Hello all!
An update on the frosty mornings: there is a temperature display near the bus exchange and for the last 3 mornings (at about 8:15am) it has read 0, 1 and -1. On the way home at night (at about 6:00pm) it has been between 2 and 4. Add to this the footpath is quite slippery and it doesn't make for pleasant trips to and from work. This is not the kind of weather a Queensland kid expects in November! Mum, I hope that box full of warm gear gets here soon....
Also, I have modified the Rockies Trip blog entry to correct historical inaccuracies and add some comments. Don't bother re-reading if you have already seen it once. Nothing to see here people, move along.
Finally, check out the new title image!
P.S. Have fun at the election, all you Aussies still at home.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Seattle, Hockey, Work and Photos
Hi everyone
Hope you are all well. Can you believe it? Two blogs in a few weeks!
A quick update - since the last blog we've been to Seattle and it's getting really cold here. The last two mornings has been frosty! At the moment it is fine, but not looking forward to the rain coming back.
The Seattle trip was over the long weekend, to go and see an NFL game. Get this, it took us 3 HOURS to get through the border!!! And then another 30 minutes to get out of the car and line up inside, to get a new entry pass, get photo'd and fingerprinted. However, on the way back it took 30 seconds. He asked us where we lived and what we bought and that was it. Didn't even look at our passports. Although it was a long weekend, because of the strong Canadian dollar, there's been long lines each weekend. Seattle was nice, but we didn't see much. It was also wet, cold and windy. The game itself was amazing - marching bands, the crowd cheering for the entire 3.5 hours, cheerleaders. Amazing atmosphere. So now we have done NFL, baseball, basketball, hockey, and Canadian football.
Speaking of hockey, we went to the vancouver giants (under 19s) the other night. it was awesome - there was a fight in the first few minutes! we were in the first row (for only $20) and had pucks and people slammed up against the wall in front of us. anway, hopefully we'll get there again soon.
In terms of work, Mike has been renewed until the end of December and moved onto a new game (top secret). So now there is a much better chance of going through until when we leave. I have gone from being bored out of my brain, so juggling almost 3 jobs. I've been temping in an office for the last 3/4 weeks, I am about to start at Grouse (this Friday) and then Harbour Cruises have another quick season over Christmas. I'll be quitting the temp job once Grouse starts and the Harbour Cruises season is only for 3 weeks.
In terms of our trip home - we are leaving around 16 Feb, arriving in London around the 24 March - and have already come up against a few issues for our trip to London. But I'm sure we'll figure it out and I can't wait to travel again!
Ok, well the main reason I posted this blog is to tell you about the photos. I'm going to put up two more albums - my birthday and halloween. All I'll say about Halloween is it's massive over here, i want to start having halloween parties when we get home (dressing up is sooo much fun!) and that you should NEVER EVER have 7or 8 baileys and creme de meth (spelling) shots, spiked with vodka, along with a couple of bicardi and pineapples, all in the space of a few hours!
Love you all
xoxo
p.s. sorry to everyone I haven't replied to - there are a few of you. I'm really bad at the whole email correspondence thing, but I promise I'm always thinking about you all and am slowly getting to everyone!
take care of each other
Hope you are all well. Can you believe it? Two blogs in a few weeks!
A quick update - since the last blog we've been to Seattle and it's getting really cold here. The last two mornings has been frosty! At the moment it is fine, but not looking forward to the rain coming back.
The Seattle trip was over the long weekend, to go and see an NFL game. Get this, it took us 3 HOURS to get through the border!!! And then another 30 minutes to get out of the car and line up inside, to get a new entry pass, get photo'd and fingerprinted. However, on the way back it took 30 seconds. He asked us where we lived and what we bought and that was it. Didn't even look at our passports. Although it was a long weekend, because of the strong Canadian dollar, there's been long lines each weekend. Seattle was nice, but we didn't see much. It was also wet, cold and windy. The game itself was amazing - marching bands, the crowd cheering for the entire 3.5 hours, cheerleaders. Amazing atmosphere. So now we have done NFL, baseball, basketball, hockey, and Canadian football.
Speaking of hockey, we went to the vancouver giants (under 19s) the other night. it was awesome - there was a fight in the first few minutes! we were in the first row (for only $20) and had pucks and people slammed up against the wall in front of us. anway, hopefully we'll get there again soon.
In terms of work, Mike has been renewed until the end of December and moved onto a new game (top secret). So now there is a much better chance of going through until when we leave. I have gone from being bored out of my brain, so juggling almost 3 jobs. I've been temping in an office for the last 3/4 weeks, I am about to start at Grouse (this Friday) and then Harbour Cruises have another quick season over Christmas. I'll be quitting the temp job once Grouse starts and the Harbour Cruises season is only for 3 weeks.
In terms of our trip home - we are leaving around 16 Feb, arriving in London around the 24 March - and have already come up against a few issues for our trip to London. But I'm sure we'll figure it out and I can't wait to travel again!
Ok, well the main reason I posted this blog is to tell you about the photos. I'm going to put up two more albums - my birthday and halloween. All I'll say about Halloween is it's massive over here, i want to start having halloween parties when we get home (dressing up is sooo much fun!) and that you should NEVER EVER have 7or 8 baileys and creme de meth (spelling) shots, spiked with vodka, along with a couple of bicardi and pineapples, all in the space of a few hours!
Love you all
xoxo
p.s. sorry to everyone I haven't replied to - there are a few of you. I'm really bad at the whole email correspondence thing, but I promise I'm always thinking about you all and am slowly getting to everyone!
take care of each other
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
It's been sooooo long....
Hey all you wonderful, warm, beautiful, dry people in Auz!
Ok, well today is Tuesday, it’s 10.55am and I’m bored out of my mind!!! I’m not really working and although now I have a job (see below) no one has contacted me and so I have no idea when I start…..and to be honest, I haven’t exactly been doing a lot – it’s so cold and wet outside most days I usually just sit around and watch TV. Or go out and spend money – which is bad!
Anyway, yesterday Mike had a day off (after working 7 days straight) so we did the Grouse Grind – a walk up the local ski mountain (where I supposedly have a job). Wait, did I say walk, I meant a goddam HIKE and a half! Now apparently it’s supposed to take the average person 1.5 hours, it took us 1.75 hours. Our excuse is that Mike is getting over a cold so we were stopping a fair bit. We also haven’t really done any serious exercise in about 7 months. Still, I’m feeling a little unfit. However, on the plus side, neither of us are sore today so that’s gotta count for something right? I’m clutching at straws I know. Ok, well I’ll put you back to the original blog I started about 2 weeks ago……enjoy!
Some time a few weeks ago……
Today the sun has come out for the first time in about a week. The last 3 days it has pretty much been raining non-stop – not just drizzle, but rain. Oh joy!
We’ve really settled in these last few months – well it’s been about 2 since we wrote a blog and the time is just flying by! We have done heaps of stuff and only have just under 4 months to enjoy Vancouver before we leave. This blog is going to focus solely on Van – no US trip stuff. We will get there eventually, but it’s just soooo long ago and we still have so much to tell you all. So for the sake of my memory, and so that you actually hear from us relatively soon, here is a quick update about our life in Vancouver. So what’s been happening you may ask?
Well of course it was my birthday on Thursday! Thanks for everyone’s well wishes – I had a good day. I got a few CDs, a voucher for a massage and a cashmere scarf. Met Mike for lunch and then we had dinner together at one of our local North Van restaurants. I then headed out with the guys from work for some drinks and dancing. I got home at 4am so I reckon that’s a good job for an old 27 year old!
