Cambridge was a beautiful city with beautiful sights to see, whether summer or winter. So maybe I won’t tell about what we will miss, but just show you instead.

We enjoyed our lifestyle in Cambridge. We had a lovely terraced house there, in a good community, with great friends and interesting work. We haven’t put photos of all our friends here, but if you peruse our pubs posts, you’ll see them all there! You guys know who you are!

Our last weekend in Cambridge. Mostly made up of packing things, selling things, giving away things to charity stores and cleaning our house. One precious thing we packed was our set of fridge magnets. For every country we visited, we bought a fridge magnet. Holland, The Vatican, Monaco, France, Germany, Turkey, Scotland, Austria, Luxembourg, England, Spain, Wales, Belgium, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic and some miscellaneous like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, California and Texas (In the US, we’ll do one per state). These are all in storage now, but were great fun to collect. We’ll probably keep up the habit for future holidays too.

Our last weekend was busy, but we did make sure to have some down time. This is a snap at our favourite cafe in Cambridge, Black Cat Cafe, owned and run by a New Zealand woman, Nancy, and her daughter Tess. We went there every weekend during our 4 years, without fail, for the delicious coffees, freshly baked muffins and yum eggs benedict. It was great to go twice in our last weekend while we were sorting things out.

Once everything was clean and packed with a great amount of help from our friends Richard and Sam, we made our last train trip down to London. We were staying there one night before flying out to NZ on Monday morning.

Wonderfully, we got to catchup with these amazing people before we left. Our London CompSci Crew!

We had an amazing 4 years in Cambridge and the UK. We’ll be back some day, but until then – thanks for all the memories everyone!

xx

Liz and Rob

The post Farewell to the Beautiful Cambridge first appeared on Magic Adventures - Liz & Rob.

But firstly, a wedding between the amazing Abbey and Chris. Abbey and Rob have known each other since they were kids – their mothers were best friends all through school and still keep in touch. Rob and I had also kept in touch with Abbey’s Mum, Wendy, who is a great laugh. Rob and I were stoked to get the invite to the wedding, particularly since they were getting married in a castle! Highcliffe Castle in Dorset, to be exact. Stunning venue!

The wedding was stunning, and the reception highly entertaining. Highlight of the speeches? The groom did his speech with powerpoint, and had a highly entertaining slide showing how his happiness has increased the longer he’s known Abbey, but his finances have decreased. There were also comments about the quality of his television decreasing too. Good fun!

After the wedding was a spectacular party with drinks, costumes and an excellent live band. Fantastic!

It was a wonderful wedding and such a fun party. We wish Abbey and Chris all the best for the future!

Next blog post, we finally pack up and leave Cambridge. *sniff*

Until next time…

The post Abbey and Chris’ Wedding first appeared on Magic Adventures - Liz & Rob.

I didn’t like beer before I moved to the UK, but real ale taught me better. Real Ale is always cellar cool (not chilled) and has low carbonation (not foamy) with well rounded full flavour. Turns out I’m not a big fan of hoppy beer, and a lot of the popular British real ales are quite smooth by comparison to Kiwi ales so I was in heaven. Badger’s Fursty Ferret was a favourite bottled ale to have at home or Milton’s Pegasus was an easy one to have when we were out. Yum!

It was difficult to pick just 5 favourite pubs, so we actually mention 10 here, but there was an easy Top 5, and a super easy #1. I hope you enjoy our list!

Special Mentions

It was tough picking just 5 pubs for this list because there were so many we enjoyed, or were memorable, or whatever. The Geldart was one, because it had South African owners and they always had unusual steak specials, like horse, zebra, or kangaroo served on hot rocks. The Free Press was another because it was so low key and basic and small that you couldn’t help but fall in love with it. The Cambridge Brew House was a new addition to the Cambridge pub scene, serving a variety of interesting pub meals and having an atypical selection of ales on tap. And if you’re a tourist in Cambridge, you should definitely go see The Eagle which has some great history.

Final special mention though goes to our local sports pub that was just up the road, The White Swan. Now, a lot of people will talk down about the White Swan. The food was crap, they might say. Their ales were always a bit sour, which is true. But none of that mattered because it was the only pub near our house that would open on Saturday mornings to play New Zealand rugby matches. They were also where we watched every weekend Rugby World Cup match during the 2011 tournament (which were all in the morning, of course). On the morning of the Final, the pub was packed with Kiwis, French supporters and Englishmen claiming to be impartial. We had to grab some ciders at half time to settle the nerves, but it was all worth it in the end. Great memories. But still, if there was rugby we wanted to watch, we would watch it at the Swan, and I thank them for that.

