Just some random discoveries / reflections after a couple of weeks in Ireland…

# glad we didn’t do it in a motorhome as we had considered…  The very narrow roads and tight parking would have been hard, but it would also have been hard to justify the cost. A motorhome was around $250/night Aus and then there would have been site costs as well.

# family B&B rooms are good value.  $150-180 Aus for a night. We went for the budget end of the market and ‘won’ a few and ‘lost ‘ a few.

# public toilets! Not enough of em! Seriously, all over Ireland they are hard to find and while us blokes can solve things easily it’s a bit trickier for the ladies. If you work for Irish tourism then this one needs urgent attention 🙂

# be prepared to get warm if you go in summer.  It stays light till late and the sun can be warm until around 9pm. I was prepared for an Aussie winter in the Southern Hemisphere but reality is overnight it gets down to around 13/14 deg rather than the 5-6 deg we have. So you don’t need to worry about warmth at night.

# Irish bakeries are the best! Sensational cakes, scones and breads. I wont be here long enough to really make the most of it.

# coffee is served VERY hot.  Perhaps it’s a legacy of being tea drinkers, but even the good coffees I have had have been close to boiling.

# a ‘double’ bed in Ireland is most likely just that – a ‘double ‘. We usually expect a queen size in Oz so be prepared to snuggle up a bit more.

# top spots to visit? – obviously this is subjective but we loved the Ring of Kerry, The Famine road area in Connemara, The Antrim coastline, Malin head and Inishowen.

# don’t expect to get anywhere fast. Today we left our B&B on a small narrow road and got stuck behind a funeral procession for 20ks. No chance of overtaking… when we left Kildare for Killarney the GPS said 45kms in 45 mins… a long time for a country drive, BUT that didn’t allow for the tractors, cyclists and roadworks which made it a 95 min drive!

# I downloaded the sygic GPS which worked well for a week and then seemed to struggle to find a signal. Every other app could, so it wasn’t the phone at fault. That said,  in Aussie mode the GPS voice calls me ‘cobber ‘, cause we do that a lot back home I guess…

# lemon lime and bitters is an Aussie drink.  I have seen some puzzled looks when we asked for it.  A couple of people tried to pass off bitter lemon as the same thing,  but it’s obviously not drunk in Ireland.

# the degree to which we enjoyed things seemed to be in relation to the mood we approached them with.  When tired everything is boring and lame.  When energetic its amazing how good things are.

# the kids need more company their own age…  so they told us…

# we need the kids to have more company their own age…

# it’s $300 cheaper over ten days to have just one driver registered to drive the hire car.  Being that driver means you don’t see as much.

# it would have been around $80 cheaper to hire a car on arrival rather than book ahead like we did…  Weird…

# www.booking.com was our best source of accommodation.  We usually booked ahead just one night and always found a reasonably priced family room.

# trip advisor is really useful, but be kind to people…  Most are doing their best and we all have bad days. I had a few bad experiences but as a business owner I would hate to be crucified online as some folks seem to do.

# don’t let your son buy a 600 page joke book to read while everyone else is reading…  It usually lasts five minutes before he just HAS to tell you his joke…

# I found Irish food a bit bland. There were more than a few fairly disappointing evening meals. It seemed there was a lack of imagination in a lot of the meals we had. We spent around $100/day Aus on food on average.

# we hired a Toyota Auris for around $30/day Aus and that was a great little car getting 22k/l on diesel. While fuel is expensive in Ireland we used very little of it.

# we found this trip different to our camping holidays in that we didn’t really connect much with other people, and we all missed that. We ended up talking to one another a lot… there is only so much to talk about…

# the Irish aren’t really set up for warm weather. Few places have air conditioning or even fans, and windows often have a small opening angle so warm rooms can be very warm at night – and stuffy. Cafes without air con become saunas on hot days. I never thought we would have to consider ‘heat’ in Ireland but there have been a few quite warm days.

# British / Irish internet speed is far superior to ours – certainly ours in Yanchep! But seriously… what is going on in Oz?

OK that’s it for now…

I’ll do a trip round up next time and then we will be home.

So we have been on the road for about two and a half weeks now., so the trip is halfway over…  The kids are happy about that (nice…) because they are ready to go home but for those of us who go back to the daily grind it ends all too soon.

