Syd & Astrid's Down Under Adventure

On Holiday, or Travelling?

2009-03-26T03:45:00.001Z

Travelling around New Zealand and Australia has definitely been an enlightening experience. Most of my Canadian friends (including myself up until this point) hadn't done much 'travelling' in the truest sense... the ones who did do some 'travelling' usually did it as side trips from their teaching English somewhere in Asia -- I'm not sure if I can think of anyone who up and took a year off to travel around the world.

One interesting thing that I came to realize on the Whitsunday being people use the terms 'on holiday' and 'travelling' differently. I was chatting with a British bloke named Danny when he said 'Oh, I'm not travelling, I'm just here on holiday...'. That got me thinking -- what is the difference between being on holiday and travelling? Aren't they the same thing?

So this got me thinking -- how does one differentiate between being 'on holiday' and 'travelling'? And which camp would Astrid & I be considered in? Lets look at some criteria:

Duration:

I'm going to say that a 'holiday' would max out at 4 weeks (Brits are known to take 4 weeks off concurrently and refer to it as 'annual leave')... of course no one in Canada could do this since hardly anyone gets 4 weeks (except my friends mom, who apparently gets 6 or 7 weeks holiday working for the Canada Post, but I'm sure that took a few decades to earn). Travelling typically denotes a longer period of time. Travelling is often for a year, but I reckon anything over 6 weeks would firmly put you in the travelling camp.

Destination:

Holidays are typically a single-destination event, whereas travelling often means seeing multiple countries... or in the case of big countries like Canada, US, or Australia, seeing many different cities in those areas. Holidays are often a single flight out, single flight back affair, whereas travelling often involves multiple legs -- culminating with the 'Round the World' (RTW) ticket many airlines offer and the preferred choice of proper travellers on a gap year.

Laundry:

To me, being on holiday is meant to be relaxing and a bit more luxurious. This also means a lack of chores (cooking, cleaning, and laundry). Travellers pack light and doing laundry in hostels or campgrounds becomes pretty normal.

Financial Situation:

People on holiday plan, save, and really enjoy themselves while away -- staying in proper hotels and having some excellent meals. People travelling, due to duration (see above) are much more financially constrained. This means staying in Hostels instead of hotels, cooking your own meals somewhat regularly, and eating out on the cheap when not cooking. It seems almost everyone travelling is perpetually broke (yet they still seem to fork out for cool excursions such as sky diving). To this end, many travellers end up working as part of their tour.

Job:

Being on holiday typically means on holiday from your job. When you are on holiday, you are still getting paid. When you return, you go back to your job full of excitement and tell everyone about your trip and show off the photos. Travelling on the other hand often means no job existed (just graduated) or quitting your job (see financial situation above) and having to find a new one whenever you return home. Since there is no job waiting, this also aids in extending the duration of one's travels.

So, before analyzing any of the above, I would have said that Astrid and I were 'travelling'. But we're definitely more 'soft core' compared to most of our fellow travellers we have met on our journey. Analyzing the above criteria renders the following for us:

Duration -- 74 days -- travelling

Destination -- 2 countries and multiple destinations -- travelling (scraping by)

Laundry -- yes, many times -- travelling

Financial Situation -- no, we're just 'borrowing' from our house down payment :) -- holiday

Job -- we've got ones to go back to -- holiday

So there we have it folks... it looks like we squeak by with a narrow margin of 3-2 in favour of 'travelling'!

But it'll be good to be home nonetheless :)

Syd.

Living on a Dive Boat

2009-03-25T01:23:00.001Z

To be honest, I was a little scared of heading out to sea for 3 days of diving. After our Port Douglas day diving trip, I began to feel ill and developed a fever... most likely from ingesting way too much sea water while snorkeling in the big waves on the reef. It was too late to cancel the trip, nor did we really want to cancel the biggest excursion of our entire holiday. So I spent the entire day before in bed, taking some paracetemol (what they call acetaminophen everywhere else in the world), vitamin C, and lots of water.

The trip ended up being amazing. The first day was a bit rough as I was still recovering, but the rest was smooth. Consecutive diving lets you get into a rhythm so it just becomes clockwork for you to suit up and jump in for yet another dive. I would compare doing a 3 day live-aboard dive trip to staying in a ski resort for about a week doing 5 consecutive days of skiing (or snowboarding). Its just so much better than doing a single day trip. Like on the 4th day of skiing/snowboarding, by about the 6th dive you are totally in the zone and feel you could just continue diving/skiing everyday, forever. And like week-long ski trips, this dive trip allowed Astrid & I to become much better divers.

A few people onboard were doing their Advanced Open Water course, something I've always wanted to upgrade to. At only $100 AUS, I was actually planning to do it this trip but given the cold I got just beforehand, I opted to not push it and hoped I would just be able to dive at all, and not feel worse over the course of the trip.

The food onboard was also super healthy and tasty... probably the best we've eaten since in Australia. And going 4 days without alcohol must be a record on our holiday and I'm sure was a welcome break for my kidneys and liver :)

Diving in the GBR is fantastic... I'm sure it won't be a question of _if_ we come back, but more of a _when_ we'll be back.

Till next time...

Syd.

Scuba Freaks

2009-03-25T01:21:00.001Z

One of the key highlights of Australia is the Great Barrier Reef (aka GBR). A natural wonder of the world, and the only living organism to be seen from space. We knew we were going to scuba dive this phenomenon, but we didn't anticipate how much we would dive!

As mentioned in my previous post we went diving in Port Douglas as a result of winning the cane toad race. This dive boat took us to the outer reef - only 1.5 hour ride on a massive catamaran from town. Port Douglas is famous for being the closest town to the reef (closer than Cairns). We didn't have our camera this day so you'll have to take our word for it (well, we brought the camera, but forgot it's battery back in our room). (Though we got this 'shot' of the boat :)):

The diving here was great! We didn't go down too deep (only about 60 feet) and ascended to the more shallow part of the reef on the way through the dives. The colours of the coral in the GBR are phenomenal. Greens, purples, and blues could be seen everywhere. My favourite was the blue staghorn coral as it is a bright baby blue with darker tips. There are also loads of fish eating off the reef - you can even hear the parrotfish biting at the coral - its like a cacophony of scratching all around you when you are in the midst of a large feeding session. when we came up there was a massive maori wrasse under the boat that was just as big as me! He likes to hang out and get his photo taken, like the one below:

After we completed each dive that day we also went out snorkelling as the reef was so shallow and bright with colours near the surface, we just didn't want to miss out. It was tough snorkelling though as there was a massive current and the waves kept pushing water into our snorkels. Diving was much more pleasurable. I'm glad we did the one day as it prepared us for the big kahuna GBR dive trip.

Two days later we went on a 3 day live aboard dive trip from Cairns to see a different part of the outer reef. It was basically 4 dives per day with very early morning wake ups. You start to feel woozy from all of the compressed oxygen in your system, but the dives make it worth it. The great thing about diving the reef is how shallow it is. So that means less equalizing and decompression and other potentially scary diving stuff.

The boat trip was run by Pro-Dive and it is a well run operation. Basically all day you dive, then eat, then dive, then eat. There are 33 people sleeping in cabins on the big dive vessel (called scubapro) and 6 crew. We did 11 dives in 3 days, which included 2 freaky but relaxing night dives. When we jumped in the water for each night dive there were sharks circling the boat but thankfully they scattered when we jumped in (they don' like our noisy bubbles). Those divers out there will know what the symbol Syd is doing means :)

It seemed insane, but the schedule was so well planned that it all happened naturally. The boat itself was very cool, with cabins on 3 different levels and lots of toilets... quite an upgrade compared to the close quarters of the backpacker-focused Whitsunday sailboats where there was only 1 shower for 26 people.

This is the first time that Syd and I were sent on our own to dive and navigate ourselves (without a guide). Though we did have some help from our supervisor (Arek) who did a picture map with compass directions and funny story before each dive (above). It was a bit scary at first but eventually it was nice to have the freedom and comfort of just each other to dive with. We rented a digital camera for the trip so that we could get some choice shots.

We especially loved the parrot fish.

The funky and beautiful coral formations, including this one which was 15 feet high and looked like a mushroom (which served as a great reference point -- 300 degrees back to the boat!):

The hawks bill turtles (often eating off the reef)

The clown fish were adorable but so hard to find

And the multitude of spotted stingrays.

I also enjoyed taking shots like this:

In my ignorance I laid down beside a dangerous fish called the Titan Triggerfish (who was actually guarding its nest in the sand). I just thought it was a strange looking fish. Thankfully it didn't attack or I would have had a nice chunk out of my side from its sharp teeth!

Astrid.

How a Toad Changed our Holiday

2009-03-25T01:16:00.001Z

So, our first night in Port Douglas started out normal enough. We walked around the town, enjoyed happy hour from 5-6 and played some euchre for a while. Then, we felt a bit peckish so we went to a bar called the Iron Bar and sat at a tractor table. I tried kangaroo loin and it was delicious. So overall, pretty normal right?

Well, then this guy comes up to our table and asks us to watch a comedy show about cane toads and human jockeys that race them (for $5). So we thought, sure, lets partake. Firstly, the man had to explain that the cane toads are misunderstood, and that their poison venom is inside the pockets of their cheeks and this is only released when under intense squeezing or biting. Thus, he said as long as we didn't bite the toads heads then we would be safe!

In the first two rounds, people were selected randomly to race toads from their ticket numbers. They each had to kiss the toad and place it in the bucket to start the race. I think they do this so that people get comfortable with touching the thing. The toads had cool names like Jerry Springer (everyone is to say Jerry, Jerry!), fat bastard (man he was a fat frog!), ozzy ozzy (to bring out the ozzy cheer of oy oy oy!), gay freddo (named after the chocolate bar - he had a pink harness), and my personal female favourite - camel toad ;-). Once the man said go and lifted the bucket, every jockey had to focus their new years paper noise maker at their toad's butt to try and get it off the table. Once off the table the toad was free to be grabbed by the jockey and placed in the winning bucket. This is harder than it seems because once the toads have freedom they can hop pretty darn fast!

For the final round they replaced the two toads that were poor performers and added two new toads and auctioned off the lot. Gay Freddo was doing pretty well so he garnered $25 in the auction, followed by Fat Bastard at $20. I thought I would get in the game and bid on Camel Toad (who came in 6th and 2nd in the last two races) for a mere $10. What a steal! From then on, the thoughts in our heads went like this.

Astrid: Oh my god. Did my bid just win? Yikes, now I actually have to race this thing in front of all these people...I can do this, its just a toad right? I watched other people do it? Though I talked to a woman in the bathroom from a previous round and she was right grossed out...hmm..here we go, I'm being called up to get camel toad. Its not so bad its just her and one other toad left in the bucket. Just grab it, say woo hoo, and put in other bucket. Done. Oops, I need to kiss the darn thing, so I picked her up again and did so. Must have helped because now she's raring to go. Let's look around at the competition. Mostly old bittys...I can take them down. I think the prize is good, and even if it sucks, its all about winning right? I'm not competitive at all, nope. Its down to camel toad and I to make this happen. And we're off. She's already heading for the table. One quick little push from my noisemaker and she's at the edge. She jumped! What do I do? Oh ye, grab her and place in the bucket. No more jumps for you my friend, you're mine. And in the bucket you go. How did I do? Oh my god! I won? Syd, I won? That's awesome! ;o)

Camel Toad: Frick, I have to race again? Why can't they put me back in the wild so I can continue to populate thousands of babies? This is such a bore. Oh, here comes my new jockey. She seems kinda cute, and certainly on the ball...maybe we can take this one home. Oh, there we go, into the bucket with the other loser toads. Oops, she's picking me up again, time to get my juices moving and my legs warmed up. That kiss helped, thanks lass. Okay, here goes, maybe if I'm the first to jump out the bucket I'll have a head start. Here we go! You leave my butt alone, I can find my way on my own thank you very much. There's the edge! I'm going for it! Yay! Freedom! Or not, that lass grabbed me already, damn she's fast. Doh.

So that's how it all played out. I ended up winning a full day snorkel trip ($165 value) on a ship called HABA, and bragging rights for the rest of the night. Sweet eh? We then changed our itin for the next day in Port Douglas and got up early to get on the boat! We used the certificate and upgraded me to diving for $60 and Syd paid for his own dive trip. If it hadn't been for that great toad, we would have just lazed around the entire day and missed 2 brilliant dives on the Great Barrier Reef. Thanks Camel Toad. ;o)

Astrid.

Sleeping in the Rainforest

2009-03-25T01:15:00.001Z

It seems ages ago when we stepped into the travel agent's place across the street from our hostel in St. Kilda's. It was there that we laid out our Oz itinerary and booked the majority of our tours and accommodation. One portion of the journey I had previously never heard of: a 2 day/1-night Cape Tribulation trip. Part of the reason we decided to keep it in the itin was that it was a good way to provide a free transfer North of Cairns so we could spend a couple of nights in Port Douglas, which we heard fantastic things about.

Cape Tribulation is a couple of hours North of Cairns -- its a proper rainforest and each day it rained a few times, turning into a serious downpour, but only lasting 10-15 mins or so. And about an hour later, the concrete walkways were already dry again due to the humidity.

We did a tour up there that included a river cruise where we saw 2 baby crocs and a heron. Then we did a couple nature walks in the Daintree Rainforest.

We stayed in a cool hostel called the Cape Trib Beach House which was a series of different cabin accommodations right within the rainforest! Here's a shot of our cabin -- it had 3 rooms plus a kitchen/common area, but the other rooms were empty so it was all ours :)

Behind us is the actual 'Cape' that the area is named after. We took a walk down there behind our hostel to check out the lookout, another beach, and see some cool wildlife.

Swimming in the rain in the rainforest was a cool experience.

Spiders here are everywhere! And they are ginormous (like Dan & Sue's clock!). Here's a shot of me holding a big female:

Just kidding -- I'm not holding her -- no way! Spiders are actually pretty difficult to photograph so in this one I simply had my hand behind her web. Apparently this spiders' webs is one of the strongest and the army is starting to use it in materials due to its strength to weight ratio.

Our beach house had a cool tented area where the bistro (great food!) and pool were located. They also had a wicked selection of games, and Astrid & I had a couple of good matches of Yahtzee!

This is the access to the beach from the bistro area.

Artistic rainforest walk shot. ;o)

Lastly, here's a shot of a large Lace Monitor that we saw on our walk. He waddled around us for quite a while before venturing back into the brush.

Overall a very cool place to chill out and a great experience.

Syd.

Sailing the Coral Sea

2009-03-24T08:16:00.001Z

There were 3 main activities I was looking forward to in Australia: Surfing, Sailing, and Diving. The other day we returned from our 2-day/2-night sailing trip in the Whitsunday's, thereby accomplishing 2 of the 3 aforementioned activities. The sailing really lived up to its high expectations -- it was a really great trip. We were on the ship BroomStick, with a fantastic crew (especially the Skipper, Mick... how Ozzie of a name is that?!?!) and a great group of passengers.

This trip is best told with pictures, so here's a bunch!

Our footprints on Whitehaven beach...

Here's a shot when we got the boat right on up her side, 45 degrees and were flying through the water. The low side of the boat has the railings almost in the water!

Our Jet Ski Safari

2009-03-13T11:52:00.001Z

For my birthday pressie Syd booked us in an 'eco-jet ski safari' where we got to play in the waves on new fabulous jet skis and tour with them down a tidal river.

We left from a beautiful eco resort (where they served us a sweet steak sandwich for lunch) for our jet ski adventure with just us and a guide (and his mate).

We had to wear stinger suits to protect our skin from any jellyfish, but they were lycra bodysuits (tight) that made me feel like I should be in flashdance. Surprisingly they were quite comfortable. ;o)

I have never been on a jet ski before so I wanted to be the first to drive (below). That is mini Ben Lomond behind us. I made Syd sit behind me (put him in the passenger seat for once) and we jetted off through the waves. It was scary at first but I got the hang of it and was soon at top speed bouncing through the waves. We caught some serious air on some of the big waves. woo hoo!The next part of the trip Syd drove but it was more tame. We travelled down a calm river and were on the lookout for marine life (sharks, crocs, dolphins, etc) and birdlife. We didn't see any marine life other than a few jumping fish, but we did see some cool crabs (two types) and massive sea eagles searching for their prey. It was a chill afternoon on the river and the Syd had the reins on the way back and we hit MORE air.

They bought us free beer for my bday and we had a swim in the warm saltwater eternity pool before watching the sun go down at the resort.

On the drive back we saw many cane toads crossing the road, saw a roo (with a joey!) in the bush, and a dingo, and lastly these 2 wallabies right beside the road! Sweet.

What a fun day out in the Aussie wilderness. Thanks honey!

It's My Party and I'll Dance in Foam if I Want to!

2009-03-13T11:43:00.001Z

My birthday in Oz was awesome? What more could I ask for? A beautiful sunny day lazing by the lagoon (above) with our Irish friends and playing frisbee, followed by a romantic dinner with my man? ;O)

Syd took me out to a nice seafood restaurant in Airlie Beach called Shipwrecked. We had a corner table overlooking the ocean. It was a serious step up from the hostel slumming meals we have been used to. I tried the local baby lobster called 'moreton bay bugs' while Syd ordered chili prawns. It was nice to go out for dinner like that again. Made us forget that we have been backpackers for 2 months.

We spent a couple hours there enjoying the tasty sangria and the soft cool breeze coming off of the bay. Did I mention that we shared a piece of macadamia mango cheesecake for dessert? It was deadly. ;o)

But you wouldn't think that I would let the night end all mellow did you? Oh no, that was just the beginning! We met up again with our Irish friends (Cathal, Sarah and Elaine) and proceeded to get our drink on, and a few games of pool while we prepared ourselves mentally for the next step - the infamous Foam Party! That's right, the kind of party you always hear about and secretly wonder if its worth checking out, but never know where it takes place. Well I lucked out that it took place in the night club of our very own hostel!

We first watched people come out with white 'soap' boots (that we called uggs) and then others came out completely froth-covered from head to toe. We decided to 'take the plunge'. Check out the guy behind me - almost invisible in the foam! It was very strange being right under the soapy waterfall because the soap just envelopes you and suffocates you. After one go under the stream we decided to stick to the outer part of the soap pool and dance in the foam that came up to our waist. I had to wear my flip flops on my hands lest I lose them forever in the foam, or fall on my back because they make it too slippery! It was crazy. I couldn't help thinking that we were dancing in a car wash - because that's exactly what it smelled like! Of course we snapped some choice shots and then left the party (one can only take so much soap) and walked around town to shake it all off.

It was certainly a memorable birthday in Oz!

It's a Twister, It's a Twister!

2009-03-13T10:31:00.001Z

Or a Cyclone, as they call it here. (aside: Astrid tells me she titled this blog entry to match the quote from The Wizard of Oz). Its called Hamish and it started in Northern Queensland a week or so back and is moving down the coast. The last big Cyclone was known as Larry and was back in 2004 -- he was pretty devastating. They say Hamish is stronger -- in fact, Hamish is the strongest they've seen since 1974.

We were arriving into Rainbow Beach on Saturday March 7th when we first heard about Hamish. We were due to head out onto Fraser Island the next day for a 3 day / 2 night safari which my friend Katrina said was the highlight of her trip. At the prep talk (where they show you a few short videos about the island which are super boring) we were told Hamish was coming south and the island may be closed tomorrow, but we wouldn't know until the morning. So we got to know our group of 10 who'd be sharing the 4x4 and went ahead on the shopping trip to buy the necessary group provisions (which included an awesome 10 kg watermelon! :)).

The next day we were told the bad news that Fraser was closed by the government as a precaution. The next 2 days the island remained closed and we had to cut our losses and make alternate arrangements... opting instead to head up to Airlie Beach (home of the Whitsunday islands and our upcoming sailing trip) a couple of days early.

Rainbow Beach itself is a super small beach town with a 200 m main road with several shops, food places, and a hotel. There's 3 hostels all located directly next to each other (off the main strip) with the bus stop located across the street. Overall the town is pretty tiny with not a whole lot to do -- it primarily exists to service the Fraser Island tourist industry, which consists mostly of backpackers such as ourselves (well, in our case we are more pretending to be backpackers, albeit 10 years their senior :)). Spending 3 days at the hostel was a little boring but we made the most of it by hanging out with the members of our would-be safari group.

