Random Links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASWzZ4sGtYs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j66aZ3WJWCA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2ShMEB6ABg

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9076288729387457440&hl=en

http://www.dogthebountyhunter.com/
My favorite TV show at the moment...

Road Trip Pics #2

Road Trip Pics

The Canadian Rockies ROCK!

Row & I had an awesome week on the road - I can't believe how stunning the Rockies are - fab.
We saw a lot of B.C. and a glimpse of Alberta, covered 2116.6km and survived camping-a-la-Canadian without being mauled by bears, cougars or wolves - all in all, a fantastic trip!
We saw a moose at Mount Edith Cavell - he was HUGE with HUGE antlers - we stopped by the road, took a pic and then Row drove past while I stood up in the car, hanging out of the sunroof filming Mr Moose as we drove past - I was about 3m from him - all from the safety of the rental car...
We camped most nights, and by the third, I had stopped waking up in the middle of the night in fear of bears scratching around our campsite and grunting (after being awake for a min or so I would realise Row was scratching the tent with his feet & snoring/grunting in a bear-like-fashion).
We went horse riding one day (Row's first time), and even got to wear proper cowboy boots! I was very excited + I was wearing my blue jeans... I couldn't help but sing Neil Diamond's "Living in blue jeans...." Row went really well and is keen to do it again sometime (once we are earning!) - Brought back a lot of memories while riding when I was younger - I loved it.
We spent a couple of nights in Penticton (Winery region in the Okanagon) and had a really nice lunch at a local winery - reminded us of being in Moorilla, very similar backdrop.
As it happened, the Ironman Canada race was on in Penticton the day we were there so we caught that too - was so inspiring - it all got a bit too emotional and I started getting tears in my eyes each time one rode past and I yelled, "Good on you mate"... "Good Work!"... "Keep it up"... "Fantastic!"... Ahhh yes... Beautiful times...
We were standing by the road when we heard a local talking about this competitor who she had seen in Tim Horton's drinking a coffee & downing a donut - she asked him what he was doing and he casually replied he had got out of the water earlier than expected so thought he'd take a break. Everyone listening was, "No waaayyy!" .. "That's craaayzzziie" (in full Canadian accent) and then she said, "Yiipp - AND he was Austraaylian" - at which point Row & I let up a might roar - "AUSSSIE!!!" - proud as punch we were... Top work Aussie Ironman, top work.
We left the town soon after and started to make our way home. About 30 mins out of Whistler Row yelled out, "Pull over pull over!!"... We pulled over to watch a BIG mamma bear and her two cubs playing in a field - they are SO beautiful! Such a delight to watch - perfect end to a perfect week!

We're all going on a summer holiday...

- And about time, Lord knows how long its been since we went on a decent break...
Found out this morning I got my job as 'reservations host' - this is all good as now that we know we will be having an income coming in in a few weeks we can spend a bit more $$$ :D
I don't start for another two weeks and Row is not having a second interview for another week or so, so we Just went down to Avis and booked a rental car - we are leaving tomorrow morning and be driving east to Banff National Park and surrounds, returning in 7 days time. Yeay - excited. Visiting the region was one of my key goals whilst in Canada so I am really really looking forward to it...
Our flaties have offered to lend us their tent, think we will take it but not too sure about camping in the rockies as they have proper grizzly bears there!
Will no doubt have some great pics to post upon our return so stay tuned...

Bush Man shenanigans...

