Taking Oz By Storm

2008-01-04T13:57:00.000+09:00

Guess I should finally put up some pictures from Thailand being about a month and a half has passed now. So here we go...

Arrived in Phuket and went to hot3el and just stayed in and relaxed that first night. Next day took shuttle into Patong Beach (town) and here's pictures.In a random busy street: Liz, a tuk-tuk (red van -- common annoying taxi) and scooters (a hell of a lot of them!)
Our hotel the Merlin Beach Resort
Our room is straight ahead in the corner on the 2nd floor.
Liz and I after eating at the hotel's Thai restaurant.
The next day we went to Phuket Town on the other side of the island (east side and our hotel along with almost all hotels are on the west)

Budda in temple we saw.

Random bird shop on street with alot of caged birds
Next day took a elephant trek tour at a reserve. Very cool experience.
These are the young ones they showed us first and their trainers.
A sucker kiss!

Feeding them a basket of fruit.
Went on a 45min walk. Interesting sitting up top.

That night went to see a big vegas style show called FantaSea.

Here's pictures from our day went on the boat going in and out of caves.
Here's the pier we took of from.
Team blue on the boat.
Our ship mates and deck.
Lots of tour boats do this. They takes you out to these islands where they unload canoes, each with their own guide and take you through the caverns to the inside.
One of the islands had monkeys, they love bananas and can even swim.

Lots of bats on the top of this particular cave.
Through to the middle where is opens up again for magnificent views!
Can you spot the monkey?
Our boat we were on.
Some on the cave entrances wre tight.
A nice refreshing coconut afterwards
Our hotel again from a higher vantage point

The swim up bar.
Lying around the one of the 3 pools
Or just goofing around in them
We both decided to get some henna tattoos

Then we were off to big crazy Bangkok.Big city with nice sights but not best sewage system cause can smell in the streets. But lots of good cheap shopping :-)

Went to this huge weekend market where you can find absolutely everything, it was like 30 acres big!
Want birds?
rabbits?
Dogs or anythings else?
Our hotel was situated right near the big shopping mall district, it was actually even attached to MBK which was one that was 7 levels high, here's a shot in the middle
We were there during Karathong (or something like that) festival, where they set lit candles on the waters to release sins or something and if with someone to exclaim their love. (man i forget details) So we went to watch and even bought a candle ourselves to light.

The crazy mad crowds trying to get to the lake.
Went to this huge sea life aquarium in the basement of on of the malls. And first up is me being silly in a wood cut-out.
Sea turtles
Car used as a fish tank
Huge crab
Little glass boat tour to look into tanks from top
My arm!!
penguins
Sharks
Went to see a bad 4-D show but got a cool drink glass!
Us on a boat ride up the main river in Bangkok towards Grand Palace.
Temples on the side of river
And the other
The boat just the 2 of us were on
Heading inside to the Grand Palace
All the amazing sights inside palace grounds

That little statue in distance in shot is the emerald Buddha, couldn't get to him so took a picture, not very big
Some monks were inside visiting
Me striking a pose

They have to stand still
At another temple, saw the giant gold Buddha lying down
Random cat we found
This archaeological shop Liz wanted to see and these are dinosaur droppings
Here favorite place in Bangkok
The morning we were leaving to come back we went to a snake farm and saw the show they put on with venomous snakes. Crazy guys!
He caught it with bare hands
Provokes them to bite
Extracts venom
Force feeds them
Last meal there made Liz try eating something different, place where you cook your own food in boiling water. Forget the name for it, Shubu or something. And she actually enjoyed it

So that was our 2 weeks trip, we loved and and thinking of where to go next!!

2007-11-13T16:01:00.000+09:00

I went up in a little acrobatic airplane last Sunday. It was my birthday gift from Liz. It was awesome!! It moved very fast, we did loops and rolls. We hit up to 4.5 Gs! Here's a few pictures from my experience.

The controls while we are up in the air. You can see we were going about 150 knots then (we hit 180 at our max). It's 1.8 knots to 1 km/h so that means we went up to 350 km/h. YeeHa!
The little airport on approach.
Coming in for a landing now.

2007-11-13T11:24:00.001+09:00

My parents came to visit me. So after a month cruise and few weeks touring the eastern seaboard of Australia they made it to Perth and myself for a 12 day visit.

They arrived Late Friday Oct 26th. Spent the next day just catching up and doing some laundry and some of their internet.

Left the Sunday to go down south and the first stop was a steam train ride, my dad found one and this was their last weekend since they don't run during summer with the high danger of brushfires.
Mom and me by some flowers.

Then we drove onto Busselton where we spent the night. Next morning mom and dad went for a walk on the 2km jetty while I got gas and some groceries. Then off to the peninsula to see a lighthouse (below) and we could see whales just off the shore, about half a dozen.
Spent the night in Margaret River after stopping by the chocolate factory, cheese factory and a winery. That was a lot of good tasting. Next day went to visit an underground cave. We chose lake cave but their was about 4-5 you could go to.
Here's a picture of us walking down to the tour guide waiting at the bottom.
The steep stairs down into the cave itself.
Cave pictures, and you can see some of the neat reflection off the water (lake) inside.

Then we drove onto Pemberton where my dad and myself were going to climb the old fire ranger tree which is 70m high. Except as we got to the 25m platform it started to rain fairly hard so we turned back down. Oh well. It has a great view looking over the forest, I did it last year with my friend John.
Then we found a vineyard my dad HAD to stop at. We bought a couple bottles of red to drink later on.
A little lookout near this waterfalls we found.
They have some BIG BIG trees down there.
Slept in Walpole so we could do the tree top walk the next day. Basically a big metal suspension bridge that goes through the canopy. Even though very secure mom still had to hold the railings the entire time.

Then we went onto Albany where we had lunch and went to see the cliffs by the oceans edge. After Albany we drove back to Perth via the Stirling Range, a nice little set of mountains. My dad and I climbed Bluff Knoll (little too much for mom) which is the highest, it was just over 1000m high. Of course the car park we started from was already part was up, maybe 1/3 of the way.
Looking down at the car park part way up.
Looking to neighbouring mountains on top.
View of the car park where we started and the road to it from the very top.
Myself after conquering the Bluff.
Got back to Perth very late, about midnight, had to drive slower in case a Kangaroo jumped out, (I did see a few). Drove them to the apt I got for them the next day and had a nice dinner out (I think we ate out for dinner almost everyday that they were here). Friday we went to Rottenest island just off of Perth and explored it. Hre are a few pictures I took: (would have been nicer more into summer when warmer to snorkel)
Lots of people bring or rent bikes to get around. The island is only 20km long, actually I think it was less than that.

These little furry guys are called Quokkas. They have no predators on the island and have flourished, there's about 100,000 of them now.

On the Sunday walked down to the foreshore to watch the Redbull Air Race. We found a spot in the shade since it was about 30C. We could still see the planes and also the jumbo screen which was nice.

Mom and me.

Those are the pylons they have to fly through.

They left on Wed Nov 7th for the train ride across the country. I saw their sleeper car and seemed nice. Had dinner out for mom's birthday while she was here. Also had dinner with Liz's parents, it went well but little nervousness since first time getting a girlfriends parents to meet.

They spent 3 days on the train to get to Sydney then went up into the Blue mountains for a few days. They should be back in Sydney now and moving on to Melbourne in the next couple days for their last stop of their journey over here. I think they had a great time!!

2007-11-13T10:55:00.001+09:00

Walked around Kings Park during the flower festival, here's a picture of Liz and I.

We went to the Snow Patrol concert, it was part of her birthday gift. Great band and good show!! This pictures are bad but what do you expect at a concert.