When we knew we wouldn't be able to get to Fraser even by trying to wait the storm out for a couple of days, we decided to crack into the plethora of food we had purchased and have a big BBQ lunch/dinner. We made burgers from scratch (though we forgot the breadcrumbs) which turned out to be super tasty. That night we invited our group up to our room (which was actually quite large with a big private balcony) to play cards and drink goon -- isn't that what all backpackers do? :) The next morn we had a big fry up breakfast.

One day we did get some pretty heavy rain, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed that Rainbow Beach ended up missing most of the storm since Hamish decided to hang out at sea moving south, rather than heading inland. I was hoping to experience the crazy wind/rain you see on the news when hurricane hit. You know, with chairs flying around behind the reporter, and trees half bent from the gusts. But alas, at least we were safe and sound with no real threat from nature.

We're in Airlie Beach now (Thursday March 12), and are sure glad we decided to spend a few excess days here rather than sticking around Rainbow another couple of nights like the others did. This town is actually a real town with lots going on (albeit catered heavily around the fact everyone is here to go sailing).

We're off sailing on Saturday and are quite excited. We originally wanted to head sailing for Astrid's bday, but the timing didn't work (ironic, since now with Fraser cancelled, we could have went sailing on her bday). But instead we're going to head on an JetSki Eco-Safari all day tomorrow for her bday, which should be great.

And technically, tomorrow morning in Oz is still March 12th in Canada ;) Happy B-day honey!

Syd.

Crikey! Isn't My Zoo Gorgeous?

2009-03-09T00:50:00.001Z

From Noosa we took a day trip to the home of Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter - The Australia Zoo! We got picked up by the croc express - a double-decker courtesy coach that takes you to the zoo for the day and shows you crocodile hunter on the telly the whole way.

Steve & Terri Irwin inherited the then reptile park (4 acres) from Bob Irwin, and now it is a 72 acre fun park and Irwin empire. Steve's legacy has continued in the teachings and conservation that he has passed onto his family and staff. He has so much respect here, its incredible. He has done amazing things for Australia. And you can't walk anywhere in the park without seeing the word 'crikey' everywhere, or listening to his videos talking about this or that 'gorgeous' animal.

Syd was able to feed Steve's 'gorgeous girls' (elephants) at a 10:30 feeding.

The zoo's main attraction is the many croc pools of all the crocs that he has saved over the years. The crocs are exhibited in the 'crocoseum' show twice a day where they show the crowd how a croc snaps up food with such force in its massive jaws. I was able to 'catch' a croc of my own.

Our favourite attraction was the roo heaven. This was basically an enclosure that everyone can walk around freely in and cavort with the kangaroos. If you buy food they will eat right out of your hand. Syd and I liked petting and sitting with the many different roos all over the park. They are all really friendly because they have been hand raised in the park with humans all the time. Which is why this roo let me hug him (sort of). We loved watching a joey eat the grass at the same time as its mother - while still in the pouch!Our second favourite attraction was the koala enclosures. There were a couple of them so you could get up and close with them and watch them eat the eucalyptus/gum leaves, and even give them a pat on their soft bums. However, most of the time they just slept because they require 20 hrs of sleep a day as it takes a lot of energy to eat and digest all of the leaves (up to 1kg each) that they eat in a day. This guy was especially alert so made for a cute photo. ;o)

They had some other cool animals too like kookaburras (below), wombats, wallabies, cowarras and tasmanian devils (below - he was hard to get a pic of cuz he ran around his pen so fast! ). The snake area was creepy with all the venomous snakes on display. The prettiest snake of all (non-venom) was the green python. We really enjoyed our 'walk on the wild side'.

Astrid ;o)

Camping in the Bush

2009-03-09T00:37:00.001Z

Yesterday we caught an early Greyhound from Brisbane (aka Brisvegas) up to Noosa. Noosa is a little holiday town geared more towards Auzzie's weekend beach holidays rather than to the backpacker scene, which was a nice change for us. After enjoying a fabulous pizza & beer special at a nearby Italian cafe, we grabbed the shuttle to our next accomodation: Gagaju Bushcamp.

I think since a) Astrid & I are the outdoorsy type and (b) since we experienced BushFest back in 2006 (thanks June & Ty!), we were really excited and pleased with the rusticness of the place. It was actually cleaner and nicer than I was expecting... and even had showers :) Most of the people that go there do a 3 day canoe trip package, but Astrid & I couldn't quite fit that in (and we thought it might pale in comparison to our Algonquin trips) so we just went for the night (Rob, the British half of Laura & Rob who we met in England and now are great friends, recommended it from his Oz trip several years back). The whole place actually made me think this would be something you would find in the bush near Lowbanks :)

The main area of the camp was very cool -- a nice TV lounge with an excellent selection of DVDs, a cool, albeit somewhat small, kitchen area with a few tables to sprawl out on... then a lounge area with a big table great for playing cards, a "bar" area complete with a dart board (though the bar didn't serve alcohol, so its more like the bar one of your buddies has in his basement (you know I'm talking about you Page :)), and finally a fire pit just adjacent to all of this.

Our dorm was a cute little tent/canvas cabin thingy that had 6 rickety wooden bunks with canvas hammocks/bottoms and a little matress on top. The whole place is fairly open-air, but they light mosquito coils each night which did a pretty effective job of keeping the bugs away.

After having a quick dip in the Noosa River (which is 20m away, salt water, and tidal), we went for a walk around the area. Astrid was keen to try and spot a Koala -- which we didn't find -- though we came across 5 Kangaroos having an afternoon bite to eat -- so cool to see them in the wild! We didn't want to get too close but did manage to snag the following pics. The big one (I'm assuming the male of the group) must have been over 7 feet tall (he was certainly taller than me, even hunched over).

Oh, and Dad -- there were some free roaming cows with giant horns right neat where we say the 'roos.

Hangin' in a Hippy Haven

2009-03-09T00:32:00.001Z

We have spent 4 glorious days in Byron Bay and it was everything that people told us it was - no commercial buildings, surfers everywhere, laid back hippy-style attitudes, and tie-dye clothing! We enjoyed shopping in the many surf shops and funky stores before taking a dip in the wavy sea. A strange thing that we noted on the beach though was that the sand sounded weird as you walked across it - like walking on rubber...though it felt soft and completely normal...very odd.

We stayed at an especially hippy place called 'the arts factory' that used to be a hippy vegetarian commune and prior to that it was the site of a 'piggery' (the buddha bar (piggery) has since been renovated in the last decade, but before that apparently the floor was sloped so the blood of the pigs could run down to the one end). Now its just a cool night spot called the Buddha Bar, that plays live music every night.

Now, its just a really cool spacious open air hostel that has a bar, a cafe, a lounge, a spa and a cinema with couches! Plus, being open air it always feels in tune with nature. The mainland area with didgereedoo pit, hammocks and volleyball court was the fun place to hang out, and where people sang & yelled until the wee hours of the morning (much to our thin-walled tent chagrin). Its funny that the stereotype of hippies not being into sports proved true -- we never once saw the volleyball court being used. We stayed in island bungalows, which are essentially tent-like huts on the river, where iguanas and turkey vultures stop by to visit all the time (and wake you up in the morning like roosters). It was a great place to chill on our own little balcony.

For a different spice of life we booked a full day bus trip to a hippy village called Nimbin through a company called Jim's Alternative tours. We booked it with our Irish friends from the surf camp as they were staying at the Arts Factory too. Essentially right from when the bus picked us up we were in for a journey, as the driver played his synchronized 60's music (rock, reggae, soul) very loud and proud, amidst his peace activist and anti-religious viewpoints. At one part of the trip we were about to go down a long windy hill for 5 minutes and 12 seconds, and he happened to find a jazz song to match the hills in order to simulate a roller coaster experience for us with the music enhancing the dips and turns along the way. He also introduced us to eco-air conditioning, below, which we used frequently.

I have never been on such a fun bus trip where you don't want to get off the bus because the journey (and entertainment of tunes) is so fun and unpredictable. Before almost every tune or set he would introduce a funny quip as to why that song was chosen. I would give you some examples, but they wouldn't be politically correct for a public forum. ;o)

Nimbin itself was a pretty trippy town. It looked like we were stepping back into the 60s as nothing had been updated, and even the local residents dressed like hippies. Very surreal. They had a crazy museum describing the hippy history of the village and their love of peace (and grass). This is the entrance to the museum. We enjoyed walking through the hippy shops (including Hippy High Herbs) and then had a great pizza for lunch.

Following that, the bus driver took us on another hippy adventure - to Paul Recher's Hippy Heaven. The entrance was this funky junk garden.

This is essentially a man's private rainforest farm (you can take a guess as to what he farms). When we got off the bus, this 50-something man with long hippy hair and glasses and a beard showed up to meet us in just his briefs (no not swim trunks, briefs), that didn't leave anything to the imagination if you know what I mean. He walked us through a secret path through his garden of lush trees to his cabin on a small lake.

The lake was full of lily pads, but he dove in to show us how it was done. we were so hot so we decided to go for a swim in the 'rain water lake', though we couldn't help thinking that we were swimming in his sewer....hmmm..best not to dwell too much on that. We had tubes supplied by Ivan and it was nice a refreshing on a 33C day. Following a nice dip, we chilled on his porch and had watermelon and fresh macadamias from the trees that we cracked open ourselves. yum.

I happened to get a picture of Paul for you, just so you can get a flavour as to what he's like (and check out the dubious look on the guy's face in front of him).

Astrid:o)

Australia Mobile Phone

2009-03-02T23:10:00.001Z

We've got an Oz mobile if you want to send texts -- its much cheaper for us to txt back! The number is:

+61 416 589 891

Speak to you soon!

Syd.

Surf's Up Dudes!

2009-03-02T20:26:00.001Z

Now that we are finally in Australia we can enjoy what its famous for - surfing! At the moment we are in a surf camp called SpotX that is owned by Mojo surf (get your mojo on).

We tried surfing for 1 day first from Sydney with a company called Waves, and we were picked up by the epitome of surf dudes. Both had bleach blonde hair, talked like they were stoned, and were super bronze...oh, and of course they were both hungover from the night before and barely comprehensible. ;o)

They brought us out to a beach that they drove 4x4 down the beach to find a sweet wave spot. First we practised on the sand "the 4 steps to getting up on the board", and then spent all day trying (and succeeding) to catch waves. It was quite difficult actually. You battle through harsh waves that continually knock you back as you walk out to get past the white waves on the shore. Then, you watch the rolling green waves to find the one that is just about to crest, then you turn your board around, paddle like hell, and then hope that the wave picks you up so you can 'ride it home'.

Syd especially enjoyed riding it home on a bogeyboard (on Manley Beach before heading back to the city centre)!

The two days at Mojo surf camp provided smaller waves that we found easier to surf, and the training from 2 lessons there and a couple more hours of practice paid off. Interestingly, the surf guides at surf camp had 2 more completely new techniques of how to stand up on the board...so obviously surfing is a laid back sport. I have become pretty good at catching waves, but struggle to get up standing still as its quite a balancing act. Syd is quite good at getting up now, he just needs to learn to slow down a bit and he'll get up more often. There were pics taken of us actually surfing, but we are cheap and didn't buy them...so you'll just have to take our word for it.

The camp itself was very chill. They served us breakfast, lunch & dinner and everyone partied all night in the lounge/outdoor area with their own alcohol. The staff even drive to the bottle shop every night so people can stock up for evening fun. There was a great campfire pit with 'surfboard' benches where one staff member (from Kingston Canada) would play top 40 tunes on his guitar every night. Good times!

A Day at the Opera

2009-02-23T08:43:00.001Z

Our first official full day in Sydney we headed to the Circular Quay Harbour to see the infamous Sydney Opera House. I knew that the building would be great, but nothing could prepare me for the way I felt when I saw the building up close. When we got off the tube and walked around the circular quay to the end of the harbour, there she stood like a white beacon against a dark sky. My breath just caught in my throat. She was so fantastic, I almost tripped over my own feet because I couldn't take my eyes off of the spectacle. What an amazing engineering and architectural feat to create such a unique building, that put Sydney on the map forever. She is now one of the most recognized buildings across the globe.

We did a tour of the opera house to learn about how it was built and to see it inside. There was a design competition for a national opera house in the 1950s, and it was won by an architect in Denmark named Jorn Utzon. He didn't actually think he would win, and didn't have a clue as to how it could actually be possible. He worked with a pair of architects who helped him come up with the concept of using cut-out sections of different sized spheres to make the 'shell-like' roof. The project was originally intended to take 3 years and cost 7 million, but in actuality it took 16 years and 103 million dollars! During its build there was lots of controversy from residents and politicians, but now it is the pride of all Australians, and has won Jorn the highest architectural award in the world. We loved its location on the harbour to get choice shots of the harbour bridge.

Contrary to the implication of the name, it houses a multi-venue performing arts centre, rather than a single Opera theatre, and we went to a performance later that night in one of its small studio theatres (set up like a lounge with tables). The show we saw was a late night lounge comedy/music cabaret to celebrate upcoming the Mardi Gras. Which was essentially transvestites (trannies is what they call themselves) singing really funny songs about love and life. There was also a guest appearance by Alan Cumming (well known gay actor/director) who told us stories about working on a movie 10 years ago (Buddy) where the chimp fell in love with him. Very funny stuff! Following the movie, we had a drink on the promenade in front of the opera house so that we could enjoy it lit up at night.

Trapped in a Holding Cell in Toronto?

2009-02-23T03:14:00.001Z

In the city of Melbourne we visited an old gaol (jail) used in the 19th century that housed thousands of criminals. It took up an entire city block and contained exercise yards (both men & women), hospitals, a chapel, a bath house and accommodation for staff. It was eerie to walk through the prison and peer into all of the cells in the 3 level block where many stories were listed about the prisoners that were housed there.

The most infamous was Ned Kelly - the hero/rogue/bank robber/murderer of the late 1800's that has had 2 movies made about him, and he is still referenced in modern retail stores (like this wine store).The scaffolding where he was hanged (hung?) in the prison still exists today. Creepy.

We then did a tour of the watch house, which is basically a holding area for inmates awaiting trial, or drunk/disorderly people being held overnight by the police. When we entered we were ordered around by the sergeant on staff and he directed a number of each of us into large cells that he locked us into and turned the lights out on us. Nobody spoke a word in the darkness. I could sense how the "prisoners" felt in Stanley Milgram's psychology experiment of inmates & guard behaviours, now in a movie called 'Das Experiment' (highly recommended). I was committed for having a bad hair day.

Syd was committed for shaving his yeti beard.

Also during our stay in Melbourne we enjoyed Little Italy (pasta & gelato), walked along the southbank of the river (reminiscent of the Thames in London), took the tourist bus around, and then visited the botanical gardens - where I saw a tree that had a bum! ;o)

This city felt eerily familiar. With its frequent streetcars (trams) and their dedicated lanes, its condominiums on the harbour, its cubism type building (like the ROM), its raised freeway 10 stories above the city, its streets/sidewalks, its arena right next to the train tracks with a retractable roof, and its tall skyscrapers. I could swear we were home, except in summer weather! ;o) A nice feeling.

We stayed in a suburb called St. Kilda for the next 2 days. This beach made Melbourne different from Toronto. It was really nice, with soft sand, with oceanfront cafes and a killer sunset, as well as an old amusement park built in 1912 (called Luna Park). In addition, the water was warm and clear and no jellies!

We have a bit more piece of mind about our 5 weeks in Oz now as we just booked our greyhound ticket and excursions up the east coast - so its no worries mate! Off to Sydney!

New Zealand Road Signs

2009-02-23T02:36:00.001Z

On our travels through NZ we found some very interesting road signs. This post is to share some of those with you.

Astrid & I love canoeing, so to find the 'Place of the Canoe', we thought that was pretty cool. Unfortunately this "town" (read: tiny ass hamlet) was hardly worth the wood this sign was created from, and we powered through in about 48 seconds :)

This sign is awesome. While simultaneously reminding you of the 100km speed limit, it informs you of a windy road for 7km. They should combine the two signs into one that reads: "Windy ass road for 7kms. The limit is 100, but aint no way you gonna reach that, so consider this the Kiwi Autobahn'.

This is one of the numerous 'dont speed' signs in NZ that are mildly humourous.

This is the coolest bus shelter I've ever seen. Painted in both South Park and The Simpsons, you can rest assured your kids will wait for the bus while reinforcing the bad habits and manners they learn from the telly.

I've seen a lot of wildlife signs in my day, but this one is just plain cool.

Not really a road sign as such, but worth an honourable mention. This is located in the supermarket parking lot -- apparently shopping carts are referred to as 'Trundlers'.

Syd.

The Great New Zealand Ale Trail

2009-02-16T05:34:00.001Z

Our love of beer has forced us to seek out a number of breweries across New Zealand. In total we have been to 9 breweries - 2 in the North and 7 in the South. The beers tend to be based on English and German recipes, and we have become fans of quite a few!

In Auckland we did Galbraith's Alehouse, but then never saw its beer since - obviously not a crowd favourite with the kiwis. We both liked their wheat beer from their tasting menu.

In Wellington we tasted Mac's brewery beers. We enjoyed all of the beers here - and kiwis do too - they tend to be quite pricey in the supermarkets though. My favourite was the 'Great White' wit beer and Syd enjoyed the original lager.

Our first brewery in the South Island was in a town called Westport, called West Coast Brewery but is known as the Miners' Brewery. This was basically a tiny little place where we just tried beer straight from the taps, and then bought a rigger (2 litre bottle) of their golden lager. He threw in a bar towel for free so that was pretty sweet.

We then did a full-on brewery tour of Monteith's brewery in Greymouth on the west coast. It was a well-guided tour of a large establishment and they have an engineer that has worked there 43 years that invented some helpful machines such as a keg un-denter that has saved the company lots of money. Really neat to see the bottling machine as well. The tasting section of the tour was well done with elaborate stories told about how each beer came to be, before drinking the sweet brew. Our unanimous favourite here was the unique Radler - a 5% beer based on a German recipe (much like a shandy) where lager is mixed with lemon & lime juice for a refreshing glass. I quite enjoyed that she opened the taps up for us to drink at will for the next 20 minutes. Much to Syd's chagrin who just observed as the DD. We both agree that this brewery was our favourite overall.

In Wanaka we went to beerworks. It was a very small shop/brewery and we weren't a fan of their beers in general. But if we had to choose, Syd would choose the lager called Brewski and I would choose the dark porter beer (though forget its name).

In the mining town called Arrowtown, we visited their brewery called Arrow. They made lovely steak pies that we gobbled up for lunch along with some English wheat ales that we fancied. Though the black beer, Roaring Meg (named after the rapids in the area) was quite tasty as well.

In the Southland we went to Invercargill Brewery. It was also small and only ran tours once a day (which we missed) so we just tried their beers. Syd loved a honey beer called Biman (pronounced BEE-man) but he had the last glass of it, so ended up buying a rigger of Wasp (another type of honey beer) (sidenote: it does feel kinda weird walking out with a 2-litre of fresh tap beer). They use NZ manuka honey in the beers here and they are quite tasty. I was fond of the dark porter called Pitch Black, but bought Boysen-Beery (summer fruit ale) for a novelty.

In Dunedin (the Edinburgh of the south), we went to Speights Brewery. This is the most popular (and highest selling in NZ) beer in New Zealand, and is highly marketed as 'the pride of the south'. There is also commercials about the 'southern man' which kind of reminds me of the Malboro man. We met some fun people on this brewery tour and at the end got 15 min to pour our own mini-pints of the 6 different beers (no DD this time!). Our favourite was Distinction Ale because it tasted like caramel and was 5%. Gold Medal Ale is the most popular and we have bought it this month at the supermarket on occasion (twist off caps of these stubby bottles have been quite handy, and there is nifty trivia under each cap!).