We had a funny experience yesterday.... Were quietly sitting in the shade at 'Lost Lake', minding our own business, reading through the local newspaper looking for jobs/house etc. when a random bush man came out of nowhere and just started hanging... He wanted to know what questions we had - I said we didn't have any... he said (need to put on a full Canadian-dude-out-of-it-accent)..
BM: 'Course you do mann... everyone has questions..'
G: 'No no... we don't have any'
BM: 'But you're reading the newspaper so obviously you do. It's ok. I'm here to help you.'
G: 'Uhhh... no... really, we're just reading the newspaper... we don't have any questions'.
BM: 'See, I want to teach maaan. Everyone has a purpose. Teaching english... yeah... People need it man...'
G: 'What, so you want to teach english as a foreign language??'
BM: 'See like, everyone has an alterior motive right. And that's ok... that's cool... I just want to put mine out there from the start you know??’
G: ‘... Ahhhh.... huhhh...’
(Row meanwhile sits there, trying not to vomit from the smell of BM - he was sitting within 30cm from Row, but a good 1m from me... but even I was feeling light headed at the stench that was BM)
BM: ‘You see, that’s the attraction and that’s why I came to you.’
G: ‘Oh......’
BM: ‘And like, you’re Australian yeah??’
G: ‘Yep. We’re Australian’.
BM: ‘See like, I could tear you apart for that man but I’m not going to. And so I’m telling you.’
G: ‘Uhhh.. hmmmm... ‘ (thinking I have no freaking idea what you are trying to tell me here Mr BM...
A moment of silence... Row turns to look at BM no expression, just one of his Rowan looks as if to say - why have you come to annoy us annoying stinky bushman...
BM to Row: ‘Hey man - you’ve got a straight face!!! That’s sooo fkg rare man!’
G: - Laugh... giggle... this was truely a funny situation, if only I had a recording of his voice...
Row: ‘Ok, so yeah, we’re going to get going now.’
G: ‘Ahh yeah - ok... bye.. have a good day...’
BM: ‘Oh.. ok (in a slightly sad voice)... yeah...’
Conclusion: Canadian bushmen are stinky and annoying... yet bring giggles - all in all, a worthwhile experience but will remember not to sit in that particular area again - we think its his local....

More Pics of Whistler

We told you it was beautiful...

Did the skyline yesterday, crazy stuff.

Whistling Away at Whistler...

Yeay! We’ve finally settled in a new home! We arrived in Whistler two days ago & have already settled into our new home in ‘staff quarters’. We’re actually located on Blackcomb, about a 10 min walk down to Whistler village and 20 min walk up up from the village. While we are yet to be official Whistler staff, we have interviews lined up for tomorrow that we are fairly confident about. As long as one of us is working for Whistler Blackcomb resort, we will both get subsidised housing and a season’s lift pass, (+ heaps of other discounts around town) so have settled.

Our current flat mates, Anna & Mike are a lovely Kiwi couple. Have only known them for 48hrs but feel really comfy with them. Anna & I are considering doing ‘boot camp’ next month. Of course, we don’t want to rush into committing to it straight away... as A) not sure if we can really be bothered... and B) it costs a bit so need to wait until Row & I have some income coming in & know our hours before we can commit to the ‘no excuse’ training sessions. In any case, Bootay Camp starts in a few weeks so we should be up for it by then... In the mean time, Anna & I may well have to spend an evening or two sipping over fine wine considering the pros & cons of doing BC - Hmm PRO: we will get fit & bootayfied in good time for the debut of the ski season... CONS: we will have to move our bootays and get up way early... As you can imagine, the jury is still out - will keep you up to date on the final verdict.

Exciting news - Row spotted our first bears yesterday arvo - pretty impressive considering we had been in Whistler for less than 24 hrs! We were on the gondola going up to Whistler peak when Row spotted them - was awesome. So amazing that they just cruise around up here - along with moose and other wild animals. I’m not ashamed to say that the thought of bears cruising past our window does freak me out a bit - our apartment is sort of halfway underground so our lounge room window looks out onto ground level and a thick band of trees is just 2m away. Apparently there is a local bear who has taken a liking to our neighbours' place and has broken into their house a couple of times and just cruised around the apartment! Ahhh - so hope Mr Bear doesn’t break into ours while we are sleeping...

Anyway, we have been assured that they aren’t the ‘grizzly bear’ type and that they aren’t really that aggressive. Although - we have also been told that if they feel at all cornered, or if they are with their cubs, stuff the “don’t panic, don’t turn your back, just walk away slowly facing them” rule and just run, scream and prey you don’t die! But, apparently there haven't been any bear attacks for "ages" & we know of people actually stumbling into them in the streets while making their way home of an evening without being mauled, so here’s to us surviving the next 6 mths not being killed by bears.

Apart from bears, there are SO many other cool things to see and do here over summer. We are rapped we decided to head to the mountains now rather than stay and work in Vancouver until the snow arrives.

We went on a luge yesterday - was fun - and, sorry Row, but I have to say it... I BEAT ROWAN! Ahh yes... t'was me who clocked the highest speed out of the two of us. Proud of punch I was :D

Played mini golf this arvo (extreme mountain sport I know, but we got it included in our “Adventure Activity Pack”) it actually became strangely exciting as the game moved on. Row started off caining my bootay but I made a stunning comeback. It ended up a draw - we had onlookers... Probably THE match of the season I think... we were SO much better than all the other 10 y.o. on the course.

