Monday 22 April: Spain, SW4 & our sweet city life!
Out official London address is now 95 North St, Clapham Common, London SW4 0HF! We moved in two stages, firstly from Colchester to Scott’s apartment in London on Thursday 4th April, then just down the road a bit from Vauxhall to Clapham on the Friday. I honestly have never seen two people more overloaded with bags before!! Hopefully not a sign of a huge struggle to fly home… I’m reassuring myself knowing that right now we have duvets, pillows, plates & rugby gear to shift – all of which will be well and truly ditched before we hit Heathrow for the last time.
Our first weekend in the new flat was very low key – Ben had rugby & I was unpacking and writing essays. So while the other flatties (Tracey Cooney from Alexandra, Mum /Gillian – you might know the name as her parents own the Cooney’s clothing shop in town; and Cam & Kate we living in Wanaka before moving to the UK so there are a lot of mutual friends!!) partied, I was on cups of tea! We spent Sunday repacking summer clothes and passports and were up first thing on Monday 8th April for our TRIP TO SPAIN!!
Spain was a true holiday – sun, swimming, Mediterranean, drinking, over-eating, relaxing! I bet you’re all close to closing this tab down now – but bear in mind we’ve been doing back to back winters so the extra sun was amaaaaazing!!!! I’ll give a brief low down on what we got up to each day.
Monday 8th – Our flight with Harriet and Macca from Stansted went fast, landed in Alicante to afternoon sunshine and a warm breeze! Picked up a rental car & I had my first experience of driving on the left side of the car, gear box changes with my right hand, and sticking to the right side of the road! It wasn’t too bad but it was definitely a joint effort of instructions on the motorway with which exit to take, the toll machines and at round-abouts (the most confusing aspect of driving on the other side of the road!!!). The drive to Moraira takes just over an hour, but after 30 minutes the boys were already asking to pick up beers so their holiday really did start from the get-go! We eventually arrived at Lisa’s villa in the late afternoon – luckily she was so cruisy and lovely and took the boys’ entrance rolling out of the car with their empty bottles really well! She cooked us fajitas for dinner (best welcome ever!) and got us out of the house afterwards with instructions to go to the local English bar on the waterfront.
It reminded me of bars in Fiji – we’re talking an older demographic of well off Englishmen and their wives sipping on whisky & G&Ts! We took the place by storm anway, ordered cocktails (I think the staff enjoyed making something different) then sat outside listening to the band for an hour or so.
Tuesday 9th – Chilled out in Moraira at the villa! Ben & I went for a run to the marina in the morning, running along a coastal track and looking out to sea you could see the bottom it was such a clear blue! The run didn’t last long – we were constantly stopping to take photos and take in the scenery!
Attempt at fishing in the morning! The boys gave it their best shot from the rocky coastline, even managing to get a hold of squid offcuts from the local supermarket for bait and having to improvise with stones for weights. Unfortunately they didn’t get a single bite! But Ben taught me how to cast the line properly!
P.S. notice that the boys have beers... constant feature of the trip!
After dinner this evening we drove to the other side of Moraira and found a track up the hill to a fort lookout – originally built to keep an eye out for pirates on the Mediterranean!! It was the most beautiful sunset, such bright reds and oranges lighting up our panoramic view! Here’s a video from the top!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxlLXEve6Vo&feature=youtu.be
Wednesday 10th – Day trip to Valencia, about 90 minutes up the coast. I didn’t even realise Valencia is in Spain! We made it via motorways and survived the crazy town streets – I even negotiated a MEGA huge roundabout that had me thinking it must have been modelled on the Arc de Triomphe one in Paris! I was very keen to ditch the car in a parking building and explore by foot! We parked in the old town and started to wander… taking in the old buildings and heading in the direction of the beach for lunch.
Well. This was no London. Valencia was HUGE and the scale of our map was misleadingly small so the walk to the beach rapidly turned into a 90minute walking marathon!!! Luckily it was sunny so we were all glad to be tanning at the same time, seeing some pretty incredible buildings and the New Zealand yachting buildings (see photos) and burning off the calories that we would eat at lunch in advance!
