y-GIT2F/s1600-h/long+neck.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300947470275289154" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPHTcp5qR80rvbnsOfi5JS2OaSh021lUxaslWMB0vK_Xkkg5ybZKYJKBd7qo6DO9oTPBBE5ps52Q9qN5rgcfw6nAzc7zZNvgnfUABuJsAHlAN9vVtGifyO6cPANJykGM0gXOpk3y-GIT2F/s200/long+neck.jpg" border="0" /></a> hundreds of years ago for girls born on Tuesdays to be protected from the tiger attacking them but over the years it was used on all girls and now it’s a sign of beauty. We were wasted when we arrived back to Chiang Mai around 8:30pm that night, but as it was our last night we went out and had a lovely meal and also visited the night markets again (where I got a fantastic $5 haircut … cheap cheap Hayley fun).</span> </div>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-82589781167601002802009-01-30T13:26:00.012+13:002009-02-01T22:36:20.503+13:00In the Jungle the Mighty Jungle<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#006600;">Sunday was Day 1 of our trek. We left the guesthouse at 9am and drove for<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSwTfKHd4I739gQ6BmA1RxKQRofkFo9UBQBZRPPnviuLaU9TjEK4WU3YwKYEkw6CAXQo9sEAwVBo4hu1evZPrrDtx6yi1RN9ziJ9AUPlEwy2rG1FVyQuU4tpB3qNrw1zFltHs0r3ttPaF/s1600-h/sleeping.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297758044024461810" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQSwTfKHd4I739gQ6BmA1RxKQRofkFo9UBQBZRPPnviuLaU9TjEK4WU3YwKYEkw6CAXQo9sEAwVBo4hu1evZPrrDtx6yi1RN9ziJ9AUPlEwy2rG1FVyQuU4tpB3qNrw1zFltHs0r3ttPaF/s200/sleeping.jpg" border="0" /></a> about 40 mins to a village market where we were instructed to stock up on necessities (torch, junk food, liquor). We then drove a bit further unloaded the ute and got moving, starting with a three hour trek, nothing too strenuous really, but gee was it hot! That night we spent in a Karen village. The sleeping arrangements were ten of us in one large bamboo hut on thin mats and pillow things with mosquito nets around us. The shower consisted of a hose with cold water and one bit of sheet metal so you got privacy from one side! The toilet was in a wee tin shed and was a <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdXGdYU35uYlXelxaYZ0vopRSc7xCgBPOoNOJFHMd-f-6OdsobD96cOETLOhg9mwhnf6TNF1GPjHjmCFBpEMPTOv0vFfxhwHvCDroS-uM1j51U1qF0tW6jkQvhNIBXLZHdmPy7oiNA2ih2/s1600-h/loo.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297757872286195826" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdXGdYU35uYlXelxaYZ0vopRSc7xCgBPOoNOJFHMd-f-6OdsobD96cOETLOhg9mwhnf6TNF1GPjHjmCFBpEMPTOv0vFfxhwHvCDroS-uM1j51U1qF0tW6jkQvhNIBXLZHdmPy7oiNA2ih2/s200/loo.jpg" border="0" /></a>porcelain bowl that you squatted over and then scooped water into it to flush. Princess Hayley coped surprisingly well =) The people of the village cooked us dinner which was lovely and then we sat around the camp fire talking and trying to play the guitar. The village people sell the tour groups beer and soft drinks and they also must get a certain amount for letting us stay and feeding us. We only dealt with maybe four people from the village but they were all lovely, although “Handsome Harry” was constantly drunk I’m sure!<br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297757695996860546" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyu86mvkES8f-QXIoVNdijEjdqr9SIisCipO9JmyQIipWHNaoBYF3PBfI8VxTVObYIsXawTCt6o1pYSDjmK6-OXiBUGSSn3C4sZt5Hol4Jct0E3DRLnVlNSJuSlvh7d340HQWQ9wpqqXTr/s320/couple.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="justify">Day 2 we left the village at 10ish and hiked for two hours or so to another Karen village where we stopped for lunch, this place had tiny kittens and p<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiClaufnRyJ2pAehuez_wumnZ2BMkCScRz-0QPZCBH97GOu62X_frxFey5MYpG8WZEsGF5WqqkhLFKhw5saS5Gb0AjF4ncGTRylkAkK7ZkpTnST7Yb1NiCgP6LhyphenhyphenTkxDNKKiCILcYS8GnD/s1600-h/hammock.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297759494815368802" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiClaufnRyJ2pAehuez_wumnZ2BMkCScRz-0QPZCBH97GOu62X_frxFey5MYpG8WZEsGF5WqqkhLFKhw5saS5Gb0AjF4ncGTRylkAkK7ZkpTnST7Yb1NiCgP6LhyphenhyphenTkxDNKKiCILcYS8GnD/s200/hammock.jpg" border="0" /></a>uppies running around. So cute! Probably caught something off them but oh well, just had to cuddle them! After that we walked another hour or so to a village of small huts near a waterfall. The huts were so cute and fit two people per hut. Our “shower” t<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOjwMwPOkmNIqpc4z7qqXjz4F35YFMysQQukMcgSneZLLEsQSQ1_VuMjeyIQZPBt_zN3Hwz78naSHjC-bGTQuXDlvAkmdOkRR7kMBlkws2tJZ8Eejd-7L64hH9LvZsVTTfTs7UH_yPXo5e/s1600-h/drinking.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297758439346878658" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOjwMwPOkmNIqpc4z7qqXjz4F35YFMysQQukMcgSneZLLEsQSQ1_VuMjeyIQZPBt_zN3Hwz78naSHjC-bGTQuXDlvAkmdOkRR7kMBlkws2tJZ8Eejd-7L64hH9LvZsVTTfTs7UH_yPXo5e/s200/drinking.jpg" border="0" /></a>hat afternoon was in the freezing cold water under the waterfalls. The villagers brought out some of their handmade souvenirs as well, unfortunately for them we were a male dominated group but I was the sacrificial lamb and “supported” the tribe by buying purses, bracelets and scarves. Haha shopping in the jungle. That night after dinner we played drinking games, including a lethal game of spoons! Surprisingly the temps dropped pretty low at night so I pretty much wore everything I had packed to keep warm.<br /><br />Tuesday was the<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpTjTGF7sIikzZ-0fT_TNoWjdrHi0m9FVC-X1j3gUcI5-QRT_K-9qvEZTGwKD0_dy91psJlU4Vm1kgoNhBiMaFH8HDxD6D_5pObJafeOdpNam7W2_DVaD5OOj4YzB9bwet0YZstmzpsFfI/s1600-h/feeding+elephant.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297759927946409890" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpTjTGF7sIikzZ-0fT_TNoWjdrHi0m9FVC-X1j3gUcI5-QRT_K-9qvEZTGwKD0_dy91psJlU4Vm1kgoNhBiMaFH8HDxD6D_5pObJafeOdpNam7W2_DVaD5OOj4YzB9bwet0YZstmzpsFfI/s200/feeding+elephant.jpg" border="0" /></a> final day and we only needed to hike one and a half hours before getting picked up by a truck and taken to a larger village, where we had lunch at a “proper” restaurant. After lunch we drove a little further and came to an elephant camp where we got to ride an elephant! It was the coolest, craziest thing. Although some of the staff were dodgy and the way the animals were treated was a bit dubious. I had brought a bunch of bananas and the elephant’s trunks were all over me before we were even seated = Hayley covered in slobber! As<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJLaJSU2BfAYKqQ0QIJxG-lTRLosc6MAE_grCDahk5lBCzSRgKQOKAEPHQ8yMmXfxw_qiPTvLvDbusenRlclCfhB35hbCPYmGUjW7_LdMMwJBjrhXeKWMscaHWraOhs-dtiF61I9jY9Ga2/s1600-h/elephant.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297759007271498626" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJLaJSU2BfAYKqQ0QIJxG-lTRLosc6MAE_grCDahk5lBCzSRgKQOKAEPHQ8yMmXfxw_qiPTvLvDbusenRlclCfhB35hbCPYmGUjW7_LdMMwJBjrhXeKWMscaHWraOhs-dtiF61I9jY9Ga2/s200/elephant.jpg" border="0" /></a> we rode, our elephant kept lifting up his trunk and blowing air at us until I gave him a banana…so so cute! Unfortunately we didn’t swap our camera with the others so have little pics of us on the elephant.</p><p align="justify"></span><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#006600;">Next activity was bamboo rafting which really was lots of fun. We had three rafts for our group and each raft was trying to crash into another and splash or push each other off. There were no rapids or anything so it was completely safe and just nice fun. It took about an hour to get back to the guesthouse and once there most of us decided to go out to dinner and have a decent steak as we’d had no meat for three days…no we wouldn’t make good vegetarians!</span></p>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-53884811478352433222009-01-30T13:17:00.009+13:002009-02-01T22:05:37.347+13:00Chiang Mai<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#993399;">The sleeper train was another one of life’s lil experiences. As we had only booked one day in advance and it was Kings Birthday (public holidays) there was very little availability and we got rather lucky to get the last two top bunks. The seats get changed into beds by the staff as you want them to, it’s all very nifty! In our carriage there were numerous tourists so we felt pretty safe, but I can’t say we slept too well as the light was on, the tracks were rickety and it was just plain uncomfortable - but it was a cheap way of getting to Chiang Mai so we can’t complain. We arrived at 10am the next day and had a guy from our guesthouse meet us which was handy as we were half sleepwalking I’m sure!<br /><br />The staff told us about the nearby tiger kingdom, which was such a bonus as we thought we<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0z9eAU5ueb2jzZ5eCrQ_1PfSMvIN6lYQ2j6yRymKvrIzB8q11jadQe6pniWD2Ee1q5fRroPU_JY3cAlzkukaxsUPbQEqVqxGqo5vt-NR2hyphenhyphenDctlAASl8naDIeRUOpR1maz-X0u_khcq-g/s1600-h/s549201101_1874340_5192.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296875880194711074" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 97px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 130px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0z9eAU5ueb2jzZ5eCrQ_1PfSMvIN6lYQ2j6yRymKvrIzB8q11jadQe6pniWD2Ee1q5fRroPU_JY3cAlzkukaxsUPbQEqVqxGqo5vt-NR2hyphenhyphenDctlAASl8naDIeRUOpR1maz-X0u_khcq-g/s320/s549201101_1874340_5192.jpg" border="0" /></a> had missed the boat on the tigers near Bangkok as our itinerary was so full already. Anyway so that afternoon we took a 40min tuktuk ride out to the tigers where we got to see and interact <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQhasI15CzeRBXofFc2mwNYaV_dD3eDtHh_b7xPJq0wTYMNzcWyfnis_TCS6D2qNbUUuU3zEVI4ZQGx2ZvXb1L39TVa8csJsNVo7UcmmPVcLrt6Ll77vx0LdQm3aO82M72UqGnGsiZBH6q/s1600-h/s549201101_1874358_9926.jpg"></a>with both 4 month old tigers and 13 month old tigers. This was absolutely amazing to say the least. It cost 300B (£6 or NZ$15) per person for each age group of tiger and you get to stay in each enclosure for about 20 mins. The workers are great and happy to snap your photo and answer questions etc. The 13 month old tigers were fully grown so it was quite scarey being so close to them…but you soon loosened up and next thing we <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSPbyWIZbGQecsPkE8VkqEV5QUTm01A4QyaE4-PjPl9YzqDQLeRAsKSPRqMQQEMKMYbWRe5CEsJZwkKqY1RZcG7RKsjiq970RLeuRKOu3iWBSMRW0VPiyOdpoYDh9A5tlyBvrGks4lSqB/s1600-h/s549201101_1874358_9926.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296875797456770802" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlSPbyWIZbGQecsPkE8VkqEV5QUTm01A4QyaE4-PjPl9YzqDQLeRAsKSPRqMQQEMKMYbWRe5CEsJZwkKqY1RZcG7RKsjiq970RLeuRKOu3iWBSMRW0VPiyOdpoYDh9A5tlyBvrGks4lSqB/s320/s549201101_1874358_9926.jpg" border="0" /></a>were lying on them pretending to sleep! The only rule was not to touch them near or on their faces and never touch them from the front. We’d heard about tigers in Bangkok being drugged but I really don’t think these guys were, they mostly lazed about in the sun but we also saw one swimming and playing with a ball. As you can imagine we got a CD with 200 odd pics on it – check facebook for some of these!<br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296875282749263714" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNfDPNopsyq0Zk_27YuMn3V8tAGuOM6qPgkaKeE7wKsfVv4C2FklEQh_vjYZp2HNjfdfHr6VjgFKDZyuFq6TOEIlOwHD4FyfgkHoUDr6DZmEbsYTrTFdnjNYWmigOOlRGmN6_XUQaPSKDz/s200/tiger.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="justify">We were dropped back into town and decided to check out some of the temples where we<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUcka8WQ5rVeeFYIt80ZhbKlOHYNen2wwEea4i0W5t2w_qipz0a-uZqaaIVcSa81fLsqAXgwY-Ht6TGnb3g6UwcWmJUD12lOPVUxB5hfDb015ijQw3CQU40VUjgwwP9MEgMSdHvYfi_iG/s1600-h/buddha.