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:

• Been up to Grouse Mountain the first few days we were here – there was still snow (NZ07 memories came flooding back). The view was amazing – actually North Van is pretty much at the base of Grouse Mtn (kinda).


• Gone to Capilano Suspension Bridge. That was pretty cool. It’s a massive big suspension bridge across a river – and she sways a bit! Beautiful scenery.


• Went to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC (University of British Columbia - for those not used to an Acronym world). The main attraction here is Totem Poles and other First Nations’ artefacts.


• Gone to the Pride Parade (Vancouver’s toned down Mardi Gras, i.e. not as much flair) last weekend – got a bit sunburnt and saw a few too much male genitalia for mike’s liking! But it was fun and some of the boys were very yummy – pity they’re gay! Mike – good thing I left my shirt on. Didn’t want to put them all to shame at their own parade. Also, why was the guy at the start of the parade asking for donations for the parade an Australian? What’s that say about us?


• Had a weekend away to check out Squamish and Whistler – beautiful! The lakes are amazing – this deep aqua type blue with the green fir trees all around – gorgeous!
  Got free tickets to see The Fray, featuring a terrific acoustic rendition of Shakira’s Hips Don’t Lie.


• Went to Hermit Island – Bodhi’s stepfather’s family own this island. Pretty cool – we didn’t do anything but read and eat!


• Fireworks for Canada Day on one of Bec’s boats and also the Celebration of Light festival (more fireworks). The Canada Day ones were crap, but the celebration of light was amazing. Four countries compete – wed and sat night for two weeks. The last night they all contribute – Canada won this year but didn’t deserve it. It’s like our river fire – heaps of people. Mike and I went to English Bay and watched it the first night and the rest I had to work, but I got to see them from the boat.


• Last weekend we went to Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley. Kelowna, Penticton and Vernon are small towns on the Okanagan Lake and a few other lakes I can’t remember the names of. It’s “desert” (still a lot of bloody green if you ask me) type area, the most northern desert in Nth America (I think). Kelowna has a big ski field (Big White) about 50k away, and Penticton feels like a “beach town”….however, I don’t call the shores of a lake “beach”…silly Canadians. Anyway, we had a good time – went out for dinner and drinks, relaxed on the shores of the Lake, checked out a few wineries (there are vineyards everywhere – they should call it wino valley!) and had this awesome little tour through one that is an organic winery. Learnt all this stuff about champers and bought a few bottles. The interesting thing about this place, is they store their wine for a month before sending it out, in a pyramid to attract negative ions. The dude who started the place believes in “pyramid power” and the pyramid is an 8th replica of the great pyramids of Egypt….who knows but they did an experiment with double blind testing it 90% people preferred the pyramid wine over the cellar wine, so why not!


• Tonight we are going to TUTS (Theatre Under the Stars) at an outdoor venue in Stanley Park to see Oklahoma.

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