Farewell London town

The time has come to say Goodbye to London - our home for the past 20 months. And what an amazing time we have had. So much to see in London, great European adventures and met some lovely new friends along the way.


On one of our final weekends, we headed into town on the bus...


and went to see the Tower of London.

A bit of sightseeing as we walked along the Thames.

Then our farewell dinners started with Noeleen and Matt.

and then dinner with Al and Georgie

Last morning of Running Club with Sare. Every Tues and Thurs morning we have been running. It has been a great team, with Kirst & Slaw, and then Lis & Sare (every so often the boys would join us). You need some friends to run with when you are running in the dark English winter!

Jazz at Ronnie Scotts. We went to see Joe Stilgoe play (a friend we skied with last winter). He was fantastic and had everyone tapping their toes well into the week.

From left to right: Rach, Steph, Sarah, Bec & Kate.

We had Mitch and Sarra over for a final dinner at Casa Randolph Ave.

Farewell work lunch for Sarah

Pete with his team on their beloved Grassy Knoll outside the office.

The girls heading out: Jo, Fi, Sarah and Kate


The coolest cab in London that we managed to find.

Dinner with Vanita and Mitul

Dressing up as coyboys with Fi (...don't ask!)

Last night of drinks with Bec, Fi & Rich

A final trip to Churchview to visit the Seligman's

And of course Grandad

Goodbye to out flat: Flat 10 Regents Court, 92 Randolph Ave, Maida Vale W9 1BG.

We have some great memories of our time in London. We will miss it, but looking forward to getting home to see everyone in Sydney!

Signing off

Sarah & Pete

xxx

Italy - Lake Como, Cinque Terre & Tuscany

We have just returned from a week in Lovely Italy - saw alot and ate even more!

Let's start from Day 1: arriving in Milan and doing some "essential" shopping!




On the morning of Day 2, we headed to Lake Como. The photo below is from our room in a small town called, Maltrassio. It was an excellent location and we had fantastic weather. The ferries, which link all the villages around the lake, stopped at a small wharf just to the left of our hotel.

On Day 3 we took a ferry to Belagio and passed the Villa below, which was used as a location shot in the lastest James Bond film and Star Wars.

We stopped at one of the other villas along the way - it was very elaborate, with vast gardens.

We had lunch in Belagio. It is a very cute and quirky town.

We didn't see George Clooney in Como, but drove past his house on our way to dinner one night.

After two days in Como, it was on to the Cinque Terre, which is Italy's Southern Riviera. The weather stayed with us, so we had perfect blue sky for walking and swimming and eating al fresco in the small towns (...yes a lot of eating!).

The photo above doesn't quite capture it but the roads were amazingly bendy and very narrow - luckily we didn't come across any tourist buses coming the other way!

We stayed for two nights in Vernazza - definitely the most beautiful of the five towns. This is a shot of the main piaza and harbour at sunset. Dinner on the first night was very simple - we grabbed a take-away pizza and a bottle of local red wine; then we headed out to the end of the breakwater to eat, drink and watch the sun go down.

...and more shots of Vernazza - some of the boats in the harbour, the umbrellas in the piazza and below is a shot of Vernazza by day, in the afternoon on our return after walking the five towns - looks just like a postcard!

When we got to Riomaggiore, we went for a swim before lunch. The water was really warm (or maybe that was just compared to the Norwegian Fjords - where we last went swimming!).

Yes - the Cinque Terre was very beautiful... but next it was Tuscany...

On Day 6 we drove to Lucca, which is a small walled town north-east of Pisa. We borrowed some bikes from the hotel, rode into town and did a lap around the top of the wall.

After working up an appetite on the bikes, we stopped for lunch - best pizza ever!!! (we had to go back for seconds!).

On the Friday we drove out to a "Terme" (hot springs) about 30mins north of Lucca - it was quite relaxing but very hot.

That night, we went to a cooking class for the evening with 16 Americans in a group travelling through Italy, cooking along the way. It was good fun - we made four courses and then ate them all... yum!

Here's a shot of Pete teaching the chef how to make a tart!

Our last day was totally unplanned but very successful - we went for a drive through the vineyards and then stopped for a long lunch on the terrace at a small restaurant in the country. It was one of those warm sunny days with a light breeze blowing - we were very content.

And to round out the trip, we went for a drive-by visit in Pisa. We arrived at 4pm and our flight was at 11pm, so we did a quick circuit of the main sights and had some dinner.

...Pete couldn't resist going head to head with the leaning tower!

Norway - Fjords

It will be difficult for a blog page to truly express how spectacular this trip was... but we'll do our best...

This year's August long weekend we spent in the Norwegian Fjords with 7 of our friends. It was simply stunning, so hopefully our text and the pictures give you an idea. Our adventure involved 3 days in the fjords: kayaking, camping & hiking.

So here's the team, from left to right below: Pete, Kate, Kirst, Morrie, Fi, Sare, Rich, Bec, Sarah.


and the equipment (we had to carry all our supplies for 3 days: tents, food, clothes, wine, etc.):

...and of course the fjords, which we had to ourselves - it was magic!

Just a few things to point our in the photo above: (i) bright sunny skies (it was 20+ deg); (ii) glassy, mill-pond water; and, (iii) the grandeur of the fjord valley rising steeply up from the water's edge (in some cases 1,300m straight up!).

The boys decided to test the water on the first day; surprisingly warm at 15 degrees (but still quite... refreshing!). The fjords are glacial, and the water is a mixture of sea water and fresh.

After the 1st day of kayaking, we set up camp in a great spot just next to the water. Tent construction was something that none of us had done for a while, so we were pleasantly surprised with the advances in technology since the triangular frames we used to struggly with!



Constantly looking for more excuses to get in the water, the boys found a rock next to the camp to jump off. The water depth can get up to 1200 metres, so no risk of hitting the bottom here.

On Day 2 we hiked from our camp (at sea level) to the top of the fjord valley, over 1300m above sea level. It was a 9 hour return trip and was by no means an easy stroll but the reward at the top was well worth it! Here's a shot of us crossing one of the rivers near the bottom.

The low shrubs were blueberries and rasberries, which gave us plently to snack on along the way. You can see from Pete's stride that this section was particularly steep. "Section" doesn't actually give enough credit to the difficulty from this point to the top - we were climbing (literally hands and feet for long periods) for at least 2hrs on the way up!

Sarah's still smiling!!

and then after quite a lot of climbing (and, let's be honest, a bit of whinging) - The top!

Sarah, Sare, Fi and Morrie are looking over a cliff edge that heads vertically down almost 1300m to the water in the fjord below - no wonder they're lying down!!

Lunch at the top of the world. The highlight.

It was a long way back to the bottom and dinner was very well deserved back at camp - we had all worked up a good appetite.

This was our tent, what a view to wake up to!

More kayaking on day 3 - it started off very peacefully but once we turned the corner the wind picked up and we were paddling head on into about 20kts for over an hour.

Below is a shot of Pete - behind him (the highest point in the photo) is the clifftop that we climbed the day before.

This is just one of Pete's arty photos we thought it would be good to include...

Two of the girls paddling down yet another empty fjord.

The crew all heading home - what a fantastic trip.