Am I There Yet?????

This is the story of my 35 hour journey home.

So my time in Oz has come to an end, for now ;). First I wanted to say that time differences are just kooky. I left Australia at 2:30pm on May 26, 2010. I flew first to San Fran and after 13 hours in the air I arrived there before I left Oz! Also even thou I left on a Wed at 2:30pm and travel for 35 hours I arrived in Halifax at 1:20pm on Thursday May 27th. Weird!

Anyway, Charli and the boys dropped me off at the airport. We said our goodbyes and hugs all around before I went through customs. Some people enjoy the transit/travel part, but I hate it. Airports have a very hurry up and wait system to them. You have to be early for everything then wait hours to board. So after clearing Australia customs I sat around the airport for 3 hours waiting to board.

After boarding my plane I settled in for a 13 hour flight to San Fran. I thought this was short seeing as it took over 16 hours to get to Sydney from the same place. Still though 13 hours is a decent sized flight. I was lucky because in a row of 3 seats there was only myself by the window and a man on the aisle. It allowed for a little extra room for the sleep I didn't get. I made chit chat with the fellow I was sitting with, but mostly kept to myself. He was nice enough, but definitely American. I asked him a question about my customs form that we had to fill out. Since I wasn't staying in the states I was unsure what to put for the address/US destination. he told me just to put where I was headed in Canada. Then he said "I mean, Canada is America as America is Canada." My instinct is to raise my voice and correct this fellow as to why that statement is more than false, but I was aware that I was currently sitting on a vessel suspended in mid air surrounded by a large percentage of Yanks. Probably not the best idea to start shouting about why Americans suck, even if we all know it is true. However I could not let this comment pass uncorrected. I simply said, in a very controlled tone, "No it is not." I left it at that.

The flight was fine. A few movies, small portions of barely passable food, ya know. So we were approaching land and I knew that the longest flight of my journey was down! Then the aircraft look a left turn away from the land. WTF!? Where are you going!? We are going that way! Then the pilot came over the speakers....... He informed us that we would be entering a holding pattern, no far from the airport because President Obama was currently leaving San Fran, so we were not allowed to land. So we stayed in the holding pattern for almost an hour. This wouldn't normally be a problem because this flight I was on went straight through to New York, where I was headed. Normally being the operative word in that sentence. What I consider normal and what Homeland Security considers normal apparently fall into completely different categories.

They informed us on the plane that all passengers must disembark, clear customs & immigration, pick up checked luggage, clear checked bags through customs, re-check our bags, clear security and then board the same flight to New York. I am no security expert but I do believe that if I wasn't a terrorist when I boarded in Sydney, then chances are that I didn't change in the 13 hours I was on the plane. However according to Homeland Security I may have, and every person must go through this as soon as they touch down in the U.S. Fine, fair enough! You guys enjoy to instill fear into your residents and put on a show that you are prot

ecting the country, I will play along. However! Originally we were scheduled 2 hours to take care of all this crap, but thanks to President Obama we were left with 45 minutes from the time I left the plane. Also they insist on having all these ridiculous security procedures but have no idea how to carry them out in an organized fashion. So I made it back on my flight to New York, but just by the skin of my teeth.

After a little over 5 hours and a nose bleed later we landed in the sprawling city of New York. I know that this would be the tough part. I had to wait a grueling 13 hours in JFK to catch a 2 hour flight home. I had to collect my checked baggage when I got off, but was unable to re-check it until 3 hours before my flight. They had the little carts to wheel your bags around on, but they cost $5.00 and wouldn't unlock unless you paid up. So I grabbed my two large suitcases, threw my backpack on my back and my purse over my shoulder and headed off to make some sense of JFK. I was pushing one bag in front of me and pulling one behind me, I was pretty loaded down and looking for a bathroom. When I found one it had a turn knob on the door. So I was trying to kick open the door and pull all my stuff through the door. While I was struggling with this two women stood behind me waiting for me to get through the door without ever faining an interest in helping me. Welcome to New York!!! I had to ask for directions to my terminal and every employee I encountered was extremely rude. To them I say 'Ya know, stereotypes are made for a reason!!'

After finding my terminal and a payphone I put in a collect call to my mother. Partially to let her know that I was back in the Northern hemisphere safe and sound, but more to just talk to someone friendly and familiar. I had only slept for about 2 hours combined during the 21 hours I had been traveling, I was hungry, missing Oz, and thinking of seeing everyone at home. So the sound of my mothers voice made burst into tears. At first I think she thought something had gone wrong but good ol' Ma soon realized that I was simply over tired, hungry and homesick. Mom and Dad graciously talked to me for a while. It is amazing what a few words from home can do. I am so lucky to have such wonderful parents who are always there without question.

After a good talk with the rents I went to find a bench or piece of floor and hunker down for the

night with the goal of getting a little sleep. I slept a little after finding the one bench without arm rests. It wasn't a restful sleep and it wasn't very long. I was uncomfortable, and half worried about someone stealing my bags. I quickly learned that the people around here would stel your bag and then spit on you because you didn't have any money. I spent time reading, listening to music and writing until I couldn't sit any longer. I check my bags as early as I could and chilled out at my gate waiting 3 hours for my flight number to be called. As the time drew near I went into the bathroom, gave myself a baby wipe bath and changed my clothes. My regular routine when flying is to spend at least the half hour before my flight walking around the gate because I know that soon I will be sitting for an extented period of time. So I was walking around the gate, around the chairs, over by the window just sauntering around. Once when I was walking up one of the aisles a man passed me in the opposite direction. This man looked right at me and gave me the creepiest look I have ever gotten. He automatically gave me the heebs. He gave me the look that made me think he was the unsub. He continued walking back out of the gate towards the bathroom and I a felt more at ease that he wasn't still in the area.

As I continued to walk around more people were arriving at the gate to board this flight to Halifax. I walked around a huge pillar and BAM!! There was the unsub standing right in front of me!! He scared the shit out of me and before I had a chance to respond he said "Where ya going?" In a very unsuby type tone of voice. This man made me increasingly uncomfortable and continued to ask information gathering type questions as I was trying to break raport and get the hell outa there. Then he told me he was from Alaska and was going to visit a friend in Cape Breton. He told me that he raced dog sleds and has for a while. I was not making conversation with this fellow and was trying to find a good opportunity to walk away, but I didn't want to be too abrupt because he might just kill me. So then he pulled a picture of his dog team out of his pocket and showed me. Then he asked for my name. He caught me off gaurd because normally I would have given a fake name but I impulsivly said my real name, and I

immediately kicked myself for doing so. Then he took out a pen and autographed the picture of him and his dog sled. He then said that if I was ever in Alaska and wanted to learn how to mush dogs his e-mail and phone number were on the back. I took the picture, stuffed it in the my bag, said thanks, and walked away. Enough is enough on the crazy scale. So later when I looked at the picture I noticed that this fellow was actually the winner of the 1984 Iditarod! It still doesn't make him any less crazy/creepy and I still think he is the unsub but I now have an autographed photo of the 1984 Iditarod champ. There is more to the story but that is all I will share for now.

Many of you have been wondering what will happen to my blog now that I am back. Well the answer is that I have enjoyed doing it as much as you have enjoyed reading it so I am going to continue to do it for the summer while I am in Nova Scotia. Granted it won't be half as exciting as when I am in Oz but I am sure I can come up with some pretty good tales of adventure while I am in Nova Scotia. Also the other big question that people have been asking is how long am I here for? Well the answer to that is my goal is to be back in Oz by September. I do however look forward to a summer filled with adventure, family and friends. Stayed tuned for the tale of a jet-legged apple blossom festival!

That's a Wrap! My Last Weekend in Oz!

You will have to excuse me if some of this entry and the next don't make sense. You see, for whatever reason I decided that I should write my blog at 4:15am while I couldn't sleep in JFK airport. My brain is a bit fuzzy and I am running on a lack of sleep. I will tell you all about my journey home, but first I will tell you about my last weekend in Oz.