We enjoyed our time in Menorca with old friends.  It’s a nice little island in the Mediterranean and a part of Spain. Most people know it’s bigger brother Majorca just across the water. Menorca was hot – well 30ish,  but humid so it felt warmer. It was great to see friends again and Ellie really enjoyed seeing Hannah. Occasionally I have these romantic notions of working in the north west but weeks like these remind me that humidity and I are not good company!

We arrived back in Belfast on Sunday and headed up to my cousin’s apartment in Portstewart where we stayed until Thursday morning. This was a beautiful home in a magnificent spot with 180degree views over the ocean which was just a short walk away. We didn’t know we were able to stay here when we left home so it was an unexpected bonus.

For the few days we were here the weather was actually very warm – mid 20s but again humid so it felt warmer. Sam and I even had a swim in the ocean on one of the warmest days – we took the surfboards down to hit the ripples that were coming thru and got wet. The deal was that you has to get fully submerged in Atlantic water and we didn’t bother with wetsuits…

With the sun beating down the Irish were out in their droves and the beach was officially ‘closed, meaning that you couldn’t drive down and park on it.  With around 2000 cars all up on the beach it was a big day out.  Most weren’t swimming but,  just soaking up the beautiful day.

We revisited some childhood memories with a trip to Portrush and some rides on Barry’s arcade as well as seeing the Giant’s Causeway and the Carrick rope bridge.  Both have been set up as major tourist attractions now and were crawling with visitors. They have been done well but as with so much of this stuff back in Oz it loses its appeal the more it is commercialised.

We also headed out to the Inishowen peninsula and enjoyed the remote and wild side of Ireland, visiting Malon head and the ‘Famine Village’ (well worth it) before the next day tripping into Londonderry / Derry and taking a walk tour of the Bogside. We heard the story of Bloody Sunday from a bloke whose father was killed on the day. That was an interesting hour and would have been better had we not been dripping with sweat from the hot sun!  Irish history is certainly intriguing and what you understand depends on which side you listen to.  I grew up shaped by one worldview so I’m always interested to hear how the nationalists see things.

From Portstewart we rolled on to Donegal and stayed a night in a local B&B. A hard bed and a hot night with no ventilation made for a terrible nights sleep. The Irish are as equipped for hot weather as we are for snow. The lack of air conditioning and fans is not surprising in a country like this but on the days you need them you really do feel it.  We left Donegal and headed for Ballina (pronounced ‘Ballinah’ we discovered as people looked at us curiously… )

It was on this drive that I was hoping to see some of the famed Irish big waves but the swell was too small and except for Tullan strand it was dead flat everywhere. No drama as we weren’t likely to hit the water,  but would have been nice to see.

So we have been staying for two nights at a mate’s house in Ballina. He is a missionary with Pioneers and has been here a few years now. Brendan and family are on holidays in the UK so we don’t get to catch up which is a shame as we’d love to have heard more about mission in Ireland. Still it’s great to have contacts all around the world where you can bunk down and relax.

We have been driving a Toyota Auris, a small car, but at 21ks/l we aren’t complaining. Tomorrow we keep traveling down to Connemarra and then on to the Ring of Kerry. We are playing it by ear a bit now as the kids have (politely and kindly) let us know that as much as we enjoy sight seeing they are missing hanging with people their own age and as cool parents as we are (haha) they are missing that interaction. I’m not sure how we fix that but it’s an ongoing issue now for us on holidays. In Oz you can bring a friend but this trip is a little trickier.

So we have about 9 days to go before hopping on the plane and heading home – something that strangely doesn’t bother me. I’m actually looking forward to home and to going back to work and seeing friends again. That’s an odd thing… but glad I’m feeling like that because some years I just want to keep going.

To finish here’s a pic of a 10.30 pm sunset from our place in Portstewart . Pretty nice hey? The beauty of the long days is you can get heaps done and early night people like me have been crashing after 11 most nights jus because it feels wrong to sleep in sunlight .

We have been gone a bit over a week now and spent a week in Northern Ireland as well as a few days now in Menorca where we are until Sunday.

It was interesting landing up in Belfast again. I left when I was 10, went back once at age 33 and now this time seventeen years later. I was curious as to what I would feel… would it be ‘home’ in some sense? What would I feel at being back in my birthplace?

