So had a few days back in Dublin before jetting off again. Had a really fun night out with the engineers.. It was great to be back with good friends… I quote Barry..

If you are coming to this meal hoping to see crazy antics from the Davey don’t bother. From talking to him briefly last Friday his mental condition is disappointingly stable.

Lovely ;) hehehe, no it was great to be out – also went round to Gordo & Gillians house. They have an awesome toilet… and the rest of the house is great too (or will be once Gordo finishes his impressive DIY). Note the name on the beer bottle.. Budweiser tried to sue (and lost) ‘cos they stole the lot from Budvar back in the day.

Also managed to catch up with Stella & Dermot (now married) and Ben who was back in the country for a week.

So yes, a lovely time with family and friends.. eating Weetabix (as opposed to Weetbix).. and yup – just good times. Would you all not just move over to NZ?

Helene recently bought a 1973 MG, called Rosie. Matt has a Seat (1999). Matts had to be towed away for a new alternator I think it was..

I did manage to get a nice drive in Rosie on the way home via Bunratty Castle.. I did feel a little like Ferris Bueller (my childhood (ok, adulthood too) hero)

Then off to Bunratty Castle – definitely worth a look if you’re in the area.

The odd black picture is off a Sheela Na Gig a Celtic fertility goddess (most likely). The small staircase was kinda cool – if the castle was attacked the children would go up those stairs which a man could not fit up.. and hope that help arrived in time!!. Also, things like all the staircases have a clockwise spiral so that right handed people attacking up the stairs would be hampered. Quite clever really.

So a great week all in all, group picture to follow when I get my hands on it.. not sure when that’ll happen again – not before little Vivian is running around the place one imagines :)

Off to the Aran Islands for a day. We were pretty lucky with the weather on the whole, bitta drizzle but not too bad.

Chris was loving his new Nokia N95..

Cycled off to Dun Aengus a Celtic fort situated at the edge of a cliff (one less place to attack from). Was well impressed by mum who hadn’t been on a bike in about 30 years.

One evening a friend of the family’s (Emma Glanville) took me out climbing to Ailladie .. this is a stunning little spot right on the sea. I’d climbed there quite a few times back in college days.., and it was really good to be back again. NZ is a younger more active (geologically speaking) country, and as such the rock quality is often not so good…

The highlight was probably climbing (well, seconding) Nut rocker, a nice little HVS up a really nice corner.. I was pretty (very) happy to get to the top of it as I’ve not been climbing much lately. Also managed to get mum and dad down to have a look – which was great (required a tiny bit of climbing..)

Co. Clare is on the West Coast of Ireland.. and a very scenic part of the country it is too.. Ludlow, one of Cromwell’s men, described Burren in this way:

“Not enough wood to hang a man, not enough water to drown him, and not enough earth to bury him”.

See why the Irish love the English? Charming folk. I mean really, all we want to do is to drink Guinness and have the craic right ;) Te be sure te be sure.

Ehem… anyway – so off to the Burren it was. The whole family was there – Mum and Dad, Chris (Brother) & Irene and their 4 kids – Orianna, Robin, Sophie & Oliver (twins). Then Liz (Sister) & Tim, and their three Fiona, Ciara and Vivian, Matt (Brother) and Helene and Me. 16 of us.

It is *lovely* to see ones nephews & nieces… but it’s not exactly a holiday! More like communal baby sitting!

Went to the Ailwee caves one day.. there is *so* much caving to be done in the burren – as it’s all limestone and riddled with caves. In fact… *if* I ever moved back to Ireland – I reckon I would probably try to live in Galway and get out to the Burren most weekends. There is lots and lots of fun to be had there.. They also have a bird show (Ori with the hawk).

Had a really excellent hike with Helene – definitely one of the highlights for me (4 hours of peace ;) hehe).. no, it was great weather and just wonderful to be out stretching the legs…

Castles all over the place, ish, and millions of kilometres of stone walls. Not sure why they built so many – clearing the land I guess – and boundries? There are also many different styles of walls (which I didn’t get pictures of).

Stopped off by the Cliffs of Moher (Cliffs of Insanity). It’s kinda sad but here also (like at the golden gate bridge – and probably lots of other places).. there is a message for people who might be thinking of taking a jump..

They also had a place where you could get your picture printed out – or emailed or something… I didn’t write the software honest ;)