Blame Canada

2010-01-13T09:06:00.000-08:00

Dave, Mel, Sarah and Freud in Ottawa.

Our Canada trip is coming to an end. We said goodbye to Ottawa a couple of days ago. We went on several walks, had a few nice farewell dinners, Dave played a final game of tennis and we got a couple of souvenirs.

It took us 9 hours to cross the country and get to Vancouver. We stopped in Winnipeg, and inexplicably also Edmonton along the way.

Winging across the frozen wasteland that is central Canada. Flat for thousands of kilometres.

What is this green stuff? Grass you say? Haven't seen that in months!

Vancouver is a halfway point between Ottawa and Sydney in so many ways. The temperature is halfway (about +10 instead of -12 or +25), the grass is green and so are the trees, there are birds to be seen everywhere. There is a beautiful harbour which reminds us of home.

Waterbird in Stanley Park.

We walked around the entirety of Stanley Park yesterday, about 9km. It is an awesome park, somewhat like the botanical gardens in terms of proximity to city, and it is endowed with ancient tall trees, waterfalls and ferns. Really quite beautiful.

Tribal statue on the Vancouver foreshore.

The Olympic rings somewhere on the harbour foreshore in Vancouver. The winter Olympics start here in a month and they are going Olympics crazy here.

Today we're going on a little ferry trip to Granville island and then we catch our flight back home in the evening! Homeward bound after so many months.

The Full Mandy

2010-01-03T17:49:00.001-08:00

Our very first blog entry had a picture of the gorgeous Mandy, a Canadian friend of ours who was in Australia at the time of our departure. She returned home just before Christmas, and we went to visit her for 5 days over the New Year period. This is the story of those times.

Mel and Mandy huddle together at a ski resort one lunchtime.

Wasaga Beach is about 6 hours drive west of Ottawa. In the summertime it is a bustling lake town, with its 14km of shoreline reportedly the longest freshwater beach in the world. It also lies in the snowbelt of southern Ontario, and boy did we experience a lot of snowfall on our trip there!

We got to experience many joys of Canadian winter life while we were at Wasaga Beach. The first was snow shoveling, a task made more or less enjoyable (depending on your perspective) by the amount of snow falling during the day.
Although there wasn't great packing snow, we attempted a snowman.

Dave fondles snowman. Snowman feels all shivery inside.

We visited a number of ski resorts, as the area is replete with them. One beaut area we traveled to was called Blue Mountain. It had dozens of ski runs, a small village packed with shops, restaurants and bars and happy tourists and skiers. It was temperate while we were there (for Canada at this time of year that is - about minus 2), we stood for ages watching people glide down the hill. Or stack it. We were watching for the stacks of course.

On New Years Eve, we had the house to ourselves since Mandy and her family were all out working. It was atrocious weather outside, and warm and cosy inside, and tragically we both fell deeply asleep before midnight...

Mandy on the other hand hit a deer at 2am driving home (or it hit her, she didn't actually see the thing). She was all right, although her Mum's new car, and the deer, didn't make it through unscathed.

Mel and Mandy pose before the exciting vista that makes snow tubing possible.

A day of action ensued, as we visited Snow Valley ski hill for some 'snow tubing'. The pictures really explain the activity, although the visceral thrill of strapping three tubes together and whizzing at 80km/h down the slope in the freezing cold is hard to explain.

Us and our tubes.

Check out the frost on Mel's face.

We had a really great time with Mandy while we were there - good conversations, good food and good cheer.

Then it was time to go. It took us 9 hours to complete the 6 hour drive back to Ottawa, mostly due to weather conditions like below. We made it out of the region in two hours, just 30 minutes before they decided to close all the roads! We saw a number of accidents on the trip home, but luckily none of them involved us, and we made it back in one piece in time for a late dinner.

Where exactly are you meant to drive on this...road?

The joys of skiing

2009-12-29T13:53:00.000-08:00

Mel and Dave spent the last two days learning to ski at Mont Cascades ski resort, about 45 minutes drive from Ottawa. We are both rank beginners, never having strapped on a ski before.
So even putting on the ridiculous amount of gear necessary to slide down hills on snow was a challenge.

Mel travelling up the 'magic carpet', an escalator-type contraption which delivers one to the top of the bunny hill.

We had a terrific instructor for two hours a day, Danny. He brought us from total ineptitude, to being able to somewhat control our speed and direction and fluke our way down the hills.

Mel doing her thang, with our instructor Danny at her 6.

There were many funny moments: the first time Dave slid backwards and resignedly waved goodbye as he slid into the rough; Mel hurtling down the steepest part of the beginner hill right after learning to get downhill by herself; desperately trying to get into the chalet on day 2 so that our frozen fingers could thaw (it was -25*C with wind chill); Dave's ski snapping off at the bottom of the chair lift and then him having to ski one-legged down the small slope at the top of the lift.

The chair lift - 4 minutes to the top!

We ended the two days a little sore, but with the rudiments of a new skill, a great appreciation of skiers and ski gear and some sweaty thermal underwear!! It was a lot of fun.

A White Christmas

2009-12-27T12:07:00.000-08:00

For the first time in our lives, Dave and Mel experienced a white Christmas. Although only the tiniest few flakes deposited themselves groundwards on the day, there has been enough snow accumulation in recent weeks to make us feel as though we are in a postcard of some sort. It was all very pretty.

Dave looking completely natural and at ease in the white stuff.

We had a delicious and genial late lunch with Ric and Jan on Christmas Day, enjoying a crackling log fire (on the TV).

'Stoke the fire hon.'
'Where's the damn remote?'

Mel has now finished her job at the Goodlife gym; 3 months of 4:45am starts and constant beat-heavy music.
You mean I don't need to get up before anything sane is conscious? I'll raise my mug to that!

On Boxing Day we had the pleasure of experiencing the phenomena of 'freezing rain'. This is when it rains, but once the rain makes landfall it turns immediately into ice. After a night and a morning of this, most everything was covered with 1-2 cms of ice. Trees retain the ice on their branches, cars get iced shut, footpaths turn into mini skating rinks and icicles become commonplace.

The following day has turned out quite mild (0*C) and so a lot of this ice has turned into water or slush. Icicles fall off buildings and power lines with crashes. Stepping through snowbanks creates delicious sounding crunches.

To make up for the inability to walk anywhere without sliding around like an uncoordinated penguin, we cooked a fully vegan 'Tofurkey feast' and it was delicious.

Another Bite of the Big Apple

2009-12-19T06:24:00.000-08:00

The street outside Jess's apartment on the Upper West Side.

One visit to the city of New York wasn't enough for Mel, so last weekend she went back for a few days. Kindly hosted by Jess, Mel was able to stay on the Upper West Side again (ahhhhh), and take in not one, but THREE Broadway shows.

Christmas trees for sale on Central Park West.

Christmas is in the air in NYC and the city goes all out with its decorations. There are people selling real Christmas trees on the side of the road and it makes the streets smell beautiful. Mel even saw someone get off a bus dragging a six-foot tree. True Christmas commitment.

Decorations outside a city office.

During her walks around the city, Mel went to 30 Rockefeller Plaza and Radio City. Now that both Mel and Dave are fans of the tv show '30 Rock', this meant that a visit to the NBC Experience Store and an NBC tour were simply a given. Unfortunately, Kenneth the Page did not show her around the building.

Radio City Music Hall - home of the Rockettes.An entrance into 30 Rock and the NBC studios.

There are a few areas with huge decorated outdoor Christmas trees and ice-skating ponds, and Mel found two to have a look at. The first was at 30 Rock, which was beautiful. The crowds were enormous though. The second was in Bryant Park, where there is also a Christmas market. There are lots of little self-contained stores selling everything from hats to candles to hand-decorated Christmas ornaments.

The tree and skating pond outside 30 Rockefeller Centre.

One of the market stores in Bryant Park.

Broadway was a hit once again on this trip. Mel saw James Spader in 'Race', the new Tony Award winning musical 'Next to Normal', as well as Carrie Fisher's one woman show 'Wishful Drinking'. Not only did Mel see Carrie on stage, she also managed to meet her outside and have her program signed.

Mel meets Carrie Fisher.

Other highlights of the trip included New York bagels, a ride in a yellow taxi (it may be touristy but it was cool), Christmas lights at Columbus Circle, a chilly morning walk in Central Park, and not being killed by the shuttle driver on the way to Jess's apartment.

Columbus Circle.

New York - once was not enough, twice only whets the appetite. Some day, visit three will occur.

Central Park.

Blimey!

2009-12-17T11:04:00.000-08:00

It is cold here now. Today it is -20*C, topping at -16*C. With wind chill it is -30*C. This is about a 50*C difference between Ottawa and Sydney!!

Zoom in on this one to see the ice formations on the tree!

Apparently Ottawa can reach 40*C in summertime, making it the capital city with the largest yearly temperature variation in the world (according to Ottawans anyway, who take a perverse pride in saying 'You haven't seen anything yet' when talking to us about the weather).
We've pretty much topped out on the clothing we brought with us, but it's serving us adequately. The trick is to avoid being outside for long lengths of time. Some people here barely spend any time outside in the winter, moving from house to car to workplace to pub with as little time in the elements as possible. Then there are those that go jogging in snowstorms, or ride their bicycles on days like today.

You need a much better camera than ours to capture the intricate little frost formations that are currently gracing our windowpanes.

