tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54485052007-10-01T01:58:00.849+10:00MattBlogger89125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-61315450391671312352007-10-01T01:50:00.000+10:002007-10-01T01:58:00.879+10:00

Well we're back from our honeymoon. 14 days of complete relaxation, doing nothing other than reading, drinking, eating and the bad thing ;) We got back a few days ago, and had to go back to work and all that boring stuff. Our pressies from John Lewis have arrived, and we've got the official wedding snaps now. Thanks again to everyone for coming. We've also got this special limerick from Lynn,

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-14599563829192611532007-07-29T17:24:00.000+10:002007-07-29T17:35:22.989+10:00

Yesterday we made a visit up to Nottingham to see the latest member of the Nottingham crew, baby Jonathan Julian Theobald ! James & Jill are now the proud parents of one bouncing baby boy, who is very cute. All three are doing well. You can see a few pics here. We had a meal with them, and then came back home. B has also taken some more pics of the flooding around South Abingdon, which you can

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-35722694693737410312007-07-23T02:25:00.000+10:002007-07-23T02:29:00.179+10:00

We've just been down to the river in Abingdon to have a look at the flooding here. The river has burst its banks, and it is roaring through the weir. Although it's nowhere near as bad as in some areas, there are a few houses in trouble and South Abingdon has been hit badly. There are some pics to look at hereNot much else has been happening. We went round to a friends place yesterday for a braai

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-61893828182522311752007-06-30T17:47:00.001+10:002007-06-30T18:03:30.614+10:00

As usual, we've been so busy I haven't got round to posting anything for ages. Since the last post we've been to Ireland, I've been to Munich, we've seen Brad & Hannah from NZ and B has been to Wimbledon. Ireland was great. Brian, Ali, Erin and Patrick had come over from a few weeks from oz so we flew over to say hi. It was the first time we'd seen Patrick. Erin has changed from being a small

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-25383806376932165512007-06-09T18:08:00.000+10:002007-06-09T18:19:31.783+10:00

We had homemade curry last night. Perhaps not all that impressive but we also made the naan bread and sag aloo ourselves too, and it was delicious. All washed down with a couple of pints of local ale. We've been busy for the last few weeks on various wedding duties. We went to London a couple of weeks ago and I purchased my suit for the wedding with the help of JC. We went in nearly every store

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-49245087926206935302007-05-14T18:02:00.000+10:002007-05-14T18:18:08.201+10:00

We have finally visited the venue for our wedding, which is Sussex Barn. It was nice to see the place at long last and get a picture of how it is all going to work. It is a very nice spot, so hopefully it will be a good party. We also paid a visit to the butchers to discuss the hog roast, and saw a hog being roasted! It looked very tasty. Of course we also purchased some supplies to check out the

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-51585272448212478712007-04-24T06:36:00.000+10:002007-04-24T06:39:46.281+10:00

I've just uploaded the pictures from the Nottingham reunion. These are not for the faint of heart, so beware. It was a very good weekend, and great to see us all together once again. The pool playing was great by some, and distinctly average by others. So no change there. Thanks to Jill, James and Tom for putting us all up. We'll have to do it all again sometime. I have also put up the mince pie

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-17551737913779612992007-04-21T16:40:00.000+10:002007-04-21T16:47:16.512+10:00

We're off up to Nottingham this weekend for a bit of a reunion. The original Derby Grove crew are all meeting up again for the first time since new years eve 2002. It promises to be a string of beer, curry and pie events, and maybe some stimulating conversation. But mostly beer and pie. I'm sure pictures will be taken, legends will be created and stories recounted in years to come. Expect to hear

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-59785129855465363862007-04-16T04:35:00.000+10:002007-04-16T04:42:56.372+10:00

I've finally got around to sorting out the website, and giving it a 2007 makeover. Numerous technical hitches meant I couldn't put up a final travel post and it has been manic since we got back to the UK. Unbelievably we've been back for 2 months already, both back at work and fully settled in. Abingdon is shaping up to be a very nice place to live and we've got the house we're renting sorted out

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-8211546923818291562007-01-08T08:53:00.000+11:002007-01-27T07:16:48.185+11:00

After checking out the city of Dunedin we spent a few days relaxing on the Otago Peninsula. A small piece of land sticking out from the mainland, it is known for its wildlife and scenic countryside. We did a couple of walks, finding sea lions slumbering on the sand, and late one evening spotting a few yellow eyed pengiuns from a hide up on a sand dune at Sandfly bay. The penguins and very rare

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-45853243045810124192006-12-30T09:34:00.000+11:002007-03-21T01:23:58.567+11:00

Since the glaciers we've headed south. First stop was Wanaka, an alpine township with a huge lake and numerous ski fields nearby. Not much snow at this time of year though, but the peaks were lightly dusted for that pretty scenic effect. We took some time out in Wanaka, booked some tours for further along the road and checked out the cinema. Run by a mad scotsman, it rates as the coolest cinema

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-54556562358489119932006-12-18T13:05:00.000+11:002006-12-18T13:06:08.979+11:00

We've been on the road in NZ just over 2 weeks now. The little van is going strong and has got us down through the north island, and half way down the west coast of the south island. On the way down we popped into the Waitomo Caves for a spot of blackwater rafting. This involved us donning full body wetsuits, rubber boots and shoving our behinds into a rubber tube. We descended into the cave