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5296875133043755794" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwUcka8WQ5rVeeFYIt80ZhbKlOHYNen2wwEea4i0W5t2w_qipz0a-uZqaaIVcSa81fLsqAXgwY-Ht6TGnb3g6UwcWmJUD12lOPVUxB5hfDb015ijQw3CQU40VUjgwwP9MEgMSdHvYfi_iG/s200/buddha.jpg" border="0" /></a> saw plenty of Buddhist monks. A lovely local lady that we met at one of the temples suggested other places to visit and told us we shouldn’t pay more than 150B for an hour for a tuktuk (and proceeded to arrange one for us, yay). Considering we’d often been paying this amount for a single trip it was a good lesson to learn! The tuktuk took us to a few more amazing old and new temples and wats and then out to some souvenir factories before taking us home. </span></p><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#993399;">At 6pm we had our pre-brief for our three day jungle trek which was to start the next day. We met our guides (JJ & Al) and the rest of our group, four British guys, two Danish girls and two Dutch guys. Later we went out to have some dinner and then explored the famous Chiang Mai Night Market. I got a couple of bargain dresses and fabric handbags and wished I had way more room in my luggage for more!</span> </div>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-41780197802843236572009-01-30T13:09:00.005+13:002009-02-01T22:02:57.060+13:00Same Same But Different<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#3333ff;">Arriving at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport at 6am on Thursday 4 December, we were one of the first flights to land since it was re-opened after the all days of protesting. The airport was eerily quiet but we had no trouble and actually felt perfectly safe during our entire stay in Thailand. At the airport we found the luggage storage department and proceeded to repack various bags so that we weren’t carrying a bunch of unnecessary stuff (ie winter clothes) around with us for the duration of our holiday.<br /><br />We took a bus to Koh San Road which is a well-known street where all of the businesses (cafes, bars, clothing stores, beauty parlours) cater to the English speaking backpacker crowd. We quickly found a well-priced hotel and (even though you get told not to) slept from 10am to 2pm before dragging our butts out to explore. We had some lovely Thai food for lunch and then had our first tuk tuk experience, I think they’re kinda fun! The driver took us to a tourist booking shop, we were a bit weary of getting ripped off but the guy who served us was a kiwi and all the licenses and shop certificates seemed to be in order so we went with it. Thankfully it paid off and he was very helpful in giving us ideas and information so we could really nut out what we wanted to do and we left there an hour later with a significantly lighter wallet but with a jam-packed itinerary.<br /><br />A lot of friends had told us to get out of Bangkok as soon as we could but we actually didn’t mind the place. There was just so much to see and as it was our first Asian country we were in awe of everything. Things like riding down a busy street in a tuk tuk and seeing an elephant on the side of the road are just mind blowing. It was the King’s birthday on 5 December so all the streets were decorated with banners, streamers and photos of the king. There was a real party feel about the place and we wandered through a concert ground watching lovely dressed up dance groups, kick-boxing demo’s, and saw lots of food stalls… including deep-fried insects and dodgy looking meat.</span></div><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#3333ff;">On Friday we went to a snake farm, which was free entry because of King’s birthday! They put on a bit of a demonstration and at the end we were able to hold the snake around our necks!!! It was so freaky but I’m really glad I did it. That afternoon we made our way to Siam Square and HBK which are shopping centres in the new part of Bangkok. On our way to the train station Niki stopped in for his first Thai massage…he loved them! We misjudged our time a bit so I was majorly stressing that we would miss our 7.30pm sleeper train to Chiang Mai but luckily we got there with 10 mins to spare, whew!</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#3333ff;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#3333ff;">Unfortunately I haven't got the pics relating to this post off our memory card (due to the drowning of our camera), but wanted to get going so here it is without the snake pic sorry</span></div>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-414235221620269172008-12-02T00:36:00.009+13:002009-01-30T12:58:39.108+13:00Last week in L-Town<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#6633ff;">I was lucky to get work back at PwC for our last week in London (24-28 Nov), such a nice surprise after having been off work for three weeks. Was good to get some more money in our bank but also gave me a chance to spend some more time with the friends I’d made at work. The time just flew by so quick with us both working hard, packing our stuff up and attending various farewell events. Wednesday we had drinks at Bar Kick (lots of laughs trying my hand at foosball) followed by a curry on Brick Lane. Thursday night was drinks with all the lovely PA’s from PwC and even a few of the Partners took time out of their busy schedules to wish me well (and open up their wallets and buy us some wine!). Sunday night we cooked a roast dinner at Pam and Kev’s and had Louisa and Tim over. It was so hard saying goodbye to everyone, but at least we know we’ll be seeing the kiwi contingent in the next year or two.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#6633ff;"><br />Sunday 30 Nov was supposed to be our departure date but because of the protestors in Bangkok’s airports our flight was cancelled and we weren’t able to fly until Wednesday 3 Dec. Pam & Kev were darlings and let us stay in their lounge which was such a big help (thanks again guys!). We were pretty down about the delay as we were totally ready to leave and were gutted at having to spend our hard-earned pounds on stupid things in London + needless to say the weather was crap! Our Thailand holiday was therefore reduced by a few days but as you will read in the coming (uber long) posts it didn’t really matter and we had a blast. So so glad that we didn’t get caught up in the hype and change our flights to avoid Thailand that’s for sure! </span></div>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-14643438769354751962008-11-27T01:16:00.006+13:002008-11-28T04:06:29.570+13:00Winter Wonderland<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000099;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUMMVXxVElkuLrlHii7tvZ6zdW23kCrzmVi7H1qPQR0xXCaewdB1uAxuXA3SSvRSyGWSk2l6Og9cc57624nE1J35ozBv649I6NXE7lNvXsIa54WsK8fKEBzVAU1UmHXQBZmH__m8p94bCF/s1600-h/wales+075.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273353344785227618" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUMMVXxVElkuLrlHii7tvZ6zdW23kCrzmVi7H1qPQR0xXCaewdB1uAxuXA3SSvRSyGWSk2l6Og9cc57624nE1J35ozBv649I6NXE7lNvXsIa54WsK8fKEBzVAU1UmHXQBZmH__m8p94bCF/s200/wales+075.jpg" border="0" /></a>On our last Tuesday in London (ahhhhh), Niki met me after work at Hyde Park for us to go check out the Winter Wonderland set up there. It was absolutely gorgeous, the main attraction is an ice skating rink and an observation wheel, which just looks stunning at night. There are lovely Christmas lights and lifesize Santa figurines everywhere, christmas-fied carnival type rides, also cute traditional German market stalls selling wonderful arts and crafts, and then there is of course the stalls of food including of course German sausage, Dutch poffertjes, crepes, mulled wine etc etc. </span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000099;"></span></div><p align="justify"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273353127504988082" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmXlzZgPGJxS18HcuVzGkBSUQEEzeyNSRQwbUcQSlvVDL96NlV5fyF9u6DICH6epjgEA0p8irq1FFopOzE2yoOQWvOaLviz1x6-6T57WWcDa4fk2DyP0MhN04y44LLou1tuEPpyzH71EVs/s200/wales+074.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000099;">I know it's shocking but we didn't spend a penny! I'm not a fan of ice skating and<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO7HaUA7b1uyCnvT1oJ5vbArcNwoQE1Pm4fV1ujBWkL0mbLHeUxAowOClOHbhftc-1x-Pfx1yLYt_42MHIsWN_ExHTemLXShFNezBGaJ1cR6x9tvqyN27zbE1INK7S3BZ9NGL8dhInNOdR/s1600-h/wales+077.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273353217642472690" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO7HaUA7b1uyCnvT1oJ5vbArcNwoQE1Pm4fV1ujBWkL0mbLHeUxAowOClOHbhftc-1x-Pfx1yLYt_42MHIsWN_ExHTemLXShFNezBGaJ1cR6x9tvqyN27zbE1INK7S3BZ9NGL8dhInNOdR/s200/wales+077.jpg" border="0" /></a> the food was super expensive and since it wasn't really a meal time we were happy to just look, although I must say I would've loved to have brought some of the crafts, they were amazing (damn luggage allowance)! </span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#000099;">I was wearing stockings and work shoes and as it was super chilly out after 40 mins or so my toes started to become rather numb and I had shooting pains up my foot - so I figured it was time to leave. For those in London you must go check this out... there is a similar winter wonderland in Edinburgh which I recommend as well =) Enjoy, have a poffertje or two for me. xx</span></p>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-28573870149118008482008-11-27T01:15:00.014+13:002008-11-28T02:42:14.872+13:00Wales<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#000000;">On Friday we were up at 6am and I went “to work” with Niki. His boss had arranged it so that Niki had a few deliveries to make all in the direction of Wales, meaning I got to briefly see <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjb8w61mccklcRdWEPM05MEhGMqYReikuz-JPGjv6cT2WPhjv7KAWNUjGWwgP7oqKDcilbgli_DWqgS6LOCa6ZU2lZNCYjNagZlCcw0dWuRsWDdF0PP5zR9DFAKaqIjDkKB41U0hcRj6t3/s1600-h/wales+004.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273328615824993314" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjb8w61mccklcRdWEPM05MEhGMqYReikuz-JPGjv6cT2WPhjv7KAWNUjGWwgP7oqKDcilbgli_DWqgS6LOCa6ZU2lZNCYjNagZlCcw0dWuRsWDdF0PP5zR9DFAKaqIjDkKB41U0hcRj6t3/s200/wales+004.jpg" border="0" /></a>beautiful Oxford and a handful of other small English towns including a fandangle property belonging to some Duke or another. We are really lucky with Niki’s work as we are able to use the work van and petrol, free of charge!! We arrived in Wales by 2.30pm which gave us extra time to see a bit more of Wales than we had originally anticipated. We made a stop in Chepstow to see the Chepstow castle and a bit further up, the ruins of the 13th century Tintern Abbey. The abbey remains remarkably complete for it’s age, and is now basically a large brick “shell” of a church and is rather eerie yet lovely.<br /></div></span><br /><div align="justify"><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYgKqU_4SQ8D31-AvcjP4N1J0H16Wbc5uYpBsaW2pxbLAc_diw0v_tz065PY6jv4KWoyQ3CftxsqlCnnGt75NMu-vCVFoT01h4m6wmFm1PKOiEOB13VckopkUmjIDuxNnQbDo1yrPwMZy/s1600-h/wales+016.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273328977662096514" style="WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYgKqU_4SQ8D31-AvcjP4N1J0H16Wbc5uYpBsaW2pxbLAc_diw0v_tz065PY6jv4KWoyQ3CftxsqlCnnGt75NMu-vCVFoT01h4m6wmFm1PKOiEOB13VckopkUmjIDuxNnQbDo1yrPwMZy/s200/wales+016.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1l7VOWoPLulY9lQcF2mKMHo5uGpuAoaUaB52kbriyvZSm2DGzLc1MAgXZZFyGix_13dwDid4m-n4NknRtZuTjVVequS7UKx-p1qUjEON8G18VTEd2ZCEaHPlQs5MG4PRvAZeTD9RVAO4F/s1600-h/wales+017.