David and I have a bit of exciting news……. I am pregnant!!!

Today I am 13 weeks and due on 18 May. We are staying in London to have the bub and I am booked into Chelsea & Westminster Hospital.

We are both thrilled at the news.

Here are some scan pics of the little one….

Well it’s been ages since I have had a chance to update the blog!

The week after we moved into our new flat back in August it was a long weekend and we headed off to Cardiff. Despite a wet and windy weekend we had a lovely time in Cardiff and southern Wales.

September we headed to Helsinki in Finland! Random but a very pretty town.

October we had a whole week off! We hired a little cottage in North Wales and, through more rain, had a lovely and relaxing week.

I’ll let the photos tell the stories

….

The last month has been busy with studying, moving (AGAIN) and a lovely long weekend away, canal boating.

The trip was organised by Candice as a surprise for Will’s 30th birthday. We heading up to a little town north of London called Leighton Buzzard (great name on the Friday to start our trip)! Our instructions and lesson on the boat took place in torrential rain, great start to the weekend….

There were 6 of us on the long boat, which was brand new and very comfy. The weekend was fantastic, a relaxing trip through the English countryside. Well mostly relaxing, turning a 70ft boat through a narrow corner that might be 10ft wide at the most could be somewhat challenging.

But it was a great was to spend three days and something very different. We had to open and close locks as we went along, moved bridges and even managed a three point (ok, it might have been a ten point) turn in a long boat.

On the first evening, David had an exciting evening. It started off with him spraining his ankle when we were mooring for the evening. That night we had dinner at a canal side pub where David asked the Chef to make his dinner as hot as possible – BIG MISTAKE!!! The Chef had some chilli powder that was rated very high and, kindly, complied with David’s wishes. I tried the tiniest bit of chicken and was in agony, never imagined something could be so hot. Stubborn David did very well in eating most of his dinner despite being rather uncomfortable.

After travelling for about 18 hours over the weekend, we thought we had done very well. It was a bit of a surprise when we got home and google maps informed us that half of the distance we travelled would have only taken 30mins in the car! So not the most modern form of transport but that I all part of the charm.

We moved again last weekend. Our landlord ended our lease early (hmmm) so we had to move. Last week in the old place was not so good, the boiler went and we had not hot water for a week! Good thing that the weather has been warm. We found a lovely garden flat, still in Fulham. It is bright and open plan, which is a bit different in London. Prism completed her first full day at the flat but rolling in something and turning completely black! For some strange reason, she was very unimpressed when we decided that she needed a bath.

On Friday, David went to The Oval to watch day two of the fifth Ashes Test. Sadly he was “privileged” enough to watch Australia’s disintegration. The weather today is summer and hot (about 26!), so we are enjoying a fantastic summer day listening to the cricket.

So, late in the season, the sun has finally come out and the weather is warming up. Let’s hope it stays like this for a few weeks to come!

Oh dear, I think we are about to lose the Ashes!

We had the most amazing trip to Egypt. We headed over on Saturday 20 June and flew into Cairo. We were staying at the Hilton Ramses and were upgraded to a suite (thank you). The hotel is on the Nile and has fantastic views over the crazy city of Cairo.

On Sunday we were up early to visit the Egyptian Museum. It was only across the road from the hotel but crossing a road in Cairo is not the easiest of tasks. Cars don’t stop at crossings, lanes don’t exist and indicators are replaced by horns! So after a quick education on the best way to place chicken we made it to the museum!

The museum was great – lots and lots and lots of old stuff The highlight was Tutankhamen’s treasures, it is so amazing to see something in real life that you have seen in pictures forever. It was also fascinating to have objects from such an extended history in one place, walking through you could see the progression and development of the art and objects.

Then we braved a hot and dusty afternoon to visit the Khan El Khalili markets and Al-Azhar Mosque.  The markets were pretty touristy but great fun with some pretty cheeky store owners. Loved their lines “Everything in my shop for free just for you,” “hello, you have money and I am happy to take it off you,” and of course the standard “how many camels did you pay for your wife.”  After a couple of hours wandering around the crazy markets we headed across the road to the peaceful Al-Azhar Mosque. The mosque was beautiful with lovely Islamic art and a nice break from the chaos outside. We climb one of the minarets (not so easy in the long cloak that I had to wear) for a view up to The Citadel.

