General Chat

Evening Wattlers. Busy day today for both of us, catching up with back log of work that had piled up while we were away, but we both knew this would happen from previous trips O/seas. Carrying on from where i left off in my last post. Arriving back at Fort William we freshened up at our Guest house and went back into town for tea at 'The Hotel'. Chef's special spaghetti bolognese for me, with a dash of Worster sauce, and Barb had a chicken casserole. Back at the guest house we planned our next day's outing. Being our first trip to Scotland during there summer, i couldn't get over the amount of daylight hours. Daybreak was at approx 4:30 am and dusk was anywhere between 11:00pm and midnight, although i don't ever recall it getting dark, and one night i was still videoing outside at 11:30 pm and could still see quite clearly. After brekkie the next morning we headed off up the A82 back to Invergarry, but instead of turning off we stayed on the A82 heading for Inverness. In no time we reached Fort Augustus and drove along side Loch Ness through Invermoriston. We stopped for a break and admired the Loch, and was told that Loch Ness holds more water than all the rivers in the U.K put together.Its length is 34 miles and is approx 700 ft deep.As it was a reasonably warmish day, we took off our shoes and wadded in the Loch by the river bank, but at the same time kept an eye out for Nessy ( just in case )....:>))( Could just imagine what the Newspapers in Oz would say ) EXTRA,EXTRA: Nessy chokes to death on Ozzie tourist...lol After a cuppa we headed for Urquhart Castle, a further 15 miles on. We pulled into the car park along with two bus loads of tourists, all sitting up nice and straight, and bobbing along like corks floating in the ocean...:>))Barb reminded me not to make fun, as it will be us one day, when I'm to old to drive. Nothing wrong with guided tours, i guess, but its not my cup of tea.I prefer to go where the wind blows, and stop where i see something interesting. We headed for the entrance and sat down inside a small picture theatre to watch and listen about the story of Urquhart Castle, which was very interesting. After the short movie ended, the screen lifted and the curtains opened revealing the Castle outside ( very effective ) Guide books for 2 pounds 50p can be purchased. These give reconstruction drawings of how the castle would have looked when lived in. The Castle lies in ruins,and basically only the shell remains, as much was destroyed. From what we learnt and saw at the picture theatre, around the middle of the first millennium AD. St Columba travelled from Dalraida in Argyll on the West coast of Scotland, and converted Emchath, a Pictish nobleman living in Glen Urquhart sometime before 597. The Castle has seen numerous battles since then, and has changed hands between the English and various clans. By 1346 ownership of the castle passed from the Earls of Moray back to the Scottish Crown again, then throughout the end of the 1300's and well into the 1400's Castle Urquhart fell again and again to Clan MacDonald, Lords of the Isles only to be retaken again and again by the Crown. While we were there 4 fighter Jets flew very low up the Loch, and apparently use the area regularly for practice.The noise echoing through the Valley's was quite impressive from the engines of the Jets. We walked around the ruins for about an hr, then took off for Inverness.( a further 15 miles up the A82 ) We spent the rest of the day walking the streets taking happy shots and doing a bit of shopping at a market stall. We arrived back at Fort William at approx 7:00pm The next morning we headed back to Edinburgh, but took a different route and drove alongside Loch Linnhe A82 heading for Clencoe.From Clecoe to the Bridge of Orchy and onto Tyndrum the scenery was fantastic. We pulled in off the road many times along the way to take piccies, and stopped at a small cutting where a piper was standing. Tourist buses everywhere and a small market was in full swing selling gifts. People were jostling to have a Photo taken with him, and when Barb's turn came i turned on the Video camera. He put a small hat on Barbs head,cocked his leg up into Barbs left hand, and asked what song she would like him to play. ( Scotland the brave..she said )He belted out the song, and after, finished with a well known Ozzie tune on the pipes ( Waltzing Matilda )which i videoed. Barb asked him his name, and he replied...Sandy. All Scots are named Sandy....he said.lol Well ....some are named MacDonald, also he replied. MacDonald??...... Well he said......if ya poot ya wee hand up a Scotsmans kilt.....and if it feels heavier than a quarter pounda...he's a MacDonald...psml ( was killin meself laughin ) along with everyone else Barb's face was like a red traffic light...:>))) Tony Oz...:>))

Tony Did you get a pickle of Barb with the piper in his kilt.. Loved the tale.. We drove along the Loch Ness as well but didnt stop at the castle as it was so foggy you couldnt see anything..We stopped for lunch I know not where as we couldnt see more than 12 feet in front of us. We seemed to be up a mountain but when I saw a seagul sitting outside the car door I was beginning to wander.. should have stayed in bed that day... Hope you are not working to hard.. have another tablet.. Love Maryxxx