2007-11-12T18:19:00.000+09:00

So had my birthday party on Sat Oct6th at my place. Probably about 20-25 people showed up, was great fun. I of course didn't last the whole night since drank a little too much. But I heard everyone loved the party. I had music videos playing on the tv I made, so it was little nicer than just the music.
Here's a few photos that I took near the beginning for 2 minutes. I still remember this part, hehe.

Brett, Liz, Amanda and Matt having a chat.
Alex, Wendy, Bradie and Jon squeezed onto the couch.
Ryan, Hayley, Ryan and one of their friends by the kitchen.
Nick, Hollee, Silva and Rodney chilling on hte patio.
Tara, Drew and Bothie at the other end of the table outside.

2007-09-21T17:37:00.001+08:00

Time for a big massive update of pictures over the past few months.

Went to my friend Amanda's cocktail party at end of May although realized I forgot to take many pictures. Here's Liz and Jade who I dragged along with me.
All the glorious cocktail ingredients.
End of June at the Leederville Hotel, just after the all finished their exams if I remember correctly. Here's Liz and me:
Brett and Liz eating
Whoops caught you again, haha.
Had a small gathering at our place for Matt's birthday and Maria's return from fruit picking at the first week of July.
Where's the fashion sense girls!!! LOL!!
Matt's mates doing some crazy dancing.

First week of August went to a quiz night held by the archeology department.
Brett and myself:
Liz and Bradie:
Wendy and Alex:
Liz's big 21st birthday bash was in hte middle of August. We took a limo over to the Windsor Hotel.
Cherie (one of Liz's housemates) and her boyfriend Allen.
Liz and me
Kalo (other housemate of Liz's) posing with her boyfriend Heath with Brett, Jade and Michelle making faces behind them.

About 40 or so people came for her birthday, mix of friends, family and family friends.
Here's a few of the boys (Rodney, Silva and Bothe):
Liz and her family friends
Jade and Emily doing some speeches for her, nothing too embarrassing though, shucks...
Liz getting her sister to help cut the cakes since at this point of the night that task is a little too difficult if you understand, haha.
Us youngings chatting away till the end.
2 weeks ago went to Emily's 21st. Here people are hanging around the heater on a cool night (Liz, Hollee, Brett and Tiff)
The birthday girl Emily and myself
Nick is so dark after working up norht doing surveying.
Us again
The boys:

2007-05-28T17:13:00.000+08:00

Well I guess it's about time for a short update. Not really much new going on these days, more of a same old same old life with work, gym and friends. I guess the only real news is that I have a girlfriend now, Liz.

A little over a month ago went to the races in Belmont with Liz and a couple of her friends. Only watched race or two rest of time just talked and drank few bottles of champagne.

Here is Michelle (left) and Alex posing for camera.Liz and I.
Damn don't i look hot with the spiked hair, sunnies and smoking shirt!! Hehe

Just couple weeks ago went to Zoo with Liz for the arvo (that's Aussie slang for afternoon by the way), while we were there we decided to buy the yearly pass since was only total of $46. Not as big as Steve Irwin's or maybe even one back home but close to where I live plus always good way to kill some free time if borerd.

Lizard

Penguins

Croc (bad shot through glass but very cool that you can see whole body like that)

Lazy kangaroos

Me riding wooden Numbat

Liz sitting wooden Numbat

Wombat

Dingos

Sun Bear

Orangutans

Mom and baby Orangutan

some sort of monkey (maybe marmoset)

Meerkats

Baboons

Rhinos

Besides all these just hanging with friends, going to many people birthdays, watching summer movies like Spiderman 3 (I'm a spidey freak!!) and whatever else I can to pass the time.

And at some theaters they have an area in back called La Premiere which is actually kinda neat. Best view points, seats are huge and setup in blocks of 2, get free popcorn and drinks and if you want to buy food (chips, ice cream, spring rolls, basic pub stuff) or alcohol they will bring it to you in the movie at whatever time you tell them. The tickets cost about twice as much as normal seats but it's nice to treat yourself and certain someone once and a while. I've only been once so far but will definitely go again.

2007-03-21T14:37:00.000+09:00

So a couple of friends from back home were in Perth for last 2 months roughly, Joanie (I met her last year backpacking the east coast) and her boyfriend Olivier. They were over to visit the west coast because she never made it here last time. And now they are leaving for a short trip to Thailand before heading back to Montreal.

This is them 2 on the right in photo below, Jon is on left.Took them to Cottesloe soon after they arrived, the best beach in town!!
Last week went to my friend Za's birthday down at beach for picnic dinner and then we went to Velvet Lounge for some dancing to what I'd call electronica reggae.
Here's a picture of the food after it was demolished.
Some of the birthday celebrating people, the birthday girl is the 2nd from left with blue top in front of the chocolate cake.
Over 10 days there was this abstract art exhibit down on cottesloe beach and I took a few pictures but since I went to see them at night time the shots didn't turn out as nice, still working on my night time photography.

One of my good mates Brett's birthday last week we we took him out to Carnegies after seeing his new place to get him inebriated.
Here's a shot of the bar's alcohol collection looking down from the 2nd floor. They have a ladder that slides to go up and get more of what they need, it's neat setup.
Myself and the very drunk birthday boy!
This past weekend was St Patrick's day so of course we had to go out!!
Myself with Kate on left and Chris on the right (a German friend we made way back)
Drinking much Guinness so we can get our free shirts after 4 of them
Saw an airbounce place and couldn't resist to go jump around for a minute.
On the bar #3 and most of us have our black and white Guinness shirts we earned by now.
Dancing at the Shed.
End of the night up close shot, we were out from about 2pm till midnight, not bad if I dare say!

2007-02-09T14:39:00.000+09:00

So before I left Maria and Claire (Matt's little sister) bought me a xmas gift of a chest wax. I've joked about it in the past but never thought I'd actually get one. But they thought it would be a good idea and that I would look better. So since it was all paid for already I decided to do it, this was a bot 3 weeks ago now.

The before shot.The during.
Still during.
And after.
It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be in my head or like in the movie 40 year old virgin like everyone said. It was getting ripped out after 26 years so i felt it and few places made me yelp like down near the jock line and around nipples. But hey I did like the look after but not something I'll do regularly but maybe again. I was a little pink for few days but I have some scrub to use that helped.
Now 3 weeks later its slowly growing back in but still looks ok.

Now the 26th of January is Australia Day here (same equivalent as Canada Day). So nice holiday and great day to spend outside, it was a little hot though, about 40-42C if I remember right. I went down to the river for a couple hours with few people and then back to a/c apt to clean up and cool off from heat and sun. Then went with Matt and Maria on a boat for the evening of drinking, bbq and great view point for the fireworks of downtown. (Maria works at dive shop so she got us tickets to go out on the dive boat which was lovely)

Forgot to take a picture of the actual boat but here's what I have. This is the little life raft being pulled behind.
The inside, I did say it was normally a dive boat.
Looking up the side towards the city.
People lounging out talking and having drinks.
The skipper at the controls.
We all brought our own food but one of the dive guys was the cook for the night.
My attempt at an artsy shot.
The 3 of us. (Myself wedged in between the couple)
We were nice distance off of fireworks but they are awesome! The go off a barge in the river and also off the top of the sky scrapers in downtown. There was also lightning just of to a short distance that was maybe even more magnificent thatn the actual fireworks itself.

Just few days ago went out for Chris's (Teele's boyfriend - one in brown shirt on right side of photo) 21st. We had a nice barbie down by the water and then went to Carnegie's for half price cocktails.
The awesome free outdoor Australian bbq's!!

