Ringin in the New Year Geratic Style!

Today is the last day of 2009, which funny enough comes a day earlier then ol Canada. So every man and their dog has been asking me what fantastic thing I am doing for New Years Eve. I am here to tell you all to stop asking. I am have decided to much of nothing. The thought of spending $300+ in the city to be shoulder to shoulder with drunk idiots puking on themselves is not appealing. Seeing as they are charging a minimum of $60-$110 to get into any venue or club in the city I decided I will watch the fireworks here at home on the projector. Despite what some of you may think, I won't regret this desicion seeing as I am just not into that. If I were to go into the city I would be spending heinous amounts of money on something that I may or man not remember or enjoy just for "the experience". Frig that! I might venture out to a smaller club in Castle Hill, but since I am going to Melbourne for a the week on Monday, I want to spend the least amount of money as possible. Besides, the new year is going to come whether or not I go 'clubbing'. I don't know what this obsession is with going somewhere and getting shithammered to ring in the new year. I am going to go to Woolies, buy some beer and chips and watch the fireworks on TV. Plus the family has friends coming over so it's not like I am eating myself into a food coma and getting drunk in a basement by myself. So from now on you are done asking me what I am doing for New Years......capeesh!

Side note, it has been a super great short week and I am really looking forward to my week off. The picture I posted is of the sunset on my way home from the gym lastnight. I am standing at the end of my driveway. I am hoping the weather is nicer this weekend, and I plan on beachin it up. I will keep you all posted!

The end of a long weekend....onto a short week!

Sup! So today is my last day off. I, like most of you, have to return to 'work' tomorrow. However I am off all next week so that will be grrrrreat! The holidays are now over, and I am glad so that I can be done with hearing about all of your wonderful damn celebrations! Oh how great the tree looks, how good the turkey tasted, how wonderful it was to be with the family........you can all shut up about it now. Christmas was wonderful I get it. Of course I am joking. I am happy for all of you who had a great Christmas, and thanks to the messages from home.

The rest of my holiday weekend was pretty low key. As soon as I got over myself and forgot it was the holidays it got more managable. Boxing day was super lazy and then when the kids went to bed we stuffed ourselves with chocolate and champagne. It was pretty good. Then Sunday I went shopping a bit. Didn't buy anything and continued to bum around the house. The rain really has been putting a damper on things, and I am soooo ready for it to go away now.

Today the family was going to Akuna Bay to meet up with some friends. So since it was pouring so hard when I woke up I thought there was an airplane flying over, I decided to go with them. I wanted to get out of the house, and that would be super shitty if I was going public transit on a day like today. By the time we got to the bay the rain had let up some, which was good. It was really nice in there and the drive in was beautiful with little bits of fog rising up from the hills. We stayed there for a chunk of time and ate lunch at a little cafe at the marina. It was really very nice. The people we were meeting up with were a really nice couple who are old friends of Charli and Peter's. They are a young couple sans children that live in the city. We have arranged to go camping with them the end of January. I am looking forward to it. After lunch we walked around a bit, and then they decided we would drive into St. Ives and go to Max Brenner. So down here they have lots of Chocolate Bars (I know what your thinking, we have those too dummy, but not like a candy bar but as in an establishment usually known for alcohol) or Chocolate Lounges. These are magical places! Really though they are little lounges where they serve only chocolate and things made of chocolate. I have walked by many of them, but this was my first experience with one. A person could gain a lot of weight in a place like that! It was incredible! The whole time I just kept thinking: "So this is what Amy's heaven looks like. hmmmm I like it." I kept trying to figure out how I could mail Amy some chocolate that wouldn't melt in the 40 degree heat. I haven't worked it out so far. Anyhow we went in and it was all things chocolate. I wasn't convinced that the tables and chairs weren't made of chocolate. They even had lotions and body washes derived from cocoa! I had a Danish Toffee hot chocolate, served in a Hug Mug. The Hug Mug is a neat little mug that is shaped perfectly for you to cup both your hands around it (as if you were hugging the cup) to drink. It really enhances the drinking of the chocolate. It was the most fantastic tasting hot chocolate I have ever had in my life! Peter aslo bought chocolate marbles, which were little marble sized truffles. They were soooo good. I could really spend a lot of money and get very fat at these newly discovered gems. Frig going to a regular bar for new years, I am getting drunk on chocolate!

