Dun Edin (Edinburgh)

Most recently we headed up north to Scotland - this time to explore the capital city, Edinburgh. It was a lot of fun exploring the Old City (the area around the Royal Mile), which even meant we got to go under the Council Chambers buildings and down to the original street level of the town. There is a tour that shows you how and where people use to live. Very cool. We also explored the Castle, Calton Hill, and Arthur's Seat. The New Town was also very pretty - believe it or not but the "New" Town is still 300 years old! We walked down streets with familiar names from NZ - Dundas Street, crossed the Leith river, and visited the beautiful Botanic Gardens as well.

We also took the opportunity to hire a car for one of the days we were there and visited Rosslyn Chapel - an incredible architectural feat, Linlithgow Castle - former home of Mary, Queen of Scots, and then crossed the Firth of Forth to drive up the coast to the World Famous St Andrews.

We both really liked Edinburgh and would definitely visit there again. There are a few pics below.

S(c)illy people

In late August/early September, we went down to the South West of England to walk the SW Coast Path from St Ives to Lands End. We then went to the Scilly Isles, a group of Islands about 50km off the SW Coast.
We started by taking the "sleeper" train from London to Newquay - no sleepers for us though - actually just slightly nicer reclining seats. Not too happy as we had expected bunks but never mind...After taking the bus from Newquay to St Ives, we arrived at our hostel and met another couple of people doing the SWCoast Path - one of them a NZer from Taranaki, named Aaron.
We saw Aaron again the next day when walking our first day’s leg to Zennor. It was a great day – fantastic weather and we even saw Dolphins off the cliffs. In Zennor, 6.5 miles from the Tate St Ives, we stayed at the Old Chapel Backpackers and had a pint in the local cosy pub, Tinners Arms.
Day 2 of walking took us to Bottallack..... It had rained heaps overnight and the track was very muddy. Susanna fell down not long in and got completely muddied and (as it appeared later) strained her knee quite badly. Didn't matter much as an hour later it POURED!!!!!! We got soaked! It then dried up again and by the time we got to Pendeen Watch we had dried - only for it to start raining again (you will see this becomes a common theme)! We struggled along to Geevor and then retreated to a cafe at the mine and then a pub. We then walked the short distance to the campsite in Bottallack by road in the mizzle. Chucked almost everything in the huge washing machine and then the dryer and got nice hot showers! YAY. That night had scrummy dessert at campsite bar.
Last day walking – the weather had cleared a lot and we walked to Lands End. Only one short squally rain period so it was quite good weather but we managed to: go up the wrong path, strand ourselves on the mountain, cross a river twice and only lose 1.5 hours walking time.....Glad to see the end of the day and made it to Lands End. Woohoo! Caught a bus back to Penzance that afternoon and stayed at YMCA.
It was then off to the Scilly Isles. We took the morning ferry to St Marys Island. It was a bit choppy and we were forced to retreat to one of the lower decks and sleep for most of it! We looked around St Marys for a couple of hours and then caught the local launch to Bryher in the afternoon.
Bryher is one of the lesser populated out-islands of the Scillies. It is pretty rugged but beautiful all at the same time. We camped there, just up the hill from the local pub (reportedly the smallest in Britain). During our stay we managed to walk around and across most of the island at different times. We also visited another of the islands, Tresco, which is famous for its Abbey Gardens – it rained there as well!
After a few days on the island, it was a bit of a struggle to return back to London and the daily grind but we made it! Here are some pictures from our trip.

Pics from Isles of Scilly

Pics from the SW Coast Path

Carnevale!!! - Notting Hill Styles

Every summer in London there is the Noting Hill Carnival. It's a chance for everyone to basically get out on the streets and party with music, dance, and a Masque Parade. There is a lot of history to the Carnival and it largely celebrates South-American and African-Carribean Culture. We met up with new UK arrivals, Roz and Josh (good friends from back home) to take some of it in.

St Albans Visit

On a spur of the moment kind of decision, we decided to visit St Albans, where Susanna’s Mum and Dad lived 40 years ago when they were first married and on their big OE. We got Mum and Dad’s old addy and walked down their old street. There’s a photo of Susanna outside their old place below. Apparently things have changed a lot in 40 years and there place is now an even more enviable address in St Albans.
From there, we walked down into town and the amazing Cathedral with its beautiful rose window and restored decorative nave. After lunch we pottered around the local markets and shops and then headed across the park. St Albans is an old Roman town and there is a preserved Roman Town house and hypocaust that has been excavated at the bottom end of the park. Across the park there is the Verulamium Museum, which tells the story of Roman Verulamium and the subsequent development of the town on the site where Alban was martyred. The museum was set up in a way that gave a really good impression of what life might have been like in Roman times.
On our way back to the train, we stopped again in town at the reputedly oldest pub in Britain, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks. No fighting Cocks now but there were a couple of resident fluffy dogs.....