Great Ocean Road & Grampians

On Monday morning, we got up to hire a car so that we could start our little adventure! We got to the rental place nice and early and loaded our belongings and selves into the car. I turn the car on and I was about to throw it into drive when I realized we had gotten a STANDARD car! We went back in to ask for a automatic car, but the last one just drove off with other excited adventure seekers. Well, now was the time to put all my standard driving lessons to the test. I didn't feel overly confident, but I knew it was something I could do. Embarrassingly enough, I didn't realize the emergency break was on while becoming frustrated that I couldn't even get the car into first in a parking lot. Once I realized that that was the problem, we were off. But not for long. The stop and go traffic, combined with my sisters inability to give directions left us stalling at green lights and creating some sort of traffic drama. 

I got her all figured out on our way to the Great Ocean Road. Not the easiest thing to on my first time driving standard, but I did well on the first day. I got some old man towing a camper really revved up when I accidentally stalled going up a hill. He knocked on our window (the one that didn't roll down) and tried to be angry at us. That's the funny thing about people. They often waste too much of their energy being angry at little things instead of choosing to avoid it and be happy instead.

Getting some pictures near Angelsea Lighthouse!

I was able to show my sister many sights along the way. We stopped at Torquay Beach, Erskine Falls, Angelsea, Lorne and spotted some cute koalas along the way! Johanna Beach was our last stop of the day which is where we set up camp for the night. It was easy enough to just pull the ladder of our tent down and it just pops up on top of the car roof. It's rather silly looking but mega easy to set up and take down. We watched the sunset on the beach. It was spectacular! 

Our little Wicked Campervan set up in Johanna Beach.

Johanna Beach sunset!

After a long night of not sleeping, but shivering instead, we cranked the heat in the car and drove off making stops at the Twelve Apostles and walking the trails of Loch Ard Gorge and Thunder Cave!

The Twelve Apostles!

We got to Warrnambool around noon and hadn't eaten yet as we needed propane for our camp stove. We found a K-Mart and stocked up on some propane and a proper blanket for the following nights. We cooked our brekky sandwiches right in the parking lot and stole the nearby Hungry Jack's WiFi to Facetime! 

We decided to head up to the Grampians next. We had seen a lot of coast and were looking forward to get into the "mountians." Which, in Australia, the mountains are no Rockies and in comparison, quite small. Beautiful nonetheless. 

Once again, my navigator had gotten us lost, but it was all about the adventure! Siri lead us back to the main road after we ventured off onto a few farm roads with gravel as orange as, well, an orange! 

Heading into the Grampians, we got some awesome views of mountains and it was nice being one of the very few people travelling along the road! 

We made our way through the bottom half of the Grampians swerving to avoid Kangaroos, Emus, Possums and other miscellaneous wildlife along the road. When we arrived at a campsite called Jimmy's Creek, we decided we would set up our little tent there for the night. After the two minute set up, we took off on an adventure walk, which basically ended up being an unmarked path to no where - but it was 2km straight up hill in the 32 degree heat! Some killer views though! When we got to the other side of the path, we were completely lost since all the landmarks we noticed were not on the map! So, we just started walking - eventually finding a 4x4 track and making our way back. We returned to find a few guests in our campsite! To take a shower, we filled up an old metal pail that had a shower head on it, filled it up with river water and hoisted it up on the chain for it to pour down. It was funny but made me realize how much water only a quick shower uses. 

One of our camp site visitors!

Up early the next day to explore more of the Grampians! We really wanted to see the falls that were near by, which by how the map had it laid out meant it was only a short drive on an unsealed (gravel) road. Well, the gravel road ended and turned to sticks and stones. After twenty minutes of driving on that, we decided to turn around and forget those falls. Luckily, we found some others. I like to climb rocks and anything that looks remotely climbable. In no time I was up on top of the Silverhead Falls with my sister on my should saying "get down now!" No thank you. 

From there, we ventured on to Halls Gap and many popular lookout places such as Boroka Lookout and The Balconies. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see Mackenzie Falls (although we tried) as they had it completely blocked off since a fire recently wiped through the area causing a lot of damage. At all the lookouts, they had fences that acted as safety boundaries and although my safety guru sister yelled at me, I like to think of them more as suggestions. It's really a lot nicer if you just step a smidgen outside the fence and take a look at a view that everyone else is missing from standing inside the boundary. You can't dangle your feet off a cliff from a walking path! 