So.........could someone look up the number for Ripleys for me? I can't seem to find it in the yellow pages, either that or a good exorcist please. The war has not been won! I thought for sure that the spikes on the fence would end this epic tale of neighbor woman vs magpie, but alas, it has not! I was flabbergasted to see the bird hard at work yesterday morning. While I haven't been able to catch the bird in action since the spikes have been erected I have created a small hockey night in canada type diagram for you. I know it is small but if you click on the picture it will enlarge. If you cant get it to work, then know this, the yellow indicates the area where the spikes are and the red indicates the birds new flight path. As you can clearly see this possessed magpie is back with avengence! Not only is it flying into one window, but it has started flying into a completely new window that it previously had not even touched. It sits beside the spikes and flys to the left and back to the fence. It then flys to the right, back to the same window and spot, and back to the fence. I am not joking people! This is crazy I know, but this really is happening. The bird is still there. I think we will soon see the poor neighbor woman rocking in a chair holding a shot gun if this persists. I know that she is going to loose it, I can see it in her eye. So I don't know what will happen next, but I know this for sure. I am keeping the children out of the back yard and will hang the laundry as fast as I can to avoid the crossfire! I will try to get a picture of the bird in action, because I can feel your skeptical eyes looking at my diagram.

Well folks that is all. From my colleagues on both sides of our cameras, thank you and goodnight!

Merry Whatcha Call it......

As Boxing Day winds down I find myself reminding myself that it is in fact the holidays. You see the family I am living with thinks that Christmas is purely a commercial holiday, and therefore do not participate in anything Christmas related. They call it "Christmas" and give a present out, but it just isn't the same. My intent was to write an entry yesterday talking about my first Aussie Christmas, however I couldn't bring myself to do it. I am not going to lie to you people. That was probably the shittiest Christmas that I have ever had, and one year when I was a kid were nearly didn't even have Christmas. I didn't think it would bother me so much being away from my friends and family for the holidays, and I still don't think it would have if the family I was with actually did some sort of tradition or celebration of some sort. The kids don't have Santa and their gifts are strange. They gave their 18 month old a digital wall clock, and apart from the T-shirt he got from his Auntie, that was it. I mean I agree with not focusing on material items at Christmas, but I geeze guys some sort of recognition of a holiday would be a little more comforting. So I spend a chunk of Christmas day feeling shitty about being away from home (it didn't help that it was raining and shitty outside) but this morning I decided that the situation is what it is and I can't change it so there is no sense crying about it. I guess I will just have to double up next Christmas! I did however get a very nice gift from the family. I got a gift certificate for a Camel ride in Port McQuarie. That is pretty cool, I mean where else can you get a camel ride for Christmas? I bet none of you in Canada got that! lol

We did go for a drive through the Blue Mountains on Christmas day. Although it was pouring rain you could see that on a nice day it would be just beautiful. I already have a 4WD tour planned as well as some personal hiking trips in the mountains, so now all I need is for damn rain to stop. It is forecast to rain right up until Tuesday. That means that my entire holiday weekend was blown to shit by shitty weather. I would much rather be on the beach! The last thing I would like to say about Christmas is thank you to the people I was able to talk to from home. It helped me through the day.

Today on boxing day, although shitty weather, I had a decent day. It was kind of a lazy day, but I felt better then yesterday. I think this is because I decided to forget it was supposed to be holidays of any sort. Charli and I went to a movie (Lovely Bones, based on the novel by Alice Seabold) that I really have been dying to see. I read the book and love love loved it, so I was excited to see the movie. It was good. It was really good. Of course the book is always better but I have to say that if you are a fan of the book, the movie really does do it justice. After the movie I lounged about the house until supper. Ate supper, then after the kiddos went to bed we played Wii drank champange (the good kind), and ate Belgian chocolates (the good kind) so tonight was pretty good. I have a mellow day planned for tomorrow, because it will be raining again! I am heading to the gym bright and early, then markets then boxing day sales or vice versa I haven't decided yet.

Thanks again to my peeps at home! Merry Christmas to all!

