Spain with Soph

Budget flights with airlines such as Ryan Air might seem like a good option for cheap backpackers like ourselves... that is until you discover the real reason why they are so much less expensive than other carriers. For example: our flight to "Barcelona" was in reality a flight to Girona... which is 110km away from where we actually wanted to be!



Tim practicing for his wedding photos


No Molestar?????? - "Do not disturb" sign


A highlight of Barcelona was a tour of the citys weird and wonderful Gaudi architecture. He was commissioned to develop Park Guell which was to be a small community of a very different kind. The park featured a number of creative constructions but unfortunatley was unfinished due to the financer dying shortly after the project commenced. One of the most memorable moments of our park visit was our trip to the fully automated toilet - you had to be there I guess!



Gaudi creation in Park Guell, Barcelona


Outdoor mosaiced markets for summer


Indoor mosaiced markets for winter


Park Guell, Barcelona


Soph & Tim in "wave" walkway in Park Guell





La Rambla, leading down to the port held all sorts of bizarre sights. Most strange was the incredible number of human statues lined up busking along the length of the street. At the end of the street was the "Colon" monument which we climbed for a view of the city (or in Tim's words, performed a "Colon-oscopy"). There are references to "Colons" all over Spain as this is the Spanish equivalent for what we know as "Colombus" (Christopher). However, Tim did not realise this until the end of the trip so instead thought that the Spanish had an unhealthy obsession with their bowels.


"Colon" monument on La Rambla




Spanish people are very proud of their historical role in the discovery of the Americas... but we soon became aware that their enthusiasm is not limited to Colombus alone. You could easily be led to believe that Spain has the most magnificent, beautiful, incredible natural sights and monuments in the entire world. They sing the praises of some things that are truly quite dull and manage to present even the most uninspiring sights as being breathtaking. We resorted to playing a game of 'spotto' with gross generalisations and exaggerations that were present in one of the audiotours that we took (such as 'everyones pulse will quicken upon witnessing this...' The entertainment this provided was much more interesting than the actual tour itself.

Accomodation was incredibly difficult to find in Barcelona partially due to an international electronic music festival and a national holiday for Corpus Christi celebrations. To avoid paying for a ridiculously expensive hotel room we caught an overnight bus to Valencia so as to have somewhere to sleep. Our room in Valencia was unique to say the least. Inside the four bed room there was a bidet out in the open (but no toilet??) and a shower without anything to provide privacy!




The tour of Valencia featured the catholic cathedral which was overrun with visitors waiting excitedly for the Corpus Christi parade scheduled for that evening. Strangely, one of the most sought after attractions inside the church was the withered arm of a saint. When we questioned the means by which the arm had been obtained, we were told it was simply a miracle! Rivalling the petrified arm was a room dedicated to the display of a cup claimed to be the holy grail. I guess they haven't read Dan Browns book yet!



Ou com balla (Dancing egg fountains) - traditionally displayed for the Corpus Christi celebrations


Giant people used in traditional Corpus Christi parades

From Valencia we flew to Seville, which we discovered is the port from which Christopher Colombus embarked on his journey of discovery as well as where the first circumnavigation of the world commenced and finished (with only 18 of the original 200+ sailors). Seville was also the site of a revelation for Renee, discovering that bull fights actually result in the bull being tortured and dying!! She was no longer so keen to watch a matador in action. We found it hard to believe that so many people still go along to see an animal be killed.


How did those cows get into the bullfight ring??


The tourist bureau was helpful... as long as you only wanted to look at monuments. To keep them happy we dutifully wandered around the town admiring the buildings of significance. The most prominent was the catholic cathedral which had originally been built as a mosque during the muslim period. To one side of the cathedral was a high tower which was climbed on horse back five times everyday for the call to prayer to be made from the very top. The townsfolk who lived close to the tower resented the invasion of their privacy that inevitably came from someone being at such a vantage point. So as to avoid people peering into the neighbours homes, the job of climbing the tower was only given to persons who were blind!

From Seville we flew back to London. It seems impossible that we left Seville at 6.30 and arrived at my sisters house in London 10 hours later (3.30am) despite it being only a 2 hour flight... yet again the price you pay for travelling with budget airline companies!!!

McLennan Land

We actually arrived in London from Munich, but that was only for the arvo/night before heading off early the next morning to Scotland.

