OMG

So if we go past the amazingly hot weather we've been having in Oz this week...
42 degrees in the shade at 10am this morning ... ick

definitely feeling the heat. but not enough to love the air con... that's just too cold!

It's not nice when all you have to do is step out the door and you have sweat running down your back.. I almost miss the coolness of the UK...

Big news of the day over here

is that Ian thorpe is going to make a comeback to swimming... you have no idea how excited I am about that... (unless you've been reading for years!)

I was you could say slightly obsessed with the swimming scene for most of my teenage years, mainly because I knew and swam with alot of those representing Oz..
So it was more like watching your mates & cheering them on.

Thorpey is no exception... I actually swam against him in a carnival with we were 9!

Fast forward a few years and we were attending birthday parties together...

Fun times..

Anyways I'm rather excited that he's going to be swimming again, what with him, Skippy and Libby hitting the waters again... the aussie team just got a new lease on life..

So hope he makes it to London for the 2012 olympics... that's one huge reason to hang around town!

Go thorpey

Hi

You know I told myself I was going to blog more this year, and here we are towards the end of Jan, and I haven't even muttered a word.

I suck!

Plus I've half done Africa, maybe I should sort that out while I'm back and slightly bored some nights


Anyways lots has changed. I've escaped the Isle of Man... finally after almost a year... Seriously didn't think I'd make it all the way.
it got pretty tense between me and the other girl towards the end. any longer and I think there may have been murder!

And after many hours in a car then a plane, I'm back in Oz.

my best mate just popped out the cutest baby girl, but is drugged up something fierce though after the emergency c-section that she feel like shit.
I think it's' more that she's in so much pain, that any sort of movement cripples her, and she feels she's not being a good mother.

I kind of feel hopeless.

But anyhoo, looking forward to Katie & Alex's wedding in the cook islands in a few weeks, it's going to be amazing and it's been far too long since we last caught up!

been researching them through google, and wow the pictures are just breathtaking.
Can't wait..

anyways I'll try be a better blogger this year

Wow...

I can't believe the last time I came on here and updated was way back in June... 5 whole months without a peep... bet you thought I'd gone and done a runner!

apologies all round, I literally suck.

though most of you are friends on facebook, and know too much about me anyway!

I actually miss writing on here.

But I'm just back from Africa, and am in the process of uploading some pictures, and writing up some posts. There's definitely some memories and stories I'd love to share with those of you still reading!

Actually I miss coming back here months down the track and reading about the adventures I've had.

Not that I've really been up to much, just working, working, and working some more.
I'm almost finished my time here in the Rock. hard to believe almost a year has gone by...

I'm well and truly ready to leave, just counting down the weeks

Massai Mara

18th Oct

Wake up call at 630am with a quick breaky we were off towards the game park by 7am.

1st spotting was a huge vulture just sitting in one of the acacia trees, then came some playful elephants, then lions

A quick toilet stop at one of the resorts inside the park and we headed north towards the Might Murray river.
To get a glimpse of the migration of animals heading back towards the Serengeti.

Saw numerous warthogs (aka pumba's!) hundreds of Zebra.

Li our crazy Korean made the spot of the day by randomly spotting a lion just dozing in the long grass. our driver managed to get us in within about 1m of him...

Amazing.

I never realised Lion's were so lazy, they're only awake 4 hours a day.

The closer we got to the river, the more and more animals we saw lining up, they went as far as the eye could see.

Like in ice age, where they all migrate.

Came across some hilariously cheeky Baboons.

Call came through on the radio saw us come face to face with a lazy cheetah just sunning herself under a tree.

She looked so harmless I wanted to jump out and give her a pat.

Came across a freshly killed wildebeest being attacked by a flock of vultures, before coming across the well and truly satisfied lioness which had obviously been in on the kill.

It took us awhile to get up to the Murray river, but first thing we saw when we got there was Hippos!!!!

woohoo!

Saw one Hippo chase off a cheeky croc!

Got a puncture near the river, so had to get out of the van while they fixed it.

Nothing like standing on the edge of the Murray river, with hippo's just floating about, in the middle of a game park.

Had a picnic lunch amongst a herd of zebra and wildebeests, as you do while in Africa!

Before making our way back to camp for dinner.

It's just crazy how many animals catch your eye out of the blue as you're driving along, and the most amazing thing is that they are not confined to a zoo.

Our driver is great, if we ask him to stop he will, and then wait until everyone has taken more than enough photo's before moving on.

I think he finds us hilarious!

The food so far has been delicious. It's very.... Irish?? like, potato's in stew everyday with carrots and rolls.

