The Life & Adventures of Laura

A Country Affair

the_life_of_lady_laura — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 03:01:00 GMT

When it comes to weekends, we are always looking for interesting things to do locally. England is a land of seasonal events. In spring farmers open their fields so you can view their bluebells, in winter you can rug up and enjoy a cider by a warm fire at a country pub and in summer you can visit a country fair.

Now I am familiar with the concept of a country fair, but when Pete asked me if I wanted to go and watch terrier racing on the weekend, a country fair didn’t spring to mind. I imagined Jack Russells running full pelt around a field, chasing a rabbit. After a bit of Googling, I realised that their little legs wouldn’t have quite the distance to travel, and that a country fair is a fair deal more than terrier racing.

We’ve not had what I would call Summer weather so far this year, but the day was reasonable, our hiking boots were in the boot and our jackets packed ‘just in case’. We got in the car and set the sat nav for Parham Country House, a quaint estate in the rolling hills of West Sussex. Now Pete has recently started a new job, and has quite a posh work car. Fancy European cars are much more prevalent in the UK than Australia, but there were more than usual in the Parham Country House car park. It was here we started to form the opinion that perhaps West Sussex is the ‘posher’ Sussex.

As we made our way into the fields we were greeted by vintage steam machines. A vintage coffee grinder in particular took Pete’s interest as he pondered the question ‘does it get any more hipster than this?’ As he looked up and saw a nanna knitting, he realised, that no it doesn’t! The front of the venue was set up so people could put their gun dogs to the test. There were a myriad of tests that could be undertaken that involved fetching, jumping and sniffing things out. Some dogs were amazing. Some dogs ran out of the enclosed areas and had to be fetched by their owners! It was really interesting to see all of the work that people had put into training their animals and the bond between dog and owner.

We ambled on down to the main arena, where we spent some time watching rescue dogs from Essex performing tricks and working together to show what can be done to train and rehabilitate dogs if you give them a chance. It was lovely to see rescue dogs being so esteemed, rather than pure breds. We have always had pound puppies and they have given us years of love, and I certainly plan on adopting another when we return home. In the crowd, owners and dogs wandered by, sniffing people’s lunch and getting pats from strangers. I’ll admit it made me clucky for a dog, if there is such a thing!

Next up in the main arena were the Devil’s Horsemen, a group of stunt people who have featured in the likes of Game of Thrones. From someone who can barely get on a horse without it bucking her off, I was very impressed with their balance, synchronicity, timing and strength. They were truly amazing.

Now it wouldn’t be a country fair without an aerial display. Since the Shoreham air disaster that happened last year, aircraft are no longer able to fly or do tricks over crowds or roads. We were passengers on the road where the crash happened the day prior to its occurrence and then took that route a few days after coming home from Cornwall. The devastation what quite obvious, so it was pleasing to see changes being put in place to increase safety. Both of us are secret (ok maybe not so secret) plane nerds, so we thoroughly enjoyed the Spitfire show, which made me reminisce about the tiger moth joy flight we booked for my dad’s birthday which made him so dizzy he was ill! A gift that kept on giving!

Having sat down for long enough, we went and explored the other events. There was clay target shooting, stalls to buy your gun supplies at (no gun rack’s Ali), lots of food and my favourite of them all….. ferret racing! Ferret races involve four ferrets running down plastic tubes, being turned around at the end and then running back. I was expected them to shoot down the tunnels, but apparently they’ve wisened up to the fact that there won’t be a rabbit at the end, so it was rather a lack lustre race won by the ferret in the red tube.

After realising we still hadn’t seen any terrier racing, we finally found the terrier ring to realised that it had already taken place in the morning, and all that was left was the showing. After watching a few rounds, we realised we’re more into terrier racing than showing, so it was time to call it a day.

All in all, we had a great day enjoying a local British pastime and once again proved that the best weekends are spent doing what the locals do.

At the country fair we: saw ferret racing, watched gun dogs misbehave, saw a hipster coffee grinding machine, watched aerial acrobatics, watched crazy people do stunts on horses, ate a mediocre hog roll, missed the terrier racing, got clucky over dogs, enjoyed aerial acrobatics, saw lots of women in ‘Joules’ and ‘Hunter’ boots, arrived in a car worthy of being parked next to a top of the line Range Rover, spent the weekend like a local

Under the Tuscan Sun

the_life_of_lady_laura — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 05:00:00 GMT

I’ll admit I often visit places because I like the concept of them, or I have seen or heard that they are pretty or interesting. Quite often this results in seeing a sight or place that is amazing, but perhaps limited in its beauty, or has one interesting thing to do, but the surrounds aren’t quite so great. When it came to Tuscany, I did wonder if there would just be a few rolling hills with the rest mundane plains, but it turns out that Tuscany is just plain stunning, and no matter where you look, you’ll be impressed.

I started my journey by flying into Pisa. Now most people would stay in Florence, but I’d managed to pick up some bargain flights to Pisa and I figured that I could commute. In the end, this did lead to some very long days (think 3, 14 hour days in a row!), but in order to see as many places as I want to, sometimes that’s the way it goes! Because Pisa is quite small, I was able to walk from the airport to my hostel where I was upgraded to a 2 bed share with a nice American student who was staying a month to study archaeology at the University of Pisa.

After a rather disrupted sleep, (the hostel was right near the rail line and the first train at 5am was rather noisy – ear plugs were purchased) I rose bright and early for a day trip to the Cinque Terre. On route, we had an impromptu tour of Lucca, which I think would have been worth a visit in itself, but unfortunately that tour wasn’t available on the days I was visiting. Our guide told us that the villages themselves don’t have much historical significance, but due to their beauty they have been protected and fishing is now no longer allowed due to the ocean being a marine park.

After a stomach churning (2 storey bus, sitting at the back!) drive down the windy cliff face, we departed the bus and head out for a day of exploring. We first visited Manarola, which is one of the smaller villages, which was just opening up and getting ready for the day. After a quick explore, we headed onto the train to Vernazza. Now Vernazza is the village where you get that quintessential shot looking down on the hooked shape village, with the small bay and bright houses perched on the rocks. It did not disappoint, and a delicious piece of tomato, cheese and pesto focaccia sweetened the deal! After a scoop of gelati, it was time to depart on the train to Monterosso al Mare.

Monterosso is one of the biggest towns and is split into the more modern town, with the older village to the side. Here we enjoyed a delicious lunch of pesto pasta, fresh fish and a slice of tiramisu for dessert. After such a feast, it was time to talk a walk and enjoy the sun, which had just decided to peak out from behind the clouds. I took my time walking along the cliffs, and found a comfy spot just to sit, relax, look at the sea and soak up some sun. It was fabulous to have some time to escape into the moment, and slow down from the hustle and bustle that being a teacher in the UK forces upon you.

Before long we were back on the train for a pit stop to Riomaggiore before heading back down to La Spezia to catch the bus home. All in all, the Cinque Terre was what I imagined and I had a fantastic day exploring them. After a small dinner at the hostel, it was time to bed to get some sleep before my 6:40am pick up the next morning.

After a slightly better sleep (I did go to bed with ear plugs in, but woke up with them on a table but cannot remember getting out of bed and doing that!!) I woke up to a yummy breakfast of pancakes, before heading out to the Tuscan countryside to visit San Gimgimignano Chianti and Siena. It didn’t take us very long out of Florence; before we began to see the rolling hills that Tuscany is so famous for. The green is intense beyond belief and is striking in contrast to the ochre and earthy coloured buildings. This is the Tuscany I had dreamed of.

A lovely thing about Italy is that many of its walled cities still operate as cities, and don’t just run as tourist attractions. We arrived at San Gimgimignano on market day, which was the perfect opportunity to explore. The city itself is set upon a hill with the most majestic view of vineyards all around. What I wouldn’t give to live up in a turret and stare out at that view all day! The views do mean a lot of walking, particularly up hills, so I didn’t feel quite so bad about my indulgences of the day prior. After a scrummy pine nut biscuit, it was time to head to Chianti, where I reconfirmed I am no wine connoisseur.

Now I will try most wines, or new foods, but if anyone ever tells me their grapes grow in chalky soil I think I might opt out. The winery itself was lovely, but in my opinion Chianti wine tastes like sour chalky liquid and would best be consumed in cooking. That aside, the winery sure knew how to cook and we were spoiled with a charcuterie plate of cheese and meats before our main course of spaghetti Bolognese and a dessert of creamy pannacotta. By this point I was ready for a bus nap, but pressed on, excited to see Siena.

Whilst I was hoping for sunshine in Italy, I was greeted with a week of rain. Luckily I had brought my raincoat, unfortunately that couldn’t prepare me for the torrential down pour that greeted us in Siena. After purchasing a €5 umbrella I was a little better off, but my feet were completely soaked, and would remain that way for the next 6 or so hours. Ignoring the rain the best we could, we pressed on for a city tour, where we explored the city streets and learned about the different wards. (contrade). The city is broken up into 17 different wards and each have their own mascot and emblem. We started our tour in the ‘dragon’ district, and our tour guide was from the ‘unicorn’ district. Some of the other wards included, the snail contrade, the caterpillar contrade and the goose contrade. Bi annually, 10 of the contrade compete in a horse race around the town square (Google it to truly understand the madness!), which attracts over 20,000.

I was very excited to have a day out in rural Tuscany, and it made me look forward to the day ahead of me even more. Upon arrival in Florence to meet up with the main group, I met a lovely Canadian girl, and we became travel buddies for the day. Our first stop was a cute village with picture perfect views called Montalcino. By this time it was 11:30, so we decided on an early lunch. I feasted on spinach and ricotta ravioli in a pecorino and walnut sauce. It was bliss and the view out of the window made it all that much more special.

After a short drive, we arrived in Pienza, where we joined up with another two Canadian girls to explore the ancient city and to enjoy a scoop of gelati. Each alley way we looked down afforded us postcard perfect views. It was almost surreal. Our last stop was at the iconic city of Montepulcinao. For those of you who have seen Under the Tuscan Sun or Twilight, this village features in both. It is also a quintessential picture you will see if you ever buy a Tuscan calendar (I have owned a few in my time!) The city itself is extremely hilly and unlike many other villages, most of the houses are made out of stone and not painted. Of course we walked past the door where Edward threatens to walk out into the sun because his love for Bella is just all a little bit too much, but in reality, it’s the door of a gift shop, which is just a little less dramatic than the movie makes out. I did not see any Vulturi!

By Friday I was quite tuckered out, and enjoyed a sleep in at the hostel (ear plugs firmly in this time!) I was walking distance from the leaning tower, so around mid morning I took a leisurely stroll to find it. Upon arriving I realised that it was going to be near impossible to take a decent shot by myself (earlier in the week I also realised I have way to many pics with my giant head in them so bought a selfie stick on eBay – yes I’ve become one of those people!!!) but wasn’t quite sure who to trust to take a photo for me. The tower is quite a tourist spot and is surrounded by people trying to sell you fake, I mean ‘genuine’ Rolex’s etc. I came across a girl who looked in a similar predicament who was debating over whether to buy a selfie stick or not. Luckily she thought my suggestion to take a photo for each other was a good one, and after much adjusting, laughing and quite a few retakes, we managed to get a picture each that we were both happy with.

After a leisurely wander back to the hostel, it was time to walk back to the airport for my flight home. All in all Italy was everything and more than I expected. The food is amazing, the scenery is breathtaking and there is history every which way you turn. In some ways I would love to have stayed and explored more, but I think being able to break our trips up into smaller chunks means we can explore more deeply and see everything with fresh eyes, rather than being on the go for weeks on end.

