A Grand Day Out

a few more pics from spring 2011

2011-05-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

A couple more pictures of Frida

2011-02-20T02:22:00.000-08:00

New Pics of Frida aged around 10 weeks

2011-02-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

as requested by Sinead

Frida Erin Foody

2010-12-16T09:13:00.000-08:00

Going Home

2010-12-16T07:54:00.000-08:00

Some more early photos

2010-12-13T15:01:00.000-08:00

Frida Erin Foody is looking favourite for the name, she seems to like it.

Baby's First Movie

2010-12-13T14:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Family

2010-12-13T14:17:00.000-08:00

Sam and Ann

2008-04-04T01:54:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend in Oxford trying to sort out the wedding plans, and I think we've almost cracked it. We had a lovely time hanging out with Ann and Sam and Helena. So here are a few shots from the park.

Sam looks like a little gremlin!

Sunshine! Hurrah! Summer is almost here (I hope).

Is anyone watching?

2008-03-21T05:54:00.000-07:00

Hellloooooo, are you still checking our blog? I thought I'd add another little entry just for fun. Kieran's at work so I can post one of my favourite pictures of him, Ha ha ha ha!

This is an avocado face mask made by my own fair hands. It's a bit like putting snot on your face.

Kenji and Yebipawka our travelling companions from Japan are settling in well.

Kenji really enjoys hot buttered crumpets.

This is a Banksy that sprung up in Islington a few weeks ago. We couldn't resist joining in.

Sayonara

2007-08-11T05:35:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, this is Julie writing. We've come to the end of our adventure, Booo hooo sob sob! It's been a great year and we've done more than we thought we'd do. Here are some final photos of scorching hot Tokyo (36 degrees this week!). For our last weekend we went to Tokyo Dome to get some rollercoaster action, and we were not disappointed, it was fantastic! We screamed our heads off. I also managed to have tea with a Moomin, which is another life long ambition accomplished. More shopping, sightseeing and a little Karaoke. It will be very sad to leave, everyday we have to say goodbye to our favourite students, but we can't wait to get back and see you all.

As the sun sets on Tokyo and on our trip, we're as busy planning to go home as we were when we left! So I haven't had time to look back and unfortunately don't have time to summarise it all into some poetic blog entry other than to remember one of my favourite lessons in Japan, teaching a low level student, whose reason for learning English was to be able to sing Amazing Grace in English, and of course, we finished the lesson with a memorable rendition.

Thanks for all the comments, see you all next week...

Tis grace has brought us safe this far

and Grace will lead us home

A snapshot of life in Tokyo

2007-08-04T04:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks for all your lovely comments about the engagement. By the way, did we mention we're heading home? We fly back to England on the 15th of August which is not long at all really. So here's a quick snapshot of Tokyo.

Karaoke/shopping/Train stations/Busy/Monkey Magic.

This week's competition, name the song I'm singing on the karaoke!

Julie's favourite pastime.

Those British tourists will photograph anything!

Not a particularly busy time at Shibuya

Do you recognise this bunch?

Kyoto

2007-07-27T05:31:00.000-07:00

To celebrate our engagement we decided to take a trip to Kyoto. Beautiful temples, teahouses and Geisha. We took the Shinkansen bullet train which was very impressive and we even squeezed in some more Karaoke.

Above the clouds

2007-07-21T05:33:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, we've had an eventful week, and some of you already know about our adventures. We began our adventure on Tuesday by taking the bus to the 5th Station on Mount Fuji which is at 2305 m. From here we began our climb in the drizzly rain. We climbed through the wind, rain, blazing sun, mist and cloud to the 8th Station at 3020m where we stayed the night. We didn't have much of a night, we woke at 1.30am to start the climb. Kieran was determined to get to the top by sunrise despite the fact we had forgotten the torch and it was bloody dark. We clambered up the mountain in the dark until we found a well equipped group with torches and followed them to the top. We arrived at the top (3776m) around 4.30am just before sunrise. You wouldn't believe the amount of people at the top. And they have vending machines and gift shops! The Japanese never miss an opportunity to shop.
Anyway, this is where the story gets good. As the sun rose above the clouds, Kieran asked me to marry him in a poem! How romantic is he? I was completely gobsmacked but said yes. So we are getting hitched! Our joy was only slightly dampened by the fact we still had to descend the mountain and the weather was getting worse.

Kamakura

2007-07-07T03:59:00.000-07:00

Julie and the second largest Buddha in Japan

Caption Competition

2007-06-29T04:32:00.000-07:00

Here's Julie getting the groceries in. Looking rather pleased with her purchase of a 4 litre bottle of Whisky for 16 quid! And here I am after teaching my Kinder class. Today they learned red crab and green turtle and sang heads and shoulders alot.

Sightseeing Tokyo Style

2007-06-21T19:12:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went into Tokyo sightseeing and went up this enormous ferris wheel, the biggest in the world when it was built. Didn't have a name like the one in London though, perhaps they should call it the Tokyo eye?

The views were...well it's not London. There's a real need for some new ideas in the town planning department.

And the beach, well, it's warmer than London but it's like sunbathing by the thames.

Julie enjoyed it though.

Tokyo Disneyland

2007-06-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

Of all the cultural delights Tokyo has to offer we opted for a thick slice of Americana this week with a trip to Disneyland! Well, it's on our train line and I'm never likely to go to a Disney resort again so we thought why not! I found it a most relaxing day, walking up to the gates I felt like Clark W. Griswald approaching Wally World! Thankfully it was open and once inside everything was nicely laid out, in English and very well organised with Fast Passes so you could jump the queues! We took a packed lunch and had a picnic on Tom Sawyer Island and went on all the big rides (it's got nothing on Alton Towers). My favourite bit was walking around Toontown, Mickey's house and Donald's boat and stuff. The parades were funny, very spectacular and the Japanese kids love it.

