Farewell Transmission

Skeletor - Andy

2010-12-09T08:58:00.003Z

I haven't been happy with my last few posts so I thought it was time to step back and look at these illustrations from a different angle. So for this weeks piece I wanted to go back to basics and actually draw, yes! draw! my piece by hand. Once drawn I decided to just color over the pencils. This is the result.

Houdini's Last Escape. Week Ten Round Up.

2010-08-06T05:08:00.013+01:00

For the last ten weeks I've been contributing to a blog along with friends and peers:
http://houdinislastescape.blogspot.com/
It's all pop-culture topics, so it's nothing too intense or brain draining. I'm using it as a way to stretch my creative muscles.
Here is my first ten entries, starting at ten(Pigsy!) and counting down.

079 - Crunchy

2009-04-17T00:30:00.001+01:00

078 - Lady

2009-04-17T00:29:00.001+01:00

077- Sword Lady

2009-04-17T00:28:00.000+01:00

074, 075, 076 - HLM

2009-04-17T00:26:00.001+01:00

These dudes are copyright Earl Leonard 2009.

073 - Pop!

2009-04-17T00:11:00.000+01:00

072 - Mouth Babies

2009-04-17T00:10:00.000+01:00

071 - Ugly

2009-04-17T00:09:00.001+01:00

070 -Wolf Hat

2009-04-17T00:08:00.000+01:00

069- Taco Bell 2: The Reckoning

2009-04-17T00:07:00.000+01:00

068- Lady

2009-04-17T00:06:00.001+01:00

067 - Taco Bell

2009-04-17T00:05:00.001+01:00

066 - Lady with wierd hips

2009-04-17T00:02:00.002+01:00

065 - Revenge

2009-04-02T00:38:00.000+01:00

064- Oooh.

2009-04-01T23:37:00.002+01:00

063 - Fish bowl

2009-04-01T23:36:00.002+01:00

062- Shit Head

2009-04-01T23:36:00.001+01:00

061 - Monster Mash

2009-04-01T23:35:00.001+01:00

060- Head again

2009-04-01T23:30:00.002+01:00

059 - HIIIIIIYAAAAA

2009-04-01T23:29:00.000+01:00

058 - Shit

2009-04-01T23:28:00.000+01:00

057 - KOM

2009-04-01T23:27:00.000+01:00

056 - SPACE KNIGHTS

2009-04-01T23:24:00.001+01:00

055 - Skull

2009-04-01T23:22:00.000+01:00

054 - Skull Series

2009-03-13T01:01:00.001Z

053 - Skull Series

2009-03-13T01:00:00.001Z

052 - Skull Series

2009-03-13T00:59:00.000Z

051 - A rapt on the skull

2009-03-13T00:58:00.000Z

050 -Wolfeyes

2009-03-13T00:57:00.000Z

049 -Alien Amputation

2009-03-13T00:56:00.000Z

048 - Shitte

2009-03-13T00:54:00.000Z

047- Heathy Hungover

2009-03-13T00:53:00.002Z

046 - Monster Mash

2009-03-13T00:37:00.000Z

045 - Hard as nails

2009-03-13T00:35:00.001Z

Sorry for the leave of absence. I've been so busy at work i don't have time to scan at the mo. Need a scanner.

044 - Monster Mash

2009-02-17T22:00:00.000Z

043 - Who left the window open?

2009-02-17T21:50:00.002Z

042 - Fuse

2009-02-11T22:39:00.002Z

Fuse copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

041 - Pincer

2009-02-11T22:38:00.000Z

040 - Horse

2009-02-11T22:36:00.001Z

Playing around with Horses expressions. This one just looks like he's screwing with you just before he rips your throat out.

039 - Silver Squid

2009-02-11T22:34:00.001Z

Silver Squid - Copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

038 - Ogre

2009-02-11T22:33:00.000Z

He just wants your love.

037 - Head

2009-02-11T22:26:00.001Z

036 - Shroomians

2009-02-08T21:57:00.003Z

They're small and awkward looking, they're Shroomians!

Shroomians - copyright Andrew Isaac & Earl Leonard, 2009

035 - Arson Girl

2009-02-08T21:55:00.004Z

This was done last wednesday, i swear.

Arson Girl - copyright Andrew Isaac & Earl Leonard, 2009

034 - Oh.

2009-02-06T06:08:00.001Z

033 - Mysterious Masked man

2009-02-06T06:06:00.000Z

I like his belt buckle.

032 - the Major

2009-02-06T06:04:00.001Z

the Major, copyright Andrew Isaac & Earl Leonard, 2009

031 - Genetic Throwback

2009-02-06T06:01:00.001Z

030 - Deathbot?

