The last couple of months have been rather busy with many friends coming to visit and us getting off our bottoms and seeing a few nearby towns.
Twelve years can fly by pretty quick - but old friendships sometimes never change. Makiko made a quick visit over to Bournemouth while she was down on the south coast, doing some sailing! We tried our best to catch up the last dozen years whilst doing our very own Scotch tastings. Maki gave us some great tips for our upcoming Scotch tours! Arigato gozaimasu, Maki-san!! It was really great to see you!
Soon after, we had Marie fly in for a weekend from Dublin. We spent one day touring around town and getting drenched to the bone and then managed to eek out a rainless day to visit the lovely town of Swanage. Around Swanage, we got a traditional feel of old England, with thatched rooves, old buildings and quaint surroundings.
A few bus rides on the top deck of open double-decker buses kept us wide awake after a big English breakfast and gave us great views as we meandered from one small town to another. We stopped a while in the small town of Corfe to see the ruins of its castle, passed a beautiful old pub called Scott Arms - which was covered in red foliage and then walked along the cliffs and water of Swanage itself.
In the above picture, you can see me in the orange hat with Marie, snuggling up to stay warm as we made our way towards Corfe Castle. We only got up to the gates of the National Trust (like a Heritage site or National Park) since you had to pay a pretty penny to see the 1000 year-old ruins.
For anyone making a visit to these places, I would recommend getting an all-day pass for the Wilts and Dorset bus company for about 7GBP, so you can get on and off all the red or blue buses as often as you like. Unfortunately, we learned the hard way that day so we could not make a stop at this picturesque pub on the way back from Corfe.
We were a bit short on time since Marie had to catch a flight out that evening, so we walked around Swanage and enjoyed the views from along the coastline. Interestingly enough, we saw Marie almost exactly a year ago but in the sweltering heat of Japan. Slightly different this year!!
From our coastline walk, we could see the unique chalk stack formations called Old Harry Rocks out in the distance at Handfast Point. Although it was a mostly cloudy day, the sun happened to burst through just long enough for Adam to get some great pictures of them, along with a few little fishing boats to finish the shot!
Seeing Marie in England made it our third continent together! Our random meeting in Northwest Australia 4 years ago has led to a great fun friendship - and works super well since Marie loves to travel too! Thanks for coming to see us, Marie!
We will hopefully get to visit Marie in Dublin and check out the Guinness Brewery together sometime soon. Matane, Marie-san!
Well, that´s it for now. We actually have a ton more to share - so check in again soon and I will do my best to put more pix and stories online. In case anyone happens to be in the vicinity, we are in Spain at the moment and are heading to Morocco for a week! So, write us if you care to join us!
Take good care!
oxxo
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