I woke up this morning and packed for an overnight. The plan was to meet up with my friend Katy who I had seen the previous week. Conor dropped me at the train station and I headed north towards Coleraine. It was a lovely ride, however I sat facing the wrong way so I had a sore neck from looking out the window the whole time. The railroad went along the coast with a few lovely stretches of beach but also at times the railroad was surrounded by paddocks and paddocks some filled with sheep and cows. Felt a little bit like home sometimes. I arrived just after midday into Coleraine and Katy picked me up soon after that.

First stop on the tour was Giants Causeway. The drive along the coast was lovely and once we got there, it felt like half of Europe was there to see it. Joined by thousands of others we began the walk down to the big stepping stones on the waters edge. They are simply incredible just to look at, as the volcanic activity has led to the shaping of each of these columns. It would be very interesting to see how far into the ocean the same sculpted rocks go. Unlike many of the visitors, we carried on past the rocks and up and around the causeway

where we had views back down towards the rocks, but also go closer to the cliff side with some columns up there. We got some amazing views of the coast, however we came to a gate that was shut due to rock fall and erosion which restricted the distance we could travel around the causeway. It was still very cool to see it all and just be oceanside.

Once we did the full loop up and around the causeway we got back in the car and headed back on up the coast. We were headed for the Carrick-a-Rede

Rope Bridge, which is also a site for some of the filming of Game of Thrones. It’s a shame I don’t watch it so I wouldn’t recognize it from the show. People can correct me if I am wrong, but thousands of people a day, pay entry to walk a kilometer along the coast and then walk across a 10m rope bridge which leads to the coastal island, Carrickarede. Now before you all judge me, Katy had National Trust member passes so we got in for free. But yes, we walked the 1km, waited in line for 30 minutes to then walk across this rope bridge and explore the island, before we waited in line to return across the bridge. I find it all a little obscure that there is such attraction to this single rope bridge, but maybe it is because to access my house in New Zealand, we have a swing bridge which is actually longer than the rope bridge. Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the surround scenery.

The coastline is unlike coastline that I have seen before, and the oceans can be pretty unforgiving. The little Island that the bridge took us across to was very cool, and on a clear day we would have been able to look out across the water to friendly neighbors, Scotland.

Katy had one more stop for me on our afternoon expedition. We headed back past the causeway to the Dunluce Castle. It is a now ruined medieval castle, but it remains fairly intact, at least for you to get an idea of the incredible sculpture it once was. It is right on the ocean, and there is actually a cave that from the backside of the castle goes down under and into the ocean. Im not sure of the true structure of it, but I’m sure there quite well could have been an escape route out below the castle into the ocean below.

Finally my tour was complete for the day and we headed to the home we were staying at. The house is owned by Stu, who is the father of Katy Best. Katy Best is the mother of the family my friend Katy is an Au Pair for. Stu has three daughters, who were all there with their kids, 9 and then the sisters had another friend who brought two more kids with her. So there was kids running around everywhere. I think the age bracket was 3-8yrs. But it was great to be in a family environment again. Everyone was lovely and we had a grand old time along with bits of drama here and there with the kids. A typical family fish and chips dinner, before the kids got put to bed and we spent time just chatting outside. Around 9pm Katy and I walked along the ocean side to the BayView Hotel which has a bar down stairs. We grabbed a drink and went and sat outside looking across the bay as the sunset. It was just wonderful to relax and chill out finally. We continued to share stories of our high school memories, some hilarious memories. Eventually the drizzle forced us inside where live music was being played. We spent 20 minutes listening but it was just very packed, so we headed on home for the night.