Whoops I appear to have missed Ireland...

Ok, so I realise I am not very good at this keeping the blog updated thing.
But. Here I am so off we go:


Ireland was... wonderful.
So beautiful. I can't believe I actually got sick of the beauty... but it was just gorgeous countryside followed by gorgeous coast line and after navigating for my darling mother for a week and getting the flu I was less than keen on the gorgeous scenery.

Dublin was probably my favourite, followed by Galway. The Cliffs of Moher were pretty specky, even with the ridiculous people jumping over fences. Enviro police Steph wanted to punch some people there. Them and those who litter... EVERYWHERE. At Blarney Castle and people just throw down their ice cream cups in a ruin. But I digress.

Trinity College was just as a university should be. Big, full of knowledge - a little bit stuck up and full of gorgeous Irishmen.

Our historical walking tour around Dublin was simply wonderful. Not least for the insanely attractive guide we had. Thank you google for allowing me to stalk :) We did soooo much walking. But ended with a yummy irish stew and Aussie red wine in a pub. Dublin was COLD and WET (actually, all of Ireland was come to think of it). But that's why it's so green I suppose. The book of Kells didn't do much for me, but I am not a big religious text type of person. The old library with its 65m 'long room' filled to bursting with books did leave me salivating rather a tad though.

Interesting fact - many sheep over here have tails.

After Dublin we drove down to Wexford (delicious strawberries - cold), Waterford (the crystal place was shut and it was uber busy) and the Middleton (the Jameison distillery - tours had finished. Our entire trip has been the go somewhere that says it is open to discover it is closed. Cheap though) and into Cork. Where the hostel had lost our booking. But one of the hostel staff just popped out the back and checked to see if the b&b there had any space. So we stayed with a very Catholic little old lady in a lovely quiet quiet house. Then back to the hostel for our second night. We wandered off to Blarney Castle where I kissed the stone. I of all people probably do not need the gift of the gab but oh well. Bit more can't hurt? We had a bit of a look around Cork but (As usual) not much was open. Then it was up to Mallow to see where Grandad was born and the Murphy spotting began (many in Cork as well actually) we are a diverse bunch ranging from 'gentleman's outfitter' (read:clothes shop) bar, pub, beer, real estate agent, to ice cream. after leaving Mallow we headed up through Limerick and King John's castle (as in rotten Prince John, Sheriff of Nottingham King John) then onto Galway! First up through the Cliffs of Moher and the gorgeous coastal drive. The roads are a tad to skinny for my liking... but Great Ocean Road eat your heart out - Mum tells me it was rather like parts of the Western Australian coast, lots of sheer cliffs where the ocean smashes into the land. We got a perfect afternoon after a very wet and dreery mornign so it was a really great drive.

In Galway we stayed in a lovely hostel called Kinley House, I thoroughly recommend it to anyone. After a very tiring day we collapsed into bed but were up early to explore a very pretty and functionally designed (take note Belfast!) city. We headed out to Claddagh which is now just a port pretty much. An interesting part of the city though because it was a seperate sovereign city/state type of thing til their last king died in 1972! We went to Thomas Dillion Jewellers who have been making the Claddagh ring since 1750 (same family), the oldest in Ireland. Also the least tacky. the number of Claddagh rings with birthstones and diamontes and bleurgh. So I got myself a nice silver ring and mum splashed out on a rose gold one. Thomas Dillion are the only jewellers are allowed to use the official claddagh stamp so it was pretty special. Then we went out to Thoor Ballylee (Yeats!) and it was shut - it got flooded out during the melt and still hasn't been fixed. But still, it was the Tower and was in a gorgeous spot. Poetic in fact... Then we nipped over to Coole Park (yes Lady Gregory) and wandered around the 7 Woods there. It was lovely. We were hoping to see a Badger or a Squirrel or something but alas no. Although, in terms of wildlife in Ireland we did see a pheasant (just grooving about on the side of the highway - many more pheasants are to come though. Stay tuned for Chatsworth), a whole heap of sheep and lambs and cows and calves, swans and three badgers... dead on the side of the road which was very sad. But back to Coole Park - I went down to the lake to attempt to see 9 and 50 swans... I saw 1 duck. Not quite the stuff of poetic legend but I'll work on it. Had some lovely fresh fish and chips in Galway at a fish and chip shop that's been going since 1902!

We then had our loooooooong drive up to Derry (yeah that's right. Derry. I'm a republican and proud... except when walking around the areas in Derry that are painted red, white and blue with English flags everywhere...) we checked out Glencar waterfall along the way and stopped at Donegal (Donegal tweed that is) and took the advice of a very very helpful tourist information lady and headed over to the upper west coast to Carrick and the highest sea cliffs in Europe. Like the Cliffs of Moher, but bigger and no tourists there at all. We had to trek up the mountain to get there but they were just so amazing. The mist was coming in over them and there were sheep with their lambs everywhere. By the time we got to Derry we were stuffed. But thanks to my amazing navigational skills we didn't take a single wrong turn. Going into Derry was weird! In the middle of the highway it switches from km to miles! All the signs went from being in Gaelic and English to just English. Which is weird, because there is a huge Irish prescence throughout the town and many shops have Irish names. Plus in the real UK, they let the Welsh have everything in Welsh and English but the loyalists want so badly to British they just won't let the Irish in at all. Derry itself was a really nice town but a bit surreal to walk around. Especially down around Rossville St in Bogside - where Bloody Sunday happened. Then you walk across over the walls and see murals stating that the Loyalists are under seige... all very odd. Makes you really appreciate how safe and unracist australia is. We have our moments but generally we just wouldn't tolerate an entire religion being maligned.

As we were leaving Derry to go up to the Giants Causeway, we did the clutch in the car. So it was a 2 hour wait for a tow truck driver and then a new peugot (ooooooh la la!) for us. Which was very nice. So off we went to the Giants Causeway and Carrick-a-raede rope bridge. Another 7/8 km of walking. Again pretty amazing. Nature is truly spectacular sometimes. Hard to describe the causeway, sort of looks like great big honeycomb sections... but rock. It's really hard to believe that it wasn't all cut out by people. Then it was a long drive down to Belfast and the RIDICULOUS roads they have there. Galway have a one way system that allows the traffic to flow, but doesn't stop you getting anywhere. Belfast's is nuts and doesn't make any sense at all. I nearly had a nervous breakdown with the map in Belfast. The hostel was a bit crap too. Really loud room so didn't get a wink of sleep. Then we got to jump on a ferry and head to Scotland!

But I will give you a break now and put up our Scottish/English/Welsh adventures in a new post.

Please go get a cuppa, a biscuit and possibly some no-doze during this short intermission.