This week featured a number of ties to family:

Eagerly waiting to meet us at Heathrow airport were Renees sister Kristy and their parents. I'm sure they were as excited as Renee (who was pretty much bouncing all the way on the plane trip) considering she hadnt seen her parents in 6 months or Kristy in almost 18 months! This feeling however possibly wore off quicker for them than it did for Renee who had obviously been missing friends and family. After a few hours, this is what Kristy and her parents had to resort to - in order to get a word in edgewise. :oD


The last resort for excited Renees poor family!


Yummy food at a funky stack'em up restaurant!

Not only did Renees family get to have a mini reunion, this was the first time Tim was there as part of the "family-to-be" and we were heading off together to the "Land of the Macs"....
The land of the brave; where the calls of the ancient highlands were stirring in Tims ancestory blood - causing strange desires to dance around in the cold, in a tartan skirt with no underwear, whilst blowing into a pipe covered sheeps bladder. Or maybe not. Either way there was lots of lovely scenery, some movie quality castles, and lots of mighty fine Rhodedenrums!

So, early the next morning we (the 5 of us) picked up our bags and proceeded in convoy to Stansted Airport (via london underground, then coach). This was our first intro to the famous/infamous "cheap" europe flights. This one went pretty well - largely because we had our trusty local travel agent looking after us and accompanying us all the way. (Thanks Kristy!)


Sodoku!!! Yay!! Thanks Kristy! (Christmas early!)


We picked up a fairly nice hire car (upgraded due to the one we booked had been smashed in an accident by the previous hirers!) - a diesel version of the Vaxhaul (Holden) Astra. My first drive of a small diesel and it didnt seem too bad... if even if it was a "Holden", hey Rob? ;o) Oh yeah.... I was even allowed to drive! I promised to behave myself (which I did!) and the future parents-in-law even started to relax after a few hours.

Much to the amusement of the Weston Clan, one of my fondest memories of Scotland was sitting in the back seat of the car travelling to our first town for the night. We were passing through some lovely valleys with high, rolling hills either side when I heard a low rumbling sound. At first I thought it was a motorbike creeping up on us about to overtake (there were plenty of them touring around, and I was wishing I had one instead of the car!). It it only took a few milli seconds to realise it wasnt a bike as the noise kept getting louder and louder and was coming up from behind faster than any bike rider would be able to hang on! Im sure we all ducked as a RAF Tornado jet fighter screamed overhead at less than 200ft above us. We got a great top-down view of his plane as he pulled up out of the low-level buzz, no doubt chuckling away to himself. (There were numerous other fighters cruising around at low level for the rest of the week, so I was kept happy!)

Our first stop was in Crianlarich. A very nice B&B where we had our own little cottage.
Renee and I had planned to cook for the troops since it was one of the few times we had a kitchen. Unfortunately that was limited to a basic curry as the only supermarket we could find had nothing but frozen dinners!!! pfff... Luckily a deli had enough ingredience to help us out.


A forrest walk the next morning around the surrounding hills was the scene for this shy little girl being discovered by a very interested Young lad.


Awwww... two coy young spring chickens!

After the walk it was a lesurely drive to Invergarry: Located near Loch Ness. Despite our trusty travel agent booking well in advance (and paying a deposit) we were informed (appologetically) that unfortunately they didnt have room for all of us. 'Twas all OK though as she had found us rooms at another place just down the road in Fort Augustus. We spent some time wandering round the small town surrounding the 3 stage locks where a canal enters Loch Ness, watching boats transferring up and down. An evening enjoying fish and chips on the picturesque water front was very hard to take!


Look! Locks between lochs!! (3 stage lifts for boats entering/leaving loch Ness)

The next days drive took us along the length of the famous Loch Ness. Nessie was probably on holiday as we didnt see her (/him/it). Still, there were frequent sightings throughout the few thousand gift shops. A few lovelly walks took us through dense, lush forrests; one following a small creek until it emerged out to the majestic expanse of the Loch, the other back up another creek carving an interesting path through a rocky gorge. Lunch for Tim included a once in a lifetime opportunity to try the (in)famous pommy culinary delight: A Deep Fried Mars Bar! It didnt take Tim long to realise why it was a once in a lifetime experience! Urgghh!


