So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish!

[Andrew Jordan]

Sorry for the lack of posts lately but my wife and I have been busy planning/packing as we are moving to the other side of the world on the 18th August. To be more specific we will be joining Ian S and others in beautiful, sunny England, basing ourselves in London for a couple of years ... on a sort of working holiday ... emphasis on the holiday hopefully. The reasons are many. Our last major adventure before we settled down and have kids. Travel Europe. Get paid in Pounds. And hopefully find 1 maybe 2 decent French wines (although I may need more than 2 years to be able to do this! ).

Anyway, I would just like to say thankyou to everyone on the Forum for their continued insight, tasting notes, heads up on special offers (thanks especially goes to Brian, Craig and Christo), winery tours (thanks Gavin), and just general banter on Australian wine and the wine industry overall. I have learnt a great deal from this Forum about Australian wine and will continue to do so for many years to come I am sure. And in the next couple of years I will be relying on you all even more to report on new up-and-coming wineries, new boutique releases, etc so I don't miss out on anything. And hopefully I will be able to post some positive reports on Old World wines!

See you all in a couple of years.

PS And a big thankyou to Gavin for making this Forum available to all. He's the MAN.

[chris]

Good luck AJ, am sure you'll have a great time. when settled rejoin the forum & let us know how it is all going. moving in time for the 04' burgs (next month) & 05' bordeaux (in a few years)... lucky bugga!!

what about a farewell offline?...

christo

EDIT: um accidently logged on to wrong account... should be christo not chris...

[Davo]

Excellent.

Somewhere to stay on the next trip to the Old Dart

All the best. Oh, and you can still log in from the UK you know.

[Ian S]

All the best. Oh, and you can still log in from the UK you know.

Indeed, though the UK wine pages forum will be useful for offlines (there's some amazing stuff at some of these do's - if you like really good, really old shit, then Linden Wilkie's tastings sound incredible)

There's a good overview of London wine shops on Jamie Goode's site and plenty of good (and even more crap) restaurants to discover in London. One good one for something a little different though... Garbo's (swedish restaurant ) on Crawford St (~ Marleybone area).

I'll apologise in advance for:
- Heathrow Airport
- The tube
- The soul-lessness of much of tourist London (there are great bits as well though - you'll soon track your favourites down)
- The price of food - especially meat
- Lack of sporting facilities
- The traffic
- Supermarkets (If you can afford it, shop in Waitrose as it's streets ahead in terms of quality). Also look out for farmers markets.

Apart from that it's a great place. Just think of all those lovely European wines and cheeses.

Hope you have a restful trip over and a great time over here.

regards

Ian

[Mike Hawkins]

Dont forget to bring something decent to drink on your way through NY next month. I have a good idea what's in your cellar, so don't be stingy ! Customs in the US never seems to have a problem with a dozen or so bottles .....

[GraemeG]

I'll apologise in advance for:
- The tube

Ian,
Andrew's from Sydney - he's used to an overcrowded, unreliable train system. But he's also expecting infrequent off-peak service, and a network that covers only a tiny proportion of the metropolitan area. Doubtless it baffles Londoners, but Sydneysiders generally rave about how good the Tube is compared to what they're used to...
cheers,
Graeme

[Gasman]

Andrew, my wife and I recently returned from London (we lived in Clerkenwell for 18 months) on a work/travel exploit much as your own sounds. We had a great time - lots of travel around the U.K. whilst working, and bookended the trip with travel around mainland Europe. Heaps of great food and wine options in London - make sure to visit Borough Market (and the Majestic wine store next to it). We're back now and have just had our first child - life changes dramatically, so enjoy your time over there.

If you want any other tips of places to visit when you get there, just post and I'll fill you in.

[bacchaebabe]

Ian, you forgot to apologise for the coffee!

Have fun Andrew, as I have no doubt you will. Just get a job quickly because when you are paying for everything in Aussie pesos, it does your head in. Actually, our peso is quite strong against the US$ at the moment, but still terrifying against the pound.

[Ian S]

Ian, you forgot to apologise for the coffee!

Indeed and I will rectify that straight away

Andrew
I'd like to apologise for the fact that you'll actually encounter stuff here that tastes like coffee and is strong enough to have a macchiato or cappuccino, without it tasting solely of milk.
If you get homesick, just pop into McDonalds and you'll feel just like home

Plenty of good places to get coffee beans - perhaps the place on Old Compton St (Turkish coffee house I think, about 30-40 odd different beans). This has the added advantage of you being able to express surprise a la "oh look a wine shop a couple of doors away (Vintage House) do you mind if I have a quick look?" Nice selection of whisky there as well, including "taster bottles".

regards

Ian

[Andrew Jordan]

Thanks all for the kind words.

what about a farewell offline?...

Christo,

Would love to have one but unfortunately time is against us ... unless we can organise one in the next week!

Excellent.

Somewhere to stay on the next trip to the Old Dart

All the best. Oh, and you can still log in from the UK you know.

Davo,

Your most welcome mate ... just don't bring to many friends with you as I am sure we will be living in a shoebox. Thanks for clarifying that I can access the internet in the UK ... I can now sleep at night.


Ian/Gasman,
Thanks for the tips. I should be able to hit the ground running ... especially in the wine area. By the way, where is Clerkenwell? Would you suggest this as an area to live in London? Any other areas worth checking out?

Dont forget to bring something decent to drink on your way through NY next month. I have a good idea what's in your cellar, so don't be stingy ! Customs in the US never seems to have a problem with a dozen or so bottles .....

Mike,

Don't worry, we are bringing some "good" stuff with us ... especially a few Sparkling Shiraz as I know how hard it is to get this in the US. Maybe even a Kalleske Johann as well!

Ian, you forgot to apologise for the coffee!

Have fun Andrew, as I have no doubt you will. Just get a job quickly because when you are paying for everything in Aussie pesos, it does your head in. Actually, our peso is quite strong against the US$ at the moment, but still terrifying against the pound.

Kris,

No need to worry about the coffee ... I don't drink the stuff ... although my wife does. Yes, finding a job will be one of the first priorities once we land. Fortunately for us there is a large demand for accountants in London currently, so we should not be living on Aussie $ for to long. Otherwise we will be back sooner than expected.