...aaaand That's a Wrap!

London 2016 - 2017

Brace yourself... it's gonna be a long one...

Our final year in London has been full of fun, random adventures and European explorations. I have been pretty slack when it comes to London updates, so I have had to scrounge through almost a years worth of photos to make this happen!

This school year was full of big changes, many of our staff (and some of my close friends) moved to new jobs and schools, hence, it was necessary to go out and celebrate these milestones! These photos are from the multitude of going away / celebratory events that were thrown in honour of some of my favourites moving onto greener pastures!

In summer 2016 (yep, a year ago) I was lucky enough to head to the Globe theatre not once but TWICE, yes, dreams do come true!

The above picture was taken when waiting for Macbeth, my all time favourite Shakespeare play, to start. We got 'groundling' seats, which basically means you stand (leaning against the stage) for the duration of the play. Standing for three hours is challenging but totally worth it to see Macbeth's "vaulting ambition" (only nerdy English teachers will understand this reference).

I also got to go to the Globe again on a school trip - in this photo it's decorated for the forest scenes in A Midsummer Night's Dream. 

Keeping with the Shakespearian theme (I promise I'm not obsessed), my friends and I were also lucky enough to attend a 'Backyard Cinema' screening of Romeo and Juliet inside a church and featuring a gospel choir - it was amazing!

The girls before R+J. 

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Over the last few years, we, alongside our favourite London couple, have developed a slight obsession with Chick n Sours - an amazing 'gourmet' fried chicken restaurant that opened in East London. This restaurant serves the biggest chicken burgers of all time - I have given up ordering them as there's no way I will ever finish one. However, Georgia, Michael and Dave have chicken burger consumption down to a fine art.  

I am still disappointed that this awesome burger photo didn't win us a free meal!

Of course the 'sours' are also delicious. 

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Finally, something I have been waiting for for almost 10 year - The Goo Goo Dolls in concert!

I managed to get tickets (in the nose bleed section) to see one of my favourite bands of all time - they are still going strong even though Iris was a classic 1998 hit single!

The concert was absolutely amazing!

Finally, not a very exciting photo but still a favourite of mine: Michael and I at our joint birthday party in the summer of 2016.

Romania - Bucharest

In February 2017, my friend Stacey and I decided to book a weekend trip to Bucharest in Romania - we soon realised that our decision making was somewhat questionable... it's safe to say that Bucharest isn't exactly a 'hot winter destination.'

As you can see, there was A LOT of snow. In hindsight it seems less than intelligent that neither of us saw this coming! Above is one of the main parks in Bucharest, we were pretty much blinded by the whiteness of the snow - no selfies for me here!

Above is the park and the old town of Bucharest - the whole city was pretty much empty, perhaps we could have checked the weather prior to booking!

We did manage to find a really good bookstore / coffee shop. I am not really a huge tea person but decided that it was required in order to warm me up and it did come in a really hipster teapot!

Above: a panorama of the bookstore. 

With all the snow it eventually because necessary to embrace the winter wonderland - this equates to snowballs being thrown and snow being kicked :-)

The number one way to spend a cold winter's day is at a good bar with insanely cheap cocktails - at only a few pounds per drink, we thought this was great value!

We also managed to find some pretty cool rooftop restaurants - the food scene is suprisingly good in Bucharest.

Despite the weather (and our eyes tearing up from the cold) we actually had a really fun time in undiscovered Bucharest - although this did include quite a lot of time on the couch watching the true crime channel! Still - another country to tick off the bucket list!

Spain - Alicante

From bleak Bucharest to sunny Alicante!

In April 2017 (the Easter holidays), Michael and I spent a sun filled week in beautiful Alicante, on the southern coast of Spain. 

After a long, cold and miserable London winter, a week of sun and lots of Vitamin D was exactly what I needed...

Michael on the main pedestrian street in Alicante - it's filled with street vendours selling all kind of souvenirs and foods. 

La puerta de Alicante - the port of Alicante. 

Michael loves to sit and watch things, his prime 'watching' material usually involves some kind of water (ie. throwing rocks into water, surfers at the beach, storms over the ocean). In this case, it was watching boats (some extremely expensive) come in and out of the port. 

A few pictures of us exploring Alicante. 

One of my favourite things about Spain is the food and drinks - sangria has to be one of my all time favourite drinks!

Annnnd the delicious tapas - patatas bravas = delish!

Alicante has lots of beautiful view points and we spent one day climbing up the side of  "castillo de santa barbara" to experience some of these views. 

The below photo is of Michael, closer the to bottom!

At the top of the castle - amazing view of the city centre of Alicante and the port. 

Michael overlooking the main beach of Alicante. 

Views, views, views!

It would have been wrong to leave Spain without eating some Paella! Michael and I have a history of ordering way to much Paella (think: Sevilla and Valencia 2014) but we seemed to figure it out this time - despite my limited Spanish.

Wales

For the first London Bank Holiday Michael and I joined Dave and Georgia (and their dog Tilly) for a road trip to not-so-sunny Wales!

After dealing with nightmare traffic and getting lost in the middle-of-nowhere Wales we finally made it to Wales and pending a sleep in were ready to climb Mount Snowdon!

Mount Snowdon is the highest peak in Wales and has been previously used to train for climbing Mount Everest (quite a while ago - but still!).

