we now have the gift of the gab!

cork was certainly a lovely place. its a lot like perth, but without the highrise buildings. the hostel was pretty good, and we got the room to ourselves for two of the nights which was good. the highlight of cork for me was when we took a day trip out to Blarney Castle. we went by the normal bus, which only cost €5.50 return, as opposed to €28 just to go an a cushy tour bus. it took about 20mins to get there, and then another 10 or so to walk to the actual castle. it is really a beautiful place. the castle itself is a bit of a ruin, but is still enough in tact to resemble a castle. the surrounding area is gorgeous. lots of green hills and trees and streams. we went into the castle and into a little cave thing, but it was too small for us to fit, so we went through the castle and up the VERY narrow and steep spiral staircase towards the blarney stone. to our delight there wasnt a huge line, which meant less chance of fresh spit. i went first and kissed the stone. you have to make sure you kiss the very bottom because that's the actual stone. ange went next and left a nice big glob of lip gloss for the next person. hehe. we then explored all the gardens, and took loads of photos. the rest of the time in cork was relaxing and consisted of lots of roaming around. all in all, a great place.

we're in killarney now, we arrived yesterday. the hostel is pretty cool, and the room is huge which is nice. last night we made this delicious veggie thing, which our mums would be proud to see because it had lots of veggies. today was a really awesome day. we hired bikes and took off to the killarney national park. it is breathtaking. there is a castle which is really the starting point, and then there are hundreds of little trails leading off the main trails. we'd start riding through dense forest, then turn the corner and a huge lake with the most amazing mountains behind would appear. the water was like glass, it looked so clean and pure. then we ket going, and found a nice clearing to have lunch..ham and cheese rolls made ourselves.. delicious. then took off down a winding path and found some mines. we trekked throuh the hillside and eventually found the path again, which took us back the the castle. we still have the bikes so i think tonight we're going to go to the waterfalls etc because it gets dark at about 11pm here. crazy!

yeah, blarney castle was great. i'd hate to have to walk up those steep steps when it was raining though! they were slippery enough as it was. i tried to bring anti bacterial wipes with me but jess wouldnt let me, so i hope i havent contracted any diseases from the general touristy public. yuck. rock close was pretty cool too. there were lots of rocks (fancy that) and little plaques with random druid stories. every time we got to a rock that said something like 'witches rock' or 'druids circle' jess was like "what a load of crap! that looks nothing like a witch blah blah blah" and i was like "its just a legend! deal with it!" haha.

we are going on a tour around the ring of kerry tomorrow; that should be really good. there are lots of pretty hills and lakes here, so im looking forward to more of that tomorrow. hooray for greenery!