Last night we went out to the Senators ice hockey match. They had a 2-0 win and it was a fun match to be at. We went with our landlords, and Ric is the unofficial mascot for the team. It is an interesting experience to wander around the stadium with a huge red shaggy 'Sens-quatch'.

First snowstorm of the season

2009-12-12T08:31:00.000-08:00

It has been a quiet time for us in Blogland. We've both been toiling at our decidedly un-intellectual jobs, so there has not been terribly much to report. Mel's still getting up before 5am the poor chook.
Canada has a constantly changing landscape. It's starting to average -4*C here (dropping to minus 15 at times). Brutal, but according to locals we've 'not seen anything yet'. 'Just wait until it gets really cold you wimps' they subtext. 'We're only here for one winter, hahaha', we think back.

We'd had a couple of light dustings of snow in recent weeks, but on Wednesday there was a full on snowstorm in Ontario. It never reached whiteout conditions, but there was a steady fall for the entire day - 30 centimetres worth. It was awesome! And in a 24 hour period the city looks completely different. Naturally we got out in it and engaged in a little bit of horseplay. People stopped in the street to watch us having snowball fights, riding woolly mammoths, etc.

The snow looks quite beautiful when it falls under the street lamps. It is also quite the muffling / insulating substance when it builds up. The city gets much quieter as the veil of snow descends. Then it gets much noisier as all the snowplows come out to clear the roads and sidewalks.

The view from Castille Dave and Mel during the storm

Dave has decided to assist Tourism Ottawa with some of their slogans.

Come to Ottawa: Experience an arctic adventure every time you step outside the door!
Ontario; Land of Sunshine (Tourism Ottawa can't guarantee more than 5 hours a day)

Experience Ottawa's excellent biking conditions!

Canadian travel warning: wear 3 layers if you want to stand on the balcony.

Relax in comfort and take a load off as you explore the city!

Needless to say we're enjoying the novelty of this winter wonderland.

The Campervan - a tribute

2009-11-19T06:30:00.000-08:00

We finally sold our campervan the other day. We had a lot of fun over the summer traveling right across the continent in our little home. Here is a tribute in pictorial form.

Getting Chilly

2009-11-08T17:25:00.001-08:00

The temperature has been dropping here in Ottawa over the past few weeks. Although today was a lovely day of around 12 degrees, it has often hovered around the freezing mark. It snowed here for the first time a few days ago, although as soon as it hit the ground it turned to water. An exciting precursor of things to come though. Walking to the market yesterday was a very cold experience, but Dave had a lot of fun breaking up the icy shields formed on top of puddles overnight.Last night we went out to the ice hockey to watch the local team - The Senators. It was a great game, very fast and almost excessively violent. A fistfight is an obligatory part of every match, and it is actually part of the game to try and crunch your opponent up against the plexi-glass walls of the rink. It was a lot of fun, although they ended up losing 3-2.
The noise of the skates slicing along the ice is great, as well as the sound of the puck being belted around. They have 6 players on the field at once including the goalie, but each team consists of about 25 guys. So they are constantly swapping on and off! Our friend Sandra got us the tickets to this match - so thanks Sandra!

Halloween - A Fun Night Out

2009-11-01T07:20:00.000-08:00

Our group before heading out.

Canadians really get into their Halloween, and Ottawans are no exception. We had loads of fun dressing up and wandering around from house party to bar to other bar. The night is probably best told in pictures.

Sarah as 'Marie Antoinette' with the Black Spy from 'Spy vs Spy'. Sarah ended up winning best costume for her efforts.
Who's that hot flamenco dancer?
Face paint - sticky on the lips and eyeballs.

Zap Branagan from 'Futurama'

Ric the zombie king makes one Japanese girl's night.

Not sure what this guy is meant to be - half Mickey Mouse, half cow?

It must get hot in that thing.

Even closer to Halloween

2009-10-27T05:11:00.000-07:00

In further preparation for Halloween, or perhaps just because they are strange, last Sunday drew many Ottawans to the Ottawa Zombie Walk 2009.

There were lots of cool costumes, plenty of fake blood and many calls for 'braaaiiiins'. The children in the crowd took it all way too calmly.

'A zombie took my baby koala'

A tribute to Michael Jackson

Halloween preparation

2009-10-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

One of the fun things that Canadians celebrate is Halloween. It is just over a week away, and so we have been getting ready to participate in this for the first time. The stores are filled with lots of decorations and there seem to be costumes for sale everywhere you go. One of the coolest traditions is carving pumpkins and making jack-o-lanterns. Dave tried his hand at it with a little pumpkin he bought, and the result is in the pictures above and below. A pretty good effort for a first go! We burned a candle in him until the wax started to ooze out of his mouth. Icky, but somehow appropriate.

Dave-o-lantern.

Our landlords were kind enough to take us to a costume store that specialises in Halloween. The store was amazing - rows and rows of costumes, make up and accessories. You can buy almost anything in there to make you look scary. One of Mel's favourites was a latex stick-on patch for your arm, that made it look as though a pencil had gone through it. Would have been great for a "dead school teacher"costume!

A mask display at Audrey's Costume Store.

Ric, our landlord, loves to dress up, and will do so for almost any occasion. So you can imagine how excited he is at Halloween. He doesn't celebrate it just one day - he has a week's worth of costumes! In honour of our first Halloween and the trip to the costume store, he decided to dress up in one of his outfits and freak out the customers. At 6"7', he is a sight to be seen!

Mel and Ric (he's the one in the costume...)

We are still putting the final touches on our costumes, but you'll have to wait until after Halloween to see the results...

One of the displays from the costume store.

Fall

2009-10-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

6 degrees C, rainy and a great day for a bicycle ride

The seasons change fast here in Canada. In just two weeks the temperature has dropped drastically and many of the trees have started losing their leaves and changing colour, revealing vibrant oranges and reds.
We trek up to the farmers market each weekend for bags-worth of fresh vegetables. We even found a purple cauliflower and decided to give it a go.

Nice haircut on that freaky cauli.

Dave got a few days work delivering new recycling bins around Ottawa. These are large compost/ food waste bins and a really neat idea for reducing the residential waste stream by 45%.

The bad stuff

2009-09-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

Travel blogs tend to be quite rosy, and we've had a very wonderful time on our trip. Reading this blog and looking at the photos would incite most people into thinking that it's been 'all good' everywhere we've been. In fact, the world can be a miserable place, and this post is an attempt to moderate our effusiveness.
Thailand is a tropical paradise to be sure, but not everything there is pristine. Nearly every beach we walked on was tarnished by rubbish, lots of rubbish. Obviously swept onto the beaches by the tides, and mostly consisting of plastic, this trash was unfortunately ubiquitous. Some of it came from the poor waste systems in place there, but we're sure that a lot is swept in from other countries and waste simply dumped in the oceans. A lot of it was very small and had clearly been in the sea for a while. This just another example of the curse of plastic on our natural environment and damn ugly too.
Big cities can be desperate and sad places. Vancouver had more homeless people than is to be expected in a city of that size, it was really tragic. At the least Canada has 'container deposit legislation' meaning that there is a dollar value placed on used cans and bottles, and these can be collected and redeemed. The bums were doing a roaring trade, the same can be said of Ottawa in some places. This is not a solution to the problem in any way, and doesn't replace housing, job support and other welfare. Paris is a 'romantic' city for most. But travel anywhere and you will see desperate and poor people, and the graffiti is rife and to be seen to be believed. Don't go there if you want to be uplifted about the human condition. Although New York was better than we expected in terms of visible poverty ('was there an Olympic event coming up there?' we thought) there was a fair bit of begging on the metro and one situation where an old woman was laughed at by some commuters and then was asking everyone for help in the most pitiable manner possible.
Canada is rife with large vehicles. For those in Australia, our 4 wheel drives don't even compare with the monstrosities they have over here. With all the concern with air pollution, congestion and greenhouse pollution, it seems like they are going in the wrong direction here. And that is not saying anything about the exploitation of tar sands in Alberta which is an environmental disaster. [Note: we drove a 3 tonne motorhome over 13,000 km so our consciences are hardly clear on this point].
When we were at the Calgary Stampede we wandered into the agricultural tents, as you do. After a few minutes we couldn't stand it and left. It was farm propaganda at it's worst. They even had an adult pig displayed in it's typical enclosure, i.e. trapped in metal bars with no room to move - and people were standing around admiring the situation! We could go on for a long time about animal exploitation (Canadians love their BBQs and industrial animal farming as much as Australians) but we won't.

Scenes from Ottawa

2009-09-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

Ottawa is a very bike and pedestrian-friendly city, which is good for us considering we don't have a vehicle anymore!
Dave went on a 30km cycle around the city, along the Rideau Canal, through the Experimental Farm (a large area where they do agricultural testing not far from the city centre), and along the Ottawa River. The rock statues seen below were displayed along the river.The next photo is a statue near downtown which celebrates the contribution aboriginal people have made in the Canadian armed forces.
This massive spider is an artwork which stands outside the National Art Gallery. The next photo is a statue of a Canadian hero, Terry Fox. He was a young man who got cancer in the 1980s, and instead of giving in to it decided he would run across the country.

He made it from the East coast all the way to Thunder Bay, a run of 5,300km, doing a marathon a day! All of this with a prosthetic leg. He then got too sick from his illness and had to stop running, dying a year later. He has been a rallying-point for cancer research ever since, and a national hero. We saw several statues, a mountain named after him, roads named after him and plenty of exposure of his legacy on our trip.

Finally here is a snap of one of the Canadian Parliament buildings during a gathering of fire fighters who were commemorating 9/11.

