Back in 2023 during my visit to the ski resort of Whistler in Canada, I had the pleasure of meeting Aussies Ash and Mandy White — a wonderful couple who have become good friends. In September 2024 they embarked upon a 5 week European tour and came to Liverpool and New Brighton for a whirlwind 24 hours! Here’s what we crammed in during their flying visit….
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I met Ash and Mandy at Lime Street station at 10am and we headed to the waterfront to check out the iconic Beatles statues, before a visit to the Radio City Tower to take in the spectacular views of the city. An absolute must for anyone visiting Liverpool, it’s a great way to gain an understanding of the city’s landscape and landmarks.
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After this, we checked out the legendary Cavern Club and The Bombed Out Church before having a couple of drinks at a couple of Liverpool’s fantastic pubs — The Philharmonic and The White Hart, a quirky new Dickens-esque pub on Hope Street. Here they tried sausage rolls and pork pies with brown sauce for the first time!
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Ash said: “Liverpool was amazing! The mixture of old and new, the incredible amount of pubs and restaurants everywhere! The home of The Beatles! The Radio City Tower was spectacular and it was great to see the city from a bird’s eye view! A lively city with so much to see, eat and drink! We could live here, it’s a great place!”
Mandy added: “It was so nice to see your city, which I didn’t know much about before visiting. I thought it was going to be quite grey and a bit rough here but it’s such a beautiful city and everyone has been super friendly. The buildings are amazing and there’s so much history compared to Adelaide which is a very new city.”
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I’ve had the honour of appearing on Ash’s Milne Road Studios podcast that he runs back in Adelaide and now it was time for Ash and Mandy to appear on my La Vida Liverpool Live radio show on New Brighton Radio! It was a fantastic interview and we covered some interesting subjects such as dangerous animals in Australia and Aussie Rules Football.
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We then came to my hometown of New Brighton and they checked into New Brighton Hotel before enjoying a street art tour and a walk down the promenade, through Vale Park and for a pint at the historic Magazine Hotel pub. After a meander along Seabank Road and a quick stop at local gems Nickel City and Tallulah’s, we headed back to Victoria Road to enjoy the vibrant nightlife.
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We enjoyed pints, pizzas and live music at Rockpoint Records and I was interested to hear their thoughts on Hella Dough’s pizzas after they had recently sampled Italy’s pizzas during their European cruise. I felt a great deal of pride showing them around our city and seaside town and, as ever when I show guests around, people were very friendly and welcoming.
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After a great stay at New Brighton Hotel, before they left New Brighton on the Saturday morning they sampled a Full English Breakfast at Smuggler’s Cave — and of course their newly discovered brown sauce! I showed them the promenade, lighthouse and Fort Perch Rock before seeing them off at the train station.
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR RADIO INTERVIEW WITH THEM
Ash and Mandy said: “New Brighton is a really buzzing little seaside town with lots to do. Lots of pubs and restaurants — Rockpoint Records was really cool and Conor’s pizzas were even better than the Italian ones! The live music was great and it’s a really happy town with a great community spirit. It’s easy to get around and again we could easily live here. New Brighton Radio was a great experience — thank you for having us!”
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR RADIO INTERVIEW WITH THEM
It was a whirlwind visit and I would have loved to have shown them more but we packed a lot in during their brief time here. It was now time for them to go to see their daughter in London and a trip to Ireland, Northern Ireland and Cornwall. It was a real pleasure to show them around and they told me I should start ‘La Vida Liverpool Tours’ — something I might well look into!
CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR RADIO INTERVIEW WITH THEM
I’m so happy that I met these lovely people whilst travelling solo in Canada and it’s amazing how we’ve stayed friends and met up during their holiday to Europe. This is the real magic of life and by cultivating strong friendships with people all over the world we can make the world a better place! Thanks for the gifts of my shirt, the book about South Australia and beer cooler guys — it was so great to have you here!
