Ireland Photos

Fergal and I at Blarney Castle

Cliffs of Moher

Giant's Causeway - Northern Ireland

Incredible Ireland

WOW! I flew in about three hours ago from the best holiday of my life. Ireland was beyond words. The people, the scenery and the atmosphere in that country was more than I could have ever expected. I did a 6 day all-Ireland Paddywagon tour. The name of our driver was Seanie and he was quite possibly the funniest person I have ever met. He made the tour 10x more fun I'm sure. On day 1 we set out from Dublin to Northern Ireland. We stayed in a city called Derry. While we were there we did a walking tour and learnt a lot about the troubles in Northern Ireland. It was a hard subject to get our heads around. That night the whole bus headed out for group bonding and by day 2 we were like long lost friends!
On day 2 we headed from Derry to Belfast. Stoppping at castles, cliffs and beaches along the way. It was a beautiful day and we got plenty of beautiful photos. When we arrived in Belfast we did a Black Cab taxi tour of the city. We got to see peace walls between the Catholics and Protestants that are still being used today. This was a real eye-opener and we could still feel the tension that remains today.
On day 3 we drove from Belfast to Galway via Sligo. In Sligo (the home of three of the westlife boys) we stopped at the famous Poet W.B Yates' grave. We headed out for a group paddywagon dinner in Galway and Seanie showed us how the locals party.
Day 4 was a very slow morning, made even worse because someone had tried to break into our bus over night and we couldn't close any of the doors! We had to wait for over an hour for another bus to come and collect us. That day we headed to the Cliffs of Moher. That night we stayed in a small town in Kerry County and stayed at a backpackers called 'The Randy Leprechaun'. We had a whole bus karaoke night that night at the local pub, it was probably the best night on the tour.
Day 5 we drove to Cork. This was the first and only day that we saw rain in Ireland. We stopped in Killkenny to have a horse ride through the local park. It was beautiful. We arrived in Cork at about 6pm and it was Good Friday. Everything was closed so we had the last night of our tour playing cards in the lounge at the hostel.
Day 6 was probably the best sightseeing day for me. We stopped at Blarney Castle first of all and climbed to the top to kiss the Blarney Stone. It was really scary, to kiss it, you had to lay on your back and hang over the side of the castle and kiss it upside down! My heart was racing so fast. We then made our way back to Dublin stopping at the Guinness Factory along the way. I had my first ever pint of Guinness, not too bad!
The tour ended in Dublin and there were tears all around. It's fair to say I met some amazing people and made some great friends. It was 6 days I'll treasure forever.
To end our time in Ireland, Katie and I spent 3 days in Dublin over Easter. This was lots of fun and we got to see a huge amount of the city. I now know all the words to many Irish songs! Back to reality now..
I only have 2 days of work this week and the Royal Wedding on Friday! I think I'll be dreaming of green fields, irish jigs, clovers and the memories for a while to come.

Greetings from Belfast

Today is my 4th day in Ireland. So far our tour has been to Dublin, Belfast, and Derry to stay. Today we are off to Galway. Our tour leader is Irish and possibly one of the funniest men I've ever met. I am having a blast. We have got only 6 days left here and so much to see and do. Better go have breakfast before I miss the bus! Photos to come on my return to London.

Ireland here I come...

This week has been really busy. I worked in a Year 3 class at a Catholic School. It was a really enjoyable week. On Thursday night Katie and I met up with about 8 of her friends from Australia and went out in Leicester Square. It was the best night out we've had here so far, I'm spending so much time with Australians that one of the Kiwi's I've caught up with over here thinks that I have an aussie accent! (That's not good). This weekend has been very quiet. Last night we went out for dinner with two of my cousins. Was good to get a dose of 'home'. Tomorrow morning we are flying to Dublin, Ireland. I can't wait! I'm not sure how I'll be able to sleep tonight. We start our tour of Ireland on Monday morning. We're there for 10 days in total. We get back to London 2 days before the Royal Wedding, which is going to be really exciting, the whole city is covered in Royal colours already! I will blog from Ireland, Fergal is very excited about checking out his native country! hehe.

The six week mark

In Hyde Park

Check out the blue sky!

Well it's over 6 weeks now since I left Christchurch. I have to say time has gone so quickly, yet so much has happened in that time. London has really put on a show the last 5 days. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday it got to 23 degrees! It was beautiful. The weekend has been pretty nice too with 18 degrees on Saturday and 20 degrees today. Yesterday we went and brought a picnic blanket and spent the day in Hyde Park with a group of friends in the sun. It was so nice and there were literally hundreds of people there. Today we have been to do our groceries and brought a printer/scanner. On our walk to the shops we found 'Christchurch Street'! Fergal and I got a photo. I am in a Year 3 class at a nice Catholic School called St George's all this week. Then we go to Ireland on Sunday! I can't wait.

Recent Outings

At the theatre for our first show.

Telephone box and me (they really are everywhere)!

Katie and I at Ripley's Believe it or not Museum.

The Ups and Downs to London Life

WOW what a Monday. Had a very interesting class in a rougher area of London. Let's just say they challenged me to no end and I was very happy when 3.30 rolled around. On the weekend I caught up with a friend from Christchurch, Ben. It was great to have dinner and to see a familiar face from home. Saturday was chocca-block with SHOPPING! Katie and I put serious dents in our UK bank accounts. Top Shop is going to be seeing a lot of my money over here. I got a new dress, two tops, high heels, a hoodie and some essentials from The Body Shop. Saturday night started out well with a girls night planned by a friend of ours, Bec. I was having a fantastic time until someone ripped my handbag open, stole my Iphone and ran away. It was my first experience of the down-side to living in London. I am in the process of putting an insurance claim in, so I am currently phoneless. Hopefully Vodafone UK can help me get it sorted this week. I have got a full on week of teaching this week, which is good. Katie and I just found a normal sized supermarket (most of them are tiny) so we just did our weekly shop. Couldn't see Marmite though, might have to get someone from home to send me that!