2009-02-06T06:00:00.002Z

029 - Hammer Chap

2009-02-06T05:58:00.001Z

028 - Bouncing Chap

2009-01-28T23:59:00.002Z

027- Fly

2009-01-28T23:59:00.001Z

Fly copyright Andrew Isaac & Earl Leonard, 2009

026- Foster

2009-01-28T23:58:00.001Z

Foster copyright Andrew Isaac & Earl Leonard, 2009

025- Horse

2009-01-28T23:57:00.001Z

Horse everyone! And angry lookin too!
Horse copyright Andrew Isaac & Earl Leonard, 2009

024- Fuse

2009-01-28T23:55:00.002Z

Fuse copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

023 - Bad Dude

2009-01-28T23:55:00.001Z

022- Frogman

2009-01-28T23:54:00.001Z

He's back cause he's fun to draw!

021 - Lock

2009-01-28T23:53:00.001Z

Lock copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

020 - Sorry

2009-01-28T23:52:00.001Z

Maybe it was hot this day...?

019 - RobotGuy

2009-01-28T23:51:00.000Z

018 - Taking it up a notch

2009-01-28T23:50:00.000Z

017- Jeez that's awful

2009-01-28T23:49:00.003Z

016- Head

2009-01-28T23:49:00.001Z

Shit.

015 - Pete the Skeletal Pirate

2009-01-28T23:48:00.000Z

014 - Head

2009-01-28T23:47:00.001Z

I don't know what happened today.

013 - More Biker Guy

2009-01-28T23:45:00.002Z

Biker Guy copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

012- Biker Guy

2009-01-13T04:04:00.004Z

He's back due to extreme lack of demand: Biker guy!He musta parked his bike somewhere. Maybe one day you'll see him riding the bike!
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

Biker Guy copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

011 - Buckwheat Bill

2009-01-13T04:02:00.001Z

Buckwheat Bill Copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

010 - Amplexus

2009-01-13T04:01:00.001Z

Amplexus Copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

009 - Amplexus

2009-01-13T03:59:00.001Z

Amplexus Copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

008- The Hatchet Bros Pt3

2009-01-13T03:56:00.002Z

I wish i had a scanner.The Hatchet Bros, copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

007- The Hatchet Bros Pt2

2009-01-08T04:35:00.001Z

The Hatchet Bros Copyright Andrew Isaac 2009

006- The Hatchet Bros Pt1

2009-01-08T04:33:00.001Z

Hatchet Bros - Copyright Andrew Isaac 2009

005- Crusty Guy

2009-01-08T04:32:00.001Z

004- Wolf Eyes the Hater

2009-01-08T04:31:00.001Z

Wolf Eyes the Hater Copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

003- Biker Guy

2009-01-08T04:30:00.003Z

002- The Silver Squid

2009-01-08T04:28:00.005Z

Silver Squid - Copyright Andrew Isaac, 2009

001-Master Menace

2009-01-07T04:15:00.003Z

Ok. I've decided to give this drawing a day for a year thingy a go. I'm hoping it will help me get better by pointing out my weaknesses.

We don't have a scanner yet so i'll just have to do a big upload when I get the chance to use one.

Wish me luck.

Master Menace: Copyright Andrew Isaac 2009

The Round Up

2008-10-11T08:40:00.005+01:00

So here is the round up.

We went to 17 countries in 363 days.
We stayed in 44* hostels/hotels, bnb's and guest houses.
We have slept in a cave,

a tree house,

a boat, a 600 year old castle, three buses, one train, a 1 star hotel, a 4 star hotel, the shittest of hostels to the best.

We have traveled on airplanes, trains, buses, mini buses, boats, cars, taxis, funicular and bicycles.
We caught 17 international flights without missing one.
(The closest we came was on the last flight from Sydney to Melbourne! We only made it because the flight was delayed by an hour).

We have experienced all kinds of toilet situations, squat, shelf, grassy field, you name it we probably used it.

We have had more cold showers than most do in a lifetime and lived for 5 months with a bath only bathroom situation.

We had some amazing meals

and some incredibly average ones (pretty much all in the UK).

We have learnt how to eat for under 5 pound and to check what the drink costs by the glass rather than fluid ounces.

We made a bunch of new friends

and found some old ones.

We have taken 8925 photo's and written a hand-full of postcards. (Mostly to our mums).

We have had a year that we will never forget. The biggest adventure of our lives.
Thanks for reading and occasionally commenting, we have missed you dearly and are so happy to be back in the arms of our beloved friends and family.

Mmmwah! Mmwah!
Sars and Andy

Now, if only we could find a damn house to rent....

*approximate, I have totally lost count now.

Are you going to San Francisco... We just went.

2008-09-22T05:28:00.005+01:00

For the final four days of our 363 day Round The World extravaganza we chose to spend our time in the home of the Summer of Love, San Francisco.
Again due to the limited time frame we tried to pack in as much as we could in a relaxed kind of Californian way. We rode across the Golden Gate Bridge, took an evening tour of spooky Alcatraz Island, sipped chai in the Haight district, wondered around the retro and vintage shops of The Mission district and visited the pirate supply shop of McSweeneys. We also upgraded from the very basic hostel we stayed in New York to a proper Hotel! Probably one of the nicest places we have stayed in the whole time we have been away.
We also tried our hardest to eat some of the best local cuisine. We had the best burritos of our lives in the heavily immigrant populated area of The Mission.
San Fran was definitely more relaxed than New York (probably not that difficult) and we appreciated the atmosphere for our last few days before heading home.
It was definitely a great way to end our Incredible year long journey.