In Italy I: ate a lot of pasta, enjoyed delicious gelati, got rained on, visited the cinque terre, travelled solo, amazed at the beautiful hills of Tuscany, went on a search for Italian sausage for Pete (and triumphed!), realised I’ll take prosecco over chianti any day, did not see a lot of Tuscan sun, ate a lot of pizza, took the typical leaning tower of pisa shot, met lots of lovely people, had a Twilight moment at Montepulciano, made it through three 14 hour tours without napping on the bus, started mentally planning my next trip back to Italy!

Brighton to the left of me, Hastings to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you.

the_life_of_lady_laura — Sun, 22 May 2016 23:57:00 GMT

It’s far to say that I’ve suffered a fair amount of ‘cabin fever’ since moving to the UK. Although I wouldn’t say I am outdoorsy, I do enjoy being outside on occasion and have missed having a back yard. Unfortunately, we are one floor up and look down on the rubbish storage area. Now this isn’t altogether boring. The communal rubbish area has been an area of controversy in the past few weeks. We previously had dumpmaster bins that unfortunately became a dumping ground for any man and his dog’s rubbish. After 2 rubbish removal trucks came along to clear up the mess, and a few men in suits milled around, we were issued with wheelie bins instead. This somewhat improved the predicament for a few weeks, but it seems people in our block of flats are either just plain lazy/gross or people who don’t live here keep dumping their rubbish in and or on our bin. Last week this resulted in our bin becoming completely inaccessible and adorned by pooey nappies…..noice!

In addition to the view of the rubbish bins, we also have a poor forlorn soul, who either lives in one of the flats above us, or goes out with a girl who lives in the flat above us, who calls out to her from ground level about all of the ways she has done him wrong. From the sounds of it Amanda is a bit of a bitch and has yet to come down stairs and make amends. Poor soul.

Last weekend, suffering a chest infection and sounding like a pack a day smoker, Pete quarantined me to the flat (grocery shopping allowed). It is fair to say that although I was out of breath and nearly dying from walking up the stairs, I wanted to get out and went a bit stir crazy. We do have a fairly big flat, but there are only so many hours you can sit on your couch and watch TV on the internet. I think this is probably the hidden side of living overseas vs going on a holiday. There is a lot of sitting around waiting to go on another trip, without all of the normal catch ups with friends and family that would usually fill your life. Unfortunately for me, working at a school with small children, means that I have caught just about everything that is going around and have spent a large proportion of our time here unwell.

On a positive note, after 7 weeks of playing house husband, Pete finally started a new job this week. I managed to hold the fort at home whilst he was off learning the ropes, and I am sure we’ll soon be in our new routine of him working from home and then away during the week. It does mean that I get to watch Game of Thrones uninterrupted and sleep diagonally across the bed, which is by far my favourite sleeping position! Pete is happy to have a few nights of uninterrupted sleep (I am a menace - I even punched him in my sleep the other week!!) and to be gainfully employed in tasks other than washing the dishes and housework!

During his time off work, Pete undertook some half day hikes to keep him active. One included traversing across the downs (hills)….to the pub for lunch and then back into town to catch the train home. When we are both well, we do try and aim for a Sunday walk, so today I agreed to do the hill climb section. I’d been told it would be 45minutes each way and we’d need to stop to catch our breath at least once. To be fair, I did stop twice, but it was much more manageable than I’d imagined, it took us an hour all up and the view was beautiful. I do feel much happier about life when I can get out and about and don’t have to suffer cabin fever!

All in all, we’ve been lying fairly low of late. Other than a vintage train ride and a food festival, we’ve pretty much hung out at home and around our local area. Most weeks are pretty normal life for us. I’m just lucky to be in a job that has lots of holidays. Alas, Pete won’t be having a holiday for a while, but I am off to Italy next week and I definitely plan on enjoying the food and scenery!

Until next time,

Xoxo

Laura & Pete

Lately we have: enrolled to vote in the UK (How on earth did Pete get accepted for that?!), started a new job, had another chest infection, gone stir crazy indoors, worn jumpers even though we’re a week out from summer, hiked up the downs, watched several wine shows and have started to discuss what we like in our wine using wanky wine terms (oh yes Pete I can smell the cut grass), binged watched ‘baby faced brides’ on Now TV whilst Pete wasn’t here to stop me, ate Biltong at the Brighton Foodies Festival, rode on the Spa Valley Railway, booked a trip to Spain & Portugal for the summer.

Somm into the Bottle – A Medoc Winery Region Adventure

the_life_of_lady_laura — Tue, 10 May 2016 21:03:00 GMT

It is said that what makes one’s favourite wine is whether, “it tastes good”.

With a week spare before starting my new job, I took up the opportunity to visit Bordeaux, which is perhaps the best red wine region in the world. So, after seeing a spot of good weather to be had, flights were booked, a Chateau to stay at was locked in and a plan of Chateaus to visit was drafted up.

With anticipation, I boarded my Tuesday morning EasyJet flight to Bordeaux. The flight was great, and I gazed upon the still waters of the English Channel for as far as the eye could see. Landing into 19c and sunshine was indeed shorts/shirts weather by English standards.

I then picked up my hire car, and with an intermittently dodgy working GPS, by 2pm had weaved my way to my accommodation in the Medoc. My home for the week was Chateaux Meyre, a 300 year old vineyard just to the West of Margaux, which I had been told was ‘the place’ to drink red wine in Bordeaux. Upon check-in, the very helpful staff deciphered my scrawl of notes to work out what Chateaux they could arrange for me to visit at very short notice. (Note for next time: most need minimum 2 days and up to 1 month notice before visiting!) Whilst they worked away, I enjoyed a glass (or two) of their 2013 Cru Bourgeois with a tasting plate. By that evening an itinerary had been drawn up by the helpful Meyre staff.

After a good night’s sleep and a delicious continental breakfast for one (no other guests were staying the first night), I started off to my first Chateau, Cos Labory in St. Estephe for a 1030 appointment. At Cos Labory (just next door to Cos D’Estournel) , a 5^th tier 1855 Grand Cru Class Appellation Chateau, I was met by one of the three Audoy brothers for a one to one tour of their vats and cellar. Their vats were rather new and the architecture quite amazing. Here I learnt how they move grapes from being pressed to fermentation, then to ageing before blending, barrelling and bottling, which is usually a 2 year process for them. After a tasting of their 2011 2^nd wine, 2011 1^st wine and 2010 1^st wine, I picked up a bottle of their 2011 1^st before making my way south to my next Chateau, Lynch Bages.

Lynch Bages, of the Paulliac region sets the standard for public friendly Chateau in the Medoc with a rejuvenated village centre complete with a restaurant, butcher, cellar door and small goods shop. I was joined on the tour by some Americans, one of which was living out his 20 year dream to come to see the Chateau and how his favourite wine was made. During modernisations, the Chateau kept their historic vat room intact, so that visitors could see the effort early wine makers went to, to make the wine. During fermentation, temperature control (under 27c wine doesn’t ferment, over 31c you have vinegar) was done by either fire under the wooden vat or by hosing the vat down. A job that mean 24 hour attendance in the day. Modern vats now have water coils built inside to regulate the temperature. Following the tour, my budget for the trip didn’t quite stretch far enough for their $200 - $600 price range, so it was off to a Paulliac riverside restaurant for a pizza before heading to Chateau Desmerial, just south of Margaux.

At Desmirail (a 3^rd Tier Grand Cru Class Chateau) their normal guide was off sick, so I was met by one of the Lurton Family Brothers. With a quick apology his English wasn’t too good, (and my apology my French was non-existent) we made our way to their vats. A different feature of this Chateau is that they have stainless steel, wooden and concrete vats, of which they are quite proud of. Moving to their barrel cellar, I learnt each of their custom made barrels are made of 7 varieties of French oak. The ends of the barrels are lined with chestnut wood so that in case termites come around, they eat the chestnut first and they can save the barrel. After some more tasting of their 2006 1^st wine, 2011 2^nd wine and a unique 2015 Rosé, I made a few purchases, then made my way back to Chateau Meyre to enjoy a 2006 Desmirail ½ bottle by the pool.

The next day was the Ascension Day public holiday, and it was a fitting day to visit Du Tetre in Arnac, as this Chateau was like going to wine heaven. With blue skies and 27c, I joined a Dutch couple on the tour. As the tour commenced, the guide promptly joked that we were at the highest Chateau of all Medoc, which is a big difference from them living below sea at home. As it was holiday the owners were staying, so we made sure to avoid them on the tour. The guide went into extensive detail about their grape varieties and layout, pointing out that they actually bunch up the vines close to each other, to stress them to compete and sink roots deeper, so though making less wine, the quality dramatically improves. They were also trialling bioorganic techniques using butterfly pheromones to ward off hungry butterflies. Their vats were once again amazing, but it was their barrel cellar that was just superb, consisting of two levels and being the deepest cellar in the region, only made possible by being the highest chateau of the region. Here I picked up a 2009 half bottle (2005 half bottle sold out L ) before making my way back to Chateau Meyre.

After a quick change, I set off on a road trip west to the Atlantic Ocean. Being a public holiday, the beach was packed and after trying to find a car park for 15min, I settled on nearby Lake De Carcans for a burger and frites while watching the many catamarans sailing out on the lake.

The next day, I flew back to England, only to being caught in the’ non EU’ immigration line amidst a hoard of Canadians coming in on an ‘Air Transat flight’ (Air Transat, an experience best forgotten), spending more time going through immigration that actually in the air!

The trip was a great experience to learn more about how wine is made, and there is no better an experience than to learn from some of the best vineyards in the world. I look forward to possibly seeing France’s other wine regions (Burgundy, Champagne, Beaujolais) time and budget permitting.

And remember, what makes a great wine? It tastes good!!!!

And They Lived Happily Ever After

the_life_of_lady_laura — Sun, 1 May 2016 04:53:00 GMT

The traditional idea of ‘happily ever after’ usually involves a knight in shining armour riding in on a big white steed to save ‘the girl’. He instantly woos her and they ride off into the sunset where they will shortly get married and live happily ever after. Our happily ever after was slightly different to that, which is probably a good thing, because I can’t imagine Pete riding in on a horse and I didn’t really need saving! Never the less, we did get married and had gotten around to the ‘happily ever after’ part of the deal…

It feels weird to say we had a ‘destination wedding’ when it was in our home country, but since we weren’t living in it, I’m not from there, and a large proportion of people we know don’t live there, it is fairly accurate. Having been in the UK for around 15 months at this point, we were both keen to head over to Melbourne and include friends and family in the extended wedding celebrations. This is where the idea for a ‘Happily Ever After Party’ was born.

After much deliberation and consideration that we were inviting friends and family who may know lots of people or perhaps no one else, we decided that bare foot bowls; drinks and a BBQ would be a good way to celebrate and keep our guests amused! After being blessed with a stellar day in Perth, we had our fingers crossed for nice weather in Melbourne.

One by one our friends arrived, and we excitedly greeted them. It was great to be amongst friends again, chatting and laughing in a group. Before long it was time to learn the ‘rules’ of bowling. Although we all listened intently, most of us were planning on having a few drinks and knew that so long as we kind of got the black bowl near the white ball we’d declare a winner that way. Luckily no one was too seriously involved in the game, as the white balls were a little too tempting to my 2 year old nephew who rather enjoyed running across the grass and sending any ball or bowl in site flying across the green!

My nephews were a hit of the party, running and playing around and feature heavily in the photos of the day. The chef aka Dad did an excellent job with the barbie and we were all well fed. Pete had a good few rounds of bowls, but I later realised I was so occupied catching up I failed to play a full game! By the afternoon the grey morning turned into glorious sunshine and we finished up our last few games. All too soon it was time to bid out friends goodbye and it was with some sadness the party wrapped up.

Post party, a few of us headed out to Fitzroy to tick a few more foods off my list, with a tasty bowl of Pho for dinner and Messina gelati for dessert. That night we were lucky enough to stay at a good friend’s house which made heading out to St Kilda to catch up for a family brunch with Pete’s family the next morning that little bit closer.