Not a lot as it turns out… and that’s neither a bad thing nor unexpected. I actually had this conversation with my cousins husband:

‘So what is this for you now? Have you come home?’

‘No…  now I’m a tourist. Happy to sniff around, enjoy the country and see the sights, catch up with family (most of whom I hardly know ) and generally do what visitors do. ‘

It’s a reminder that home is more than a physical location. I think it is a physical location, but these days it has more to do with being around my own family, of being where God wants us and of feeling settled in that ‘place’. I find it hard to envisage leaving Yanchep or our church community, of starting again somewhere else…  but I realise these are all possible. And because ‘home ‘ is more than location I’m sure it would work.

It was really good reconnecting with family on both sides,  cousins and uncles /aunts I wouldn’t know if I met in the street, but good people.  I drove the kids past some of the old haunts – my home,  my dad’s home,  my school, my first church and I think we all felt a bit ‘meh’ about it. They lacked the significance they once had.

We enjoyed driving around and being tourists, seeing mountains, oceans, line upon line of dry rock walls, grey skies with fleeting moments of sunshine and a city that was unfamiliar, but curious in many ways.

We watched the July 12th marches from a very safe ‘middle class ‘ vantage point (not my preferred location) and took some time to discuss this cultural and theological oddity. (I have more thoughts to come on this when the mood is more conducive ). Sam decided to voice his opinions over dinner with my aunt and we all realised that maybe it wasn’t dinner time conversation.

The cultural and spiritual nature of Northern Ireland is well worth a post on its own and I will do that once I have had a chance to process it better. It is still heavily churched,  but with the complicating issue of the political situation. I wonder if the Irish will ever move beyond the old divisions and be able to live together harmoniously? My ‘outsiders’ take is that given another 500 years they may just do it.

In my rovings I discovered the Corrymeela Community who from their website seem to be a crew doing some good work on this front. If time permits I’d like to drop in and see what they are doing first hand.  I imagine it would be an interesting place to have a sabbatical. I’d be very interested to delve into the issue of reconciliation in this place,  buy I imagine it is long slow and generally unrewarding work.

In other less provocative news I have worn shorts every day since arriving and while it’s been cold at times its also been good weather for exploring.

I’ve definitely disconnected and enjoyed places, people,  books and reflection time. We have spent the last few days with old friends in sunny Menorca, a nice little island in the Mediterranean. It isn’t somewhere you would ever venture to as an Aussie usually so it’s been good to hang out off the beaten track. 

Given the rain is literally pouring down outside I figured I’d take some time off work and give some first impressions of my new coffee toys that arrived recently – a new Behmor 1600 Plus roaster and a Breville Double Boiler coffee machine.

I need to qualify what I say here by stating that there are various degrees of ‘coffee snobs’ and from what I can see I qualify as one of the ‘domestic’ variety. There are many more serious than me, but given its been 10 years since I drank instant I am probably not ‘casual’ about this.

It was my old mate Grendel who I describe as the ‘coffee evangelist’ who led me into the kingdom of caffeine and my life has never been the same… Well… you get the idea.

After my coffee conversion 10 years back in Grendel’s garage I purchased my first machine – a second hand Sunbeam 6910 and it served me well for several years before the steam wand stopped functioning. Since then there have been 2 more ‘Gumtree’ Sunbeams in the family (the last one a $60 purchase because the owner didn’t how to work it) and they have served us well, although both had steam wand issues that I couldn’t justify paying to get fixed. You can see the pattern here right?

When it comes to machines I am a self confessed tight arse. I don’t have a palette that can appreciate the subtle ‘berry flavours and chocolate hints’ that others seem to be able to detect. I can tell if its good coffee, average coffee or bad coffee. Bad is what you get at the Como deli before going there to preach on a Sunday morning. Average is Dome – bland and unoffensive – but equally unappealing and good (or maybe even very good) is what you get in some of the more boutique cafes around the place – but now also at home.