The other thing that has been dominating our lives is a mixture of job search (me) and overtime (mike). Harbour Cruises’ season is pretty much over in terms of regular cruises, so I had to start looking for a job to get me though to Feb when we leave. I spent the weekend at the three local mountain’s job fairs and now have a choice of jobs, but think I’ll go with Grouse – the most touristy, but closest, mountain. Mike’s EA Games job was extended from Sept to Oct. They then started them doing two nights a week overtime (until 9pm), then they introduced an 8am start every day, and now he’s doing overtime to 8pm every night, with the odd Saturday thrown in. We’re hoping they will renew his contract until Nov at least, but the pressure is now off that I’ve found a job. (Update - ok, well he was renewed to the end of Nov, but the pressure isn’t off cause I still haven’t started working!).
We’ve had a few visitors at our place these last few months. At the moment we have a couple from Auz crashing here for 5 days until their flight tomorrow arvo (they’re going home to Tazzy) and prior to that we had Chris and Alice crash for a month while they settle into Vancouver. It was nice to have roomies! But they have now been gone for a month – found a place and jobs so they’re all set. While they were here we finally cycled around Stanley Park – it was awesome!
What else….ah we went to the first Canucks game of the season. They lost but it was still pretty fun. Friggin expensive! I don’t know if any of you have tried to watch a hockey game at home on TV, but I struggle – I can’t see the puck and don’t know the rules and it all just goes downhill from there! However, being there is great and the atmosphere is pretty impressive. We are going to try and get to a Giants game, which is younger hockey team but still just as good, however, lots more fights (this is good for hockey right?) and most importantly, cheaper! Last Saturday we also went to a BC Lions game – Canadian Football. Like American football but different somehow (don’t ask me how). At first I kept looking away and missing everything, but by the second quarter I’d got the knack of actually paying attention for about 20 seconds and then doing whatever for the next minute while they stuffed around.
I almost forgot, we also went to Victoria, BC’s capital, on Vancouver Island. Wasn’t this a bloody adventure! We took public transport to this place and I think it took about 5 hours to get there, we stayed one night, and then it took about 4 hours to get home! It involved a bus from Nth Van (very early Sat morn), another bus to the airport, another bus to the ferry terminal, a ferry trip, another bus into Victoria. It’s a very cute, quaint, pretty little town. We had dinner at the best Italian restaurant I’ve ever been too! Great food, wine and terrific atmosphere! Apparently it had a very New York feel to it, according to the 2 ladies from Seattle that we waited in line with and sat about 2 mm away from – yeah, it was a little cramped, but that’s kinda what added to it’s charm. While in Victoria we also checked out the government building (daggy, but it was a free tour), went to a dodgy-as aquarium (daggy, but we had to pay for it!), went to a “castle”, which isn’t really a castle, more a mansion of this rich dude and they’ve restored it – pretty cool. Oh, and the main reason we went was for the Titanic display at the Museum of BC. It was great – lots of relics they had found and restored from around the wreckage of the Titanic site, as well as a whole bunch of quirky little stories.
Now, I’ve left the best til last. A few weeks ago we came back from a four day stint in the Rockies! It was soooooo beautiful. We saw big horned sheep, mountain sheep, elk, bears, and a few other unidentifiable fluffy things!
Back to today.....
Ok…..so this is where my last attempt at the blog finished, so I guess it’s back to the Rockies. We left Vancouver in the morning (after one massive domestic, but what's new when we're on the road), heading north east and drove for around 7/8 hours and stayed the night at Valemount. The next morning we drove into Jasper and spent an hour or two there. Lovely little town and it had the best fudge/bakery place – no idea what they were called (probably bear claws or something) but I had this chocolate, caramel, pecan thing……mmm. Then we headed up the gondola and played in the snow – it was sooo exciting! Then we headed from Jasper, south east for 6 or so hours, to Banff along the Icefields Parkway – amazing, this was the middle of the rockies, we were surrounded by snow capped mountains! Banff was great, would have loved to stay there a while. I know now why so many Aussies end up there and why it’s such a big tourist destination. This is where we also tried a some of the local wild animals – a Bison burger and an Elk burger. Not bad.
The next morning we backtracked along the Icefields Parkway to about half way so we could check out the Glacier. Because it was so early in the morning, the parkway was covered in a light dusting of snow – it was sooo pretty! The glacier was pretty funky as well – we got this massive bus/truck thing that drove us up to the glacier and then we played around for 30 minutes or so. We then drove back to Banff (Mike – a lot of dead drives on this trip Dad!) and checked out their Gondola as well – pretty cool, but not as much snow. Oh, and I managed to pay $20 for a cocktail – it was in the really fancy hotel right on the water in Banff (I can’t remember it’s name) (Mike – It was The Fairmont Banff Springs, I will never forget that because of the price of the cocktail) where we went for a drink and some food. Oops! After this we headed to Golden to stay over night.
Day four (Mike - more dead drives) and we drove back to visit Lake Louise. This place is amazing. The lake is actually quite small – about 1-2km long and 500m-1km wide. But it’s absolutely amazing! We went for a walk along the lake to the end and then for lunch we had a meat pie at a bakery just outside Lake Louise. A MEAT PIE!!!! Yum! Ok, so then we drove about 8/9 hours home. All along the way we also saw heaps of waterfalls, lakes, mountains and views…..needless to say we have a million photos! If I don’t get them up today, I will put them up soon - does anyone believe me??? hehe (I promise!!!).
Ok, now I can’t really think of anything else. Oh, except Halloween!!!! This was about a week ago. That night we got dressed up – I was a witch and Mike was a homie (Spelling??) – and met up with Chris and Alice at another couple’s place – Aggie and Lukas. We had big plans to have a few drinks and then go out. Well, thanks to Lukas’ shots (baileys and crème de meth, later to be mixed with vodka) the three girls weren’t well. I was throwing up in their sink, then in the taxi (don’t worry I had a plastic bag) and then again in the morning. I couldn’t make work the next day (my only shift that week!). Seeing the photos still makes me feel ill. I can honestly say this is the sickest I have ever been! However, despite that, the whole dressing up was fun and I look forward to experiencing it in the UK – this time going out! Also, Mike and I plan to have Halloween parties when we get home! It’s soooo much fun dressing up and there were some really inventive costumes (I worked the Sat night before - when there were lots of parties - on the boats at a uni Halloween party and some of the costumes were amazing, in parituclar the guy that went as a Facebook profile).
Ok, so that will do for now…..i’m sure you’re all bored out of your brains. Take care and we miss you all!!!
p.s a big hug to all of you celebrating over the next few weeks – mum’s b’day, anna’s 30th, craig D’s 30th, Sam and Lee’s wedding, and little Luke’s 1st Birthday! Sorry we couldn’t be there, but we will get something to you in the mail – better late than never!
p.p.s we will be leaving Vancouver mid Feb, not sure what date, but it’ll possibly be the 15.
Xoxo
Bec & Mike
Ok, well today is Tuesday, it’s 10.55am and I’m bored out of my mind!!! I’m not really working and although now I have a job (see below) no one has contacted me and so I have no idea when I start…..and to be honest, I haven’t exactly been doing a lot – it’s so cold and wet outside most days I usually just sit around and watch TV. Or go out and spend money – which is bad!