If you’re going to enjoy a lovely family brunch, great family, yummy food and a beautiful period Victorian house with incredibly high ceilings is the place to do it. We were greeted by Pete’s cousins, their families and his aunty who had invited us and my parents to celebrate with them. I had met some of the Melbourne Robinsons on Christmas Day, before we had left for the UK, but it was lovely to see them their families together. Most of Pete’s rellies are back in Perth, so it was lovely to recap the wedding with them and share a few photos of the special day.

All in all, we had a hen’s dinner, buck’s dinner, wedding, happily ever after party and family brunch in around a week. It was mad, it was fun, we laughed and we were crazy happy. By this point we were also very tired!! Luckily, Melbourne put on some stunning Autumn weather for us, and a mini moon in Rye, where were hung out on the deck with views of the scrubby tea tree plants and a day at the Peninsula Hot Springs, helped to rejuvenate us!

For the remainder of our trip we caught up with a few more friends, spent time with my family and nephews and enjoyed the sunshine. In the end we chose to have a mini moon and spend time with family and friends rather than head off after the wedding. It was a joyful pit stop in these two UK dwellers’ lives.

Post wedding we: flew to Melbourne, mini mooned in Rye, relaxed at the Peninsula Hot Springs, ate a Mooroolbark Pizza, ate two custard scrolls, ate FRESH sushi, cruised in the Premier, played with my nephews, ate Aussie fish and chips including dim sims (yay!), enjoyed the sunshine!

Meet The Robinsons

the_life_of_lady_laura — Sat, 16 Apr 2016 05:30:00 GMT

All Saints, the band, are back. They are a thing. I know this because they were playing their new single in the Co-Op (think IGA Aussies) when we stopped in for a cheeky post walk chocolate pud the other day. They were probably playing the song because it was 17 degrees and sunny, which for the UK is pretty much summer and was actually pretty similar weather to the morning of the wedding.

I managed to sleep through without waking up because of jet lag the night before the wedding, but still managed to wake before my family. Wanting to make the most of the sun, I decided to chill out and bake a little on the balcony and Pinterest hair and makeup because I still hadn’t fully decided what I wanted. Hair and make up wasn’t starting until 10:30, so it was a lazy start to the day.

By this point my cold had well and truly set in, so I was after a look that was ‘cold proof’. I went last for hair and makeup and chose a low fanned bun and rose neutrals for my makeup. I kept on crying whilst the makeup lady was doing my eyeliner because of my darn cold, which made things interesting! Luckily that was all of the crying for the day and everything stayed put! We talked, laughed and drank champagne whilst getting ready with my dad on the couch watching sports and ‘complaining’ about all of the girl time. Secretly though, I’m not sure he minded all that much!

The florist delivered the flowers around 1 and I was taken aback at how beautiful they were. I had given her inspiration pictures, but the bouquets were more than I could have expected. I was starting to get really excited. At this point, time began to pass quickly and before I knew it, I was in ‘the dress’ and had closed the apartment door behind me to leave for the wedding. We had joked about making sure we remembered the bouquets, but sure as anything, two stairs down we realised we’d locked the door and the bouquets were still inside! My mum had the key at the ceremony location, so with a few key texts, my dad was in the wedding car dashing to get the keys so we could get the bouquets and be fashionably, rather than worryingly, late.

Pete had booked me an E Class Mercedes to arrive in and the car and the driver didn’t disappoint. Franco was a 50 something Italian man, who was quite camp and extremely excitable. It was debatable who was more excited about the wedding.... him…. or me! I was expecting just a transfer, but Franco had the red carpet to the ready and white ribbons on the car. It was only a short ride to the venue, but very relaxed and fun.

The days preceding the wedding were over cast and grey. In contrast, the day of the wedding was stunningly sunny and bright. Pete’s had organised his friend Dorothy and her Dad to play live music for the ceremony, which was cued by Pete’s friend Dave. At the cue, Kathryn , my bridesmaid, began to walk and I decided that I wanted to take my time and make this moment last. At the rehearsal we had planned for us to enter from behind the yacht club, so we would appear without anyone seeing us get out of the car. What we didn’t realise was how the sun would play on my dress. As I made my way around the corner and into the eyes of our guests, and my groom, the 1000s of sequins and beads on my dress lit up in the sun, and to quote Pete’s cousin’s husband made me look like ‘someone out of Game of Thrones!”

As I made my way down the aisle, I was really only interested seeing in Pete. Everyone else was a blur. When I got to the end of the aisle, he whispered over and over again ‘you look gorgeous’ and the photos will probably catch my cheesy grin in response. He was looking pretty alright himself. After the introductions we had lovely readings from Pete’s sister Natalie and his friend Dave. Whilst I had been really nervous at the rehearsal on the Saturday, I felt very serene and happy during the ceremony.

Post ceremony we said our hellos and headed off to take photos. Our venue was right on the Swan River, so we headed to the pier first. Luckily the anglers were obliging and let us have a few photos without them in shot. We were temporarily photo bombed by a man wearing nothing by shorts walking his dog, but that added some humour to the moment! Then we headed to the park next door, to take more photos and have a boat race with some extra origami boats we had made. Pete was very pleased his boat went the furthest and lasted the longest, but I think it is a moot point since he tipped my boat and filled it with water whilst ‘apparently’ trying to help me. He was pretty pleased his floated longer than his best man Grant’s….not that they’re competitive or anything!

With a final goodbye to Pete’s 98 year old grandma, who made the effort to not only come to the ceremony, but to buy a new dress for it, it was time to enter the reception as Mr & Mrs Robinson. We are both Rudimental fans, so we entered to ‘Feel the Love’. The venue looked spectacular. The large full height windows looked out over to the Perth CDB and the golden sunset silhouetting the skyscrapers. We did not know we would get such a view, and this Victorian was very impressed with Western Australian sunsets! As the sun faded, the room glowed with Chinese Lanterns and candle lit tables and had a warm and intimate mood.

We named the tables Canada, Sweden, Ireland, Scotland and Iceland after some of our favourite destinations and had post cards on mini easels to guide our guests. The tables were adorned with dusky pink table runners, and silver and pink natives to match the bouquets. On the bridal table our florist had made us an enormous spray of natives resting in a rustic box that took pride of place in the room. We had also placed small quizzes on the tables to get our guests chatting to each other and talking about our relationship and how well they knew us.

Pete’s sister Natalie, his best man Grant and Pete all gave heartfelt and lovely speeches before Pete and I finally answered the questions to the much-awaited quiz. I’m not sure that anyone got 100% but it was pretty funny to relive moments like Pete running through Edinburgh to get my handbag last year when I’d left it in the hotel and having our guests debate whether Pete had ever let me drive his precious Premier or not! (Answer is no, and I’m not that silly to ask!)

After all of the formalities, it was time to dance. For those of you who have seen the ‘dance map’ that Pete constructed, you might be wondering what song we danced to. It was an acoustic version of Beyonce’s Halo from the ‘Shall I Stay’ movie sound track. It is quite haunting and poignant and meant something to both of us, so we were both very happy with our song. Our dance went well and soon nearly everyone was up having a boogie.

It was not long after this point that my dad asked me if my cake was wonky. In my eyes the cake was nothing but a spectacular two tiers of frosted confection adorned with native flowers and our ‘the best is yet to come’ cake topper. Post wedding, and a confession later, Pete told me that in fact the cake was wonky. The top tier was too heavy for the bottom and had caused it to sink slightly. The poor florist was greeted by two stressed out blokes (Pete probably more than Grant) who had no ideas how to solve such a problem and couldn’t get onto the bakery, as it was a public holiday. Pete had been frantically smoothing out the icing with a knife and fending of his best man’s helpful, but not helpful ideas on how to fix it! Luckily the florist knew what to do and arranged the flowers in such a way it wasn’t immediately obvious! The florist later wrote me a note telling me how she quite enjoyed the panic and that Pete was a definite keeper as he was running around prior to the ceremony to make sure everything was perfect for me. Nawww!

When the clock struck 10, it was time for our sparkler send off. Our guests gathered on the lawn to wave sparklers as we left the venue to begin our married life. Well, not before Pete’s best man Grant stormed out the front door with my suitcase pretending to be the groom and gave poor Franco a heart attack by demanding that he’d had enough and he wanted to get out of there. Luckily, Franco had a great sense of humour and thought Grant’s prank was hilarious. Even luckier for me, my groom was by my side, holding some of our wedding cake in one hand, and my hand tightly in his other as we left the venue and waved goodbye to our guests. Franco of course tooted the horn and made sure we had the send off that every newly married couple should!

All in all, it was an absolutely spectacular day weather, venue, theming, food and guest wise. It was so wonderful to catch up with friends and family and celebrate our day with those closest to us. I had met many of Pete’s friends and family before, so it was all very comfortable and fun for me, and for Pete it was really special to have people who had a great impact and importance in his life there to help him celebrate such a special occasion.

For now, Pete is a happy house husband, but as the cake, and Pete always says, the best is yet to come…

Stay tuned for our hop across to Melbourne and our 'Happily Ever After Party'.

At the wedding we: had origami boat races, held a funny couples quiz, had a guest who brought his own wine glass, sparkled in the sun, said ‘I do’, caught up with friends and family, danced our first dance, stared the DJ down when she suggested a Conga Line, watched the DJ chat up a guest, renamed dusky pink to ‘man salmon’, had a sparkler send off, fixed a wonky cake, became Mr & Mrs Robinson

An 87 day engagement

the_life_of_lady_laura — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 05:24:00 GMT

87 days isn’t a very long time to be engaged. It also isn’t a very long time to plan a wedding in a country that is across the other side of the world to you and in a city that is unfamiliar to one of you. It could have and probably should have gone all wrong, but by gosh it didn’t. It was spectacular. In fact too spectacular for just one post, so this one is dedicated to the lead up….

We set off for Heathrow airport on Thursday lunchtime. Heathrow is much more of an adventure for us to get to than Gatwick, but the flight times were better and it meant getting some sleep upon arrival in Perth. Unfortunately, we hit a traffic jam on the bus travelling from Gatwick to Heathrow, and it took 2 hours instead of 1 hour to get there. I had needed the toilet when we’d arrived at Gatwick, but Pete has insisted we get straight on the bus. I wasn’t keen on using the toilet in the coach, but at the hour thirty mark it was becoming a necessity. Unfortunately, I had held on for just the right amount of time for us to be zooming around circular highway interchange mid hand wash recreating what felt like the Knight Bus scene from the Harry Potter movies.

Upon check in we realised that Pete somehow still had his Gold Frequent flyer status, so we were upgraded to the first row (sadly not business class) and had access to the lounge. After some duck terrine and a few glasses of verve it was time to board. After staying awake for dinner service, I managed half a movie before I drifted off to sleep. I’ve got much better at this sleeping on a plane business, but Pete will probably argue with you that it is because he becomes my human pillow. All part of the job I say. After another champers and teeth clean at Dubai airport, we were on our second flight and most certainly home bound.

It was raining when we arrived, but it was 22 degrees at 2am in the morning, so despite the dark and the rain I was more than a little thrilled to be in a t-shirt and enjoying weather in the 20s. We quickly nodded off at our hotel and woke up bright and early to start a day of preparations.

First cab off the rank was the cake. I was expecting a cake for 60, but was greeted be an enormous iced confection fit for at least 90. It looked absolutely amazing, and we subsequently found out, also tasted amazing. Two delicious tiers of cream cheese frosted red velvet …yum! Next was a much awaited catch up with my friend Kathryn, who was also my bridesmaid. As Pete would put it, we were off to ‘oompa loompa land’ to get our tan on. The UK has left me very white (yes, whiter than usual if that is even possible), so I decided that a tan was in order. Luckily I left glowing, rather than oompa loompa like!

