Had a ton of rain yesterday and everyone was getting a bit low spirited when we got to Ullapool where we spent the night. Ended up braving the weather and having fish and chips again and then hitting the local pubs (which mainly consisted of a bunch of us kiwis trying to find the rest of the group in the stormy weather). After finding them, the group was told to 'shut the F--- up' by the bar lady - mainly because the Aussies thought it polite to play drinking games at the local. We had to be promptly home by 12am or turn into pumpkins (and be locked out in the storm).
Woke to amazing weather today and hit the local beach where 'Dingo', the 48 year old Aussie know-it-all (and honorary tour leader) won the stone skimming contest. Then it was on to Inverness - or munterville according to our tour guide. After playing spot the ugliest munter as we drove through town, we stopped and got some food. We were told today's 'good news' by the local crazy old man, which wasn't the football win last night but the fact that Jesus loves us and we shouldn't go to hell.
Have seen some amazing waterfalls the last two days as well as an ancient burial site, where the bus almost left the road. We arrived safely at Loch Ness and are staying at a fantastic hostel tonight in a beautiful village at the head of the Loch.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Isle of Skye (Eilean a' Cheò)
Things are looking up - staying at a fantastic hostel tonight out in the complete middle of nowhere + they even have decent Internet and are even letting us stay in the same room together. Clare found the precarious drive to the hostel rather nerve-racking, single lane roads with wandering livestock, but it was definitely worth it. Been raining all day but it only adds to the atmosphere of the amazing scenery.
Had a good night last night eating local fish & chips on the waterfront of a little seaside village called Oban. We then went to have a few pints in the pub and got to know the other people on our tour. Was a little bit annoyed when the vending machine ate my £1 and didn't dispense my souvenir whisky flavoured condom though. There must be a lot of disabled people in this town as the local Tesco had 19 wheelchair parks (about 25% of the entire car park)!
Had a good night last night eating local fish & chips on the waterfront of a little seaside village called Oban. We then went to have a few pints in the pub and got to know the other people on our tour. Was a little bit annoyed when the vending machine ate my £1 and didn't dispense my souvenir whisky flavoured condom though. There must be a lot of disabled people in this town as the local Tesco had 19 wheelchair parks (about 25% of the entire car park)!
Monday, May 28, 2007
Freedom!!...kind of
In Scotland and it seems Mel Gibson has made a big impact here - it even inspired some dude who had a heart attack to carve some horrible statue of him at the William Wallace Memorial. Struggling to update the blog though because the Internet at backpackers is a bloody rip-off and usually blocks access to our site! Plus they're making us stay in separate male / female dorms...my ancestors didn't fight for this kind of treatment!!
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Two days in sunny London by Christian
Well, we've been here for three days now and here's a summary of the last two - the weather has been perfect so we've been very hot and busy trying to take in all the sights.
On Wednesday, after a large sleep we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus and then made our way to Trafalgar Square. Through some accidental, but fortunate timing we managed to see the changing of the guard or something similar where a bunch of horse mounted guards head down to Buckingham Palace. Apparently, they had opened up the headquarters today for some charity appeal where we could meet some pensioners!! Only just managing to tear ourselves away, we headed through St James's park on the way to the palace. This and another garden we walked through earlier are amazing in the sunny weather. Quite funny though how they have signs with hundreds of bylaws for use of the parks which discuss things such as the 20 points of canine feces removal. A sign by the horse guards warns that the horses may bite or kick you.
And of course please mind the gap.
Buckingham palace was pretty packed, though there wasn't a great deal to see today and the royal family doesn't exactly excite us at the best of times but it's something you have to see. Bit of a shame that there's a huge road running past the attractive square in front though.
Headed back into the centre of town, grabbed some sandwiches from good-old Tesco's and then we browsed the National gallery. It was great to see some of the original works by Van Gogh, Monet, Constable, the impressionists and others. There is plenty there for those that love fire and brimstone, weird babies and violent death orgies but there's a lot to take in and it's best to be selective rather than try to see everything.
