Rugby @ Millenium Stadium

Hi all,
The countdown has begun and the light can be seen at the end of the tunnel (I hope it isn't an oncoming train).
The weather has been very poor of late (probably the opposite of what most of you are experiencing and they are predicting 0 C overnight later in the week) and days are getting very short (sunrise: 7:30am and sunset 4:30pm)!

Anyhow the only real interesting thing going on, has been the Rugby Union International of Wales versus Australia at the Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.

Although we aren't great Rugby fans, it was a great day and even better that the Aussies managed to thrash the Welsh (33 - 12)! A dominant performance by the Wallabies!

The 4 of us went down to Cardiff with Les (Dave's father-in-law) and had a few pre-match drinks and also met up with Mike (who we met in Turkey, Paris and Cambridge). We bought our tickets through the Australian Rugby Union site and we sat with other Aussies, but were probably in the worse seats in the stadium (top level, back row).

It was a lot of fun sitting amongst the "Fanatics" and were entertained by 3 young (very pissed) Aussie gals in front of us, who had very little idea of the result by the end of the game! From the game, we had a quick wander around Cardiff, then walked to Canton and met Les and Kay for a drink (or ten!).

We are going to Scotland for a flying visit this weekend and that will be the end of the big adventure, beside a few days in London before we fly out. So I'll probably do one of our last blogs next week after Scotland.

Hope all is well and see you after Xmas!

Cambridge & East Anglia

Hi all,
It is 5 pm as I write this blog and it is pitch black outside! The weather lately has been very cool and wet, and are very envious of Melbourne's weather at the moment. Andy and Kristin are suffering through work and are certainly in countdown mode. Billy and Declan are still enjoying school, both are playing in the school rugby teams (Y8 and Y10) and Declan is also goalkeeper for the Year 8 Football (it is better known as soccer!). Billy has been doing cooking this term at school and has made some lovely dishes - the highlight being the Spicy Tomato Soup.

This weekend we headed East. We drove for and about three and a half hours Saturday morning and arrived at a village called Lavenham. Lavenham is in Suffolk, and as the Lonely Planet guide suggests "there is hardly a straight line in the whole topsy-turvy Lavenham, Eastern England's loviest medieval wool town", and I think they maybe correct! Checkout our photos and you will see buildings leaning at all angles. There is a lovely old church, Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, built about 1485.

From Lavenham, we headed to Ely about 15 miles North East of Cambridge. Ely has a fantastic cathedral and is your classic Georgian town.  As the whole surrounding area is extremely flat the Ely cathedral is visible from quite a distance in all directions. Ely is situated in the Fen lands of East England. A lovely city and we thought that we should have spent a year in this Ely, not Ely Cardiff!

We arrived in Cambridge mid-afternoon in very dark and rainy conditions, and after a quick drive around the city, we decided to go to our accommodation, Arnie's Guest House. We have stayed in varying degrees of accommodation this year in a lot of different cities and countries, but unfortunately, Arnie's was one of our worse! Less said about it the better! On Saturday night, we caught the bus into the city centre and had a wander around before meeting up with Mike (we met earlier in the year in Turkey) and having a few drinks and a meal at "The Castle" hotel, a nice little pub near "Castle Mound".

Sunday morning, after our non-existent full English breakfast and cold toast, we walked around the city and focussed mainly on the colleges. After a dismal Saturday, weatherwise, Sunday morning was lovely in Cambridge (although a little cool!). Our first sight was the Fitzwilliam Museum, a grand neoclassical building, then we walked through the grounds and buildings of Peterhouse College (the first college in Cambridge -1284).

Next we went down to the River Cam by Queen's College and watched the "tourists" being "punted" along the river. Then we headed into King's College, probably the most impressive of all the college's, and it's Chapel worthy of being a cathedral in most citiess! The grounds were immaculate and buildings very impressive! We also walked pass the colleges of Trinity, St. John's and Magdalene. We managed to get a photo of The Bridge of Sighs (the 3rd Bridge of Sighs we have seen this year, Oxford and Venice being the others)!

There was a market in the city centre, which Kristin was very happy to see and after a quick lunch we headed off back to Cardiff! Lucky that we are now experienced traveller's of the UK, because our Sat Nav was not charging off the cigarette lighter and we had to navigate our own way home! It wasn't that hard, but if it was earlier in the year we may still be in Cambridge!

Checkout the photos in the Web Albums, and if you have a bit of time on your hands (and unlimited internet use) have a look at the Fireworks (around Bonfire night - Guy Fawkes - we had several nights of fireworks going off around the area and we had our own fireworks display!)

cheers,
Andy

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Tunisia

The Half term finished with Declan and Andy spending most of the last week with the "flu", but not to be deterred we set off for Tunisia on Sunday morning on our final big trip for the year - excluding our trip home!

When we arrived at Monastir airport, we had a little hassle getting an entry visa. Interestingly they let you go through customs (without your passport), collect your bags and enter the airport and get money (Tunisian Dinar) and then go back into to collect your passport and visa! When we got back in the "travel rep" of Thomas Cook was finding out what the delay was with the visa, managed to upset the man who was organising it, to which he threatened to refuse our entry!! anyhow half an hour later we were on a bus to our hotel - Vincci Nour Palace, Mahdia.

