Oh hi! Sorry its taken so long to get to updating everyone, been heaps slack but its been tough to get extended time on the net!
Our travels have been long and far, its hard to believe weve only been away 6 weeks. The cold has become an accepted part of life and unfortunately the rain has just set in for a few days, but also got some snow last night and this morning so that was awesome.
Well after taking 1 months to prowl the vast lands of the UK we have decided to live and work in Edinburgh for at least the next 6 months. We are renting a flat which is just outside of the main city, its about a 15 minute walk from Edinburgh Castle (which looks sensational especially on a clear night) so we couldnt have asked for a better spot. Its really small, just 2 bedrooms a bathroom and a kitchen, but its perfect for what we want. We dont know too many people in town yet so we havent had a housewarming, but when we do we're hoping to pack as many people as possible in there!
Well to give a detailed description on our previous travels would take me days so I'll do my best in the time I have.
We flew out on the 18th jan from Sydney and had a night stopover in Seoul, where we met a bloke Chris and girl called Naomi, both travelling seperately, so we joined them for a bit of company. We got put up in a 5-star hotel which was unreal, the best part being these futuristic toilets with a built-in bidet (never underestimate the initial shock of this machine on ur bare ass). Then we travelled around the town, there wasa fresh batch of snow on the ground so it was heaps slippery but really nice to look at. We met this Danish guy too, and we walked around and had a beer or two. Took some really nice pictures too but...Marcus lost his camera on the first day in London so there is actually no evidence we ever went there. Jackass.
But the next day we were in sunny London and and took a buit of tiem to wander around and check out the sights. Buckingham Palace is a bit of a disappoinitment, just a big white building, but Westminster Abbey is sensational, such a cool building. We were staying at a hostel which had its own bar so we had a few drinks and met some people but were pretty buggered so hit the sack. A couple of days later we did a tour of London which was pretty mad, but that night we went on this big pub crawl and had the best night. Lawruh Donnelly met us out that night too and we spent the next few days with her, nice to have a local tour guide for advice. London was pretty cool, especially the smaller pubs at night, but we went to Liverpool for a night (the home of the Beatles, woop woop) and came back to London for Australia Day. Unbelievable. We went to a Walkabout pub at midday and it was absolutley chockas with drunk aussies. So much fun. Everyone was blind, one of the funniest things was we were having a conversation with this group of guys for about 10 minutes before we realised they were deaf! But we bought eachother a couple of rounds of shots and we were best mates!
The next day, very very hungover, we got on a 9 hour bus to Glasgow to stay with my Aunty Maxine's parents (Jean and Les) and sister's family (Yvonne and David), where we got some much-needed R&R and a home cooked meal. We were so buggered, but the next day we got up and got a tour of Glasgow, a really cool city with a great uni social life. We went out for dinner with the whole family and visited an indoor ski slope which was huge, but we didnt have the balls (or cash) to go on it so we enjoyed a beer watching other people stack. We went for a day trip to Stirling where William Wallace won a massive battle against the English, and then the next day we went for a day trip to Edinburgh. It's an amazing city. The Castle sits on the highest point in the city so you can see it almost all the time, and there is a road called the Royal Mile that leads up to it. We went on a tour once we moved here and learnt some great things, most too long to write up (did you know it's responsible for the terms 'shitfaced' and 'graveyard shift'?) but the history is unbelievable. The best thing is there are all these hidden streets with tiny pubs each with different characteristics. And we visited a shop where we proved our bloodline originates in Scotland! True locals.
But alas the time was to come to travel to our dream destination...ireland! we caught the bus from glasgow to the biggest ferry ive ever seen, to get to belfast. the ferry was awesome, it had restaurants, bars, movie rooms and even a gaming section (like intencity). the best. we then got a bus down to dublin and got lost trying to find our hostel at about 10pm, it wasnt good, everyone was pissed and this bloke was throwing chicken wings at us. not the best start. But we hit up a tour the next day and learnt heaps about irish history. The best thing about the Uk is that everyone hates the poms like nothing else. the irish and the scots are just disgusted by them. so good. Dublin is a beautiful town because it is built around a big river called the Liffey and luckily we got some good weather so it looked really nice. after the tour we went on a pub crawl with these yanks who were the biggest wankers, our experience with americans so far is that whatever you have to say, they have something more important to say and they cant tell you enough how much better their country is. so we ditched the crawl early and saved ourselves for the best thing on our trip....the guinness factory. we had resisted guinness for 2 weeks so we could have our first guinness at the factory and it didnt dissappoint. it's a 7 story exhibition building built around a pint the height of the building, all dedicated to showing people how guinness is made and originated. then we had our first pint of guinness looking over dublin from 7 storeys high talking to these Dutch guys we met walking around. maybe the best day of the tour, weve got heaps of photos so no doubt theyll be up on facebook soon if you want to check them out.
