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...