For all the festival heads.

Sorry guys, been a bit M.I.A lately.
So after Edinburgh Guy and I took a little trip to Manchester on our way down to London.
Not heaps to report, as there isn't much to do, but it's one of those cities that you know would be amazing to live in. The area we were staying in was full of cute cafe's, bars and vintage shops.
Plus I just kept thinking of Katie while I was there :)

A couple of days in London (including meeting up with Gareth and a hugely epic night where a whole group of us danced like crazy people at the Notting Hill Arts Club) brought me to Leeds.

Before I start this story, let me introduce Jill. Here she is:

At bullshit AM, still a little drunk we dragged ourselves to the bus station, to then sit on a bus for 4.5 hours, to then make our way through Leeds city, to then sit on a bus for 45 minutes, to then carry all our camping gear to a suitable camping ground, to then set up the tent and die.

The next three days were filled with rain and mud and tesco's and yorkshire pudding and not eating burgers and limited sleep - but they were good days.

The list of bands we saw were including but not limited to:

Best Coast

Friendly Fires

Muse (including a fireshow and fireworks)

Does it Offend You, Yeah?

The Naked and Famous

Foster the People

Metronomy

The Vaccines

Digitalism

Two Door Cinema Club

The Kills

The National

The Strokes

After another deathy deathy bus ride where we tried to think of all the different types of ways we could get home if we had super powers we are back the hostel, in recover mode.

With Guy and Tristan in Berlin I have a couple of days to chill out here with Gareth and the rest of the hostel crew.

I'm Harry, Harry Potter.

So where did I leave you guys last? Just seen the Museum yeah?
Right, from there we ventured out and caught some comedy - some absolutely hilarious, some extremely crap that we walked out of.
The best was a couple of british girls that reminded us of Lucy on speed, one of which had us singing the following lyrics:
"Soo piss on my face and feel no shame,
You don't even have to remember my name,
Your facebook status doesn't have to chaaange"

Yesterday was a deliciously lazy day during which the boys napped for about 4 hours and I watched that much of TV. Sometimes you just need a catch up, stop judging us!

I feel like justifying - today we accomplished the final checkpoints on our list.
We had coffee in the cafe that J.K Rowling wrote Harry Potter in, named 'The Elephant House'.
It was a long wait, but worth it for a decent cup of coffee!

We caught some more comedy and then wandered through the cemetary in which J.K Rowling found some characters names - including Professor McGonagall and Tom Riddle.

Now we're about to head to a pub for dinner and then to a theatre performance for our last night as a group.
Tristan (aka. Guy and Hannah buffer) is heading off to Copenhagen tomorrow to start his year of Uni Exchange.
Seeya later Edinburgh, you've been lovely. Seeya later Trist, you've been bareable.

Soup, soup, a tasty soup, soup.

Scotland is full of rain, and jumpers, and umbrellas and soup cravings.
But I'm kind of really loving it.

The city is buzzing at the moment, because the Fringe Festival is on.
Tristan booked us into an apartment, that is absolute heaven after a few weeks in hostels.
This week we've been cooking dinner and watching tv and not having to lock up our stuff everyday, such luxuries!
Our first day here we (Tristan, Guy, Myself and a girl Trist met in Amsterdam - Sallie) went on a walking tour through the city and then through the undeground vaults that used to house all the homeless.
That night we attempted to see some comedy but as there was a break in gigs the three drunkys took over the microphone. I left them upstairs telling knock knock jokes, and when I came back 15 minutes later Guy had his ipod hooked up, was singing into the microphone as Tristan and Sallie were dancing around like mental patients. It was pretty entertaining.

Scott Monument

Over the last few days we've had Sallie's boyfriend meet up with us, visited the Edinburgh Castle, seen The Inbetweeners movie and went to the National Museum of Scotland - where we saw Dolly the first cloned sheep!
We've still got a few more days here to see some more of the Fringe and to chill out in this adorable apartment :)

View from Edinburgh Castle

Dolly!

Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots, shots everybody!

Last wednesday the one and only Guy Ramsay landed in London.
At 7am I met him in the hostel lobby and we then spent the day with the rest of the crew riding around London showing him the touristy sights.
It was also Tristan's 19th birthday which meant a pub lunch and a night of drinking and dancing at a bar in Notting Hill. What I remember of the night was awesome! "lol jokes" ;)

The next day revolved around food, and then seeing Wicked at night. OH MY GOD, it was amazing.
"Defying Gravity" gave me goosebumps and almost produced tears.
Even the three guys that came with us, Guy, Trist and Braiden, enjoyed it.

Friday we returned to Borough markets and bought too much and ate too much, but as always it was amazing. Friday night = beer olympics, but after we talked it up heaps, it OF COURSE went to shit. Too many people were there and then somehow a massively annoying band started up while we were trying to play.