That evening we went to the Egypt restaurant at the hotel where they had a great dinner show with belly dances, whirling dervishes and traditional dances. Good time!

On Monday we headed down to Saqqara to visit some pyramids! We went inside the pyramid of Pharaoh Titi. It is one of the oldest pyramids (I think) and very weathered, so looks more like a hill, but inside had a lovely carved ceiling of stars and a huge amount of hieroglyphs. The tomb outside the temple had some beautiful carvings on the wall as well, so amazing that these things have survived thousands of years.

Then onto the Step Pyramid, it was huge but there was bigger to come. They were doing some work on restoring the entrance of the pyramid. The size of the stone was huge and the workers were struggling to move it so it amazing to imagine how the ancient Egyptians moved them.

We then went down to Memphis to see the Colossus of Ramses II, minus his legs that are unfortunately now sitting somewhere in the Nile.

Then it was back up to Cairo to see the star attraction, the pyramids of Giza. They are just immense! It was just breath taking to see them in real life! The city of Cairo surrounds the pyramids which was an interesting comparision , the chaos of a developing city compared to the solidarity of the pyramids. We entered the second pyramid, it was a steep narrow tunnel and very humid inside. Strangely, it felt like there was a massive amount of weight sitting on your shoulders when you were inside the pyramid. We also visit the Sphinx which was great, looks just like a giant kitty from the back! Fantastic day visiting these dream sites!!

On Tuesday it was only Alexandria. It was a three hour drive to the coast along a pretty mad highway and driving through the Sahara desert. The irrigation in Egypt is impressive, thanks to the Nile they are spreading their arable land at a huge rate.

Alexandria was like a giant Gold Coast! Firstly we went to visit the Catacombs which were great. There were still some amazing painted and carved tombs which were amazing to see as for so long they were under the water table line. We then went to visit the ancient amphitheatre which was also in remarkable condition. We also saw Alexandria Castle, new Library and the Summer Palace. Compared to Cairo, the humidity in Alexandria was a shock but we had a lovely day.

On Wednesday morning we had planned to visit The Citadel but unfortunately I was not well (don’t drink the water!) so we had a relaxing day before catching our plane to Luxor.

At Luxor airport we were greeted by the hotel car with a refreshing drink and cold towels, very nice. The Hilton Resort in Luxor is brand new and one of the most beautiful hotels I have seen. It is right on the banks of the Nile with an infinity pool overlooking the river.

On Thursday we had a relaxing day by the pool and keeping cool in the 42 degrees day!

Friday was back to sightseeing. Very early start to make the most of the coolest part of the day. First stop was the Temple of Hatshepsut, another huge and imposing monument which had been extensively restored. Again there were some beautiful, and very colourful, carvings and paintings still remaining on the temple walls.

Onto the Valley of the Kings where we visited three tombs. Again more amazing paintings. The beauty and symbolism of the paintings was overwhelming, it was just incredible to visit these sites!

Despite the intense heat, the sites were all quite busy so in winter when there are even more tourists, the place must just be mad. We were able to take our time and take in the tombs which was great. Even though we had been to so many sites, it was still amazing to see these beautiful paintings and tombs that had lasted so long and so well.

In Giza, Alexandria and Luxor we did private tours. In additional to the relief of the air conditioned car, we were not rushed from site to site and our guides were quite flexible with our itineraries and the time that we spent at each site.

On Saturday we enjoyed the day spa at the hotel. Steam room, massages and relaxation all with a beautiful view over the Nile and towards the Valley of the Kings.

That evening we did the Lights and Sounds tour of Karnak Temple. It was good fun. The narrative was bit like a 1970’s documentary but the lighting was well done to show off the vast temple. The middle of the temple has 134 pillars that are between 10 and 21 metres tall – amazing!

