Rugby World Cup Match - Australia vs Wales

Sean and I drove over to Cardiff with Ryan and Eloise to watch the Wallabies take on the Welsh at the Millenium Stadium.

Wayne and Jackie

Our view.
The Teams

The Wallabies had an expected win. The post match celebrations carried on into the night.

At the end of the match, rather than a streaker, a guy dressed in full Wallabies uniform, including mouthguard, boots and ball ran onto the field. I think this was him.

There was plenty of drinking, dancing and celebrating. A great time was had by all.

London - September

We went to Portobello Road Markets (Notting Hill) on the Saturday after Jason and Mary arrived in the UK. the streets were packed. Many tourists around. Lots of antiques on sale. And the colourful buildings were amazing.

We made a quick stop off to vist the travel Bookstore from the Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts film Notting Hill.

In the evening we had a BBQ at our new place, with Sarah, Simon, Sean, LJ, Mary, Devin and Jason (L to R).

Sean decided it was time to get out the remains of the tequlia and was lucky (or unlucky) enough to get the worm in his final shot.

He said it slipped down his throat, no problems, this photo suggests otherwise!

The following day we all went into town, walking around some of the major sights.

Including Picadilly Circus...

Tower Bridge...

And the London Eye.

Bank Holiday Weekend - August

For the bank Holiday weekend we headed south on a road trip with Simon and Sarah.

We started on Friday night with Pizzas and Mojitos. We had an early night so we could get an early start to beat the holiday rush.

We had a good trip down through Bournemouth, around to the Isle of Purbeck and stopped off at Swanage for lunch of fish and chips on the beach. The weather was great, nice and sunny and the beaches all along the coast were packed all weekend.

Between Swanage and Weymouth we got thirsty, so stopped off at Corfe Castle...

Where we found this lovely little pub to quench our thirsts.

Sampling the local ales and ciders with Corfe Castle in the background.

During the walk to Durdle Door at Lulworth Cove, Sean got a little too close to the locals.
Durdle Door. This little beach is lovely, and the walk to it is fairly hard work, so not too many venture down. We are hoping to get back there when the weather is warmer...hopefully next summer is an improvement on this one!

England's South Coast.

Us overlooking Lulworth Cove.

From Lulworth cove we headed north towards Dorset to find somewhere to camp for the night. It was a bit of an effort, it seems every man and his dog was camping in the south of England.
Next morning Sean and Simon went Zorbing (Big plastic ball rolling down a hill with the boys inside). They had a ball. (Sorry, Sean's joke!)

More beaches, filled with very white people.

We followed the coastal road to a place the boys spotted on the map...

they were in heaven, they had found a town called Beer!


They were so excited, they even went for a swim in Beer!

We stayed our second night in a B&B just out of Bath. We spent half the day exploring the town, the Roman baths, Bath Abbey and surrounds. Also calling in at Stonehenge before heading abck to London. It was a great weekend. I think the last long weekend now until Christmas :(

Brick Lane

Getting a curry for dinner on Friday nights with Simon and Sarah at Brick Lane has become a fairly regular event for us of late. The food is good, the prices are very cheap, and there is always a good laugh.

Having a quick drink after work, prior to our first Brick Lane experience.

Not too sure how many restaraunts there are along brick lane, but we are gong to try a different one each time we go. We try for a better deal each time we go too, so far ranging from 25% - 30% off the bill, free drinks and entrees. It ends up costing about 6 or 7 pounds a head, including alcohol.

We ended up with 'rice wine' at our first visit after the waited slipped, spilling the rice everywhere. As i said, always a laugh.

Brick Lane is right near White Chapel, the area where the Jack the Ripper muders occured.

The Church

So, The Church is open on Sundays, from 12noon until 3pm, I think. They don't have a licquor license, so you buy tickets and trade them in for drinks. It is not the classiest establishment, but is full of Aussies, Kiwis, South Africans, and fewer Americans and Brits.

Ryan, Sean and Ellie looking excited to get in.

Sean with his (and a few others) bags of beers. Of course there are plenty of other photos, but I was taking them and they are not as clear as the two I have put on already, for some reason. Not really in that much of a hurry to get back to the Church. Especially now that we are working, it would make it quite tough to get to work on Monday.

Brighton

Before staring work we went down south to Brighton for a day-trip with Ryan.

Us in front of the Royal Pavilion. Built in 1822 by John Nash for the then Prince of Wales (George IV).
The Brighton Pier, built in 1899. Plenty of amusements and show rides. Brighton Beach is pebbly, quite hard on the feet. Apparently the water was quite warm, the wind on teh other hand, not so warm! There were come crazy people sunbathing and swimming for some reason!

We couldn't resist! :)

As previously mentioned, when the sun comes out so does everyone. It was also the first week of school holidays, so the place was packed.

July in London

We have been very busy over the past 2 months in London. The weatehr hasn't been fantastic, but when the sun does decide tom come out, everyone makes the most of it. We had great weather on the opening weekend of the Tour de France, so went into town to check it out.

It was difficult to get good photos of the riders as they were moving so fast, this is one of the better ones!

While there we had a quick look at the Princess Dianna memorial.

We then walked to Knightsbridge to Harrods. They were having a sale, but it was still a little out of our price range in there! As you can also see, the sunshine didn't last too long!

We also headed up to Camden to the Camden Makets. It was packed up there, plenty of punk/goth style clothing stores, along with art and plenty of food stalls.