The Adventures of Doug and Bec: Ireland for 12 days

We arrived in Northern Ireland, Belfast Airport, after a short flight from Paris on the 29th May... Bec's birthday, and much to her happiness we got to ride the Metro and the RER trains before the flight... quite the birthday! :P

We were met at the airport by Simon's parents, Jimmy and Carrie, who we are forever indebted to for their hospitality over the time we were in Ireland, and headed towards their home in Enniskillen which was about an hour and a half from Belfast. We arrived about 7pm and headed to the Horseshoe pub for dinner which culminated in Bec ordering the BBQ Pork Ribs from the 'Light and Tasty" section of the menu, and they ended up being the dinosaur ribs rather than pork ribs! We had never seen anything like it! And after a first pint of Guinness in the country we headed back to Jimmy and Carrie's place for a few evening beers before a much needed sleep. We were still coming off the end of the flu and were exhausted.

The first full day in Ireland was spent doing washing, playing with Josie (the hyperactive Jack Russell) and ended with Jimmy and I trying our luck at Pike fishing on the lake across from the house which Bec and Carrie walked through the nearby equestrian centre. Unfortunately the fish did not turn out for us, but we had an excellent trip due to the beers we had taken with us, the beautiful lake, swans and seeing Simon's Island where he used to camp as a kid!

Day two in Ireland and Jimmy and Carrie were on the first day of their week off work (of which they took 3 days off for us which we did not expect but added to them being the best hosts ever!) and we headed to the Marble Arch caves about an hour from Enniskillen. We took an hour and a half tour through he caves which included a boat ride on the subterranean creek, seeing many amazing rock formations and quite a few laughs at the school group which was doing the tour with us. Jimmy pointed out they were from the city because of their accents... but we couldn't tell the difference!

Day three we slept in.... then headed into town to do a bit of shopping, have a few beers, a few bets (none of which were successful) and the girls got their hair done. We got to the the Bush where Simon and Michelle had their wedding party which we both enjoyed. In the evening Bec and I cooked a roast chicken, bacon, mushroom and Camembert dinner for Jimmy and Carrie. We still could not get over to the fact that the sun didn't go down until about 11pm a night!

Day four was a Saturday and we headed into the Republic and visited a number of towns inducing Ballyshannon which had the Rory Gallagher music festival on at the time. We spent a good part of the day having a few pints in pubs and watching the music performers on the street playing some good rock music. The highlight of the day was when we arrived and saw a car parked in a carpark, surrounded by empty cans, with one person sleeping in the back, another in the front, and a third wrapped up in a sleeping bag on the roof of the car. We luckily got a good photo of this! In the evening we headed to Shampy's family's house for a few drinks before heading out, but had such a great time chatting to them and playing strange games which involved putting a piece of chocolate on your forehead and trying to get it in your mouth, that we didn't end up making it out and got home with Carrie and Jimmy at about 3:30 in the cold wet morning.

After a good sleep in we had a very lazy day around the house and had a beautiful Sunday roast with Jimmy, Carrie and Carrie's mother, and definitely did not drink any beer!

Day six we headed to Ardra and visited Nancy's bar before heading to Port Noo which it was beautiful but very cold! The beach looked excellent and we decided to go for a walk, but it got freezing as soon as the clouds enveloped the sun. We headed from here to Dunegal town which had a well restored castle which we did a tour of in the afternoon. The fireplace in particular was exceptionally well preserved and had very intricate carvings. We also visited a graveyard on the water which was a bit creepy at first, but a beautiful place. Some of the graves here indicated that they dated back about 700 years, but there were many more which looked older that you could no longer read.

On day seven we headed into the town centre to watch the Olympic Torch Relay in the rain. We waited for about an hour (some of which time we spend in the pub having coffee) before we was a young boy run past with the torch for about 10 seconds in the rain followed by numerous support vehicles.... Was a little bit of an anti-climax, but worth seeing. Not many people can say they have seen two torch relays... well not many Australian's anyway! At least this time I wasn't standing near the guy who tried to put it out with a fire extinguisher! (Maclean 2000)

On Day eight we had a fairly quiet day but Carrie managed to organise a horse ride for Bec and a local equestrian centre, while Jimmy and I tried our luck one last time out on the lake. This time, about 2 minutes after launching the boat, I managed to catch a small pike. This was however not a sign of things to come, as we spent perhaps two hours further on the lake without a bite!

Day nine Carrie and Jimmy were back at work and Bec and I decided to cook dinner and headed into town to get some ingredients for the homemade pizzas we were planning. We got drenched. There is not much more to say really! We walked from the shopping centre to Carrie's work in the rain and we felt soaked to the bones.

Day ten and we headed to Jimmy's parents for a visit while Carrie was at work. The place where they live was very close to the boarder and we were amazed to see how many buildings were empty and boarded up. Some of them were excellent old buildings, but it seemed like the area is in decline. We discovered where Jimmy's hospitality came from as we were given sandwiches, tea, biscuits, chocolate roll, cake and kit cats as well as an amazing slice of apple pie each! Unfortunately on the way home i started to feel a bit light headed, which continued into the evening, putting an end to our aspirations of heading out to the pub for the night. Luckily is seemed that others were not up for it that night either, so I didn't feel quite as bad!

Day eleven was our last full day in Ireland and we headed into town for an Indian buffet lunch which we had heard a lot about and it lived up to its name. We headed to one of the many pubs after this with Jimmy, Carrie, Shampy and Carrie's brother Jimmy for a few drinks before heading back out to Jimmy and Carrie's for a few more drinks while I cooked a roast salmon dish for dinner. We ended up not going out, but chatting away until midnight.

On day twelve we were very unhappy to leave Ireland as we had had such an amazing time! But we headed back to Belfast to catch a plane to Inverness in Scotland. It was sad to say goodbye to the country and Simon's family, but I'm sure we will make it back sometime!

Now a few random observations about Ireland that i couldn't fit in above anywhere really...

1. Some people you cannot understand their accents.... don't bother trying...
2. Alcohol is CHEAP! We bought 1 litre Magners Pear Cider bottles for 2 pound ($3) which would have been $10 back home
3. The country side is beautiful and they have so much livestock!
4. Meat is really cheap. Jimmy bought burger patties, chicken skewers and 4 great thick steaks for like $20
5. Raindeer are huge and like to eat trees... random I know...
6. Supermakets have everything and are 24 hours.. They were amazing. They had alcohol and a massive range of clothes!