Lastly, in Christchurch we went to the Twisted Hop brewpub and bought another tasting tray of 6 beers. My favourite was the Honeydew (yet another manuka honey beer) while Syd's was the Sauvin Pilsner. This pub was located down a cobblestone alley with brick buildings everywhere - characteristic of Toronto's distillery district actually!

Overall, it was great to taste the subtle (and sometimes great) differences between beers based on the type and quantity of hops/malts used in the making of the beers. The beer here is actually very good, and we're sad to leave it behind to go to Australia. But maybe they'll have new beer avenues to explore...

Astrid.

New Zealand's National Sport -- Our First Live Rugby Match!

2009-02-16T05:26:00.001Z

We were in Dunedin the morning of Friday Feb 13th when we found out there was going to be a rugby match that night -- the Otago Highlanders (obvious Scottish connection :)) against an Australian team called the Brumbies. It was a little windy and chilly out so we bought a souvenier Highlanders toque (known as a 'beanie' here), had some haggis and local brew, along with some scotch for dinner, and headed to the game. The stadium was surprisingly empty, but it was still great fun and a memorable experience (and tix were only $25 NZ!).

Unfortunately, our team The Highlanders lost 33-31 against the stronger aussies.

Mmmmm Speights. Pride of the South. Plastic bottles that were allowed to be taken into the stands :)

Nice looking toque!

Syd.

Curious Marine Life at Curio Bay

2009-02-16T05:24:00.001Z

After a great trip to Milford Sound and an overnight camp on beautiful Lake Te Anau, we headed to the Southland - south coast of New Zealand. We stopped to do a quite strenuous cave in Clifden where we were crawling, crouching and gripping like spiderman to cave walls to avoid falling into deep pools along the 400m underground dark passages.

The cool thing about a camper van is you can have lunch pretty much anywhere. Check out this sweet setup for a quite bite to break up the journey:

The coast here was wild and windy, so much so that the trees were permanently formed into slanted trunks and branches.

We stopped at the main south town called Invercargill, where they chose not to take down their Christmas decor. We enjoyed some wine at the local brewery there and bought some boysenberry fruit wine called boysen-beery. ;o)

Then we trucked on to the south east coast called 'the catlins' and stayed at a campsite at the end of a peninsula called Curio Bay. This bay is famous for lots of marine life.

No sooner did we pull into the campground and we saw people taking pictures of something. So I hopped out with a camera to check it out and sure enough, it was a female sea lion just coming out of the sea to hang out. She walked right up to me and I was able to get great shots. She wasn't scared of people at all, she just wanted to find a place to pass out for a while - which she did - on someone's campsite for a good 20 minutes!

Following that, we parked our van in a secluded flax patch and walked out to the yellow-eyed penguin cove where the penguins were coming in from a day of hunting in the sea to feed their chicks. Apparently it takes them most of the evening to walk along the beach to their nests in the rocks. It doesn't help when us tourists are trying to take their pictures so it slows their progress. These penguins we saw up close on the rocks had their wings out (at attention) and were probably waiting for papa penguin to come in with more fish.

They were so cute, and it was so neat to watch them hop around. I just wanted to hug one, and squeeze one, and call it my own! Laws prohibit such things of course, so I just ogled from 10m away. ;o(

Lastly, there was one more bay in the park to check out - porpoise bay - that has resident dolphin pods of the rarest breed of dolphins called 'hectors dolphins'. They just bounced around in the surf and were majestic to watch. We wanted to go swim with them but the water (and air) was too bloody cold!

Upon return to the campsite there was another sea lion hanging out on someone's tent fly and trying to catch some zz's.

We definitely made our money's worth in that park - 3 different types of unique and fascinating marine life within 20 minutes! Sweet as.

Astrid.

Glorious Milford Sound

2009-02-15T10:32:00.001Z

On Tuesday Feb 10 the rain let up and we awoke to a gorgeous day in Queenstown. Though there were a few more items in Q-town we wanted to check out (like luging down the hill!), we wanted to take advantage of the weather and head up to Milford for an afternoon cruise (which was highly recommended by everyone we asked about it).

Milford Sound is actually incorrectly named, for it is not actually a sound but a fiord. A sound is usually a delta of a river that gradually gets deeper as it approaches the sea. A fiord on the other hand is caused by a glacier and is characterized by being deep inland, then having a relatively shallow 'shelf' before joining the sea. In Milford's case, the sound is approximately 1000 feet deep -- the first 30 feet of which is fresh water that is brown which sits atop of of sea water (I think this is due to salt water being heavier than fresh water). Where the 'sound' meets the sea, the depth quickly reduces to just 120 feet -- this is due to the glacial silt and rubble being pushed out to the opening of the fiord.

Though we heard that its just as amazing when it rains, since rain causes nearly 1000 waterfalls to appear, we were happy with the wonderful sun, and to be able to capture some great pictures. I'll let the photographs tell the rest of the story:

Syd.

Tramping through the Fiordland

2009-02-15T09:46:00.000Z

We just completed a 3 day hike (aka tramp) through the Fiordland National Park. It was a NZ Great walk and the track is called the Routeburn Track. We saw the best that New Zealand has to offer up close - rainforests, lakes, waterfalls, gorges, mountains & glaciers. Further details of the 3 day breakdown is below.

Day 1:

2.5 hr hike from Car park to our Routeburn Flats Hut, 150m ascent. This was an uphill climb through a dense red beech forest where we walked alongside a gorge with beautiful blue water where the routeburn river gushed through. We had great weather for hiking - sunny with some cloud and breeze. We also went across 6 swing bridges. I have a lot of fun bouncing on these bridges but I started to get glares from Syd after a while.

We stayed in a small hut with 20 bunks that night. It had sweet glacier views. I also saw some cute birdlife at the hut. This included a yellowhead that made high-pitched shrill chirps, some rifleman(NZ's smallest bird) hopping around and pecking at some trees. My favourite was the NZ robin who had a puffy white chest (not red like we know). She was a very curious bird and stayed under the sink just watching me while I brushed my teeth.

Day 2:

7 hr hike to Mackenzie Lake hut, 550m ascent to saddle, 350m descent to hut. The morning was a steep climb through forest with some more swing bridges and waterfalls! Our calves were feeling the pain a bit more on day 2. We walked across a slip that washed out the track in 1994 and is apparently very dangerous to cross still while its raining (thankfully it wasn't). I lost my sunglasses in this part of the track (note to self - don't put them on your hat as you don't feel they are there when you go to take your hat off!).

It was then an exposed hike with strong winds up the face of a small mountain to get to the saddle between 2 mountains. There was a hut there called 'the saddle hut' where we stopped for our lunch break, but Syd climbed the conical hill first (1 hr return). It was a steep climb, but it was so cloudy that day that he basically was above/within the clouds but couldn't see anything. He thought it was neat though.

The next part of the track was stunning. As we walked along the edge of a cliff, on our right side was the mountain range called 'the Darran Mountains'. It was amazing to be so high above the treeline, and be so close to such great mountains. Whenever there was a break in the clouds, we would get a glimpse of the glacier peaks. Just fantastic.

The last part of the track saw us above lake Mackenzie, which was green due to the copper in the rocks. Looked like an emerald from above. Then we descended into an eerie forest that was all covered in hairy moss & lichen - it was so alive. It was so green inside that forest that it was almost blinding on the eyes after such a cloudy hike. It was so quiet and atmospheric in the forest that I felt like we were in a movie set of the Wizard of Oz and the flying monkeys were going to jump out and grab us! ;o)

Mackenzie hut was massive (60 bunks) but we found other Canadians to play cards with and the night flew by. Oh yeah, hikers go to bed at 9:30, so we did too, but it felt weird going to bed that early...though our tired muscles appreciated it.

Day 3:

3.5 hr hike to carpark (the Divide), 150m ascent then 350 descent to the Divide. The ranger the night before informed us that it would rain all night and into the next day. Apparently the fjordland gets 200 days of rain (hence all the moss). Also, its not quite the routeburn experience unless you get a day of trekking in the rain. So, we loaded up our gear and tryed to waterproof it as much as we could with limited resources, and started off.

The first hour of trekking in constant rain was actually okay. We thought it was actually kind of fun. Then, once we had to walk through a river without stepping stones and both got soakers (and were soaked through everywhere else too), we decided that the fun is short-lived but bearable. We passed at least 7 waterfalls along the way. We heard the thunder of one on our approach and I almost fell over in awe at the sight of the falls. Its called Erland falls and its 174m high. In the rain the volume was massive and gorgeous! Amazing sight.

I was surprisingly in good spirits and had lots of energy, and we burned through the track in 2.5 hours to get to the next hut where we stripped off the wet clothes and took an hour break to chill before heading off again to the car park. It did create an ambiance to have rain create a slippery, shiny sheen on everything.

Crazy Canyoning

2009-02-06T04:09:00.001Z

We couldn't come to an adventure town (Wanaka, second only to Queenstown) and not do an extreme sport. Instead of skydiving, we opted to go for a full day trip of canyoning.` The canyon was in Mount Aspiring National Park, which had views of this beautiful mountain (Aspiring).

Essentially, canyoning is a sport where adrenalin-seekers plunge themselves into a canyon through various methods:

Abseiling (rappelling backwards) down rock faces and waterfalls.

Rappelling forwards down waterfalls.

Hanging out behind waterfalls in icy cold water - but okay because we were wearing warm wetsuits.

Sliding down naturally slippery rocks & waterfall chutes.

And jumping from great heights into deep pools.

It was a fabulous day out, and one we'll never forget!

One Seriously Icy Hike

2009-02-04T19:39:00.001Z

Wow, hiking the Franz Josef Glacier is one of the most amazing things I have ever done. For real. To have the chance to walk for 5 hours on top of a glacier of blue ice is out of this world. And that's what we did, all day, on Monday Feb 2nd. Groundhog day!

We made sure to book ourselves into a guided full-day hike on one of the only 3 temperate glaciers in the world - the Franz Josef glacier in the south island of New Zealand. The other two is the Fox Glacier - right next door that shares the same summit, and another in Chile. So obviously, quite the unique NZ experience. We chose to go with Franz Josef Glacier Guides who have been in operation for many years, and have the guiding down to a science. They put 300 people on the glacier each day!

It was a good one hour hike to the base of the glacier. The glacier plunges from 2700m to only 300m above sea level - which means it is low enough for the public to access it.

We were told that a glacier is a slow moving body of ice drawn by gravity down a valley. The glacier is fed at the head (or neve) by heaps of snow that compact and partially melt into white ice. After several years as water seeps in and air is expelled the granules merge together forming bluish glacial ice. It is this same ice that forms crevasses and tunnels as it continues to move down the valley, and allowed us to venture on top of it.

One Maori guide informed us of the Maori legend of the glacier - the glaciers are formed from the frozen tears of the mythological goddess Hinemoa whose lover fell to his death while they were climbing together in the mountains.

For us, it meant an amazing hike up steep ice faces, with the help of trusty cramp-ons (spikes attached to our boots) and steps cut into the ice by our guides.

We came across ice tunnels, deep crevasses that seemed to fall forever, and ice walls as far as the eye could see. Syd especially liked the crevasses that we got to squeeze into.

We all had on rain jackets to keep off the wet ice chill, but other than that, it was quite temperate up there, and many wore shorts!

At one point in our trip our guide, and the one in front of us were cutting a new path, so we got to see them create steps, and bridge crevasses, all for our safety. This made the trip seem much more rustic and un-planned than Syd & I expected, and actually made us appreciate it much more.

We were a little behind schedule and had to truck it back down on the descent, but we couldn't believe how high we had climbed.

What an amazing day. I highly recommend this to anyone who visits New Zealand - not to miss this phenomenon.

Random Musings

2009-02-04T08:48:00.001Z

Right, so we've been in NZ now for about 14 days, and have made a few observations that we wish to share.

Taps: 70% of the faucets here are the opposite way from back home - meaning, the hot is on the right and the cold is on the left. However, 30% of the time, its normal. I mean, I don't mind if they want to do stuff backwards, just keep it consistent so us foreigners can adapt!

Ice Cream: very tasty here! Very creamy - and they call their ice cream shops creamiers (must think they are being exotic or something). Syd got a teal coloured one called 'this'n'that' and its basically 'lolly-flavoured' ice cream with mini jube jubes in it. The most famous NZ flavour is Hokey Pokey...which basically is creamy vanilla ice cream with tiny little werthers original butterscotch pieces in it. Yum!

Camping: they have 2 styles of camping here. One I will call traditional - as we grew up and know/love - where you have all of your own stuff, you cook/play/socialize at your own campsites, and sometimes have to have your own shower facilities as they may not be provided where you are camping. The second style is a new beast I never met before. It's called the 'Holiday Park'. This is basically a super camp (or in my mind, a pseudo camp) where people set up their campers next to power sites, or even rent on-site cabins and they have full facilities with hot showers, toilets and laundry (and sometimes even internet). Then this is where it gets weird - there are shared kitchen facilities...so a whole bunch of families congregate into a large kitchen area and mutually cook their dinners. Maybe we have parks like this in Canada too, but maybe my parents were wise enough to not expose me to them. At first I thought this was kind of cool (much like a hostel), but then I felt like its just 'too much'. Like today for instance, we cooked our meal, and ate in the communal dining area, but felt like we were being watched the whole time by two old men sitting beside us. Very weird. Needless to say, we took our teas back to our van to enjoy watching the sunset on the beach in peace!

Ferocious sandflies: Okay, upon entering the south island (and the west coast specifically) we heard about and read about these ferocious sandflies. We laughed because they are basically the size of a flea and we only initially thought that they they are just pesky buggers. Now, after being exposed to them for a week, and have our feet covered in their itchy bites, we now start to understand the term. At one campsite we left right away in the morning without breakfast because they were swarming us and making our morning most unpleasant indeed. Now, the bites really start to itch, and it's like having chicken pox, you don't want to scratch them because they'll bleed, but it feels sooo good to scratch. ;o)

Roads: these are the most crazy windy roads ever, most on the edges of cliffs and coasts! Syd has mastered them pretty well, but I'm still floored by their sheer design. Thankfully every few kilometres there are passing zones or 'slow vehicle' pullover spots so that Syd can pass those folk by. Funnily enough, all the roads are in great (paved) condition, and we've only been on a gravel roads a handful of times. They make for amazing scenic drives though, like this one-laned crag that we drove under.

Road Signage: The signs here are very helpful to drivers to help keep them on track. Some choice ones that I noted (and have yet to capture photos of), are:

Penguin Crossing, 10km.
Slippery roads when frosty (i.e. no such thing as icy here).
Speeding is lethal (and its a picture of a bullet on wheels),
Driver, Are you sleepy? All you need is a 40 minute nap.
Passenger, is your driver alert? If not, tell them to pull over.
100. It's not a target. Drive to the conditions.
Driving Drunk. Driving Tired. Same Result.

Lingo: they enjoy using terms such as 'sweet as' or 'choice' to describe cool things, and say 'heaps' all the time to indicate loads or tonnes of something. We can definitely tell the difference between an Oz & Kiwi accent, and quite like to listen to the radio shows and commercials to see how pronounced the accent is. ;o)

Astrid.

Hangin' with the fur seals

2009-02-04T08:47:00.001Z

After we crossed the cook strait on the ferry we stayed in Nelson for the evening at a funky hostel called Palace Backpackers. A mate of mine at Synovate recommended it because his uncle runs the place. It was a massive house with a funky patio/dining area and we stayed in a private double apartment called the 'greenhouse' - as it was in a separate house near the street! We met some great backpackers from Canada and Ireland chilling on the patio all evening.

The next morning we checked out the north coast of the Abel Tasman National park, which is known for pristine white beaches, clear aqua waters and seal colonies. It didn't disappoint! We chose the north part called Golden Bay because it was more off the beaten track and we thought the kayaking there would be quieter/less tourists - more our speed.

When we arrived at the bay we were met with calm waters, little to no people, great tall islands off in the distance, and a very helpful small kayak hire outlet called Golden Bay Kayaks. We rented a double sea kayak for 4 hours and ventured out around the peninsular. Syd loved steering the kayak from the stern, as its rudder system is similar to driving a car. Much easier than steering a canoe, he says.

After the first corner we came upon a group of rocks and saw a fur seal (maori name for these is a kekona) basking in the sun on top of a rock! We had to circle around to try and get a good shot, but nonetheless, he was still sleeping. ;o(

I found peace in the serenity and calm of the sea mixed with the heat of the sun and the gentle lapping sound of our paddles. It was just Syd and I with nature - just like on our canoe trips back home.

We stopped for lunch at a great beach with soft sand and enjoyed the views, while trying to fend off a really annoying sea gull who was disturbing my serenity. gah!

Later, we found a sand bar/island in the middle of the sea, where a bunch of sea birds hung out. Made for great 360 shots, and this artistic one as well.

On the way back we saw a brown shape swim under us and realised it was a very large sting ray! Sooo cool! We would never see that on any canoe trip in Algonquin.

We also saw that same fur seal again, but this time he was joined by a buddy that peeked out from behind another rock. This time they were a bit more active (sitting up/stretching), but I was rubbish at getting the camera out in time...so we were content to just hang with them for a while instead before heading into shore.

Astrid.

Cashless society

2009-02-01T00:15:00.001Z

Speaking of cash... NZ rivals Canada in being a great example of a cashless society. It took us almost a week & a half to burn through the $500 NZ we brought with us (even though we've been spending money like water) since pretty much everywhere accepts debit/credit. And unlike Canada, here they actually know about chip & pin and I can get away without signing a slip about 75% of the time.

Its still taking us a bit to get used to the bigger numbers... a main meal at a restaurant is usually never less than $20 NZ, and pints are often $8, but when you convert back to CAD or GBP, NZ is generally quite cheap for most things. Especially alcohol.. I even hit the jackpot with a sale for a 2-4 for $24 NZ... buck a beer! Which is about 70 cents CAD or 40 pence GBP.

As they would say here.... sweet as.

Syd.

5 cent cash discount

2009-02-01T00:13:00.001Z

I feel kind of retarded for being in New Zealand for over two weeks now and just realizing this. What is that you ask? Let me describe what happened today...

We had just finished kayaking the Abel Tasman national park and were headed back through the small town of Takaka en route to where we were planning to free camp that night. So it was our last chance to hit any stores. Astrid has been fighting ear aches and an ear infection for the past week and hence needs to take ibuprofen to help with the pain, and we were almost out. I stopped at the grocery store in town to pick up a new box.

I get to the till and the girl is really cool -- probably in her early twenties. She's like 'That'll be $7.45'. Then she continues, 'And you'll save 5 cents if you pay in cash'... I look kind of bewildered (and was going to pay in cash anyway) and while I was getting my money out she is like 'That's because we don't have anything smaller than 10 cents here in New Zealand'.

And then it dawns on me... she's right... I haven't seen much small change. The 10 cent coin here is about the size of our nickel, but in copper (like our pennies)... all other NZ coins are silver until you hit the 1 and 2 dollar coins which are like British pounds -- sort of a brass colour. The only have the 20 and 50 cent pieces in silver... so in general there isn't a lot of change.

I need to do some research, but the fact that NZ has gotten rid of their smaller denominations is super cool. I only wish GB would get rid of their useless 1 and 2 pence coins like their emigrant cousins have already done.

And to think all this time I thought the people at the gas station were just being nice by always rounding my petrol down when I would go a few cents over...

Syd.

Fancy your own private cable car?

2009-01-31T01:09:00.001Z

Many people had told us that Wellington, the nation's capital city, was worth staying at least 2-3 nights, so we chose 2. After Tongariro we made the 5 hour drive down to Wellington so we could enjoy the city and stay in a hostel for the first time since Auckland.

The hostel was a little different than any we've stayed in -- the residents were mostly non-English as a first language (many were French and German), and many of them seemed to be living there longer term while working daily in the city. Most other hostels are filled with travellers staying a few nights and then moving on -- this place had a bit more of a homey feel -- but very cool none the less.