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273328993287960034" style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1l7VOWoPLulY9lQcF2mKMHo5uGpuAoaUaB52kbriyvZSm2DGzLc1MAgXZZFyGix_13dwDid4m-n4NknRtZuTjVVequS7UKx-p1qUjEON8G18VTEd2ZCEaHPlQs5MG4PRvAZeTD9RVAO4F/s200/wales+017.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />From there we continued on to our accommodation at Newport where Gina & Ben arrived around the same time. That evening we took a train (15 mins) into Cardiff and had a good <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjuMoFByf-98Zux64SJ9e1IZWmTkZTxBc_kj4M60E_yBCAtkZxQWgd3DmMCi_Os8_iH4h3-luFA73KrW1seJlRZ5YkedT2GOcxkACACCXf8uqkspthhHcE7qHN3rnHMIY2QJq0kJiCZFO9/s1600-h/wales+022.jpg"></a>catch-up over a pub meal. Saturday morning we made our way back into Cardiff for a cooked<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9xLJGad6cYkWJT0p6RCxOJ3xC5YQLirdTNUo8ZK92NbopOev266ODW-84HPplf49wH9S7jaGJNJz45UplYLAtuLqgmx8bK96VnrIs54ZJfcn31CtQR830ApuNWIF5rO1L5LUaD2tQmXi/s1600-h/wales+027.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273329455441437410" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9xLJGad6cYkWJT0p6RCxOJ3xC5YQLirdTNUo8ZK92NbopOev266ODW-84HPplf49wH9S7jaGJNJz45UplYLAtuLqgmx8bK96VnrIs54ZJfcn31CtQR830ApuNWIF5rO1L5LUaD2tQmXi/s200/wales+027.jpg" border="0" /></a> breky before heading to Cardiff Castle for a couple of hours. I’m not really into castles or history, or anything intelligent really <gasp>and hardly ever bother paying an entry price but I’m glad I did for this one. We got an audio guide and also a guided tour of some of the rooms of the castle (unfortunately no photos allowed) but they were spectacular, all the artwork, wood carving and detail is amazing.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjTH3FXfMS4NPH71PCgvjx3XfnqCTDaRqaAdEy1gDHRg31_xbXf0XUDhTXbKhZShkJlm9eODctiM44hIUoB4qOzd04CSRCO-QB4wKK5UnSMUeT8UAK7-sGyAIaupCrzSKCsnzlFcjQNngC/s1600-h/wales+031.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273330881973716242" style="WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjTH3FXfMS4NPH71PCgvjx3XfnqCTDaRqaAdEy1gDHRg31_xbXf0XUDhTXbKhZShkJlm9eODctiM44hIUoB4qOzd04CSRCO-QB4wKK5UnSMUeT8UAK7-sGyAIaupCrzSKCsnzlFcjQNngC/s200/wales+031.jpg" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlrqjZjeCxSGAlAb1kzPRnZXbOX4yeZ64EWCbDUi_SzSHRReq1798MhXeefnzkP92Pbq8-bXgk2-tfoGjBwwpMvsKdRVE_klwNr28fymOrzTBITdsBwxSIxsQB2iC_NMOGGjgaCwki07XV/s1600-h/wales+028.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273330878377776146" style="WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlrqjZjeCxSGAlAb1kzPRnZXbOX4yeZ64EWCbDUi_SzSHRReq1798MhXeefnzkP92Pbq8-bXgk2-tfoGjBwwpMvsKdRVE_klwNr28fymOrzTBITdsBwxSIxsQB2iC_NMOGGjgaCwki07XV/s200/wales+028.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />Early afternoon we decided it was time to head to a pub, the streets were all filling up by<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3L1evINhjZ1T3BtwfXL4O86Ry5eb4hk2OE2Lm2G5hozF2phPs3VvJWpTmrjhZVNtmoN250kS8DimflPN-TCatWk-YLMeJaZ7dtiJyhBlt9NGzGiePYLR1ak4Tvq6y85x_YQF1IaveIMpa/s1600-h/wales+042.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273329900502047106" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3L1evINhjZ1T3BtwfXL4O86Ry5eb4hk2OE2Lm2G5hozF2phPs3VvJWpTmrjhZVNtmoN250kS8DimflPN-TCatWk-YLMeJaZ7dtiJyhBlt9NGzGiePYLR1ak4Tvq6y85x_YQF1IaveIMpa/s200/wales+042.jpg" border="0" /></a> then with lots of rugby colours and flags on display. We found a random pub and managed to squish inside, I had a strawberry cider (never seen that before) which was delish. A group of men started singing welsh songs which was really neat…we were to hear a lot more of that later during the course of the game. We decided to keep moving and try a few different pubs, stopping for a hot Cornish pastie in between as it was freezing outside.<br /></div><br /><p align="justify"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273329750603316946" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh395ACc2IcBaGY6kkt7GrTEITKaaGsXoBz_3CbVrVxDqOcSvF4DnLotvvDa7E9OnDXh3ivV9lA-JMo7eKbN7hYAhqNGQoBxZ8Pq522yrhxxbktu4ZEsYAgKj6y1CykQucwuRtIfE8FwNfV/s200/wales+032.jpg" border="0" /> We made our way to the Millenium stadium at 4pm as the boys didn’t want to miss a thing (kick-off wasn’t til 5:15pm!). The stadium is right in the centre of town which is very handy. It was cool seeing it so empty and then 10 mins before kick-off it was chocker. It was a pretty poor first half with no tries being scored and Wales managed to be beating us by 3 points at half-time (9-6)! To be honest, I don’t mind watching sport as long as we’re winning - not because I really care who wins, I just don’t like dealing with the sport-result-induced mood-swings of a kiwi bloke!!! But Niki didn’t seem phased at all at this point, and in fact was still on a major high after hearing the league result that morning!<br /><br />The second half was more exciting and I found myself screaming at the players…no particular words, just screaming (and squealing too apparently)! The final score was 9-29 to us. </p><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#000000;"><p align="justify"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273330203878819426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAhVRZ0GIPCq3G99yZGVQuJKJtYEZW8efjF1Bas1i1QQZNyr_igs4ep_4_ZBOkmNue5CjDYqKbjjqiwF-ljZIhjAv-56-BWRFeVjecHLIMW8CFqVhGq0p8ti26CL5op2-xjFXQYTI0ZNvy/s200/wales+050.jpg" border="0" /> The streets were blocked off to cars and there were people everywhere, including many young ladies wearing far far too little for the temperature. I'm all for a skimpy outfit but I was seriously shivering and I was wearing long pants, big jacket and all the trimmings. hehe obviously I hadn't had enough vodka.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#000000;">We were lucky to find a table (albeit outside) at an Italian restaurant where we had a lovely drawn out dinner - which Gina & Ben sneakily paid for (grrrr). Later we headed to a pub for a drink where the boys watched the replay of the league but by 11ish we were all shattered so home time it was!<br /><br />Sunday morning we had breakfast together at the hotel and then went our separate ways, and sadly we won’t see each other for another year at least! Niki and I headed to Barri Island which I’m sure was once a cute seaside village but is now unfortunately overtaken by the british staple of awful tacky theme park rides, casinos and gaming arcades. It was extremely windy and cold so we only explored for 15 mins before hurrying back to the van! We arrived home at around 6pm, with my time as a passenger being occupied by speaking to drunken Toni & Louisa lining up for the walkie post churching.</span></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#000000;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273332099000009570" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5dYzzyrAoQ4M34w0rZHh69JxmnimLZPhwNutBcGRuHTFYH56vhl40ZTdhi0MYScCTesiYw8uHn51LK8SGSzRNd1yVJYHVaCfrQLFFtggPKEtkbmd1StB___eM3XakEWqM-Knwn0KJi_Mc/s200/wales+062.jpg" border="0" /></span></p>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-74351635139792374442008-11-27T01:11:00.003+13:002008-11-28T02:10:38.821+13:00Nobody puts Baby in a corner<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#ff99ff;">So I’d been unemployed for 2.5 weeks and had made good use of the time, cleaning the flat, travelling to NY (getting engaged!!!!), and just generally tying up loose ends, trawling the internet, relaxing etc etc. By Wednesday 19th I’d hardly left the house for three days and was constantly dressed in trackies and a hoody (with frizzy hair!), so I decided it was high time I got spruced up and out of the house.<br /><br />Dirty Dancing (the stage show) was on my list of must-sees before I left London but as I had (typically) left it so late to arrange, there were no decent seats available on the dates Toni and I could go. On a wim I decided I would go alone (bit of character building) and just get the cheapest seat possible. So I went into the box office and asked for the cheapest seat (it wasn’t actually as awkward as I thought it would be asking for just the one ticket!). Anyway the girl suggested I pay £22.50 rather than £15 to get a much better seat which I was happy to pay, and that price wasn’t even available online.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrc-_Av2QP3cld3ls1Iz_vX4qzfyE0GKJzR3SJ3xsZwQxlckUa_wFrnFqZcazXUuB3KWg7zlRCoriwAkCFY3uSuY0_KEoW5BvC5-h0gdtmOtu4oPYUHtItCRCFHPErMYB-q_Qc1FwTsVSS/s1600-h/wales+001.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273323921261087266" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrc-_Av2QP3cld3ls1Iz_vX4qzfyE0GKJzR3SJ3xsZwQxlckUa_wFrnFqZcazXUuB3KWg7zlRCoriwAkCFY3uSuY0_KEoW5BvC5-h0gdtmOtu4oPYUHtItCRCFHPErMYB-q_Qc1FwTsVSS/s200/wales+001.jpg" border="0" /></a>I arranged to meet some work friends for lunch and they had 50% off vouchers for Zizzi – so it meant we could dine in style rather than the usual manky £5 lunch meal deal - I had a scrumptious mushroom and chicken risotto….mmmmmm. After an extended lunch hour, I followed them back to work and visited other friends on a different floor, used the facilities (photocopier, water cooler and loo!) and then hightailed it back outside to enjoy the last hour of daylight. I basically had three hours to waste before the show, so I wandered in and out of shops, walked around Trafalgar Square and up to Covent Garden, which is all so beautiful and I’m sure once I get home I’m going to wish I spent more time there!<br /><br />Dirty Dancing was really good. The girl who played Baby really looked the part although I thought they could’ve cast some of the others a bit better, or at least put wigs on ‘em! But I guess th<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio1nwARhDc6sn_t0twfSf_P8Ks2ooluBJAQZj5QiWgBQy4ZmvJALAs2d-m0zdHDEsn1Ssf41k0Lfq9lrKyTbTdkjzDIwTn5oR065CikZbA3OYU6-_QjVxi_txtjFSsu2JZ8yLjFxIvcNT-/s1600-h/wales+002.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5273323646150140242" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio1nwARhDc6sn_t0twfSf_P8Ks2ooluBJAQZj5QiWgBQy4ZmvJALAs2d-m0zdHDEsn1Ssf41k0Lfq9lrKyTbTdkjzDIwTn5oR065CikZbA3OYU6-_QjVxi_txtjFSsu2JZ8yLjFxIvcNT-/s200/wales+002.jpg" border="0" /></a>at’s only because I know the movie so well and it’s hard not to compare them. The girl playing Penny (ex-rockette dance instructor) was awesome and super duper hot.<br /><br />They had added a few extra scenes especially for the stage show and they generally pulled it off really well. Because it was a “musical” some of the cast sang but other big songs from the movie, for example “Hungry Eyes”, were just on a backing tape. The set was really well done with a revolving o-shape panel in the middle of the stage, and I loved how they did the water scene! The dancing really was magnificent and the audience squealed when Johnny got Baby out of that damn corner. It was lovely, I was grinning like an idiot and cheering and clapping too. I’m so so glad that I saw it.</span></div>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-51589706719415511052008-11-26T02:32:00.011+13:002008-11-26T02:50:26.564+13:00It was acceptable in the 90’s<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:verdana;color:#663366;">Saturday 15 November was my “last” weekend in London so to make the most of it us girls decided we should head out and sample some of London’s city night life. We had seen a weekly 90’s party at WaxBar advertised on the handy “London Loop” e-mail and thought that sounded like a bit of us.<br /><br />Minus the 90’s fashion, Pam, Toni and I met up early at Louisa’s house for dinner nibbleys (including maggi onion dip…now there’s a reason to head home in itself, YUM), vodka fun and girly chat, with saint Nicola arriving at 9ish with a fresh bottle of voddie in tow.