After this, we walked past the parliament and Westminster Abbey before heading to the other side of the Thames where we walked past the London eye. This was about enough for our first day! Read up the Lonely Planet city guide when we got back to Hammersmith and tried to fix my bearings which got quite confused during our walking.
Today (Thursday) saw us planning to head to Hyde park and a few museums. We got off one tube stop earlier than planned (my fault), but this actually working out well. Went to the National History museum in Kensington - this is housed in a simply amazing building complete with hundreds of gargoyles and creatures and plants carved into every pillar. The museum is fantastic but was packed with thousands of extremely loud school kids which drove me crazy!!! There must have been some interesting questions for the teachers at the start of the human biology exhibit. Again, there's a lot to take in here and it's easy to lose interest after a while.
Next we went to the Science museum next door and I was a bit like a kid in a candy store here. There have some amazing pieces of history in their collection including the Apollo 10 module, Stephenson's rocket and the Cray supercomputer. Tried to just focus on a few highlights - i.e. aerospace.
Finally made it to Hyde park for which we found really beautiful and relaxing. Clare paddled her feet in the Princess Diana memorial fountain. Checked out the ANZAC memorial then headed for 'home'.
Got the tube back to Hammersmith and had a pint of fosters at one of the pubs in the station - "The Trout". Another great day had by all.
On Wednesday, after a large sleep we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus and then made our way to Trafalgar Square. Through some accidental, but fortunate timing we managed to see the changing of the guard or something similar where a bunch of horse mounted guards head down to Buckingham Palace. Apparently, they had opened up the headquarters today for some charity appeal where we could meet some pensioners!! Only just managing to tear ourselves away, we headed through St James's park on the way to the palace. This and another garden we walked through earlier are amazing in the sunny weather. Quite funny though how they have signs with hundreds of bylaws for use of the parks which discuss things such as the 20 points of canine feces removal. A sign by the horse guards warns that the horses may bite or kick you.
And of course please mind the gap.
Buckingham palace was pretty packed, though there wasn't a great deal to see today and the royal family doesn't exactly excite us at the best of times but it's something you have to see. Bit of a shame that there's a huge road running past the attractive square in front though.
Headed back into the centre of town, grabbed some sandwiches from good-old Tesco's and then we browsed the National gallery. It was great to see some of the original works by Van Gogh, Monet, Constable, the impressionists and others. There is plenty there for those that love fire and brimstone, weird babies and violent death orgies but there's a lot to take in and it's best to be selective rather than try to see everything.
After this, we walked past the parliament and Westminster Abbey before heading to the other side of the Thames where we walked past the London eye. This was about enough for our first day! Read up the Lonely Planet city guide when we got back to Hammersmith and tried to fix my bearings which got quite confused during our walking.
Today (Thursday) saw us planning to head to Hyde park and a few museums. We got off one tube stop earlier than planned (my fault), but this actually working out well. Went to the National History museum in Kensington - this is housed in a simply amazing building complete with hundreds of gargoyles and creatures and plants carved into every pillar. The museum is fantastic but was packed with thousands of extremely loud school kids which drove me crazy!!! There must have been some interesting questions for the teachers at the start of the human biology exhibit. Again, there's a lot to take in here and it's easy to lose interest after a while.
Next we went to the Science museum next door and I was a bit like a kid in a candy store here. There have some amazing pieces of history in their collection including the Apollo 10 module, Stephenson's rocket and the Cray supercomputer. Tried to just focus on a few highlights - i.e. aerospace.
Finally made it to Hyde park for which we found really beautiful and relaxing. Clare paddled her feet in the Princess Diana memorial fountain. Checked out the ANZAC memorial then headed for 'home'.
