Standby For Action

So I spent my last few days in Ireland chilling with my family. I was originally meant to head home but decided to stay on because my aunt Brigid, who normally lives in Surrey/Manchester came up to visit. I knew Aunt Brigid from when she came over to NZ a good number of years ago. When you meet sisters separately you can really see the similarities. I can see parts of Theresa in Brigid when she's looking after Gran but then can see Francis in her when she's on the phone to friends or talking about tv :D. But of course she's her own person and the best thing about Aunt Brigid is she's really chilled out. Not that I gave her or any of my other relatives any reason to get annoyed but I think Brigid is quite patient. Haha, then my dad might say otherwise, i'm not sure.

You know, to be honest, I always find talking about people really awkward. Especially when there's a possibility that they will be reading it. :P The point is that all of my family, mum's side and dad's side are really cool. I get along well with everybody.

So my Aunt Brigid took me to some of the smaller towns nearby. Actually it was probably the most picturesque areas of Ireland. Ballintoy was so so nice. It was stormy as hell but it made for some great pics, including my favourite picture I took in Ireland here:

She also took me to one of the sites of Ireland i've always wanted to see. The smalled church in Ireland. We couldn't go inside but looking inside the window you could probably reach out and touch each wall. Kind of pointless but I like stuff like that.

So yeah, that was my trip through Ireland. I got back to Largs and had to get ready for my first days at work in Edinburgh and then a trip to Belgium. Yep, I work two days then go on two weeks holiday. Awesome :)

Aunt's and Rope Bridges

So the next day I spent with my Aunties. My Uncle headed off to Dover for a school reunion, the school he taught at not the one he attended. I haven't talked about my Aunties yet. They are awesome. There's my Aunt Theresa who looks after my gran a lot. She works in Belfast but comes up to Ballycastle everyday (2hours drive). She's really nice and chilled out. From what I gather I think she probably looked after my dad a bit :P. Then there's my youngest Aunt Francis who is an utter shit. :P Haha, just put that in case she reads this. Nah she's alright. Haha, nah actually she's really cool. I don't know how old she is really but she acts like she is 12, but not in a creepy weirdo way just that she's full of energy and still teases my gran like she did when she was a kid. She is also very very astute (but I wont get into that)

So yeah, I spent the day with both Aunts and my Gran. Oh, for completion I have a few other Aunts. There's my Aunt Brigid who I will mention later, my Aunt Marion who I met briefly but will probably meet properly when I go back after xmas. There's also Aunt Rosemary, who I haven't met yet.

Theresa, Francis, Gran and I went for a drive up to Carrick-a-rede rope bridge. It's apparently pulled across to the other side via helicopter and is taken down during Winter. At one point people lived on the little island but no one lives there now.

Was pretty scary but having bungie jumped and all that It wasn't a too big a deal to cross it.

Surprisingly my Gran walked the whole way to the bridge. She's like 88 and was putting the panting Americans to shame. Haha, imagine being overtaken by a woman twice your age. My Dad says she never crosses the bridge though, and my Aunt Theresa kept her company but i'm not sure if it was a completely selfless task she was prob scared herself :P

The next day, my Aunt Theresa went back to work and Francis, Gran and I went for a walk in Cushendun. Big props to Francis for finding this nunnery that you get to through a cave. I didn't believe it existed, neither did Gran but she proved us wrong.

Drunk ass Giant finish your damn work!

Okay, so it's been a while since i've blogged here but lets not dwell on that (especially considering it's going to happen a lot :D)

So where was I? Oh yeah, after having been around Rathlin Is and meeting my gran my Uncle Patrick was nice enough to take me to the Giants Causeway. It's about 30 mins away from Ballycastle and is totally badass.

It was a fantastic day for a walk even if it was a bit windy. We went along the cliff top first then made our way down to the Organ.

Then the main causeway area. Apparently the story behind them is that a Giant wanted to build a pathway acrross to Scotland to start a fight with a giant over there. Well, he was Irish so he must have stopped for a drink or something and got mad boozed because he never finished it.

Turns out my Uncle is a bit of Geology nerd (hehe, he's cool though). The more boring explanation is that it was caused by the sudden cooling of lava. As it cooled equally on all sides it constricted and formed the 4,5,6 sided shapes. As you can see they are quite a sight.

Someone once said that the Causeway is worth seeing but not worth going to. I don't know what he meant because the scenery was really nice.

Oh yeah, on the way back a huge murder of crows were going ape. My Uncle says that it's a bad omen, and that something big was going to happen... weather wise anyway :P