This arvo we are going to give the “Skyline” a raz - a cable-like flying fox where you can “reach speeds up to 100km/h and heights up to 250ft above the ground”. Should be fun! There is some insane mountain biking to be done around here - rad to watch people doing jumps etc. as you go up the gondola Think there is a big race here in a couple of weeks so will be coolies to have a squiz of crazy boys just doing crazy things. So impressive.

We have our interviews tomorrow so will be having a quiet one tonight. Its been so nice to just do some basic things like put our clothes away into proper bedroom drawers, hang up our jackets etc., have a bathroom dresser to put our toiletries in, and to do a proper grocery shop (buy ginger, chilli, garlic, balsamic etc. - key ingredients...) so we can have proper meals. Food is pretty exie up here, but we figure we will be right once we are earning, and hey, its not as if I don’t know how to stalk out the bargains in the grocery aisle! We’ve got a blender, microwave, big fridge, stove top, kettle etc. + Anna & Mike have a TV set up in the lounge so its nice to have a few home comforts.

In fact, I’m in our apartment now, writing this on Mike’s laptop - internet is SO exie up here so please excuse us if we are not in much contact over the next few weeks. We are considering getting a basic laptop to use over the next 8 months so we don’t have to walk down to the village each time & spend $$$ each time we want to check our mail, sort through photos etc.Anyway, that’s enough for now me thinks - for those who are just hanging out to send the hundreds of letters they have been writing and storing over the past months, our new address is:

104 - 4802 Glacier Lane, Whistler BC, VON 1B4, Canada.

Not sure how long we will be in this exact apartment but we should be here for the next month, if not 6 months. Oh yeah, and for those who have been trying to call us best time to call is during weekend as there are only a couple of hours during the weekdays that you can call us during daytime for you/evening for us that’s in our ‘off-peak’ call time. SO, best idea is to call during our weekend, which in TAS time is between 2pm Saturday - 2pm Monday (W.A. time: noon Saturday - noon Monday).

- OH MY GOODNESS - in internet cafe now posting the blog and Stop Ze Press, Ashley fam - Mr N. Diamond and Ms B. Straisand have just come on the sound system - "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" ... ahhh beautiful. Funny memories of listening to some classics during our Ashley childhood. Deb, still can't believe you got to sing the best bits from "Enough is Enough" every time while Bookie & I got stuck with the crap bit. Hmmm... why am I not surprised... Which reminds me, I don't think I ever got over Michelle & I having to do the 'egyptian dance' to Walk Like An Egyptian while the pair of you, Lauren, & Trevor got to play funky tennis raquet guitars and drums...

Okidoki - another day, another essay - sorry... I can't help but get a bit excited when I start to type. As you can imagine, it's a very stimulating experience. As always, lots of love to everyone back home & thanks to those who have been writing - always great to hear from you. Over & Out 4 now brown cows.

In Vancouver with Scummy Susan & Low-on-cashflow-Lee...

Running low on cash after 4 months of travel? Don’t want to blow it all on the simple things such as eating and drinking??? No worries - just follow these sure fire tips and you’ll be saving much needed dimes and quarters like there’s no tomorrow...

Breakfast Always use your ‘free breakie’ vouchers provided at the hostel. Always - even when you’ve been having ‘free muffin & coffee’ for the lsat 5 days in a row. DO NOT be sucked into the ‘upgrade to a full hot breakfast for just $2.75’ - as t2ppl x $2.75 = $6.50 to your breakie just like that. Conpletely unnecessary, besides, one can use the opportunity to try all types of muffins on offer - carrot, raisin & bran (my fave), blueberry (Row’s fave), banana & walnut... etc. etc.

When serving yourself to the ‘no-refill’ coffee station, ask for a take-away mug instead of an in-house mug, and then, casually ask to upgrade to the larger size explaining that you want to add some hot water when you get back to hostel... Slowly, and casually approach the coffee station - with your back turned to the waiting staff, grab 5 sachets of brown sugar, a couple of individual jam, peanut butter and honey servings, and pour yourself and extra BIGGIE mug of coffee. That, combined with the muffin will keep your belly happy all the way to lunchtime.

Pre-lunch Snacker Become aware of the ‘promotional corner’ in downtown Vancouver where you can find new product freebies being handed out between noon & 1pm. We were lucky to get some tasty fruit juices & on the last day, even scored some peanut smarties! (By the way, apart from the initial excitement of eating chocolate for the first time in months, these really weren’t that tasty. In fact, we ended up giving them to one of the homeless guys as we figured he would enjoy them more than us).

