From our trip to Ireland in June 2015 Karen would be going to Scotland the day after her parents so spent our last night together in Cork with our Irish pals having dinner and drinks. Like a glitch in the Matrix, John found himself sitting in the same restaurant,at the same table, at the same […]
Whilst Midleton and Ayr are considered Home there is one more place that could be labelled as such. Located  at 51.5072° N, 0.1275° W and cut in two by the River Thames. Samuel Johnson  famously said  that if you are tired of it than you are tired of life. Can you guess where it is? Need […]
In fair Cork, where we lay our scene,… A pair of star-cross’d lovers start their life 🙂 Karen and John would not be the only surprise visitors to Rosehill East. With a ring on her finger and a wedding on the books it was time for the long overdue Rose-Hamilton Summit – Iain and Bernadette […]
Well tell everyone except for Cameron, Emmet and Emma Rose who were completely in the dark about the impending arrival of their big brother John. After 18 months away we would be reunited with our friends and families back in Scotland/Ireland for a wee visit. But first we had an incredible journey… Wednesday 27th May […]
8th August 2015 So there it is. 12 Months of travelling around and living in Australia. So much done but so so much more still to do. It only feels like yesterday that we arrived off the plane in Perth in search of adventure and (after 7 months in Asia), wine and cheese! What started […]
“Perhaps we can scare away the ghost of so many years ago with a little illumination, gentleman!” Every May the entire city of Sydney gets out the step ladder, goes up into the loft and opens up an old cardboard box marked ‘lights’ and then drapes itself in them. I am of course referring to […]
With the girls coming back from Melbourne we had four days left to enjoy Sydney and expose Laura to as much as possible. Here is how we got on… Day 1: Pub Crawl There are many things to do in Sydney on a Friday night but one of the more random acts is to do […]
Having waved John off back to Sydney, it was sister time to shop, eat, drink and be merry in Melbourne. After an early take off and the most disgusting plane snack ever – tomato and corn muffins with banana and coconut chips we arrived in the capital of Victoria. Soon we were checked in and […]
With a full week in Sydney done we decided to take a few days break and bring Laura up to see one of Karen’s favourite places in all the world – ever since her backpacking trip in 2006. 4 days of chilling and exploring in equal measure up in the Whitsundays! It was an early […]
We had a whole week in Sydney to introduce Laura to our Sydney bubble before we headed to warmer climates of Queensland’s coast. After the weekend of fun, it was time for John to return to work and the girls to head to the outlets…Birkenhead Point for some retail therapy. We had a great day […]
On seeing this week’s Photo Challenge Topic both Karen and I both said at once: “Boudhanath Stupa” While exploring this marvellous building we were enthralled by the multi-coloured Tibetan Flags that adorned it’s four corners.
The day was finally here. We had wanted to go to Taronga Zoo ever since we arrived but when you live in Sydney you need to keep things back for when visitors arrive – otherwise every new visit feels like Groundhog Day (‘Opera House Tour: Again!!) With the reunion of the Hamilton sisters we could […]
The time had finally arrived – Laura (Karen’s sister) was arriving from Scotland for a wee visit Down Under. In preparation for her visit John was tasked with moving a bed from Cremorne and generally dusting and cleaning whilst Karen went to town on an Australian welcome pack. Armed with flags and posters we eagerly […]
In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Broken.” For centuries a chain of fortifications kept the inhabitants of Greater China safe from attack from the Mongol Hordes. Today it lies mostly in ruins – scavenged to almost nothing. This was one of the towers at a section of the Great Wall at Jinshangling.
All those months ago in our little flat in Greenwich we began planning our trip. The end goal for the medium term was to make it to Sydney. Karen had been to Australia in 2006 on a backpacking trip with two friends so she would be our guide when we made it Down Under. As […]
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