Evening Wattlers Just a quickie Hi to Trifley and hugs and best wishes for upcoming results, remember positive thoughts always, thinking of you (((((:))))) Mary hope your not stressing too much with all that packing, just take it day by day and you'll have it mastered and finished in no time Hi there Tony and Barb, welcome back to the real world, so glad you had a swell time, sure goes quick when your having fun doesnt it, your next holiday will be on you in no time, only this ones a little closer to home, so glad you had the time to visit my ancestors castle, (uRQUHART), interesting isnt it, whats left of it Pam, am definitley not going to go without tablets again, headaches were driving me blasted crazy, so have learnt my lesson, AGAIN, only this time for sure Hi to rest of you wattling peeps, Gwenda, Suzyq, Heather, Louisa, Lyn, Vonny,Sandra,Cat,Joy,Laurie,Lara,Jude2,Jude3,Joodles,Lew, Anna, Honey Rum, and Hi to anyone that I have missed Shaz XXX

Mary. We had great weather, for our whole trip, except for the rain at Stirling Castle ( Lucky i guess ) We did plan for the U.K summer, as we were told that the Highlands can get very misty and foggy, and it would have been a shame to travel so far and not get a good view of it all. There was a lot of cloud cover, but mainly at the tops of the Mountains. I certainly did get a piccie of Barb with the piper, and will put it on MSN Photo board as soon as i download from the lap top all we took. Think there were over 700 Photos all up, so a lot of sorting to do. Shazz. Yea'h..not much left of Urquhart Castle now mate.Lucky to have Urquhart ancestors though. If i would have known i could have lay claim for you.....i do carry a recent miners licence, and could have pegged out the place...hee hee. Your right, time does fly when your having fun, and I'm getting older by the minute, so need as much fun as i can get, before me kids read me 'Will'....:>)) Although, all the stuff we bring home from these trips for them are being deducted in $$$$ from the deed. Tony tight bum....:>)))

This site is playing up something terrible tonight. I put a post on and it appeared twice. Then I tried to take one off and they both disappeared.....strange. Anyway...sleep well everyone. I'll see you tomorrow. love Trifley X

Morning Wattlers, We're back on page 8 already - can't have that Minus 5 here in the Nation's Capital so lovely day ahead once the sun gets up and moving - bit like us I spose. Son & friend are already up and out at 7.30 - pity he couldn't be that eager for work - lol Lots of h*******k to get thru today so better get on Catch y'all thru the day Have a great one - hope Jood enjoys her outing Gwenda

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~to Gwenda~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

good morning , was thinking the same thing, but a bit slow. not so cold here today. the sun is out but everybody else is still quiet. doggies have gone out and come back in. big yawn.....think its time i did some h*******k. love yvette

Morning Wattlers. You beat us, Gwenda. Only -4.9 here this morning, lol. O Queen of the Nile, did you sleep well? You've got to get yourself right, as there are many Meets to attend and your presence is required O Great One. Printed out your message for Colleen, Laurie, so it's off to High Valley Cheeses this afternoon. They do a pesto fetta and a chillie fetta to die for, mmmmmmm. Might just have to buy a couple of jars! Wonder how Jood's going in Wollombi? Hope she stops at the Wollombi Pub. What she needs is a flagon of Dr Jurd's Jungle Juice. That'll fix whatever's ailing her. Mind you, it'll also take paint off, lol Loved the stories, Tony, particularly the 'MacDonald''s one. Would have loved to have seen Barb's face! Well, I'm off to get some breakfast. Eggs Benedict, me thinks, Yum! Lew Lew xxx

Morning Wattlers typical winters day in Melb ,damp & chilly. Perfect for the footy. Im off to watch Geelong beat Carlton. Love the footy in the cold, just as long as i have my thermos of soup and all the winter woolies. To all those who have sent me the questionaire I haven't had time to do it again yet. Lew was first so I did that one. Hope everyone is OK especially our Queen, worrying wont help so be positive. With all the good vibes coming from the wattlers you cant go wrong Jude2

General Announcement! From hence forth it has been declared that the Judes will be addressed as follows: Jude 1 - Joodles Jude 2 - Flakey and Jude 3 - Jarra This is just so we can keep them in line and to stop getting them muddled up. Now, we have to sort out the Susans, lol Lew Lew xxx

Morning Wattlers now have a new name courtesy of Lew Lew - she thought it might make it easier to sort out us Judes. Tony pmsl at sandy the piper. Glad to see nessie didn't get you. keep the travelogue going. Gwenda - Ken and I flying up for the 12 of august as well as Tassie, we think we will all meet up at Syd. airport. We fly out Sunday night 9.15pm. So any suggestions at what we should see/do ? well pop back later have to do some work before we go home. Jarra (jude 3)

lucky we don't have top sort out the fanny's (tut tut)

Morning Wattlers Lew clever Idea, now I just have to remember that when Im talking to them on msn and to know which one I am actually talking to, or sending emails to. I know yesterday it was Jarra, is it cause she likes coffee???? As for the sue's/susan's welll I've already got mine as Tassie or Devly as some call. and Susan in Qld is SuziQ it is just our new Susan which could prob just stay Susan unless you can thing of somethig else? Tony keep the accounts of your holiday coming and, I forgot to say not a prob for keeping your footy thread updated, sorry it wasnt 2 good results lol. Well I wont be on here tonight as we have visitors and have a function to go to tonight, so if there is any 'Wattle' parties going on I will be having a drink with you, just not on here lol. I will also keep an eye on the time and have a moment to think of June at 9.00pm tonight, to co-incide with the meet in England for their 1 minutes silence in rememberance of June. Ok hello and waves to all, too many to mention, catch you after. 35 Sleeps, Cheers Sue