Since we were in the city by 4pm, we opted to go to a movie -- it felt like we were not camping for once. We saw the 5pm show of 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', which was actually very good, and then went out for Belgian mussels and Hoegaarden at a Belgian restaurant called Leuven. They were the biggest mussels I have ever seen! They must grow some crazy shellfish in these NZ waters, because each mussel shell was the length of my palm! Unfortunately, eating mussels that big means you have to really like the texture, and it kind of turned me off mussels now for a good while. ;o(

The next day we took in some of the famous city sights starting with the Wellington cable car.

You enter the car from a main street down an alley called Cable Car Lane, then you get into an old red car that takes you up the side of Wellington's steep escarpment. The views of the city and the harbour from up there were just brilliant.

A trip on the car also included entrance to the cable car museum, which detailed the building and 1902 opening of the cable car system and how it increased the livelihood of Wellington residents who wanted to reside in the upper suburbs but work downtown. There steep commute was now a 3.5 minute cable car ride! Here's me on the original cable car used from 1902 to 1978.

The museum also had a video describing over 400 residents all over Wellington that had personal small cable car systems built up to their homes so that their lives were made easier. In fact, there are a few key companies (with engineers) that make a living just on building such systems. One rich family's cable car was highlighted, and Syd was able to get this pic from the ferry. This personalized system for so many people makes Wellington a very unique city indeed.

Next to the cable car museum was Wellington Botanical Gardens where we took a walk and a moment to smell the roses in the Lady Norwood Rose Garden, which has over 300 varietals of roses.

Following that, we had a great sushi lunch on the harbour and then went to Mac's Brewery on the harbourfront for a tasting of 6 of their draft beers while overlooking the ships. Summertime Lager was my favourite and the Golden Ale was Syd's (and also happens to be their most popular seller), though we both loved the White beer they make.

We then went to the New Zealand national museum (by recommendation) - called 'Te Papa' (which I believe in Maori means 'for the people').

It was a phenomenal place. It was very spacious, and there were 7 floors of free exhibits inside. Since we only had an hour we stuck to the main floor exhibit featuring a colossal squid (dead of course -- the biggest squid ever caught) that was caught in the Antarctic in Feb 2007 and the only one of its size on display in the world. It was 4m long and 475kg. Its eye alone was the diameter of a soccer ball! The only other floor we checked out was about the history of the Maoris, and the history of European migrants (mostly English, Irish & Scots) over the last 150 years. There was a specific exhibit on Scotland's influence which I found particularly fascinating. ;o)

Now, it's farewell to the North as we sail off to the South island on the Blueridge ferry to start our next adventures!

Astrid.

One Serious Hike

2009-01-31T01:00:00.001Z

So today (Monday Jan 26) we did the 'Tongariro Crossing Alpine Hike'... a 19 kilometre / 7-8 hour jaunt that all the guide books say is a must-do. I have to admit, it was pretty awesome. Prior to this escapade, Astrid & I didn't really do a lot of hikes to qualify as 'hikers', though we certainly did our fare share of sub-3 kilometre portages... which meant a heavier pack, and a canoe on your shoulders... generally limited your views a little... which largely consisted of forest anyway.

Anyhow, it was truly amazing. The hike has several distinct 'parts', making it quite enjoyable (except for the one section near the end which I will get to in a sec).

You start with a fairly gentle climb following a river up the side of a mountain. Its mostly barren landscape and very dry, except for a quick stop at a cool waterfall called Soda Springs.

From there it gets quite steep as you ascend what is essentially a volcano. Very cool views on the way up.. the final ascent to the top is especially gruelling. Once at the top (which is kinda like the midway point, with 9km in (the harder bit) and 11.5km to go) you had a few choices -- you could head straight on (which is what most people do), you could climb up the 600 meter, 35 degree slope of Mt. Doom (aka Mt. Nagauranu), or you could take the gentler ascent up to the Mt. Tongariro Summit... I opted for the later.

An intense uphill climb after the Mt Doom Summit option had us almost at the halfway point, which is where the option for the Tongariro Summit side-trip was at. 7km's into the walk, with another 11km's to go, what's another 3km side venture? :)

The views from the very top were very cool:

The next bit consisted of a cool crater that was super red (ironically called the Red Crater):

The descent down the red crater was very cool -- it was a steep slope with loose volcanic sand and gravel that made things fairly difficult. I opted to gently jog down the slope in a criss-cross fashion that was similar to skiing... wow this made it way easier. I passed several groups on the way down using this technique (it felt kinda similar to the Nordic ski style whose name escapes me), though it meant filling my socks and shoes with heaps of pebbles and sand.

After that we passed a couple of mountain lakes -- named Emerald lake and the bigger Blue lake. From there the excitement waned a bit as we proceed through several kilometres of boring traversing down the far side slope. But then it got excellent again as we entered lush forests following a stream which made for a great cool-down on my hot head.

When we finally reached the bottom, a quick phone call is all it took to have our holiday park place come along within 10 minutes with our van to pick us up (sure beat waiting for the shuttle bus like loads of others waiting at the bottom). We were fairly exhausted, with some sore legs, but were filled with a huge sense of accomplishment after completing one of New Zealand's 'Great Walks'.

Now its off to the hot tub to wind down....

Syd.

Astrid's impression of this same walk. I was not as excited as Syd to embark on this 8 hour hike - it frankly sounded quite daunting (while beautiful), and I don't like things that are too hard. The beginning started out easy enough with the hike across the plains and the chance to not only dip under a waterfall at soda springs and see a rainbow there, but all the while looking up a my most favourite movie icon -Mount Doom!

Then we did our first ascent and I must admit, it was quite hard and I took many breaks, but there were makeshift stairs so it was manageable. At the top we went across some barren land that was used in some parts of the LOTR shooting of the Plains of Gorogoroth. I did my own movie scene as Samwise with my bag as a makeshift Frodo - to commemorate the feeling (inquire later if you wish to view). I know, I'm such a nerd.

By the second (or third?) ascent up to the red crater, where there were no steps, all crazy rocks and harsh unforgiving land around me, I did start to wonder what the hell I was doing there. Course, I never said this to Syd who was grinning from ear to ear despite the effort. Then, at the top I was so winded that I just told Syd to do the summit himself so I could relax and enjoy the views. I then made another ascent to see what was on the other side (which I hoped was the emerald lakes) and to my great pleasure they were - but not after a crazy descent amongst many other trekkers so I couldn't do Syd's alpine move (that he did later with less people) and so had to make way slower downhill, basically in a sideways position.

At Emerald lake I waited for about an hour for Syd, but thought as I looked around - I am sitting next to an amazing jade-coloured sulphurous lake, a volcano and red crater to my right, steaming fumaroles casting sulphurous odours my way, and all the food and water with me - what else could I possibly want? It was great! It was also fun to see Syd come barreling down the hill and I caught some of it on video.

So overall, as hard as it was, I never would have seen such diverse scenery in one 8 hour walk (from plains, to waterfalls, to volcanoes, to geothermal areas, to beautiful lakes, to views from 2500 ft up - yes we climbed that high, to end with a cool bushwalk through a rainforest). I too shared the accomplishment, and was doubly happy for a hot shower and hot tub experience that evening to soothe the aching muscles. ;o)

Astrid

Kerosene Creek & The Craters of the Moon

2009-01-28T22:33:00.001Z

At or recent campsite, the DOC camp warden recommended that we check our the natural hot springs of Kerosene Creek just south of our location. We went on a dodgy gravel road and came across it on the right. A sign mentioned that it was safe to swim, so we put our suits on and walked along the creek to the pool at the end where there was a beautiful waterfall and rocky overhangs. We had to wait for a naked guy to finish his bath before we ventured in, and then I had to wait for Syd to steel up the nerve to get into the hot water.

To be fair, the water was probably 100-105F, and Syd has a tough time with hot water at the best of times. He was glad that I coaxed him in eventually as the mineral water was good for his skin and he enjoyed the hot waterfall. The only annoying thing is that a tour group came by just after we got in and we felt like spectacles - hey look at those people swimming in the hot spring!

After a quick dry off, we were back in the van and heading south to Lake Taupo. The Taupo region itself is the most geothermically active of all regions in New Zealand and as a result it had many activities. We checked out a geothermal plant, which from afar looked like a nuclear reactor but Syd said that since they are anti-nuclear here , it must be a geothermal reactor. So neat how they are able to harness the energy underneath the earth to heat the homes across the region.

The one activity we chose to partake in was to walk on the Craters of the Moon hike - which is essentially a protected geothermal area that had large craters and fissures. The area still has eruptions due to pressures under the surface, and the last eription was only in 2002! We enjoyed this walk though it was mad hot - but gave us more incentive to enjoy a picnic and swimming in the clear freshwater Lake Taupo.

Lastly, we checked out a highly voluminous waterfall called Huka Falls. The water rushes super fast (290 cubic meters per second) down a narrow channel with a 10m set of falls at the end. Though they are not high the water is blasting over the drop so quickly its pretty amazing. Kayakers attempt this every often, though they wait until after 8pm when the water flows are lower (since less water is being redirected for hyrdo generation further down stream, since it is no longer peak time for electricity uses). But I was just pumped about the colour!

Astrid.

A Living Maori Village Among Steaming Fissures & Pools

2009-01-28T22:21:00.001Z

After much deliberation we decided to forego visiting Hobbiton (Matamata) in favour of spending more time in Rotorua. Everyone we seemed to meet implied that the tour of the shire was expensive and not very worthwhile, so we gave it a pass. I knew I would see Mordor in a few days so resolved my guilt (as an LOTR super-fan)with that.

When we entered Rotorua proper we could instantly smell the wafts of sulphur (aka rotten eggs) and saw plumes of steam everywhere we looked. Since we have been in the country for a week by now and still didn't know much about their aboriginal (Maori) culture, we opted to go the to a living Maori village in Rotorua called Whakarewarewa.

This town was well worth the $41 price as we had a fully guided tour of Maori life, a cultural performance, and their steamed cuisine for lunch called 'hangi'.

The town itself was blazing hot as there were hot fissures (fumaroles) of steam and geothermal activity everywhere amongst the buildings. Maori people settled there over a hundred years ago because they were drawn to the heat and energy given off from the earth's core and the heat under the homes would keep the homes warm throughout the winter. They were able to use this energy for their daily lives including using it like an oven to steam cook their 'hangi' and the hot pools were used to boil foods such as corn.

The main pool (pictured above) had a Maori name which meant murderous rippling water as it is so pretty to look at it but to jump into this bottomless pool would surely be death as temperatures can get upwards of 130C!

The water from the hot pools were also channeled into pools that the community would use for bathing at the end of the day when the water had cooled down sufficiently. As you can tell, it wasn't nearly cool enough yet!

We took a very hot walk around the neighbouring geothermal area to see many lakes, fissures and boiling mud pools. It was neat to see such natural energy constantly brewing. We were also able to see the Pohutu geyser from one side of the village, which is a continuous natural geyser that can shoot steam/ & water up to 60ft high.

We quite enjoyed the cultural show of singing and dancing with sticks and small round beanbags to show the flight of their native birds and butterflies. The warriors also came forward and performed the haka, which is a traditional warrior dance meant to scare the enemy as they use a lot of exaggerated eye and mouth movements. We knew of this from watching the NZ rugby team - the All Blacks - perform this before each match when we watched in the UK.

Our last experience of this unique culture was to try their Hangi. IT was basically root vegetables (carrots, potatoes, kumara/sweet potato), corn, cabbage, corn beef and chicken. The flavours were very natural, and the gravy they used on the fall-off-the-bone chicken was fantastic.

We ended this day by stopping at Zorb Rotorua, to have a go at this NZ invention - zorbing! Essentially you get into an 11ft ball with a bit of water, and the ball rolls down the hill while you roll around inside. Syd and I both chose to do the zorb zydro coarse, which basically goes down the hill in a zigzag pattern so its quite disorienting - you don't know when you are up or down! It took about 2 minutes to get down the hill and it was soooo fun! Syd was dubious at first whether it would be worth the $40 price tag- and later admitted that it totally was!

Astrid.

The Yeti Within

2009-01-28T22:02:00.001Z

So my sister-in-law Nyla began calling me 'Yeti-Syd' before I had even left for our Down Under Adventure. In response to this, I wanted Nyla to know that I haven't shaved since Calgary -- quite an accomplishment (well not really, since being lazy is pretty easy :)). But Astrid has had enough, at least of the complete non-shaving thing so alas I must give it a trim.

Anyhow, here's a shot thus far -- Nyla, i'll keep you updated with the progress :)

It seems growing a beard is taking forever... I'm going to give it another few weeks but I'm thinkin' the whole facial hair thing will have to go before we hit Australia...

Syd.

Blundering Through Black Caves

2009-01-28T21:59:00.001Z

Today was a day we have been looking forward to for quite some time. We had been told by many to visit the Waitomo glowworm caves to do blackwater rafting.

On the way we stopped to do a quick bush walk to visit some famous falls called Bridal Veil falls. I could see why they called them that, because there was just a small volume of water cascading over a 55m (170ft) high cliff, such that it did look like a veil. It was very pretty and majestic.

We did our rafting with a company called the Blackwater Rafting Co. and chose the cheaper option of the Black Labyrinth 3 hr tour. This was a slick run operation. We were with a group of 10 (two families whose parents were friends since uni), and were all suited up together in 5 ml wetsuits, shorts, boots and helmets. We looked (and felt) like a bunch of ducks. It was great!

We all piled into a van with two guides and drove to Ruakiri cave - which in Maori stands for the 'den of two dogs' and is a major cave with a series of underground walkways and rivers. Thankfully we all had lights on our helmets to manoeuvre through the dark caves. It was eerie when you looked around to think that you are underground and all you hear is the rush of water and the sounds of those in your group. We had individual inner tubes that we used during certain parts of the tour where there was lots of water. The best part was jumping backwards in our tubes from small waterfalls and landing in the frigid water below.

At one point in the tour they had us form an eel, where we basically formed a line and held onto the feet (boots) of someone behind us.

Then they asked us to turn off our lights as we waded down the dark river and looked at the line of glowworms in the cave ceiling well above our head. It was so neat! The guide explained that they actually aren't worms at all but fly larvae with glowing excrement that they emit for 9 months in order to attract bugs up to them that they then eat. They are also carnivorous as they not only eat their prey, but also their less fit siblings. Then they sleep for 3 weeks in cocoons, and then spend last 3 months of their lives producing for the next generation. The guide says he wouldn't mind the life of that fly - you're born, you eat your siblings, you fish for 9 months, sleep for 2 weeks, then shag yourself to death! ;o)

Following that, they took us on another walk where it got too shallow and then as we got back into the water they told us yet again to turn off our lights and find our own way out of the tunnel by following the trail of the glowworms.

It ended up being a much tamer trip than we thought (there weren't rapids or anything and it was more like a lazy river), but it was definitely unique and interesting, and not something we could do at home.

Astrid.

Last of the Kauri

2009-01-28T03:39:00.001Z

Kauri trees are a massive variety of pine trees native to New Zealand. They are slow growers, and hence often die out as saplings to other faster growing fauna, though they succeed very well at growing in tough areas such as steep mountain slopes that are damp and dark. For this reason, the areas where Kauri trees were limited. When the European loggers found these trees, they were like a dream: huge amounts of timber, knot free, and not prone to warping. This lead to the vast majority of giant Kauri being logged, leaving the country with only a scarce few remaining. The oldest in the country is around 600 years old and to give you an idea of size: these things are 8-10 meters in diameter, and some 16 meters before the first branch. My guess is that there is likely only about 50 big Kauri left on the North Island, though its hard to say how many i don't know about. I do know that they have special walking paths just to go see a single Kauri tree. We went to the Kauri 'grove', which consisted of about 8 or 10 trees.

We also checked out the Siamese Kauri... this was 2 separate Kauri who grew together as one base when they ran out of room in their younger years. Very cool to see.

We also visited Hamilton's Botanical Gardens (yes, this Hamilton has gardens too!) - which used a serious amount of effort and gardening to create 6 paradise gardens modelled after different countries (Japan, England, China, US, Italy and India). Each was separated by gates to give each on an individualised experience. I think we were most impressed by the Italian renaissance one, but liked the maze that the Chinese Scholar Garden was..

We ended the night at Raglan, NZ's largest and most famous surf beach - know for the longest left handed waves (breaks) in the world! We wished he had a boogie board to take in the sweet waves, but were content jumping in them instead and being pulled by the undertow. The beach itself was called Ocean beach and the sand was so soft it was like silk under the toes!

Hangin' with the Jellies

2009-01-28T03:38:00.001Z

After diving and playing with the water slides, we headed for the Coramandel Peninsula, home of the hot water beaches and big Kauri trees. We had to make a pit stop in Auckland at the Apollo place we rented our campavan since our fridge wasn't working and we weren't keen on buying ice the whole trip (actually,the fridge was a big differentiater to why we chose the Hippie Camper over say Wicked Van, Back Packer, Spaceships, or Juicy (yes, there is a huge market for campervans here so lots of companies are in the game!) -- less money on ice means more money for the stuff the ice is keeping cool -- aka, beer :) ). Anyhow, we were sorted out in Apollo within an hour or so, and headed on for the big drive.

By the time we got up the peninsula, we decided to leave the trees for the next morning and book it straight for the beach -- we didn't know the tide times but were up for some chill time anyhow. 2 hours on either side of low tide you can dig a hole on the beach and it will fill with hot water that seeps up through the ground, making your own dirty hot tub :) However, tide was at 10:30pm that day, and we didn't have a shovel so we checked out the beach nonetheless but opted out of the self-made-mud-tub.

When we were walking along the hot water beach (btw, the water isn't hot -- its called that due to the digging your own hole/tub thing) we saw the coolest things right near shore: huge magenta coloured jelly fish. These things were so big and perfectly made they almost looked like plastic toys... except there were tonnes of them. It actually made us a bit scarred to go swimming, even though we were told that they're stingers weren't that dangerous. I managed to snag one that floated up close to shore and captured the pic below.

This was a good sized jelly, but there were certainly larger ones ... with the largest probably being about 18" in diameter. And these things are _thick_. I always thought jellys didn't have a shape of their own and needed water to maintain their shape... but not this variety... these things were solid goo. Another dead one washed up so we were able to poke and prod it. If you walked along the beach for a couple of minutes, you'd likely see 5 or so jellys on average. I think all told, Astrid and I saw about 30 of these bad boys in the couple hours we spent on the beach... very cool hanging out with them indeed.

That night we "free-camped" (basically where you just pull into a field that has little-to-no facilities and sleep the night, for free of course :)) on the coast with a fantastic view. We even had a little fire pit which was a nice reminder of camping back home.

Syd.

Our NZ mobile...

2009-01-28T03:37:00.001Z

We're now in Wellington and have loads of pre-blog posts to get online -- should be up within 24 hrs from now.

We also have an NZ mobile, so txt us as we'd love to hear from you!

+64 211 776 408

(or 01164 211 776 408 for those that have issues with the '+' key :)).

An Underwater Forest and Warm Waterslides

2009-01-22T10:40:00.001Z

We leisurely walked from our van to the dive boat in the same marina on Tuesday morning for our 8am dive departure. It was with a small company called Knight Divers and there were only 6 of us diving, as well as 2 dive masters, so it made for a nice and personal dive experience.

It was a chilly and choppy 45 min ride out to the Poor Knights islands, which are a protected island reserve where they are breeding huge crickets (9inches long) and lizards. It also means that no one can go ashore or they get a huge fine. The islands were basically huge rock faces with crevices, arches and caves and we even drove the boat into the largest cave called Ricoh cave. The skipper blew the boat's horn and it made a loud reverberating echo in the cavern. Very neat! Apparently its also a good dive site but not that day, due to choppy waters. The pic below is an English couple (we only dove with Brits), and the skipper is describing Rikoriko cave, which is the largest cave in the world. During World War II, a Japanese submarine tucked itself away in this cave for two weeks whilst undergoing repairs.

We found our first dive spot next to a large arch called middle arch. And when we got to the side of the arch's wall we saw literally an underwater forest! There were swaying plants everywhere and a myriad of fish, especially blue ones. What we liked best about this wall/reef is that ith was like a little mountain underneath, with lots of levels to swim through and around. The cool bit was a cave (about 50ft under) that we went into that had an air pocket at the top of it where we could remove our regulators and chat as a group. Syd says that he saw three huge sting rays on this dive and they looked really majestic, but I didn't see any - boo!