Settling in Ottawa

2009-09-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

We are now residents of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada!

Our apartment building in Ottawa

We had a really tough time coming into the city. The campervan was playing up, we were sleeping in a carpark, we encountered a maniacally Kafkaesque situation with our car insurance and we were going through the tribulations typical of trying to find a place in a new city - apartments, jobs, banks, institutions of government and so on. We went hard, and with the help of some really generous and lovely Ottawans, have found our feet.

The view from our apartment.

Mel enjoying our new abode.

We have a great apartment just 15 minutes walk from the centre of the city / the parliament buildings, the campervan is fixed and for sale at a dealership just out of town, and Mel already has a job (working front desk at a city gym called Goodlife - starting at the heinous hour of 5:15am). We've rented a bed, set up the internet, found the local - and everything's fallen into place which is just great.
The city is a vibrant place with two Universities. There are heaps of places to eat and drink and socialise, with 2 large going-out districts. The city is split in two by the Ottawa river, and on the other side is french-speaking Quebec. We haven't ventured there yet. It is very clean, and since it is not too big a city, people have not been overwhelmed by the tide of humanity and are still friendly. The famous Rideau Canal rings the city and it a great place to walk along. We were shown an outdoor 'cat house' near the parliament building where they feed and shelter stray cats. When Dave was there he met an inquisitive racoon.

Now bring on the winter!

End of the Campervan Travels

2009-09-09T15:21:00.000-07:00

The main falls at Niagara

Our final few days of travelling in the campervan have been full of excitement. After leaving New York we made a beeline for the Canadian border and Niagara Falls. The falls themselves were beautiful and amazingly scenic. We indulged ourselves with a trip on the 'Maid of the Mist', which heads right into the spray and turbulent water of the main falls. They even give you ponchos to wear - and you need them! It is loud and soaking there, and after a few minutes we turned away and coasted on the current back to dock.

Soaked

Our next stop was to visit the lovely Laura in Guelph (nearish to Toronto). We had a top afternoon and evening dining in a fabulous completely vegetarian establishment before heading to the corner pub to watch some US Open. Mel was devastated to see Roddick get knocked out, but her disappointment was easily tempered by the great conversation and laughs in good company.
Sunday was a visit to Canada's Wonderland, a huge theme park centered mostly around rollercoasters and water slides. (Why did they close the Oz Wonderland, even though it didn't compare to this one?). Mel went crazy, riding the Behem0th, The Bat and other craaazzee rides. Dave woosed out, riding only the tame Mountain Thunder, and drugging out on travel calming tablets before even entering the park! The waterslides were fabulous, including the Black Hole (guess what that is). A good day.
We drove on to Toronto, getting stuck there for a few days with some vehicle troubles. Alas. We made it to Ottawa today, our final destination in Canada in terms of the road trip.
We've had a productive day; finding a place to park the beastly van, viewing apartments, opening bank accounts, Mel had a job interview. We are at the end of this exhausting day, but feeling as if we've accomplished quite a lot.

Our final campground.

New York, New York (part II)

2009-09-02T06:22:00.000-07:00

Our few days in New York seem to have passed all too rapidly (well, for Mel at least). We made the most of our time here, seeing as much as we could and catching up with old friends.

On Sunday we met up with a school friend of Mel's who she hasn't seen in about eight years. Jess has been living in the States for seven years now, so she was the perfect guide to show us around the upper West Side. We walked through Central Park and took in some classic views of the skyline, before eating a yummy lunch at a great cafe. Our afternoon was spent down by the Hudson River, right by where that plane pilot landed his jet in the water. Thanks for being a great tour guide, Jess!

Mel and Jess in Central Park.

We have seen two Broadway shows - 'Avenue Q' and 'The 39 Steps'. Mel and Dave both had a really great time with these two comedies - plenty of laughs and some great physical comedy in both shows. There are so many options with things to see in NY, it seems that Mel is already planning a return trip to take in some more theatre. There just isn't enough time to see and do everything in only five days!

Billboards on Broadway.

Our last two days have been spent at the US Open - a long anticipated event for us. We had tickets to the Arthur Ashe stadium (the main stadium), and were lucky enough to see Kim Clijsters, the great Roger Federer and Serena Williams all on the first day! No upsets for them, in the first round at any rate. Day 2 arrived and we ended up seeing some other great players, including the world number 1 women's player, Dinara Safina. She was playing an Aussie wildcard and of all the games we saw this was the best. The Aussie took the first set from her and almost won the match at the end. The crowd was right into it and the standard was great.

Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Note from Mel: I love NY!

Catskill Mountains and New York pt 1

2009-08-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

The last week we spent in two fairly magnificent state parks - the Adirondacks and the Catskill Mountains (points for the cool park name there). Both of these are in New York State. The Catskills is quite the remote place, and we saw heaps of deer and even another bear crossing the road. Very peaceful places, although at one stage our GPS sent us on a dirt road over a mountain for 6km, the dodgiest 6km of driving you'd ever want to do in a 3,000kg campervan (we passed a 4WD on the one lane road). Well, we made it at any rate. Lucky as well, because just 150km later we sputtered into Poughkeepsie, the town we planned on taking the train to NY from. So the campervan is spending some quality time with a mechanic while we are in New York.
We've been here for 24 hours so far, and it's a super-busy place. We are staying on Manhattan, up near the northern part of Central Park. We've already taken the ferry to Liberty and Ellis islands (to see the Statue of Liberty).

We took the elevator to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. The view up there was pretty great, but if it wasn't kind of raining and completely cloudy, we think it probably would have been better.

One of the views from the top of the Empire State building.

We wandered around the bright Times Square as well.

Today Dave and Mel decided to go their separate ways and discover different sections of NYC. Mel went on a theatrical 'experience' called The Accomplice. I can't say too much about it (it kind of ruins it if you know too much about it), but lets just say that it is a Mafia-inspired trek through the streets of New York, where participants are introduced to a number of shady characters - and a frog. Mel had a great time and even managed to see a few sights through the clouds. Dave embarked on a massive walk from the South St Seaport all the way back to our hotel - a three hour journey which left him tired, but well acquainted with the city.
Tomorrow brings more shopping. Mel is planning on visiting the big stores - Macy's, JC Penney and Bloomingdales. When in Rome... In the afternoon we are going to meet up with a friend of Mel's from high school (hi Jess!) and then we're heading to the theatre to see 'Avenue Q'. Woo hoo! Here's hoping the New York weather improves so that we can see more of the city.

New England

2009-08-20T09:48:00.000-07:00

We've spent a lovely and relaxing couple of weeks back in the States. After handing over all of our firewood at the border (a pest problem they are trying to quarantine), we moved through Maine and then New Hampshire, mostly along the coast. The good news about these places is that the people are extremely friendly and the scenery is beautiful. We've been largely taking it easy, but some highlights included:

- Slogging up a small mountain in Maine; being rewarded with a superb view at the top.

- An awesome campground in Groton State Forest. We went kayaking on the lake and had a swim (the water was beautifully warm). At night steam rose off the lake and the stars were all shining brightly.- Visiting the Ben and Jerry's Ice cream factory today. Hours have passed and we still feel a bit ill.

High Tide

2009-08-10T08:21:00.000-07:00

These shots were taken 5 minutes apart (11:43am - 11:48am)

As some people know, the tides are influenced by the moon's gravitational pull on the earth. In some places and at some times, these tides are larger than elsewhere. Due to it's location and geographic peculiarities, the Bay of Fundy, on the southern shores of New Brunswick in Canada, has one of the largest tides in the world.
We visited a day or two ago, and it was quite spectacular. Have a look at these comparison photos to see the difference between high and low tide and note: we were there between 1-2 hours before the extremes of these tides (i.e. low tide was 8:40am, we were there at 10am).

These shots show the same view just 3 hours apart. The shots on the left show low tide, and on the right just one hour shy of high tide.

Campervan Fever

2009-08-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

Dave goes postal

Mel goes Toyota

Prince Edward Island

2009-08-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

We made it across the entirety of the continent! We are currently on Prince Edward Island, and while it is not the most easterly point in Canada, it is as far as you can get easily and as far we are going. In order to make it from the mainland to PEI we had to cross one of the longest bridges in North America - we think it is the longest bridge across ice-covered waters in the world! It's about 13 or 14kms, so it certainly makes an impact.

Upon arriving at our first campground in PEI, we had a little incident which provided much amusement for the rest of the campsite - we bogged the campervan. Completely. In fact, so far in were our wheels that they were declared "beyond boards" (wooden boards that would have been pushed under the wheels so that they had something to catch on to and roll over). After some very muddy pushing, pulling and sweating, we finally decided to give in and call in the cavalry in the form of the CAA. Inspired parking

A very nice tow truck driver arrived after an hour or so and attached a big steel cable to the car and pulled us out. The campervan was undamaged, although covered in mud, so we were able to just pull into another site and stay the night. Luckily, they let us stay in a different area, so we didn't have to go back and face the three enormous bikers who had stood by and laughed smugly as we were hauled out of our hole.
One of the main attractions on Prince Edward Island is the Anne of Green Gables house. The author grew up on PEI and used the island as the inspiration for her stories. Mel was very excited to wander through the house and gardens as she read the stories a lot when she was a little girl.

Wait, is that Anne? The ghost of Anne? Nope, just Mel.