I never forget being out to dinner with friends and discussing whether or not to stay for coffee. I said quite clearly ‘No way! Come back to our place as the coffee back there will be way better than what we get here.’ I didn’t realise the cafe manager was standing behind me listening… I turned around to see her there – smiled and said ‘Sorry – but its true…’

We even have a camping coffee machine… It was the Breville Aroma that did the big lap of Oz with us and served us well and now its a Sunbeam equivalent that hits the road whenever we travel. When the last 6910 passed away I brought the camping machine into the home, but between the pressurised baskets and the simple technology of the machine the coffees were less than great.

I actually opted to buy a brand new machine this time and went to the Good Guys in Clarkson to pick up another 6910, complete with grinder. It turned out the steam pump in the new machine was spluttering and texturing milk was next to impossible, so I took it back and exchanged it. The next machine did the same… so back it went and I asked for a refund. To their credit the Good Guys did this and I was impressed with their service. I didn’t want to get a refund, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know when its ‘not me’, but the machine. I have to add the free grinder that goes with the 6910 is not impressive at all. It spatters grinds everywhere and doesn’t have a simple on/off switch, but only one operated by the pressure of the portafilter. I’ll be happy never to own one of them.

With the Sunbeam 6910s off the radar now I began to look around. The new Sunbeam EM7000 was getting some pretty good reviews, and some folks were suggesting the Breville Double Boiler. At $1400 approx it was not looking likely for this tightarse coffee snob.

But as I read the reviews of this machine it really did come up smelling of roses 99% of the time. The coffee snobs forum thread devoted to the machine (400 pages since 2011) contains some complaints and some sign of the problems you may expect, but this is only a small sample of the owners, most of whom I am guessing are very happy with their machines.

So I decided to gamble.

I saw one of these on evil bay for $999.00 – a big saving on retail as it was a factory second… And then eBay had their 15% off Sunday and I decided to jump. It means that I got the machine for $900.00 with free postage (Yes – 15% of $999 is more than $100 but that was the max discount) and I figured that even if I hated it, I could sell it on for that price with no trouble. I also liked the fact that it was a ‘second’ and had been checked over by a techy, because it (should) mean that it doesn’t have any obvious flaws.

Well, it arrived yesterday and with a lunchtime finish at work I was able to get home and play with it for the afternoon – and it is very very good.

Some stuff I like about it:

– it fires up to temp pretty quick 5-10 mins max

– the coffee quality was excellent. I roast my own beans and haven’t been happy with the stuff coming out of the camping machine. I thought maybe it was the beans… Nope…

– the steam wand is great and operates via a ball valve which means that if like me, you are often heating 100 mls of milk then you can dial it down a bit rather than having huge amounts of steam smashing the bottom of the jug.

– the front fill mechanism is a great idea, as is the swivel foot that allows the machine to be moved easily.

– the shot clock is interesting and novel, but I doubt I will use the pre-set buttons much as I like to control my own shot

So after a day I can say ‘Yes – this one is a keeper!’ Its nice to see a really cool coffee pour again after the month spent with the camping machine. If I had any criticism at this point it would simply be the size of the unit. We now have a coffee station that doubles as a kitchen…

As well as the coffee machine I recently bought a Behmor Plus roaster. Again, after 10 years of using a heat gun and breadmaker (popularly called a Corretto) I figured I had earnt my stripes and could graduate to a half decent roaster.

These sell for $450.00 on Coffee Snobs and so far I’ve been very happy with it. You can roast up to 450g in it although I have only gone as far as 350g at this point. It has a whole heap of features to allow you to take control over the roast, but for my use I simply run on the pre-set ‘profile 1’ and use the timer to adjust the roast time up or down. I’ve done several batches of roasts and while it does give a more consistent roast than the Corretto it is not ‘worlds apart’. What you can achieve with a retired breadmaker and heat gun is quite impressive!

The machine looks like a microwave and operates with a heating element and drum. You can pre-heat if you wish by running the cycle for less than 2 mins and re-starting. You can have a max roast time of around 21 mins which is plenty for most of what I do. The downside of the Behmor is the cooling cycle takes place in the roaster and lasts for 10-12 minutes. In this time the beans are inevitably being ‘roasted’ a little longer than intended so this needs to be factored into the roast equation. Or if you roast in a garage like I do, you can simply open the front door and speed up the cooling process. It does allow a bit of chaff to fly around, but if a vacuum is handy you can suck most of it up easily.

So I think I’m good for a few years now and a decent coffee is never far away.