My last weekend was pretty slow compared to some of the adventures I have had. I was basically tapped out, so that left little fundage for me to 'make big party' for my last weekend. The past couple weekend I had left in Oz were mostly spent with Sha

ne. Shane is the fellow I met on the bushwalk gone wrong and he has been a great friend to me ever since. So usually I go to Shane's house, as a weekend base camp away from Gosford, on Saturday and we do something and then I crash there for the night. Since this was my last weekend in Oz I decided I would head down Friday evening after work. I had worked out the train schedule so I caught the two fastest trains there, and it would take a mere 2 hours to get there compared to the regular 3. First train from Gosford was good, and I got to Central as planned. I got the train from Central that I had planned and it would only be another hour before I would meet Shane and we most were going out for drinks with friends. Well my express 3 hour travel turned into a 4 hour nightmare! About halfway thought the trip the conductor came on the speakers, and in the annoying voice said, "Attention passengers. I have just received notice that there is a freight train broken down on the track ahead and we will be waiting here unit it is clear." Her voice reminded me of the woman on Seinfeld that George dated, the daughter of the unemployment worker dealing with his case when Vandelay industries didn't pan out. If any of you watch Seinfeld you know now the sound of the woman's voice. Anyway, I digress. So abo

ut 10 minutes later she came on again, I thought to myself 'Oh that wasn't too long of a wait.' This time she said, " Attention passengers, we will not be going anywhere for a while, so if you would like to get off on the platform and stretch your legs we will make an announcement when it is time to re-board." Crap! Crap diddly ding dong Crap! So we sat and we waited and we waited and we sat. Eventually we got going again but it was slow going the rest of the way. I finally arrived to McArthur station at about 9 or 9:30ish. Needless to say I was looking forward to the drinks we set out to have. Not only that but they put the Habs

vs Fliers game on so like any good Canadian beer+hockey is bonafide to cheer you up!

Saturday and Sunday were pretty low key and we took our time going to different markets. Saturday was raining and cold so we didn't do much else and then Shane took me out for an awesome farewell dinner. We got a little dressed up and went down to the Wests Club for diner and drinks. It was a lovely meal and just a nice realizing way to say god bye to Oz. Shane ordered a steak on a stone grill. it was the first time I had seen this. The steak comes out raw

and you cook it yourself on a hot stone grill. It was pretty cool!

Sunday we spent in the city at markets as well and spent the evening drinking a few liters of beer at the Lowenbrau restaurant and watching the lights of the city before I had to head back to Gosford. I guess I didn't go out with a bang, but that just means I will have to come ;). I really enjoyed the pace of it and I got presents for everyone!

Nature’s Beauty Strikes Again

Some of you may remember that when I wrote about going to the Botanic Gardens in Melbourne I got a little emotional. Well for those of you who think I am made of steel the awe inspiring views and breath taking waterfalls that I took in on Sunday proved you wrong.

Sunday was bush walk day! I had crashed at Shane’s house because we wanted to get an earlyish start to the day. My plan was to cook berry pancakes for breakfast to kick off our day of adventure but thanks to Shane and Darran’s shitacular cookware they sucked the hind tit. Ah well, no worries we ate them anyway and got out the door around 9:30, which was about ½ an hour behind schedule. We drove up to the Blue Mountains and our first stop was the Three Sisters. Here is a tid bit of information for you. Did you know that the Blue Mountains get their name because on a clear day there appears to be a blue haze over the mountains? This haze is caused by the excess of eucalyptus oil in the air from the trees that grow on the mountains. There is your something new that you learned today! Anyhow, the Three Sisters is a rock formation that can be seen from one of the lookouts on the mountain. The rocks are really gorgeous and it was something that I wanted to see since I got here. Of course the place was crowded with tourists but I was able to get some awesome pictures of the three sisters and the Jamieson Valley. The views from this look out are just breath taking and beautiful. It is amazing to see the panoramic views over the valley and all the mountains in the distance. I was so grateful to see that!

After some pictures of the sisters and surrounds we took off to do a bush walk in the Valley of the Waters. What a great day we had for a bush walk too! It was sunny and cool, but not cold. It was the perfect day. However I made Shane take a short detour to the Blue Mountains chocolate making facility. I had wanted to go there since I got here too. We walked in and there was so much chocolate all around. Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head! Behind a large glass bay window was where the magic happened. This place doesn’t mass produce chocolates so it wasn’t a huge factory. We looked/drooled around the place for a while trying to decide what to buy. There was so much to choose from it was next to impossible to make actual decisions about what to get. I wish I could have it all! Not to mention they had free chocolate tastings! So after a acute bout of indecisiveness I bought some chocolate and we continued on our journey to the Valley of the Waters.

The Valley of the Waters has its name because it is peppered with waterfalls. There are many different walking tracks and bush walks to go on it just depends on how many waterfalls you want to see and what you want the difficulty level to be. I think you all know me; I go big or go home. I wanted to see the most waterfalls as possible. We had a look at the map and decided to do the Wentworth Pass walk. Shane later informed me that there is only one other trail up there that is harder then what we did. The rating of this circuit was ‘hard’ and the approximate time to complete was 5 hours. To that I say “Poppycock!” It was a moderate trail (with a lot of stairs) in my opinion, and Shane and I did it in 3.5 hours including stopping for a picnic lunch! We really are awesome bush walkers!

To start this walk you start on the tip top of a mountain, and before we could even start the Wentworth Pass we had to walk all the way down the mountain into the valley. It was nice to see the views from the top. It too looked over the Jamieson Valley, and there were just spectacular views over the ridges. Now I am going to tell you about the walk, but I would like it to be noted that no amount of words, pictures, videos, or any other media would be able to accurately describe the experience I had on Sunday. Again, I know I have said this about a few things since I have been here and this one holds true yet again. I am so lucky to have experienced these things while I am here, and I love to share them with you, but I know there is no way you could ever understand until you have done and seen it yourself.

Going down the mountain was multiple sets of stairs. I thought that these stairs were pretty steep until we got to the other side. As we started our decent into the valley I tried to take it all in. The rock formations, the views over the valley, everything! It wasn’t long before I heard water rushing, and I knew that soon we would be seeing our first waterfall. This waterfall was so nice, and we actually had to cross it on stones sticking up from the water. I thought it was so beautiful, and had no idea of what was about to come. We carried on all the way down the valley on the trail of stone stairs and downhill, knowing full well that at some point we would have to come back up from the valley. We came to waterfall after waterfall and the next one seemed more impressive then the last. The rushing water and fine mist that sprinkled your body as we wound our way down and around all these beautiful sights. My camera was clicking nonstop, and I was glad that Shane didn’t mind taking pictures of me along the way. I can’t remember all the names of the waterfalls I saw but I like to call them all amazing falls! The walk was great too. A real hike! We stopped for lunch by a small little waterfall just off the trail. It was nice and quiet and a beautiful spot to eat lunch. We also heard a rescue chopper come flying over head and then we listened and watched as we walked for the next 1.5-2hours as they tried to rescue whoever it was they were looking for. Shane said that this area often gets stupid tourists trapped somewhere they wouldn’t be and have to get choppered out. Very similar to say, Cape Split at home. It was cool to see the chopper that low, and close too. Shortly after lunch we came around a corner to one of the most beautiful sights I have ever had the pleasure of seeing in my whole life. It was this magnificent and enormously tall waterfall streaming from the top of the mountain down to where we were and into a huge pool at the bottom. The falls were so tall that I was unable to get into a single picture even turning my camera sideways and standing back as far as I could. I was awe struck! It was amazing and just beautiful in every way. It was at these falls that I did get a little emotional because, like in Melbourne, I was overwhelmed with the fact that I was fortunate enough to be able to come to a place like this and see such a thing. I tried to take as many photos as I could, and even took a video but like I said before, no amount of media could ever capture that sight.

