August 2010
21 posts
Getting Double-Cocked
Image from weheartit.com. Bee Tee Dub, the bag that we left on that British Airways flight has my camera cord in it.
Ooh-hoo hoo hoo! I’m wrecked, have a bung ankle and a whinging liver but man, was the Edinburgh Festival worth it! There was so much to see (the Fringe Guide alone was as big as as the north-west Tasmania yellow pages) it was easy to lose focus and run around in circles...
My First Ceilidh
Before we arrived in Edinburgh, John invited us to a Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee, not Ky-Lee, like Mum’s insane cat) which he explained as being a Scottish dance. With the Riverdance theme song and Michael Flatley leaping around merrily in my mind, I asked to be signed up. Sure, I would love to go and watch a Ceilidh.
So, I was surprised when we turned up to a community hall to see all...
My Goodness, My Guinness!
The only thing to do in Dublin is go to the Guinness Storehouse. I figure if I start making more blatant (offensive?) statements on this blog, I might get more comments from readers!
Anyway, the place was great. It was a self-guided museum, which sounds really dodgey and boring, but it was done really well. It felt like an exhibition with the water and barley installations and there was...
To be sure, to be sure, to be sure, to be sure:...
Last Saturday, while every other Australian was watching the election count, Ned and I were on a train and ferry to Dublin. Showing our support for redheads, eh?
Dublin docks from the ferry. Thanks, Ned. We stayed in an awful hostel that first night, but got what we paid a measly 7euro for. Ned was shocked that I’d never heard of an A.G.B. Specifically, an After Guiness (rather than any...
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Wow, what an awesome time to land in Edinburgh! Everything is abuzz and just a tad overwhelming. We’ve bought tickets to a comedy directed by the dude who does Mighty Boosh for late tonight, but what to do in the meantime? See if we can get tickets to sold out Eels or go for Yaesayer? Go to a random musical? An interpretive dance? The circus? Oh that’s right, no circus, Ned’s...
Givin' it a Punt
Gosh, I’m hungover. I’ve been staring at the screen for a good ten minutes, trying to summon up a post on Cambridge. Thanks need to be said to Ned’s cousins Sam and Leo, for introducing us to real English ale[s]. The pub we were at were having a goth and tranny night to raise money for charity. Apparently when Lucy’s fiancee asked for a cold lager, the barman dressed as a...
Lindsey Loves and Lindsey Loathes
It’s been a tricky week in London-Town. The transition from the heat, colour and excitement of Turkey to rainy, cold London gave me a touch of reverse culture shock. Bam, holiday and funtimes over. It’s like coming home without any of the perks of seeing those I love. Boo hoo, wah-wah, why don’t you cry over Skype to your Mum and Dad and best friend in Australia? Oh you did...
Winners Not Losers
Awesome work by Bridget and I. Awesome photography of awesome work by Adrian!
Bridget just twittered me to say that our DJ Motors “Mechanic” ad from last year won Best in Show at this year’s PICAs (Printing Industries Craftsmanship Awards) - the only advertising awards show in Tasmania. It also won golds in the Display Ad section and some other but the platinum was for ...
Hussein Chalayan Exhibition at the Istanbul Modern
I thought this exhibition might be worth a gander, and felt like such an idiot when I got there and made the connection of who Hussein Chalayan actually is! I have ferreted his designs away in inspiration journals and electronic folders for years, never linking them all as being by the same designer. Shame on me for not taking note of the brilliant person behind all the ideas that I loved so...
They Found a Cave
Nan Chauncy eat your heart out, Cappadocia is the place storybooks are made of. With columns of rock called fairy chimneys, place names like Imagination Valley (“You don’t need to use your imagination to see they look like giant cocks!” - Ned) and the chance to sleep in and underground cave, this region of Turkey is just magic!
We stayed in the middle of Cappadocia in...
Magic Carpet - Was I Taken For a Ride?
I bought a carpet. In Turkey. Oh man, what a cliche! It wasn’t actually from this shop, but from a co-operative near Bergama. Sigh, I really should start from the beginning.
We asked our mate on the desk at TJs about a bus toward Ephasus and it so happened that they were running a bus down there for a tour group and there was room for Ned and I. After snorkelling at Anzac Cove we met up...
Gallipoli From a Different Perspective
I didn’t think I’d go back to Anzac Cove. Not after the god-awful longest night of April ‘08, but (thanks for the over the shoulder grammar check just now, dear boyfriend) Ned wanted to go and since I’ve become a submissive woo-man incapable of spending a day alone, I tagged along. And you’d never guess, but I’m glad I did!We caught a bus from Istanbul to...
Oh Istanbul, thanks for having me back!
I had forgotten how magical it is to be standing in the middle of Sultanahmet surrounded by all the mosques singing their daily prayers through loudspeakers. Talk about surround sound.
And the food! Glorious food! After three and a half months of supermarket catering ourselves around countries of boring gastronomy, it’s so great to have a taste sensation every meal! Eating is half the...
My Cheekbone Hurts and I Just Worked Out Why....
It’s from being pummeled into a marble slab three days ago! Ned said his is sore too, but he is a bit of a wuss. Part of my birthday present from Ned (as seen neatly written out on this serviette, I mean, birthday card) was a visit to a real Turkish hamam. It wasn’t as big a surprise as the lush hotel, mainly because I said, “I want to go to a hamam on my birthday”. ...
Burek and Bulletholes
I haven’t written about Sarajevo until now because I couldn’t face a post attemping to do the city justice! In 56 hours I learnt and loved so much. In one word, Sarajevo was alive. There was an undercurrent of energy, stronger than any other capital city I’ve been to before. Our tour guide on our second day asked us to tell people to come to Sarajevo for what it is now, the...
Well, Your Mum's Big, Yellow and Brown!
Sarajevo’s The Holiday Inn. Quite the landmark, or is it? I don’t think I’m a bad person, but maybe accidentally running over one of Shadow’s kittens in 2002 has come back to haunt me. That’s karma isn’t it? Or perhaps my endless sighing and rolling my eyes at Ned for getting worked up about our upcoming arrival in a new town. Things generally have a way of...
July 2010
15 posts
Birthday Suit Up!
Hip hip hooray! After getting over the shock of pulling out a REAL gray hair the night before my birthday, I’m feeling good about reaching the other side of my mid-twenties. Even though according to Pa, 26 is the age for getting married and not gallivanting all over the world! I’m so happy to be where I am in life right now. Travelling around exciting places, nothing tying me down,...
Dubrovnik: Leaving the Best 'Till Last
Croatia, you are a bloody showoff. If you were a novel, you never would have made it past my “if the first ten pages are average reading, I put you down” rule. Yet here I am, at the end of the book and yearning for the next installment in the series. I feel like the caped kid with my handpainted lightning scar waiting anxiously for Fullers to open. Dubrovnik is so ripsnortingly...
