Left work at about 3.45am to head to the airport - once again that part of the trip was longer than the flight but I got there.

Details on the hostel and two photos

The bus dropped me off right around the corner from the hostel in Dublin and I pretty much went straight to bed.

It was a very early start with the bus leaving at 8.00am so it was up early for breakfast.

Talked to a few people at brekky and it seemed that everyone was going on the tour.
There ended up being 14 of us in all and 7 Aussies - two couples and two blokes on their own and me.

Joseph Patrick Mulligan (two photos)

Our tour guide was very very Irish…his name was Joseph Patrick Mulligan.
He looked like a little leprechaun and he was all about the craic (Irish word for fun and laughs and good times).
He sang a lot of old Irish songs and generally kept us entertained.

Our first stop was the Rock of Cashel.
On the way there we drove past the place were they filmed some of "Braveheart" (which was actually set in Scotland)
and the part of Ireland where the top race horse studs are…that is where Melbourne Cup Winner Vintage Crop came from.

A few details and brief history (postcard from Tanya)

(two photos)----- Tanya and "The Rock" (two photos)

Then we got to the Rock of Cashel.
Joey stopped for us on the highway so we could take some shots before we got there.
It did look pretty special perched up on the hill.

Just as we were getting ready to go again a massive big tour coach parked right in front of us to let its passengers off for photos as well.
Joey was a bit cranky at this and got around them and then stopped right in front of the group of tourists blocking their view…it was funny!

The Rock of Cashel up close was pretty cool as well.

(three photos)---- (two photos)----

-------- Tanya visiting the graveyard (two photos)

We went in and wandered around and took photos.

The views------ and here is Tanya

The views over the valleys were lovely.

A few details and brief history (postcard from Tanya)

---------- (two photos)

The next stop was Cahir Castle in Cahir.
It was like Caerphilly Castle (see Tanya's "Trip to Wales" albumn) in that it was in the middle of a town right next to the road.

(two photos)- Tanya on the battlements- View from the walls

It was nice inside and there was lots of climbing and running around to be done.

Tanya "on the stairs to nowhere"

There is a nice photo of me on a set of stairs that went nowhere but they were very skinny and looked like they should have been in a castle.

We then went to a pub in Cahir and had a the biggest roast beef meal that I have had in a long time (although I still don’t think it would have been enough for Brett!)

After that it was back on the bus for more driving (nothing is very far in Ireland so the driving wasn’t too bad)

We drove through County Tipperary at which point Joey started singing to us “It’s a long way to Tipperary”.
We drove past the last port of Titanic before she hit the "ice cube" (Joey’s words)
and past Michael Flatley’s house (Riverdance)

"I really like this photo"

(two photos)---------

Then we got to Blarney Castle.

Tanya in the Castle grounds

The grounds of Blarney were beautiful.
The Castle was lovely too and still in quite good condition.

Looking down from the stair well (two photos)- View from the walls

We climbed all the way to the top through some very tight-fitting round staircases.

Where The Stone is located----- and a close-up view

The Blarney Stone

Then we lined up to kiss the Blarney Stone and be blessed with 'the gift of the gab for seven years'.

Gregg went first because he isn’t good with heights and you have to hang out upside down to get to it.

Tanya kissing The Stone

I think I went next…I like heights and this was fine.
There were steel bars to hold and to keep us from falling because the little old man holding our legs wasn’t going to be able to do much at all!
Anyway not sure if I can spin a good yarn yet but I will keep you informed.

The view down to the ground

There was another guy Brett, who kissed the stone and after doing it we could all see his legs were shaking - he doesn’t like heights at all!

OifiganPhoist

The last drive of the day was to Killarney our stop for the night - we did the itinerary backwards.

The hostel (another Paddy’s Palace) was okay…there were six in a room and everyone in my room was on the tour.

We showered and went and had some dinner before heading to the cocktail bar for cheap drinks.
There were three Paddywagons in that night so as well as the hostel being full the bar was too.
The cocktails were nice but I only had one…I had a bit of a headache.

Tanya and "the group of us in a pub"-- Gregg Megan

Everyone then headed to the pub for some traditional Irish music (of which we caught about one and a half songs!!) then the pop music started.

My headache got worse so I headed back to the hostel with two girls and took some drugs and went to bed.