Got the tube back to Hammersmith and had a pint of fosters at one of the pubs in the station - "The Trout". Another great day had by all.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Attack of the zombies
Waiting in airports...get used to it!! Left on time on our flight to Frankfurt. Had a nice German lady sitting next to us which made things easier + managed to get a bit of sleep but I still think my idea of sedating everyone on long-haul flights has merit and would solve a number of problems. The view at night of all the lights over various parts of the world was very cool + also helpful for spotting SAM plumes from the Iranians or wayward air-to-air missiles from the Americans in Afghanistan and Iraq. Frankfurt was fairly boring waiting for our final flight to London - this is a very busy airport and they bused us to our plane and it seems they don't have space at the terminal or are trying to save money.
Landed in Heathrow and were picked up by Nic and Gareth (who arrived in London about a month ago) and we took the tube to their flat in Hammersmith where we're staying (thanks guys!). Resembling a zombie, my first impressions of London was that is is rather dirty and run-down in places and reminded me a bit of Timaru in the 1980's - this was certainly the case of terminal 2 at Heathrow. It certainly does have a charm about it though and now that I'm not so tired, I'm loving the place. The weather has been perfect which is great timing as apparently it's been raining for the last week of so. London really is a lot like what I expected, although I was quite surprised at how green it looked from the plane. Had a couple of sleeps during the day, hit Tesco - the local chain of supermarkets and then went to bed early to try and shake the jet-lag.
Landed in Heathrow and were picked up by Nic and Gareth (who arrived in London about a month ago) and we took the tube to their flat in Hammersmith where we're staying (thanks guys!). Resembling a zombie, my first impressions of London was that is is rather dirty and run-down in places and reminded me a bit of Timaru in the 1980's - this was certainly the case of terminal 2 at Heathrow. It certainly does have a charm about it though and now that I'm not so tired, I'm loving the place. The weather has been perfect which is great timing as apparently it's been raining for the last week of so. London really is a lot like what I expected, although I was quite surprised at how green it looked from the plane. Had a couple of sleeps during the day, hit Tesco - the local chain of supermarkets and then went to bed early to try and shake the jet-lag.
Singapore part 2 by Christian
After our two days in Singapore, it's safe to say we love the place. They definitely have some good stuff going on - they have a mix of culture's and everyone seems to get along, the place is very clean and tidy and we felt extremely safe the whole time. You'd think with the heat and that many people packed into a small island, things could get messy but that doesn't seem to be that case at all.
After our bad food experience, we used our last energy to walk back to our hotel on Sunday night. Walked past a huge Indian festival, a great night market and then an Indian festival of a different kind - this one, a sausage fest - not a woman in sight - just thousands of Indian men all out in the street socialising. All this, on a Sunday night - seemed quite crazy. But this is a 24-7 type of place, quite alien to our quiet little 'town' of CHCH. Another surprising thing was the construction people working at 8pm, in the dark on Saturday night across from our hotel. Anyway, we had a couple of hard earned, duty-free Tiger beers and then hit the hay.
On Monday morning, we got up relatively refreshed and decided to head to Sentosa Island for the day. Had Indian for breakfast (something I could get used to) and then decided to do the sensible thing today and take the MRT (mass rapid transport) instead of walking. This is the nice and modern version of the tube, complete with videos instructing you how to avoid being killed by bombs, mind the gap and correctly ride the escalator (apparently escalator injuries are common and quite messy). The terminal to get to the island is a Mega (that's with a capital m) mall called Vivo city - this place is insane but rather cool and guaranteed to meet all your consumer needs.
You buy a $3 pass to the island (which is only a few hundred metres from the mainland) and this includes a monorail to get there + free buses/trams all day long. You can also take a cable car if willing to walk to the terminal and open your wallet. Sentosa is called Singapore's island report and is packed with fancy hotels and tourist activities. We went to the aquarium where we touched puffer fish and then went on a tour of Fort Siloso. After the British surrendered in the battle for Singapore, this became a POW camp - I can only imagine how difficult this must have been in the heat. Had a look at some of the other places without going in and then hit the beach where we sat and had a couple of beers which was great after a day in the heat. Grabbed some very nice, cheap food at Vivo and then took the MRT back to our hotel where we were picked up by our transfer driver and taken to the airport.