Gutted that the Roger Rabbit ride was closed for repairs!

and Julie got a Japanese haircut! (before we went to Disneyland, not at Disneyland!)

Check out the cute kids on the trolley in the background!

lots of schoolkids everywhere

ohhhhhh Kimono!

2007-06-06T03:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I fulfilled a life long dream and bought a kimono (Julie not Kieran). This evening we got the Kimono out and attempted to put it on (again Julie not Kieran). Blimey it was hard work! It was like something from Krypton Factor. We almost gave in but as you can see in the photos below we did it. I also enjoyed pulling some crazy Japanese poses for the camera. Next week I will get one of my students to tell me how to put it on properly!

I would also like to report on last week's trip to a Karaoke bar with some friends, it was insane! Kieran was on a mission to out sing everyone in the Karaoke room! It was a fantastic experience and one I think all the Foodys and Kilroys would love! As most of you know I am allergic to singing, but even I sang along on most of the songs. At the karaoke place you hire a room, and pay an hourly rate, for this price you can drink anything you like. We were in there for 3 hours, I thought I was going to have to wrestle Kieran to the floor to get the microphone off him to leave. We drank solidly for the 3 hours, and it only came to 15 quid each, which I thought was a real bargain!

Kieran here! Yes it's true, five pound an hour for endless drinks which I turned into a 'drink as much as you possibly can' challenge. Don't need to describe what happened, you've all seen me at weddings. We'll take a camera next time.

Anyway, I went for my first haircut in Japan today which was class. Five pounds, ten minutes all crisp and clean and organised and the grand finale being the fuzzy hoover attachment gets pulled out and they hoover my head and neck! For the first time in my life I left the hairdressers without an itchy neck. Brilliant.

Fuji-San

2007-05-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! This week we have been exploring Japan a bit more. We ventured t0 Fuji Go Ko, to a place called Kawaguchiko. Beautiful lakes and views of Mount Fuji. We're planning on going back soon to climb it! Watch this space. In the photos below you can see Mount Fuji in the background, but covered in cloud. In the bottom photo young Kieran has discovered a baseball batting cage, he keeps saying it was the highlight of the two day trip. I have a feeling we'll be going back there just so Kieran can hit a few more balls! Next week we will be enjoying a bit of Karaoke, and many beers, we'll let you know how we get on....

The picture above is my favourite, Ding Dong!

This deserves more comment. Imagine a driving range but for baseball with an auto pitcher machine. You can choose a cage with different speeds from 80km/h up to about 115km/h and the balls come hurtling toward you. Great fun and only about 80p for about 20 balls. I'm hooked!

Mitake-San

2007-05-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

We made our first journey outside Tokyo to Mount Mitake, affectionately known as Mr Mitake, apparently all the mountains are called Mister. A Cable car and short hike brought us to a beautiful mountain top temple which we pretty much had to ourselves.

Our local shop

2007-05-22T05:12:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Andy, our first caller! He's even posted the correct dialling code (see the previous post comments). As a prize here's a photo just for him.....

and here's Julie shoppping for a pet at the animal capsule hotel

and here we are right now, updating the blog in the flat (we're actually looking at Sam dressed as a pirate)

Connected

2007-05-22T03:35:00.000-07:00

Hello folks, we have succesfully got connected to the internet! Very exciting! We didn't manage to get cable TV but we're being entertained by Radio 2. We have a phone too. The number is 0423163447, not sure what you have to put before it but if you find out, please leave a comment. So we will be emailing, blogging and calling so much more than we have been. If you haven't had a call from us in the past eight months, we don't have your number so email us your number and we will give you a bell right away!

Things are going great still, and we will give a proper blog entry soon. In the meantime here's a picture of the local pet shop. I think it's great.

Settling in to Japanese Life

2007-05-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not posting in ages, we`ve been busy settling in. Getting through to-do lists takes so much longer here due to the language barrier but we`re getting there. We have mobiles sorted, mine is 08034647078 and Julie`s is 09091550278. Tried to text Tony and it didn`t work but you should be able to text or call if you need to but no idea how much it might cost. We will have a landline and broadband in a couple of weeks.

Tokyo by night is beautiful, it reminds me of Christmas shopping. At around 6:30 it`s like you`re waiting for them to turn the Christmas lights on. We have been doing a fair bit of shopping. Tons of department stores everywhere selling everything.
The apartment block straight ahead is where we live, on the third floor. The address is below , a few postings earlier (Tokyo Calling). This is the walk home from work and although very urbanized, there is the odd patch of allotment with a little tractor or the odd woman digging potatoes. They sell the produce in a little vending machine. Very well organised. The apartment is lovely, we`ll post some photos soon. It took us a few days to work out all the gadgets and remote controls but we`re settled in now.
Speaking of vending machines, they are everywhere. Pocari Sweat is Julie`s current favourite funny name. The best thing is they sell beer in them too! It`s about 60p for a 330ml 5% Asahi or Kirin beer which goes down well.
This is a shot from Yoyogi Park in central Tokyo. It takes us about 45 minutes to get into the main bits of town from the flat and costs about three pound fifty return so we`ve been popping in on our days off. Lots of Kimonos and singing going on here.

Deep Sea Diver

2007-04-16T03:43:00.000-07:00

For our last weekend in Oz we spent the night on the Great Barrier Reef aboard a dive boat. I decided not to dive as going deaf before getting to Japan would be bad. But Kieran enjoyed a few dives, including a nighttime dive surrounded by sharks!!!! Very brave! I meanwhile photographed his shenanigans, and did some hardcore snorkelling. The conditions were pretty rough but we managed to see some beautiful reef and fish and a big green turtle.