Views from Boroka Lookout!

We ended up hiking to the top of another mountain later on in the evening after trying to find a place to camp out, but failing and going through another series of dirt roads and getting the car awfully dirty! All the views were 10/10 and completely and totally awesome! I hope I will get another chance to visit the Grampains again before my time in the area expires!

We ended up camping back at Jimmy's Creek again and our guest came back just as we sat down for some dinner. Perfect timing dude!

The entire trip was quite the adventure and provided some great sister time! This morning as we drove back down a quiet highway, we past about five small "one-horse towns" - all without gas stations. We rode on the fuel light for a good half an hour. I was starting to get slightly worried as my phone had little service and I wasn't exactly sure of our location. Luckily, we found a fuel station and filled her up. The whole time we were riding with little fuel, I just knew we would find a "servo" because I didn't feel like having bad luck today. Ha Ha! Always think happy thoughts!!

Thanks for following along on my adventure. In a few days we are headed up to Sydney to meet with the rest of my family! 

Lessons from a Wonderful Year

It is officially the last day of the year. While I'm not one to pick and choose favourite seasons, I do reserve a soft spot in my heart for December because of the holidays. This December though was unlike all other, and though I don't necessarily miss the cold, I sometimes wish I could wake up to frosted windows and falling snow. Even though Melbourne weather is highly unpredictable, snow just isn't in the cards. 

I started 2013 in a completely different atmosphere than I am ending it, which leaves me to wonder what is in store for the year to ahead. At the beginning of the year, I had no idea I would be living and teaching in Australia or that the experiences I am having would be real. 

I feel like nearly everything I did this year was wonderful and caulked full of new experiences so I thought I could leave you with some lessons that I've learned through the year! 

You can do anything you set your mind to (and don't let anyone tell you that you can't!) This isn't necessarily something I've only learnt this year, but it was a big part of my year. If you want something, get after it, it will probably take hard work and persistence, it may challenge you, but always keep in mind the outcome. And, if someone has the nerve to tell you that you can't, let that be your fire to prove them all wrong! 

Someday doesn't exist. If you are given an opportunity to do something, do it! There are too many times in conversation where I will hear people promise themselves "someday I will." The truth is that the "someday" that they are banking on doesn't exist; never has, never will. Don't make excuses to push an opportunity beside, don't promise yourself a day that has not come. Get out there and do it now! 

Always choose happiness. Sure, at times happiness isn't always the easiest choice, I get that, but if you aim to choose happiness in the morning and in a bad situation, you may be likely to live a happier life. You can't go back and un-do whatever it is that's got you down, so why be mad about it? Be happy, enjoy life and don't waste your time being grouchy!

Smile. I can bet that a smile signifies the same this worldwide: happiness. Smiling is contagious, makes you happy, makes others happy, makes you look good and had the possibility of evolving into laugher. That's a serious win, win situation. (I'm smiling now, are you?)

Get your butt out of bed! Although I used to always sleep in on the weekends, I never enjoyed it, I just enjoyed sleeping. I'm up everyday, no matter what, by 5:30-6am and it feels great! You can get so much accomplished all before noon and still have an entire day of unlimited possibilities ahead of you. And, when you wake up, begin with a smile! 

Travel. Do it. Go near, go far. Just go! Experience something new. Meet new people. Listen to others stories. Eat. Drink. Emerge yourself in a new culture. Dance with waves of he ocean. See the world. Stand in awe at the edge of a cliff wondering if there could ever be anything more beautiful. Reward yourself be feeling more alive than you thought possible. 

Perhaps you could say my lessons could be a little advice to anyone. Maybe they sound like cliches, but cliches are cliches for a reason - they work. 2013 has been a wonderful year, but I'm so excited to welcome 2014! Five days from now I will be off the travel the East Coast of Australia, a month after that my sister will arrive for some long overdue sister time, followed by my family. Shortly after that, my mates and I may head off to New Zealand. I hope for a chance to see Uluru and Tassie before I leave. 

