Northern Ireland

New years day was what you call 'a shut down'. Literally. The whole of Dublin had frozen over from the snow the night before and everything had stopped, the buses, the taxis, the people, the shops, it was like a scene from a movie.

We were staying in the city for the night so getting a taxi was going to be beyond impossible, but eventually after alot of walking I stuck my hand out and got lucky!

We got home, un-packed, re-packed, and then went out to the car............it was solid as an ice cube. After many buckets of water poured over it, and many towels to wipe snow/ice off it, we managed to open the doors the at least put our bags in.

I gotta say, as much of an experience it is going to be wiping snow and ice off your car every morning, and one we would never experience in Australia, please god, don't let it be to many mornings.

Kieran drove very slow for around half an hour till we hit the motorway and we were finally off to Northern Ireland!! A place that goes by the pound, that is beautiful, and has a supermarket called the co-operative that sells many yummy desserts.

We stayed n a little town called Bushmills right up the top of the country. It was a gorgeous town, filled with many little fun tourist things.

Next morning we woke up and headed off to the Giants Causeway, a part of the coast line that has been effected by volcanic activity, therefore making the land break up into hexagonal shapes in the most peculiar ways. It also has a legend behind it where you can read about ithere.

We also went to the Rope Bridge, which has a rope bridge suspended between two cliff faces, and then headed off to Dunluce Castle, a castle set right out on a point of the Coastline.

Here are some photos of the Scenery.

fixin jets

A couple of photos from Kierans Work at Dublin Aerospace

Nanny Diaries

Not long after arriving here, I got a job working as a nanny for 4 boys...all under the age of 6.

Yes, very busy job, but getting to know them has been pretty fun. Jonothan, Alec, Cormack and Jake are their names, and they have wild imaginations.

I have had to stop countless games of warriors, soldiers, star wars, armys, and ninja men to make sure they didn't hurt each other to much. I have had many wrestles with them (If I win the wrestle the deal is they have to eat their dinner, so I always make sure I win) and of coarse, we have had many tears over me braking pieces off their lego spaceships and soldier houses.

I keep telling my family back at home about them, so now you can put a face to the name, here they all are.

Alec and Jonothon

Cormack

Jake

Happy New Year

We spent our new years with some friends who Kieran has known since he was little. Chrissy (Kierans friend), her husband, his brother and girlfriend and mum and dad came over to Dublin for a few days.

We went over to their apartment and had a nice dinner, then hit the town....well kind of. It started snowing and we were so mesmerized by the snow we just stood in the street played in it.

I could write all of our memories and funny moments, but it was a good night full of "You just had to be there" moments. I hope the photos show for you how much fun we had

I am dreaming of a white christmas

Kierans Mum comes from Ireland (Her mother and father migrated their family to Australia on a boat when they were young) so Kieran has many Cousins that live in this Emerald Isle. We had gone down to see them once, though this time we were going for christmas.

We woke up christmas morning and jumped in the car, drove 3 hours, Listened to "I am dreaming of a white Christmas" by Neil Diamond, and hit the snow, it was the first time I have seen this much snow, and we were pretty excited to get out and play in it

We got to Abbeyfeale and had roast dinner as soon as we walked in the door. Roast AND mashed potato (only in Ireland), home made stuffing, ham, turkey, Christmas cake, homemade custard, cream, trifle.....These Irish folk really know how to put on a feast.

Kieran had made home made Baileys, a bottle of that was consumed and then we went to bed around 1 in the morning.

Next day we hopped up and thought we would let our artistic sides show, so we created this.

We took a trip down to Castle Island the next night, and then went to visit Kierans Nans Sister, Aunty Nora, who lived up the hill.

She has a lovely little white cottage, and is an absolute Laugh. After that, we jumped in the car and drove back to Dublin. Christmas was over, but it was one of the best we have had.

Australia VS Ireland

I am through and through Australian, and Kieran is half Irish, Half Australia, Alas why this blog is called "One and a half Australians in Ireland"

So we learn that Australia Vs Rugby Match is being played at Croke Park, Which is quite close to where we live. Kieran wanted to go, but because our banks were quite that loaded yet, we decided to go watch it in a pub.

We were getting ready, and had an Australia Jersey, and an Irish Jersey. Kieran wanted to wear both and take the one off according to which team lost.........I thought that was a bad idea. We tossed a coin and I ended up wearing the Australia Jersey.

We jumped on a bus, and started going into the city to find a pub, but decided against it. It was my first pay week, so we thought, why not find tickets on the street and have a great time and blow all of our money! Very glad we did, we got cheap tickets of a random man (Kieran nearly causing a fight as he told two scalpers he would buy both of their tickets, but only went with one) , got nearly front row seats, got to see a match we will never see again, had fun and got a free flag.

On the 18th of October, My partner (Kieran) and I landed at Heathrow Airport , for what was going to be our big overseas Adventure. After roadtripping around the west of America for 2 months, we had just spent two weeks partying in Singapore courtesy of my partners Aunty, and we were quickly running out of money. We hot footed it around Heathrow trying to find a cheap bite to eat before our connection through to Dublin, and boarded our flight.

We landed in Sunny Dublin (not for long), picked our bags, hopped on a bus and got dropped in the middle of the city. Finding our hotel, we dumped our bags and started to explore.

Of coarse we found the Lacoste Shop (Kierans favourite Brand), drooled over some more expensive shops, tryed to work out which side of the footpath to walk on (2 months later, still haven't figured it out) got some sim cards for our phones, and crashed back at the hotel.

After the next 4 days we looked for jobs, thought "what the hell have we done", Shed a couple of tears, Went to the pub, but eventually landed on our feet. It was a city full of little hidy holes that you could explore. It was a country so small that we drove across it in 4 hours, and it was a little island so close to the rest of europe, that we knew we had so many adventures ahead of us.

We found a little Bedsit studio in a bayside suburb called "Clontarf" and I got a job as a nanny looking after 4 boys under the age of 6..... and on the day we moved into our studio I had an awful feeling that it was a wrong decision. Alas, 4 weeks later, after many many troubles with our landlord (Renting in Ireland is not quite the same in Australia..not in this house anyway) we moved into a one bedroom unit right around the corner.

Everything has settled down, Kieran got a job with Dublin Aerospace, we eventually found the asian section in the supermarket, figured out the irish way of speaking, found our favourite pub, found Wagamamas, and have started looking at some trips to go on.

We know we have heaps more to explore, and as the irish say "Just see how you get on"