I am writing this the day after we (New Zealand) got knocked out of the Rugby World Cup by France. An absolutely shocking and unbelievable exit to the frogs. *sigh
Anyway, a few weeks ago Abby and I headed up to Edinburgh for the weekend to watch a pool game of the RWC to see New Zealand play Scotland. We meet up with James and Anna from my work for a few drinks before hitting the game, there was a good atmosphere and over all it was a good trip - touring Edinburgh castle again and doing an underground tour of the old caves etc provided some entertainment after the rugby and pubs. More photos

Thorp Park
I blame Toby, plain and simple. It was his master idea to go to Thorpe Park, amusment park. Problem is I don't like rollacoasters much :( But that didn't stop us going on all the major attractions, 'Stealth' - 205ft high that accelerates from 0-80mph in less than 2.0 seconds, 'Nemesis Inferno' - one of those feet dangling ones, 'Colossus' - which has something like 15 loops - wasn't feeling 100% after this one, a nice water log ride one, then Toby - the bastard- made me go on 'Zodiac' which as you can imagine just spins, and spins and well spins. arrrg. Dizzy, dazed and confused I stumbled towards a free falling ride and the last ride of the day which was 'Tidal Wave'. It was a good conclusion to the day - getting soaked. :) I think it took me a couple of days to come right.

Other
Trips have been light of late and I am looking to pick up the pace again. So in a few weeks Abby and I are going to Lisbon for 6 days, then staying in a castle in Bath for New Years. January brings the car rally for Corde and I. Just booked one ski trip to Austria for Feb and looking to book another in March. Then in April we are going to a wedding in Hawaii which we will turn into a decent holiday as well.

Of note: Given the circumference of the world is 40,076 km, I have just clocked (~160k+ km) up a distance equal to 4 times around. I would hate to think how much additional distance would be added by strolling around these locations :)

Pulling ourselves out of bed early on New Years Day, we embarked on the journey to Inverness. Needless to say the streets were very very quiet as we left Edinburgh. After a number of heated discussions over who was in charge of navigational duties we were on our way via Aberdeen and some random tourist route that was to take us past lots of castles.

Unfortunately castle season occurs from something like March to October so the opportunities for checking out some more for our bonified tourists, Andrew and Neroli, were somewhat limited. Luckily, just as it was getting dark (about 3pm) we stumbled across the ruins of Huntly Castle (just as well, cos otherwise there might have been tears). We jumped the fence (as there was no one there to take our money) and went exploring. To be honest, I enjoy castle ruins a lot more than castles that have been restored - there is more a sense of realism to them somehow.

Negotiating our way to the B&B just as the snow started falling, people were starting to seriously doubt my choice - it definitely did seem we were in the middle of nowhere! However, once we were inside being fed christmas cake and hot coffee and dumping our gear in lovely rooms, the fears were allayed. In fact, if you are going to be staying in Inverness at any stage and have a car, then I would definitely recommend Gask House (only £20pppn including superb breakfasts)!!! We ducked into Inverness (10-15 min drive) for some dinner as by the time we got back (less than 2 hours later) there was about 15cm covering everything.

The next morning, with full tummies, we were out to play in the snow!!! Then off to see Nessie. We headed to the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre after we had little luck in persuading Andrew to go for a swim with Nessie, and up to see Uruqhart Castle on the edges of Loch Ness. We didn't see the real Loch Ness monster, but we did find this very realistic looking one in a pond close by.

The only thing left to do was undertake the journey back to Edinburgh and part ways at the airport (only to meet again at our flat in London). The 2 prerequisites that Andrew had told us about before they arrived were Castles and Whisky Distilleries. We'd managed the castles bit, but with it being a bank holiday, all the distilleries seemed to be closed. Just as they thought they were going to miss out, we managed to find Edradour (the one we visited last time we were in Scotland) and it was open. So once again, whisky saves the day in Scotland.

Arriving in Edinburgh on the 29th gave Aaron and I a much needed chance to detox and catch up on some sleep after being in Wales before Andrew and Neroli joined us. Andrew and Neroli, now living in Melbourne, had been in Belfast for a big family reunion and decided that while they were on this side of the world, a trip to Bonnie Scotland was in order.

The early essentials to our stay in Edinburgh were seeing the Edinburgh Castle and walking the Royal Mile. When we arrived at Edinburgh Castle (and picked Andrew and Neroli's jaws off the ground as they calculated the price back into ozzy money), it was very very cloudy, which is a shame as the Castle is perched right up on top of a hill. But by the time we'd finished our tour, the cloud had cleared and we were able to get our bearings over Edinburgh.