After our bad food experience, we used our last energy to walk back to our hotel on Sunday night. Walked past a huge Indian festival, a great night market and then an Indian festival of a different kind - this one, a sausage fest - not a woman in sight - just thousands of Indian men all out in the street socialising. All this, on a Sunday night - seemed quite crazy. But this is a 24-7 type of place, quite alien to our quiet little 'town' of CHCH. Another surprising thing was the construction people working at 8pm, in the dark on Saturday night across from our hotel. Anyway, we had a couple of hard earned, duty-free Tiger beers and then hit the hay.
On Monday morning, we got up relatively refreshed and decided to head to Sentosa Island for the day. Had Indian for breakfast (something I could get used to) and then decided to do the sensible thing today and take the MRT (mass rapid transport) instead of walking. This is the nice and modern version of the tube, complete with videos instructing you how to avoid being killed by bombs, mind the gap and correctly ride the escalator (apparently escalator injuries are common and quite messy). The terminal to get to the island is a Mega (that's with a capital m) mall called Vivo city - this place is insane but rather cool and guaranteed to meet all your consumer needs.
You buy a $3 pass to the island (which is only a few hundred metres from the mainland) and this includes a monorail to get there + free buses/trams all day long. You can also take a cable car if willing to walk to the terminal and open your wallet. Sentosa is called Singapore's island report and is packed with fancy hotels and tourist activities. We went to the aquarium where we touched puffer fish and then went on a tour of Fort Siloso. After the British surrendered in the battle for Singapore, this became a POW camp - I can only imagine how difficult this must have been in the heat. Had a look at some of the other places without going in and then hit the beach where we sat and had a couple of beers which was great after a day in the heat. Grabbed some very nice, cheap food at Vivo and then took the MRT back to our hotel where we were picked up by our transfer driver and taken to the airport.
Monday, May 21, 2007
'Happy hour, first drink free, sit down and bend over'!
Yep, it's safe to say I feel a bit like a tourist, but I've learnt my first lesson early. After hours of walking in the heat, it seemed like a good idea to dine at one of the seafood places on the river and experience some of the local culture (and with free beer on offer, how could I resist?). Anyway, after walking the gauntlet of people all offering the same 'fabulous' deals and food we made the easy choice and went to the first place. As soon as we got the menu we realised that the guy was showing off the cheap items when trying to entice us. We ordered a few things that we thought wouldn't sting our pockets too much. The thing they don't tell you is that they charge you for the refresher towels you just wiped your face with, the free looking nuts they bring you and the 10% service charge + the worst tasting scrotum-burger food you're ever had. [waiter guy]; 'How was your food, sir?'.... [Clare]; 'Christian, I can't believe you just said that to that man!'
The lesson here is to eat where the locals eat! We did this for the rest of our time in Singapore and ate great food for very little. I can't believe these tourist traps are still in business but I guess if they get every tourist once, then that's a good living.
The lesson here is to eat where the locals eat! We did this for the rest of our time in Singapore and ate great food for very little. I can't believe these tourist traps are still in business but I guess if they get every tourist once, then that's a good living.
Singapore part 1 by Christian
Phew,it's been a very hot and busy 2 days. Landed on Saturday evening after my first long-haul flight - now I see why they call it long-haul. I sat by the window so had a pretty good view of everything but it's still so boring. Got to experience the hot wall of air everyone talks about as we left the airport. Took a nice taxi ride down the motorway to reach our hotel - located near 'Little India'. First impressions of Singapore was that it is a beautiful and tidy city and this was reinforced over the next two days.