Anyway, yesterday Mike had a day off (after working 7 days straight) so we did the Grouse Grind – a walk up the local ski mountain (where I supposedly have a job). Wait, did I say walk, I meant a goddam HIKE and a half! Now apparently it’s supposed to take the average person 1.5 hours, it took us 1.75 hours. Our excuse is that Mike is getting over a cold so we were stopping a fair bit. We also haven’t really done any serious exercise in about 7 months. Still, I’m feeling a little unfit. However, on the plus side, neither of us are sore today so that’s gotta count for something right? I’m clutching at straws I know. Ok, well I’ll put you back to the original blog I started about 2 weeks ago……enjoy!
Some time a few weeks ago……
Today the sun has come out for the first time in about a week. The last 3 days it has pretty much been raining non-stop – not just drizzle, but rain. Oh joy!
We’ve really settled in these last few months – well it’s been about 2 since we wrote a blog and the time is just flying by! We have done heaps of stuff and only have just under 4 months to enjoy Vancouver before we leave. This blog is going to focus solely on Van – no US trip stuff. We will get there eventually, but it’s just soooo long ago and we still have so much to tell you all. So for the sake of my memory, and so that you actually hear from us relatively soon, here is a quick update about our life in Vancouver. So what’s been happening you may ask?
Well of course it was my birthday on Thursday! Thanks for everyone’s well wishes – I had a good day. I got a few CDs, a voucher for a massage and a cashmere scarf. Met Mike for lunch and then we had dinner together at one of our local North Van restaurants. I then headed out with the guys from work for some drinks and dancing. I got home at 4am so I reckon that’s a good job for an old 27 year old!
The other thing that has been dominating our lives is a mixture of job search (me) and overtime (mike). Harbour Cruises’ season is pretty much over in terms of regular cruises, so I had to start looking for a job to get me though to Feb when we leave. I spent the weekend at the three local mountain’s job fairs and now have a choice of jobs, but think I’ll go with Grouse – the most touristy, but closest, mountain. Mike’s EA Games job was extended from Sept to Oct. They then started them doing two nights a week overtime (until 9pm), then they introduced an 8am start every day, and now he’s doing overtime to 8pm every night, with the odd Saturday thrown in. We’re hoping they will renew his contract until Nov at least, but the pressure is now off that I’ve found a job. (Update - ok, well he was renewed to the end of Nov, but the pressure isn’t off cause I still haven’t started working!).
We’ve had a few visitors at our place these last few months. At the moment we have a couple from Auz crashing here for 5 days until their flight tomorrow arvo (they’re going home to Tazzy) and prior to that we had Chris and Alice crash for a month while they settle into Vancouver. It was nice to have roomies! But they have now been gone for a month – found a place and jobs so they’re all set. While they were here we finally cycled around Stanley Park – it was awesome!
What else….ah we went to the first Canucks game of the season. They lost but it was still pretty fun. Friggin expensive! I don’t know if any of you have tried to watch a hockey game at home on TV, but I struggle – I can’t see the puck and don’t know the rules and it all just goes downhill from there! However, being there is great and the atmosphere is pretty impressive. We are going to try and get to a Giants game, which is younger hockey team but still just as good, however, lots more fights (this is good for hockey right?) and most importantly, cheaper! Last Saturday we also went to a BC Lions game – Canadian Football. Like American football but different somehow (don’t ask me how). At first I kept looking away and missing everything, but by the second quarter I’d got the knack of actually paying attention for about 20 seconds and then doing whatever for the next minute while they stuffed around.
I almost forgot, we also went to Victoria, BC’s capital, on Vancouver Island. Wasn’t this a bloody adventure! We took public transport to this place and I think it took about 5 hours to get there, we stayed one night, and then it took about 4 hours to get home! It involved a bus from Nth Van (very early Sat morn), another bus to the airport, another bus to the ferry terminal, a ferry trip, another bus into Victoria. It’s a very cute, quaint, pretty little town. We had dinner at the best Italian restaurant I’ve ever been too! Great food, wine and terrific atmosphere! Apparently it had a very New York feel to it, according to the 2 ladies from Seattle that we waited in line with and sat about 2 mm away from – yeah, it was a little cramped, but that’s kinda what added to it’s charm. While in Victoria we also checked out the government building (daggy, but it was a free tour), went to a dodgy-as aquarium (daggy, but we had to pay for it!), went to a “castle”, which isn’t really a castle, more a mansion of this rich dude and they’ve restored it – pretty cool. Oh, and the main reason we went was for the Titanic display at the Museum of BC. It was great – lots of relics they had found and restored from around the wreckage of the Titanic site, as well as a whole bunch of quirky little stories.
Now, I’ve left the best til last. A few weeks ago we came back from a four day stint in the Rockies! It was soooooo beautiful. We saw big horned sheep, mountain sheep, elk, bears, and a few other unidentifiable fluffy things!
Back to today.....
Ok…..so this is where my last attempt at the blog finished, so I guess it’s back to the Rockies. We left Vancouver in the morning (after one massive domestic, but what's new when we're on the road), heading north east and drove for around 7/8 hours and stayed the night at Valemount. The next morning we drove into Jasper and spent an hour or two there. Lovely little town and it had the best fudge/bakery place – no idea what they were called (probably bear claws or something) but I had this chocolate, caramel, pecan thing……mmm. Then we headed up the gondola and played in the snow – it was sooo exciting! Then we headed from Jasper, south east for 6 or so hours, to Banff along the Icefields Parkway – amazing, this was the middle of the rockies, we were surrounded by snow capped mountains! Banff was great, would have loved to stay there a while. I know now why so many Aussies end up there and why it’s such a big tourist destination. This is where we also tried a some of the local wild animals – a Bison burger and an Elk burger. Not bad.
The next morning we backtracked along the Icefields Parkway to about half way so we could check out the Glacier. Because it was so early in the morning, the parkway was covered in a light dusting of snow – it was sooo pretty! The glacier was pretty funky as well – we got this massive bus/truck thing that drove us up to the glacier and then we played around for 30 minutes or so. We then drove back to Banff (Mike – a lot of dead drives on this trip Dad!) and checked out their Gondola as well – pretty cool, but not as much snow. Oh, and I managed to pay $20 for a cocktail – it was in the really fancy hotel right on the water in Banff (I can’t remember it’s name) (Mike – It was The Fairmont Banff Springs, I will never forget that because of the price of the cocktail) where we went for a drink and some food. Oops! After this we headed to Golden to stay over night.
Day four (Mike - more dead drives) and we drove back to visit Lake Louise. This place is amazing. The lake is actually quite small – about 1-2km long and 500m-1km wide. But it’s absolutely amazing! We went for a walk along the lake to the end and then for lunch we had a meat pie at a bakery just outside Lake Louise. A MEAT PIE!!!! Yum! Ok, so then we drove about 8/9 hours home. All along the way we also saw heaps of waterfalls, lakes, mountains and views…..needless to say we have a million photos! If I don’t get them up today, I will put them up soon - does anyone believe me??? hehe (I promise!!!).
Ok, now I can’t really think of anything else. Oh, except Halloween!!!! This was about a week ago. That night we got dressed up – I was a witch and Mike was a homie (Spelling??) – and met up with Chris and Alice at another couple’s place – Aggie and Lukas. We had big plans to have a few drinks and then go out. Well, thanks to Lukas’ shots (baileys and crème de meth, later to be mixed with vodka) the three girls weren’t well. I was throwing up in their sink, then in the taxi (don’t worry I had a plastic bag) and then again in the morning. I couldn’t make work the next day (my only shift that week!). Seeing the photos still makes me feel ill. I can honestly say this is the sickest I have ever been! However, despite that, the whole dressing up was fun and I look forward to experiencing it in the UK – this time going out! Also, Mike and I plan to have Halloween parties when we get home! It’s soooo much fun dressing up and there were some really inventive costumes (I worked the Sat night before - when there were lots of parties - on the boats at a uni Halloween party and some of the costumes were amazing, in parituclar the guy that went as a Facebook profile).
