If we had to use two words to describe the last two weeks, they would be 'Time Flies' or 'Tempus Fugit' (calling upon our 10 words of Latin). We started the last couple of weeks by whipping the credit cards into submission and booking our flights to Zagreb and Dubrovnik in Croatia then on to Rome, Italy. The cards were still whimpering and carrying on, so we hit them even harder and booked an apartment via AirBnB in Zagreb and another apartment in Dubrovnik via our old favourite bookingdotcom. We've not heard a peep out of the cards since then funnily enough. Still, with a couple of tricks we made it more economical - for instance - I 'invited' James to join AirBnB - he got a $50 credit off his first booking and 500 Qantas points for his first booking (in addition to regular points for booking via the Qantas website) and I received a $30 referral credit. And his $50 didn't work correctly initially... so they fixed it and gave him another $30... truly a self-licking icecream. Remember our motto - 'Never, ever pay retail!' We're hugely excited by the Croatia trip as we're fans of both Christmas Markets (Zagreb's has been voted the best in Europe two years on the trot) and Game of Thrones (Kings Landing is filmed in Dubrovnik). Aside from anything else we've been keen on Croatia for about 5 years, but never made it there and we're ecstatic to be going in the off season as the tourist hordes and cruise ships have been causing miseries all summer.

Aside from planning future adventures, our days are full with sightseeing and the dogs in relatively equal proportions. We also try to learn something every day which in itself causes time to fly (doesn't have to be much). For instance, we recently learned the source of the term 'a soft day'. We knew it was when it was gray/cloudy/drizzly - but never realised that it actually referred to the feel of the ground underfoot. Just as a fine, blue sky day with a frost would be a hard day. We've not had any frosts yet (though nights are starting to cool down to 6-7 degrees. Weather dependent we run the dogs ragged on the property or up in the Comeragh mountains behind the house or, if they are lucky, drive them to the beach for a swim (them - not us - obviously). From a sightseeing perspective we've covered the gamut. Thursday (21 Sept) saw us visit Ring (An Rinne). Not the Ring of Kerry or the Ring of Cork just 'Ring'. It's an Irish speaking peninsula south of Dungarvan and we drove there to check out a crystal studio pioneered by a man who worked his way up in the Waterford Crystal empire. As youngsters (ie... younger than now) we never particularly appreciated crystal - but now love it - the chime it makes when clinked, the weight and the craftsmanship. The showroom was quite small but having seen their products on line, we were impressed. The son of the house demonstrated some cutting for us and we ended up getting a novel souvenir (no point us buying stunning whiskey glasses..., they'd end up in pieces) We ended up with a hand carved glass (not crystal) jar of home made marmalade. The marmalade tradition of Ring (apparently) goes back to a shipwreck that washed thousands of oranges up on the shore. They were salvaged (as you do) and the locals had to come up with as many uses as possible for oranges - thus marmalade gained huge popularity in Ring. One of the other attractions of Ring is the salt water seaweed baths facility down on the pier. One of the girls we spoke to at the info centre went there once... She enjoyed it well enough, but was afeared of something nipping her out of the seaweed. That wasn't the fear that beset us though... more so the expense - A$100/€60 odd for a hot seaweed/saltwater bath. If we're that keen we'll bring a sack of kelp back from the beach and through it in the bath one evening. All in all Ring was a lovely drive - it seems when it Ireland we get away from it all. In Ring you get even further away from it all - incredibly peaceful. We headed back to Dungarvan and visited King John's Norman castle founded in 1185. It's been restored in places but doing very well for 800+ years old (and great for the price - free!) To make a day of it we bought quiche and salad at the local supermarket and had lunch and thermos coffee on the waterfront. We are very attuned to the weather and there are some days (very, very soft days) when it's just not worth venturing out too far. But it can change, fine up and have blazing sunshine when least expected- which is why one Friday evening (22 Sept) we found ourselves heading out for a scenic drive through the Comeraghs to Mahon Falls at 5.30 pm... seemed a touch weird to be starting a drive at that hour, but it was only 1 hour's drive (return) and even with time to look at the waterfall, we were still back before dark. We truly take our fine weather as we find it.

We've never had a really good explore of this corner of Ireland, so are making up for lost time and the following Sunday (24 Sept) we loaded assorted boots, coats and coffee into the car and ventured to Ardmore and Youghal (pron: Yawl - from the Old Irish for yew woods, once plentiful in the area). We quickly saw the main attractions of Ardmore (conveniently located in the same graveyard). Ardmore is considered to be the oldest Christian settlement in Ireland and St Declan roamed these parts in around 350-450 AD. This was well before St Patrick and in the very early stages of Christianity's development. The major sites (in the cemetery) are the 12-13th century defensive round tower and ruined Cathedral and also the 8th century oratory of St Declan (believed by some to be the site of is grave - they even though the dirt from the grave area had healing powers once upon a time). We seriously considered doing Ardmore's cliff walk... but decided to save our feet for explorations later in the day and drove on to Youghal (remember: "you'll or yawl or even y'all just not you-gill).

