Christmas

Enjoyed a nice Christmas in our new house just the two of us. Exchanged a few pressies, cooked a roast dinner & had a couple of drinks.

Cork, Ireland

We arrived in Cork and stayed at Kinlay house for a week. The Kinlay house is right next to St Anne's Church in the pic.
We spent the time trying to find a house/apartment, looking for jobs, trying to open bank accounts etc. Found a nice little detached two bedroom house right in the city. Also found temporary work over Christmas/New Years as salespeople for a leather furniture company.

London, UK

We went to London for a few days & stayed with Sandy & Dave. We spent the time relaxing & did a little sightseeing too. We went to Camden Markets and the London Dungeon.
We also caught up with Lexie and all had a big night. We celebrated Darren's birthday, going out to the pub for fish'n'chips and a pint. Thanks guys!

Selcuk, Turkey

Found our way to Dervish's Homeros Pension in the pouring rain after spending the day on a bus. The pension was pretty cool, we had some wine in the lounge with dervish and some other guests. The next day we spent looking around at the town and going to the ruins of St Johns church (right by our pension).
We spent a morning at Ephesus viewing the amazing ruins. We had an automated guide which told us the history of the city. We also saw Mary's church, the first ever built for her. On the walk back into town we saw cotton fields ready for harvest & Manda went cotton-pickin. That afternoon we borrowed bicycles from Dervish and biked 9km uphill to Sirince. It was a great little town well known for their delicious fruit wine. Mmm. The next day we hired a scooter and headed off to Camlik Steam Locomotive Museum. They had heaps of locomotives and allow you to not only climb in them, but ON them too! After that we headed to Ozdere and Parmacak beaches for a quick blat. Before dropping the scooter back we went for a quick look at the Seven Sleepers ( Where 7 christians who were persecuted by Ephesians were said to seek refuge, in the 3rd century AD. The caves were sealed and it is thought they arose again 2 centuries later when an earthquake broke the seal). We also found an old Turkish bath-house.

Gallipoli, Turkey

We headed to Eceabat by ferry, where (because it was low season) we had to catch a taxi to the Anzac museum, and then walk the peninsula rather than taking the tour. The museum contained old uniforms and other battle field finds such as the skull of a Turkish soldier with a bullet lodged in the forehead, and New Zealand badges and tikis.

We then headed for Anzac cove where the ill-fated Allied landing was made. We were accompanied by 3 dogs for the day.

After seeing the thousands of graves at the cemeteries we climbed up into the hills to Lone Pine. After our long day's walk we made our way back to the museum to wait for the bus which never came. After waiting for an hour or so and with it getting darker and darker, we took off jogging along the 10km country road towards the port. We made it halfway (our dogs still running along with us) and then the bus finally came.

Visiting Gallipoli was amazing. We learnt so much about the history and seeing the trenches and the graves was moving. We read about the closeness of the two forces and many of the tales were truly touching. On retreat the Allied forces faked their presence by setting up rifles to automatically discharge, escaping with no further casualties and leaving behind gifts and meals for the Turkish soldiers.

Canakkale, Turkey

We caught a ferry across the sea of Marmara to bandirma, then got on a bus to Canakkale. We stayed in Canakkale for 3 days, it is the best base for going to Troy and Gallipoli.
We went to Troy on a rainy afternoon, it is the site of 9 ancient cities built on top of each other dating back to 3000BC. We enjoyed walking around the site, and climbing in a replica of the Trojan horse. We also fed a hungry little kitten our afternoon tea.

Istanbul, Turkey

We spent two days in Istanbul at the beginning of our time in Turkey. We visited the Hippodrome and checked out the Obelisk of Theodosius which was carved in Egypt around 1450BC and brought to Turkey in 390AD.
We saw the Aya Sofya and the Blue Mosque. We went into Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar, one of the oldest malls in existance.
And it even snowed for us on our second night!
We ate kebabs, Turkish Delight & Baklava. We drank copious amounts of apple tea, and, as always, Darren sampled the local beer.
On our last day we bargained down bellydancing outfits for Nicola in the Grand bazaar. Istanbul was a beautiful city with friendly people, we really enjoyed ourselves here.

London, UK

Had an eight hour stop in London & had to change airports, so we headed into the city & went to the Science Museum. It used up the four hours we had to spare, and had heaps to see & do. We even had our photos morphed into the opposite sex, & into older & younger versions by a computer. Very cool!