We were lucky enough to be invited to stay at the potato farm of Shawna and Thys - friends we were introduced to in Australia in January this year. We got the tour of the fields and the cleaning, warehousing and bagging facility. They process a massive 20 million pounds of potatos each year. We had a nice meal tried out some potatoes fresh from the ground! Thanks for some fair dinkum PEI hospitality guys!

On the farm.

We spent a few days on the island, which was a good break from driving around over long distances. We stopped at some beautiful campgrounds, and although regular readers will be sick at looking at secondhand sunsets, the one below was a cracker.We head back to the Canadian mainland for a few days and then we will go back into the States for a while.

Ottawa and Quebec

2009-08-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

Maurice National Park - Quebec

We finished driving across Ontario and visited the city we hope to settle in, Ottawa. Both Dave and Mel really liked the city, despite its strange parking laws (apparently they don't need to tell you that there is a parking limit to be able to issue you with a fine). We carefully parked in one of the few streets without parking limitations only to discover the Kafkaesque situation where streets without any parking signs are designated three hour parking only. Of course a non-local doesn't know this, but that doesn't stop the parking officers. Luckily, a visit to the service centre afforded us a tourist exemption. We will be much more careful in the future!
Ottawa was incredibly lively when we were there, with a large restaurant district that meant we were spoilt for choice in terms of eating. We wandered through most of the city area, discovering a great used bookstore that we will be visiting again. We saw the government buildings, the CBD and the university area. We are both looking forward to returning there to live for a while.
Our next stop was Quebec. We visited a lovely national park for a couple of nights and experienced the biggest storm we've encountered. The thunder was so fierce the campervan actually shook! After our rest days in the bush, Quebec city beckoned.

An entirely non-phallic photo of Dave with a cannon in Quebec city.

The tourist section of the city is very quaint and is surrounded by a wall. It's like a mini version of a French town. It is also a very busy place, with tourists crawling out of every doorway. Thumbs up to the maple syrup museum for providing us with free candy. We appreciated that.Tourist zone - Quebec city

Our road trip continues and we are heading towards the eastern-most part of our journey - PEI. We hope to arrive there in the next few days.

Driving

2009-07-23T08:09:00.000-07:00

We have found out just how big Canada really is in the last week and a half. It turns out that just because something looks small on a map, it isn't necessarily that way in real life. We've been driving a lot, but we're seeing some beautiful places.

After crossing the plains, we have arrived at the Lake Superior region. Our drive from Thunder Bay towards Ottawa has meant that we are able to see the lake as we go - although not always as clearly as we'd hoped! It is truly enormous - all you can see is the horizon when you look across it!

We have seen some beautiful sunsets over the last few days, as shown in our piccies.

The highlight for both Dave and Mel in the last few days has definitely been our moose sightings. We've seen three, all by the side of the road, but haven't been able to take any pictures yet. Hopefully the Algonquin Provincial Park will give us an opportunity to photograph these amazing creatures. And also to say 'moose' again... Mel Mel likes that word. Other animals spotted include a bison, hummingbirds, porcupines and skunks (although we're yet to see a living version of these last two).

Crossing the plains

2009-07-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Say it three times. Out loud. Go on, you want to. That's where we are holing up for the night tonight, as we speed (kind of) across the Canadian plains from the west to the east of the country. The skies are huge here - you can see for dozens of kilometres, it's kinda cool.
We visited the Edmonton Mall yesterday, once the largest shopping centre in the world. It has an area with huge rollercoasters in it, and another area with a wave pool! Still a shopping centre at it's core though....

Calgary Stampede

2009-07-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

The view of Banff from the top of Sulfer Mountain

Dave and Mel have spent the last three days in Calgary and it has been a blast!! We were lucky enough to be able to organise our days here so that they fell over the period of the Calgary Stampede, which is the 'Biggest Outdoor Show on Earth'. It's very similar to the Easter Show, except that the main shows are the rodeo and the chuck-wagon races. The local cowboys come out and strut their stuff in the arena, and there are thousands of dollars of prize money to be won.

Some cowgirl with her recycling wagon

Calgary comes alive during Stampede. All of the locals dress in their cowboy gear - hats, boots, belt buckles - the whole nine yards! It sounds tawdry, and it sometimes is, but mostly it's just a lot of fun and a great experience. Needless to say, Mel felt the need to fit it by buying a cowboy hat. She wore it everyday, everywhere!

The Stampede itself was very energetic. We went on the lamest ride that we could find - the chair swings. Some of the others nearly made Dave vomit just by looking at them. Unfortunately for both Dave and Mel, it went a lot higher, a lot faster, and had some kind of strange dropping moment at the height of your swing.

The chuck wagon races. In the past they had to light a fire after completing the circuit of the track to actually win.

There was a really great evening show after the chuck-wagon races: The Big Show. It had amazing singers and dancers, along with some very timely fireworks throughout. Dave's favourite part were the stunt motorbike riders, who defied death by leaping over ramps and doing tricks, occasionally letting go of the motorbike or completing 360s. Very cool.

We were also lucky enough to meet up with our friend Carl. He showed us a great time on Friday night, explaining the road rules we didn't yet understand (like etiquette at four-way stop signs), and which beers were the best. We like pints!

The colourful spectacle of the Indian powwow at the Indian Village at the Stampede. Even a few Mounties got in there and shuffled around!

On Sunday we all attended a baseball game. Here's the situation: it's the bottom of the ninth and the game is tied. The home team is up to bat, 8-8 after being down 6-0. Bases are loaded, three balls, two outs, two strikes. It's all down to this one hit. The crowd are on their feet clapping and chanting as the pitcher winds up. And then.... they win! Considering this was a third rate professional game, it couldn't have been any better. We now need never see another baseball game again!

Thanks to Carl and his friends for being so welcoming to us here in Calgary. We had an amazing time! Thanks also to Treeva who took us on a great walk and showed us the north of Calgary.

The photo at the top of the post is from our last day in the Rockies. Dave climbed to the top of Sulfer mountain, a 550 metre ascent but the view made it totally worth it. We also had another dip in some hot springs at Banff.

We are now heading out to the plains. We have at least a week of driving to cover 2,500km of road, where apparently you cheer if there is a curve or hill in the road.

2009-07-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

Rampart Creek Campground - Top 2 in the World!

We've just arrived in the town of Banff and it has welcomed us by being exceedingly cold and wet. Never mind, we had a stellar day yesterday which makes up for this.

We drove from a gorgeous campsite, Rampart Creek, the second best in the world according to Dave (after Yadboro Flat, Morton National Park, Aus). We were right on a beautiful river surrounded by towering mountains. One mountain had about ten small waterfalls dropping about 100 metres. It was incredibly peaceful.
'Our' chopper

The day began with a helicopter ride over the Cline Pass! We flew past three glaciers and were able to see lots of alpine lakes and also a waterfall. We were going nearly 200km per hour in the helicopter, but it felt almost as if we were hovering! Needless to say we took masses of photos, trying to capture as much of the vista as possible. The geography of the terrain was amazing. There were different types of mountains (some that looked like castles, some that looked like the teeth of predators), and even evidence of the glacial forces which created them etched into the sides of some.

Somewhere in the air above the Rockies.

Our ride was shared by a brother and sister from Red Deer, Alberta. They were great fun and even invited us back to their campsite to hang out for a bit. When they say that Canadians are nice, they meant these two. We were even sent on our way with two difficult-to-obtain Bud Lime Lights. Apparently Canadians are crazy for this beer, and it sells out within hours of hitting the stores!

We then crossed over the Bow Pass, and were able to walk up to a viewing point which afforded us an amazing vista of Peyto Lake and the glacier which sits above it. This was gorgeous - definitely one of the most beautiful places we have stopped thus far (right).

Our final destination for the day was Lake Louise. Dave and Mel decided to walk around the lake and then up to the Six Glacier Plains - starting the walk at 5pm!! Needless to say, we didn't have too much company on the way down.

This walk moved through several different types of vegetation and scenery before eventually arriving at the base of the glaciers. We were very moved by the imposing nature of the mountains and the glaciers themselves. We were even blessed to see a beautiful rainbow on the way up, after a light rain.

Doesn't get much better than this.

As we neared the end of our walk we heard several avalanches in the surrounding mountains (one sounded like a crack of thunder). Whilst standing adjacent to one of the glaciers we heard a massive crack as the ice below us (not directly of course!), shifted. It was a thrilling experience, but a little bit scary too!

A beautiful scene in the Rockies - not sure where, but somewhere along the Icefields Parkway.

2009-07-08T13:42:00.000-07:00

Mountain view at sunset (about 10pm)

We are right in the Rockies now! A couple of days ago we stayed at an 'overflow' campground, as all the other campgrounds were full (busy season). It ended up being great, because as it was so open it had a 360 degree panoramic view of the surrounding mountains. The light lasted until about 11pm, so it was a top place to stop for the night.
We have had a few issues with the campervan. It needed two new front tyres which were close to exploding, and we've had a few coolant spills so we are having it checked out at a mechanics. When it gets the all clear we will be driving the 400km Icefields Parkway!We saw our first wild bear. Hurrah! S/he was grazing along the side of the road, thus our obscured picture. He did a little pounce at something in the moments we were there, quite cute indeed as he was a little fella. We also saw a mountain sheep.
We visited the Miette Hot Springs. They were hot, about 40 degrees, and it was very relaxing immersing ourselves. We even plunged into the cold plunge pools (Mel's record = 3 seconds).