Lunch Ok, this was always our splurging meal, but we still found a way to save $$$. Each lunchtime we would go to the ‘salad loop’ - an awesome help yourself salad bar with awesome salads, raw vegies etc. While the meal would cost us about A$8 between the two of us, we just got one customer loyalty card between the two of us so would build up our stamps twice as quickly and thus score the $1 off meal twice as fast!Afternoon TeaIn need of a pick me up after spending yet another day at the internet cafe doing our CV’s, applying for jobs, trying to find a place to live and checking mail etc., we would head to Starbuciks. Again - while SB is not the cheapest coffee around, we had a strategy. We would order one extra big coffee between us, and just as I was walking off, I would casually ask for another cup. Upon sitting down I would divide the XL coffee into two, providing two regular sized extra hot lattes for the price of 1 XL - saving approximately $1.20 each time!! Nice one...

Din Dins Before going shopping for dinner, scan the “freebies” shelf at the hostel to see what is on offer.

- Base the evening’s meal on available free produce.

- If, as in our case, the fundamental free ingredient is Lord-knows-how-old-already-opened pasta sauce, open jar to to check surface mould. If present, it should be minimal, and you should be able to spoon the affected contects out within two scoops to ensure the sauce only scores 5 on the dodge-icterscale.

- Go shopping for cheapest loaf of bread available. You should be able to find one for 82c.- Buy smallest quantity of cheese possible. Unfortunately, this tends to be in the form of funky orange cheese slices. I have no idea why, but the Nth Americans LURV their processed fluro orange cheese. Still, at 30c a slice, its not cheap, but it does mean you can get the evening’s cheese quota for $1.80

- Return to hostel and make ‘deluxe dodgy tomato sauce on wholemeal with orange cheese’ toasties. More than two people can eat (and yes, that includes Rowan’s impressive appetite) all for just $2.62. PLUS you will have left over bread for a snack in the days to come... Also provides something to spread those jam, peanut butter & honey sachets that you have been accumulating on...

- An alternative to ‘cooking at home’ (or rather cooking in a hostgel kitchen that was even more dodgy and grubby than most) is to go to any of the 100 ‘pizza by the slice’ joints in downtown Vancouver. They are EVERYWHERE & they’re actually really tasty - and not crappy/processed/oily... In the words of the great Joel Harris, “This could actually be healthy!”. And at just 95c per jumbo slice they provide all the basic food groups! That’s dinner for two at just $1.90 - $4.75 (depending on hunger levels - I would sometimes have 2 and Row 3...).

And so, our week in Vancouver was spent largely doing our CV’s, applying for jobs while hanging out at the unemployment centre, and figuring out ways to save $. We did a lot of walking around and just freebie sightseeing but our focus was on making a plan for the next couple of months.

We fly out of Van before heading to the states next year so will hopefully get to see some more of the city then.

