An Easter Road Trip and 5 month update...

As I excitedly write these long overdue words to you, I look out the window of our aircraft awaiting its departure from Gatwick Airport. Destination: Dubrovnik, Croatia. The most common response from any Londoner discussing our summer trip goes something along the lines of, “Wow, I bet you’re looking forward to some sun!” to which we would respond, “My gosh, yes! We can’t wait for some summer weather”. Everyone involved in the conversation would roll their eyes, look out the window to gaze at the ever-changing grey formations in the sky and then pull their jacket closer to their chest. Summer in London is a slight oxymoron, majority of the time. However, as I sit here with the humming of the plane and the parade of passengers jolting around awkwardly with their bags, London has turned on its most gorgeous, glistening sun with warm rays of 27 degrees. I am certain it is just to tease and taunt us, slightly resentful of us deserting what has now become our home. Whilst we do feel strong sentiments towards London, despite the unreliable weather, we take off with enormous smiles on our faces and our biggest touristy, straw summer hats on our heads as we embark on yet another adventure together.

When you last heard from us, we were sharing our stories from the marvellous city, Paris. So much has happened since this time. We have fallen behind with our blogging - our deepest apologies to you - but we can put this down to us settling into busy but joyful lives. Before I disclose the next part of the chapter in our travels (which is 3 months previous to our current journey), here I will provide a quick update as to what we have been doing. I hope your tea is in hand.

With the difficult economic climate over her, both Tim and I have been extremely fortunate to find ourselves busy with steady jobs, even if at times they are rather testing, providing unexpected diversions in the road. Tim has been working as a freelance photographer, spending most of his days working for a company called Datography. This company hires Tim to take interior and exterior photos of properties, as well as draw up floor plans in order to put them on the market. He gets on with his day mostly on foot, so has been busy roaming around London. But, don’t feel too sorry for him as I would often come home to stories of him meeting cute little old ladies that make him cups of tea and feed him bikkies and cake. He has taken photos of all sorts of houses including some of the wealthiest in London, not to mention the neighbour of Freddie Mercury’s house. My amazing husband has been diligent and consistently high-spirited as he works hard in his job with the most admiring attitude. Everyday he encourages me to look at life with zeal and to laugh in all situations.

Amongst this, he has also had the amazing opportunity to take photos of a movie premier, “Tooting Broadway” (not sure if it’s hit the Aussie cinema’s yet…?) (I make a joke here. If you knew Tooting Broadway you would laugh along with me. It’s a suburb about 15min away from where we live. The movie is about the gang-life in Tooting Broadway). He has also booked a wedding in Bath, for next summer and has shot Alex Lloyd’s newest music video! He also shared his 27^th birthday with our incredible friends that we have made. Whilst we were all gathered in a typical English pub munching on chips and watching the Wimbledon final, it was hard not to look around and take note of the amazing people that were gathered in the room to celebrate my husband. For this I give credit to Tim for his ease in making friends and surrounding himself with good quality people. For this I am also grateful for friendships, as they have been a huge part in making this new place home.

There are so many stories we could tell of Tim’s encounters with interesting characters through his job, but here I digress as this is already becoming a lengthy catch up – however it has been some time so I hope you’re pleased with the quality time with us, as we have been longing to tell you all how we’ve been. I myself have just spent 3 months teaching in a school, which I have now found out to be one of the most unstable schools in London. It was incredibly tough at times, but I feel so proud of myself to get through each day and come home feeling a little bit more accomplished than the previous day. I would definitely hold this up as one of my biggest successes in my career as I developed a reputable rapport with both students and staff. As well as this, I met another Aussie teacher, Mark, who started and finished at the same time as me. In working together, we decidedly supported each other through the unknown and have now become wonderful friends. His beautiful girlfriend, Terri (Tez, Tezza, Tezlaham, Tezalinko) has become one of my dearest friends as we have gotten to know each other and now all share parts of our journey together. Tim and Mark are officially a “cute couple” with matching watches that they wear with pride to show off their friendship. 