2007-01-18T19:11:00.000+09:00

So I went back to North America from Dec4th till Jan 7th. I had a great time seeing friends and family, eating my favorite food, drinking at my favorite pubs. So here is a breakdown of my trip with some pictures.

I spent the 1st two days in Sydney before flying home. I bought a whole bunch of cheesy Aussie gifts and caught up both days with my friend Sally who had just recently moved to Sydney from Perth. I didn't really take many pics except a couple of last night when we went out for dinner to Japanese restaurant that cooks at your table.Me making stupid face after trying to catch food being thrown at me by the cook.
Now 17 hrs later of flying from Sydney (plus 1 hr layover in Honolulu for darn American customs) I'm back in...Vancouver. Spent a few hours in airport waiting for my next flight to Montreal. Here's a pic of our glorious Canadian Rockies from the plane window.
Back in sweet Montreal, 2nd night back I went out and caught up with most of my friends at St-Sulpice.

De-icing the plane on the way to Philadelphia to see my cousin Matt.
1st night back we went out with a couple of his buddies to an Irish pub, we got a wee bit drunk, they had a special for $1 beers, bad idea. Plus I was still jet lagged since only got back from 25 hrs of flying 36 hours ago with a night out back home with my boys already.
Playing games another day with a lunch at place called Dave and Busters.

One of his mate's birthday (2nd guy on left) so back to another bar for more fun.

We went to see an NHL game, the Philadelphia Flyers against the New York Rangers. Don't have to tell you that the Flyers lost since they suck ass this year! I would have loved to have seen my beloved Habs but they sold out ages ago and didn't want to pay ridiculous scalper prices.

Went indoor rock climbing another day.
Went to view some of the amazing Christmas decorated houses in the neighborhood.
It was a great 5 days to catch up with Matt. Had some drinks, did some sport, had a Philly cheese steak and basically just hanged out like the good old days. His wife April was busy with work but came out for dinner once otherwise she just let us out to have our fun, how nice of her. :-)
Of course fog came and my flight got canceled twice, spent day at airport, ended up getting plane to Chicago to spend the night and got home next morning (if I'd stayed in Philly I might have not get out next day since tons of people had cancellations due to weather and had to stay).

Then got back and decided to go see my friend Sophie in Ottawa for 24 hrs. So off I went with my friends Owen, his brother is there so he went to catch up with him.

Sophie and I out for dinner at Thai place, Owen was taking the shot.
Then there was dancing.

Back in Montreal I caught up with one of my best friends Sarah-eve. Went out for nice dinner with some wine to catch up they went down to Tokyo to see a few cheer leading friends who were up.

Ah back at good old Brutopia for Monday night trivia, everyone made sure to turn since I was back in town. We won of course. Guess only difference is now instead of going to class the next day everyone has to go to work but don't worry, won't stop the 5ish year tradition of Monday trivia.
Caught up with Marie-Christine and Joanie, two lovely girls from the south shore I met when backpacking in Australia. We had fun in Cairns together and then again in Perth. Had food and few drinks with them and their boyfriends.
I had to take this picture while out shoping, its got "eh" in it, bilingual and a beaver for Roots, how much more Canadian can you get. By the way, even funnier in Australia since to them the word root means 'quick fuck'.
Two of my longest and best friends Miguel and Bj catching up, know Bj since middle of high school and Miguel since beginning of elementary school.
Ate some fabulous poutine a few times while back!
Then I was off to Florida with almost my entire family (Matt couldn't get time off work but rest of aunts and cousins all came) for a cruise in the Caribbean. We had a day before and after in Fort Lauderdale to explore. It was only a 5day cruise that went to Florida Keys and Grand Cayman, weather wasn't best with storm coming across country but still good time, its like a 5star hotel on water.

A few sots of Fort Lauderdale beach.

The whole crazy family trying to get organized the morning of the boat outside of Hotel with the 3 sisters or mothers trying to control the show and everyone else just saying yes dear every time.
The room my dad and I had.
The theatre where there was shows preformed every night after dinner.
The top level of the cruise ship with 3 pools (1 indoor and 2 outdoor) and 6 Jacuzzis (2 indoor and 4 outdoor). Rock wall at one end, bungie tampoline at the other, and also a gym and spa.

Doing the mandatory life vest safety drill before the boat leaves the harbor.
All the many cruise ships lining up to leave Fort Lauderdale that night.
The slow eating adults table at dinner.
Taking a trolley ride around the Florida Keys.

Not bad looking eh...
One of the many towel animals that the maid left in our room everyday while making our beds. It's an elephant!!!
The crew doing Christmas caroling, I stayed for a bit before heading to casino where I gambled every night till 2:30am but hey I came out ahead like $90 in end.
The entire wait and cook staff singing for us one night.
The lights on the pools at night time.
There was one formal dinner night so here come the nice looking pictures of family, see I can clean up sometimes.
My Aunt Carolyn and myself.
My parents and I.
One night there was a gala midnight buffet with tons of food, cakes, ice sculptures, the works!

The casino on board in full swing.
After getting back to Fort Lauderdale we got news that my grandma was taken to hospital for what looks like a stroke so my mom and her sisters rushed back to be with her but the rest of use decided to stay on the extra day as planned to see the Everglades. We took one of those cool air boats to see gators, vultures and such.

Crazy alligator man telling us stuff about them and showing how to hold them. No wonder he only has 3 fingers on one hand.

Got back home and went downhill skiing for a day with a few friends to St-Sauveur, went night skiing so it was cheaper and runs were less crowded.

Went to one of my favorite live venues called Deux Pierrots on the 30th and the had a pre-new years countdown with streamers and sparklers and all.

New Years Eve was the hanging out at Bergie's apt with the boys playing drinking games, was quiet but none of us were up for going out to club or bar or anything. Had fun with best mates, always the way to go!
The 5 cousins all dressed in Montreal after grandma's funeral. It was a sad last couple days but she lived a long life and all 3 daughters were there for the end which was a really good thing. She was my only grand parent I had. I'll miss you and always love you Grandma.
The whole family together just before I left.

Great trip home overall but won't be back for couple years probably. I plan to visit somewhere new next time like Japan or Thailand or something. But hey with 4 weeks of vacation a year I have more opportunities than if working back home, haha suckers!!

Life been good since back, seen friends, working again, its summer so its 30+, back to dance class and just having fun over all. I'll put up more pics soon of Australia Day on the boat and of my chest wax but that's another day's story.

2007-01-08T13:57:00.000+09:00

Well I just got back to Perth yesterday everybody!!
I had a great trip home, it was great to see everybody and go to my favorite old bars and ate my favorite food.
I'll put up pictures sometime soon of my trip but right now my internal clock is still trying to fix itself after the 14hr time change and 30 hrs of flying straight, my body is way out of whack!

2006-12-02T18:31:00.000+08:00

Well before I left I had a big going away party at my place and about 30ish or so people showed up, it was awesome!! Lots of fun and games and drinks and dancing! So here are some pictures I took over the course of the night.

The dance floor hoping.Beer pong going on outside.

Dance floor again.

The aftermath the next day around the apt. I think it took me about 3-4 hours to clean up the garbage and scrub the place down.

Great party, never even went out since everyone was having such a good time, I think everyone was on the dance floor mostly from 1am till the last left at 3am. It was great that so many people showed up from many different groups of friends. Best party thrown at our place yet by far!!

2006-12-02T18:07:00.000+08:00

Before leaving there was a family BBQ at Teele's house with a whole bunch of friends.

There's the pool in the backyard.
The cute little baby at nearly 2 months old.
Night time swimming.
The pups of their 2 dogs that got it on while Teele was in the hospital giving a baby.

2006-11-30T15:32:00.000+08:00

I'll be home for the holidays everybody!!!!