<br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272591736709101538" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV5dKqcnjE0CJiuf59MCI9cVbZoyhFqZRVllHVnGpW81TLq8_JFewzUw881CiCKfEF6WEBPF_dlnJSveeeOX78O0GW5FIr3-x2lMxdB-j_et-rF7J_n0YWfD2ZM6QUAl4vOFp9Yah677pP/s200/PB163604.JPG" border="0" /> <p align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWV-sFv34SbekArj3-A2aRyx5vJOKOQKiC3KoZEr4DKz-m9xJVC3Ntr01dI-7buIXhfZtbVaA3niNozamZCZ8ChYeceFGG6nPplMzaYtbsfD1Ys3SGDH18P-gz7Jq7RvahCPP0WX_q3_7Z/s1600-h/PB163596.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272591572039575842" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWV-sFv34SbekArj3-A2aRyx5vJOKOQKiC3KoZEr4DKz-m9xJVC3Ntr01dI-7buIXhfZtbVaA3niNozamZCZ8ChYeceFGG6nPplMzaYtbsfD1Ys3SGDH18P-gz7Jq7RvahCPP0WX_q3_7Z/s200/PB163596.JPG" border="0" /></a>The girls were all rather tipsy by the time we dragged our butts to the tube<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5jGuzne32RbFvEUMYND6qeaddE4IkqYGT9LfL_vTxOnNcScW4cUd3V1cnTWcHYWAx1tWhiJ1RnffN2kdFKhvDqzWswI9dNRML4YbSSIT5AlQjJJSZQvQlGbZ4GffKpnTjfF4f_ei_DdU/s1600-h/s755593101_1649710_9939.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272589498653566306" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 97px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 130px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5jGuzne32RbFvEUMYND6qeaddE4IkqYGT9LfL_vTxOnNcScW4cUd3V1cnTWcHYWAx1tWhiJ1RnffN2kdFKhvDqzWswI9dNRML4YbSSIT5AlQjJJSZQvQlGbZ4GffKpnTjfF4f_ei_DdU/s320/s755593101_1649710_9939.jpg" border="0" /></a> station at 10:30pm, and this state of mind combined with the all important full “water” bottles and an empty carriage, lead to some rather amusing antics including dancing and photo posing, earning us a special mention over the intercom by the train driver… lucky for us that he had a sense of humour as drinking on the tube is now forbidden (we so bad ass!)<br /><br />We met up with Maz & Robert (our new Aussie pals) who had secured a good seating pozzie near the d-floor where we proceeded to cut some serious shapes to the loveable tunes of the 90’s.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQp_kSvDQVw4EPqx8idRCV50uI5xPb1QxI6rq20Dw2WAXwE-c9eZ_nRwGP47NJNYWrBNDmJRIXbEYB1TaCqkkx8NNZ_M4P8aqHUeHalQxSaHLdN5L3yMpZWapy8OHcqgSuLMJKM_2SZdY/s1600-h/s755593101_1649812_1311.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272589353545351730" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQp_kSvDQVw4EPqx8idRCV50uI5xPb1QxI6rq20Dw2WAXwE-c9eZ_nRwGP47NJNYWrBNDmJRIXbEYB1TaCqkkx8NNZ_M4P8aqHUeHalQxSaHLdN5L3yMpZWapy8OHcqgSuLMJKM_2SZdY/s320/s755593101_1649812_1311.jpg" border="0" /></a> The DJ was “rocking” and was kind enough (after much harassment and pinkie promises from Toni) to play Dave Dobbyn’s “Slice of Heaven” so we had a big nostalgic group dance, a scene somewhat reminiscent of the Grumpy Mole. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj10yxRVnqA66Whya3ehaXV1WWbte7sw9DYvrlLLTVH5AC_Z9AhoizaxEFx0jIBCllYjGVQDSkh1uHw4IdECswaXr3VvL6CmCibk477WxsVwY-HqlMFrW5v1c_K0jnhY7zlKJWoqaBLylrW/s1600-h/s755593101_1649755_946.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272589584299747698" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj10yxRVnqA66Whya3ehaXV1WWbte7sw9DYvrlLLTVH5AC_Z9AhoizaxEFx0jIBCllYjGVQDSkh1uHw4IdECswaXr3VvL6CmCibk477WxsVwY-HqlMFrW5v1c_K0jnhY7zlKJWoqaBLylrW/s320/s755593101_1649755_946.jpg" border="0" /></a>Later our thirst was quenched by “ice ice baby” cocktails…I totally love the cheese-factor of the 90’s.<br /><br />We had to put our names on the guest list and pay a cover charge to get in to this club, and disappointingly it was all a big hoo-hah over nothing special… Luckily we all have personality-plus and had a fandangle night anyway, but I ain’t recommending it to anyone…</span></p>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-65574975091530439832008-11-26T02:25:00.003+13:002008-11-26T02:32:03.539+13:00Bomb-diggity<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;">Wednesday 12 Nov I went to the O2 Arena to see Kanye West in concert with Pam. This was my first ever “very famous person” concert so I was rather excited. I had really wanted to see Madonna or Coldplay but unfortunately their concerts didn’t work with my dates, so I jumped at the chance to help Pam blow her concert diet by accompanying her to Kanye. I hadn’t seen Pam for a whole week and a half and since we’d both been travelling (her & Kev to Dublin, us to New York) we had lots to catch up on. It was lovely to share my engagement news with a girlfriend face-to-face, appropriate squealing and hugging followed.<br /><br />Kanye came on at 9pm and did a 2 hour gig on stage, all by himself, no costume ch<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgttP1IDUCdLZccQU2wc5fVrWiDN5I1iujn9lMi5zIzUmL0hXdpdoxTVPcwlmYZ92rwJBjNRF2Xm30pMGfFUgS1IYKDdWVW3ySr5SE0J5whjld-n1Wf828siLRgcoNXnTLO_aYAcAcUgY/s1600-h/Kanye%20West-29.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5272587046666013986" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 83px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 124px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgttP1IDUCdLZccQU2wc5fVrWiDN5I1iujn9lMi5zIzUmL0hXdpdoxTVPcwlmYZ92rwJBjNRF2Xm30pMGfFUgS1IYKDdWVW3ySr5SE0J5whjld-n1Wf828siLRgcoNXnTLO_aYAcAcUgY/s320/Kanye%2520West-29.jpg" border="0" /></a>anges or nothing. The stage was pretty basic and the theme was them in a spaceship and getting lost, (complete with fancy smoke and lighting and girl machine space voice) which was all a tad tacky but I commend his hard work nonetheless. I only knew about four of his songs, but it was still entertaining, especially watching all the “skinny white boys” shaking their thing and raising their “diamonds in the sky”. </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#ff0000;">Toward the end Estelle showed up as a wee surprise guest so we were treated to “American Boy”. Kanye went on a bit of a tyrant against the critics and also mentioned Britney winning some award over Rihanna… I think there’s a bit of anger there, or maybe it’s for show…tough rapper and all.<br /><br />I am looking forward to going to a big name pop concert next – hope my gal pals in NZ are keen!</span></div>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-79127516504010615272008-11-19T11:01:00.011+13:002008-11-21T05:47:38.287+13:00New York New York<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;">W</span><span style="font-family:arial;color:#006600;">e arrived in NY 11pm local time on Thursday 6 November...We flew American Airlines from London Heathrow (approx 7 hours) and it was exciting having the added extras like reclining chairs, food, drinks, movie screens - you know everything you don't get on budget carriers! I was however a tad disappointed with the very limited movie selection (and it was exactly the same on the way home!)...but on a positive note I now know "Mamma Mia" off by heart (and yes, I do requests).</span> </div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#006600;">We struggled a bit with the subway into Manhatten, mission to say the least, very very confusing compared to London's tube that's for sure. We had bumped into a solo travelling kiwi guy (as you do) and later decided to share a cab to our respective hostels. We walked up and down West 95th Street trying to find Candy Hostel (how cute is that name) to no avail. By this time it was the equivalent to 6am London time...and we had obviously not slept for nearly 24 hours = slight freak out! We noticed another hostel across the street and a cop (a massive tall black man...very NYPD action movie type) that does security for all the surrounding hostels kindly showed us the way... through some back door... turns out our hostel is actually on West 94th street...handy that!!! ahhhhhhh, thank goodness we were in an english speaking country!!</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#006600;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#006600;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#006600;">The jet lag kinda got to us on this trip, just feeling a bit dizzy and hungry at weird times, but we managed alright and we were out of the hostel by 9am every morning and were just super tired when we got back around 10pm each night. On our first day we purchased a 48 hour hop-on-hop-off bus ticket which came in pretty handy as it included a night tour over Manhatten bridge and tours of uptown, downtown and obviously all the tourist spots. The only crap thing about them was the awful tour guides...who really were crap yet tried to drum into you that as they were part of the service industry you should tip 'em.</span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#006600;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#006600;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#006600;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh45ayQDqPpbe1vyFLP9PKelL4EB1Dc5UH-kg2U0qjPQ-8xE93Odvk6KioOHRdiWp0gA6MP4lffyQfB2-N1oO3ceNst7P-1qx1fhwfnLthvHfkzm3sqUhMkvunPx1HpgJieVjO8HIrk9GM/s1600-h/new+york+038.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270765564270910818" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh45ayQDqPpbe1vyFLP9PKelL4EB1Dc5UH-kg2U0qjPQ-8xE93Odvk6KioOHRdiWp0gA6MP4lffyQfB2-N1oO3ceNst7P-1qx1fhwfnLthvHfkzm3sqUhMkvunPx1HpgJieVjO8HIrk9GM/s200/new+york+038.jpg" border="0" /></a>We went in to the Trump tower (which has cafe, restaurants open to public), Disney store, Tiffany's, M & M's store, Macy's, Century 21 (designer bargains) and Toys'R Us - which has a full size working ferris wheel, amazing large lego figurines, a giant barbie house and a "life-size" dinosaur...very cool! Times Square was fantastic, walking around that area is just like being in the movies, seriously so cool. It is manic, the billboards are unbelievably impressive and massive, the lights are blinking and yes there is a "naked" cowboy!</span></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;color:#006600;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#006600;">We wandered through "Chinatown" and "Little Italy" and ate evey takeaway you can think of including of course a street vendor hotdog, some new york cheesecake and doughnuts! We also saw the Ground Zero site of the 9-11 attacks - which is currently just a big building site, I think they have completed the basement levels but there is alot of work to be done as. There are quite a few tributes around still - we didn't go into the churches but apparently they have lots. Especially touching was a nearby fire station which is right on the footpath and it had a memorial thing set up with photos of about 8 men... which were obviously from that outfit, so very sad.</span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#006600;">We spent some time in central park and again that was just like being in the movies!! There are a<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicmO_Jl2Wfo7BpPrEgZHCc35lWXh2785FOP6TdxBlR1ynG9rVQrs_QCpDovpWvztdtINhemMzbBnoWLLQrmKIBhSWOANA1wJqIvTBBxNq5Z3190oAFFAewW0R6Cl5QuWSY5sa4MeDyvRw/s1600-h/s549201101_1574493_820.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270779118936845250" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicmO_Jl2Wfo7BpPrEgZHCc35lWXh2785FOP6TdxBlR1ynG9rVQrs_QCpDovpWvztdtINhemMzbBnoWLLQrmKIBhSWOANA1wJqIvTBBxNq5Z3190oAFFAewW0R6Cl5QuWSY5sa4MeDyvRw/s200/s549201101_1574493_820.jpg" border="0" /></a> gazillion people jogging and there's those lanterns that we all love. The autumn colours are really stunning, I've never appreciated them before.