We headed back to Karnak temple on Sunday morning to see the beauty of the place in daylight (and minus the corny sound track). It was even more impressive during the day, the size of the total temple was grand. I know I keep sounded astounded but all of the sites we saw were just so amazing and overwhelming! What a fantastic trip!!

So we are back to London now with a whole three weeks to wait for our next trip. Just a long weekend away but I will tell you all about that later!

My work is really busy which is keeping me on my toes. David has started his Masters and had his first assignment due last night so fingers crossed for him.

Frustratingly we have to move AGAIN!!! Our landlord’s cousin is moving to London so he has broken the lease so his cousin can move in. Frustrating is the most polite way that I can describe it! Thankfully we found a new place yesterday so we are waiting for our references to be checked and all that stuff. We move mid August. At least we might be getting good at packing…

We have also been having a lovely few of weeks of summer in London! Last week had a couple of days above 30 degrees which was a shock to most people in London! Yesterday a huge storm hit London when I was walking to the station, hail, flooding rain and stations being closed by floods. Fun trip home last night took nearly 2.5 hours but it was worth the nearly two weeks of hot weather!

Bit late in updating the blog and we have done quite a lot of travelling in May!

David met me in Cologne from Dusseldorf on 8th May – very quick train trip for him from Dusseldorf. We stayed at the Cologne Hilton, fantasic rooms, which is right in the centre of town.

Cologne is a really pretty town. We spend Saturday sight-seeing around the town. Wandered the lovely medievel streets, shopping, drinking by the river and climbing the tower of the cathedral (exhausting!!)

There were 533 steps up to the top of the cathedral and I am so unfit at the moment!!! But the view was worth it.

Spamalot was playing in Cologne and because we missed it in London thought it would be good to see……. interesting night because the whole show was in German! We had thought that the songs would still be in English but no, the whole thing was in German. Despite having no idea what was being said it was still very, very funny.

On Sunday we visited the Roman-Germanic museum which was good. They had some fanatsic mosaics in perfect condition.

Not too much else to do in Cologne so we spend the rest of the afternoon wandering through parks and enjoying the sunshine. The weather was fantastic and sunny which made a lovely change from London. We caught a cable car over the river and had a giggle when we went over a spa with naturist loving Germans  thoroughly enjoying the sunshine….

There we two long weekends in May and over the second long weekend we hired a car. On the Saturday we ran a few errands, taking advantage of having a car and put together our new BBQ (finally)! On the Sunday, we drove down to Kent and visited the lovely Leeds Castle.

Leeds Castle is your ideal, liveable castle!! Comes complete with moat and not too big, I am trying to convince David that we should upgrade

We had a lovely picnic in the castle grounds, got lost in the maze and enjoyed some fantastic weather!  The afternoon we spent exploring country lanes (I am suprised by how well I can reverse a car when I come up to another car on those lanes).

We stayed overnight in a pub in Ashford before exploring more on the Bank Holiday Monday. We visited the White Cliffs of Dover, had a lovely lunch at a country pub and drove around the Isle of Sheppey. Lovely and relaxing weekend just driving (not too far) and exploring the beautiful Kent countryside.

Last weekend we were back to Kent! David and Ged won tickets at the recent London Golf Show to the European Golf Open. On Saturday, David & Ged played golf back at Leeds Castle and Erin & I went shopping in Royal Tunbridge Wells.

Tunbridge Wells was a lovely town and the shopping was pretty good too!  We spent the night at the Maidstone Hilton and Sunday headed to London Golf Course to watch the Open.

The weather last Sunday was spectacular and it was a great day following the golf. We had a lobster lunch in the Moet & Chandon marquee (nice) and then following the only Australian playing, Marcus Fraser, around for the rest of the day. He was winning for a while but got three bogeys in the last four wholes and ended up finished equal 8th (David said that I should add that was three shots off the pace).

The only issue of the day was at the end of the day, there was no management of the carpark which meant it took us 2.5 hours to actually leave the carpark!!

David spent the whole week in London this week which was great. He is back to Dusseldorf on Tuesday and has had his countracted extended for another 3 months.