So I leave here on Monday, spend 2 days in Sydney and then arrive in Montreal on Thurs Dec 7th. I don't leave till Jan 2nd but not going to be in town the entire time then.

Dec 9th -> Dec 13 I'll be in Philadelphia to see my cousin Matt.
Lots of catching up, drinking, catching a Flyer's game and who knows what else trouble we'll get into. I hope his wife is ready, we often get a little crazy together.

Then I'm back in Montreal till 21st when I leave for Florida with my family for a Caribbean cruise.

I'll be back Dec 29th.

So then New Years bash at home with the old gang before one last trivia game and then jump on a 30hr plane ride home (Montreal-Vancouver-Sydney-Perth).

I haven't had New Years at home in 3yrs, last year I was in Perth and before that in Rome.

It's gonna be one hell of a trip!!!

Anyways see you all very soon!!

2006-11-23T14:34:00.000+08:00

So it was Hollee and Teele's birthday this past Tuesday, they both turned 20. Teele obviously couldn't come out being a new mommy at home with responsibility. So we went out Monday night for to celebrate with Hollee to the Deen in the city. She had a good time, little drunk but aren't we all on our birthdays. I was the sober one of the group since I had work the next day but I had to come out to celebrate.
There were some sailors we found there from Norway and we got Hollee to go dance with them.She stole one of their jackets and was very happy.
She got a salute....i think she liked it.
End of night fun me, Tess, Kate, Wendy and Bradie.....all kicking it up on the dance floor.
Stu, Hollee, Kate, random guy, Bradie and Wendy.

Shortly after Hol got kicked out for being too drunk so we all left, she wasn't taht back but she was falling over when dancing and that's a sign of drunkenness to security. Ah well still a fun night out!!

Today Sat 25th going to Teele's for barbie and pool party with the whole gang, it'll be fun fun fun. I'll put up some picture later.

2006-11-23T14:03:00.000+08:00

So last Sunday the 19th was the Red Bull Air Race in Perth. It's kinda like the Formula 1 of Air Racing. Fast little planes that fly around a course of pylons. This was the first time the race has come to Perth and I think they signed a contract for a few years. This was the last race of the season after racing in San Francisco, Istanbul, England, etc...
It was a great day for the races, bright and sunny. I put on sunscreen but realized at the end of the day that I missed a few spots and had burns in spots here and there, it looked quite funny actually (my hands, feet, shoulder and inside of arms....I'll never learn).

Here's one of the helicopters. There were a few of them in the sky to videotape the event for live tv, there were like 16 cameras between the air and ground to televise it all.Here's our gang that came to watch the event: Hollee and her friends Wendy, Liz, Brett etc and Maria and Matt and his parents.
As you can see there were a ton of people to watch the event along the both foreshore.
The pre-show of the race had various planes and jets flying by.
Plus some parachutists the droped down with flags and smoke canisters attached to their legs for effects.
Here are a few pictures of the race. If you click on them you should be able to enlarge them and see them better. It was awesome to to them race around the track.

A similar plane from the race shown on display.
Our gang at the end of the day, Hollee and her gang had left but a few of Matt's friends Rowen, Hope and Kim showed up. Oh and the other guy was Maria ex who came to visit for the weekend and go to this dance party, a little awkward moments for her but we helped her get through it, nothing that a little alcohol can't fix....he he.

2006-11-23T13:58:00.000+08:00

I got invited to this beach party by a couple of the girls form Ceroc I made friends with. It was called Dusk till Dawn (obviously from sunset to sunrise). So I met them at their place (turned out 7 girls of them going...yeah me!). So we got to this beach just outside of city where cool little setup by the DJ with lights and whatnot. I just brought some red bulls since was tired and we danced on the sand to the beat and chilled by the fire. Not too big either which is good, maybe 80 people. I only took a couple shots and didn't turn out so well at night but here they are anyways. We stayed until about 1am and then the girls got tired but that was ok with me to get some shut eye. Dropped them off and went home.

2006-11-23T13:44:00.000+08:00

We finally got Teele out for almost the 1st time in a year, with the pregnancy and all. She got her big sister Sarah to babysit while herself, Chris, Hollee and me went out to Carnegie's for Cocktail night, meaning they were half price.Myself and the 3 beautiful twins, holle left and Teele right.
Don't they look so cute and cuddly together.
The colorful cocktails...
More fancy cocktails...
Me trying them all at once...
Ah the happy love birds
Not a good shot of the guy Hollee picked up with a little help from Teele (what are sisters for eh), tried to catch them pashing but it was hard...

2006-11-23T13:27:00.000+08:00

So Matt and I got a 3rd roommate, its been almost 2 months now, Maria who is from Sweden. Interested in how we acquired her. My mate Tom in Melbourne net her in New Zealand some months ago on a ski trip and gave her his number to look him up when she makes it to Australia. So she went to his birthday shin-dig but was on her way over to Perth becasue she heard good things about the diving here (she's a dive master and was looking for related work). So he brilliantly gave her my number to look me up over here (well he did as first if he could give the swede my number...like I would say no to that!). So we met for a drink and showed her around a little and I offered her to crash with us for a week or so while she looks for work. She found work at a dive shop and decided to stay with us (she fell in love with us and couldn't leave) even though not best location for public transport so bought her self a bicycle to get around when she doesn't sucker us into giving her lifts.

So that's how it all came to be. Since then She joined a Ceroc dance class which both myself and Matt have joined her (fun times), ate out at restaurants more and of course the obligatory partying. She's such a bad influence making us drink gin and wine and taking us out......oh wait its the other way around, we've sucked her into having drinks and hitting the town so many times...we're slowly corrupting her to the dark side...haha. Ah she loves it but we definitely all keeping busier nowadays since she's arrived, having dinners the 3 of us and going to dance class and going out to clubs to dance, much fun!

So here she is, I was in my gotee phase for a week here.I think the 2 of us were out at an Indian restaurant that night and I ordered the very spicy vindaloo...can you tell there's been some drinking.
I think this is after we drank bottle of Bombay and getting ready to hit the dance floor at the casino...doesn't she seem happier...
This is a picture of the ceroc dance class the 3 of us go to. She's advance as she's been doing for couple years but Matt and myself are picking it up fast and having fun time dancing and meeting new people. It's kind of a mix of latin, ballroom, jive and swing. It's made to learn easily and dance to almost any kind of music.

2006-10-30T17:39:00.000+08:00

Had a BBQ down byt the river on Sat that Hollee organized but many people, there was Liz , Brett, Maria, Steve, Tim, Bernedette, Sarah, Wendy... Some sausages and brewskies down by the water, how can you beat that?!?!Then back to Hollee's to keep talking and people were wetting the whistle some more before going out but I decided to drive that night so didn't have much but it was nice to spend less and be the sober one who laughs at them, hehe.

2006-10-30T17:25:00.000+08:00

It was Sally's birthday night out so we started by having a bbq and a few drinks at Ryan's dad's house. Good night with music and drinks and chatting. Then went to city to dance with them and also meet up with my other friends at the Deen.The 3 tipsy cute girls, Sally on left (Ireland), Hayley in middle (New Zealand) and Maria on right(Sweden and my new roommate I met through Tom....that's another story)

Then meet up with Liz and Hollee (right) and others at the bar as well.

2006-10-10T15:32:00.000+08:00

So I went up to the wineries in Swan Valley on Saturday for this festival called "Spring in the Valley".
I think it originally was a small thing but now its gotten very huge and spans over like a week. So I went up with my roommate Matt and a bunch of his friends and had a blast. And like lots of other people we rented a bus that drove us there and back so nobody had to drive and we could all have as much wine as we'd like.
It was a fun day with lots of wine, sun, laughs, music and more wine.

