UK '08

We returned to the UK at the beginning of April this year and the weather was absolutely gorgeous for about 2 months, followed by the wettest summer on record! After living in Queenstown and Austin this year, my overwhelming impression of the UK was how amazingly GREEN it is. It's so lush and so richly green in a way completely different to anywhere else I've been recently it took me quite a while to start finding it normal again. The West coast of NZ on the South Island gets a huge amount of rain and is also very green, but it's a much darker, more tropical feeling place. England on the other hand is more a shade of bright emerald or even lime green. It's funny what you don't see in a place until you leave and come back...

Our first trip to Robin Hoods Bay over on the East coast

We had great weather which made up for forgetting our tent and having to borrow one!

Our first day on the beach I spent balancing stones...



I saw an orthopaedic surgeon in May and got the all clear to have the metalwork removed in September



This was our first visit to the butterfly house since I proposed to Jen there back in 2003

The other animals held still better than the butterflies, especially the terrapins!

Beautiful sunset over lake Buttermere in the Lake District

Jen went on a Hen Do to Bath, which has a bit of a pig theme going on

This is us at Cragside, an amazing National Trust house and gardens in Northumberland near the Scottish borders

The house at Cragside

Giraffes in Edinburgh, where we met up with my brother for a wee trip around the Highlands

Jen at the Falls of Dochart

A great camping spot near Aviemore

The Rothiemurchus estate


Ben McDuie

Sunshine at Arisaig

Sunset at Arisaig

In my Tartan for a friends wedding

My 33rd birthday