5. The Wrestlers

The Wrestlers gets on this list because I must’ve been there dozens of times in my 4 years. It was a popular Friday lunch spot for me and my work friends for it’s delicious Thai food and well poured ale. It’s one of several pubs in Cambridge that serves top Thai food, as Thai and real ale are a great foodie match! My favourite dish was the Red Beef Curry, and we would always have prawn crackers as starters. Yum!

4. The Devonshire Arms

The Devonshire Arms was our daily pub (well, not *daily* daily, but if we wanted a pint after work, we went there). Around the corner from our house, it was a Milton Brewery pub, a Cambridge brewery, so the pub mostly had Milton beers on tap. I was a big fan of Pegasus. Rob would often order Minotaur, Dionysus or whatever was new on tap. The beer was tasty, well kept but also more affordable than some of the surrounding pubs. They did do meals as well, but they seemed to change cook every year, so the meal changed up a bit randomly. But that doesn’t matter, because we were there for a beer and for some scrabble after work.

3. The Plough

The Plough in Fen Ditton was a favourite for several reasons, one being the delicious meals. It was more a restaurant than a pub – I loved the pork belly with creamed potato, or the roast duck with red wine sauce and baby carrots. It sounds a bit fancy perhaps, but the prices were mid range. The other reason, if you weren’t there for the food, was the beautiful river side garden seating. It was totally picturesque, particularly when the rowing teams would go by. A beautiful spot, even if it is a little way out from town.

2. The Kingston Arms

Around another corner from where we lived, we loved The Kingston Arms. It had mismatched furniture, well worn décor, an ever changing list of guest ales and different meal specials every day. It really felt like a second living room, and was always crammed full of people. Board games were a common activity here and the place was often packed!

1. The Cambridge Blue

The Blue! Yes, The Cambridge Blue was our favourite pub in Cambridge. A little farther from our house, it was worth the wander. Whether it was for delicious meat pies in winter, or enjoying the beer garden in summer, they had an endless selection of European bottled beer, as well as the most hand pulled real ales on tap in Cambridge. It was wonderful. We had several parties and get togethers at the Blue over the years. Inside was always cosy, and the rowing themed interior was memorable. But yea, The Cambridge Blue was our favourite pub in Cambridge. We’ll miss it very much!

Cambridge has a wide selection of brilliant pubs, and we tried to visit all of them. While we weren’t successful, we certainly enjoyed some great ones.

If you’re ever visiting Cambridge, do pop in to a couple of their pubs. Well worth the effort.

Our next post will be about us leaving the UK (*sniff*), so until then…

The post Top 5 Pubs in Cambridge first appeared on Magic Adventures - Liz & Rob.

The Mill

This pub is down next to the river Cam next to some of the amazing colleges in Cambridge. Most people don’t actually sit in the pub in summer – they buy their beer or cider and walk it outside to the meadow to drink with some lunch. We had a lovely afternoon watching the punter bobble on by.

The Green Man Trumpington

The Green Man in Trumpington do a fantastic Sunday roast, with Yorkshire puddings and everything – bookings required! We treated ourselves to long lunch one Sunday with our Aussie friend, Michael, in this busy bustling family pub. Rob decided to forego the roast for a pie which was delicious too. The open fire was toasty and warm!

The Cricketers

The pub used to be called The First and Last, but regardless of it’s name, it make *delicious* Thai food. British ale and spicy Thai food is a great combination, and one Rob and I absolutely love to consume! On this occasion, we were out for Mike’s birthday with a bunch of his and Michelle’s friends. Always a good time!

The Haymakers

We didn’t end up taking a picture in this pub, but we had a great night drinking with Rob’s soccer friend Garry and his girl Neassa. Garry and Neassa are from Ireland and are the loveliest pair, and they’ve been to many a pub with us over the years!

The Blue Moon

We had to check this pub out because it was owned by the same owners as one of our favourite pubs, The Cambridge Blue. The Blue Moon is much more low key than it’s busy big brother, but has a pool table and well kept ale, so we couldn’t really complain.

The Cambridge Brew House

In the last year we were in Cambridge, a new more modern pub opened in town – The Cambridge Brew House. It was half way between a pub and a bar, though only beers were served here! On this night, we were out catching up with our lovely friends Matt and Rachel. They were still glowing in their recent engagement (they’re married now – congrats you two!).

