We set off early on the last day of our road trip as we had lots to do before the day ended; visit the Donegal cliffs, the Giant's Causeway and the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, then on to Belfast to drop off the hire car and catch a bus for the hour and a half trip back to Derry. Phew!

First stop, the cliffs of Donegal. As we wound our way up the road to the top of the cliffs, it narrowed and came dangerously close to the edge of the cliffs…about a metre or two from the edge…and NO GUARDRAILS! What if my foot accidently pressed to the floor and I uncontrollably turned the steering wheel to the left...we'd go over the edge and be killed! My heart was pumping fast, my palms were sweating and my knees were shaking…as were Hayley's ribs, she thought it was a great joke. If only she was old enough to be listed as a driver, I would have made her drive…though what if her foot accidently pressed to the floor etc etc. I continued on until the road passed through a cutting in a hill and there was room to pull over and still let other cars pass. We were walking from here.

I must say, when we got to the top, the view across the blue, blue sea was amazing…and possibly worth the loss of a few years of my life. Thankfully there was a fence at the top, but Hayley insisted on getting my heart racing again by going over to see some sheep in an unfenced area. It was very very cold and windy, and although we rugged up in our big coats and gloves to keep the cold out, we weren't successful. There were a couple of little lakes at the top of the cliffs, I guess the crazy sheep that lived there used them for water.

As we continued along the coast line the cold weather kept us company. We stopped at Enniscrone, a coastal town, to make sure we weren't seeing things…in the freezing cold weather, there were surfers (albeit in wetsuits) in the bleak, cold, rough sea. It was so windy; my scarf was at a right angle to my neck! I would love to have stayed in one of the pastel coloured terrace houses in this little seaside town, but Derry was calling us.

We eventually arrived at the Giant's Causeway, a geological marvel, millions of interlocking hexagonal stone columns apparently formed by a volcanic eruption. Along with other tourists we climbed over these incredible stones and took lots of photos.

We pressed onto the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, a rope suspension bridge which links the mainland to tiny Carrick Island. Unfortunately (I'm lying when I say this as there is no way I was going across this "bridge") we were running out of time as we had to be in Belfast before the hire car office closed, so we couldn't stop. I did feel really sorry for Hayley as this was one of the things on her list of things to do and we just didn't have time to do it…I guess it's a good reason for her to visit Ireland again.

One of the most memorable sights on our road trip for me was a tiny village, or maybe it was just a "farm" with lots of out buildings, nestled at the base of some cliffs right on the beach. Imagine waking up with the sea just metres from your door, it was so cute.

As we drove up the hills on our way to Belfast we noticed something white along the sides of the road, it reminded me of the cotton that blows off the trucks on the roads around Kingaroy. The higher we climbed the thicker it became, until we both realised it was snow! So there really was a cold snap.

After saying goodbye to our trusty hire car at Belfast Airport, we jumped on the bus, which was about half full, to take us back to Derry. We sat in the front seat so we had a good view of the scenery and after a while the couple behind us realised we weren't locals and asked us where we were from. They were excited to hear we were Australian and we were soon chatting like old friends.

After a suitable length of time, I broached the subject of why Derry was referred to as both Derry and Londonderry. The lady told us in hushed tones (in her beautiful lilting voice) that it was all to do with "The Troubles"'. The "nationalists" of Northern Ireland (who are predominately Catholic) wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom, while the "unionists" (who are mainly Protestant) wanted it to be reunited with the rest of Ireland. Therefore the nationalists refer to it as Londonderry and the unionists refer to it as Derry. Personally I think it should be part of the rest of Ireland so I refer to it as Derry.

With our destination about half an hour away, the remaining passengers (about ten or twelve) who apparently all knew each other, had moved up to where we were sitting and were excited to hear that we were going to Derry especially for the Halloween Festival to celebrate Hayley's 21st birthday. They were keen to hear about our travels and tell us what we should do while in Derry. I asked about a traditional Irish pub for us to visit and they recommended Peadar O'Donnell's.

At last we reached our destination and after a short walk arrived at our hostel, where some of the other guests were busily carving Jack-o-Lanterns. We literally threw our bags in our room and took off to Tesco to buy a pumpkin for Hayley to carve…a dream come true for her, something she's wanted to do since a child. To save time I went back to a Chinese restaurant we passed on our way to Tesco to order some dinner, we were both looking forward to some Asian food. When we meet up again Hayley was carrying a huge pumpkin and wearing the biggest grin.

We quickly ate, then it was down to some serious Jack-o-Lantern carving. In true Hayley fashion, there would be no freestyling with the carving, she carefully drew the face onto the pumpkin before she began carving. The end result was an amazing looking lantern bearing a cross-eyed gappy-toothed face. Everyone agreed it was the best of all the lanterns. She placed a candle inside and set it on the mantle with the rest.

It was then off to bed for us to try to get some sleep before the big day tomorrow.