Next Chapter - Down Under

This evening we'll be stepping onto a Virgin flight and 24 hours later we'll be touching down literally on the other side of the world. Yes, we're off again, this time to Sydney.

All very exciting, but, it does also mean that in a few days I'll be going back to work after nearly a year off. I'm desperately hoping that I haven't lost my mojo, at least I have the excuse of jet lag for the first few days if things really go wrong!

We're going to continue the blog as we're hoping it's not all going to be work and there will be some time for play!

France - staying with the parents

One day back in Welwyn and we were off again, this time to France, to Maison Forbes and Maison Bird to see the parents and get a few free meals!

After landing in Bordeaux, we made our way to Lacanau Ocean, about 45 mins from the Airport. Nestled in a pine forest and only a short walk from the beach, or the lake, Maison Forbes is perfect for an activity fueled holiday, or just quaffing wine and demolishing cheese, like we did.

Beauville near Agen was our next stop. A charming countryside converted barn was our home for the next week. The timing was perfect, the sun was finally out, so we made the most of the pool. Before arriving in France Tim sent his mum a list of everything we wanted her to cook for him, it was a very long list but we still managed to work our way through it, hence the extra tyres round our middles we are now carrying!

We both fell in love with France this trip as we managed to see a lot more than we usually do(we had over two weeks and normally we'll go for a long weekend). We took day trips to Bordeaux, Toulouse, Bergerac, Dune du Pilat and an over nighter in Luchon in the Pyrenees. France is beautiful and I would definitely like to explore it some more, especially the cheese and wine!



Gardens in Bordeaux

Impressive buildings with water feature in front

Quaint French street lined with cafes

The endless beach at lacanau

Maison Forbes

You can just see the pool at the bottom of the pic as tim's parents house

The view looking the other way

One of the many mountain lakes

Jude and I on our little trip to the Pyrenees

The two families together, having a spot of lunch overlooking bergerac

The Big Wedding Bash in Wales

After traveling round the world our next stop after home was Abergavenny in Wales. Why? Merc and Chris were getting hitched! They were holding the wedding in Mercia's mum's home town and it was an amazing weekend: Mercia looked beautiful, the venue was perfect and easy(no walking which was lucky as I hadn't had heels on for over 11 months!), the speeches were highly entertaining and the bridesmaids did a great job!


Fiona trying to entice Jamie to eat some cheese

Andy propping Jamie up after 12 hours of drinking. And yes, Sarah does have a tie on her head!

Merc and I having our first dance

Merc and Chris having their first dance!

The groom and Tim

Merc with the boys

Merc with the girls

The boys

Us two

Lovely ladies

Merc getting her bling put on

The mother of the bride, Hilary, advising Merc on toilet breaks

The bridesmaids

Back in Blighty

After 11.5 hours on a plane, that we nearly didn't make (long story), we touched down at Terminal 5. Mr Forbes was there with Bertha (that's his car) and Celia (that's his wife) to greet us. The sun was shining and it really felt good to be back on home soil after 10 months away. Everything looked greener, cleaner and nicer than we remembered.

A drive through the countryside got us to Digswell, our home for the next few weeks. Big hugs, Cadbury's Cream Eggs and shepherds pie greeted us, plus licks from Rosie(that's the dog).

The next couple of days disappeared seeing friends and family and trying to find stuff. It really would have been a good idea to label all the boxes we packed away! It was like Christmas as we opened up boxes and re-discovered all our things, but it also made us realise how much rubbish you collect.The clothes I had been living in for the past 10 months were once again by 2nd skin as I was a little overwhelmed by the sudden selection of clothes I had. I could have opened up a shop with it all, yet ten months ago I never had enough clothes!

After a couple of days of being back it already felt like we had never been away, in a good and a bad way. South America was a distant memory and even Japan was becoming hazy, whilst it was reassuring to know we could still remember how to use a mobile phone and talk to people other than each other!

Soon we were off to Chelmsford for lunch and afternoon tea with my grandparents.It was lovely to see them and going into their home and seeing all the old photos was a trip down memory lane.
Afterwards it was back to see Mum and John, in there lovely pad in Welwyn


Rob and Joyce

I cant remember the last time I'd had tea from a proper tea cup, very old school!

Helen and John's little abode

The lovely summer room

Rosy taking five

Helen making some yummy food

John being his typical quite self

Crazy dress, a wedding and a shrine

And here are some of those crazily dressed Japanese.....

Loving the paper chain accessory

Not sure what to label this look, school girl goth?

Little Boo Beep?

Meiji Shrine

Huge barrels of Sake

A traditional wedding we crashed

Lots of black, but it's a wedding

Pretty park view

Out and about in Tokyo

We spent four days in Tokyo exploring the city. It was probably a little too long but we still managed to amuse ourselves. From the red light district with the themed Love Hotels to the famous department stores where we were served tasters of Sake by a hiccuping member of staff, we were never bored.

My fascination with Japanese dolls took us all over the city trying to find a bargain, we never did. I don't think bargains exist in Japan! We made the mistake of looking at the exchange rate in the LP which was 238 to the £ at the time of writing (2006)...when we were there it was 146, ouch!!!

People watching was great in Japan, especially on a Sunday. The Japanese are so stylish, so perfectionist, yet so over the top you literally find yourself stopping, staring and even pointing at them. Over the bridge near Yo-Yogi Park, groups of Japanese would pose in their outfits for you to take pictures. All very crazy but what you began to expect.

Most restaurants have plastic models of the food they serve to show people what they can order (very handy when you don't speak Japanese). This shop was an amazing showcase. I left the shop quite hungry after looking at all this food!

Tim looking at some tinned whale meat

Ermmmm, think I'm pretending to go crazy in our cell like room! It was tiny with a thick metal door and peep hole!

The bright lights of Tokyo

Us with Tim and his wife Nao in the nightlife area of Roppongi. Tim showed us a great little Sake bar and a not so great Irish bar which served up pints for £7.50!

Electric town where you can buy pretty much any sort of electrical good you could want

They are all mad for manga out in Japan

Girls all dressed up pulling in the geeks

Interesting outfit

We didnt just people watch in Japan...

Ssome interesting architecture and an old bloke feeding the pigeons

£5 apple, it was pretty big though!

Squid balls in the making. There are normally huge queues for these things

That famous busy intersection in Shibuya, an area which also houses one of Japan's most busy subway stations and which is also known as one of the country's foremost fashion centres for young hipsters. It's also one of the crowded places for a night on the town with plenty of cheap eats, bars and - of course - karaoke joints

The bright lights of the city, again