It was Sunday, so we have to let them off, but it's a very quiet town these days. No major industry it seems and it's hard to believe it was a vibrant hub of activity in the 1500s. It was in fact much older than that and has evidence of neo-lithic settlement prior to the arrival of the Vikings. Puritanical too - flat out killing older women no one liked during the witch fever of the time and a great many gruesome executions depending on who was considered to be traitorous and which way the wind was blowing. Still, managed a not bad fish and chips on the beach then walked it off exploring the town walls, St Mary's church (founded by St Declan around 450 AD - quite a bit of building since then but considered the longest continuous place of worship in Ireland. They had a fabulous pop up museum within the church with screeds of local history.), Sir Walter Raleigh's home 'Myrtle Grove' and the main street including it's imposing Clock Tower Gate (stunning spot for hangings, torture, public executions and the gaol. It was even a family home for a while after everything else ended - now a museum.

After a huge day like this we invariably have a few days around the house, hanging with the dogs, doing housework, laundry and paperwork - pesky and mundane though it is. Last Wednesday we were working on Ark plans as it poured torrentially all day, interspersed with gale force winds. Even the dogs said 'just light the fire, we're fine as we are thanks'. Last Thursday we eventually got out of the house and went to Dungarvan for market day - we even had a plan - a big bag of mussels from the fish stall to whip up with onions, garlic and white wine. Rather sadly they were very popular and had sold out by 1 pm - never fear - next Thursday we'll be there bright and early as it's been weeks since we had seafood. To make it up to ourselves we sampled Fish & Chips and a thickshake from The Roma takeaway - only A$12/€8. Thought we might have recognised the accent of the man behind the counter as Romanian - close... First person we've ever met from Moldova, which is just next door. Phenomenal value and fabulous fresh cod & chips... should be a lot more popular than it is, but there you have it. It's officially going to be our weekly Thursday treat going forward and hopefully our magic touch will increase business for them.

Friday (29 Sept) was a stunningly fine morning to start a glitzy sounding drive. In our ongoing quest to leave no (ruined, mossy, ivy covered) stone unturned in this part of Ireland, we hit the Copper Coast and put Leaf the electric car (aka: The Sewing Machine) through her paces. By the by - have you noticed how coasts get popular with a good name... Cote d'azur... The Gold Coast etc... The Copper Coast moniker comes from the huge copper mining industry in the area through the 1800s. We started just outside Dungarvan at Clonea Beach (windswept and lonesome out of season with all its shops shut and no one about but us and the seagulls). The drove along this section of Ireland's coast was outstanding - Stradbally Cove, Ballydwan Cove, the Geopark visitors centre (excellent & inexpensive scones and brownies incidentally), Bunmahon Beach, Kilmurren Cove and Benvoy Beach - all different and increasingly more wild and woolley as an enormous cloud bank and storm starting threatening the coast. Really blew the cobwebs out before we turned in past the old Tankardstown copper mine and the ruins of Dunhill castle.

Speaking of castles, we took off on Saturday for a drive to nearby Clonmel (home to Magners & Bulmers cider). For the first time in a long time, Google Maps lost us as we hunted for Carey's Castle (we weren't lost per se... but Google would have been hard put to find us). Fortunately James spotted a sign as we were hunting about and then it was a just a misty, foggy 500 metre walk in to the castle ruins. A real fixer-upper but clear to see how pretty it once must have been. Onwards to Clonmel and we visited St Patrick's Holy Well and Marlfield Lake (speaking off - a teensy lotto win and we could buy Marlfield House close by - a mere couple of million and we would be, to the manor born). Clonmel was bustling and we stopped at O'Gormans cafe for a commemorative sausage roll and a coffee - it's been over 3 years since we've been to this town and we had fond memories of this coffee shop as it would have been about 2 degrees last time we visited and it staved off hypothermia. We took the (exceedingly)scenic route on the way home and whenever there was choice just took the more scenic option (smaller roads etc). Ended up clunking along the forestry track that leads down from the mountains behind our house. Very satisfying from a "scenic" drive point of view (if not from a comfort point of view!)

The week so far has been quiet in a good way. Sunday was wild storms again and the fire lit by 2 pm - otherwise just tootling along and enjoying the peace of the countryside. Next bit of excitement planned? Tonight actually. Euromillions has reached €190 million (A$285 million). We are already making plans... just have to get the correct numbers out of the machine. Easy enough you'd think. If we go really, really quiet... it's because we're newly minted gazillionaires and planning a voyage to Antarctica!

(The featured picture is The Dromana Gate, just a teensy detour off our drive to the dog beach, Ballyquin/Ardmore. The Hindu-Gothic design is thought to be inspired by John Nash's Royal Pavilion in Brighton. The Dromana Gate was originally constructed from papier-mache and wood and was to welcome home the owners from their honeymoon in Brighton in 1826. They loved it so much they later had it reconstructed in stone. It leads to Dromana House & Gardens). A little bit of Bollywood in the heart of Ireland.)