The Twighlight Zone

Well we didn't realize how hard it was going to be to find somewhere to eat on the way. We stopped at one place that looked like a hotel/pub resturant but all that was there was burger, fries etc. for as much as a steak dinner would be here in Canada. So we decided to keep driving. We decided that the next town we were going to find anything no matter what because we were all famished. So its dark and we pull into this small town and see what looks like a nice resturant that use to be an old cool hotel. WELL as we are walking in to the resturant a man is standing out side smoking and decide to courteously blow his smoke in our diretection. We walk in and the entire room goes almost silent while everyone turns and looks at us. Which was a little bit ackward. The room was one big room with a high ceiling big beautiful fire place and wood bar. We were seated by the fireplace and given menu's and while we looked at them the waitresses talked in another language while staring at us. We'll when I went to go to the washroom it was upstair in what was obviously an old hotel. While up there I thought that it looked like some old murder mystery movie (which I never watch but pictured this is what it would look like)and decided to hurry back to the rest of the crew. The one thing I was able to tell them was that we had finally found the "shire"....the toilets in the washroom were brand named Shire. Well Joel, Roxanne & I ordered Lasagna, which to this day we wonder what type of meat they used because we didn't think it tasted to much like beef. While Casey ordered a curry dish.....I don't know what he was thinking. Well we finished and paid and as we left all the other tables were looking at us and whispering to one another...it truly felt like the twighlight zone!

Arriving in Cork

So as we are approaching Cork we realize it is another LARGE city not a little cute town that looks like the shire! We are all so over tired by now we are laughing about everything and turning everything into a joke. So we thought well we drove 4 hours lets check it out before the suns gone.So we drove around randomly up streets to "check the place out" then we head into the centre of the city which looks like a real cool shopping strip. We went into a mall and where we found parking and kept joking around about wondering if each person we encountered would know where the "shire" was. We then headed to the street and wandered around for a little while the rain started and then to find a place to eat. We went to one resturant and sat there for about 2 minutes and decided to leave. We couldn't find anything so decided to grab a coffee at a Glory Jeans (which is an Aussie company)amd head back to Dublin and find something to eat on the way.

Cork Road Trip

So we made a stop in a town called Kilkenny that is the best preserved medieval town they say. We stopped at the Kilkenny Castle and browsed around it (not in it)then headed into the town and wander the little streets. It was so neat but unfortunately everything was closed. We did go for lunch though in a really neat building with the wonderfully irish prices...ouch.

The Adventure to Cork Begins

Well the morning comes and we are all exhausted except Joel who slept through the whole night and we are off to on the road to Cork. So we were very excited to go to Cork as we were told that its a beautiful little town that will remind you of the Shire. So we headed out of Dublin into the country side, south. It was beautiful scenery with rolling green hills with sheep & rock fences and old buildings. We stopped at a gas station cause Casey saw these ruins of a building on the side of the road. So camera happy Casey went.

Starbuckies Ireland!

Well after our touring we went back to find a grocery store to make something for dinner. Not much around but we found enough to get by. When we got back to our hostel room Roxanne went to use the bathroom and when she walked in she turned around and walk back out to tell us that it looked like someone had used it while we were gone and forgot to flush. There was a phantom poo in the loo. We were all a bit weirded out but what could you do. So we headed for the kitchen cooked our wonderful meal. I had never seen blood sausage or hagass (no idea how to spell that) till we headed to the kitchen and I don't think I would it would be something I car to smell or see again. After dinner we then decided to head out to find ourselves a coffee shop. While the rain came pouring down & I mean pouring we of course found ourselves a starbucks. We spent a few hours there enjoying a few cups of coffee (casey maybe more then a few) and had brought Joel & Roxanne a few North American goodies. After that we headed back to our hostel through the Temple Bar area where it was in and wandered through some souvenier shops. We realized that at night is when that area starts getting busy as the people there like their late night drinks. After we wandered around for a little we went back to our hostel to make it an early night as we had a full day ahead of us the next day. We were planning to head to Cork as it was 4 hours away and we had a bunch of people tell us we must check it out. So we wanted to get up bright and early the next morning. We all got into bed and all of us fell asleep except Casey. He couldn't sleep (hmmmmm how much coffee did he have), so every few hours he would wake me up (not on purpose of course) and I would check if he was even sleepy and he was wide awake. Well about 3 or 4 am he got up to go to the washroom when he wakes me up to tell me the phatom poo was back! Well needless to say something was fishy because we all knew it was no ware to be found before we all went to bed. At 5 am I think Casey slept for 1 hour before we all had to get up and get ready to go and well he was our driver on the rental car. I little bit scary!