Ok, so that will do for now…..i’m sure you’re all bored out of your brains. Take care and we miss you all!!!
p.s a big hug to all of you celebrating over the next few weeks – mum’s b’day, anna’s 30th, craig D’s 30th, Sam and Lee’s wedding, and little Luke’s 1st Birthday! Sorry we couldn’t be there, but we will get something to you in the mail – better late than never!
p.p.s we will be leaving Vancouver mid Feb, not sure what date, but it’ll possibly be the 15.
Xoxo
Bec & Mike
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
I know, we are slack....but here is what we've been up to
Hello fellow Australians!
Time for the next blog. Today is the 15 August – needless to say we have been slackers!!!
As per our previous entries, I’ll give you a run down on Vancouver and then get back to our trip. I like talking about the trip – brings back lots of happy memories – we really miss Vegas – the place is addictive (Anna/Troy – if you ever end up going again, and want company, we’ll be right there with you!!!).
I have to say I’m feeling a little home sick – besides missing you all so much, I also miss Brissy and Aus. Places, weather, food…..and just being familiar with everything. But by no means am I ready to come back! We have so much to do yet!
Vancouver
I think most of you have probably heard already, but we both have jobs. I’m waitressing on a sightseeing boat that does brunch, lunch and dinner cruises, as well as private charters. A few things about the job – it’s fun but friggin hard work because you spend the first 1-2 hours unloading the food and everything you need from the van and setting up the tables etc. Then, because it’s a buffet, you spend the cruise refreshing the buffet / serving meat, then clearing plates, serving coffee and then more clearing. Once you dock, you pack everything up and load the truck – needless to say, late nights. However, although at the same time it’s a pretty fun job because of the people. It’s mostly kids on summer jobs so the atmosphere is pretty laidback and the supervisors are all great.
As for Mike, he’s game testing - a full time 8-5 job. He’s actually working for EA Games, so he’s been testing basketball games, which was a nice surprise. There were a good percentage of freaks…..but he’s found a few more normal people to hang out with. Mike – I’ll take over. Further to the EA thing, I am actually testing games that I would normally play so getting paid to do something you normally pay for can’t be frowned upon. We are on a contract that can be terminated at anytime so there is a lot of people looking over their shoulders! But it is a really fun place to be.
Bec - We have moved into our unit as well – it’s sooooo good! The place had been repainted, new carpets and new kitchen/bathroom lino so it was really fresh. We slept on the floor for the first few days (borrowed some camping stuff from Bodhi) but have since been to IKEA and we now have a mattress, table, 2 chairs, kitchen stuff and sheets, pillows etc. We also bought a Sofa from the Salvo’s and found a coffee table and a single chair downstairs in the free furniture area. We also joined the local video store! I know it’s lame but it’s so nice doing some normal stuff again. Mike – Then we got the essentials such as TV, DVD and VCR plus Cable TV for a pretty good price second hand. No more watching movies on the laptop! Bec - Anyway, the unit is great so we’ll put some photos on the blog soon.
So far, in terms of touristy stuff, we have:
Got free tickets to see The Fray, featuring a terrific acoustic rendition of Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie.
San Diego
Alright, well back to the US trip. After Disneyland we headed to San Diego. This was a place I instantly liked….it just had a smaller, more personal feel to it than LA. We had a massive domestic arriving – we found the hostel ok, but then he proceeds to tell us there is no parking, but there is a car park “around the corner”. One word of advice re: americans and directions – they are hopeless!!! You have to ask for specifics, and then they are great. Anyway, after parking it and spending a fortune, and then moving it a few hours later to the right spot we were all sorted.
Anyway, we did heaps here – we went to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Sea World was fun – a lot of dolphins, seals, otters and other water creatures, most of them in different shows….the best probably being Shamu – the big killer whale. These guys were awesome….and pretty much wet the entire crowd. Sea World also had some fun rides and stuff, but it was mostly about the animals. The Zoo was good, not all that much different to Taronga, but a few extra exhibits and shows. We discovered the Okapi – weird horse/zebra/deer looking things with a stripey ass and back legs – there should be a picture. There were also pandas, koalas (boring!) and really great reptile display – the snakes scared the living crap out of me because you think there is only one and then all of a sudden you see a second one. Urgh!!!! In hindsight the wild animal park probably wasn’t worth it, but they had a great lion and elephant display. This place is massive – it’s almost like a reserve.
We also spent a day at Balboa Park – it’s awesome! It’s got about 13 museums, gardens, an IMAX Theatre, a ScienceCentre, mini live performances, coffee shops, outdoor stages – a cool place. Most of the buildings in the park were originally built for a World Fair: The 1915-16 Panama-California Exposition. However, since then most of them have been rebuilt – they weren’t meant to last for more than a few years. Anyway, we went to the Museum of Anthropology – which had stuff about the Mya and also evolution and stuff like that, and another art museum.
Now, our only really stupid story is the science centre. They had a display for kids about the body and body functions etc. There was one with four things to smell – feet, armpits and mouth…..any guesses what the fourth was??? ANUS! OH MY GOD….it was like the real friggin thing! It made me feel soooo ill…..i feel sick just thinking about it now. We both thought this was so gross! It sounds harmless, but just the smell was soooo wrong! Anyway, that is probably one of our most memorable events in san diego – sad hey?
We also visited Coronado Island which you have to drive along a curved bridge to get to (see photos). All we really did here was visit the massive old hotel called Hotel de Coronado, and then catch the ferry to San Diego downtown and back again. We also had a great dinner at a small restaurant on the water at Coronado. The same day we also drove to Point Loma & Cabrilla. At Point Loma there is one of the oldest Lighthouses on the west coast. Cabrilla had old gun turrets that were to protect the west coast from an invasion that never came (it got beefed up after Pearl Harbour).
Mike - After San Diego we headed back towards LA and went to Six Flags Magic Mountain. This is an awesome park filled with nothing but varying types of Roller coasters. Without going into detail about every single one… the first ride (Tatsu) had you sitting with the rail above your head and then before it starts, swings you up so that the rail is behind your back. Then the whole thing is basically like you are flying. A great start. About 5 rides in, back-to-back, vertigo hit me hard. Rebecca thinks it was the wus gene kicking in, but I’m sticking with my story. I decided to have a little spell while Rebecca took on Scream and had to sit with some fat guy with bad B.O. No it wasn’t me, I already said I wasn’t on it.
Ok, you guys are probably bored out of your brains now, so we’ll leave it at that for a while. We will endeavour to get a whole bunch of photos up soon – of the US trip as well as our Vancouver photos.
The next instalment will be more updates and our drive from San Diego to San Fran (our favourite place!!!). Photos will be up soon (ish). We will also aim to get some Vancouver photos up – including our unit.
Hope you are all well – we miss you all!
Love always
Bec & mike
Monday, May 28, 2007
Photos!
Hi guys
We have put our piccies on as a link on the right hand side ---->
Just click on the link to view the album. The best way to view them is probably by selecting "slideshow" once you get to the website.