Post tan Pete came to collect us with my mum, dad and sister in tow. They had flown over from Melbourne. It was so nice to see them since I hadn’t seen my parents since November and I hadn’t seen my sister since we left Aus in December 2014. We quickly got to chatting and talking rubbish in the way we know and love! We booked a large apartment so we could all stay together and it was great having a few days before the wedding to hang out and catch up.

Saturday afternoon meant wedding rehearsal. The weather had been looking a little shady and we were worried about getting stuck in the rain. Fortunately it held off and we were put through our paces by our celebrant Grant who has us practising our walks, how I would get handed over and how we would hold hands. I found it had to take Pete seriously when I was holding his hands, because post tan I was so much browner than him and he was almost glowing white. It was a definite role reversal! The rehearsal itself was quite intense and nerve wracking – probably a good thing to get out of our systems, because come wedding I was nothing but serene!

Sunday was venue set up day and also a chance to catch up with the best man Grant and Pete’s good friend Mark who had travelled from Queensland to be there. A lunch of Rooster Rolls (another food on my to eat in Aus list!) helped us power through the set up and after 4 hours the venue was looking spectacular. It was great to see my vision come into place. All that was missing was the flowers, cake and the guests.

On the Sunday afternoon Pete headed off for a subdued bucks party (beer and pizza) at his brother in law’s house and I headed of, to what I thought was going to be a high tea at a fancy patisserie. Pete had even bought me a couple of bottles of nice champagne to celebrate. Unfortunately on our arrival, despite my booking and 50% deposit, they had a sign up announcing they were closed for Easter. Shocked and annoyed, we rallied and found a wine bar where we could have a few drinks and tapas before heading to a French restaurant where we had a dinner of an entrée and a dessert. It turned out to be an awesome evening, and the failed booking was forgotten about. (In the end they did get hold of us to explain what went wrong and sent us lots of yummy nougat for our Melbourne party and a tasting pack for Pete & I, so they are partially forgiven).

As tradition beholds, we decided to spend the night before the wedding apart and I only had my dad’s word that Pete had upheld my wishes not to get too drunk or sunburnt at his buck’s party! Luckily neither were the case, so I could rest safe that Pete would be there looking his usual handsome self the next day. Luckily for me by this point I had semi adjusted to Perth’s time zone, so I slept though the night. Unfortunately the Ebola like cold that had swept my school had firmly set its grips on me and I was going to need the make up lady to work wonders on me in the morning….

Prior to the wedding we: spent a long time on transport to get to Heathrow airport, rejoiced at Pete’s still standing Gold frequent flyer status, drank quite a bit of champagne, enjoyed a lot of leg room on the plane, flew on another A380, admitted to the blog reading public we are plane nerds, flew back home, enjoyed the Aussie weather, saw our families, felt very happy, ate Rooster Rolls and got ready for the best day of our lives.

A Sverige good time.

the_life_of_lady_laura — Thu, 3 Mar 2016 09:20:00 GMT

St John in Canada is the further city away from Melbourne. I know, I’ve Googled it. With our trip to Sweden looming, I got to thinking about the furthest place away from home I could travel and that Kiruna in Sweden must be pretty close. In fact, it comes pretty close. St John is 18,205km away and Kiruna close at 15,282km.

I’m not sure I ever thought I would visit Sweden. It seemed exotic and expensive and somewhere that would remain on the ‘wish list’ but as the February school holidays rolled around, my internal travel clock started to become itchy at the knowledge that this may be the last holiday break in which to see the Northern Lights. I began to Google search and it seemed that Norway or Sweden were the places to be and since I knew someone in Sweden this seemed like a great starting point. Coincidentally he was also joining a group of friends to visit the Arctic Circle and hunt down the northern lights at the same time as my holidays. It was meant to be.

It seemed a shame to visit Sweden and not visit the capital, so we booked our flights so that we would have an afternoon to explore. We were greeted with -1 weather, which for Swedes isn’t really winter and to our UK accustomed bodies wasn’t as breathtakingly cold as it may have seemed last year. The city itself is quite small and is made up of islands and reclaimed land. I didn’t know that much about the city previously, but it was almost Venetian with the number of bridges. The royal palace and surrounds were amazingly beautiful. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to visit the Town Hall and take a tour (this is where Nobel Prize winners are awarded their medals), but we did visit the Vasamuseet.

Home to a 400 year old, 4 storey wooden boat that was the pride of a burgeoning nation’s fleet… that is until it sank on its maiden voyage a mere couple of hundred metres from the shore. Unfortunately its grandeur meant that it was built too high for its width and a gust of wind sent it sinking to the mud below. Luckily for us, the mud preserved it beautifully and after 30 years of restorations it is 98% intact and reconstructed in a purpose build museum. It certainly was a site to behold and definitely worth a visit.

After dinner we caught up with my friend Huhu and headed off for a traditional Swedish dinner. I’m not sure what the meatballs at Ikea are like, but the real deal are delicious and I will be looking up a recipe and searching out lingon berries sometime soon! After an after dinner stroll through town we headed back to our hotel to rest up before our morning flight to Kiruna.

They call a visit to Kiruna a visit to the ‘real winter’. We were greeted with -6 degree temperatures, which apparently is not a real winter (to our bodies it was). Considering it gets as cold as -40 degrees Celsius, I could see their point that this was ‘mild’ weather, and felt glad that we did not have to brave a very cold day! Kiruna is a small town based around a tin mine and tourism. Our camp was around 20 minutes out of town set in the forest on the bank of a river and although secluded, a much nicer place to stay than town.

When visiting a region so foreign to your own, you are naturally drawn to things you cannot usually do. In this case, we were both keen to go for a walk on the frozen river. We were warned that because it was so ‘warm’ the river was melting in places, so there could be overflow, however it was still frozen and safe to walk on so long as we kept to the snowmobile tracks. Luckily neither of us came close to seeing a hole or any water and the main reason to stay on the tracks was to ensure you didn’t get stuck in 50cm of fresh powdery snow!

The days are much shorter in Sweden over winter, but as it was heading into Spring, they were similar in length to the UK with the dark setting in around 5:30pm at night. As the evening rolled in, we got kitted up in nearly everything we own (think thermal tights, socks, ski pants, singlet, thermals, polar fleece, down jacket, two pairs of gloves and a beanie – we were then given another pair of socks, ski boots, balaclavas and coveralls to wear on top of what we already had on!!) and headed out on a snowmobile trip in search of the lights.

With Pete in control I had a great vantage point to search for the lights. To begin with I thought that I was wishfully seeing clouds a little greener than others, but after stopping for a short break the lights appeared through the clouds and we got our first glimpse. After about an hour of driving we stopped off in a hut for a cup of hot lingon berry juice, some moose and reindeer sausage some cured reindeer heart and some moose jerky. Other than the heart, which was really chewy, it wasn’t that bad and I could imagine wanting to eat rich foods like that if I lived in such a cold climate.

Luckily with modern technology, one can search when the northern lights may best be viewed, and the hot tip was to go back outside a midnight. We picked a vantage point about ¼ of the way across the river and were treated to a spectacular display of green and pink lights shooting across the sky. Earlier they had mostly been visible through the camera, but this time they were clear and vivid, snaking across the sky. It took my breath away how beautiful they were and for me it made the trip.

Seeing as we’d embraced Swedish food and were bound to camp all day, the next day we decided to embrace the traditions of a Swedish hot tub and spa. It did require quite a bit of fire stoking and waiting for the boilers to heat up, but it was very relaxing and warm enough that we could walk back to our cabin across the snow in our wet bathers and thongs!

Later that night we headed off for another chance to see the lights. This time on a husky pulled sled ride. Whilst it was exciting to be pulled through the snow on a sled, our driver was a bit of a lunatic and went over some bumps so hard at one point my hat flew off! We were lucky enough to see the lights again and to experience them in a completely different way. They were much greener and danced across the sky from one side to the next like snakes. It certainly is a special experience every time you see them, as they are quite unique.

By this point we were no longer alone at camp. The rest of the people we were meeting had arrived from the UK and Stockholm and we had a great time catching up and met some lovely new people (I now know where Leicester is). All in all it was a most fabulous 5 days!

This trip we: visited a 300 year old boat, ate Swedish meatballs, saw the Aurora Borealis, had a Swedish sauna and hot tub, walked on a frozen river, went snowmobiling, took a husky sled ride, ate moose and reindeer, drank hot lingon berry juice and loved it, enjoyed the serenity of the wilderness, made snow angels, froze our feet off at -15 whilst husky sledding, had an awesome ex Swiss SAS Bear Grylls style snowmobile tour leader (he had beaver gloves!), travelled the furthest away from home I’ve ever been.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ...

the_life_of_lady_laura — Sun, 7 Feb 2016 06:29:00 GMT

Where has January gone? I currently seem to be measuring time by looking at the expiry dates on food in my fridge and making remarks such as ‘4^th of February … crap that needs to go in the freezer.’

I’ve lost a bit of time this week – Friday definitely felt like Thursday, although I’m not complaining because usually I feel like Wednesday is surely Friday! It’s been a bit of a doozy of a week that started off on Tuesday night with me slipping over in the shower (one of those stupid bath and shower combinations that is not suitable for the unco-ordinated like myself.) Luckily I didn’t break anything, but it did result in two whopper bruises (Emily, if you’re reading, think of the killer bruise you got a Buller when avoiding that kid that skied in your way) on my hip and knee. I went to bed feeling sore and sorry for myself, but grateful to be in one piece, to wake at 4am with killer pains in my stomach. Unfortunately they wouldn’t go away and I found myself in hospital for the day. After two separate trips to A&E, 2 blood tests, 3 cannulas, two vials of anti nausea medication and just enough morphine to send my head spinning, I was diagnosed with gastritis and in a comfy enough state to go home. Unfortunately my arms now look like pin cushions as my veins are very hard to find, and even required an ultrasound to locate the third time round! Luckily it’s easy to treat, and hopefully it won’t happen again.

Pete has a two word answer when I remark that I don’t know where January has gone…. wedding planning. In a matter of a month we have booked and confirmed nearly every element of the wedding with invitations to hit people’s mailboxes shortly. I am pretty proud of our efforts since we are co-ordinating everything from overseas with the help of a few key people back at home. Luckily we’ve found some awesome suppliers and made a just under 3 month international engagement possible! Today we spent what was probably the windiest day of the year traipsing around Brighton to have some engagement photos taken. We’ve taken some really fun and iconic shots, and can’t wait to share them in a few weeks time.

We were lucky enough to have two weeks off over Christmas and decided to spend them exploring the UK. We headed of to friends in Oxford for Christmas and had a wonderful day. For me ,sharing Christmas with a big group of people and eating turkey and all of the traditional Christmas foods in the cold weather had a lot more spirit than a summer Christmas and for once I actually ate the turkey! From Oxford we headed over the border into Wales, with our first stop being in the northern town of Llangollen. As one former colleague described me, I am a secret nerd, and have always dreamed of taking a barge over the Pontcysllte aqueduct. A boat, on a canal that is a bridge…. now that is just a little bit cool huh?! The trip lived up to expectations and we had a great time drinking mulled wine, eating mince pies and singing Christmas carols.

We stayed in a room right on the river and enjoyed some lovely walks. They’d recently opened the dam, so the water was high and flowing fast. Some daring people were even taking to it in kayaks, which was a sight to see. Next we headed off to Porthmadogg a 45-minute drive away through Snowdonia National Park. Although it was the wrong time of year for ascending Mount Snowdon, we enjoyed the rain cascading down the mountains in mini waterfalls and a vintage train ride from Porthmadogg to Ffestinog. After a cosy night at a small boutique hotel, we drove another 45 minutes north to Caernarfon.

