August 02, 2011

Last week was spent frolicking around Loch Rannoch in the strangely warm Scottish summer. Genuinely the warmest I’ve been since returning from Oz –I was a little confused about how that managed to occur in Scotland though.

We stayed in the gamekeepers lodge

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We had our own gardens for lounging, eating and playing cricket in and were just 30 seconds from the loch.

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It was so beautiful with the loch and the surrounding mountains and woods. We spent our days walking and chilling out at the loch. The dogs were loving it. And Ryan was loving having dogs.

We took a trip to Fort William –had a yummy pub lunch and walked around the town. We saw the loch

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And what once was the old fort

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We even got to go to the Highland Wildlife Park –somewhere I have been wanting to go ever since Mercedes the polar bear left Edinburgh Zoo. Sadly she has died since but we did get to see the other polar bear, and wolves, red squirrels, tigers and snow monkeys!

Mr Polar Bear

 

After being away for so long it was nice to just spend some time altogether.

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This family photo was taken just before leaving. Can you believe that this was actually the worst weather we had? We were so lucky!

After our week at Loch Rannoch my parents headed home with the dogs while me, Ryan, Laurie and Tash went to Edinburgh to stay in the nicest apartment.

We headed up Arthur’s Seat pretty much as soon as we got there. Unfortunately the others didn’t realise quite how big it was and how many steps there were…At least you get a lovely view from the top.

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Some kids had spelt their names out on the grass in rocks. When we were down there it was difficult to figure out what they’d been doing but once you get to the top you could see it all. Such a nice idea.

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Proof that we made it!

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I’m already looking a little pink in this picture –I finished the day bright red! After all the time I’ve spent in Australia you would think I wouldn’t burn in Scotland….

Once we headed down we stopped off at Chocolatte the most amazing chocolate shop. If you are ever in Edinburgh you definitely need to go there. The chocolate fudge biscuit tray bakes are AMAZING.

We then had a yummy lunch in Greyfriar’s Pub before having a peek at the newly opened museum. We walked up to the castle then back down the royal mile. After much deliberation we booked onto ‘The Double Dead’ ghost tour for the evening. I was not keen –I had already been on 2 ghost tours in the Edinburgh vaults and really have never been so scared. This one actually turned out to be pretty tame compared to the others. I was only nearly brought to tears once. Apparently in the graveyard we went in over 400 people have not only experienced the ghost but been knocked out by it during tours. Luckily I didn’t experience anything and managed to escape intact and ready for cocktails.

The next day was spent shopping and then going to Camera Obscura which was full of weird and freaky things to trick your eyes with. My favourite was the mirror maze and the computer that can turn your face into a mans/apes/old/baby. Tash and Ryan seemed to think that the male version of me actually looked like Laurie –which is weird as I never thought we looked at all alike. At the top of the building they have a pinhole camera where you can spy on the people around Edinburgh. It’s strange to think that I have probably been spied on walking past there before too.

We finished the day getting an all you can eat Chinese in the omnicentre and then had to head home on the Sunday.

I absolutely loved being back in Edinburgh. I am so excited to live there again-although not so much the having to go back to uni part. It is still my favourite city.

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