We made our way to Mount Snowdwn in the afternoon and it was completely packed - the weather was not nice but apparently that is not a deterrent for the Welsh!

As the trek up Snowdon curls around the side of the mountain we got an amazing view of the lakes at the base.

Some happy snaps at the top / bottom of Snowdon.

Top two photos: Michael and I at the top of Snowdon. It took about two hours but we made it. 

Bottom two photos: near the base of Snowdon. 

The four of us 'frolicking' at the top of Mount Snowdon (feat. Tilly). 

Our final trip with our favourite London couple was definitely a good one - featuring: delicious pies, horrible board games, hiking, lots of rain and lots of food in tiny Welsh towns!

--  #thefinalfrolick  --

London Summer 2017

Finally, I am almost caught up!

Although summer 2017 has been decidedly average (weather wise), London has had some redeeming moments!

The first hot weekend of the summer had me in my shorts and a tank top - Pimms in hand! I was NOT missing out on this sunshine!

That same weekend, let's call it the opening weekend of summer, Micahel and I headed for a pinic in London fields (our local park) alongside the rest of East London! When London turns on the sunshine people suddenly emerge from hibernation and are keen to soak up the sun - after three long London winters, I finally understand this mindset!

The Seven Sisters, Eastbourne (southern England)

Michael and I joined some friends for a south London hiking trip along the Seven Sisters - these are a group of seven chalk cliffs along the English Channel on the southern coast of England. We caught a train from London and it only took us about an hour and a half to reach Eastbourne - where our hike began.

Above is a photo of one of the Seven Sisters / chalk cliffs.

Some photos of Michael, myself and Georgia hiking along the English coast - we really got lucky with the weather!

A lovely friend of mine (hi Madeline) had a gorgeous baby boy earlier in the year - this photo is particularly special because I am deathly afraid of holding babies - they are so delicate and little and I don't want to break them! Madeline convinced me to hold baby Ellis and he was soooo tiny! But very chilled and easy to hold, although this only lasted roughly 15 minutes! She is such a fantastic Mum and had everything under control, which is lucky because I am a long way of being a baby expert!

Onto the highlight of the summer - Justin Bieber!

Yes, the rumours are true, I am a Beliber - I love Beiber, he's adorable and his music is fun!

Georgia and I forked out a hefty price for Bieber tickets at The British Summertime festival (we saw Taylor Swift here a few years ago too). It was absolutely packed with (predictably) screaming and glitter covered fans so we definitely had a 'restricted view.'

Above: our location was not in close proximity to the stage but it was an amazing atmosphere anyway! Admittedly, Bieber was actually quite a let down! Sorry Beliebers, the truth is about to be revealed... He began the show really enthusiastic and seemed to be loving life but this was derailed pretty rapidly... he started complaining about how sick he was and then he started to lipsync his songs - lazy!!!

Fortunately, I still had a great time with Georgia but my Belieber status is somewhat questionable at the moment!

Random photo - a few weekends ago (after we had finally given up on summer ever coming), Dave, Georgia, Michael and I went for a stroll in Richmond Park (South West London) and were lucky enough to stumble across some deer! Richmond is famous for having deer - there were actually a surprising amount of tourists there looking out for them.

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Finally - it came time to say goodbye to my school (or my home away from home) for the last three years. I felt absolutely awful telling the students I was leaving - I had developed some genuine attachments to some of them and am fortunate to have taught some really amazing students! My year 12 class was possibly the best class I have ever taught and I am really sad to be leaving them and will definitely miss them over the next year!

As evidence of how amazing some of these students are, I was lucky enough to receive some incredible leaving presents - the photo frame on the right might actually be the most thoughtful gift I have ever received, I absolutely adore it!

I also got a lot of flowers and wine, chocolate and popcorn - turns out they have been paying attention and actually do know my propensities! Yep - addicted to popcorn (and wine and chocolate after hours of course). 

--  #commsreunion  --

Michael and I have had several going away style events with different groups of friends and I am so lucky to have had so many people make the effort to send me off! This is a particularly favourite photo of mine - all my favourite colleagues from the last three years - so much love for these amazing ladies!

Lunch with Stacey and Saf - so many amazing memories with these two crazy (but lovable) ladies :-)

We spent our last week in London catching up with friends and madly packing all of our worldly belongings into boxes to be sent back home to Australia.

We have to thank the amazing Dave and Georgia for housing us for our last weekend in London before flying out - otherwise we would have been temporarily homeless!

On my official  #lastdayinlondon I met up with an amazing friend of mine, Amber, and we went to Gordon's Wine Bar in central London - this is supposedly the oldest wine bar in London and a spot that I'd always wanted to visit. 

Above: chilling in Embankment Park and taking a shameful secret selfie while waiting for Amber. 

It was totally fitting that my last day in London involved huge servings of wine and cheese and lots of laughs with one of my favourites ;-) 

After consuming our body weight in wine and cheese we took a stroll along the Thames and I took in my final views of this famous and beautiful waterfront! London really is a stunning city and will always have a place in my heart 

Well, our three + years in London have been absolutely amazing! We have made lifelong friends, traveled to unique and beautiful places and made incredible memories that we will carry with us forever. 

Now, as I type my final London installment at Paris Airport, onto the next adventure....

xxx