In true Laura spirit, I left the Wales guidebook Pete got me for Christmas at home on the coffee table as we were leaving, but none the less, Caernarfon Castle was one of the gems we ‘stumbled upon’ should we have used the guide book to plan our journey. It was also in Caernarfon I realised I’d left my bathers behind which were going to be essential in a few days time in Bath…. things were going well. We had a fabulous time exploring the castle and a deluxe birthday dinner at a gastro pub. Our B&B was wasn’t very busy, so we got pick of rooms and chose an apartment style room with a large bathroom featuring a claw foot bath. It was absolute bliss and a fabulous way to spend a birthday. The following morning, I ticked trying Welsh rarebit (fancy welsh cheese sauce) on toast off my list before we said goodbye to our host and buckled in for the journey to Cardiff.

After a few days in the country it was nice to see the city. We had great views of the river, park and castle from our hotel and were walking distance from everywhere. We had no set plans other than Cardiff Castle and ice-skating, and enjoyed our time exploring the city and having a cheeky cocktail or two. The city itself is quite small, but very pretty and features some sites such as the church that Roald Dahl was baptised in. It was definitely worth a visit and the behind the scenes tour of the castle lead us to some spectacular rooms.

On New Years Eve, we had a lovely pub meal before heading out to Winter Wonderland for a midnight skate. Whilst the rink was crowded and bumpy, we enjoyed watching the fireworks and ringing the New Year on the ice. Not long after the clock struck twelve, Pete proposed and brought in the New Year in the most wonderful way.

A little tired after new years, we spent New Years Day driving back into England to explore Bath. Because of the public holiday, the thermal baths for swimming were closed, so I booked us into a hotel with thermal baths inside of them. Because of the new year, we had unrestricted access to the Turkish Baths. The baths included plunge pools, infrared and traditional saunas, a steam room, a thermal pool with water fountains to massage you, and the one thing I couldn’t get over … an alcove with a lion in it that had lavender scented ice coming out of it’s mouth into a glass bowl so you could cool yourself down post steam room. If that wasn’t enough you could have a cool floral water or cup of thick chocolate to drink whilst you did the ‘circuit’. I think I’ve told Pete I want to go back about 50 times since! It was the most relaxing experience and the hotel itself was stunning with a giant king size bed so high you almost had to climb up into it … amazing.

Aside from the luxe hotel, we both loved Bath. The ancient Roman baths were a site to behold and the site was amazingly restored. It was incredible to see such clever ideas being implemented so many years ago. Visiting places such as this as special to us because they are so different to anything we have in Australia and it is amazing to take a journey back in time.

We had a wonderful week and a bit in Wales and Bath and were sad to return home and back to work. Luckily this term is just a quickie and we are off to Sweden in the term break chasing the Northern Lights. But that is a story for another time.

xoxox

Laura & Pete

Lately we: got engaged, visited Wales, visited Bath, became addicted to Turkish Baths, visited A&E, had an engagement photo shoot in Brighton, planned a wedding in a month, took a camera on holidays without a battery in it, hit my head on a stair case in a castle, soaked in a claw foot tub, cooled myself with lavender ice that came out of a stone lion’s mouth, took a quick detour to Stratford Upon Avon (Shakespeare's Birthplace), ate the last of our Tim Tams!

The great scone debake.

the_life_of_lady_laura — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 23:07:00 GMT

There is some debate over how one should prepare their cream tea (Devonshire Tea to us Aussies). We learnt this upon the arrival of Pete’s distant relative Sam, who is staying with us for a week to do some work experience at Pete’s work, and happens to be from the scone capital of England itself.

According to those from Devon the clotted cream should be spread on the scone first and then topped with the jam. The bordering Cornish however disagree and believe that the jam should be spread on the scone first and then topped with the clotted cream. Sam was lovely enough to bring us some home made scones, strawberry jam and clotted cream. Being born in Cornwall he decided that we’d have them cream on top and yes they were delicious!

It’s been seasonably warm in the UK this December (10-15 degrees average each day), so the chances of a white Christmas are pretty slim. It definitely feels more festive with the lights making more impact with the early nights and late sunrises. One nice thing about a winter Christmas is all of the ice skating rinks that pop up. Last Friday we headed into the city for Pete’s Christmas party, but decided just to pop in and then head to the rink near his work at Canary Wharf. It was a different scene from January when the pre Christmas rush had subsided, but it was fun nonetheless and Pete’s skills are improving!

We had a lovely night across the river at the Hilton and then woke up fresh to take Sam sightseeing around London. Even though we’ve been lots of places so far, we hadn’t been to Trafalgar square yet. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but with the sun shining and it being warm and clear, the fountains and statues looked amazing. We then headed for a relax at the pub whilst Sam visited the Churchill War Rooms.

Pete and I liked to chalk up as many experiences as possible and getting home certainly was one. We caught the underground from Canada Water to Canary Wharf where we intended to get an overground train to Clapham Junction. Unfortunately we got on the wrong train and had to get off at Surrey Quays where we then got on another wrong train and ended up at West Croydon. Now trams aren’t really a thing in the UK, but they are in Croydon, so we chalked up another London experience and rode the tram from West Croydon to East Croydon station where we were finally on the correct line to get home!

Last week I was also lucky enough to meet my penpal Nadia. She lives in Rome and ironically came to Melbourne two days after we left for the UK! This time, she was in London for a 3-day visit with her friend and we managed to catch up for dinner in Brighton. It was lovely to finally meet her and a trip to Rome is definitely on the cards!

Since we missed out on bonfire night due to rain and ill health, a while back I decided to Google local festivals and came across the “Burning of the Clocks” in Brighton. In order to celebrate the winter solstice people parade through Brighton carrying paper and wicker lanterns before culminating on the beach where they make a bonfire of the lanterns and burn large posts to represent the passing of the time. They then illuminate a large paper and wicker sun with fire. Of course that is then followed by a massive display of sparklers and fireworks. Pete found us a great viewing point where we could enjoy the music and the display. It was certainly like nothing I’d seen before, but with the winter days being so short and the summer days being so long I can definitely see how pagan people put value into these days and subsequently celebrated them.

I’m finally on school holidays now. It’s a 2 and a bit week break, but I’m enjoying every moment of it! We are off to Oxford on Friday for Christmas with friends and then going to Wales for a week to explore. I FINALLY have my passport back, but since the airports are destined to be manic and the rail is being serviced by busses we decided to stick with Wales and are working on the makings of a trip to Scandinavia in the February half term break (I am still chasing those Northern Lights!).

We hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas and ring in the New Year in style (we are doing it on an ice-skating rink in Cardiff! Pete is good to me!). Until 2016,

Laura & Pete

xoxoxo

Oh hail the brussel sprout tree...

the_life_of_lady_laura — Mon, 7 Dec 2015 07:29:00 GMT

It’s true; brussel sprout trees are a ‘thing’. Essentially the stalk of the plant with the sprouts still attached; shops here are selling them for around $5 a tree. Now, I’m not sure where you stand on the sprout debate, but personally I am a fan. For the vast majority who aren’t, I’m not sure how this makes sprouts more appealing, and for those of us who like sprouts, it makes them about 3 times the price. Give me more sprouts for my money I say! Whilst Googling ‘sprout trees’ its also become apparent to me, that some people even adorn their sprout tree with a golden star and use it as a Christmas tree. And I thought I had scaled back this year with a $12 potted fir tree sprinkled with glitter.

Speaking of Christmas, it is certainly getting Chrismassy in the UK. Decorations are up and shopping is in full swing. This weekend I visited Rochester in Kent on a day trip to witness their Dickensian Festival. The town was beautifully decorated with baubles, lights (and since it is unseasonably warm at around 13 degrees) and fake snow. There were carols in the cathedral, a parade, a Christmas market a parade, and street artists performing. It was very quaint and very British and for me the stirrings of getting excited about having a ‘cold climate’ Christmas.

Now I’m not sure we will have a white Christmas, and after our blizzard-induced escapades in Iceland earlier this year, I am not sure that we will want it to be either! The cold climate however does mean a multitude of pop-up outdoor skating rinks dotted around the county and of course London. Last weekend we were lucky enough to try out the rink at the Natural History Museum. It featured a large tree in the middle and whilst bumpy, was a lot of fun. Pete was a trooper and endured hire skates (thumbs down compared to the Canary Wharf rink skates apparently) in order to do a few laps with me. He still refuses to go backwards. Perhaps he still has some issues after I flung him on his backside last time we went skating earlier in the year.

Mulled wine is certainly in order when celebrating the Christmas lead up in ‘UK style’. After chatting to a lady on the train on the way into London, we thought we’d take the tip and visit the open rooftop bar at Selfridges, which had been decked out in woodland style. Cozied up by the heater, under nice warm blankets, we sipped our wine and enjoyed our surrounds. Its been a long time since I’ve been to a funky little place like that, so it was a treat amongst the chaos that is Oxford Street in December (imagine NYE post fireworks crowds….).

Whilst we are unable to head overseas for Christmas as the UK Home office is still twiddling their thumbs with my passport (that’s 3 months and counting), we decided to make the most of it and visit Wales. We are going to focus on Northern Wales before heading to Cardiff for New Years Eve and then home via Bath. We have booked a barge trip over the Pontcysyllte aqueduct (i.e. a bridge with a canal in it to go over a river…cool huh) which is something on my ‘to do’ list. Its about a 4.5 journey from where we live and 2 hours from where we are spending Christmas, so it doesn’t feel like a big trip, even though it is another country.

On that note I’ll leave you with another alarming discovery. You can buy brussel sprout juice in the UK. Well, it is mixed in with some fruit, but still. Even I’m not nutty enough for that one!

xoxo

Laura

This post is brought to you by the letter B for Bureaucracy..

the_life_of_lady_laura — Wed, 4 Nov 2015 07:37:00 GMT

I am currently a serf and the UK Home Office is my Feudal Overlord. Pete thinks I am a being a bit dramatic, but it is beginning to feel like it. The UK Home Office have had my passport to reissue my VISA for 2 months now and without it I’m stuck tending my little plot, bonded for lack of an updated VISA. Travel plans for Christmas have been downgraded to a trip somewhere in the UK and I’m wondering if I’ll get to see some snow in Europe…. Fingers crossed it arrives shortly as being a serf doesn’t suit me!

Pete and I have spent the last month or so playing tour guide extraordinaires to my parents. I didn’t realise how well we have gotten to know our way around and become quasi experts on things until we had to think up itineraries and recite interesting facts. In particular, I was taken back to my second day in the country when my UK pal Gary took Pete and I on a walking tour throughout London. Playing the tour guide was certainly a role reversal!

Having visitors is a great excuse to explore new places and revisit old favourites. Since my mum is British, I have always been curious about where she grew up, so it was great to be able to spend a weekend in Essex and explore the area where she grew up. Alas time didn’t extend to a trip to Brentford to see the TOWIE crew, but it was a great weekend nonetheless! As a side venture, we headed up to Cambridge for the day to explore the town. Whilst the boys pooh poohed punting, my mum and I headed off for a 45 minute trip down the river. It turned out to be one of the highlights of being in the UK so far, and the autumn leaves certainly put on a show for us!

A week’s half term break was a great excuse to see a bit more and we ventured further afield to Manchester. Riding on the Virgin fast trains was definitely on my ‘UK to do’ list and it didn’t disappoint. We live 69 miles from London and the train takes 1hr 25 minutes. Manchester is 212 miles from London and the fast train takes 2 hours to get there. Zoom zoom! With a massive Corrie fan in your midst, a trip to the street set was a must! We didn’t expect to be able to visit it since organised tours were booked out, but luckily we were able to buy a set pass to explore it at our own pace. Even I got into the spirit of things with a picture or two!

Aside from a little rain in Manchester, the weather for the week was blue skies and sunshine, so we were in luck when exploring the Battle of Hastings site, Brighton, Alfriston (where we happened upon a bell ringing society practise session!) and an outdoor pub roast at the Berwick pub. According to most, it’s been unseasonably nice for autumn so we were in luck!