After a few days in Dublin we went south to Cork, which is where we watched Ireland smash Italy in the 4 nations and found a cool cheap bowling alley where marcus found out who was boss. and at air hockey too. but only stayed a couple of days and hit up galway where we had a night in playing cards with a bunch of yanks (these actually werent too bad) but only stayed one night and went to belfast with huge expectations of a great city. but we were thoroughly disappointed in belfast. probably because our hostel was terrible and the weather was shit. but we just found there was nothing much exciting or fascinating going on. EXCEPT we watched a scene being filmed for a new big movie called "Killing Bono", a movie about a band who beat U2 in a band contest at school before U2 got big. sounds pretty cool. but alas we were desperate to get back to Scotland and go house shopping in Edinburgh.
Alright a bit about Edinburgh. The whole town is based around "The Royal Mile", a cobblestoned road weaving directly up to the Edinburgh Castle. We went on a tour of Edinburgh and the history is amazing, specially to do with the castle. I wont go into too much detail but its worth checking out if youre interested. Also check out the stories of "Greyfriars Bobby" and "Maggie Dickson", theyre really fascinating. And one day we were strolling around town and we literally bumped into Mike Tonkin's sister Kate and her friend who live about 200 metres from our house. Unbelievable. But they have had us around for dinner and out for drinks which was very nice (and great feed), we will return the favour if we can shuffle some chairs around to fit 4 people in our house!
Anyone who knows MArcus well will see how this story fits in easy, I sprinkled about 30 resume's around town and the first one I got back was an interview for a sales/marketing company. I went to th interview and got the job so I went in the next day when they told me what i was actually doing. Selling makeup in stalls in shopping centres for £5 commission per kit sold. I stayed for 2 hours out of courtesy but could last no further, I quit. Luckily that day I got accepted to be a waiter in a really exclusive restaurant called "The Tower", where I'm only getting about £6/hour but I gt abou £70 a week in tips (but they tax tips in Scotland the greedy bastards). Marcus put in 1 resume' in total, at this awesome Irish Bar which is opening up tomorrow and where I applied too (I found the ad for staff an told him). It's a dream job, 2 Irish owners who are really cool and advertie to staff that "staffies will be huge". We both went to an interview and Marcus got a job. That asshole stole the dream. But hopefully I'll get some work there soon, it seriously is the coolest place.
An that's about where we are at. we've met heaps of cool people and characters but i dont think it would do them justice by just writing about them, i have to tell you about them because theyre the ones making the trip really cool.
Thanks heaps for everyone whose written on facebook and sorry I cant repy to everyone individually, we've been heaps busy and only get a bit of internet time so to give any juicy detail to everyoe would be imposible. Our house address is 37/2 Elm Row, Leith Walk, Edinburgh, postcode: EH7 4AH if you want to send any letters/photos/valentines (of which was very quiet for Marcus and I). If anyone wants to go crazy and come over to visit/stay we'd love you to, we have 2 double beds and a lounge so between spooning and that we can accomodate. Also my number is 077 484 53817 and MArcus's is 077 879 32190 if you want to message/call (jut be aware of the time please!) Sorry but I didn't bring anyone's number with me so I cant get in contact with you.
Please keep me updated about all the happenings at home, movings in and out and i know uni is going back now so im keen to hear of everything going on. Its really good hearing about it all and keeping in the loop! Ill try my best to keep you updated and try not to leave it so long between massive blogs, also we're struggling to get photos up on facebook but will hopefully get it sorted soon.
Hope all is well, I'll be seeing you all before you know it!
Cheers,
Matt (in close association with the fatman/Marcus)