Forget the expensive and crowded cable cars, these old school trams are WAY cooler!

Alcatraz Island from Fishermans wharf.

The beautiful and tranquil Japanese Tea Garden in the Gold Gate Park

The sunset view from Alcatraz. Notice the line of "Natural Air Conditioning" fog rolling in.

A rare shot inside Alcatraz without one of the other 500 tourists

One part of a mural covered lane in The Mission district, one of the oldest and most cutting edge areas in San Francisco.

Does this look familiar?
What if you add "everywhere you are, everywhere there's a heart, somebody who needs you"

Got it? That's right, it's from the opening credits of Full House!

Unique New York, unique New York

2008-09-10T07:40:00.008+01:00

Phew! Well we have had an amazing time here in the US of A. Five days was not nearly enough time for New York City, but we made the most of it and packed in as much as our feet would allow. You could easily spend months here and probably not even see a half of it.
We also have enjoyed the culinary delights of NYC. I am not sure if it is because we have been in a country where the flavour volume is constantly set to about 3 for the last 12 months, but it has been great to taste again! Bagels, knish, french toast and cupcakes! We even found a secret Burger Joint in the foyer of the Park Meridien (maybe not so secret if it is in the Lonely Planet).
Again I'm not sure if it's just because we have been in the rather uptight UK but we seem to have encountered a higher than usual number of "characters". From overly chatty shop staff, to rather vocal hostel residents to just the vociferous crazies on the street, everybody has something to say. It seems everyone has an opinion and they want to tell you about it.
Anyway I think I will let our pictures do the talking this time.

This is the 94th street, the third entrance is to our hostel.

Just some break dancers in front of the New York Public

Proof that Andrew's "New York" diet isn't working

Times Square

Friendly Pidgy on the Empire State Building

Grand Central Station

We spent a gloriously hot afternoon in Westchester county visiting family. It is home to the famously philanthropic Rockefellers and some stunning scenery, straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
A waterfall under the Brooklyn Bridge that is part of a series of waterfalls created by artist Olafur Eliasson setup around New York.

So New York.

The Journey Home. Part 1 Helsinki

2008-09-07T05:34:00.005+01:00

As you may recall our last journey had us adventuring in Sweden. It was interesting then to visit their next door neighbours in Finland for the beginning of the final leg of our trip home. The city seems like a blend of the nations that surround it, with Sweden to the left and Russia to the right, yet it definitely retains it's own personality. It's really green, has russian infused architecture and is home to the best pastries we came across in Europe. You heard me. I'm including Paris in that statement!
This is the inside of a church that is carved out of rock . You can climb over the top of the building. But inside it is a quiet peaceful place. And if, like us, you find the grandeur of other European churches a little over the top then this could be for you! It was everything those aren't. Even the cross is really small.
While walking around the shore line of the city we found an amazing cemetery nestled into a woodland that follows the shore. It would be a beautiful place to call your final resting place.

Real mink fur coats.
A Russian church that has become a major landmark of the city.

A bear that protects the steps of a museum.
A tea pot that marks a little tea house that sits above the city's major lake.

The Highs and Lows

2008-08-27T23:26:00.009+01:00

We have one day left in the United Kingdom. The place we have called home for the last 347 days. It is a place we have both loved and loathed in equal measure and I think we will be genuinely sad to say goodbye to the old girl.
We thought we'd list a few of the things (high fidelity style) we will miss terribly and some which we will be kicking the door on with gusto!

So in no particluar order, here are the downers.

Kick List

1. London Water
That film on the top of your tea and the limescale that coats the in-erds of the kettle is just gross.

2. Black boogers from the Underground
Upon even the briefest journey in the London Underground you will find, on exiting, that your schnoz is now black and it's contents will remain so for the next few days.

3. Overdraft Fees
It will never be ok to take £25 in fees from anyone.

4. Chavs (Bogans in Aussie)
The best example of why sex education should be encouraged in schools.
(although, we have to say, the chavs over the road from our flat in Edinburgh did provide a lot of entertainment with their daily sagas in the street)

5. British Customer Service (or lack of it)
Waiting on a phone for an hour to be transferred five times and end up back at the first person who ends up telling you, they just don't know why the internet doesn't work and no, they can't do anything about it. Nice.

And now to finish on a high:

Miss List

1. Holyrood Park Edinburgh
Easily one of our favourite places in the world. This gloriously rugged parkland, bang in the centre of the city, is a little bit of paradise. You could easily be forgiven for thinking you were way out in the Scottish highland when rambling over the hillside, except of course for the view of the castle just up the end of the Royal Mile that runs between the two landmarks.

2. Tea Cakes
These gooey, choclatey, biscuty, foil wrapped parcels of goodness make everything ooooorr-rite.

3. The Shopping!!
The vast range of the clothing stores is like a revelation. The fabric shops are the stuff dreams are made of and the comic book stores are reasonably priced and well stocked.