It was slightly intimidating to look up and see the cliff faces surrounding you and know that in a few short moments you will have to start making your way up there. After taking it all in and taking heaps of pictures we started our ascend back up the mountain to where we started. It was awesome going back up because we actually crossed that huge waterfall in two places. We crossed half way up the fall and at the top. There was however more stairs then I think were on the bridge, and there were 1400 on the bridge. It may have been less (I really think it was more) but these stairs were steep! At a few places there were steep metal stairs on the side of a cliff. They were so steep and so much on the side of a cliff that there was a cage over the stairs in case you fell backwards you wouldn’t fall to your imminent death. It was great though! Adventure city! I loved every minute of it, even if I did seriously slow down about ¾ of the way up the mountain. In fact the way out was so intense that on the sign marker it says “For experienced walker’s only, steep stairs blah blah blah” Then beside it someone wrote “Chuck Norris Only!” The waterfalls, the views over the valley, the rock faces, the everything made it one of the most wonderful experiences I have had here in Oz. I know my list is getting long, but this one is near the top for sure. As I stood atop the final waterfall with outstretched arms Shane took a picture and then my camera said “Battery Empty” I knew it had been an amazing day!

I dragged my weary self onto a train and came all the way back up here to effing Gosford. Lucky for me, as I write this I only have 5 working days left and 1 weekend before I commence my journey to the homeland.

Friends are Optional Because People Suck

My second to last Saturday in Oz was a mixed bag of a shit load of traveling, last minute planning and dealing with hillbillies at the internet café in Gosford. I had plans all set out but those were dashed when Richard decided to fuck off and leave me in a lurch. So I had to quickly revaluate the day and decided that just because he wanted to be a wanker didn’t mean that I couldn’t go do what we planned on my own.

My first stop was at the internet café here in Gosford. Now, there are two that I have seen since we moved here. The first one that I went to on Friday night was so dodgy and the computers were mega slow and they charged double what anyone else does. So I thought the one by the train station would be better. Wrong! I should have guessed that it would be slightly awful when I called to find out their hours of operation and the woman said, “We are open 24 hours on Fridays and we open at 10am on Saturdays.” Reread that quote and see if YOU can make sense of that. Anyways my intention of Saturday morning was to upload my blog and pictures to the web as well as Skype with Andrea. The only thing I was successfully able to do at this particular internet café was Skype with Andrea. That was great but it still left the dilemma of the pictures and blog to upload. I was pissed that I couldn’t do this because the place was run by a bunch of red necked hillbillies and I am pretty sure the only reason they had the stupid café was so their friends and derelict family members could play WOW with each other. So after a great Skype date with Andrea I headed out on the train, making my way to the city.

I decided to make a quick stop in Hornsby to the very large shopping centre that I had taken the kids to the other day. I had a quick look around and couldn’t find what I was looking for and was going to head out to the city; however I noticed an internet café right before the train station. I popped in there to upload all my photos and blog and stuff. I thought I could do it in 30mins but ended up spending an hour there uploading and junk. This slightly set me back a bit because I was meeting Shane in the late afternoon to hang out, and I still wanted to go into the city. After uploading both my picture and my blog I hurried out of the café and hopped on a train. Well I just sat down on the train and I reached in my pocket. It was at that moment that I had left the key to my life at the internet café. I forgot my USB in the computer at the café!! Can you imagine what my reaction was? I mean anyone that knows me knows how much pictures mean to me, so knowing that almost all the pictures I have taken in Oz are on that stick sitting in the back of that computer was almost enough to send me into cardiac arrest. I flew off the train and ran as fast as I could, up the stairs and to the gates where I frantically shouted something at the commissionaire attending the disabled gate, which caused him to open it for me. I ran down the ramp and to the internet café. I barged in like I was running from the po-lice and scared the shit out the ol feller that had since been assigned the computer I was using. Thank ah-la that it was still there, so I snatched it out of the computer and ran just as fast back toward that train. I reached the locked gate again, and unwilling to buy two tickets to the city I simply snuck through the disabled gate behind, quite possibly the fattest women I have ever seen in real life. Would you believe that I made it back to the train that I was originally sitting on when I realized my err?

After being thrown into mild cardiac arrest then sprinting, like an Olympian going for gold, to and from the train station I sat back and let my transit narcolepsy kick in as I headed into the city. Originally Richard and I were going to meet in the city, walk to The Rocks (an old historic and lovely part of Sydney), and then use the passes Charli and I got at the bridge climb to go to the top of one of the bridge pylons. We had arranged this because Richard is moving up North to do farm work on Wednesday and I am moving home the following Wednesday. Anyhow, after plans being set out, Richard gave me ½ an hour’s notice that he got too drunk the night before and wasn’t coming. I was better off without him and after my stop in Hornsby I got the train into the CBD and was going to go to the pylon myself. On the train I turned on my radio on my mp3 player, and it was all a buzz with the arrival of Jessica Watson to Sydney Harbour. I don’t know if you guys heard about her in Canada but she is the 16 yr old Aussie girl who sailed around the world on her own. This day was her home coming after her 7 month journey. I was lucky to miss the majority of the crowds but when my train went across the bridge it was lined with people shoulder to shoulder. By the time I got to the bridge after working my way through the markets the crowds were virtually nonexistent.

I went to the pylon to do the lookout for one reason. Originally I wasn’t going to use the pass they gave us because I had already been to the tippy top of the bridge, and it is not like the top of the pylon was going to offer a better view of the harbor. Then I remembered that you were allowed to take your camera up to the top of the pylon, where was you are not allowed to take it to the top of the bridge, and I came home an amputee after paying for the photos they took. I figured the 200 stairs to the top of the pylon would be worth the shot of the Opera House I would get on this beautiful day. It was. I went and walked across the bridge to the pylon, and then climbed the 200 stairs to the top. The view of the Opera House was pretty good (obviously not the same as from the top of the bridge, but still nice) and I took a bunch of pictures. I didn’t stay very long because I had to meet Shane and my venture to the top of the pylon was utilitarian, I was there to take pictures. So after a few snaps I walked back across the bridge and had to catch the train to meet Shane in a place called Lidcome.

Lidcome wouldn’t normally be that far of a train ride from Circular Quay, but not on this day. This day they were doing tons and tons of track works on the train tracks. When they do this they replace the trains with buses that go to each station. So I had to get off the train at Strathfield, which is two stops before Lidcome on the train, and catch a track works bus. Track works buses are the bane of my friggin existence! A trip that would have taken a maximum of 10 minutes on the train took an eternity on this stupid bus. With trains there is no traffic or red lights, just track. Not the case with these stupid buses. I ended up sitting in bumper to bumper, curb to curb traffic for way to long behind a ghetto/hillbilly couple whom, if I were on the bus any longer, would have been coming off the bus in a double wide body bag. I don’t think that I need to tell you that when I finally met up with Shane, he may have wished he hadn’t made plans to hang out on the weekend. However after I had some me time and got some food into me I was in a much better mood. Shane and I just hung out at his house and called it an early night because we were going to the mountains the next day and doing an awesome bush walk.

The Climb of my Life!

The title of this entry is the slogan for Bridge Climb Sydney. I title this entry that because on Sunday May 9th, 2010 I had the climb of my life thanks to Bridge Climb Sydney. When I first came here to Australia I made said that I someday would be doing the bridge climb. It was something that I had heard of and dreamed of doing. However as time went on and the more trips I took and things I did it was becoming evident that I would have to throw this dream to the wayside because of the cost of the climb. It is expensive to do the climb but I knew it would be worth the money, I just couldn’t see myself paying ¾ of my pay for one activity in the last month I was here. Luckily for me, now is that a sentence you have regularly hear a Moreeny say? Lady luck really has been on my side down here, and it continued right on through. Charli and Peter approached me the weekend before and asked if I had plans for the weekends until I left. I do have a whack of stuff I want to do before I leave but nothing nailed to the wall. They said they would like to pay for a bridge climb for me. They knew it was something that I had wanted to do and offered to give me the opportunity to do that. That is the second thing they have allowed me to tick off my list of Oz activities since I have been here. The first being the camel ride for Christmas. Of course I accepted the gracious gift and was so thankful that I would be able to do this before I left. After accepting that I probably wouldn’t be able to and then given an opportunity out of the blue it was quite exciting.