Once we made it, the beach was huge. We wandered alongside the line of restaurants on a path lined with palm trees looking out over the masses of white sand all the way to the water. I think our lunch here was the highlight of Valencia, lasting about two hours at a nice restaurant we had sangria and coronas, mussels, a huge paella and dessert!!
Opting for the tram system to get back into town, we got back into the old town & drove back to Valencia in the evening. Link here to a video of coming through Teulada down the hill towards Moraira (this is what the girls in the front were having to put up with pretty much every car ride – boys in the back with their beers and beats cranking!!!).... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJWuBPhSPrg&feature=youtu.be
Lisa put on chips/pizza/snacks and a movie for us (just like having a Mum around!) and later in the evening we (after quite a few drinks) walked into town. We got to a nice cocktail bar in time to watch the end of the Barcelona match (this bar was full with people watching!) and have one last cocktail for the night before walking home again.
Thursday 11th – Today we went on a mini trip to a town 20 minutes inland… but the town was a bit of a let-down (I think the entire week has been a public holiday or something so it’s been very quiet everywhere!!) and we only got a photo by the church/water fountain before heading back to Moraira!
For dinner we went with Lisa to the local Chinese restaurant and incredibly managed to order a BUFFET for 9EUROS each – they had a semi-secret option on the menu which included as many plates as you want and drinks too!! I think they hadn’t anticipated the appetite of these boys. We literally ordered the biggest feast in the world AND MANAGED TO FINISH IT! Holyyyyy it was delicious!
Tonight…. Well. Boys night. And I mean WOW. I think Macca and Ben were the only two people in all of Moraira who were down to party! By midnight, Harriet, Lisa & I had all gone to bed but there was no way we’d be sleeping with the repetitive “TIL THE BREAK OF DAWWWWN!!!” being chanted at the top of their lungs!! The beats were CRANKING (I’m talking Bon Jovi, Justin Beiber, Flo Rida) & the boys managed to finish every drop of alcohol in the house. Which meant by 1am they were out on the balcony pretending to be performing to huge festival crowds – “How you doin’ Moraira!!?!” with rehearsed dance moves & Uno bricks for microphones!
Luckily they didn’t find the straws because we were later informed they wanted to add stage mics to their outfits!! It was hilarious, I just hope the video Lisa took will eventually end up on facebook!!
Friday 12th – It was a slow morning for the boys! I went for an early run up the hill above Moraira for an awesome view of the town. I passed the other three on my way back home with the boys attempting to sweat out some of the alcohol! Later in the morning we headed to the local markets for some fresh fruit before having lunch in town.
Spent an hour or two on the beach this afternoon which included ice-creams (they’d rival Rob Roys in Dunedin!!) and an intense volleyball session. The wind didn’t put the boys off, and Harriet and I were dragged into a match that seemed to go on forrrrrever! The competition stakes lifted with huge dives for the ball – the beach definitely came home with us in our clothing and hair tonight!
When the wind got up we relocated to the villa pool (which was nicely warmed up now!) & spent the afternoon relaxing! Lisa made tapas for dinner/sangria/tequila for dinner to get us well in the mood for a big night of partying!
She even shouted us a taxi into town to make sure that we all made it this time!! (The neighbours may have complained about the party going on last night… little did they know it was a party for two haha). We made bets, played boys v. girls pool (surprisingly evenly matched!) and the boys had even more tequila shots…
Spending the next hour or so at an Irish bar (even convinced them to turn up their music for us & sponsor us with bar snacks) we eventually ended up at a kebab place for a late night feed!!
Saturday 13th – We relaxed by the pool all day, nibbling on fresh fruit & platters.
In the late afternoon we said goodbye to the villa and dropped Harriet and Macca back at Alicante airport. Ben & I headed north to Benidorm for two nights… and holyyy this place was something else. Arriving on a Saturday night didn’t help! Think Honalulu main streets (so busy even in the middle of the night) but TACKY as hell and full of RETIREES wanting to party!! This was insane. There were so many burnt bodies and the streets were swarming, shops were all still open but none had anything you’d want to buy! We found our hotel (using Lisa’s SatNav – she’d let us borrow it for the trip to Benidorm!), and after checking in we braved the crowds for some dinner. Found a tapas bar but didn’t stay long… the noise & bustling alleyways were all a bit much to handle after such a long day!