After doing all the usual castle things, like hanging around in the dungeons and playing with tanks, we were all ready for a quiet afternoon bad-mouthing british television. That evening, we headed out to the pre-hogmanay party on George Street where there was plenty happening including the world's largest 'strip the willow' dance, some huge wild beasts roaming the streets and some french street play about beating babies (not kidding, it was highly disturbing and no-one knew where to look).

Unfortunately, New Years Eve was a bit of a let-down. The truth was that we had heard big things and were expecting big things, but really it was just 40,000 people standing around in a street. There were only a couple of stages and even then there wasn't that much happening on them. I expected more street performers, food, drink etc. I was however impressed by the fireworks which happened unbelievably close to where we were standing ensuring we were covered in ash by the end of the night. All in all the night was OK, but could've been better...

Look over there! It’s a ‘Hairy Coo’ (Cow). We have all seen them, but it is still cool to see them in their natural environment. The Scottish highland. Just look at the horns on the blighter! Actually, the bull put those horns to some use while we were there. You see that Asian kid with the brand new North Face puffy jacket, he got his photo with the Coo and started to walk away, at this point the Coo turned and flicked its head slightly. The tip of his horn caught and split up the back of his jacket, it was so quick and split it wide open (about 20cm long). Fluffy down was flying everywhere. I personally couldn’t stop laughing, the tip of the Coos horns had little clumps of fluff on it :+)

The story behind this chapel is this: This guys mother was getting old and sick, and could no longer make the trip to the local church. So her son single handily, with no prior architectural experience made this chapel. It is very impressive, and pulls various styles from all around in its construction. Never afraid to preach my ideas, I felt quite at home at the top of the alter, commanding my flock.

For lunch we went to a 300 year old pub, it was heavy from the freshly lit smoky coal fire. And you could just feel the atmosphere in there, given a middle of winter blizzard, you could imagine people stuffed in there, fires lit at both end of every room (there were almost two fire places in every room) and each person with a bottle of whiskey.

After lunch we went to Stirling, where there is a monument to William Wallace, at which point our guide pulled the movie of Braveheart to complete pieces, removing any and all feeling that it was slightly based on reality. After that we headed through Glasgow and on to Edinburgh to fly home.

Transport woes
So. We are in Edinburgh, it is raining and we have about 2 hours to get to the airport for our flight home. We had told our friend Chris that we couldn’t meet him for a feed (and scab a ride to the airport), so we were going to catch the bus. So we get directions and start searching for the bus stop, we can’t find it. We start to ask people slowly starting to get nervous about the time. People point us to the bus station, about 5 minute walk away, now to me this sounds like an obvious place to catch a bus to the airport, people come in from all over the country, you get on another bus and get to the airport. But no. There is no bus to the airport from there, so we are starting to get towards panic mode (i.e about spend lots of cash on a taxi) when I start ignoring the individuals and start asking groups and mobs of people in the hope one of them knows where the stop is. One person did, and we found it. Pretty much out of the way and not on any main roads.

We get into Gatwick about 11:30, there are no direct trains to our place so we jump on the next one to East Croydon which is normally where you change to get on another train to our place. But it is Sunday night and by the time we get there, we missed the last train by about 2 ½ hours. So we go outside to hopefully catch a bus (we are still a long way from home, about a £40-£50 taxi ride). We were actually lucky enough to find a night bus line, which went pretty, close to our place; it would drop us off at about a 20-minute walk away. Waiting at the bus stop for an hour we realise its not coming. Stopping another bus we ask the driver were it was and he tells us that it doesn’t stop here, the sign is wrong. The sign is wrong. I am livid. On the point of tearing the pole down and beating the bus with it. We go down to were the bus actually stops, wait another 30 minutes, get on and get home in time to get up at 6:30 for work the next morning.

The next morning the bus was leaving a 9am, everyone managed to get up in time and get down to the bus to head off to Rogie Falls and Loch Carron. At this point I should point out we are in the Highlands, unfortunately the name is a tad misleading, they aren’t very high, in comparison to the mountains in the New Zealand they are more like big hills. But the scenery is very nice, being late autumn the trees were all different shades of yellow and red. A lot of it is very similar to the scenery in New Zealand.

Somewhere along the drive, Doug and I jumped out of the bus to give a demonstration for the tour group and anyone driving past of how the Scots put out brush fires. It basically consists of large tennis racquets and you beat the grass. To me it is looks like it is more likely fan the flames into a large inferno, but hey, each to their own.