Here's Kim, Matt and Rowan on hte bus ride up.Our first of 3 stops, there are many wineries but we only made it to a few but that's good cause they all had lots going on at each.
We took a seat by the grapes and river on the grass
Stop #2 had a live band outside, of course more drinks and dancing.
And it had a red bull tent....although i never actually went over to see what was there.
There was also Sumo wrestling you could do, I believe that's Matt and Craig going at it.
We were all clowning about and the pile on came right after this photo.
Kim and Rowan spent the night before making us shirts for the day out. They were great and peopl loved them, they kept taking our pictures! I'm so gonna wear it out in the city. U see here what the guys and girls shirts said on the back, the fronot just had S.I.T.V 2006 (spring in the valley)
Winery #3 and still a packed cowd.
Here's our gang that was on the bus taking our group shot at end of the day.
And on ride back the mic was passed around for jokes and such on pa system.

Then once got back to city we went out to the bars and kept having fun till about midnight, well thats when I crashed but a couple went out longer. I broke my phone at bar and now need to buy new one, oh well it was crappy cheap one anyways. Had slight headache when woke up the next morning and little sun burn by edge of hair where missed sunscreen but all in all a great day out and can't wait to go back next year.

2006-10-09T10:57:00.000+08:00

On my birthday and grand final day and was a groomsman at a mate's wedding over here, one of the guys backed out 6 days before and he called me up asking me to fill in.

So here are the boys watching the footy before the wedding time at a room at the hotel nearby. The groom is Tim, the one on far left. By the way, the Eagles won the footy!!! They are the local team and its the new sport I follow here hoping to fill my ice hockey void.Here's the groom and all 5 of the groomsmen and the ring boy. Don't we all look dashing!!
The lovely bride, Kel, and groom, Tim walking out of the alter after vows.
Bride and myself in the mingling stage post ceremony.
The head table where the newlyweds and all the groomsmen and bridesmaids sat.
What the other tables looked like, it was a really beautiful place they chose and good flash setup.

The traditional feeding of the cake to each other....ah can't you see the love!

2006-10-09T10:40:00.000+08:00

So had my 26th birthday last week on the 29th, a day earlier since the footy grand final was the day after.
Had like 25 people at Matt and my place. I forgot to use my camera since was talking and drinking too much but my mate Ty used his and here are a few pictures form the night. Had people over for like 3-4 hours and then went our to bars in the city till like 4am. It was a fun yet drunken night, from what I can remember that is...hehe.

Here is Kate and Matt playing beer pong, I think against me and Hollee.Against Hollee and myself, that's me in white shirt turned around looking for the ball.
Some of Ty's friends he met when visited Thailand.
A little bit of everybody just talking and having fun.
Liz and Brett posing for the camera.
Raine licking Ty's face....i don't know and I don't want to
Kate and Hollee, i think we are at the mustang bar
Tash Hollee and Liz dancing it up
Hollee and myself dancing

2006-09-20T14:31:00.000+08:00

So Teele finally had the baby boy, Ryllie, and he's so tiny and cute! She gave birth Sat morning and I went to visit her and the baby in the hospital on Sunday. So adorable but all he did was sleep and stretch the entire time I was there, oh and I got to hold him too.

Here's the proud mom(teele) and dad(chris).

The sisters with Rhyllie, older sis Sara was ther as well but she didn't want to be in the photo.

2006-09-20T14:24:00.000+08:00

Went out for a bucks night (we would say Stag back home) with a buddy who i used to work with. So the booys took him out to get pissed and bring him to a strip club. And the girls went out on their hen night where ever, i think some kareoke and a dancer.

Here is a picture of a Bug limo, never seen one before, looked cool but not very spacious on the inside, the girls seemed cramped inside. Oh and the horn on it was very gay!Tim's fiancee is obviously the one on the left.

Tim(right) nad his best manTim and the girl from strip club which did him a strip tease. She looks alot better without the coat. We all chipped in $10 and for $100 he got striptease on stage where she took off clothes but also few of his, at one point put belt around neck and made walk on stage like dog.....good times.
Timo and myself, we got him nice and drunk

2006-09-16T10:06:00.000+08:00

Final time to see Christine 2 days before she leaves for Africa.
So we all had pizza, a drink and just talked for the night with the whole family present. Girls on far left and right are Christine's little sisters who came down to spend last couple days with her before leaving.

2006-09-16T10:00:00.000+08:00

Watching the Eagles play in first playoff off game, its one of the 2 teams from Perth in the AFL and they were #1 in the league this year. People in photo are Raine, myself, Brady and Kate, Hol was taking the photo.
Such an exciting game but we lost by 1 point at the end. Damn.
But we are not out, weird playoff setup here: 5th plays 8th, 6th plays 7th and loser gone. 1st plays 4th and 2nd plays 3rd and loser plays winners of belows and winners have a bye. Then winners of those plays teams who got the bye and the 2 winners there play in the Grand Final at the MCG in melbourne, one of the best stadiums in the world.
Starting to get into the game but season is just ending for summer, so it'll be beach time again :-)Guy on right is Brett, got him to join the gym with me so have someone to workout with.
Tense ending moments of game

2006-09-16T09:34:00.000+08:00

Chrstine's going away party night.
First we had dinner at my place with the whole close family and my roommate Matt with Christine assisting (by that I mena stirring) made the meal. There was Matt, Christine, Hollee, Teele, Chris, Sarah, Bernedette, Kate and myself.
Great meal of rizzotto and chicken stuffed with (i think) avacodo and sun-dried tomatos, and asparagus.
I forgot to take photos of the dinner time of the great feast and wine we had.
Then we went to the Como right beside our palce for drinks, without Teele and Chris though, they went home since not as fun for Teele without the drinking because pregnant (due any day now btw). Few extra ppl like Ty showed up there to join us.
Then when the Como closed at midnight we went to the casino and the club insde, Ruby room for few hours, I tried a little blackjack and lost then eventually went home around 4am.
Here are some photos of the night, this was Sept 1st I believe.

Teele (8.5 months pregnant) and myself leaving my place.Chris
Very close up of myself in cab to casino
Hollee and Kate, both happy girls
The girls dancing together in Ruby room
Now all squeeze together
Don't know the guy on the right, just a random who stuck his face in
Hollee is sad now because she just lost her phone
Still angry in the cab line, but everybody had a great night.

2006-08-15T12:03:00.000+08:00

Went to a hero and villan costume party on Friday night. It was Hollee's roommate Kate's birthday along with a couple of her friends and they rented out the Uni bar.

I didn't want to put too much effort into the costume but wnated something so borrowed a bow tie from roommate and went as James Bond. As you can see in pics below some people put in a fair amount of effort, like ninja turtles or blade ans such.

The pics of my friends and I who went. Goes Me, Hollee, Teele, Chris, Linden and Adrian. The clue for the bubble wrap boys costume is Zoltan, if you don't get it then you need to watch Dude Where's My Car.
The 3 sisters and the drunk birthday girl Kate, can you guess which one she is?
The 3 Charlie's Angels.
Bond and Zorro.
Damn I can look good!!

2006-07-27T14:38:00.000+08:00

Went up for a couple days to Christine's parents place with her in Geraldton (4hrs north) to get away for couple days.They've got 8 horses here. They used to have a farm but just sold a few months back but kept the horses.
Also have 3 dogs and 2 cats, all very friendly.
That's Christine on left brushing a horse and her friend on the left.
Me riding my trusty steed for a walk, I believe his name was Black Betty
Christine took a photo of myself and her friend Kara during the ride

2006-07-27T14:10:00.000+08:00

Here are some views of the apartment, mostly for my parents cause they are curious of how I'm living, it's a nice place., 3 bedrooms but we keep one as spare for more room.