Hump Day

Today I finally got to go to the wave pool with the kids. I wanted to take them last week, but well as you might already know, I ended up cleaning poop out of underwear instead. So we went today. It was a really neat set up and really great for kids of all ages. The kids had an absolute ball, and I had to make the oldest one get out of the water so that we could leave. The youngest one would have stayed in all day too, except his lips were turning blue and he was shivering and shaking, so I took him out. I think that we will be frequenting that pool quite often.

So Ian (Matt's Dad) totally got me hooked on Skype. It is like the single greatest invention in the world! I love it like a fat kid loves cake! I had heard of it before, but never used it. I downloaded it and we talked on it today. It was great! The sound was better then on the phone, and the best part is it is all free! It was like we were sitting in the same room! I couldn't get over it. I will be using the hell outta that now. Thanks Ian!

I also ate my first passion fruit today. I know, I know you can get passion fruit in Canada too. However since they don't grow in Canada they aren't as available as they are here. So I had

my very first one here in Oz. For those of you on my facebook, you can check out the pictorial documentation of such event very soon. I have to say that although it was good, I was left feeling slightly unsatisfied. There is not a lot of seeds to eat in them, and it is a lot of hype for just a little fruit. So it was a positive experience, but left me wanting more. Also does anyone know if we can grow apple cucumbers in Canada? Cuz we had one here tonight, and I don't think they are readily available either, but you never know.

Well before I depart for the evening I would like to give you an update on the Magpie vs Neighbor Woman saga. I know it has been a while since you last heard of them, but until today it has basically been the same thing. Bird flys into window, woman gets mad, woman chases bird away, bird comes back, bird flys into window.......you all know where this is going. So Monday I saw her and a man out and about in the yard. They were doing yard work and cleaning etc. I noticed that she removed all the CD's, boats, balloons, bags etc from her windows. I thought this was odd. Had the neighbor woman finally given in to the magpie?? Then I saw the man cleaning the windows. I thought this a silly act, as the bird would just dirty them again anyway. The bird even taunted them while they worked around the house. Sitting on the fence, making the occasional pass at the window. Making the woman even angrier. Then today! Today came the coup d'etat! I looked out my bedroom window and noticed that they had ever so slyly placed a row of spikes along the fence in front of all the windows of the house. I would say "check and mate" for the neighbor woman, but this is a special bird. If the bird persists I am going to call Ripleys, because that would mean that the bird for sure has some other motive for flying into the window. I will keep you posted, but I think it is safe to say that the neighbor woman fought the good fight, and won!

Well that has been my hump day in a nutshell. Tomorrow is Christmas eve, but I don't think that means anything around here. I don't even think Santa comes to this house. Anyways I will post again on Friday. Peace!

I fish you were here!

Today was aquarium day! Today I took the kiddies to the Sydney Aquarium. It was pretty neat I must say. This was my first time at a bonafide aquarium as well as the kids. I wish I had more time to actually enjoy everything in the aquarium, but the kids were..........well it wasn't a super wonderful day on that front. Oh well I am glad that I got to go though. Where they had the Dugongs (Manatees) and Sharks was really neat. They had a big glass dome that you could walk through and all sorts of animals would be swimming all around you. I think that is the closest you could be to those animals without actually being in the water. It was neat to see the big rays, sharks, dugongs, sea turtles, and heaps of little fish swimming around. Also in the reef part of the aquarium there was an area that was all glass, even the floor. That was really neat! I got some good photos, and some so-so photos because you weren't allowed to use your flash, and the lighting wasn't very good. You will have to check out facebook for more photos soon. However I did learn that our big trips like that will be few and far between. I am not going to waste time and money if the experience isn't going to be fully appreciated.

Next to the aquarium is Wildlife World. It is similar to like the Montreal Biodome, or an indoor zoo really. I thought about going there by myself, but honestly I don't know if it would be worth the money. Anyways, outside Wildlife World was a big dinosaur. They were promoting a new exibit they have for the holidays. Well I have to say that this was the most realistic dinosaur that I have ever seen! I wasn't around when the dinosaurs roamed the earth, but if I was I am certain that this thing would have given me flashbacks (despite the womans legs and feet showing). Although it was obvious that there was a human person in there, if it wasn't for the legs hanging out the bottom, you would have never known. It made creepy noises, and the actual costume moved in a way that a dinosaur would have. I know it doesn't look that great in the picture, but trust me, children and asian tourists alike were running and screaming from this thing.