So Sunday came and I met Charli in the Rocks, which is where the bridge climb headquarters are, and we got ready for the climb of our lives. When we got there it was all very James Bondish and I think they played up on this for the effect. We had to go into a little room and sign our lives away, almost literally, we had to sign saying that if we die they aren’t at fault. Then we had to take a breathalyzer test. I was a little paranoid that I might blow over because of the shenanigans the night before. However I was very careful to stop drinking at a reasonable hour and drink plenty of water, plus it was in the afternoon, but still that little voice made me a little worried. No worries though I passed no questions asked. After the breathalyzer we were taken to another room where we were given a special suit to wear and we had to remove our earrings, bobby pins, jewelry etc. After donning our ridiculous looking jumpsuits were taken to yet another area where we were outfitted with more gear then you can shake a stick at. We were given a belt and cable that kept us attached to the bridge at all times, straps for our sunglasses that were then clipped to our backs, hats clipped to our backs with a long attachment strap, a hanky tied to our wrists, a fleece jacket attached to our belts, a radio attached to our belts with headphones, head lamps around our necks, and ties for our hair. Once we were outfitted in all the gear it was time to go!

We were attached to a cable, in a line, that ran a course around the bridge. The attachment to the cable had a working weight of 800kg so I was confident that if I fell that it would hold my weight but I was not confident that I would remain in control of my bowels if I fell. We started walking along and at first I was okay with it. Ya know it was high but no biggie. The guide was great, and had a great sense of humor. I think we lucked in big time getting him as a guide because I heard one of the other guides and it made me more thankful that we had our guy. We climbed, ducked and squeezed our way through the belly of the bridge to come out on the right side of the bridge, the opera house side. We started along the bridge and then there was an area that was railed in by two railings about an inch thick and about as high as just above my waist. The walkway was a grate that you could, of course, see right through down into the harbor below you. It was these stairs and the same thing on the other side going down that put the fear of god in me. It is was slightly unnerving being able to see below my feet and knowing that if I fell I would plunge to my death in the Sydney Harbour. Now I would like to say that I don’t actually have a fear of heights but I do have a healthy respect for gravity. Funny enough these parts with the stairs weren’t even half way up the bridge and I would classify that as the scariest part of the whole climb. Even when we were on the tip top of the bridge next to the flags and the airplane beacon I wasn’t as frightened as I was when we climbed those gawd awful stairs above the water. The only other time I didn’t really love looking down was when we crossed from one side of the bridge to the other, crossing 49 meters 134 meters up in the air on wooden planks bolted to the thin metal railings. It was purely the wood that made my respect kick in because we all know that wood is not stronger then metal. Although I had a few moments of respectful thoughts on gravity on the climb I was not as bad as one of the women on our tour. She was afraid of heights in a big way. Before we started we stood in a group and told everyone our name and why we were there. She said that she was there because her daughter gave it to her as a mother’s day present. I soon realized that, that ladies daughter doesn’t like her very much. In our group photo she looks petrified and she cried for a good chunk of the tour. I don’t think that I would try to conquer my fear of heights by climbing the Sydney Harbour Bridge!

The views up there were amazing and you could see for days, and we had a wonderful panoramic view of the CBD. We were even lucky enough to get to watch the sun set over the harbor from about half way down the bridge. That is lucky because people pay a lot more to go on a sunset climb and we got it for the regular price, boo-ya, love a good deal! This, for sure, will be on the list of one of the most amazing things I have done in my life. Funny enough most of the things on this list are things that I have done while I have been here in Australia.

My time here in Oz is ticking away, and for all those who have been friggin asking and wondering and such, I will be back in Nova Scotia on May 27th, 2010. I will not divulge any information about what I will be doing when I return or how long I will be there but I will be back in the country in just two weeks!

Wandering Saturday

can’t believe that it was only a week since the NRL game! It seems like it was an eon! Anyhow my Saturday wasn’t very exciting, edge of your seat thrilling with adventure. I met up with Richard and we went to Paddy’s Market in the city and walked for miles and miles around the city trying to find things that ended up not being where Google said they would be. Paddy’s Market is cool, and anyone that loves a good market would be in heaven in market city. It is very similar to Parklea Market that I used to go to at home only bigger. Then as I said, we wandered for a while looking for a Max Brenner that we couldn’t find and then a nonexistent Hard Rock Café. So after a bit of wandering and a Subway cookie we parted ways early afternoon.

From there I met up with Shane and we too wandered around the city for a while. We found ourselves down in Darling Harbour and along Cockle Bay. It was really nice because it was a hot day and the sun was starting to go down. We walked into some sort of Asian culture celebration down by the Chinese Gardens where I saw a busker which I had already seen at the busker festival in Halifax. This strangely enough is the second time this has happened to me here in Sydney. My first trip to Circular Quay I saw a busker that I had seen in August for the time just before I came here. The guy I saw on Saturday was one of the guys from a trio that often come to Halifax. Their name eludes me, but I know Andrea knows what it is. They are three young guys, from the Bronx New York, one of them is very young (well he was a kid when they first started coming to Halifax) and they always have a really really fat guy with them that does the emceeing for them. They are break dancers and are very good and entertaining. If you are reading this and you know who I am talking about message me on facebook and tell me the name of the group. Anyway one of the guys from this group was in Darling Harbour with two other random guys I had never seen before. I just caught the last trick of the show so we didn’t stick around. We sat in a nice little bar on the water and drank beer as the sun dropped lower to the horizon.

Shane invited me out with his friends, so I joined them for an evening of beer drinking and shenanigans. We went to a local pub where they all live, about an hour out of the city. It was good fun, but I was sure not to knock too many back on account of I had to climb one of the world’s most iconic bridges the next day. I am quite sure that is something you definitely don’t want to do hung over! Yep Sunday was my day to do the bridge climb that I had vowed I would do before I left Sydney, but that’s another story for another time!

Tigers vs. Roosters NRL Action

Sunday I had the opportunity to attend my first ever NRL game. For those of you in Canada NRL stands for National Rugby League. However don’t just call it rugby because people around here frown upon that. See there is AFL which is Australian Football League, the NRL and then there is Rugby Union. If you just say rugby then they assume that you mean the Rugby Union. They all have different rules and such and so down here are considered different sports. However I come from a nation and Can-a-da is its name. To me it is all just rugby. Anyhow I digress, the game was awesome!

It is still the beginning of the season so the games haven’t really begun to heat up like they would in a final or semi final match, but I reckon that this was a pretty hyped crowd and probably the best game to go to before I left. The match was the West Tigers against the Roosters on the Tigers home turf. I mean common, what kind of name is Roosters anyway? So the stadium was packed to the gills with Tigers fans dressed in all their Tigers gear. One thing I have learned down here is that rugby is taken very seriously, much like hockey fans at home. The crowd was all a buzz for kick off and I was just over the top for just being there. I of course wore orange and black to support the team. Gotta support the team man. It was just good times, beer, sun, a field full of men manhandling each other, what more could you really want? Although I don’t 100% understand the rules and such of rugby it was awesome to be there and see all that action live. I cheered them on and had a friggin great time. I was somewhat disappointed with the effort of cheers. It was mostly “TIGERS, clap clap. TIGERS clap clap” I could have done with some more exciting cheers to be honest. At one point some guys started a small one of “I feel like chicken tonight, like chicken tonight (you know like the old commercial)” The guy sitting behind us was hilarious! He had brought a giant tigger doll and had a little Tigers cape around his neck. It was funny listing to the shouts and comments from this fellow. At one point he told us to feel free to holler shit out because “we are at the footy now, anything goes.” The game was 80 mins of awesomeness, cheering, beer drinking, flag waving and all the greatness that is a NRL game! In the end the Tigers lost which was disappointing but did not ruin my NRL experience. They lost by a very dodgy try by the roosters with 5 minutes left in the game so that was a bit upsetting, but like I said it sure didn’t ruin my experience. I was able to get the only try scored by the Tigers on video, so that was awesome too! After the game I headed to the greatly over crowed train station (lucky for me I bought my ticket before the game even started) to make my nearly 3 hour journey back to Gosford.