Bec
We have put our piccies on as a link on the right hand side ---->
Just click on the link to view the album. The best way to view them is probably by selecting "slideshow" once you get to the website.
Bec
Friday, May 25, 2007
Go you Queenslanders!!!!
As a tribute to the Maroons remarkable come from behind win in State of Origin I, I have changed the colours of our blog to honour them.
Go the Maroons!!! (Sorry Sammy)
Go the Maroons!!! (Sorry Sammy)
Thursday, May 24, 2007
You thought the last one was long.....
Hi everyone!
It’s 6.24pm here in lovely Vancouver….Mike is at an open house (interview-type thing) and I thought I’d take some time out to go through our photos and pick out some to put on the blog and write another entry.
Vancouver
Before I get back to our US trip (LA and maybe San Diego), I thought I’d bring everyone up to date with Vancouver. We have now been here 10 days but it feels like forever (in a good way). It’s amazing how easily you get used to somewhere and start thinking of it as home. We haven’t really done much sightseeing, but a friend of mine from my trip to Thailand a few years ago, Bodhi, has driven us around a bit. Stanley Park – their big park in the city – is absolutely stunning. Everything here is sooooo green. And you look down the city streets and see snow-capped mountains…it’s absolutely beautiful.
There was a hiring fair the Wednesday Thursday that I arrived so I went to that and gave my resume to pretty much everyone (I had limits though!). I actually got 2 interviews and have been offered a job just today! (thanks to the QR dudes for all the reference stuff :-). It’s a waitress (sorry, “server”) on small boats that do sightseeing cruises around the bay area. Not exactly sure how many hours, but at least it’s a job and something completely different! Minimum wage is scary here - $8. I can’t remember how much minimum wage is in aus, but I’m pretty sure I was earning that in my late teens while at uni! Unfortunately, the price of living isn’t any cheaper than Brissy, so it’ll be interesting to say the least. Bring on the pounds!!
The other good news is it looks like we’ve found somewhere to live. It’s called North Vancouver, about a 12 minute “seabus” ride across the bay from downtown Vancouver (city centre). We would have liked somewhere like West End (near Stanley Park) or Kitsilano (Kits as the locals call it), both of which are minutes from downtown, but to get our own place was proving difficult. So, although it’s not furnished (that could be a challenge - bring on IKEA) we have a one bedroom apartment all to ourselves. We had to pay 3 months rent in advance, which we will go and do tomorrow – and then it should be ours!!! Now that we have a place, with enough room, anyone who wants to come visit, make sure you do!!!!
Mike has been taking his time :-) but managed to get three phone calls/emails from the 3 jobs he put in over the weekend (bugger!). Reilly – he’s applying for a games tester – 40 hours of game testing a week! The temp/contact agent he saw today thinks he shouldn’t have a problem getting a contract IT job with his “technical skills and personability” blah blah blah…..and the market is looking pretty good. So anyone in IT (reilly, benno, angie) if you want to come to Vancouver……J
I just have to have one whinge – c’mon, you all new it was coming. I hate the place we are staying at. Don’t worry parents, it’s safe and the rooms are clean, hell so are the bathrooms, but the kitchen just doesn’t pass my hygiene standards. The kitchen was the reason we moved from the other place! I also don’t like boys anymore, close the friggin toilet door when you’re peeing! Anyway, enough about Vancouver, I’ll continue the US story…
Before LA….
There’s a few more bits and pieces I should cover before LA. We explored the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff – which was bloody frezzing! We came from Vegas and when we arrived it was like 0! How rude! Colder than Vancouver is now that’s for sure. We were driving to the Canyon and there was snow in the fields of pine trees on either side of the road – snow! From a few days before. Anyway, it was a cute little town. So from there, we made our way to LA. We drove Route 66 and stayed overnight in some tiny town on Route 66 and saw Hoover Dam. Now I thought I wouldn’t be impressed by this because it was man-made and a bloody dam! Big deal. But it was pretty impressive I must say…not just to look at but form an engineering/construction perspective. I saw a few trains and couldn’t help but take a photo or two – they had the whole double decker containers happening (once a QR employee, always a weirdo). All of these photos will be in the next set of photos I send through.
LA
Ok, now because I am notoriously bad at reading maps (as Jess can attest to), and a fairly confident/assertive driver :-), I thought I’d drive into LA. Mike agreed this would be the best option. Now, we had been driving in Hawaii, and then from Vegas to the Grand Canyon and then along Route 66 etc. It was all going swimmingly…..then we started to make our way into LA……lots of lanes on highways, I could handle that…..lots of smog. It’s starting to get greener….there’s more traffic…..we don’t have a proper map….we didn’t have a hostel booked. All of these things added up to me losing the plot J. Now, Mike was doing a great job of figuring out where we were going, without really knowing where we were going. We took the wrong exit but mike was confidently directing me (I later find out he wasn’t really sure if we were going to end up where he wanted us to). Now, a thing to remember, you get beeped at in LA for doing anything that does not involve you planting your foot as soon as a light turns green and slowing down anywhere except to turn. So I got a bit flustered because I thought I’d done something wrong, but realised I just didn’t leave rubber behind and should have run a yellow light to get through. Ok, so I got over that and we found the hostel we were looking for….private rooms booked out. Right, so we had a bit of a dummy spit and ended up finding a hotel – too expensive for my liking, but we didn’t have much choice. Ok, so off we go, it should be coming up on the left….there it is, solid yellow lines – can we cross these?? I dunno. Better not, might hold someone up….we can turn around no dram….No we can’t!!! This road goes onto the freeway! CRAP, WHAT DO WE DO NOW! Burst into tears almost……pulling over, calming, calming down..relaxing…calm…calm. (Mike – might just add something here. The calming process didn’t begin without some caring intervention from myself – “Don’t flip out, we need to concentrate and think clearly. Calm down!!!” There, that’s done it. Drama overted. Back to my maps.) And we approach from the other direction about 30 minutes later. Needless to say, after this experience, I bought a DETAILED road map of each city we were driving in – LA, San Diego and San Francisco. Once we had an LA map, we ventured out again, and it was a lot less harrowing.
So, for the first day I felt like hiding away in our hotel room. But then, once we got our bearings we were cool. I actually really enjoyed LA in the end. We went to Universal Studios, saw Kelly Clarkson (I’m still not 100% it was her, Mike – I’m bloody positive!), did the Walk of Fame, went to the Clippers vs New Orleans (basketball), aimlessly wandered around older LA – civic centre, went to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) featuring a collection of feminist art from the 60s called WACK (Mike – Wack! Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh). We didn’t realise this was on but thought we would check it out. (Mike – Wack! Aaaaahhhhhh). Speaking from a female perspective it was actually quite disturbing, weird and at times just plain gross. Moving on to more mundane things, we also saw a baseball game (LA Dodgers) and did a star homes tour (saw Julia Rober’s old place, J Lo’s fence, Leonardo DiCaprio’s house, where Brittany was hiding with all the paparazzi hanging out the front, John Travolta’s place, Jack Nicholson, Robin Williams – with wine bottles and all), as well as sunset boulevard, molholland drive, beverly hills, bel air, rodeo drive and a few other places. Mike and I also drove to Venice Beach and Santa Monica. We checked out the Santa Monica Pier and all I can say is the beach looked like baywatch beaches. Nowhere near as nice as ours but very wide beaches, lots of sand. In the end I’m glad we went to LA, and it would be great to go back with a group of people and go out and eat, drink and spot famous people, but I would never live there unless I could live in the hills away from it all – i.e. be a millionaire.