Alas, the clocks have now been turned forwards and despite the clear days, the sun is setting just before 5. The top temp is around 15 degrees and winter is surely setting in. Excitingly however, this means the onset of outdoor ice skating rink season and I plan to test quite a few rinks out (including the moat like one being set up around the Tower of London).

Whilst I may feel a little like a serf, winter and the UK do have their benefits, a 6 week term until Christmas being one of them!

This month we have: watched the Hawks win the AFL grandfinal in Portsmouth in a room full of Eagles fans, played tour guides in London, visited Essex, punted along the river in Cambridge, visited Battle and walked the battle field, taken a stroll around Brighton and visited the pier, enjoyed the history and old buildings in Alfriston, ate a lot of pub meals, enjoyed the sunshine and blue skies, visited the Cliffs of Dover and Canterbury, ate Twisties, Lamingtons & Vegemite, commiserated the Wallabies demise in the rugby, consumed a lot of pints, visited the set of Coronation Street, travelled by fast train to Manchester, navigated London like a boss!

Oh hey, Canada.

the_life_of_lady_laura — Wed, 23 Sep 2015 05:22:00 GMT

Time has flown since my last post and we are rapidly heading into autumn. The days are noticeably cooler and long boots and jumpers are not out of place. Whilst we receive the odd ‘blue bird’ day, the clouds have firmly settled most days and its more a case of spotting a patch of blue, than it is of spotting a cloud. Rain is almost a given and with my hairdryer resting in electronics heaven after Pete used it to defrost the freezer, frizz is almost inevitable.

I am very much confused about the time of year. Not only did summer not really feel like summer (a mediocre spring perhaps), to take a summer holiday in August felt well deserved, but just a little odd. To be back at school, starting the year in September is certainly more befuddling. I keep on looking for February in my diary (as that is the first full month back at school in Australia), and feeling an innate sense of annoyance my class don’t understand sentences because in my mind it is Term 3 and not the 3^rd week back.

While those in Australia are gearing down towards Christmas and the summer holidays, I find myself battling the urge to maintain the pace whilst dreading the imminent onset of 6 hours of ‘sunlight’ a day and the inevitable way my skin becomes so pale I look like a white walker. Yes folks, the ‘Game of Thrones’ winter is coming, well at least it feels like that to me!

I’m currently stuck in the UK until the UK Home Office renew my right of abode, so for the short term, I am reminiscing of trips past rather than being able to book any in the short term future. Our most recent trip was to Canada. We headed over to Toronto for Pete’s friends’ wedding. With an Irish lass marrying a Canadian lad, it was certain to be an international affair.

I’ve always loved Canada, so a wedding was a great opportunity to plan a trip. Pete struck gold with our accommodation, and we were comfortably situated in down town Hamilton (half way between Toronto and Niagara Falls) in a quirky turn of the century house with a spa in the back yard and a resident black squirrel.

We embarked on ‘being Canadian’ for a week. Following the advice of my Aussie friend Kelly who used to live in Toronto, we headed into town to get a good coffee at Rooster coffee, explored the city and headed off to a baseball match. We watched the Toronto Blue Jays vs. the Oakland athletics. We quickly decided to follow the Blue Jays with gusto and being surrounded by die-hard fans quickly realised that Canadians are awesome hecklers. Luckily, we were far enough back the players probably couldn’t hear!

Whilst Hamilton itself is very working class and a place on the rise, it is very well situated for exploring. The roads were very easy to drive on, and in a short 45-minute trip in the car we were at Niagara Falls. I knew to expect the Canadian side to be more impressive than the American side, but I wasn’t expecting it to be a mini Vegas. For me, I would have loved it to be in the middle of nowhere with nothing to detract from the falls. Mini Vegas aside, the falls were simply spectacular.

The Canadian version of the Maid of the Mist is called the Hornblower, and alongside climbing a glacier and sand dune four wheel driving, it rates as one of the best things I have ever done. You can’t truly appreciate the power of the waterfall unless you are situated at the front of the boat feeling the surge of the water around you.

For the sheer novelty of it, we decided that we couldn’t get so close to America without ‘crossing over’. I am sure that the US customs officer was thrilled when we told him that we were planning on staying for 30 minutes, but not wanting to change our money into USD, it was a fleeting lap around Goat Island to see the American side of the falls before we headed back onto Canadian soil.

The best thing about going overseas for a wedding is the lead up. With so many guests coming from overseas, there were family dinners and events during the week that really made us feel like home. In addition to that, the food in Canada is much more similar to that in Australia, so we really felt at home. One thing that shocked us though was the sheer number of take away outlets (anyone spot a Tim Hortons in the last 100m?), including a dilapidated building that was actually a KFC, and how this area of Canada was far more ‘American’ than most people would picture Canada to be.

The wedding, and reason we went, was of course the highlight of the trip. It was held in a marquee at a golf club, and after an ominous afternoon and a forecast of rain, turned out to be warm, calm and lovely. These two Aussies certainly appreciated a warm evening! With a final ‘Oh, Hey’, we said farewell to our Irish and Canadian friends and flew back to England knowing that we would definitely be back to explore Canada a little better someday.

This trip we: found an Asian supermarket! (I have missed Asian food so much!), said 'oh hey' a lot of times, dashed across the border to America, vowed never to travel Air Transat ever ever again, enjoyed warm weather, attended a wedding, caught up with friends, drove on the wrong side of the road, went inside a waterfall, enjoyed quite a few spas, watched the baseball, drank real coffee (well Pete did), picked the rainy day to drive 2.5 hours to go swimming in a lake, made sure a drunk lady who was asleep on the sidewalk wasn't dead....

Prague, it's a riot....(literally)

the_life_of_lady_laura — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 02:43:00 GMT

Being a part of former the Austro – Hungarian Empire, Budapest had given us a taste of what to expect of Vienna. Our hostel was centrally located, and only a few Metro stops from the heart of the city. We arrived late afternoon, and with only the afternoon and evening to explore, I was keen to head off into the city.

The architecture in Vienna is stunning. The buildings are large and imposing and are decorated with ornate flourishes. I took the train into Stephen’s Square to check out the large cathedral that stands in the centre of town. Luckily, I could use my phone in Austria, so my trusty sat nav guided me through the streets and past many spectacular arches, stone monuments and statues that were reminiscent of a bygone era. No matter which way I looked, I saw something beautiful.

Vienna is also a quite leafy city and it was lovely to spend a warm afternoon wandering around town. I felt obliged to try a Wiener (essentially Viennese) Schnitzel for lunch, which I washed down with a shandy (as close to a beer as you’ll get me drinking!). After a few hours of wandering I had seen most of the sights, so set back to the hostel to get ready for an evening at the orchestra.

I arrived at the theatre about 40 minutes early, so decided to go for a wander. I found myself in an Aussie pub (even the bar tender admitted it was tenuously Aussie, with only Bundy and Coopers Beer representing Australian beverages). The orchestra was held in an opulent ballroom, and was part music, part opera and part dancing. We also enjoyed champagne on the balcony at intermission. It was a great way to experience the musical history that Austria boasts.

Arriving back quite late, I was peckish for something to eat after my late lunch. Since I’ve moved to the UK I have missed sushi so much. You cannot buy fresh sushi where I live and I didn’t realise how much I relied on it for a snack when I am out and about! Now Vienna has quite a cosmopolitan food culture, so I found myself having sushi freshly made by an Austrian guy at midnight. It was probably the best sushi I have had in my life! He also thought I was Canadian, but meh, the sushi was great!

The next morning we were off and crossing the border into the Czech Republic. This time we were a little further away from town, and walking to the Metro involved a ten-minute walk down a dimly lit road. This was ok during the daytime, but returning home alone in the dark by myself was quite scary and in hindsight I should have caught a taxi!

Prague is amazingly historic and beautiful. It is a city best explored by foot, and most of us racked up about 20km to see the town. It is split in half by the Vlatva river. It is famous for its astronomical clock that was built in the 1500’s. Hundreds of people gather every hour to watch it chime in the new hour. It is flanked by some of the most ornate buildings I have ever seen in my life. Covered with friezes and painted in pastel colours. Looming over the top is the Church of Our Lady before Týn, which looks more like a Disney Castle than a church. When I visited inside, it was so laden down with gold, paintings and goodness knows what I did question how it was still standing!

Everywhere you walk in Prague, you can smell the sweet vanilla smell of pastries being cooked. Bakers wrap pastry over metal cylinders and roast them over a hot flame until they are cooked through. They then cut them down into manageable pieces and sprinkle them with sugar. If you are game they also fill them with nutella or with soft serve. They tasted as delicious as they smelt and gave me the energy to walk up the big hill to check our St. Vitus Cathedral and its world famous stained glass windows.

After getting lost and not being able to find the right platform and the scary walk home the evening before, I thought that I’d be ok catching the train back to the hostel during the day. As the train pulled into the station, I was greeted with the sight of a mob being goaded up the escalators by at least 20 police in riot clothing. Outside the station, there were police cars everywhere, the road had been blocked off and a chopper was hovering overhead. Apparently they were just soccer fans and there was no need to worry, they do this ‘just in case’. Wonderful…

Our visits to Austria and the Czech Republic were short, but sweet and I definitely walked off any delicacies eaten along the way!

In Austria and the Czech Republic I: ate Wiener schnitzel, enjoyed the Viennese Orchestra, visited an ‘Aussie’ pub, walked 100 miles and then perhaps 100 more, got lost at Muzeum station in Prague, stuffed my possessions into my bra whilst walking back to the hostel in the dark in case I got mugged, ate delicious pastries, saw spectacular architecture, survived a potential riot, understood a lot more German that I realised I remembered.

Aufweidersehen, until next time when I round up the trip in Germany and The Netherlands.

Hungary anyone?

the_life_of_lady_laura — Tue, 4 Aug 2015 01:17:00 GMT

Budapest has always had a certain appeal to me. I didn't have a clear image in my mind of what to expect, however I knew it would be both beautiful and delicious. As we drove in on our bus 'Big Daddy' I wasn't disappointed.

Traditionally Budapest was two cities. On one side of the Danube was Pest and the other (you guessed it huh) is Buda. With the improvement of transportation and the building of some key bridges (such as the Chain Bridge) the two cities were united and became one. On the Buda side of the river, Gellerts Hill rises above and casts an imposing shadow over the city. It is home to a famous spa and a memorial statue to St Gellert who was tossed down the hill in a wine cask to his death. It is here where we first stopped to get a good look out over the city. The Buda side of the city is also home to Buda Castle, Matthias Church (often called the Disney church for its beautiful turrets) and a funicular railway that you can ride to the peak to explore these sites.

The Buda side of the city, is more like the city centre. It is home to the market place, the hostel we stayed in, the Basillica and the main shopping district. Both are easy to traverse by foot, and also serviced by a Metro (train) service and trams. We stayed at the Wombats hostel, which was surrounded by every kind of delicious and decadent type of food you can imagine. It was here I offically counted that we had reached the 'pastry zone' of Europe. Asides from pastries to tempt you, Hungarians love to serve up meals of epic proportions. Our first night was a group dinner, where we took a 20 minute walk to sit in the basement dining room of a Hungarian restaurant. 99.9% of the dishes revolved around friend food, potatoes and dumplings, so trying to be good I ordered the 'roast' pork. My meal was served to me in a large silver dish with a lid, reminiscient of what you would cover your food with at a fine dining establishment. I initially planned to nibble at the sides, but it was so delicious that I ate my fill of pork and dumplings, however the dish was so big it did not make much of a dint! Some of the girls who ordered schnitzels were served 3 on a platter with fried potatoes, and that was only a single serving!

One of the 'must see' places in Budapest is the Museum of Terror. A former communist building where people were tortured in the basement during the communist reign. As we only had one full day, I decided to bypass this with one of the other girls and take a walking tour of the city. It was a long but lovely walk down the Danube, with our sites set on the funicular railway. We passed many ornate buildings in the Austro-Hungarian style and when chancing upon a bakery that looked too delicious to pass up, stopped to have a pastry lunch. It was delicious!