The hot weather didn’t last long but we have had a good weekend. Saturday lunch we caught up with Justin, Ged & Erin while Justin was back in London from Finland. Last night we had dinner an “English cusine” restaurant with David’s uni friend Daniel and his fiancee Anne who are heading to Australia next week to get married.

We are off to Egypt in two weeks and I am very excited! We have four nights in Cairo and four nights in Luxor and will be doing lots of sightseeing, relaxing by the pool and seeing lots of old stuff

Lindsay, good luck in Golburn!

Settled back in to London pretty quickly when we arrived from Australia and the jetlag wasn’t too bad for once as we went back to work straight away.

It is definately Spring time with the days starting to get longer, the sun is making special appearances and there are bulbs and blossums everywhere.

I have started playing netball on Tuesday nights (last week we won 26-6!) and David is back in Dusseldorf a couple of days a week.

For the Easter long weekend we headed up to Scotland for four days with a girl from work, Ola, her husband, Remy and house mate, Aga.

It was a mammoth trip, we drove all the way from London so covered 2700km in the four days but had a fantastic time!

After a 5am start, on the Friday we drove up the West coast of the UK, passing through Glasgow, Glencoe, Fort William, past beautiful mountains and lochs and over to the Isle of Skye. It was cold and wet but the scenery along the way was incredible. Waterfalls and rainbows everywhere!

We stayed overnight in a tiny village called Kyleakin where we explored the ruins of an old castle.

The following morning we drove up the Isle of Skye to Dunvegan Castle where we stopped and explored the gardens. Also on Skye we visited more waterfalls and ruins of an ancient fort. More dramatic scenery along the way.

At lunch we stopped in the pretty fishing village of Ullapool (back on the mainland) and took a dramatic drive up to the town of Tongue where we spent the second night.

On the way to Tongue, we stopped at Smoo cave which is a cliff cave with, you guessed it, another waterfall!

Our hostel in Tongue was lovely. It was situated on the edge of a lock and was an old 18th centuary hunting lodge.

On Easter Sunday we woke up to a fantastic Polish breakfast (the others we were travelling with were Polish) before heading out again. This time we followed the coast along to Dunney Head, the most northern point in the UK. Along the way we stopped and visited the ruins of a 15th centuary church, St Marys.

We also stopped at John of Grouts, the lovely town of Lybster where we had lunch by the harbour, another ruined fort and the beautiful Dunbeath Castle.

That evening we stayed at the Hilton Aviemore before an epic drive back to London.

We saw so many amazing sights in Scotland. It truely is a beautiful place. We have wonderful sunny weather from Saturday and saw so much wildlife including deer and seals. As you will see in the pics there are a lot of photos of castles and mountains and waterfalls. I haven’t been able to name many of them as they were just everywhere! In four days we managed to see so much.

Back in London we have been spending a bit of time fixing up our little garden and enjoying the sunshine. The garden is coming along nicely and came complete with some nesting birds.

Off for a bike ride while the weather is lovely!

After a lovely stay with David’s parents (sorry about the jetlag) we headed up to Port Douglas for a week in the sun and my brother’s wedding.

Arrived into Cairns, to wonderfully hot weather and a shock of humidity, where we met by parents.

The drive up to Port Douglas has to be one of the most beautiful drives you can do. It takes you up along the coast and pretty breathtaking.

Our first day in Port Douglas was spent exploring the town (very pretty), shopping, relaxing and of course enjoying the sun by the pool!

Did have two encounters with snakes on our first day, including one with the pool with us. After trying to convince people in the UK was safe and that you rarely saw snakes, spiders and sharks (more on sharks later) in Australia we had to have a laugh. They were only tree snakes but it is a bit of a shock when you turn around in a pool and realise that oh, there is a snake swimming next to me!

The next day we spent out on the Great Barrier Reef. Mum and I went scuba diving while dad & Dave snorkled. We ended up doing three dives and had an amazing time. It was the first time mum had dived and she did really well. I had not been out to the reef before and it was just amazing. So much to see, the coral was beautiful, so many colours and fish just everywhere. We saw lots of clams, slugs and other creatures as well. On one dive we had a huge Mauri Rass (I think that is spelt right) following us around for the dive and it kept coming up for pats – very cute in a huge fishy kinda way.

