IRELAND AND PARIS

SORRY ALL BACK TO FRONTCREPES IN PARIS MMMMMMMM
UP THE EIFFEL TOWER
HAVING A THIGH SLAPPING TIME IN DUBLIN!
GIVING THE BLARNEY STONE A SMOOCH!
THE CLIFFS ALONG THE RING OF KERRY
MMMMM GUINNESS
FANTASTIC IRISH DINNER WITH PAUL AND AOIFE (POTATOES AND BEEF STEW)!

UK

STONEHENGE - FREEZING!!
CHECKING OUT THE CANAL BOATS - VERY SKINNY!
WALKING THE WALLS OF CHESTER
HANGING OUT ON THE LAKES IN THE LAKES DISTRICT!
SNOW ON THE BEACH IN BLACKPOOL
AWESOME OLD FARM HOUSE IN NORTHHAMPTON

Round the UK in a month

Dear Diary,

Has been a little while since we have been able to check in!! So time for a speedy re-cap:

After the last time we checked in we picked up our rental car and the four of us toured the UK. We stopped in Northampton where we were lucky enough to stay at an old english farm house. Then we moved onto Stockport to visit the Cavendar family (Dixon side) family of Aunty Jose, cousin Alan and Sally. Here we got to see lots of the areas were Nanna & Grandie Dixon hung out and was a really great part of the trip! We spent our next couple of weeks driving through snow, ice, some sun, and massive amounts of English and Scottish countryside.

Stops included Blackpool (an old carnival town), Edinbrugh (a stunning city with plenty of snow), The Lakes District (potentially our favourite english area with rolling hills small towns and of course lakes), Chester, Stratford Upon Apon (the home of Shakespare), Bath (an old place set in the hills), and of course Maindenhead - Cousin Alans place which we came and went from a number of times. Thanks again Alan and Sally for having us.

Oh yeah and we also managed to see Stonehenge and Windsor castles on out travels, particularly impressive places!!!

Next we flew 'across the ditch' to Ireland for a 5 night mission to see as much as possible. We stuck to southern Ireland and managed to fit in a huge loop of small towns, Irish pubs, cliffs, country lanes and lots of Guiness!

From Dublin we went via Adene to Tralee, the next day we circumnavigated the ring of Kerry passing through Dingle and Killorglin to stay in Kenmare. After a hearty breakfast we drove onto Blarney to give the Blarney stone a smooch at the castle (freezing cold I might add) and then on to stay in Cork. The last hurrah was from Cork to Waterford for a stop to check out the crystals and then back to Dublin for a some jigging and fiddle playing at the local pub!

Back to Maidenhead for lunch at the oldest pub in England and to stay the night before the Eurostart to Paris the next day.

PARIS - very very cool (and cold!). Had 3 days here and we managed to tick almost every tourist attraction off possible! We went to visit Mona Lisa, we crossed the bridges, went to the Notre Damn cathedral, climbed up the Eiffel, window shopped on the Champs d Elysees, stood under the Arc de Triomph, then checked out the city lights by night on a bus. Im sure there is more but I think you get the picture!!

Then on Jan 26th we sadly went our seperate ways. Mum and Dad went onto Singapore to find warmth while we went back to The Nehterlands to see Emilie, sort out what we had left there and plan the last 2 months of our trip towards home.

Thanks Mum and Dad for an awesome trip. It was soooo nice to have someone to share our experiences with. xxx

x McDuff

Tristan & Michele

Photos - UK

The parents are finally here for team Duffy trip around the UK!
(Sorry photos are out of order)

Tris going to collect Ma & Pa Duffy at Heathrow

Christmas Day in Glasgow - white christmas!!! Our poundshop gifts to each other in our fancy hotel.

Michele keeping warm with mulled wine in Glasgow

Visiting the Queen.

Photo update - Sweden

Lucia tea with the Wisso family

X country skiing!!!

Tris and Linus on the lake beach, must look different in summer

Michele at the christmas markets

-16 in Stockholm, coffee breaks were essential to prevent frostbite

Some Chainsaw sampling in Husquavarna

In the Swedish wilderness

The Silly Season

Dear Diary,

With our first meal of fish and chips and the lovely side-dish ‘mushy peas’ it cant be to hard to guess that we’ve made it to the UK. (when you’re not too fond of peas, mushy ones aren’t much better!!)