DVBLINIA

Next we headed to Dvblinia to check out the history of the Vikings....Casey's Scandanavian anscestors. Yikes! We went through a muesem with alot of history of the vikings and little reacreated living areas & boats etc. It was pretty cool. They were some tough people travelling in the ocean on the little boats sitting on a box with their possessions in it. And no Casey didn't kiss the wax statue.

Dublin Castle

We wondered around Dublin Castle which was nice but unfortunately couldn't get inside. I can't remember why but we figured we look around and then head off to the next place. Compared to what Casey & I were use to every building had character being so old and build with stone, it was amazing.

Our first day in Dublin

Our hostel room was very cozy as you can see with 4 bunks where you could almost reach over and hold hands. We had our own washroom which was nice...or maybe it wasn't our own we will tell you about that later. The only not so good thing was the kitchen was around the corner so with the variety of cooking that went on in there the smells were strong, but it did make it easy for us to go back and forth from cooking to our room to grab things. Right after we checked in and put our stuff in our rooms we headed to wander around and find a place to have lunch. We found a little cafe where we had soup and sandwiches and our coffee which was a constant tradition with us four. Yep even the English Joel & Roxanne we brought them over from tea to coffee while in Australia. Quickly we found out that Ireland even made England look cheaper in prices!

Europe 08 Yah baby!

Well Casey & I were off to Europe for 3 weeks. We were so excited as we were spending a week meeting up with Joel & Roxanne as well as Jamie, Tracy & Ethan(we met them all in Australia. Our flight took us to London, England then we were transfering to head to Dublin, Ireland. We spent the night in Dublin by the airport and then in the morning head to the airport to meet Joel & Roxanne as they were flying over from Newcastle, England. When they arrived it was like yesterday we had saw them when we say them, we hadn't missed a beat. It was so amazing to see them! We went from the airport to pick up a rental car then head into Dublin to find our hostel. The start of our adventures. After driving around trying to figure out where our hostel was, finding parking and figuring out that our hostel had no parking but we had to find a pay parking lot. We parked the car and headed to our hostel to unpack our things.

Time to say Goodbye

Well it was time to leave Australia which we were sad about but excited to surprise our families as none of them knew we were coming home. We had built such special friendships that it was really hard not knowing when we would all see eachother again. We had a bit of a joke by the time we left due to Casey's many injuries that we took a picture of him by the maniqine that made us all think of him. This trip to Australia was one of the most amazing times in our lives. One that God blessed us with so many things. Growing and getting to know Him in such a special way, teaching us so many things like being kingdom minded and that earth isn't our home but heaven is. He blessed us with friends that have so impacted our lives and we feel such a connection with and so honored to have been able to have them as friends. We saw God lead us in so many ways and we saw some amazing miracles. I am so thankful for the blessings of what this year has been. I am also thankful that we chose to be obedient to our faithful, amazing God!

Sailing

Stu & Kristi and Kristi's parents took us out sailing for a day which was amazing. It was bright and early so we all needed our coffee fix before heading out. It was in a habour area so I didn't get sick! We sailed for a bit to this beautiful area where everyone (except me) went in for a swim. Casey went off venturing around and found a rocky area that he decided to check out and climb on. Well once back in the water being careful as possible to avoid the coral he missed seeing a piece and sliced his hand open. So after our sailing trip we were off to the same hospital again courtesy of Stu & Kristi. Besides that we had an absolutely great time enjoying the beauty & wonderful company.