School has started again and so far we have dove right in. This semester should be more fun with our courses, Health and Physical Education, Arts, English focusing on reading and writing, and Social Studies. Although I’m mostly just looking forward to getting back into the classroom. Hopefully Ill find out about my placement in New Zealand soon too, then I can start making plans and actually know what city I will be living in.
So life is good, back in a routine and the weather is getting warmer everyday, you can actually sit in your bathers on the beach again.
Enjoy the sunshine; I know I will be taking full advantage of it.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Part 3
In the car again, but this time its for a week of travel.
Our first night we stayed in a small town called Albury. We went to the local ‘club’ for dinner and afterwards we hit the slot machines, and guess what…yep I was a winner. I walked out of that place the biggest winner of us, with whopping $7.00 barley enough for a coffee in this country, but still a winner and man was I proud of it, I just love slot machines!
After a bad nights sleep because of a local dog greeting everything in sight from 3 am-8am, we headed to the capital, Canberra. We walked a bit around town, had dinner at a pub and slept off the good draft beer ready for our exciting morning of the parliament house. Pretty much the only thing to do in Canberra is see all the parliament things. The city reminded me a lot of Ottawa, a very nice boring city where the government is the only draw for tourists.
Anyway after that morning we were all pretty happy to make our way through the thick fog and finally get to Sydney, I mean we were only 250 Km away.
Okay so we didn’t make it, we made it as far as Mollymook.
It was a nice little town with a beach, Mom and Dad were happy to see the beach and walk along it, while Julia and I were happy to see the local pub.
After a bottle of wine we met mom and dad for dinner and I again played the slots, no winnings tonight but im sure ill have lots of chances to make it up.
Okay so today we are going to make it to Sydney…I hope.
Pulling into the city the only hotel we could find is a 5 star…oh poor us! We were right down town so it was great for us to get around and see it all. We did the bus tour the next day and saw all the sites. But all our stories came from our nights out.
My friend Rachel who I met traveling in Laos now lives in Sydney so we went out for dinner and drinks in Bondi Beach. It was great to see her again. We went back to the hotel, late and a bit tipsy when as soon as we got to the hotel fire alarms went off. We had to wait 20 minutes to even get up to our room. When we finally made it, and sneaked into the room so not to wake mom and dad. Wait a minute WAKE mom and dad, wasn’t there just a long fire alarm going off all over the hotel? Well sleeping beauties slept right through it! Jules and I got all ready for bed in pj’s and all when we closed the bathroom door to find out that it had locked itself! It was in the middle of the night, the second of 4 fire alarms to go off that night was in full swing, mom and dad were snoring and we had just locked ourselves out of the bathroom. A typical night for us I would say!
Julia being the kind person she is, went down to the front desk in her jogging pants... I was wearing sparkly pink pants or I would have gone, she managed to get someone’s attention over all the guest screaming thinking they were burning to death to listen to her story of sleeping parents and a locked bathroom.
The hotel staff guy ushered her through the swarm of fire fighters and came up to our room with some kind of tool to open the door for us. We managed to get him in and out of our room, mostly due to his amazing ‘James bond backward shuffle’, open the bathroom door and leave all without waking mom and dad. Only to find out in the morning they had woken up to Julia and I giggling. They made fun of us coming in so late giggling all night…ummm you would have cracked up too if all this had happened under the noses of two snoring parents.
The next night we went for dinner at some strange German restaurant and I had a huge beer that I couldn’t even finish, Julia and I again left the snorers to do their thing while we went looking for an adventure…needless to say we found one. The Navy aboard the USS Kitty Hawk were in town and they just happened to be at the corner pub. But that’s a story for another time.
Our first night we stayed in a small town called Albury. We went to the local ‘club’ for dinner and afterwards we hit the slot machines, and guess what…yep I was a winner. I walked out of that place the biggest winner of us, with whopping $7.00 barley enough for a coffee in this country, but still a winner and man was I proud of it, I just love slot machines!
After a bad nights sleep because of a local dog greeting everything in sight from 3 am-8am, we headed to the capital, Canberra. We walked a bit around town, had dinner at a pub and slept off the good draft beer ready for our exciting morning of the parliament house. Pretty much the only thing to do in Canberra is see all the parliament things. The city reminded me a lot of Ottawa, a very nice boring city where the government is the only draw for tourists.
Anyway after that morning we were all pretty happy to make our way through the thick fog and finally get to Sydney, I mean we were only 250 Km away.
