England and Australia

New Year Eve 2018 to 2019

February 6, 2019 by Vicky Leave a Comment

As you know, the Aussie and I spent Christmas and New Year in the UK and it was fantastic!

To celebrate New Years Eve / New Years Day we visited my friend Becky and her husband, Tom who live in South Yorkshire. Before setting off on our trip we knew we would want to leave early and stop off somewhere, so we picked Becky and Tom’s brains for somewhere we could stop off en route.

The winning suggestion was a trip to Bakewell, which is also well known for the Bakewell Tart!

According to Wikipedia, “a Bakewell tart is an English confection consisting of a shortcrust pastry shell beneath layers of jam, frangipane, and a topping of flaked almonds”.

We took a little walk around Bakewell which is very pretty and was getting into the swing of the New Years Eve celebrations, before stopping off to try a “real” Bakewell Tart in The Bakewell Tart Shop (there are a number of shops which sell Bakewell Tarts in Bakewell and all purport to be the home of the original version) which was really quite tasty and fuelled us for the remainder of our journey to Becky’s house.

The drive from Bakewell was interesting as the GPS took us through the moors which meant lots of narrow lanes, uphill and downhill trails and a pretty mad 90 degrees or more left turn which may have caused some wheel spin / smoke action!

We made it in one piece although the poor Aussie was pretty poorly by the time we landed at Becky’s house. On arrival he elected to go to bed to try and sleep it off which meant he missed the New years Eve celebrations whilst the three of us went to a local party and saw the new year in.

I definitely missed starting the New Year with the Aussie but it was so so lovely cheering in the New Year with Becky and Tom and when we got home and I went to bed the Aussie woke up, wished me Happy New Year and promptly fell back asleep! He was really quite unwell.

Luckily the next morning which was of course New Years Day, the Aussie was feeling much more like himself. We had planned a bit of a walk / hike to blow out the cobwebs but instead elected for a tour around the local area aptly named “Tom’s Tours” which was ideal with the way the Aussie was feeling.

On our tour we got to see lots of the beautiful countryside which is right on their doorstep and also learned more about the local area which was both interesting and quite cool.

After our little tour, me, the Aussie and Becky went out for a little walk which involved some cow spotting as well as some style climbing and stopped off for lunch at a very cute pub / inn.

After wandering back to the house we spent the afternoon and evening pottering around and catching up which was just what was in order.

The next morning we headed back home to my mum and dad’s via Bristol where we spent the afternoon catching up with my friends who I went to University and worked with before moving to Australia. It was very whistle stop but we managed to see almost everyone which was really lovely, especially as I was able to finally introduce them to the Aussie!

I hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year! How did you spend your New Years Eve?

Coughs and Sneezes

January 9, 2019 by Vicky Leave a Comment

After a whirl wind and fantastic Christmas break spent with my family and catching up with family and friends which I will write about in coming posts, the Aussie and I have now made the hop on Saturday morning and arrived back in Brisbane on Sunday night and were back to work on Monday morning.

We hopped on a 12 hour plane from London Heathrow to Singapore which I spent binge watching a show called The Americans, which was actually great and I want to track down the other series, because I couldn’t sleep at all. We spent two tired hours in Singapore Airport where I needed to walk and stretch my legs after the first flight and then we had a 7 hour 15 minute flight from Singapore back to Brisbane where I managed to sleep on and off but it wasn’t restful.

Monday and work wasn’t too painful. I woke up at 4am and couldn’t sleep any more but that meant I managed to unpack both of my suitcases (I had to commandeer my Dads suitcase because mine was a bit over stuffed), get everything up and running in the house again and back to “reality”.

Both of us left the UK a little under the weather (the poor Aussie was so unwell he had had to sleep in the New Years rather than come and celebrate with my good friend Becky and her Husband who we visited for a couple of days) and it continues a few days later.

I am not sure if there is some element of jet lag but I was pretty wiped out by bed time last night. It doesn’t feel like the usual jet lag that I have experienced in the past but it means no working out for me which is driving me a little crazy because I am keen to get back in to the gym.

I went for a very gentle walk yesterday and was exhausted post work and I am feeling a bit sorry for myself and my cough this morning so I will have to reign in my enthusiasm and rest for the next few days so I do get better quickly.

Notwithstanding, the sickness this year has started off great and I hope that you are all having a wonderful start to 2019.

Boxing Day Climbing

January 3, 2019 by Vicky Leave a Comment

When we booked our flights home for Christmas I suggested to the Aussie that we venture out to climb Glastonbury Tor on Boxing Day and he happily (I think) accepted the challenge.

Last time the Aussie came to the UK, he climbed Glastonbury Tor. I didn’t, because firstly I didn’t think I would be fit enough and secondly I had, had surgery on my leg about 8 weeks before and was still feeling the effects. However, I will admit that the main reason I chose not too, was because I didn’t believe I would manage the walk.

This time round I was actually really excited about the challenge and giving it a go. I was also confident that I wouldn’t struggle with the walk because I am a lot fitter than I was.

The Tor itself is a large hill which overlooks Somerset and the Somerset Levels and has an elevation of 518 feet (158 metres). To climb the Tor you can walk up the grassy side or use the stairs, we used the stairs because it was easier but it was also early in the morning and quite damp from the dew / mist.

As we climbed up the stairs the sheep who live in and around the Tor moved off the path (although we had to dodge the sheep poo!) and we worked our way to the top.

We crossed paths with a dog walker and his two dogs who stopped for a quick pat on their way up and a couple of solo walkers who greeted us with a swift “good morning” and “I don’t think you will get much of a view today” due to the mist. For me anyway, the view wasn’t the reason for the climb, I was enjoying the new personal challenge.

The mist covered the Tor as we approached and didn’t clear until well in to our time at the top. We spent some time talking to a guy who had woken up and felt the urge to climb the Tor that day and greeted the morning with some chanting.

We watched the mist go across and clear our view of the Somerset Levels before taking a different set of stairs back down the Tor and in to Glastonbury where we spent some time walking around the town before stopping for a coffee and our next stop on our Boxing Day adventures in Cheddar.

All the Christmas Lights

December 29, 2018 by Vicky Leave a Comment

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying that crazy period between Christmas and New Year! The Aussie and I have been out and about exploring the beautiful Somerset countryside on our own and with my lovely parents and I will write about that soon.

My brother says that I make him feel Christmassy and last Christmas that I was at home we visited a local street where most of the houses cover their houses in lights to raise money for charity.

This year was no exception and so as the Aussie was here I decided that we had to go and visit and Christmas Eve seemed like the best night to go so we could feel extra festive.

It seemed like there wasn’t quite as many houses lit up this year but the lighting display definitely did not disappoint as you can see from some of the photos which I took below.

The evening was lovely especially as my brother was able to come along as well. The only thing that was missing was a steaming cup of hot chocolate!

After dropping my brother home we went home ourselves, fully intending to stay up and watch the Midnight Mass on tv and promptly fell asleep half way through!

It was all in all a pretty special Christmas Eve as I also got to see my Grandma and introduce her to the Aussie for the first time.