I arrived off the train at Tralee bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to relive the good ol’ days of Peru (minus a few Canadians) with the girls. Kate met me at the train station and we went back to her parent’s place for some lunch and a couple of hours of catching up before the other girls arrived from Cork.
Once they arrived and all the hello’s were over we headed off to the Dingle Peninsula, which is the most western part of Ireland and absolutely beautiful. This is the Ireland of the postcards, with rolling green hills with the tops obscured by mist, rocky, rugged coasts and wild seas. We headed out there over Conor Pass, where we found out that Bolax smells of poo, whoever he is.
Stopped in at Dingle town, which is a cool little fishing village that has probably the most coolest pub in all the world. You walk in the pub and on the left side of the pub is the typical bar, with beers on tap etc, the usual. On the other side of the room is a hardware store…the perfect alibi for the man…”I’m off to the hardware store honey so I can get some more paint/nails/tools/whatever to finish up painting/fixing/whatever for you like you asked”…Pure genius!
The plan was to go swimming (in the north Atlantic in the middle of September – did they not realise I come from a place where it doesn’t get cold?!) but luckily the weather turned and I was spared the embarrassment of showing how much of a wuss I am with the cold – for now anyway. Of course, I didn’t pack my boardies for a visit to Ireland in autumn and that explains the borrowed Hawaiian boardshorts in the photos (thanks Connor) of Conor Pass (not named after Connor, Kate’s friend who lent me the boardies).
So we rolled on back to Kate’s place via the coast and some of the most incredible scenery and got back just in time for Kate’s Mum’s dinner party – how convenient! Had an amazing meal before we headed out to a club (forgotten the name – doh!) in Tralee – it was opening night of the club no less. They must have heard I was coming.
We had a real good night and got back home plenty late and luckily avoided a hangover somehow. In the morning after a full Irish breakfast (again, incredible food) we headed back out to the Dingle peninsula for none other than horse riding on the beach – this kept getting better and better. These horses were in a lot better shape than the dodgy nags we went on in Peru and no Mike, this one didn’t shart. Thankfully I got the hang of the necessary movements while the horse is trotting pretty quickly as “the boys” would not have held up to a full hour of being smacked into the saddle every step of the horse – not fun until I worked that out.
After the ride, my true wussiness was revealed as the girls sprung a surprise swim on me, or maybe it wasn’t a surprise and I wasn’t paying attention. But needless to say I didn’t share their enthusiasm as the ran down the beach into the freezing cold water while I slunk down the beach shivering, and not even near the water yet. It wasn’t too bad once you got in, that is, if you like your skin feeling like it is pierced with a million small needles all at once. It was freezing.
Anyway – the car ride back was interesting as the warmth returns to your skin it got all tingly…it was a weird feeling, but not unpleasant. We then headed off to Cork, stopping in at Killarney at Bairbre’s house for an incredible lunch courtesy of her Mum (they really spoiled me) and a trip to Muckross House and Killarney National Park where we checked out the grounds and Torc Falls and the lakes.
Made it to Cork in the evening where we all crashed out pretty early after a massive day and night. The next couple of days were spent checking out Cork and the surrounds, and luckily the girl’s uni timetables worked out so that at all times one of them was free to show me around and got the guided tour.
Saw Blarney Castle, and I now officially have the Gift Of Gab after kissing the Blarney Stone, despite assurances that the local sneak in there to piss on it to give it a nice taste for all the tourists (being the gentleman that I am, I let Siobhan go first to get rid of any unsightly leftovers from the previous night). Saw the old Cork City Jail (from the outside) and University College Cork, which has a beautiful 150 year old campus and grounds, which shamefully makes my college look like a piece of crap.
We also went out to a couple of the local pubs in town where they had on some traditional Irish music with all the proper instruments and had the pleasure of hearing a guy from Dublin say “to be sure, to be sure” as he got accosted by an over-friendly female – which I guess would be equivalent of everyone else hearing an Aussie say “G’day mate” or “Throw another shrimp on the barbie” , which we don’t even say.
Sadly I headed back to Dublin the next day after and awesome time and the most incredible hospitality from the girls (and Richie – cheers mate!) and back to London for more boozin’ with Mick and Co. for my last few days in the UK before meeting up with Lizzie and back to backpacking through Europe.
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