Now it is the end of Monday and I am already looking forward to ticking off some more things on my list. I am psyched for the bridge climb and whatever else I tick off the list. I am accepting the fact that I have to live here for the few weeks and trying to make the best of it. I am figuring out some cool stuff to do with the boys and just take er day by day. I hope your eyes don’t ache too much for all the reading you just did, but thanks for tuning in. And that folks is how the cookie crumbles, goodnight

I Went to The Zoo to Club Seals But They Had Already Been Slashed!

G’Day all, I know you have had a lot to catch up on and have been bombarded with entries but I have very limited access to internet so I have just been saving up all the entries until I could have more time on the net.

The house is slowly turning into some where livable. We no longer have to frequent Siberia as the fridge and things are upstairs in the warm part. The dehumidifier is going 24-7 to dry this cave out, the dryer arrives tomorrow and the stove is working now. It is becoming more and more livable each day. There is still the issue of the space, it is fairly small, but I can deal with that for the most part. I had a super stellar weekend too and most of my weekends will be spent away ticking things off my must do before I leave list. I believe that next weekend I will be doing the bridge climb! I didn’t think that I would be able to do this even tho I really had wanted to. I got caught up doing lots of things and in the end I really can’t afford it. However Charli and Peter have offered to pay for this experience so that will super awesome!

So my weekend! What a weekend, it was just awesome! On Saturday I went to the zoo with a friend of mine from here, Shane. Thanks to Shane I had a great weekend and ticked off a few things on my ‘must-do-before-I-leave list.’ The Taronga Zoo in Sydney is very much like any other big zoo around the world. They basically have the same animals to show off. One of the major differences however is the location of this zoo. It is perched atop a hill on the water facing the Sydney skyline. The view is absolutely beautiful from the zoo and it is very cool to take a ferry to the zoo. You catch the ferry from Circular Quay and it takes about 12 minutes or so to get to the bottom entrance of the zoo. We took a few modes of transportation to get there seeing as we took a train to Circular Quay. Upon our arrival at the zoo we rode a skyrail over top the zoo to the top entrance. This skyrail was much less frightening than the one in Kuranda and very short. It was a piece of cake and I got a good look at the elephant enclosure from above on the way up. After getting a map of the zoo I made the executive decision to skip the wild Australia part of the zoo for the simple fact that I have seen enough kangaroos, koalas and all things Aussie to choke a horse and I wanted to spend more time on the more exotic animals like giraffes. So off we went to have a look at all animals big and small. The zoo was really great and I got to see a lot of animals that were pretty active. Most times you go to the zoo mid-day and all the animals are sleeping. Not this day, it was great! I saw the hugest python I have ever seen and it was super active and slithering around. The only animals that were sleeping were the lions, everything else was pretty active. The only thing remotely Canadian in the zoo was a Grizzly bear. After lunch and close to the end of our journey at the zoo we headed down to the seals to see the big leopard seals. These guys are huge! There was a group of people that had paid to go into the enclosure to pet these seals, and these animals were so huge that the kids were not allowed in because in the wild they eat penguins the size of like a 6 year old kid and it was too dangerous. Going to the seals was the most exciting part of the zoo trip for sure and I will tell you why.

Here is the story. We went down to the leopard seal or fur seals I can’t really remember what they were exactly. There were two of these huge beasts in the water in a high walled enclosure. We were standing on the end of the cage and there was a group of people standing around and a few trainers. Throughout our trip we saw several things like this were these people had paid extra money to have an encounter with a specific animal. So this group outside the enclosure had paid to touch these giant boy eating seals. The trainers told the kids they could only watch from a caged area and the adults were readying themselves to go into the enclosure. I was mostly oblivious to the people around me and didn’t notice anyone. I saw the trainers and I was more interested in the seals. I overheard a woman say to the trainer “Our driver dropped us off at the top, should I tell him to bring the car around to the bottom?” However I didn’t think anything of this, Aussies seem to like to drop money around if they have it so I didn’t even take a double take. Anyways I was amidst the group that was going in but as they went in I stayed outside. I was standing up against the glass viewing window looking into the seal cage. The group of adults was lined up against that wall and this tall man was standing directly in front of me. The trainer got the seal up on the land and had it lie down. Then it was time for the first person to go and pat the seal. The man that was directly in front of me, and blocking my good view of the huge seal, had his turn first. It was great when he moved to pet the seal because he left a big open spot where I had a perfect view of the seal. He went to pet the seal and I got a great picture of the seal. At first I thought that it was too bad that some guy I didn’t know was in the picture but it was a good shot of the seal. After taking the picture we headed up the stairs to another level of the zoo. It was at this point, and not before, that Shane turns to me and say, “Do you know who that was?” To which I replied “Who? What are you talking about?” I had no idea what the hell he was talking about I was thinking, ‘no I don’t know who that was, who what was? I am from Canada I don’t know any people down here to bump into at the zoo.’ He was making the inquiry about the guy I took the picture of petting the seal . I just simply said no I just wanted a picture of the seal out of the water. Then as I said, at this point, he says, “That was Slash, the guitarist.” Obviously to which I replied, “WHAT!!?” He told me that some girl beside him said that that was Slash from Guns and Roses with that group petting the seal. I immediately went back on my camera and looked at the picture. He is not facing the camera but it is indeed Slash from Guns and Roses! I was so excited and couldn’t believe that I had brushed shoulders with such a celebrity. I went back to the seal enclosure to see if I could get a better picture but he was already gone. The one and only time I ignore the people around me and there is a major world renown celebrity standing less than a foot away from me! I was disappointed in myself because I am usually SO aware of the people around me and take notice of details that normal people don’t. I guess I was too engulfed with the seals to notice the people around me. However I did get a decent picture of Slash petting a giant seal. If I had of known it was him I would have taken a better picture, damnit! So if people ask me what the best thing I saw at the Sydney zoo was it will have to be Slash!

Saturday night was whooping good fun. We went to Shane’s sister’s girlfriend’s birthday party. It was great fun, good food, good drinks, and lots of good times. I didn’t drink too much because Sunday I would be attending my first ever NRL game!

Reality Bites!

After my life altering amazing adventures in Cairns I flew back to Sydney to return to work in Gosford. The flight was great! The Moreeeny luck took a turn for the good for once. I ended up with a whole row of three seats to myself! This hardly ever happens, let alone to a Moreeeny! I boarded the plane and took my seat on the aisle waiting for everyone else to board the plane. I saw the two seats next to me empty but there were still lots of people to board so I was not optimistic that they would remain free. As more people passed me looking up for their seat number and looking beyond row 14 the more my hope grew. Then I saw a woman with a screaming toddler in her arms tromping down the aisle looking for her seat. I figured the Moreeeny luck would have landed her and her screaming brat right next to me, but nah, they kept walking. The people started to dwindle and then they started to shut the baggage compartments. I was getting a little excited by the fact that I might have a whole row to myself, and then one lone woman got on the plane last minute. I sank down with reality and prepared to give up my little dream of having a row to myself for an almost 3 hour flight. To my surprise she sat down before she got to me, after her they shut the doors! You couldn’t imagine how excited I was at my little bit of luck. I whipped off my seatbelt and shifted over by the window in anticipation of throwing up the arm rests and having my own little chaise lounge. I did up my seat belt and got ready for takeoff. The girl across the aisle looked at me and looked that the seats and smiled at me. I responded with a look that said, “Haha, I don’t think so hunny! Don’t even pretend to think about jumping over here!” We started to roll back so she could get up and switch right away and the second that seatbelt sign was off I had my size tens up on those seats maxing and relaxing. I know you may be thinking that I got awfully excited over a couple extra seats on the airplane, and only for a three hour flight, but I take my victories where I can get them okay. Being a Moreeeny the small things often mean much then the average bear, others tend to take luck for granted (Kinda like “My parents never beat me.”)