Here is the kitchenBy the doorway inside, a big cabinet is actually going on that wall later today that Matt is bringing up from a house down south.
The entertainment unit, that's actually my small tv that will go back in my room soon but there while big 110cm one is in the shop, the picture got all blurry on it, should be back in a few days.
The couches, dining room (getting bigger table today too from south) and kitchen is just around the corner to the left there. Those are the nice wooden blinds that Matt got installed just couple weeks ago, more elegant than plastic.
My bathroom, he's got his own in the ensuite of his room so cool the we have our own but not that big a hype as a girl would make on having her own bathroom, we men don't need alot.
The washer and dryer and the door to the clothesline out back
The extra room which is has a cot as extra bed and Matt's computer which we rarely use.
The hallway, goes from left extra room, toilet, laundry, bathroom, my room. (the living room and Matt's is behind me in photo)
The bed plus dresser in my room (Matt's left it there for me since he didn't need in the new room, made my life alot simpler)
The other side of my room with closet and window. I put the tv in front of the window later, would be better hanging on wall but too big for that. The 69cm is kinda big for bedroom but oh well, it's nice and big cause had froim living room of old place.

2006-07-27T13:39:00.000+08:00

Having a few drinks as you can see on a nice sunny afternoon with my Perth family and friends at The Shed in Northbridge. (That's Sara at the end, Hollee and Teele's older sister)Here is Hollee later trying to play some pool.

2006-07-27T12:37:00.000+08:00

My roommate Matt's 27th birthday passed and we had one hell of a sunday out.
First he rented a limo for an hour to get us to The Cott for Sunday Sessions (basically day at bar to relax with mates and live band playing). The limo was pimped out with 10 of us and we had like 5 bottles of champagne to get us going. So here are some of the better photos I took during the day.

Here's the inside of the limo: Kim, Adam and MattThe glamorous girls: Fisher, Claire (Matt's little sister) and Kim
This is the crew that took the limo ride, the driver took a photo for us in Fremantle at the lighthouse.
The limo itself
Having lunch at the restaurant beside The Cott
Claire, myself and Tenile (Matt's older sister's friend)
Having fun in Cott: Myself, Rowan and Matt
The 3 girls looking cute: Hope, Fisher and Kim
Hope, myself and Fisher
Another random picture
Giving the crazy eye at the bar
Finally a good shot of myself and Matt, the 2 goodlooking guys with the bachelor pad

2006-07-27T12:00:00.000+08:00

Its been awhile since my last post so here's some of the stuff I've been up to for the past few weeks.

Went to watch my best friend Hollee play some field hockey for her Uni team (they just call it hockey but I can't since that's ice hockey for me, wono't ever change)
Then I we went to watch an ice hockey game. Yes they have a league over here in Perth. Nothing too special but was great to watch a gmae again. I might even play myself next year, the level isn't that high and found out there are a few fellow canadians playing. Kinda ironic that it was also July 1st, Canada Day so made it that much better.
Hollee and Christine wore all the warm clothes they could find in the car since they thought it was freezing over there, well it should be just a few degrees over zero for the ice. Of course I was kinda stupid and had shorts and sandals on since it was hot for the field hockey game earlier so my toes were pretty cold.

We then went back to my place where I cooked dinner, yes I'm actually getting better in the kitchen people, it was some pork cooked in apple juice with cooked vegetables and seasons potato wedges, mmmm.

2006-06-13T16:17:00.000+08:00

Watching lots of the world cup these days, love the game. I'll have to take some pics of my new place and roommate soon for you all to see. Been having tons of fun full-on weekends since moving in but usually don't bother with camera since having too much fun drinking and talking to people.
Getting a slight cold now with cough and raspy throat, think I might take a sick day.

Watching the socceroos world cup game at the bar with some friends, this is just after we won.Pile on in the bedroom.
Marty's farewell at the airport, that's the whole gang. Myself, Hollee, Chris, Marty, Christine and Teele
A few pics from the going away party at Teele's house, this is when Stephan was leaving a few weeks earlier.
Hollee wearing the wine box as a hat during the game of three man.
The german boys.

2006-05-01T18:37:00.000+08:00

So Johnny was here 5-6 days and we took a littl 3day roadtrip down south just to get away from the city.

So left Sat afternoon after we caught up and relaxed in morning. First stop was the 2km jetty in Busselton which we walked on. There is an underwater observatory at the end but we were there too late to see so just walked pier and checked out the fishermen.

We then spent night in Dunsborough and next morn started by going to see Ngili cave. It was 37m underground and pretty freaking awesome inside. Still working on taking photos in the dark, it's pretty hard, maybe i'll get a tripod someday.

We then went to a winery near Margaret River which has some of the best wine in the country to taste some. We bought a bottle and drank it that night over dinner.

We went to the little town called Pemberton where poepl come to climb the Gloucester Tree which is a 60 odd meter climb. As you can see it's just these metal rods in the tree that spiral up you climb, used to be a fire lookout station in past. Coolest part of trip.

Big John with his new hair style.

Next day we went to the Tree Top walk but wasn't that great since huge metal ramps, aka wheelchair accessible. Still had great views but tree climb was cooler. Although the bridges were of cool design (from engineers viewpoint) how attached by pylons and mostly cables and swayed while walked.

Down in Albany we stopped for a picture of the Gap. This big opening in rocks where the waves splash, cool sight.

And a photo of The Natural Bridge.

On way back up to Perth we did a detour through the Stirling Range to see the mountains. Actually we wanted to climb Knoll Bluff (below) since only took 3hrs but we got there too late and would have gotten stuck in dark. So it's on my list to come back to camp and hike there, very beutiful stuff.

2006-04-21T18:58:00.000+08:00

Well everyone, one of my best friends John is arriving tonight! :-)
So we're gonna do a little roadtrip down in the south of WA I think.
I'll put up all kinds of photos late next week after he gets away. I can't wait!

So now don't the rest of you forget to come and visit over here at some point. John will tell you all how great a time he had in this country.

2006-04-21T18:15:00.000+08:00

So I went down to Collie for the weekend with a couple mates to see the mototcross races and here are a few photos, don't feel like writing much since I want to go home now that work is over.

Here I am beside Josh's car when it overheated and we had to stop. He went into town to buy some more coolant befoer we keep going.
This is Josh.

This is Marty. He liked how high the suspension was on Josh's cousins F250 that he wanted his picture in the wheelwell.

And now on to a few pics of the races. We were there for both Saturday and Sunday's races.

2006-04-04T18:09:00.000+08:00

So I went to another Eagles Footy match, the season opener actually! I managed to get an extra free ticket from this friend of mine I know from Bunbury who was coming up for the game. This time I sat really close to the ground level, only like 10 rows up instead of up in the nose bleeds like last time.

Not too much else to say but going out for roommates birthday this coming weekend so I'll show pics later on that. And John (one of my best friends) is in Australia now and will be in perth for almost a week form 20th. I'm taking a few days off of work and we're going to do a little roadtrip! :-)So these are the hardcore Eagles fans adn we were sitting in their section so it was a little louder adn crazier but that's half the fun eh!!
The 3 people I was with, Jack, Sarah (friend from bunburyt) and Jess.

2006-03-21T12:49:00.000+08:00

Figured I might as well show some pictures of my place. I haven't taken any of my 2 roommates yet but they will come when I can actually find them at home. The place still looks great cause the apt building is only 6 months old, very nice and new.