Kieran is the one with his finger in his ear

Kieran with the photographer herself.

Moustache Diaries

2007-04-16T03:42:00.000-07:00

As everyone knows Kieran gave up shaving for Lent. On Easter Sunday he started messing around with the beard and it's taken him nearly a week to finally shave it off. I have photographed the various stages of removal. I particularly like the musketeer moustache and little beardy bit.

Full on 40 day beard

In this one he's just trimmed it a bit with scissors

The musketeer

and the Morgan Spurlock!

What's your favourite?

Tokyo Calling...

2007-04-16T01:06:00.000-07:00

We fly tomorrow, the 17th to Tokyo and the unfamiliar world of employment. We start work proper next Monday, teaching english with the Nova School (after eight months of travelling) so we have a few days to settle into our new home. We have a flat somewhere outside Tokyo and here's the address:

#306 Lions Mansion Akitsu
2-22-1 Akitsucho
Higashi Murayama-Shi
Tokyo-To
189-0001
Japan

Carry on camping

2007-04-04T22:27:00.000-07:00

Or carry on campervanning! We hired a van for five days and went travelling through Queensland. it was only a wee van but cosy. Bit hot in the evenings and the mozzies made life a little tricky but it was good fun and we saw some beautiful places, 4 mile beach in Port Douglas, Cape Tribulation where Capt Cook struck the reef. We had our own mini adventure there ourselves. We found a really nice campsite 50 yards from the sea and were woken up in the morning by the owner knocking on our van at 8:30! bit odd until we found out he was waking everyone to alert us to the Tsunami warning for North Queensland coast after a huge 8 point something earthquake in the South Pacific! We quickly packed up and headed for the hills, breakfasting at a safe height for an hour or two until the all clear was given. Bit of excitement. We then headed into the Atherton Tableland and visited loads of waterfalls, some hot springs before heading back to Cairns to receive our Visas for Japan! More on that to follow....

Yungaburra

2007-03-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

From Kuranda we went to another little village called Yungaburra. And the sun came out! HURRAH!

We've spent the past couple of days walking, cycling and swimming, it's been fantastic.

Kieran has also been trying to hold anything that looks slightly dangerous!

Where's Kieran? can you see him?(above)

Kieran's beard is coming along a treat. Does anyone else think he looks like Vincent Van Gogh?

Julie trying to spot a platypus, and succeeding!

Crocs, turtles and falls

2007-03-26T19:29:00.000-07:00

Last week we travelled inland to a village called Kuranda where it rained non-stop for 3 days. But we still got out and managed to see some creatures, and walk to the beautiful Barron falls.

And Kieran got a new hat which he was really pleased with.

Cairns

2007-03-16T04:21:00.000-07:00

We've arrived in Cairns already. Flew in yesterday from Melbourne while our bags flew to Sydney (they turned up later). Have already booked into a room above an Irish pub in readiness for tomorrow's drinkathon and have had our free meals in the Woolshed were Ju and Sinead took us six years ago!

Bye bye Melbourne

2007-03-16T00:20:00.000-07:00

Sad to say goodbye to Melbourne where we've been for over a month I think. We never intended to stay so long but it was an unexpected treat. Always something going on from the first weekend's Sustainable living festival where we went to a talk by Peter Singer http://www.princeton.edu/~psinger/make_a_difference.html

to the amazing fireworks display of the Moomba water festival. We had a tour of the Robert Hunter, the Sea Shepherd anti-whaling ship (that's me at the wheel) which was recently in the news over here http://www.seashepherd.org/news/media_070224_1.html

It's a groovy place at the moment with water and energy saving schemes, loads of falafels and healthy food and we did our emailing in the animal liberation internet cafe. Lots of cinemas, great restaurants, bars, galleries, parks and gardens, picnics and barbecues down by the river watching the rowers go by.

Phone

2007-03-09T20:39:00.000-08:00

Our number is now 0061398608201 (we're 11 hours ahead!) - we've changed rooms
We're in this room until Thursday when we fly to Cairns!
Thanks for the calls so far

Next door is only a footstep away...

2007-03-05T22:59:00.000-08:00

Do you recognise this house?

Anyone for cricket?

We've done the double! Summer Bay and now Ramsay Street! We didn't get to see any filming unfortunately and the residents had inconsiderately parked their cars everywhere! It was still nice to visit, I got quite excited approaching it though it is a bit dissapointing as it just feels so much smaller than it looks on the telly.

Wildlife

2007-03-05T22:58:00.000-08:00

Here's the little Koala!

...an Echidna

...and a giant Garner posing for the next STA travel brochure

The Grampians

2007-03-05T22:57:00.000-08:00

More amazing views in the Grampians national park. The park was recovering from last years forest fires and this year's drought but was still beautiful throughout. We even spotted a Koala and tons of kangaroos in the town at sunset. We stayed at an eco-lodge in Halls Gap but never managed to get any freshly laid eggs despite the many chooks roaming around.

Great Ocean Road

2007-03-05T22:56:00.000-08:00

Here's some photos of our trip down the Great Ocean Road. Amazing views and lots of flies attacking us all day.

We're being attacked by flies here.

Melbourne Street Art

2007-03-05T22:55:00.000-08:00

Telephone 2

2007-03-04T22:17:00.000-08:00

Thanks for the calls so far! We'll be on this number until Friday night (UK time) by the way.