I thought I would have more to write about the aquarium, but I guess I don't. So my leg is doing much better now, for those of you who were asking about it. I stand by my original statement: Friggin jerk lizard! It still hurts to bend it but other then that it is fine. I also noticed that I did some sort of damage to my shoulder as well. I am tellin you, it was a wipe-out for sure!

I was hoping to get out to the mountains or something exciting this weekend, but they are forecasting rain for Saturday and Sunday. So I will have to find something inside to do. Actually I might go out on the town with the German Nanny. We will see I guess. I have decided to wait to head up north for the reef until a later date. I think that in January, on my week off, I am going to go to Melbourne. There are some interesting things I think I would like to check out there. So I will keep you posted, as I know.

So my final words for today are this: When I first came here everyone read my blog, and send me messages on facebook, and commented on my link, etc. It seems as though that was all a front, or you people are lazy! Please don't be afraid to comment or send me a message, I always love hearing from people from home.

Well folks, that is all......I'm out!

Bargins and Bails.....My Sunday.....

Well sir what a day! Well actually it has been a pretty slow day, no real big crazy adventures or anything. This morning I got up and I went to Rouse Hill, which is one of the huge (and I mean HUDGE!) shopping centres very near here. I went to get some bubble wrap for the parcels that I am sending out, and wanted to check out a few things. So I was walking by the Kathmandu store, and for those of you in Halifax, it is the same as MEC. I have been wanting to get a new back pack since before I got here, so I went in to have a look. Well super luck struck again! They were having a huge Christmas sale, and I got a great backpack that would have normaly been $109 for $39!!! This is the first bargin I have come across here in this expensive city where people seem to be made of money. So I snatched it up. I wasn't intending to get a new backpack today, but hey, a bargin like that doesn't come around too often around here. So I thought it was quite exciting so I decided to share it all with you folks!

So I was going to go to Luna Park today with a German Au Pair that I met, however she got sick yesterday, and it was cloudy all day. So I ended up not going to Luna Park today, but I will get there soon. So I really didn't know what else to do today. I kinda bummed around the house with Gran, Gramp and the boys for a bit, took a nap, and hummed and hawed about what I was going to do. It was noon by the time I got home from Rouse Hill and if I was going to go anywhere significant I would have had to leave in the morning. So after a while I decided to go for a bike ride. I googled some of the local bike paths, and chose a route that tickled my fancy. So I headed out to have a ride. Well I was cruising right along at a pretty good pace, when a very Australian thing happened to a very Canadian girl. As I was hummin along the bike path a friggin lizard (probably a skink) ran out in front of me! It darted from one side of the path to the other right infront of my front wheel. So as a Canadian I am not particularly used to lizards running in front of me, so what did I do......hit the brakes! Well this caused me to go arse over teakettle off the bike and into the concrete bike path. I skinned the hell out of my leg, barked my knuckle and smashed the hell out of the really cool ring I bought yesterday at Bondi. Frig I was mad when I got up! Not to mention I must have looked like a real knob to all the motorists on the freeway, because to them it would have looked like I hit the brakes for nothing. But I got up, got back on and continued on my way. Thinking all the way that any Aussie would have run the damn thing over! I hope that lizard runs onto the M7 motorway, friggin jerk lizard! So now my leg is bruised and skinned and I am sure it will be a real beaut tomorrow!

So what I thought was going to be another lazy type Sunday turned into a day I will probably have scars from. I hear you are getting snow tomorrow in Halifax suckers! I will be chillin in the sunshine then Tuesday is aquarium day, whoop whoop! Well that is all for today, over and out!

Life's a Beach!