Beginning of the Rockies

2009-07-04T13:20:00.001-07:00

The most beautiful part of our drive across Canada is just about to begin. We have entered the Rocky Mountains and already the scenery is breath-taking. The picture above is of Mel in front of Mount Robson, the highest peak in the Rocky Mountains. We were lucky enough to be able to camp at a site located at the base of the mountain, affording us some pretty amazing views.

We attended a very informative and amusing talk at the Robson campground: Put on Your Bear Goggles. Crystal, the lovely park naturalist who held the talk, gave us some much needed information on how to differentiate between grizzly bears and black bears. We now know when to back away, when to play dead, and apparently that we need to say “Whoa bear” to both of them. Bears understand English??

At the moment we are in Jasper and are going to head out to some hot springs. They look beautiful in the brochure and both Dave and Mel are looking forward to lying in the warm, warm water and doing - well, not much.

What you can see in a day

2009-06-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

Diablo Lake in the Cascades National Park, WA

And 300km later.......

Mel with Elvis impersonator Corny, and below another Elvis strutting his stuff at the Elvis Impersonation Festival, Penticton, BC.

Washington State National Parks

2009-06-26T10:45:00.001-07:00

Olympic Peninsula vista

We have spend a magnificent week or so travelling around Washington State, USA. It has been an opportunity to get used to driving and living in the campervan, and so far it has been great. We even bought a mini doormat to help keep our cosy home clean. There are a few of those typical camping-stlye chores - finding clean water, campsite, etc, but we've even managaed to 'dump' out our tanks successfully a few times!
We spent a few days circling around the Olympic Ranges National Park. It is right on the north western peninsula of Washington and is huge, with wet forests and great old trees (some up to 550 years old). We went for a walk through one forest to some natural hot springs one day, dipping our legs into the luxuriously warm water (though smelly). We also visited the Hoh Rainforest. We did several small walks, seeing mossy old trees (the moss was sometimes 1 metre long and actually waved in the wind) and crashing rivers.

Ancient mossy trees

For anyone who has read the Twilight series of books, they are set around this peninsula. We visited Port Angeles and the township of Forks, where most of the scenes are set. The townsfolk have certainly capitalised on the popularity of the novels, and you can't walk 5 metres without seeing a sign advertising Twilight memorabilia (or saying that a character 'shops here' or 'eats here'). We even went into the souvenir store which was specifically directed towards selling merchandise relating to the books - an entire store!
We visited a place called 'Ruby Beach' right on the coast (the last beach we'll see for a while!). It was protected and we saw wonderful sea stars, and driftwood. Dave wants to rename it 'skimming stone' beach as there was a river running into the sea with the best skimming stones ever! Quite amazing though - forests, rivers and the sea all in one location.

Sea stars at Ruby Beach

We spent one night in a state forest of some description. We will forever remember it as 'Bogan Woods'. We arrived at about 2 pm or so, and until 7-8pm there were about 500 shots heard further up the woods as the bogans shot every living and non-living thing in the vicinity (both rifle and shotgun blasts). To make the scene even more idyllic, 6 motorbike bogans revved their way around the campgrounds, drinking Bud and generally talking about shooting things and the Republican party.

A little friend

Happily, we then moved on to probably the best place we've been to yet - Mt Rainier National Park! The park is centred around the mountain, a magnificent snow-capped beast. It has a 93 mile walking trail circling it called the Wonderland trail. There are about 6 glaciers running in all directions down from the 14,600 foot summit (sorry for the imperial). Overall it is an astonishingly varied place. We walked through wet forests in the morning and then travelled as high up as we could get by road in the afternoon, with the temperature at 0 degrees C and snow everywhere.
Somehow Dave convinced Mel to climb to Panorama point which is at about 7,000 feet (the walk is about a 500 metre elevation over 2 miles). It was also predominantly on snow. We had the walking boots, but were bereft of snow poles. We ended up walking up through the clouds, and after an hour of fun, we decided to turn back as we heard from other walkers that we would not be able to get through the clouds even if we reached our destination. We saw a cascade mountain fox hiding in the cloud up there, and when we stopped for a quiet look around a deer appeared just 5 metres away from us on a journey somewhere. We also slipped over amusingly a few times (when we say 'we', we mean Mel).

Mel 'walking'

On the road

2009-06-17T14:19:00.000-07:00

Sunset at Porteau Cove - our first campsite on the trip

We have ducked into the United States for a couple of weeks. After crossing the border, giving our fingerprints and paying US$12 for the privilege, we travelled to a town called Anacortes and took a large ferry across to the island called Friday Harbour. To give non-locals some perspective it is a few hours up the coast from Seattle.
We are staying with a friend of ours, Nickie, and her partner and child. It is a beautiful island, well forested and extremely scenic. David was playing volleyball on the bay last night when a huge bald eagle flew majestically overhead. We have seen huge undersea kelp forests where Orcas come to feed, and done a little bit of work on an organic farm in the area. The freshest snow peas ever!

Nickie and Louise ready to go!

So far our campervan is going great. We walked into a Walmart in Vancouver, and came out with a trolley-load of gear to kit it out. You can get anything in these obscenely-large stores - from a gallon of mayonnaise to pots and pans, pillows, foodstuffs, RV tank deodeoderiser solution, camping gear, American flags, you name it. The campervan is fantastic inside - roomy and comfy. Our new GPS system makes getting around cities and towns a breeze. We only need our larger book of maps to decide which towns and regions to head for and this little gadget does the rest. It is fairly easy to drive as it ended up being an automatic vehicle. So much for all that manual practice before we left. The previous couple named the RV 'Leader of the Pack' (geddit - so slow that it's always leading a line of other cars) and we like that name so much we are tempted to adopt it if we have no inspiration of our own.

Vrooom

The scenery around this part of the world is spectacular. We drove along the 'Sea to Sky' road north of Vancouver the first day we had the campervan. It winds snugly along the coast, with snow capped mountains and forested hills complementing the ocean view. David was so awestruck he kept forgetting he was driving the vehicle!
Everything is big around here. The roads, the supermakets, the sights. We are keen to do some typical American things while we still find it new and interesting - like going through a drive through, visiting all the crappy fast food places and diners, seeing live baseball games and eating lots of coolwhip (whatever that is) and donuts. In fact the first meal we had upon crossing the border was a pizza and a jelly filled donut for Dave. Yum - we're 7 kilos heavier already :) David found 12 huge donuts for sale for $5 - no wonder there is that obesity problem in North America 0 they have to resist temptation every time they even go near a supermarket!

Birthday Wishes

2009-06-14T10:37:00.000-07:00

We want to wish a whole lot of people who have celebrated their birthdays over the last few weeks a very happy birthday:

Pete
Dad (Meldrum)
Grandma Meldrum
Kim
Stuart
Claire
Alexander (literally, as it was his actual day of birth into the world)
Mikael
And anyone else we've missed!

Hope you all had a wonderful day.

Arriving in Canada and the campervan

2009-06-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

The European part of our adventure is over and now we are starting the Canadian / North American stage - the destination that makes up the core of our trip. And so far we love it!!
We flew into Vancouver last Sunday. Long trip from Paris - about 24 hours when all the transfers and public transport and general waiting around was counted. For some reason this leg has been fairly hard on our bodies - we're feeling a lot of jetlag (wide awake at 4am anyone) and Mel has come down with a bad flu which has kept her in bed for the past 2 days feeling pretty crook.
Despite that, we have had a very successful, if not very exciting week. We started our search for our campervan straight away. Unfortunately, the sales yards we had been looking at sold out of their cheap stock just before we arrived, another promising prospect ended up being some kind of Nigerian internet scam, and another vehicle we looked at was so large it made Mel 'physically ill' to be inside of and imagine driving!
But we found our new home, restaurant and transportation and have signed the papers and registered it today. We are now the proud owners of a 1988 Okanagan Class C Campervan!

What a little beauty!

It is the biggest purchase we have ever made, both jointly and individually, so it is a big deal for us. We will be kitting it out over the next few days. The couple that sold us it kindly provided a whole lot of basic essentials like cutlery, crockery, other kitchen things, a BBQ, firewood and sheets. We plan on buying warm blankets and comfy pillows and a range of other things to make it our palace for the next few months.

Comfy mobile digs anyone?

Hopefully we will leave the youth hostel tomorrow and collect our camper and head off on the adventure. If Mel is still unwell we might hold off one more day before we go. The plan is to head south, cross the US border and visit a friend, Nickie, who lives on the island of Friday Harbour. We will pick up some gear we posted over earlier, and explore that beautiful place. Then we have about a month to explore the west coast and Rockies region.

The bed is above the drivers and passengers seats.

Vancouver itself has been great. We had to rush around a lot for the first 3-4 days, opening bank accounts, checking out campervans and doing other bureaucratic chores. We got to see a lot of the city out of bus windows!
Dave went to Stanley park for half a day. It is an amazing wooded chunk of land, just smaller than Central park in NY, filled with recreational areas, dense forest, squirrels, totem poles and other attractions. It is amazing the variety of life in the park - swans, turtles, eagles, blue herons, raccoons, ducks, the aforementioned squirrels, fish, etc.
Vancouver itself is blessed with mountains, the sea, inlets, beaches and lots of open space. The people are amazingly friendly, everyone says hello or is welcoming to you or is polite in the extreme. We swear, even old people get up for you on the bus. We keep being told that people in smaller Canadian towns and in the East are even friendlier. We like that!
Everything has worked out for the best so far, and we are both stoked to be finally on our epic cross-Canada trip.

Totem-, or story-, poles in Stanley Park.