The view over the city and the church at the top were beautiful, however by this point we had tired legs, so we caught a taxi back to our hostel and got ready for the thermal baths. We headed to the Szechnyi Baths, which we had been advised were the best of the two. Whilst the indoor pools we rather 'thermal' smelling, the outdoor pools were a lovelz way to relax and we spent our time pool hopping between the 30 degree and 38 degree pool. By this point I was well and truly relaxed and being told that I couldn't leave Budapest without trying the Nutella pizza being made next to our hostel, I headed off to grab me a slice!

Budapest is known for its nightlife, in particular 'dive bars'. We visited a quirkly one called Szimpla. It was an indoor/outdoor arrangement with lots of paraphenalia hanging from the ceilings and walls. It reminded me a little of something you'd find in Fitzroy, but much bigger.

All in all, I could have easily spent another couple of days in Budapest, and was sad to say goodbye. It was a truly beautiful city and good preparation for the beauty of Austria which lay ahead.

In Budapest I:swam in a thermal pool, caught a funicular railway, saw a castle, ate nutella pizza, was defeated by a giant dish of roast pork and dumplings, saw beautiful Austro-Hungarian architecture, saw the Danube, went to a 'dive bar', typed this up on a German computer (think umlauts and z's where y's should be...argh!!)

The Bus Journey Begins

the_life_of_lady_laura — Sun, 2 Aug 2015 02:15:00 GMT

The Balkans is not a region of the world that I ever really saw myself visiting, so when I went to book myself in to a tour of Eastern Europe with the idea of exploring Prague, Budapest and Austria I was a bit stuck when I found out that it was booked out. Instead I was offered a trip commencing from Croatia, which fit the bill, but not the idea I had in my mind about the trip I would be embarking on.

The more I thought about it, the more I warmed to the idea of visiting countries that are a little more off the beaten track than the cities I originally had in mind. Here are the Balkans region countries I visited and what I thought of them.

CROATIA

It almost seemed like cheating only having to spend 2 hours and 15 minutes on the plane to get here. As I arrived, we flew over the iconic city of Dubrovnik and I witnessed the beautiful islands that Croatia is famous for.

I was unable to check in when I arrived, so I tooka advantage of the time I had and set out to explore. The old city that Dubrovnik is famous for is extremely beautiful and full of nice restaurants and interesting shops. I opted to explore for a bit, before stopping for a light lunch and then taking a boat ride around the coast.

The Croatian coastline is quite mountainous, and there is a cable car that you can ride to full appreciate the views. I headed up around 8pm at night which turned out to be perfect timing as I got to witness the coastline in full light, twilight and then darkness. It was truly spectacular and convinced me to come back and sail around the islands one day.

MONTENEGRO

Whilst Dubrovnik is beautiful, I wasn't sure I'd be able to occupy myself for a whole extra day, so I opted for a side trip to Montenegro. The border crossing is extremely time consuming, so we headed off early towards the city of Budva.

Montenegro remained fairly untouched during the war, so the cities and buildings are still in good condition. Named after its imposing mountains that used to be covered in masses of black trees, the landscape is very dramatic and beautiful. We took a coastal road, visiting a bigger city called Kotor next.

Kotor is by the beach and is a hot spot for tourists. I passed a bar that was clearly designed for rich Russian tourists where a 'beach set' (aka 2 lounges and an umbrella) was 20 Euros to hire. Considering the beach was nothing more than a scrap of sand by the water this seemed pretty steep! An average Montenegran only earns around 400 Euros a month!

We took a ferry short cut on the way home, and thanks to the driver knowing the guards at a smaller border crossing, we pretty much drove right through and back onto Croatian soil.

BOSNIA AND HERZIGOVINA

I was surprised how beautiful the Bosnian country side is. The mountains are huge and covered with pine and other native trees. They soar above turquoise blue rivers that cut their way through the mountain ranges. The landscape was punctuated with farms, and large haystacks reminiscent of a farm in a fairy tale featured in most people's front yards.

As we drew into Sarajevo, we drove down 'sniper alley' which is where a lot of the fighting during the war took place. Bullet holes were still visible in buildings and the road had a soviet feel to it.

The main town of Sarajevo is quite small and at its centre is an old town market place where you can buy traditional wares and eat local food. The fruit is very good in this part of the world and I thoroughly enjoyed a punnet of raspberries! I'm not sure if I am keen on larger Bosnian dishes and picked at my dinner of meat in some sort of tomato and sour cream sauce.

When our guide told us we were visiting a place called Srebenica I didn't really know what we were in for. It turns out, it is a memorial to all of the Bosnian's killed in the genocide of 1995. Our local guide had lost a twin brother and his father in the massacre and had a friend who was one of only 10 known people to have survived the firing squad. It was extremely emotional to hear all of the personal stories and learn of the methodical and dedicated way that the authorities are continuing to search for remains and complete skeletons using DNA.

SERBIA

Relatively to Bosnia, Serbia is a much wealthier country. The city centre is far more modern and cosmopolitan. Where the Bosnian's had rickety old trams and trolley cars, the infrastructure in Serbia was much newer and more organised. After exploring the town, I had a delicious dinner of cevapi (skinless sausages).

The Balkans have been an eye opening and worthwhile place to visit. All of the countries I went to were unique and special in their own way and helped me to understand how such a group of diverse people struggled to function as one country when they were united as Yugoslavia.

In The Balkans I: changed currencies more times that I can count, spent ages at Serbian border crossings, ate cevapi, explored Kings Landing I mean Dubrovnik,

The sat nav is not your friend, and other directional mishaps

the_life_of_lady_laura — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 03:28:00 GMT

When it comes to finding your way around, it can be a little tricky at times. When you are overseas the places, things and systems that you are used to are all slightly different, or non existent and at times it can leave you a little bewildered or confused. This has been particularly true of my school experience in the UK so far. I thought I had asked enough questions, and done the right research, however, not being able to see the ‘bigger picture’ until I arrived here, I couldn’t have realised that I was going into one of the worst performing and behaving schools in East Sussex.

It has been a shock to the system to say the least, and months of negative experiences and emotions lead to me resigning a few months back without another job in place. Luckily, teachers are in demand in the UK, and I was quickly offered an interview at another school. This school was an hour away by train, or 25 minutes in the car. At first this seemed a little far, but Pete encouraged me to attend the interview at least for practise.

I really wasn’t in the mood on the day of the interview, but my spirits picked up when I met another teacher from Melbourne, but now living in the UK, also interviewing. Chances had it, that she was working at another school in the same road as my previous school and she offered to drive me back after the interview, which saved me a 2 hour trip on public transport. The vibe in this new school was completely different. It was calm, colourful and professional. It had a great feel to it, and despite the fact it was a little far away, I really wanted to work there. Luckily, they also felt that I would fit in, and I got the job.

Rather than take 2 trains and then walk 15 minutes, Pete and I decided it would be more workable to get a car. I let Pete have free reign on the model (since he would be responsible for any repairs etc.!) and he selected a 2003 Volvo V40 wagon. Economical, hard to damage, and easy for the oldies to get in and out of when we have visits later in the year. Within a week or so, Pete had tracked down a car £500 less than our maximum budget, so we headed off to Folkestone on the train to check it out. Needless to say, we are now car owners! Pete wants to call the car ‘Blue Steel’, but I secretly calling it ‘Turbo’.

Folkestone is just a short drive from Dover, so we thought we would take a drive and see if we could see the cliffs. Well, my phone and sat nav did not like that! Being so close to Calais, my phone decided that we were in France and switched to international roaming. It also directed us down a bush walking track and a scary windy beach road with barely any room to pass. It was a tense time, until we finally made it out on to the main road and found the turn off designed for cars! By that time it was early evening, and the cliffs require a bit of a hike, so we vowed to return another time and set off home.

I was expecting to finish the term off at my original school, however unbeknownst to me, my new school had emailed and asked if I could spend the last 1.5 weeks with them instead, so I could be properly inducted and feel comfortable when school resumed in September. This was the best news I had heard in ages, and luckily I was released to go. My initial vibes of the school were correct and I have been very happy and am now looking forward to teaching again next year.

On Friday night was my new school’s end of year celebration, so I went, thinking it would be a good opportunity to get to know some more people. It was great, until I decided to make my way home. Again, my sat nav decided it knew better and my first English night driving experience was on narrow roads, without street lights, lined with hedgerows and me realising I hadn’t worked out how to turn on the high beams yet!

After 20 harrowing minutes of driving down windy roads with scary overhanging trees that made 50km an hour seem very fast, I came across a pair of glowing eyes in the distance. I thought it was a cat until I got closer, and realised it was a badger! Shortly after that I saw street lights – civilization! I’m not sure if I was more excited at the sight of the badger or the street lights, but the both rated quite highly at the time. Thankfully I made it out alive, but I am never driving through Crowshurst in the dark again!

Another consideration for the car was being able to put our bikes in the back. We tested this out on the weekend when we loaded up the car in order to go for a ride around the Arlington Reservoir. Pete had seen the reservoir from the train and decided that the ‘public footpath’ would be a nice place for a bike ride. We soon realised that public foot path has a very different meaning in the UK than in Australia. It simply is a right of way through people’s properties, and is more akin to a hiking track. Within minutes we were pushing our bikes up a hill and before I knew it, I was out of control careening through a poor farmer’s corn field. Corn was flattened! We also came across farmers shooting birds and some very posh country houses. Whilst it was a bit of an adventure, I might be wary next time Pete suggests an ‘off road’ biking adventure!

The school year is drawing to and end, and on Friday I am heading off to Croatia to begin a 2 week trip through Eastern Europe. I can honestly say that I have earned this break, and whilst it may seem that we are travelling all of the time, there is quite a bit of hard work in the middle and all of the same (if not more!) stresses, strains and things to work through as at home.

With any luck the sat nav, and the direction we are taking will be a little more stable for the rest of the year and we can get down to the business of really enjoying ourselves!

Until next time, enjoy the snow, its blue skies and sunshine here.

Xoxo

Laura & Pete

Since last time we have: visited a scarecrow festival, ridden our bikes through a corn field, discovered some amazing pubs off the beaten track, suffered kidney stones and a visit to A&E (Pete), bought a car, travelled to the Seven Sisters cliffs & Birling Gap (where there is sand!!), jetted across to the isle of Wight on a hovercraft, took Turbo for a drive to Portsmouth, started working at a new school, celebrated 18 months of being awesome together, learnt not to trust the sat nav…

We're not in Kansas anymore Toto

the_life_of_lady_laura — Fri, 19 Jun 2015 03:57:00 GMT

On the 30^th of June, Pete and I will celebrate our 6 month anniversary of being expats. Unlike most people who go to live in the UK, we are not neck deep in other Aussies and Kiwis on the same adventure. Out here in East Sussex, we are something of an anomaly. Just the other day a waitress at our local restaurant asked if we knew Olivia, because she was also Australian. Apparently being few and far between also means you stick together. Unfortunately in our case, no.

Although I have somewhat settled into ‘British Life’ (well I have reluctantly accepted that 23 degrees is boiling hot and apparently I should carry a bottle of water and not get on a train if I am feeling poorly from the heat) I still catch myself comparing life here to Australia. When confronted with differences or red tape (B for bureaucracy not Britain here I’m afraid!) I find myself muttering ‘well in Australia we….’ So far people have looked at me with an empathetic expression. Not so the Turkish kebab man who firmly told me, “we’re in England love, if you want your kebab in a wrap, you’ve got to ask for it.” Lesson learnt.