</span></div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#006600;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtd7A5kGo_uLqn-JqijEpY6ZO5-Whe3s5kUTvRH7prnUfnGotzIKS_HGbeSby_SvP_Pm4Wcpugpqu9bhuwJWHzE42H3dvZx7YgtQ2nm_F-JAv9EXOc8X1U75CxNaKkeYDsuECq6joOKg/s1600-h/s549201101_1574574_3362.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270780137412191426" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 97px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 130px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTtd7A5kGo_uLqn-JqijEpY6ZO5-Whe3s5kUTvRH7prnUfnGotzIKS_HGbeSby_SvP_Pm4Wcpugpqu9bhuwJWHzE42H3dvZx7YgtQ2nm_F-JAv9EXOc8X1U75CxNaKkeYDsuECq6joOKg/s200/s549201101_1574574_3362.jpg" border="0" /></a>We took the Staten Island ferry, which is free, to see the statue of liberty, it was pretty exciting seeing her although it was a pretty crappy day and she was rather far away. Luckily on our last day, when the weather was beautiful, we had a free 1 hour boat trip (which we got with our bus pass) and we got so close to her, it was awesome. Plus obviously was great to see the buildings and bridges from a different angle and the guide/narrator was really knowledgable.</span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#006600;">We took a train over to New Jersey to do a spot of shopping, we didn't buy much and it wasted alot of time, but anywho it was a bit of a thrill to have been in a different state! The view across the water over to Manhatten is pretty spectacular also.</span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#006600;">That afternoon we lined up for the Empire State Building at 4pm but by the time we got through security and ticket purchase, and up the lifts to the 85th floor (90 mins) it was dark out, but still absolutely gorgeous. The view is terrific, would be awesome to see it on a clear day. The only thing that took away from it was the cold - luckily Niki had just purchased two big hoodies...although he was still in jandals! brrrr</span></div><div align="justify"><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#006600;">On our last day we went to a different part of central park by Harlem Meer (lake) and the more manicured gardens which were very pretty. And you all know what happened next! We are engaged =) </span></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5270780582878152562" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_aPcbgVaZfJUAx7tLaH7DevbIxUOexRSeDf8aWvgJsdJ3rznvHoOQmTRkHrrB1Png5XQNkb8I20pofKgqLog5g0PX-Uj_0DGGaTpQXBHu026JyoRtfx0L1luiwrxZJDn9e29ZXU-nik/s320/s549201101_1574563_9932.jpg" border="0" /> <span style="font-family:Arial;color:#006600;">Our flight was at 18:50 so we had time to have a quick lunch do our 1 hour boat cruise from 1-2pm, rush back to the hostel and then off to the airport - takes about 1.5 hours on the subway and airtrain. We were absolutely buzzing all day and grinning like idiots (and forever glancing at my bling). We have been together so long so I didn't think it would really change much but it is such an awesome feeling!! Anyway pics are in facebook and on the top link to the right... it's a nightmare putting them in here. </span>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-64776703487742773792008-11-17T02:43:00.008+13:002008-11-18T05:30:10.032+13:00You mad cow<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">Nicola's flat hosted a halloween party and they were kind enough to invite a bunch of us. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwslEemAxhBxtUROD267_ya_v35t4cLPvlW4iID6gz4VMgj0wZqQ2tBAbSgDhusAPrA7ODb4T5gp2nw56GCcygI7vRyVWJUBQytMsWSN_Pj230fQFR921q9yptLPIj_TfjXl71_eSMqn4/s1600-h/n755593101_1570168_2211.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269663566428846226" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwslEemAxhBxtUROD267_ya_v35t4cLPvlW4iID6gz4VMgj0wZqQ2tBAbSgDhusAPrA7ODb4T5gp2nw56GCcygI7vRyVWJUBQytMsWSN_Pj230fQFR921q9yptLPIj_TfjXl71_eSMqn4/s200/n755593101_1570168_2211.jpg" border="0" /></a>We had <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiprv1dW9UC6EezPS6v8yMdwBFYlb5cEwPRg5X_rXssEvyU5xbW7wuRyXqd4hM7mhdblFrHdMSWSaX3RS2XJ1mC_iLRLiz1Cq9L4z3rpldk72wk5B5Aq26LYVVAN5pPoDKbsjGcVeqPMug/s1600-h/s755593101_1570159_9442.jpg"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqJSPRX1TLe2PPqfcBFDhLdNinrHUoprQsgamB8v9BbNk-UmBcZV7I0_PkzyImLCq5qIuXg7x6AhVf2vz4pFyUJkbza1vu17txyz5aDC3BwxHEXA8KA3W7g4DZ7bTAb-S2OAbIGOr1GZg/s1600-h/s755593101_1570149_6535.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269664428920906338" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 97px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 130px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqJSPRX1TLe2PPqfcBFDhLdNinrHUoprQsgamB8v9BbNk-UmBcZV7I0_PkzyImLCq5qIuXg7x6AhVf2vz4pFyUJkbza1vu17txyz5aDC3BwxHEXA8KA3W7g4DZ7bTAb-S2OAbIGOr1GZg/s200/s755593101_1570149_6535.jpg" border="0" /></a>Gina and Ben staying the night prior to their early morning flight to Italy, and<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL9-fznElc5WLVYoCRXI2VuJaAcQWcFnvD5SEFlIYAEx5dQhcb7CMrUN-F4vM8kgqyJ1c1m1cvQXt_ueq0F-HZ5ZSq_L4C99CKkKHRPJUHxoxc8CkdlfwBMaBp2LiSg3CyL8PPbUDhodU/s1600-h/n755593101_1570168_2211.jpg"></a> Toni, Louisa & Tim made the trip down from up north to attend. Their flat is just a 5 min walk for us so no battling with London public transport - yay. They had a great turn out with most people making a good effort with costumes which resulted in lots of prop swapping and of course plenty of fantastic photo opps!</span><br /></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;"></span></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269662932610043778" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiG0r-VxzSxZw5-hNlbX-9NPQ_of0Obc9gTXSVCVHpurR9WUoUuYACtgdeuzL0k5HgUv__44KDLSSN83n4_QxudqZ5r_CLq9rHuE5UhKD81N0__0E0PVk7JSEtFESrayDvpP7Zc0mX6wk/s320/n755593101_1570147_5976.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">At 22:45 Toni, Louisa and I thought it would be a good idea to head to the local supo and purchase another bottle of vodka... it was an entertaining journey to say the least. Unfortunately for me it was my undoing and I spent the next entire day hungover... Hayley styles... bucket required!</span><br /></p><p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYdEyfsABjp8YsJ5UqPQ2q4mTbQJ9n9kEynccIJsLvkLsDtiYqFPtWAju4zmAIRiK39fBXIfl4EtECoflXBlHrzJrKSuiKsAWMy7mHJ-ykSvxu_HKhmyPHmw8HYEZ7MWTuBHyliR6jj4/s1600-h/n755593101_1570170_2840.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269663750268942162" style="WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYdEyfsABjp8YsJ5UqPQ2q4mTbQJ9n9kEynccIJsLvkLsDtiYqFPtWAju4zmAIRiK39fBXIfl4EtECoflXBlHrzJrKSuiKsAWMy7mHJ-ykSvxu_HKhmyPHmw8HYEZ7MWTuBHyliR6jj4/s200/n755593101_1570170_2840.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">I must give Toni a special mention who was found asleep in our bath tub at 6am! Gina and Maz<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRTUa-VQQX8U4msNoXO2Fvtc5xckiPcXxFJYewfI8KwDHGMWL5Huw-S-SOEUjrEmcW7hkEBgkWG9yUSfJKnqu1MLMWNgB64MNVMeE6Q6vYeS9LcZLRTSg_tGRxOI7sycgw9oh5GRhX5Y/s1600-h/n755593101_1570182_6859.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5269663311093808226" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRTUa-VQQX8U4msNoXO2Fvtc5xckiPcXxFJYewfI8KwDHGMWL5Huw-S-SOEUjrEmcW7hkEBgkWG9yUSfJKnqu1MLMWNgB64MNVMeE6Q6vYeS9LcZLRTSg_tGRxOI7sycgw9oh5GRhX5Y/s200/n755593101_1570182_6859.jpg" border="0" /></a> (flatmate) had both needed to pee around 5am but had both seen the light was on so figured someone was in there. Gina and Ben left to the airport - still busting. 40 mins later Maz just bit the bullet and went in...to find Toni comatose in the bath...she wouldn't stir so what was a girl to do... she was busting! Anywho an hour later when Niki and I were transferring from the lounge to our own bed (as Gina & Ben had stayed in there) Niki noticed, and was like "Hayley, Toni is in the bath" and then he went to bed. Like it's an every day occurrence. Sort it out Hayley! Anyway it was hilarious, how that girl managed to sleep in there is beyond me. When I woke her she said "oh I was just taking out my contact lenses"... mmmm right! </span></p>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-79003658371745038242008-11-01T01:56:00.006+13:002008-11-15T03:23:17.503+13:00Work it a little bit<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#663366;">So it's Halloween... a month til we leave these fair shores yet it seems that my time being an "employee" in London has come to an end... I'm still hoping to get a call offering me some sort of temp work until we leave, but really not holding my breath and also with news of the economy at home I'm feeling a little bit worried that I might end up back at Tauranga Pak'n Save. ah c'est la vie</span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#663366;">Anyways thought I'd just post a couple of pics in relation to my uber cool workmates at PwC in London since April this year...</p><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglEmh_lCE5LJfYhBMu8uzsBYMDW4sOZjVgZe_NhqLUM-hBd63qNVHCboy96OHhH3IXNpElM_acbitEwDtpXSLFibY4AvLgrtK9m97GHSUZr7N9R6WBnJ58e52gstWdhpQ2yJgLrJ9sa7U/s1600-h/n755593101_1555917_9925.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263312313790070178" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglEmh_lCE5LJfYhBMu8uzsBYMDW4sOZjVgZe_NhqLUM-hBd63qNVHCboy96OHhH3IXNpElM_acbitEwDtpXSLFibY4AvLgrtK9m97GHSUZr7N9R6WBnJ58e52gstWdhpQ2yJgLrJ9sa7U/s200/n755593101_1555917_9925.jpg" border="0" /></a>My darling friends from the 5th floor at work got me a Topshop voucher when I finished working for them in August. With it I brought the most beautiful wee dress by Lipsy. I’ve worn it once so far and feel so pretty in it. It will be getting recycled many a time! </div><div align="justify"> </div><div align="justify">And this pic below is my last day at work - 31 Oct...the super fun girls on the 3rd floor decorated my desk and got me gorgeous flowers and a wee eyore cake!! I'm also going back to see everyone on the 27th of Nov for my leaving drinks which is very cool of them all =)<br /><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5268517738878255458" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiodCRv61-VOpp-qyQyJxfZWJRvQeSs0NWF3c15E_YoSPQwl2hFkRXfRByV9VqwV7i2wuPisrMicOr1Ral-Gxb66rI4anIW38kL278ahGAqf93WkV6ckzLl0uOaR6eNZ8eQ-GlPAt7jPEU/s320/part_04.jpe" border="0" /></span>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-61788795800062520932008-11-01T01:50:00.005+13:002008-11-01T02:39:17.901+13:00Rain Man @ Apollo Theatre<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#000099;">So like we totally saw Josh Hartnett live on stage! It was so exciting, just a shame we had bad seats and no binoculars! I really enjoyed the play and thought the acting was pretty good and <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEroo8pdywJX6AAn2hNCmhXh0K_th1uo9m2cvwhayG9Zj8m1OAWlnN1nR7_mkxVt41f8MO_uXva3UcjfxVVUMMH7PrjWfD0tEaCfCo2tq6M9eQcKMUZQRxjAoNeGN_mNQd22V0YKfsCwU/s1600-h/s755593101_1555833_1422.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263312072116458402" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEroo8pdywJX6AAn2hNCmhXh0K_th1uo9m2cvwhayG9Zj8m1OAWlnN1nR7_mkxVt41f8MO_uXva3UcjfxVVUMMH7PrjWfD0tEaCfCo2tq6M9eQcKMUZQRxjAoNeGN_mNQd22V0YKfsCwU/s200/s755593101_1555833_1422.jpg" border="0" /></a>it was as much like the movie as it could be on stage with really great sets. Adam Goodley was amazing and did a convincing performance as Raymond. You could tell Josh was a bit more of a novice and sometimes we weren’t sure if he was pausing for theatrical effect or because he’d forgotten his lines! haha - he could just stand there all night and look pretty for all I care. There was a scene where his shirt came off… Toni nearly fainted.