Wild Atlantic Way to the Great Ocean Road

I have just moved to Torquay, Victoria in Australia after living in Ireland for the past year. I had an amazing time in Ireland and met some of the most beautiful people while living in Bundoran, a quirky seaside town where everyone knows everyone. I am excited for some warmer weather this year but had to reminisce on my experiences on the Wild Atlantic Way!

Ireland                                                                                                                                                                  Australia

Below is a video that I compiled that captures some of the highlights form the past year:

I have also included a video of a 200km cycle I did around the ring of Kerry:

Pancake Tuesday

In Ireland and several other countries in Europe  Pancake Tuesday is celebrated like Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras in America.

In similarity with Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, Pancake Tuesday is celebrated before the start of lent which was February 9th this year.

Vincent, Tom, Iria and I (from left to right in the picture) decided to get creative with our pancakes and turn them into faces before eating them.

Running Ireland

This past weekend I did my first international road race. It was a small 5k organized by a rugby club in Ballyshannon (the next town over). I have been running a bit but not training much for speed so I was happy in the end with the result of the 24.26.

Scandinavia Travel Video

Here is a video I made of my travels through Denmark, Sweden and Norway:

Tis the Season

This Christmas marks the second Christmas I have spent abroad. I have been living in Bundoran, Ireland for just under two months now and have made some pretty good friends here. However, most everyone seemed to go home or travel elsewhere for Christmas and the town became deserted. 

When Christmas morning came around I slept in, had breakfast and then headed to main beach for the annual Christmas day swim. I didn't think there would be many people there since the town was so quite but to my surprise I it was probably the biggest gathering I have seen thus far in Bundoran. Just after noon we all ran to the waters edge and submerged ourselves in a bone chilling water that was 8 degrees Celsius.  

In the evening I face timed my mom and brother and then my dad, brother. We were even able to include my grandma on the call just through a regular phone call while my dad and brother were on face time with me. It is a tradition for her to always come up with fun puzzles and trivia for everyone and we did them over the pone and face time. Although this year the questions were different from previous years. Usually if we were at her house for Christmas everyone would pay attention and count decorations scattered around to try and be prepared for questions like, how many snowmen are in the bathroom or how many saints are in the living room.
This years questions included things like:
What is known as the "stinking rose"?
Who wrote the Star Spangled Banner? Year?
How many stores does Kroger have?

Overall I had a good Christmas and have amazing people in my life.

Black Wednesday

On December 10th the biggest storm in 10 years was said to hit Ireland and was named Black Wednesday. There were 50+ knot winds and 40+ foot waves in parts of Ireland. Iria, Johanna and I decided to do the cliff walk to see how Tullin Strand and Bundoran bay were affected. It was extremely windy which made it hard to walk when we were going against the wind not only because of the force of the wind but occasionally bits of hail and rain would fly into our faces. All of main beach was covered in ocean foam which made it look like it had snowed but it was just spew from the ocean covering the ground and flying around in the air. Tullin was a huge mess of white water across the entire beach and the waves were pushing around huge amounts of sand. It was incredible to see how drastically different the beach could look when mother nature was letting out some frustration.

      

Galway Getaway

About a month into my time in Bundoran it was time for an exciting trip to Galway. Johanna, Iria, Annie and I were all able to get a couple days off work, courses and other obligations to spend some time exploring other parts of Ireland. It was really nice to see Galway during the Christmas season because they have a Christmas market with food, gifts and decorations. The entire town seemed to light up at night with the Christmas spirit. When we went out there was always live music not only in the pubs but along the streets and around almost every corner. We wandered around the town during the day and explored the Christmas market and local pubs in the evening. It was an amazing place and had a lovely time on our Galway Getaway!