Here is our living room, my contribution being the tv that I bought for the place.The dining room table that might get used if I didn't eat on the sofa. But it's gorgeous the one Victoria bought, all leather with glass top.
The kitchen, ta da.
Over looking our balcony onto our great view of the Great Eastern Highway in front. It's actually not very busy like I thought and you can hardly hear the traffic from the inside.
A picture of the big balcony with my laundry drying. There are glass doors from the living room that open up to it and also glass doors from the master bedroom (Audrey's room) open up onto it. We will probably get some table or chairs to sit out there because there are lots of room.
My new queen size bed I bought but the sheets are only temporary, I borrowed them from Audrey. Actually I just bought some good black and white ones this week and plan to start using them this weekend.
The crap beside my bed, I haven't exactly bought a dresser or anything else yet for my bedroom yet, it's on my list for later.
A shot of part of my closet, as you can see still living out of the suitcase. But I do have a few hangers to hang the suit and shirts. And nice mirror doors on closet so I can use them to make myself all handsome and shit.
The small free weight room in my complex. I want to start using it but there are not enough weights for what I usually use but I think I might just buy a few instead of joining a gym, it would be way cheaper. Oh, there's also a sauna in the back.
A view of the middle of the apt complex. We have a pool and jaquzzi and a free barbeque, gotta love that! :-) There is also a little common room beside where you can hang with friends on couchs, keep your beers cold or play a game of pool.
Another shot of the pool so you can see the whole thing. It's actually quite large. Bigger than a backyard pool but smaller than professional sized pool. It's long enough to do laps or to goof around with friends. The only downfall is that there is no deepend, it's 1.2m depth all across which is ok thou.
One of the corridors in the complex, it's actually our stairwell leading up to our apartment.
My Integra! :-)
It's the 3rd company car that I'm using since it's just lying around. I'll pick up the payments for lease but way easier and cheaper than me trying to lease a new car like I was looking into. Plus it's in the company name so I don't have to worry about selling it at the end.
Plus it's nice and fast and a little suped up. :-)

2006-03-20T17:38:00.000+08:00

My first AFL game I went to see over here. It was a pre-season game between the 2 westcoast teams the Eagles and Dockers so obviously alot of heated rivalry.

Huge grounds they play on. The game is very similar to rugby with differences in the rules, at least that's what I say as an outsider view but any Aussie would rebute this but hey I don't exactly know the rules of either really.

So there are 4 poles at each end. If you kick it through the middle 2 it's 6 points but if you kick it through either of the outside sets it's only worth 1 point. You don't run into the endzone, all the points are from kicking ball through the posts.

This was also the day before the germans left for the east coast that were staying at Hollee's, I met them in Exmouth. And I also moved out myself the next day, so her place is alot more empty and quiet now.

2006-03-20T17:07:00.000+08:00

This interesting motorcycle limo I say down by the beach of Cottesloe. The front is harley front with a cab in the back where you can be inside at the bar or seat on the outdoor seats at the back. Never seen this kind of design before so had to take pictures.

2006-03-06T15:13:00.000+08:00

Well I finally moved out of the living room of my friend's place I've been crashing at into my own bedroom at an apt. I found this really nice place and I'm living with 2 wonderful girls as roommates. So it's an Aussie, Brit and Canadian living together, kinda sounds like the start of a joke eh.
So I just moved in this weekend and mought myself a new Queen size bed too! :-) The apt complex has a pool, spa, small gym, common room with pool table and a sauna. Can you see why I like this place!?
Plus it's alot closer to work but still only a 10-15min bus ride in city, that is until I find time to get a car.

So I'll take some pictures soon and post them of the apt and my room. I'm just happy to have my own bed to sleep in! Plus I have some pics from the AFL footy match I went to see last week. Pretty interesting sport, fast and lots of scoring. Here's hoping that it will fill my hockey void.

2006-02-27T18:21:00.000+08:00

A few pictures of my desk at work, nothing special here. The box on the left is the mail and VPN server I helped setup but I think that will be moved into the other server room soon.

Maybe I'll take some more later of the other rooms and people but a small cozy place with friendly people.

2006-02-27T17:28:00.000+08:00

Here are a few pictures from Australia Day on Jan 26th. Hanged in park for afternoon and saw some volleybal and dirtbike jumpers. And then at night we saw the fireworks. The fireworks were amazing, I would have like to have been closer but we went back near my friends place to watch. Fireworks were set off from a barge in the water and off the rooftops.

The little gathering at Teele's house for her boyfriend Chris's birthday. The usual gang of friends, family and backpackers.

Took my friend Christine to see her first baseball game and it was an international series of Australia versus Taiwan I believe. It was a great night until the pouring rain came. Had a great time and for once didn't feel like a stranger over here since I actually understood the game and had to explain it to her.

2006-02-18T12:15:00.000+08:00

Well everybody there isn't too much to add. I've been in Perth for the past 3 weeks working fulltime as a system admin for a call center company. It looks like they will sponsor me to stay over here for a couple years and then at that time I can decide to become a citizen and stay or leave I guess. All depends on how I fall into life over here with work, friends and maybe a girlfriend down the road.
Perth is a nice city on the west coast and away from the busy east coast. Sunny all the time but only draw back is the isolation. I think I will enjoy it here but will def go out east a few times a year at least to see friends. I think thou that after a couple years out here I'd go east for next job unless I of course settle in here too well.

I will definitely be coming home at some point this year to see friends and family. But haven't decided when but I hope to see all of you that I can.

I'll post a few pics in a sec since I got here but not done too much but we are going to an AFL game next weekend so I can tell you all about that afterwards.

bye for now

2006-01-18T17:20:00.000+08:00

Might as well add some Sydney shots while I'm at it. Don't have much from our first few days here since we stayed in Manly and didn't take many pictures there.

Here is the world famous Sydney Opera house. The day we were leaving to just start out backpacking journey around the country. I'm standing beside the opera house with the nice bridge in the background (think called harbour bridge).

A shot from the ferry ride of Sydney-Manly, this time the bridge and opera house together.
This cool water fountain sculpture in this area called Kings Cross, suppose to be "The" place to go out. Area of town wasn't that impressive, the red light area of town, lots of strip clubs and prostitutes.....ahh, kinda reminded me of home, hehe.
The beach known as Bondi with just a few people there
Another shot of the famous Bondi beach. It is huge but too many ppl, it's the most popular for some reason. The other beaches of Sydney were just as nice but less crowded, great places to sun tan, dip in the water or try surfing.

2006-01-18T17:01:00.000+08:00

Our trip of luxury from Taiwan to Australia cause they messed up our tickets. The flight we were supposed to take didn't exist on that day but seeing as our tickets says it did they had to accomidate us. They sent us to Sydney via Brisbane instead and didn't get there much later.

As you can see first class seats are huge! I couldn't even touch the seat infront of me when stretching! Great leather seats with controls to adjust it every which way.
Not a bad appetizer, wouldn't you say.
And we each got our our personal lcd screen to watch whatever tv, movie, etc show we want. How can I ever go coach again!

2006-01-18T15:58:00.000+08:00

So here are a few pictures of our week in Taipei (Taiwan) on our way to Australia. It was a great experience but not somewhere I could live, too many ppl, scooters and pollution.

Here is a busy street full of food markets and other niknaks. Busy as hell as you can see.
This is the tallest building in the world, called Taipei 101, hence it has 101 stories. It also boasts the fastest elevator in the world, it reaches like 60km/h if I remember right. We went up top to the lookout and it was quite a spectacular view.

On of our pics looking down from the top of the building. This is a parking lot that is solely for scooters. It's crazy how many of them are in the city! They dart in and out of traffic and kind of do their own thing on the road.