The next stop was Disneyland!!!! This place really is magical – I know it sounds clichéd but there’s just something about it. We were each given a “1st Visit” badge when we arrived, which I preceeded to wear for the next 2 days, much to Mike’s disgust (and a few kids too I think, judging by the looks I got from some 7 year olds!). Going with kids would make it all the more special (and also a very lllooonnnngggg couple of days :-). Criag/Kerren – we kept picturing Kale running around – he’d love the place, there is so much Buzz and Woody stuff!
We spent the first day at California Adventure Land – more of a teenage fun park so it had lots of rides mostly. We got soaked on the very first ride went on, I mean down to my undies….don’t do that if you go. Our favourite ride was the rollercoaster – California Screamin’ and some of the shows (including 4D ones) were the best parts of day, for example, The Bug’s Life show had water spraying at your face and jets of air shooting at your feet to feel like bugs – it works – it makes you jump!
And then finally we go to Disneyland! This place is pretty awesome. The rides a very much aimed for the younger audience, but all except a few, we enjoyed just as much as the kids. There is sooo much to see! There’s this indoor rollercoaster which is pretty cool, we saw the parade, went on the teacups, the Toad Hall ride (crap!), the Peter Pan ride (so cute), the Mattahorn, the Alice in Wonderland ride and this the Buzz Lightyear game that you go around in this little train through a tunnel thing, shooting various targets with a laser gun. It keeps score and you can go and see a photo at the end of you in action. Another ride is the “It’s a Small World” which is a boat road through a tunnel with lots of “lands” and little people dressed in various native costume singing the “it’s a small world afterall” song. Now if you aren’t a Simpson’s fan, move on to the next paragraph, but if anyone has seen the episode where Bart & Lisa are taken to DuffLand by their aunts…they go this ride (I didn’t realise it was this ride until we went on it) and Lisa and Bart start to argue, Bart dares Lisa to drink the water, she does, and then has hallucinations and does her “Lizard Queen” impersonation (my personal favourite Simpson moment). Anyway, this is the ride they are taking off and OH MY GOD, I understand her pain….it goes on and on and on, and so does the song.
Ok, this is an extremely long blog, as well as photos to see, so we’ll do San Diego, the drive and San Francisco next entry.
Miss you all! Take care and enjoy your cooler weather.
xoxo
It’s 6.24pm here in lovely Vancouver….Mike is at an open house (interview-type thing) and I thought I’d take some time out to go through our photos and pick out some to put on the blog and write another entry.
Vancouver
Before I get back to our US trip (LA and maybe San Diego), I thought I’d bring everyone up to date with Vancouver. We have now been here 10 days but it feels like forever (in a good way). It’s amazing how easily you get used to somewhere and start thinking of it as home. We haven’t really done much sightseeing, but a friend of mine from my trip to Thailand a few years ago, Bodhi, has driven us around a bit. Stanley Park – their big park in the city – is absolutely stunning. Everything here is sooooo green. And you look down the city streets and see snow-capped mountains…it’s absolutely beautiful.
There was a hiring fair the Wednesday Thursday that I arrived so I went to that and gave my resume to pretty much everyone (I had limits though!). I actually got 2 interviews and have been offered a job just today! (thanks to the QR dudes for all the reference stuff :-). It’s a waitress (sorry, “server”) on small boats that do sightseeing cruises around the bay area. Not exactly sure how many hours, but at least it’s a job and something completely different! Minimum wage is scary here - $8. I can’t remember how much minimum wage is in aus, but I’m pretty sure I was earning that in my late teens while at uni! Unfortunately, the price of living isn’t any cheaper than Brissy, so it’ll be interesting to say the least. Bring on the pounds!!
The other good news is it looks like we’ve found somewhere to live. It’s called North Vancouver, about a 12 minute “seabus” ride across the bay from downtown Vancouver (city centre). We would have liked somewhere like West End (near Stanley Park) or Kitsilano (Kits as the locals call it), both of which are minutes from downtown, but to get our own place was proving difficult. So, although it’s not furnished (that could be a challenge - bring on IKEA) we have a one bedroom apartment all to ourselves. We had to pay 3 months rent in advance, which we will go and do tomorrow – and then it should be ours!!! Now that we have a place, with enough room, anyone who wants to come visit, make sure you do!!!!
Mike has been taking his time :-) but managed to get three phone calls/emails from the 3 jobs he put in over the weekend (bugger!). Reilly – he’s applying for a games tester – 40 hours of game testing a week! The temp/contact agent he saw today thinks he shouldn’t have a problem getting a contract IT job with his “technical skills and personability” blah blah blah…..and the market is looking pretty good. So anyone in IT (reilly, benno, angie) if you want to come to Vancouver……J
I just have to have one whinge – c’mon, you all new it was coming. I hate the place we are staying at. Don’t worry parents, it’s safe and the rooms are clean, hell so are the bathrooms, but the kitchen just doesn’t pass my hygiene standards. The kitchen was the reason we moved from the other place! I also don’t like boys anymore, close the friggin toilet door when you’re peeing! Anyway, enough about Vancouver, I’ll continue the US story…
Before LA….
There’s a few more bits and pieces I should cover before LA. We explored the Grand Canyon from Flagstaff – which was bloody frezzing! We came from Vegas and when we arrived it was like 0! How rude! Colder than Vancouver is now that’s for sure. We were driving to the Canyon and there was snow in the fields of pine trees on either side of the road – snow! From a few days before. Anyway, it was a cute little town. So from there, we made our way to LA. We drove Route 66 and stayed overnight in some tiny town on Route 66 and saw Hoover Dam. Now I thought I wouldn’t be impressed by this because it was man-made and a bloody dam! Big deal. But it was pretty impressive I must say…not just to look at but form an engineering/construction perspective. I saw a few trains and couldn’t help but take a photo or two – they had the whole double decker containers happening (once a QR employee, always a weirdo). All of these photos will be in the next set of photos I send through.
LA
Ok, now because I am notoriously bad at reading maps (as Jess can attest to), and a fairly confident/assertive driver :-), I thought I’d drive into LA. Mike agreed this would be the best option. Now, we had been driving in Hawaii, and then from Vegas to the Grand Canyon and then along Route 66 etc. It was all going swimmingly…..then we started to make our way into LA……lots of lanes on highways, I could handle that…..lots of smog. It’s starting to get greener….there’s more traffic…..we don’t have a proper map….we didn’t have a hostel booked. All of these things added up to me losing the plot J. Now, Mike was doing a great job of figuring out where we were going, without really knowing where we were going. We took the wrong exit but mike was confidently directing me (I later find out he wasn’t really sure if we were going to end up where he wanted us to). Now, a thing to remember, you get beeped at in LA for doing anything that does not involve you planting your foot as soon as a light turns green and slowing down anywhere except to turn. So I got a bit flustered because I thought I’d done something wrong, but realised I just didn’t leave rubber behind and should have run a yellow light to get through. Ok, so I got over that and we found the hostel we were looking for….private rooms booked out. Right, so we had a bit of a dummy spit and ended up finding a hotel – too expensive for my liking, but we didn’t have much choice. Ok, so off we go, it should be coming up on the left….there it is, solid yellow lines – can we cross these?? I dunno. Better not, might hold someone up….we can turn around no dram….No we can’t!!! This road goes onto the freeway! CRAP, WHAT DO WE DO NOW! Burst into tears almost……pulling over, calming, calming down..relaxing…calm…calm. (Mike – might just add something here. The calming process didn’t begin without some caring intervention from myself – “Don’t flip out, we need to concentrate and think clearly. Calm down!!!” There, that’s done it. Drama overted. Back to my maps.) And we approach from the other direction about 30 minutes later. Needless to say, after this experience, I bought a DETAILED road map of each city we were driving in – LA, San Diego and San Francisco. Once we had an LA map, we ventured out again, and it was a lot less harrowing.