French Adventures

2009-06-04T03:36:00.000-07:00

Paris

Paris was our first stop in France. We found our way to our hotel which was just 10 minutes walk from the Eiffel Tower, and about the size of a shoebox as expected. Legs did some hanging off the edge of the bed there.
In our walks around the city we viewed all of the typical highlights - Pont Neuf, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame, and a terrific walk through the Louvre for a few hours. A particular highlight was sitting under the Eiffel Tower at about 11pm with a bottle of wine while it lit up majestically.

Mel and Dave then parted for a day to explore on their own. Dave tried to get into the French Open at Roland Garros (no chance without a pre-paid ticket) and settled for a lovely day walking around the King's old hunting forest. Mel on the other hand continued with the mega sightseeing, visiting the Bastille, Victor Hugo's apartment, the Moulin Rouge and Montmatre. Her favourite moment was listening to an impromptu concert on the steps in front of Sacre Coeur.

Eating in Paris

We experienced both the highlights and lowlights of dining out in Paris. One night we found a lovely little restaurant located in a University district. The food was like peasant fare, hearty and filling; and the restaurant was really pretty. Sadly however, this is not the meal that remains in our mind.

The next night we chose a semi-takeaway pizza restaurant near our second hotel. If the food wasn't bad enough, the service certainly took the proverbial cake. We found little chunks of glass in the (awfully plain) pasta, reporting it to the 'chef'. He grunted and returned to the kitchen. Had he noted it? Was he preparing us another sumptuous dish as a replacement? Who could say? We got up to leave shortly after, and after he rung up the full amount, we displayed the glass, disputing the bill. He started yelling at us to pay the full amount. Dave left enough for the pizza, then turned to go. The hairy bastard then came out, grabbed his arm to try to stop him leaving, gave up on that and then threatened us with a knife and a stream of obscenities. In the end we reluctantly paid after a failed negotiation with his underling.

Bordeaux

Upon our arrival in Bordeaux we were met with quite a spectacle. It turned out that the local soccer team had become the champions of the French Soccer League the night before, and the official celebrations were still continuing. In the main park were hundreds of zealous supporters, cheering their heroes and lighting flares to show their approval. Songs were sung, applause was roundly handed out and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Dave and Mel took a little trip out to a winery in St Emilion where we were shown all of the various stages to wine-making. By far the most interesting part (other than the wine tasting!), was the cave where they store the wine. It was carved from limestone and remains a steady 12° centigrade throughout the year. A photo op if ever we saw one. Oh yeah, and the wine was nice too!

Plonk tasting

Guethery

Thanks to the kind hospitality of family Hautemont, we were able to rent a car in Bordeaux and drive down to the beachside town of Guethery, near Biarritz. We stayed in the Hautemont summer house, which was a lovely change from our hotels. The town was warm with a panoramic view of the Atlantic. We also had the unadulterated joy of being able to shop in a supermarket and cook! Thank you very much Kinou and Jean-Claude.

Toulouse

This was sadly a short stop for us. Our driving in France to this point had been rather stressful, with many an enthusiastic expletive emanating from Dave as he bravely navigated the French freeways, by-ways, tollbooths, lanes and alleys. Luckily the manual car was very forgiving to drive. We were only able to wander the streets of Toulouse for two hours, but were both delighted by the canal and bridges, as well as the beautiful gardens and fountains in the city. Mel was particularly overjoyed to see a rotunda with flowers in the shape of Mickey and Minnie Mouse surrounding it.

Toulouse in the summertime

Carcassonne

After another stressful drive (our habit was to enter a place with no map, or a super-lame printed one), we stayed in this walled city for the night. Wonderful castle, lofty parapets and ramparts were to be found. Cool samba drum players banged away on the outskirts (for hours - did'nt their arms get tired?) and we slept in the pinkest room imaginable (great [pink] bed though).

Montpellier
Now we've dropped off the dratted car and are catching the train back to Paris tomorrow. All we have seen of Montpellier so far is this internet cafe! Our time in Montpellier was short and sweet. We took a walk into the suburbs in the evening and then relaxed with a few beers at a very cool cafe in one of the squares in the centre of the town. The weather blessed us here with warmth and sun, so staying out late in the beautiful evening, having dinner and drinks was just what the doctor ordered.

Paris Again!!

Thanks once again to our gracious hosts, Kinou and Jean-Claude, we have been able to stay in Paris for our final European days. We were treated to some beautiful dinners and entertaining conversations, as well as the most comfortable doona either Dave or Mel have ever experienced.

One fun day was spent at Disneyland Paris, where we made ourselves sick (and in saying ourselves, it was mainly Dave), riding rollercoasters and eating fairy floss. A day well spent.

The happiness of spun sugar

Tomorrow we will move on to our ultimate destination, Canada!

Sporty Sweden

2009-05-28T01:28:00.001-07:00

Svana Gard (Swan farm)

We've spent the last few days in amazing Sweden with our friend Mikael.

We were lucky enough to be able to visit his parent's property, Svana Gard, which is right on the 12th largest lake in Sweden (there are thousands).

Sunset on the lake at around 9:30pm.

It is such a pristine, scenic and peaceful place. Mel ran around with the puppy dog, we walked around, sat in the sun at the lake, and when we got a little more adventurous later in the afternoon jumped into the brisk water.

For Dave it has been a boy's own paradise with Mikael. The boys played tennis (8 sets in 2 days), a friendly soccer match (our team won 7-4 with the Aussie ring-in scoring one!), ping pong and Kubb (an ace Swedish game). Mel also found a local gym and joined it for a couple of days, mincing her poor leg muscles through a number of intense classes.

Mel and Dave went to visit a canal just outside the town on Linköping which completely bisects the country from left to right.

We timed it so we could see a boat moving up about 15 metres or so through a series of 3 locks. Really cool (actually it was literally really cold that morning!). We also visited the chocolate factory in a nearby town and stocked up on weird Swedish chocolate (some Plopp anyone?).

Last night topped off our sporting couple of days with a visit to the local bowling club to watch the Champions League final . Loads of fun - thanks Mikael for being the perfect host and such a good sport.

And while all that sightseeing occurred

2009-05-22T09:12:00.001-07:00

As Mel said in her last blog, Dave spent a few days with a friend in the unknown (outside Germany) town of Mönchengladbach. We took a day trip cycling along the Rhine river in Düsseldorf, had a barbie one night with friends and went for a walk or two. Just nice to be able to relax for a few days, meet some local people and cook something myself!

David doing his best 'Earl' impression next to Patricia at the Rhine.

Curently we are in Bremen, Germany visiting another friend for a few days, and then Sweden awaits. Thanks Susanne and Patricia for your kind hostessing! In the backyard at Susanne´s parents house in Bremen.

Mel Mel does Berlin

2009-05-22T06:19:00.000-07:00

Mel Mel at Schloss Charlottenburg.

This post is just from my point of view. I spent a few days in Berlin alone whilst Dave visited a friend of his on the other side of the country. As this is my first time in continental Europe, I thought I would show what I have been up to.

Berlin was a bit of a revelation to me. I didn´t really know what to expect and I wans´t even sure that I would like it that much. Happily, when I arrived and found my hostel (after some minor U-Bahn and S-Bahn confusion), I was transported into a very cool world with a lot to see.

Before we make it there though, I would like to make one comment about my adventures in Salzburg. For those who know me well, you´ll understand that no trip to Salzburg would be complete without going on a Sound of Music tour. And so I did. I did not make Dave come with me though, which surely has to earn me some points in the good girlfriend book! I have attached a photo of me outside surely the most important stop - the Gazebo! This is where the song Í am Sixteen´was filmed and Liesl ran around on top of the seats. I think you can probably see from my expression that I am pretty excited to be there.

Okay, back to Berlin. I stayed in a cosy little place called ´David´s Cosy Little Backpacker Hostel´- seriously. It was perfect for my needs though as they didn´t take any groups larger than three people, and it was in a really quiet little street, as shown in my photo below. The only truly disturbing thing was that although you needed two keys to enter through the three outside doors (two into the courtyard and then one into the actual building), once you were in the hostel, you couldn´t lock your room dooor. I was a bit freaked out by this, even more so when I was awoken one morning by a hostel worker knocking on the bedroom door next to me, calling out, ´Sir. Sir! Are you in there? The police have been calling and you´re late for your appointment this morning.´ Not the most comforting of things to hear!!

None the less, nothing bad happened to me, and David himself was a really lovely guy. The location is excellent and the rooms are really comfy. I only have positive things to say (mainly!) about the hostel, so I was happy I chose that one out of the millions which are available in Berlin.

The majority of my time in Berlin was spent walking - for hours. With the sun not setting until about 10pm it is easy to become lost in the sights of Berlin. As someone who had only limited time, I found this fantastic! My feet, however, were less impressed with my excess pedestrian action and showed their displeasure via several excrutiatingly large blisters. I persevered, though, and the following piccies are of my sightseeing days.

Berlin has an amazing amount of history, which I found out about during my walking tour. One rather amusing story that was relayed to me was about the TV tower. During the time that Berlin was split in two, the powers that be on the Eastern side wanted to show that they had just as much technological prowess as the Western side. So they decided to build a television tower to show just how fantastic they were. Unfortunately for them, they didn´t know how to do it, so they had to get the Swedes in to design it for them.

The man who commissioned the tower was a Communist and also an atheist. Before the tower was built, he had spent a long time removing all the crosses from churches throughout Berlin to get rid of any religious symbolism. Sadly, when the tower was completed he realised that when the sun shone on it a giant cross was created that could not be removed. Sucked in, I say!!