With all this excitement, the year is bound to fly by. Before I know it, I will be back in Canada seeing all the beautiful faces that I left behind, and that is something else I am totally looking forward to! 

It's Christmas Time!

Although a bit of Christmas lives inside of me year round, it is now officially the holiday season, my favourite time of the year! This Christmas is defiantly going to be different for me as there is no need for cozy sweaters, warming up near the fireplace or family time. It is quite strange to think of summer and Christmas together, but that is how it is here in Australia! Rather than shopping with a Christmas Latte in hand, I am walking to the beach in the hot hot heat with an iced coffee! 

A few weekends back, the girls and I went to the opening of Christmas Square in Melbourne! This is actually known as City Square, however it transforms into a magical Christmas square in December. We watched as the real Christmas tree was lit for the first time this year. They also did a projection show onto the Town Hall building! It was amazing!

Check out the video of our Christmas Square experience: 


Melbourne has gone all out in Christmas decorations. The Myer (a department store) windows are decked out and play a puppet show from Jan Brett's book "Gingerbread Friends." People actually queue up for up to two hours to see the amazing window! I was lucky enough to go for a walk early in the morning and see them without waiting in a massive line.

Although I'm not sure what we are actually doing for Christmas, I've heard that the norm is BBQ and Beach so we just might have to do that!

Other than Christmas I am SO looking forward to January as the girls and I have booked in a 25 day adventure along the East Coast of Australia!!

Vegemite Surprise

So, a few months ago when we first arrived in Melbourne I had tried some Vegemite on a piece of toast at the hostel. It was horrible and I swore I would never try it again. HOWEVER, there are students almost everyday that bring Vegemite sandwiches in their lunches. "But Miss, it is so yum!" they say.

Yesterday after school while picking up some groceries at Cole's, I stumbled upon the Vegemite section (yes, there is an entire Vegemite SECTION!) "Well" I thought, "maybe I'm missing something, there's got to be something good about it if everyone here likes it." So, I picked up a jar for myself! 

Once home, I spread it heavy onto a slab of toast and despite the smell of it, I told myself I would enjoy it. That wasn't the case. That will NEVER be the case. I was in the bathroom straight away spitting it out and cleaning out the horrible taste from my mouth. 

So now I'm left with a jar of Vegemite. For as much as a tiny jar costs, there's no way I'm tossin' it into the rubbish bin! After I realized Jenna and Eric were coming over, I knew what I had to do...

Let's just say, I better watch my back from now on. Prank war is among us!

KAITS :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

While it's Thanksgiving weekend for everyone back in Canada, this weekend was just a regular ole weekend for us down under. Australians don't celebrate Thanksgiving, probably because the differences in how Australia and North America settled. However, I do believe they have a National Day of Thanks sometime in May. 

Just because Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here, doesn't mean we didn't break out the fine china and dive into a well prepared meal. We celebrated anyway...on a budget. We got a roasted chicken, Jenna made mashed potatoes, Megan prepared a salad, Eric was in charge of gravy (no one ate the gravy..Haha) and I opted to make dessert, as per usual.

Now, when you think dessert at Thanksgiving time you think of pumpkin pie. Actually, whenever us Canadians think of the word pumpkin, we almost always follow it with pie. It like the two words are married because they go so well together. Over here though it's different. Don't get me wrong, pumpkins are all over here, although Aussies often don't think of pumpkin as dessert. Rather, roasted pumpkin along with other veggies is where pumpkins fit in around here. I'm not sure why I'm writing about pumpkins though because they had no role in the dessert. Of course, I wanted to make pumpkin pie, but the lack of tools and particular ingredient didn't allow it. I guess you could say our lovely Thanksgiving meal wasn't a true one then, not without a pumpkin pie. 

What I actually made for dessert was cinnamon rolls. Again, because lack of tools, I did not make my own dough but I substituted puff pastry instead. I was a little unsure on how they would turn out, but they were pretty good. Of course, not as good had I handmade the dough, but pretty good. My mates liked them too - they were gone almost instantly.  

