Toast - Kiwi/Aussie Wine & Food Festival

We were part of the Toast Festival at Fulham Palace on Saturday 21 July. Kim and I attended this Kiwi and Aussie wine and food festival on the NZ day (Sunday was the Australian one) and it was a hit. Tickets were not the cheapest, but we had a great day out with two of the housemates, Sara and Matt (the one with the nice kitchen). The day had begun enormously positively as the AB's had retained the prized Bledisloe Cup, Ray and I got up early for a packed Walkabouts pub screening of the match. The match kicked off at 8.30am and a few of the couple hundred patrons were also kicking off about not being served booze until 9am, seriously people! Good win to the boys in black, but it all counts in a few weeks time.

Back to Toast. While we were lined up (excessive queueing might I add) it was quite amusing seeing a whole lot of different New Zealanders meet up with others they didn't know were in London. It was a healthy crowd and the ticket price included a wine glass and food vouchers so it was pretty choice. Greg Johnston and The Black Seeds were playing on two stages, but we really didn't see/hear any of the music which was a bit disappointing. London's close acquaintance, the rain pitched up and instead of checking out the bands we were checking out shelter, anywhere. So we gatecrashed a wine tasting in a tent that was extra to attend. Sly. Caught up with the others and tried a few more wines. Many of the kiwi beers were there and it was good to catch up with those I spent a lot of quality time with in NZ.

The event finished around 6pm so we went home to get changed and go out to Fulham for dinner and cocktails. A wet day for part of it, but the sun was shining strong too (Auckland anyone?). Enjoyed ourselves and can't wait for the Speights pub to arrive by sea in around 70 days.

x

http://www.toastfestivals.co.uk/

Cher!
Hulk Hogan spoils another nice photo
Lotsa Kiwis
Smoking

Beer courtesy of Speights, food by Kiwi Kitchen, table by wheely bin
Ray (he still hasn't taken the ears off)

Weekend Up North - Leeds / York

So we have both (Kim more so) been quite slack on updating the blog, so here's some catch up.

Kim and I headed up to the north of England on the afternoon of Friday the 13th to stay with the Jones boys, Ben and Danny, returning to London on Sunday evening. We only decided to go up to their home city of Leeds a week prior, so all of the affordable rail tickets had been allocated. A coach trip there and back was quite cheap, but compared to a 2 1/2 hour train ride it did mean a 5 1/2 hour journey north (that's what happens when you choose 5pm on Friday to depart...aaarrgh traffic!). When we arrived the lads picked us up and we went to their village, Barwick-in-elmet. Tiny little place with only a few shops, but 3 pubs. We kicked off our pub crawl of the village, all these places were pretty packed and it's funny how much revolves around these old drinking establishments. Cool to meet up with some of the locals and catch up with Benjo and Danny.

After a good night of painting the village red we jumped on a train to York on Saturday afternoon where we had lunch and a good walk around the city. Danny's friend Dell, who we came across in NZ, also met up with us for our day out. We took in the York cathedral, some ancient buildings and a giant medieval wall surrounding the city, also a few pubs along the way for good measure. The town was pumping as it was York races and the glad-rags were out in force. Found it hard to get into most places, but it added to the fun. We queued up for 45mins at The Gallery nightclub which was bad enough, then to pay £10 cover charge. Ouch! I don't know if it was worth about NZD $25 (Mr. Conversion) just to get in, but it was a pretty choice night out. Ben gave us a lashing of his chips and curry sauce, a favourite greasy meal for the end of the night. Beaut.

All in all a lovely weekend, nice place and nice people. Took the bus home, this time we got a brand new coach with all the trimmings (after our proposed bus broke down just before departure), so this made for a more comfy journey. Thanks for having us North, we'll catch up with you again.
He's here!
Looking up an old friend
Public transport in the village was vastly different to London
River Ouse
Buildings from back in the day
York Minster

The locals dress a bit weird up here

Partying it up

Ben, Dell, Kim, Danny, Matt

Le Tour de London

The Tour de France was, of course, kicking off in London. Here are a few snaps of when Ben came to London on his way back to Leeds from NZ. It was a great day out in the sun (had to make it known there was actually sun in London) and a reported crowd of over a million people turned out to watch these drugged up lads pedal around. We ploughed through the crowd and got a good little spot to keep up with the action. Quite funny cuz we were opposite a bunch of kiwi fans with their flags out for Julian Dean. We also did some of the sights for Ben which was a bonus that they closed off the streets as we got some cool snaps. It was all over too quickly and Ben had to hit the train back home.

Another friend from out of town came to visit a few days after Benjo left. Mark (worked with me in NZ) from Liverpool came down with one of his friends to check out the city. We made the most of the cheap dinner and drinks in Walkabouts and Wetherspoons pubs for a night. Good catching up with ya Mark!
Trafalgar Square
Blue sky in the background
Big Ben/Little Ben
Leading the 'top photo of the trip' competition so far. Slightly ahead of the nice photo with me pulling facials
I've got my london eye on you two
Only New Zealander in the Tour de France: Julian Dean

On yer bike son!
Matt & Mark
Kim, Mark & Matt

Camden Town Markets

This was an awesome day out at Camden Town on Sunday, which is kind of near where the zoo is. These markets are fantastic you can buy absolutly anything there, Ray was also asked if he wanted any pot, that sort of thing. Half the fun cracking up at the funny tee shirts for sale. Stalls everywhere with a large food area where Kimmy and I enjoyed a yummy Morroccan meal.

After some shopping and general walking aroundness we had been given a hot tip to check out a bar on one of the roofs of the market. Can't remember the name of it but it has a theme of Alice in Wonderland. Simply crazy place, we will definatly go back again. As you can see in the pics there are beds, there were a few couples making out on them as we walked in, classic. Excellent place for a lazy Sunday beer or two on the deck chairs enjoying the sun.

I'm writing this at 4am as I'm working a night shift, grumble grumble. So that's it for the moment, more posts to come as we have been up to a lot.

Matt
oxox

Hallensteins catalogue pose. Add it to my portfolio
Ray before running of the bulls. He looks so handsome without any puncture wounds
Laxing

So a horse walks into a fence and...hang on how does that joke go?

Way to ruin a nice photo Matt. haha!

Now lets try that again with everyones facials

Bedtime

Wombles of Wimbledon

So I made it to a pretty big sporting event. The Wimbledon Tennis Championships. Monday 02/07/07 I popped down the way to see some of the big guns fight it out on the outer courts. Well that was the plan, unfortunatly I hadn't consulted mother nature. I arrived there at around midday and left with it bucketing down at about 7pm. All in all I only saw about 2 hours of tennis the entire day. Ha. Nevermind it was good to get there anyway. Saw Baghdatis v Nalbandian on court 11, so close to the action eh. Nalbandian was playing like mud and after missing a break point opportunity he stormed my direction and kicked over an official's chair. Oi! Nalbandian! NO!

After a few rain interuptions I conceded defeat, and had lunch to then find the sun smiling down. Found court 18, where Lleyton Hewitt and another Argie, Canas were playing. Saw a couple of sets, it rained, I went home. Better weather next time I say, but fun all the same.

David Nalbandian, eyeing up which chair to beat up
Come on!! And yes the catch phrase came out this match
Wimbledon: Don't forget your sunscreen.