So I landed in Sydney and then had about a 2 and a bit hour journey by train and bus to Gosford. After being in Cairns with the tropical climate and 30+ degree days Sydney’s 19 degrees felt like Antarctica. When I first came I remember writing that this Canadian couldn’t handle the heat, but now I have to say that this Canadian can’t handle the cold. When it gets down to about 22ish I start throwing on the layers. I have no idea how I am going to survive when I get home! I am hoping that I will spend the next month acclimatizing to the lower temperatures here and by the time I get back home there won’t be a huge difference in temperature. Of course it doesn’t help matters that I am now living in a cave. This house is down a bank and completely surrounded by trees, making it extremely dark, damp and cold all day long. It is a marathon activity to do laundry here because when I hang it on the line at 8 in the morning it is not dry by 5. The house never gets direct sunlight at any time of the day for more than 15 minutes or so. I find everything is constantly cold and damp, even in the house. Downstairs, or as I have started referring to it as, Serbia, is cold 24 hours a day no matter what it is like outside. I call it Siberia because of the coldness and the fact that it is unlivable by anything but the possum that lives in the floor between levels. Yep a possum in the floor! It is lovely when he gets thumping around at about 5ish in the morning. You may ask, “Why don’t you just kill it, put poison out, shoot it, trap it etc.” Well here in Australia possums are protected and because of that you are not allowed to do any of the above. We are basically stuck in the same situation Peter was on Family Guy when that bird made a nest in his beard.

The top looks better with carpet and a paint job. I now have my original mattress that I was sleeping on but a shitacular pillow instead of my old soft ones. This pillow is like one step up from a slice of bread. I currently have it folded in half and put in the pillow case in order to provide some pillowness while I sleep. Still no kitchen or stove or anything to cook on, and I have absolutely no where to store my stuff. The room I am in is barely big enough for my bed let alone anything else. So I continue to live from multiple suitcases that now looks like a textiles factory threw up in the corner. I started to tidy a bit yesterday but quickly decided there was no use and that I was destined to live like a bag lady for the remainder of my time here in Oz. I am finding it very difficult to live like this and there is no space for the kids which mean that they always have to be attached to my hip. I don’t feel safe letting them play around all the stacked pieces of kitchen cabinets, metal pipes, screws etc that is currently occupying the living room. It is very trying in my position to live here like this. I am a million miles away from home and now without any of the comforts of home. Let’s just say I am very much looking forward to reuniting with friends and family at the end of the month. Until then I will continue to press on with my nose to the grind until that time arrives. I hope you guys enjoyed catching up on everything; I will have more for you when I can.

Welcome to the Jungle!

I had booked a tour to Kuranda, which is just outside of Cairns, for Monday. It was a pretty simple tour and all I really paid for was the transportation up there and back plus a trip on the skyrail. Kuranda is a small tropical village located in the rainforest region. The centre of the village is just for tourists and things. There are no actual supermarkets or things that regular people need to live in a town. It is build and run as a tourist stopping point. The whole village doesn’t open up until the first train arrives on the scenic railway. The tour that I was going to book included a ride on this scenic railway. It is supposed to be quite nice and other people that have been to Kuranda recommended it. However the title of this blog says Moreeeny, not ‘every other person’. So go figure that when I want to take my trip to the Kuranda village there was a landslide and the train isn’t working right now. Aw well, I thought I had really nice trip sans scenic railway trip.

Our coach took us up to the Kuranda village, making a quick stop at the Baron Falls lookout for us. It was really cool and it was a pretty long waterfall. I would have loved to see it in wet season when they get lots of rain. I bet it would be just spectacular then! After a few photos there we were bused up to the village and dropped off with instructions on how to get to the sky rail and when. As I said, the village itself is very touristy and had markets and things geared towards tourists. I had a quick look and bought one little thing. I was more interested in the jungle/rainforest circuit walk. I did stop for lunch at a small little café. I just ordered a sandwich because I didn’t have much money left. Well that sandwich was the best sandwich I have probably had in a long time! I ordered a simple chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese and mayo, but that sandwich was so good that when a little stuck to the side of my mouth after a bite I didn’t dare use the napkin to wipe it off, that would be a waste! I had to savor every last bit of it, and it wasn’t that expensive either. So after lunch I headed off to find this circuit walk through the rainforest.

What a nice walk it was under the canopy of trees! Although it was SO humid! It was so humid that the paper map I had kept getting soggier and soggier as I walked even though I hadn’t put it in water at all. I was getting sweaty and gross and my hair was getting frizzy and stuck to my head. The heat combined with the humidity made my clothes stick to me and the air was so thick you almost had to push it aside when you walked. I saw a tree kangaroo that I didn’t know what it was till after I visited the interpretive centre. I was hoping to see a wild cassowary but to no avail. I did hear lots of exotic birds and see beautiful sights along the way. The trees and foliage in that rainforest were just unbelievably beautiful. This sights the sounds the smells everything around made for a beautiful walk in an exotic place. There was however on place where I had to cross a river. There was a walkway but still I had to cross about an inch of water. This did make me slightly nervous because Cairns is crocodile country! Just shortly before arriving at Kuranda the guide on the bus was saying how the Baron River is full of crocs. So I had a quick look at the edges of the water and quickly made my way across the short area of water. Since I am typing this you obviously know that none of them got me :) The rest of my walk back to the skyrail was magnificent! I just tried to walk slow and take it all in; I mean when else am I going to be in a rainforest in the next little while? At the end of the walk I continued to the skyrail to take my ride back down to meet the coach driver.

At the beginning of the ride they have a small gift shop with the regular things post cards, magnets, t-shirts, you know the drill. What they should have in this gift shop is depends. Yes I am talking about the adult diapers! I almost peed my pants when that thing started going! The Kuranda skyrail is one of the world’s longest cable skyrails. The total length is a little over 7.5kms with one mandatory stop in the middle to switch cars. It starts off all well and good but quickly becomes a death defying adventure cruise (well in my opinion anyway). They put you in a little tiny cable car in a building on the ground. From there you go around a little loop and you are off! The cable care starts to climb higher and higher above the trees, and then you come to a huge tower that holds up the cable, as you pass over the side the whole car shakes and there is an awful thump thump bump noise. The cable continues to climb until at several points you are almost a kilometer off the ground. The first leg of the cable car is about 10 mins or so, but I tell you what, even for someone that is not afraid of heights this felt like an eternity! Especially since shortly after you start the journey you have to cross the Baron River dangling a kilometer in the air from a tiny little cable stretched through the mountain tops! I felt slightly more at ease when we were over the rainforest. I think that somehow the canopy of the trees somehow created an illusion that it wasn’t so far off the ground. But over that river, man-o-man! I couldn’t believe how nervous I actually was seeing as I don’t have a fear of heights. I do however have a more then healthy respect for the laws of gravity and being a kilometer above a crocodile invested river dangling by a few bits of metal and a tiny little cable is enough to even spook anyone I think. So as I glided over the river and trees I took deep breaths and tried to tell myself that dead tourists are bad for business so they must have some sort of reassurance that this won’t happen. I also, even tho I was shakin in my boots, was concerned about missing the picture taking opportunity due to being foolishly scared of my impending death. So without looking too much I stuck my camera out the open window, yep the OPEN window, and snapped a few pictures. Then the wind started to blow. Do I even need to describe the white knuckled fear that flashed though me like lightning when this occurred? Despite all this I am glad to say that by the time I was nearing the first station and optional break I was feeling much more at ease and my initial fear had begun to pass. I got off at the first station and went to the look outs over Baron Falls. After a little time taking in the scenery and visiting the interpretive centre it was time to get back on the deathrail, I mean skyrail. Now one thing about the stations you stop at. There is no other way out of those stations but by skyrail, so if you get in the cable car to start with you have pretty much committed yourself to the journey. I suppose if someone freaked out enough when they got to Baron Falls they could send them back the way they came, but that would still mean another ride on the skyrail. Anyway I, as you know, go big or go home so even tho the first leg nerved me up a bit I was committed to this ride. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. The second leg was a breeze and my fear was almost completely gone, still with the healthy respect but less nail biting fear. I was able to really take in the scenes around me and the ride was so absolutely breath taking that no pictures, videos, sketches, pictograms nothing could capture what I saw on this day. Traveling above the rainforest and being able to see for days was amazing! I tried to take a bunch of pictures but it really doesn’t do it justice. I say this about so many things I have experienced here because it is true, some things just can’t be captured on film. I guess those images will remain in my head till one day I go crazy.