Hotel was massive and the air conditioning a relief - although it rattled in our room and almost drove me crazy. Had a funny porter guy who wanted to learn the Haka, seemed a bit like a stalker as he came and talked to us every time we left the hotel. Had an early night on Saturday but did go for a little walk around little India and got some food at a Chindian (Chinese and Indian) version of MacDonald's. There are quite a few of these style of places around and they are great value, with nice food. The Singaporeans are extremely efficient at food service - there are piles of great little food places everywhere, with fast service, great food and all for little money.
Woke up feeling refreshed on Sunday and ready to hit the town. Our hotel faces away from the CBD and after working this out navigating was much easier. After backtracking a bit we walked through little India on the way to town. Even footpaths don't seem to be a feature of this place, with each little section part of a shop front and all displaying different character and elevation. Got to an shopping plaza out of the heat and felt pretty faint from the heat - by the end of the day I was getting quite used to it though.
This place is absolutely insane for shopping - basically spent most of Sunday walking from mega-mall to mega-mall along Orchard road - masses of people everywhere - I couldn't believe this was all on a Sunday. Bit of a sensory overload but quite exhilarating. After Orchard road we walked out to the river front and took in the sites there before stopping for tea on the river.
Hotel was massive and the air conditioning a relief - although it rattled in our room and almost drove me crazy. Had a funny porter guy who wanted to learn the Haka, seemed a bit like a stalker as he came and talked to us every time we left the hotel. Had an early night on Saturday but did go for a little walk around little India and got some food at a Chindian (Chinese and Indian) version of MacDonald's. There are quite a few of these style of places around and they are great value, with nice food. The Singaporeans are extremely efficient at food service - there are piles of great little food places everywhere, with fast service, great food and all for little money.
Woke up feeling refreshed on Sunday and ready to hit the town. Our hotel faces away from the CBD and after working this out navigating was much easier. After backtracking a bit we walked through little India on the way to town. Even footpaths don't seem to be a feature of this place, with each little section part of a shop front and all displaying different character and elevation. Got to an shopping plaza out of the heat and felt pretty faint from the heat - by the end of the day I was getting quite used to it though.
This place is absolutely insane for shopping - basically spent most of Sunday walking from mega-mall to mega-mall along Orchard road - masses of people everywhere - I couldn't believe this was all on a Sunday. Bit of a sensory overload but quite exhilarating. After Orchard road we walked out to the river front and took in the sites there before stopping for tea on the river.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Itinerary
Sat 19 May: Singapore
Tues 22: London
Sun 27: Edinburgh
Mon 28 May - Sat 2 June: 6 day tour round Scotland
Sun 3: Fintry, Stirling
Mon 4: Glasgow
Tues 5: Nottingham
Sat 9: London
Sun 10: Dublin
Mon 11 - Sat 16: 6 day tour round Ireland
Mon 18: London
Wed 20: Paris (via tunnel)
Sun 24: Bern, Switzerland
Tues 26: Lauterbrunn
Wed 27: Lucerne
Fri 29: Munich, Germany
Mon 2 July: St Johann, Austria
Wed 4: Venice, Italy
Sat 7: Ancona
Mon 9: Rome
Thurs 12: Siena
Sat 14: Florence
Tues 17: La Spezia
Thurs 19: Nice, France
Fri 20: Avignon
Sun 22: Barcelona, Spain
Wed 25: Valencia
Fri 27: Madrid
Mon 30: San Sebastian
Thurs 2 August: Bordeaux, France
Sat 4: Paris
Mon 6: London
Fri 10: San Francisco
Tues 14: Nelson!