Tefelobe

2007-02-26T22:04:00.000-08:00

We've found a nice place to stay in Melbourne and we have a phone in the room so if you like, and if you get your timing right, you can call us.
The number is (03) 98608109
Not sure of the Australian bit you need to add but I'm sure you can work it out. We'll be on this number at least until the 6th March, probably longer. Time difference means it's best to call at 10:30-11:30 in the evening or 7:30-11:30 in the morning UK time. If you let it ring it'll go through to reception where you can leave a message I think.
Speak to you soon
Kieran & Julie x

Photos as promised!

2007-02-25T22:40:00.000-08:00

Lakes Entrance

Big Ned Kelly

The penguins of Phillip Island. Only 30cm high. Adorable but we weren't allowed to pick one up unfortunately.

Sydney to Melbourne

2007-02-25T22:35:00.000-08:00

The weather wasn't quite what we expected for the first few days.

We didn't let it stop us though, barbecuing through a thunder storm.

Hurray! The sun's back!

90 mile beach

Sydney

2007-02-25T22:29:00.000-08:00

Here we are at Manly Beach!

Andy and Julie at Palm Beach aka Summer Bay

On the set of Home and Away! Can you spot Alf?

Victoria

2007-02-15T22:02:00.000-08:00

Following the excitement of Sydney we decided to hire a car and take a slow drive through Victoria to Melbourne. We took six days and somehow ended up staying mostly in caravan parks. Little cabins, perfect for the three of us and only slightly more expensive than backpacker dorms. We headed down the coast, taking in 90 mile beach, Lakes Entrance and the Alpine Highway through recently burnt forest. Lots of barbecues along the way, the most memorable one we were joined by a hungry possum. We walked in the footsteps of Ned Kelly visiting a pub where he used to hide from the cops, a bank which he held up and the town of Glenrowan, the place of the final seige where Ned was captured. We headed into the Yarra Valley for more wine tastings and then to the Dandenong ranges near Melbourne. Our last night was spent at Phillip Island watching the penguin parade. Hundreds of little penguins coming out of the sea at sunset and running up the beach to feed their young. All amazing, beautiful scenery and really mixed weather. Tons of photos to follow...still not got the charger sorted out but check our rival site through the Garner link to the right.
We're now in Melbourne, a class city.

Closer each day....

2007-02-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

Apologies for not updating the blog much recently, little problem with the camera. I'll give you a quick written update instead. We arrived in Sydney and were met by Andy who's been travelling with us ever since. We spent six days in Sydney, seeing the sights, retracing our old footsteps from six years ago and trying to sort out some work in Japan. The highlight had to be our trip up to Palm Beach aka Summer Bay from Home and Away. We'd visited the lovely beach and taken photos of Alf's surf shack thinking it a shame that they weren't filming today when we decided to take a water taxi to the nearby Ku ring gai chase National Park. We had a picnic and saw some wallabies and decided to take a 2km walk to some ancient Aboriginal stone carvings. Walking through the dusty bush track, no sooner than Julie could say "I bet this is the place they film the 'lost in the bush' sections of Home and Away" than we had stumbled onto the set of Home and Away! Kit and Kim stuck in the bush, car broken down, delivering a baby! I've never felt more like Michael Palin. Things seemingly couldn't get much better when on our way back from the carvings Alf Stewart drives past! We got back to the scene in time for a familiar yell of "Strewth! How's the bub?" as Alf saved the day again. If you can't wait for our photos, click on the Garner link to the right.

Sydney

2007-02-06T18:02:00.000-08:00

We made it! An eighteen hour journey across the dateline meant we landed two days after we left. More to follow....

Goodbye to South America

2007-02-06T17:47:00.000-08:00

So we made our way up to Santiago and Julie's Dad booked us into the Crowne Plaza! Luxury after our long journey through Patagonia. We spent our penultimate day at the Concha y Toro vineyards which was a fitting end after all the wine tasting we'd been doing through Argentina and Chile. After saying goodbye to Julie's Dad, we spent our last day sightseeing Santiago before saying goodbye to South America and flying to Australia.

Chile again

2007-01-31T07:36:00.000-08:00

We crossed the border into Chile again with more beautiful scenery. Lakes, mountains, volcanoes and waterfalls.

Ruta 40 to the Lake District

2007-01-31T07:35:00.000-08:00

Leaving the glacier we made a mammoth two day journey up Ruta 40 in Argentina. The roads were bumpy and dusty and then it started lamping it down making the roads turn to sludge. At one point we had to get out and push the bus as it was stuck in the mud. We arrived at our destination around midnight, saw a comet blazing across the most spectacular night sky then jumped back on the bus at 7:30 the next day for another 14 hour trip! We were rewarded for our efforts by the beautful town of Bariloche in the Lake District. We went mountainbiking, walking in the woods (and got a bit lost) and generally relaxing. the food was class too. Here's more photos...

Perito Moreno Glacier

2007-01-29T14:57:00.000-08:00

Here we are at the Perito Moreno glacier in Argentina. A monster of a glacier as you can see. The sound of the ice cracking was amazing and we patiently waited for huge chunks to crash into the water. A little boat trip and then hiking on the glacier, crampons and everything and a glass of whiskey and ice to finish. (You´ll have to twist that last one around yourself)

Fin del mundo

2007-01-26T07:20:00.000-08:00

We took the plane down to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world apparently. Refreshingly cold after Buenos Aires and that end of the world feeling to it. We took a boat trip on the Beagle Channel to the lighthouse at the end of the world. We´ve had a few long dusty and quite bumpy bus rides down here. the roads aren´t the best but the views have been amazing. We crossed the straits of Magellen and the Chilean border to the Torres del Paine national park in with snow capped mountains, glaciers and lakes of ice.

Don´t cry for me...