I was also told last week that Halloween isn't very big here. It's only been the past few years that a very small percentage of people actually do anything Halloween-y because they see it all on American TV and want to do it too. I've noticed some of the big shops putting out Halloween candy, but there really isn't much. Costco is the only place I've noticed selling costumes and there is hardly a selection there. Instead, everything is already CHRISTMASSY, which is YAY because I love everything Christmas and I can always do without Halloween. I've never been a very big fan of Halloween (except the candy part!). 

I hope everyone has enjoyed their Thanksgiving weekend! I am certainly thankful for being here and having this wonderful opportunity and having a bunch of beautiful people back at home who support me!

School Holidays Begin!

Hey! How yous goin'? Check out this video of our weekend!

The weekend was a kick start to our two week holiday. Although the weekend was pretty laid back for me, we had some adventure on Monday. Looking at the forecast, we saw that Monday was to be 27°C out and we wanted to do something different. I remembered one of the teachers telling me we should visit Mornington Peninsula because it was a beautiful place and there was lots to do. So, we headed out there early Monday morning. It was about an hour train ride and then another forty-five minutes on the bus. We found a nice beach where we relaxed for a bit. We could see the city skyline so far away in the distance and the crazy thing is that we were still in Melbourne. This city is so massive!

We went up to the main street where there was an information center to figure out what we wanted to do. The lady there recommended that we have a go at Tree Surfing, so we called the place and that's what we were set to do. We stopped for lunch at a burger joint and then hopped on the bus for another forty five minute ride where we had to get off and wait for a taxi to take us up the long winding road to get to the Enchanted Forest. The turns on this road were so sharp and went straight up hill. I'm pretty sure the taxi driver was accelerating on the turns and it smelt like burning rubber. He was kind and stopped the cab where we could get a good view.

The Enchanted Forest was beautiful and there were lots of activities to do. Tree Surfing was heaps of fun! You'll have to watch my video to see more about that. We were also so lucky to be tree surfing with these kids who had an awesome mom who offered us a ride back to the Frankston train station! We would have had to get on a bus for about two hours to get back there. There are some truly kind people here and they were no exception! They even drove us around to show us where Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman lived when they were married and they took us to a pier to see the most beautiful sunset! They also told us all the great places we will need to visit while we are here too! Just amazing people! And, check out this sunset (not that I got a good picture, or that a picture would do much justice anyway). She told us it would be nice out today because of the sunset - "Red sky at night, shepherds delight!" And is it ever nice out today! 

We will be out doing more exciting things this week! Hope you enjoyed this post and my video! 

Don't forget to be awesome!

Kaits :)

Teach, Run, Listen, Explore

Long time no blog. Lets catch up. 

It's now spring here in Melbourne. It tricked us by being 25°C on the very first and second day of spring. However, we haven't seen the sun much since. The weather is very indecisive here at the moment. It can be sunny and warm one minute and the minute you blink it's cold and pouring rain. This cycle repeats itself over and over again. I'm finding it quite challenging to dress myself each morning. 

Work has been very busy these past few weeks as I have work nearly every day. It's fun being a CRT because I get to do different things each day. So far I've taught all grades from prep (kindergarten) to grade six, I've taught phys ed, I've taught at a special school and in a P-12 school. At each school, I learn more about myself and who I hope to become as an educator. It's so awesome to have the opportunity to dabble in each grade level, in different subjects and different types of schools. 

Today I was teaching the little preppies at a school I go to often. One child wanted to take a picture of me and my peg board work (but really, just the board). I'm wearing my coat because it was really cold and rainy out today and also because the schools here don't have heat, just small heaters in each classroom, so it's pretty cold in the mornings.

Other than working at schools, I've been trying to explore Melbourne and I've found some of my favourite places to be so far. I went down to the coast on a day off for a run and I found a terrific footpath that goes all along the ocean for five miles (well it goes much further, but that is the distance between the two trains I use to get back to the city). I found Brighton Beach which is where these beautifully coloured beach houses are, maybe you've seen them in pictures before? I go all the way to St. Kilda Pier and at the end of the day, that's a nice place to sit on the sand and watch the sun go down. It'll be flippin' cold at that time, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I do that about three times a week!