<br /><br />Beforehand we met at a bar in Leicester Square and could see the paparazzi goi<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTYQfrEHineFq5mI7o7iJDu8wceDP5M6-FjKzB-xBK54ACnG5GPrT7R7Y9QdriOfrNYI4XhPQBt03ryAOd3GCaHA-zdo7wss22QXoHqyTjX2NqFOgHBPLrkd6GocRWY8mIkOpIZqA7ry0/s1600-h/s755593101_1555835_1800.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263311436283909730" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 130px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 97px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTYQfrEHineFq5mI7o7iJDu8wceDP5M6-FjKzB-xBK54ACnG5GPrT7R7Y9QdriOfrNYI4XhPQBt03ryAOd3GCaHA-zdo7wss22QXoHqyTjX2NqFOgHBPLrkd6GocRWY8mIkOpIZqA7ry0/s200/s755593101_1555835_1800.jpg" border="0" /></a>ng mad for some celebrities. We don’t know who it was, assume it was some sort of premiere as there was red carpet. But just to stop and think about it we are right where all this action happens that you read about in gossip magazines. I truly haven’t taken advantage of it. Wish my stalker pals were here =)</div></span><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5263311326765596098" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigugOmoipWxuqybtPK_m5f8yXtKNiTMp9ek7JTLGTR8e4tq4TW_AZ05eGDOr7Vf9r1SJ-5VahitOkd2jDETgLtaT_Jg69RhEIfo_yOmzzwrWJO6Tzkq6c11PbBAgylXzCRwF4cxskK4GU/s200/n755593101_1555839_2680.jpg" border="0" />Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-56761823846486434142008-10-30T06:35:00.017+13:002008-10-30T07:08:23.973+13:003 day Paddy Wagon Tour of Southern Ireland<div align="justify"><span style="color:#33cc00;"><span style="font-family:arial;">Friday morning was another early one with our meeting time being 8am at the Paddy Wagon Office. We hit the road at about 8:30am and drove out of Dublin with a quick stop </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg9MNJZ0CGhfJOgXvR-UL2A8KZcbxNc44GXem0WKb1OqXZC-SPKHHksETrLfdQVgY4Cuipf346f8Vuu9v5WI5Dho8a2MmKfa7vxdKzG4BkaXQEvA2H_EYqQn29DA0SxUMYuDvanPsX6ew/s1600-h/Southern-3-Day-Tour-Map.gif"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262631154795847666" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 100px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 127px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjg9MNJZ0CGhfJOgXvR-UL2A8KZcbxNc44GXem0WKb1OqXZC-SPKHHksETrLfdQVgY4Cuipf346f8Vuu9v5WI5Dho8a2MmKfa7vxdKzG4BkaXQEvA2H_EYqQn29DA0SxUMYuDvanPsX6ew/s200/Southern-3-Day-Tour-Map.gif" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">at Phoenix Park (largest city park in Europe at 712 hectares - since I have no clue how big that is our guide told us it was bigger than all of London parks combined or 9x as big as Central Park!) It is so beautiful, just peaceful and acres of rolling green fields, lovely big trees and deer roaming free.<br /><br />Friday was a rainy day (which I guess you’d expect of Ireland) the windows </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoMNLo13-ciBdn-V8RHZNpjDjgTkh42quCJlClLlMYoFBtdRx1TXkrWQXVqgwvIPqBSQZueUIvy4EiZYSiC-QEvMJbPnhioBZYIPg_Nhfl-3qYUTeynxCax1lYURUINP_iPbz0cTU9yq4/s1600-h/Dublin+048.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262634776219197730" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoMNLo13-ciBdn-V8RHZNpjDjgTkh42quCJlClLlMYoFBtdRx1TXkrWQXVqgwvIPqBSQZueUIvy4EiZYSiC-QEvMJbPnhioBZYIPg_Nhfl-3qYUTeynxCax1lYURUINP_iPbz0cTU9yq4/s200/Dublin+048.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">fogged up and it was generally miserable. Our first stop was at Clonmacnoise which is the ruins of an old monastry and is littered with golden age celtic crosses marking graves. It was really beautiful and a bit spooky actually! We arrived into Galway at 3pm and had free time exploring the town. It was a cute town but we ended up in a coffee shop to keep warm and dry! That night the group went out to a pub for dinner – 3 other paddywagon tours were there at the same time so it was a massive group. We stayed for the live band and a few drinks, making our way back to the hostel before we were to turn into pumpkins.<br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262638519431996386" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi8cm0RJu6FwspbeHrhQMHyouPxC0RWyYmzO-6gQ8zZmOJgO00TxPdEKIlRkJLQdSBsmKYu4qOc15MYMZvsRGbt86UOzisFxLmhwA2L6_zwUgF-pAm5-ZXdfdqKpS6ODLYZzqm5iC5Tso/s200/Dublin+106.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="justify">Saturday our group of 14 (3 boys total!) took off at 9:30am – and you’ll be pleased to hear we had wonderful weather! We travelled to the Bog of Allen and passed by various castles stop<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZUqiOr0UH1p182mTplBUZtQwqn_ybkUYXWMvWzeUC7veKuCdM_5xZHdFFRagyhCyH8dAYFgLj1UEcRcdJp3FjkBCVkCXC8KTLKVXpzXOQDhrmUfdwvXoYgZ41gfFkDC8I8kIkts54ZBM/s1600-h/Dublin+071.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262637510801732162" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZUqiOr0UH1p182mTplBUZtQwqn_ybkUYXWMvWzeUC7veKuCdM_5xZHdFFRagyhCyH8dAYFgLj1UEcRcdJp3FjkBCVkCXC8KTLKVXpzXOQDhrmUfdwvXoYgZ41gfFkDC8I8kIkts54ZBM/s200/Dublin+071.jpg" border="0" /></a>ping for many photo opportunities. The bog is made up of peat which if I understand correctly is formed by sediment on the swamp land that hardens into a black substance as it has nowhere to drain, and it is used as a fuel for fire etc. We saw small piles stacked by a farmer to dry and also larger areas which are “bog-farmed” by a factory. We then came across a flooded road and watched with amusement as a few brave cars made their way through but we heard that the local car place has towed 13 cars out in the last day! Our driver didn’t want to risk it as he had spent a few hours the previous day picking up a tour who’s bus’ engine had blown up by driving through a flood!<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262634952721007666" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib_ZfQJaFz6Jv3yEJ_zY6htkGjnCLuiDl72cnr5Bwu5gsCa2jw8du38G0vb8qPTXGVRWEYTySaVg23PXBFBvJbimRx65_i5j2sXjqCWQ5xktaFnVe-FWCahIZQSxKSuKgf9mFTp0pTIJE/s200/Dublin+065.jpg" border="0" /> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262636036786916498" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZDlktrCeKViRaN6eFmKDpssDJRPzoajdodfC1gc-E0YiLzL3BH-pc1RoXI0euEG6YRd9kk6oPSQo8n3fpQ7BtptLBUTv7ncz18KfZwTRrqQct18Ql9_UnO_S2z2Ag3EMsDqQyo_aJVRU/s200/Dublin+095.jpg" border="0" /></p><div><div><p align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1rnVPaErXyGLF-DJ3A3yyhq2DwFIrgjkyD04KJzio0k_dlKnLcuiw71T1-2FcqItHzJroZp6MsWY4QGGKhOKo8YtAYQ_Ddv0Kev-MiO384aoqCkr6Nvh8rTwPLiVb434jfvwTHTR7f6E/s1600-h/Dublin+077.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262638889053463538" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1rnVPaErXyGLF-DJ3A3yyhq2DwFIrgjkyD04KJzio0k_dlKnLcuiw71T1-2FcqItHzJroZp6MsWY4QGGKhOKo8YtAYQ_Ddv0Kev-MiO384aoqCkr6Nvh8rTwPLiVb434jfvwTHTR7f6E/s200/Dublin+077.jpg" border="0" /></a>Later we passed through Burren which is home to an eerily haunting limestone landscape. It is so strange seeing miles of stone, some with massive cracks in it and even</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik7oNqQoBV3MsvIh3ElGYFjTI54xv1pKg7eKuiSpcG_nhxAmXPH65JNOS_zPZoeFxKOza7VM9Zx4XQQCM-7M-4USsJSBClZ-jIZVH4VNPlqXc2ohxqpvim0sRHcoR6l50CpfN0QxCmlvA/s1600-h/Dublin+136.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262636220906530834" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik7oNqQoBV3MsvIh3ElGYFjTI54xv1pKg7eKuiSpcG_nhxAmXPH65JNOS_zPZoeFxKOza7VM9Zx4XQQCM-7M-4USsJSBClZ-jIZVH4VNPlqXc2ohxqpvim0sRHcoR6l50CpfN0QxCmlvA/s200/Dublin+136.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;"> hills of stone in the distance as well. We stopped at Doolin for lunch and then continued on to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs stretch for 8km and rise 214 metres above the Atlantic ocean, they were breathtaking and we were so lucky to have good weather and really enjoyed a good 90 mins exploring. Niki was brave (or stupid) and went over the tourist site boundary (along with many many others) and got a snap of a crazy woman sitting with her feet over the edge. There were “Good Samaritan” signs everywhere… thankfully no one decided to throw themselves off while we were there! <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262637799368328530" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK2eNaf6M4dfJdMy40lb1056zrMRy5vA4QtowZG7Hvfen_pkYgUbf5abKiPz6iNhN_H7K7wWdRc8gxhpdLvxNYQgM87RrPf19ovoEjtqxiZbSR_ryR51epVcptOJ-xZV6LepMrFGfgbsc/s200/Dublin+121.jpg" border="0" /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJMr70o-T_HqVAHDUra9JwGrCtaiDAUIS5VZpwHNg0nofFTFonRRt2dh_eMbZnSF2LM_L_x_N9bdKQ7pCWe5wy5ivD0x_vf17i4hR4Mpu2OJfIGFozY6Z-Tc_F0dkq3sMth-R176CHTw4/s1600-h/Dublin+078.jpg"><span style="font-family:arial;"></span></a><span style="font-family:arial;">That afternoon we took a car ferry and then made our way to Killarney for the night where we were treated to some stunning views. Killarney is the start and end for people doing the Ring of Kerry and is just so gorgeous. We went out for a pub dinner and then on to a bar for bargain drink specials before heading to hear some live music by a 3 piece band. It wasn’t river dance or anything but super fun hearing some traditional stuff and watching the local drunken crowds doing their irish dancing (or trying to!). Our hostel was pretty crap this night – with 12 of us in the same room (Niki being the only boy again)! <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262634594680381234" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimOtTgpU2cd_zkap-2H0QUaw9drZUTRqNAbRkFTvRVoJe7VaOlHvOY8w89T7RTSW_xAP2Kw4qmsTQVl9m4LvIUefK12mzXQqbYD8_sXpmW7LgPSB_NlplhLpknqTN_-IrEJUyN3HUF3SE/s200/Dublin+176.jpg" border="0" /> Next morning (Sunday, last day of tour) we were away at 9am and again lucky to have great weather. Very clear and crisp and a perfect morning to see the massive Killarney park by horsedrawn carriage! The park was so beautiful and peaceful and just how you imagine Irish landscape. We saw wild deer including a very large stag which was very special.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDCxgLkhbZ23rWPxJcps0CrgfdxQpW1FTy_YVxWIV6uQyhoz3VZO085D1To4gVMOUrItnHJMmEximtT22-r8E-0xwwt1DPMj7tCWludUoPzHc77xkX557TcgtnHNyLv79ttXV8BsASqg/s1600-h/Dublin+236.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262636645005440274" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWDCxgLkhbZ23rWPxJcps0CrgfdxQpW1FTy_YVxWIV6uQyhoz3VZO085D1To4gVMOUrItnHJMmEximtT22-r8E-0xwwt1DPMj7tCWludUoPzHc77xkX557TcgtnHNyLv79ttXV8BsASqg/s200/Dublin+236.jpg" border="0" /></a>We did a drive through tour of Cork and then continued on to the Blarney Castle to kiss the Blarney stone. I had never heard of this before but kissing the stone is mean to give you the gift of the gab - Just what I need! The grounds and castle were really lovely and kissing the tone was an experience in itself as you have to lie upside down with your head hanging back and your get <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Bms6xTrm111sQIcnBYMd02GSI1PJ7iU8Mo4OXDHUoGNuhffu7Ltdj2e8cQdaYQExHo5yZHsZK6YdPpeTWn_esiHtyyEx6pnV-el3xusYGaw3a3jRXNgSaPYGprTETxexy8lKcM5h5ec/s1600-h/Dublin+271.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262636798179979746" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5Bms6xTrm111sQIcnBYMd02GSI1PJ7iU8Mo4OXDHUoGNuhffu7Ltdj2e8cQdaYQExHo5yZHsZK6YdPpeTWn_esiHtyyEx6pnV-el3xusYGaw3a3jRXNgSaPYGprTETxexy8lKcM5h5ec/s200/Dublin+271.jpg" border="0" /></a>held there by an employee so you don’t fall – and it’s quite high off the ground!<br /><br />After that we had a couple hours of solid driving (and passenger sleeping) before arriving at the ruins of Cahir Castle. Again a gorgeous setting and we had lots of fun exploring and taking photos. We arrived back into Dublin around 6pm and headed straight home to Debra’s for dinner, dvd and hairwashing!