Hawksnest Beach, St John

• We have seen our first visitors come and go already ( a big thanks to Rick and Reagan without whose help I’m not sure we would have made it!)
• Kahlia has finally got her full driving license!
• We own our first car as a married couple, a 1999 Chevy Cavalier “Island Car” (which is a euphemism for a car that is well worn past what the miles and age would indicate)
• I’m setup and in the groove of working remotely; lunches overlooking the beach, a quick swim and paddle ball! Sure beats rainy London and Tesco!

The island is more or less what I expected, it’s not as idyllic as I had thought (St John is however), it is much more like a run down version of an American city, with beautiful beaches.
The snorkeling/diving so far is also not up to my Caribbean expectations.

The weather here in winter is a little colder than I had thought; wind averages 11 knots of wind from the east year round and the winter temperature fluctuates between 23°-27°C with humidity around 70%.
So if you are in the wind, it’s pleasant to cool, but i like to feel HOT when i’m at the beach. This is the coldest month of the year so it’s only up from here!

The “Island Way” of doing things is not so bad if you have the right attitude and plenty of time! But the stories deserve a separate post.

Food shopping is expensive but the range is surprisingly large (at least in tourist season) and due to the massive SDA population here Kahlia gets a great selection of American faux-meat products!

All in all, life is pretty good!

Here is this weeks, courtesy of Rick.

We finally get to move to the Caribbean!! It’s a dream come true for one of us
(Kahlia doesn’t want to leave London)

Our 3 month trial will see if we can survive on our deserted island of choice; St Thomas, USVI.
We’ll see if we can survive; “Island Time”, “Slow Internet “, “Expensive Power” and an idyllic lifestyle.

Below is our new home for the next 3 months!

Apparently, new car taxes in Europe are very high. So the car companies lease them out and then buy them back, some how avoiding the taxes. Three companies that I could find have programs, Peugeot, Renault and Citroen. They provide unlimited miles, roadside assitance and full insurance with no excess. This site has links and info about them http://www.globalcars.com.au/leasing

One of the greatest things in London (so far) is Borough Market. A cornucopia of gourmet and organic foods. Cheeses, fresh breads, juices, salts, butters, olives, beers and gourmet food vendors, all  under one, well two really, roof. There’s also a “world beers” stall that sells everything, even coopers sparkling ale. An Australian walked in while I was there, looked at all the European ales and ciders and bought a six pack of coopers!!

Seeing as Kahlia is away, I decided to indulge myself. It’s the start of mushroom season and the market is full of our yummy fungi friends… I thought I would start at the top (of my price range anyway, no truffles) with morels, at £120/kg I didn’t get many (shhh don’t tell Kahlia). I also got some fancy sausages and duck fat to roast potatoes.

The morels were delicious, however not worth the money, the real highlight was the duck fat potatoes, sooooo good.

This weekend I did my first UK trip, to Manchester, to visit Nick & Alicia (newly engaged). They have a modern two-bedroom apartment in the heart of Manchester.

On Saturday they took me into the Peak District (Snake Pass pictured) a beautiful countryside quite similar to Australia’s Alpine region. The pass was full of small and large Caverns that make for good exploring. (Beware the Wyverns of olde!) After that we ambled through the streets of a perfectly iconic English town and ate lunch in the epitome of an English coach house; beside an  open fire place.

The night was passed trying the local real ales and a few foreign ones. Nick put me onto ratebeer.com as we tasted number 10 on the list. A Trappist ale, weighing in at 11.3% I dubbed it Bine, or weer. Whilst a remarkable introduction into Belgium beer, it is a beer only for very special occasions. So special in fact that I doubt there will be another.

Sunday was spent hiking the moors and watching sheep dog trials. These were really, really interesting. The dog was herding sheep through gates 500 metres away from the shepherd who could barely see the dog. I could have watched this all day.

Good work Nick & Alicia, although they didn’t show me a hedge-hog.

We have posted a travel todo page for Europe here, please feel free to send us your favourite places or ideas. We are heading to Sicily, Italy at Easter and then Rome the next long weekend after that.