And here's what a run looks like at sunset time.

Now, I'm not sure if this trumps the beach running or not but my other favourite thing to do is to walk down Bourke St on a Friday, Saturday and/or Sunday afternoons. It is so amazing and packed with talent! All the buskars come out and show everyone what they got. I especially get excited when I find out my new favourite bands will be playing. I can just sit and watch them perform! If you're looking for some new music to check out take a look at Woodlock and Amistat. By the way, the guys of Woodlock are super cool and I had a chat with them after one of their performances when I bought their CD! Bourke Street has it all and I love it!

This is the last week of school before we break for term four, which means we have two weeks of holidays! I'm not sure yet what we are doing, but one thing is for sure, we are going to explore in and around the city. I'd like to do day trips to surf or go out into the country on a train because that isn't too expensive. Oh, and I met another CRT at school today. Where is she from? Saskatchewan. So we are going to meet up over the holidays as well and go on an excursion of some sort!! 

Here we are a few weekends ago hanging out at Docklands by the Yacht club - hoping to score some friends with a massive yacht. No luck yet. We will keep trying. Ha Ha!

Hope you all have a great week!

Apartment Tour

For those of you wondering about my apartment, here is a quick video giving you a tour! It's pretty cozy and we are in a great area in Melbourne CBD, close to everything we need! We are so happy that we were able to find this place and the lovely realtor is taking care of us! 


Let me know what you think! Cute right?!

Mega Grocery Deals

I can't remember if I've posted about this before or not, but it is expensive living here in Melbourne. It's also common that you will get very little for the price you pay (compared to Canada). We have become bargain hunters searching for the little yellow 'price special' tags at Woolsworth and returning items that we bought at the Big W only to head to the Reject Shop to get the same thing for three bucks less. Needless to say we have been very conscious of prices. 

On Wednesday, we spent $130 between the two of us on just groceries and let me tell you, that certainly didn't get us much. Our little bar fridge wasn't even half full and our cupboard still seemed quite empty after putting all the groceries away. 

(We didn't end up getting the lunch boxes..they were $29 instead of
the $7.99 price we found them at.)

Today was a good grocery day. From now on, Sundays will become our grocery shopping days. We headed over to the South Melbourne Market. We did some walking in the rain but eventually got there and was it ever worth it! We decided to get there for around 2:45pm because the markets close at 3pm. Why would we do that? That only leaves us 15 minutes of shopping! Yes, but as soon at three o'clock hits, it gets crazy in there. Big guys are standing up and yelling their new discounted prices. You see, Sunday is the last day of the market until the following Thursday. This means they want to get rid of their produce while it's still fresh!

Here is what we got at the market today:

a sack of potatoes

a quarter of watermelon

3 bundles of broccoli

a bag of carrots

a bag of lemons

a bag of tomatos

5 apples

a bag of oranges

a bug bundle of bananas

All of that for $11! We were so proud of ourselves. Although the market was busy, loud and crowded we did a good job and got plenty for the amount we paid! We sure know where we are shopping from now on! 

We then ventured to Cole's, another grocery store to pick up a few more items. We found it to be better priced then Woolworths as well as much less crowded! We signed up for their rewards card and vowed we would buy all our other essential items there! Except for Tim Tams (an essential food group) where I saw them for $2 at Woolworths!

We then realized that we had to carry all of our groceries back to our apartment, it wasn't too bad because we hopped on a tram and then we only had to walk two blocks in the rain. Our next thing to budget for is one of those granny wheely bags so that we can venture to the markets and stock up! WHOO!! 

PS: It's been super cold here. Okay, not so bad in comparison to a Saskatchewan winter but it's still cold! We moved into this place on Wednesday and we were freezing day and night as our one wall is just windows. Three days later after talking with the landlord, she told us that what we thought was just our air conditioner is in fact also a heater. Wow, we felt dumb but now we are nice and cozy in here. 

PSS: Who wouldn't want to take these guys for lunch. Mighty fine deal too..

WE GOT A PLACE TO LIVE!

So here's one thing I already love about living in Melbourne.. when I let my hair air dry, it dries beautifully straight! Ah I love it! At home my hair would never dry like this. It takes much less time to get ready in the morning!!