We left Sweden with a hiss and a roar towards London, spending our first 5 days in the capital. Our main objection was to see old friends and that we did! Our lovely host Steveo gave us a base in Clapham and from here we managed to jam in dinner & lunch dates as well as exploring the city markets, a few sights, some preliminary negotiation of the most intricate subway system known to man and a small blizzard! (Thanks for organizing dinner Jones & Danielle and for meeting us everyone else). We also got the chance to sing Christmas Carols with 1000 others in St Pauls Cathedral and although there were no awards we would happily challenge any individuals for noise and pitch accuracy in Drummer Boy or Come All Ye Faithful!

Our Christmas period was spent in Scotland, firstly 4 nights with our kiwi mates Nic & Morgs in Edinburgh where we completed another walking tour, watched mountains of snow come down, and paid our respects to a number of pubs and restaurants. Then since Santa was nearly here we jumped on a bus to Glasgow, and checked into a fancy smancy hotel with a chimney so he could deliver our presents! We explored Glasgow through the snow, drank mulled wine, went to Christmas Eve mass at an old local church, then stayed inside and watched the snow fall after we had eaten too much on Christmas day.

Back to England, Cousin Alan got us out to Reading, Winsor Castle and a 900 year old pub for lunch and let us stay us up for a few nights (Thanks Al). On return to London we set up at Danielle and Levin crews flat in Camden (thanks again guys) and collected our new travelling recruits Ma & Pa Duffy from Heathrow. Our new rookies have done quite well at overcoming jet lag and keeping up with full tourist pace!! In our week touring London we managed to complete a top deck bus tour, visit the queen and watch her guards change, enjoy a boat trip on the Themes, go up in the London eye, visit the wax museum, see Camden market, march to the Beatles in abbey road, see the National galleries, visit Harrods to buy cup cakes, see Stomp, walk The Regent, The Strand, Oxford St & Fleet St, see The Marble Arch, visit 10 Downing St, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben, take Communion at St Pauls (partially by mistake!), see a circus Winter Wonderland, and most importantly eat, drink, and get extremely lost on various occasions.

With everything ticked off on our wish lists we caught the tube at rush hour with our bags (entertaining!) and picked up a car to head for our first whirlwind tour stop of Northhampton…. will fill you in on this soon (time for breakfast!)

McDuff
Tristan and Michele

Swedish life ...

Dear Diary,

So its safe to say we are experiencing a true winter after months of summer. We made it safely to Sweden and touched down just outside of Stockholm to experience minus 15 for the first time ever!! It was so cold that if we took a deep breath we coughed!! We were lucky to have a hotel close to the city so we were able to watch ice skating, snow falling, enjoy the funky cafes, see the christams markets and even get to the Nobel Museum (by walking through snow and ice up to our knees at times!).

We then travelled South West to Jönköping by train (which was slightly delayed due to an unscheduled stop for an elk on the tracks). We have spent the past week staying with an awesome Swedish family Michele met in New Zealand. Since being here we have done many things Swedish with the most important being snow fights and sliding down any hill you can find on plastic and drinking glögg to keep warm (Swedish mulled wine)! We have also watched ice hockey and handball, been to IKEA (sooo swedish!), been to a birthday party with great swedish baking and we have been to the summer house to clear the snow so the roof doesnt fall down!

We have spent a day at a highschool talking about New Zealand and again today at Linas primary school to chat about NZ and watch a school show. In Sweden through the winter/christmas time it is pitch black by 4pm so almost every window in all the houses on the street have twinkly lights and candles in them. This week and weekend they celebrate Lucia - the saint of light. Traditionally a performance done with lots of singing and candles. Very beautiful and nice to experience some different traditions.

Yesterday we went to Huskvarna - home to the Husqvarna factory and museum! Who knew that they also made sewing machines and dishwashers along with guns, bikes and chainsaws! We then we went onto Gränna a village where peppermint toffee lollies were invented ... mmmmm!

Tonight we are off to ice skate, and tomorrow morning we will cross country ski (on the track right next to the house we are staying in) so we may have some sore bums by sat night!

McDuff

Michele and Tristan

(ps. this computer is being a little unkind to our camera so will have to post photos later!)