I walked down Friederichstrasse, which was known as the Cabaret Mile. There were more than 120 cabaret clubs there at one stage, including the Kit Kat Club (´Life is a cabaret old chum...). Marlena Dietrich was also discovered there, performing in one of the cabarets. Cool!

I visited the Jewish Museum as well as the monument for murdered Jews. They were incredibly touching places, especially the museum. The architectural and artistic design of the museum is extremely effective in conveying a sense of loss and emptiness. The design of the museum is zigzag and in the lower section there are three axes - the Axis of the Holocaust, the Axis of Exile and the Axis of Continuity. In lots of spaces around the building there are intentional voids - large areas which have been left empty and without light or heating - to convey the missing Jewish people who were killed during World War Two.

By far the best example of the design was in the Garden of Exile. It is a large, rectangular area with enormous blocks which tower into the sky. Althoguh the space is an exact rectangle, the ground is uneven, and so in walking through it you are completely disoriented. It actually creates a feeling of physical sickness and discomfort, especially when you get out of it. The idea is that this is how exiled people feel when they are forced to leave their country and begin again somewhere foreign. This design is very similar to the memorial for murdered Jews, which is in the picture below.

I must say though, that this memorial has nowhere near the emotional and physical impact that the Garden of Exile has. Sadly for the group who commissioned the memorial, it has not been very successful. The location where they built it ended up being on top of Goebel´s bunker, which they didn´t realise until more than half way through the building process. They also realised at the end that it is a ´poorer copy´(not my words, but my sentiments) of the Garden of Exile. It is a great shame that something which is so important has ended up being such a great disappointment.

No trip to Berlin would be complete without a trip to the remainder of the Berlin Wall. I was lucky when I was there, because some areas near the Brandenburg Gate had been closed down to set up for a celebration on the weekend, and I was able to take some pictures of the line that the wall followed down the street. I didn´t know many of the stories of escape over the wall prior to going to Berlin and I did hear a good one. A man who worked in the Ministry building next to the wall as a cleaner took his wife and child up to the top and hid inside over a weekend. On the Saturday night they threw a big wire flyingfox line (or whatever!) across to friends waiting on the Western side and then slid down the line over the wall. No one found out until the Monday when they noticed the dirty big wire coming down from the building. Needless to say, security was tightened after that!

I visited Bebelplatz, which is where the Nazi´s burned 20, 000 books. There is a great memorial there, which is just a white room. On all four walls are empty bookcases, to remind us of all the books that the Nazi´s destroyed. Luckily for us, all of the books that they burned are still able to be found somewhere else today, so they didn´t accomplish their goal. There is a big plaque in front of it with a quote from someone who lived through the Spanish Inquisition which says something along the lines of ít is impossible to burn a book, as the knowledge cannot be lost´. A great sentiment. Sad, though, that humans seem to be making the same mistakes over and over again.

Just two more memories, for those of you who have persevered all the way to this point! The absolute best museum for anyone going to Berlin is the Pergamon Museum. Located on Museum Island, it contains ancient architecture which has been recovered by archaeologists and reconstructed inside the museum. When you walk in the first thing you see are the front steps of the Altar of Pergamon. It is just enormous - easily 30 metres across and taking up the entire wall. It is only about a third of the entire structure and is made of marble. Around the walls they have the bits of the reliefs that they were able to find, which depict a great battle between the gods and the giants. The gods won, for anyone who is interested. There are fantastic scenes of Zeus getting ready to throw his thunderbolts and Nike and Athena slaughtering various giants. Not all of the pieces are there, and some that are loook pretty weatherbeaten, as you can imagine. Still - it is a sight to be seen.

Other rooms contain Roman, Mesopotopian and Islamic structures and facades. I was absolutely fascinated and had I more time, I could have easily spent hours wandering through. Just the sheer size of the structures is enough to make your jaw drop.

Finally, the Reichstag. I am telling you now, Canberra has some serious catching up to do in terms of impressive parliament buildings. This thing is massive, and can be seen from several different locations in the city. It is not only the size that impresses, or the age, but the atmosphere which surrounds it. There is a feeling of solemnity which makes me feel that perhaps somewhere inside, people are making important decisions which will affect many people. It has only been in the last few years that the German parliament has returned to the Reichstag and I hope that the awe-inspiring architecture will help them to make lots of good decisions for their people.

I am going to leave you with some pictures of the other places I went. I had to buy a new camera before I left, because my old one broke in the car park at Sydney International Airport. I have been able to experiment a bit more, and the resolution is a lot better, so here are some of my better pics for your viewing enjoyment.

Brandenburg Tor at sunset.

The Museum of Communication.

A pretty church. The other side is on the Lustgarten on Museum Island.

The back gardens at Schloss Charlottenburg.

The Photo One

2009-05-22T05:44:00.001-07:00

Now that we have access to a decent computer we will take the opportunity to post some photos from the last week or so.

The Big Buddha of Phuket - visible from nearly everywhere on the island.

The copper version of Michelangelo's David. And some chump. In Florence.

Mel provides some much needed support for the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Loving icecream (a little bit too much) in Venice.

A typical view of Venice from one of the bridges.

The view from our Salzburg B&B with the glorious Austrian Alps in the background.

Beerlicious.
Traunstein, Bavaria, Germany. Thanks Andi.

The entrance to Dachau concentration camp outside Munich.
Translation - 'Work Makes Free'.

2009-05-16T10:18:00.001-07:00

What a difference a week makes. We are currently in Munich, and have already visited Florence, Pisa, Venice, Salzburg and Traunstein. The travel has been very hetic, but we've certainly enjoyed our first class tickets on the train system. A big difference from sitting around on the beach for a week!

Yesterday we toured around Salzburg, which is a beautiful city, ringed by the Austrian Alps. We strolled around the old town, ate apple strudel at the river, Mel went on a Sound of Music tour while Dave climbed a nearby hillside and found a mountaintop beer garden. We met a friend, Andi, a German from across the border. He took us to his hometown in the evening, where we drank massive 1 litre beers and ate pretzels with over a thousand Bavarians, many in traditional dress (yes, lederhosen), and singing traditional German songs. Terrific!

Today we visited the Dachau concentration camp outside Munich. Quite a sobering experience, with thousands brutalised and murdered. 'Never again' was the simple message at the memorial. They have retained the sign on the entrance door to the camp which says 'Arbeit machts frei' or 'Work makes free'. It felt a bit trite to walk in and out of the place knowing that when prisoners were taken there, unless they were released, not one single person escaped from the camp in it's 13 year history (unless suicide by electrified fence or being shot by the guards counts as 'escape').

We had a great time in Italy earlier in the week. We spent three days in Florence, which was amazing. I think that it is Mel`s favourite place so far. The accomodation at the camping ground was okay (in tents), but the view was absolutely stunning. We were next to the Piazzale Michelangeolio (sp?), which is where the copper statue of Michelangelo's David is. Our view was of the city of Florence, including the Duomo. Just as beautiful in the middle of the night as it was in the middle of the day.

Venice was an interesting but busy day. We walked for four or five hours, getting lost in the mazy streets alongside the canals.

In Florence we saw first hand how the police approach the problem of fake goods sellers. As we waited in line for the Uffizi Gallery we had the opportunity to watch a shifty looking dude with a large cloth bag full of fake designer handbags slung over his back wander around. Every fifteen minutes or so he would change position on the street so that he wouldn't be found by the police. There were lots of dodgy guys like him selling rip off merchandise, always on the lookout for the fuzz. After 20 minutes a couple of Florence's finest wandered past and watching all the dodgy dudes run was great. The police, however, didn't quite manage to even make it to a trot, but it seemed to have the same effect.

We're off on other adventures in Germany over the next week.

More photos to come.

Monkey Business

2009-05-07T05:27:00.000-07:00

A God statue on Karon beach - near where we're staying at the moment.

Week three in Thailand and we have had some exciting times. Well, I suppose for readers of this blog, not all of them will thrill, but we got a kick out of them.

The Cat. For those of you who know Dave and Mel well, you will be aware of our devotion to the humble kitty. Happily, there are many kitties running around Thailand and most are friendly.

Our first encounter with a group of kitties was in our favourite restaurant in Khao Lak - DTime. There was a group of about 4 white kittens who were happy to come for a cuddle, climb the nearest tree or steal your chair (with you in it), while you ate your dinner. Thank you kitties, for your cute amusement.

The next kitty is the one in the photo above. This little feller joined us for dinner at our resort in Khao Lak one evening. He was a bundle of vocal affection and as you can see, Dave was the favoured person. When our mashed potatos came out covered in bacon (grrr), it was this little champion who bravely ate the dirty meaty bits for us. We salute you Khao Lak Kitty!

Our final kitty adventure was by far the most annoying. On our first morning at the Centara Villas in Karon Beach we had a furry companion in the restaurant who was determined to let everyone know he was there. Loudly, up a tree on some lattice-work in the ceiling, present at breakfast. Finally a brave waiter climbed up a ladder and 'rescued' the miaowing, biting and scratching feline. A memorable, but less attractive kitty memory.

Mel at dinner on the beach at Khao Lak.

And so on to Karon Beach. We are enjoying our time in Karon as it is slightly larger than the two other beaches we've stayed at. Less crazy than Patong, it still offers some nightlife and shopping, so there is plenty to do.