Here's one thing that kinda sucks..I have yet to find a good, reasonably priced coffee place. But I'm not giving up hope yet, I just need to do some more searching! 

Yesterday was a good day. Not only because it was my birthday but also because after four days of searching, we landed ourselves an apartment! We were so lucky that we stumbled across an ad online by a lovely lady who was willing to accommodate us. She met us at the apartment we wanted to look at on Monday morning and not only did she tell us everything we needed to know about the apartment and area but also gave us information about where we need to travel and places we need to see! I am so happy to have found Carol because she is really looking after us. The other agents we went to see either wanted thousands of dollars to 'hold' the apartment (which Carol said is highly illegal) or only came to open the door and never said a word. 

The apartment is fully furnished with absolutely everything we need in it right down to hair dryers! She is going to buy us new chairs and other things for our apartment. We will be on the thirteenth floor with a view of Lonsdale Street. We are also in a prime location right downtown next to two really big malls, transportation and basically everything we will need! YAY!!

We also had to go to the Victorian Institute of Teaching for some information on our teaching certificates for here. On the 24th floor of the building is the first time we've been able to see the ocean so far! Hoping to get a closer view very soon! 

 We are so excited to get out of this hostel tomorrow morning and move into our new place! If we get the keys today we will probably go to Big W and the Reject Store (dollar store) to get some bedding and other small items for a place so that it's ready for us tomorrow!

This afternoon we are headed into the city to do an orientation for our teaching jobs! I am looking forward to start working and I'm looking into a part time job on the side for the first bit to help pay for our rent. I just want to see first what my school work load will be first! 

Oh yeah, last night we found this crazy mirror. It kept us amused for at least 10 minutes. The security guard watched us the whole time and suggested we just take the mirror with us. Ha Ha Ha.

CHEERS!

Trains, Trams, Transportation

Yesterday was a long day for us! We started it off with a complimentary breakfast at our hostel. I had toast and figured I better try some Vegemite. I should have put it down after I smelt it, however, I am in Australia and what would I be if I didn't try any Vegemite. I put just a little bit on the corner of my toast and took a bite. ICK! It's not good at all. Its a salty, bitter, yeasty taste that you cannot get out of your mouth quick enough. I felt as if I were on a Fear Factor contest and had to swallow it to win a prize. Although there was no prize, I did swallow it and vowed never to try it again. Ewww.

We needed to get into the city to set up a bank account and look at an apartment. That means we needed to hop on the train and figure it out. It's so great that everyone here is so friendly because we just asked where to go and they tell us exactly what to do. We got a MyKi transportation pass. It was $3.50 to travel on a train, tram or city bus for the entire day! That is a really good price considering an hour pass in Calgary is $3 to ride the train. We will need to look at the monthly passes though because we will be using the transportation frequently. 

Once downtown we opened up bank accounts and met with a realtor who had an apartment to show us! It was about half a step up from the last one and all though he tried to say it was clean, it was not..at all. He also was anxious to get our money which made us walk away from him. We then walked to the mall and began looking up apartments on GumTree (a classified website) and other realtors websites. Being a Saturday, no one answers their phone and there are very short business hours for those businesses that are opened! 

The adventure back out of the city was an adventure. We ended up getting on the wrong train that was taking us in the complete wrong direction! We got off at a stop and used a help desk to ask what train we should be on. He said "Platform 5, its arriving right now, you betta get to it quick!" We saw it coming and ran up the escalator and back down to get across the tracks and made it into the train just as the doors were closing. A few more train swaps later we were back at the hostel where we decided to further search for apartments when we got a phone call back from one of the possible apartments. We hopped back onto a train right away and went to go see it. It was nice, but it wouldn't be available until next Friday! 

We took a long stroll downtown, through Chinatown and other really cool streets. After walking for a long time with tired feet we finally found a restaurant to eat at that was reasonably priced! I had a pomegranate, feta, quinoa mesculin chicken salad. It was delicious!!

By this point (9pm) we were dead tired and ready to get back to the hostel to sleep! However, the trains don't run as frequently so we needed to wait for a train for a long time. We did make it back by 10pm and fell asleep right away. Ahh! 

