Tennis, tennis, tennis!

Last summer, it seemed like all I did for a couple of weeks was watch tennis! Jodie and I went for our now traditional day at Wimbledon and before that, we made a couple of visits to the Queen's Club tournament (the lead up to Wimbledon).

Jodie and I managed to win semi-finals tickets in the ballot for the Queen's Club tournament and had a fantastic day - even though play was delayed for a couple of hours due to rain. We even caught a glimpse of the RAF flypast for the Queen's Birthday.

Next was Wimbledon! Jodie and I joined the queue for ground passes early, and managed to get good seats on Court 6 - where Aussies Samantha Stosur and Wayne Arthurs played. The Arthurs match turned into a 5-set marathon, with Arthurs winning after initially being 2 sets down.

In related tennis news (and in an effort to make people insanely jealous), Alun, Jodie and I have managed to get tickets to finals day of the Queen's Club tournament for 2008! I can't wait!

You can see all of the tennis photos here -

• Queen's Club
• Queen's Club: Semi Finals Day
• Wimbledon: The Championships

Day tripping

In May/June we took a couple of day trips out of London.

First up was a day of bike riding in New Forest with Jodie and Dale. New Forest is an old-growth forest in the south of England, and it has quite a few cycling tracks to choose from.

We chose a circuit that was about 18km long and conveniently had a pub at the halfway mark! But after a delicious and filling lunch it took some convincing to get me back onto the bike! (Even more than it took to get me on in the first place!)

Next up we borrowed Jodie's car and headed to Brighton with Nick, Vic and their friend Ian.

While in Brighton we stopped in at ShakeAway for a refreshing milkshake - I had an After Eight milkshake (for the Aussies, After Eight = After Dinner Mint) which was delicious!

Photos, as always, are on Flickr!

• Cycling in New Forest
• Brighton

The Cinque Terre

The first long weekend in May, we headed back to Italy with Esther and Morgan for a few days in the Cinque Terre (in English, the Five Lands). These five towns are built along and against a cliff face in western central Italy.

As well as exploring the towns of the Cinque Terre, we also took a day trip to the town of Portovenere (with it's impressive fortress) and spent an afternoon in Pisa (always fun) before our flight back to London.

The towns of the Cinque Terre are all built on hills and cliffs overlooking the sea. There are walking/hiking paths between all of the towns, and ferry services which allow for breathtaking views from the water.

We had a great weekend with some much needed sun and as always in Italy, great food. A culinary highlight was the batti-batti - a small, bug-like crustacean.

Photos are here.

This time last year...

What were you doing this time last year?

Well, Alun and I were lucky enough to spend 10 days in Croatia last Easter and we've now uploaded the photos to prove it!

We started with a whirlwind 24 hours in Zagreb, before catching a bus to the amazing Plitvice Lakes National Park (http://www.np-plitvicka-jezera.hr/). The national park is absolutely gorgeous - picture perfect, with the most beautiful turquoise coloured lakes. If anyone is heading to Croatia, we can't recommend this place enough!

After Plitvice, it was on to Zadar and Split before heading to the islands of Hvar and Korcula. The islands were so beautiful, and after a long winter provided us with some desperately needed sun!

Finally, we headed to Dubrovnik. Signs leading into the Old City show which buildings were destroyed or damaged by bombs during the Croatian War of Independence - a sobering sight.

We were able to see a huge amount in the short time we were in Croatia, and the experience far exceeded our expectations. We hope that we can return someday soon.

You can see the photos from our Croatian adventure here.