<br /><br />Monday after our tour we had a much needed sleep-in before heading to <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyESDCa2mWcHy0WSmgj7W33woiuJVs9H2xxqNDj6wgj_pgerXWL4lx5mXAmwTQ0JZfS53v92IcXqiBrv7jD8YVHq2mJC4TtkaNslAykUGnUC_cIImSXzkV6GI9SSf3W-VBq9gbkSDZnfk/s1600-h/Dublin+175.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262639071682012658" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyESDCa2mWcHy0WSmgj7W33woiuJVs9H2xxqNDj6wgj_pgerXWL4lx5mXAmwTQ0JZfS53v92IcXqiBrv7jD8YVHq2mJC4TtkaNslAykUGnUC_cIImSXzkV6GI9SSf3W-VBq9gbkSDZnfk/s200/Dublin+175.jpg" border="0" /></a>town, my plan was to hit the shops! Niki spent the afternoon at the Guinness Factory (surprise surprise) while Debra and I shopped til we dropped. We each came away with a pair of boots and matching grey skinny jeans – my first pair ever! I feel so fashionable it’s hilarious. At 4ish we met back up with Niki in a café called “The Queen of Tarts”, this place wins many awards and I can see why. We each had a scrummy treat, mine being a slice of baileys and chocolate chip cheesecake = divine! What a perfect way to end such a great long weekend.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262632411718164146" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrB-xLIA1ua-3cDnwYUVwbb6B4GiZJXUHP03IfivSvfluZvRLPvVYkOqdl_xPqh16XlFqc76XSkyKqZ0pYryZYIZ0clLHQyyUudj6xTRufhV89RP3Oj3UNqsrCyQD7XpOxIzCN8oJLCYk/s200/Dublin+330.jpg" border="0" />After many hugs and a nearly-tearful goodbye (who knows when we will see Debra again!) it was time to catch a bus and head to the airport for our 8pm flight back to London.</span></span> </p></div></div><br /></span></span>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-82614910728313605462008-10-29T02:10:00.011+13:002008-10-29T02:27:11.967+13:00Dublin - Ireland Oct 08<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#006600;">Back in June I was perusing the Ryanair website (a very popular pass-time of mine) when I stumbled across the biggest bargain of my year: £4 incl taxes return flights to Dublin for both of us! Obviously I booked it then and there, figuring if we didn’t end up using the flight it didn’t matter.<br /><br />Fast-forward 5 months…Thursday 9 Oct we got up at 05:45 to catch the tube at 06:30 and then the train to Stansted airport – our train tickets costing 12x our flight price! The train only takes 45 mins, rather than the 1 hour 40min cheap coach we usually take, what a treat! We arrived at Dublin at 11 and spent a good 30 mins lining up for the non-EU passport line (yawn). Ireland’s arrival stamp nearly takes up a whole page and is bright green… too much detail for you all I guess, but I was excited!<br /><br />We met Debra in town and deposited our bags at a left luggage facility for the da</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimqlO_UWQjLpKkj5AH1BPn_ycLj0o9Hyz6Nz2r2qAW0GAh89BZ6-jGoImSNhZCHwskaVTmHDEtx5xXQodL1E1gZFdcWzj8y-pUmUxWeZzRqZiQEXUtTpT_MngnPXwsoa86HRj3pTx_sYg/s1600-h/Dublin+006.jpg"><span style="color:#006600;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262191850528498082" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimqlO_UWQjLpKkj5AH1BPn_ycLj0o9Hyz6Nz2r2qAW0GAh89BZ6-jGoImSNhZCHwskaVTmHDEtx5xXQodL1E1gZFdcWzj8y-pUmUxWeZzRqZiQEXUtTpT_MngnPXwsoa86HRj3pTx_sYg/s200/Dublin+006.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="color:#006600;">y. After a scrummy Italian meal for lunch we spent the next couple of hours exploring Dublin City. It was fab having a personal guide, and it was nice being in a “small” city again where everything is within walking distance and is easy to navigate. We saw a statue of Molly Malone (the cockles and mussels song), Trinity College, Millennium spire, Christ Church Cathedral, endless Guinness signage and pubs, the </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEuOlKoaVzg4G0JG-_LgHEeg5cZxj85KgIXUVUtvN2e4ew6DKj-wPs-mYS7O3kMI5c4sGi49wWP4e8yVmyqIqdxjv7mtILIKEiPjiU6-owyPYFryVWvDsxAoQcZiQz4PO1wVl-ht2C1QU/s1600-h/Dublin+020.jpg"><span style="color:#006600;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262195062587981810" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 200px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEuOlKoaVzg4G0JG-_LgHEeg5cZxj85KgIXUVUtvN2e4ew6DKj-wPs-mYS7O3kMI5c4sGi49wWP4e8yVmyqIqdxjv7mtILIKEiPjiU6-owyPYFryVWvDsxAoQcZiQz4PO1wVl-ht2C1QU/s200/Dublin+020.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="color:#006600;">pedestrian shopping streets and a </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrPmyKkNbRis87wer4hgs_yzogXsFXoWeKd94QsL5JWCX9mUi_ez9vNum1rcw47YAmhWgxhPQZD25usHQ29Q6M12udmQuAk1qhBWX6b-htCWeOyUJgiy7r9Gl5dcxUl964pWvGj-tFdTM/s1600-h/Dublin+020.jpg"></a><span style="color:#006600;">city park. After 2 hours of dawdling we were getting tired and weary so Debra took us to a bar/restaurant that was converted from a very old church. The interior was absolutely gorgeous, even the pipe organ remained in place.<br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262192787621557106" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3HO0EfZE46vMvVP7TSjRNdn7-N6EEn4KBdAJ4lfcCOgZLGPGlKZpsnYjTo9n3SJejdhb0fcPmXZhfSu9XRku7Vp8sJtKHgmkEMmCLT5PnUXonHQZTXMsVZmsHdtDbZlLP3Gr3xRMBUzg/s200/Dublin+024.jpg" border="0" /> Later we headed back to Debra’s flat for a home cooked meal. En-route we had to stop for a </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOwXHq7AfBdiiWo9jKIIP_NQebGvxWPPiKyta6Oy_nNcfwZGLFFoju2555h7hGg2W5aaj2VdNsN4JRdn6uCo5DKCNlBAbbyBVWnz-rIVMAuGkENLErLrvtMTgUQbV2IUo2bH3Ol1T-Yp8/s1600-h/Dublin+030.jpg"><span style="color:#006600;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262194701595604194" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOwXHq7AfBdiiWo9jKIIP_NQebGvxWPPiKyta6Oy_nNcfwZGLFFoju2555h7hGg2W5aaj2VdNsN4JRdn6uCo5DKCNlBAbbyBVWnz-rIVMAuGkENLErLrvtMTgUQbV2IUo2bH3Ol1T-Yp8/s200/Dublin+030.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="color:#006600;">railway crossing - and get this, the gates are manually operated - as in a man runs out and opens/closes gate...what year are we in again?!! Later we headed back into town to meet up with some of Debra's friends for drinks. Niki tried all different types of local brewed beer and yummy cocktails were the go for us girls, although I wouldn’t recommend the “jelly bean” – it does taste like a jelly bean, but a black one (ewww) they really should specify! </span></span></div><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#006600;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5262192070190182306" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8aOBybx3fslwk-v6KeCEWY5AcuzGZibOMFB9YvbI-uttVRqRc4hpAiq7C8E9j6IrXvcvQBZz9oFTU79E4Pu3o75ZFqsW8qeC4bHG-Y6Ko01BMB3vbopZ7HcyOPP87s_BwSUzk7JF6mk4/s200/Dublin+033.jpg" border="0" /></span><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="color:#006600;">Keep posted for details of our 3 day tour of Southern Ireland</span></span><br /></span>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-79117763929961211552008-10-21T05:07:00.008+13:002008-10-21T05:24:31.286+13:00The church AGAIN<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#ff0000;">On Sunday – after our cultural experience of Shakespeare the night before – we went to “the <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQf_Eal3RolLNSdd04eYlyKT23a6vp5gxEHJAs_Deo6sE8AZvjBYn9F60FTYgZo3aKb6wXp4o4kw-hN7B3H5nEy1FPrSbfccrlkg_32FFC327OraHzbJN5MruI2uFyHfA7gD0c-h68pLo/s1600-h/t6ast+and+chrch+071.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259270979352331586" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQf_Eal3RolLNSdd04eYlyKT23a6vp5gxEHJAs_Deo6sE8AZvjBYn9F60FTYgZo3aKb6wXp4o4kw-hN7B3H5nEy1FPrSbfccrlkg_32FFC327OraHzbJN5MruI2uFyHfA7gD0c-h68pLo/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+071.jpg" border="0" /></a>church” for an afternoon of boozing and crazy ruckus, talk about one extreme to the other!<br /><br />We had planned to go back when we booked the Shakespeare tickets as Tim, Louisa, Toni and Debra hadn’t been before. Nicki Brown (a pal from school) had also arrived in London since then so was a good chance to catch up with her too. We started the day by meeting for a yummy cooked breakfast and champers at Tim & Louisa’s flat. At 12pm we made the move to Kentish Tow<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq3VJL-sXOSeAF1oBqQ_pGOfY51QftB36R1_fv0GO9gACIUYePDkvjx0i6lHIcFWd2TTgeyWRfOykfHcrdLkrLGs0g2xay5cICLbrbjg-bpyr9xowIVzXeG0hf18IktUbpGaqZGA3Otsw/s1600-h/t6ast+and+chrch+078.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259271145983261922" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq3VJL-sXOSeAF1oBqQ_pGOfY51QftB36R1_fv0GO9gACIUYePDkvjx0i6lHIcFWd2TTgeyWRfOykfHcrdLkrLGs0g2xay5cICLbrbjg-bpyr9xowIVzXeG0hf18IktUbpGaqZGA3Otsw/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+078.jpg" border="0" /></a>n and paid the stupid door-charge of £7 to enter the icky madness that is the church. Now you might recall we went to the church when Hollie was over on holiday way back in April, and although I had a great day I didn’t handle the daytime drinking too well and didn’t think I’d ever do it again…fast-forward six months and we are at it again! This time our "theme" was to each dress in a sngle colour...dressing up makes for more silliness so it's a must<br /><br />We had the funniest time and again took a zillion pics (I must stop posing with drinks...)! Around 4:30pm at closing we made a very entertaining tube trip to the Shepherds Bush Walkabout, well when I say “we” I mean everyone apart from Niki…who headed straight home to deal with a premature hangover! Moderation isn’t a word in his vocabulary obviously.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEz2yECMyHIgMKeEnVMmRdROK3TPZIAwN7y06oSZEgo_mpVK9z-vHvV7goYfVtShTeCjf7KwBvVrjKc6or0z8TKLvilOwbpXbHIxd2HeljHahmSFMUa1lDnhN4fyH7UJuxLB8fK3WmDl8/s1600-h/t6ast+and+chrch+098.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259271299538684978" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEz2yECMyHIgMKeEnVMmRdROK3TPZIAwN7y06oSZEgo_mpVK9z-vHvV7goYfVtShTeCjf7KwBvVrjKc6or0z8TKLvilOwbpXbHIxd2HeljHahmSFMUa1lDnhN4fyH7UJuxLB8fK3WmDl8/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+098.jpg" border="0" /></a>We indulged in mince pies and a variety of drinks, danced our hearts out and met some nice and not so nice people. Later Toni, Nicki and I caught up with Nicki’s friends (accompanied by one of the nice people, joined to Nicki’s lips! Hehe) at a nearby bar where we were entertained by a brilliant kiwi singer/guitarist. A very fun day/night had by all… although I tell ya Monday was a hard day to get though!!<img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259271922285809426" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsziSDlkjEWJhlVttPo6YUhUZCuTUZGQqbLYM0hS6wddYMrUdkCbjfQ-pni5pv7aJM_BWrW11Rnwc-bUIVBDBgKbdCMPyLWlw5lhOpLVl0eLaiCfQk7VPGP63DDYNHbCZWSJADGtJ2xLk/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+140.jpg" border="0" /></span></div>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-88268429854463014722008-10-21T01:22:00.007+13:002008-10-21T02:14:32.912+13:00A Late-Summer's Night Dream<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:arial;color:#3333ff;">On the 4th of October we went to the Shakespeare’s Globe to see the closing night of "A Mid-<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Tqi36yubSZeilspBgeDWFPzfBMj3w7GU8Kr66t6qWwsKp8SmBLCJ7JgtqBkY7rDrvbQFO0eB0oEZl26JgS8mU8KKr1pe2GuwZrC7cgTfXLZkIUbt9cHI0VDX0JTKrKYxgvAqC3WUzdQ/s1600-h/t6ast+and+chrch+043.