Yesterday Guy and I took a day trip down to Sittingbourne so he could meet the family and I could dump some clothes that I don't want to carry around with me. We got stuffed with cake and tea and burritos and then were sent off with scones wrapped up. Ahhh I love Allison!
One of the girls was having going away drinks (as she is heaidng back home) so we trecked out to Shoreditch to a really cool little bar for a few drinks.
An early morning today, and we were on a train to Edinburgh - where we are now chilling out in the best apartment ever!
I'm so stoked to be here for a week.
For now we are absolutely exhausted, so we will take a night to recover and then check out the sights tomorrow as well as soaking up all that the Fringe Festival has to offer.

I'm in London, still.

Firstly, yes we are fine. We seem to be in the only area not affected by the riots. But even walking around the city during the day, we haven't seen anything.

Now backing up a few days, I had 3 nights in Cork not too long ago.
They were chilled out and uneventful. The highlight was my day trip to Blarney castle.
I kissed the Blarney stone, which is meant to give you the gift of the gab. Not sure it worked for me though!
The gardens surrounding the castle were absolutely incredible, like something out of a children's fairy book.

Since then I flew into London and checked into the Astor Hyde Park, my favourite hostel so far.
Apart from having to lug my suitcase up 4 flights of stairs because there's no lift, this place is awesome.
There's always stuff going on and people to talk to, but it's kinda made me way too relaxed.
We have ended up hanging out here a little too much, and leaving the hostel later than we should.
After a couple of messy nights, including one where I lost my wallet (never, fear I went to the police station and it was there with everything still inside!) we decided to be a little more active.
Over the last couple of days I have visited Westminster briefly, had coffee in Camden, hunted for Vans in Covent Garden, attempted a walking tour of London Street Art, bought vans in Oxford street and am now staying in tonight with a microwave meal to avoid the riots.

I would upload photo's but my camera cord in 4 floors up, and you all know me well enough to know that I'm too lazy to get it. Just check facebook later! ;)

And I lost my heart to a Galway girl

Everyday I love Ireland more and more.

On Monday I hopped on another tour bus (this one was a lot better than last time) heading to the Cliffs of Moher. It was driven by an Irishman named Desmond, who was so hard to understand but pretty entertaining nonetheless. On the way back he was singing along to the Irish CD he had in.
We made so many stops I can't even remember them all, but at around 2pm we got to the cliffs.
They were pretty spectacular, and I had my camera fully charged this time.

Yesterday I sat on a bus for 4 hours travelling to cork. My first impression of the city was pretty interesting.
On my way down to the city to meet up with a girl I'd met in Galway, I had a drunken Irishman follow me asking me about the weather in Darwin and then I saw a guy take a swing at a girl, which then turned into a brawl that the Garda had to come break up.
But after that we had a couple of drinks at a pub with the friendliest barman and a fantastic band - so hopefully it's all up from here.

Why can't I be the cute, carefree Irish guy who sings all the time?

Since my last post I've swapped cities a couple of times.

From Dublin Tristan and I caught the train up to Belfast, but because we organised it separately we stayed at different hostels.

Mine was run by a couple of Irish brothers who had a french bulldog called Buju running around begging for food.

Tristan's was run by aussies who blurred the line between hostel guests and staff.
I think I may have hung out there more than my own hostel, but they couldn't have cared less.

The first night we took part in a pub crawl run by the manager of Trist's hostel. And by "ran by" I mean he took us to a few pubs and a club and drank more than any of us. It was so so good :)

We met, in total, about 27657 people from Perth and then a canadian Bryan who actually told me he was from Canadia.

The following day the only thing I achieved was going on the Black Cab tour - 7 of us were driven around in a cab and shown around Belfast whilst being explained the history of the Catholic/Protestant issues of late.

I had a chilled night, just hanging out in the hostel chatting to people, because we had organised to do the Giant's Causeway tour the next day.

We payed 25euro for this day long tour to take us up to the Causeway, with a few pointless stops on the way. The tour guide was annoying as hell and the bus was full of tourists, but the Causeway itself was absolutely lovely. We took a stop on the way back at the rope bridge which we walked to but not on, and the views were breathtaking. Cliff faces with beautiful beaches beneath with crystal clear water that you could see down south in WA.

And guess which day my camera batteries decided to die.

The Peace Wall

Yesterday, I spent another day on trains travelling from Belfast to Galway, via Dublin. In my hostel were three gorgeous Dubliners, named Kate, Rochine and Orla, who took me out for a night in Galway. OH MY GOD. The races are on at the moment, so the club was packed with seedy, drunk irish guys who kinda put me off and I headed home early.

Today I walked around the town sitting in cafe's, doing a little shopping and taking it all in. Tonight I'm going to take it easy, because tomorrow I'm going to see the Cliffs of Moher.

It's safe to say, I have fallen in love with Ireland and I can't believe I only have 5 more days here!