Other Pubs

We didn’t manage to visit every pub in Cambridge, but we did visit a lot. Some, we visited without taking photos, but still want to count them as visited! So those are listed here:

• Champion of the Thames – Part of the King Street Run, this low ceiling, very local pub in town has a great selection of ales.
• County Arms: Went for lunch and a drink after hockey with the team one time, and was quite unimpressed with food.
• Golden Hind: Perhaps the biggest pub in Cambridge, it’s a bit of an old man’s pub and a bit rubbish (according to Rob)
• Jolly Waterman: A pub near Rob’s work which he visited often, this pub served Chinese food, like dumplings and such, but tended to be a bit quiet. Maybe it was a bigger dinner place than lunch.
• The Anchor: A pub in town next to the river Cam and surrounded by the historic colleges. It’s a common one for tourists to visit because it’s right next to a popular punt hire spot!
• The Boat House: A quirky little pub on the riverside of the Cam near Rob’s work. Reasonable food and beer, but you’re really there for the view.
• The Castle: A no fuss pub that serves curry. Rob visited it on a pub crawl, so didn’t actually spend much time there!
• The Granta: We only stopped in for a quick pint, but it’s a beautiful riverside pub where you can watch the punts bobble on by.
• The Green Dragon: Another riverside pub, fairly low key, but not highly memorable.
• The King Street Run: Rob had one beer so he could say he’d been there, but was a bit sh*t (Rob’s words).
• The Mitre: A tiny cosy pokey little pub in town with great food! I think it’s been renamed now, but was lovely when we went.
• The Old Spring: Another one near Rob’s work, it was more of an upper class pub with higher quality food.
• The Portland Arms: Another pub near Rob’s work, this one had good reliable food and great live bands after work!
• The Sir Isaac Newton: Another pub Rob visited on a pub crawl, so he can’t remember anything about it. It was nice – he thinks.
• The Tivoli: A Weatherspoons pub with a consistent menu, but no riverside views.

So that’s it! It puts us about 14 pubs shy of seeing every pub. We got very very close!

Next up, we’ll post our favourite Cambridge pubs, of which there are a few!

Until then…

The post Pubs – More Marvellous Cambridge Pubs first appeared on Magic Adventures - Liz & Rob.

So here’s my top 5 Harry Potter sights that every fan should try to see.

#5 Gloucester Cathedral

We would never have gone to Gloucester Cathedral if it weren’t for Harry Potter, and Rob was quite sick of cathedrals as we’d been to 9 in the UK prior to this one. Despite being out of the way on our drive from south Wales back to Cambridge, it was worth it. The cloisters were stunning, which is why they were used for classroom corridors in the first 2 Harry Potter films and in the Half Blood Prince.

#4 Alnwick Castle

On our long weekend trip up to Hadrian’s Wall, we (again) drove an hour out of our way to visit a Harry Potter sight – the impressive Alnwick Castle. It’s 700 years old, has been extended and renovated many times over the centuries and the family live there over winter months. The family leases the castle out for events and filming. For Harry Potter, it was used for the flying lessons and various in between classes scenes in the first 2 films.

#3 Oxford colleges

Aside from all the sights in London, Harry Potter is next most associated with Oxford and it’s old colleges. Rightly so too, because Oxford University has many stunning colleges that was used for several scenes in the films such as the entrance for the first years Sorting Feast, Hogwart’s infirmary, Hogwart’s library and where Draco was turned into a ferret! All these scenes were filmed in different parts of different colleges, but are all worth a visit.

#2 Glenfinnan Viaduct

The farthest we travelled for a Harry Potter sight was to Glenfinnan Viaduct in the Scottish Highlands, and it was worth the effort. Scotland is a beautiful country with lakes and mountains and castles, so we wanted to go there anyway. But driving the extra 45min up to Glenfinnan was a easy morning trip to see the steam train go over the bridge. The train goes past twice a day at 11am and 3pm (or something like that), so you have to get there on time. We hiked up the left side of the valley to catch these shots of the train coming across the viaduct. It was perfect.

#1 Warner Brothers Studio Tour

Our number one sight to see for a Harry Potter fan wasn’t a city or a castle or a bridge – it was the WB Studio Tour. I know, I know, it’s not really a film location (though it was where all the studio scenes were filmed). So why is it my number 1?

Because of the scale – there was so much stuff. Every set, so many props, the models, the statues, the costumes, and the lighting and the music and the atmosphere… The whole thing was spectacular and overwhelming for a Harry Potter fan. And from what I’m told, really interesting even if you’re not a fan.

If you only do one thing Harry Potter related activity when you go to London, do this. Definitely, definitely, do this. It was amazing.