2007-01-26T07:11:00.000-08:00

After two months we had to say farewell to Buenos Aires and it was a little sad to leave. It´s been a very hospitable home for us and an oasis of stability between the travelling. We spent four days showing Julie´s dad all the sites, here is the Casa Rosada which was unfortunately covered in scaffolding for our two months but you can just about make out the balcony where Evita performed her greatest hits from.

The cemetery at Recoleta was amazing with elaborate and expensive tombs housing the rich and famous, former presidents and Evita and it was just round the corner from our flat.

Congreso building just up from where we went to school.

And a goodbye to Mariano our fabulous Spanish teacher. Here we are in the classroom comparing tans. Keep in touch!

Julie´s Dad arrives in Buenos Aires

2007-01-26T07:05:00.000-08:00

Special Guest Star

2007-01-19T05:24:00.000-08:00

We have a new member of our entourage, my Dad! He arrived in Buenos Aires on Friday, and we`ve spent four days doing the sights, taking in a parilla (Argentinian meat feast) and a Tango show. On Tuesday we flew south to Ushuaia the southern most city in the world. It`s surrounded by snow topped mountains and was only five degrees when we arrived, a bit of a change from the 30 degree heat in Buenos Aires! We took a trip on the Beagle Channel, and are now scooting our way up the Magellen strait to Chile, towards the glaciars! Dad is coping with the hostels so far, and survived a 12 hour bus trip, let`s see how he copes with a full day trek of Torres del Paine national park! Photos to follow.

Lazy Days

2007-01-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

Here´s some more photos just to show how little we´re doing right now. Conserving energy for the arrival of Julie´s dad on Friday when we´ll switch back to tourist mode for four days sightseeing in Buenos Aires before flying to Ushuaia in Patagonia on the 16th. We´ve been applying for jobs in Japan too which seems to be going OK with a few interviews lined up for when we reach Sydney.

Daily life in Buenos Aires

2007-01-08T12:09:00.000-08:00

Apologies for not putting many postings on recently but we really have slowed things down in Buenos Aires. We´re making the most of having our own space, cooking our own food and watching our own TV before we head off into part two of the backpacking saga. Christmas and New Year were very peaceful here, the city seemed very quiet and the streets were almost empty. New Year´s eve we headed into the centre with a rucksack of champagne for a fireworks display which turned out to be very low-key, homemade and quiet dangerous with kids setting off fireworks randomly. It was a really nice atmosphere though and 28 degrees at midnight! There were people of all ages and big families with bottles of champagne too. We somehow got talking to a drunk bloke who insisted on talking about the falklands but we escaped without causing any offence I think. Thanks for all the calls around Christmas and New Year, it was really nice to hear from you all. We´re in the flat til the 15th then phoneless again. The spanish lessons are going really well but we only have two remaining and are far from fluent but it has been worthwhile. Here´s some random photos of Buenos Aires.

Happy New Year everybody! love from Kieran & Julie x

Feliz Navidad from Buenos Aires!

2006-12-24T10:37:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone and Merry Christmas! Hope you all have a lovely day and get lots of nice pressies. We´ve had some good days Christmas Shopping in Buenos Aires and are looking forward to the Christmas service tonight then off to the bars! Here´s a photo of our Christmas tree in the flat!

Did I mention we have a phone in the flat? The number's a bit further down on the 'New Flat' posting.

Special Happy Birthday messages to Sam and Ilker today!!! (and Nik tomorrow!) Have a fab day!

More Waterfalls

2006-12-18T12:47:00.000-08:00

Some more lovely waterfall snaps. We moved into the new flat on Saturday and really enjoying it. Great to have a place of our own with Cable TV! Premiership football games live, Frasier, Seinfeld, Friends and Scrubs on everyday and got our first big shop in at the local Carrefour. Really getting into the Argentinian way of life!

Iguazu Falls

2006-12-15T12:39:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a trip to Iguazu Falls on the border with Brazil. An 18 hour bus ride was made worthwhile by the jaw-dropping sights and sounds of the waterfalls. The photo´s don´t really get across how massive the whole falls are, so spectacular, really challenging Macchu Picchu for top spot on.

What do you think of the new hats? I wasn´t sure I looked touristy enough what with the bone white complexion so I decided to don my shorts and get a huge cowboy hat just in case any Argentinians were in any doubt.

I´m a celebrity get me out of here!!!!

2006-12-15T12:36:00.000-08:00

New Flat

2006-12-13T09:31:00.000-08:00

We´re moving flat on Saturday! Into a nice little place in the posh end of town. It has a phone you can call if you like but remember we´re three hours behind the UK so not too early.

It also has an address but I think it would be a bit of a gamble to send anything so don´t send anything at all valuable. We´re there til the 15th of January.

Kieran and Julie
Ayacucho 1463,
7th Piso Apartment F,
Recoleta
Buenos Aires
Argentina
Telephone number of the apartment: (+54-11) 4815-7847

Things are still going well, we´ve had a couple of great trips out of the city which we´ll post some photo´s of soon. The Spanish school is still going well and we´re busy planning the next trip down to Patagonia after Christmas.

KEVIN - just a touch

2006-12-05T10:05:00.000-08:00

Throughout the travels, from Mexico to Argentina, whenever I introduce myself as Kieran nine times out of ten I get the same response:
"Kevin?"
No, Kieran
"Kev-in"
No, Kieran
"ah, Kevin"
I then get introduced as Kevin to all others.
I don´t mind the obscurity of the name Kieran, it´s the global domination of the name Kevin which bothers me, from the jungles of Guatemala to the Peruvian Andes everyone knows the name Kevin and no-one knows Kieran.
I put it down to Messers Keegan, Costner and the boy from the Wonder Years.
We then arrive in Buenos Aires to find KEVIN plasted all over the place.
There´s a popular scent here called KEVIN!! "just a touch" indeed.

