Taking a Punt

It's no secret that we love London, but it's important to get out of the city every now and again and see the rest of beautiful England. So many Aussies-in-London use the city as a base for European excursions and don't actually see any of England's charms - not us though!

After all, what could be nicer than a lazy sunny Sunday in Cambridge with some friends? With Bron and Andy we headed into the countryside to explore this famous university town. After a scenic train ride, and a quiet pint with a roast for lunch (in the pub where the discoverers of DNA enjoyed the same), we wandered around town, enjoying the great weather and the relaxed-yet-academic air of the place. But we all had a not-particularly-secret agenda: To Punt On The Cam. And so we were drawn, as if by magnets, to the Silver Street bridge, a mecca for would-be punters and puntees alike.

The young lass spruiking for student-powered and -guided punt-tours implied that if we were to self-propel, it would be very difficult for us to get any further down the river than "a couple of bridges". That was a direct challenge to our (hitherto unknown) punting skills, and a challenge that could not be ignored.

Johnny took on driving duties first, which proved very challenging - getting the boat under control and under a narrow bridge while an endless stream of boats came back the other way! Annoyingly for a town with a stellar reputation in science and technology, the punt refused to obey the laws of physics - pushing on the starboard side of the boat would cause the boat's nose to swing starboard, not port as you would expect. This took a lot of getting used to, but together with strategic use of pole as rudder, we all got the hang of it in the end.


... as Bec demonstrates here!


Cruising along through beautiful scenery, past impressive buildings and under many bridges, we each took turns "working the pole" while the others relaxed. A true English experience we can definitely recommend.

A Tale of Two Weekends

It's amazing what a difference a week makes. One weekend you're eating bacon and egg sarnies and glugging cider in the middle of a field, the next you're savouring Best End of Lune Valley lamb with garlic purée and quaffing Côteaux du Languedoc 2003 in the middle of seven courses.

What are we on about?

Well, the first weekend was the V Festival - a two-day music festival held out in Essex. Yes, after swearing he'd never go to another festival after the mudfest that was Glastonbury 2007, Johnny was somehow convinced to try it again. Damn that Bec and her persuasive powers! But the tidy line-up (which included Lenny Kravitz, The Feeling, Muse, The Kaiser Chiefs and The Verve) was also a considerable factor working against his extreme dislike for camping in fields and chemical toilets. Not camping in chemical toilets, mind you. Although sometimes it can smell like you are... Thankfully, the weather was far superior to Glasto, although the atmosphere was definitely not as electric, with the whole shebang having a distinctly commercial feel.

Quite a contrast to our outing the following weekend, to Aubergine, one of London's finest restaurants (with a Michelin star to prove it). If you're not familiar with the Michelin star rating, it is frequently used in Europe as a measure of culinary excellence, although you might be fooled by the official definitions - 1 star is "a very good restaurant in its category", 2 is "excellent cooking, worth a detour" and 3 is "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey". Seeing as there are only eleven 2-star restaurants in the whole of the UK, it's almost certainly going to require a detour to try one! The food was, unsurprisingly, exquisite, as were the carefully-matched wines that accompanied our seven-course dégustation - the only bitter taste being the frankly horrific bill at the end of the evening. Ouch. Bec was blissfully unaware of this though, having been given the "non-payer's" menu at the start of the night - identical to Johnny's except for the strategic omission of the prices!

Here's a montage of our experiences. Which would you prefer?