The forest Bobsled team.


A castle???? in scotland??? ;o)


Fools!! The lot of them!


How Gorgeous!!!! Nice scenery too.


Enjoying fine company and views.


And the rolling hills come to an abrupt end!

We continued in the afternoon (following the driving guide Kristy had printed from the Internet) to find the Ferry across to the Isle of Skye. We went past a little, old battered sign saying "Ferry Closed" and thought nothing of it as our Internet guide said it was through here. The Internet is NEVER wrong. After arriving at a deserted Ferry crossing, we watched the little otters play in the water (I swear I heard one chuckling "pfff dopey tourists!") before deciding to head back and try and find our way to the bridge.
Arriving at our B&B around 4ish (again booked and deposit payed for) we found no-one was home apart from a lone wandering chicken. (I wanted to hypnotise it as its a great party trick that I seldom get a chance to use!) We left a note and decided to do a bit more more exploring before coming back later. An our or so later, just as we were deciding to head back and try again, Kristy gets a call saying.
"Um, Hi. About the room you booked... Well we have no room, coz um ... ummm, my husbands sick and I cant look after anyone else. You are going to have to find somewhere else." No real appology. No offer to look for somewhere else for us.
"riiiight.... Well I guess we will be back tomorrow on our way off the island to pick up the deposit." (To tell the truth, it looked pretty dodgey, so we were glad we found somewhere else for the night. - Plus to her credit she did give us back more than Kristy paid as a deposit.) We enjoyed a nice meal in the little town we ended up in (cant remember the name, sorry!) and had an evening performance of Bagpipes in the town square, thanks to the local primary school!


Little chidlers, learning to strangle cats and annoy people for generations to come! (Kidding! They sounded great!)

A drive around the top end of the isle, completing a full loop, provided some speccy scenery as many small creeks (with little waterfalls along the way) ended ubruptly over a large cliff with large drops out into the open ocean.




Where the rivers run free, from highlands to the sea.

Once back on the mainland, we carried on to Inverness (through the area once inhabited by the legendary McLennan Clan). A quaint old town with a supprisingly fast flowing river cutting through the middle of it.


Locky! Our trusty local guide and Mascot for the trip.



Our penultimate stop for Scotland saw a change in accomodation from the luxurious (for Renee and I) B&Bs to the more familiar Back Packers. This one was very nicely setup and was a good base for Pub hopping in search of food, drink and World cup soccer matches on the big screens! (oh, and of course Kareoke for Kristy)

Our final full day in Scotland took us for one final meander along a magic riverside forrest trail. Apparently this was the scene for an infamous past incident involving Stinging nettles during an emergency toilet stop for someone on the trip, but I wont mention names because she might kill me. Renee, Kristy and I greatly enjoyed our first trip to the area. ;oD


Kristy: looking for the troll under the bridge... Or maybe any local Firemen???




The walks were gorge-ous! (Tim joke!)

Also of note was the "Salmon Steps" upstream where each year Salmon return to their breeding ground. A man made series of "steps" in the water allow the Salmon to climb the now dammed river. A slight confusion in their operation had us patiently waiting and watching for Slamon to jump the series of 6 foot high walls with their series of "resting" ponds. Turns out, there are actually pipes allowing the slamon to swim up through the walls of these ponds, meaning the salmon jumping was only to be seen very occasionally in the actual river!

The trip abck to Glasgow included a stop at another small town that had a small cafe chocked full of Aussie paraphenalia! State flags, holiday posters, Vegemite and Aussie signs covered every spare space in the place. Turns out the owner was a die-hard aussie that loved Australia to death... yet wouldnt go back??? The bugger also had a very dodgy way of presenting his menu such that Rob and I ended up paying about $15 each for our pie and pastie despite Renee and Sue only paying about $5 for pretty much the same thing! ( Maybe they wont let him back in the country!!! :oD )


We like to think so, but they placed the sign a long way away! ;D

We also had to drive via Perth. Just so we could say we had been there. Tim tried recruiting (unsuccessfuly) for his motorcyle club (Perth-Street-Bikes), but there was a limited market there. (It was a relatively small town.)