Okay so we didn’t make it, we made it as far as Mollymook.
It was a nice little town with a beach, Mom and Dad were happy to see the beach and walk along it, while Julia and I were happy to see the local pub.
After a bottle of wine we met mom and dad for dinner and I again played the slots, no winnings tonight but im sure ill have lots of chances to make it up.
Okay so today we are going to make it to Sydney…I hope.
Pulling into the city the only hotel we could find is a 5 star…oh poor us! We were right down town so it was great for us to get around and see it all. We did the bus tour the next day and saw all the sites. But all our stories came from our nights out.
My friend Rachel who I met traveling in Laos now lives in Sydney so we went out for dinner and drinks in Bondi Beach. It was great to see her again. We went back to the hotel, late and a bit tipsy when as soon as we got to the hotel fire alarms went off. We had to wait 20 minutes to even get up to our room. When we finally made it, and sneaked into the room so not to wake mom and dad. Wait a minute WAKE mom and dad, wasn’t there just a long fire alarm going off all over the hotel? Well sleeping beauties slept right through it! Jules and I got all ready for bed in pj’s and all when we closed the bathroom door to find out that it had locked itself! It was in the middle of the night, the second of 4 fire alarms to go off that night was in full swing, mom and dad were snoring and we had just locked ourselves out of the bathroom. A typical night for us I would say!
Julia being the kind person she is, went down to the front desk in her jogging pants... I was wearing sparkly pink pants or I would have gone, she managed to get someone’s attention over all the guest screaming thinking they were burning to death to listen to her story of sleeping parents and a locked bathroom.
The hotel staff guy ushered her through the swarm of fire fighters and came up to our room with some kind of tool to open the door for us. We managed to get him in and out of our room, mostly due to his amazing ‘James bond backward shuffle’, open the bathroom door and leave all without waking mom and dad. Only to find out in the morning they had woken up to Julia and I giggling. They made fun of us coming in so late giggling all night…ummm you would have cracked up too if all this had happened under the noses of two snoring parents.
The next night we went for dinner at some strange German restaurant and I had a huge beer that I couldn’t even finish, Julia and I again left the snorers to do their thing while we went looking for an adventure…needless to say we found one. The Navy aboard the USS Kitty Hawk were in town and they just happened to be at the corner pub. But that’s a story for another time.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Part 2
Packed up and ready to go we headed out to make our way to the mountains…BUT FIRST.
We stopped at a wildlife preserve and we got to feed the animals breakfast. I finally got to meet my new best friends the kangaroos. Let me tell you, Skippy almost made it to the car but Dad caught me trying to buckle him in…I was in love, they let you scratch their ears, feed them and they gave you kisses. I just wanted to take one home, I don’t know what the big deal was. There was also a huge Emu that wouldn’t leave us alone, I just didn’t trust him and his long neck, everywhere you turned he was there trying to eat the food for the kangaroos, bugger.
After an hour or so we were off on our long ride to Mansfield in the Victorian Alps. We got there and got our cottage…yep cottage, we were pretty much camping with a house. This was not the country club Mom and Dad usually stay at. But hey it suited us fine, minus the lack of heat in the back bedroom where I slept!
So guess what…yep-typical vacation move, I got sick. But this was not a normal cold, I was rocked! I had the flu pretty bad, with fever and runny nose to boot.
But I wasn’t going to let that stop me; we did some tours around in the car to lookouts and mountains and bridges and dams and whatever else Dad could find. Then my day came…horseback riding in the mountains. It was beautiful, sunny and I was feeling like total shit but went anyway cause I was not about to sit this out. However in true fashion, I had a problem with my horse. We were doing fine at first and I finally got my trot down pat when we stopped, ready to go up a big hill and my horse freaked out, danced around, kicked soooo the leader lady had to calm him down while I quickly was told to get down. So after a few rounds of horse shuffling I got a new horse named Babe, which I thought was appropriate. After that we made it all the way up and down the mountain with everyone gripping on tightly. Dad did a great job, didn’t love it and doesn’t think he’ll do it again and Mom, mom has found a new love. She thought it was great! Julia had a great time and never thought she would like it as much as she did and I could barely walk after getting off because my knees were so stiff!
Of course throughout the week we stopped at every winery and brewery we could find and had some great afternoons of chatting with strangers drinking up local wine.
Next week we are heading east to Sydney and then back to the coast. Its going by so quickly already!