Which explains the posting below.

Give my love to Kevin

2006-12-02T17:29:00.000-08:00

Highlights of Buenos Aires (so far)...

2006-12-02T17:28:00.000-08:00

We´re still enjoying life in Buenos Aires, the spanish classes are going well and it´s really hotting up here. It´s not the type of place you can just whip the digital camera out whenever, so the photo´s may be limited over the next few weeks. Here´s a few snaps though...

You can learn a lot here
Sunset from the apartment
The lift and staircase which is a great lift.

Kieran finally gets his hair cut!

2006-11-23T11:38:00.000-08:00

Buenos Aires

2006-11-23T11:21:00.000-08:00

From the train we caught a bus to the pretty city of Salta in Northern Argentina and were amazed at the difference from Bolivia. We could have been in Europe with the plaza cafes, snazzy dressed locals and push chairs! It was only in Salta that we realised we hadn´t seen pushchairs since we left. It felt like our tough travelling was over as we were spoilt by fancy restaurants and bars. One more overnight bus ride and we´d made it to Buenos Aires!

And we love the place. We´ve been here 10 days now and no complaints. We found a great place to live, here´s the link. It´s a really big apartment, five bedrooms and there´s only five of us in it! We washed all our clothes and unpacked everything, slung the backpacks under the bed, such a relief after three months of travelling.

http://www.lautarohostel.com.ar/

It´s pretty cheap and there´s plenty of room if anyone´s itching to escape those winter blues. It´s pretty hot here already and it´s not even summer.

We´ve joined a Spanish school too so hoping that´ll improve quickly.

Choo chooo!

2006-11-19T10:13:00.000-08:00

The train fom Sucre to Potosi in Bolivia. It was small and it smelt bad....

....but it had the most amazing views.

The Expresa Del Sur from Oruro to Villazon in Bolivia.

You can just about see Kieran sat on the train

The border crossing into Argentina, at last!!

Trainspotting

2006-11-19T07:33:00.000-08:00

The first train we took, ran on tracks but was more like a bus as you´ll see from the photo´s. Really bizarre and it took six hours (twice as long as the bus) but it was really worth it. The route went through tiny villages and land you´d never see from the roads. Wild looking dogs seemed to be doing a relay race of chasing the train, what seemed like for the whole journey there would be a different dog barking alongside. Hares were also running alongside at one point too. Then the highlight for me as the train rounded a rocky corner three huge birds took flight just next to the train, maybe condors with a wingspan two or three metres. We arrived in Potosi and though the train had somehow managed to smell worse than the buses we were hooked and planning our next train trip. In Potosi, a silver mining town, we were lucky to be there at the height of the parades. Three or four marching bands and dancers similtaneously parading through the streets despite the rain and causing gridlock traffic. We took a bus to Oruro so we could take the Expresa del Sur overnight train (executive class!) to the Argentinian border. The hotel in Oruro was more like a prison cell and the cheapest so far (two pounds fifty for a twin cell) but it was worth staying the night for even more spectacular parades the next day!
Then the best journey of the trip so far, the Expresa del Sur to Villazon at the Border with Argentina. The views were amazing and after sunset we ate in the dining car - a first for us - and drank Bolivian beers until last orders and then had our best night´s sleep whilst moving.

Dinosaur Photos for Sam!

2006-11-19T07:32:00.000-08:00

Julie shortly before she got eaten by a T-Rex

Bolivia

2006-11-16T07:17:00.000-08:00

High altitude and low temperatures combined to give us both colds at the start of November, on the Lemsips, just like being back home. The heavily polluted capital of La Paz didn´t help. In fact all of Bolivia had such terrible air pollution from the traffic. Old Japanese buses chuggin out thick black smoke straight into the lungs of the gasping tourists trying to breath in the thin air. From La Paz we took an overnight bus to Sucre, a pretty colonial city, surprisingly wealthy compared to the rest of the country. A bit dull though to be honest with most cafes and restaurants closed whenever we fancied somthing to eat - a continuing theme throughout the country. Bolivia was unlike any other country so far in that the shopkeepers really didn´t mind if you bought something or not, a bit strange but refreshing after the pestering we´ve been getting. A highlight of Sucre was a visit to an orphanage run by nuns. We took along some crayons and books and played with the toddlers, Julie even got roped into the nappy changing. A visit to see some Dinosaur footprints was fun too, lots of lifesize replicas. Getting a bit sick of the buses (of which Bolivia had the worst so far) we decided after some advice from Julie´s ex-work colleague in Oxford transport, to take the train!

Lake Titikaka

2006-11-02T15:15:00.000-08:00

After Macchu Picchu we headed south to Lake Titikaka where we visited the floating reed islands of Uros.

We stayed in Puno on the Peruvian side of the lake where we were lucky to see parades in the streets, lots of colourful dancers, pan pipers, drummers and cute children.

We crossed over to the Bolivian side of the lake and stayed at Copacabana with beautiful views of the lake. From there we headed to La Paz where we are now.

On Safari

2006-11-02T15:09:00.000-08:00

Macchu Picchu

2006-11-02T14:56:00.000-08:00

We made it! Highlight of the trip so far. We arrived at 6.20 am and the site was blanketed in clouds.