After a lunch on the shore overlooking the Isle of Skye, we visited Eilean Donan Castle, the castle seen in the ‘Highlander’ movie series. Actually we sore a lot of movie famous castles, we saw the two castles from ‘Monty python and the Holy Grail’ and the ‘bridge of death’ where you must answer me these questions three:

Bridgekeeper: Hee hee heh. Stop! What... is your name?
Arthur: It is 'Arthur', King of the Britons.
Bridgekeeper: What... is your quest?
Arthur: To seek the Holy Grail.
Bridgekeeper: What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?
Arthur: What do you mean? An African or European swallow?
Bridgekeeper: Huh? I-- I don't know that! Auuuuuuuugh!

Heheh, anyways… after the various castles and battlefields (there isn’t much to take a photo at these really, it is just a grass paddock, swamp or forest) we glanced at Fort William and Glen Coe before heading to Oban to spend the night.

Next stop was at Pitlochry for lunch, it is a small town. So Carmen and I grabbed some food from the supermarket and walked down to the river/dam to look at the salmon ladder allowing the to get around the hydro-station. We saw a couple, ate our lunch and jumped back on the bus. Had some more whiskey.

Few small stops later, we found ourselves at Killiecrankie, the first large victory 1689 Jacobite Rebellion, this was a rebellion against the newly appointed King (the Dutch) William of Orange. Outnumbered 2 or 3 to 1 the Scottish Jacobites rolled over the English regulars using some the layout of the land to their advantage. Unfortunately their leader Viscount Dundee died in the battle and the army lost momentum. After a look about, we got back on the bus and drank some more whiskey.

We arrived to the almighty Loch Ness late in the afternoon, the Loch holds enough water to submerge the entire UK in a foot of water. Keeping an eye for Nessy, we squinted at every floating stick, ripple or rock which showed its self on the surface of the loch. At this point the tour guide started to press a little pressure on us to go for a plunge into the Loch. It is cold, it is nearly winter, and did I mention it was cold? He started going on about you will only be here once and …. A bit of pressure and to much whiskey through the day, the majority of the bus stripped down and jumped into Lock Ness. At this point I would like to note, that Carmen did not go in. Chicken :+)

After our swim, we quickly rushed around the corner to Inverness to our hostel to get changed and warm. Hit a couple of pubs and get a feed. I tried the local speciality. Haggis! It isn’t anything special really and just tastes and feels like dry meatloaf. We couldn’t not take a photo of the condom vending machine in one of the Scottish pubs, Whiskey flavoured! At the time, it was very amusing. And that concluded day one.

Bags packed and ready to go, Thursday night I meet Carmen at Gatwick airport and we caught an Easyjet flight up to Edinburgh. We were lucky enough to catch up with Chris Singleton who picked us up from the airport and put us up for the night. Chris is a mate of ours from Uni.

We were going on a MacBackPackers, 3 Day ‘Highland Romp’ tour of Scotland. It is a pretty good trip, normally it is a jump-off jump-in tour, with a bus leaving every day, so you can stop anywhere for as long as you want and jump on the next bus. Although it sounds like a lot of driving to get around Scotland in a couple of days its not that bad, for example Edinburgh to Inverness is only a 3 ½ hour drive, so if you spread that out over a long day with lots of sightseeing and stops on the way, you only ever drive for 30 minutes at a time.

The bus left Edinburgh at about 9am so we had a couple of hours in the morning to walk around looking at the City. The morning was very ‘crisp’ to say the least as it is getting near winter over here, but the city is still very beautiful. A lot of space, nice stone work and clean. So off north we headed…Our tour guide was Doug, he was a local Scotsman from Edinburgh. His story telling abilities were fantastic and he was constantly spinning a tale of the Scottish history as we drove from place to place.

One of our first stops was at Edradour Distillery, the smallest whisky distillery in Scotland. They make about 15 barrels a week, which although doesn’t sound like very much on its own, when you think that’s 15 barrels a week, 780 barrels a year and the age the whiskey for at least 10 years, they need storage for 7,800 barrels. Then you think of the much larger distilleries which make 10, 100 times that amount. We had our free sample of casket strength whiskey, good stuff for stripping paint I hear, and than our tour of the facilities. It is defiantly small scale stuff, only three staff and the whole process would almost fit in your garage (well a New Zealand garage).

The were about 7 of us on the bus, so more than a double seat each. Jumping back on, we found our nice tour guide had bought us a big bottle of whiskey. Our challenge was to drink it before getting to Loch Ness a few hours later. We found out why later…