After a 1 hr rest stop we went on a second dive on the other side of the island which was similar to the first one - except there was a crack that we could swim into called 'Mac's crack' where there were loads of fish. Syd came face to face with a stingray here, but again I missed it! Ah well. Good times anyway.

After having a much needed lunch at the end of the trip and a hot shower in the marina, we headed back south to camp for the night. On the way we stopped at some falls near the highway called Whangarei falls. Nice picture opp. Plus a chance to visit an orchard nearby and get fresh fruit and sweet corn!

We drove on the west coast to our motorpark campground and the views on this side of the northland were stunning. Syd got a sweet shot from a lookout site.

We stayed in a park with thermal hot pools that night. It was called Parakai Springs Aquatic Park and it had public pools (half price for campers) and even waterslides! The pools were heated with geothermal water from natural springs and were really warm. The indoor pool was almost unbearable for Syd (wuss!) at 38C, and the outdoor pool was a cool 32C. ;o) The most fun part is that there were WARM waterslides too! Two big ones that Syd and I ran continuously up and up and up and raced each other down. The water actually rushed quite fast inside the tubes and I almost flew off my mat upside down a couple times! The best part about it is that the water was warm, as usually the most unpleasant aspect of waterslides back home is initially sitting down in the frigid cold water to start the slide. These slides alone made the entry fee worth it (but not bad at $8 each). ;o) Our campsite was powered so we finally go to use our appliances such as our fridge and kettle - and most essentially, we could charge our dead laptop so we could write this blog!

Astrid.

A Glow Worm Wonderland

2009-01-22T10:31:00.001Z

We picked up our awesome 2007 Mitsubishi campavan (that's what they call them here) just outside Auckland and went for a quick grocery stop to stock up and then headed north to the beautiful northland - bay of islands. Our goal was to get up to a marina at a town called Tutukaka to go on a dive trip the next morning.

On the way up we stopped at some caves called Waipu caves. They are a DOC (Department of Conservation) trail (aka track) so are thus free. Syd and I thought this was the best free activity as it was a rustic cave, virtually untouched, oh and the best part is that we had the cave all to ourselves! We wore our head torches and water sandals (or jandals as they call them here) and trekked into the darkness. The water in the cave was so clear and clean, and the stalactites looked like smooth mud. It was weird when you touched them because it looked like wet mud, but they were actually hard and smooth. So neat!

We rounded a corner to the left and I told Syd to turn his torch off. We looked up and there was a trail of lights on the ceiling, kind of like a wide line leading the way. The light given off by this strange phenomenon was of an iridescent blue. They were NZ's infamous glowworms! We followed the train that they set out for us and came to a large cathedral sized cavern where they were all over the ceiling. It looked like we were looking at a night sky, and we felt like we were in our own personal glowworm wonderland!

After that, we made the 2 hour trek to Tutukaka and viewed some great hills and seascapes on the way.

We camped for free in the marina at a parking spot (picnic area) right on the bay. Our first camping meal experience of stirfry on the campstove was very successful and tasty too!

Observations:

Weather has been really great here. Temperate with sun and cloud and around 23C. The weather reports consistently say that the weather is fine, just fine. We find it quite humourous.

Driving in Auckland is so cool. One minute you are next to rolling hills and farms (with heaps of sheep!), the next minute you are driving up a mountain range and overlooking a gorge or the amazing coastlines. The trees here are very tall and of various varieties - from pine trees to weird deciduous trees that are all branch until some vegetation at the end of each branch, to palm trees, and exotic ferns that look like palm trees!

There are generally only two speed limits - 50 and 100 km/hr. 90% of the turns have a suggested speed limit on them (i.e. 65Km, which makes Syd slow down to oh, about 80!).

Syd's deep thought: Petrol (they use the brit term here rather than gas/fuel) prices are $1.48/litre, roughly $1.05/litre Canadian. Regular is actually equivalent to medium/premium back home with an octane level of 91. Oddly, diesel is much cheaper here...1.04 NZ/litre (40% less than petrol).

In and Around Kiwitown

2009-01-22T10:14:00.001Z

The rest of the weekend flew by exploring what Auckland had to offer. We made the best use of our bike rental by riding (okay, walking uphill most of the way) through Auckland domain. This was essentially Toronto's High Park meets London's Hampstead Heath. It had established paved trails and a duckpond, a greenhouse and museum at the centre (top), though otherwise it was kindof a big forest. Very neat nonetheless.

We also went to an alehouse in the city that is ranked top in New Zealand (and a must see for beer lovers in our guidebook). It was called Galbraith's alehouse and they are a craft brewery that makes about 8 different types of beer based on English Ales and German/Czech Lager recipes. We elected to do a tasting menu of 4 different types. I really liked the Bohemian Pilsner as it kind of had an apricot taste. The wheat beer was also very interesting and memorable as it smelled like bananas (and thus tasted a bit like bananas too!). Unfortunately we had to get the bikes back or we would have explored more ales!

Saturday afternoon I really wanted to check out Ponsonby - which is an artsy suburb of Auckland that we grabbed a bus to. It felt like the wild west the way the buildings were designed, like those below.

The shops and cafes and bars all lined one street called Ponsonby road, and it had quite the kitchy feel to it - lots of very unique shops, and even some risque diners like this one - murder burger. The marketing of this place was very humourous, basically taking the piss out of eating meat. It made us think that it was meant to be a vegetarian burger joint, but oh no! Quite the contrary. Very interesting and humorous in any case.

On Sunday we got up and did the quintessential backpacker tasks - made brekkie & tea and did a load of laundry. Our bungy-like travel clothesline was genius and came quite in handy in our hostel room. We then packed a lunch & our snorkels into a bag and headed to the pier to grab a ferry over to a neighbouring island for the day called Waiheke island. It is an island of Auckland where 8000 people live and 1000 commute to work every day, and also where mainland Aucklander's holiday.

The island had a number of beautiful beaches and wineries and it was easy to lose ourselves there for the entire day.

Thankfully Syd had his M license so we were able to rent a motorbike (250 cc) and bomb around the island. As it was my first time on a real motorbike I was quite nervous, but equally excited. It was such good fun! I didn't know the protocol about getting off to the left of the bike, and naturally got off on the right (I am SOOO right brained). Well I paid for that mistake as my shin was singed against the hot hot muffler! ouch! that stung! It ended up forming a perfectly oval burn mark on my leg, that at the moment looks like a massive birth mark. Great. Right before my diving trip and a wetsuit in 2 days! doh!

That blunder aside, we really did enjoy all the lookout points on the island, hanging out in the sand on Oretangi beach, tasting wines at Obsidian winery, and snorkelling in a serene bay called enclosure bay. I found it strange for the size of the bay that we saw no fish! Nice to have some clear waters though, given that every other beach had choppy waters.

In classic Millett style we rushed the bike back to return it just before the ferry departed for Auckland. We enjoyed a good dinner with live music in an Irish pub that evening at the pier (called the Viaduct) before calling it a night to prepare for the next stage of our adventure - the campervan!

Observations:

Our hostel was located on a dodgy street. We would sit out on the patio section and just watch homeless people pick through the rubbish bin right near us, or try and bum smokes. Then, we'd turn and see bunches of guys in search of nudie bars - but they didn't have to look far as there was one right beside our hostel, and 2 just around the corner!

All of the sidewalks in the CBD (Central business district) of Auckland are covered by permanent awnings. I found this quite weird and somewhat claustrophobic inducing in the first day or so. But I then appreciated it on Sunday when we got off the ferry and it was raining, but I didn't get wet on the entire 5 minute walk home as I was completely sheltered! Genius!

Why are all Irish pubs the liveliest places in any country we visit? They always tend to have decent food, good beers on tap, live music, and crowds of people, regardless of location. I don't know what they do, but the Irish have this all figured out.

Astrid.

Kia Ora from Auckland New Zealand!

2009-01-22T10:02:00.001Z

Kia Ora from Kiwi-land. Everyone here (and everything) says Kia Ora, which means hello, or welcome. It's quite poetic sounding and I am adopting it most readily (that and the occasional 'mate' at the end of my sentences!). The first observation that Syd and I had about New Zealanders (or Kiwis as they are most known) is that they are not only super nice, but cool! Our stewardesses were so laid back and helpful, and everyone we have encountered since has been the same way!

We landed in Auckland at 5 in the morning and after customs etc we got to our hostel at 7am. I can't remember the last time I was ever up and about in a city at that time...how about never!

Once we dropped off our bags in the luggage room and left the hostel to realise the stores weren't even open yet, we had the rare occasion to say, okay, NOW what do we do? So, we did what any new traveller does, grabbed coffees to go, and went out to the pier and had a relaxing read of the paper while overlooking the bridge and ships in the harbour. That's normal right? The weather was a bit cloudy, but mostly sunny, and by 8 am it was already 22 Celsius - that means we have fab weather to look forward to. Sweet! It was also a very nice harbour indeed, with many massive charter yachts and sailing vessels most likely used in competitions like the regatta to be held here at the end of the month.

Since it was still too early before the shops opened we walked up to Albert park and chilled some more under the coolest old gnarly trees - ones that you would never see in Canada (well I haven't anyway!).

After a bit of shopping and some sushi lunch on a park bench, we finally checked into our hostel (Nomad's Fat Camel Hostel on Fort St). They were like a one stop shop, not only could we stay there, eat there (with free evening meals) and drink there (with happy hours), but we could also rent bikes for the day! So we did. By 2:30 we were on the saddle and riding east from the pier out to mission bay beach, which is basically the local beach for Aucklanders. The ride was coastal, and sooo pretty. We found a great picture spot that overlooked the city in the distance...kind of reminds us of similar shots we have of our own similar Canadian city...

It was quite the trek to the beach and a lot further than it looks on the map! Great little city beach though with lots of groups of young people from all countries, and some families too - playing frisbee in the surf and the sand, and the grass too! We actually also saw a group of 4 guys (aka thugs) playing poker on the grassy part of the beach at their own poker table and chairs, next to an old sofa that they also trucked there! I would have gotten a picture of this absurd site but didn't want to get beat up. ;o)

We took a wee dip in the green ocean but it was a bit too cold for us to enjoy thoroughly. I didn't bargain on the seashell bottom, but I'm sure my feet are happy for the exfoliation. I was a little miffed to not have a proper beach towel and had hoped to pick one up from a beach shop near the beach but no such shop existed. I thought that was the weirdest thing ever (or stupidity in Auckland's marketing) to miss this gold mine opportunity, but then Syd said maybe there are regulations against such shops, and I guess that makes sense. The ride home was frickin windy so we definitely got a workout.

Later on we enjoyed our hostel bar happy hour and played a round of billiards before calling it an early night. We somehow managed to lose Thursday entirely due to the international dateline and 14 hr flight, but we were content that we made the most of our chill Friday in Auckland.

Astrid.

Hippie Camping on an Eco Farm

2009-01-22T07:43:00.001Z

So we just checked into a Eco-farm / Hostel place in the town of Raglan on the East coast of New Zealand's North island. The place we're at is called Solscape and its a cool camping area where if you don't have a campervan like us, you can stay in one of the many cabooses' littered around that serve as dorms & double rooms. If you walk back about 5 mins from the main area, there is a second area with several tee-pees (both 2 and 4 person) that look pretty sweet, though we're happy with our van :)

Living in this van combines the best of both comfort and camping -- I think if you didn't love camping like Astrid and I do, it certainly wouldnt be as fun. We think of it just like camping except you get the comforts of a sink, a stove that's better than my whisper lite, and a fridge to keep the beer cold (oh, and the milk from going bad :)). Today we found a cool picnic table on the beach, pulled up, and did up some classic grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch -- how sweet is that?

Anyhow, the place has wireless so we've jacked in so we can publish up a number of blogs we've (meaning mostly Astrid) written over the past couple of days so everyone can get caught up. We're having a fantastic time -- so much so I don't even really know what day of the week or month it is! We're about 1000 kilometres into our journey of about 5.5k -- can't wait to see what else this country has in store.

Syd.

Our Journey Beginneth....

2009-01-15T02:06:00.002Z

So we started our journey west into weather that we thought would be a least 10-15 degrees colder than in Toronto/Hamilton. As it turned out, we landed in Calgary on Monday during a rare 'chinook' which is basically a warm front that comes across the mountains and warms up the basin of Calgary for a couple days. Therefore, when we landed it was 2 degrees celsius and the next day it went up to 8!

Syd's cousin Janine (fondly known as Neen, and who also officiated at our wedding) lives in Calgary and so nicely picked us up from the airport. This was the first time she was picking someone up from a flight that was NOT westjet, so she was waiting in the wrong end of the terminal for us (at the westjet end!). We took the piss out of her a little bit for that, yet were grateful for the free ride and chance to chat. We went back to her house and she has this domestic thing all sorted out. We walked in to the smell of chili - that had been cooking all morning in the slow cooker and was now ready for lunch! sweet! Her mom taught her well. hee hee.

That afternoon we played with her 4 month old daughter, Kayla for a bit, and then played an old board game classic, British Rails, while she was sleeping. Syd won (of course) but it was good times and brought back great memories of the cottage. That night, we chilled with Edmund when he got home and taught him our new card game, backpacker.

The next day, we took full advantage of the chinook and departed for Banff National Park with Neen and Kayla. It was a 1.5hr drive through the most picturesque mountains and parkland to the ski town of banff.

The town was really cute, and reminded us a little bit of Mont Tremblant ski town.

It was a tad on the commercial side (with an HBC, a lululemon, a Roots store, and a McDonalds), but we were able to find a really cool irish pub called the Paddock Pub where we chose sweet digs beside the fireplace (though its not like we had much competition seeing as the bar was empty!). We just got a few bites to share (we couldn't pass up taco tuesday), and enjoyed a nice pub experience, while getting to know the waitress who travels on yearly trips as her career at the moment!

That night when we got back we chilled again, and then spent today resting up for our long journey, and taking a stop in Calgary downtown for lunch before our flight. What we were most surprised and annoyed about is that all the pubs in downtown calgary would not let us in because we had Kayla with us - no minors allowed! I had never heard anything so ridiculous! Ah well, Milestones it was.

Now, we're sitting in the lounge in Vancouver after a brief but nice flight here, and we descended above clouds and mountains during a salmon-coloured sunset. The picture totally doesn't do it justice, but I'll remember it always. ;o)

To Auckland and beyond!!!

I thought we were on vacation?

2009-01-14T16:09:00.001Z

Astrid & I spent the first couple weeks back (during Christmas & NY) visiting loads of family and friends... running from city to city in true Astrid and Syd style. It was good though... it was so great to catch up with everyone, see the new developments in everyone's children, and hear from no less than 5 people that they are expecting new little ones of their own!

So with the completion of 'Ukranian Christmas' (aside: we celebrate Christmas on my dad's side in the first or second week of January, simply because everyone is too busy during the Christmas period... so we call it Ukranian Christmas... though absolutely no one in our family is from anywhere near there), the holiday season was officially over. But it was only January 4th... and we had a week before we departed...

The ensuing week was very chill. All of our friends had to go back to work (I actually worked Monday/Tues as well wrapping up everything at Infusion). Starting Wednesday, Astrid and I were officially fully on vacation! What I thought was going to be hanging out in the PJ's, watching daytime tele, and otherwise having the brain do minimal activity, couldn't be further from the events that played out.

Well, the PJ's part was at least true. Astrid & I spent 10+ hours each of Wed & Thurs holed up in the 'office' of her parents house duelling away on our computers, doing research. It did feel like work, but more like 'I should be doing work but instead I'm surfing the net' kinda work. We wanted to take advantage of the internet while we had it to get a rough (or not so rough?) idea of where we'd go each day, what activities we'd partake in, what phone numbers we needed to have handy, and where we'd likely pull up for a nights' rest.

The outcome of these 2 days was pretty impressive... kudos to Astrid for compiling the actual documents, but we wanted to share them out in case anyone is interested. The NZ itinerary is far more thorough since Oz is mostly a bus trip (and its over a month away, so less time critical we sort that out) with a set direction up the coast. If we were thorough with Oz it would likely have a bunch of daily entries consisting of the following:

Wake up, no alarm :)
Eat
Go Surfing
Eat
Surf some more
Eat
Drink
More Drink
Snack
Sleep
(repeat from step 1 above)

Anyhow, here's some links to the documents:

New Zealand Itinerary (Jan 16 - Feb 17)
Australia Itinerary (Feb 17 - Mar 25)

Let us know if you've been to either NZ or Oz and notice we're missing a key area/place/thing we should do/see -- we've got a bunch of buffer time to fit stuff in, or just chill at a cool beach for an extra day.

Enjoy,

Syd.

Our Down Under Itinerary

2009-01-14T06:30:00.001Z

So it was back in November when we actually booked our trip. Our friends Ami & Danny were visiting from Canada and one night we were chatting with Danny about his Australian adventure and my multi-tasking self got searching for multi-leg flights at the same time. After a little bit, we settled on an itinerary of:

Jan 12: Toronto -> Calgary
Jan 14: Calgary -> Auckland (via Vancouver)
Feb 17: Christchurch -> Melbourne
Mar 25: Cairns -> Auckland
Mar 26: Auckland -> Toronto (via Los Angeles)

Normally it takes most of the time to find the flight and only a couple minutes to pay & pick your seats. But with a 7 leg journey, including a pair of 14 hour flights, picking seats needed to have a bit more time dedicated.

Now for some nerd screenshots: check out the 7 horizontal tabs below:

In NZ we've got a campervan rented -- VW styles that has a couch/table that converts to a bed in the back, along with a sink, fridge, and portable stove.

In Oz, we're likely going to do the Oz Experience bus trip up the East coast from Sydney to Cairns. The other day we decided to fly from Melbourne to Sydney (partially due to finding a cheap flight, and partially dreading the thought of a 15 hr overnight Greyhound ride).

Anyhow, we're in Calgary right now after visiting Banff today -- but more on that in the next post!

Syd.

Welcome to our Down Under blog

2009-01-08T21:08:00.001Z

So this isn't really a new blog, but we have renamed the URL. Sadly our UK adventure has come to an end, but it sure was great! But no time to be sad, as we're gearing up for our next adventure: Milletts Down Under.

You can continue to use the old http://millettuk.blogspot.com URL, which now redirects here: http://millettsdownunder.blogspot.com, though it may be a bit quicker for you to update your bookmark.

We head off on January 12th, first stopping in Calgary to visit our cousins Janine & Edmund and their new baby Kayla. We're thrilled to be seeing a new city, albeit scarred at the same time of the thought of -28C temperatures when we only have summer clothes packed!

Over the next couple of days I'll get a couple new posts up regarding our flight details and itinerary. Let us know you're reading this -- we're glad to have you following our blog!

Syd.

A Fond Farewell to London at Christmastime

2008-12-18T08:59:00.003Z

I can't believe its finally here...time to head back across the pond...for good. My cousin said that this is the end of an epic chapter of our lives, and I couldn't have quoined the term better!

I'm somewhat sad to go, but to be honest, I believe we've made the best possible experience with our time here in UK (and Europe) and it was the best decision we ever made. We are also very excited to start new adventures in New Zealand, Australia, and beyond when we return to T.O.

But for now, I thought I would share some pictures and final observations of London with you. London at Christmastime is really pretty. I don't think it has the grandeur of New York, but in a simpler manner, it works.
First off, the picture above is from a window in Selfridges. Basically its a drunk santa surrounded by vodka bottles and wine glasses. They are so open about drinking here. Bet you'd never find THAT kind of window at Macy's! ha ha!
I personally liked the one above. They actually constructed a tube car in the window that opened and closed with santa inside. Brilliant. Loved it! There were many more, but these 2 were the best and most typified London.
There were a number of German Christmas markets around town (and in pretty much every European city including Bruges, Belfast, Edinburgh, Prague, Vienna, etc). Its the quintessential European Christmas to have a Christmas market in your main square. They serve mulled wine, German sausages, gingerbread, and crepes, and typically sell wooden toys for gifts. I will definitely miss the markets next Christmas...unless Toronto suddenly picked up the tradition when we've been over here!
And lastly, while its no Rockefeller tree, Trafalgar Square was quite festive with a tall pine tree (albeit a little thin) and lovely carollers to ring in the Christmas spirit.