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259223094565471346" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4Tqi36yubSZeilspBgeDWFPzfBMj3w7GU8Kr66t6qWwsKp8SmBLCJ7JgtqBkY7rDrvbQFO0eB0oEZl26JgS8mU8KKr1pe2GuwZrC7cgTfXLZkIUbt9cHI0VDX0JTKrKYxgvAqC3WUzdQ/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+043.jpg" border="0" /></a>Summer's Night Dream". Toni had organised us all and had purchased tickets way back in July for this popular theatre event. The Globe is situated on the Thames (next to the Tate Modern Museum) which is believed to be the original site of Shakespeare’s theatre and has been re-built to look quite authentic. It is a circular building with seats most the way round the stage with 3 levels of seating (wooden benches) above each other. The most astounding thing is that the theatre does not have a roof! It is gorgeous being able to look up at the moon, but it does mean that it’s a bit chilly inside! Because of this the theatre only operates during the "summer" months performing 4-5 different plays over the season, but is open for tours and the like for the rest of the year.<br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259223690553177138" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEVNf8c58xvhdC8teTd7qparEP_5bHQDoJE12BWI5WrwXKZq3GSMI5Rc7oXrk0OppvZiiPeYBBPWlpDy-RQ7fUCzY7vGBhJQZ6zp74GCL9J4kNmghrZoa3gmgAGmjHagEHyDNpXWTqDwE/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+047.jpg" border="0" /> <p align="justify">The plays are performed like they were in the “olden days” no microphones or gadgets<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisemmRcn5Bq_7Zd08H-HJ7QtRCiDJ1vaxxYbOgJ7E2oOaBrf_3v9AqlS56mvVrmDBPzTM6Du2xbVq3NpfSOGyJtDiWiPrOIG6mxGkuqu3PnndjwfG91g0BRGFsQDEJNwBg5CiKxlaSVwI/s1600-h/t6ast+and+chrch+057.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259223369123235746" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisemmRcn5Bq_7Zd08H-HJ7QtRCiDJ1vaxxYbOgJ7E2oOaBrf_3v9AqlS56mvVrmDBPzTM6Du2xbVq3NpfSOGyJtDiWiPrOIG6mxGkuqu3PnndjwfG91g0BRGFsQDEJNwBg5CiKxlaSVwI/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+057.jpg" border="0" /></a>, simple costuming and a very basic set. Our seats were to the side of the stage, so not brilliant, but we still got to see most of what was going on and somehow understand the story (with a bit of help from reading the programme). You can also attend the theatre for the bargain price of £5 - as long as you don't mind standing up the whole time... keeping in mind that the globe has no roof so you’d need to wear a poncho.</span> <span style="font-family:arial;color:#3366ff;">(As you can tell the night setting on our camera is pretty crap!)</span></p><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259223234909710034" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq6A7fNcUifcBJr5Zku3CjU-bB_dkRdH00mwarSmVOsM8ZPvOUb7HBTorEJuFUQi_cLq3C1tZ96Znw0RyaliCjLnzn3tHQlk0qmmTixlmdAWfPZrD2KOoH1QIDxiwL5BWT4-SQsTBvNUE/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+050.jpg" border="0" />Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-42598735786573144352008-10-18T01:33:00.013+13:002008-10-18T02:03:11.612+13:00Kiwi Toast Festival - London 27 Sept 08<div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTRKmdAfS8Y7y5d_AtdD-KZBchgG9_E_IpZASrj3SHFHbpTEmUKmYmaQSAJ4-ylUsQcEJeyf3IIXjqtDZEzMndhHQGMPpqHVaWdUb9n2KcdjOUEMU6JC7MoSlX3aTvdS13PrPzknz8AYU/s1600-h/t6ast+and+chrch+029.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258103830999829298" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTRKmdAfS8Y7y5d_AtdD-KZBchgG9_E_IpZASrj3SHFHbpTEmUKmYmaQSAJ4-ylUsQcEJeyf3IIXjqtDZEzMndhHQGMPpqHVaWdUb9n2KcdjOUEMU6JC7MoSlX3aTvdS13PrPzknz8AYU/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+029.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">Louisa and Tim scored us free tickets (usually £30 each!) to go to the New Zealand day of the 3 day toast festival which is held annually in London - celebrating Australia, New Zealand and South Africa over a 3 day weekend. Wasn't our usual "full" crew, with Toni still trecking around Europe and Pam in the States (oh the glamorous lives we lead!) but Gina made the treck up from Isle of Wight to join us (YaY!) and we had a great day. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;color:#000000;">Basically it's held in a massive hall with many sta<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrfP9I1F9lVVlQT36kHUXWtbYzqm0N5kCkCxyWI4U29SjOT3SBUzdjIZHEKPxBIat-1nYDDneUe-mEtTLP3Mwtmn3Fdz07I5sSpgx2liGsVw33IHBC3vMnLz0KLKH2P45ClM3plZ4onQ/s1600-h/t6ast+and+chrch+027.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258106818855864898" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrfP9I1F9lVVlQT36kHUXWtbYzqm0N5kCkCxyWI4U29SjOT3SBUzdjIZHEKPxBIat-1nYDDneUe-mEtTLP3Mwtmn3Fdz07I5sSpgx2liGsVw33IHBC3vMnLz0KLKH2P45ClM3plZ4onQ/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+027.jpg" border="0" /></a>lls selling kiwi food and products like t-shirts, greenstone, buzzy bee etc and of course beer & wine; also recruitment agencies, shipping companies - anything that your average antipodean would be interested in! We were lucky to arrive early enough to snag a table and guarded it for the rest of the day, taking turns to grab beer/wine and munching out on everything we miss from home - rashuns, mince pie, L&P, chocolate and taking some home too (just don't convert into kiwi $$'s!).</span></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258104906544803938" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-_LBUMT8IIe3eiD8sTsYoMj5XKtpwR4eLkN4QYMzkatFJje9ria40kaJh-kD4fiFmtUe3LZ1EX4hU50-l5SDCy1bg3CM7GkGYmwSHPE9CsyHB87XBTmuEkz_-bqg2hpsqlMcH-o73fM/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+022.jpg" border="0" /><br /><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitIpKBMP5hNfLpXqMNQps6-aRJmULjJrS15JBdaXofvTVttUvi2cyVmZHtajUhgWcRld7mo2473ziPWxPrJCtOAn4lEfK7wTCFgcC2F4Knwi0O8neAgXn1j8mpnIDB5RM90SYR0H-BlPQ/s1600-h/t6ast+and+chrch+015.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258104281820982146" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitIpKBMP5hNfLpXqMNQps6-aRJmULjJrS15JBdaXofvTVttUvi2cyVmZHtajUhgWcRld7mo2473ziPWxPrJCtOAn4lEfK7wTCFgcC2F4Knwi0O8neAgXn1j8mpnIDB5RM90SYR0H-BlPQ/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+015.jpg" border="0" /></a>The day was opened by a maori culture group which was wicked - you don't realise how much you miss that stuff! Daniel Carter and Zin Zan Brooke were in the sports section and took time to sign a few autographs etc. OpShop and Supergroove played later <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtDAXMGtZAQvBgHU0irS8kX6eNR20UsPHfcEg2orD6e79kZCYPU4kwKKRm3UJAb28b3az3qDtg8JXfBYhgG0_De3roUZVPICmBVWNDpMfFl5jMNJ2esLFekQ71p87mQXbJxkokSu9qiCQ/s1600-h/t6ast+and+chrch+012.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258104036294226642" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtDAXMGtZAQvBgHU0irS8kX6eNR20UsPHfcEg2orD6e79kZCYPU4kwKKRm3UJAb28b3az3qDtg8JXfBYhgG0_De3roUZVPICmBVWNDpMfFl5jMNJ2esLFekQ71p87mQXbJxkokSu9qiCQ/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+012.jpg" border="0" /></a>in the afternoon/evening and got the crowd pumping. It was a pretty good day but really not worth the ticket price so super glad it was FREE hehe, lovely to get a wee New Zealand fix, even though I know we're home soon.</span></div><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258104412143499554" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieKp9CEgIdTOOxxpBITtsIHyhpKa2An4l8vTopTvgTshQ0q_Ht7fycr-D5yHla_nkUrf4svb21K63YTBEjJQ2W4JkiCNCN9d5-nNaKsAsfMr0tgrYreB1na4K1dHcrAlW9QavpuopZ6UM/s200/t6ast+and+chrch+031.jpg" border="0" />Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-952459860608329133.post-72466694568475809672008-10-15T04:39:00.007+13:002008-10-15T04:55:55.706+13:00Nice<div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#66cccc;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXTBNCrW5B8ce-S_pTACEE5ZZYE-4roR6tKovV9siOQBoTm0OkTcO5qyzOYvKF97wjJL-awrd9eck7xFrqG3s8Iobf7MhzhdzuhO2hSrYOp1BEaCnMnomhJbNikOvWUAA_bOuBeHxyfFU/s1600-h/highlights+Aug-Sept+Trip+301.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257038611734813458" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXTBNCrW5B8ce-S_pTACEE5ZZYE-4roR6tKovV9siOQBoTm0OkTcO5qyzOYvKF97wjJL-awrd9eck7xFrqG3s8Iobf7MhzhdzuhO2hSrYOp1BEaCnMnomhJbNikOvWUAA_bOuBeHxyfFU/s200/highlights+Aug-Sept+Trip+301.jpg" border="0" /></a>We had three nights in Nice which I would totally recommend to anyone, not only is it a great place with plenty to keep you entertained it is fantastic as a base to explore the surrounding gorgeous beaches and other hot spots. </span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;color:#66cccc;"></span> </div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#66cccc;"></span></div><div align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#66cccc;">We followed a path up and around a hill which gives spectacular views across the city and<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8lBowVkppxLT1DfLouhTNeBgQjUUpJZhYWdtLtEOQuKa5bFPj5WBlHNS42U5B-EC1Me0sOyr2CYz4D6gY0DBFXLYyoNC3ii1EqTbANHtMBPhMfeU495N1fcs0AEDoG1uu6AoPzTS_vwE/s1600-h/highlights+Aug-Sept+Trip+293.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257037507274847474" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8lBowVkppxLT1DfLouhTNeBgQjUUpJZhYWdtLtEOQuKa5bFPj5WBlHNS42U5B-EC1Me0sOyr2CYz4D6gY0DBFXLYyoNC3ii1EqTbANHtMBPhMfeU495N1fcs0AEDoG1uu6AoPzTS_vwE/s200/highlights+Aug-Sept+Trip+293.jpg" border="0" /></a> houses various monuments, roman ruins and a waterfall. We wandered through a traditional food market, and stopped in at small patisseries. I formed a meaningful relationship with luscious lemon meringue tarts, and Niki kept finding more wine and cheeses to sample. On our first night in Nice we followed our Lonely Planet’s advice and dined at “Basta Pasta” which was so yummy, we ended up there again on our last night! </span></div><div align="justify"><br /></div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257037904733769810" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaqVgCuB-0CF0hvgseGq6VQYUOBs3kPR5zyO4LuEyXgtMA9VOaF4hEE9D2Jug1IFZM5Ik1X_hF-gyF6Jt9TZPP_AN56POZClN_Nwkc9ouvg3kPYRzoabOBTZoJoV0hYQJwZZlVkytPTu0/s200/highlights+Aug-Sept+Trip+298.jpg" border="0" /><br /><p align="justify"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#66cccc;">There is a fantastic promenade all along the beach which was lovely to wander down at night. Nice has a pebble beach which is extremely uncomfortable but the water is so so gorgeous blue, but when we were there it was a bit rough for my liking. Also the main square was a good place to be, “buskers” for entertainment including an opera singer and further up a pianist. There are pillars along the road with statues of people sitting on them that light up and change colour at night. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;color:#66cccc;">Our last day of the holiday was lovely, I spent the morning souvenir shopping whilst Niki <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPynEhMuZz0Gj-gylpIOSx9EAaE4-2lV9fqo-njVYOMjxhDemvhCcYEQ_T_sTFEEe0bi2Lfy0EI-Ckfba9TXDw0YJKcJbRGg-TBIotVRoDpvh-c5nmVNEJNL4JiXERheyoQUA4UnbYd1U/s1600-h/highlights+Aug-Sept+Trip+287.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257038196513069778" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPynEhMuZz0Gj-gylpIOSx9EAaE4-2lV9fqo-njVYOMjxhDemvhCcYEQ_T_sTFEEe0bi2Lfy0EI-Ckfba9TXDw0YJKcJbRGg-TBIotVRoDpvh-c5nmVNEJNL4JiXERheyoQUA4UnbYd1U/s200/highlights+Aug-Sept+Trip+287.jpg" border="0" /></a>watched the AB’s beat the Aussies to take the tri-nations & Bledisloe cup (needless to say someone was in an excellent mood all afternoon!). We later met up on the beach for our last baguette, ham and cheese lunch and soaked up a few rays before heading to the airport at about 7pm. Surprise surprise our flight was delayed 45 minutes…but ultimately it all went well and we arrived home at 3am… back in London… back to the grind…</span> </p>Hayleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08591011489118947952noreply@blogger.com0