Surviving September

Oh it feels so good to finally have a spare minute to sit down and write about what I have been up to since I got back to England after my amazing summer travelling about. As soon as I got back I was straight into work and although my VERY full on class has been demanding most of energy I have actually managed to do some pretty cool things.

Perhaps one of the coolest things I have managed to do was meet my dad's favourite singer, Ed Kowalczyk, after a gig in London. Not only did I get to meet him but I got him to sign a CD for my dad too! I know you're thinking, "How did you manage to meet your dad's favourite singer?" and the answer is simple, I just emailed and asked if I could meet him and get a photo to send my dad. I told Dad about this email, of course he laughed but he also said, "Well you've always been ambitious Zars, so if anyone can do it, you can". I nearly died when I got the email back saying they'd hold me a backstage pass for after the gig. I never told Dad this but did call him from the gig before it started, he was well chuffed (a bit of English slang for you). So after the gig I met Ed, got him to sign a CD for dad, got a few pics and as he walked away he turned back and said, "Make sure you say 'Hi' to your dad from me", which I thought was a nice touch. The gig was on a Wednesday night (my first week back at school) and I couldn't get to the post office until the Saturday so I had to keep it a secret until it arrived in NZ. Rumour has it that Dad got a tear in his eye when he opened it.

Back stage - feeling cool!

Can you please make this out to my dad?

This pic made my dad's year!

I'm sorted now, I will never have to buy Ollie another present again because nothing will top this ;)

The weekend of the 14th was the next big event of the month because this was the weekend I started watching the America's Cup Challenge. It was this weekend that I headed down south to a town called Hamble to stay with my good friend, Niki, from the good old days of  HVHS. Hamble is a big town for sailing in England and Niki and her partner, Brad, are both very much into sailing (hence the America's Cup interest). Brad is a boat builder and actually worked on the Oracle boat back in NZ and made part of the sail which I thought was pretty rad. It was so nice to see them both and just to relax away from the city.

On our walk to the Hamble waterfront

Niki was a great host and cooked me hearty meals and took me on some great walks. On Sunday the three of us headed to the New Forest and had great fun visiting old school tea rooms and hanging out with the wild ponies. I'd never heard of the New Forest and it was fascinating for me to learn about the place. Apparently it's land that belonged to the Kings but one day he decided to give it back to the people of England. It's a huge piece of land that has small villages in the middle of the forest with horses wandering around all over the streets and stuff, apparently writing off your car down those ways hitting a horse is not an uncommon thing...

Such a good host Niki!

Tea room!

Check out this mocha!

Quite a good idea we thought!

Hehe this was just on the side of the road!

Brad with the pony!

Girls in the forest!

A bit of green

Blair Witch anyone???

War horses - after the war this is where they put all the horses

I was sad to leave Hamble but at least the America's Cup Challenge kept on going, and going, and GOING because that took me all the way up to my next adventure, something which I had on the Bucket List... EDINBURGH! Oh yes, I spent the last weekend of September up in Scotland exploring the VERY cool city of Edinburgh!

Look what we saw and heard as soon as we walked out of the station!

I went up to Edinburgh with the lovely Jade, you may remember Jade from my first weekend in London or my weekend away in Norwich? Well Jade is just the best and when I suggested we go up to Edinburgh together she was very keen seeing as it's a place she's always wanted to go. We caught an early morning train up from London so got a good two days up there and I can not recommend Edinburgh highly enough, it is one cool city!

Chilling in the cobbled streets

Jade organised our accommodation and we stayed at an air b'n'b that was a 20 minute bus ride from the city. The bus ride didn't bother us as the bus stop was less than a minute walk from the place and it meant our view was this;

By the sea, yay!

After we'd dropped all our stuff off and admired the sea view we headed back into the city for an interesting afternoon at the Edinburgh Dungeons. This was where you were taken underground and transported back in time to learn about the dark history of the city. People jumped out at you and we did a ride that simulated a hanging. It was an interesting experience to say the least. We did have a lot of fun trying on masks in the gift shop afterwards though ;)

Having a laugh!