So, without further ado, let me end this post with final observations, and some things I'll miss...

Observations and Misses:

They aren't very religious about Christmas here. Instead of saying 'Merry Christmas', 'Happy Christmas' is most popular, which I guess in itself doesn't make it less religious than NA, BUT, there are many satirical songs (such as 'Christmas my Arse'), and they even have a very slang term for Christmas called 'Crimbo'. This latter term is only used in certain company and not on tv commercials but it's still very non-PC.

I will miss the fashion. Anything goes here, so you never feel out of place - from big belts, to big necklaces, to skirts with tights and uggs... Plus, it made for very entertaining people watching!

I will miss the TV commercials. They are hilarious, and a bit more risque than we would have at home. I won't miss the plethora of bad reality tv though (think getting up close and personal with people's embarrassing body image issues).

It goes without saying that I will miss the travel and exploration opportunities. We loved that we could get in a car, and explore anywhere in the UK, and each place (from Southhampton, to Bath to York to Cardiff to Edinburgh) has an old-world feel to it, cobblestone and wood/thatch homes, and lots of castles! Also, being 1-2 hours away from anywhere in Europe at cheap flight prices can't be beat!

I will miss working at London Bridge. An old part of the city in its own right, with cobblestone pedestrian streets, the thames walks, the pubs galore, and the fun people I worked with.

I think this list could be pretty endless and I'm sure I'll add to it, but for now I have to help Syd finish packing before going out for our last night of drinks in Canary Wharf.

Farewell London. We love you!

Blimey Ol' Belfast

2008-12-08T21:41:00.004Z

What better way to spend a last weekend in Europe than with my good friend Danielle in a fun city of Northern Ireland? We decided about a month ago that we wanted to go away when we found a seat sale on Ryanair to get a return flight for £35 each! Unfortunately to get that price we had to catch a flight from the east side of the city (Stansted) at 8 in the morning, so it meant getting up a 5 am to catch a 1 hr bus to the airport. Ah, what we do for budget flights! Thankfully the bus journey was easy and flight left on time and so we were on our way!

We chose a great weekend to go. The weather was sunny and brisk, the Christmas markets were abundant, and the city was full of Christmas revelers. We were also staying at a hotel right near the bus station so no expensive commute after a £1.50 bus airport transfer (sweet). Danielle and I epitomized the entire weekend as 'fortunate timing'. The timing of everything we did was 'just right', from the timing of buses, perfect timing to get exit row seaon thets plane where there were no assigned seats, early check in at the hotel (at no charge), to getting a special on mincemeat (mince) pies at the castle, good weather all weekend (including avoidance of rain during the time we were in the castle) and leaving the pub at just the right time on Saturday night to meet some fun locals who showed us the 'real' Belfast nightlife.

Our first order of business (as it was only 10 am) was to find a place that would make us a good ol' Ulster fry up (aka Irish fried breakfast). After passing many closed pubs and Belfast's answer to the London Eye (the Befast Wheel), we found a pub called Oscars Champagne Cafe where we both had bowls of cappucino (yes, bowls - no handles!) and a cooked breakfast. The brekkie consisted of deep fried soda bread, potatoe pancakes, sausage, bacon and eggs - no beans in Irish breakfast - that's an English thing. When we met locals later they totally made fun of me when I said I missed my baked beans in the morning - they didn't doubt I was from London from then on!
After filling our bellies we checked out the christmas market next to the city hall and then grabbed a bus (and a hike) to Belfast Castle. It really wasn't much inside as its basically just a wedding venue with beautiful gardens and a great view of the city, so didn't make my top 10 castle list. It was still well worth the hike to sit in the cavern tavern in the cellar of the castle and have our first pint of guinness, 2 mince pies for £1 and get in the Christmas spirit with Christmas tunes and a fire place with stockings hung.
By the time we got back into the centre of town we were quite knackered from a short sleep the night before, we ended up grabbing a snack at the marketand heading back to the hotel for a nap so we could be energised to head out on the town and check out local historical pubs on our own pub walk! Our pub walk started at the Crown Liquour Saloon, which is supposedly the oldest and best known pub in Belfast, and also the most bombed. It is covered in Mosaics and there is a crown on the tiled entrance to the pub. Inside it is very ornately designed from the gilded lion architecture to the serpentine scale-like columns, almost to a tacky nature. The interesting thing we noted about the pub is the signs everywhere saying that football garments are banned and people wearing them will be kicked out. This goes back to the 'troubles' when supporting different teams (the Celts vs the Rangers) would result in serious violence. So most pubs have banned any football on the telly to contribute to the peace efforts over the last decade.

Following that bar we went out for a quick bite and then hit another 'classic' pub called the Kitchen Bar. It was a popular night for Christmas parties and we felt like we were crashing one at this pub. It didn't really feel like our scene so we hastily finished our pint and as we exited the bar a couple local blokes (age 40+) asked us how we liked it. We said that we didn't so much and were going to try and find somewhere more authentic. They said they were heading to one such place that they always go to called Kellys Cellars and so we tagged along. We didnt' in the least feel threatened by these guys as they were married and just looking to show some Canadian ladies how the real Belfast should be remembered. Built in 1720 it is actually Belfast's oldest pub and it really did feel like we stepped back in time. The first room had dingy white walls with the words Caed Mile Failte (meaning 'A Thousand Million Welcomes') across the archway, and a ceiling that was a fishing net with buoys tangled in it.
The second room was another dingy room with white walls and celtic sayings, with a bar and some booths, but its ceiling had a conglomerate of knick knacks like kettles, and pots & pans, fire puffers, and irons. It was so neat, and everyone was super friendly. Then, to top it off, in a corner booth there was a pick up band of people just playing irish instruments - a hand drum with a brush, a little guitar, a banjo and other percussion like hand instruments. It was soooo neat!

We hung out that chatting with the blokes (Jon, Connor and Tony) and their lady and man friends about Irish, English and Canadian life. They all later invited us out to an after bar called 'BX' or Belfast Exposed...which was essentially a photo gallery by day, and closed up with steel garage doors by night, unless you had the right knock, then the doors would open! It felt very underground-scene like, but once we got in, it was just like an artsy-fartsy lounge, and they served free chili (to get past insurance problems with the cops of serving alcohol after hours they need to serve food), which was actually quite tasty. We didn't stay at that bar long before heading back to the hotel nearby but we appreciated our first 'after hours' experience! ;o)

We had an educational experience with the Titanic and 'the Troubles' the next day, but that's another story....

Rockin' in London Town

2008-12-03T22:42:00.003Z

This past weekend we had a rockin' time in London for one of our last weekends here. I learned about a cool karaoke event where you get to sing with a rock band, and so I thought, what better event to plan a 'farewell to the Milletts' party for us and 20 of our closest London friends than at Rockaoke? ;o)
The band started at 8 after we liquored ourselves up on 2for1 drinks. We all put in song requests before they started but there were so many! There must have been at least 150 people there! Syd's colleagues Carmen & Craig were the first to go up, they sang a good ole' Canadian song - Summer of 69! It was a good song to get the crowd started. That was soon followed by Simon doing 'Under the Bridge'...he wasn't that great a singer but he was super funny that the crowd were totally eating it up!

Of course I HAD to get up and sing. And so me and 2 girlfriends got up to sing Amy Winehouse's "Valerie". We didn't sing well either, but it was good fun...and I think people were dancing!

The next hour or so was much of the same, with other non-friends taking the stage and providing good songs to dance to (and drink more). The band sadly ended at 10, with Syd and Bryan (and 3 random girls) singing/shouting Bohemian Rhapsody. It was a riot! Syd's colleagues loved that their directors ad gotten up to sing. They are totally going to miss Syd when he leaves London.-------------------------------

On Monday of this week I did some more rockin' in London at my company's Christmas do (aka party). Brits (and especially those at my company) really know how to party. It was held at an arts studio near our office and was all dulled up in glitter and silver. There were blackjack tables and roulette in the corner of one large room, and in another room was a large dancefloor and rotating company djs. We enjoyed the chance to get dulled up too!
People (okay, me too) were dancing machines. Everywhere I looked there were smiling faces and twirling dresses. It was so great to know people all over the place. A company of only 500 is a welcome change to a large government office that I am used to!

There was lots of debauchery throughout the night including people 'dirty dancing', 'snogging', and even one guy splitting the back seam of his trousers! That's him (Will) below with my colleague Gemma. I only wish I had a small camera to catch it all, but alas, I had to settle on those that others took (which were limited).

On the last song I felt a little out of place because they were playing Last Christmas by WHAM and people were all slow dancing, and Syd wasn't there (as spouses weren't invited). I was about to leave the dancefloor when Astrid rescued me and we twirled around for the last two songs. She always comes through for me. I'm going to miss that girl!

Mmmmmmm Swiss Fondue

2008-12-03T19:29:00.000Z

Ok, so in my haste I mailed this on Nov 9 to the wrong email and hence it never got posted in 'real time' as it was meant to. But I didn't want it to go to waste so I've reposted it below:

It's Sunday and we're sitting in a restaurant in Lausanne, Switzerland. We had an amazing fondue dinner last night in our hotel (Hotel Edelweiss, which is designed to look like a proper Swiss Chalet). It was 'all you can eat', though the initial portion was massive - we had 2 little pots -- one with 'half and half' (ie 2 cheeses) and the other was the house special (called Eldewiess fondue) which was made with 5 cheeses and also had mushrooms. We ordered a 3rd pot, mostly cuz it was free, but we barely made a dent in it.

The restaurant also had a live band (2 swiss dudes playing an accordian and guitar, with a little a bit of matterhorn thrown in), complete with yodelling (which Scotty, reminded me of UHF and the variety show scene!).

Despite being full, we made it out to a couple bars after dinner .... The first seemed to be the meeting point for Geneva's prositutes (they had live music, but we left after our one beer), and the 2nd was a pub where we got in several games of darts which was good fun.

Today we went around the lake on trains to Montreux, but that's another story.....

Syd.

Czeching out the Old Town of Prague

2008-11-17T23:02:00.007Z

We spent the weekend on November 14-16 with our friends Ami & Danny in the city of Prague. Actually, we only saw the 'old city' of Prague, and are sure that more of Prague exists, we just didn't see it! Rumour has it that Walt Disney visited Prague years and years ago, and was so inspired by the buildings (such as the church below) that he created the 'disney castle' and disney world based on the city. I don't know if that's true or not, but it was certainly easy to get lost in the magic of the place.
There was a massive square called the 'Old Town Square' (I know, really original), which was basically tourist central. The main attraction (among all of the cafes, restaurants and hot dog vendors of course) was the astronomical clock. I guess it's famous for showing the locations of the sun, the moon, and the phases of the moon. To look at its nothing special really as it doesn't do anything fun, but apparently apostle statues appear in the doors above the clock on the hour. However, what is most interesting about it is that its based on pre-Copernican geocentric belief that the earth was the centre of the universe, and the earth is in the exact middle of the clock! During WWII the clock was nearly destroyed by Nazi fire. The townspeople are credited with heroic efforts in saving most of the parts. It was gradually renovated throughout the years. According to local legend the city will suffer if the clock is neglected and its good operation is placed in jeopardy.

What we liked best about Prague (and there's lots to like!) were the fantastic views and music on Charles Bridge. With Prague being such a musical city there were jazz bands and clubs everywhere. The band below was called the 'Bridge Band', and every once and a while the band would stop playing and the one guy 3rd from the right would just make funny faces and sing 'Boo di bee boo boo di doo' or something to that effect. I found it highly amusing and wish I had a video camera.

On Saturday night we hit the town, tried some authentic Czech food (sausages, and ghoulash, and I had the most massive ribs ever that I felt like Wilma Flintstone!), and tried a shot of authentic czech spirit - Absinthe. It is basically a bright turquoise colour, and they light some sugar on a spoon that drips into it. When you taste it you 'cough' it down as it it literally tastes toxic - like what you would expect anti-freeze or the like to taste. We only did the one, but that was enough! After dins we went to a couple jazz clubs that were based in the cellars of a number of buildings - it was cool to watch people on big instruments like cellos and pianos inside a cave of stone walls! Afterwards, Syd and I hit a bar that was too American for my taste, but was a chance to talk to a few different people. It was a nice time, and a long night, but we felt that we made the best of Prague nightlife.

The next day we walked around Prague again and in the grounds of the Castle. We saw great views of the city from above from here - lots of red rooftops. As most of us were nursing hangovers we just took it easy and went out for a nice dinner where Danny got a massive hanging brochette (aka shish kabob) before heading to the airport.

Prague Observations:

The Czech Republic are a smart nation when it comes to tourism. They have it all figured out. They kept the old city contained in one area of Praha, and they added modern elements to it (bars, restos, museums - including a sex machine one! - and even a 200 store shopping mall). That way the tourists have everything they need to stay in one part always, and the rest of the czechs in Prague work and live in the surrounding commercial area! Its like they built an invisible wall and said come tourists, this way to be blissfully amused in our fairytale disney-like city...and we happily oblige. ;o)

And what's with the puppet obsession? There were shops and vendors everywhere! And what's more - why did I buy into it? They are actually really cute and beautifully made though and will be good mementos... so I turned around and bought two! Doh.

La Belle Geneve

2008-11-17T21:29:00.000Z

On Nov 7-9 Syd and I took our last Europe mini-break (just the two of us) to beautiful Geneva Switzerland. It was a very metropolitan city in that it had many languages represented (German, Italian, French and English), and with it being on the border of France, French was the language of choice. Our friend Astrid has lived there for years and highly recommends it so we thought we should check it out.

The first night we flew in late, but were instantly impressed with the fact that we got a 'free' train ticket to town, and the train ride was only 6 minutes! We thought we could really get used to this free travel stuff. As it turned out, we could! Because when we checked into our hotel, they gave us a free travelcard for use in all Geneva transport for the entire weekend! Very strange, but very welcomed! ;o)

On Saturday we spent the day exploring old town Geneva, and of course the main shopping street. We didn't buy very much as the Swiss Franc and the clothing prices were not very cheap at all, even against the British pound! We loved how the streets in the old town were in layers, some higher and lower than others. And there were many narrow stairways leading to different streets so it was quite neat. Oh, and did I mention the cafes and chocolate shops everywhere?
We loved the sights on the main lake - Lake Geneva (or lac leman). In the middle is a very famous fountain landmark called Le Jet D'Eau. Five-hundred litres of water per second are jetted to an altitude of 140m by two 500kW pumps, operating at 2,400V, consuming over one megawatt of electricity! Its quite facinating to watch - and makes a great picture opp! Some crazy people were even swimming in the lake! I mean, ya, the weather was 14 degrees, but the lake cannot have been warm! Though it was VERY clear - look at the swan underwater below!

We were really impressed how the pier was so people friendly though, and had swimming and diving docks off of it, and even beaches where people can feed the swans! My swan didn't look too happy, but they were the friendliest swans we've ever met.

That night we went to dinner in the cool restaurant in our hotel that looked like a real Swiss Chalet (no not the fried chicken place that Canadians know of!) - with St. Bernard dogs and mountain murals everywhere! We both got a tasty cheese fondue and some wine and I have never been so bloated in my life! But it was soooo good! They had a live band there that yodelled, played the matterhorn, and even played the bells!

The next day we took a train to the other end of the lake to a town called Montreux. It is a cute lakeside town with nice restaurants, and beautiful views of the mountains. We decided to walk along the lake to the castle, called Chillon Castle, and it actually ranks among my top 5 castles in Europe! It as first of all, one of the most picturesque. Right on the lake, right next to the mountains, had cool turrets, and so fun to explore! It was one of those castles where most of the rooms weren't finished, so were mostly bare stone, so it allows you to visualise what it was like back in the 1500s. The place was completely open, no areas were closed off, and you could explore different stairways, courtyards, passageways and even the keep!
The view from the keep was breathtaking. 360 degree views of the lake and the mountains. It definitely helped that we were there in the autumn and had the red, orange and yellow colours as a backdrop.
Definitely the best day trip ever! Felt way more 'Swiss' than just visiting Geneva alone. ;o)

Europe sans Euros

2008-11-17T21:28:00.001Z

As you can see with our flurry of posts tonight, we've finally had a chance to catch up on some blogging. Ami & Danny were in town the last couple of weeks and the visit has been great. But we're a little exhausted after being in Geneva the weekend before last and just arriving back from Prague last night. Both trips were amazing, and actually quite different. 2 more currencies under the belt, but only 1 stamp as those nice Swiss aren't interested in stamping my passport :)

Complete pics and blog posts to come soon...

Pumpkins Pumpkins

2008-11-17T21:10:00.001Z

Again another long overdue post, but the pictures in here are just too cute!

I love the "Please do not sit on pumpkins" sign in the background :)

Syd.

The Spooks of London Bridge

2008-11-17T21:09:00.000Z

While I recognise that I may be a few weeks behind, I'm taking the first opportunity sans guests to sit down and describe the whirlwind that has been our lives to date.

The second weekend home from Canada was Halloween and we got together with Danielle to go out in scary style - as they do here in London (Syd dolled up as a creepy spider lord/lord death, I was a nearly-dead spider widow and D was an undead vampiress). We picked our costumes up at Fortinos (of all places) in Canada and when people saw us they thought we had gone 'all out'.
We went out to a Halloween pub event near London Bridge, the same fancy dress party event that Syd and Nyla and I did last year. When we first got there we felt overdressed as people in the UK still tend to do Halloween half-assed. One guy was walking around with a plastic bag on his head as a costume - puh-lease! When more people showed up within the hour we felt more at ease with all the other zombies, vampires and dead pirates.
We were actually quite impressed with one guy who dressed as a science experiment gone wrong - he was half werewolf half human - and used real theatrical hair to make the effect! I was quite impressed, but wouldn't want to be him later trying to remove all that glued on hair - ouch!
After Halloween we had some friends - Ami & Danny - come to stay with us for 2 weeks. They had their first European vacation and managed to fit in London, Paris and Prague! More to follow on that later.

London, like I've never seen it

2008-11-17T20:57:00.001Z

This post is massively overdue. First lets start with the background -- my 30th b-day fell on Sunday October 19th and as a gift to myself I arranged to be flying back to the UK on the red-eye, and going straight to work. Some bday present :) However, the day was fairly chill as we drove back from Fergus after June & Tyler's excellent wedding. Unbeknownst to me, Astrid had arranged a surprise bday dinner at East Side Mario's where Doug & Penny, Josh & Robyn & Rowan & Joslyn, Nyla & Steve & Megan, and my mom, bro, and Isaac were all able to attend. It was fantastic.

But the surprises didn't end there. The following weekend (after a rough week of catching up after vacation) Astrid had another surprise for me. She had booked us a private tour of London in a Helicopter. How sweet is that?

I've flown a lot, but this was a real treat. We were in a 4 seater but it was just the pilot and the two of us. We were given Champagne when we arrived at the hanger, and got to checkout some of the other 'copters they had there. We then did our 35 minute flight up from the south, across London (following the Thames from the West end over to Canary Wharf), then headed back South. The pictures tell the true story:

West Minster Abbey, Big Ben, Parliament, The Eye:

Buckingham Palace:

Trafalgar Square. Love those blue pools.

Canary Wharf, with O2 Center and Thames Flood Barrier in background:

Canary Wharf from the South, with our new flat marked on it :)

Astrid, thanks so much for such a thoughtful and fantastic gift!

Syd.

The Pond...

2008-11-05T07:00:00.001Z

So I've crossed the pond twice in the past 2 weeks -- Astrid and I had a fantastic visit home for the Thanksgiving week. We're sorry we couldn't catch up with everyone, but rest assured it wasn't due to a lack of effort! In classic Astrid and Syd style, it was a whirlwind tour with us trying to get in as much visiting as possible. Several friends have suggested we 'just stay put' when we go home for visits and have people come to us, but I think the control-freaks in us cause us to ignore this sensible approach.