So, for the first day I felt like hiding away in our hotel room. But then, once we got our bearings we were cool. I actually really enjoyed LA in the end. We went to Universal Studios, saw Kelly Clarkson (I’m still not 100% it was her, Mike – I’m bloody positive!), did the Walk of Fame, went to the Clippers vs New Orleans (basketball), aimlessly wandered around older LA – civic centre, went to the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) featuring a collection of feminist art from the 60s called WACK (Mike – Wack! Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh). We didn’t realise this was on but thought we would check it out. (Mike – Wack! Aaaaahhhhhh). Speaking from a female perspective it was actually quite disturbing, weird and at times just plain gross. Moving on to more mundane things, we also saw a baseball game (LA Dodgers) and did a star homes tour (saw Julia Rober’s old place, J Lo’s fence, Leonardo DiCaprio’s house, where Brittany was hiding with all the paparazzi hanging out the front, John Travolta’s place, Jack Nicholson, Robin Williams – with wine bottles and all), as well as sunset boulevard, molholland drive, beverly hills, bel air, rodeo drive and a few other places. Mike and I also drove to Venice Beach and Santa Monica. We checked out the Santa Monica Pier and all I can say is the beach looked like baywatch beaches. Nowhere near as nice as ours but very wide beaches, lots of sand. In the end I’m glad we went to LA, and it would be great to go back with a group of people and go out and eat, drink and spot famous people, but I would never live there unless I could live in the hills away from it all – i.e. be a millionaire.
The next stop was Disneyland!!!! This place really is magical – I know it sounds clichéd but there’s just something about it. We were each given a “1st Visit” badge when we arrived, which I preceeded to wear for the next 2 days, much to Mike’s disgust (and a few kids too I think, judging by the looks I got from some 7 year olds!). Going with kids would make it all the more special (and also a very lllooonnnngggg couple of days :-). Criag/Kerren – we kept picturing Kale running around – he’d love the place, there is so much Buzz and Woody stuff!
We spent the first day at California Adventure Land – more of a teenage fun park so it had lots of rides mostly. We got soaked on the very first ride went on, I mean down to my undies….don’t do that if you go. Our favourite ride was the rollercoaster – California Screamin’ and some of the shows (including 4D ones) were the best parts of day, for example, The Bug’s Life show had water spraying at your face and jets of air shooting at your feet to feel like bugs – it works – it makes you jump!
And then finally we go to Disneyland! This place is pretty awesome. The rides a very much aimed for the younger audience, but all except a few, we enjoyed just as much as the kids. There is sooo much to see! There’s this indoor rollercoaster which is pretty cool, we saw the parade, went on the teacups, the Toad Hall ride (crap!), the Peter Pan ride (so cute), the Mattahorn, the Alice in Wonderland ride and this the Buzz Lightyear game that you go around in this little train through a tunnel thing, shooting various targets with a laser gun. It keeps score and you can go and see a photo at the end of you in action. Another ride is the “It’s a Small World” which is a boat road through a tunnel with lots of “lands” and little people dressed in various native costume singing the “it’s a small world afterall” song. Now if you aren’t a Simpson’s fan, move on to the next paragraph, but if anyone has seen the episode where Bart & Lisa are taken to DuffLand by their aunts…they go this ride (I didn’t realise it was this ride until we went on it) and Lisa and Bart start to argue, Bart dares Lisa to drink the water, she does, and then has hallucinations and does her “Lizard Queen” impersonation (my personal favourite Simpson moment). Anyway, this is the ride they are taking off and OH MY GOD, I understand her pain….it goes on and on and on, and so does the song.
Ok, this is an extremely long blog, as well as photos to see, so we’ll do San Diego, the drive and San Francisco next entry.
Miss you all! Take care and enjoy your cooler weather.
xoxo
Monday, May 14, 2007
Finally!!!
Hi everyone!!!
Well, we have finally arrived in Vancouver. It's Sunday May 13 (mother's day) and we got in yesterday arvo.
Firstly, sorry we haven't kept you all in the loop. We have been so busy trying to cram stuff into our days. As you’ve probably guessed, we took a little longer to get here than 3-4 weeks!
Ok, so because we were so slack, we’ll do a few entries over the next few days. So lets start from the beginning and give you a run down of leaving home, Hawaii and Vegas.
Leaving Home
The last two weeks were flat out catching up with everyone and organising final bits and pieces. Even up until the last couple of hours before we left we were running around packing up our stuff at Mike’s parents. But we made it all ok and there was only a little bit of crying….ok, well a bit more but not as much as I thought there’d be. We arrived in Sydney ok and got to the plane all ok. The flight flew (hehe). It really didn’t feel like 10 hours, so that was a bonus.
Hawaii
We needed the ear plugs on the first morning – garbage truck at 7am each day! And the first glimpse of the beach at Waikiki was beautiful, but very similar to our own island beaches – and we were a little “so what”. However, within a few days we fell in love with the islands. We went on a fabulous tour of Oahu a few days after we arrived and learnt and saw so much (thanks Sue) – including some Italian boobs due to one of the lasses on the tour not being too surf savvy (Mike – my highlight so far!!!). Highlights of Oahu included Polynesian Cultural Centre, Pearl Harbour and a hike up Diamond Head Crater that had amazing views. We also spent a few days on Hawaii (the Big Island) which was pretty cool. The volcano was absolutely mind blowing – we walked down into the smaller crater, saw a whole bunch of old lava flows and sat at the end of the old lava flow from 2003 and watched the lava up in the mountains (we were a LONG way away, but still we saw it).
The only dilemma was I set the alarm for 4pm, not 4am the day we were supposed to catch the plane to Vegas!!! Lucky Mike woke up at 5! Oops!
Las Vegas
LOVED VEGAS! But it took us a bit to really appreciate this place – at first it was a little “so what, it’s just a bunch of casinos”. But it’s just soooo cool and there is so much to do!!! WE stayed at the MGM Grand – we reckon it was one of the best/busiest actual gaming areas, and the room was gorgeous (word of advice – don’t make international calls – Mike got caught out). My favourite casinos were Paris (has shops set up like the streets of Paris (I presume) and ceiling that looks like a real sky) and New York New York (pretzel shops and a rollercoaster). The Bellagio water fountains are amazing – the actual fountain is a whole bunch of small jets in one big line and about 3 massive circles. They “perform” to songs – it’s all computer programmed and soooo pretty! We didn’t gamble a lot, but mike found a Star Wars pokie (sorry, slot machine) that we wasted about $50 on and got NOTHING back! (Mike – I think the memories and experience of a life time were priceless) But on a good note, I learnt to play blackjack (doubled my money the first sitting – mind you I only put $50 down). On an even better note, we finally played roulette and Mike quadrupled his money (again, he only put $40 down), but we still won! We also went to Studio 54 (dancers hanging from the ceiling and on podiums (again, Mike’s highlight) and KA, the new Cirque De Solei (spelling??) at the MGM Grand – which was awesome!
