London - So much history, so little time...

So we've been in London for two full days now, both of which have been full of discovering the history of this wonderful city. When we first arrived I was surprised at the small number of high rise buildings around the city, instead there's an abundance of beautiful old (several hundred years old) buildings with amazing statues and decorative stone work all over them. Looking at modern day buildings now, we're really missing the sort of grandeur that the older buildings have.

Here is what we've managed to cover of the last couple of days:

- The Original Bus Tour (on a big red double decker!) (We were able to see all the big attractions from this)
- The Tower of London
- The Clarence (Pub in Mayfair)
- Harrods
- A picnic in Green Park
- River cruise down the River Thames

And here are the highlights:

- The Tower of London - We had an excellent tour from one of the Beefeaters (Did you know that there are only 35 Beefeaters and they have all had to do at least 22 years service in the British armed forced before being able to apply for that position. The beefeaters, and their families all live INSIDE the Tower of London)
- The Clarence - Our first English pub meal of Steak and Ale pie with mash potato eaten within a pub with a very special name.
- Picnic in Green Park - On a beautiful sunny day we took pate, meats, bread and some beers to Green Park and had a picnic. For the record this is the first moment that I have thought that I could definatley live in this city.

Today we're off to see The British Museum where they're having an exibit on ancient Egypt which should be great. We're also having lunch with Katrina who is now a real Londoner!

Tomorrow we're off to Glasgow on a 0540 train service (we're not sure how we're getting to the train station yet).

Another update coming soon! :)

A&J

We finally made it!!!

We have finally made it to London...only 24 hours late and landed in a different airport!!!!

The jetlag has finally gone away so we are now getting into the swing of London town.  On our first day we went on The Original Bus Tour around London and saw all of the sites.  It was absolutely FREEZING!!
We had our first pub lunch at the Clarence in Mayfair...which we have now discovered we can share the lucnhes as they are huge!
Today we are off on a river cruise, visit Parliament House, Harrods, The British Musium and then off for a lovley dinner with Afsani, Michael and Aryana in a pub a couple of train stations away.

Ciao for now

A&J
xo

Singapore day 2....

What a day..we got up nice and early around 8am (we dont have to go to work hahah) and went downstairs for a big hot breaky...which included noodles...awesome.

We went on a tour called the Hippo Tour which for the day cost around $22, and took us all around the city.  We splurged on a Singapore Sling and coke at Raffles which cost $40.  We were prepared for the expensive cocktail but not $9 for a coke!!!!
We bought a video camera which we are sure we were ripped off and had an awesome lunch in Chinatown at a very local spot...Drew had no idea what he was eating but the lady confirmed it wasnt a domestic animal!!!
Off on a cruise on the river which had gorgous scenery of the city..including the famous Lion, The Flyer and the new casino being built, which apparently costs $100 just to enter!!!

After a very long and hot day we went off for dinner in a local food hall where we had the best indian feast for $9!!!!!  We met a man from Scotland who had travelled around the world and got some great advice from him.  He hadnt been in Scotland for many years and wished Drew good luck with the weather!!!!

A&J
xo

In Singapore

So our volcano ran out of breath and has enabled us to make the trip to Singapore with our onward flight to London looking better and better each day.

We arrived in Singapore this morning at about 830 local time and made our way from the airport to our hotel using the local MRT (train system). It's very efficient and easy to use. After we got to the hotel, we dropped our bags off and jumped on the first bus we could see (we didn't even know where it was going) which ended up taking us down past Raffles to the Singapore Flyer. After a walk down to Orchard Rd we finally found some open food stalls where we could taste our first sample of local food. Beef ball noodles, soup, pork bun and an ice tea for $6! Awesome! After some more sightseeing we made our way back to the pool for a couple of beers and a nap.

We went to little India for dinner and feasted on the beautiful Indian food and another couple of beers. Then hired a tuk tuk type thing to taxi us around the city, that was an interesting experience (he wasn't a fan of stopping for red lights...)

Back at the hotel now and really ready for bed after very little sleep over the last couple of days.

Jamie and Griff

Are we going or staying??? That is the question.....

So many people are asking if/when we are leaving because of the volcano.  So here's the update:

This morning Emirates told us at this stage we would be able to fly to Singapore where we have booked a couple of nights accommodation.  So the plan was if we got stuck there we would explore the country a little more...that was until the news this afternoon announced it had ANOTHER erruption.  So at this stage we have no idea if we are going or staying.  We will know more tomorrow morning so keep posted.

Thank god for travel insurance!!!!!

On another note, today we had a lovely day in the city.  We walked from Southbank to the Queen Street Mall to organise a few last things.  We had a lovely lunch and our first pub holiday beer....where it was disrupted by a drunken guy from Ipswich who wanted to be our friend!! Bloody bogans!!!!

Griff and Jamie
xo

1 week of work left!

So... We've got one week of work left until we leave the country for 6 months... A little scary, but we're both very excited. Jamie unfortunately needs to get a wisdom tooth removed tomorrow, and Andrew has the start of an ear infection and needs to go to the doctor (Who would know that sticking things in your ear would end that way?!).

On Friday night and last night we had a couple of farewell drinks at The Glenn and The Fox Hotel, a couple of big nights in a row! Check out the photo's.
We're pretty much ready to go except for organising insurance for the van, but we're hoping thats a lot easier once we're in the UK...