Darkest Peru

2006-10-25T17:27:00.000-07:00

We flew from Panama City to Lima, Peru, where Paddington Bear comes from!! so I am now mainly eating marmalade sandwiches! We stayed in a really nice suburb of Lima called Miraflores, it is wonderful, it has department stores, and massive supermarkets! and it´s by the sea. All of my favourite things! The weather is very different down here, we´re now really glad we packed jumpers, and long sleeve tops. In the day it´s really sunny, and quite hot (but not like Guatemala hot), at night it´s freezing! We´ve been on a tour to some Inca ruins (can´t remember the name Panahachca, or something) on the outskirts of Lima, with the guy that owns the hostel (Francis) who´s a real character. He got us into areas of the ruins most people aren´t allowed in! It was amazing. We then took a 21 hour overnight bus to Cuzco near to Machu Picchu! I don´t fancy the 4 day trek up to the ruins cos basically I´d rather get the train!

Can you spot Turtle Island?

Tomorrow we head on an unofficial Inca Trail (which involves buses and trains) and Friday we should be at Macchu Picchu! More photo´s to follow

Panama City

2006-10-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

So we last posted from San Jose, Costa Rica which hadn´t had the best reviews from fellow travellers but we really liked it. Found a great second hand book store, a lovely vegetarian cafe and some nice local bars as well as lots of decent shopping for the first time since we left. It jumped to our favourite capital city so far. We then took an overnight bus to Panama City which came nowhere in the favourite city stakes. Plenty of American fast food joints and shopping malls which meant the downtown was rundown and quite nasty. The old town was quite pretty and we spent the day trying to buy Panama hats but none big enough for my head (Kieran writing). We visited the Panama Canal though, that was worth a visit. Luckily we got there as a hefty ship was passing through. The day we left, the city was holding a referendum as to whether to build another wider canal next to the existing one. Ships just keep growing. Lots of NO marches in the city, along with the less vocal YES supporters.

More Volcanoes

2006-10-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

Thought we´d post a few more volcano snaps. The first is as we entered the clouds climbing up.

And this is the photo from the top after five hours climbing looking down into the crater lake.

This is Volcan Arenal in Costa Rica (out of sequence) the one we went to see the lava flow at night. (Night photos didn´t work)

And this is back at Volcano Conception, opposite the one we climbed.

Having problems with comments?

2006-10-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

Just realised you can change the settings so anyone can leave a comment not just people with usernames. Seems a few of you have been having problems so hope this helps. Remember to leave your name with your comment though if you´re not registered or it´ll get too confusing.

Costa Rica

2006-10-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

We´ve now made it to Costa Rica. We´re both really well and will celebrate two months away today with a few beers in 35 minutes when it´s happy hour - beers for a dollar. We´re in a great hostel in San Jose with free internet access so we´re getting bang up to date with the blog. The camera´s out of puff though so we´re using links instead. Here´s the hostel we´re at right now:

http://www.hostelpangea.com/

Here´s the volcano we climbed a few days ago in Nicaragua:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ometepe

And here´s the Volcano we saw last night. It´s active and we watched hot rocks bouncing down the sides at night before heading to the hot springs resort below. Loads of pools of all temperatures with a swim up bar too! It was bliss after all our cold showers and dusty hot bus rides.

http://www.arenal.net/

Also, I haven´t managed to cut my hair since I left so it´s looking a bit like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syndrome_(The_Incredibles)

Nicaragua

2006-10-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

We had two nights in the beautiful colonial city of Granada before heading to the Volcanic Island of Ometepe on Lake Cocibolca. It´s so peaceful on the Island, it felt like we had the place to ourselves. The first day we trekked up to a waterfall, the second day kayaked to two monkey islands where there are former pet monkeys who have been set free (like the one Ross had on Friends).
Then we climbed the volcano! 1345 metres! to a crater lake on top. Really difficult going but the cloud forest was incredible, the trees were covered in dripping moss and the clouds were so close. We were clambering through the roots of the trees, so steep for so long, it was like being on Dagobah and we had to use the force several times. Julie was on her arse at least six times. It was worth it at the top though, the crater lake was beautiful and I had to jump in for a dip though it was more like swimming through mud.

http://www.starwars.com/databank/location/dagobah/

Granada and Ometepe Volcano Island, Nicaragua

2006-10-11T17:20:00.000-07:00

Rattling through Central America

2006-10-08T20:16:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
Thanks for all the comments and thanks for your concern about my tan and diet. I am eating too well, eating out almost every meal and almost always a veggie option. I think the flash on the camera is so bright it´s not showing off my tan which is more of a golden brown than appears in the many photos. After the bay Islands we stopped off at Tegucigalpa the capital of Honduras for a night and then into Granada, Nicaragua. It´s a really pretty town and we´ll post some photo´s soon. Tomorrow we´re heading to some Volcano Islands!

SCUBA Divers 2!

2006-10-04T16:06:00.000-07:00

We've just finished the course in these photo's and are pretty relieved. Great fun but not easy. A good challenge!

SCUBA Divers!

2006-10-04T15:54:00.000-07:00

We did it! We got our Open Water certifications! A bit tricky at first but we really loved the last couple of dives. The reef here is amazing and we saw so much down there. We swam with a turtle at one point and saw all sorts of marine life but no Sharks.
I am now completely deaf!! (julie)

In The Bay Islands

2006-10-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

We're now in the Bay Islands, Honduras. On an Island called Utila favoured by backpackers wanting to learn to Scuba dive, which is what we're currently doing!! We're half way through and it's been a bit tricky but we're doing pretty well and go on our first boat dive tomorrow, hoping to spot some whale sharks - mostly harmless but enormous.

Photos of Caye Caulker, Belize

2006-10-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

Here's some photos of the Caribbean coast where we went out with the Ragamuffin Tours on a sail boat and snorkelled with Nurse Sharks (that's the blurry wet photo!) we also ate at Rasta Pasta and drank in a reggae bar with swings instead of chairs.

