Ah Ireland you beauty! We arrived in Dublin on Ryanair and were greeted by Passport Control in such a nice way it felt like we were just having a chat.

We got the bus into town to the north side just near the Spire (or as it is locally known, "the stiffy by the Liffey" and the "stiletto in the ghetto"), as it is felt to be of not much use or is particularly attractive. It costs a mere $1.5 M to clean but it does have a light at the top to guide drunken people home which is helpful.

Of course, after checking into our B'N'B it was located conveniently next to a restaurant and next to a pub. (Actually, as our tour guide quipped "the pub is located next to the pub, which is next to a pub, which is across the street from a pub", which actually pretty much sums up Ireland).

So of course, we went to the pub and had our first Guinness in Ireland and wow is it different and so much nicer than in NZ, not as bitter and very creamy and smooth. It was then accompanied by a beef and Guinness stew. Fantastic! The booze and grub is awesome here and gives NZ a run for its money. The pub was a typical example we saw over all of Ireland as it was almost medieval feeling with dark carved wood and lots of paraphernalia everywhere. A traditional Irish band played in the bar which is like a jam session really with fiddle, guitar, flute and violin plus of course singing. Irish of all ages go to pubs at all hours of the day and late into the night. A really different way of entertaining and enjoying themselves which is always loud with lots of laughter and ribbing. A lot of fun.

The next day it was day one of our six day tour around Ireland on Paddywagon. Our big green bus with about 20 people or so and then a few more were picked up a few days later, headed off from Dublin. The group consisted of Australians, Malaysians, Americans (don't mention Trump), Canadians and South Africans and us. Plus Freddie our tour guide and driver, aka Jingle or Shakira. This guy had us laughing the whole six days, he was hilarious even if I am pretty sure some of his stories were tall stories, but they were great to listen to anyway. He kept us entertained either with the honking of his horn at poor unsuspecting souls or sheep and scaring the daylights out of them or hassling mostly the Americans with the saying "OMG" in a heavy American accent constantly. He really made the tour special and of course actually gave us some historical information on the sites on the way.

That first day we went to Monasterboice, a monastic settlement dating back to year 501. This ancient monastery is home to Ireland's best preserved and finest Celtic crosses (to represent the combining of the Christian faith with a cross and the Pagan faith with a circle for the moon), and it also has a monumental fully intact Round Tower.

It was then a visit and an overnight stop in Belfast after we crossed the border which is not really a border as such, apart from the change in road markings and signage from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland. This meant for us a change in currency too.

We had a very sobering tour with the Black Taxi tour to view the Peace Wall and political murals and hear from these locals their views on what happened and is happening politically in Northern Ireland. A few drivers are quite worried about the ramifications of Brexit and that the war will start up again. It was eerily surreal to see what looked like normal everyday people going about their business but with a giant wall separating the Protestant and Catholic communities with gates on the road that are closed at night. There is still a heavy undercurrent going on clearly, with lots of distrust as the actual fighting only stopped not that long ago at all.

We had a wander around the Christmas markets and the City Hall and then stayed the night in an Ibis hotel and met up with the group, at you guessed it a pub and had dinner and drinks to get to know each other. We became friends on the trip with two Australians and two Americans particularly, and had some fun days and even better nights. Thanks guys if you are reading this!

The next day it was off cruising the Beautiful North Coast. We visited the Dark Hedges, famed by Game of Thrones. That was then followed by Carrick-a-rede rope bridge (which I have to say was a bit disappointing as it was quite tiny, but the coast was lovely). After that we saw the Giant's Causeway! A UNESCO world heritage site and the location of an estimated 60,000 hexagonal columns of basalt rock formed by cataclysmic violent volcanic eruptions. Quite impressive. Then it was a photo stop of Dunluce Castle - ancestral home of the McDonnell clan, until its kitchen collapsed into the sea during a great feast in 1639 - killing many staff. The night was spent in Derry / Londerry which had a similar vibe to Belfast, Although the city was a lot more attractive and not so blown up as Belfast. We learnt from our walking tour guide of Derry's walls (1613) why it is officially known as Londonderry (the signage on the road often has the "London" scrawled out by teenagers) and the story of the long bloody siege here in 1689. We went to the Bogside district, scene of the Bloody Sunday massacre in 1972 and inspiration for U2's classic anthem 'Sunday, Bloody Sunday'. Josh and I spent an interesting evening in the Peadar O'Donnells pub. We thought it was odd that there were forty or so students or more wandering in and out with different Christmas jumpers on. I was most impressed that not one of them was wearing the same jumper. We eventually found out that in fact they were doing the 12 pubs of Christmas. Later on in the evening we had to fend off a scary looking drunk dude who arranged for Josh to do a tattoo (go figure) on him the next day at midday. Of course, we had left town by then.

Day 3 started after staying in a fab B 'N'B then with the portal tomb of Creevykeel dating back to the pagan years in Ireland that gives us an insight (sort of) to our earliest inhabitants from the stone age and their rituals and burial ceremonies. We then visited W B Yeat's final resting place in Drumcliff Abbey. We spent the night in Galway and hit the pub after getting drenched and then deciding to buy an umbrella.

The next day was spent cruising down the West coast. Beautiful scenery and then came upon the Cliffs of Moher, wow. Rising over 700 feet in height and with a wind that rivals Wellington's. We spent the night in Killarney, lovely place, Freddie's home town and had a big night eating, drinking and dancing.

The following day was spent on the Dingle Peninsula after we had a horse and cart ride through Killarney National Park. The Park is huge with Irish deer but it was bitterly cold even with a rug on. The Park is very atmospheric even in winter and the horses looked well cared for thank goodness. We then stopped off at Ireland's longest beach at Inch, and then onto Dingle. Dingle is celebrated for having most pubs in Ireland for a town of its size, 52 pubs and 2000 people, although we only went into one for an Irish Coffee as we were hunting around for some tinsel to decorate the bus. Then we had some spectacular views on the coast around Slea Head after stopping off to see Beehive huts (circa 2000 BC) and some people to pet lambs (hey not me of course) with amazing views of Sleeping Giant Island and the Blasket Islands. This area is completely Gaelic (Irish) speaking. That night we went to the tour's own pub, the Randy Leprechaun on the Dingle Peninsula. That was interesting until it got to karaoke which is never good. Josh had an Irish Car bomb (Guinness with a shot glass dropped in of Baileys and whisky) which sounds horrendous and inappropriately named but quite funny. Josh and our new friend Phil very gallantly went and sang a karaoke duet I put them up to. Quite cruel but quite funny.

The last day of the tour was crossing the Cork and Kerry mountains (large hills?) and stopping at Blarney Castle where we kissed the Blarney Stone endowing us with the gift of eloquent speech (gift of the gab) for 7 years (I don't think it's worked?). The last stop was back in Dublin at the Guinness Storehouse which was fast, furious and crowded.

We had an early night back at the B'N'B where we started and a slow start to the day consisting of a three hour free walking tour of Dublin (a very serious tour guide) which included sights such as Trinity College, the Temple Bar area, Dublin Castle and St Patrick's Cathedral, more food and more shopping followed by drinks and dinner (well fast food as nothing was open by then) with the American couple from our tour. Dublin is a great city and I love how they have not allowed high rises it feels really provincial.

Then flight no 18 the next day back to London. We really loved Ireland, it was everything I expected and more. The people really are so wonderful, it was so much fun.