DIARY OF A GHOST HUNTER

 We have chosen to take it easy this trip. Previously it was a case of trying to fit in as much as possible at break neck speed making ourselves exhausted and not really allowing ourselves to be in the moment because we were too busy filming. Although part of the project of coming to Ireland has been to film it was plainly obvious to us that we wanted to connect more with places, people and experiences rather than flying through them for the sake of more content creation. This morning we took time to enjoy our breakfast at our accommodation and to then make our way to the Hill of Tara to delve into the history of the Irish Kings and just 'take it in'. After hitting the shops and looking for a few trinkets to bring home we walked the site and sat down on the grass on one of the mounds to just consider the history of the place that we were at. The Hill had been used for over 5000 years as a place of gathering and burial, inauguration and exchange of prisoners. Sitting on the site...

 Another glorious day in Ireland and today the sun shone through the clouds to give us a perfect day for travel. We started off with a full Irish breakfast, but I stopped at the black pudding and had to hand that over to Anne. We posted some mail and had another coffee scones down in the town centre and at about midday we headed off for some more site seeing. The first stop was at Lackeen Tower House. There is a significant amount of folklore connected to the site. It is said that it is now the home to a pooka, a fairy shape-shifter from Irish mythology. The legend goes that some old hags were stealing from a dead body when an O’Kennedy came upon them.  They were defended by the pooka which was captured by O’Kennedy.  It was taken to Lackeen castle where O’Kennedy’s servants begged their master to let it go or else they would be cursed. After promising to never hurt any member of the O’Kennedy family, the pooka was released.  There is a local tradition which states t...

 How many experiences can we have in one day without our heads exploding! Today we tried to find out! We left our accommodation at Clara Lodge and made our way south. We decided that we did not want to travel hours to destinations this time around, we wanted to enjoy places at a more relaxed pace.  The first stop was a Kildare where we wanted to visit Brigid's Well and St Brigid's Church. St Brigid. We had been here before (for me third time) and I have a real connection to her energy. Brigid was not always a Saint, nor was she Catholic, but she was, let's say appropriated as the Irish would not stop celebrating her. The Church was beautiful but also a little sad that it seemed to be St Brigid in name but little on the inside celebrated her. I did not see an eternal flame, which is part of her legend and it seemed to be all about standard Catholic imagery. I was disappointed. At the Well, now that was a different story. This place is ALL ABOUT Brigid. It is just beautiful. ...

 Finally, yes, finally I put my butt on a plane and have headed off to Ireland with Anne for a much needed break away and to do more filming for YouTube. Do you enjoy flying? I enjoy flying at take off, meal times and when I've landed - the hours in between, not so much. We did our first leg from Sydney to Dubai which took 14 hours and it was gruelling. The plane was packed and the seats were very uncomfortable for an Emirates plane. Then a whirlwind run through Dubai airport to get the connecting flight to Dublin. This was another 7 hours and let's say you REALLY understand just how far Australia is away from everywhere else on those long haul flights. But we arrived safely, got our first coffee at the airport, got the hire car and a SIM card and we took off to our first stay 40 minutes out of Dublin as we just could not afford the prices of Dublin hotels. We stayed in Sallins which is a glorious spot with a canal and a few pubs, a huge Tesco and Lidl and a Polish supermark...

  In two days I am boarding a plane and heading from Sydney Australia to Ireland. That is one long trip! I have to constantly make sure that I do not focus on the fact that I am sitting in a big tin can high up in the sky so I do not get too claustrophobic. I try to watch a movie or sleep, and, as I have a very busy life I finally allow myself to sit in gratitude and be thankful that I am travelling, but also, that whilst I am on that plane, I really do not have to do anything. I can just sit back. So much pressure just disappears. I cannot lie, I sometimes will use tablets to help relieve stress and anxiety, especially if there is turbulence and that isn't very often. But, as I get vertigo, I cannot afford to lose my composure or it’s not going to be pretty. Do I carry some crystals with me? Yes I do! I use them as  touch stones  so that if I need to, I can roll them between my fingers to calm my nerves. I often also wear a crystal bracelet or two and I start keeping the...

  The Mermaid Inn in Rye, Sussex England is 600 years old and was a popular Ale House with sailors in the Middle Ages. The cellars date back to 1156 and the building was rebuilt in 1420 as the whole village was burnt to the ground by French Raiders on June 22nd 1377. The Inn has 31 rooms and each one is named after a person from the history of the Inn and Rye. It has been featured in the MOST HAUNTED TV series. and has had a long list of famous visitors including a few of the royal family. There is a lady in grey/or white who sits by the fireplace in Room 1, which is called the JAMES ROOM . Other apparitions are another white lady who walks across a room and stops at the foot of the bed, a man who walks through the bathroom wall and into the main room in another part of the Inn and a woman who is supposed to be the wife of one of the local smugglers back in the 16th Century when Rye was still a port village. Other reports include bottles smashing in the Elizabethan Chamber room a...

  The name of the town is thought to have come from the Gundungurra/Ngunnawal people indigenous to that region. ‘Collector’ is said to have been derived from the word ‘colegdar’, the Gundungurra word for the area (aussietowns.com.au). Collector was first occupied by Europeans in 1829 when Terence Aubrey Murray and his family were granted the farming and grazing lands alongside Lake George, NSW. The property went on to be called Winderradeen (Australian Dictionary of Biography). Murray later acquired other lands including Yarralumla sheep station, which would evolve over time to become the home of the Governor General.  He later became a politician and was appointed to the Legislative Council of NSW Parliament (Australian Dictionary of Biography). The post office in Collector first opened in 1848, and the first hotel opened in 1841. The only hotel remaining today, originally titled the Commercial Hotel (now the Bushranger Hotel, see below), opened in 1861. The Bushranger Hotel ...