A colleague at work was surprised that I still think of the cost of items in England in terms of Australian dollars. To be fair, it does make me feel a bit better when I double the numerical value of my salary to match it’s dollar value, however unfortunately that also means doubling the cost of whatever I am buying. It can be hard not to fall into the trap of thinking of pounds as dollars, particularly when shopping for clothes. No that £90 dress is not $90, its $180 and if I googled a similar dress in Australia, it’d probably cost $120. Que Sera hey.

These past few weeks, Pete and I have been on the hunt for a car. I handed in my resignation a few weeks back and have accepted a position at a school that is either 35mins away by car, or just over an hour away by train. Pete suggested a car…. I didn’t hesitate to agree. We’ve agreed on a robust, tank like Volvo station wagon that is economical, difficult to break and in our price bracket. Well in our price bracket until we started researching insurance quotes.

We quickly turned to Google to find a forum to work out which company would treat Aussies a little less harshly (and see us for the careful and awesome people that we are, not the donut throwing hoons some of us are!). We were put onto a website called ‘Skippy’. The hold music was from the show – “winning” we thought to ourselves. After a 30 minute painful conversation to a call centre in India, we were rewarded with a quote of £2000 a year. Way more than the cost of the car, and that 3^rd party fire and theft would cost the same as fully comprehensive. (We were also told that because Australia is not part of the European Union our no claims bonuses could not be recognised – it was at this point Pete might have questioned why on earth they were called Skippy). Apparently people here have been known to buy cheap cars, only take our third party insurance and then run riot, so most companies charge the same price for both kinds of policies (make sense…. no it does not). Luckily, after a few more frustrating calls, we got onto someone who charges under £700 a year (oh yes, you also can’t get an accurate quote without the registration number of the car, so you have to essentially buy the car and then work out if you can afford to insure it…. are you seeing a pattern here??) and would charge less if you have a British license.

A British license you say. Reciprocal rights you say. Yes, you can ‘swap’ your license here. Essentially it means handing over your Aussie license (apparently to be returned to Australia) and you will be sent a British license in return (for £43, not for free of course). Thinking that it shouldn’t be too much of a hassle, we decided to apply. Unlike Vic Roads, the DVLA do not have offices that you can visit, you can only post them your documents (i.e. your passport and driver’s license, or essentially your only photo ID of who you are) via post and hopefully get your license and passport back within 5 weeks (but no promises hey, just let us know if you don’t hear back after 3 weeks and we’ll look into it). I was worried I wouldn’t get my passport back before the summer holidays, so Pete became the guinea pig to brave this process. Let’s hope Australia let us have our licenses back when we return! I don’t fancy taking my test again.

On a happy note, we’re off to Eltham palace this weekend to be a part of a medieval carnival weekend. I’ll admit they had me at ‘jousting’. I’ll let you know how much they want for their jousting sticks after the weekend, but rest assured I’ll tell them ‘they’re dreaming’ regardless of the asking price.

A Highland Fling

the_life_of_lady_laura — Wed, 3 Jun 2015 23:46:00 GMT

I’ll admit I wasn’t really in the mood for Scotland. To say the least, school here has stressed me out and by the time it came to the end of term, spending a week curled up in my doona was sounding pretty attractive. Despite my initial lack of enthusiasm, I packed my bags and headed off to Gatwick Airport to meet Pete and start our journey.

I had heard great things about Scotland, and in particular Edinburgh, so despite being weary, inside I was really looking forward to seeing it for myself. Upon arrival, we clambered on to a huge two story bus that was lit up with white and pink fluorescent lights and was scattered with backwards and forwards facing seats with tables in the middle of them. By then it was 11pm at night, and I wasn’t too sure if I was in a bus, a nightclub or a mobile brothel. Luckily the journey was uneventful and in about 45 minutes we were in Edinburgh and safely checked into our hotel.

Edinburgh is an old city. The old town boasts beautiful gothic style buildings and the castle sits high above the town on top of an extinct volcano. It was here we chose to venture first. More like a walled city than a castle, the complex hosts a range of buildings varying in nature from the Scottish Crown Jewels, to a museum dedicated to war.

We had a stunning day of 19 degrees and sunshine so we sat out in the sun for a light lunch. Being a long weekend, the city was alive with music and a parade and more than its fair share of bucks and hens parties parading about in fancy dress (lets just say some of the costumes clearly revealed ‘what’ was under that kilt!).

Unfortunately, Sunday was not predicted to be as nice as Saturday, so we decided to head out on the train and explore Glasgow. I can honestly say other than a few statues that had been vandalised; having lunch at the pub was the highlight. Glasgow is a city of much change and subsequently it has very little architectural evidence of its history still standing. Unlike the historic and majestic Edinburgh, it just simply did not have the same appeal to us, so we headed back after a few hours.

Monday meant saying goodbye to Pete (alas, some of us have to work) and heading out on my tour. Things did not start well, with us walking half way (up hill I might add) to the meeting point for me to exclaim, “I’ve left my handbag behind”. Being the obliging gentleman that he is, Pete volunteered to run back to the hotel to get it for me so I wouldn’t be late for my check in. Fearing being chased by the police for running through town with a ladies handbag, he took the sensible step of catching a taxi back to meet me. At least it made for a funny introductory story when I got on the bus!

We quickly made our way out of the city and headed towards Loch Ness. I had always pictured Loch Ness to be small enough that you could essentially see its boundaries and for it to be covered in green rolling hills. The view was quite different and it turns out Loch Ness is massive. I guess that makes finding Nessie all that much harder.

We had originally entertained the idea of moving to Scotland instead of England, but after this trip, I am really glad we didn’t! The highland weather is extremely unpredictable, and although it is beautiful, the number of warm, clear days is limited to about 20 a year. One thing is for sure, the skies are certainly bluer, the landscape more dramatic and the clouds drift across the sky in more complex colours and patterns than you would ever see back in Australia.

This trip I visited Edinburgh, Glasgow, Loch Ness, Inverness, Isle of Skye & Oban.

Some of the highlights of my trip were: cruising Loch Ness (I spotted her…honest!), dancing at a Ceilidh, eating Haggis, seeing Edinburgh (in the sunshine no less), meeting new friends, enjoying the spectacular scenery, riding over the Glenfinnan viaduct on the Jacobite Steam train, waking up to the sun at 4:30am and not having it set until 11pm (only good if you have good curtains!), seeing ‘Highland Coos’, eating a deep fried Mars Bar (naughty but good - thanks Kate!)

Belgian Snuffles

the_life_of_lady_laura — Wed, 6 May 2015 03:55:00 GMT

One thing that England does well is public holidays. May is particularly fortuitous with May Day the first Monday of the month and Spring Bank holiday the last Monday of the month. Needless to say, we had spotted these dates way back in January and decided to make the most of them.

Initially we were undecided about the May Day break, but after a quick search on the Eurostar website, we decided that Belgium by train would be a great way to spend the weekend. It involved a bit more of a mad dash to get to London St Pancras than catching a flight from Gatwick, but less of the rigmarole that plane travel necessitates.

Luckily everything was running to schedule and before we knew it we were on the train. A little smaller and less luxurious than I had imagined, but still comfortable, we set off from St Pancras station, quickly reaching breakneck speed. Before I knew it, we had passed Ashford International and were heading into the tunnel.

The kids at school asked me to take photos from the train inside of the tunnel. I think they had a fanciful idea that it would be like visiting the aquarium and that you would be able to see fish and other marine life swimming by. Alas, it is just a big black tunnel. The train travels so quickly however, you’re barely in it for 20 minutes before you are emerging onto French soil.

After stops at Calais and Lille we were finally in Brussels. Suffering a bit of a cold, and poor Pete suffering me having a cold, we decided that we’d catch a taxi rather than work out the tram system like we had originally intended. Just a 10 minute drive and we were there. The Metropole Hotel. Built at the end of the 1800’s, this hotel, is the only one from its era still operating as a hotel. We were greeted with an opulent lobby that had formerly been a bank and I almost felt that I was at the Grand Budapest Hotel.

Our room was very typically 50’s, with his and hers sinks, his and hers wardrobes, a king sized bed big enough for 3, retro seats and enough floor space to do aerobics (should you be so inclined). We relaxed back into the ginormous bed in preparation for a day of exploration.

Belgium is one hour ahead of the UK, so we rose early and headed out for breakfast. We walked to the main square and ate typical Belgian fare of croissants, chocolate croissants, ham, cheese, toast and jam with orange juice for me and coffee for Pete. It was delicious, but we had to admit defeat with the chocolate croissants and wrap them up for later.

After going for a stroll and seeing the Mannequin Pis (I didn’t realise it was so small!) we decided that we would catch the train to Antwerp for the day. The train was also reminiscent of the 50’s with large fabric seats and luggage rails. We were surprised at some of the stations that had grave platforms and looked a little dubious to be hanging out at night time. In comparison to the roads and the cities they were very run down and in need of a facelift. Never less, we were comfortable for our 50 minute ride north.

Antwerp, although less than an hour away from Belgium, has a completely different feel. Belgium is a mix of French and Dutch, whereas Antwerp’s influences were far more Dutch than French. We explored the town hall, the main street (checking out the diamonds of course!) and settled in a bar with 300 beers for lunch (boy heaven).

After a long walk exploring the town centre and the canal, we were worn out, so we headed back to Brussels. For dinner we headed out to the fish market district for the obligatory meal of moules (mussels). For some reason the Europeans love a 2 or 3 course meal deal and charge you the same whether you just order a main, or order 3 courses. We dined very well that night on lobster tortellini, chilli mussels (Pete), steak (me), ice cream with chocolate sauce (Pete) and crème Brulee (for me). We sat outside in the shadows of St Katherine church, which was lovely.

Unfortunately as I had a cold, we headed back to the hotel and didn’t party on into the wee hours. Not being able to stomach any more croissants, we opted for an English breakfast of eggs and bacon followed by waffles on Sunday. We headed out to explore Brussels on the city explorer bus. First stop was the King’s house, which was packed so we stayed on the bus. Second was the Atomium. After hearing about it from my mum for years this was on the ‘to do’ list. Unfortunately the rain was just too heavy and the queue too long for my sick and sniffily state, so we crammed back on the bus and headed off to the Basilica.

Quite a modern church in comparison to most, the Basilica is a large brick structure with a 360-degree lookout on its roof. We had a wander before we headed back out in to the rain to get some lunch. After some more mussels and some cherry beer (Pete again), we decided to take the other city explorer bus that does a loop closer to town. By this time it was 4pm, and with the last bus at 5pm, we just did a lap of the city without getting off.

We had a last waffle and bought some chocolates and then headed back to the train station for our journey home. This time we were travelling in premium economy, so it was a bit more deluxe and we had dinner included. I can think of worse places to eat a meal than speeding along the French countryside as the sun goes down.

All in all, despite my cold we had a great time in Belgium and definitely want to return to see Ypres, Flanders fields and Ghent. Not too soon though, all of that delicious food is not kind to the waistline!

Some facts about Belgium:

There are lots of street artists in Brussels. One illusion they love to perform is a balancing act. We saw a man balancing as a genie in a bottle and also three men balancing on top of each other in a seemingly impossible pose.

It is very hard to find apple or any other type of cider in Belgium (even though they brew it!). When visiting a beer café, you will be told that they have beer that tastes ‘just like cider’. The apple was fairly convincing, however the forest berries far too sweet. To me they still tasted like beer, and I left one Belgian pub worker in disbelief than someone could not like beer.

In Belgium we: took the Eurostar, ate a lot of croissants, caught the train to Antwerp, did not buy any diamonds, suffered a horrible cold, drank some crazy flavours of beer, ate mussels (twice), ate waffles, bought chocolates, drooled over more chocolates in the window, stayed in a luxe old school hotel, drank Singapore slings, left sunglasses behind and had to chuck a u-ey to retrieve them (not me this time), realised train travel is definitely the way to go…all in 2 days.

An impossible balancing at by buskers in Brussels.