On our second dive we were greeted by five or six reef sharks! They were amazing, we swam below them but they were very quick so it was kinda freaky as every now and then one would dart past and you’d think – OMG it’s a shark! Very silly I know but they were cool.

Over the weekend we did Mossman Gorge and the Port Douglas Markets. The rainforest at Mossman is pretty impressive, as long as suspense bridges don’t freak you out. Was really looking forward to a refreshing swim in the Gorge after our humid rainforest walk and once you got past the water being so cold you were numb part, the swim was lovely.

The markets at Port Douglas were good too. Had a very nice massage by the beach and we bought some lovely lemon myrtle pasta that we finally ate last night (very yum). We also caught the old sugar cane train back to our villa that afternoon which was fun.

Then it was time for my little brothers wedding! About 20 people had come up to Port Douglas for the wedding (the larger wedding celebration was being  held in Sydney a couple of days later), it was mainly family and the bridal party and we had had a great couple of days before the wedding catching up at BBQs and the boys had played some golf. The ceremony was held at the chapel at the Sheraton Mirage which is just lovely and overlooks 4 mile beach. Aaryan had an amazing dress (pics below) and the whole wedding was very touching.

So amazing to see Lindsay and Aaryan married and it was very special that they asked me do to a reading and witness on their marriage certificate.

The reception was held at the house where Aaryan’s family were staying. Lindsay and Aaryan had found a brillant chef to do the catering and the food was so yummy.

Our last couple of days in Port Douglas were spend relaxing and soaking up the sun before we headed into Sydney!

It was so nice to arrive back into Sydney (home!). We spent an afternoon in the city, taking the usual tourist photos and just wandering around. It was a bit of a mad couple of days travelling around Sydney and catching up with people.

On Saturday, Lindsay and Aaryan had their second wedding! Everyone was instructed to meet at Akuna Bay in the afternoon where we were picked up by three very stylish cruisers. It was a suprise and people had no idea where we were off to. After about a 20 minute boat ride, we rounded a headland and were greeted by a beautiful set up on St Hallets Beach in Pittwater. Along the beach was an amazing set up of gazebos and one long banquet table – it looked just incredible.

We had a wonderful dinner under the stars in the most stunning location. The whole set up was very impressive and we had great night. The beach can only be accessed by boat so we had the whole place to ourselves (although we had to share it a couple of hungry goannas).

Lindsay and Aaryan had planned an amazing wedding and we wish them a very happy and loving life together.

The day following the wedding we had a great BBQ at my parents and it was so nice to catch up with so many people.

Sadly, before we knew it, Monday had come around and it was time to fly back to London.

Well the snow didn’t last very long but I had a white birthday which was good fun.

In February we planned a couple of day trips outside of London. Train travel is so easy that we are planning to visit quite a few towns and sights up to 2 hours outside of London.

Our first trip was to Windsor and Eton. It was the weekend after the snow and the first time the sun had come out in a long time! Had a lovely day wandering around the lovely town and castle. The castle was beautiful, a really fairytale castle. The rooms that were burnt in the big fire about 10 years ago had been completely restored and you couldn’t tell what was original and what was new. The Queen was spending a weekend at the castle but didn’t invite us in for tea.

Wandered around Eton which was pretty. The school is basically a village and all of the buildings and houses in the village make up the school.

Our second weekend trip was to Canterbury, again another lovely town. We visited more Roman ruined and saw some amazingly preserved mosaics. Then we headed to the ruins of St Augustine’s Abbey which would have been huge before it was demolished a couple of hundred years ago. Then onto the vast Canterbury Cathedral where we attended evening song. The size of the European cathedrals still amazes me.

We have both been working pretty long hours over the last couple of months so were actually looking forward to the long flight back to Australia! We flew out after work on Friday night and had a good flight to Brisbane. Enjoyed the movies on the plane but have to say that we were pretty disappointed with the food that was served!

We have had a fun couple of days in Brisbane with David’s parents. The weather has been pretty windy and damp because of Cyclone Hamish up north but it is still at least 15 degrees warmer that we have been in 3 months!