We made a foray into the exciting world of white water rafting the other day - cool. Dave and Mel were 'lucky' enough to make it into the raft with the craziest guide going. He made his entry to our vessel by jumping off a nearby bridge into the river and then climbing into our raft. Interesting. He incited his new crew members to spend the entire 5 km journey attacking other rafts by ramming them and splashing (somehow this particular word does not quite convey the violence that the water found its way into other rafts) other people.

Overall, really cool.

A beautiful Thai temple that we saw.

Finally, the title. We stopped at the Monkey Cave on the way to the rafting and met some cute and less cute critters. There were monkeys everywhere, and the call of "Banana monkey welcome!!!" was enough to drive Dave and Mel to insanity.

Anyway, we have posted a piccie of a monkey we saw. Unfortunately for him, seconds after this photo was taken he somehow managed to fall about 4 metres to the ground off his perch and landed with the most disturbing 'splat' either of us had ever heard. He seemed okay though and lived to eat another banana.

The cutest monkey was the one who slid on his back down a corrugated iron roof. It seems that fun can be found anywhere, especially if you're a monkey.

Where is the Buddhist love?

2009-05-04T02:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes finding vegetarian fare is hard. After avoiding one restaurant last night due to the lack of vego options, we went into another one with just a few more choices. We ordered chips and three salads, the only three on the list of 10 without meat in the ingredients. We were negligent vegetarians in that we didn't specifically ask, but still we were a bit irritated when they came out all filthified with prawns, tuna and scallops. And one was the garden salad. What kind of garden do these people have!?
So we ate our chips and went back to our room for a potato cup-a-soup which kicked arse.
There are only about 5 types of stores here. Tailors, massage places, rip off clothes and electronics stores, souvineer stores and tour operators. The tailors are the worst for sure (we avoided one area of our first resort for the entire week because the store owner kept asking us to come into his store). We were walking in the evening this week and went past a massage joint. The 5 or 6 women sitting around out the front all chorused 'massage' as we went past. We have resisted and not bought a tailored suit so far....

KhaoLak

2009-04-28T21:00:00.000-07:00

We've moved on to our second location - KhaoLak. If you're going to spend 9 months travelling you have to start slow!

Coincidently, we've landed in two of the most tsunami devastated places along this coast of Thailand. You wouldn't know it though - in 5 years they've completely repaired and revitalised the towns. All that remains is a tsunami museum, lots of signs about tsunami safe zones, and presumably some suffering hearts and minds of people. Amazingly, on one of the signs detailing where to run screaming/ ride/ drive to when escaping an incoming tsunami they had a 'tourist route' and a 'local route' of escape. The poor locals are second best even when it comes to escaping a tsunami! (I heard from a local that to reduce the massive road death count over the Thai new year (about 450 in a week), the government voted on a bill to stop the sale of liquor in the three days preceding, as drink-driving is a big cause of these deaths. It was voted down becasue it might irritate tourists to stop the sale of alcohol).

For those that have been to a tropical land before (or live there already - hello Brisbane at times), it's very hot! About 30-35 degrees here everyday. Sweating is a strange business. Usually I notice it when I sweat, i have to do something to earn that sweat. Now I have to sometimes ask Mel if I'm sweating or not. It just kind of seeps out of the skin unnoticed (unless you've been walking for a while and then you are about 100% sweat). That brings us neatly on to the subject of asian tourists. In the first resort we stayed at there were a lot of asian tourists from China, Singapore, Hong Kong etc. After a day or two we noticed their prediliction for wearing matching outfits. On the last day at breakfast 4 out of the 5 other couples eating were wearing matching clothes - some including matching shoes, shorts and t-shirts, often with silly Chinglish phrases. The best I saw were two pairs getting off a longtailed boat at Phi Phi island. The water was swirling around making them very ungainly which was even funnier. One pair had black swimmers with gold trim (a lot of gold trim), and the other pair were wearing only matching long pyjama pants (blue for him, pink for her) with love hearts! We now plan to wear only matching wardrobes from now on.

The view from our room at the moment

We both had splendid days yesterday. Mel went out diving in the Similan islands. She saw turtles, a shark and shoals of colourful fish. I'll let her tell you about that another day.

I hired a motorscooter for the day. It cost me, wait for it, AUS$12 including fuel for 24 hours. When I asked how much fuel I should return it with they told me that was 'up to me'. I rode to a couple of waterfalls during the day, including hours of riding through farmland and plantations and along the beachfront. It's the best way to get around! - with a nice soft breeze against your face as you ride. I did a couple of monster uphill bush-bashes past these waterfalls (basically up big slopes alongside them). Very sweaty but super fun, until the trails inexplicably disappeared in the middle of the jungle which all looks the same. Luckily I had rivers nearby to navigate by. Mostly it was hanging on to vines and little trees for support along the way, to stop from slipping down the leafy and clay covered slopes. I did manage to avoid grabbing any of the vines with inch long mega spikes on them though, or any snakes (like in the cartoons you know).

The spiky ones.

I also found a pretty amazing little shrine in one of the forests. And scared off a massive lace monitor-type creature getting there.

We found our favourite restaurant in town - because they have three kittens which are very cute and fun to play with and like climbing the tree outside.

The cocktails are cheap and the views scenic. You can buy banana pancakes along the side of the road. We have a complimentary thai massage for this afternoon. Now that's what I call paradise.

Kamala Beach relaxation zone

2009-04-26T03:51:00.000-07:00

After a monster 18 hour trip from door to door, we arrived at our destination in Phuket, Thailand on Monday, midnight Sydney time. But the trip was completely worth it! We're both absolutely loving Phuket. Let's start with the temperature. Almost a constant balmy 30-something degrees, water temperature like a bath, and once you exit the water the ambient temperature is slightly higher, leaving one feeling relaxed and warm. White noise - everyone's favourite sleeping medium. We've got breezes, ocean noise, crickets and cicadas, birds, water flowing. We're basically asleep or close to it 99% of the time (Mel = 100% of the time).
The driving culture came as a slight surprise, although we're pretty much used to it now. Motorbikes outnumber cars, and the driving is adventurous. Basically you can do anything on a bike here. Some examples:

5 people on one bike - Mum, Dad, and three kids
Bike as changetable - why not change your baby's nappies on the main street on the bike?
Ladies riding along, wearing thongs, and with their handbags over their shoulder
Chicks riding sidesaddle (it's not a horse!)
The majority of people not wearing helmets (huge death rate apparently)
Bikes overtaking cars which are overtaking other bikes
Cops riding two on a little bike (a bit emasculating really) and being overtaken by everyone, including the guys on the pink bikes (quite common).

Tuk tuks are also fun - you kind of hold on as they press the accelerator and not the brake...

The resort is simply stunning - for once the tourist magazines or pictures on the internet don't lie. Located up on a kind of vegetated slope, pools with swim up bars overlook the ocean and there are plenty of sunbeds for the lounge lizards to lie on. The birds are quite pretty and melodious, but they also have indian minor creatures. Mel returned from a trip to the bar one time while Dave had been sitting on a lounge chair. She noted that there was an Indian minor with something in it's mouth and wasn't it cute. Dave replied that it was actually the head of a cicada, which it had been viciously thrashing, dissecting, biting the head off, and basically mangling for the past few minutes. That changed the tone didn't it!

The Thai language is quite soothing also, fairly soft and almost birdlike. They're quite funny sometimes too - you'll be wandering past a shop or through one, and you'll hear a birdlike 'shopping, shopping.' Well, more like browsing really, but thanks for telling me.

We've been on a couple of neat day trips out to islands and around bays. Lovely snorkelling and scenery.

One more story - we've been trying to be good about not drinking any water here except bottled stuff. One night at a restaurant on the beach, we forgot to ask for no ice. Quickly realising it, and making sure the waitress wasn't watching, Mel scooped out the ice and chucked it in a pot. It reminded us of that Mr Bean episode where he gets served raw meat and hides it all over his table!

Till next time.

Dave and Mel

A bottom poke and a farewell

2009-04-19T04:15:00.000-07:00

So you're at a farewell party, it's getting late, and you're chatting with your friends. Suddenly, some drunk 20 year old starts poking your arse. This happened to Mel Mel just last night. Rounding on this doofus, she proclaimed: 'stop touching me, if you touch my butt one more time I'm going to slap you across your face'. Chastised, loser-boy sloped off to the rest of his mates. Deciding, in a brilliantly drunken kind of way, to redeem his shattered manhood, he decided to return to the scene not 30 seconds later to steal Mel's full beer and proceed to sit back down and start drinking it. After a few incredulous and exasperated looks amongst the group, our cop friend walked over, placed himself with some body-language panache above Mr Cool, and told him he'd been a very bad boy. One of his mates pulled out the classic ' What are you going to do about it then?', earning the beautiful retaliation of a drawn cop badge and 'this is what I'm going to do about it'. 10 minutes and a new beer for Mel later, the party continued.

The moral of this fable: Don't send your children to private or single-sex schools; they won't know how to relate to the opposite sex for years afterwards.

Thanks to everyone who came to our farewell drinks, and for your well wishes. Thanks if you couldn't make it but also gave us your bon voyages. We're all packed and prepped, and ready to set forth for 9 months of adventure. We'll be thinking of you all along the way. No guarantees of keeping this up-to-date in the early 'whoopee' stages early in the piece, but if you'd like to know what we're up to, bookmark it and come back every so often.

For those of you we haven't bored with the detail, or those with shocking memories, we're heading to Thailand first and then on to a quick 4 weeks in Europe.

Dave and Mel