The way back it was Astrid's first time going to work after a red-eye and I have to say I am very impressed with how awake she was to get through the day -- despite a sub-par sleep on BA.

After a short stay in the UK, I flew back across the pond on Sunday (Oct 26) to Los Angeles for the Microsoft PDC conference, which was pretty cool. The universal studios party deserves its own blog post (can you say Canada's Wonderland Fright Night but _way_ better... AND free booze and food all night. Crazy!).

I was interviewed by the Microsoft Canada press there and you can see my quotes in an article in the nerd magazine IT Business here. The flight to/from LA is quite long tho (10.5 hrs and 11.5 hrs, depending on direction), so although it was a red-eye on the way back, I didn't land until almost 4pm, so it didn't have the same 'get-through-the-day' challenges as usual.

In between the trips, Astrid gave me an awesome surprise bday gift that deserves its own blog post that is coming shortly!

Syd.

We followed the rainbow and found where Black Gold was made

2008-10-08T23:07:00.004+01:00

Our last stop on our whirlwind trip was Dublin. Now many in Ireland don't respect Dublin much, they feel that its not truly indicative of their country, as it is too fake, commercial and touristy. I'd have to say after seeing the parts of Ireland that we had up to this point, I have to agree with them.

The main redeeming quality that the city had was the old medieval part called Dublinia, where there was a beautiful cathedral and some pedestrian streets and old bridges over the river. We managed to catch a picture of a John Deere tractor on the main street in front of the national gallery - how do you like that Larry? ;o)
Syd got his 'irish look' on with his hat (purchased in London Camden Market btw).

The second redeeming quality was the Guinness Brewhouse. Yes, it was touristy as well, but it was done in a modern fun way that you can't help but enjoy it. Once you get past the tourist groups with their headsets, you get to experience interactive exhibits and videos by the 'brewmaster' who walks you through the stout-making process.
They have been brewing Guinness for 246 years (since 1759) at that location and the original owner of the company signed a 9000 year agreement to lease the land in Dublin to be able to brew that much more! The black colour of Guinness comes from the length of time that they roast the barley before the brewing process. A unique mix of nitrogen and carbon dioxide helps create GUINNESS Draught's liquid swirl that tumbles, surges and gradually separates into a black body and smooth creamy head. The head is the best part - hands down - there's nothing else like it. Especially when they form a shamrock in the top of it.
There was an entire floor attributed to the Guinness brand and its years of advertising. An interesting fact is that the Guinness book of world records was formed when a member of the Guinness family was in a pub with his mates and they were debating the size of the largest game bird. This kind of conversation came up so frequently that the family decided to invest in a 'coffee table' type interest book that sought to answer these questions for good. Its now one of the most successful serial books of all time!
The inside of the brewhouse was shaped like a beer glass - it really was, and had a chance for tourists to leave messages for others.
We enjoyed our 'free pint' at the top of the brewhouse with a great view of Dublin, and recalled our fond memories of Ireland.

The Cliffs of Insanity and Millett Fun in Doolin

2008-10-08T22:31:00.005+01:00

On Sunday we travelled the coast in County Clare and got the best exposure (and memories) of the Irish landscape. People associate themselves here with the county they belong to as opposed to the town they live in - gives a real community feel to the place. We stopped at a castle on one of the cliffs along the way and marvelled at the moors all around us. The weather was crisp and sunny, perfect to take in the green fields and cliffs and sparkling sea as we drove past.
Syd took the opportunity on these small windy roads to practice his 'F1' racing skills much to our handle-gripping chagrin. Thankfully brother was up front navigating so that Bec and I didn't have to watch the road as much. We soon got used to it and even kind of liked the rollercoaster dipping feeling in the tummies. Every once in a while I would go 'whee!' and Bec remarked that I would be a good companion in the backseat with her son Isaac who enjoys such thrills as well.

We had picked up a picnic lunch earlier in the day so we could eat at our main destination - the Cliffs of Moher. We made a stop in a town called Doolin on the way as 'duty called', and Syd was also craving a beer so we stopped at O'Connors pub (apparently its THE place to go in Doolin) by the river for a quick stop. This ended up being a 1 hour stop as Bec found a souvenir shop, and our pints took longer to complete as we were diverted by taking group shots of ourselves.
I happened to have the good fortune of chatting up some locals who gave us a tip as to the best way to see the cliffs - from below in the sea! They said that just at the end of the road we were parked on there were ferries that circled the cliffs every hour. Good tip! So we decided to have our picnic on the ferry instead and view the expansive cliffs from below. Apparently it is the more touristy thing to view the cliffs from the top, but you wouldn't get nearly the scope of the elevation from there as you do from below. The cliffs boast one of the most spectacular views in Ireland and is one of its top tourist attractions, and they weren't kidding. You could see the gradient on the rock of the evolution over time, topped with patches of green, and waaaay at the top you could see tourists, and even sheep and cows hovering near the edge. There were no fences at the top, so on a windy day a daft tourist could be blown right off the side if they get too close!
An interesting tip that Syd learned is that the Cliffs of Moher were also the Cliffs of Insanity used in the movie 'the princess bride'. They were absolutely amazing - and made for romantic picture opps too! ;o)

By the time the boat trip ended it was near 6 pm and we had a good 2.5 hour drive ahead of us to get to Kilkenny. Upon arrival at our cute b&b called Mena house in Kilkenny. Bec got a kick out of the mini shower that she forever calls the 'leprecaun tub'.
That night we walked into town and just barely got seated for dinner by 10. A great restaurant called Paradise took us in and kept their kitchen open just for us. Unfortunately we didn't see much of the town, but Kilkenny Castle was right on the canal and made a very pretty sight lit up at night with its reflection eerily still in the water beneath.

Black Gold of the Emerald Isle - Fun in Galway

2008-10-08T21:48:00.003+01:00

After much waiting (all year really), the Milletts finally embarked on their trip to the Republic of Ireland. The independent country (not to be mistaken as part of the UK or you get quite the look) of emerald green hills and guinness stout known lovingly as black gold. We travelled as a group of 4 Milletts - which made booking anything really easy! Myself, Syd, Syd's Bro Sam and his wife Becky made up the notorious quad.

We flew into Dublin but immediately rented a car and drove to the West side of the country to the city of Galway. When we first got on the highway we noted how flat the terrain was and remarked that it looked a lot like Ontario. It was only when we got nearer to the coast did the green hills start to emerge and the feeling of Ireland started to envelope us.

Due to impeccable navigation we made it to our cute bed & breakfast and then took a trek into town for a night out. When we came upon the town we crossed a couple bridges over small canals.
Cute restaurants lined either side of the canals, but we kept on to the main part of town to a pedestrian street called Shop Street that was lined on both sides by pubs and restaurants whre people were hanging around with their drinks outside of packed pubs.
We went in for a pint of black gold in one of such packed pubs. From the outside the pub looked very small, but as we soon realised with this pub and many others, the pub is more than what it seems! It had multiple nooks and crannies to sit and chill in, and then you go through a side section and you are at the back of the bar where there is a dancefloor, and upper level with a dj that overlooked a main large bar section and restaurant beneath! We were quite impressed and decided to come back to it later (more to follow). But since we were starving, we finished our pints and went next door to a tex-mex place called Rodeo.

Sam is quite good at knowing his tiredness limits so opted to go back to the B&B after dinner. The 3 of us then noticed a live band and instantly heard the opening riffs to 'summer of 69' and being the good canadians that we are we immediately went in and danced right at the front of the band. People in the bar looked at us like we had 2 heads because apparently you're just supposed to 'listen' to the band. Screw that! We soon started a trend and a bunch of drunk obnoxious girls danced a few songs later and ended up pushing us out of the bar due to our annoyance with their behaviours. No matter as there were other bars to explore!

We went into another pub that also had multiple levels and a dj. I lost Syd and Beck in here for a while and ended up talking to some guys in kilts (as you do!). The bloke was Australian with Scottish heritage so I could relate to him. When I found the others shortly after we didn't stay much longer as the place had NO air circulation and was uber hot in there.

Thus, we ended up at the original pub with DJ and secured ourselves a spot dancing next to the DJ - on a platform overlooking the crowd - felt much like a go-go dancer really and I loved it - ha ha! Syd was starting to fade at this point and was almost kicked out by the bouncer who wasnt' aware he was with us. We sent the poor guy home and he arranged to 'hide' the key for us under our car tire outside our room.

And then there were two...two Canadian gals out to have a dancing good time in a foreign city where we actually felt really safe. We soon realised that Irish men are very forward, very good looking, and super funny! We pointed out quickly in any conversation that we were married (and in Becky's case, with a child) but they didn't seem to care. They were like, "who cares, you're hot, let's snog anyway!" Becky says that some of her single friends should move here as they would have no problems 'pulling' an irish bloke. ;o)

The next morning we walked along the shore near our b&b

and took some beautiful shots of the town at low tide before we got on the road again to travel the coast.

Observations of Munich

2008-09-28T08:11:00.003+01:00

First off, let me give kudos to my wife for being so great at keeping up with the blog and getting posts and pictures up usually a day after we come back. I’m generally ready for a ‘vacation after the vacation’ and would put this off far longer.

But I thought I’d chime in with some of my own comments on our recent trip. I was expecting Oktoberfest to be a huge piss up, which it was, but I wasn’t expecting it to be much more than that. The city of Munich was cool – it’s the 3rd largest in Germany (after Hamburg and Berlin – I wouldda though Frankfurt was bigger, but apparently its just the airport and finance that is huge there). Munich is known for having a very high standard of living, which becomes apparent as you walk around town and notice how many ;yuppie’ style shops and cafes there are. The city itself was heavily bombed (71 air raids during WWII) so many of the buildings are new-ish, though they were all built in traditional architecture (for the most part) so the town doesn’t look ultra modern (like Glasgow does).

The subway in Munich is pretty good, but man, it just feels German. The trains are old-style boxy cars with 1940s/50s wood paneling finish inside, and the doors need to be manually opened by flipping a latch and pushing it (complete opposite of high tech Tokyo). That said, the trains were really comfy since they are big and a pleasure to ride on. We bought a 3 day pass, but the system is all honour based (like GO transit), and we were never checked the whole time we were there.

Germans, at least in Munich but I suspect this is true of most of the country, are really good about being bilingual – everyone we met spoke at least broken English, if not better. And as Astrid said, everyone was really friendly (except for that waiter at lunch who Astrid D had a row with!).

Despite the fact the festival is underpinned by the primary activity of drinking beer, it is very well run and fairly pleasant given the sheer size of the event. In 2010 Oktoberfest will celebrate 200 years since Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) was married and the first Oktoberfest festival occurred, so the Germans know a thing or two about managing the worlds largest fair. I’d highly recommend you check it out sometime if you can – 4 days was a good length of time to go – any longer and your liver wouldn’t be too happy.

Syd.

The Misadventures of Squirt and the Gang at Oktoberfest

2008-09-23T21:41:00.007+01:00

We did the iconic European adventure this weekend - a trip to the beer drenched tents, all the bratwurst one could eat, more drunks than you can count, and even vomit-inducing rides in the fairgrounds of the opening weekend of the largest festival in the world - Oktoberfest in Munich Germany. ;o)

To prepare for the event we purchased matching tees with drunk looking turtle logos that said: UK Expats Drinking Team - Slow & Steady. The backs of our shirts had our nicknames (Syd: Sporty, Astrid: Silly, Katie: Smiley, Me: Spilly). We thought the fact that we were UK Expats was self-explanatory since we all live in the UK but were born elsewhere...apparently this was very confusing for many people when they talked to us as they were disappointed when we didn't have British accents! hmmm...
When we arrived at the 'Oktoberfest area' we basically were walking onto a fairground - with food stalls, souvenir booths and rides for as far as the eye could see. We had an affinity towards the bumper cars - where drunk driving is legal and encouraged! We were feeling peckish so we went into a tent/restaurant where we sat at a large table with other random people and the beer drinking and massive chicken eating began! We loved the design of the place with Ammer chickens everywhere - Ammer is a roast chicken chain and they definitely had fun with this place!
The beer 'tents' were really large buildings made of temporary materials that are erected (and subsequently destroyed) each year for the event. Each tent is owned by a large Bavarian brewery (i.e. Lowenbrau, Augustiner, Hofbrau, Spaten and Paulener) and each tent holds roughly 6000 drunk revellers!
Our first night we waited in a small line to get into Augustiner, which was a more traditional tent. You can't get a beer until you get a table, and you can't get a table unless you befriend people to share a table with them and/or find an empty vacated space. We happened to find the latter after 15 minutes of frustrated looking. The band was elevated in the middle of the tent with a large wreath-like structure suspended above them. They played mostly traditional 'oompah' music but every once in a while would throw in a popular rock song (Bon Jovi tended to be choice!). It wasn't long before we were dancing on the benches along with the rest of them.
Squirt, our mascot turtle got in on the action with the beer and the massive pretzels - mmmmm.

Approximately 550,000 litres of beer are consumed during the 18 day festival. All beer is served in 1L steins that are frickin heavy if you have to carry multiples! The waitresses all wore special wristbands to allow them to carry 5 steins in each hand at once! As solid as the steins were, Astrid and Katie managed to break one through a very vivacious round of 'probsts' (cheers)!
The music ended at 11 and they basically kicked everyone out. That meant more bumper cars! yay!

The next day people had warned us to go to the beer tents early (at 10am) to get in for the day, but the thought of drinking that early just turned all of our stomachs so we decided to check out 'BMW Welt (World)' instead. Which was a massive interesting building (likeness to Guggenheim) filled with cars and salespeople and facts about 'beamers.'
Syd was super chuffed, but unfortunately was with 3 girls who were not, so only had 30 minutes to walk around and check out his future vehicle. ;o) We took the opportunity to get artistic with photo opps!
We had heard that we needed to visit MarienPlatz where there was the famous Rathaus-Glockenspiel and the historical Hofbrauhaus beer hall. We walked around here for a good while and then enjoyed the live music, pretzels and people at Hofbrauhaus to take in the German experience.
That night we went to an outdoor Spaten biergarten to enjoy beer while trying to decide our next course of action. It ended up finding us. When Katie and I went to the public toilets just outside the next beer tent - Hacker Festzelt, we heard lots of fun music so we went in and checked it out - crowds of people, rock music and NO line! That was the place for us! This time around I befriended a nice German boy named Jan and he let us dance on his benches. We soon took over the table, but were good fun that the group didn't mind. The tent ceiling was painted like sky and clouds and starts and it felt so whimsical and fun - like a Bavarian Heaven. We couldn't believe some of the songs that the band knew and played (including 'summer of 69' a good ole Canuck fave). They started Sweet Home Alabama, and it ending up being the Kid Rock version too - sweet.

The girls met some boys this night, and we ended up going to a club until the wee hours of the morning so we could dance all night. Syd, Astrid and Katie managed to all lose their hats at the club so don't have souvenirs of the fest, but oh well! I guess I chose a good day to leave mine at the hotel! We had sooo much to drink on Sunday night...Needless to say, we spent the next day shopping and taking it easy...;o)

Observations:

Germans really know how to do public toilets! They were free (major bonus in Europe), constantly cleaned, and NEVER out of toilet paper though they were in massive use during the whole festival. We were very impressed and wish that some of that influence can go to other festivals of the world.

Everyone is sooo nice and in such cheerful moods. Beer was being spilled over everywhere and everyone, and no one minded one bit. They even laughed off people vomiting under the tables!

The make up of the nationality of people at the fest surprised us. We expected there to be a lot more tourists, but the breakdown of people were roughly 70% Bavarian (locals from Munich and surrounding area), 15% from overseas (including other European countries), and 15% from other parts of Germany. There were so many people in Lederhosen (leather pants with suspenders) and drindls (revealing dresses with aprons and frilly skirts) that spoke strong bavarian german. Thankfully we had a 'mole' in the group as Astrid speaks German and she was able to call on people that talked about us 'tourists' and that shut them up real quick knowing that they were being understood - not so fun to talk about people if they know what you are saying!

Catalan Charm

2008-08-26T22:21:00.004+01:00

For the UK bank holiday weekend Syd and I decided (pre-planned of course) to go to sunny Catalonia Spain to escape the rainy UK summer. I found a place called Sitges (pronounced 'seaches') that is only 45 minutes outside of Barcelona, and it ended up being the perfect holiday! We had beautiful sand, sun and sea at Sitges, coupled with city visits to Barcelona to create a perfect balance of city and surf. With this great location we went into Barcelona twice and still had plenty of time to sit by the pool and hang on the beach. And, to top it off, it provided the cheapest airport transfer ever - at €2.50 each!

Barcelona (as expected) was really cool, with funky buildings, and amazing shopping until 10 at night. It is popularised by many sights, especially the covent garden-like promenade called Las Ramblas, where there were tourist shops, cafes and buskers everywhere.
Still to this day, my favourite church is the Sagrada Familia designed by Gaudi until his death in 1926. It is anticipated to be completed in 2026 on the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death, but the chance of this actually occurring on time is slim. I remembered this church vividly in my mind from seeing it back in 2002, and now 6 years later, it was even better because we got to go inside and see the developments (still under construction after 120 years) and the nature-based elements that went into Gaudi's creations. I love how each side of the facade looks completely different from the next and I could have stood there for the whole day to explore each unique sculpture and window with my eyes. The one below was my fave!

Sitges was actually not what we expected at all. We expected a sleepy beach town and instead got a town of festivals! It wants to be known as such, and boy, it was! We just so happened ot be there during the 'major festival' in honour of Saint Bartholomew. Below is the main church in town where all of the festival parades started/ended. Made a nice backdrop for fireworks too!
We got back from a long day at Barcelona at midnight on Saturday to see the town in full swing with a fireworks parade. They even had a Churro place that we enjoyed for a night snack.
The parade started with a giant king and queen (poorly displayed below).
There were also dancers with sticks (like the sword dancing in York), and even a REAL maypole dance. We then saw some flaming creatures walk through the crowd, and Syd and I were right near the front not realising we were in the line of sparks! Its really hard to describe, but picture a large wooden dragon with a couple people inside with fireworks attached to its head and tail, and while the fireworks went off the dragon spun in a circle sending sparks in all directions! Its the first time I have been at a parade where the audience runs from the spectacle! We were so busy running away from the thing that I didn't get a pic, but here's a parade of people walking down a narrow street in the town.
This dragon was then followed by men wearing yellow flame retardant suits who basically lit fireworks off of tall stakes above their own heads! What was even freakier is that people from the crowd were dancing in the sparks. It was complete madness...and something we have never seen elsewhere in any of our travels. It will not be soon forgotten let me tell you.

Check out the guy in the left of the picture below - that's what a lot of us looked like trying to avoid the sparks!

There were also concerts back-to-back all night and another parade a 6am to end the fun. We only made it to 3am but were able to catch it all again the next two nights (with different concerts of course).

Syd and I enjoyed a moonlight walk along the sand back to our hotel and decided to rent bikes for the next two days to get around easier. During the weekend we also saw a car/truck that is UK sized for Brother:

We loved Barcelona but were so impressed with Sitges that we highly recommend it to anyone!
Overall, it was a fab beach and city break that makes it hard to go back to work tomorrow!

The Enchantment of the Edinburgh Tattoo

2008-08-20T22:26:00.006+01:00

We woke up to a big Scottish meaty breakfast and I loved seeing my dad's eyes light up at the sight of black pudding sausage - he took two! My mom tried a bite to see if it still tasted like she remembered...yup, dried blood...and still not impressed. ;o) I don't mind it.
We then went into Edinburgh (thats the castle above!) for the day and happened to have the great fortune of being there during the beginning of both the Military Tattoo and the month long Fringe Festival. This means that there were thousands of people in the city and markets everywhere! We met up with Lilian and Emily here, so that was pretty exciting too.
Syd and I broke off from the group initially to do some shopping and try on kilts – and purchased a matching set! They are purple and we call it our 'millett' tartan (though the actual tartan is the heritage of Scotland). We were excited to take a piece of heritage home, and Syd is part Scottish now (by marrying into my fam!).
We then met up with the group for a beer in a pub on the royal mile. Everyone was in really good spirits and were loving the spirit of the city.
We took a walk on the royal mile and enjoyed the sights, sounds and music and watched a number of buskers and other entertainers before going for a fabulous Italian meal.
My dad and my cousin even had a chance to get a photo for posterity with Bonnie Prince Charlie himself!