Spent another night sitting outside by the campfire, a perfect way to end the day.

19th Oct

So each day for the past 2 days we have left our (luxurious) campsite and headed towards the Masai Mara!

Today was no different, we were up at 6am for our last Masai game drive.

Saw a huge herd of water buffalo,

followed by some lions

and giraffes

Before getting a call across the radio that a rhino had been spotted, the last of the big 5 we had to see..

I've never seen Abdul our driver set off so fast.

We even went cross country driving up into the hills, but no such luck, the rhino had made a hasty retreat back into the trees!

The rhino still remains unseen!

Back to the camp for breaky before heading back towards Nairobi.

Stopped for lunch along the route at a local restaurant after we'd negotiated the pot hole infused roads at extremely high speeds!

The roads are ridiculously bad over here and full of potholes (as in 3 potholes every 50cm!) The side of the road is almost flatter than the actual road, which means when people drive on the roads here, they are all over the place.

Which means you just go with the flow and hang on for dear life!

Stopped at a local supermarket in town to pick up supplies and snacks for the crater & Serengeti (our next stop.)

Before heading to camp.

Staying at camp Karran tonight, our first night of basic camping, luxury tents are a distant memory!

First step was learning the art of putting up our tent, our home for the rest of the tour.

They're dome tents with metal poles going along the outside.

After our first attempt, I can see many fights occurring though out the process of tent assembly over the coming weeks..

Set up beds and helped chop veggies for dinner.

Julianna is an amazing cook, she totally cooked up a storm tonight, with about 6 different dishes chicken stew Kenyan style, mashed pumpkin, veggies and salads.

Not bad for a campsite dinner.

If this is what's to come we're in for a treat!

Made quick work of the washing up with everyone taking part, not sure how long that will last!

Early morning again for tomorrow so everyone was in bed just after midnight.

Kenya

15th October 2010

Nothing like being directed to your seat on the aeroplane by 'it's the seats in front of the shit box!'

Our flight got off on time, and nice to find out it was only going to be 8hours, instead of 11

I actually thought it was going to be.

ton's of movies to watch, many I hadn't seen (helps to be marooned on an island before you go on long haul flights!)

Immigration in Nairobi was insane. People everywhere, no real signs or people giving directions, just lines that didn't move.

It ended up taking us over an hour to get through (we're on African time now!)

We'd organised an airport transfer with the tour company, but do you think we could find our names on a sign in the entrance hall... that'd be a solid NO!

Ended up getting a random taxi into town, with Laura deciding we were going to be taken down a unlit street and murdered.
( I might add that we were both carrying a rather large sum of US dollars, to pay our kitty for our tour, and spending money for the next month...)

Thankfully our taxi driver was lovely and took us to the hotel, via a tour of the city.

Found out our hotel is in the prostitute region of Nairobi... brilliant (thankfully I can't be blamed for this one, as I didn't choose it)

Checked in ok, and hit the sack.

16th Oct

Up at 8am (6am UK time) for a weird breaky where the yolks in the eggs were almost as white as the whites.

Fresh fruit of offer was amazing mmm passionfruit, and fresh pineapple.. I could live on these.

Changed over some of our US dollars for Kenyan shillings and set off to explore the town.

The roads are all made from dirt and the people we've come across seem friendly.

One thing I immediately noticed is how much we stick out.

It definitely makes you feel more than a little uncomfortable when walking about town.

Walked past the meat market, which was the foulest smelling thing I've ever smelt...

Heat and meat don't really go together

After wandering about town we snuck into a posh hotel & sat chilling on the sun lounges by the pool.

Had lunch at Steers (almost a mix of Burger king/pizza hut)

Before heading back to the posh hotel and the pool.

Loving the warmth!

Had a pre-departure meeting at 6pm, where we met up with our tour group.

They seem like a cool group.

There are going to be about 18 people +/- . We only met about 11 so far, we will meet up with/lose others as the trip goes on.

Seems to be mostly couples with a mix of Aussies, Canadians, a token Brit and a strange Korean.

Handed over our huge chunk of money for the local payment (which is meant to cover all food, accommodation, and entry into the national parks)
A relief to hand it over to someone else to look after though.

Had a bit of a run thought what we're going to be doing over the next few days! (sounds exciting. )

Caught a taxi back to the hotel with Emma, Sal and Duncan.

Tried to get a restaurant recommendation from the hotel reception, but the only one they'd tell us was their own, which after breakfast none of us were too keen to go to.

Set off outside and rounded the corner before one of the reception came running after us and pointed us in the direction of a lovely Italian place!