Caribbean Dreams

2006-10-02T17:18:00.000-07:00

Blue seas, blue skies and beautiful beaches. We travelled by bus from Flores in Guatemala to Belize City (not very nice), and from here we took a boat to Caye Caulker. It's a fantastic little island in the Caribbean. We stayed here for 3 days swimming, snorkelling and drinking rum!! We have seen loads of amazing fish, we swam with nurse sharks (harmless) and lots of rays.
From here we travelled down the coast to Dangriga and then Placencia. We took a boat to Honduras on Friday morning heading for the Bay Islands!

Our work here is done

2006-09-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Last friday we finished our first project in Guatemala! We made it through four weeks and were sad to say goodbye to San Andres, the Park, the family we stayed with and all the volunteers we met too.

Three day trek into the jungle to the Mayan sites at El Zotz and Tikal

2006-09-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

Very wet. This is where we slept. Mosquito headnets, very handy.

The toilet!

Our hammocks with mosquito nets

Kieran and Andres battling against the many mosquitoes

En La Bosca

2006-09-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we did a three day trek into the jungle to the Mayan sites of El Zotz and Tikal. Sleeping outdoors in hammocks, not a shower in sight for 3 days, immense heat and humidity, mosquitos, and the most horrendous toilets ever!

Day 1. El Cruce to El Zotz- a 5 hour trek into the jungle. At sunset we visited some caves to watch millions of bats. As they flew within a whisker of our faces it began to smell like chicken sheds and was a real David Attenborough moment.

Day 2. In the morning we visited the ruins at El Zotz, which are unexcavated and overgrown. In the afternoon we trekked for 3 hours to our next camp in the middle of nowhere, where it lamped it down with rain.

Day 3. After a challenging night in the hammocks we set off on the final leg of the journey, a further 5 hour trek through deep jungle and lots of sticky smelly mud, ending in Tikal, and at last a decent toilet!

Animals we encountered- 3 dead tarantulas and one live one, a scorpion, lots of really evil looking spiders with massive webs (all across the paths we were walking on).
Bats, bats, bats, bats flapping around our heads!!! little leathery wings flapping in our ears!!
Lots of occelots (we think) with long stripey tails. There were also loads of monkeys swinging through the trees and shaking the branches so fruit dropped on us! All the time we could hear Howler monkeys (but never saw any), they sounded like monsters in a horror movie, which really gave me the willies when I was trying to get to sleep.

Photos from Tikal, Guatemala.

2006-09-17T18:57:00.000-07:00

Mayan ruins deep in the jungle. Amazing place with Toucans and so many spider monkeys in the trees. We watched the sunset from one of the pyramids and stayed the night nearby. We've been three times now.

Apparently the setting for the rebel base camp in one of the star wars films but I'm not so sure.

El Lago Peten Itza

2006-09-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

The lake is beautiful and about twenty yards from our house. We come down to this pier almost every day after work to cool off. The sunset is amazing and thunder and lightening storms can be so spectacular. The dawn photo's below are of San Andres as we took the 7am boat ride to town.

You´ll notice the suntan's coming along nicely!

Photos from San Andres

2006-09-17T18:45:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the entrance to the ecological park where we are volunteering.

The building above is soon to be the town's new library. Our donations are helping to get it built and we spent some time there helping out.

The main street in San Andres, the local boozer is the third building from the left.

Here's the volunteers at the park.

The road down to our house. We have to climb this every morning and it's a killer. The picture doesn't do it justice.

San Andres, Peten

2006-09-17T18:44:00.000-07:00

Life in San Andres is full of challenges. We are living with a family who speak no english so we are trying our best with Spanish. There are bugs everywhere, mosquitoes, spiders, scorpions and many unidentified flying things. Most of which seem to end up in our bedroom at some point. San Andres seems to be overrun with dogs - half starved mangy looking dogs who are tired and lazy in the midday heat but completely insane at night. So we get our drinking done early here. Things are pretty basic, outdoor toilet and shower and washing clothes outside on a washboard. The work is OK, we leave for work at eight and are usually cooling off in the lake soon after midday. Lake Peten Itza is about 20 yards from our house and is beautiful, particulary in the scorching afternoon heat.
The work is manual and quite varied. So far we've been replacing rotten fence posts around the perimeter of the park, rebuilding a chicken shed and replanting banana trees (where the tarantulas live). Next week we're in the butterfly garden. One more week to go.

2006-09-17T07:34:00.000-07:00

Photos from Mexico

The cathedral in Mexico City

The Basilica de Guadeloupe

Teotihuacan

Pope John Paul, made from thousands of brass keys apparently

2006-09-11T13:45:00.000-07:00

MEXICO
Mexico City - Puebla - Oaxaca - Puerto Escondido - Tapachula - Guatemala City
From the high altitude and air pollution of the capital to the severe humidity of the pacific coast! A quick summary to catch up...A great country but we won't be rushing back. A good place to start the trip as there's so many English speakers, backpacker hostels and well trodden tourist routes with backpackers and holiday makers. Aztec ruins galore, the highlight for me would have to be a lightning storm on top of the Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan, an Aztec ruin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teotihuacan

We even took in a pilgrimage site in Mexico city - the Basilica of Guadelupe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Guadalupe

Itinerary

2006-09-02T16:46:00.000-07:00

16th August 2006
Flight from Heathrow to Mexico City
overland to Guatemala City
26th August 2006
Flight from Guatemala City to Flores, Guatemala
First project at www.volunteerpeten.com for a month
Possible trip to Cuba before heading to Costa Rica for our second project
From Costa Rica to Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil and Chile.
1st February 2007
Flight from Santiago, Chile to Sydney
6 weeks in Australia before flying to Tokyo
That´s the plan anyway...