Bovey Tracey

It's been just over 2 weeks since I blogged last and in that time I've settled into the life that will be taking up the next 4 and a half months of my trip.
The family that I am staying with is brilliant. The first week that I spent in Bovey the whole family was home, a 21 year old daughter and two boys 17 and 15. It's almost as if I have slipped out of my family and into theirs. They are incredibly active taking part in tennis, hiking, mountain biking, cricket and hockey just to name a few. This is fantastic as it gives me a chance to get off the couch and outside. Since then they have dispersed back to school, uni and work leaving me time at home by myself.
Unfortunately the weather has been a little bit temperamental and as a consequence it's been difficult to get any routine established as cricket has been interrupted and I've been stuck up inside for a majority of the days.
I have had 3 games since arriving here. One was rained out after 20 overs without getting a bat or bowl. The second game I was drafted to the opposition to make up the numbers and even out the competition in which I made a second ball duck (not a great start!) and took my first wicket. The 3rd game, played yesterday, went a bit better as I scored 49 not out and took another wicket. We have another week of trial games this weekend before the official season starts on May 5 which I can't wait to get into.
Bovey Tracey the township is rather small with a main street which has most of what I need, a gym and the cricket club. There are 3 larger towns within 10 to 15 minutes as well as Exeter, the capital of Devon which is the size of Adelaide CBD within half an hour. Torquay, the nearest beach city is only 3 quarters of an hour away which will hopefully come in handy when the weather starts to slowly warm up and the rain becomes a little more rare.
The job search is going slowly as the original pub work fell through. At this stage I might have work at a local adventure park about 15 minutes away which I understand to be similar to Greenhills adventure park where I might be working behind a bar or in a cafe. This is still yet to be confirmed.
All in all I've settled in well and as colts training and cricket gets into full swing I will hopefully have the chance to get into a routine making life a little bit easier.
Until next time,

Watch this space :)
Dillon

Contiki days 19, 20 and 21. The last hurrah

I left my last post heading into Amsterdam for the last city on our tour. It didn't disappoint and was a fitting end to what had been such an incredible 3 weeks with 48 other amazing people. Our first night included a trip to infamous red light district where those who weren't keen on exploring shared a few beers/shandy's before a relatively early night to prepare for what was to be our last day together as a group. An early morning allowed us to take in the beautiful city of Amsterdam by day. We started at Anne frank's house which was a highlight of the day as I had prior to this trip read the book and watched the film. It was incredible to think that 12 people could live in such cramped quarters for such a long period of time shrouded in constant fear. We then headed down the main shopping street of Amsterdam, the sight of 5 H&M stores alone (Aaron's new favourite store and the home of his new man scarf) along with countless other stores. This was the detour taken to the local palace and gardens and the Heineken museum. A few Heineken's and laughs later we were prepping for our last night out. We started with dinner in a small fishing village approximately 30 minutes outside of Amsterdam before heading back into the centre of the city for a canal cruise with open bar for an hour and a half. This allowed us to see the city by streetlight and what a beautiful city it is with some amazing architecture and romantic scenery. This was the start of a great night where we moved between some local clubs and pubs dancing and listening to some live music. It was tough to say goodbye to those staying in Amsterdam but with only a quarter of the crew staying behind we knew it was going to get tougher. It wasn't long before we'd cruised through belgium and were back over the English channel and into London. I have absolutely no doubt that the friendships that I've made and the memories that we've shared will last a lifetime and I can't wait to see how people's lives progress in the next 5 or 10 years. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to share such an amazing tour with and there's no disputing that it was the people not the places that made the trip so enjoyable (although the places we visited were still incredible) I have so much to thank them for as I shared many firsts as an 18 year old with them. We have arrived back in London and its not long before Aaron and I split and head off to our respective cricket clubs for our season of cricket. The posts will become less frequent but please stay tuned. Until next time, Watch this space. Dillon

Contiki days 15, 16,17 and 18

The last time I wrote a blog post we were travelling to Vienna via Mathaussen Concentration Camp, the last Nazi concentration camp liberated by the allies in World War 2. This is possible the most eerie experience of my life as we watched a documentary about the life span of the camp and then had some time to walk around. It is so hard to believe that such a cruel thing could occur in what can definitely be considered very recent history. Certainly an experience that I’ll never forget.

Arriving in Vienna, a city which I knew comparatively little to other cities we have visited, I was blown away by the architecture and history which included the period of the world wars. This was also the site of the highlight hotel of the trip with the biggest and most luxurious hotel housing a day spa and a gym comparable to Fitness First, Payneham (for all you South Australians). Consequently the first night allowed us fitness freaks to work off the Italian carbs and relax in the pool. Our free time in Vienna was spent exploring the historical loop which included the cities’ palace, the Austrian museum of Natural History, St Stephens Cathedral, a dirt bike festival and a trip to the local schnapps museum.

The next day was spent on the coach travelling to Prague, Czech Republic. The first night in Prague was spent on a pub-crawl through 3 pubs and a local 7 story club. This started with 1 and a half hours of an open bar and fair to say there was a significant thinning of the contiki-ers. Others went onwards and upwards to a great night, exploring the nightlife and making friends with the locals. The city itself was #1 on the list of most beautiful cities explored on this trip, tied with Venice. The river flowing through the city was the scene of our lunchtime cruise allowing for the hard core partiers to back up after a big night before hand. We also had the opportunity to explore Prague Castle and the Czech Republic communism museum. That night we were treated to the famous black light theatre which was interesting interpretive dance with comedic intervals. This was followed by a once in a lifetime dinner. We spent the night at a Neanderthal restaurant in which we had to order through carvings, in a cave with waiters who just grunted to communicate. Those who were keen to take advantage of our last nights on the trip headed out to a local club called Roxy and fair to say a dance floor was destroyed after a few cheeky cordials.

Yesterday we ventured to the Rhine Valley in Germany as a stopover on our way to Amsterdam. We were treated to a wine tasting in a cellar from the 1700’s.

We have just arrived in Amsterdam is sure to be a place for many, many funny stories so stay tuned for the next edition of this blog. 2 days left in our Contiki trip which is very sad but we’re sure to head off with a bang.
Until then,

Watch this space.

Dillon