After my rainforest adventure I got dropped off at my hostel and enjoyed a quiet night in as I was to fly out the next morning.

The Most Amazing Day of My Life!

Sunday April 25, 2010 will go down in history as the most amazing day of my whole 24 years of existence. This is the day that I spent four hours snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef! I still cannot believe that I have done such a thing. Me little ol’ Jessica Moreeeny from rural Nova Scotia was swimming with the fishes on the Great Barrier Reef. After the cruise out there on the boat and the briefing about snorkeling we were off. I strapped on my fins and mask and jumped into the water. The first time I put my face under the water I am pretty sure that I stopped breathing for a few seconds. I think that it actually took my breath away. I just could not believe the life under the sea. I couldn’t believe the fish, the coral, the colors, the clearness of the water, everything amazed me. I buddied up with a very cool German girl named Bridgitte and her and I spent the day together exploring the reef. We would periodically come up, take the snorkel out of our mouths and just say, “Amazing! Just amazing!” We were both awestruck by the sights we saw under the water.

I had rented an underwater camera from a shop I found on Saturday in Cairns. The deal was that it cost $45 for the day and I could take up to 500 pictures and videos. After my trip the guy at the shop would burn them all onto a CD for me to have. I thought that it would be worth the money and I was soon proved to be right about that! The guy at the camera place said “Make sure you take a good number of pictures and videos, you know, make it worth the money.” Obviously this man had never met the likes of me before. I told him rest assured I would be making it worth them money. In the end the count was 256 pictures and videos. I think that might be a new daily record for me. When I took the camera back to get the photos onto a CD I told the guy that I had little idea of what was actually on the camera because I just never stopped clicking the button. I was like a Japanese tourist underwater. Those fish didn’t even see it coming until their little bulgy eyes were assaulted with flashes of light here and there. I knew some of the pictures would be blurry but I got a lot of great photos out of the deal. The only thing that sucked about going on a day when it was smashing down rain is that I didn’t get the light of the sun to illuminate the colors of the corals and fish, but hey, I cannot complain about this trip.

A saw so many different fish. Fish I had never seen or heard of before. Fish I had never seen outside of the pet store and soooooo many coral formations. It was just incredible the sights that I saw in just that one day! I even got to see a shark! Bridgitte and I were the only ones in our group to see it, and I even got a not too bad picture of it, but we saw a white tipped reef shark. It swam right below us! It was crazy! At first I was excited and took a picture and thought it was really cool. It was an afterthought that it was actually a shark that might kill me. I also saw a stingray. I tried so hard to get a picture of him before he slipped under the coral, but he was too quick for me. I got a picture of his tail. We went to two different parts of the reef, and at our second location there was a huge fish that they called Wally. Wally was a very friendly fish that swam around at the base of the boat. He swam up and let all the divers and snorkelers give him a pet. It was very very cool. Plus there was a huge school of colorful fish that accompanied Wally. The second location had parts of the reef that were so close to the surface of the water that we couldn’t swim over them for fear of being cut by the corals. It was all so awesome!

The cruise I went with was wonderful as well. I was really impressed with everything they put on. We had morning tea, a big buffet Aussie BBQ for lunch and wine and cheese in the afternoon. It was a great atmosphere that encouraged socializing and a good time. Earlier in the day I had been talking to two guys from Georgia in the states. I picked up immediately that they were from the southern states from the sentence “I couldn’t even get a beer.” Anyways one of them asked where I was from and I said Canada. He said “I was just listening to Joni Mitchell, she is Canadian isn’t she?” We both agreed that it was a pretty random statement but yes in fact she was Canadian. Anyhow, later on in the afternoon when we had wine and cheese they provided us with live entertainment. They had a guy singing and playing the guitar. He was quite good. He sang one song then he said that the next one was for all the Canadians on the boat (the three of us on there, and one was from Quebec so he doesn’t really count anyway). Then he said that if anyone could guess who wrote the song they would win a prize. Well I’d be damned if he didn’t play a Joni Mitchell song! Some girl in the back yelled it out before I could (well I said it from the bar, but I don’t think he heard me) but it was too bad the fellow from Georgia was upstairs at the time. It was very ironic tho. He also said he was going to sing a French song then he just strummed his guitar and sang a random bunch of French words, it was really funny. So we chilled out since we were exhausted from two hours of snorkeling, drank wine, ate cheese and listened to some pretty decent music. I couldn’t think of a more perfect way to end the day.

On the boat Bridgitte asked if I wanted to go out with her and ‘make party.’ Why is it the German girls that always try to get me in trouble? They love to make party :). Well since I had made party on Friday night by myself and booked a tour to Kuranda I didn’t really have the money to make party. So I agreed to go out for a few drinks with her, but had to call it quits pretty early. I invited some other girls from my hostel to join us but the only on that took me up on the offer was Lorraine. Lorraine is awesome! She is from England and couldn’t go home because of the volcano. She is over 50, I never found out hold old she actually was but she did say over 50. She was livin it up in Cairns and loving every minute of it! It was great to see someone that hasn’t given up on life with age. So often you see people as they get older give up and settle into their mundane daily routines. All her kids were grown and she was branching out. Lorraine, if you are reading this, I am proud of you girl! So Bridgitte, Lorraine and I sat and chatted about travels and things before calling it an early night. It was such an awesome day that I think it will be awfully hard to top!This day was filled with awe and adventure below the ocean and the next was destined to be filled with awe and adventure in the tree tops of the rainforest!

My Arrival in the Tropics

Friday afternoon I left the unseasonably warm Sydney and headed off for the tropics of Cairns. I arrived Friday evening and soon learned that although it might be raining the temperature was a lot different. I got off the plane and went outside only to find that a giant wall of humidity slapped me in the face. The air was so think you almost had to push it aside when you walked. The forecast was for rain while I was up there but I very soon realized that the rain wouldn’t matter because it was so hot that would be like having a shower. The weather did get more bearable over the time that I was there; it was just a big change coming from Sydney to there.

After checking into my hostel and getting things sorted in my room I asked my new roomie what was crackin on a Friday night in Cairns. To which she replied that it was movie night at the hostel, and if I wanted to a movie was being played at 7:30 in the court yard. Most other hostels have exciting things scheduled for Friday and Saturday nights, but not this one. She also told me that there were night markets down by the water that was open until 11. So I decided to skip movie night and head out and make my own fun. I went to the night markets and only bought a key chain to put my suitcase keys on and just looked at everything else. I then started walking down by the water and happened upon a random fire show. It was pretty cool. Plus it was cool that just out of the blue this group was putting on a fire show down by the lagoon. The lagoon! The lagoon is a whole other story. I walked down and watched the fire show for a bit and then headed off again. I came to a huge massive free public swimming pool. It was all lit up in the night and it looked absolutely gorgeous! It was at that moment that I decided I loved Cairns. To celebrate my new love I figured I would celebrate the same way a proper east coaster celebrates anything……..with a beer! So a found a place right on the water that had decent music and was bound to have beer. Now, before I came here I never went into a bar by myself just to have a beer. However when you travel alone you have no choice.

