ireland

So matt and I decided to travel to the emerald isle before the weather got too bad.
There were 2 places that we really wanted to see in Ireland "Giants Causeway" and "Carik a reed". As public transport to these places was going to be mighty difficult, we went the route of the package tour. 11 days sharing a bus with a bunch of backpackers and a crazy driver.



Doing things this way meant that we saw alot of stuff that we normally wouldn't have. Matt and I now have the gift of the gab as we kissed the Blarney stone. and I tried my very first (and last Guiness)





We also saw some really cool stuff like a star fort






Of course we visted Giants causway which really was phenomenal. The rocks are just amazing !
And its quite close the carik-a- reed a very old rope bridge. Its actually quite scarry to be on the bridge. Especially when they are threatening to close it 'cos the weather is so bad. Apparently they used to hand fishing nets from the bridge to catch the fish as they swam past.

















We also went for a horse and carrige ride through the ring of kerry. And even though we tried our hardest we just couln't find any Leprecauns.

Scotland- the highlands

Before the weather turned into a proper winter Matt and I went on a tour of the Highlands and Orkneys.
The scenery there is really breathtaking and it’s very remote.

There is an amazing hanging valley carved out by glaciers thousands of years ago.


The highlight would have to have been Scara brae in the Orkneys.
Scara Brae is a 4500-year-old village with flushing toilets. (They used the tides to clean away the mess!)

It is extremely well preserved as it had been buried under sand until 1850, when a big storm unearthed it.







On the last night of the tour we stayed in a Castle, which was absolutely huge. (I kept getting lost.)

And on the last morning we went swimming in Loch Ness (lucky for us there were no monster sightings, though is was a pretty cold grey day.
We were so cold after our swim that we had to drop by a distillery and try some samples of Scotch to get the warmth back in.

Scotland- Glasgow and Edinburgh

The best thing about Scotland? That they speak a form of English. After 3 months of Europe it was really nice to hear people speak English.
We visited GOMA (the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art) which had some pretty cool stuff. We also just wandered around for a while before catching the train to Edinburgh, which is only 45 minutes away.



Edinburgh was a pleasant surprise, we had expected that as its so old, and made from dark grey bricks it would be very dark and gloomy. But, as the roads are very wide there is heaps of light and it looks really good. Although it gets full of tourist every single weekend it has heaps of pubs and clubs around and some great places to walk.