The night in Glasgow consisted of a short walk through the town park swarming with shirtless yobos, looking very much like they were at Australia day pre-fireworks parties). The gothic university buildings looked very spectacular, looming on the hill almost like a sophisticated vampire's residence. A delicious Indian meal (the westernized version of course) was enjoyed by all as a wonderful finish to the week. (Thanks Kristy!)

There are no Kangaroos in Austria.

Despite the title, this blog update starts at the smallest country we have been to so far. Its hard to find one much smaller than Liechtenstein. At about 20kms by 5kms, it wouldnt be hard to miss. We first caught sight of this little country in our Europe lonely planet as the thinnest section. Once we heard it was famous for postage stamps and dentures, we simply couldnt leave it from our itinerary!

Our second couch surfing host, Henning, was living here. We met him in our hostel in Lucerne, Switzerland. Well, actually, he was the one to spot us... well Renee actually (recognising her from her couch surfing photo). A careful series of questioning confirmed it was and luckily he still let us stay with him once we got to Liechtenstein!



Henning, our Liechtenstein couch surfing host


A great guy, studying abroad, from Germany. Apparently the university he attends is very successful in recruiting foreign students by their luring promotional photo. (The stunning panoramic view from their glass walled library, comple with a hot young blond studying.)

To take in the majestic view of the country (literally almost all of it!) we were taken half way up the mountain next where we were staying (in the capital Vaduz). Unfortunately we were about 2 minutes up our climb when the peak fanished in front of our eyes! Heavy fog rolled in. No sooner had we decided it best to turn back, the visibility dropped to a few metres infront of us. As we reached the car it turned into a downpour and it didnt let up for quite a while.
This killed much of our activity for the day, however it was a suprising, yet beautiful sight the next morning as the clouds rolled away revealing the top half of the mountain covered in a fresh dusting of snow! (and here we were thinking it was summer in June in the northern hemisphere!)

We continued moving on to Innsbruck, Austria as we only had a few more days to get through Austria and back to Munich for our flight to London.

Unfortunately Innsbruck was a bit of dissapointment for us as the rain continued and when it stopped, it was still so cloudy we so couldnt see much of surrounding mountains. It didnt help that our Hostel was a smokey dive, with a very dodgy breakfast. Im sure it would have been much nicer if we had better weather and accomodation.



Tim wandering the cold, wet and deserted streets of Innsbruck


Salzburg was our next (and final) stop for Austria. We met up with our third couch surfing host Chris. He kindly took us around a bit of the old town before we met a friend of his and went to their quiet local spanish bar. A few wines (of which I'm still not a fan) with some lovely spanish bread, olives and cold meats was a good accompaniment for a great night of chatting away like we had always been good friends.



Chris, our couch surfing host in Salzburg


Chris already had some american boys who had booked the couch before us, so we found a hostel for the next night. To our astonishment, Chris, (obviously not realising how dodgy we actually were), trusted us enough from our short time together to hand over the keys to his apartment for the weekend while he went to Italy with some mates for a motorbiking weekend!
This kindness, generosity and trusting act shows humanity still has a chance, and makes communities like couch surfing work. (We only hope we can continue the great work of others such as the people we have stayed with, by helping others enjoy one of the best bits of Australia once we get home.)





Anyway... back to Salzburg. With Chris's house as base, we did a more extensive walk of the old town. Mozart featured prominently as it was his birthplace. The fact that he couldnt wait to get out of the place wasnt really promoted, but thats just a minor detail in history. ;o)









The highlight of the Austrian sights was our day trip to visit the largest (known) ice cave: Eisriesenwelt Werfen. A cable car got us most of the way up the mountain where the cave entrance is located, however it was a 10 minute walk up a very slippery slope and there were numerous times Tim almost ended up with a sore and cold butt!



Tim standing on the mountain; one of the few times he was standing! The rest of the time he was sitting in the snow on his butt.


Surprisingly, our picnic plans were put on hold...


With over 4okms of cave, it is pretty impressive inside. The 1km walk we had contained some impressive ice formations and features, but from our caving experiences in south West WA, their eco management seemed to be lacking. Our spelunking friends Jay and Ross would be livid if they visited. All the tourists were given keroscene lamps. The amount of Magnesium ribon burned and dropped buy the guides was distressing to say the least. You can see the damage to the features where the guides hang the burning magnesium to light it up, yet melt the ice at the same time!



And it's supposed to be summer in the northern hemisphere!!