The job at this school was just for one term for a maternity leave and I finished up last Friday with pride and an enormous sigh of relief. On the Monday before I finished at this school I had an interview for another school, not far from Wimbledon and got the job instantly, securing in a year of work for the next academic year. God is good! I had the opportunity to work 3 days at my new school this week, and loved it. The staff members are immensely friendly and supportive and the kids seem quite meek and mild in comparison to my zoo-keeping job I have just finished.

Which brings us to the start of our summer shenanigans. Two and a half weeks in Croatia and Slovenia, here we come. The story of this adventure will come in due time (hopefully not so vast a gap in our updates as this one). As our previous blog detailed, mum and dad were over for their Great Adventure in March/April and we gallivanted in Paris. Our gallivanting indeed continued with increased joy and wonder as we headed on a road-trip from London – Brighton – Stonehenge – Bath – Cotswolds – Oxford – Windsor. I cant decide whether it was just the simple fact that we were in the best company, or the sheer luck of impeccable weather the entire trip, or even perhaps our most fortunate stumbling upon incredible food… whatever it was, this was the most enjoyable and amazing time we have had, and I frequently revisit the memories of this trip.

Our first visit to Brighton quickly begged for another visit as soon as possible, as the sun was shining, the water was glistening and the quaintly inviting “Lanes” had us in awe the entire time. We wandered about, tempted by the fudge shops, the corner pubs, the candle stores and the endless jewellery windows. Our accommodation added to the vintage character of the town as we stayed in “The Old Ship” and enjoyed the sightliest and delicious breakfast you could imagine.

From Brighton, we jumped in the car and travelled northwest towards Stonehenge, eagerly stopping the car and jumping out to see the amazing towns along the way. We were charmed with the sunshine and amazed that every town had on show a glorious church or castle or architectural wonder to see. Stonehenge, whilst an absolute must on an English road trip, took but a few minutes to view and then we were on our way to my favourite city – Bath. I was so excited to share this beauty with my parents, as it held so much about what I love in traveling and exploring new parts of the world. The rich, ancient history seeping around every corner and delicately displayed on each stone and brick building; the stunning views and juxtaposition of old buildings with open, luscious green parks; amazing food and shopping; and just time to stroll through lanes and alley ways finding good cake and coffee. I love it so much, I wish for you all to come right away and I would whisk you off to see for yourselves. Oh, the bridges and the views. It’s all a bit much to try to explain.

After spending two fantastic days in Bath, we had to move on to the famous Cotswolds. England did not disappoint. With fields of Canola flowers gloriously waiting for our arrival via the winding country roads; we were in no hurry to get anywhere as every moment had us in disbelief that our journey could continue to astound us. The Cotswolds had us, all of us, as we slowly walked through the neat, old towns, each one different in its character and charm. We stopped off at Stratford-Upon-Avon and Stow-on-the-Wold catching up with Mr Shakespeare himself and of course finding ourselves a good cuppa to indulge in.

Oxford was a short stopover and was mostly enjoyed admiring the library and a spot of shopping. This day was the only day where the weather was of a disappointment as we were freezing and wet trying to explore the town. We went on to lay our heads in a town called “Rugby”, known for the invention of a game you may all be familiar with… Rugby! Funnily enough, this town that doesn’t have a huge amount of sightseeing to offer, provided us with an absolute blast as we stayed in a cute apartment and ate the best Indian we had ever tasted in our lives!

Next stop was Windsor. A saying that I have picked up from the darling students I have had the privilege in teaching is, “Oh my dayyyys!”. This is an exclamation of disbelief, usually used in the context of responding to getting in trouble for something they most definitely did do but believe it to be permissible. However, here I use it to exclaim by disbelief in the enormity of the amazing Windsor castle… OH MY DAYYYYS! This incredible building had us all walking around with an audio tour in our ears and intense interest to learn about the castle’s history and current use. The cathedral was just indescribably stunning.

We really did have a brilliant time. It has yet again been an immense pleasure revisiting this trip, as it is so close to my heart. Sharing adventures with loved ones makes for the most treasured moments in life.

Paris - Architecture, Art, Music and Baguettes

Six weeks after our arrival in London, six weeks of settling in, finding jobs, running after the red london buses, six weeks of missing the family and struggling to find time to Skype... we found ourselves ecstatically excited about seeing the faces of my Dad & Mumma coming out of the Heathrow terminal. After the tears, the hugs, the laughs, more hugs and the token stories of the hilarious plane ride we acutely prioritised what needed to happen... cup of teas when we get home! 

