Iceland May Long Weekend - Day 1

The start of our trip was slightly marred by us arriving at our hotel at 1.30am to be told that they'd overbooked for that night and we had to stay at another hotel. So for our first night we managed to get just 5 hours sleep before having to get up for an all day tour we had booked. The happy part though was after a spectacular day out, the hotel was able to check us in and upgraded us for our troubles!

The tour we had booked was one where we saw some of Iceland's main sights. Our first destination was Pingvellir which was the sight of the first Icelandic Parliament and the first democracy. It was also amazing as it is where the North American and Eurasia tectonic plates are slowly moving away from each other. The geography and geology of this was truly amazing with lava flows and rifts and valleys where the earth was separating. I knew Iceland had a lot of volcanic activity but I'd never realised how much until I learnt that it is 90% Basalt. Truly amazing.




After boring Ben with the geology and getting back into our amazing bus (above) we then went to Gulfoss (or gold falls) to see one of the smaller waterfalls in Iceland! It was quite spectacular, especially as you can walk right up to it and not just look from afar, and the spray was amazing and could be felt quite a distance away.




After a lunch of traditional lamb soup, it was off to the highlight of our tour and where our super jeep came in very handy. We were off to the Langjokull, or the long glacier. We went onto the glacier on snow mobiles as for most of the year it is covered in snow. This glacier is floating on a layer of water and the ice can be up to 700 metres deep in places. The snow mobiles were great fun, Ben certainly enjoyed driving it! We made a couple of stops were the vastness, isolation and peacefulness were breathtaking. At our first stop we all enjoyed the novelty of snow in May with a snowball fight. I'm in hysterics in the photos as when Ben wanted to take an action shot of me throwing a snowball, I managed to hit him quite hard where no man wants to be hit! All by accident of course!

Ben in the snow gear we had to wear, and on our snowmobile!

Ben's attempt at getting an action shot goes horribly wrong for him....

And left me in hysterics!!!

Ben getting creative and our Super Jeep!

The last stop on our tour was the Geysirs, after which all spouting hot springs are named. There are quite a few there, but only one, Strokkur, spouts frequently every 5 to 10 minutes. We saw about 7 and it was quite amazing to watch. There is steam everywhere as the water is about 150 degrees, and when the geysir is about to spout the water pulses and gurgles before it bulbs up and you get a brilliant blue light before bursting high into the air! Then once it subsided the water was sucked back into the crater like a whirlpool, quite a spectaclar thing to watch.

A geological explanation and one of the thermal pools - such a brilliant blue...
The geysir starting to get active...
The pressure starting to build up...
The water starting to burst.....
The start of the explosion....
And the dramatic climax!

Our day ended with us exhausted from the long day but still not ready for bed as even at 10pm it was still light, and I don't think it ever really got dark but stayed a sort of twilight the whole night.

Sheri's Impromptu Visit - April 2008

I nearly forgot to mention the impromptu visit we had from our friend Sheri in the middle of April! Sheri and I did a lot of dancing together back in Sydney and she was one of my bridesmaids. She decided to make a 2 week holiday to Europe and came and stayed with us for a week. It was great fun and so good to see her again. We did the usual tourists stuff and some we hadn't done before. We did the Jack the Ripper walking tour (in pouring rain) and Sheri and I went to see Les Miserables. It was a fun week, and good for me to have something to distract me in my last week at UB!!

On the Jack the Ripper tour - Ben and Sheri were enthralled!!

Algarve, Portugal - 1st May Bank Holiday 2008

For the first May bank holiday we thought it best to go somewhere we were pretty much guaranteed some sun, so we headed to Portugal. It was wonderful, a great resort, lots of sun and very warm! The resort was near Albufeira on the Algarve which has a great coastline with cliffs and beaches. From the resort we had access to the beach which was wonderfully long and made it feel like you weren't in a resort at all. We did absolutely nothing the whole weekend apart from lying on the beach and occasionally going for a walk along it. The water was a bit too cold for swimming, but that didn't matter. We both managed to relax completely so it wasn't too hard to head back to work on the Tuesday!


The view and path down to the beach from the resort (there was a lift for the really steep bit!!)


The beach and the cliffs

More beach and cliffs!

Inge trying to remember her yr 12 Geology & more cliffs!
Ben enjoying a drink at the sunset bar - completely relaxed from his beach lazing!

Paris & Greenwich April 2008 - week off between jobs!

I managed to time my resignation to finish up at UB and go and join Mum, John and Abby in Paris for 5 days. It was a much needed break to detox from UB, and nice to spend more time with Mum, John and Abby. The weather was still cold and a bit wet, but when you're in museums and shops most of the day it doesn't really matter!

In front of the Arc de Triomphe and on the River Seine

When we got back to London, Mum and John went home and Abby stayed on for the weekend. Amazingly we had beautiful weather (we couldn't believe they had to come to London for sunshine!!) so Abby and I took a River Cat to Greenwich where we did a walking tour to find out the history and then had a lovely lunch in the amazing Park there.

Greenwich Park & Statue of Captain Cook - Greenwich was a major naval port

AFL Weekend in Copenhagen

Well, Ben decided he wanted to start playing footy again, so he found an AFL club here (the West London Wild Cats) that he decided to join. To get to know the team, he signed us up for the footy trip at the beginning of the season (amazingly girls were allowed) that was to Copenhagen where they had arranged to play a game against the Danish International Team - yes there really is one and it's all Danes!!

It was a fun weekend and we met some great people. It was nice to go back to Copenhagen, Sunday was spent recovering after Ben playing his first footy game for 2 years by wandering through the shopping district!