So today I ventured off to the famous Bondi Beach. It was quite a trek to get there, and I had to take a bus to the train, then another train, then another bus to the beach. I was a bit nervous at first, because I had never taken a train here before, but it turned out to be surprisingly easy. I made it there and back without a hitch, and made all my connections without a single problem. I think that is a pretty good feat for me. Maybe the Moreeeny curse only applies within the borders of the homeland?? Well whatever it is, I was very glad to have a seamless ride to the beach and back. However I have learned something that does carry over from Canada, and that is my terrible transit narcolepsy. As many of you know I routinely went to sleep on the metro buses in Halifax when traveling to and from work, and even managed to fall asleep on the ferry in the 7 minutes it takes to go across the harbour. Anyhow I found myself falling asleep on the ferry coming back from Circular Quay the day I went there, but that isn't so bad, because there is only one stop so there was no worry of missing your stop. Today I found myself falling asleep on the train which could be risky business, seeing as I had to watch out for my stop. Lord knows where I would end up if I had fallen asleep. I really do enjoy a city with a decent transit system tho. It sure makes it easier to get around. I just wish it wasn't so damn expensive. I spent almost $20 on transit today. Although I did go a fair distance, it is still a lot.

Peter and Charli had warned me about Bondi, and that it is usually packed full of old people in bathing suits too small for them, with handbag-esque skin, and droopy bits. Now although I did see plenty of sights, thats for sure, I was happy I went. Today was a perfect day for chillin at the beach. I swam in the clear blue water, jumped in the waves of the surf, and lounged in the sand of one of the most famous beaches in the world. Although there was tons and tons of people there it seemed as though the beach was sooo large that it wasn't too packed. People weren't laying on top of each other and still had a reasonable amount of space to themselves. The water was beautiful. Just crisp and clear, and when you looked out it was nice and blue. I went in and it seemed cold at first, but it was just really cool. It was very refreshing to swim in the cool water and bob in the waves. Then I spent some time lounging and drying off. After that I walked the Bondi strip along the beach. Lots of restaurants, cafes, shops etc. I bought a really neat ring there, and it had shells embeded into the ring. After all that I headed home on the same two buses and two trains that took me there. When I got off the bus I grabbed a few beer from the liquor store before I walked home. I walked through the park drinking a beer in the sunshine happy as a pig in shit. This really is the life I thought, as a strolled home. When I got home it was time for a quick shower, then Christmas dinner at the Wenham house.

Proof that I was at Bondi ;)

So.........my first Christmas dinner in Australia. Well it seems as though this family doesn't particularly enjoy the holiday so I am not sure that we will be celebrating in any other way then we did tonight. It kind of makes me sad, but then again it will only be this one Christmas, then my other ones I can spend in different ways. So Gran and Gramp came over as well as Aunti Aureen. Auntie Aureen is a teacher. She teaches young children english as a second language. She is very much what you would think of when you think of a typical schoolmarm. She is very proper, and is concerned about the learny bits. I had to bite my tounge a few times when she was talking about how important it was for children to recite their times tables and other things. However she is a really nice lady. So we all gathered around for dinner, and despite there being no meat it was a pretty good meal. The menu consisted of nutaline loaf, mushroom and carrot loaf, roasted potatoes and squash (which they insist on calling pumpkin, and I keep trying to tell them that it is not a damn pumpkin), mixed salad, green beans, vegetarian cold cut subsitute, and gravy. It was all very good, and to top it off for dessert we had a wonderful black forest cake made by Charli, and a Brandy fruitcake. I gotta say that I was a bit skeptical about the veggie Christmas dinner (so much so that I stopped at Hungry Jacks (Burger King) at Bondi to grab a whopper before heading home) but in the end it was a very nice meal. I may have prefered a little tofurkey, but I understand that no one wants to cook that much when it is 30 degrees out. After supper we sat and chatted and the kids played with their toys. Then we watched the Carols in the Domain. This is an even that takes place every year, and in the centre of Sydney people gather and they put on a big Christmas concert. We just watched the televised version at home, but the picture on here is of the almost 1 million people that turn up in Sydney for this event. All I gotta say is.....them bitches are crazy! The big yellow light on the right hand side is the stage, and all the lights around it are people!! And don't you worry, the crowd extends far beyond what is in the picture when they do a wider pan. It was nuts how many people are there. I was very happy to watch it at home in the comfort of the living room.

Well that is all for today. I am unsure what I am going to get up to tomorrow. I will keep you posted, and that folks is how the cookie crumbles, good night!