Sunday 14th – relaxing morning, I popped out early to grab some breakfast (fruit smoothies and croissants, but not much was open!) and experienced a totally different side of Benidorm – it was almost silent in the aftermath of a Saturday night! Wanting to escape the city for the day we drove down the coast out of Benidorm. Apparently Spain likes to shut down on Sundays so we were caught off-guard with no supermarkets being open at all & had to rethink our picnic plans. Ended up having lunch at a restaurant off the coastal highway looking out over the sea, choosing their set menu & ending up with some of the best food I’ve eaten since being in England I think!!! We had baguettes and tikki masala chicken salads, then salmon mains and banoffee desserts!! In the afternoon we drove down to a tiny coastal town, parked the car and found our own spot on the cliffs to sunbathe at.
The rocks looked too much like scorpion landscape according to Ben so we relocated to the sands of a nice sheltered beach and relaxed for the afternoon, dozing in the sun!
Monday 15th – Our last day in Spain! Out flight didn’t leave until late tonight so we spent the day in Benidorm. We each went for a run, checked out of the hotel & headed down to the beach. This was hilarious, with Benidorm being a hotspot for retirees we were surrounded by A LOT of saggy boobs and wrinkly men!!!!! Ben could hardly handle it, it made me laugh hearing his reactions to how gross it all was!! We found a spot of shade and ate lunch and gave tanning our best shot for an hour.
Went for a brief walk up the hill for a view of both sides of Benidorm... here's the sea view!>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ9qot-7Jac&feature=youtu.be
The sun quickly got a bit hot for us to handle in the afternoon, so we made the call to head to the rental car (had figured out where to park to get free parking in town here!!!) and drove to Alicante airport. It was so sad having to leave the sun here! The lifestyle seemed incredible and you can easily see why so many English families have holiday homes here. We preferred quiet Moraira to Benidorm, but there were high points of both and it was an awesome trip!!
Tuesday was a quiet day with travelling back home from Spain taking us well into Monday night. For Tuesday and Wednesday I was back on essay writing. On Wednesday we did make the effort to head to central London for Maggie Thatcher’s funeral procession (thought it would be a cool thing to see, given it was quite a significant event for England!) She left Westminster Abbey at 10am, so we thought arriving at the Strand well along the river by 10.10am would give us at least ten minutes to negotiate the crowds and get a good view of the street. Not quite. The policeman on the street infront of us informed us that we’d missed her by about 3 minutes! The hurse literally must have been speeding through town! Although at a guess they probably raced her through to avoid protesting viewers and minimise the risk of big crowds in the streets with the Boston bombing on Monday fresh in everybody’s minds.
Thursday morning was entirely spent revising & preparing for my Ancient History class that afternoon! Teaching at Rook’s Heath: Alexander the Great... My first class went really well! All the students were very polite, and always asked questions addressing me as Miss or Miss Horsburgh. Hopefully I will be able to keep them really interested in the subject, but they seemed to be really attentive throughout the class, taking notes and listening to the exerts I read from their historical sources! Next week (now that I know I can successfully find the classroom and use their smartboard to teach with) I’ll try to incorporate some more visual elements like BBC doco videos and images online.
Friday – Through the Kiwis in London site Ben saw that Otago Boys High School had a team playing against the London Wasps in Acton today. We decided to go and watch in the afternoon, arriving in time for the second half. It was SO refreshing hearing such strong Kiwi accents! There were quite a few Mums and teachers on the trip who I chatted to while Ben caught up with one of the teachers. At the end of their game Ben was roped into giving a speech to the team!!!!! About his experience coming over to the UK to play rugby etc. Pic here!>>
Saturday – Ben to Hove early, I studied all day & trained down in the afternoon. We had the player’s dinner tonight and prize-giving with today being the boys’ last game of the season. It was a huge night and heaps of fun!! I think photos will sum it up better than words! >>check out the separate photo upload.