Tomorrow we have to be at the meeting point by 6am and then we will start our camping trip for real.

SO EXCITING!

oct 17th

(1st day on tour: Our first destination : Masai Mara game camp.)

Up at what felt like the crack of dawn, and headed down stairs for another attempt at breakfast.

Nice spread again, stuck to the fruit platters today with fresh pineapple. watermelon, and Passionfruit... yum!

Caught a taxi, with the others up to the meeting point, and stowed our large packs in the lockers in the back of the truck. (What will be our home for the next 24days.)

We got on the truck for the first time and were told "5 hours", so we settled in for a boring sandy drive, but not even an hour later stopped at a view point - OF THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY!!!!!

omg!!!
it was so wicked!

The first 200kms was on nice sealed roads through many little villages, the last 80kms however was a road of pot hole hell.
Where cars drove on whatever side of the road they wanted, swerving from side to side at the last minute.

The nearer we got to the camp site, the more animals we began to see on the roadside.
Just scattered about with no care in the world.

Arrive to the campsite about 1pm where we were taken to our amazing pre-erected tents.
Complete with showers, beds, and flushing toilets & and not to forget the resident monkeys playing on the roof like it was a trampoline!

If this is camping... I could get used to it!

Lunch was served, beef with rice and steamed veggies

Then we were off for our first game drive of the tour in the Massai Mara.

We're camped about 20 minutes from there (only about one kilometer, but it takes FOREVER to get there because of the bumpy roads!).

The Massai Mara is this huge open area, where wild animals dwell and vehicles can drive along the road (restricted to certain non-intrusive areas) and try to see animals.

It's very hit and miss.

Sometimes you see many, and sometimes you see no animals.

We were OH SO LUCKY!!!

We saw Gazelles, hyenas, buffalo, giraffes, elephants, wildebeests, lions, lionesses

It was like the lion king came alive right in front of our eyes.

Even saw a dung beetle rolling a dung ball along the road!

Such an amazing first day, definitely going to love Africa!

A late dinner similar to lunch, before setting up outside around the campfire and getting to know those on tour with us.

There are 13 of us right now, (more to leave and join as the journey progresses) and we all get along great!

It's a fairly quiet/tame group made up of mostly couples.

But they are all really cool, close to our age, and have lots and lots of travel stories (I have about a hundred new places I simply MUST go to.,..)

TT road races 2010

Every year in June 40,000 bikers descend on the Isle of Man, for the TT road races.

A race I'd never even heard of until I had a job offer 2 years ago.

I love trauma, and what's better than being part a motorbike race!

Of course I jumped at the chance to head back here again.

Last week saw all the bikers out of an evening, practicing for the actual race.

Nothing beats the excitement TT brings to the island.

The population triples, there are people about in town, there's multiple beer tents scattered about the place, and bikes zooming past at incredible speeds.
what more could you want?

I've spent a few evenings last week hanging about catching some of the action.

Here's just a few pictures of the bikes.

At the famous quarterbridge, they actually slow down enough to get a picture of them!
(plus there's a pub!)

One night I was lucky enough to be on call, and got stuck in the middle of the track, so I scrambled through the bushes and sat on top of a fence, to watch them fly past.

Best spot ever.

personally I love the fact that the tree has padding!

Races are on during the next 5 days, bit jealous I can't watch the first few, as I actually have to work.

But bring on Friday and it's public holiday and another day of racing...

Who knew I had such a thing for speed!?!

Sunny days, beaches & good company

Hello,

It's been ages since I had a chance to get on here and update this blog.
I'm not even sure if anyone still comes by to check on me anymore!

Major computer issues saw me have to wipe my hard drive and start again from scratch.
It's still not working 100% but I can get on here now.

Life has been fantastic of late, I'm still marooned on my wee island in the middle of nowhere. Been here a good 3.5 months now.

We've been blessed with a number of beautiful sunny days of late, and we've definitely made the most of them.

A few weeks back Claire, Sam and I headed off to explore the island.


First stop was on Marine drive, this is over looking the town of Douglas, the capital of the Island.


From there we headed off up North to the very tip of the island, the Point of Ayr.



It was such a clear day you could see as far as Scotland and Ireland...

From there we headed south to the beach, (and where most of the island's population was camped out, on Peel Beach.)

A bit of a paddle in the refreshing water (not really warm enough to go swimming, with the exception of a few brave/mad locals)

Before walking around the castle ruins.

It was just such a beautiful Sunny day

Nothing beats sitting beside a castle watching the sunset over the ocean.