4. Earning Pounds
Earning a legitimate currency is nice. Especially when you change into meager currencies like the the Croatian Kuna or say the Australian Dollar.

5. Black Boogers from the Underground
Yes, this does appear on both lists as you cannot help but be disgusted and enthralled at the same time. Come on, you know it's true.

Haddo, Cavalcades and Rain

2008-08-14T22:22:00.005+01:00

Well we are counting down the days now until we pack up our bits for the last time and hit the road for home. We are trying to see and do as much as we can in our final weeks and therefore have been a little slack on the ol' blog. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is on at the moment, making for plenty of activities. The only downer is that about 100,000 other people are also trying to see as much of Edinburgh as possible (of which about 50,000 are trying to stuff your hand with a flyer). Nae bother. Here are a few pics from what we have been up to in the last few weeks.

We spent one balmy Sunday arvo in Haddington. A beautiful market village about a half hour from Edinburgh.

This was our view of the Festival Cavalcade that kicks off the start of the festival. Some genius decided to put up a 7ft opaque fence along the street so that you can't actually see the parade pass. Nice.

Dunsapie Loch in Hollyrood Park in the twilight. The Loch was overflowing that evening after two and a half solid days of rain (this is supposed to be Summer).

View from our flat- advantages of being on the top floor.

Sweden is more like Eden

2008-07-31T11:42:00.011+01:00

Ahhhh, Sweden. Touching down in the pink glow of the late summer sunset on the thickly forested shores of Gothenburg (Sweden’s second largest city) was like a long, cool, glass of water after a hot and sticky final day in Italy.

Sweden contrasted Italy in almost every way. Like Red and Green. It was friendly, organised, sophisticated and über cool. We had only one week to explore the three main cities of this sparsely populated country, but Heath, Andrew and I all agreed it would be very easy to have spent a lot more time in Sweden. We had three nights in Gothenburg, two in Malmo and two in Stockholm. Stockholm was definitely a highlight. We managed to get tickets to see the troubled genius of Daniel Johnston perform in the stunning Berns Salonger . He played with a bunch of his mates, including members of Yo La Tango, Teenage Fanclub and Scout Niblett. There was something very fragile about his great lumbering figure singing the sweetest love songs and stories of redemption. He even managed to Rock Out too!
It was also refreshing not to be overwhelmed with tourist attractions. We were very happy to just spend the week exploring the beautiful lanes and squares of the old towns, poking about in the amazing clothing, design stores and museums and lapping up the lifestyle in the abundant cafes.
Perhaps the only disappointment was never finding an IKEA….

Mr Gothenburg.

The first day we were in Gothenburg we decided to hit the amusement park of Lisberg. We talked ourselves into going on the "Worlds Best Wooden Rollercoaster" (See above). By the way, the day after we went one of the rides fell apart.

This was on an Island Fortress we visited in Gothenburg

Malmo

Old Town in Stockholm

Changing of the guard at the Palace in Stockholm. Did you know Sweden has one of the worlds oldest monarchies. They are also much more attractive than the English royals!

Daniel Johnston and friends

Kickin it old school on the "garden" island in Stockholm. We rode around the whole island.

Thanks Sweden. Hope to see you again someday.

PS. Ever wondered about that particular scent that Ikea has? Turns out its Sweden! The whole of Sweden smells just like Ikea! That heady mix of new pine, clever, functional design and blonde, athletic types.

It's Italy, not Shitaly! Part Two: Roma!

2008-07-25T20:45:00.010+01:00

8. Roma: What a beautiful city. It's really one of the best in the world and has so much culture and history to offer. And the tourists to match. But it's a testament to the city that on 34-38 degree days we were still eager to trek through winding streets past sweaty tourists, pick-pockets and street beggars.

Anyhow, the hits:
St. Peters at night. We will eventually photoshop those chaps out of the picture.

Inside St. Peters. You can actually feel the big guy peeking inside.The Fountain de Trivoli. We're happy we managed one photo without tourists in it, even at 11pm. Damn tourists.

Inside the Vatician Museum in the hall that leads to the Sistine Chapel .
The confusing layout of the museum, complete with very poor signage and NO maps (which was enough to make Sarah go crazy) leads you to the chapel as it's climactic ending, but by the time you get there after fighting with every other joe tourist it's hard to really appreciate the chapel. Due to the shear number of tourists they really cram them in there and then wonder why they can't get complete silence in the room. So you hear the minders and security guards constantly loudly whispering, "Shhhhhhhh, silence!" and "No photos!". No one listens. In this same hall we heard a guy telling what we could only assume were his parents that you can't take photos in the Sistine Chapel because a Japanese television company owns the rights to it.

Not our photo of the Chapel. A pic form the net so you can visualise the room.The Colosseum on the outside starring Sarah.
The Colosseum on the inside. Click to enlarge.
Z.Z. Top have become ministers. I knew it!