Tunisia is situated on the Mediterranean Sea, in Northern Africa, about 80 miles from Sicily and wedged between Algeria and Libya. Tunisia is about the size of England and Wales, population of about 11 million and about one third desert (the Sahara). Mahdia, where we stayed, is located on the Eastern coast about 150 km South of the capital Tunis. Tunisia has a rich Roman, Spanish, French and Arab history.

We went for the All Inclusive package at the hotel, so we wasted no time in getting a drink at the poolside bar not long after we arrived! The weather for the week was similar for most days, low 20's and a bit of a cool breeze, which made sun baking and swimming in the outdoor pool not as enjoyable as we had hoped! (But having got back to Cardiff where it is 12 oC, wet and windy - It wasn't too bad in retrospect!).

Monday afternoon, Andy and Kristin went into the local town of Mahdia, where we looked at the sites - ancient ruins, Great Mosque, lighthouse, Mahdia Medina, local bazaar and Andy had a haircut and shave!
We caught a taxi into Mahdia, we were warned that there were only 2 types of drivers - Michael Schumacher and Noddy and nothing in between - well take it from me there is only one type - The F1 wanna-be!!

Tuesday saw a lazy day around the pool, the bar and all-you can -eat breakfast, lunch and dinner! Someone has to do it!! Tuesday night dinner was at the Tunisian restaurant at the hotel and we had traditional Tunisian food - mainly Couscous! The food had a heavy French influence (former colony) and I quite enjoyed it (washed down with a local red), as did Kristin and Billy, but it wasn't Declan's idea of dinner - he went to the buffet restaurant and ate his traditional food - pizza!

Wednesday was another pool day and visit to Mahdia (the boys came this time) and lots more shopping! Wednesday night dinner was the Italian Restaurant - not as good as the Tunisian but ok!

On Thursday morning we headed off (quite early) on a 2 day tour of Southern Tunisia and this was the highlight of the week away! the first stop was about an hour away at a place called El Jem. El Jem has a Roman Colosseum, which compares well to the Colosseum in Rome, and even better you could access all parts of the colosseum, even the Gladiator quarters. If you look at the photos, you will see that the arena surface was in place and you can walk under the arena. It was quite impressive, even though a little smaller than the Rome Colosseum!

After a bit of a drive South and a stop for lunch at a hotel in Gabes (and by chance, sat next to another Aussie couple!), we headed for Matmata. Matmata is the area where the Troglodytes houses of the Berbers are situated. To give you an idea what they are like, think of the original Star Wars film (A New Hope) and Luke Skywalker's home in Tatoonie. These homes are carved into the mountains, and in fact it was this area that inspired George Lucas for the first Star Wars film and many of the scenes were shot here. After a visit to a troglodyte home we stopped at the top of the mountain at Matmata and viewed the "Lunar Landscape". Not far from here was the ancient town of Tamezret, which was totally destroyed by heavy rains in 1969 - I suppose that is a problem with building houses out of mud and sandstone! I suppose it isn't too bad an idea when most of the country has a rainfall in the 150 - 300 mm range!

Next we continued the bus tour to the town of Douz which sits on the Northern part of the Sahara Desert (the World's Largest Desert in Tunisia. At Douz, we went on a camel ride into the Sahara and watched the sunset over the Sahara - Special!! Everyone enjoyed the camel ride, although Kristin was complaining that she was a bit saddle sore the next day!

We stayed the night at a hotel in Douz, where there was a thermal swimming pool - this was quite nice - until we noticed back in our rooms that our bathers and towels were quite muddy! After dinner we had an early night, because we were having a 4 am start the next day!

Friday morning we headed off to the Salt lake, Chott El-Jerid, about 51000 square kilometres, making it one of North Africa's largest salt lakes. We stopped halfway across the 64 km causeway to watch the sunrise over the salt lake and the colours were very impressive.

From Chott El-Jerid, we went to the town of Touzer, which is a tourist centre based on a huge oasis. Here we went on a horse and carriage ride around the oasis and saw a demonstration of how they collect the dates. Next was 4WD trip to the mountain oasis of Chebika. Chebika is located in the Atlas Mountains (which forms a natural border between Algeria and Tunisia) about 20 km from the Algerian border. Natural springs from the mountain, allow the town to grow date palms and other other fruits and vegetables. Chebika also was severely damaged in the 1969 floods! Not far from Chebika are the waterfalls at Tamerza, but the flow of water was not very high and wasn't as spectacular as it apparently can be! It is more famous for the filming of The English Patient in this area.

After lunch at Gafsa,  we headed to the Holy City of Kairouan, an important pilgrimage for Muslims. Apparently 4 visits to Kairouan can be considered the same as visiting Mecca once - only three to go!! There is a Great Mosque situated in the impressive medina walls. From Kairouan we headed back to the hotel via several stops at other resorts, dropping others from the bus tour.

The 1200km 2 day trip was a real highlight of the trip to Tunisia. The last day was spent around the pool, eating and drinking! Have a look at the Web albums (there are 8 different folders) to see the variety of landscape that we experienced in Tunisia.

We have started the last half-term (7 weeks), it gets dark about 5 pm and I think winter has settled in, so we are beginning to think that going home sounds good! (They don't have a day off for the Melbourne Cup here - how backward!).

Check out the Web Albums and see the sights of Tunisia. Cheers for now~