One of the temples we ran into, they do have alot of those.
Statue inside the temple of who it is for, I can't remember since we saw quite a few.
Changing of the guard inside temple right by statue. This hapens every hour and the 2 standing guard can't move and inch on their spot for one hour. In the midst of the ceremony, ppl can come up to them and take pictures, some even laugh and point in their faces since they aren't allowd to move.
Ever want to get your ear wax cleaned out?! I saw this crazy stuff they were doing and took picture. They light this candle like thing in your ear and some how in sucks all your wax out into it, prett interesting and gross at the same time.
Myself trying to walk on the rock path. Suppose to to theroputic or good for you but I thought I'd do it just to test out my manliness of course, hehe. It was no sweat by the way;-)
Another little temple we found lying around the city. (I'm that dot at the bottom)
On our on day trip outside of Taipei, we took a train/bus ride farther north for a hour or two. This is a hill with a walk path up we did and there were little huts the whole way up, kinda cool to look at.
Another temple, this one in the small mountain town we spent walking around
Now this my size of ice cream!!
Trying out some famous dumplings and other delicacies. This is our friend Yao, we all went through engineering in University together. He's now been working over there for a year or so. He showed us around a few nights and helped alot in the translation department.
The Grand Hotel, now that's a hotel! We saw it while travelling about and had to go over there to look around, it's huge. Very nice inside and supposedly it has a secret escape tunnel inside it somewhere but we couldn't find it.

2006-01-11T15:43:00.000+08:00

Well I'm now back in Sydney after my 3 months or so of travelling around the amazing country of Oz. I'm now in the process of looking for work and then a place, temporarily staying at a friends place.
Sometime soon I'll put up some Sydney pictures and a few of our time in Taipei.
Keep in touch everybody.

2006-01-10T12:00:00.000+08:00

Here's a bunch of various pictures from our time over perth. As you can see I remember mostly the fun drinking nights with my perth friends, their family and other backpackers we picked up along the way (2 german guys we meet in exmouth and a girl from montreal we met in cairns). We did explore the city too but those pics are more boring.

Our 3man drinking games before going out one night.
Cottesloe beach where we spent a few days. I love the fact of sand and grass. I prefer the grass to lie on and nice water to jump into too.
Great sign I ran across. I needed to take a picture.
A pile on photo before we headed out.
The 5 ppl and random braid girl who stayed out till 5am, the others gave up at midnight and went to bed.

2006-01-10T11:47:00.000+08:00

Our week road trip on the west coast of Australia. We rented a car in Perth for a week and drove north as high as Exmouth where we spent christmas.

This is use on the beach christmas day. It was a good 39C and humid but that's what the cool ocean is for. We discoverd some giant sand dunes. So hear I am dying in the desert.
Pass the trop adds about 10C to the temp and humidity, this is where you start using the AC of the car.
Our ride of the week, the Hyundai Accent.
A nice picturesque spot called 'Nature's Window' in hte Kalberri gorges.
This place called the pinnacles a little above Perth. Lots of weird rocks standing up everywhere.

2006-01-09T12:29:00.000+08:00

Then we jumped on a train down south to adelaide where we caught a plane to Perth on the west coast.

2006-01-09T11:41:00.000+08:00

So here are the photos of our outback trip from Alice Springs, with the major highlights being Uluru and Kings Canyon. The big famous rock Uluru. This is like one of my 10 pictures.
This awesome sunset picture I happen to capture.
We slept outside under the stars on these things they call swags.
The trek up Uluru. It is crazy steep and we did this right after sunrise before the sun has time to kill you. The aboriginals ask you not to climb but I think most ppl climb it anyways.

Our truck for the trip that we somehow managed to cram 16 ppl into.

2006-01-09T11:13:00.000+08:00

We then left Cairns for the middle of the outback but the Desert Venturer bus tour. It was a 3 day trip to Alice Springs that covered 2200 odd kilometers. Below are some pics from these few days.
A very flat road in the middle of nowhere....wait, is that a telephone booth powered by the sun I see.
The cattle farm we slept at one night.
We all got a turn holding the baby kangaroo. I have to admit, he was pretty damn cute.
I atempted playing the digeridoo adn eventually got out a good solid note.
The biggest termite mound I think I will ever see.

2006-01-09T09:53:00.000+08:00

Now after the whitesundays we took off for Mission Beach where we could relax for a few days. We did a whole lot of nothing there, layed in the sun, swam in the pool, had a few beers in evening and caught a cool fire show at the hostel. Now we reached our farthest point north of our travels at Cairns. It is basically a big party town on the great barrier reef. We went diving again one day, took a trip north to Cape Tribulation rainforest (pictures below) and the rest more chillaxing, mostly because of the big nights out. A great little town that sucks your money dry by trips during the day and then going to club/bar till the wee hours of the morning.

Below are a few pictures from the rainforest trip. Beautiful forests and snakes. Not to mention the little swimming hole I'm diving in and then we found a sign farther down the river warning of crocs in the area.

2005-12-18T12:35:00.000+08:00

This is our Whitsunday sailing adventure. It was the best trip of Oz so far.
This is our boat called summertime, ate so much amazing food and it had a small spa in the back.
This is us fooling around on Whitehaven beach, the #2 ranked beach in the world.

Me diving in the great barrier reef, what an experience!!
Bry and myself kayaking around the islands. What a hard life eh!?...hehe.
Our group of the boat. Best 3 days ever. Relxing, sun, snorkeled, dived, kayaked, etc

2005-12-18T12:22:00.000+08:00

Now there is our trip to the Australia zoo which is owned and run by Steve Irwin, or the Crocidle Hunter as we all know.

You might even meet him like I did here.

You can feed, touch or just vedge out with the kangaroos.
See koalas lying about everywhere.
You can see croc feeding shows.

2005-12-18T11:54:00.000+08:00

These are pics of our Fraser island journey, driving a 4wd around a big desert island. One shows the beach highway u drive on at about 80kph but inland roads only like 25kph. Then a shot of lake McKenzie beach (somewhere in the top 10 of the world I heard). And then our group shot with the jeep we drove around, well Bry didn't since he has no license.

2005-12-07T14:25:00.000+08:00

Here's brisbane and a few party pics before we were too bad off. Drinking in our hostel bar for $6 jugs of beer with our friend Jess (we travelled for 10days together). Then us on the ferry the next day for 2 hours doing nothing because we were kinda crappy with drinking way too much and no drink or supper before sleeping. Then another night out with my friend Amy from Brisbane, met her in Spain.

Amazing waterfall on our trip from Byron to Brisbane, supposedly used in a shampoo ad with girl coming out of the water.

2005-12-07T14:13:00.000+08:00

This is our time in Byron Bay. I borrowed a friends surf board and tried to remember my portugese lessons but failed miserably and fell alot. Went for walk to lighthouse at most easternly point and then got soaked. Our trip to Nimbin where you're alot to consume weed and the cops don't care, we had space cookies and one does enough. Here's pic of the worlds largest joint.

2005-12-07T14:08:00.000+08:00

Well this is about Canberra in a nutshell. I met up with my friend Krista and the other pic is the new parliment building, actually expensive since they built it into a hill.

2005-12-07T14:02:00.000+08:00

This is our hike with Tom and his friends and as Bry descibed, this part looks like Mordor from Lord Of The Rings, it was 5 months after a brush fire passed through.

2005-12-07T13:50:00.000+08:00

Here is us at Derby Day horse races decked out in our best backpacking clothes. Everybody was in suits and the girls were in fancy dresses and wearing huge feather hats. Drank alot of champagne, that being the business of the day and all.

2005-12-07T13:36:00.000+08:00

This is the crazy goal type for the International Rules Game we sawin Melbourne. It's a mix of rugby and soccer kinda. You get 1 point for kicking it through the outer posts, 3 for the inner two posts and 6 points if in the goal. Very crazy game and brutal.