Enter at your own risk...

That night we had some pretty amazing Japanese food, oh it was glorious, and were so full and tired from the early start that we decided to postpone the Murder Mystery Tour we had booked for that night for the next one. We had a reasonably early night which was just as well because we jam packed as much as we could into the next day.

This was just what I ordered... Soooooo good!

Jade had a real treat our second day in Edinburgh because not only did she get to hang out with one cool Kiwi but throughout the day she actually got to hang out with four different cool Kiwis!!! I ended up having a real reunion in Edinburgh, it was great! A friend from HVHS, Mercedes, had messaged me when I arrived in Edinburgh and said she was keen to meet up so I gave her rough plans for my next day and what do you know when we turned up at Edinburgh Castle she was about ten ahead of us in the queue with her friend Chantelle. Talk about perfect timing! So we explored the castle with them, saw the crown jewels of Scotland and had a lovely cream tea for lunch.

Nice to see a castle again!

HVHS reunion

Important cannon

A shot from the inside

Castle!

These swords reminded me of my Highland dancing days...

This cheeky Scot made me laugh outside the castle!

We were absolutely stuffed after our giant scones with jam and cream so I was happy to walk up a hill to Arthur's Seat next. Arthur's Seat is the main peak of a group of hills in Edinburgh and from the top you get a spectacular view of the city. We powered it up in record time of 30 minutes and had a few giggles on the way up, especially when we saw a man on a unicycle riding down the rocky path...

Am I seeing this?

Weird!

Just keep walking...

Taking a break about 3/4 of the way up

:)

At the top!

We made it!

The poor guy!

From Cow to Cone aye? Thought this was funny at the bottom of the hill

From the bottom

Arthur's Seat in the distance

After a quick dash back to our room and a nana nap we were ready to do our Murder Mystery tour. This is where the other Kiwis get involved. How crazy is it that Niki and Brad (from Hamble) happened to be in Edinburgh for this weekend so we went to meet them for a drink and they came on the tour with us. It was so nice to see them again and hear all about the adventure they'd just had driving around Scotland.

Twice in one month!

The tour was such a laugh. We were taken around the old part of Edinburgh at night by the ghost of Adam Lyle and his side kick (who scared us all by jumping out when we least expected it). The tour had only just started when we started learning about all the witch burnings that took place at the castle and for some unknown reason Adam decided to pick on me to go up and pretend to be a witch. When he asked the group why I was accused of being a witch some random woman yells out, "She's just a bit crazy", which set my friends into fits of laughter. I had to scream when he pretended to torture me by screwing my thumbs and the whole group was chanting "Burn her, burn her!" and throughout the rest of the tour I was referred to as the witch! The main thing I took away from the tour was that I'm so glad I didn't have to live in Edinburgh in the middle ages, it'd have been the absolute worst! Streets full of human waste, the plague, witch burnings...

All set for a great time!

We're ready!

The guides

Aaaaaaaaah!

Scary

Our train didn't leave the next day until 1pm so we had enough time to have a bit of a sleep in and then walk along the beach and enjoy our last moments in Edinburgh.

The beach in the morning

Yay! I'm in Scotland!

The sand was golden

It was a great city break and the company was fantastic (thanks Jade!). I'm so happy I got to go up to Scotland and it made me think a lot of home and my great grandmother because it was a dream of hers to get to Scotland. She's the reason I started Highland dancing and I thought of her often when I heard the bagpipes playing.

When I was up there I thought of how I needed to get to Wales because then I'd have been to all places in the United Kingdom and you wouldn't believe where my friend Amanda invited me to go this weekend to stay at her aunty's farm? Wales! So off I head to Wales this weekend! What a lucky girl I am!

I do believe it's 6 weeks until I'm home today! Hehe, I can't wait!

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