Scenic.
Rome's Pantheon.
Believe me there are many more photos. Maybe some other time! Next week Sarah will take you to a country different in nearly every way, shape and form to Italy: Sweden!

It's Italy, not Shitaly!

2008-07-20T19:57:00.012+01:00

Welcome to part one of our manic seven day tour of Italy. To give you a better idea of the travel involved I've included a map of our destinations with allocated numbers (Next to the photos i'll allocate a number so you know where the shot was taken). For our trip we formed a team of Super-Friends with my best buddy Heath McGregor and friend, ex-work colleague, and Italian Language expert Emily Petricola. For this trip we hired a car to roam (no pun intended) the lands freely. And what lands! Italy proved to be one of the most beautiful countries we've ever been to and it really was worth hiring a car to get a truly personal view of the country side. Also Emily ought to get extra credit points for doing an astounding job of driving!

1. Pisa
2. Tavernelle Val d'Pesa
3. Siena
4. Florence
5. Cecina
6. San Gimignano
7.Naples
8.Rome

(2) The Super Friends.

(1) The leaning tower of Pisa isn't just the name of a good Pizza and Pasta place in Ballarat. No, it's also a major landmark. After a stuggle with getting the hire car (which was when we learned of Emily's brother's nickname for Italy's lazy and unorganized attitude to anything involving organization: 'Shitaly') we could finally hit the road.

(2) This is the town we were based in for four nights, a beautiful quite town with a communtiy atmosphere I've never encountered anywhere else. They live a very social lifestyle which includes a lot of sitting outside, gossiping, walking the streets, gossiping, drinking coffee and of course, gossiping. A week long festival was on when we arrived which includes different parts of the town wearing different colours, marching together and singing until they arrive in the town square and play bingo.
5. Florence was beautiful, but the day we where there it was 36 degrees with around a hundred percent humidity and then add the throng of loud sweaty tourists and it all adds up to a flying visit.

5. We decided to take advantage of the 35 degree weather and headed to the beach at Cecina. The beach was more a grit than a sand. The only problem was that the wind was so strong that we were constantly in a sand storm. Nice otherwise.

6. San Gimignano is a beautiful walled town a half hour from where we where staying.

Emily makes friendly with the locals.2. Ah, the lovely rolling hills of Tuscany.
I love the souvenirs.
7.Naples is a great city which we all wished we could have spent a little more time in. We raced into town after a five hour drive in from Via Della Tavernelle into it's chaotic, lawless streets. See below.
Going to Naples? Odds are you'll be going to see Pompeii. We were greeted with yet another scorcher of a day. It truly is an amazingly large set of ruins. That night we roamed the backstreets of Naples and had one hell of a great pizza. It's true, they do do the best pizzas in the world. The streets were pretty amazing, too.
Can't find the number 8.Rome? You'll have to call back next time for those shots as it's a City that really deserves its own blog entry.

TO THE END OF THE WORLD....(or at least the UK)

2008-07-04T15:51:00.011+01:00

We were graced with the presence of father Strickland (my Dad) for a week a couple of weeks ago, when he came over for a flying visit to check we were alive and ok and to experience some of the delights that Scotland can offer. He really got us up and moving and on a 2 day road trip to John O'Groats at the very top of Scotland. The town's (I use the term town very loosely) claim to fame is:
Not the most northern village...
but the northerly end of the longest distance between two points on the British mainland. Land's End being the other.
(Does that sentence need some punctuation? I don't think grammar is a big deal in this part of the world)
After about 6 hours solid driving from Edinburgh we finally arrived at JOHN O'GROATS to find this:
That strange box that Dad and Andrew are standing next to is where you would usually find the sign that looks kinda like this:
It seems that vandals continuously pinching the sign have lead to it being locked up. There was a notice on the sign suggesting you could give Pete a call and he would come down and unlock the sign and let you take your picture with it. We decided not to disturb Pete's Sunday night.
Apart from one of the most overloaded crappy tourist souvenir shops there was not a lot to this end of the land. It did have a kind of bleak beauty about it all. See for yourself:

There is something quiet Dickensian about this Manor house, that stood empty and dark, not far from our accommodation:
We stayed up to 12am just to see how dark (or light) it gets in this northerly place.
On the way home we came across this delightful castle. It looked like something straight out of a fairy tale.

All is all we had a fantastic road trip and a brilliant week with my Dad. Thanks for visiting Dad! Can't wait to see you again soon!