So there it is! My Top 5 Harry Potter sights. Harry Potter took us to some amazing locations around the UK and we saw some beautiful buildings and landscapes.

If you need a few more favourites, go check out Malham Cove in Yorkshire, Durham Cathedral in Durham and Harrow School in London.

That’s for Harry Potter posts! Now we’re back in New Zealand, we have dozens of Lord of the Rings film locations to go visit now. I’m looking forward to it!

Until next time…

The post Top 5 Harry Potter Film Locations first appeared on Magic Adventures - Liz & Rob.

Yes, I am a fan of the films, but I’m also a fan of all the amazing locations that the various Harry Potter directors used in these films. And I had one more to see last year – Harrow School’s Fourth Form Room which was used as Professor Flitwick’s Charms classroom in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The Fourth Form Room  is in the  lower left half of this building and I had only an inkling of what to expect. But this oak panelled classroom from the 17th century  is stunning.

This room wasn’t Harrow’s oldest classroom – there was a older school house which doesn’t exist anymore. And when the classroom was originally built, it didn’t have the oak wood panelling – they were added in the 19th century. Before that, this room was used for up to 4 classes at one time, one in each corner of the room, and the headmaster sat in this alcove at the back of the room overseeing the classes.

Once the oak panels were installed, students were allowed to scratch their names on the walls. Some of the names are Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Robert Peel, Henry John Temple (Lord Palmerston), Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Lord Byron, Henry Cardinal Manning, John Galsworthy, Anthony Trollope and Lord Shaftesbury. Modern day students aren’t allowed to engrave their names now the walls are full, but some of the school’s alumni are Beneditch Cumberbatch and James Blunt.

What great history – what a room! But we were there for more than the history. We were there because it was used in Harry Potter. The film installed desks into the classroom – in the 17th century, the students wrote on wax tablets on their laps.

Harrow School is open for Public Tours 4 times a year and only costs £5 per person. It takes you through the Fourth Form room, the two on-site museums, the War Memorial and the Theatre and tells you all about the history of the school. A really interesting a couple of hours, and a very satisfying final Harry Potter sight.

We’ve seen some amazing places in the UK because of Harry Potter. But that’s another blog post.

Until next time…

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Elia Beach is definitely one of the quieter beaches – no clubs and only 1 bar and restaurant. So we had a long and lazy day of sunning and swimming and reading. It was the most sunshine I’d had in 4 years. It was amazing.

It was a very different holiday for Rob and I – no museums and no ancient sightseeing. It wasn’t even a city! But it was super relaxing and we got to spend time with some great friends.

The Greek Islands are iconic and beautiful – just like everyone says. There’s not really a lot of sightseeing to do beyond enjoying the sun, sea and sand, but I think that’s the point.

For our last European trip, this was a great one, and I’d recommend others to check out these amazing islands for themselves.

Next, we have a couple more UK adventures to post about before we moved back to NZ.

Until next time…

The post Greek Islands – Relaxing on Mykonos first appeared on Magic Adventures - Liz & Rob.

Unbelievably remarkably stunning. We were one of the many many places built into the cliff and painted white. We were under one of the island’s windmills!

Santorini is beautiful, and some of the hotels are super glam on the cliffsides with pools and everything. The island is covered in low brush and is very arid and such a contrast to the white stone hotels and apartments. The buildings are all mostly along the top of the cliffs maximizing the beautiful view.

There are no beaches on the north side of Santorini, but you can go rock swimming off the cliffs. You have to walk all the way down the hill to them but the water was warm and clear. Stunning!

Santorini is known for its donkeys that ferry tourists from the bottom of the cliffs up the steep paths to the top. We chose to walk instead, though it was a hell of a hike up!

Santorini is beautiful, one of its most famous features are its amazing sunsets. And our hotel gave us an unobstructued view both evenings.

A stunning display, an amazing location and wonderful company. I’d highly recommend Santorini to anyone who was considering a lazy Greek Island holiday!

But now onto our second Greek Island – Mykonos!

Until next time…

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The main town of Shetland is the quaint Lerwick – a beautiful stonebuilt seaside town with a great selection of pubs and restaurants and a super cute stretch of independent shops (Like the delightful Ninian http://www.ninianshetland.co.uk/index.php ). Shetland is proud of their Viking history and are a strong fishing culture. One cute architectural feature the village has is old boats being used as roofs – below they used one as the roof for a garage! SO sweet!