The Pier the place was called. I ordered a beer and it was only $5.00. That was super cheap compared to any other drinking establishments I had been into prior to this one. So I sat and sipped my beer and watched the young locals out for a night on the town. I also noticed that there were not that many young locals in the particular bar. After a little while a young man came up to me and asked why I was sitting alone. I told him that I travel alone, who the hell else was I supposed to be sitting with. Then he asked if I wanted him to introduce me to some people he was hanging out with. In this case I really have nothing to lose. I came in alone, and if the people he introduces me to are duds then I can always book it without having to worry about anyone else, so I said sure. This fellow introduced me to a number of girls and a few guys that were all sitting together. They were very welcoming and they all seemed eager to talk to a real live Canadian. One woman in the group was older, and I later learned that she was the mother-in-law of one of the other girls in the group, she was quite chatty. We talked for a while and then she said that if I was ever back in Cairns to call her and I could stay at her house. She gave me her card and everything! That was pretty random, but nice I guess. I took her card; you never know when something like that might come in handy. So after a little while I noticed that, although the people that I was with were making the best of the night, they were just about the only ones in the bar. So I said farewell, thanks for the company and struck off in search of more action. I ended up at a place called the Woolshed. The Woolshed is the kind of place that dancing on the table is encouraged. You get the picture. Anyways I went in and whooped it up with a number of very drunk people. I myself didn’t drink too much but still had a hoot with the people in there. There was one group of people in there that were on a stag party. I recognized them from my flight to Cairns. The groom to be was dressed in an Irish maids outfit and a great big green hat. He got on the plane this way, lol. The guys had a good flight and enjoyed many beverages on their way to Cairns, so you can only imagine that by the time I met up with them at the Woolshed the groom to be could hardly speak and I am not so sure that he even knew his own name. I stayed there until about 2:30am and then headed back to my hostel for the night.

Normally I would write an entry for each day I was away but the second day of my trip was pretty low key so I am just going to tack it on the end of this one.

I woke up semi-early on Saturday morning and my plan was to go and explore Cairns in the light of day. I did this a little bit but it rained all of Saturday. Although it was warm it still made everything wet and uncomfortable. I went to the local shopping centre to get a few groceries and have a look at the shops. I found two really neat shops. One was called ‘The Drunken Goat’ and the other was ‘Zonky Plonky.’ They just had neat little things in them that you might not find every day. I have started a collection of fridge magnets so at one of these stores I bought a magnet that says “I say that if the kids are still alive at 5, then my job is done.” I also bought a really neat bar of ridiculously awesome smelling soap. After wandering around in the rain a bunch I headed back to my room for some quiet time. I knew I was going to have a big day on Sunday because that was my trip to the reef day!

Moving to Gosford

Well that is it, we have moved to the bustling town of Gosford. We drove down Monday afternoon and ended up in Gosford at about 5:45pm. The car ride down was less then comfortable to say the least. Gran, Gramp, the two kids, and myself were sqeezed into a car that was packed up tighter then a ducks arse. Each of us only had a small cubby of space big enough for our bodies and Gran and I both held things on our laps the whole way. The kids did well all things considering. However by about 5:00 I was pretty edgy. It was partially due to the fact that Gran wanted to stop in Tuggerah for whatever it is what she wanted, and Gran seems to run on her own time. There is no sense of punctuality or needing to get things done. The kids were wrangy and hungry and it was all going down hill fast. It is a good thing that we got to the house when we did or someone wouldn't have been making it out of that car alive and it wouldn't be me.

So we arrived at the house. Now, although it is technically a house because of the outside structure don't be fooled. I went inside to see where I would be sleeping and do you know what I saw? Nothing! Just that, nothing. No kitchen, no carpet, no furniture no anything, just a shell of a house. I had an old mattress on the uncarpeted disgusting floor and a thin piece of foam for a pillow. This was for me to call home for the next week until I went to Cairns. Then I went down stairs to see the rest of the place. Down there was equally disgusting but had a kitchen. In fact it had two kitchens. One part one with running water and one sitting right in the middle of the space. Seeing that sight upon my arrival completely disheartened me. As much as I am not looking forward to the next 4 weeks of renos and everything going on around the small space i take solice in the fact that it is only 4 weeks and feel for the new girl coming in. Although by the time I get back from Cairns it should be more like a home and hopefully have some furniture.

On Tuesday I set off to see the town of Gosford with the kids. Gosford is a special kind of place where special types of people live. For instance I was talking on the phone with my friend the night I got there and I told him that I would text him the first time I saw a mullet. Well 8:34am Tuesday morning Shane received a txt that simply read 'Seen it.' There is a very high tats to teeth ratio per capita it would seem, and the streets are peppered with discount stores and bottle shops. As we walked along the street there was a young man on a bike riding towards us. This fellow had a small trailer towing behind his bike, and on this trailer he had a large living room speaker hooked up to some sort of music playing thing and was blasting his music as he pedaled. Liam the oldest boy said "Jessica, that man is not wearing a helmet." Liam always takes notice if people are wearing helmets because we have drilled it into his head that you must wear a helmet on your bike to be safe. When he commented on this particular fellow my relpy was "You know Liam, I think if that guy falls off his bike it will be okay. I don't think he could do much damage." I guess I will have to make due until I leave. Although my weekends won't be spent in Gosford. I have a list of things to get done before I leave at the end of May and that means that my weekends will be spent doing stuff in and around Sydney.

It was a trying week, but I made it! The kids and I found a playground and some really awesome trails in the woods. We know how to get to town, and if they are lucky I might just take them on the train somewhere. We are getting to know our surroundings and I am sure I will make it through the next 20 working days after I get back. Right now I am in Cairns and just enjoying my time off. I had an adventure lastnight, and am diving on the reef tomorrow, a possible trip to Kuranda on Monday then back to Boganville on Tuesday. I am going to wait to write about Cairns when I can upload photos, but for the record I friggin love it here!

Well week two with Gran and Gramp is complete! This will only be a short entry because to be honest I really don’t feel like writing, but I know if I don’t I will get behind. This week has been full of events, but not a holiday. Gran and Gramp enjoy showing me around and doing things with the kids, but I have found it both frustrating and exhausting with the kids. I have had to be the bad guy since I stepped of the plane. The kids are acting like spoiled jerks. Well seeing as with the grandparents they are spoiled and they let them act like jerks without saying anything about it. So while we have been going places and having picnic lunches and what could be good times it is frustrating to deal with the children on these outings. Basically I am now at the point where I feel like pulling my hair out. Thank god for the weekend!

Tuesday we went to the Billabong wildlife park. This was pretty cool because they had animals native to Australia. I got to pet a koala, feed kangaroos, see emus etc. It was a good day to see all the animals, and we had a picnic lunch there at the park. I also got to see three white kangaroos, so that was interesting, and I got to see a dingo. Now before you make the cliché ‘the dingo ate your baby’ joke it should be noted that Gran actually knows the family that the dingo ate their baby. I am not joking! Gran is friends with the whole family, and was friends with them when it happened. Crazy! What are the odds that I come to Australia and meet someone that knows that family! It is crazy! I knew that before because Peter told me, but I just forgot about it.

Wednesday we went on a boat cruise up the Hastings River. It was nice and I got to see two dolphins up close. It was awesome to see the dolphins so close to the small boat, and the driver stopped the boat so that we could watch them for a while. After the dolphins we went and stopped at and oyster farm and saw them farming oysters. The cruise was good, but would have been better if I didn’t have to spoiled little boys to contend with.

Thursday I took the kids to the beach, and Friday Gramp took us out to a buffet lunch. I ate way too much, but it was awesome. Overall the general feeling of Port Macquarie is slow and relaxed, probably because the majority of its residents are over 65. This week, on Tuesday we head down to Gosford to reunite with the family. It should be interesting until the house gets a little fixed up, but I leave on the 23rd for Cairns anyway. I will see the reef, and tell you all about it. Until then I bid you adieu.