Nearly 2 weeks in already...

Hello to everyone and welcome to the 2nd edition of Anna & Matt's Most Excellent Adventure. In case some of you haven't noticed, we've set up a photo album site (Flickr) – the link is at the top of the right-hand column of the blog site. I'd recommend viewing the photos as a slideshow as you get to see them full screen and it takes less faffing around to see them. Thanks to those who wrote back comments, it's really nice to hear back from you too!

Well its now been nearly 2 weeks since we left Aussie shores and we finally feel like we are here now, as it felt surreal for the first few days. Anna and I are still living with Andrew and Anita, but we have been busy getting our lives sorted out. This week we attended a 'Kickstart' seminar, giving us info on working and getting our life set up in the UK. We now have a UK bank account and our mobile phones set up also, now all we need is a more permanent place to live and a job would be nice too.

Last Friday was our first adventure traveling into London. It was to be a very exciting day, especially for Anna, as we had planned to meet up with her brother Paul, whom she had not seen since February 2007, as he too has been travelling the world. We walked from home to the Three Bridges train station in Crawley and caught a train which arrives at London Victoria Station. From here we embraced our A-Z street directory (an essential tool for London) and walked to check out Buckingham Palace. After getting all a bit too touristy, we headed for Hyde Park, via Green Park and decided to check out Knightsbridge. Getting used to using the maps, we got kind of lost in the back streets and ended up taking the "scenic route" to find the famous store, Harrod's.

We didn't end up buying anything, but Anna still enjoyed her experience there. We were impressed with the food delis, but thought £16 for 6 oysters was a bit rich!

Shortly after, a familiar face appeared from within the Knightsbridge tube, Anna's brother Paul. It was a Kodak moment. The weather made a turn for the worse while we hunted around for a nice cliché English pub to sink a few quiet ones. (I really enjoyed the Abbot Ales). It was decided that Paul would come back and spend the night with us at Andrew and Anita's place. After heading out for dinner at an American/Italian restaurant called Frankie & Bennie's, we returned home where Anna and Paul spent over an hour chatting to their parents on the webcam, using Skype.

Since then Anna and I have been spending the days back at Crawley, doing a bit of shopping, using the internet (getting the blog and photos setup) and working on our work CV's.

Over the weekend, Andrew, Anna and I checked out a local pub, The Snooty Fox, to watch some football – Tottenham Hotspurs vs Birmingham City. To Foz's excitement, Birmingham won 3-2, while Anna and I embraced the whole pub atmosphere (and drank some more beer also).

This Tuesday we went back into London for some more exploring and to get our bank accounts set up, with a 1st Contact orientation meeting. Once that was over, we strutted around the city visiting locations such as Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street and Covent Gardens, where we caught up again with Paul just before he heads off for Canada.

We ventured into a couple of pubs - the Americanized Roadhouse Diner and the Angel & Crown, where we sunk a few more pints. (Anna even had a Carlsberg) Before we caught the train back to Crawley, we checked out more iconic sites of Big Ben and the London Eye, which looked amazing at night. It was a mad dash to get onboard the last train back, and Anna and Paul exchanged goodbye wishes while they were still running! (Although once we got onto the train it didn't leave for another few minutes!)