Kia Ora from Auckland New Zealand!

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

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....

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?

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:

1. Wake up, no alarm :)
2. Eat
3. Go Surfing
4. Eat
5. Surf some more
6. Eat
7. Drink
8. More Drink
9. Snack
10. Sleep
11. (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

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:

1. Jan 12: Toronto -> Calgary
2. Jan 14: Calgary -> Auckland (via Vancouver)
3. Feb 17: Christchurch -> Melbourne
4. Mar 25: Cairns -> Auckland
5. 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

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

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

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

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

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.