Help me Ronda

Morning
Hahahahahaha (see previous post)

Noon
Anyone who has known me since childhood will know I have a predisposition to travel sickness. Combine this with 'Spanish night club' sickness and an incredibly windy road and you get an opportunity to 'enjoy' the view at unplanned road side turn outs. Still, however painful the journey there (nice driving Susie), the inland town of Ronda was worth it. It spans two sides of a deep valley and features three spectacular stone bridges which traverse it. We wandered and read interpretative signs, a fair effort considering our delicate conditions.

Night
I maintain that it is completely acceptable to stay in and watch episodes of Grand Designs when one is abroad as long as it is done sparingly.

Good Mediterranean Living

Morning

I managed a run this morning, it was definitely the physical health highlight of the day because from there...


Noon

Hang on what is it we have here? A picnic in the park, looks like good wholesome fun - supplies purchased from Marbella food market ( jamon Serrano, membranillo, manchego, crusty bread, figs and cherries), enjoyed in the shade of a municipal park, still on the straight and narrow...
 
Night

Laying on a sun lounge reading classic Russian literature....then the sun went down....
Meeting up with three Irish lads we met on Sunday there may have been drinks and dinner (at the true Spanish time of midnight) and more drinking and dancing and home at 5.30am....

Gum trees on the beach

Morning
So you may be noticing that a whole week of the blog is being published at once. This is because I've had a lot of trouble with WiFi access in Spain. I am writing this from a cafe and my iPad says I have full connectivity but won't connect to the Internet. It is probably something I am not doing right but the irony is, apple help is of course online....

Noon

Gum Trees on the beach!

Working out

We figure it is because the sand here is more like dirt that eucalyptus trees are able to grow right on the beach. The beach is at San Pedro a little up the coast with a much more relaxed vibe than Marbella or Porto Banus. Exercise equipment was also a feature and Susan and I had a real workout, earning our lunch on the beach and a tough afternoon on the sun lounges.


Night
Marbella old town with it's narrow streets and window flower boxes gave me a taste of actual Spain, even if our dinner was spoiled by a very loud English woman. The 'degustation' menu may have been a mistake, whilst the tomato bread and fish skewer were delicious, I can't see what the chef EVER thought was appealing about zucchini and tropical fruits in jelly, it is not often that I can't physically eat something but this was one such occasion.

Narrow Street in Marbella Old Town

Susan's and her boutique (apologies for poor quality of photograph)

Getting around Marbella in the Ibiza

Morning
Sit in sun, read book, swim in pool, repeat.

Bedroom window view - sun!

Continental breakfast on the Continent (and the patio)

Noon
Susan well and truly honed her right side of the road driving skills as we searched the streets of Marbella for the Nikki beach club only to realise google maps had thrown us a complete furfy. We ended up back in Puerto Banus for some people watching on the marina, the term 'CUBS' springs to mind, short shorts and heels, during the day? At the beach? Really?

Ocean Club Puerto Banus, Me and my friend Rose

Night
Still adjusting to the abundance of evening light it was six pm before we went to a beach club and I had my first swim in the sea. It is hard as an Australian to appreciate most beaches in Europe, the brownish sand, the abundance of sun lounges, the smell of boat fuel....still it was more beach than I have access to in Alice Springs.


ps. It would seem (although I don't want to do it), that aligning the photos to the centre is the best way of avoiding other unwanted formatting.

Here comes the sun! (or more 'sun here we come')

Morning

A week away and I've managed four runs! This morning was down to Battersea park and along the river Thames, pagoda included.

Noon

Inconvenient yes, but walking down to Clapham Junction station, with our luggage, in the pouring rain, somehow made the fact that we were headed to Gatwick Airport, to fly to sunny Spain, more exciting, satisfying even. Knowing we were going to enjoy six days of warmth helped when a puddle was stepped in or I realised our luggage was sodden.


Night
A holiday from my holiday! I love arriving at a new destination at night, not knowing what you will discover when you wake up the next morning. Surviving our Easyjet flight to Malaga we were met by a man from the car hire company who handed over the keys to our 'Ibiza' (close but not quite) and Susan skillfully drove us (I skillfully navigated) down past Marbella to our home for the week near Puerto Banus. A late lite dinner (we discovered how grumpy I get when I'm really hungry), with a bottle of Rose, signaling the true start of relaxation Costa Del Sol style!

Not your typical English

Morning

To tell you the truth I was kind of hoping to capture a typical English motorway in this shot - that is bumper to bumper barely moving traffic. The M1 on Friday morning was however, clear and Fiona and I zoomed down toward central London. She dropped me at Wembly Park tube and made her way to work, commuting can be painless (sometimes, maybe, probably not very often).

And then it rained.

Morning

This photo is a complete lie. Firstly I didn't even leave the house in the morning (turns out the pints from the night before slowed me down somewhat).Secondly when I did I caught the tube at Clapham Common. It is not an entirely irrelevant photo, I have caught many a train from the junction.

Noon

I caught the underground to Old Street intent on exploring Shoreditch. The English weather had different ideas however, and I found myself in what felt like a monsoonal summer shower that continued as steady rain into the evening. Giving up and making my way to Liverpool St. station I found these white bunnies, their whiteness in even greater contrast to the grey concrete in it's wet state.

Night

I hopped on a train and headed north to St. Albans for an afternoon of visiting. First some family friends, a long time friend of my Dad's, his English wife, her daughter and her daughter's one year old son. Then A friend from uni who i haven't seen for years. She is living in what was her grandmothers house which the family will soon be selling, hence the lack of furniture and the comedy of her boyfriend Jurgs, sitting in a teeny tiny chair.