Scotland - Spring Holiday Part 5 of 5

2008-06-23T17:12:00.016+01:00

After touching down in Edinburgh late one Sunday night we woke up to the brightest, warmest, sunniest day of the trip! And the good weather continued for the remaining 8 days Jess and Andrew spent in the UK. They seemed to have accidentally packed up the warm weather and taken it home with them too. I think it may be still lost somewhere in Beijing Airport.
But back to Scotland... So we hired a car and spent a glorious three days driving around the strangely sunny Scottish countryside. We made our leisurely way across to the west coast via Stirling and a night in Culcreuch Castle. This was part of Andrews birthday present from me. I was hoping for something for a bit more grand and incredible, but it seemed a bit more run down and in need of a "Gordon Ramsey Kitchen Nightmare" make over. All the same it was lovely and I think Andrew enjoyed it too. We then had a night in the pretty "Scottish resort" town of Oban. I'm not too sure what Scottish people do on holiday but I am pretty sure it does not include immersing themselves in the sea water. My pushy big sister got me to dip my feet in and see how long I could hold them in. After my feet turned blue and the onset of frost bite kicked in I pulled them out. There is not a chance in all hell I would get in that water. Next day we headed east back towards Edinburgh through the pretty tourist town of Falkirk where we finally got our fix of scones. After dropping off the car in Edinburgh the next day we headed back to London where we spent the next few days showing Jess and Andrew our favourite bits, sweating (not just on the tube) and cooling off with a Pimms. It was very sad to say goodbye to Jess and Andrew but we had such a great time. Thanks heaps for sharing and making our adventure so much fun guys!!

Stirling Castle, notice the chavs in the corners.

Beautiful hand painted wall paper from our room in Culreuch Castle

The castle grounds

On the shores of Loch Lomand

Oban

I think Andrew was more excited about this castle. It was pretty cool.

10 million Londoners trying to keep cool in the "Heatwave" of 27 degrees!!

Farewells

*Photo taken by Ms Jessica Strickland

Austria - Spring Holiday Part 4 of 5

2008-06-09T21:46:00.012+01:00

Leaving Slovenia, chuffing along in the train to Salzburg, this is the type of scenery we were treated to. I know. It's lovely.

This is a shot from within the center of old town of Salzburg with a view up to the castle on the hill. Yes, there is a man standing precariously on a giant golden sphere. Luckily, he's not made of flesh and bones like you or I.

Alright. How many of you out there have seen the sound of music thousands of times? This garden should look familiar to you then. For everyone else, hey look at this lovely garden.
This is a shot form a Marionette exhibition on in the castle.
Fear. (Part 1 of 2)
Fear. (Part 2 of 2)
We found a giant sized 'grown-ups' playground, so we obliged.
This is a gorgeous shot of the old town.
After two beautiful nights in Salzberg we were keen to train it to Vienna where we were meeting Sarah's sister, Jessica and brother-in-law, Andrew. It was a very happy moment when the two sisters were reunited.
This is a church in Vienna in a square called Stevensplatz. Hehe.
Andrew, having no respect for such petty things as laws, defies the signage and decides to stand casually. Later he is relieved when he finally gets it right.
For morning tea we went to the the (disputed) original home of the Sasha Torte to try the merch. NOTE: The desert pictured is not a Sasha Torte.

That's a Sasha Torte! This picture features the two major parts in the life of a Sasha Torte.

We stayed in a sweet apartment while in Vienna. This is the view outside the kitchen window.
Lovely architecture. And finally, one for the kids.

Zombie caterpillars controlled by voodoo wasps

2008-06-05T11:02:00.007+01:00

I don't usually feel compelled enough to share articles, but I have to share this.
There is nothing in this article that isn't funny or terrifying:
Zombie caterpillars controlled by voodoo wasps

Slovenia- Spring Holiday Part 3 of 5

2008-06-01T13:49:00.006+01:00

So, we're at the half way mark. Spring is starting to set in with sporadic showers and blushes of blue sky.
We Eurail it up to Slovenia via an 8 minute train changeover in Zagreb that would impress the toughest "Amazing Race" competitors and are greeted by the most spectacular green countryside we have seen in a long time, in fact, you could say, ever.
The railway curled itself around the magnificent towering alpine region of southern Slovenia, following the incredibly blue Sava River (I think that is the name anyway). After about 8 hours train ride we found ourselves in Ljubljana (pronounced Loob-lana). After only reading the brief paragraph or two from our massive, but information light Lonely Planet- Europe on a Shoestring Guide we were not sure what we would find. After locating our awesome hostel (Hostel Most is case you ever go) with room that overlooked the river we went out to discover a beautiful little city. The centre of the city it feels like a perpetual Sunday afternoon as most of the inhabitants seem to be students with a lot of time to drink coffee and eat ice-cream at the incredible number of riverside cafes. It also helps that the centre is pedestrianised too so, even when in the centre of the city, it is amazingly peacefull and quiet. It was a shame we only spent a day and a half here as we could have spent a lot longer, but we enjoyed every minute of it and would easily go back.

GREEN!

We found this little bit of genius not far from the Horse Burger joint.

We were both a bit scared to try the horse burger, but Andy did have a "lamb" kebab. I wasn't convinced it was just lamb.

This came from the door of a the castle postioned high on a hill in the middle of the city. I just thought it was a cool door feature.

ATP Roundup

2008-05-26T15:58:00.013+01:00

You lucky buggers get two posts in one weekend! How about that!

Last weekend Sarah, Corey and I made our way to ATP (All Tomorrows Parties) music festival. A different band each year curates the line-up. This year was curated by Explosions in the Sky, instrumental post-rockers from Austin, Texas. They did a swell job.