Today's Australian Phrase: "How ya going?" 

From: San Francisco To: Melbourne

The past two days have been filled with tons of adventure. However, when I think of adventure my mind tends to head for fun and exciting experiences. Our adventure so far has been an exciting adventure in the opposite kind of way.

Wednesday started off really well as we flew from Regina to Calgary and Calgary to San Francisco. Those flights were short and easy. Then came the eight hour wait until our 10:45pm departure to Sydney. We killed time in the airport mainly by eating, charging our phones and soaking up all the free Wi-Fi!

Finally we boarded the plane. I was already so tired and I was asleep before we were even in the air. I woke up just in time for the hot meal and stayed awake long enough to eat it and go back to sleep again. I slept pretty well the whole 15 hour flight except for about three hours. We arrived in Sydney this morning (Friday) at 6:30am. Not only is it weird that we totally never got a Thursday at all but also this sixteen hour time difference is going to be screwing me up a lot! We had an hour until we boadred out next flight to Melbourne, which is where I lucked out getting three seats to myself!!

Each time I'm on a plane I quickly remember how much I appreciate for air travel and how thankful I am that I have been able to travel in the past and continue to travel far and wide! On our landing I was so pumped, filling with happiness and ready to enjoy our first day in out new city! We were actually able to hook up our phones to a network at the airport so we got unlimited data, calling and text on our phones instantly! I am so happy we decided to get that done first.

We taxied to our real estate agents office where we signed some more documents and were handed our keys. She told us its not a bad walk and that we would be able to want to our new apartment. So we did. Uphill. Three blocks. Four bags. We arrive at our apartment, opened the door and instantly felt sick. Now, I don't exactly want to explain in detail what we saw today but just imagine the most filthy, disgusting apartment ever. Yeah. So we left our heavy luggage in the room and walked back to the agency. That conversation ended in negative terms as there apparently wasn't anything she could do to help us out. What really ticks me off is that we started paying for the place on July 24th which meant the apartment should have been cleaned prior to that date regardless.

After many FaceTime calls and conversations back and forth with different people, we found a hostel to stay at in the time being as the original apartment is not fit to stay in at all. We could tell someone had been told about our frustration and trouble as when we went back to collect our luggage there were pillows and linens laying on the beds which meant, someone had gotten into our apartment and that someone expected us to live in that filthy place. Also what scares me is that that filthy place was someone's definition of clean. Yikes! Before we left we documented and took pictures of the apartment so that we can be sure to get our money back!! 

It was heaven to finally have a shower! Something that we had longed for after arriving in Melbourne! We got word once at the hostel that we would get a new realtor and be able to look at a place tomorrow and hopefully be out of this hostel by Tuesday. We have kept our bills for this hostel and cab rides in hopes that someone can reimburse us for the troubles we have gone through.

Anyways, it is time for bed now, even though it is only eight, it has been a long day. We went out and walked around this evening as well. It is quite chilly here as it is only about 8*C today! Ahh! It's been quite the adventure so far.

G'night Mates!

Learning Through a Lens

As much as I love my Canon Rebel DSLR camera, I've been neglecting it for quite sometime. I bought it a few years ago for a MEGA good price in a Boxing Day special! I go through spurts where I dabble with it for a while and try to learn the basics of manual shooting. 

I've decided that I really want to learn all there is about this camera and what it can do. I know for certain that I did not buy it to shoot with Auto settings, so it is my goal to learn this camera and all there is about manual shooting. I want to learn all I can so that my camera and I can work as a team in taking creative pictures capturing my life. 

I was sitting out on the steps watching Cooper-man play when I thought I should bring out my camera and take a few pictures of him. I learned how to take pictures in the natural, sunny light of day. I think they turned out well! This one is my favourite! 

Here are some other pictures from a while back that I took that I think are great.  

This picture is from my trip to South Africa. I snapped it while we
were on a night safari as the sun was setting! I love the silhouette!

We were out in the field on a foggy winter day and J was shooting his
SKS. I like this picture because of the fog and that the shell is flying
through the air.

I captured this picture while we were watching the competition
at Spruce Meadows in the International ring last fall.

