In our final Iceland video, we take a Superjeep tour, go hiking over a mountain, sledding down a volcano and touch a glacier. I think we can all agree, Iceland is pretty damn rad.
Also, learn how to say Eyjafallajökull! 😀
England: Friends and Family
On our way back from the south west we stopped for a night with Jen and Rob in Bristol. Jen had told me that Bristol is considered by some to be quite like Melbourne, and I could certainly see the similarities. There’s lots of (good quality) graffiti and there seemed to be strong and varied cultural scene. More people with dreadlocks and op shop clothing than I’ve seen in a long time. Jen took us for a walk to a green hill very close to her house, from which we enjoyed and excellent view of the city at sunset. Then we walked through a huge area of allotments that reminded me of CERES and a community farm just like Collingwood! I think if I was to come back to stay for a while Bristol would certainly be somewhere I’d consider.
Somewhat surreal.
We had a couple of drinks at a pub before heading to Thali Indian restaurant. I wish I’d taken some photos of the interior, it was an astoundingly bright mix of blue, teal and dark pink. Completely different to any other Indian restaurant I’ve seen and full of character. The food was fantastic too. Luke and I are already moaning about missing the food in the UK and we haven’t even left yet.
Afterwards we went to see a really funky band, then ended the night at Jen and Rob’s, laughing at Rob doing the Birmingham accent and chatting into the wee hours.
We left the next afternoon, much later than I anticipated and got stuck in horrendous 4pm Friday traffic. I swear I’ll never complain about Australian traffic again. You really have to think about what time you’re planning on being on the road here – we spent over half an hour crawling along at virtually walking pace. Still, it was worth it for the huge English breakfast we had at a cafe near Jen’s.
Bristol – we’ll be back one day!
On the subject of Jen, I completely forgot to write about going to Birmingham a short while back to see her play her cello with a band. It was only a short set (or maybe it just felt short?) but the music was lovely and it was the first chance I’d had to meet her partner Rob.
Jen on stage.
Before the gig Luke and I had lunch with an old friend, Liz – my friend Sarah’s mother, who conveniently lives in Wolverhampton, not far from Birmingham. We met up at her house then went to a pub for a roast lunch. The food was great and it was lovely to catch up and hear Liz’s plans for visiting Sarah (who lives in Melbourne) for a few months around the time Sarah’s baby is due. While we’ve been overseas it seems like half the 30-something people in Melbourne have had babies or are about to. It’s weird to think that a few weren’t even contemplating children when I left and when I get back they’ll have babies in their lives. I’m looking forward to meeting all these brand new people :-).
One day I’m going to learn, for once and for all, that it’s always worth getting my good camera out to take photos. Was great to see you, Liz!
Spending Time
Travel can’t always be sunshine and uncomfortable beaches. We’ve returned to Cambridge and are having a quiet week. I’m teaching myself to crochet, with surprisingly swift success thanks to YouTube tutorials and enough time to actually focus on it without distractions. I’ve made a rectangle, circles, a square, a ball, and a tube and I’ve been experimenting with different combinations of stitches to make a range of shapes. Although travel is challenging on organisational levels I haven’t acquired a new skill in quite a long time. It’s been a very enjoyable exercise for my brain and it’s also a craft project I can take on a plane, which makes it far more convenient than knitting needles, which everyone knows are the tools of crafty terrorists (boom tish!).
I’ve been annoying people by posting photos of my crocheting on facebook, but since Mum doesn’t use facebook some people are just going to have to admire them twice.
They’re not perfect, but I couldn’t even do a single crochet stitch three days ago so not a bad effort!
Right now I’m just working on technique  and getting my stitches all an even size, but I’m aiming to make a blanket out of squares and some amigurumi dolls.
Luke is sporadically working on videos, we’re both watching lots of Star Trek: The Next Generation (brought on by reading Wil Wheaton’s autobiography and we’re enjoying it enormously) and I’ve been drinking tea and enjoying it for the first time in my whole 37 years. Up to three cups a day! What with the crochet I think I might buy myself a rocking chair when I get home and be done.
Devon and Dorset
We spent a morning exploring Lyme Regis in beautiful sunshine and ate delicious Devon pasties for lunch while sitting on a bench overlooking the beach. Delightful!
Lyme Regis has one of those quintessentially English beaches that are composed of enormous pebbles. The noise they make when you walk over them is extraordinary. The beach is lined with colourful bathing boxes in lovely pastel shades and there were many people out walking dogs and only one person in the water, which we’d been assured wasn’t ‘that cold’.
Looks like a comfy surface to sunbathe on. Not.
The town is full of stores selling designer clothes, art, food that’s practically art, and the words ‘organic’, ‘locally sourced’ and ‘ethically produced’ are more the norm than the exception. Life in the south west of England is appealing indeed.
Our first evening in town was stunning calm and clear – especially for October.
Lyme Regis by night.
The lamp posts in Lyme Regis celebrate its position on the ‘Jurassic Coast’, an amazing area where frequent landslides often uncover million year old fossils.
Mid afternoon we headed over to Axminster, home of one of the fabled River Cottage Canteens. We loitered in a pub with free wifi for a while then arrived a bit early for our booking.
First in the door!
Starters were cauliflower soup with an onion bhaji in the middle for me and Luke had a plate of fresh buffalo mozzarella with an arrabiata salsa on a naan. I’ve always thought mozzarella was too bland to eat raw but this dish was amazing. The bhaji in my soup was like a giant, crunchy, spicy crouton that was the perfect compliment.
Pork belly!
For mains I had pork belly, which was excellent, and Luke had a pumpkin and almond risotto with chilli and barley. I had bitter chocolate mousse for dessert and Luke had a cheese platter. If you ever have the chance I highly recommend eating there. It was amazing value for three courses (£20 pp), the flavours were complex and perfectly balanced and the staff were very friendly and helpful.
We had also learned that the second episode of the latest River Cottage series had been shot at the pub where we were staying so we’re super keen to see it next week.
Happy Halloween from Hugh!
The next morning we checked out of the hotel and headed to the seaside village of Beer. Because… Beer!
I’m a sucker for towns with funny names and Beer ticks that box. We bought some postcards (obviously) and some more delicious pasties and sat in the sunshine. Pasties and ginger beer seemed a very appropriate lunch to be having by the beach. Very Enid Blyton. No mysteries to solve, however, just lots of photographs of boats and chairs and then to the Beer beer garden overlooking the beach so Luke could have a beer.
The most fiery ginger beer we’ve ever had.
Like toy boats… but big!
Beer!
Our friend Jen, who lives in Bristol and who has featured several times in this blog previously, had carelessly issued an invitation to come stay any time. We decided a free bed and good company were not to be sniffed at, so our next stop: Bristol!
Lyme Regis
We’re in Dorset, having driven down from Nottingham today and the further south we got, the better the weather became.
We’re here because we’re both River Cottage fans and it’s a very difficult thing indeed to watch the tv show and not want to come to the south west of England.
For those who haven’t seen it (and shame on you), River Cottage began as a documentary of Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall, a London chef who moved to Dorset to try to live, as much as possible, off the land. He rented a small property and grew his own vegetables, raised some pigs and became very involved in the local community. Over the years HFW moved properties, opened restaurants, trained chefs and promoted a wonderful ethos of responsible, ethical food production. I very much admire his dedication to something so important and the success he’s had both locally and internationally. It’s hard to know whether River Cottage started the trend of gourmet, organic, locally sourced farm produce down here, but food in this area is seriously good. We’ll report back tomorrow on the fare we’re served at the River Cottage Canteen in Axminster. Can’t wait!
Here Comes The Planet 