But first: the venue. Butlins family resort. It's like a giant caravan park and theme park mixed together, but instead of caravans they have 'Chalets'. Butlins features a waterpark, miniture golf, Ten pin bowling, cafes, a burger king, fish and chip shop, a pizza hut, three bars and a supermarket, among other things.

The line up: Animal Collective, Polvo, Broken Social Scene, Iron and Wine, Dinosaur Jr., Eluvium, Ola Podrida Lazarus, A Hawk and A Hacksaw, The Paper Chase, Four Tet, Ghostface Killah, Western Keys, Adem, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, The Silver Jews, Mono, Jens Lekman, Tony Teardrop, The Drift, The National, Sunset Rubdown, Lichens, Stars of the Lid, Saul Williams, Battles, De La Soul, The Field , Okkervil River, Pale Gallery, Raekwon, The Octopus Project, Atlas Sound, Constantines, World's End Girlfriend, Beach House, Phosphorescent, Le Papier Tigre, Envy and, of course, Explosions in the Sky.
Wowsers.

We arrived 15 minutes late for the Constantines who still managed an amazing kick-start to the festival. Here is a few photos:

Okkervil River.
Beach Houses had a great set. Good one, guys.
Battles had two sets over the weekend, we saw them the first night and they were good, but i'm told there second set on the last night was mind blowing. D'oh! We were too busy seeing Envy, japanese metal rockers who were great too.
Drinks on a pirate ship.
The second night ended with us hosting a chalet party which lasted till seven the next morning. The guest list was comprised of anyone who walked past. In the end we told the guys from next door we'd move the party to their place and shut the door behind them when they left!

Sarah woke up the next day to lovely Jens Lekman. But the rest of us didn't get up in time (2,30). So what do you do when your hungover at a music festival while bands are playing? Mini-golf!
Corey and i watch on as our chalet buddy, Rob putts away.
Sarah makes her shot and behind our other chalet buddies, Ryan and Mel.

Iron and Wine.

My highlight for the festival: Dinosaur Jnr! They went all out and put on one hell of a show.
My dream of seeing the Silver Jews play live was finally fulfilled! David Berman was great, he made me think of what a Johnny Cash concert may have been like if it was Earl Leonard instead of Johnny Cash. He really shared a lot of mannerisms with my good buddy Earl. The hot leggy base player is his wife. There where many shots taken of her by the crowd during her sound check.
Broken Social Scene were the last band on the main stage on Sunday night. They played all their big ones and for one track all of the Constantines, Explosions in the sky and J Mascus from Dino Jnr got up and sung with them. Sweet.

Some of the other bands we saw: Animal Collective were great. Big party. Trail of Dead rocked it much more than I thought they would. Sunset Rubdown were good, but not great, though their song 'the mending of the gown' blew the crowd away. Four Tet was a little boring in stages. The Octopus Project where great fun, both audio and visually. And Explosions laid down their usual epic rock.

Sarah's pics: 'Jens was good' and the Silver Jews.

The Spring holidays blog will soon resume as normal.

Croatia- Spring Holiday Part 2 of 5

2008-05-24T23:19:00.016+01:00

We touched down in Dubrovnik after a somewhat scary ride via Click Air from Barcelona. Seems that seat belts are not always included in their bargain rates.
After kissing the ground we were overwhelmed with the beauty of this glorious UNESCO jewel of the Adriatic. The scent of Orange and Lemon blossom filled the air and the sea sparkled in the Spring sunshine. We ended up spending 5 days after we had planned on only 3. After those 5 days we headed a bit further up the coastline via Bosnia (good place to stop to buy your essential cartons of cigarettes. Tell ya, this is the place to take up smoking!) to Split. We weren't quite ready for how touristy the place was and were followed around for the first few hours by strange old men offering us rooms to stay in and calling out "cheap cheap" as we hurried off in the opposite direction. We were charmed a bit more on the second day as we wondered around the incredibly old city (we're talking 6th Century BC!). The old town, like Dubrovnik, was riddled by tiny alleys and streets that opened onto paved squares, with tiles worn shiny from centuries of wear.
Anyway have a look at what we saw:

Split Harbour

Andy taking some inspiration

This happy fellow decided to follow us for a little while around the island town of Korcula, a day trip we took from Dubrovnik. This is the second ultra friendy labrador we have encountered on our RTW trip. The first beling in Turkey) So we named him Woofio II.

I was actually watching a photo shoot happening outside of the shot.

Korcula

Sensai Andy teaching Sarah Son the crane position

The glorious orange roofs of Dubrovnik's old town

Spain -Spring Holiday Part 1 of 5

2008-05-09T22:48:00.006+01:00

Barcelona:
Spring was kind to Sarah and I. For the first part of our super, five part European world tour we touched down upon the glorious shores of Spain. The weather was balmy and the views were well good too. It was our feeling that the Spanish people were not unlike those from our home country: easy going and keen to please. We started in Barcelona, a great place and i think we're both keen to return.

Here is ol Chris Columbus pointing to the new world.