We jumped on the "tube" and the whole journey home I was imposing as a Londoner myself, darting in and out of the crowds directing mum and dad to the right platform whilst excitedly chatting away with useless facts about our new hometown. They seemed impressed by my skills and knowledge but little did they know, there were many a times that we stood staring at the maps guessing which platform to run to... it's an art, I tell you! With every rooftop in sight that was the home to a chimney (that is every single rooftop in London), Mum in her immense cuteness would say, "Ahhh! I feel like I am in Mary Poppins", and every single time the smile across my face and the warmth in my heart expanded as I now had my beautiful parents within hugging proximity.

We arrived to our humble home in Wandsworth and almost got in the front door before Lynnie pulled out the tourist camera and actually had a passerby take a photo of us all outside the front door. Hilarious! Once we did get inside the door, no sooner did we have the kettle boiling and the sharing of the last 6 weeks began to unravel and fill the room with joy.

It had been planned that we would all rendezvous in Paris and rendezvous we did, with utmost pleasure and awe! Tim and I arrived and were welcomed by the warmly lit Notre Dame, which was framed with quaint bridges overlooking the water reflecting the bright night sky. Despite the late hour of the evening the streets were buzzing with buskers, restaurant and pub diners, and local lovebirds. We found the Parisians, who were waiting to show us around - Lynnette and Phillipe. Mum and dad had arrived in the promise land 3 days before us and had already scouted out the best breakfast spot (which, in my opinion, is the most important thing). So, needless to say, early the next day we marched up our crepe smelling, boutique embellished street to the corner cafe and were served by the most delightful French gentleman and gorgeous French lady. Mum and dad displayed their pleased smiles the whole time as the were thoroughly enjoying the experience for the third day in a row, and they knew how good they had done us by as both Tim and I kept raving about best start to our day. The waiter sung as he swiftly moved up and down the tables of the cafe and the sweet smiling waitress did her best to understand our English.

The morning air was fresh but promised a beautifully sunny day. First stop was the Louvre. With a photographer, teacher, historian and all-knowing dad we all were engulfed by the wonder of the exhibitions at the Louvre. We got lost in the Renaissance art and then I had a mini tour going in the Ancient Egyptian area. Upon leaving the Louvre we noticed the streams of sunshine coming in from the glass roof and simultaneously we all fell in love with the inviting, picturesque scenery that surrounded us as we walked through the gardens towards the Arch de Triumph. What a day! The locals were sunbathing by the fountains and we meandered our way to a gorgeous French restaurant, perfectly situated next to an ice-cream shop - do I need to tell you how we enjoyed our afternoon next? I will anyway, I enjoyed an amazing 2 scoops of ice-cream (coconut and hazelnut) and as I savored both flavours before the wonderfully radiating sun melted it all, we made our way back to our street. On our way through Tim and I decided to pop into the stunning Notre Dame and were yet again astounded by another awe-inspiring architecture masterpiece. No matter how many churches, castles, monuments we see, every time it is still a wonder!

Window shopping wasn't as much fun as I imagined actual shopping would have been, but the shops were still adequately cute enough to provide so much entertainment for us all, despite our lack of funds to make many purchases. Mother did, however, pick up an array of fudges and we indulged in yet another delight that Paris had to offer.

A recount of our Paris trip cannot be done without mentioning the hilarious experience of going to the Eiffel Tower and waiting a good two hours to get into the lift to go up. The line was absolutely huge and it was chaotic to say the least. But when in good company and with the sun deciding to shower its rays upon us once again it couldn't have been anything but a wonderfully memorable experience. Then we had the views to be amazed by. It was all as was expected and more!

To end the amazing two days we hiked to Montmarte to spectate the amazing views of the city and blend into the swarming crowds enjoying in the perfect afternoon. There were amazing musicians, sponatneous dancers and fascinating entertainment surrounding us in all directions. It was all too much to have to leave but we left making plans to return again soon. Although, the experience could never be replaced as it was what it was because of my amazing parents. Thanks for the best time! xx