The Highlands...just beautiful !!!!

Fort William ( Loch Linhe )

Loch Linhe
Loch Linhe
To Glencoe







Highland Cow
Highland Cow

Scott & I went away for the weekend in the Scottish Highlands. It was such a glorious weekend, the sun shining the whole weekend...superb !!! We took advantage of the great weather and went for a ride on a trail called ' The Witches Trail ' , which is where the mountain bike world cup will be held in September. ( I rode some green, blue, red & black )...the black track was a bit frightening. The section I rode down, correction, walked & rode down was called Nessy. This is where I will be standing to watch the world campions when they come to compete. Definite carnage!!! So overall it was a great weekend...oh yeah to top it off I saw a highland cow.

William Wallace Monument

William Wallace Statue ( Mel Gibson )...some moron had ripped the nose off !!!

I went for a bike ride up to see the monument. As they don't really know what William Wallace looked like the statue is quite similar to Mel Gibson ( movie Braveheart ).

Here is some facts about the monument I got off a website.

220 feet (67m) high, this Victorian Gothic tower was opened in 1869 to commemorate Scotland's greatest freedom fighter, Sir William Wallace (1267-1305). It was funded by public subscription, and donations poured in from expatriate Scots around the world. Support came from many European leaders, including the Italian patriot, Garibaldi.
In 1296, Edward I of England invaded Scotland and the Scottish Wars of Independence began. William Wallace began a guerrilla campaign against the English and became known as the hammer and scourge of the English. On 11th september, 1297, the Scots defeated the English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.After defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298, Wallace was betrayed and captured. He was hanged, drawn and quartered in London in 1305, and has since become a symbol for Scotland and Freedom.

Stirling_Riverside

Old Stirling Bridge Old Stirling Bridge

Stirling Castle
William Wallace Monument
Old Bridge
My £395 car_Vauxall Astra
Bowling Alley around the corner
Riverside_ the suburb we live in



Yeehah_ successful baking efforts
Look at the texture ( too much time on my hands! )

We live in Riverside which is a 5 minute walk from the city centre. The block of flats that we live in are around 100 years old which seems to be average age for this area. The castle can be seen from my kitchen window and the Wallace monument can also be seen from the end of the street. Our house-warming party started at the bowling alley which is one block away, it was a great success. I have been baking bread alot just of late. It is due to the weather of course, but Spring is in the air!!

Stirling_my new home

Homemade Bread
My bike

White Christmas
Stirling Castle_Cemetary
Stirling Railway Station
Stirling downtown

Anne-Claire & Dereck
Kitchen
Skinny Bathroom

Well this is where I live. Stirling is located in between Edinburgh & Glasgow. We have our own lovely Stirling castle and the William Wallace monument ( Mel Gibson lookalike ). This village is surrounded by the Ochil Hills and Dumyat is the most famous of the hills. I haven't climbed it yet. I have explored a little bit around the area but trying to pick a good day to spend outdoors can be abit tricky. It is rains randomly and to have a full day of sun is very rare. I have been caught out a few times now without a raincoat or umbrella. I have the mindset that if I don't go out in the rain, I will never go outdoors. I have bought a mountain bike and have been doing a few of the downhill trails in the local area.

Edinburgh Castle

Front view of Edinburgh Castle
Stain Glass window of the oldest chapel in Castle



Scott & Pen
View of Edinburgh
Underground Tunnels

Scott, Anne-Claire, Dereck & myself went for a day trip to Edinburgh. We visited the castle and had some haggis for lunch then went to the underground tunnels which are apparently haunted. I didn't feel anything unusual or spooky from the experience. At the castle at 1:00pm everyday one of the cannons are shot off. This has been a tradition for many years to mark the time for the sailors leaving port. Apparently, quite a few years ago an american tourist was sitting on the wall of the castles boundaries posing for his wife when the cannon sounded. He apparently was so startled by the sound he fell off the wall. Now that I have heard the sound the cannon makes I fully understand how it could have happened....it is so loud!!! My heart jumped and I was prepared for the sound.

Travelling to Scotland

View from the Knock in Crieff

I finally made it to Scotland!! It wasn't the most pleasant experience travelling here. I had major problems with excess luggage and customs and I almost missed my connecting flight from Heathrow to Glasgow. I was pretty upset with the debacle at Heathrow .... only to finally arrive in Glasgow to find no Scott. More tears were shed then..but anyway ... sometimes you just got to wipe your eyes and get over it.
So for the first night in my new abode was on the couch at Dereck and Jakes place in Polmont. These 2 boys are who Scott travelled around with for 3 months. Dereck is Scottish & Jake is a fellow aussie :-)
The next day we packed up a few belongings and went to a small village just before the highlands called Crieff. Scott has a friend named Gilbert that owns the Tower Hotel. We are going to stay here for about a week and then we are sub-letting a flat in downtown Stirling. It will be nice to live somewhere for a while. The only down fall about travelling is the packing & unpacking of your backpack ( i am soooo over it ).

Sunny Townsville

My Mum

My little sister Kelly

My big brother Vince with his catch ( Barramundi )

Sisters

Mums House

Cane Toad

Castle Hill

Crystal Creek bridge

After my fantastic year off travelling around the world and Australia it was finally time to go home...back to sunny Townsville. It was awesome to catch up with friends and family and talk about my adventures of trekking around. It is a strange feeling when you come home, you seem to view things differently. I must admit that I am alot more open minded now and confident in myself. I certainly still have itchy feet and want to travel more....which leads me to my decision of moving to Scotland with Scott. I will be moving over in the middle of December. After seeing alittle bit of what the world can offer I want to discover more. But I will never forget that Townsville is the home in my heart :-)