New York New York

And so, twas on the 2nd August that we left the UK bound for the USA – touched down in New York 7 hours later to discover yet another heat wave was sweeping the city – its been around 35-38 degrees every day – ahhhh – soooo hot, at least the Subway is air conditioned here unlike the London tube.
Spent the first couple of days in Harlem – I honestly felt like I was in a gangsta film when we first arrived – was a bit full on, but within 24hrs I felt more comfortable hangin’ out in the street with my homies, drug lords, chicks who spend way too much time doing their hair, and random people being wrong… Having said that, we didn’t have any trouble, and considering how much cheaper it is to stay in Harlem than downtown Manhattan, its worth staying there – you really do get a unique experience of NY by hanging out there.
Row went to the barber shop one morning for a clip – was really funny – just like the scenes from ‘Barber Shop’ or ‘Coming to America’ when Eddie Murphy goes to the barber. I just sat down and watched as these massive black dudes sat around chatting and ranting about random things and laughing at the Grandpa black dude who when telling a story the others didn’t believe replied ‘Sir haelp me Looord Oolmiyty Jiisus in Hivin’ that he was telling the truth… the which the most massive of the massive dudes said, ‘You knooow dat’s da tru’ … ‘Hmmm mmmm’… anyway – we have video footage – funny stuff.
We caught up with Andrew Moore – and old family friend of Row’s who is living here with the delightful Jackie – they are both wonderful people - not too mention them both being ‘really really ridiculously good looking’ (to be spoken a la Zoolander – they are both prof models) and have been so kind to us. In fact, we are now staying at their awesome apartment in Queens with Jean (awesome house mate) and Lola and Cleo (their funny dogs).
Andrew scored us free box tickets to the New York Mets vs Philladelphia baseball match yesterday – was awesome. Real NY experience.
They also took us to PS1 yesterday – an outdoor day party with DJ’s yesterday and managed to score free entry, VIP passes & free drinks – Hooray! That finished around 9 so we moved to Water Taxi Beach in Long Island city – it was very cruisy. Again, DJ’s were playing but we took it easy and just sat down on the water front at the man made beach overlooking the Manhattan skyline – was beautiful.
We walked home around 11 and Jean pulled out the Haagen Daz caramel ice cream – which, I might add is SOOO extremely delicious it is literally unbelievable. We all sat on the couch with tea spoons, passing it around and delighting in its deliciousness – honestly, anyone walking past the apartment would have thought there was a swingers party going on – it tasted sooo good!
We had dinner with Viv (one of Collie’s best mates) on Friday night – she took us to Republic – a cross between T42 and wagamamma – was really nice. Viv and I were crying with laughter as we reminisced over the fabulous tales of Miss Davis – far out she’s funny. Went to a bar for a drink after dinner where Viv’s friend was having a going away – was awesome set up – but alas, after paying US$20 for a Heineken and Mohita, we decided to call it a night and save our money. Was awesome to meet Viv though – she’s rad. Hoping to catch up over lunch on Monday before flying out.
Row & I are getting a train up to Jersey this morning to spend a night with his Indo cousins who are living here. Should be lovely.
Training back to Manhattan Mon morning, might do some shopping in the arvo, will prob have dinner with Andrew & Jackie that evening and then fly out to Vancouver at 23h05 Monday night – touch down in Canada around 1:30 Tuesday MORNING – ahhh. Can’t believe our ‘touring’ part of our trip is almost at a close! Oh well – after 4 months of living out of a backpack it will actually be nice to get settled somewhere.
Love to everyone back home!

UK rap up

After three ‘Amaaaysing’ (to be spoken with Pommie accent), we were a bit sad to be leaving our friends in London. We had an awesome time & managed to survive the heatwave – highlights included (in order of appearance):
- Hanging out with Dave & Cass in ‘their’ house (well, it was theirs until the owner of the flat rudely moved back in and robbed Dave of his empire);
- House BBQ @ Clapham with the gang;
- Checking out the ‘Natural History’ and ‘Science’ museums;
- Bopping away at Turnmills with the gang from Tas and laughing at Mr Moustache;
- Eating Gourmet Kitchen Burgers with Dave, Cass & Row and watching way too many episodes of America's Next Top Model;
- Surviving Ben's attempt to lock me into his slave labour task force…
- Picnic with Row, Cass & Dave in Richmond Park & surviving the deer that were slowly but surely stalking us;
- Spending a few nights in Bristol with Jo (good mate from Tas uni) & Rob (boyfriend) & spending a day in Bath – my goodness, what a beautiful city…
- Eating mussels cooked in brandy & mustard sauce & drinking ‘Mango’ and ‘Coriander’ beer at Rob’s restaurant… mmm mmm;
- Catching ‘Macbeth’ at a Shakespear in the park like thing with Jo, Rob & fam;
- Having a meal with Ben & Sarah, Hannah & Adrian at Giraffe - Haloumi salad now rocks my world...
- Going to a film festival with Ellie (a lovely lass whom we met in Ko Tao) in Greenwich village & laughing at ‘Triple Pleasure’ a 3-man dancing act… very very funny, video montage to come…;
- Hanging out with Ben & Sarah & their lovely house mates in Clapham – bless;
- Catching Mamma Mia on broadway;
- Spending a day with Vero & Row in Brighton and drinking ‘Carrot Cake Milkshake’ … mmm random yet soooo good!
- Hanging out with with the newly-immigrated Rams & Jess – we did the ‘topless bus’ tour thing with them – Row & Ramah were a bit shy at first, but having witnessed the Sakul sisters going for gold, they got into it by the end… No no no, its not really a bus where you go topless… just a bus that has no top to enable fantastic views; and last but not least -
- Laughing at pomms being funny in their own pommy way.

More London Madness

Lovely people we have been staying with! Big Thanks to: Matt and Kel, Lilia, Ben and Sarah, and Dave (& Cass who was travelling herself at the time of the photo).