We stopped at a wildlife preserve and we got to feed the animals breakfast. I finally got to meet my new best friends the kangaroos. Let me tell you, Skippy almost made it to the car but Dad caught me trying to buckle him in…I was in love, they let you scratch their ears, feed them and they gave you kisses. I just wanted to take one home, I don’t know what the big deal was. There was also a huge Emu that wouldn’t leave us alone, I just didn’t trust him and his long neck, everywhere you turned he was there trying to eat the food for the kangaroos, bugger.
After an hour or so we were off on our long ride to Mansfield in the Victorian Alps. We got there and got our cottage…yep cottage, we were pretty much camping with a house. This was not the country club Mom and Dad usually stay at. But hey it suited us fine, minus the lack of heat in the back bedroom where I slept!
So guess what…yep-typical vacation move, I got sick. But this was not a normal cold, I was rocked! I had the flu pretty bad, with fever and runny nose to boot.
But I wasn’t going to let that stop me; we did some tours around in the car to lookouts and mountains and bridges and dams and whatever else Dad could find. Then my day came…horseback riding in the mountains. It was beautiful, sunny and I was feeling like total shit but went anyway cause I was not about to sit this out. However in true fashion, I had a problem with my horse. We were doing fine at first and I finally got my trot down pat when we stopped, ready to go up a big hill and my horse freaked out, danced around, kicked soooo the leader lady had to calm him down while I quickly was told to get down. So after a few rounds of horse shuffling I got a new horse named Babe, which I thought was appropriate. After that we made it all the way up and down the mountain with everyone gripping on tightly. Dad did a great job, didn’t love it and doesn’t think he’ll do it again and Mom, mom has found a new love. She thought it was great! Julia had a great time and never thought she would like it as much as she did and I could barely walk after getting off because my knees were so stiff!
Of course throughout the week we stopped at every winery and brewery we could find and had some great afternoons of chatting with strangers drinking up local wine.
Next week we are heading east to Sydney and then back to the coast. Its going by so quickly already!
Saturday, July 09, 2005
Winter Trip Part 1
Leaving the apartment at 4 am to catch our flight with only a couple of hours of sleep put a dark cloud over the beginning of our travels but once we were at the airport and a bit of coffee was in us we were ready to go. When we got to Melbourne and checked into our hotel we headed right out into the city. What a great place. Melbourne is one of those cities that has everything you could want. Especially shopping! Our days were packed with shopping and sightseeing and our nights were full of restaurants and wine. Basically we shopped and ate our way around all corners of Melbourne. It really is the “most livable city” as the saying goes. I would go back there in a second.
After a couple of days we took the train out of the city to meet with Mom and Dad in the south of Victoria. We got back to the country club and headed right out for a little hike. We went to a field just outside of town and went kangaroo hunting. It was just at dusk so they were all coming down the hills to the valley. There must have been 100 in the area. It was amazing.
The next day we got in the car and drove to the Great Ocean Road. Everyone said we couldn’t do it, but we did. We drove all the way in 12 hours. It was a huge drive but it was worth it. We went to the 12 Apostles and Julia and I took a helicopter ride to see them all. A couple of days later one of the apostles fell and now there are officially only 8 left. We also went to the rainforest and did a canopy walk. 45 meters in the air and all the rainforest around us. Mom and Dad even climbed to the highest point, but you know me and staircases…. I stayed at the base safe and sound. It was still a great experience.
Our next move is to the Victorian Alps, Im guessing its going to be much colder!!!!
After a couple of days we took the train out of the city to meet with Mom and Dad in the south of Victoria. We got back to the country club and headed right out for a little hike. We went to a field just outside of town and went kangaroo hunting. It was just at dusk so they were all coming down the hills to the valley. There must have been 100 in the area. It was amazing.
The next day we got in the car and drove to the Great Ocean Road. Everyone said we couldn’t do it, but we did. We drove all the way in 12 hours. It was a huge drive but it was worth it. We went to the 12 Apostles and Julia and I took a helicopter ride to see them all. A couple of days later one of the apostles fell and now there are officially only 8 left. We also went to the rainforest and did a canopy walk. 45 meters in the air and all the rainforest around us. Mom and Dad even climbed to the highest point, but you know me and staircases…. I stayed at the base safe and sound. It was still a great experience.
Our next move is to the Victorian Alps, Im guessing its going to be much colder!!!!
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