HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY 2007!

Vesta Cattle Station had the Straya Day party 2007! Probably one of the best and most patriotic Oz Day parties ever........



"What's that Skip?....Lou's got her boob in your face....ahhh that's no good Skip"



Rosie, have you done something with ya hair?





Pav gets two thumbs up!



Mosie, Rike & Skip. "What's that Skip....They touched you where?... that's no good Skip"



Skip getting around with Team Penis!



Once a boob man, always a boob man!



"Will you piggy back me home Skip?"



Lou loves Skip!



See if you can spot Dean? Stacks on!



Skip after too many rums, flying home!

Check it yo! (This file is pretty big - 50mb)!!!!
MVI_0791.AVI

For more photo's, courtesy Team Canon:

http://krisandpenny.smugmug.com/gallery/2403083#125932572

Up ya BUM!!!!!

Countdown

Not long until we go snowboarding... until then, here's the daily snow report...

Arabba Snow Forecast Snow Report by E-mail

Bratislava, Slovakia

Pen and Kris had itchy feet so we helped them escape London for another weekend away. This time the destination was Bratislava, the capital city of Slovakia.

Eating and drinking set the scene for most of the weekend. Zlaty Bazant (Golden Pheasant) was the drink of choice. A Slovakian beer which proved time and time again to be very tasty.

Day One: Saw us walk aimlessly around the old town looking for breaky. You know a country doesn't place much reliance on breakfast when the only place open at 9:30am was a Mexican restaurant. Once food was in our bellies it was up to the Castle. The castle is more like a museum (or an Ikea) with several pretty uninteresting displays, especially compared to other castles we have visited previously.




After the castle we found an authentic Slovakian restaurant for lunch. The meat and cheese entree we shared was brilliant. The venue awesome! The mains "Mamma's specialty" a little disappointing.



Once again, bellies were full so we ventured across the New Bridge to the UFO. The UFO offers an amazing 360 degree view of the city. It also has a gorgeous, swaying bar on top where Pen & Lou sampled some white Slovakian vino. The toilets offered unbeatable views with floor to ceiling windows but probably wouldn't be appreciated by anyone with a fear of heights.





Once again we were thirsty so we crossed town to the Slovak Pub. Cheap beers and scotch followed by the local specialty - dumplings in goat cheese that resembled something that you may step over on the footpath . Unable to do it justice, we hunted down a kebab shop we had spied earlier in the old town. Everyone was a little disappointed with the salad to meat ratio but it filled the gap and we headed off to bed.

Day Two: At this stage of the weekend we really had to think about what else there was to do as we had seen all of the sites the city has to offer. Instead of sticking around we boarded bus 28 bound for Devin Castle. The castle is in ruins and was definately one of the best parts of the weekend.

After exploring the ruins for a couple of hours we headed back to the city for lunch. Our meals were pretty good (although the chef got a little enthusiastic and added half the Pacific Ocean's level of salt) and the Slovakian red vino was an excellent accompaniment.

The national sport in Slovakia is Hockey (a.k.a. Ice Hockey) and we managed to get tickets to the Sunday night game. The local team of Slovan Bratislava was annihilated by visiting team Dukla Trencin 1 - 10. We became a little confused when towards the end of the game the crowd started cheering for the away team - strange. Obviously we got a love for the game when we were in Canada and even though the scoreboard was a little one sided the game was the highlight of our trip.



The Slovakian Koruna was very good against the pound. Everything was very cheap, especially the beer. The cheapest we found was at the hockey, about 50 pence for almost a pint.

Although it probably isn't up there on our must see list of destinations, it still comes recommended especially for a cheap weekend where you want to relax and take your time doing the sites.

HAPPY 2007!

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVERYONE!

We arrived back in London in time for the New Year's festivities. We joined Nikki and Paul at their place along with Andrea and David for drinks and nibbles. Then it was off to dinner at a Riverside restaurant lining the Thames.



Poor Nikki came down with a bout of food poisoning (from her lunch) so while she went home to bed we viewed the fireworks off the London Eye from a great vantage point along the river.



Hope 2007 is prosperous for all!

Austria & Switzerland

It was a tough decision where to spend the Christmas period this year. Whilst being at home with our family and friends would have been nice it wasn’t going to be. Instead we decided to spend our time in Austria and Switzerland.


Highlights of the trip include:

* Favourite location - Salzburg, Austria;
* The Grand Hall in the National Library in Vienna;
* Christmas Markets in Vienna;
* Sipping champagne listening to a Mozart concert on Christmas Day;
* Frost, especially the frosted trees!! (no snow though);
* Salt mine tour from Salzburg; and
* Eating fondue in Zurich, Switzerland.

All the pics and a bigger writeup on the trip can be found here. This link also includes plenty of photos for you to enjoy.