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1164700405622182172006-11-28T18:41:00.000+11:002006-11-28T18:53:25.640+11:00

Well we arrived in NZ two days ago and took up residence at our friend Lynns place. We have spent 2 days looking at vans here in Auckland, and bought one this morning for a princely sum :) It's a Mitsubishi Delicia, a small people carrier type vehicle with the rear seats removed and a double mattress in it, and a bunch of camping gear shoved in the back. The campervan market is quite a gamble at

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1155527942626230012006-08-14T13:56:00.000+10:002006-09-09T12:08:41.833+10:00

Time for another update. It's been a while since I've been able to update the blog, mostly due to lack of time or 'technical difficulties' experienced in various internet places along the road. Because of that we've covered nearly 10,000km since I last bored you with tales of our travels. The good thing is about this is that this will be have less detail, but the bad thing is it contains a

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1153544809741499762006-07-22T15:05:00.000+10:002006-07-22T15:06:49.760+10:00

Just a quick one, as I'm short on time here. I've uploaded some more photos from our last 2 weeks. Go check 'em out !matt

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1152239310176060482006-07-07T12:12:00.000+10:002006-07-07T12:28:30.256+10:00

This is going to be a long one folks, so if I were you I'd go and make a cup of tea / coffee / hot chocolate. Myself, I've got a whiskey as it's a cool evening here in Alice Springs sitting in the back of the troopy writing up the last 2 weeks of adventures. So off you go. I'll wait. ... Since the last entry we've headed north from Port Augusta up the Stuart highway. Originally we planned to

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1151212967880536642006-06-25T14:53:00.000+10:002006-06-25T15:22:47.930+10:00

We finally hit the road on Friday 16th June, after getting our medical done for our visa. In light of all that excitement and the fun of packing everything up and moving out we decided to enjoy one last bit of luxury before getting stuck into the camping proper. We drove out to a small country town called Rylstone, about 1 hour north of Lithgow on the other side of the Blue Mountains. We enjoyed

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1150427023370937022006-06-16T13:01:00.000+10:002006-06-16T13:03:43.383+10:00

The troopy is packed and we are about to leave. We are finally on the road after months of planning and weeks of packing and organising. Watch out for the pics and news here soon !Matt & Beccy

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1150328708316855002006-06-15T09:33:00.000+10:002006-06-15T09:45:08.373+10:00

We went to get our visas sorted out yesterday, the last step in a long line of things to get us on the road. It was the bit I was most concerned about, mainly because a problem at this point would have meant a swift exit from Australia, do not pass go, do not collect $200. I had phoned DIMIA repeatedly to confirm all the documentation we would need and all that. So when we turned up, queued for

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1149765935805434452006-06-08T21:17:00.000+10:002006-06-12T07:32:01.536+10:00

We moved out of our flat in coogee today. The troopy has been test packed and everything fits. It's nearly time to hit the road. This week has been absolutely manic so if you've been trying to get in touch or expecting us to phone apologies. We spent most of the week throwing stuff out and organising our travelling gear. We are now only 5 days away from starting our big adventure, but at the

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1143542713001922172006-03-28T21:40:00.000+11:002006-03-28T21:45:13.013+11:00

Just a quick post. Due to a cyclone off the coast further north Sydneys beaches have been subject to some pretty serious surf. There's some fantastic snaps over on aquabumps.com, and we went down to the beach this evening to take a few snaps for ourselves. Check them out here.The photo albums page has been updated recently as well. It's now generated dynamically from flickr.com where all the

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1142143698983241902006-03-12T16:53:00.000+11:002006-03-12T17:12:37.176+11:00

We took our new purchase up to an area called the Watagan Mountains, which is about 1.5 hours north of Sydney. Its an easy trail, with campsites along the way. So we loaded up all our gear and took off on Saturday morning for a test run of everything we'll be using to get around Australia. The trail itself was very nice, not too challenging for us and with some nice views to see. We stopped at an

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1138708728687297502006-01-31T22:55:00.000+11:002006-02-15T09:09:09.313+11:00

The last weekend was a long weekend so we flew up to Brisbane to visit Brian, Ali & Erin in their new home. Photos here. We had a great time, chilling out in Brisbane, watching the fireworks and dining at their local curry house. It was pretty good, and we're jealous. We also visited Steve Irwins joint, Australia Zoo, on the Sunday. There are some pics of the tigers and crocs we saw. See if you

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1136372769878345892006-01-04T21:42:00.000+11:002006-02-15T09:04:33.200+11:00

Yep I know, another ridiculous length of time between posts. The excuse ? erm. Mostly because we were on holiday in New Zealand over christmas and new year.The holiday got off to a bumpy start, mostly due to kiwi customs service failing to grasp why I had my expired passport (because it contains my australian visa) and held me back from the front of the queue to back. My exasperation disappeared

Matttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5448505.post-1132958105157076952005-11-26T09:28:00.000+11:002005-11-26T10:20:40.060+11:00

Apologies to all of you who've hassled me about the fact I haven't updated the site in months. I have no excuse, just lazy. So I thought I'd better do something about it. The big news is that Brian and Ali have just left Coogee. They are moving to Brisbane and stayed at ours last night, prior to heading north. It'll be quieter in coogee now that both brian & ali and linz & nicki have moved away.

Matt