Tomorrow we head up to Port Douglas for a week and Lindsay and Aaryan’s wedding. I am so excited that my little-big brother is getting married!  We are in Port Douglas for 7 days and then to Sydney for 5 days so a quick trip overall but it is so nice to be home!

Well today I finally experienced one of those things we heard about at kids but  never had at home – a snow day!!! More on that later….

After a couple of hectic weeks at work, I was looking forward to heading away on Friday to Dusseldorf to meet up with David. The weekend didn’t start so well with HSBC putting a stop on my account card on Friday afternoon (still no idea why) which meant I had no money to get from Dusseldorf airport to our hotel.  After hearing my dilemma while I has arguing with HSBC over the phone, a very nice man sitting next to be on the Heathrow Express gave me some money to cover the trip. I know he won’t read this but I still wanted to say a huge thank you, it was very much appreciated! Not the first major issue with have had with HSBC so we will be looking to change banks on the weekend me thinks.

Anyways, we stayed at a lovely hotel in Dusseldorf, really pretty hotel room and woke up to a lovely sunny morning on Saturday. We had a great day wandering around Media Harbour and it’s impressive modern buildings, the lovely Old Town and the Japanese town where we had a fanastic lunch.

Dusseldorf is a really pretty city and everyone was so friendly. The river was impressive too, the Rhine is essentially a water highway and we saw almost everything possible being freighted by boat.

One of the German guys that I work with had recommended a dinner show and we decided we would go to celebrate my birthday. The show is called Palazzo and is a cabaret / Vanderbilt / circus type show with an amazing dinner – http://www.palazzo.org/

It is set in a Spiegelpaläste, which is an opulent tent, and David and I had a fantastic booth. The show was great and 70% of it was in English so that was helpful! There was an amazing four course dinner (probably the best meal that I have had since Australia and the Angus beef was actually one of the best meals that I have EVER had). We just had a fantastic night! In fact, the head waiter, who was also one of the main actors brought David and I an extra main course to enjoy as we loved it so much! Great way to celebrate by birthday weekend away.

Yesterday we went to the art gallery and enjoyed the Old Town in the afternoon.

Our flight back to London was delayed due to snow in London! We landed into very heavy snow and we pretty amazed when we got off the Tube! It started snowing around 3pm yesterday afternoon and was pretty thick as we were walking home. Made a tiny snowman in our backyard last night before heading back to bed…………….only to wake up to even more snow!

It was amazing this morning, our street looked beautiful and everyone was out enjoying it. Tried to get to work a couple of times today – train line down, all buses cancelled, no taxis and there was no way I was walking all the way to work – absolutely no was I could get to work – so I have had a Snow Day!!

It is the most amount of snow that London has had for 18 years. They are saying 20cm in London but the snow outside is over a foot deep! I walked David to work and we had a couple of snow fights along the way. All schools were closed and all the parks have been packed with people enjoying the snow.

It is meant to clear up tonight so hopefully I can get into work tomorrow but it has been a very fun day and London looks just beautiful in the snow.

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a fantastic time welcoming in 2009.

Amie & Greg arrive last Monday and we had a great night together for new years. We started off with a lovely dinner at our place and then went to the local park to let off some more fireworks that we had bought (I know we are turning into pyros)!

Despite it being -3C we headed into town for midnight and more fireworks. We watched Big Ben ring in the new year and could just see the top of the fireworks off London Eye – fantastic night and it was so great to spent it with Amie & Greg.

On Saturday one of Amie’s friends took us down to the seaside. We had fish and chips on the beach in Eastbourne which is a lovely town not too far from Brighton. After that we headed to a lovely little village for afternoon tea (lots and lots of eating this week).

On Sunday we took Amie & Greg to the Wolseley for a lovely afternoon tea – more eating! Had an amazing weekend and a lot of fun catching up.

The weather is so, so cold. It is the coldest weather in about a decade and has been getting to -10C in parts of London overnight. We had snow yesterday morning and they are expecting some more tomorrow. Walking to work through the snow has been pretty fun.