Tues 22: London
Sun 27: Edinburgh
Mon 28 May - Sat 2 June: 6 day tour round Scotland
Sun 3: Fintry, Stirling
Mon 4: Glasgow
Tues 5: Nottingham
Sat 9: London
Sun 10: Dublin
Mon 11 - Sat 16: 6 day tour round Ireland
Mon 18: London
Wed 20: Paris (via tunnel)
Sun 24: Bern, Switzerland
Tues 26: Lauterbrunn
Wed 27: Lucerne
Fri 29: Munich, Germany
Mon 2 July: St Johann, Austria
Wed 4: Venice, Italy
Sat 7: Ancona
Mon 9: Rome
Thurs 12: Siena
Sat 14: Florence
Tues 17: La Spezia
Thurs 19: Nice, France
Fri 20: Avignon
Sun 22: Barcelona, Spain
Wed 25: Valencia
Fri 27: Madrid
Mon 30: San Sebastian
Thurs 2 August: Bordeaux, France
Sat 4: Paris
Mon 6: London
Fri 10: San Francisco
Tues 14: Nelson!
48 hours to go
Back in CHCH briefly before we fly out on Saturday morning. Managed to survive driving in Nelson with all their crazy mixed 1 & 2 lane mixed roundabouts and where the speed limit seems to be under 50km/h.
1 flight down, 11 to go.
1 flight down, 11 to go.
Monday, May 7, 2007
Wanted...
...volunteer to help make an earth sandwich. I've worked out that the easiest way to do this is while we're in Madrid. I need someone to take a slice of bread to Weber which is near Dannevirke - would probably suit someone living in Wellington.
Before & after
These are the countries I've previously visited - pretty dismal:
and here's after our trip:
Christian.
create your own visited country map
and here's after our trip:
Christian.
create your own visited country map
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Planespotting
These are the longhaul aircraft we're taking:
Boeing 777-200
Christchurch to Singapore & San Francisco to Auckland. First airliner designed entirely on computer.
Specs:
Length: 63.7m
Wingspan: 60.9m
Cruising speed: 918km/hr
Max take-off weight: 247,210 kg
hull-loss incidents: 0
Boeing 747-400
Singapore to Frankfurt. Classic 'jumbo jet' - cost/mile ratio revolutioned air travel.
Specs:
Length: 70.6m
Wingspan: 64.4m
Cruising speed: 913km/hr
Max take-off weight: 396,890 kg
hull-loss incidents: 12
Airbus A340-600
Munich to San Francisco.
Specs:
Length: 75.3m
Wingspan: 63.45m
Cruising speed: 907km/hr
Max take-off weight: 344,743 kg
hull-loss incidents: 2 (zero fatal)
Boeing 777-200
Christchurch to Singapore & San Francisco to Auckland. First airliner designed entirely on computer.
Specs:
Length: 63.7m
Wingspan: 60.9m
Cruising speed: 918km/hr
Max take-off weight: 247,210 kg
hull-loss incidents: 0
Boeing 747-400
Singapore to Frankfurt. Classic 'jumbo jet' - cost/mile ratio revolutioned air travel.
Specs:
Length: 70.6m
Wingspan: 64.4m
Cruising speed: 913km/hr
Max take-off weight: 396,890 kg
hull-loss incidents: 12
Airbus A340-600
Munich to San Francisco.
Specs:
Length: 75.3m
Wingspan: 63.45m
Cruising speed: 907km/hr
Max take-off weight: 344,743 kg
hull-loss incidents: 2 (zero fatal)
Friday, May 4, 2007
Ab Obice Saevior
Culcreuch Castle, Stirlingshire, Scotland - the ancestral home of the Galbraith clan circa 1260 AD.
We're lucky enough to be staying here for a night on 3 June.
We're lucky enough to be staying here for a night on 3 June.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Where are we going?
These maps show our routes around Scotland, Ireland and then Western Europe in that order.
In Scotland we start in Edinburgh and go clockwise; in Ireland we start in Dublin and go counter-clockwise; and in Europe we start in Paris and go clockwise. More details to come...
In Scotland we start in Edinburgh and go clockwise; in Ireland we start in Dublin and go counter-clockwise; and in Europe we start in Paris and go clockwise. More details to come...
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
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