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Diary of an Australian in Bristol

October 10, 2006

It's been a rather busy few months, with Phi & Kaz (Judy's brother and girlfriend), Anne (Stuart's mum) and Terry (Judy's dad) all coming to visit us and many weekends spent seeing some of our surrounds.

We met up with Phil and Kaz in Snowdonia in north Wales for a weekend at the end of June. The weather didn't really co-operate with our plans - we thought that Saturday had the best to offer so we climbed up to the top of the Glyder Range, where we had a spectacular view of mist and rain (Phil did remark at that stage that Wales looked a lot like Scotland!). However, the rocky landscape at the top of the range was quite spectacular and atmospheric in the mist and we had some great views along the valley once we were back below the cloud level... but we were glad to get back to the hostel for a change of clothes and the hot dinner that Kaz had cooked for us! The next day turned out to have better weather, but we stuck to our plan of a gentle walk through a gorge and across farmland with nice views of mountains around us. Phil and Kaz then came and spent a few days with us in Bristol, seeing some of the local highlights.

The following weekend, we were in London to see "The Marriage of Figaro" at the Royal Opera House as part of the Mozart celebrations (it is 250 years since Mozart was born). The opera was great - except that we had cheap seats from which we could not see one corner of the stage and a disproportionate amount of the action seemed to take place in that corner!! Much of the rest of the weekend was spent trying to make our way through a hot and crowded London - we had a nice visit to Westminster Abbey, although it was very crowded, and then met up with Phil and Kaz again to watch England bow out of the world cup and have dinner with David (relative of Judy and Phil, who has a very nice house in central London with a cool and pleasant backyard!).

We'd no sooner arrived back from London than Anne arrived. She stayed with us for two weeks (with a conference in Prague in the middle) and we had great weekends with her in Exmoor National Park (where??) and the Brecon Beacons (south Wales). We had pretty ordinary weather in Exmoor, but had fun seeing the Tarr Steps (an old stone bridge, no one's quite sure how old), walking along cliffs, riding on a steam train and eating several ice-creams... we also thoroughly enjoyed very decadent cream tea! The Brecon Beacons gave us better weather and we had a very pleasant day strolling along a canal tow path and great views from the tops of some hills.

We then decided that our camper had not had enough of a work-out over the summer, so we took it back to the Brecon Beacons for a weekend. Our plans for walking were quickly abandoned once we realised that blackberries were in season, so we spent a day blackberry picking (and we ate a few lot too!). We then came home and turned it into a mountain of jam, so if you come to visit any time in the next few years, you can probably taste some!! (Although you must appreciate the sacrifice that went into that jam - I didn't quite understand why blackberries have to always grow in the same place as stinging nettles - ouch!!) We did manage to fit in some walking, with a nice stroll through some farmland to a ruined castle and some walks along rivers. We drove home along the very pretty Wye Valley and had a fascinating visit to Tintern Abbey, a ~13th century abbey, mostly in ruins - standing on the lush green grass with the walls of the abbey church towering above was really quite extraordinary!

Our "big" trip away for the summer was a week in Austria at the end of August. We had a few days in each of Salzburg, Vienna and south Tirol. We loved Vienna - full of grand palaces and wide, tree-lined boulevards, a city where it is a pleasure to stroll around on a summer's evening. Highlights were a tour of the Vienna State Opera and port and cake in the cafe at the Vienna State Opera (there were no performances on, so we had to content ourselves with this as our "night at the opera"). There were plenty of people trying to persuade us to take part in the Mozart celebrations for an exorbitant price, but we found a more intimate concert of Mozart and Haydn music in the cathedral, which we really enjoyed - they played two movements of the Mozart clarinet quintet, so that kept Judy happy! Salzburg was also nice with it's spectacular castle perched on cliffs above the city. We particularly enjoyed a visit to Hellbrunn Palace with it's "trick fountains" - it was the summer home of an archbishop with a wicked sense of humour and the fountains are designed to distract your attention and then squirt you with water! We then had a lovely couple of days walking in the Tirol. On the first day there, it was raining and misty (with snow falls on the mountains), so we had a gentle walk through a beautiful valley with waterfalls cascading down the cliffs. It did rather amuse us to be on our "summer" holiday wearing our beanies! The next day was clear and sunny, so we took a cable car up to one of the peaks and gradually walked back down - with spectacular views all around us of mountains covered in snow and glaciers - a very memorable sight! One of our favourite things about the Tirol was that the cows really do have bells tied around their necks and, with cow herds scattered through the mountains, the air is constantly filled with the sound of wind chimes! Audio

We have also been enjoying some more aspects of life in Bristol. The big one was the world cup - it was great being able to watch it in a sensible time zone! We watched most of the Australian matches at a very tacky Australian pub - despite the tackiness, it was great fun watching the matches with a very biased crowd, who all yelled abuse at the referees and there was always a big cheer when someone from the wrong team got sent off.

The Bristol Harbour Festival was also fun, with some good street performers. We were planning to go down to the harbour for the fireworks, but gave up with idea when it started raining - and instead watched them from our bedroom window - one advantage of living at the top of a hill!

Another highlight in Bristol was the Bristol Balloon Fiesta - it's quite a big event and Kaylene (Stuart's ex-flatmate) even came to stay with us to see the balloons - however, it would seem that England does not really have an ideal climate for a balloon fiesta and all except one of the balloon launches was cancelled due to strong winds - so Kaylene went home without seeing a single balloon. However, Stuart and I took our picnic (and warm jackets!) to the main festival site, where they held a "Night Glow" - they inflate about 20-30 balloons in a field at night and then light the gas burners in time to music to create some nice effects - somewhat tacky, but quite enjoyable and spectacular! Video, 5MB. That was followed by fireworks - our first fireworks in Bristol that didn't coincide with rain!

Judy's dad came to stay with us again a couple of weeks ago (after a work meeting in Geneva). It was great to see him and especially great that he was bored in the airport on the way over and bought a very nice bottle of wine with him! We took him out cycling through the Avon Gorge and then had dinner in a very nice restaurant while we figured out what to do about the bottle of wine...

Work is going well for both of us. Judy is getting some nice results and, in between, is busy applying for jobs and funding for next year. Stuart is busy learning something about NMRs as he has somehow become involved in a project to miniaturise one.... he's also ended up with some students to supervise so it will be interesting to see what the year brings. The weather here is starting to turn cold - after our two hot weeks in July (you wouldn't believe the fuss here amongst the locals as soon as the temperature went above 30degC!), we have had a mixture of pleasant sunny days and cold, wet and windy days... which reminds me to say how much we have appreciated hearing how nice the spring has been in Melbourne - really, we're very pleased for you all! No, really...