Hi Devily actually my favourite beverage is Jarrah hot chocolate - yum so its quite an appropriate name catch you later jarra

Hi Jarra I wondered if it had something to do with a drink, I did say coffee though lol. Trifley in you email you sent back to me you mentioned you lived in Laverton, Vic. Well I cant remember, but I think I may have just put Melb in for one of the places along with Wangaratta in Vic as I have lived in a couple of places in Melb for a short amount of time, one of those places was Laverton in '91, I also spent time in Newport, Altona and Hastings. Cheers Sue

Hi Devily. Jarra is for Jude & Yarra. So you lived in Wangaratta. My Aunty lives in Bright and when I was little we lived for about 6 months in Wandiligong, so I know the region pretty well.

Well it is official . . . We are booked to go to Jakarta on Wednesday, leave there the next Wednesday night and arrive in Sydney on the Thursday morning. Still not sorted what we are doing on the weekend - but we are going somewhere other than Jakarta !! lol . . . We call it Jakarta time - I think it is because of the amount of traffic on the roads over there - you cant be sure you are going to be where you want to at a certain time so you just go with the flow . . . NOW IT ALL MAKES SENSE !!! The penny has dropped! Thats what changed me . . . Jakarta. (((((Trfley))))) Tony, lovin' your trip - Maccers will never be the same !! I got knocked on my backside yesterday by a car at Hurstville - I was crossing with the little green man, when an Asian woman did a left hand turn into me! Thank heavens I have plenty of padding on my rear end, and also for the man who yelled out WATCH OUT! - she just clipped me. I was sitting there laughing (I think it was a shock laugh) and the stupid woman just sped off. A witness got the three letters of her rego - and they made me stay there until the police arrived and I had a check over at the hospital. But you wouldn't believe what my first words were when asked if I was OK, 'Good thing I didn't have a bag of apples' . . . how stupid is that. Worstest ever is the scratches on my new shoes! Can I sue for endangering my life if I have to own up how much I paid for the shoes Lew ???? We have been taping 'Le Tour deFrance' - just watched last nights stage, and we decided a must do is to hire a car and travel the route on day, such beautiful countryside, and the little villages and the castles and old walls . . . . magnificent! (we have Ozzies in 2nd and 3rd place at the moment). Ray has gone off to work for a few hours, has to go away for the day next Tuesday, so with leaving on Wednesday he will only have one day in the office - big catchup! I wont see much of him this weekend. He has a box at the footy tomorrow to entertain clients, I declined the offsider offer - rather watch a dripping tap . . Lew, have a great day being surrogate aunty, and I can't thank you enough for helping out with the shopping. All babies are special, but this one is really, really, really extra extra special! The mummy, more than most knows about suffering and loss. OK Jarra . . . what have you seen and done in Sydney before ??? - what would you like to see and do ??? . . . lets start there! We could take you for a sightseeing tour on Sunday morning before Sue goes back to Tassie if that fits, Ray is a good guide - has plenty of experience! Breaky down on the beach and go from there . . . let me know what you think ??? Lew, the cheese sounds lovely - pity the Honey farm don't still make theirs, because that was right up there! I think Col and I ate a jar full over two days. I haven't found anything to match it - now marinate my own fetta - but its not a patch on the one I had in Mudgee. I'll be messing with photos and programs all weekend, my monitor wouldn't work on old puter - so Ray got one from office for me and it has to go back on Monday . . . I thought I had cleared everything onto disc - but several of the discs are coming up empty so have to go back and do it again. Have a good weekend everyone, cheers luv Laurie

OMG not the new shoes, Laurie! Find out who the B***H is and we'll sue the pants off her! Imagine just speeding off, what a moron! Hope the Police track her down and take her to court. That God you're okay 'cause it could have been a hell of a lot worse. So what's with the apples? lol Yes, don't worry about Colleen, I'll do my best Aunty impression and spoil her rotten. Bet you're going to have fun OS! More shopping is required to replace damaged shoes, lol. Hey, does anyone own a Palm Pilot. I'm thinking of getting one so I can organise my address book, birthdays, etc. Feedback please. Lew Lew xxx

Lew, Ray has a Toshiba e740 - got it to collect his emails on the road, but now the new u beaut phone does all that for him - I've only ever used it for the MP3 player. It has a video player and web browers in it. Its only tiny, and its about 3 years old. I know he has it connected up by wireless to the companys puters but other than that not much else. I have no flammin' idea where the apples came into it Lew, could have been that the handbag and the shopping bag were a fair distance from me, but nothing had come out of the bags . . . so maybe I was thinking thank goodness for there not being apples in there to run away on me! Oh and it wasn't just an ordinary car - it took a silver merc to get me on my bum! luv Laurie