This photo was taken in Barcelona's Gothic quarter, a tightly knit suburb of Gothic buildings filled with trendy shops, great restaurants and better bars . We had dinner where this photo was taken from. This view was better than any TV show we've ever seen. We saw doggy deals, strange encounters and even a gay relationship breaking up. Better than Neighbours.

This was the hall to our hostel. It was well nice.

On my birthday we went to a Gaudi's gardens (Parc Guell) which were originally intended as a private community. The area was unsuccessful as no body seemed particularly keen on living there (they must be kicking themselves today!). Barcelona owes him a lot as their whole tourism industry is steeped in Gaudi's legacy.

The grounds.
The Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's unfinished Masterpiece. Work began in 1886 and it is expected to be finished in 2026. Cripes.
It has many interesting statues.
And a nice door.
And a nice staircase.We took an eight hour train to the scenic San Sebastian, a stylish city in the basque region that wraps itself around two gorgeous little bays.

This was a path leading up to the fortress at the top of the mountain that overlooks San Sebastian.
A canon.
Reclining.Night time panorama.

Exiting London

2008-04-13T21:46:00.018+01:00

It's the eve of our trip to Spain, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria, so we thought we'd take this opportunity to reflect on the last few weeks in foggy London town. And what a few weeks it's been! Spring is on the way and the weather has gone troppo!

The first signs of spring sprang up a few weeks ago with the onset of hoards of daffodils.

This is Sarah outside the terrific War Museum. That's a big gun she's wielding.

This is Corey Mahar in our lounge room.
Clapham Common had it's annual fair a few weeks back so we went along for spot of fun.This picture portrays Corey and i screaming for our lives 100ft off the ground.
What makes this shot is not actually my face, but the face of the happy chap behind me.
Tea at a local french tea house.

It snowed at Easter, which was nice but it didn't last long, whereas last weekend it bucketed down till about 2 in the afternoon! It was great fun, hanging out in the park with the kids, building the lamest snowman there, snow fights and other assorted mayhem.

We finished work on friday. The window at the top was where i worked.
This was the view out the back window. I like the door off it's hinges.
This was some art we stumbled across in the park during lunch last week.

Some street art near Sarah's work in Camberwell.
Finally, this is the design team eating our regular sushi friday lunch. Alex left & Marrisa right. Thanks for everything guys!

Irish Road Adventure

2008-04-05T22:30:00.009+01:00

Oversized novelty map, Check.
Sweet hire car, Check.
Full tank of petrol, Check.
Entire Neil Young back catalogue on ipod, Check!
We took off on our Irish road trip one wet and windy weekend late in February. It turns out wet and windy pretty much covered all the weather conditions in Ireland - windy rain and rainy wind.
We drove our brave Opel from Dublin to Galway, then down the west cost via a few unplanned backroads to the stunning Killarny, then across to grundgy but charismatic city of Cork and THEN back up to Dublin. About 700km's in four days! And we did it all unscathed and without causing any major road incidents.
Anyway here is the proof:

Argh the Irish! Maybe this kind of thing is a problem here. Could be because of the drink.

I'M HAVING A GREAT TIME!

It's all just so Irish.

Killarney National Park

Can you see the deer in the bushes? He was completely still and didn't take his eyes off us as we walked past.

Another blue door. See, it's not just me who thinks they're interesting!
Cork

As we left Cork for Dublin we came through snow flurries and snow covered fields. It was the first snow we'd seen all winter and at the beginning of Spring!

Manchester

2008-04-01T16:21:00.010+01:00

We are slowely but surely working our way through the last few months adventures and now we find ourselves in January when we took a trip up to mighty Manchester.

We spent one grey weekend in the Northern City. It seems to be a creative hub in amidst of an aging industrial landscape.
Did you know that Manchester was the worlds first industrialised city?
In the northern quarter we felt right at home among the graffiti-ed streets, book shops, record stores, and general crafty goodness.

This is Andy in classic the yoga pose: “boiling kettle, lead too short”

We came across a few ace tea houses. The first of which, we happened to eavesdrop on a philosophical discussion between 2 very northern blokes in a very pink, floral tea house.
It was pretty miserable on the Sunday too, so we spent a few hours in this super cool cafe/record store/sweet vintage tea set shop/t shirt shop.

And that concludes our brief visit to Manchester.

Oxford- The land of bicycles and shrunken heads

2008-03-25T12:04:00.007Z

So here we are, six months down and six to go! We can hardly believe it has been this long already! During the Christmas break (holy hell, that was 3 months ago already!) we donned our caps and gowns and headed for a day trip to Oxford. It was a bit of a miserable day, but Oxford still delighted. It seemed every time we turned a corner, there was a plaque telling us of some ancient scholar who invented the microscope or some such achievement!

Anyway here is the evidence:

We came over all scholarly while there and made a visit to the excellent Natural History Museum. They had an amazing collection of skeletons and rocks.

Including this stuffed Dodo:

In another massive room, that we almost missed, was an enormous collection of STUFF! Including a heap of shrunken heads.

This guy was a particular favourite:

Gorgeous innit!