Grand Canyon
The Canyon was amazing. We spent two days exploring the South Rim – on the first day we walked around the rim for about 7km or so. And there’s no fences or ledges, you’re walking right next to the end on some bits of the path – it’s pretty amazing. Photos and words just can’t explain how enormous it is. We hung around for sunset but it was too cloudy, and it was absolutely freezing! On the second day we walked down – not all the way to the floor, but far enough that it took 4 hours to come back and was one hell of a hike!
We then realised that we’d forgotten to go to the SkyWalk which was on the West Rim. So, we decided we’d just do it, even though it was a fair bit out of our way. So we headed off to the West Rim and got lost…..and couldn’t find the turnoff…..then we found it and it was a 14 mile dirt road with another 7 mile paved road. After putting the rental car through it’s paces, we got there quite late to discover a $75 entrance fee – didn’t see that sign at the start of the dirt road! It was $50 for the Indians just to go to the SkyWalk and then $25 to walk on the bloody thing, which goes to the guy who built it. It also included a buffet dinner and some other stuff that we didn’t have time to do. But we figured we’d never be there again and after what seemed like our 725th “heated discussion” decided to do it. I have to say it was a little disappointing compared to what we thought it would be like. On the other hand, the West Rim generally had a much more spiritual/natural feel to it. This area is still owned by the native Indians and is quite deserted compared to the South Rim which is very populated because it’s a national park (paved roads, a shuttle bus along the rim, cabins, places to eat etc). Anyway, we did it and it was worth it because we ended up seeing sunset over the canyon.
Our next port of call was LA……but we’ll keep that for our next instalment.
On one final note, we hope you are all well and want you to know that we miss you all! Even though you might not hear from us on a regular basis, we are still thinking of you – there’s been so many silly things that remind us of you guys – we’ll let you know what they are soon :-)
Take care and we will send another post soon.
Love bec and mike
xoxo
p.s. in case you were wondering we are now up to “heated discussion” 4576, but all is good :-) (Mike – I think my record is 1 Win and 4575 Losses, I’m counting Bec not talking to me as a win). Blah blah blah.
p.p.s we will be putting pictures up soon....
bye!
Well, we have finally arrived in Vancouver. It's Sunday May 13 (mother's day) and we got in yesterday arvo.
Firstly, sorry we haven't kept you all in the loop. We have been so busy trying to cram stuff into our days. As you’ve probably guessed, we took a little longer to get here than 3-4 weeks!
Ok, so because we were so slack, we’ll do a few entries over the next few days. So lets start from the beginning and give you a run down of leaving home, Hawaii and Vegas.
Leaving Home
The last two weeks were flat out catching up with everyone and organising final bits and pieces. Even up until the last couple of hours before we left we were running around packing up our stuff at Mike’s parents. But we made it all ok and there was only a little bit of crying….ok, well a bit more but not as much as I thought there’d be. We arrived in Sydney ok and got to the plane all ok. The flight flew (hehe). It really didn’t feel like 10 hours, so that was a bonus.
Hawaii
We needed the ear plugs on the first morning – garbage truck at 7am each day! And the first glimpse of the beach at Waikiki was beautiful, but very similar to our own island beaches – and we were a little “so what”. However, within a few days we fell in love with the islands. We went on a fabulous tour of Oahu a few days after we arrived and learnt and saw so much (thanks Sue) – including some Italian boobs due to one of the lasses on the tour not being too surf savvy (Mike – my highlight so far!!!). Highlights of Oahu included Polynesian Cultural Centre, Pearl Harbour and a hike up Diamond Head Crater that had amazing views. We also spent a few days on Hawaii (the Big Island) which was pretty cool. The volcano was absolutely mind blowing – we walked down into the smaller crater, saw a whole bunch of old lava flows and sat at the end of the old lava flow from 2003 and watched the lava up in the mountains (we were a LONG way away, but still we saw it).
The only dilemma was I set the alarm for 4pm, not 4am the day we were supposed to catch the plane to Vegas!!! Lucky Mike woke up at 5! Oops!
Las Vegas
LOVED VEGAS! But it took us a bit to really appreciate this place – at first it was a little “so what, it’s just a bunch of casinos”. But it’s just soooo cool and there is so much to do!!! WE stayed at the MGM Grand – we reckon it was one of the best/busiest actual gaming areas, and the room was gorgeous (word of advice – don’t make international calls – Mike got caught out). My favourite casinos were Paris (has shops set up like the streets of Paris (I presume) and ceiling that looks like a real sky) and New York New York (pretzel shops and a rollercoaster). The Bellagio water fountains are amazing – the actual fountain is a whole bunch of small jets in one big line and about 3 massive circles. They “perform” to songs – it’s all computer programmed and soooo pretty! We didn’t gamble a lot, but mike found a Star Wars pokie (sorry, slot machine) that we wasted about $50 on and got NOTHING back! (Mike – I think the memories and experience of a life time were priceless) But on a good note, I learnt to play blackjack (doubled my money the first sitting – mind you I only put $50 down). On an even better note, we finally played roulette and Mike quadrupled his money (again, he only put $40 down), but we still won! We also went to Studio 54 (dancers hanging from the ceiling and on podiums (again, Mike’s highlight) and KA, the new Cirque De Solei (spelling??) at the MGM Grand – which was awesome!
Grand Canyon
The Canyon was amazing. We spent two days exploring the South Rim – on the first day we walked around the rim for about 7km or so. And there’s no fences or ledges, you’re walking right next to the end on some bits of the path – it’s pretty amazing. Photos and words just can’t explain how enormous it is. We hung around for sunset but it was too cloudy, and it was absolutely freezing! On the second day we walked down – not all the way to the floor, but far enough that it took 4 hours to come back and was one hell of a hike!
We then realised that we’d forgotten to go to the SkyWalk which was on the West Rim. So, we decided we’d just do it, even though it was a fair bit out of our way. So we headed off to the West Rim and got lost…..and couldn’t find the turnoff…..then we found it and it was a 14 mile dirt road with another 7 mile paved road. After putting the rental car through it’s paces, we got there quite late to discover a $75 entrance fee – didn’t see that sign at the start of the dirt road! It was $50 for the Indians just to go to the SkyWalk and then $25 to walk on the bloody thing, which goes to the guy who built it. It also included a buffet dinner and some other stuff that we didn’t have time to do. But we figured we’d never be there again and after what seemed like our 725th “heated discussion” decided to do it. I have to say it was a little disappointing compared to what we thought it would be like. On the other hand, the West Rim generally had a much more spiritual/natural feel to it. This area is still owned by the native Indians and is quite deserted compared to the South Rim which is very populated because it’s a national park (paved roads, a shuttle bus along the rim, cabins, places to eat etc). Anyway, we did it and it was worth it because we ended up seeing sunset over the canyon.
Our next port of call was LA……but we’ll keep that for our next instalment.
On one final note, we hope you are all well and want you to know that we miss you all! Even though you might not hear from us on a regular basis, we are still thinking of you – there’s been so many silly things that remind us of you guys – we’ll let you know what they are soon :-)
Take care and we will send another post soon.
Love bec and mike
xoxo
p.s. in case you were wondering we are now up to “heated discussion” 4576, but all is good :-) (Mike – I think my record is 1 Win and 4575 Losses, I’m counting Bec not talking to me as a win). Blah blah blah.
p.p.s we will be putting pictures up soon....
bye!
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North America - Trip 2
Vancouver and Around