Aside from Shetland ponies and puffins, the islands are also full of prehistoric archaeological sites. Below is the Clickimon – a broch or roundhouse from around 2,300 to 1,900 years ago. A broch was a multi-storey stone building, the heart of a community, that was used for keeping live animals, cooking and baking food and then drying fish and goods in the rafters above. Brochs were a sign of a chieftains power and prowess, and because of their double-skinned drystone walls, could be up to 10m tall.

Around the broch itself were single storey dwellings that would’ve included a blacksmith, a bakery and the individual homes of the community.

Here inside the broch you can see the couple of levels that would’ve been in use in the past. The floors and levels would’ve been wooden inside this stone structure. This was just one of several prehistoric sites we drove past as we criss-crossed the island. But the best was yet to come.

One our last day on the island, we went to see the jewel in the Shetland Island prehistoric crown – Jarlshof, a tentative UNESCO world heritage site, though it seems a certainty from what I’ve seen.

Jarlshof contains some impressive remains dating from 2500 BC up to the 17th century AD. Aside from the Old House of Sumburgh, many of the sites were hidden until a storm in the late 19th century washed away part of the shore, and revealed evidence of these ancient buildings. Excavation started in 1925 and the story before us was unravelled. Amazing.

For starters, here is the remains of one of the earliest dwellings from over 4000 years ago (around 2000 BC). You can see an oval house with a central hearth. They’re not sure what they would’ve used as roofs – wood and turf perhaps? For 4000 years old, I’m impressive there’s anything left of this house, even if it’s just a smattering.

Next was a Bronze Age Smith’s workshop and home from 800 BC. He would pour molten bronze into clay moulds to make weapons, tools and ornaments. This dwelling would’ve been above ground in the past and was covered over by sand and earth until it was buried like it is.

Rob here is standing inside a broch similar to the one at Clickimin, though far less complete or grand. It was from the Iron Age, so between 400 BC and 100 AD.

The best dwelling on the whole site was the most well preserved wheelhouse in all of Scotland. The walls are their original height so you could really get a sense for what these homes were like. The roof would’ve been covered with turf to keep warm from the weather, so they were probably quite dark, but still so neat. The earliest part of the wheelhouse complex has been dated to 200 BC, although other parts were built much later.

I’m standing in front of the wheelhouse in this picture, and you can see the rest of the wheelhouse complex with the surrounding dwellings.

One of the newest of the archaeological remains were a few Norse settlements from 850 AD. The Norse adapted their Scandanavian long houses to be made out of stone instead of wood, and the communities stayed in Jarlshof for at least 12 generations, building and rebuilding their long houses as required.

On the site, there were also remains of Medieval farm houses and a the standing walls of an old 17th century house, but we were exhausted by this point and called it a day. Jarlshof was impressive though and the audio guide was a winner. We really enjoyed our morning there before flying out that afternoon.

And on the way to the airport, I got a selfie I’d been angling for all weekend.

Perfect. Thanks to John and Gloria for being such great travel companions for the weekend! We had a wonderful time.

We do have a couple more European adventures to blog about from last year. I promise to catch-up on all of it. Really, I do.

Until next time…

The post Shetland Islands – A Pretty Town and Prehistoric Sites first appeared on Magic Adventures - Liz & Rob.

And the key reason? Puffins.

Google told me that the Shetland Islands was one of the few places in the UK you could see Puffins without getting on an hour long boat trip. Indeed, for our first Puffin sighting with family friends, we drove 5 mins from the airport and walked 2 minutes from the car park. And the puffins were perfect. And so close!

I loved these little guys talking to their friend (or maybe chick?) hiding in the log. You can see the beak of a third puffin just sticking up.

Half of our weekend was spent in the great outdoors walking the countryside and spotting some birds (like puffins) and the other half was museums, archaeology and exploring the main township of Lerwick. Shetland is a beautiful and under populated part of the world. For one day, we shared a whole nature reserve island with just 4 other people. Brilliant.

The main reason to visit this nature reserve is for the Gannet colony – 40,000 pairs of nesting Gannets. In this picture, everything on the cliff that is white is a bird. It was so loud we had to shout to talk to each other because of all the Gannets squawking. Now, I’m not bird watcher, but this was pretty impressive.

And then, there were more puffins! We weren’t as close to these ones as the others the day before, but there were some great little characters. Chittering and chatting to each other. Flying in mouthfuls of sardines then dashing into their little burrows. Adorable.

Fantastic stuff. Puffins are seriously so cute they could be a little toy. And they toddle around looking completely top heavy. They were just perfect and worth every penny for the trip!

But that wasn’t all we saw in the Shetland Islands – there was a bunch of prehistoric archaeological sites that we wandered around too.

Until next time…

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