The highlight of the day was the Edinburgh Military Tattoo for the 10:30 show so that we could see the lights and fireworks show in complete darkness (to full effect). This is such an event in Edinburgh, that we had to purchase our tickets for the August 2008 show in December 2007 ! The word 'tattoo' comes from the closing-time cry in the inns in the Low Countries during the 17th and 18th centuries and means 'Doe den tap toe' (Turn off the taps!)

It was held in the square beside the castle, with the castle making a unique and ideal backdrop for the show. Settling into our high seats amid 8000 other people (tourists) of all different countries, the fresh clear air exhilarating, the sky about the Castle deepening first to heather-colours of lilac and purple before darkness slipped down and the floodlit castle drew all eyes to the centre square. A hush falls and darkness deepens, the great oak gates of the Castle sweep open and the swell of the pipes and drums cracks through the night sky. As the massed pipe and drum bands march out in their hundreds across the drawbridge, flanked by effigies of William Wallace and Robert The Bruce, emotions run high: this matchless spectacle unfailingly enthrals, symbolising the Scotland that everyone holds dear in their heart.
Many countries were represented their bands and dancing here. Canada (Nova Scotia) even had a highland dancing troupe that did a beautiful dance with the Scottish troupe. They effectively used the castle as a backdrop to create visual effects (though pardon the blurry night shot!).
It was just amazing. The international guest performers brought a unique dimension, but it was the pipes and drums, which served as the emotional core, the heart of the Tattoo, which Scots love fiercely and visitors quickly take to their own hearts. They most memorable pipe rendition was that of the Last of the Mohicans main soundtrack song, and it sent chills up our skin it was so powerful! When Lilian, Syd and I checked our arms afterwards, we all had goosebumps.

Finally, all eyes were drawn to the Castle ramparts, where a single spotlight cued the Lone Piper to play his haunting lament, the high notes echoing across the still night sky and across the dark city. As the flames of the Castle torchlights and the piper's warming brazier flickered and slowly died, an immense amount of fireworks lit up the sky while more fire rained down the side of the castle walls (like flames).
The night ended with the entire audience joining hands and singing 'Auld Lang Syne'. Will ye no come back again? says the haunting old song, and our answer undoubtedly is, 'Oh yes, and soon we shall!'

Stirling Castle, and the One, the Only, the Wheel

2008-08-17T21:29:00.006+01:00

We stayed in old Stirling on Thursday night at what felt like an old firehall inside–with a church façade outside. ;o)
On Friday we went to Stirling Castle during the tumultuous rain. Above is a statue of Robert the Bruce guarding the castle (set within the fog). Its location rivals even Edinburgh Castle's for sheer magnificence as it sits on its high volcanic rock, visible for many miles in every direction. During a long and bloody history Stirling Castle has been attacked or besieged at least 16 times. Three battles have been fought in its immediate vicinity, two of which were turning points in Scottish history: and a fourth equally important battle (Bannockburn- with William Wallace/Braveheart and Robert the Bruce) took place just a few miles to the north. A number of Scottish Kings and Queens have been baptised, or crowned, or died within or near Stirling Castle. At least one King was murdered nearby: while another committed murder within its walls.
The castle itself inside reminded me a lot of Edinburgh castle, but not as impressive. ;o) The kitchen was definitely the highlight (I love when they reenact the kitchens!).
The Great Hall was also really cool and it had beautiful tapestries in it, cathedral ceilings and thrones - where we found our rightful places. The hall was redone in the 'kings gold' colour, which if you can imagine the whole castle like that back in the 1600's it would have looked very expensive indeed! Except now it looks weird in contrast to the rest of the castle which was not restored...
We followed up our 3 hour tour with a picnic at the Wallace monument at a private lookout point. The sun came out just for the occasion and was a welcome reprieve from 2 days of rain (and soggy shoes).

We then set out towards Dunfermline (the home of Dad's family), but on the way we made one final stop at the Falkirk Wheel, which is named after the nearby town of Falkirk and is a rotating boat lift onnecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. The difference in the levels of the two canals at the wheel is 24 metres (79 ft), roughly equivalent to the height of an eight storey building. On 24th of May 2002, Queen Elizabeth II opened the Falkirk Wheel as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations. The wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world, and is regarded as an engineering landmark for Scotland. It is a v. interesting lift lock based on a hydraulic system. It replaced the need for 11 separate locks (those locks are now defunct). I saw it like a massive ferris wheel for boats that sit in big bathtubs! You can watch it in action here.
Syd got a kick out of the sign at the entrance to the Wheel:
Here is me at the top canal (union I think).

We then had a really nice reunion with the cousins (Evelyn and David) that evening in Dunfermline with a great dinner, and then drinks all night with the whole family.
The boys latched onto Syd and the 3 of them linked up their Nintendos to play against each other - geeks! ;o)

More Whisky and Prehistory

2008-08-17T20:46:00.003+01:00

When I first went to Edinburgh last year, I tried and brought back a whiskey called Edradour. It was so good that we sought to visit the Edradour distillery, which is the smallest distillery in Scotland because it has the smallest wash still (of 400,000 gallons - legal limit). They also only produce 90,000L in a year, which is as much as other distilleries do in a week! They still use a hand-distilling process and haven't resorted to using big machinery or offsite facilities as other distilleries, so that made it pretty special indeed. Not to mention how cute it was!
This was a great little distillery to go through as the free (yes free!) tour and tasting was led by a guide in a kilt, and also included a promotional video at the start describing the distillery’s history and distilling process. They also HAD a liquour license and we tried a couple unique cask strength whiskeys (and a cream whiskey too!) yum!
That afternoon we had a nice pub lunch in the Moulin inn in Pitlochry near Edradour. It was an authentic little pub with its own ales. I was too liquoured out from the scotch tastings so only Syd tried their braveheart ale (a bestseller) and it was really tasty. It was a shame that I had never seen it anywhere else since.We then thought it might be nice to walk off our stodgy lunch and took a hike among the pass of Killiecrankie, which is a gorge where the some government soldiers were camped out during 1689 to try and block the rebels. However, they instead were ambushed by the Jacobites (rebels) in the pass and the red coats were sent running. Unfortunately for the Jacobites they lost their leader at the time and the rebellion fizzled out for a while until Bonnie Prince Charlie came on the scene in 1725. The gorge (or pass) was absolutely stunning with an old arched rail bridge and a smaller area of rapids and the banks of stones being 18 ft across in one section where its rumoured that a red coat leaped across an opening in the gorge (below - called the soldiers leap) when fleeing from the Jacobites. Syd checked it out at the edge and thinks it may be possible if one had a running start at it (which presumably the soldier did).

We made a point to visit another castle this day, called Menizes Castle – home of the Menizes (pronounced Ming-iss) clan for generations since the 16th century. Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed here in 1746 on his way up to the Battle of Culloden and there was a room where he stayed that was since renamed 'Charlie's room'. This castle was really interesting as it wasn’t all completely furnished and felt medieval with all of its old cold stone, and cathedral wood ceilings. The top floor dining room had open cathedral type ceilings and we were all amazed at is beauty. The castle is a z-shape, which is typical of the time but rare for remaining castles of this age.

At the end of the day we squeezed in one last event that I read in the guidebook and was itching to see - a prehistoric reenactment of history on the Loch Tay at the Scottish Crannog Centre. The strange structure you see below is called a Scottish Crannog and reminded us of the Iroquoian longhouses of North America, but cooler! A Crannog is a type of ancient loch-dwelling found throughout Scotland and Ireland dating from 5,000 years ago. Many
Crannogs were built out in the water as defensive homesteads and represented symbols of power and wealth.
By being a pyramid-type timber and thatch structure set on stilts in the water they made the best use of the loch trade routes, saved arable land for farming instead of building on the land, and for defensive measures they just lifted the drawbridge at the end of their structure. Pretty smart! The National Underwater Archaeological Society has done archaeological dives in the lochs around Scotland for 27 years, and have found over 100 crannogs at the bottom of the lochs. This crannog that they discovered and reconstructed is called the Oakbank Crannog and was so well preserved from 2500 years ago! The tour guide was so knowledgeable and passionate that we could have stayed and listened to his stories all night. This ended up being one of my highlights of the roadtrip and I'm so glad we made the stop!

Through hills and fields of heather

2008-08-09T11:53:00.005+01:00

On Wednesday we drove through the Northwest Highlands towards Inverness and stopped on our way at the Black Isle Brewery whose logo is 'Save the Planet, Drink Organic'. This was a quaint micro-brewery that makes 6 types of beer and even a blended scotch. They gave us a free brewery tour and tasting - which is a definite bonus given that everything (even parking) costs money here! Its products are all organic, some beers (like the wheat beer) have an extra fermentation (live) in the bottles. They do hand bottling there so they can really only produce 9000 bottles a week (1500/day). We all liked a different type, so we bought 4 to have for lunch – Syd with Blonde, me with Wheat, Mom with a dark scotch ale, and Dad with an IPA.
We only drove through the old town section of Inverness to pick up some food for lunch at a massive Morrisons. The main destination today was the moors of Culloden. This is where the main battle was fought that ended the rebellion of the Scottish Jacobites against a unionised British parliament/government army.

The Battle of Culloden in 1746 was short (1 hr) and brutal, led by the young pretender of the Scottish throne ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ before he fled to France and not to be seen again. The ‘red coat’ government army won by a landslide and obliterated 1500 fatigued Scots who had tried to ambush overnight but never made it to the location of the army in time for the plan to be successful. It's amazing that the Scots revere Prince Charlie considering this defeat was so dire...my grandfather liked him but called him 'soft like puddin'.
The visitor centre for this battlefield was very modern, and very extensive. There were animated videos and exhibits, including a movie where you stand in the middle of room with 4 screens on all sides and they recreate the battle for you. It was quite neat. We then walked around the battlefield itself but it was far less impressive once we had all of the overwhelming of the senses in the exhibits. There was a thatch cottage that made for a great pic though.
Our guide book told us about some prehistoric funeral cairns and standing stones only ½ mile from the battlefield so we went there as well. There were 3 cairns made out of various naturally coloured stones formed into domed structures that were surrounded by concentric circles. It was built around the same time as Stone Henge so was quite impressive. Both doorways of the cairns faced the same direction so that the dead spirits could see the sunset during the solstice. It still fascinates me how they had such mathematical brains back then!
Our next hostel in Braemar was in the heart of the UKs largest national park – Cairngorms – Driving here was also interesting as Syd was behind the wheel taking some of the sharp corners and bumps and my dad said that he drives the car like a racecar and can be quite nerve-wracking. I just thought it was fun! Though, its easier for me to say since I was in the back seat. We saw a few castles tucked in the park, like this one.
And other cool scenes like this one.
The view in the park was hills on both sides that were covered with bright purple fields of heather. It was just beautiful. We tried to get a picture of it, but I’m not sure it does it justice.

A Hike, A Castle, Haggis and Pubs - Scotland at its Best

2008-08-07T22:11:00.004+01:00

The next day's drive one a one lane road was a feat of sheep dodging! The road led up to some rock formations called the Quiraing. It's so funny when you beep at the sheep because they get startled and do a leap into the field!

After 3 lucky days of sun, the rain finally came that morning, and it seems fitting that it happened on the isle of skye where the weather is supposed to be most unpredictable. Unfortunately that's also when we decided to do a hike on the hills (aka cliff face!). At least we got a cute pic of my dad and I in our Scotland windbreakers.
The hike to the Quiraing was true Scotland. We had rain and wind whipping at our faces, sheer rock faces and hills where we walked upon a small trail (laden with sheep droppings!). There was a 45 degree incline that Syd and I climbed, up to a pinnacle rock called 'the needle', but boy was it a workout! That's me waaaay up there.
When we came back down we saw mountains of mist in the distance and tried to capture it on photograph. We also did the sheep shit shirk (avoiding the droppings) and the shit shoe shuffle (to clean off what we couldn't avoid!). I have quoinned these two dances to dance at our next celidh!

Driving around Skye was fun (ok, I was a passenger the whole time- but I preferred it that way)! The roads were not only windy, but up and down. As we were driving to the distillery and I had an empty stomach, the hills and turns made my stomach tickle – who needs roller coasters when you have dad driving? ;o)

We hit our next distillery on Syd's insistence - Talisker. A new fact that we learned here is that its a large whisky operation with 60% of their whiskey they sell for use in blends around Scotland. They also use rainwater that comes down from the mountains and mixes with minerals and when they have dry spells (very rare, mind you) they don’t produce whiskey that week! That must make a big dent in their 50,000L weekly quota! This scotch was a bit more peaty and not to my taste, but we did get to try a number of different types as this place actually had a liquour license and could sell drams (where other smaller distilleries could not - as we later found out).

After we crossed the bridge back to the mainland, we went to Eilean Donan Castle – known as the most romantic castle in Scotland. Originally a Viking fort before being owned by Scottish lairds, but was then bombarded by frigates in the 16th century and it remained in ruins until 1912 when a rich family bought it and restored it to its original glory. They moved into it in 1932, but only used it as a summer home for a number of years until it was donated to the Scottish National Trust in 1978. When we walked through this castle it very much felt like we were walking through someone’s home as it had a comfy feel about the place. The views from the castle, which was set on a wee island off of the shore of a loch, were amazing, and really did give it a romantic feel.
That afternoon we drove north through the highlands to a town on the northwest coast called Ullapool. It is a fishing village with a lot of charm and a chance for a social scene any night of the week. It felt less touristy than a lot of the other places we had been so it was a welcome change. Our hostel was right on the shore street, and the dining room for our lovely breakfast (as well as our room) overlooked the sea! We ate at a pub called the Seaforth where we all got to have local fresh fish, and Syd ordered local haggis, gravy and mash. It came in authentic sheep stomach sac and we just had to take a pic of it. Syd really enjoyed it, once he removed the sac of course!
Since it was our first night in a hostel within walking distance of civilisation, Syd and I made a point to do a mini pub crawl and try half pints of Scottish draughts at each pub. There were 5 pubs and each one had their own charm, and a fair share of different types of locals. Our favourite pub was actually next to our hostel, called the Ferry Boat Inn, and was filled with locals around our age bracket, and a jukebox playing a host of fun music.
We chatted to a couple guys that have lived in the area for years before moving on to our next and final pub, the ‘wee bar’ within the Argyll inn where we sat by the candlelit window and enjoyed a dram of scotch. The only annoyance of the whole experience was our run-in with ‘midges’ which are the smallest bugs imaginable but with stinging bites!

A Wee Dram Before The Misty Isle

2008-08-07T21:37:00.003+01:00

Our first stop today as we continued to head north to the Isle of Skye was Oban Distillery in Oban (on the coast of Loch Linnie). They taught us about the malting, mashing and distilling process to make scotch whisky. It was neat to learn that alcohol is created by collecting the vapours from boiling of the mash (into 8% alcohol) and mixing the vapours back with water, which strengthens the content of the spirit (to 25%), but not quite to the 70% that they want so they re-distill it to make it to the strength needed. The smell within the distilling room was so thick in alcohol I felt like I was getting drunk just standing there! They they let us try some 56% proof right out of the cask/barrel and man was that straight up the nose in strength! We then went to the tasting bar and tried a wee dram of their 14 year single malt whiskey that they are famous for, that has notes of smokiness, (from the peat smoke) sea salt (from where they don’t know), orange peel (from the copper distillery drums) and honey finish (from the cask aging). I actually quite liked the scotch as it was not that peaty at all. I may become a scotch drinker yet!
We came upon (okay we looked for it as I saw it in my guidebook) a cool castle on a solitary island called Stalker Castle. We took a picture for posterity, but wish that it was sunset as it would make a fab shot!
Before we went to Skye we passed Scotland’s Big Ben – Ben Nevis of course! Its the highest mountain in the UK and is quite impressive.
We took the 20 minute ferry across to the Isle of Skye. It used to be the only way to get there, but now there is a long bridge that most people use (and is free!) We crossed the bright sunny ocean towards hills of brown and green. The landscapes were quite barren of forests/vegetation. The island was as hilly and barren as loch lomond was foresty and lakey.

The Island of Skye, situated off the West coast of Mainland Scotland, is the largest and best known of the Inner Hebrides. Sometimes referred to in Gaelic poetry and song as Eilean a' Cheò (The Misty Isle), Skye is renown for its natural beauty, history and wildlife. Oh, and did I mention the mists? Yeah, they just flowed across all the hills on our first day there - sooo cool!
We stopped in a port town called Portree (also the capital town of Skye) where we had a stroll and tried the local isle of skye brewery beer. When we entered the town there were mists everywhere, but after we finished our beer, the sun had won the battle against the mist and the mist blew away. It was very strange, but soooo neat! They don’t call this the isle of mists for nothing! The picture below is what all of the portree postcards looked like. ;o)
Syd and I attempted 3 of the 6 Skye brewery beers – a red ale called red cuilan (after the name of the mountains on skye – though dad thought this tasted bland), an oatmeal stout called black cuilan (the kind of beer that puts hair on your chest – Syd didn’t like this one), and a light ale that we all liked called the young pretender (named after bonny prince charlie who was pretender to the throne of Scotland, and grandson of James II who was dethroned during the Tudor period).
Uig (pronounced ewe-eeg)– small intimate (and rustic) hostel at the tip of the island of Skye overlooking a fishing village and bay (which we reckon is just like Newfoundland) – it felt like the tip of the world. ;o) We went down to the pier for fish and chips that night and then watched a shrimping boat dock and bring in the loads of large fresh pawns.
Later that night, Syd and I sat at a picnic table after the sun went down at 11 pm (yes, 11!) and enjoyed the still night air, cool Scottish breeze, and the calm over the waters of the lit pier. It was Scotland at its finest.

Bonnie Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond

2008-08-07T21:19:00.007+01:00

On Sunday we had a great continental breakfast (a la Sainsburys) and then headed north through the picturesque lake district. We stopped to have a picnic along the banks of lake Ullswater and shared a bit of our crackers with some brave ducks. We couldn’t get over how clear the water was, and how fortunate we were to have fabulous, sunny weather of 25C.We were anxious to hit the ‘old country’ though and so we headed into Glasgow (after some arm twisting of my dad who prefers to avoid big cities altogether). We got about an hour of shopping done before the shops closed, but my parents were chuffed because they found their kilt towels, while I was able to score a travel skirt for £5 on discount at millets (a camping store), which is just as well because I brought way too many warm clothes with me and didn't account for actual nice weather! The city itself had some neat architecture and a river (clyde) down the center, though there were so much construction and cranes that it was somewhat disappointing. I made Dad drive around until we found the concert hall called the armadillo, which is modelled after the Sydney opera house.My mood was soon lightened when we arrived at our hostel for the evening. We literally stayed in a manor (though to us it was a castle)! It had turrets, and pointed roof structures and even a conservatory out back. It too was on a hill, though this time overlooking the "bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond" (listen to the song at this link).
Inside, there was a grand staircase leading up to the first floor of rooms, and then a spiral staircase to the second floor. Of course we were on the second floor and Syd counted all of the stairs up to our room - 74 steps! Needless to say we tried to make every excuse NOT to go up there unless we absolutely had to (i.e. to sleep) to save our breath a bit! The place has been used as a hostel for 75 years, and prior to that it was owned by an entrepreneur – John Martin – who made his fortune in tobacco and whose family lived there for 120 years. We made dinner in again, and then Syd and I took another hike. The woods surrounding the manor were dense and we came upon a bog in the middle that Syd bravely walked a few steps on before realising that if he took even one step more he’d be knee deep in it. My favourite room in the manor was the upper hall that had a fabulous fireplace, and a side room where there was a tartan carpet and couches and satellite TV. We actually didn’t watch any tv but sat in the empty dining room instead and broke the rubber match…by getting out butts kicked by the parents with 2 more games of euchre – doh!