While looking through the pictures on my camera, I found one that I barely knew existed. It was a picture J and I took near the end of summer last year. What a gem to find!

DIY Re-purposed Tin

Okay, I'll admit that when I have a sore throat and I am in need of some cough candies, I opt for the Sucrets. I don't only go for those lozenges just because they can soothe a sore throat quickly but also because they come in the most perfect little tin. Sure, I may be paying a little more for the lozenges because it comes in a tin opposed to a plastic bag or small cardboard box, but the way my mind works is that I can re-use that tin! 

No, I am not a hoarder and I certainly don't consider the packaging in everything I purchase, but I'm telling you that these tins come in handy for so many things. My main purpose for the tin once the lozenges are all gone is to store all my bobby pins, hair pins and pony tails in. It's perfect for these items because they are not scattered somewhere in a drawer and it's easy access for when I am doing my hair, I just bring the tin out! I also have one that I keep in my car as a mini first aid kit. It contains some bandages, a small tube of polysporin, some alcohol swaps, q-tips and a CPR face shield. I have another tin that I store my headphones and iPhone charger in for when I go on a trip. 

Basically, there are endless possibilities for the things you can put into the tins. The problem with these tins is that they are generally, well.. ugly. Each time you look at it you think about the times you had that terrible sore throat and had to buy them (maybe not, that's a little dramatic, but you get the point!). 

The tins don't have to be an eye sore, you can fancy them up like I did with mine! All you need are a few simple ingredients and only a couple minutes and you will have a fabulous looking tin to store anything you think of in! 

You will need:
A sheet of cork board
E-6000 glues (or any other strong bond glue)
Washi Craft Tape
Scissors
A pen

First, peel the ingredient sticker off the bottom of the tin, it's pretty easy to peel. Then, trace around your tin lid onto the sheet of cork board. Next, cut the piece of cork board out and make sure it will fit nicely on top of the tin. Then you'll want to put your glue onto the tin lid and adhere the piece of cork board on top, holding it down until the glue has dried. Then I like to take my scissors and tidy up the edges on the cork board by trimming the sides. Finally, I decorate the sides of the tin with Washi tape. You can also make it even more fabulous by adding some decals or stickers to the top of the box. 

Paper Work - Ick!

This past week and a half I have been keeping busy with getting everything ready (try to anyway) for Australia. 

If you didn't know, I am moving to Australia mid-July for a year where I will be teaching, travelling and having a marvellous amount of fun! I will be living, for the most part, in Melbourne, which is a massive city holding more than four million people! Wow! I couldn't be more excited, but with moving to a foreign country comes a lot of paper work and frustration. 

Last week I got all the requirements sent to me that I needed to complete. Get a RCMP finger print criminal record check, get my Visa application sent in and get my Victoria Institute of Teaching (VIT) documents together. Well, the finger printing was a breeze, although it left quite a mark on my credit card! Next, I completed the Visa Application online, which took a while as I was VERY SUPER careful to answer each question carefully and reread everything over FIVE times. Still, they sent me back an email which stated I needed a health assessment. THIS WASN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! Totally threw me off, but I thought about it through the weekend and finally today I accepted that I needed one and made an appointment with the only qualified physician in Saskatchewan - In Saskatoon! Not only would this be a three hour drive but it also would cost me THREE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THREE DOLLARS! WHAT?! So today, I was a little frustrated and a lot worried about how I would pay for this appointment. When I got home from work, I called the lady who is taking me to Australia, she said that there is no way I would need to get a health assessment  so I searched the Visa website. IT WAS TRUE! According to the requirements set out by the Australian Migration Law, there was no way I needed a health assessment! (It pays to do your research!) I politely emailed the immigration officer back and within two hours she replied saying she had made a mistake and I really didn't need a health assessment. I sure hope that doesn't happen often, those mistakes, because those are expensive mistakes to be making!

Now that all that confusion is out of the way, I am now able to continue with more paper work on my day off tomorrow! It looks like I will be working a lot with my scanner and making copies of all the documents that are required by the VIT. Once this paper work is out of my way, I will be even more excited to go to Australia, this paper work is boggin' me down!