Below are some photos of the game they played, they managed to win despite most of the team being incredibly hungover!

Ben is the 3rd from the right in black in the first photo - you know they're stuggling when Ben's playing the forward pocket!!

Inge's New Job - Again!!

So during all these fun holidays, Ben and I had a very stressful time as I was looking for a new job. United Biscuits didn't suit me and I was eating way too many biscuits!! I resigned from United Biscuits and finished in the middle of April.

My new job is with 3M and I'm managing the Post-it(R) Brand. So far it is already a lot nicer than United Biscuits. It's a lot further out, it's at Bracknell, but the offices are really nice, and that helps a lot.

Hopefully this one will be longer lasting than the last two!!!!

Easter, Mum, John & Abby's Arrival & Trip to Ireland

At Easter Mum and John arrived for their annual visit! It was a bit different to last year, about 20 degrees colder and snowing! We had a lovely weekend together wandering around London and going to St Paul's for the Easter service. Unfortunately John had to head home Easter Sunday night as his Aunt's husband took a turn for the worse. We managed to get him a flight home, and he made it back in time and stayed for just over a week before coming back to Europe to join back up with Mum and Abby.


Easter Sunday snow storm!

On Easter Monday, Abby arrived from South Africa and we all flew to Dublin for a weeks holiday. Ireland was lovely, mainly as it was a very enjoyable week spending time with Mum and Abby. We had typical Irish weather with it very rarely not raining, fortunately for Ben the sun did come out a few times, but the photos he managed to get were the only ones (not from a selection!!). We spent a couple of days in Dublin walking around seeing all the main sites, and to thank Ben for spending his holiday with his wife's family, we spent a couple of hours in the Guiness Brewery!

Initial good weather in Ireland! Trinity College & St Stephen's Green

Early Guiness advertising & the view of Dublin from the bar

Ben, Mum and Abby enjoying a well earned Guiness!
Ben infront of the Guiness Brewery

After Dublin we started our driving tour by heading to Gelndalough (or valley of two lakes)and it was stunning. Amazing mountains and two beautiful lakes as well as the ruins of a monastery. We thankfully had sunny spells here and managed to do some nice walks before the rain came in and we started the long drive to Cobh. On the way we stopped into the Waterford factory which was quite amazing.

Inge infront of the Monastery ruins and the larger of the two lakes with the spectacular mountains

Mum, Abby & Inge and the ruins

Cobh is where Abby's father sailed from when he left for South Africa, he never went back to Ireland. It was quite amazing to see the large numbers of people that emigrated from Ireland, some only made it to Liverpool, but the majority went to America, Australia and South Africa. The massive cathedral there was built with the donations from Irish Immigrants in the US! From Cobh we visited Blarney Castle near Cork to kiss the stone which when kissed is said to grant the gift of the gab - Ben and I kissed the stone, but I don't think we needed the help!!

The migration musuem and the view of Cobh from the Cathedral
The Cathedral at Cobh, built with donations from US Irish immigrants

Blarney Castle and the stone you need to lean backwards to kiss!!

From Blarney Castle we went up to Gugan Barra where Abby's father grew up. It was the tiniest little place, but so beautiful. Set in a valley with mountains all around and a lovely little lake which has a tiny island with a chapel on it which is dedicated to a hermit saint that lived there. Abby's last name is Cronin and there was still a pub there with the same name.

The hermit's chapel & the Cronin pub

By this time the weather was really starting to set in, so we hit the road and decided to do the Beara Peninsula as we were making very good time with Ben driving!! The Beara Peninsula was lovely and spectacular, even with the rain! We stayed in a lovely B&B and the pub up the road had wonderful food. In all of our trip we had brilliant food everywhere except for one place.

Our first impression of the Beara Peninsula - greay and wet!

Allihies - where we stayed in the Beara


Scenery along Healy Pass through the Beara Peninsula

After the Beara Peninsula we went across to the Ring of Kerry, which wasn't quite as spectacular, but I think it was because it was raining so much we couldn't really get out and do any walking, but Ben still managed to get some nice shots - even one of a rainbow!



From there we went up into Clare to The Burren and the Cliffs of Moher. On the way to the Cliffs we had a brief stop at Lahinch and Ennistymon. Lahinch is a resort town with a beach - more like rocks. Despite the freezing weather there were lots of people there, and a surprisingly large amount of them were actually in the water surfing! Ennistymon was a brief stop to see The Cascades, which due to all the rain, were at full force. The cliffs were spectacular, but again we couldn't see much because of the torrential rain. We ended up heading on to a lovely spa town call Lisdoonvarna and stayed in a wonderful hotel which had a roaring fire - a mandatory requirement by this stage!!

Lahinch and the crazy people surfing!

Just to show how cold it was!! And The Cascades at Ennistymon.



The Cliffs of Moher, and Mum, Abby & Inge at Doolin in The Burren

On the way back down to Shannon where Ben and I were flying out of, we stopped to see the Showcave of Ireland, Aillwee Caves (The Burren is all limestone and there are lots of caves, tunnels and underground rivers and lakes). Ben and I were a bit disappointed with the cave as our memory of stalactites and stalacmites in the caves of Australia being about 6 foot, and this one that was 1000 years old was about 30cm! But it was drier than the outside!! We also stopped at Poulnabrone Dolmen, an ancient burial site about 5000 years old!


Despite the rain it was good to get away for the week and spend some quality time with Mum and Abby. Mum and Abby stayed in Ireland for another few days before heading to France where John joined up with them.